JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016 | 26.2
THE INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION FOR TECHNOLOGY IN ENTERTAINMENT
MARK BROWN
The eclipse Staging Services’ frontman tells all from past to present.
THEATRES & CONCERT HALLS The latest round-up of performance spaces from across the globe.
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Including fog, haze, smoke, pyrotechnics, bubbles and confetti.
THE INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION FOR TECHNOLOGY IN ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE & AMERICAS EDITION
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PUBLISTING Mondo Jan/Feb 2016 Issue Creative: Leopard Launch Ads - Wigwam
Contact: Elania Nanopoulos Phone: 510 486.1166 x115
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MONDO*DR 26.2 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
ON THE COVER National Gallery, Singapore Photo: Crtl Fre@k GENERAL MANAGER Justin Gawne j.gawne@mondiale.co.uk EDITOR Rachael Rogerson-Thorley r.rogerson-thorley@mondiale.co.uk ASSISTANT EDITOR Sam Hughes s.hughes@mondiale.co.uk SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER Jamie Dixon j.dixon@mondiale.co.uk ACCOUNT MANAGER Laura Iles l.iles@mondiale.co.uk INTERN Keeley Roberts mondointern@mondiale.co.uk ACCOUNTS Amanda Giles a.giles@mondiale.co.uk GENERAL ENQUIRIES ar@mondiale.co.uk PRODUCTION David Bell, Mel Robinson, Dan Seaton GROUP CHAIRMAN Damian Walsh MONDIALE PUBLISHING Waterloo Place, Watson Square, Stockport SK1 3AZ United Kingdom Tel: +44 161 476 8340 Fax: +44 161 429 7214 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES (7 ISSUES) UK: £30.00 / Europe: £50.00 / Rest Of World: £65.00 Two year rates are available on request. Subscribe online at www.mondiale.co.uk or call +44 (0)161 476 5580 ISSN: 1476 4067 Mondo DR (ISSN 1476 4067) is published in January, March, May, July, September, November and December by Mondiale Publishing Limited, Waterloo Place, Watson Square, Stockport, SK1 3AZ, United Kingdom Subscription records are maintained at Mondiale Publishing Limited, Waterloo Place, Watson Square, Stockport, SK1 3AZ, United Kingdom
mondo@mondiale.co.uk www.mondodr.com Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, UK
Happy New Year to all our readers! I hope you all had a well-deserved break over the festive period. Here at mondo*dr HQ, we are all feeling well rested and we’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead. As you know we’re hoping to launch the mondo*dr Awards this year, keep an eye on the dedicated Awards page in each issue for regular updates. Obviously, we’re gearing up for another busy tradeshow calendar too, kicking off with NAMM in Anaheim - where Laura will be enjoying the Californian sunshine this year - followed by a stint in Amsterdam for ISE, which will be a team effort. It will be interesting to see how the extension of the latter show, to four days, pans out. The show claims the extension is a result of listening to exhibitor and visitor feedback, however, does the industry really need another four-day show? In my experience, the last day is always quiet, no matter the duration of the exhibition, so what are we really gaining? The extension also means increased costs across the board, which will mean cutting back somewhere else for most companies - what effect will this have overall? While it would appear a large proportion of the industry meets at ISE, the competition between it and Prolight+Sound (PL+S) in Frankfurt is still a prominent one, with many companies having a preference. But does it really need to be a competition or are the two appealing to different audiences? Changes are abreast this year for PL+S too, so could it be a case of too much change across the two shows, which are just eight weeks apart? Lots of questions here, but I think both will have to take place this year before we get any answers. In other news, we welcomed a new team member ahead of closing the January / February issue. Sam Hughes has joined us as Assistant Editor, thrown straight in at the deep end, starting on press week! But I told him if he can survive that, he will stand in good stead for what lies ahead. Finally, I’d like to wish everyone who has made a new year’s resolution, good luck - if you make it until the end of January, you’ve done well in my book! And I wish all of you a happy and successful 2016.
RACHAEL ROGERSON-THORLEY EDITOR www.mondodr.com
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9 CONT ENTS
CO N T E N TS
22
12 IN DISCUSSION 14 INSIDE VIEW
MARK BROWN With over 25 years of experience in the events industry, Mark has seen it all. We discuss his incredible career journey so far.
16 THE MONDO*DR AWARDS
IN DEPTH 22 INTERVIEW Mark Brown - eclipse Staging Services 32 REPORT Theatre & Concert Halls
84 SPIRITO A huge technical upgrade that respects the architectural history of the church setting made for an interesting challenge in Brussels.
IN FOCUS 64 FNB STADIUM Johannesburg 66 ANTHEM OF THE SEAS At Sea 76 SUPPERCLUB Amsterdam 84 SPIRITO Brussels 90 THE DUCHESS Amsterdam 94 THE PICKLE FACTORY London
108
98 TIGER TIGER London 100 MADISON SQUARE GARDEN New York City
NATIONAL GALLERY After more than 10 years in the making, the National Gallery in Singapore has opened its doors to showcase the finest Southeast Asian art.
102 THE OBSERVATORY San Diego 106 GREVIN MUSEUM Seoul 108 NATIONAL GALLERY Singapore
IN BUSINESS 116 PRODUCT LAUNCH L-Acoustics X Series 118 JTSE Paris
116 L-ACOUSTICS X SERIES Just outside Paris, L-Acoustics introduce us to its latest X Series, a range of four short throw coaxial loudspeakers.
www.mondodr.com
122 IN DETAIL ArKaos, Sennheiser, RGBLink 129 PRODUCT GUIDE Special Effects 142 PRODUCT DIRECTORY 154 LAST PAGE INTERVIEW Leonardi Dani, APIA
FRANÇAIS
Bonne Année à tous nos lecteurs ! J’espère que vous avez tous profité d’une pause bien méritée pendant la période des fêtes. Ici, au siège de mondo*dr, nous sommes tous bien reposés et impatients de démarrer une année passionnante. Comme vous le savez, nous espérons lancer le Prix mondo*dr cette année, alors consultez la page y étant consacré dans chaque numéro, afin de savoir où en sont les choses. Bien entendu, nous nous préparons également à vivre un autre calendrier annuel chargé de salons, en commençant par le congrès de la NAMM à Anaheim — où Laura profitera du soleil californien cette année — suivi d’un séjour à Amsterdam pour ISE, qui aura désormais lieu sur quatre jours, alors nous attendons les résultats avec intérêt. Enfin, je tiens à souhaiter bonne chance à tous qui ont pris une bonne résolution pour la nouvelle année, et si vous la tenez jusqu’à la fin du mois de janvier, je pense pour ma part que c’est déjà très bien ! Je vous souhaite à tous « bonheur et succès » en 2016.
DEUTSCH
Ein Frohes Neues Jahr für all unsere Leser! Ich hoffe, Sie hatten alle eine wohlverdiente Pause über den Festtagen. Hier in der Zentrale von mondo*dr fühlen wir uns alle gut erholt und freuen uns auf ein aufregendes neues Jahr. Wie Sie wissen, hoffen wir, dieses Jahr den mondo*dr Awards starten zu können, behalten Sie die dafür in jeder Ausgabe vorgesehene Awards-Seite für regelmäßige Updates im Auge. Selbstverständlich schalten wir auch für einen neuen, randvoll gefüllten Messekalender in einen höheren Gang. Den Beginn macht die Namm in Anaheim - Laura wird dieses Jahr in den Genuss der kalifornischen Sonne kommen - gefolgt von der ISE in Amsterdam. Interessant wird es sein, die Expansion dieser letzten Show auf vier Tage zu beobachten. Schließlich wünsche ich jedem, der einen Neujahrsvorsatz gemacht hat, viel Glück. Falls Sie ihn bis Ende Januar schaffen, gratuliere ich Ihnen! Und ich wünsche Ihnen allen ein glückliches und erfolgreiches Jahr 2016.
ITALIANO
In questo numero la nostra Guida al Prodotto si focalizza sugli altoparlanti e, con molta probabilità, ritengo si tratti di una delle più dettagliate recensioni sulle caretteristiche del prodotto che la nostra rivista abbia mai avuto. Attraverso 16 incredibili pagine, la guida si occupa di 55 magnifici prodotti. La gamma comprende di tutto di più: dai driver degli altoparlanti ai piccoli cabinet per gli impianti da bar e ristoranti, ai line array con tecnologia a fascio direzionale più adatti per le discoteche, fino ad un’ampia gamma di sistemi PA e molto altro. Quindi, se siete in cerca di un sistema di diffusione acustica per allestire un impianto, la nostra Guida al Prodotto potrebbe essere un buon punto di partenza. Tra le altre, ci sono un paio di giovani aziende che potrebbero stupire anche voi. Il tema degli altoparlanti continua con la nostra intervista, dato che Phil Ward ha incontrato Roy Clair (co-fondatore dell’omonima azienda), che sul punto di compiere 50 anni di carriera, è considerato da molti di noi un guru nel settore audio. Quindi, se siete sulla nostra stessa “lunghezza d’onda”, vale la pena leggere questa intervista.
ESPAÑOL ¡Feliz Año Nuevo a todos nuestros lectores! Espero que todos ustedes hayan tenido un muy merecido descanso durante este periodo de fiestas. Aquí, en las oficinas centrales de mondo*dr, todos nos sentimos descansados y estamos a la expectativa de un espectacular año por delante. Como saben, esperamos poder lanzar los Premios mondo*dr este año. Para estar al tanto de las actualizaciones, echen un vistazo a la página dedicada a los Premios en cada edición. Obviamente, nos estamos preparando, además, para otro año lleno de exposiciones, arrancando con Namm en Anaheim- donde Laura disfrutará del sol Californiano este año- seguido de un tiempo en Ámsterdam para ISE. Será interesante ver cómo da resultado la extensión de la última expo, a cuatro días. Por último, quiero desearle mucha suerte a todos los que hayan tomado una resolución en el año nuevo. Les deseo a todos un feliz 2016 lleno de éxitos.
Advertising Index Absen 51 Adam Hall 53 Adamson 105 ADJ 47 Allen & Heath 43 Antari 15 APIA 51 ArKaos 27 ASC 86 Audac 119 55 Audio Focus Audiocenter 37, 109 & 142 31 Camco Chauvet 89 Chromateq 143 Clear-Com 93 d&b audiotechnik 29 81 D.A.S. Audio d3 117 Daslight 6 DiGiCo 75
123 Digital Projection Doughty Engineering 131 Duratruss 95 Eagle Stage Equipment 92 EAW 59 Elation 61 Equipson 127 Fenix 41 Fine Art 5 Focusrite 153 13 FohhnAudio 137 Full Fat Audio Funktion One 129 Genelec 113 135 Global Truss GLP 69 Green Hippo 111 151 Haze Base 20 ISE Europe K-array 93 Kling & Freitag 125
KOBA 114 Kuzar 145 KV2 149 Kvant 73 L-Acoustics 2 131 Le Maitre Look Solutions 77 LSC 125 97 Lynx Pro Audio Madrix 151 BC Martin Audio 111 & 113 MBN Meyer Sound 3 141 Milos 35 & 147 Music & Lights Nexo 127 NEXT-proaudio 17 4 Palm Expo China 121 Palm Expo India 71 Pioneer DJ Europe 146 PL+S Frankfurt
PR-Lighting 79 Pro Tapes 149 Prolyte 123 Renkus-Heinz 151 97 RGB link Riedel 8 Robe 83 87 Salzbrenner Stagetec Sennheiser 11 133 SHS Global 39 Sommer Cable Starway 139 Steinigke 7 155 Studio Due Sunlite 10 Tasker 85 62 The GET Show TW Audio 45
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12 IN DISCUSSION
DIGITAL LIGHTING WITHIN REACH Elation Sales Director, Eric Loader, talks about the possibilities that the new generation of more affordable digital lighting opens up. When the first generation of digital lights came on the market some years ago, they began to bridge the worlds of automated lighting and video projection. High End Systems started the move to digital-based lighting with the Catalyst moving mirror product in 2001. The original Catalyst combined a media server and moving mirror light with an off-the-shelf video projector. Two years later, the launch of the DL1 enhanced the technology by housing a digital engine in a package that had the look and feel of a moving light, with the versatility of a moving projector. Users were able to take images from DVDs, videos and other types of media and display them virtually anywhere they wanted. The blending of lighting and video functionality opened up so many different types of application uses. A digital light appealed to designers of all types - lighting, visual, scenic or video - as it could serve dual functions as a lighting or video projection unit. The convergence between lighting and video technologies grew each year and the market possibilities grew right along with it. Theatre, television, film, concert touring, nightclubs, churches and corporate events were all ripe for this type of technology. Yet, largely because of the high price, the market was limited. Digital lighting was only available to ‘top level - high budget’ productions or installations - meaning you needed at least a six-figure budget to integrate digital lighting into your show. Today, the next generation of digital lighting is now hitting the market and it’s opening up a whole new world of lighting to a much larger audience. Just a few months ago, Elation announced that it had collaborated with High End Systems, the pioneers in digital lighting, on a new digital lighting product. We partnered
• Above Elation’s EMOTION.
with High End Systems because they are the leaders in this technology, with 15 years of experience and know-how behind them. The goal was to make a digital lighting product that was more accessible to a larger audience; a product that, while easy to use and as plug ‘n’ play as possible, was also priced to open up new doors for this technology. The result of that collaboration is a digital lighting moving head we call EMOTION. Although it still looks like a video projector on a yoke, it’s much more than that. The EMOTION is a plug ‘n’ play DMX moving light just like a traditional moving light, however, it also houses an on-board media server with royaltyfree digital art and videos that can be easily manipulated from a DMX lighting console. Think of it as a moving light with hundreds of digital gobo patterns and animation effects. Unlike past digital www.mondodr.com
lighting products, it utilises only 32 DMX channels - 54 in extended mode - so you can easily operate and integrate fixtures with your lighting system. Plus, with the ability to remotely ‘upload’ your own custom content into the unit - custom logos, gobo patterns, animations and movies - the possibilities are endless. In the past, restrictive pricing meant that digital lights, when used, were specified in small numbers, which in turn restricted their creative potential. The only thing better than dynamic lighting and video effects from a digital moving head is dynamic effects from lots of them working together. With the possibility of using digital lights in greater quantity, a collage of digital lighting fixtures can now be used to make one large format projection. Up to 64 EMOTION units, for example, can seamlessly map into one large image, making more ambitious, scenic projections and displays a possibility. A third-party video capture device can also be plugged in that allows users to input and project live video inputs. Art-Net / CITP integration for media content display on a lighting console and the ability to upload custom content via CMA application software adds to the flexibility too. Digital lighting has never really fulfilled the promise and potential inherent in the technology. But today, that is changing. Today’s digital lighting is more accessible, offering all the benefits of the lighting/ video convergence, while allowing designers to do more with their budget. The next generation of digital lighting is here and it’s within reach.
The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and not necessarily of mondo*dr magazine.
Hearing does not have to be seen.
one line source two separate beams one for the gallery and one for the stalls
Why not a column that comprises 32 high performance speakers, individually driven by 32 DSP power amplifiers – with a single software interface for real time control and monitoring? And elegantly enclosed, in the slender Linea Focus Series? Economic and aesthetic: TWO BEAM TECHNOLOGY BY FOHHN – www.fohhn.com
14 INSIDE VIEW
Cirkus Arena Originally established as a circus in the 19th Century, today Cirkus is one of Stockholm’s key entertainment venues, hosting concerts, conferences, TV recordings and musical shows, including visiting Broadway shows and currently, the Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’ musical, Kristina. The venue recently expanded with the launch of a brand new building, the Skandia Scenen theatre, requiring all new equipment. The new dLive system from Allen & Heath - comprising the flagship S7000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack - was chosen because of its high bus capacity, multiple networking options, and the powerful 96kHz sampling rate.
ALLEN & HEATH For over 45 years, Allen & Heath has been at the forefront of professional sound. Renowned internationally for its British-designed, high quality products, the company has set many benchmarks in sound technology, developing industry standard products for the DJ, PA and house of worship markets, and becoming an early pioneer of digital mixing eco systems. www.allen-heath.com
The Long Center The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center, Austin’s major live entertainment venue, installed Allen & Heath’s GLD112 to give its black-box theatre an audio upgrade. The installation in the Long Center took place in the Debra and Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre, an adaptable venue with seating configurations for up to 229 visitors, which offers performers a flexible and unique environment for their productions. The Long Center itself has a variety of stages, some of which can accommodate up to 2,442 guests. The theatre has a lot of different users, many of which come in with their own operators. According the house engineer, the flexibility of the GLD-112 allows experienced and nonexperienced sound engineers to move around easily.
St Andrew’s Cathedral Singapore’s iconic St Andrew’s Cathedral recently installed two Allen & Heath’s Qu-32 compact digital mixers at FOH in its two main worship halls, replacing the existing analogue mixers. Located within the Central Business District, the Cathedral was consecrated in 1862 and declared a national monument in 1973. As a major place of worship, St Andrew’s Cathedral faces the challenge of hosting a number of different services, with a variety of musical requirements, and quick changeovers between events. The installation of 32-in / 24-out Qu-32 digital mixers in the traditional worship hall at the main building and the contemporary worship space at the extension building, has provided a solution.
www.mondodr.com
16 MONDO*DR AWARDS
THE
AWARDS The mondo*dr Awards 2016 is a new online platform to recognise the best installations in our industry from around the globe. Confirmed judging panel to include...
www.mondodr.com
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18 EX P O DIARY
1-4 MARCH www.getshow.com.cn
20-21 JULY www.tourismtechnologyasia.com 24-27 MAY www.kobashow.com
9-12 FEBRUARY www.iseurope.org
13-16 MARCH www.soundcheckexpo.com.mx
22-23 JUNE www.abtt.org.uk
8-10 JUNE www.infocommshow.org
29 FEBRUARY-3 MARCH www.prolightsound-guangzhou.com
ISE PROLIGHT+SOUND THE GET SHOW SOUND CHECK EXPO AMSTERDAM, GUANGZHOU, GUANGZHOU, MEXICO CITY, THE NETHERLANDS CHINA CHINA MEXICO
KOBA SEOUL, KOREA
INFOCOMM ORLANDO, USA
TOURISM & ABTT LONDON, TECHNOLOGY SINGAPORE UK
AFIAL PROLIGHT+SOUND INFOCOMM INFOCOMM PALM EXPO INDIA LIVE ENTERTAINMENT MADRID, & EVENT EXPO FRANKFURT, MUMBAI, BEIJING, SAO PAULO, SPAIN BRAZIL GERMANY INDIA CHINA INDIAN DJ EXPO TOKYO, JAPAN NEW DELHI, INDIA
NAMM ANAHEIM, USA
13-15 APRIL www.infocomm-china.com 28-30 MAY www.palmexpo.in
25-27 MARCH www.afial.net
21-24 JANUARY www.thenammshow.com
5-8 APRIL www.prolight-sound.com
30 JUNE-2 JULY www.indiandj.in 10 12 MAY www.infocomm.org
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6 -8 JULY www.live-event.jp
AV BA TH
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19 EX P O DIARY
20-22 JULY www.avlmthailand.com 8-13 SEPTEMBER www.ibc.org 21-23 OCTOBER www.ldishow.com
18-20 AUGUST www.globallinkmp.com
12-14 SEPTEMBER www.infocomm-india.com
16-17 NOVEMBER www.wfxweb.com
26-29 OCTOBER www.prolightsound-shanghai.com
6-8 DECEMBER www.infocomm-mea.com
AVL+M BANGKOK, THAILAND
PALMM IBC INFOCOMM INDIA MANILA, AMSTERDAM, MUMBAI, PHILIPPINES THE NETHERLANDS INDIA
INTEGRATE SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
LDI LAS VEGAS, USA
BPM / PRO PROLIGHT+SOUND PALM EXPO CHINA BIRMINGHAM, MOSCOW, BEIJING, UK RUSSIA CHINA
PROLIGHT+SOUND SHANGHAI CHINA
PLASA LONDON, UK
WFX NASHVILLE, USA
INFOCOMM COLOMBIA BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
INFOCOMM MEA DUBAI, UAE
INTERBEE TOKYO, JAPAN
JTSE PARIS, FRANCE,
11-13 OCTOBER www.infocomm.org 1-4 SEPTEMBER www.palmexpo.com
15-17 SEPTEMBER www.prolight.messefrankfurt.ru
11-13 SEPTEMBER www.visitbpm.co.uk 23-25 AUGUST www.integrate-expo.com
18-20 SEPTEMBER www.plasashow.com
www.mondodr.com
22-23 NOVEMBER www.jtse.fr 16-18 NOVEMBER www.inter-bee.com
Y G O L MORE O N H C E T G N I D L I U B T R SMA
better! e h t r o f , s s e ur busin o y r o f , u o y r o r days, f u o F – 6 1 0 2 E IS
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Discover the latest developments in smart building and smart home technology at the world’s largest gathering of AV manufacturers and service suppliers. ISE 2016 also features a one-day Smart Building Conference taking place on the day before the event opens and Show Floor Theatre presentations throughout the four-day show.
Find out more and register: www.iseurope.org ISE is a joint venture partnership of
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IN DEPTH
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INTERVIEW MARK BROWN ECLIPSE STAGING SERVICES
REPORT THEATRES & CONCERT HALLS
In the early days of entertainment technology, Mark Brown’s ‘cando’ attitude made him stand out from the crowd. Since then, he has amassed a wealth of experience, allowing him to stay at the forefront of the events industry for over 25 years. Jerry Gilbert interviewed Mark to discuss his career, from his first move into the industry with Tangerine Productions, providing lasers for HRH Prince Edward’s 21st birthday party, right through to the move to Dubai, where he is now the Group Chairman for eclipse Staging Services.
24 INT ERVIEW
When Mark Brown noticed me among the refugees in the EasyJet holding area at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, trudging back, booze-weary and visually maxed out from the 2005 ISE Show, he shouted across the concourse that he and his travelling companion, Richard Wright, had just bought a company. And so it happened that I found myself handling PR for the company concerned - the LED manufacturers, Unitek. This was typical Mark behaviour. Boosting technology resource through acquisitions of this nature may have become Mark’s stock-in trade this side of the millennium, but in our respective earlier guises - way back in the mid-80s - I had handed him the gong for Laser Grafix’s stupendous Prisma laser system at a gala event. Then in the Spring of 1991, I had also showcased the equally outré Starlaser system on the front cover of a magazine I was about to launch. This depicted Deep Purple’s Richie Blackmore proudly performing under a bold new hybrid-combining laser with conventional lighting. The fact that Starlaser’s chequered life started with Deep Purple and ended with The Chippendales (via an Elton John tour) could be seen as a metaphor for Mark Brown’s own journey through the industry. Love him or hate him, the world of entertainment technology would have been a poorer place without Mark Brown and his relentless ‘can-do’ attitude. In the farrago of early eccentrics who became the frontiersmen of our industry, Mark quickly stood out. The first time I met him, he was dressed in the authentic Darth Vader outfit that he had somehow managed to procure from 20th Century Fox after arriving at the Bloomsbury Crest Hotel’s Langham Suite for BADEM’s Discotek 82 show. He was there to promote his London-based multi-faceted sales operation, Laser Video - a company set up in the early days of threegun overhead projectors, and with the misguided belief that the laserdisc would shortly take over the world. Among the cornucopia of new was also the Laserscience laser show, I recall. As a laserist, he connects right back to the Godfather of the genre, John Wolff at Holoco, as well as his long-term friend, Andy Holmes at Laserpoint, whom he first met back in 1979. But the story begins with Tangerine Productions, which he set up at the tender age of 18. At their Shepperton Studios base, Holoco had produced the heavily-synthed - and lasered - television advert for a new beer that Allied Breweries were launching called Arctic Lite.
Now, Allied wanted to take the real thing on tour - and when Mark won a deal to tour hundreds of nightclubs and northern WMCs, he contracted Laserpoint to provide the lasers. Air-cooled 100mW argon lasers and Minimirror scanning went out to any venue with a 300+ capacity across the Tetley and Ansell’s estate - rising to 4W water-cooled lasers for the bigger venues. From there, Mark was up and running with an operation that offered everything from bubble machines to DJs, hospitality girls and all technical equipment. This was partying on steroids! “However, it was always lasers that was the real fascination for me,” he admitted. And, by the early ‘80s, he had set up Laser Video, running the operation out of Hampstead. Early successes included installing the high-profile Pink Elephant ‘fun houses’ for Adrian Webb’s Showstoppers. The first of these was a conversion of the famous Royalty soul haven in Southgate to be followed soon after in Luton, where the equally legendary Caesar’s Palace was transfigured. In February 1983, Laser Creations, with whom Mark was working, installed the 4W krypton argon laser in Luton while Laser Video specified the Barco overhead projector, JVC monitor, Hitachi VCR and the fashionable CEL Chromascope processor - a typical package during the first days of professional video in clubs. Around the same time, Laser Video also provided kit for Vince Power’s landmark, Mean Fiddler, in north west London. Mark worked with Andy Holmes at Cambridge-based Laserpoint (setting up Laserpoint London from his Hampstead base, and sub-contracting to Laser Systems), and then with Chris Matthews at Laser Creations. But, it was during the giddy days of the disco boom in the latter half of the 1980’s, after taking over Laser Grafix, that he really made his mark - at a time when every self-respecting nightclub owner believed that £20K worth of laser, the ultimate club owner’s manhood expletive, would pimp the club’s offer into the stratosphere. Laser Grafix were to influence some of Europe’s most iconic venues - replacing old laser technology at London flagships, The Hippodrome and Camden Palace. During that time, his company conjoured up several dramatic Lazarus-style comebacks. “It was full of peaks and troughs and the company had to reincarnate itself on three occasions, much to my embarrassment,” Mark admitted. A comment once made to me by the father of a famous laserist, stating that his son www.mondodr.com
• Right, from top: Mark at the Palisades launch in 2006. Mark with Simon Smith of Christie. The Disco Mirror Awards at the Hippodrome, in 1991, Mark is with Chris Rolfe (centre) and Mondiale Publishing Chairman, Damian Walsh. Mark with Ian Browne and Adrian Bell.
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was either as rich as Croesus or as poor as a church mouse, couldn’t have rung more true. “The truth is I stuck with lasers for too long. They were always the cherry on top of the cake after the essentials - lighting, sound, and video - but they were a highcost investment and in addition to the capital outlay, they required a plumber, an electrician, optical, hardware and software development engineers.” And so, after nearly two decades in an industry that had been built brick by brick by pioneers and fellow Prometheans, Mark was about to make a major step chain. And it was with a wry smile that we learnt that he had ended the old millennium by heading off to Dubai to set up Laser Grafix there. Yet, setting foot in the Emirates, and establishing the predominant event rental company, eclipse Staging Services in 2003, the furrow he has ploughed has remained straight and true. THE ROYAL BANQUET Okay, so if that’s a snapshot of Mark Brown’s early career, let’s fill in some important detail. Although needing to comply with the notorious ‘PM19’ - the Health & Safety Guidance Note governing safe use of lasers for display purposes - the burgeoning nightclub scene, inspired since 1973 by Ivan Dryer’s Laserium and later by German company Tarm’s spectacular displays, had been ever eager to embrace the new technology during those transformative days of
the early-to-mid 1980s. After selling lasers for events - firstly with Andy Holmes at Laserpoint and later as an employee of the new Laser Creations - 1985 was to see a personal highlight when Mark was selected to provide lasers for HRH Prince Edward’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle, having become the latter’s laser effects provider when he was running the May Ball Committee for Jesus College, Cambridge. The entire UK Royal Family, including HRH Princess Diana and Prince Charles were present, in addition to Jackie Stewart and Anouska Hempel. HRH Queen Elizabeth II was so impressed with his work that she invited Mark and his wife to join her for lunch on the day of Live Aid at Windsor Castle with Charles and Edward to show her appreciation. But he had become disillusioned by the time he was approached the following year by John Campbell, another former Laserpoint man. John had set up Laser Grafix in Royston in 1985, along with Gerry Leitch, Lorraine Ludman and Chris Matthews’ brother, Dave, and Laser Grafix needed a salesman. Having now worked with most of the UK’s leading laser specialists, he knew his reputation was on the line. Mark had acquired some capital through a property sale and realised it was a cash injection that Laser Grafix needed before focusing on a sales operation. “So I reached an agreement to take over the lion’s share of the business.” But there was soon a split among the hiwww.mondodr.com
• Above eclipse Staging Services winning Employer of the Year at the Middle East Event Awards in 2015.
erarchy before the company settled down under Mark’s stewardship and entered a period of stability. In its later heyday, Chris Rolph, who was with the Royston company from mid-1989 to 1995, was selling lasers into clubs at a prodigious rate - and their engineering specialists Gino and Ram Malocca were on permanent installation duty out on the club circuit. In addition to Camden Palace and the Hippodrome, they also installed lasers for Equinox Leicester Square for First Leisure and Fabrice Emaer’s outrageously camp theatre, Le Palace in Paris (another legendary venue like Camden, that had been given a major makeover by Tony Gottelier). And, as First Leisure advanced into Europe with a nightclub in Zandaam, Holland, they also bought into the revolutionary system. Camden replaced its white light laser in time for Christmas 1990. “It was the first full-colour Purelight installation with the new beam table and Laser Grafix Prisma system,” Chris Rolph remembered. This was installed in the lighting booth next to Axon Digital’s equally groundbreaking new DMX Oska lighting desk. Why had Prisma become so successful? Mark is in no doubt: “Laser Grafix were not only working with the Purelight laser head but also Lasermedia’s graphics control system, based on the Acorn Archimedes, which we redesigned to become Prisma; this had also been the graphics engine driving the Tarm lightshows.” As far back as 1986, the industry was being wowed by Lasermedia’s presentation using Ghostbusters modules to illustrate the superiority of their animated laser effects with flicker-free logos. “Lasermedia had phenomenal graphics and Prisma delivered that quality but with a live tactile controller so you could operate it live. Every major club wanted one,” said Mark. “If I had my life over again, although I would still have done lasers, I would have got out quicker. I realised much later that I had needed to diversify.” And when he did diversify, in 1990, it was another massive play - although it still involved lasers. Equally significant was the fact that it introduced him to Martin Lubach, who two years ago became eclipse Staging Services’ General Manager. “Martin was development technician for Tasco, working with the Starlite moving head - the only alternative to Vari-Lite at that time. I had been invited to a party at Tasco HQ and remember that [Tasco MD] Joe Browne needed something to differentiate himself,” recalled Mark. Starlaser was the result - a hybrid moving
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• Above Laser Grafix providing the lasers for the London Eye in 1999.
light and laser forced down a single projector barrel. Starlite had been a Tasco subsidiary and funding for the project was achieved through 3i venture capital before the operation was purchased by Dave Snipp and Ray French, along with Brown, under the newly named Starlite Systems Technology. “I owned it with them for a grand total of nine weeks,” recalled Mark. “But since they didn’t really need a salesman they bought out my interest. It was a fantastic product but I had already fallen out with Joe Browne and was fairly depressed with the whole situation.” Subsequently, a similar light and laser combination called Nexus, which was engineered to go into High End Systems Intellabeam, was still born. Picaresque stories abound as to the reasons why, but
THE MOVE TO DUBAI Over in the Gulf, Mark would replace his old laser chums with an accomplished band of fellow emigrés. The person largely responsible for Mark setting up a new base in Dubai was Simon Ransom, who at the time was GM for Gearhouse Dubai - the company set up by Steve Lakin in the mid-90s. In 1999, Laser Grafix were hired by Simon for a high-profile event. The visit also put him back in contact with former colleague, Lorraine Ludman, who was running DLC Dubai (a diminution of the Definitive Laser Company that she had helped to set up after leaving Laser Grafix). Having left Gearhouse, which had gone through several iterations before being taken over by PRG, Simon undertook
Jahili Fort in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, Laser Grafix / eclipse also claimed the FIFA World Congress and the launch of Dubailand among their credits. Mark also worked with Adrian Bell, who had run the Vari-Lite Production Services’ Middle East office in Dubai (1998-99) before it was acquired by Steve Lakin under his new Protec operation. After Protec, Adrian and Mark worked in LED installations and media management systems. Another important figure in the process leading to the formation of eclipse was Peter McCann. He had become MD of Gearhouse Arabia, which was subsequently sold in 2014 to become PRG Gearhouse. Needing a Western supply company, it was he who recommended Mark set up a rental company. The final piece in the jigsaw was Morten Carlsson (owner of Procon MultiMedia), an original Starlite customer, who had also shown interest in Starlaser. “Without him eclipse would never have got off the ground,” noted Mark. Both Adrian and another old name from the past, Andy Holmes, along with Mark, thus became founding directors of the new eclipse Staging Services in 2003. Andy was also to be a catalyst in the brief takeover of Unitek Displays Ltd and Unitek Holdings Ltd by Mark and former Laserpoint man, Richard Wright, two years later - in the Spring of 2005. This was an opportunity to push further into the LED display business after Mark had made his LED baptism by supplying a Gearhouse Optoscreen, one of the first
“Laser Grafix’s final show of 1999 was the laser used for the River of Fire opposite the BA London Eye - turned on by Tony Blair and one of the four best international news shots for the start of the new millenium. By this time, though, Mark was in Dubai.” Mark believes it followed an incident in a popular local industry restaurant in Rimini during the SIB Show, after which he operated under the sobriquet of ‘Ice Bucket Brown’ for several years. Laser Grafix’s final show of 1999 was the laser used for the River of Fire opposite the BA London Eye - turned on by Tony Blair and one of the four best international news shots for the start of the new millennium. By this time, though, Mark was in Dubai.
project director roles of unimaginable proportions - often pulling in Laser Grafix and later eclipse. Aside from his role as Technical Director of KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), he was heavily involved in the celebrated launch of Atlantis Resort Hotel at the Palm Jumeirah, as well as the UAE 40th National Day celebration with eclipse, which took place on a monstrous scale, with macro projections at the twin sites of the Grand Mosque and Al www.mondodr.com
of the genre, to Star City in Birmingham. The company had been owned by Richard and Graham Nye, whose background had been in LED road signs and who had no real appetite to remain in the entertainment industry, believes Mark. “I funded a company with Brett Salmon, a former Laser Grafix employee who had an office in China - and this had resulted in me giving Unitek a major order for a town square in Nanjing,” said Mark. Unitek’s original rental business
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had been sold to Creative Technology, but they had invested in CRT projection technology. “And I don’t think had realised how big LED would become in rentals,” he continued. “They did a deal to take on the rental side of the business for five years, leaving Unitek free only to manufacture and sell; I had come in towards the end of that five-year exclusion period.” And the focus of Unitek’s sales mission was largely shopping centres. It should have been a match made in heaven but Mark was soon forced to place the company into liquidation after the non-fulfillment of several high profile deals - including a prospective arrangement with Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone in which Mark had invested enormous faith. However, this fell through after a meeting set up at the Belgium Grand Prix was aborted. During this period, Adrian had been fronting eclipse, but Mark felt the Dubai company was starting to turn more into a production company, rather than a rental one and therefore in danger of competing with its own customers. The two men had different ideas about how the company should be positioned, and so Mark bought out his partner’s stake. Today he is CEO and chairman of the eclipse Group. With Darren Hodge doing a sterling job as eclipse’s General Manager prior to Martin Lubach’s arrival, the CEO sensed they needed to build up inventory. “We didn’t have much equipment so I went to Martin Professional to help and they gave me favourable credit terms. We bought great products like the MAC 2000 the LC 2140 Plus LED panels and MAC Vipers. But we felt Martin Professional lost their way a bit after that and Clay Paky started
• Above A recent addition to the eclipse line-up, eclipse Venue Services, provides a unique 24/7 onsite technical support for hotels and venues. It took on the Italian Cuisine World Summitt at the JW Marriott.
bringing out great products like Alpha Beam 1500, Sharpy / SuperSharpy and now Mythos. Christie has also been extremely supportive so we have also invested heavily in them.” Looking at their inventory today, by whatever metric you use, eclipse Staging Services has grown to become one of the largest in-house suppliers of audiovisual rental in the Middle East. With itsrecently-acquired d&b PA rig, it now have full capability in lighting, video and sound, as well as full staging capabilities - all of which were on show at the recent Dubai Music Week. Today, its fleet includes more than 30 front-line audio consoles, 650 loudspeakers and amplifiers, over 100 lighting consoles and 1,500 each of intelligent and conventional lighting fixtures, as well as 80 high powered projectors, more than 1,000 LED tiles and enough pyro and special effects to stage productions on the largest scale - with all the necessary infrastructure. To harness the growth, this summer, the company added to its existing facility in Dubai Investment Park (DIP), taking possession of six additional warehouses located adjacent to the current site, effectively tripling both warehouse and workspace capacity. STRATEGIC ACQUISITIONS But it has been the past two years that has really seen the acceleration go into overdrive, with a number of strategic acquisitions and partnerships - superintended by a group staff roster now touching 140 personnel. Last month, eclipse Staging Services announced the signing of a landmark rental www.mondodr.com
partnership with Faber Audiovisuals whereby it will act as the exclusive Middle East rental partner for the European provider of LED screens. It had already bought Nocturnal Communications from sound specialist, Nick Chapman, when the latter wanted to return to South Africa. “This gave us radio communications and mules, the all terrain vehicles which helps onsite logistics with sound and lighting,” said Mark. Meanwhile, Mark’s stepson, Arran Hopkins, who was running Laser Grafix, had been moving further into special effects, working with Sameer Rahman who subsequently set up Flair SFX & Production with eclipse as its partner. This growth also resulted in the investment in another special effects company, Stage FX, which was already operating in the regional market providing large-scale effects for both indoor and outdoor events. “We now have a majority of the special FX market in the Middle East,” declared Mark. In fact, Laser Grafix has remained active throughout - with a UK operation in Bedfordshire, which is run by Mark’s brother-in-law Toby MacKnight. The company has recently developed the Starbeam laser (a throwback to the old ‘Star’ prefix), which has been out on a number of high-profile tours. Meanwhile, another member of the Brown family dynasty, daughter Jemma Joy, is Special Assistant to Simon Ransom, who took on the role of Group COO in 2013 after working as a management consultant to Mark for the previous two years. “I wanted her to understand the business from the floor up,” said Simon. “She has the education and the knowledge of the client side to be a great asset and she is the heir apparent! With Mark approaching 60, we needed her to be an integral part of the business continuity plan.” Another recent but already successful start-up has been eclipse Venue Services, , which provides a unique 24/7 on-site technical support for hotels and venues. “This has grown quickest - three months ago we had two venues and now we are at eight venues contracted,” said Mark. “This was intended to make us the largest player in this region.” However, one initiative that Mark had been so positive about when I’d met him in Dubai back in 2012 was the prospect of setting up bases across the UAE to serve the growing markets. “But in the end we decided against it and I’m glad we did,” he admitted. “The market hit the skids during the terrible property collapse, from 2009-11, and although
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30 INT ERVIEW
• Above Creamfields at Du Arena, Abu Dhabi in 2014.
we prospered through it, the volume of business in Saudi, Kuwait and Qatar can be serviced equally well from here.” Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that Mark’s supreme passion for lasers is now equalled by his passion in investment in education for future generations. “It’s my chief ambition,” he confirmed. “We have completed an internship partnership with Rose Bruford, SAE and the University of South Wales - and now have six interns working with us. “We have also partnered with EMDI [Dubai’s EMDI Institute of Media and Communication] to provide its students with an introduction to the technical and business side of the live events industry and are sponsors of the Eventice competition alongside the Event Show. We were able to offer two jobs to successful applicants due to the high level of proficiency, placing one in eclipse Venue Services and the other in eclipse Staging Services.” This investment in the next generation workforce is already paying off, as eclipse Staging Services Project Manager, Tom Ralston, has already been named the Middle East Event Industry’s Young
Achiever for 2014. Mark himself won Outstanding Contribution to the event industry in the region, while eclipse Staging Services were named the Middle East Event Industry’s Employer of the Year 2015. But there is no sign of complacency and his mission today doesn’t stop there. In his drive to make eclipse an increasingly ethical and environmentally aware company, Mark is taking every opportunity to raise standards generally across the region. To exemplify this, the eclipse Group is the first event industry technical production company to employ a full time, NEBOSH-qualified in-house Group Health, Safety and Environment Manager, to promote a positive health and safety culture throughout the businesses. Hardly surprisingly, this activity has resulted in a 30% year on year increase in turnover - or to enumerate it by Simon Ransom’s metric, “In the last five years we have quadrupled the size of our turnover and our margins and profit have followed. We have gone from two companies to five and one of these will grow 60% this year.” Will there be any let up in 2016? Not www.mondodr.com
if Mark has any say, with his ‘can-do’ attitude. “We’re now looking at pushing out into the installation market,” he confirmed, as if this remains the final frontier. But this also comes spiked with caveats. “Next year we can expect the general climate to be more challenging. Local banks say the allowance for bad debt provision is rising, the price of real estate is uncertain and the oil price remains an issue,” he said with foreboding. But with the wise head of his COO, Simon - together with processes and procedures espoused by General Manager Martin Lubach, from his days at Essential Lighting and later PRG - there are steady hands on the eclipse tiller. In other words some of that old Mark rogue energy is today firmly harnessed. And with age, Mark himself has naturally replaced the cavalier persona with the corporate. “I’m still loving what I’m doing but I’m coming up to 60 and I’m told I should start to slow down a bit,” he admitted. But despite the succession plan, given the eclipse Group’s present momentum, it would be brave man who bets on Mark applying the brakes any time soon.
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A round-up of the latest performance venues from every corner of the world, featuring partial upgrades to audio, lighting or visual technology, as well as full inventory installations for new theatrical spaces. OPÉ RA BAST I LLE COMPANY: FOHHN LOCATION: PARIS, FRANCE
The recent installation of a new loudspeaker system in the world-famous Opéra Bastille, Paris, raised the bar in terms of both sound coverage requirements and architectural integration. Inaugurated in 1989, France’s national opera house is a vast complex with stunning architectural features, acclaimed staging facilities, workshops for scene building, costumes and props, plus offices and rehearsal rooms. At its heart is the main concert hall. A 45-metre high main stage has state-of-the-art scenery lifts for creating different levels. A hidden orchestra pit accommodates 130 musicians. The 20-metre by 32-metre by 40-metre auditorium seats audiences of 2,745 on three levels - stalls and two main balconies, as well as eight side balconies. Acoustically, these main balconies pose a challenge as each one covers the seating directly below. Placing loudspeakers level with the seating does not guarantee even coverage of every row. With the top tier 18-metres high and 40-metres from the stage, providing optimum sound coverage for the highest levels of speech intelligibility and music reproduction in every seat,
without spoiling the architecture or impeding audience views, requires a system that can deliver on a number of different levels. Following a loudspeaker shootout involving several companies, German manufacturer Fohhn was given the task of fulfilling this difficult brief. Assisted by its French distributor, Rock Audio Distribution, and system integrator Silence. Fohhn engineers planned, simulated and ultimately commissioned the new system using the company’s Famsa measurement system to ensure best possible results. The decision to use loudspeakers equipped with Fohhn’s state-of-the art beam steering technology killed two birds with one stone. Firstly, it could eradicate any acoustic problems caused by the balconies and secondly, the systems’ slim, compact dimensions would ensure excellent sound quality while blending unobtrusively into the hall’s interior. Focus Modular systems were selected to provide precise, high-quality coverage of both the main part of the hall and the balconies. At each side of the stage, a www.mondodr.com
7.48-metres column comprising five loudspeaker modules was installed. A stack of three FM-400 low-mid modules forms the column’s centre, with high frequency FM-110 modules top and bottom. The individually generated beams from each loudspeaker - one from the top FM-110, two each from the FM-400 modules and two from the lower FM-110 - can effectively cover all seating areas without spoiling the view. This main system is supplemented on both sides of the hall by passive Linea LX series loudspeakers, driven by D-4.1200 amplifiers. The amplifiers’ DSP enable frequency response and run time adjustments to be made, therefore optimising the LX systems in relation to the main system and the room architecture. One LX-150 is installed level with the second of four side balconies. Another is level with the stalls. An LX-100 is deployed at the level of the third highest balcony. The aluminium housing of these slim systems has been colour-matched to the ventilation ducts on which they are mounted to harmonise with the interior. Two active, high powered, Perform-Series PS-9 sub-
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woofers provide impressive levels of bass reproduction in the hall. Clad and hidden from view at the side of the stage, each electronically steerable 21-inch 8,500W system has the same capability as four conventional 18-inch subwoofers, providing extremely precise and powerful sound reproduction in the 28Hz -110Hz frequency range. Four active LX-10 ASX compact loudspeakers, belonging to Fohhn’s AIREA-Series, provide supplementary sound coverage for each of the highest side balconies. These can be individually adjusted and time-aligned. The wiring of these systems simply involves a single CAT cable on each side - as opposed to conventional passive systems that require their own individual cables. Two further LX-10 ASX systems are used to cover the lowest side balconies. An AIREA AM-20 Master module serves as the central digital interface for these loudspeakers. All digital audio signals and control signals, as well as 48V power, can be transmitted using a single network cable. This has significantly reduced the costs that would have been incurred wiring 10 systems
and connecting them, via 1-2km of copper cable, to amplifiers in the building’s basement. Installing the Fohhn loudspeaker system proved comparatively stress free for the team, as seen from the control rack situated in the opera house’s basement. The entire installation has required just a single rack with only seven of its spaces occupied - as opposed to the six racks needed for the previous system. Controlling the new sound system is equally straightforward. All the active loudspeakers and amplifiers have been incorporated into a Fohhn-Net network. Various functions on each of these devices can be controlled using a single piece of software – Fohhn Audio Soft. Whether digital amplifiers, AIREA system components, or Focus Modular systems with their electronically steerable beam characteristics, all adjustments can be made in real time as required. Most importantly, using Fohhn Audio Soft has created a secure and highly efficient working environment for the Opéra Bastille’s sound technicians. As well as sound quality, ease of installation / operawww.mondodr.com
tion, reduced space, power and cabling requirements, the new audio system’s visual integration has also been highly successful. Loudspeakers are mounted flat against walls and ventilation pipes, or ingeniously hidden behind panelling, causing audience members to ask where the superb sound is coming from. This installation also required far fewer loudspeakers than the previous system. Philippe Taberlet, Technical Director of the Opéra Bastille, is delighted, he said: “We wanted to change our PA system, but it was important not to spoil the hall’s beautiful architecture by having large stacks of loudspeakers everywhere. Then we discovered Fohhn. The Focus Modular systems have proved perfect for achieving high quality reproduction of music and voices, with their Beam Steering technology providing impressive, direct coverage possibilities. What’s more, the speakers have integrated perfectly into the hall’s interior, leaving its ‘look’ untouched. We’re happy.” www.fohhn.com
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SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL
Image by Ludo des Cognets
COMPANY: STAGE ELECTRICS LOCATION: LONDON, UK
www.mondodr.com
Shoreditch Town Hall has been at the heart of the London borough that it was built to serve for 140 years. Since 2002, the Grade II listed building has enjoyed a renewed lease of life, the latest phase of which has been a new sound and lighting system in its Assembly Hall, designed and installed by Stage Electrics. Built as a landmark centre of civic life, the Town Hall is home to a busy year round programme of events and live performance, from contemporary theatre and dance, to conferences and corporate dinners, film shoots to exhibitions. Since Director Nick Giles’ appointment in October 2011, £2.1m has been raised and invested in the building, allowing for important restoration work and technical upgrades to take place. A recent initiative has been to bring the building’s Assembly Hall back into full use by restoring the balcony, including reinstalling the seating which had been removed in the 1960’s. With the hall now accommodating up to 750 guests, the latest phase of this project saw the provision of a sound reinforcement system for the first time, as well as fully dismountable rigging and lighting - allowing the space to be returned to its original dry state as required. “I know Stage Electrics very well, I have an excellent working relationship with Technical Sales Consultant Paul Roughton built over a number of years, when I was a freelance engineer, which is one that I value. So they were the natural choice to approach when we needed a new audio system,” said Ian Moore, the venue’s Head of Production. Working with Paul, Ian looked at a number of systems. EM Acoustics offered the best value for money and its solution fully realised the technical capacity of the space. It includes a flown L-C-R system, each array comprising six Halo C with Halo C Master flying grids. These are complemented by two EMS118 subwoofers, three EMS61 front fills, eight EMS81X balcony side fills and four MC12 stage monitors. The system is powered by four DQ20 four channel amplifiers. For mixing, a compact Yamaha QL1 digital mixing console and Rio3224-D i/o unit was supplied. “The system needed to be small enough to store out of the Assembly Hall if needed, not too cumbersome to allow quick build / get out and to be portable between spaces if needed. To assist with this, we also supplied pole mounts, to allow the Halo C to be mounted above the subs in different spaces, when required,” said Paul. Stage Electrics also supplied a lighting system comprising a full lantern package made up of Avolites T4 48-way dimmer rack, ETC Ion control desk complete with touring Net3 Node and all cabling, rigging and power distribution and ex-hire lights completing the package. An historic, and in Shoreditch Town Hall’s case a Grade II listed, building always throws up challenges for modern production infrastructure. In this case great care needed to be taken to route cables in existing runs, to ensure that the building’s historic appearance was not compromised. “Acoustically the Assembly Hall was a tricky space because there is a lot of beautiful, but highly reflective marble. Some acoustic dampening work has been carried out recently, and the sound is carefully managed to achieve focus. With careful set up and assistance from the Stage Electrics team, we have achieved a very nice sounding room,” said Ian. “We’re now using the balcony in the way it was intended for the first time in many years, which is rewarding. We have already done a few shows with the new system and there has been a lot of really great feedback about how good the sound is. It’s going to be very exciting to see the space come into its own now that it can operate fully as a performance venue.”
www.stage-electrics.co.uk
36 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
G RA N D T H E AT R E O F THE N ATIO N A L O P E RA COMPANY: YAMAHA LOCATION: WARSAW, POLAND
Opened in 1833 and rebuilt after its near-destruction during the Second World War, Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa (TWON, the Grand Theatre of the National Opera) in Warsaw, Poland, has the largest stage in Europe. Measuring 36.5-metres by 35-metres and with a volume of 38,000 sq metres, the size of the stage has contributed to many sound-related issues. To overcome them, a Yamaha AFC3 system was chosen for one of the largest acoustic enhancement installations in the world, designed and realised by a true team effort. Problems in the Stanislaw Moniuszko Auditorium included poor communication between singers and the orchestra pit, as well as upstage singers being insufficiently audible in the 1,800-seat auditorium. The building’s design also contributed to problems such as insufficient reverberation for some productions and early reflections from above being blocked by the balconies. To overcome these issues, the venue commissioned one of the largest Yamaha AFC3 systems so far installed, which includes over 200 loudspeakers, 36 microphones, 28 power amplifiers and seven DSP engines. The project was a close collaboration between Yamaha Commercial Audio, acoustics consultant Gorycki & Sznyterman and AFC tuning partners M.Ostrowski and Audile Electroacoustics AB. Because of the system’s complexity, its tuning was aided by Takayuki Watanabe, Shinichi Sawara and Hideo Miyazaki of the spatial audio division at Yamaha Japan. They delivered
a system that gives the venue both excellent and highly adaptable acoustics. Despite the system’s scale, this was not the main challenge for the design and installation team. The main goal of acoustic enhancement systems in concert halls is usually an increase in the reverberation time but, in this case, the system’s main goals were to improve the communication between the huge stage and the orchestra pit, as well as improving the presence of upstage singers for the audience. This is usually achieved with a sound reinforcement system, but a conventional PA is undesirable in classical music and opera, so an acoustic enhancement approach was needed. Early reflections were used to improve the stage communication in a purely acoustic way, to achieve as natural a response as possible. Because of the size of the stage and the fact that the microphones and speakers could not be mounted in places where they interrupted sightlines, the distances between the performers and the microphones and speakers remain large, with the early reflections available for enhancement very limited. This proved a challenge in designing the system. “Acoustic communication uses the ‘precedence effect’ (also known as the Haas Effect) - in other words, the early reflections increase the perceived loudness, but not the direct sound level,” said Takayuki Watanabe, Senior AFC3 Engineer at Yamaha. “In this case, the reflections available for enhancement were roughly between 50ms and 80ms at relatively low levels, so it www.mondodr.com
was difficult to achieve the improvements in communication utilising only the outmost boundaries of the precedence threshold. We are very proud to have achieved an excellent result and presented a paper at the 138th AES convention held in Warsaw in June that explains the results in detail.” The basic tuning of this large and complex system was achieved in only a few days, but fine-tuning took place over a longer period, during rehearsals for The Merchant of Venice. “We had experience in tuning systems for opera houses, but this one was really exceptional - not only because of the scale and complexity, but also because of the requirements of the performers,” said Mikael Collin, AFC3 Tuning Engineer at Audile. “We spent many days during the rehearsals fine-tuning the stage acoustics by psychoacoustic analysis… a scientific term for ‘listening’. The balance between the orchestra pit, up and down stage, upstage and audience are all taken care of by AFC3 sub-systems in an inter-dependent way, so any adjustment in one system has consequences for the others.” He continued: “This is basically the same as tuning architectural acoustics using wall materials or reflection panels; the only difference is that we were using microphones, speakers and DSP to achieve the enhancement. As a result, we provided a number of presets for opera, concerts and ballet, with a specially designed user interface on an iPad which allows the opera technicians to recall them and, if necessary, fine
37 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
tune the system themselves. “Of course the decision of using the system and finely-adjusting the system’s parameters always lies in the hands of the conductor, so we made a great effort to train the opera’s technical staff and to inform visiting conductors about its benefits.” Another challenge presented by such a vast opera stage was the handling of scenery. This can be huge, sometimes with roofs and it can block the stage communication. To overcome this, a mobile enhancement system comprising up to 40 loudspeakers and eight microphones was built to be installed inside the scenery whenever large sets are used. Used in addition to the main house system, this restores the enhancement and meant that the system had to be designed and tuned for every set design. “The mobile system had no precedent; up to now acoustic enhancement systems have always been fixed, with the speakers and microphones never changing position,” said Gzregorz Snyterman, acoustic consultant at Gorycki & Sznyterman. “Here, the opera insisted that the system should work equally well whatever staging was used, so after long discussions we agreed to provide a mobile sub-system, but under strict quality protocols to ensure that high audio quality would be maintained. Since the design and tuning of an acoustic enhancement system is completely different to that of conventional sound reinforcement systems, the agreed protocol included it having to be carried out exclusively by the Polish AFC3 tuning partner M.Ostrowski, leaving the fine tuning of the sub-systems, including the mobile system, to the opera’s technical staff.” The Yamaha AFC3 system is not the first acoustic enhancement system to have been installed in the Grand Theatre; a Philips multi-channel reverb (MCR) system had been installed in the 1960s, using some of the craters in the ceiling’s ‘moonscape’. The AFC3 system re-used these locations for the hall reverberation while, many speakers were installed behind grilles and architectural ornaments to remain invisible to the audience. “Integrating and installing AFC3 in such a historical venue was a big challenge,” said Lukasz Tobola, Technical Director at M. Ostrowski. “We had to install around 180 loudspeakers, including wiring, with each speaker connected to individual amplifier channels. Installing so many loudspeakers and microphones with around 10km of cables is a challenge on its own, but in this project everything was required to be hidden from the audience - nothing was allowed to be seen from any audience seat. It was a very challenging installation, working closely with the theatre’s conservation officer to make it perfect.” AFC3 systems are designed to enhance a venue’s acoustics perfectly, so the audience never notices their effect - the hall will just sound
perfect. The only time a concert-goer would experience the workings of the system is if it’s turned off during a performance, but that normally never happens, only at the occasional demonstration. However, the benefit for the performers on stage and in the orchestra is huge - supporting the communications between musicians and creating perfect acoustic ‘ensemble conditions’. This in turn improves the performances and enhances the audience experience - through better acoustics and performances. Many years of performing in both their home theatre and at other venues worldwide make members of the TWON Orchestra ideally situated to comment on the acoustic improvements that the AFC3 system has made to the Moniuszko Auditorium stage. “For many years the poor acoustics of the hall made it difficult for artists to be able to feel a part of one ‘body of music’ and impossible for the audience to hear the masterpieces in a uniform way. The task was even more difficult, in particular, for musicians playing in the orchestra pit, where sound propagation was truly distorted. Hearing the soloist on stage and each other was sometimes impossible,” said TWON Orchestra Inspector, Grzegorz Żelazko. “All these problems have disappeared as if by magic, thanks to enormous flexibility of the AFC3 system. The acoustics of the hall can now be adapted to any type of music in a totally discreet, very efficient way. Sound capabilities, previously limited by the rigid structure of building, are now available to the musicians who can freely create spatial acoustics according to their musical imagination.” Iza Klosinska is one of the world’s highest achieving sopranos, performing over 50 different roles in opera houses across the globe and winning many awards has been the casting director at TWON and is a coach at the National Opera’s vocal academy. “One of my main roles is to prepare guest artists for the acoustic environment at TWON,” she said. “Previously performances were associated with acoustic discomfort, thanks to the lack of appropriate balance between orchestra and soloists and lack of acoustically reflective surfaces. It also made moving around the stage problematic from a hearing perspective. “The situation changed drastically after the AFC3 system was installed. Now there is a feeling of a homogenous, natural sound and artists feel tightly integrated with the performance of the musicians. They now also hear natural, dynamic differences in the sound as they move around. “In my opinion the Moniuszko stage now guarantees the acoustic comfort for all artists, whether they are local or world-class performers.” www.yamahacommercialaudiosystems.com www.mondodr.com
38 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
THE QUAYS T H E ATR E COMPANY: ADLIB LOCATION: SALFORD, UK
Roger Kirby, along with the in-house design and installations team at Liverpool, UK-based Adlib have worked their magic again with a brand new L-Acoustics installation in The Quays Theatre at The Lowry in Salford Quays. The 440-capacity Quays Theatre is a fully flexible performance space used for staging drama, comedy and a variety of music events, and was upgrading its sound system for the first time since The Lowry complex opened in April 2000. The upgrade project was coordinated for the theatre by Dave Woodward, the Head of Technical Services. For Adlib, the process started with detailed discussions with Dave and the in-house theatre technicians. It was established that the new system needed to handle spoken word applications just as well as amplified music for gigs and concerts. Following a detailed site survey and acoustic modelling along with detailed listening tests, the introduction of a distributed L-Acoustics solution was then proposed mainly for its coherence, rich-tone, and admirable power handling capabilities, explained Roger. To fully optimise the system in the theatre, loudspeaker placement required some creativity and this is where Adlib’s knowledge of the L-Acoustics product range along with their broad experience installing sound solutions in a variety of busy performance venues is invaluable. A total of six 12XTi’s installed close to the proscenium line make up the core stereo system on all three levels,
they work in conjunction with four 8XTs with the first pair of 8’s deployed for coverage across the nearfield stalls seating and a second pair providing ‘delayed’ sound coverage for the side-tier stalls seating towards the rear corners of the auditorium. A hang of L-Acoustics ARCS WIFO loudspeakers has also been introduced in the centre of the proscenium arch. The ARCS Focus system is optimised for medium throw scenarios and works perfectly here. The hang compromises of a single SB18 sub at the top of the array with four ARCS Focus loudspeakers below. This provides excellent coverage to approximately three quarters of the seated audience on both tier one and tier two levels. The bottom two ARCS FOCUS loudspeakers are directed to provide smooth coverage to the centre and rear of the ground level stalls seating. The low frequency capabilities of the XTi series are superb however to extend the lower bass & sub frequency capabilities of the system four SB18m Subs have been introduced with a pair located at each side downstage of the proscenium. The loudspeakers are driven and controlled with a combination of LA8 and LA4 L-Acoustics proprietary amplifiers which have been installed in the main legacy sound & communications racks. LA-Network manager allows the operating sound engineers complete control and optimisation of each individual loudspeaker within the installed system. Finally, for live events requiring higher impact sound coverage at increased sound pressure levels, four ARCS www.mondodr.com
II loudspeakers compliment the system, these form conventional L-R PA stacks with the four repositioned SB18ms. At Dave’s request, Adlib engineers re-used as much of the original system infrastructure as was physically possible. This included redeploying a number of loudspeakers circuits that had previously seen limited use due to their original placement. The timeframe for the installation was relatively tight - two weeks to get everything installed and commissioned - although by no means the most pressured that Adlib has encountered - the operation was carried out with the usual Adlib efficiency and there has been good feedback from the in house technicians who are impressed with the solution. “We really enjoy working in impressive multi-purpose theatre spaces like The Quays. The natural acoustics of the theatre are fantastic and the resulting coverage and overall balance throughout the theatre is very impressive,” commented Roger. Dave Woodward concluded: “Working closely with Adlib to achieve a flexible system that provides good coverage for everything, from amplified spoken word and theatre sound effects to full production music gigs within a tight budget has been both trouble free and very rewarding. The team and I are all very happy with the results and are receiving excellent reports on the system and sound quality now available in the space with house equipment from our venue clients and audiences.” www.adlib.co.uk
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COMPANY: ALCONS LOCATION: NYBROPLAN, SWEDEN Founded in 1788 and occupying an impressive Art Noveau building in Nybroplan, Stockholm since 1908, the Royal Dramatic Theatre - or Dramaten - is Sweden’s National Theatre. After several years of renting Alcons loudspeakers for events, the theatre has installed a permanent system in its main space. Dramaten has five stages, with the décor of the 770-capacity main stage maintained as close as possible to when the building opened, so the new audio system had to be compact yet deliver very high quality sound. “Through regularly renting Alcons systems, such as VR8, VR12 and LR7 for various events, Dramaten already knew the quality that Alcons delivers. They also installed Alcons SR9 low profile loudspeakers for front fills several years ago,” said Swedish audio specialist, Electrosound’s Brollan Söderström. “When it became time to replace the main system in the main stage, Dramaten asked me to do a full-scale site demonstration. I chose Alcons LR7 and LR7B as the best solution, because it fulfilled all their needs and delivered the added benefits of better coverage and sound quality.” The micro-sized design and weight saving all-Neodymium drivers of a combined LR7 / LR7B system makes it very easy to handle. In addition, eight Alcons VR12 two-way, compact loudspeakers were installed as fills and monitors. The system is powered by five Alcons ALC Sentinel 3 amplified loudspeaker controllers. The Sentinel 3 is a powerful four-channel, DSP-based controller with Class-D amplifier stages, designed to get the absolute maximum performance out of Alcons pro-ribbon systems. “The Alcons system has increased the overall sound quality, but from a system that is smaller than the previous one,” concluded Brollan. “The theatre is very happy with the LR7 solution.”
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40 R EP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
NA NJIN G P OLY GRA N D THE ATR E COMPANY: KLING & FREITAG LOCATION: NANJING, CHINA
The Nanjing Poly Grand Theatre is the new landmark of Nanjing and a centrepiece of the Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre. The very impressive and modern group of buildings was designed by the wellknown architect, Zaha Hadid. Inside the building complex, there are two concert halls, which are each used for the widest variety of activities, ranging from musicals, concerts and events. The main hall is the Grand Theatre, which, with 2,181 seats is the larger of the two halls. Its stage has a width of 24-metres, and including the area of the two rear side stages, there is a total stage area of over 800 sq metres. The audience area extends from the stage to almost 40-metres into the depth of the hall, which, for
acoustic reasons, also becomes wider towards the back, as is typical in theatre. The sloped seating and upper tier reaches a total height of 24-metres. The somewhat smaller hall has a total of 505 seats and a stage measuring 280 sq metres. This multifunctional hall is used for smaller concerts, artistic performances and various events. Shanghai MYC Technology, Kling & Freitag’s distributor for China, Hong Kong and Macau has installed loudspeaker systems in both halls. In the main hall there are 20 SEQUENZA 10 N full-range elements and six SEQUENZA 10 B subwoofers split evenly left and right of the stage. To enable directional multitrack scenes, MYC concealed various loudspeakers in the walls and ceiling of the hall. Systems from the
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K&F ACCESS series were also installed to the left, at the centre and to the right as L-C-R channels. An additional four NOMOS CLC subwoofers can then be positioned at the edge of the stage to expand the low frequency range should a particular performance require it. Systems from the SEQUENZA 10 Series also feature in the multifunctional hall to provide stereo sound. A combination of six SEQUENZA 10 full-range elements and three SEQUENZA 10 B subwoofers have been installed on each side. Following several acoustic measurements and simulations, the decision was taken to use the three subwoofers on each side as a cardioid system. Both halls will accommodate almost 25 SystemRacks
for the loudspeakers, consisting of the K&F SystemController CD44 and four-channel SystemAmps. The complete control technology is housed in separate and adequately ventilated technical rooms. For the opening of the theatre, Shanghai MYC Technology organised a spectacular show in cooperation with the China Stage Art Association, which was attended by a number of representatives from professional companies of the Chinese pro-audio sector, as well as industry and planning companies.
The objective was to demonstrate the high level of sound and room acoustics which was unprecedented in this form. From the diverse reactions in the audience, it was clear that the show was impressive indeed. After the show, there was outstanding praise for the sound quality in the halls and it was clear that this was an acoustic highlight in Nanjing in the field of Chinese theatre.
www.kling-freitag.de
42 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
HA A LOGALAN D T H E ATR E COMPANY: DIGICO LOCATION: TROMSO, NORWAY
When Haalogaland Theatre in Tromso in the NordNorge, the northernmost region of Norway, needed to upgrade its digital mixing system, it looked for the most flexible platform for theatre use. Its final decision was to invest in DiGiCo, purchasing an SD7T, an SD10-24T, two SD-Racks and five Orange Boxes, along with five Optocore boxes. “We needed a large format digital console for the main stage, and a smaller digital console for our touring district, and both of them had to work with the same show files,” explained Jim-Oddvar Hansen, Head of Sound at Haalogaland Theatre. “Our touring district is one of the most demanding areas in the world, located in north Norway, well north of the Arctic Circle. In fact, one of the places we visit is North Cape and the town of Honningsvaag, Europe’s most northern point. Our consoles need to be able to stand up to the demands placed on them.” Jim-Oddvar and his team tested all brands and platforms. They then went into a long tender process where they specified a clear list of how many consoles, channels, I/O boxes, digital transmissions, etc, they required, based on what they were going to need for the future. “I had contacted Jim-Oddvar previously and he told me that they were in the process of deciding what mixer the theatre should invest in this year,” recalled
Asbjorn Boyesen, Pro Audio Sales at Scandec Systemer AS, DiGiCo’s Norwegian distributor. “I caught a plane right away and visited Jim-Oddvar at their facilities.” A week or so after his initial visit, Asbjorn, Jim-Oddvar and his colleague Dagfinn travelled to DiGiCo’s head office in the UK to have a closer look at the SD7. “A demo from Autograph’s Andrew Bruce on the theatre specific T software was included, as well as a visit to the show Made In Dagenham,” said Asbjorn. “When the tender came out in June, one could read between the lines what they wished for.” “We made a preliminary visits to all the manufacturers of digital consoles,” added Jim-Oddvar. “Our visit to DiGiCo was definitely one to remember. We had great service from DiGiCo’s Tim Shaxson and his team. For me, the highlight of the visit was to meet Andrew Bruce at his company, Autograph Sound, where we had a very exciting time. I have to thank Andrew for spending the time with us.” At the end of the process, Scandec won against sharp competition and the theatre purchased the SD7T, SD10–24T, two SD-Racks, five Orange Boxes and five Optocore boxes - which includes two X6R-FX with 16 mic input each, two V3R with eight analogue out and 16 AES3 I/O each, as well as a DD4MR FX with two MADI streams of I/O and an Aviom D-800 Dante box for monitor mixing - all tied together in a redundant
optical loop. Each SD-Rack has 56 inputs, 40 line outputs and 16 AES outputs. “We went for DiGiCo because of its fantastic theatre software, FPGA processing, and the fact that, all in all, it is a really reliable product line,” said Jim-Oddvar. “Scandec Systemer AS and Asbjorn Boyesen have given us the best service. I have written a lot of tenders in my time, but Asbjorn and his team gave a textbook answer; one of the best I have ever seen. And, after we decided that DiGiCo was for us, the follow up service was outstanding. Big thanks also for the support from DiGiCo, for always taking us seriously, and for always replying really fast. This is extremely important for us, living such a long way up north!” When the DiGiCo system arrived in October, the theatre had just started rehearsals for its largest musical, which was to start just two days later. “We started from scratch and just went with it,” said Jim-Oddvar. “We found a lot of new features every day and when the opening day came we were really happy with the console. “We know that we have just scratched the surface of a really great digital platform, with an amazing theatre software. We are really looking forward to using DiGiCo in the future!” www.digico.biz
A L IC I A ALON S O G RA N D THE ATR E O F HAVA N A COMPANY: GUIL LOCATION: HAVANA, CUBA
The Grand Theatre of Havana in Cuba, renamed in September as the Alicia Alonso Grand Theatre of Havana, as a well deserved homage to the life’s work of the Cuban dancer and choreographer, has recently been refurbished and opened its doors to the public for a prestigious event at the end of last year. This theatre, which is the oldest archived theatre in Latin America that is still in working condition, was inaugurated on the 15 April 1838 and was then known as the The Grand Tacón Theatre. Thanks to its magnificent concert hall and the prestigious artists that were presented there, its fame quickly spread past the boundaries of the island. From 1965 it has been the permanent home of the Cuban National Ballet. Today it is one of the most outstanding displays of architectural splendour of the Cuban capital city. Since its opening, the highest ranking international artists, ballet companies, operas and theatre compawww.mondodr.com
nies have performed on the stages of this theatre. For this reason it is not surprising that this was one of the places that Pope Francis chose to visit during his trip to Cuba. In light of this historic visit, and to complete the refurbishing of the building, the Grand Theatre also invested in all new furnishings, some of which were supplied by the Spanish manufacturer GUIL which was chosen to equip the rehearsal room and orchestra pit. A total of 160 orchestra chairs, musician stools and benches, are some of the GUIL products that now form part of the furniture at the Grand Theatre. Other GUIL products were also present during the Pope’s visit, specifically its stage platforms, on which many events and presentations were held in the city of Havana in this period. www.guil.es
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44 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
SEKK E FAB R I KKE N COMPANY: K-ARRAY LOCATION: SLEMMESTAD, NORWAY
The former factory for making cement bags, Sekkefabrikken in Slemmestad, Norway now operates as a concert venue and theatre stage for the community. It bought its first K-array system, a KR402, in 2012. After two years of great results with the system, organisers at Sekkefabrikken wanted to renew their technical set-up for the main stage and the local authorities issued a tender for the installation. Comprised of five KH2 slim line array elements and two KS5 subwoofers per side, the main system covers both the audience area in front of the stage and in the mezzanine above. Thanks to the new FIRmaker software and the FIR-filters in the built-in DSP, the system is able to achieve an exceptional area of coverage, which simply would not be possible with a traditional line array system. There are also two KP102 loudspeakers mounted on each sidewall of the mezzanine as fill speakers, six-metres of Anakonda as front fill and a total of six KF12 monitors, all powered by KA24 and KA84 amplifiers. Administrative Director of Sekkefabrikken, Thorstein Horne said: “We quickly fell in love with the portability and power of our KR402 system upon arrival three years ago. The new system has really exceeded our expectations, especially with its extraordinary coverage of our audience area. We couldn’t be happier.” www.k-array.com
TSA I PE R FOR MAN C E C E N TE R COMPANY: EAW LOCATION: BOSTON, USA
Situated at the heart of the Boston University campus, the Tsai Performance Center provides the ideal performance space for concerts, theatrical and dance presentations, lecture, film programs and conferences. Recently, Communications Design Associates (CDA), located in Canton, Massachusetts, designed a new sound reinforcement system for the performance centre. The room, which features a 41ft by 31ft proscenium stage, offers seating for 515. The upgraded system features EAW Anya adaptive column arrays that blanket the room with even, high quality audio. “When the original system was installed in the early 90s, the room was primarily used for lectures, not performance,” said Joe Patten, associate designer for CDA. “As the space has evolved, it was clear they needed a
system that could accommodate a variety of performances in addition to regular lectures.” During the evaluation process, Joe set up a number of demos including EAW KF720 line arrays. During the presentation EAW extended an invitation to the group to tour EAW’s factory and hear a demo of the Adaptive Performance system installed at Hanover Theater in Worcester. “After that demo the associate director of production services at Boston University looked at me and said ‘we’re done - this is what we need - we don’t need to hear anything else’ and that was that,” Joe explained. The resulting system design consists of L-R Anya line array columns, three modules each, and a single QX loudspeaker located in the centre. Boston Light & www.mondodr.com
Sound, located in nearby Brighton, provided installation and integration services for the project. Patten added: “I can’t say enough about the quality, expertise and timeliness of that crew. Zeke Zola led the effort and it was absolutely perfect. They are a really impressive group. “I have to admit, I have never been that impressed with a loudspeaker in my life,” Joe concluded. “It is a game-changer listening to those loudspeakers. We were at the Hanover Theater and I’m listening and looking for the subs - and there were none. The steering and coverage is incredible.”
www.eaw.com
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46 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
L E GOLAN D COMPANY: DATATON / CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: JOHOR, MALAYSIA
LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort has now made it possible for fans of the hit TV series Ninjago - Masters of Spinjitsu to enter the world of Ninjago. The famous building block toy company has brought to life a Japanese style puppet show allowing visitors to join the courageous Ninjas on a mission to protect a YinYang Dragon. The sensory immersive experience, entitled LEGO ‘Ninjago and The Realm of Shadows’ scripted by award-winning Hollywood movie writers Kevin and Dan Hageman utilises the latest in video mapping technology
and 4D special effects. Creative Technology (CT) was commissioned by the producers Red Thread Solutions to design and install the video element and work with the content company Artists In Motion in putting the scenic element together. Providing a fully mapped projection onto a 30-metre wide theatre set and stage floor, CT used eight channels of the newly released version 6 of Dataton WATCHOUT. “CT’s clever use of pioneering 3D mapping in a theatre setting capitalises on one of the key strengths of the new
STOP E RA COMPANY: CLEAR-COM LOCATION: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
WATCHOUT version: creating a complex effect with an uncomplicated approach,” said Fredrik Svahnberg, Marketing Director at Dataton. To ensure that the project was seamlessly produced, CT brought in well-known Singaporean Watchout expert Kentie Heng to handle the programming and mapping. CT also supplied eight Barco CTHD 61B projectors to project the content onto the mapped area. www.dataton.com www.ct-group.com
The Dutch National Opera & Ballet (NO&B) has upgraded its wireless intercom system to Clear-Com’s FreeSpeak II system for critical communication between production crew throughout its Amsterdam venue, the Stopera. The new system, which includes 70 FreeSpeak II beltpacks and 35 FreeSpeak II Antennas, was supplied by AudioPro Netherlands. “NO&B was one of the first theatres to adopt Clear-Com’s original FreeSpeak Integra solution around 12 years ago. While FreeSpeak still served us well, it was due for an upgrade,” said Hans-Willem de Haan, AV Director, NO&B. “Furthermore, we needed to expand the wireless comms network to support more users on a single system. FreeSpeak II not only deliver this, but the new FreeSpeak II beltpack is very impressive and offers a number of unique capabilities that was not previously available in the original system such as the extended 18-hour battery life, real-time battery status monitoring, ‘listen-again’ audio memory and technician’s flash light on the rear side. These features are highly beneficial to our theatre productions. For these reasons, FreeSpeak II was the obvious choice when it
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came to upgrading the system.” NO&B’s complete intercom system consists of an Eclipse HX matrix system, four E-Que cards and 32 V-Series user panels, as well as 70 integrated FreeSpeak II Integra beltpacks and 35 Active Antennas. The expansive system is deployed throughout the theatre, including the stage and back-stage areas, dressing rooms, offices, lobby and workshop. Hans-Willem added: “Clear-Com has always provided us with outstanding customer service and support. Over the last 12 years we have given Clear-Com a lot of positive and constructive feedback about our original FreeSpeak system, and the Clear-Com team has stayed continuously engaged with me. I am very pleased to see that our feedback was considered and addressed in FreeSpeak II.” Clear-Com’s Vincent Beek concluded: “We have a longstanding and highly valued relationship with the AV team at NO&B. The first FreeSpeak II test in a European theatre was carried out here, and their feedback has been extremely valuable. We are delighted that FreeSpeak solution will continue to be their system of choice for many more years to come.” www.clearcom.com
48 REP ORT: T H EAT RES & CONCERT H ALLS
SONY C E N T R E FOR P E R FO R M IN G A RTS COMPANY: ADAMSON LOCATION: TORONTO, CANADA
Canada’s largest soft-seat theatre, the Sony Centre for Performing Arts, opened as the O’Keefe Centre in 1960, and has played host to a variety of international attractions and stars since then. Since undergoing a complete restoration and re-opening in 2010, the Toronto theatre has become a tremendous community resource that takes pride in hosting a variety of performance types and artists from all around the world. In keeping with their goal of providing the very best experience to all attendees, the Centre management recently upgraded to a new Adamson sound reinforcement system, which has raised the quality of their audio presentation exponentially. “The existing system, which was not designed to for a diverse program schedule, was older and becoming more and more unreliable,” explained Matt Farrell, FMP, Director of Operations at the Sony Centre. “When groups coming through started requesting better coverage and commenting on the quality, it made sense to start looking for a replacement.” Matt and Ross Tuskey, head of audio at the Centre, began the process of checking out new systems shortly thereafter. “We knew what we were looking for from a rider perspective, audio quality and coverage,” Matt added. “It came down
to three manufacturers and weighing the pros and cons of each system. Adamson came out the clear winner.” With that decision made, Matt and Ross worked closely with the design team at Adamson, headed up by Applications Engineer, Jeremiah Karni and Director of Loudspeaker Development, Ben Cabot, to create a system that met all of the Centre needs and delivers the audio quality and coverage visiting artists demand. “It became clear that they needed a system that could accommodate a variety of events,” Jeremiah added. “By creating two systems that can work separately or together, we were able to provide the flexibility they required.” After much discussion and on-site product demonstrations, Karni designed two systems that work together or separately depending upon the needs of each event. The room, which seats 3,191, hosts everything from dance companies, symphonies and choirs to touring musicals, concerts and corporate events. The main PA consists of left-right arrays each made up of 11 E15 over two S10 line array enclosures. Low end is provided by a total of 16 E119 subwoofers; six flown and two groundstacked per side. The second system features a centre cluster of eight S10i line arrays and six
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S10 enclosures, groundstacked, for orchestra pit coverage. Front fill is handled by four Point8P loudspeakers bracket mounted equidistant across the lip of the stage. “When they are presenting film, orchestra or ballet, they don’t need the left/right line arrays,” Jeremiah explained. “The centre cluster and ground stacked S10s provide all of the coverage necessary for the main seating area.” If the Centre anticipates a sold out show, there is a distributed system of eight Point8P loudspeakers located half way under the balcony to ensure full coverage to the very furthest seats. “The first goal was coverage,” Jeremiah continued. “The second was to give them the audio quality and technology that groups expect. The third was to offer options so that they can provide the best system for each performance. I’m happy to report that each goal was exceeded.” Matt concluded: “People notice the difference – even folks that don’t have a trained or sophisticated ear. The room sounds better. The coverage is fantastic without any gaps or holes. Everything is crisp and clean – no drops. It is a noticeable and remarkable improvement. We are extremely delighted with our decision and the end result.” www.adamsonsystems.com
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ROYA L OA K M US I C THEATRE COMPANY: ELATION LOCATION: MICHIGAN, USA
Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, is a historic cinema turned performance venue that has stood as a testament to the diversity of entertainment, as well as the resilience of the area, since 1928. After partnering with promotional entertainment company AEG Live in 2007, Royal Oak Music Theatre (ROMT) has become one of the Detroit area’s preeminent venues, hosting a steady stream of live performances from Alabama Shakes to Skrillex, the band Perry to Social Distortion, as well as a wide variety of other events. ROMT recently sought to upgrade its lighting system in order to make it more attractive to a variety of clients and chose to go with Elation LED fixtures for the progressive benefits they provide like greater reliability, less maintenance and increased energy efficiency, all of which translates into a lower cost of ownership. Brad Raymond, Production Manager at AEG Live, who spends much of his time at Royal Oak Music Theatre, among other venues, explained how the decision to go with Elation lighting came about. “We’ve hosted Elation road shows and trainings at ROMT, the most recent in September, and have had a long relationship with Rob Ludwig at Elation rep firm Five Lakes Marketing. One of the reasons we started our relationship with Elation was to make the Royal Oak Music Theatre a much greener space compared to an older venue with a 120K house rig. That meant upgrading to LED.” Rob Ludwig has been visiting Royal Oak Music Theatre much of his life and has worked closely with AEG and ROMT on the transition to the LED system. “I’ve been going to the Royal Oak Music Theatre since I was a kid so it’s a special place to me,” he stated. “I’ve also known Brad for many years. He is very approachable
and holds people accountable, which are qualities you need in a good Production Manager. He came up with a great plan and showed accounting why it was important to update their rig to LED. AEG gave him the green light to do something special by going as green as possible. They were thinking long term and not just about the bottom line today. Don’t get me wrong, they had a budget; they just wanted to spend wisely. I commend businesses that have that kind of foresight so I was certainly excited to work on the project with Brad.” Brad and Rob sat down together and talked about how to bring the Royal Music Theatre’s lighting rig into the 21st Century. “We shared a lot of ideas and although we both agreed that white light is needed for many applications, we also agreed that we had a chance to design a system based on colour,” Rob stated. “So going green, as Brad wanted to do, wasn’t much of a stretch.” After meeting with a local dealer to look at Elation’s range of LED fixtures, Brad and Rob came up with a solid plan for replacing ROMT’s gear over time. Rob commented: “Between Elation’s LED fixtures and their Platinum Series - an extremely short arc and efficient lamp - we were able to re-design their system to achieve his ultimate goal.” Lavishly decorated, the multi-use art-deco theatre is an exceptional surrounding for any event. Accommodating up to 2,000 guests, it is ideal for events large or small. Besides the steady stream of live shows, it hosts a variety of corporate events, weddings, bar / bat mitzvahs and more. The lighting upgrade consists of a range of Elation LED moving heads, PAR lights, battens and matrix panels, and while flexible enough to handle the wide variety of events, its low maintenance benefits are also being felt.
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“With the change to LED we don’t have to worry about changing bulbs, which is great,” Brad said. “Climbing to change them was a nightmare. They were also very expensive. With our new LED house lights for example there is little maintenance as they’re self-enclosed units and there have been no issues. It is our intention to be all LED within one year.” Brad says he feels that they’ve gotten bang for their buck with the new lighting and that the new system has boosted their private rentals and corporate gigs. Because many artists that play ROMT bring their own ground-supported rig on truss sticks, the lighting upgrade gives ROMT the possibility to supplement those rigs with lighting from the air. Brad completed the lighting design himself, spreading previously installed Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme and Design Wash LED Zoom moving heads, installed in the venue two years ago, and the new LED fixtures across an upstage, midstage and downstage truss. Mounted on an upstage T-bar are Platinum Beam 5R Extremes and Platinum Spot LED Pro II moving heads with more Platinum Beam 5Rs alternating with Design Wash LEDs on a midstage pipe. Downstage on the floor are Platinum Spot LED Pro II and more Design Wash LEDs with Design Bricks and Opti Tri Pars are used for uplighting. Elation ELAR Quad Panels, 4 x 4 matrix LED panels, are used as concert blinders or for pixel-mapped effects and on occasion to display text. SixPar 300 PAR colour changers are used for house lighting, allowing the venue to be lit in traditional white or dressed in colour for special occasions.
www.elationlighting.com
Images by Mikael Tham
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TH E ROYAL SW E DI S H O P E RA COMPANY: JB LIGHTING LOCATION: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
The Royal Swedish Opera has been extensively renovated over the last two years and during the last two summer periods, the lighting control system was replaced alongside the renewal of the superstructure and substructure of the stage. In addition, seven completely new lighting bridges including engines, cables and the entire hardware were designed and installed. Virtually every lighting fixture of the lighting set was replaced. This resulted in a mixture of spotlights,
which enables both performing shows in the style of the 1960’s and meeting the requirements of modern day lighting designs. The new lighting inventory consists of different remote-controlled spotlights with discharge and halogen lamps, as well as an LED light source. A total of 104 moving lights were supplied by JB-Lighting consisting of 75 A12 RGBWs, six A12 tuneable whites, six A8 RGBWs and 16 Sparx 10’s.
With regard to the LED washlights, the main emphasis when it came to selection was quality of the light beam, colour mixture, colour saturation and noise. The A series by JB-Lighting was chosen thanks to the quality of the colours and the perfection of the illumination. The A12 was superior in terms of warm tones and also a profoundly dark blue colour, a combination that has been well received by lighting designers. www.jblighting.com
THE P HO E N IX THE ATR E COMPANY: KV2 LOCATION: LONDON, UK
KV2 Audio’s rise to prominence in theatre has received further reinforcement with Bend It Like Beckham - exclusively using KV2 loudspeakers - receiving nominations for both the BroadwayWorld West End and BBC Radio 2 Theatre Awards. Running in The Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End, audio was supplied by Autograph Sound. The production featured a number of firsts for KV2 products - the first theatre production in the UK to use the incredible SL4.12 slim-line wide dispersion system for the main front-of-house system and the same for the new ESD5 ultra compact passive loudspeaker, here providing extremely high quality under balcony delays. Director of the original film, Gurinder Chadna, also directed the production that has received numerous five-star reviews. The production’s original score is an East-West fusion of Bhangra and soaring melodies with traditional Indian instrumentation that presents a unique requirement from a sound reinforcement viewpoint. These factors led to Autograph Sound supplying the SL4.12 as the main front-of-house system. Chosen www.mondodr.com
for its wide 110° horizontal dispersion and exceptional audio performance the SL System handled the extreme dynamics of the Indian percussion superbly. A total of three SL4.12 cabinets were deployed per side to cover the stalls and balconies behind acoustic material in keeping with the show’s football theme. Three of the dedicated SL3000 stereo three-way amplifiers were used to power the main front-of-house system. To augment the main SL System a number of additional KV2 products were supplied for delays, in-fills and under balcony reinforcement. A total of 18 of the brand new ESD5’s were used - fulfilling one of the primary applications they were specifically designed for. This resulted in the sound design team commenting that, for the first time mixing a show, the audio experience underneath the balconies was just as exceptional as the main system. Sub bass reinforcement was delivered by just two groundstacked EX2.5mkII’s and two EX1.8’s with two EX2.2’s flown. www.kv2audio.com
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CONGR ES S GENERAL C E N T R E COMPANY: SENNHEISER LOCATION: AVAZA, TURKMENISTAN
Turkmenistan’s Congress General Centre has recently been equippeed with a conference and interpretation systems, as well as, wired and wireless microphones, all courtesy of Sennheiser. The congress hall is able to seat up to 4,000 people. Its SDC 8200 Series interpretation and delegation system allows conferences taking place to be translated and distributed through wireless headsets or over cables. There are six interpretation rooms for six different languages, each are equipped with two interpretation desks and one TV screen. The TV screens are provided with video signal from the video distribution system in order to allow interpreters to identify the spokesman. In the theatre, which has a capacity of 3,000 the interpretation and delegation system works in a similar way. When a conference is taking place, the outputs
corresponding to the translated languages (OUT1/2/3/4/5/6) are connected to six Sennheiser SR 2020D audio transmitters (one per language). The outputs of the transmitters are connected to one Sennheiser AC 3000-EU active antenna combiner before being transmitted by the antenna to a Sennheiser A 5000-CP antenna. The people assisting the conference inside
the theare receive the translated languages through the Sennheiser interpretation headsets HDE 2020-D-II. After finishing the installation of the project in just two months, the client reported he is very satisfied with the Sennheiser solution. www.sennheiser.com
GR IL LO T H E AT R E COMPANY: SALZBRENNER LOCATION: ESSEN, GERMANY
For its theatres, TBE Essen has come to rely on pro audio and media products and services from Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup. After equipping its Aalto Theatre with an all-new audio system in August 2014, the systems integrator next turned its attention to the Grillo Theatre. The Grillo Theatre has been using Stagetec Cantus consoles and first generation Nexus Base Devices for many years. These have given such good service that TBE decided to continue the collaboration with the Mediagroup by commissioning a comprehensive update of its audio system. Sound Engineer, Reinhard Dix is delighted by the performance of the new systems, he said: “After the cooperation we have enjoyed over the last 13 highly successful years we continue to trust the excellent
Mediagroup service. We are looking forward to the creative freedom the new systems will provides.” At the initial stage, the Mediagroup Project Manager, Detlef Werner, conducted a thorough analysis of the client’s needs and developed a tailor-made theatre audio system concept for the new equipment. It included an Aurus Platinum mixing console from Mediagroup member Stagetec, a Nexus router system and a custom designed, height-adjustable mount for the console, created by the systems integrator’s own manufacturing department in Buttenheim. The Grillo Theatre will use its new direct-access console both in the audio control room and in the auditorium. The Nexus system is based on a Nexus Star router core and two Nexus Base Devices - one fixed, the other mobile - to ensure optimal communication
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between the artists and the audio engineers. Before being shipped to Essen, the entire system was thoroughly tested in Stagetec’s premises in Berlin. During this testing stage, the systems integrator’s team carried out the necessary groundwork for the installation of the new console and base devices in the Grillo Theatre, installing the required cabling, racks and junction boxes. Speed was of the essence, since the team had to install the new system between late July and mid-August, when the Grillo Theatre’s performances paused during the summer break. “We completed our work on time and were able to hand over the system on 13 August,” said Detlef. www.salzbrenner.com
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LOGA N H ALL COMPANY: L-ACOUSTICS LOCATION: LONDON, UK
Located in the fashionable London district of Bloomsbury, Logan Hall forms the centrepiece of the UCL Institute of Education’s 20 Bedford Way complex of lecture and function spaces. Famous for its Brutalist architecture, a new L-Acoustics audio system has ensured that the interior audio quality is anything but. Opened in 1977, the grade 2* listed building was designed by Sir Denys Lasdun, also responsible for other Brutalist landmarks including the National Theatre and the Royal College of Physicians. “The original system was replaced around the time of the millennium, but it always lacked punch. It also relied on cabling from the 1970’s, including a matrix that would confuse the savviest of technicians. For years finances dictated that patching up the old system was the only option so, when funding finally became available, I jumped at the chance to install a new system,” said the venue’s Senior Technician, Dan Gritzman. Several years ago, Dan had been put in touch with HD Pro Audio’s Andy Huffer by Jem Noble, a freelance
engineer at the venue. So when the funding became available this year, Dan got back in touch. “I revisited the site and did a Soundvision model. My gut feeling was that an L-Acoustics system of ARCS WiFo flown horizontally, plus subs and front fills, would be the best option in terms of optimum coverage and fidelity for the budget,” said Andy. “The Soundivision model confirmed my thoughts and helped me work out the best speaker placement, given the physical constraints of the venue.” The hall’s audience area has a very wide girth, but not deep, so Andy’s design features a pair of L-Acoustics ARCS Wide per side, offering 90º horizontal and 60º vertical coverage. Placed slightly inboard of the original speaker positions, the wide coverage pattern covers the whole space evenly, apart from the front three rows, which are handled by 8XTi front fills. A floor-mounted pair of SB18i subs was included for additional low frequency reinforcement if required, although the main clusters deliver full range audio, with
plenty of low end. A specialist theatrical carpenter cut holes in the front of the stage to flush mount the front fills, with Andy’s team overseeing the manufacture of custom magnetic covers to hide them. “The ARCS Wide speakers are in white and mounted tight to the ceiling, meaning the whole venue is covered by a very discreet and compact system, all driven from a single LA8 amplifier,” Andy said. “HD Pro Audio’s quote surpassed all others in terms of value for money and we also wanted a brand that our clients would be happy to work with. With two ARCS per side achieving 90% of the required coverage, the system made complete financial sense. Andy’s confidence in the products also helped to satisfy those in charge of the budget,” added Dan. The system was installed and commissioned in a single night between events, a testament to its ease of use and ‘out of the box’ audio quality. www.l-acoustics.com
BA C HE LO R S PA R K PAV ILI O N COMPANY: NEXT-PROAUDIO LOCATION: VALMIERA, LATVIA
3S SIA, the Latvian distributor for Portuguese manufacturer NEXT-proaudio, recently installed a NEXT-proaudio LA122 line-array system in Vecpuišu Parka Paviljons, which translates as Bachelors Park Pavilion. It was built in 1914 and started life as restaurant, before being transformed into an children afterschool activities centre and later a bowling centre. After a fire, the building has now been completely rebuilt and it functions as a hall for corporate events, small concerts, and medium size parties. The company leading the technical team was SIA Decibel, headed up by General Manager, Aivis Balodis. He contracted 3S SIA to supply and install the PA system. The calculations and room simulations were made by Arturs Cintins, Technical Director of 3S SIA
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using Ease Focus software. He also developed and implemented FIR filters for the system. “SIA Decibel is long term customer of ours and he was sure he wanted to use NEXT-proaudio for this project, so they got in touch,” said Einars Cintins, 3S SIA Manager. “They chose the LA122 line array system, quite a large system for the room, but it would give the venue plenty of flexibility.” The first compliments came from the venue owner once the system was fully aligned, and the first tune was played. He said he expected it to be good, but the results exceeded all his expectations. The FOH engineer who ran the opening show said: “I’ve never mixed on anything that sounds so sweet, transparent and free of distortion or colouration.” www.next-proaudio.com
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BERKE LE Y R E P E RTO RY THE ATR E COMPANY: MEYER SOUND LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO, USA
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as simply Berkeley Rep, has taken a bold step into digital audio technologies that could herald a new era for sound in theatrical drama. Following total renovation of a stage that first opened in 1980, Berkeley Rep’s newly christened Peet’s Theatre becomes the first venue in North America designed principally for dramatic presentations to be equipped with a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system. Constellation is best known for instant acoustical transformation of performance spaces, usually applied in multi-purpose halls to provide optimum ambience for varied musical performances ranging from rock and jazz to orchestral and choral works. Less well known is Constellation’s ability to bolster the critical early reflections that enhance speech intelligibility, allowing voices at normal speaking levels to be heard in larger spaces with no need for local microphones. The possibilities afforded by effective speech enhancement, when coupled with the variable reverberation
envelopes and options for revolutionising sound design, drew the attention of technical management at Berkeley Rep. According to Production Manager, Peter Dean, Constellation’s enhanced intelligibility will allow greater freedom to directors and actors in how scenes are blocked and played in the 400-seat theatre. “This is a 270º thrust stage, which means that actors are directly facing only a third of the audience at any given time,” he noted. “Without Constellation, the actor would have to be acutely aware of projecting out to the audience. We are eliminating some of that complexity, making it easier for the actor to react to the emotions in the scene.” James Ballen, Berkeley Rep’s Sound Supervisor for more than eight years, expects that Constellation will also benefit older patrons with marginal hearing loss. “We will still offer the mandated ALS systems, but with Constellation’s enhanced intelligibility, some patrons with borderline problems may find they no longer need to wear headsets.” www.mondodr.com
The Constellation system in the 400-seat Peet’s Theatre is a dual-zone system with one zone dedicated to enhancing early reflections from actors on stage and the second reserved for creating reverberation characteristics appropriate for the production - or even a specific scene of the play. Eight hypercardioid shotgun microphones pick up direct sound from the stage for the early reflection zone, while 16 miniature cardioid microphones spaced through the audience provide ambience sensing for the late reverberation zone. At the heart of the system is a D-Mitri digital audio platform with 16 networked processing and I/O frames, including two hosting the patented VRAS acoustical algorithm. On the output side, the programmed acoustical effects are reproduced by a total of 70 compact, self-powered Meyer Sound loudspeakers (MM-4XP, MM-4XPD, UP-4XP, UPJunior-XP, and HMS-5) and eight UMS-SMXP subwoofers. During the renovation, the room’s physical acoustics were optimized for Constellation. Once programmed, Constellation’s
L J U B L JA N A CI TY THE ATR E COMPANY: ROBE LOCATION: LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
acoustical environments can be changed instantly with the push of a touchscreen button. Direct sound reinforcement, when required, is supplied by a separate system of six UPJ-1P loudspeakers over the stage. Constellation will be pre-loaded with a number of presets for acoustical environments, with others custom programmable for each production. “Even though you are sitting in a relatively small, enclosed room, we can make it sound like a castle or concert hall,” noted Dean. “The acoustical environment becomes part of the set. The first production in here, Aubergine, has 21 different scenes, and we can use Constellation to mimic the acoustical setting of a hospital, a restaurant, or a small room in a home.” Ballen also notes that Constellation’s loudspeakers can also double as a sophisticated surround sound system, with nearly 80 freely assignable sound locations both laterally and overhead. “This will revolutionise the way we think of sound design in drama for regional theatre,” said James. “With the comprehensive loudspeaker coverage provided by Constellation, the possibilities are practically limitless. “We’re definitely on the cutting edge, and each new production will explore the system’s potential in a different way,” continued James. The Peet’s Theatre renovation was designed by Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects in association with The Shalleck Collaborative theatrical consultants. Formerly known as the Thrust Stage, Peet’s Theatre was renamed in recognition of generous financial support from Berkeley-based Peet’s Coffee. www.meyersound.com www.mondodr.com
Founded in 1949, Ljubljana City Theatre (Mestno gledališče ljubljansko - MGL) is the second largest drama theatre in Slovenia and located right in the centre of the charismatic old town. It has recently invested in Robe’s LEDWash range with the purchase of four LEDWash 600s and nine LEDWash 800s ready for the new season. Andrej Koleznik and his colleagues Bostjan Kos, Aljosa Vizlar and Bogdan Pirjevec make up the four strong lighting department. All were involved, together with Technical Director Joze Logar in the collective decision to purchase the new LEDWashes. The lighting department already had some previous experience of Robe. Its first Robes were ColorWash 575E ATs dating back around nine years, and they are still working well. Some ColorSpot 700E ATs were added two years after the 575E’s, followed by their first three LEDWash 600’s that were purchased for a specific production. Andrej has worked at MGL since 1995 and has seen a trend or two come and go in that time! “We always listen to what the directors are requesting - or demanding - in terms of lighting,” he observed, “as well as considering the best long term options for us as a theatre and a producing house.” Like many theatres, before committing to an investment in LED moving lights they waited until a product of sufficient quality was available. Delighted with the rich and beautiful light emitted by the LEDWash 600’s, when the opportunity came up, they added to these and also wanted the stronger LEDWash 800’s together with the beam shaping capabilities that are so essential for lighting theatre shows. “The LEDWash series has an ideal colour temperature, the units don’t break and they are much more cost effective to run,” Andrej explained. “We really appreciate this fixture and the size and quality of the beam coming out of it,” he concluded. The new LEDWashes - that were supplied by Robe’s Slovenian distributor, MK Light Sound - are currently installed on the main stage fly bars where they will be the principal back and stage lighting for shows in the upcoming season. www.robe.cz
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UNION COUN T Y H I G H SC HO O L COMPANY: RENKUS HEINZ LOCATION: GEORGIA, USA
The county seat of Union County, Blairsville is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of north Georgia. Known for its natural beauty, outdoor activities, and the oldest working courthouse in Georgia, it is also the home of Union County High School’s new performing arts centre, which features Renkus-Heinz VARIAi modular loudspeaker arrays. “The entire building is new,” said Frank Campo Jr, VP of Electrical Engineering at Southern A&E of Austell, Georgia, the full-service architecture and engineering firm behind the building and the sound system. “The auditorium is a multi-purpose space, used for assemblies, movies, concerts, and even a local church’s services on weekends. It seats 985, all on one level, with no balcony, sloping toward the front and raked toward the back. The room is 115ft deep and about 75ft wide, so it’s relatively narrow. The side walls are somewhat parallel but acoustical panels help a lot.” “The acoustics are more difficult toward the back because of the lowered ceiling,” noted Southern A&E Electrical Designer, Jason Leatherwood. “With other loudspeakers, we would have had issues with sound hitting the side walls. One reason we liked Renkus-Heinz VARIAi is that we could change the width as we went higher in the stack.” VARIAi 101 full-range arrays are available in three vertical cabinet angles: 7.5º, 15º and 22.5º. Southern A&E chose four VARIAi arrays, with a VAX101i-7 on top,
two VAX101i-15s in the middle, and a VAX101i-22 on the bottom, equipped with the unique VARIAi 90-to120-degree transitional waveguide and configured as a horizontal centre cluster. This enabled them to customize the pattern for each coverage area. “In the centre array the top cabinet has a 60 degree horizontal pattern, the next box down has a transitional 60 to 90 degree waveguide, the third box has a 90 to 120 waveguide, and the bottom cabinet in the array has 120 degrees of horizontal coverage,” explained Brian Phillips, founder and CEO of Greer, South Carolina, theatrical systems integrator Productions Unlimited, which installed the system. “It was good to have those transitional waveguides as the intermediaries between the top and bottom boxes.” The centre cluster is flown above the front of the stage. “It covers the middle of the left and right seating sections and the rear,” Jason explained. Renkus-Heinz PNX121 two-way Complex Conic loudspeakers, flown on the far left and right, cover the first 25% of the front. “They’re pointed in to avoid splashing,” added Jason. Four Renkus-Heinz TRX61 two-way Complex Conic loudspeakers, mounted in the stage lip provide coverage to the front rows. “Technically it’s an LCR configuration plus subs and front fills,” said Jason. “But the system has individual control so you can have just the L/R, or just the centre cluster, or the whole system.” www.mondodr.com
Sub-bass is handled by a pair of Renkus-Heinz DRS181B direct-radiating subwoofers, hung to the left and right of the centre cluster to account for the relative narrowness of the room. “We tested with a Batman movie that has a lot of low-end sounds,” Brian recalled. “And the subs did an excellent job. The system is great for cinema.” All speakers are powered by Lab.gruppen amplfiers. “We did not go with self-powered speakers mainly because the speakers are flown high, and we wanted to leave easy access to the amps,” said Jason. Biamp Tesira DSP handles speaker processing, and everything is tied into a Crestron automation system. An Easy mode enables users to run two wireless mics, the video system, and the main speakers without having to operate the console. The results were all the team had hoped for. “VARIAi arrays are easy to hang, and they look good; they’re not intrusive. And they provide awesome sound,” declared Jason. “I was impressed with the uniformity of coverage; we couldn’t find a dead spot. We pushed the system pretty loud, and it was really clean.” “You feel the low-frequency energy in the back,” added Frank. “All in all it turned out to be a really good project,” Jason concluded. “Production Unlimited did a great job, the school staff is happy, and we love the space - and the Renkus-Heinz system.” www.renkus-heinz.com
This is huge.
Anya™ redefined the live sound paradigm. Anna™ will redefine the industry. Designed to perform alone or as outfill for Anya, Anna matches the Anya feature set at a much smaller ackage can be size and lighter weight, and wider 100° horizontal coverage. Arrays of the 135 pound p optimized to match the three-dimensional c overage requirements of virtually any application in mere seconds. Just by moving a mouse. Anna combines the spectacular output and pristine fidelity of the same MF and HF devices found in Anya (x4 and x8 respectively) and a pair of 10" LF transducers to generate a seamless audio wavefront that delivers an optimal experience to every seat in every house. Adaptive™ Performance is a big deal. Learn more about Anna and Adaptive Systems at eaw.com/products/adaptive
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THE FI LLM OR E COMPANY: CLAIR BROS LOCATION: PHILADELPHIA, USA
This newest Fillmore outlet - developed by Live Nation’s House of Blues Entertainment Division - is a 25,000 sq ft venue located in the heart of the up and coming, art-centric Fishtown district in Philadelphia. The building itself has existed for over a century as the Ajax Metal Factory but has undergone a complete renovation to fulfill its purpose as a state-of-the-art entertainment complex. With two unique music venues under one roof, one being a 2,500 capacity live music hall and the other a 450 capacity music club (the Foundry,) the Fillmore Philly is a paradise for live-music lovers. Dan Schartoff, HOBE’s Clubs and Theaters VP of Production brought on Clair Solutions, a company whose reputation in the industry precedes them. Clair Solutions both designed and installed the audio and video systems at the Fillmore. When exploring possible technologies and systems to include in the new venue, Dan heard that the timing of the Fillmore’s opening would nearly coincide with the unveiling of a new, large-format line array technology from Clair Brothers. In auditioning this yet-to-be named product against existing technologies, he signed on to be the first to adopt the new system design. The new system, called C15, features many evolutionary traits based on 15 years of Clair line array technology development. The C15 boasts the latest in waveguide technology in both high and mid frequency ranges - both of which are uniquely manufactured by being machined out of solid marine-grade Baltic birch plywood. On top of the advanced waveguide/phase plug geometry, the choice to make these components from wood rather than plastic or metal results in a non-resonant, true, clear and coherent sonic image.
The C15 utilises two 15-inch low frequency drivers, each front loaded in its own tuned reflex chamber and angled in opposing directions to such a degree that the polar pattern of the 15-inch woofers midrange matches the polar pattern of the midrange waveguides. This provides a seamless transition between the 15’s and the four six-inch mid-range drivers as well as extended low-mid directivity and pattern control. The C15 also includes four three-inch high frequency drivers on a newly developed waveguide/phase plug assembly. The sound reinforcement system of the Fillmore as a whole is tied together with a BSS network at the heart of matrix management that feeds the main Music Hall, the Foundry and the Ajax Hall (lobby). Depending on the event, signals may be routed to and from each area providing a comprehensive solution to single event or multiple simultaneous event usage. The music hall FOH and monitor consoles are both Soundcraft Vi3000 with Vi stage boxes, each with 48 stage inputs. The music hall includes a complete Clair Brothers monitor system featuring Wedge series floor monitors and R4-IV sidefills. The main loudspeaker system includes stereo C15 arrays of eight cabinets per side with eight CS218 subwoofers installed in customized concrete cavities beneath the stage. Clair Brothers 12CX coaxial speakers provide outfills for balconies and center/down fill. Stage lip fills are Clair FF2-H and all music hall delay speakers are the new Clair Brothers kiT12s. Amplification in the music hall is all CB-Lab.gruppen D-Series installation amplifiers with internal Clair Brothers Lake DSP loudspeaker processing. The Foundry (smaller club within the Fillmore) features www.mondodr.com
an L-Acoustics ARCS-II system with 4 SB18i subs and 12XT delay fills all powered by L-Acoustics LA8 and LA4X amplifiers. Front of house mix position is held down by a Soundcraft Si-Impact console on a portable cart and a Soundcraft mini-32 MADI remote I/O box at the stage, this allows the venue to have a flexible room layout for a wide variety of events. The main music hall video package includes a high definition Sony BRCH900 camera, a 12K lumens Barco RLM-W12 projector complimented by a 22ft wide electric screen and a Barco PDS902 scaler/switcher at FOH. The Foundry has a Sony BRCZ330 PTZ camera and a 5,000 lumens Panasonic VPLFH36 projector shining on a 14-inch wide electric screen. The whole video system is tied together with an AJA KUMO-3232 HD-SDI router ensuring crisp, low-latency HD images throughout the venue. The video system allows the Sony PTZ camera located near the FOH mix position to capture live video and broadcast it within the venue to wall-mounted televisions in the bar and lobby areas allowing patrons the opportunity to remain connected to the stage performance even while in queue at the rear bar. The main hall camera can also be shown on the Foundry projection screen along with audio reinforcement for patrons who prefer a more intimate vibe. With a year and a half of planning under its belt, Clair Solutions installed the job in only three weeks right up until opening night. But the company is no stranger to this type of compressed timeline. Opening night went off without a hitch with rave reviews, and so the Fillmore Philadelphia joins an elite group of nationwide music venues. www.clairbrothers.com
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·Asia's most influential pro light&sound exhibition ·China’s first high-end silent exhibition ·Over 500 international exhibitors ·Manufacturing exhibitors from China industrial base ·All of the world's best-known brands in a hall ·New products launch event
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IN FOCUS
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EMEA FNB STADIUM JOHANNESBURG
ANTHEM OF THE SEAS AT SEA
SUPPERCLUB AMSTERDAM
SPIRITO BRUSSELS
THE DUCHESS AMSTERDAM
THE PICKLE FACTORY LONDON
TIGER TIGER LONDON
THE AMERICAS • Page 84
• Page 94
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN NEW YORK CITY
• Page 108
THE OBSERVATORY SAN DIEGO
APAC GREVIN MUSEUM SEOUL
NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE
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Robe BMFLs take centre stage during The Greatest Show on Earth at the FNB Stadium.
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Robe’s BMFL moving heads recently made their debut at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, the largest venue on the continent with a capacity close to 95,000. Daimler Trucks & Buses staged The Greatest Show on Earth and Solid Rock was the preferred technical supplier. “We have 24 BMFLs and these were first fixtures I booked when I was awarded the job,” said Keith MacIntyre, owner of Solid Rock. He conceptualised the mind blowing finale of the show, which included sound, lighting, video and display, pyro and even sky divers. “The Robe BMFLs were spread and positioned on the floor of each tiered seating
area from the bottom to the top,” Keith explained. The show was further enhanced with 36 Philips Vari-Lite VLX Wash luminaires, 36 Philips Vari -Lite VL 3000 Spots, 24 Clay Paky Sharpys for beam work, 14 Robe Robin Pointes and five Le Maitre MVS hazers. “It’s great to see Keith grow and doing high profile gigs,” commented Duncan Riley from DWR Distribution, Robe’s distributor in Africa. “This boy never stops, and it just goes to show that hard work does pay off.” http://dwrdistribution.co.za
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Š Royal Caribbean International - Simon Brook-Webb Photography
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ANTHEM OF THE SEAS AT SEA EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
The second ship in the Quantum class by RCI, Anthem of the Seas, takes to the waves after being kitted out by ASC with audiovisual technology.
With a total of 25 ships now in its fleet, Royal Caribbean International (RCI) is able to offer its passengers the option of visiting any of the major continents. The latest vessel, Anthem of the Seas, set off on its maiden voyage in April 2015, joining its older sibling - Quantum of the Seas - that launched in November 2014. The third cruise-liner of the Quantum class called Ovation of the Seas is planned for completion in Spring 2016. The ships are equipped with many innovations that are firsts at sea - and some of which that are firsts ever. With the installation deal already in place for the entire series of ships, German www.mondodr.com
system integrator Amptown Systems Company (ASC) took the responsibility of furnishing the entertainment hubs onboard Anthem of the Seas for the second time. The media technology specialist delivered the complete networking requirements for the, approximately 40 public entertainment areas and equipped the Anthem of the Seas with the very latest audio, video, lighting and control technology. Leif Witte, ASC Managing Director said: “We know technology and we know all about how things work in professional entertainment venues. Our expertise focusses not only on the technical aspects;
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• Above The Royal Theatre
we also know what designers and artists need, we think outside the box; and we employ a professional team of lighting and sound designers. “Our media control specialists network all of the systems together. We worked very closely with Meyer Werft, one of the major German shipyards in Germany, and we developed the ideas produced by RCI’s designers and provided a custom solution, which features quality technology for some extraordinary entertainment facilities.” The first of the major entertainment spaces onboard is Two70° in the ship’s stern, given its name because of the breathtaking 270° panoramic views of the ocean that it offers. One of the most spectacular elements in Two70° is the combination of the Vistarama projection surfaces and six RoboScreens. Before a show starts in
the venue, the sun shields that serve as the projection surfaces are rolled down to cover the windows. This system - known as Vistarama - is then serviced by 18 Panasonic PT-DZ21KE projectors, which create imaginative scene designs on this innovative background. The technology is so sophisticated that, should maintenance work take place, the projectors automatically re-calibrate - using 64 light sensors that have been integrated into the window frames - to produce a seamless overall projection. The slope, curvature and surface texture of the Vistarama projection surfaces requires the image content - developed by Moment Factory - to be geometrically adapted. Sebastian Kirsch, ASC Project Engineer for visual systems explained further: “The result is a projection with a total resolution of 12,480 pixels by 2,280 pixels and a pro-
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jection size of 36-metres by six-metres. To create this we have used the Pandoras Box media server and the Widget Designer show control software from coolux media systems. “Pandoras Box provides the perfect tools for adjusting the image content in three dimensions in real time. Despite an extremely steep projection angle and the short distance between the window façade and the projectors, this so-called ‘warping’ process makes it seem like a single projector is projecting on a flat cinema screen.” The six moving RoboScreens - effectively LED walls that are over two-metres high attached to industrial robots - can either rotate individually or reflect unparalleled scenery in combination with the Vistarama system. As a sister ship to Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas boasts the same
© Royal Caribbean International - Simon Brook-Webb Photography
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lighting and video package template. “The ships mirror each other as far as entertainment lighting goes,” said Christopher Vlassopulos, Superintendent SLVR & Architectural Lighting for RCI. He specified and designed lighting for the entertainment spaces on Anthem of the Seas together with Benjamin Couling of Tristwell Solutions. “There was actually one exception and that was in Two70° where we took out some non-Elation ground row and ceiling row lighting fixtures and replaced them with Elation ELAR Quad Bars, which are brighter than the previous fixtures and less expensive,” said Christopher. In addition to the Quad Bars in Two70°, the Elation lighting rig also comprises Platinum Wash ZFX Pro, Satura Spot LED Pro, Platinum Spot LED Pro II and Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving heads. Illustrating yet more similarities, Anthem of the Seas is also an environmentally-friendly smartship that sets new standards in terms of energy-efficient
entertainment lighting integration. The large number of LED lighting and video products - which alongside Elation also include fixtures from ETC and Martin Professional - fit the smartship ethos and creates significant saving in power and cost. “By switching from incandescent to LED, Royal Caribbean will realise millions of dollars in savings over the lifetime of Royal Caribbean ships. The fact alone that there are no lamp changes to make is a big saving. In fact, if we still had the old system on Quantum of the Seas there would already have been two lamp changes by now,” continued Christopher. As the second ship in the class, Anthem of the Seas was more straightforward, so all equipment is as it should be. “That is important as now we can move our attention to Ovation of the Seas to make sure that it also gets off to a smooth start,” he concluded. Another major entertainment space is the Royal Theatre, a 1,300-capacity venue, once again kitted out by ASC. The stage is www.mondodr.com
• Above left and right The ship hosts Broadway musicals and Las Vegas style shows.
lit using a combination of more than 100 moving lights and 100 theatrical profiles. Elation features heavily in the intelligent lighting line-up again, here Elation Platinum Wash ZFX Pro and Satura Spot LED Pro moving heads, Platinum Beam 5R Extreme and Platinum Spot 35R Pro moving heads, Design Brick 70 II RGBWA colour battens, and ELED QA Strips have been specified. These sit alongside Martin Professional MAC Viper Performances and Viper Wash DXs. Martin Professional Atomic 300 DMX strobes and LeMaitre MVS hazers provide additional special effects for any performance that requires it. A High End Systems Full Boar 4 lighting console provides control. The LED theme continues in the theatrical fixtures too. Over 40 Source Four LED Series 2 Tungsten HDs, coupled with some full colour Series 2 Lustrs, more than 80 Series 1 Lustr+ and 26 Desire D40 Lustr+ fixtures from ETC were installed and because all are LED based, no dimming system is required.
© Royal Caribbean International - Simon Brook-Webb Photography
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Photo: Ralph@Larmann.com | Lighting Design: Thomas Gerdon
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Image courtesy of Moment Factory
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ASC Lighting Specialist, Philipp-Sebastian Herbst, said: “As the ship hosts Broadway musicals and Las Vegas style shows, the technical managers wanted to make sure that lighting designers and operators would be comfortable with the equipment - and the ETC Source Four is the de facto standard for a profile lamp in our industry. The ETC Source Four is not only well known, but also has a wide variety of lenses and accessories, both from ETC and from third parties. “There is no other light at the moment that is as close to the original Source Four,” he continued. “The Source Four LED Series 2 is the brightest LED fixture available. The tungsten version has a high CRI value, and we can achieve vibrant and saturated colours on the Lustr version. Though the LED version is not (yet) as bright as the conventional tungsten lamp, the Series 2, which was used on board the Anthem of the Seas is a big step forward to match up with the traditional
• Above One of the most spectacular elements in Two70° is the combination of the Vistarama projection surfaces and six RoboScreens.
version.” Since all power on board has to be generated by the ship, power consumption and heat output was a big issue, but thanks to the choice of LED fixtures throughout, huge power savings can be made - up to 75% - in comparison to using conventional fixtures. “On Allure of the Seas, the rig uses 386A to power the conventional luminaires, and a mix of both LED and traditional moving lights; on Anthem of the Seas, the fully lit LED rig demands just 91A. Of course, median savings will be even higher since LED fixtures only need power when they are in use, unlike traditional moving lights,,” Philipp-Sebastian explained. Adding to the visual line-up in the theatre, 144 Elation EPV20 LED panels have been installed, three screens in total - one large 5.8-metre by 11.5-metre screen positioned upstage as a dynamic backdrop and smaller 5.8-metre by 1.9-metre screens positioned at each side of the www.mondodr.com
stage. The LED video system modules are attached to the theatre fly systems, installed hanging from rails, and attached to the front of lifting platforms, allowing the total LED surface of approximately 80 sq metres with a pixel spacing of 20mm to be visible or completely invisible depending on the scenery requirements. Content for the screens is fed through a coolux Pandoras Box Quad Server LT and a workstation equipped with the coolux Pandoras Box Manager LT and a Widget Designer ULT for show management. Furthermore, ASC fed two video signals from the Pandoras Box server into the ship-wide broadcasting system, allowing routing of the signals to the Christie HD10K-M lateral projections and the powerful Barco DP2K digital cinema projector in the theatre. This means the projectors can be used flexibly and creatively in the shows. A total of 20 Meyer Sound M’elodie ultra compact high-power curvilinear array
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© Royal Caribbean International - Simon Brook-Webb Photography
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• Above The lighting on is all LED making it an environmentally friendly smartship.
speakers and four Meyer Sound 700 HP ultra high-power subwoofers are split equally left and right of the stage in the Royal Theatre. A further five compact Meyer Sound Mina curvilinear array cabinets make up the central cluster. Delays are courtesy of 12 Meyer Sound UPM1 ultra compact wide-coverage loudspeakers, while 40 Meyer Sound UPJunior loudspeakers have been installed by ASC as surround speakers and another delay line. Completing the loudspeaker inventory are seven Meyer Sound UP4XP ultra compact loudspeakers installed for front-fill. As with any Meyer Sound PA system, processing is taken care of by the company’s proprietary loudspeaker management system. Three Galileo 616 systems are in place for a broad range of control options. To satisfy the need for a flexible infrastructure, 250 connection points are located around the Royal Theatre, achieved with the help of an analogue Ghielmetti Patchbay. This routes input signals to a DiGiCo SD-Rack and two SD-Mini Racks, connected via an optical multicore to a DiGiCo SD5. Located at the FOH position, the SD5 is used to mix both FOH and monitors, the FOH sound being mixed in 5.1. The system can handle 448 audio channels at 96kHz, with
the SD5 also offering three redundant BNC-MADI ports, eight analogue I/O and eight AES/EBU (mono) I/O, it is ideally suited to mixing a broad spectrum of events. “What fascinates me most about all our projects, and especially Anthem of the Seas, is the implementation of the perfect sound solution in the appropriate environment,” said ASC Sound Designer, Hendrik Maaßen. “The premium SD5 console and its fully integrated sound periphery correspond perfectly with the demanding requirements of the RCI show specialists, who developed a wide range of different day and night entertainment at the Royal Theatre. “One of the reasons why I specify DiGiCo for offshore use is the excellent sound experience for the audience. The great sound of the SD5 is the result of its sophisticated Stealth Digital Processing technology, which inspires me a lot. There are a multitude of benefits associated with it. For instance, DiGiCo has achieved a high acceptance among a wide range of users and the SD5 is particularly easy to use. Another benefit, which is extremely important at sea, is that DiGiCo consoles provide a high degree of operational safety for us. I appreciate the great support and good cooperation with www.mondodr.com
DiGiCo.” Riedel provided versatile communications and signal transport for Anthem of the Seas to achieve flexibility in routing not only for video and audio, but also for intercom signals between the onboard broadcast centre and the ship’s various entertainment areas. Finland-based broadcast system integrator, TV Tools, implemented Riedel’s MediorNet real-time media network, an Artist digital matrix intercom system, and an Acrobat wireless intercom systems onboard the cruise ship. “Functionality, flexibility, and ease of use are around the many benefits of working with a Riedel Communications signal transport and communications platform,” said Jacob McDaniel, Head Broadcast Technician on Anthem of the Seas. “Simply put, Riedel is just better.” The Riedel systems allow the broadcast technicians to overcome signal routing obstacles including the immense size of the ship, the inherent lack of cabling flexibility due to the ship’s steel construction, and the limited availability of spare equipment and additional technical resources during cruises. Installed in the Anthem of the Seas Broadcast Control Center (BCC), the fibre-based MediorNet system provides
Le dernier navire de la Royal Caribbean International (RCI), le « Anthem of the Seas » a fait son premier voyage pour rejoindre son aîné, le « Quantum of the Seas » qui navigue en ce moment autour de monde. Respectant l’accord d’installation mis en place pour toute la série de navires, Amptown Systems Company (ASC) a fourni tous les équipements d’interconnexions et les technologies de médias des centres de divertissement du navire « Anthem of the Seas », tout comme cette société l’avait fait auparavant pour les autres navires. Le premier des principaux espaces de divertissement à bord du navire est le Salon Two70 ° nommé ainsi en raison de la vue panoramique à couper le souffle dévoilant 270 degrés de paysages. Six murs mobiles de diodes électroluminescentes RoboScreens constituent le point d’intérêt central du lieu et sont animés à l’aide de la Pandora Box de coolux et de projecteurs Panasonic. Une pléthore d’équipements d’éclairage et de vidéo de chez Elation se trouve également dans la salle Two70 °, comme l’avait demandé Christopher Vlassopulos, le responsable de l’éclairage architectural et du SLVR de la RCI. Un autre espace de divertissement important est le Théâtre Royal, qui peut accueillir 1 300 personnes, et qui a été entièrement équipé par ASC. Ici, plusieurs appareils de chez Elation trouvent parfaitement leur place aux côtés d’équipements de chez ETC et Martin Professional, contrôlés via une console Full Boar 4 de chez High End Systems. En ce qui concerne le son, des systèmes Meyer Sound et DiGiCo font bon ménage, ainsi que des équipements de communication de chez Riedel.
DEUTSCH
Das neueste Schiff von Royal Caribbean International (RCI), das für seine Jungfernfahrt bereit ist und sich nun zu seinem älteren Bruder Quantum of the Seas - für Kreuzfahrten in der ganzen Welt gesellt, ist Anthem of the Seas. Das Geschäft für die Installation ist bereits für die gesamte Schiffserie abgeschlossen, genauso wie es zuvor abgelaufen ist. Amptown Systems Company (ASC) ist verantwortlich für die komplette Vernetzung und Einrichtung in Bezug auf die Medientechnologie der Entertainmentzentren an Bord der Anthem of the Seas. Der erste der großen Entertainmentbereiche an Bord des Schiffs ist Two70°, benannt nach der atemberaubenden 270º Panoramasicht auf den Ozean. Sechs bewegliche RoboScreens LED Wände bilden den Schwerpunkt in diesem Treff und sind dank der Verwendung der coolux Pandora Box und von Panasonic Projektoren vielseitig. Eine Fülle von Elation Beleuchtung und Videoausrüstung kommt ebenfalls im Two70° vor, gemäß Christopher Vlassopulos, Leiter SLVR & Architectural Lighting für RCI. Ein weiterer großer Entertainmentbereich ist das Royal Theatre, ein für 1300 Gäste konzipierter Treff, ebenfalls durch ASC ausgestattet. Hier gibt es neben ETC und Martin Professional Einheiten mehr Elation Beleuchtungen, die über ein High End Systems Full Boar 4 Pult gesteuert werden. Die Audio Front ist eine Kombination aus Meyer Sound und DiGiCo, sowie ein Kommunikationssystem von Riedel.
ITALIANO
Anthem of the Seas è l’ultima nave della Royal Caribbean International (RCI) ad intraprendere il suo viaggio inaugurale intorno al mondo e che ora va ad unirsi alla sua sorella maggiore, Quantum of the Seas. Con il progetto di installazione già utilizzato per l’intera serie di navi, proprio come era già stato fatto in precedenza, Amptown Systems Company (ASC) si è occupato della completa interconnessione e della fornitura tecnologica dei centri di intrattenimento a bordo dell’ Anthem of the Seas. Il primo dei grandi spazi di intrattenimento a bordo della nave è il Two70 °, così chiamato per la sua vista panoramica mozzafiato a 270º sull’oceano. Sei pannelli mobili a Led (RoboScreens) caratterizzano il punto focale del locale e sono creati utilizzando i Pandora Box della Coolux ed i proiettori Panasonic. Il Two70° dispone, inoltre, di una vastissima gamma di apparecchi Elation per l’ impianto luci e video, come specificato da Christopher Vlassopulos, soprintendente SLVR & Architectural Lighting per la RCI. Un altro importante punto di intrattenimento è il Teatro Reale con i suoi 1.300 posti, ancora una volta fornito dalla ASC. Qui sono stati utilizzati più apparecchi Elation, al fianco di alcune unità della ETC e Martin Professional, controllati da una console High End Systems Full Boar 4. Il fronte audio, invece, vede una combinazione di Meyer Sound e DiGiCo, così come le attrezzature per la comunicazione della Riedel.
ESPAÑOL
Anthem of the Seas es la embarcación más reciente de Royal Caribbean International (RCI) en realizar su viaje inaugural y que ahora se une a su hermana mayor -Quantum of the Seas- navegando alrededor del mundo. Con el acuerdo de instalación ya en orden para toda la serie de barcos, tal como se ha hecho anteriormente, Amptown Systems Company (ASC) es la responsable de la completa interconexión y de suministrar todo lo relacionado con la tecnología audiovisual de los centros de entretenimiento a bordo del Anthem of the Seas. El primero de los principales espacios a bordo es Two70°, cuyo nombre ha sido puesto en honor a las deslumbrantes vistas panorámicas del océano a 270º. Seis paredes móviles de LED RoboScreens son las encargadas de suministrar el punto focal en este lugar mediante el uso de proyectores Pandora Box y Panasonic de coolux. En Two70° también hay una plétora de equipamientos de iluminación y video de Elation, tal como lo ha especificado Christopher Vlassopulos, Superintendente de SLVR & Architectural Lighting para RCI. Otro de los principales espacios de entretenimiento es el Royal Theatre, un sitio con capacidad para 1.300 personas, equipado también por ASC. Aquí, hay más artefactos de Elation, junto con unidades de ETC y Martin Professional, controladas mediante una consola Full Boar 4 de High End Systems. Para el audio del frente existe una combinación de Meyer Sound y DiGiCo, así como equipamiento para comunicación de Riedel.
© Royal Caribbean International - Simon Brook-Webb Photography
FRANÇAIS
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robust routing capabilities, handling all ship video - with the exception of security video - audio, Ethernet, RS control, intercom, and GPI signals. Just eight fibre-optic cables connect 10 additional MediorNet frames distributed throughout the ship to the MediorNet frame in the BCC. Riedel’s MediorWorks software facilitates dynamic assignment of ports with a few mouse clicks. The Artist digital matrix intercom system - equipped with MADI cards - and Acrobat digital wireless intercom, the latter depending on 21 antennas distributed across
the ship, provide a hybrid wired/wireless onboard communications network, and shipwide distribution is handled by the MediorNet network. Riedel’s Acrobat system ensures the best possible connection and audio quality, even when beltpack users are moving among the ship’s different entertainment areas. After setting off from Southampton in October with a destination of Cape Liberty, USA, Anthem of the Seas will be continuing to cruise around the Caribbean for the next few months.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION LIGHTING, VISUALS & EFFECTS 18 x Panasonic PT-DZ21KE projector; Vistarama projection surfaces; 6 x RoboScreens; coolux Pandoras Box media servers; coolux Pandoras Box quad servers; coolux Pandoras Box Manager software; coolux Widget Designer software; 144 x Elation EPV20 LED panel; Christie HD10K-M lateral projections; Barco DP2K digital cinema projector; Elation ELAR Quad Bar battens; Elation Platinum Wash ZFX Pro moving heads; Elation Satura Spot LED Pro moving heads; Elation Platinum Spot LED Pro II moving heads; Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving heads; Elation Platinum Spot 35R Pro moving heads; Elation Design Brick 70 II RGBWA colour battens; Elation ELED QA Strips; Martin Professional MAC Viper Performance moving heads; Martin Professional Viper Wash DX moving heads; Martin Professional Atomic 300 DMX strobes; 40+ ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Tungsten HD fixture; ETC Series 2 Lustrs fixtures; 80+ ETC Series 1 Lustr+ fixture; 26 x ETC Desire D40 Lustr+ fixture; LeMaitre MVS hazers; 1 x High End Systems Full Boar 4 lighting console SOUND 20 x Meyer Sound M’elodie curvilinear array loudspeaker; 4 x Meyer Sound 700 HP subwoofer; 5 x Meyer Sound Mina curvilinear array cabinet; 12 x Meyer Sound UPM1 loudspeaker; 40 x Meyer Sound UPJunior loudspeaker; 7 x Meyer Sound UP-4XP loudspeaker; 3 x Meyer Sound Galileo 616 loudspeaker management system; 1 x DiGiCo SD5 mixing console; 1 x DiGiCo SD-Rack 2 x DiGiCo SD-Mini Racks; Riedel MediorNet real-time media network; Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom system; Riedel Acrobat wireless intercom system *extract only www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/our-ships/anthem-of-the-seas/
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SUPPERCLUB AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
After 20 years at its original home, Supperclub recently made the move to the historic Odeon building. Rob Allen explored the impressive audio, lighting and visual upgrades that have transformed the 17th century former brewery into the ultimate escape for those seeking good food, music and performance. www.mondodr.com
All that glitters may not be gold, but when diners at the lavish, new Supperclub Amsterdam, The Netherlands are served golden oysters, then immersed in a treasure chest-glow of amber lighting, the lines between reality and make-believe are irrevocably blurred. For 20 years, Supperclub has offered the Dutch capital a sense of ultimate escape, blending pleasures in food, music and performance within cool white walls that provide a blank canvas for diners, chefs, artists and DJs alike to indulge their passions. When the time came in mid-2015 to close the doors on its original home at Jonge Roelensteeg and move a kilometre south to the canal side location of the historic Odeon building at Singel 460, Supperclub’s creative consultants grabbed an opportunity to further push the boundaries of nocturnal entertainment. Supperclub’s parent company, IQ Creative, has worked with the Amsterdam-based interior design
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agency, Concrete, for 17 years. The adoption of the former brewery, built in the 17th Century and later used as a theatre, concert hall and nightclub, saw the pair collaborate on segmenting the towering, traditional town house between multiple ventures. These include the Apt cocktail bar and HOPPA! specialist craft beer outlet, but it is the centrepiece of Supperclub and its remarkable, central Salle Neige hybrid dining and entertainment space that steals the show. The original Supperclub saw the beginnings of experimentation with video work and establishing relationships with a number of exciting VJs including Rick Robin and Lennart Visuals. As a four-walled, two-tiered space, it afforded the opportunity for a single projection wall using just one Panasonic PT-D6000 projector. Presented with the classical architecture, curved-walls and signature dome of the Odeon, the dream of enhancing the visual technology available and marrying it with expanded lighting
concepts soon started to feel like an achievable reality. Rob Wagemans, Lead Designer at Concrete said: “Each new Supperclub location always had some new features led by space or culture. The Odeon building is twice as big as the former location, giving us the opportunity to extend the design concept, incorporating many lavish ornamental elements, not least making a feature of the dome, and offering the perfect dramatic backdrop for new ideas. The result is 225° visuals, beds that can fold into couches, an exclusive balcony with a private bar and a smoking area. It is a sanctuary for the senses.” Alan Luna, resident DJ and Music and Visuals Programmer for Supperclub, was at the heart of specifying the technology required to achieve the venue’s creative ambitions. He added: “First of all we were struck by the space as it was so tall. We didn’t really need multiple projections at the old place, but with the new venue,
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• Left The bottle bar at Supperclub • Top Right Folding beds illuminated using DECALED strips • Below Exclusive balcony with private bar
there was this clear, new opportunity. We saw it would be amazing to do more. I was looking at it as a DJ and sound engineer, thinking how it would work music wise and one of our VJs, Rick Robin looked at it from a visual aspect. Our conclusion was to project against the walls using nine Optoma 501X projectors.” “We modelled the space using MadMapper and Resolume Arena software, the latter of which remains our choice for projecting into the space each night. The Salle Neige is dominated by structural, ornate pillars, which together with Concrete we decided to avoid with projections. The result is that the images appear as if behind the pillars, running around the outside of the room as if coming in through windows, which actually works even better. The areas that we project on aren’t completely uniform; they are curved at the corners, so it’s dynamic in its appearance. We were also mindful of hanging the projectors so that people around the venue don’t get light in their eyes.” What the IQ Creative and Concrete team have been able to achieve with the configuration of projectors and software choice is a system that is capable of a collosal 6K resolution. By side-mounting the Optoma projectors to project
vertically instead of horizontally, the nine screens effectively wrap the room in ultra-high definition moving or static imagery. Using Resolume Arena, VJs have freedom to live mix their visuals or maintain rock steady consistency in the room-specific set-up. The only catch at present is that the range of video work available at such a high specification is limited, with off-the-shelf work often coming in at a 4K resolution, meaning Supperclub must produce the majority of its own content to gain maximum effect. This hasn’t proved an issue for high-profile, well-resourced corporate clients, who have already embraced the capabilities of the space for brand launches and parties. Alan continued: “We actually have between 15 and 25 regular VJs working with us, who all find this new opportunity amazing. Some work with nature footage, some work only with graphics, which works fantastically. If you have your company party at our place, your branding can be projected in the most fantastic ways. We have hosted music social network, Crowdmix and Absolut Vodka, with more companies coming our way. They have the budget to make great movies, which have worked brilliantly with the space. You have to see it to believe it.” www.mondodr.com
First impressions count for everything, a point well made by Supperclub’s redesign with guests entering directly through an open kitchen, navigating chefs working on culinary masterpieces, before arriving in the Salle Neige and reclining on their chosen bed. The grandness of the Odeon building and the additional two hours opening time every night means Supperclub has graduated in its ambitions as a live venue and club, but food still plays a central role. As people eat from Supperclub’s innovative, modern menu, a diverse range of performers infuse the space with visceral delights, while Alan and his cohort work in the background to develop and adjust the projected visuals in ever more direct relation to what’s on the plate. Alan said: “All the way around the ceiling and behind the beds we have DECALED strips, which work great with the projections, giving the whole effect a lift. We can bathe the room in a blue light using the LEDs, while we are projecting aquarium footage with dancers dressed in blue, for example. We are experimenting with food and colours, so every course is prepared in different colours, which then reflect in the projections and lighting. So, they might eat a golden oyster, matched with golden coloured lights and projections. It gives them a different
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atmosphere in every course, with performance and music related to the colours. We are always looking for new ways to work with what we have, always looking for ways to go further.” The versatility of the LED strip lighting comes thanks to Martin LightJockey 2, an application which runs from a PC set-up to simply, yet effectively allow the technical team to make changes at a moment’s notice or devise intricate choreography plans. The venue is flexible, with both a bottle bar and feature stainless steel table on wheels allowing mixologists and chefs to technically work anywhere in the room. The projection and lighting has maintained pace with this multifunctional theme, with the LED lighting and projectors accompanied by six Martin Professional MAC 250 moving heads, offering additional colour variation and versatility during dinner service and live performances. British trip-hop legends, Faithless, appeared at Supperclub just weeks after opening, putting this added capability to the test. “Anything is now possible,” said Alan.
Five nights a week Supperclub flips those innovative beds into couches, clears the way for a dancefloor and follows the food service with club nights, playing cutting-edge house music until 5am. The complete venue experience, from a guest picking up a food menu to the last track of the club night, could last around 10 hours, so it’s vital that they remain excited and engaged. As the plates are cleared, all ears are on the DJ and it was up to IQ Creative to ensure they had a sound system that met their ambitions, so worked with Void Acoustics on a custom installation. The 16-piece configuration includes four of Void’s Tri Motion, three-way loudspeaker arrays in a custom white finish, selected not only for the intended, high-impact club use, but their distinct, sculpted fibreglass form. Alan and his fellow DJs benefit from the installation of two Void Airtens V2 loudspeakers, allowing for accurate on stage monitoring and two Void Stasys X V2 subwoofers sit at the system’s heart to deliver a statement in depth. The entire system runs back to a Symetrix Jupiter 8 processor. www.mondodr.com
Alan said: “The sound aspect is very different now. We now have a club, instead of a restaurant that extended into a club, so the sound needed to change. To make it work, we did a massive loudspeaker update and the newest of the new Void systems is in there. So, now we really have a club system to match most others. We work hard to keep the people that are having dinner for the club night and most people do stay, which is perfect. You have to continuously inspire them. “This new set-up still allows us to start very slowly during restaurant service, going from Marvin Gaye up to the club offer of deep house music and everything in between, all with equal quality. The house music needs a different pre-set to the mellow vibe, managing really low frequencies and offering punch - the Void system really gives us all of that. We can respect the food, the staff and the performances before letting go later on.” As perfectionists in sound, it was a challenge for IQ Creative and Void to overcome obstacles set by the venue itself. The three centuries old structure wasn’t designed to accommodate the
• Above The entrance and kitchen area.
FRANÇAIS
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Le Supperclub d’Amsterdam associe gastronomie, musique et spectacle depuis 20 ans. Le moment venu de choisir un nouveau lieu, l’agence de design IQ Creative and Concrete basée à Amsterdam a saisi l’occasion de réinstaller le club dans le bâtiment de l’Odéon, une ancienne brasserie du 17e siècle. L’architecture classique, les murs courbés et le dôme exceptionnel inspirèrent immédiatement l’installation de neuf projecteurs Optoma 501X, animant l’espace des logiciels MadMapper et Resolume Arena, et neuf écrans placardant la pièce de visuels en ultra haute définition. Les bandes DEL DECA, contrôlées par une application pour PC et un LightJockey 2 de chez Martin Professional, ont également été installées autour du plafond et derrière les banquettes, permettant l’utilisation de différentes couleurs lors des projections. L’entreprise IQ Creative confirma également détenir un système de son qui correspondait parfaitement au lieu, et choisit une installation sur mesure de chez VOID Acoustics. La configuration à 16 pièces comprend quatre enceintes Tri Motion, des colonnes d’enceintes à trois-voies, deux haut-parleurs Airtens V2 et deux caissons de basses Stasys X V2, tous de chez VOID et qui dominent le système. L’ensemble de l’installation est relié à un processeur Symetrix Jupiter 8. La nouvelle résidence du Supperclub est ainsi devenue un sanctuaire des sens, gardant finalement sa place de précurseur dans le monde du divertissement.
DEUTSCH
Supperclub Amsterdam kombiniert seit 20 Jahren Essen, Musik und Performance, doch als es an der Zeit war für den Umzug in das OdeonGebäude, einer ehemaligen Brauerei aus dem 17. Jahrhundert, nutzte IQ Creative and Concrete, eine in Amsterdam ansässige Designagentur, die Chance. Mit klassischer Architektur, geschwungenen Wänden und einer charakteristischen Kuppel wurde beschlossen, neun Optoma 501x Projektoren seitlich zu montieren, wobei der Raum durch MadMapper und Resolume Arena Software modelliert wird. Dies ergibt neun Bildschirme, die den Raum in Ultra-High Definition Visuals umhüllen. DECA LED-Leisten, die durch Martin Professional LightJockey 2, einer PC-Anwendung, gesteuert werden, wurden ebenfalls an der Decke und hinter den Fundamenten installiert, so dass verschiedene Farben neben den Projektionen arbeiten können. IQ Creative gewährleistete, dass das Soundsystem ebenfalls abgestimmt ist und mit VOID Acoustics auf einer kundenspezifischen Installation funktioniert. Die aus 16 Teilen bestehende Konfiguration umfasst vier von VOIDs Tri Motion, Drei-Wege-Lautsprecher-Arrays, zwei VOID Airtens V2 Lautsprecher und zwei VOID Stasys X V2 Subwoofer, die sich im Kern des Systems befinden. Die gesamte Installation läuft zurück zu einem Symetrix Jupiter 8 Processor. Dank des Endergebnisses wurde der neue Supperclub zu einem Zufluchtsort der Sinne, der seine ursprüngliche Bestimmung als Grenzen überschreitendes Entertainment bewahrt hat.
ITALIANO
Il Supperclub di Amsterdam ha combinato il cibo, la musica e gli spettacoli per 20 anni, ma quando è arrivato il momento di traslocare presso l’edificio Odeon (un’ ex fabbrica di birra costruita nel 17° secolo), IQ Creative and Concrete, un’ agenzia di design con sede ad Amsterdam, ha subito colto l’occasione. Utilizzando un’ architettura classica, delle pareti curve ed una cupola firmata, si è deciso di montare nove proiettori Optoma 501x ed un software MadMapper e Resolume Arena utilizzato su nove schermi che avvolgono la stanza con delle visuali in super alta definizione e che modellano lo spazio circostante. Inoltre, sono state installate delle strisce a Led DECA (controllate attraverso l’ applicazione per PC LightJockey 2 della Martin Professional) intorno al soffitto e dietro i letti, consentendo ai vari colori di affiancare le proiezioni. IQ Creative ha assicurato che erano provvisti anche di un sistema audio adatto, in collaborazione con VOID Acoustics, per un’installazione personalizzata. La configurazione a 16 pezzi che era stata utilizzata, includeva quattro Tri Motion della VOID, degli speaker array a tre vie, due altoparlanti Airtens V2 e due subwoofer Stasys X V2 della VOID posizionati nel cuore dell’impianto; mentre l’ intera installazione è stata servita da un processore Symetrix Jupiter 8. Il risultato finale ha visto il nuovo Supperclub diventare un santuario per i sensi, mantenendo il suo senso originario di intrattenimento al limite con l’aggresivo.
ESPAÑOL
Supperclub Amsterdam kombiniert seit 20 Jahren Essen, Musik und Performance, doch als es an der Zeit war für den Umzug in das OdeonGebäude, einer ehemaligen Brauerei aus dem 17. Jahrhundert, nutzte IQ Creative and Concrete, eine in Amsterdam ansässige Designagentur, die Chance. Mit klassischer Architektur, geschwungenen Wänden und einer charakteristischen Kuppel wurde beschlossen, neun Optoma 501x Projektoren seitlich zu montieren, wobei der Raum durch MadMapper und Resolume Arena Software modelliert wird. Dies ergibt neun Bildschirme, die den Raum in Ultra-High Definition Visuals umhüllen. DECA LED-Leisten, die durch Martin Professional LightJockey 2, einer PC-Anwendung, gesteuert werden, wurden ebenfalls an der Decke und hinter den Fundamenten installiert, so dass verschiedene Farben neben den Projektionen arbeiten können. IQ Creative gewährleistete, dass das Soundsystem ebenfalls abgestimmt ist und mit VOID Acoustics auf einer kundenspezifischen Installation funktioniert. Die aus 16 Teilen bestehende Konfiguration umfasst vier von VOIDs Tri Motion, Drei-Wege-Lautsprecher-Arrays, zwei VOID Airtens V2 Lautsprecher und zwei VOID Stasys X V2 Subwoofer, die sich im Kern des Systems befinden. Die gesamte Installation läuft zurück zu einem Symetrix Jupiter 8 Processor. Dank des Endergebnisses wurde der neue Supperclub zu einem Zufluchtsort der Sinne, der seine ursprüngliche Bestimmung als Grenzen überschreitendes Entertainment bewahrt hat.
volume and range of sounds presented by contemporary, deep house music and a room filled with happy and well-fed dancers. Alan explained: “The acoustics in the room, as an old theatre, made it difficult to work with in the beginning. It takes time, but now it’s there. The sound goes round and round, but when we hit it right, using the right isolation and thanks to the expertise and hard work of the engineers, it is now perfect. It has really full body and it doesn’t matter where you stand, the bass hits you exactly the same.” For the client, the transformation of
the old Odeon club to accommodate an expansion of the Supperclub brand has shown immediate signs of intended success. Ruby van Hoorn, PR and Marketing Manager for IQ Creative, which also sails the Supperclub Cruise from Amsterdam’s docks, concluded: “The guest experience with the mapped visuals is of absolute value to the experience for both leisure guests and business clients. We have already seen its added corporate value, attracting high worth business events, product launches and private parties.”
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SOUND SUPPERCLUB: 4 x Void Tri Motion horn top loudspeaker; 2 x Void Airten V2 coaxial top loudspeaker; 2 x Void Stasys X AIR subwoofer; 4 x Void Mycro 6 fill loudspeaker; 1 x Void Bias V9 amplifier; 2 x Void Bias VQ amplifier; 1 x Void Infinite 6V2 amplifier; 1 x Symetrix Jupiter 8 processor; 2 x Pioneer CDJ-2000 multiplayer; 1 x Pioneer DJM-900 Nexus mixer; 2 x Technics 1210 MK5 turntable THE APT: 2 x Void Airmotion horn top loudspeaker; 2 x Void Airten V2 coaxial top loudspeaker; 2 x Void Arcline subwoofer; 4 x Void Mycro 6 fill loudspeaker; 1 x Void Infinite 8V2 amplifier; 3 x Void Infinite 6V2 amplifier; 1 x Void Infinite 5V2 amplifier; 1 x Symetrix Jupiter 8 processor; 2 x Pioneer CDJ-2000 multiplayer; 1 x Pioneer DJM-2000 Nexus mixer LIGHTING & VISUALS 1 x Panasonic PT-D6000 projector; 9 x Optoma 501X projector; 5 x Martin Professional MAC 250 moving head; 1 x Martin Professional LightJockey 2 control package; DECA-LED strip lighting www.supperclub.com
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SPIRITO BRUSSELS, BELGIUM EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
When Spirito’s owners sought technical infrastructure for a new, high-end nightclub experience, they did so with a strong desire to respect the venue’s history and architectural design. This meant an audio installation capable of delivering outstanding performance from a minimal footprint and a lighting design that would accentuate rather than dominate. www.mondodr.com
Located in an old church in Brussels, Spirito mixes its traditional architectural heritage with contemporary design and technology. Spread across three floors, the venue has been created to answer a perceived gap in the market for a luxury venue that would attract high-end club goers and corporate clients. With that in mind, Spirito’s owners opted for a Funktion-One loudspeaker system from Soundsystem and a lighting installation from SLE Sound and Lighting Engineering that adds colour and movement to the dramatic surroundings. “We created Spirito to meet the needs of high-end clientele,” said owner Jérôme Blanchart. “There were a lack of nightlife options in Brussels for these kind of customers. We also wanted to boost the social and cultural life in Brussels.” The entrance takes guests right into the heart of the venue, on the ground floor, which houses the main dancefloor and DJ booth, VIP areas, bar and cloakroom. It is sandwiched by a restaurant on the floor above and bathrooms in the basement below. Funktion-One loudspeakers feature throughout. Soundsystem’s Tia Broodcoorens recalled: “The owners experienced and got to know Funktion-One in clubs in Ibiza. As we’ve worked in Brussels for a long time now, and as we can present good references in Brussels, our client found our contact through his network in Brussels. We invited the owners to Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt in April to have a listen to the different loudspeakers in the Funktion-One demo room. It took about six months from the first contact to the final install.” Soundsystem configured compact Funktion-One loudspeakers into zones. Tia continued: “During our negotiation period, there was a demo of another brand and they installed a small line array. The speakers from the line array were only two metres from the customers eating in the restaurant upstairs. The volume was not equally spread over the complete venue. The line array didn’t have the result they expected from it - either it was too
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loud or too quiet. “There are many corners and small places within this venue and it is impossible to get a good sound all over the venue with a single system. We also had to take into account that the acoustics in this venue are difficult - it used to be a church and as far as possible, the interior of the church is still original, which means that there are a lot of sound reflections. “Working with smaller speakers closer to the visitors gives more direct sound and fewer reflections. This zoning has the advantage that you can easily adjust levels using a laptop to suit the needs of those using each space. The venue is also used for corporate events, product launches and events like that, so if only a part of the venue is used, the rest doesn’t need to be on, and doesn’t need to add unnecessary reverberations in the venue. Also, the VIP area is very important for Spirito. They want to offer a personal approach to their customers and maximise their experience.” Spirito’s dancefloor is home to eight Funktion-One F88 loudspeakers and two BR218 double 18-inch bass reflex enclosuress. Four F101’s have been installed at the front and the back of the dancefloor, and six F55’s deployed under the balcony at the main bar. A further four F101’s and a BR115 bass unit service the VIP area. Soundsystem designed a DJ monitoring system, comprising two F81’s and a Minibass 112. “The DJ booth is almost in the middle of the dancefloor,” revealed Tia. “To avoid the delays coming from the main system, we needed a decent monitoring system for the DJ booth. The booth itself is very small. Only a mixer and two CDJs would fit. We have put two F81s in front of the DJ and a smaller sub the MB112 - at ground level in the DJ booth. To some people’s surprise, the feeling is really loud in the DJ booth.” The upstairs bar has four F88 loudspeakers and two BR115 bass reflex speakers. Three more BR115’s have been specified for the restaurant - also upstairs - along with eight F81 loudspeakers and
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FRANÇAIS
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Spirito, situé dans une vieille église à Bruxelles, associe architecture traditionnelle et design contemporain. Ainsi, lors de la mise à niveau de l’infrastructure technique, l’on considéra longuement l’histoire du lieu avant d’y installer un système sonore Funktion-One et une installation d’éclairage de chez SLE - Sound and Lighting Engineering. La piste de danse du Spirito affiche huit haut-parleurs Funktion-One F88 et deux doubles enceintes bass-réflexe BR218 de 18 pouces. Quatre F101 ont été installées à l’avant et l’arrière de la piste de danse, avec six F55 déployés sous le balcon du bar principal ; quatre autres enceintes F101 et un haut-parleur de basses BR115 se trouvent dans la zone VIP. La société Soundsystem a conçu un système de veille pour le DJ comprenant deux F81 et une MicroBass 112. Le bar à l’étage dispose de quatre haut-parleurs F88 et de deux enceintes bass-réflexe BR115. Trois autres enceintes BR115 ont été demandées pour le restaurant, avec huit haut-parleurs F81, en plus de deux F55. L’entreprise SLE - Sound and Lighting Engineering a choisi des appareils de fabricants comme ShowTec, Briteq, Magic FX et MDG, alors qu’une console Martin Professional M1, un serveur de scène Arkaos Pro 2014 et une commande de moteur ShowTec PLE-30-040 servent à gérer tout le système. Dans l’ensemble, on obtient une performance audio exceptionnelle et un design d’éclairage qui accentue les effets sans pour autant les dominer.
DEUTSCH
Spirito befindet sich in einer alten Kirche Brüssels und kombiniert traditionelle Architektur mit zeitgenössischem Design. Bei der Aktualisierung der technischen Infrastruktur wurde die Geschichte des Treffs berücksichtigt, bevor man sich für ein Funktion-One Lautsprechersystem von Soundsystem und eine Beleuchtungsinstallation von SLE Sound and Lighting Engineering entschied. Die Tanzfläche des Spiritos umfasst acht Funktion-One F88 Lautsprecher und zwei doppelte 18-Zoll BR218 Bassreflexboxen. Vier F101s wurden an der Vorder- und Rückseite der Tanzfläche angebracht, mit sechs F55s unter dem Balkon der Hauptbar. Weitere vier F101s und eine BR115 Bassbox sind für den VIP-Bereich bestimmt, während Soundsystem ein DJ-Überwachungssystem entworfen hat, das zwei F81s und einen Minibass 112 umfasst. Die Bar im Obergeschoss verfügt über vier F88 Lautsprecher und zwei BR115 Bassreflexboxen. Drei weitere BR115s wurden neben acht F81 Lautsprechern und zwei F55s für das Restaurant bestimmt. SLE Sound and Lighting Engineering beschafft die Beleuchtung von Herstellern wie ShowTec, Briteq, Magic FX und MDG, während die Steuerung des Systems über ein Martin Professional M1 Pult, Arkaos Pro 2014 Stage Server und ShowTec PLE-30-040 Motorregler erfolgt. Allgemein ist das Ergebnis eine hervorragende Audioleistung sowie ein Beleuchtungsdesign, das eher betont als dominiert.
ITALIANO
Lo Spirito, che si trova in una vecchia chiesa a Bruxelles, mescola un’ architettura tradizionale al design contemporaneo. Proprio per questo, quando l’infrastruttura tecnica è stata aggiornata, la storia del posto è stata segnata prima che fossero stati scelti il sistema di altoparlanti Funktion-One della Soundsystem e l’ impianto di illuminazione della SLE Sound e della Lighting Engineering. La pista da ballo dello Spirito vede l’ utilizzo di otto altoparlanti Funktion-One F88 e due altoparlanti Bass Reflex da 18 pollici BR218 double. Quattro F101 sono stati installati nella parte anteriore e posteriore della pista e sei F55 sono stati schierati sotto il balcone del bar principale. Altri quattro F101 ed un basso BR115 sono stati posizionati nella zona VIP, mentre Soundsystem ha progettato un sistema di monitoraggio DJ composto da due F81 ed un Minibass 112. Il bar al piano superiore è dotato di quattro altoparlanti F88 e due altoparlanti Bass Reflex BR115. Oltre a questi anche altri tre BR115 sono stati utilizzati per il ristorante, insieme ad otto altoparlanti F81 e due F55. SLE Sound and Lighting Engineering ha fornito apparecchiature di produttori del calibro di ShowTec, Briteq, Magia FX e MDG, mentre il controllo del sistema audio è gestito da una console Martin Professional M1, uno Stage Server Pro 214 della Arkaos ed un motor controller PLE-30-040 della Showtec. Nel complesso, il risultato è una performance audio eccezionale ed un design di illuminazione che accentua gli spazi piuttosto che dominarli.
ESPAÑOL
Spirito, ubicado en una antigua iglesia en Bruselas, mezcla la arquitectura tradicional con el diseño contemporáneo. Cuando llegó el momento de actualizar la infraestructura técnica, se tuvo en cuenta la historia del lugar antes de que se eligiera un sistema de parlantes Funktion-One de Soundsystem y una instalación de iluminación de SLE Sound y Lighting Engineering. La pista de baile de Spirito alberga ocho parlantes Funktion-One F88 y dos parlantes reflex de bajos BR218 dobles de 18-pulgadas. Se instalaron cuatro F101 en el frente y la parte posterior de la pista de baile, con seis F55 desplegados bajo el balcón en el bar principal. Otros cuatro F101 y un parlante de bajos BR115 suministran la zona VIP, mientras que Soundsystem diseñó un sistema de monitoreo de DJ compuesto por dos F81 y un Minibass 112. El bar de planta alta posee cuatro parlantes F88 y dos parlantes de bajos reflex BR115. Para el restaurante se especificaron tres BR115 más, junto con ocho parlantes F81 y dos F55. SLE Sound and Lighting Engineering suministró artefactos de fabricantes como ShowTec, Briteq, Magic FX y MDG, mientras que el control para el sistema es manejado por una consola M1 de Martin Professional, un servidor para el escenario Arkaos Pro 2014 y controladores PLE-30-040 de ShowTec. En general, el resultado es una sobresaliente performance de audio y un diseño de iluminación que es más lo que acentúa que lo que domina.
place to power the system. SLE Sound and Lighting Engineering’s lighting design focusses on respecting the building’s architecture, again with a discreet installation, while accentuating its historic features. The company supplied a variety of fixtures from manufacturers including Showtec, Briteq, Magic FX and MDG. Control for the system is handled by a Martin Professional M1 console and an ArKaos Stage Server media server. Discussing the installation, SLE’s Fabian d’Allaba revealed: “Our aim was to create a discreet design but our decisions were also influenced by the economic impact and the quality to price ratio. We want to stay ahead, so we normally change our lighting systems roughly every two years. “There were some challenges with the Spirito project, such as suspending eight rigging points, each with a load of two tonnes. The structure/truss moves, which makes things harder, plus implementing the wiring for the lighting system was complicated too. But we are happy with the result and look forward to renovating and innovating the systems on a regular basis.” Soundsystem’s Tia is also happy with the finished result: “We are very happy now the project is completed. Brussels is the capital of Europe and Spirito is situated in the middle of one of the most affluent areas in Brussels. It attracts people who
seek exclusive experiences. “The venue, being an old church, is unique and attracts people and companies who want to spend their time in a different way. The look of the venue is gorgeous, although that’s a personal thing, of course. Visitors are very well treated - the approach is very professional - they receive their personal corner or table during the club nights and a high level of service. The approach is very personal - your car will be parked for you, the waiter is very attentive, and things like that. “It’s not a club sound as we are used to with Funktion-One, which is new for some people. The owner has invested in excellent décor, drinks and customer experiences. Funktion-One fits into this approach because it is a high-end loudspeaker, which adds to the overall exclusiveness of Spirito.” Jérôme reflected: “Working with Soundsystem was not particularly different than working with other technical companies but Soundsystem gave us a customised installation that answers what Spirito really needs. Today, we have quality equipment that does not spoil the charm of our architecture. We did some tests and different sound set ups to experience which one was the best for our type of activities, and Soundsystem’s Funktion-One system was the best option.”
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SOUND 12 x Funktion-One F88 loudspeaker; 2 x Funktion-One BR218 bass reflex enclosure; 6 x Funktion-One F101 loudspeaker; 6 x Funktion-One BR115 bass reflex enclosure; 11 x Funktion-One F55 loudspeaker; 10 x Funktion-One F81 loudspeaker; 2 x MC2 Audio T4-250 amplifier; 3 x MC2 Audio T500 amplifier; 2 x MC2 Audio T1000 amplifier; 5 x MC2 Audio T1500 amplifier; 2 x MC2 Audio T3500 amplifier; 3 x XTA DP548 audio management system; 1 x XTA DC1048 processor; 1 x Novacoustic DC4000 digital matrix loudspeaker controller LIGHTING 22 x Briteq BTW36L3 Wash moving head; 38 x JB Systems Showtec Planospot LED fixture; 1 x Martin Professional M1 lighting console; 1 x ArKaos Stage Server media server; 14 x MagicFX Power Shot effect; 7 x MagicFX CO2 jet www.spiritobrussels.com
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THE DUCHESS AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Audio integration specialist, Milco Merk of Merk Audio has been in the industry since he was 16-years-old. He recently specified an IDEA sound system for the newly inaugurated The Duchess in central Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Inspired by the splendour and eminence of the Belle Époque, it is one of Amsterdam’s bestkept, historical gems. The former KAS Bank, where The Duchess is housed, introduces guests to the elegant traditions of British culture balanced with Viennese grandeur. The Duchess is part of the W Hotel and comprises a restaurant dining area, tearoom, bar and private table in the heart of the Molteni kitchen. The magnificent, original ornaments, high ceilings and accents of gold marble enhance The Duchess’ luxurious appearance. Milco Merk has been working with IDEA, virtually from its inception, and is a fan of the company making good quality products within a reasonable price bracket. And as for The Duchess, his relationship with the owners, Yossi Eliyahoo Duchess and Liran Wizman, is also a historic one. Upon entering the venue, it certainly makes a grand impression, dark wood, high ceilings and stained glass windows - the latter two points obviously causing havoc for the room acoustics. Milco and his team - which included Sound Engineer, Paul van Schaik - added a special coating to the glass to prevent it from falling out when the music is turned up loud. Louise Knoppert headed up the team that was in charge of preserving the glass. www.mondodr.com
An even bigger challenge arose when it came to the placement of the subwoofers. Due to it being a historic building, altering the original features simply wasn’t an option, therefore housing the subwoofers under seating benches - a common place for bass enclosures in such a venue - wasn’t possible. Instead, Milco came up with the idea of hiding them in the bench - an original feature from when the building was a bank - located in the centre of the room. Milco explained further: “When we first noticed the bench and opened it up, there was a radiator inside, but we quickly removed that. We added some holes on either side of the bench to allow the bass to fill the room. Our special trick though, was to install the subwoofers upside-down, which not only creates a very warm sound but also prevents diners from knowing where the sound is actually coming from.” Four IDEA MEX BASSO24t custommade subwoofers were installed inside the bench. These supplement the 18 IDEA LUA5 H custom-made two-way passive loudspeakers that have been
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mounted on their side in the dining area. A further eight IDEA LUA5 H custom-made loudspeakers feature in the tearoom and more of the same in the bar and reception areas. “All the top speakers are the same,” said Milco. “We wanted the system to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.” To extend the low frequency, two IDEA SEM BASSO12t custom-made subwoofers, two IDEA SEM BASSO18 custom-made subwoofers and one IDEA BASSO10 custom-made subwoofer were installed in the tearoom, bar and reception area, respectively. The system is split into six different zones - the restaurant, tearoom, bar area, toilets, hotel area and reception. “The sound is always the same in every zone,”
continued Milco. “It’s only the levels that are different. Throughout the restaurant though, we want to create smooth and even coverage, a lot of which we achieved through filtering.” A combination of one Ram Audio RX 600 amplifier, three Ram Audio S-Series S6044 with DSP 44 amplifiers and a single Ram Audio V-Series V-12044 with DSP 44 amplifier power the audio system. Before taking the project on, Milco was confident he could deliver the requirements, something that he considers vital, admitting that he will turn down work, unless he knows he can produce a good result for the owners. All those involved with The Duchess are happy he took on this particular challenge.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SOUND 34 x IDEA LUA5 H custom-made loudspeaker; 4 x IDEA MEX BASSO24t custom-made subwoofer; 2 x IDEA SEM BASSO12t custom-made subwoofer; 1 x IDEA 1 x BASSO10 custom-made subwoofer; 2 x IDEA 2 x SEM BASSO18 custom-made subwoofer; 1 x Ram Audio RX 600amplifier; 3 x Ram Audio S- Series S6044 with DSP 44 amplifier; 1 x Ram Audio V- Series V-12044 with DSP 44 amplifier www.the-duchess.com
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THE PICKLE FACTORY LONDON, UK EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
The Pickle Factory, one of London’s newest venues, became the first to install d&b audiotechnik’s new point source system in late 2015.
Technical Manager Dominic Gross, his brother and co-founder Jordan Gross, and Director of Operations, Jett Glozier, masterminded the audio specifications for The Pickle Factory, eventually deciding that the V-Series was the perfect fit. Dominic said: “We had worked at other music venues, so we knew we needed to address the acoustic design as a priority; something that wasn’t prevalent with those other venues, where location and vacancy allowed them to just spring up unplanned.” Acoustically isolating the club from its surroundings would help the Gross brothers avoid one of the most contentious causes of club shut down, but they also had other aspirations for The Pickle Factory that would establish new standards for quality in sound. Dominic continued: “Utilisation is key. Club evenings, Friday and Saturday night, and one or two live concert events during the week are the core. But we also expect to do a lot of daytime and evening events, product launches, conferencing, training sessions - even weddings and bar mitzvahs. It’s almost a hotel function room environment, but with a difference. The quality is a step higher. Key to that quality is sound. “We originally opened the Oval Space across the road five years ago, and bought both buildings at that time. We put a d&b www.mondodr.com
audiotechnik system into the Oval Space, something that impressed us and our customers; but The Pickle Factory needed a two system installation so we could run concert style or full-on club nights with what we call an immersive system.” Technically savvy when it comes to matters of sound reinforcement, Jett and the Gross brothers had identified the particular needs of The Pickle Factory in some detail. “We tried several leading systems, brands you will be well aware of, and frankly they were all rather underwhelming. It’s a small room, low ceiling, and certainly needs a point source solution, but at the time we first started planning, d&b didn’t have anything suitable in their catalogue.” They turned to freelance Front of House Engineer Adam Dickson for some additional insight. He commented: “I had done a couple of gigs at the Oval Space for Hillsong. As they were contemplating The Pickle Factory, I was called in to retune the Oval Space system. I had just done a sound system optimisation seminar with Oran Burns at d&b audiotechnik’s UK base in Nailsworth so the timing was perfect. That same week, they asked me if I could I design a system for The Pickle Factory. Right from the get-go they were clear what they wanted.” Jordan specified that the ‘immersive system’ had to be exactly that, which is why Adam chose d&b’s Y-Series
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DuraTruss B.V. Junostraat 2 6468 EW Kerkrade The Netherlands Tel. +31 45 546 85 81 info@duratruss.com
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loudspeakers facing into the room. During the process, he travelled to other venues, such as a club in Berlin, to listen to what they were doing. Adam said: “The height of the room was a big consideration. The acoustic modifications specified by the venue’s consultant Michael Guerra, were a work in progress when I first engaged with the project, so it was quite difficult for me to know how it would look in the end. As it is, they did a really good job on the acoustics.” Michael explained the acoustic work: “The basic design premise for any sound attenuation is to decouple and add mass. The Pickle Factory is quite a small space, so we designed a room within a room. The practical limitations were the relatively low ceiling height, the small width dimension, and the budget. The Pickle Factory had to be treated like a handmade jewel box, with a set of quite complex details confined within it. A particular issue is the air conditioning; and working with the AC contractors we devised a means of getting fresh air in, heating or cooling, and then extracting waste air through a sound absorbing plenum.” Southby Productions, a High Wycombe-based audio installation and live production specialist, was already well known to both Dominic and adam through the technical support it provides for the Oval Space. As a d&b audiotechnik sales partner, it was a natural choice when it came to engaging directly with the job, as its Project Manager Chris Jones explained. “We first did a Y-Series demo with Y10P loudspeakers four months before opening. We made an ArrayCalc assessment of the room as it would be when the building work was completed, and later made a second demonstration at the beginning of September 2015. We still had to floor mount everything as construction work was still ongoing, but the actual height of loudspeakers was accurate and gave a good rendering of what could be expected.” Although the initial proposal by Southby was based on the Y10P loudspeaker, during those intervening four months
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INSIDER INSIGHTS NAME: Oran Burns JOB TITLE: d&b audiotechnik’s Application Support LIKES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY: The constant pushes for improvement. More output or performance from smaller footprints, improved networking and control solutions along with more sophisticated design and optimisation tools, all of which result in us being able to efficiently deliver better results. DISLIKES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY: I don’t really have any dislikes as such, apart from when technology gets in the way of skilled human input. THE NEXT BIG THING IN TECHNOLOGY WORLD: It has already landed, it’s our ArrayProcessing technology! This new technology incorporates powerful filter algorithms that calculate and optimise the sonic performance of a d&b line array over an entire audience area which leads to remarkable consistency and dramatically improved sonic results. For me this is a game changer.
d&b audiotechnik launched the larger, more powerful point source variants of the V-Series. “The client is tech savvy,” continued Chris. “With an eye to the future they asked us to up the spec to the more powerful V7P. The addition of the V7P and its dedicated sub, the V-GSUB, brings several advantages, not least future-proofing. The G suffix indicates ‘ground stacked’ and there is a pole mount aperture on the top as is normal. However, most usefully, the top surface has also been profiled down 10mm in the footprint of a V point source cabinet so it can be securely stacked directly on top of the sub. Thus redeployment of these loudspeakers for outdoor summer festival events is a very practical reality.” The series was demonstrated at a presentation in December 2015 at The Temporary Theatre Space - formally know at The Shed - in London, which allowed mondo*dr to hear the new products in action first hand. Steve Jones, Education and Application Support at d&b, put the loudspeakers through their paces, and gave an insight into where they fit in the company’s extensive range. Following the demo, Steve explained some of the series’ features: “The V7P and V10P use an advanced hornloaded mid range section, which provides a remarkable MF sensitivity. This extraordinary mid frequency performance, particularly in the vocal range, is where these compact V-Series cabinets excel. The endless vocal headroom of these loudspeakers make them perfect for applications which demand high sound pressure levels with full bandwidth capabilities from a single box solution. They are an ideal alternative to smaller line array setups as they are lightweight and have a wide range of rigging options.” Southby still had to engage with the realities of Michael’s acoustic solution. “We developed a wall mounting for the d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers that put bracket mounts through the suspended wall and fixed to the outer. Then we isolated them from the inner wall using a semi-solid silicone-like chemical bond that resealed the inner wall to prevent leakage. To make sure this was acceptable we charged one of our senior installation team to coordinate with the architects as
to the effectiveness of what we proposed. So in running this project we have expanded our body of knowledge.” The final dual system, as originally envisaged by Jett and the Gross brothers, uses elements of Y and V-Series. The end-on concert system playing down the length of the room has a single V7P on two V-GSUBs left and right; while centre fills are E8 loudspeakers. Delays for the concert system also form part of the second, so called, immersive system, a combination of Y10P and V10P; these are inward facing along the long sides of the room. Additional elements of the immersive system, primarily rear fills, also use V10P loudspeakers, while the low end performance is augmented by Bi6-SUBs. Both systems are driven by d&b’s dedicated installation amplifier, the 30D. “When it came to commissioning, this was a very easy system to tune,” said Adam. “I’m a fan of how d&b voice their systems, I find using them second nature. Really all Chris and I did was time align the system, the main left and right V7Ps to the Bi6 SUBs on the back wall, and the rear facing Vi10P, and just a little EQ. I was really happy with the way the Y and V integrated, which is why there was almost no EQ needed.” Southby was also required to test the efficacy of the sound insulation. Chris said: “The system is intended to run at around 96/97dBA, but for the test we pushed it to 106dBA so we could conduct listening tests outside. We did this during normal office hours and there is a large office building right across the street. Within 10 metres outside the venue the mids and high were not discernible, but you could hear the lows around 32-50Hz; but once you moved out to 20-metres they were undetectable. The work of Michael Guerra has really proved fantastically effective.” Dominic concluded: “Chris originally specified Y-Series point sources, but when it came to it we went for a higher spec V-Series. Yes we have over-specified, but that prevents us from ever damaging the system and it means we can have it as loud as we are ever likely to want. That’s without ever exceeding headroom capability or upsetting the neighbours.”
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SOUND 2 x d&b audiotechnik V7P loudspeaker; 4 x d&b audiotechnik V-GSUB subwoofer; d&b audiotechnik E8 loudspeakers; d&b audiotechnik Y10P loudspeakers; d&b audiotechnik V10P loudspeakers; d&b audiotechnik Bi6-SUB subwoofers; d&b audiotechnik 30D amplifiers www.ovalspace.co.uk/about/the-venues/pickle-factory
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www.rgblink.com
Sales & Enquiries: sales@rgblink.com Ph: +86 592 5771197
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TIGER TIGER LONDON, UK EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Novus Leisure’s Tiger Tiger in the West End of London has recently undergone a renovation. The flagship bar has undertaken a major technical overhaul thanks to Martin Audio and Kaleidovision - updating the brand experience.
One of Novus Leisure’s approved suppliers, Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) specified Martin Audio’s Coaxial Differential Dispersion Series (CDD) as part of this major refit, having already fitted the manufacturer’s new technology in several other high profile sites. “We had also carried out a number of other recent refits for Novus using Martin Audio’s AQ range, which we were great fans of,” said MSL Project Director, Darrel Olivier. “But this high profile venue provided the perfect opportunity to debut the new CDD. In terms of aesthetics and sound quality, CDD is a definite improvement, offering wider dispersion, as well as being less obtrusive.” MSL set about the project by first reviewing the existing loudspeaker www.mondodr.com
positional strategy. Some of the existing loudspeakers were redeployed to ensure even sound coverage throughout, while by groundstacking the new subwoofer it ensured maximum impact and low frequency extension. Aside from the Tiger Bar, Novus Leisure has replaced its former Ibiza-style White Room, with the more sophisticated LUXE Room, which is available for private hire. The Tiger Bar and dancefloor have been equipped with four CDD15 loudspeakers, four CDD12 loudspeakers and three S218X subwoofers. LUXE has been fitted with six CDD10 loudspeakers and an existing AQ215 bass system, which was redeployed. The two restaurant areas are also the beneficiary of two CDD10 loudspeakers and a CSX212 compact subwoofer, linking them more visibly to
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• Above The bar area.
the main bar. Novus Leisure Regional Operations Manager, Jenna Edwards, said: “Sound is the most important element when you are out clubbing and this system is phenomenal to listen to. I think this establishes our position as the best club experience in London.” The sound system is driven by a combination of Powersoft K3, M50Q, M30 and M28Q amplifiers. Tiger Tiger’s General Manager, Darren Gaffney, concluded the audio upgrade: “This new installation has created a real wow factor for customers. It’s had an immediate impact on sales.” For the visual element, Tiger Tiger Brand Manager, Sophie Evans, explained: “The brief was to create a stand-out experience with screen content that is always fun and engaging: reflective of the Tiger brand whatever time of day. Kaleidovision delivered above and beyond. They just really get under the skin of the brand, both in the music playlist and in digital execution in venue.” Kaleidovision used 35 6mm pitch video panels each measuring 2.5-metres high by one-metre wide - with four hangs at the main bar and three on the adjacent bar. As the music picks up a more playful energy, so does the graphic wall. They convey energetic motifs, such as a game of Tetris - memory-invoking games that mesmerise. Sophie said: “The screen is so big and powerful, it draws the eyes and Tetris is an engaging quirk that creates a talking point while customers kick back and relax.”
Content is uploaded to a Madrix media server and is operated using ShowCad Artist control software. Sophie continued: “The graphics are phenomenal and Kaleidovision were brilliant. There are always people looking in from outside as it’s created a huge talking point - it’s Instagrammable, unlike
anything the customers have seen before.” Darrel gave the final word: “It was great working with Kaleidovision on this really interesting project. The pairing of technical and creative expertise was straightforward and professional, producing a high-calibre end result.”
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SOUND 4 x Martin Audio CDD15 loudspeaker; 4 x Martin Audio CDD12 loudspeaker; 3 x Martin Audio S218X subwoofer; 8 x Martin Audio CDD10 loudspeaker; 1 x Martin Audio AQ215 subwoofer; 1 x Martin Audio CSX212 subwoofer; Powersoft K3, M50Q, M30 and M28Q amplifiers VISUAL 35 x 6mm pitch video panel; 1 x Madrix media server; 1 x ShowCAD Artist control software www.tigertiger.co.uk
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WorldStage helps Madison Square Garden thrill fans with floor projections from d3.
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In an arena arguably named as the most famous in the world, Knicks and Rangers fans have now got even more to cheer about, as Madison Square Garden now features a video projection system aimed to liven up every event. WorldStage was appointed to led the installation. It recommended a projector set-up that would deliver four times the resolution of HD in a
compact package. The projectors capable of such promises are the Christie Boxer 4Ks. Content playback and image warping is handled by an extensive networked graphics system based on d3 Technologies 4x4pro. www.d3technologies.com
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THE OBSERVATORY SAN DIEGO, USA THE AMERICAS
Following the success of their Orange County venue, the team at The Observatory North Park enlisted the help of Sound Image to create the best live music venue in San Diego. The owners of The Observatory, one of the most popular live music venues in Orange County, California, recently opened another location in San Diego. The Observatory North Park has gained recognition quickly both for the eclectic assortment of well-known and up-andcoming bands that it hosts, as well as for the quality and quantity of sound reinforcement. “When the owners purchased the building, it was with the intention of turning the space into the best live music venue in San Diego,” explained Garrett Wysocki, Audio Manager at The Observatory. “So far, so good. We’re ticking off everyone else in town with sold out shows and a reputation for the best PA and sound in the area.” Garrett noted that much of their success is due to the new sound reinforcement system from Adamson Systems Engineering that was installed shortly after the venue changed hands. The S10 line array system was designed and installed by Sound Image, located in nearby Escondido, California. The Observatory North Park is located in a building that opened as a movie theatre in 1929. Over the years, it has stayed true to its original purpose as an entertainment venue. The current owners took over the space in early 2015. The theatre has a capacity of 1,200, though plans to open the balcony in the near future will bump the capacity up to 1,400. “The previous owners had a similar idea with the space but failed,” added Garrett. “The sound system they had in here was seriously underpowered. Customers and bands were constantly complaining about the sound. So, the first thing we did was start checking out reputable systems that
would provide the quality and coverage the bands and customers demand.” One of the people Garrett reached out to was Jesse Adamson, Director of Business Development at Sound Image. In addition to its touring division, Sound Image also offers design/install solutions throughout the Southwest. The Observatory joins more than 100 prestigious venues that have worked with the installation experts throughout the region. Sound Image ultimately demonstrated two systems at The Observatory, one of which was the new S10 line array from Adamson Systems Engineering. “I had already listened to demos of other systems that sounded okay, but didn’t fit our budget,” Garrett said. “I wanted quality and coverage but could not break the bank getting there. When I heard the S10 I knew we had the solution. The sound was amazing. The coverage is incredible. There is not a bad seat in the house.” Sound Image and the Adamson support team worked with Garrett and Ryan Blank, The Observatory Operations Manager, to put together a system that would be flexible enough to handle the variety of music genres performed at the venue and accepted by the level of artist that the talent buyer was attracting. The final system consisted of left-right arrays made up of eight S10 enclosures each and eight E119 subwoofers groundstacked four per side. “We take pride in going above and beyond to ensure that the final system was the best fit for everyone,” added Jesse. “In the end, the S10 system is quite impressive and I can’t imagine that a touring engineer would ever be www.mondodr.com
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Images by Jesse Gassaway
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disappointed in what they hear when they walk into this club.” The S10 is a two-way, full range line array enclosure ideal for venues like The Observatory. Loaded with two newlydesigned 10-inch ND10-LM Kevlar Neodymium low-frequency drivers and a NH4TA2 1.5-inch exit high-frequency compression driver, the enclosure features a wave-shaping sound chamber that produces a slightly curved wavefront with a nominal dispersion pattern of 110° x 10° (H x V). The chamber exhibits increased vertical response, with minimal sacrifice of high-frequency energy in the far field. Patent-pending Controlled Summation Technology further eliminates low-mid lobing that’s normally associated with two-way line source systems. The S10 offers a max peak SPL 141.3dB, which is notable for such a compact enclosure and, again, ideally suited for The Observatory’s audio goals. The system is powered by three Lab. gruppen PLM 10000Q and one PLM 20000Q amplifiers, equipped with Lake Processing. Garrett noted: “Fortunately, we already owned the Lab.gruppen amplifiers that Adamson recommends for their rig. Not only did that help to keep
• Left The North Park venue is the second Observatory venture for the owners. • Right Preparations ahead of a gig.
the cost down on the system, but those amplifiers are absolute workhorses and the Lake Processing is state-of-the-art really incredible.” The Observatory North Park is equipped with two Avid Profile digital consoles - one at front of house with 16-out mix rack and the other at the monitors with a 32-out mix rack. Stage monitoring is provided by an assortment of EAW MW12 and MW15 wedges, while a left-right monitor rig, made up of two
L-Acoustics ARC2 loudspeakers coupled together on top of two RAT Sound Super Sub dual 18-inch subwoofers, provide stage fill. Lighting wise, the theatre has a MA Lighting grandMA console to manage the intelligent lighting fixtures including Martin Professional MAC 2000 Profiles, and Mac Auras, Elation Platinum Beam 5Rs, as well as ETC Source Fours, 288 ETC Sensor dimmers - controlled via an Unison system.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SOUND 16 x Adamson S10 line array cabinet; 8 x Adamson E119 subwoofer; 3 x Lab.gruppen PLM 10000Q amplifier; 1 x Lab.gruppen PLM 20000Q amplifier; 2 x Avid Profile digital console; 2 x L-Acoustics ARC2 loudspeaker; 1 x L-Acoustics SB18 subwoofer; 7 x L-Acoustics LA8 amplified controller; 2 x RAT Sound Super Sub subwoofer; 6 x EAW MW12 wedge; 6 x MW15 wedge LIGHTING & VISUALS 1 x MA Lighting grandMA console; 6 x Martin Professional MAC 2000 Profile moving head; 8 x Martin Professional MAC Aura moving head; 6 x Elation Platinum Beam 5R moving head; ETC Source Four theatrical profiles; 288 x ETC Sensor dimmer; 1 x Reel EFX DF-50 diffusion hazer www.observatorysd.com
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106 IN BRIEF - APAC
Spotlight livens up the wax works at the Grevin Museum in Seoul.
www.mondodr.com
107 IN BRIEF - APAC
The Grevin Musem in Seoul, South Korea mesmerises guests with its wax works of famous people. The stars range from actors, singers and sports people to iconic historical figures. To make the wax works really come to life, system integrators Concept Lumiere and Compagnie des Alpes, both from France, recently specified a
new lighting concept featuring 197 Spotlight ProfiLED 50 ZS luminaires, 212 Spotlight FresneLED 50 fixtures and five Spotlight FresneLED 100 fresnels. www.spotlight.it
www.mondodr.com
Image courtesy of Ctrl Fre@k
108 VENUE - APAC
NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE ASIA-PACIFIC
Merging together two historic landmarks has given the locals and visitors alike, a gallery to explore Southeast Asian art at Singapore’s largest museum.
After more than 10 years in the making, the National Gallery Singapore is finally open, exposing the world to modern Southeast Asian arts and culture. By carefully restoring two historic structures - the former supreme court building and city hall - French architecture firm Studio Milou, in conjunction with CPG Consultants have designed and executed Singapore’s largest museum. Spanning a staggering 690,000 sq ft, the new museum is a landmark to be proud of and one that is capable of competing with other artistic icons around in the world. During the museum unveiling to the Prime Minister, alongside delegates, artists, donors, partners, sponsors, civic www.mondodr.com
and community leaders, Chairman of the National Gallery Singapore, Hsieh Fu Hua said: “Artists are often seen as being unconventional, separate from the mainstream. Through our exhibitions, visitors will realise that in fact, artists are integral to society and that art is not created in a vacuum. “Knowing who our key artists are, knowing what artistic expressions have been made over time in our country and in our region - all this is knowledge that will inform and shape our sense of connection to our community. Looking at art is a way of engaging in national and regional dialogues about identity and belonging.” Art carnival, Share the Hope marked
109 VENUE - APAC
Images on this page courtesy of National Gallery
110 VENUE - APAC
INSIDER INSIGHTS NAME: Samantha Bailey JOB TITLE: Green Hippo’s VP of Global Sales LIKES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY: It allows designers to push their creative boundaries with fewer limitations than ever before. Advances in 3D projection technology allows clients to delivery the wow factor with surprising ease. DISLIKES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY: The lack of education about content delivery in some of our newer markets can be frustrating. Clients spend 90% on the output device and 10% on the playback device despite their being some amazing options out there to deliver content. THE NEXT BIG THING IN TECHNOLOGY WORLD: The ability to deliver projects faster and more efficiently with the major advancements being made in media server technology.
the official opening of the gallery. This three-day event for the opening festivities included a commissioned eight-minute visual spectacular that was projected onto the façade of the building and was inspired by artworks from the gallery. In order to articulate the light show, the gallery appointed Ctrl Fre@k as the Technical Consultant. Wee Cheng Low, a partner of the show design company explained: “Our role was to work with the creative team to help them realise their ideas for the project. The projection brief given by the Video Projection Director, Milosh Luczynski, was to specify a playback system that was able to handle high-resolution content, as well as having the ability to help realise a seamless projection image. As the façade comprises a number of columns, we knew shadows would be an issue. Therefore the playback system needed to have features and functions to help us mend these shadow areas with images.” After understanding the requirements, Wee and his team began to research different media servers to find out if any existing products available on the market met the criteria. To begin with, the team explored the route of a 2D warping and www.mondodr.com
masking solution, that was until, they entered into conversations with visual specialist, Green Hippo, during which a 3D solution using its SHAPE application software was recommended. “SHAPE works in a 3D environment, which allowed us to map our content onto the gallery building quite simply. It enabled us to easily align the 3D model to the real object, as the software worked out the projector placement based on the input points we chose on the gallery,” continued Wee. A total of 14 Christie Boxer 4K30 DLP projectors - mounted on Layher tower structures - were specified by Stephane Beve, Video Projection Technical Director & 3D Supervisor, for the projection mapping on the building. Multiple units placed at different angles projected onto specific areas of the façade. “SHAPE simulated the projector position in the 3D world once it had collected the data from the user and it then sent out the content based on these positions,” said Wee. “Without SHAPE, we would have required a lot more time to slice, mask and warp the content, if we had been working in a 2D environment set-up.” The SHAPE application ran on laptops
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112 VENUE - APAC
DEUTSCH Nach mehr als 10 Jahren Bau hat die National Gallery Singapore schließlich ihre Tore geöffnet und zeigt der Welt moderne Kunst und Kultur aus Südostasien. Durch die Renovierung zweier historischer Strukturen - dem ehemaligen Gebäude des obersten Gerichts und des Rathauses - haben das französische Architekturbüro Studio Milou und CPG Consultants das größte Museum in Singapur entworfen und erschaffen. Art carnival, Share the Hope markierten die offizielle Eröffnung der Galerie. Diese drei Tage dauernde Eröffnungsfeier umfasste eine in Auftrag gegebene, visuell spektakuläre, achtminütige Show, die auf die Fassade des Gebäudes projiziert und durch die Kunstwerke in der Galerie inspiriert wurde. Für die Koordination der Lichtshow hat die Galerie Ctrl Fre@k als technischen Berater ernannt. Zu Beginn hat das Team den Kurs einer 2D-Verkrümmungs- und Verdeckungs-Lösung erkundet, bevor es Kontakt mit dem Visual Spezialisten Green Hippo aufnahm, der eine 3D-Lösung vorschlug, für die seine Anwendungssoftware SHAPE benutzt wird. Die Anwendung läuft auf Laptops - kann demnach während der Anpassungsphase transportiert werden - und ist mit vier Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 Boreals sowie einem Hippotizer V4 Karst verbunden. Insgesamt wurden für das Projection Mapping 14 auf Layher Turmstrukturen m o n ti e r te C h r i sti e B oxe r 4 K 3 0 P ro je k to re n sp e z i f i z i e r t .
ITALIANO Dopo più di 10 anni di lavori, la National Gallery Singapore è stata finalmente aperta, esponendo al mondo la cultura e le arti moderne del Sudest asiatico. Attraverso la ristrutturazione delle due strutture storiche, l’ex edificio della Corte suprema ed il municipio, lo studio di architettura francese Studio Milou e CPG Consultants hanno progettato e creato il più grande museo di Singapore. L’arte carnevalesca “Share the Hope” ha segnato l’apertura ufficiale della galleria e questa estensione di tre giorni dei festeggiamenti per l’ inaugurazione includeva, su commissione, uno spettacolare show visivo di otto minuti che è stato proiettato sulla facciata dell’edificio e che era ispirato alle opere d’arte esposte nella galleria. Al fine di articolare lo spettacolo di luci, la galleria ha nominato Ctrl Fre@k come consulente tecnico. Per cominciare, il team ha esplorato il percorso di una soluzione 2D per l’ incurvatura ed il mascheramento, fin quando non sono entrati in contatto con gli specialisti per gli impianti video, Green Hippo, che hanno raccomandato una soluzione 3D utilizzando il software applicativo FORMA. L’applicazione funziona sui computer portatili (così è stato possibile spostarli durante la fase di allineamento) collegati ai quattro Hippotizer V4 Boreals della Green Hippo e ad un Hippotizer V4 della Karst. Per la mappatura di proiezione sono stati utilizzati, in totale, 14 proiettori Christie Boxer 4K30 montati su delle strutture a torre della Layher.
ESPAÑOL Luego de más de 10 años de proceso, la National Gallery de Singapur abrió finalmente sus puertas exhibiendo al mundo la cultura moderna y las artes del Sudeste Asiático. Al restaurar dos estructuras históricas - el edificio de la que fuera la corte suprema y el municipio - la empresa Francesa de arquitectura, Studio Milou y CPG Consultants, han diseñado y llevado a cabo al museo más grande de Singapur. Art Carnival y Share the Hope marcaron la apertura oficial de la galería. Esta extensión de tres días en las fiestas de inauguración incluyeron un show de ocho minutos de duración con una visual espectacular que fue proyectado sobre la fachada del edificio e inspirado por obras de arte de la galería. Para articular el show de luces, la galería designó aCtrl Fre@k como Consultores Técnicos. Para comenzar, el equipo exploró la ruta de una solución de torsión 2D y ruido enmascarador, que duró hasta que entraron en conversaciones con el especialista en arte visual, Green Hippo, quienes recomendaron una solución 3D utilizando su software de aplicación SHAPE. La aplicación corría en laptops- por lo que era portable durante la alineación del escenario- conectado a cuatro Hippotizer V4 Boreals de Green Hippo y una Hippotizer V4 Karst. Para las proyecciones se especificaron un total de 14 proyectores Christie Boxer 4K30 - montados sobre estructuras en torre de Layher.
Image courtesy of Ctrl Fre@k
Après plus de 10 ans de travaux, la Galerie Nationale de Singapour a enfin ouvert ses portes, divulguant au monde entier les merveilles de l’art et de la culture modernes d’Asie du Sud. En rénovant deux structures historiques — l’ancien bâtiment de la Cour suprême et l’hôtel de ville — le cabinet d’architecture français Studio Milou et l’entreprise CPG Consultants ont conçu et construit le plus grand musée de Singapour. « Le Carnaval de l’art, Partageons l’espoir » marque l’ouverture officielle de la galerie. Pendant la prorogation de trois jours des festivités d’ouverture, un spectacle visuellement spectaculaire de huit minutes inspiré des œuvres de la galerie, a été projeté sur la façade de l’immeuble. La galerie a désigné Ctrl Fre@k en tant que conseiller technique, chargé d’articuler le spectacle de lumière. Au début, l’équipe pensait utiliser des techniques de déformation et d’effet de masque en 2D, jusqu’à ce que celle-ci rencontre le spécialiste visuel Green Hippo, qui recommanda plutôt une solution en 3D utilisant son logiciel SHAPE. L’application fonctionne sur ordinateurs portables — complètement transportables pendant les étapes de réglages — et reliés aux quatre Hippotizer V4 Boreals et au Hippotizer V4 Karst de chez Green Hippo. C’est donc 14 projecteurs Christie Boxer 4K30 qui sont installés sur des structures Layher, répondant ainsi aux exigences du mapping vidéo.
- so it was portable during the alignment stage - connected to the four Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 Boreals and one Hippotizer V4 Karst. The five media servers shared the workload preventing the high-resolution content from sending the system into overdrive. The video content showcased paintings from collections within the National Gallery using animation. It also highlighted the old Colonial style architecture, dating back to when the building was known as City Hall during the British rule. Green Hippo’s VP of Global Sales, Samantha Bailey summed up the project: “Over the past six months we have significantly increased our efforts in Asia and have tripled sales in this region. Working with Ctrl Fre@k on this project has been an amazing experience and it’s one of the largest SHAPE 3D projection maps in the world to date. It showed off the fantastic capabilities of V4 and the skills of Ctrl Fre@k, and Wee in particular, because he operated this huge job after just one session at Hipposchool. We are proud V4 is the tool of choice for this project and have many more prestigious jobs in Singapore planned in conjunction with Ctrl Fre@k’s amazing team.” The exquisite visuals continue inside
the gallery too, not only from the art itself - which comprises over 8,000 works from the 19th and 20th Centuries in all media, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and video but also from the stunning architecture of the building. Notable features include the auditorium, the city hall verandah, the coleman deck, the glass room and the supreme court terrace. The auditorium, with a capacity of 208 has been equipped with a Christie DCP cinema projector and NAS player with 7.1 surround sound capability, as well as a Panasonic ultra-short throw projector and a lighting package from Lumisia. A Yamaha digital sound system also sits alongside an AMX and Extron digital control system. Additionally, the theatre features an Espon projector, a Samsung LED wall, a K-array 7.1 surround sound system and more digital systems from Yamaha, AMX and Extron. Among a crowded footprint of entertainment hubs, the National Gallery has definitely made its mark since its opening just over a month ago. With little known about Southeast Asian art, it’s likely the gallery will be popular among locals and tourists alike.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION VISUALS & LIGHTING SHARE THE HOPE: 4 x Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 Boreal media server; 1 x Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 Karst media server; 1 x 4 x Green Hippo SHAPPE application; 14 x Christie Boxer 4K30 projector GALLERY: Christie DCP cinema projector; Panasonic ultra-short throw projector; Espon projector; Samsung LED wall; Lumisia lighting fixtures SOUND GALLERY: Yamaha digital sound system; AMX digital control system; Extron digital control system; K-array 7.1 surround sound system www.nationalgallery.sg
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• Page 120
IN BUSINESS
• Page 120
• Page 116
PRODUCT LAUNCH L-ACOUSTICS X SERIES BY STEW HUME • Page 122
• Page 130
• Page 126
EXPO JTSE
• Page 154
PARIS BY JAMIE DIXON
IN DETAIL ARKAOS SENNHEISER RGBLINK
PRODUCT GUIDE SPECIAL EFFECTS
PRODUCT DIRECTORY LAST PAGE INTERVIEW LEONARDO DANI
116 P RODUCT LAUNCH
L-ACOUSTICS | X SERIES A short drive from Paris city centre in the commune of Marcoussis is L-Acoustics’ HQ. Recently, it opened its doors to the industry press to showcase its latest offering, the X Series and a tour of the facilities. From its humble beginnings in 1984, L-Acoustics has secured itself as one of the premium producers of loudspeakers within the live events industry. The company has seen year-on-year expansion with the HQ rapidly outgrowing its main building, which it moved into 13 years ago. L-Acoustics currently takes up four buildings in the Marcoussis business park, not to mention a recently redesigned Simea facility located near the French-German border in the Lower Rhine, Keskastel. This is where the framework for each L-Acoustics cabinet is built. However, according to Stephane Ecalle, Marketing Director, the goal of L-Acoustics has never been growth, but to produce the best products possible. L-Acoustics’ most recent offering to the market is the X Series, a range of four short throw coaxial speakers that have the capability to be used in the touring and install markets. The series was first unveiled at this year’s Prolight+Sound tradeshow in Frankfurt. The three new products, the X8, X12 and X15 HiQ, have joined the older 5XT to create a range of purpose-built loudspeaker cabinets.
During the visit to L-Acoustics, before listening to the new selection, Dan Orton, the UK-based L-Acoustics Application Engineer gave an overview of the product range. He stated: “With the new X Series, we took everything that we learned from the new K2 to work on the ergonomics of the cabinet, produce better acoustic properties, decrease the weight of the cabinets, as well as different manufacturing processes to allow the cabinets to be more rugged.” The three new cabinets include high-excursion neodymium drivers, ellipsoid directivity on the X12 and X15 HiQ, laminar vented ports and up to 30% weight reduction. Prior to the event, Christophe Combet, Head of Acoustic and Instrumentation at L-Acoustics, talked about the development of the new X Series. “The challenge in creating the X Series was to bring all of the experience we gained in designing the K2 to bear on a new series of reference coaxials. We used new carpentry techniques to optimise internal volumes, maximise bass and eliminate vibrations, designing a new aerodynamic form with a slender, low profile that gives a profound feeling of power.” Florent Bernard, Director of Application, Touring, talked about the R&D process of the X Series: “The team spent over two years designing the new X Series. As with the K2, engineered wood contributed both to the weight reduction, www.mondodr.com
as well as the acoustics. We received extensive feedback from partners during our pilot phase over the summer, where we heard that technicians have been asking for more of them because they are so easy to lug around and to get up in the air.” He went on to state that every piece of design has been meticulously thought about during the development of the series and certain minor design traits such as handle design were very important to the process: “We were absolute sticklers on the ergonomics, which meant hours of discussions on things like handles. While that may seem trivial, when you are the person who carries the speaker in and out of a venue day after day, believe me, it’s an important part of the acceptance of the series by the end user.” The top end of the X Series is the X15 HiQ, which is now L-Acoustics’ reference active stage monitor. “This is our flagship monitor system but it is also a cabinet that can be used for a range of applications,” said Dan. With high feedback immunity and a narrow ellipsoid directivity of 40° by 60° it provides a fantastic choice for monitor set-up. With a low profile, lightweight design, it is perfect for the touring environment. The cabinet also comes with the inbuilt risers to give the monitor a range of 35° to 55°, creating maximum versatility. The design of the X15 HiQ, along with the other two new loudspeakers, all share
117 P RODUCT LAUNCH
• The X Series
• Hard at work in the factory
• Florent Bernard
a similar curved shape that reduces the amount of mechanical binds in the cabinet, resulting in a more rugged and durable design. Heading down the line of products, the X12 is a multi-purpose enclosure for use in stage monitoring and fills, while its ellipsoid directivity of 90° by 60° makes it adaptable for FOH applications. Its passive design also provides effective amplified controller management. The smaller X8 fills the purpose of live monitor within the X Series. A high SPL and extended bandwidth makes it
perfect for operation at FOH control positions and allows an accurate translation of the engineer mix to large format L-Acoustics systems. The speaker has a wide conical directivity pattern, which imparts a sense of specialisation with no minimal listening distance. L-Acoustics has also produced several bracket solutions for the X Series. “There is a whole array of rigging accessories, so each loudspeaker in the series can be mounted in any configuration imaginable. We went right back to a blank white page when designing things like the pole mount, or
the rigging systems, with only one thing in mind. How can we make it so that one person alone can rig it?” said Dan. As well as listening to the new system, the L-Acoustics staff also gave those attending the showcase a tour of its main building - including a look at the new production facility. Only moving into the new warehouse in April, the company recently decided to move to an assembly line method of production, which increases efficiency, as well as consistency of its products. www.l-acoustics.com
there’s a new kid in town.
meet the d3 2x2plus, for smaller shows and installations. ISE, 8-H238. www.d3technologies.com
118 EX P O
• The Europodium stand
• The ArKaos team
• The Avid team enjoying the complimentary baguettes
• A busy show for ADB Technologies
• The Electro-Voice stand
• The Nexo stand
JTSE
PARIS / 24-25 NOVEMBER
Despite the tragic events in Paris just a couple of weeks before, which did leave doubt over whether JTSE would go ahead, the decision was made that the annual theatre installation show held at Porte de la Chapelle would run as scheduled. Surprisingly this was my first trip to the French capital, the iconic city, often referred to as ‘The City of Light’ - largely due to its position as the intellectual centre during the Age of Enlightenment. Paris was the birthplace of the Age of Enlightenment and it was famous as a centre of education and ideas throughout Europe.
• The Lawo stand
‘The City of Light’ is also a fitting nickname in line with the show I was attending. Security was tighter than usual at the show, for obvious reasons, but once inside the hall, I was met by an intimate floor plan with a whole host of exciting booths exhibiting a vast and varied array of products. The central bar - that served free food and beverages throughout the day - acted at a networking point for visitors and exhibitors alike. Product news from the tradeshow floor included the launch of two new line source loudspeakers from APG - the UC206N and the
UC206W, which complete the Uniline Series. Highlite proudly showed off its newly-acquired Infinity brand and Verlinde demonstrated the Stagemaker SR double brake hoist range. ADB unveiled a new range of compact LED luminares, the ALS-150 and Spotlight launched a new 450W FollowLED. Aside from the main exhibition hall at JTSE, the organisers also offer exhibitors the chance to demo their products within dedicated areas for lighting and sound. This year, the Eiffel Building played host to the lighting zone. Companies that participated included AED Distribution, Algam,
• The Fohhn stand
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• Adam Hall displayed the LD Systems Curve 500
119 EX P O
• The Robert Juliat black box demonstration area
• Bose’s RoomMatch
• The DPA stand
• The Robe stand
• The Riedel stand
• The L-Acoustics stand
• The Clay Paky stand
Why not have it all? audio players reinvented...
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120 EX P O
• The Freevox stand showing Selecon and Starway
• The audio-technica stand
AVAB, Axente, Clay Paky, Dimatec, Freevox, Martin Professional, Robe and Robert Juliat. An impressive amount of visitors made their way to the black boxes to see the lighting products first hand. Adjacent to the Eiffel Building was the Haussman Building, which housed eight 30 sq metre zones, each of which were sectioned off on three sides using black insulating fabric curtains. A different audio company occupied each zone, demonstrating its products to the visitors. Among the companies involved were Audiopole, Axente, DV2, EVI, Freevox, Roland, SSL and Yamaha. Although JTSE has always predominantly been a local show, support from international visitors has gained pace in recent years. Unfortunately, this year, there was a notable lack of international visitors, which I imagine was mainly due to the terror attacks. I do hope that next year there will be fewer empty seats on the plane to Paris and that foreign visitors will rise once again. This is a thriving show with a straightforward format that really works and therefore deserves the support of the industry. JTSE returns to the same location on 22-23 November. For more information, go to: www.jtse.fr
• The Harman stand displaying Martin Professional fixtures
• The Coda Audio stand
• Chauvet’s demo area
• The Showtex stand
• The Sennheiser stand
• Gregory Dapsanse of APG
• The Pioneer Pro Audio team
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• Clay Paky’s black box demonstration area
122 IN DETAIL
ARKAOS | KLING-NET
ArKaos Kling-Net is a revolutionary plug ‘n’ play protocol for easy operation of LED devices. It allows the distribution of real-time video data to remote LED devices over Ethernet and removes the complexity of networking and control issues. A major motivation for ArKaos is the creation of easy-to-use, efficient products. Kling-Net fits this philosophy and introduces a new standard for pixel control. MAIN FEATURES • Automatic configuration and connection of display devices to a computer • Adds ‘intelligence’ to display devices that enables auto configuration • Perfect time synchronisation of multiple display devices • Avoids expensive hardware video converters to send video to display devices • Allows the creation of an heterogenic network of display devices from different manufacturers, which can all be controlled from one computer
Kling-Net adds a layer of ‘intelligence’ to even the most simple LED devices, enabling them to talk directly to a media server, configure themselves automatically, and eliminate complicated setup processes. Kling-Net is not built on top of DMX or ArtNet protocols, so both protocols can share the same network if required. DMX and ArtNet are full of ‘magic numbers’ IP addresses, ArtNet universes, channels, profiles - which can confuse even experienced technicians. This kind of compatibility is no longer necessary so ArKaos designed Kling-Net as a totally new protocol to bypass this complexity. The main benefit of Kling-Net for the end user is its plug ‘n’ play concept. To achieve this ArKaos implemented two concepts - automatic IP addressing and bi-directional communication that runs on a tiny processor. The equivalent of a 1,024 x 720 frame of pixels can be transported over a gigabit connection the equivalent of more than 2.2 million DMX channels, or over 4,300 universes - which is many more channels than with ArtNet or DMX. www.mondodr.com
•Top left Kling-Net capture option. •Top right Kling-Net in action in at a tradeshow. •Below Ethernet network running KlingNet .
ArKaos has developed an easy-to-use software around Kling-Net, called LEDMaster. It instantly shows connected fixtures and allows the user to map devices without the need to enter any numbers. LEDMaster has three easy steps in a single window: mapping, programming, performing. Set up is achieved much faster than with DMX or ArtNet, wiring is simpler with no need of expensive nodes, and clear diagnostics are displayed by the mapper if problems occur. LEDMaster is available for purchase from the ArKaos website. Kling-Net’s system requirements are very light: minimum hardware for an LED device is a microcontroller running at 16MHz and with 2KB of memory; LEDMaster is designed to run on inexpensive Mac or Windows laptops. Kling-Net is compatible with most manufacturers’ LED products. For more specs and techs visit: www.arkaospro.com/kling-net or check out the ArKaos YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Vqt5u rcxu4U www.arkaos.net
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1-CHIP & 3-CHIP DLP PROJECTORS - 20,000 - 60,000 hours of illumination - Laser or LED light source - WUXGA or 4K - No lamp changes - No projector down time - No recalibration in multi-channel environments
The Visionaries Choice
www.digitalprojection.com
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Unrivalled products since 1991
Ready for the future WWW.PROLYTE.COM
FACEBOOK.COM/PROLYTEGROUP
TWITTER.COM/PROLYTE Prolyte used by Sun Effects for Slush 2015
124 IN DETAIL
SENNHEISER | D1 SERIES 1
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1. The Vocal Set With the D1 vocal microphone set, every singer has a system whose parts are perfectly attuned to one another. It comprises a sturdy evolution wireless D1 metal handheld transmitter, a receiver, microphone clamp, power adaptor and a stage case to hold it all. • D1 instantly readies you for making music – and takes the complexity out of wireless • Triple diversity protects your wireless link • A selection of microphone capsules to match your voice
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2. The Instrument Set High-definition live sound translates into superior performance for every band member - whether guitarist, bassist or other instrumentalists who connect via jack input. The D1 instrument set comprises the D1 bodypack transmitter, a receiver, a sturdy jack cable, power adaptor and a stage case to hold it all. Unlimited freedom of movement on stage • Ideal for deep bass frequencies down to 20Hz
3. The Headmic Set With the wireless D1 headmic, your hands are free to do more important things than holding a mic. The set comprises the D1 headmic, a receiver, power adaptor and a stage case to hold it all.
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The evolution wireless D1 microphone series from Sennheiser are digital systems that are totally self-configuring and have both intelligent frequency management and automatic sensitivity adjustment. It goes without saying with the evolution brand that sound will not be neglected - the popular evolution capsules are also included in the 2.4GHz version, supplemented by an instrument set, a lavalier set and a headset version.
environments where Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are simultaneously in use • No additional costs - operates in the licence-free 2.4GHz spectrum • Fully automatic - frequency management without laborious searching for available frequencies • Integrated audio effects - equaliser, deesser, automatic gain control • iOS App for remote control and monitoring of the system
MAIN FEATURES • Prevents interference - intelligent channel back-up allows operation
http://sennheiser-d1.com
www.mondodr.com
4. The Lavalier Set Despite being almost invisible, the lavalier clip-on microphone provides excellent speech transmission, whether as part of theater productions or a presenting job. The lavalier clip-on microphone from the D1 series is the best way to ensure your words carry. The set comprises the D1 clip-on microphone, a bodypack transmitter, a receiver, power adaptor and a stage case to hold it all.
r gg ng K&F SEQUENZA 5 The line array system with maximum performance and low weight. Versatile use through multifunctional design.
Features • Integrated 3-point rigging system with 'Snap&Fly+' and 'SafeLock' for easy handling
• Sub- / Top combination with only one flying frame
• 1-way passiv design for efficient
• Maximum performance due to four 5" and three 1" drivers on patented wave guide
• Optimized line array housing design for longer distances with less elements
system operation
Kling & Freitag GmbH | Phone + 49 (0)511-96 99 70 | www.kling-freitag.com
126 IN DETAIL
RGBLINK | X3 EXPRESS
Today’s video displays are ever more sophisticated. Standard resolution 16:9 displays seem like something from the distance past. Wherever you look - TV, concert, event, club, retail - displays, particularly with the rise of LED, are now assembled in non-standard formats, as well as in totally creative ways. The wide availability and accessibility of LED has driven this growth, allowing installations to be unique and giving a bespoke impression to those viewing. Traditional video processing solutions focussed on scaling between resolutions and formats. Something more is needed to compliment the new display solutions. Enter the RGBlink X3 Express universal presentation processor. The X3 sophisticated, yet straight forward and easy to use - an important factor when considering the potential applications where the unit might see use. X3 Express can support up to 16 inputs and up to eight full HD outputs all in one 3RU device. Both inputs and outputs are based on a modular card-frame structure. Outputs are generally DVI or 3G-SDI with all eight outputs (two slots of four outputs each) fitted, X3 can process and output up to 16 mega pixels. The range of inputs modules available, is extensive and includes 3G-SDI, DVI,
HDMI, VGA, Composite and USB with the range set to expand with a DisplayPort input, amongst others. X3 Express is easily configured from a computer - RGBlink offers both Windows and Apple OSX native applications. Simply connect X3 on a LAN, then use the drag-and-drop interface to position the inputs across the output layouts. Of course much more sophistication is available as you delve into the features. Each output can be configured independently for resolution and layout - great for multi pitch display situations, allowing one or more video sources to be laid across a virtual canvas, while video inputs can be scaled, cropped, position in any location regardless of format, with up to eight full video layers possible. As mentioned above, one of the input options for X3 is USB. This unique feature allows USB flash drives of media to be plugged into X3 directly (with four modules could be up to 16 USB disks). This virtually transforms X3 into a media player, with MPEG video able to be played back directly from the X3, positioned and scaled like any source. And popular image formats are supported too. The USB feature also includes a scheduler - playback a particular video file at a particular time.
www.mondodr.com
• Above RGBlink’s X3 Express
X3 supports saved pre-sets (in banks in RGBlink lingo), so layouts of inputs sources can be recalled from a key press, or even triggered remotely by RS232 or over a LAN. A key advantage of X3 is the very low latency/delay - especially valuable when there are live camera inputs to sync. Also standard with X3 is Genlock, both analog and digital, demonstrating not only the RGBlink broadcast background, but their understanding of the needs of live production. X3 is also solid state - no embedded PC or hard drives here - just pure video processing power for dedicated video performance and high reliability. Further X3 is optionally available with redundant/ hot swap power supply for those mission critical applications. We should note, in addition to the X3 Express, there is also the X3 Touch, which adds as you might imagine a touch screen interface. All-in-all, the RGBlink X3 Express is one powerful, compact device and, in some situations, a real alternative to PC-based media servers, while, for others, it’s ideal to work in companion with a wide range of video sources from media servers to SDI cameras. www.rgblink.com
FOCUSSED DISPERSION
PRECISION
SOUND RIGHT WHERE IT’S NEEDED
System designers love the focussed dispersion of NEXO speakers. It gives them the tools they need to achieve perfect coverage in any space. The new ID24 achieves smooth, full-frequency sound and high output from a cabinet measuring just 309mm wide, with a unique, user-rotatable horn providing unprecedented control over HF directivity. With an ‘a la carte’ selection of colours, grilles, directivity and connectivity, and compatibility with a wide range of mobile and fixed-installation hardware, ID Series delivers precision sound, right where it’s needed.
www.nexo.fr #42128 - Resize Half ID Series Dispersion ad.indd 1
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128 P RODUCT GUIDE
special•effects
[spesh-uhl ih-fekts] n.
Machines that create atmospheric effects including fog, smoke, haze, pyrotechnics, snow and confetti to enhance the theatrical or musical performance experience for the audience.
PRODUCT GUIDE
SPECIAL EFFECTS
EMEA MATTHIAS SCHWAB STEINIGKE
“Special effects are sometimes the unsung heroes of the performance industry. While huge moving lights and audio systems draw the main attention, fog, fire, wind, air effects and the like are in the background, when they are in fact, worth the same applause. Used in the correct manner, they are able to add highlights to any performance or installation. With our Dynamic Fog series, for example, we want to bring foggers closer to the spotlight - both with improved technology, as well as with modern looks.”
APAC JASON HO ANTARI
“Special effects bring excitement to any audience. Simulated snow is the most widely used special effect for the winter season and one Antari has been focussing on for the past year. The newly launched S-500 has the ability to produce fine flurries to heavy blizzard-like snow effects. A patent pending split nozzle system allows the output nozzle to be mounted up to 20-metres away, meaning the control module and fluid reservoir can be placed in an area that makes output adjustments and refilling hassle free. With the use of the optional PM-1 pan motor accessory, the output pattern can be further enhanced, producing an even more dramatic effect. Transportation and set-up is made easy by incorporating the entire system into a built-in road case, which also reduces operating noise levels making the unit ideal for theatre applications.” www.mondodr.com
THE AMERICAS KAREN HADDON LE MAITRE
“In the constantly evolving p y ro t e c h n i c s i n d u s t r y c l i e n t s need safe but new and innovative products. What really counts is making a statement with special e f f e c t s . A s h ow n e e d s to b e memorable and talked about, and the ultimate for those designing shows is to be the first to unveil a new effect at their event. Hence the need for a full time R&D team to consistently develop and energise new product.”
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130 P RODUCT GUIDE - SP ECIAL EFFECTS
Fog/Smoke/Haze
Antari F-7 Smaze
ADJ Fog Fury Haze
Designed for a large venue, the F-7 Smaze machine offers an all-inone solution that is more than capable of catering to the needs of such venues. With its switchable fog and faze modes, the machine produces both powerful fog and thin layers of haze to fill up any venue in just a few minutes. Being equipped with Antari’s latest air pump technology enables the F-7 to have the functionality of self-cleaning, which greatly reduces the probability of the F-7 heater clogging. The built-in adjustable high-velocity fan allows users to change the direction of the fog easily, with a total of nine adjustable output angles. Versatile control options include wireless DMX, DMX and standalone, meaning the F-7 is able to meet any control needs. The machine provides a three-pin or five-pin XLR connector - located on the front panel - for DMX connection. It also features an adjustable output volume and fan speed. The F-7 uses Antari’s FLG-5E liquid in order to create the perfect blend of fog and faze, while a robust road case makes this unit easily transportable between venues. www.antari.com
The ADJ Fog Fury Faze is a low-cost alternative to an oil-based haze machine that actually uses water-based fog juice. It creates an even mist right out of the machine, rather than a big burst of cloudy fog. This allows for a more even fog atmosphere in the air to improve beams of light from lighting effects features. The Fog Fury Faze uses ADJ’s advances in fog machine technology, such as a special heating element design that uses an oil type transmission throughout the pipeline to prevent clogging, a high performance pump system for optimum output, plus Electronic Thermo Sensing technology for heating optimisation. This ADJ model uses standard water-based fog liquid, has a warm-up time of five minutes, a two-litre external fog liquid tank and an output of 1,000 cubic ft per minute. www.adj.com
Hazebase Base Hazer Pro The Base Hazer Pro offers several completely new features, providing a new level of control to the user. With its variable output, the machine, which is built in an Amptown flight case, can be used effectively in any situation. The 19-inch model, which only takes one minute to warm up before it is ready to use, comes with an integrated timer for increased control. This efficient model is designed to fill anything from a small room to a large arena with a constant haze, creating the perfect atmosphere. The pump and almost-silent fan are individually operable, giving the user total control of haze output and fan speed. A wide range of effects can be simply achieved, from the finest mist to a thick haze. The readymixed fluid guarantees a trouble-free operation, while the low liquid consumption from the Base Haze Pro provides continuous output for up to 135 hours from one five-litre bottle. www.hazebase.com
Le Maitre MVS Hazer Geared towards small-to-large-sized venues, the MVS Hazer is powerful and versatile. Two variable speed, high-power fans can be used to control the force and direction of the haze stream, with an oscillating mode for automated back and forth sweeping of the haze stream. Additional features include variable haze density, onboard DMX 512 support and the ability to position the unit at any angle so it can operate in any position. The MVS has a low fluid consumption and can produce an average 65 hours of continuous use from just five litres of fuel. It includes a rugged, storable multifunction mounting bracket and automatically self-cleans upon power-up. Like all Le Maitre hazers, the MVS features the patented S.T.A.R. technology to produce pure and consistent atmospheric haze. The MVS Hazer offers precise control over thermal conditions and fluid dispensing. When combined with the specially formulated PureHaze fluid, the hazer produces a dry, low residue output with a long hang time. The MVS produces some of the best haze for lighting enhancement and is used extensively in venues from studios to theatres to stadiums, adding significantly to the impact and drama of lighting and laser rigs. www.lemaitreltd.com
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132 P RODUCT GUIDE - SP ECIAL EFFECTS
Look Solutions Unique 2.1 The Unique 2.1 is a haze generator from Look Solutions that provides excellent support for lighting effects, creating an impressive display at any event. The Unique 2.1 produces a fine mist through to a thick haze and is capable of filling rooms and halls with a constant haze. The pump and the fan are fully and separately controllable, giving the Unique 2.1 a good level of noise reduction - making it the ideal choice for fields of operation in which noise must be kept to a minimum. The ready-mixed fluid, available in canisters of two litres, guarantees a trouble-free performance and continuous output for up to 50 hours. The warm up time is extremely short, too - a maximum of just one minute and it’s ready to go. www.looksolutions.com
Steinigke Dynamic Fog 2000 Stenigke Eurolite’s Dynamic Fog 2000 is part of a completely new series called Dynamic. In order to create a powerful and reliable smoke machine that is low maintenance, a new pump system has been developed - an update of the already proven Eurolite quality. Its grill, based on a radiator grill from a car, and its soft blue LED illumination the metal housing give the unit a modern look. The Dynamic Fog 2000 has been designed for clubs and stage applications. It comes with a power consumption of 2kW and produces a concentrated and steady fog output of approximately 566 cubic metres. The DMX fogger features a timer, a wireless control and a comfortable control unit, that can be unscrewed and removed from the back panel - it is connected with a long cable and therefore functions as a remote as well. eshop.steinigke.de
Rosco V-Hazer From rock concerts to theatrical musicals to feature films, the Rosco V-Hazer is designed to create smooth and even haze for any production. Featuring innovative, internal baffles that not only maximise the machine’s airflow for greater haze dispersion, but allows the machine to operate quietly. The blower inside the V-Hazer also turns off when not in use to ensure the quietest operation possible. Independent control of fan speed and pump volume is available via two channels of DMX, which allows the user to dial in the perfect balance of fast haze time and even distribution from their lighting console. Thanks to its water-based V-Hazer fluid, technicians don’t have to worry about sticky residue deposits either. www.rosco.com
Bubble
ADJ Bubble Blast The Bubble Blast machine creates hundreds of bubbles every minute, while also creating an updraft to allow the bubbles to rise high in the air, rather than collide with the few people near it. The Bubble Blast is easy to load, easy to use, and easy to clean, so users will have it running in no time. Coupled with other lighting effects, bubbles offer an exciting atmosphere that will enhance any production. Users can focus on the event and let the Bubble Blast do the work with the remote or timer control. The Bubble Blast is easy to transport, with its dual handles and built-in wheels. Though capable of using most types of bubble fluid, the Bubble Blast is best paired with ADJ’s Bubble Juice for the most satisfying and highest quality bubble entertainment. At the end of the night, there will be no trouble cleaning up thanks to Bubble Blast’s liquid drainage valve system. www.adj.com
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134 P RODUCT GUIDE - SP ECIAL EFFECTS
Snow
Antari S-500 Antari’s largest snow machine is the S-500. The main body and a 20-litre fluid tank are placed inside a road case with wheels for easy transportation. The nozzle is connected by a 10-metre long hose and it can be easily rigged on a standard truss. Wind and snow fluids are delivered via the 10-metre hose. Users can adjust the wind volume and flow rate to get the right snow effects needed, from fine snow to blizzard. An optional moving stand can also be used to spread the snow created up to 120° in five varied speeds. www.antari.com
Le Maitre Arctic Snow Machine With continuous high output, covering an area of approximately 18ft in diameter, the Arctic Snow Machine offers excellent performance and reliability. Small enough to be slipped out of sight, the super-quiet machine has convenient handling and mounting points and can be operated either by remote or through DMX. It has the option to vary the output of snow and the flake size and, used in conjunction with Le Maitre’s Arctic Snow Fluid, it achieves a perfect white, fluffy and light snow with no residue. The unit has a built-in five-litre fluid holder and is supplied with a hanging bracket. www.lemaitreltd.com
Fan
Robe Cyclone This innovative effects moving head product has an integrated fan in the centre of the head, surrounded by a ring of 24 high-powered RGBW multichip LEDs. There is a zoom of 8 to 63° on the LEDs and a strong central airflow that can be combined with fog and haze to assist with creating the best quality atmospheric effects. The vari-speed fan can be independently DMX controlled, starting from a very low RPM. The Cyclone is the perfect complement to fog and hazers in any live environment - from clubs to concerts - needing fine-tuned fog/haze flows, from a mere wisp of smoke to a full-on immersive low cloud coverage. Each LED is individually controlled and can be pixel mapped for the creation of eye-catching colour, rainbow and strobe effects. The Cyclone is also ideal for lighting and cooling performers from a neat footlights position and can also produce dramatic hair-blowing and smoke-through-the-fan effects. The unit also benefits from all the features from Robe’s massively popular LEDWash series. www.robe.cz
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TRUSS YOU CAN TRUST
QUALITY AVAILABILITY RELIABILITY INNOVATION Hall: 3.0 / Stand: F15 Frankfurt am Main, Germany: 05. - 08. April 2016
Stand: 7-E190 Amsterdam, Netherlands: 09. - 12. February 2016
www.GlobalTruss.cn | phone: +886-2-2577-6608 International distribution
Germany: Europe: Americas: S.E.Asia: Japan: Saudi-Arabia:
www.globaltruss.de www.globaltruss.de www.cosmictruss.com www.globaltruss-sea.com www.soundhouse.co.jp www.jzacca.com
France: UK: Australia: Singapore: India: India:
www.globaltruss.fr www.prolight.co.uk www.dq.com.au www.excelsingapore.com www.modernstageservice.in www.fb.com/stardimensionsindia
facebook.com/GlobalTruss
Chile: Spain: Taiwan: Lebanon: Dubai:
www.valook.cl www.fenixlt.es www.ezstage.com.tw skypub17@hotmail.com www.desertbeat.com
136 P RODUCT GUIDE - SP ECIAL EFFECTS
Confetti
Le Maitre ProConfetti Blower The ProConfetti Blower is a powerful confetti cannon that projects confetti and glitter from 40ft to 60ft to create an arena-full of swirling confetti. The continuous hand-fed blowers use easily-connected liquid or vapour CO² bottles to propel the confetti across theatres, concert stages, sports stadiums or audiences, covering huge areas in just a matter of seconds. It can be used inside or outside, with the confetti being processed at speeds of 3kg to 10kg per minute. There are three possible angles for the operator to choose from, depending upon the projection angle required. The ProConfetti Blower is a robust, easy-to-use unit requiring no electricity, too. www.lemaitreltd.com
MagicFX Stadium Shot II The Stadium Shot II is a confetti shooting system that has been specifically developed for shooting streamers or confetti in a stadium or large, outdoor locations.More powerful than the original Stadium Shot - and packed with more features - this PED-certified model is easy to use. Equipped with special stainless steel quick connectors on both the tank and shot barrel, as well as fixed brackets for a 90° angle, it’s simple to create an atmosphere at any event. Robust and durable, the Stadium Shot II comes with a flight case with castor dishes for stress-free transportation. www.magicfx.eu
Strobe
Martin Professional Atomic 3000 LED The Atomic 3000 LED is the perfect blend of a traditional strobe and cutting-edge LED technology. Capitalising on the original Atomic 3000 DMX’s 15 years of success, this new version features identical functionality and behaviour – with the added benefits of LED technology. It offers the same extreme brightness as its iconic predecessor, but with substantially lower peak power consumption. The Atomic 3000 LED is not only a strobe, but also a creative tool that incorporates backlight illumination with RGB-controlled LEDs pointing into the reflector. It delivers stunning eye candy looks similar to the MAC Aura and the MAC Quantum Wash. Internal FX macros and simplified re-use of the original Atomic Colors scroller complete the full-feature package and empower the Atomic 3000 LED to become the ultimate creative lighting tool. www.martin.com
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FFA_ad_Mondo.pdf
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138 P RODUCT GUIDE - SP ECIAL EFFECTS
Flame
Le Maitre Salamander Quad Pro The Salamander Quad Pro is a four-canister flame system. Each canister can be fired independently with the option of multiple colours being loaded to provide a truly stunning visual display from a single machine. Firing the canisters sequentially can also be used to increase the duration of the effect, with up to 120 hits in total and each flame reaching between 3.5-metres - 4.5-metres in height. Alternatively, all four canisters can be fired at the same time to produce a much bigger single flame reaching up to six-metres - 8.5-metres. The unit has a unique firing system, which eliminates internal valves and accumulators, so minimising the chance of blocks or leaks. Its use of canister-based fluids eliminates the need for inconvenient and external propane tanks, trailing pipes and multiple valves, enabling a quick. It offers a choice of colours of natural, red and green, as well as a choice of fuels - butane / propane - and where the use of propane isn’t permitted, ethanol / methanol. The unit is operated through DMX, five channels (ignitor plus four fire channels) and Ignitor Channel Address can be set independently from fire channels. www.lemaitreltd.com
MagicFX Stage Flame The MagicFX Stage Flame is one of the most versatile and safest performing propane systems available, allowing users to create eye-catching flames from either internal aerosol canisters or external propane gas cylinders. The use of aerosol adds flexibility, allowing the Stage Flame to be used in buidings where propane cylinders are prohibited. The Stage Flame creates an impressive spectacle, with a standard flame size of four metres and a big-flame mode allowing for eight metres displays. This MagicFX machine is fully DMX controllable and specifically designed for professional use, so it is built to last. Safety is guaranteed, too, with two red LED safety indicators, an infrared sensor and a flame-detection system. www.magicfx.eu
Pyrotechnics
Le Maitre Virtually Smokeless range Le Maitre’s Virtually Smokeless range of pyrotechnics uses completely different compositions. These produce extremely intense colours and auras, without the traditional by-products of solid particles, which can burn to produce unwanted smoke. The Virtually Smokeless range is in line with Le Maitre’s strategy of continuously introducing the best range of visually stunning pyrotechnics on the market, ensuring spectators get to see the effects at their very best. Products in Le Maitre’s Virtually Smokeless range includes: Ice Gerbs, Ice Waterfalls, Falling Stars, Starbursts, Flashes, Gerb Flames, Flame Projectors, Coloured Flames, Flares, Volcano Mines, Mines and Comets. There are also a number of Virtually Smokeless Multi Shot products where 10 effects are shot from a single board with one ignitor. These include: Multi Shot Mines, Multi Shot Falling Stars and Multi Shot Comets. www.lemaitreltd.com
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Pub_Mondo_333x236_ServoColor4K.qxp_StarWay 29/10/2015 16:06 Page1
Waouash !
Stunning Wash, perfect colors, 19 LEDs 15W, incredible power and speed, Servocolor 4K : it’s waouash !
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140 P RODUCT GUIDE - SP ECIAL EFFECTS
CO²
Le Maitre Freezefog Pro Freezefog Pro creates a dramatic, controllable low-lying fog effect when used in conjunction with Le Maitre’s G300, GForce2 or GForce3 smoke machines and specially formulated fog fluid. The low fog fluid is pumped from the smoke machine into the Freezefog Pro where it combines with either high or low pressure liquid CO2 from a remote cylinder. The effect is long lasting and residue free, remaining low lying and very cold, with a fog output of 41,000 cubic metres per hour. The unit has a modular, quick disconnect fitting for liquid CO2 and accommodates both low and high pressure liquid CO2 in a single unit. Le Maitre’s fluid is water-based and completely safe to use on live stage performances, making the Freezefog Pro ideal for use on stage, in showrooms, TV studios, clubs and parks. www.lemaitreltd.com
MagicFX CO² Jet Small, compact and perfect for all kinds of stages, the MagicFX CO² Jet is a reliable machine that allow users to blow white smoke plumes from a distance to create an exceptional atmosphere at any event. Coming with a high-quality CO² quick connector as standard, the MagicFX CO² Jet, which fits on the MagicFX Base Plate, is easy to use, with many quick connector accessories available. It is simple to put onto stages or mount in truss systems. www.magicfx.eu
Foam
MBN F-630 The MBN F-630 is a foam generator that is perfect for discotheques, music halls and open air events. This impressive model comes with an adjustable pump, a two-metre hose for tank-to-pump connection and a 15-metre hose to connect the pump to the foam generator. With a foam performance of 250,000 litres of foam per minute, the MBN F-630 is the largest foam generator produced in the series. The MBN F-630 can be operated standing or installed in a hanging position by three built-in flying eyes. www.mbn-eventproducts.com
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Worldwide leader in event engineered support structures. the brands we drive
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1. ADJ Mega TRIPAR Profile Plus A new upgrade to ADJ’s popular Mega TRIPAR Profile, the Mega TRIPAR Profile Plus is a super-bright, lie-flat par that utilises five 4W quad-colour (RGB+UV) LEDs, enabling users to fill wide areas with UV-enhanced colour washes and provide unique up-lighting. With 64 built-in colour macros and the addition of UV, users have access to an enhanced colour pallet. The Mega TRIPAR Profile Plus can be further enhanced thanks to its colour strobe effects and 0-100% electronic dimming. The new par fixture makes the most of ADJ’s patented ‘lie-flat’ design (U.S. Patent D689,232), meaning users have access to IEC and XLR (DMX) input sockets on one side and the corresponding output sockets when the unit is sitting flat. The Mega TRIPAR Profile Plus is lightweight and compact, weighing 2.7lbs, ideal for mobile users. ADJ’s Mega Flat TRI Pak Plus offers four Mega TRIPAR Profile Plus units, three 6ft DMX cables and a protective padded case to transport them in. The Mega TRIPAR Profile Plus is compatible with ADJ’s LED RC2 wireless infrared remote and allows users to operate the fixture from up to 30ft. The unit’s Auto Run Mode features 16 colour change programs, 16 colour fade programs and one combined program; the Sound Active Mode also comes with 16 built-in programs; and, the unit’s DMX-Controlled Mode offers 4-, 5-, 6-, 9- and 10-channel modes. www.adj.com
2. Allen & Heath Zed Mini Mixers Allen & Heath has launched three new mini mixers from its acclaimed ZED analogue console range. The ZED-6, ZED-6FX and ZEDi-8 are designed with all the features and quality in a compact, portable format. The new models feature two mono channels with separate XLR and TRS jack sockets and two stereo channels. The mono channels include DI high impedance circuitry for the jack sockets, allowing guitars to be plugged straight into the mixer without the hassle and expense of carrying separate DI boxes. Additionally, the ZED-6FX includes a new in-house designed effects system, which encompasses multi-effect models, combining reverbs, delays, doublers, chorusing and other modulators to create a dynamic and varied suite of studio-quality sound effects. The ZEDi-8 combines a compact mixer with a 24bit 96kHz 2x2 USB interface, providing recording and playback to a Mac, PC or iOS device. ZEDi-8 is bundled with Cubase LE music production software and the Cubasis LE mobile music production app.The new mixers provide optimal sound quality due to the new GSPre preamp design, which provides exceptionally low noise and massive headroom. Styled in attractive moulded chassis and metal front panel, all the new ZED models feature two-band EQ, 60mm smooth travel master mix faders, channel monitoring and 48V phantom power. Unique in this type of product is the individual channel PCB construction with nutted pots and a robust internal, universal voltage power supply for extended life in the toughest environments. www.allen-heath.com
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3. Alto Professional MIXPACK 10 Alto Professional has introduced the new MixPack 10 PA system, a truly high-performance portable sound system with the power output, acoustic fire-power and the input/mixing flexibility to handle virtually any situation. The power is impressive - 400W driving full-sized speakers with potent 10-inch woofers and one-inch high-frequency compression drivers. MixPack 10 uses full-sized loudspeakers with the rugged capability to handle the most demanding situations. There is an eight-channel powered mixer with EQ and multiple inputs, so users can take command of a good-sized group and make it sound exactly the way they want. www.altoprofessional.com
4. ArKaos GrandVJ 2.1 ArKaos has released the latest version of its famous video-jockey software, GrandVJ, giving users access to a whole range of new features to make their parties and events easier to run and more creative than ever. GrandVJ 2.1 is the result of intensive development from the masters of video manipulation, and has been comprehensively tested and approved by ArKaos. Key features include: full compatibility with OS X Yosemite, El Capitan and Windows 10; five new effects including beat glow, hue masking, earthquake and colour cycling; new blend modes; auto play mode; random jump play mode; international text font effects; timecode synchronisation support; support for new Akai controllers with light feedback (APC40 MKII and APC Key 25); support for AlphaSphere and Korg NanoPAD 2 MIDI controller; new audio sync time reference; improved playback of Quartz composer effects and movies; and modernised architecture and frameworks for new Mac OS X. GrandVJ 2.1 is available for download from the ArKaos website with immediate effect and is, of course, free to existing GrandVJ users. www.arKaos.net
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1. Audinate Dante Via Audinate has announced the immediate worldwide availability of its new Dante Via software. Having already revolutionised the delivery of audio-over-IP with its widely adopted Dante networking solution, Audinate now makes it even easier for endusers, integrators, consultants and sound engineers across a wide range of markets to experience the advantages of Dante-based networking. The Dante Via software connects any audio application or device from your computer to a Dante network. Dante Via enables USB, FireWire or Thunderbolt devices - including microphones, legacy mixing consoles or I/O boxes - to join any Dante audio network. The new software also allows a Dante network to be created without the need for dedicated Dante hardware, providing a straightforward approach to routing audio using only computers. Sporting an intuitive, easy-to-use ‘drag and drop’-style interface, Dante Via enables rapid discovery and simple connection of devices and applications. Dante Via allows integrators, engineers and end-users to create and extend audio systems using cost-effective computer based networked I/O to virtually anywhere. For example, a computer running Dante Via can be used by a corporate facility, school or house of worship to quickly and flexibly distribute audio to an overflow room. Plus, with its ability to network software applications, Dante Via makes it easy for commonly-used applications, such as media players, to be individually played out across a public facility. The software isolates audio from one application - eliminating the system sounds from a computer’s general audio-out jack. A hotel, bar or restaurant might use Dante Via installed on a computer at the registration desk to route background music used in the lobby and other areas. The software runs on PCs running Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, and Macs using OS X10.9.5 or higher. It supports up to a total of 48 source and 48 destination channels, and stereo I/O for as many as eight simultaneous applications. www.audinate.com/dantevia
2. Avid VENUE | S6L Avid’s VENUE | S6L is a fully modular, scalable live sound mixing system that delivers best-in-class functionality for a range of live sound mixing applications, including frontof-house, monitor, broadcast, theatre and more. Featuring the VENUE | E6L engine, this Avid mixing system offers unprecedented power to handle huge channel and plug-in counts at the lowest possible latency. VENUE | S6L ensures the highest sound quality, with all processing at 96kHz, and support for higher sample rates is possible given the immense processing power available. The S6L enables professionals to achieve better sounding mixes with greater speed and efficiency, thanks to the S6L console’s
modern touchscreen workflows, superior ergonomics, and unmatched visual feedback that provides immediate, intelligent control. S6L offers even greater onboard plug-in processing than previously available, providing engineers with same sound processors used in countless studios, fully integrated to deliver responsive control. Seamless Pro Tools integration provides streamlined recording and playback functionality without the need for a separate audio interface. Furthermore, VENUE | S6L is a networked system and can be completely customised to meet the needs and budget of any professional production. www.avid.com
3. CAST Wysiwyg R36 Wysiwyg R36 lighting design and previsualisation software from Cast Software now has a completely revised and enchanting look, as well as highly anticipated compatibility improvements. Wysiwyg R36 will deliver highly efficient and accurate looks to any design. Depending on requirements, Wysiwyg R36 will be available as three, six or 12-month lease and also for purchase. The new release is free for all Wysiwyg members in good standing. Key additions include a new graphical user interface, customisable work layouts, and many importing improvements. Key to the new release, Wysiwyg has increased compatibility with the latest Sketchup 3D modeling software SDK and associated file formats. Users can import drawings directly from Sketchup into Wysiwyg, with textures, layers, surfaces and object groupings able to be preserved as they were created. In addition, Wysiwyg now supports new file formats: Wavefront OBJ, Filmbox FBX, Collada DAE and 3DS Max. www.cast-soft.com
4. Christie AccuFrame Pro Christie AccuFrame Pro is an advanced smear reduction technology designed for simulator visual systems. Optimising the scene at the pixel level based on content intensity, AccuFrame Pro dramatically improves the dynamic resolution of moving images while maintaining brightness without affecting colour or adding latency. AccuFrame Pro is especially effective in scenes dominated by low-to-mid intensity pixels - the majority of simulation content. Training tasks, such as target identification and recognition, benefit from the increased dynamic resolution. Moving images appear sharper even when they are in peripheral fields of view, increasing the perception of motion and enhancing the viewer’s sense of realism. www.christiedigital.com
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5. Elation Emulation Touch
6. FBT Q 118SA
Emulation Touch is a new generation lighting controller that turns a tablet into a powerful lighting console. Imagine the ease of having full DMX control of moving heads, LED lights, conventional lighting and special effects all in the palm of your hand. Easy to use and budget friendly, Emulation Touch is designed exclusively for use with the Cuety app, the intuitive Emulation Touch programmer software. Available now for iPad from the Apple App Store and available soon for Android tablets from the Android app store, the Cuety user interface enables users to take full advantage of your tablet’s mobility and multitouch display. Two hardware interface versions are available - Emulation Touch 1 and Emulation Touch 2. The Emulation Touch devices contain the powerful engine that runs a show, calculates fade times and renders dynamic effects. A standard cuelist-based system for control of up to 64 fixtures with 64 playbacks and 48 cues per playback, it includes a powerful built-in effects generator and fixture library. Both versions include an RJ45 Ethernet port for Art-Net and Streaming ACN (sACN) protocol, as well as an optically isolated DMX-512 port. Emulation Touch 1 is designed for entertainment lighting applications while Emulation Touch 2 is designed for fixed installations and offers extra protocols like OSC, UDP, TCP and HTTP. These protocols enable users to connect to a wide range of third party control systems and show controllers, as well as apps like TouchOSC. Also available is the Cuety Remote app for Apple iPhone, which enables users to remote control Emulation Touch 1 and Emulation Touch 2 by triggering the playback buttons. www.elationlighting.com
The Q118SA is a newly-designed, extremely powerful subwoofer, capable of delivering extremely high SPL and guaranteeing significant low frequency extension. The optimisation of the woofer load volume and port tube with BEM finite element simulation, and the careful development of the grille and the protective fabric to minimise acoustic impedance, has led to a net improvement in performances as compared with previous models. Equipped with a high excursion ceramic B&C woofer with 100mm ventilated coil, it has negligible power compression, ensuring maximum acoustic pressure even after hours of continuous use. The supplied 1,200W RMS Class-D amplifier with switching power is equipped with a digital signal processor with entirely new algorithms. Equipped with six presets, each of which is not only associated with a different equalisation - to tailor the subwoofer response to various usage conditions - but also with different dynamic processor calibration to extend the maximum acoustic pressure to very high levels, with no deterioration of the original signal. This ensures absolute configurability of the sound obtained, great flexibility of use and, above all, an impressive SPL / size ratio. www.fbt.it
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Discover the technology trends of tomorrow at Prolight + Sound 2016! Find out at first hand how technology can transform entertainment into a unique experience – and take part in the world’s largest gathering for the event industry! info@uk.messefrankfurt.com Tel. +44 (0) 14 83 48 39 83
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Let’s master it. 2
1. FENIX Stage AT-04 FENIX Stage has introduced its new lifting tower, the AT-04. Fully redesigned, it has become the lightest and most compact frontal loading tower that FENIX manufactures. Its 1.58-metre minimum height, 84kg weight and compact closed base of just 48.5cm x 38cm make it perfect to be transported more comfortably and raise line array systems, trusses or LED screens. Furthermore, AT-04 is capable of lifting the load from the floor doing the minimum effort, while its safety pins avoid the load from falling. Besides, they allow selecting different heights, raising all bars equally and distributing the load from the mast to the last bar, which increases its stability and security. In addition, its new locking system allows anchoring the outriggers in an easy and safe way. These new features extend the tower’s lifetime with no need for spare parts, guaranteeing security as the first day. All AT lifting tower series are made of aluminium and are available in silver and black. They have all been certified by current legislation [BGV C1, BGG 912] and [CE 06/42 EG]. www.fenixstage.com
2. GLP impression X4 Atom If the atom is the basic building block of all matter, it can be argued that the sheer versatility of GLP’s new impression X4 Atom will provide a fundamental tool for all lighting disciplines. Size matters, and the power of the Atom comes from a body that measures less than 16cm long and weighs just 1.3kg. Within that body is a high-powered 15W RGBW LED source that emits a bright beam with even colour distribution across a full spectrum. Making the Atom unique in its class is a motorised zoom inside that gives a mighty 9:1 ratio, running from 3.5°-34° - adding a huge amount of flexibility. Increasing its usability in multiple applications and further extending its uniqueness is the IP65 rating that the unit carries, allowing it to be used all year round outdoors or in. Furthermore, the X4 Atom features a clever interlock mechanism that allows units to be built into different configurations quickly and easily. It is, therefore, set to benefit multiple applications from TV and film, to corporate events, set lighting and special events. Also benefitting will be concert touring stages, truss systems and architectural elements, as the interlock system quickly turns single fixtures into 4-Lites, 8-Lites or any other shape. Control for the Atom heads is via an Atom PSU controller - commencing with a 12-way, but with a six-way and other models to follow. The PSU supplies power and data down a single four-pin XLR cable to each Atom head. Rounding out the feature set, the impression X4 Atom contains the advanced features that GLP customers have come to expect, including adjustable flicker-free control, high quality colour mixing, smooth dimming without any colour shift, variable speed strobe - and much more. www.glp.de
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3. JBL 9300 Series The JBL 9300 Series high-frequency horns feature JBL image control technology and asymmetric pattern control guided by exclusive Wave Shaping Vanes. Integral to the 9300 Series’ design, Wave Shaping Vanes distribute acoustic energy in proper proportion to the room. This technique provides a wave front that is sculpted to the room’s geometry and provides very precise coverage capability. Both models provide uniform, asymmetric 60º vertical coverage and 110º horizontal coverage. The 9300 Series loudspeakers feature three separate horizontal mounting planes at 15º angles for specific positioning to improve coverage. Both the JBL 9300 and 9310 loudspeakers are built around a high-power, long-throw 250mm (10-inch) low-frequency driver for smooth extended bass response. The high-frequency section uses a 25mm (one-inch) composite diaphragm compression driver with high output capability. The 9300 model offers 250W power handling; the 9310 model is 350W. Input terminals are located on the top of both cabinets for easy access. The unique molded, black textured enclosure with open high-frequency horn and black grille designed to complement any décor. www.jblpro.com
4. K-array KU26 K-array’s compact subwoofers have been scaled down even more. Components from the K-array subwoofer line have been modified to create a smaller, yet extremely powerful, bass system comprised of one six-inch Neodymium transducer and one six-inch passive radiator, engineered for maximum linear excursion and minimum residual noise. With a frequency range of 45Hz to 300Hz, the KU26 is a perfect companion for the K-array Lyzard, Vyper, and Tornado loudspeakers. The combination provides full range frequency response with prodigious output and a virtually invisible profile. The KU26 boasts extended frequency response and is electronically protected. Its Neodymium transducer has a double voice coil - 16 ohm + 16 ohm - for selectable impedance settings allowing users to combine up to eight KU26 units powered by just one channel of the KA84 amplifier. The KU26 has been designed to extend the low range in small-to-medium size rooms. Applications vary from hotels and churches to pubs and restaurants, as well as stores and conferences. www.k-array.com
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1. Lightwave Lixel The Lixel from Lightwave is a full-colour mixing laser array, which offers lighting designers the opportunity to create spectacular laser effects in geometric patterns for pixel mapping. Vibrant colours high quality beams are created by the internal Lightwave Prism Laser Engine from Arctos. Additional features include: full colour mixing lasers; lightweight aluminum construction; adjustable yolk and clamp design for versatile mounting; signal input / output: DMX 512 operation; power supply of auto-universal PowerCON input / output; and the ability to lixel array map across multiple dimensions. www.lasershows.net
2. LPS-Lasersysteme LPS-Bax LPS-Bax is a superior high-end show laser system that has been a bestseller with LPS for a number of years. Developed and produced in Germany for any type of application, it is characterised by high quality materials, innovative features, precise processing and timeless design. The technical details convince customers quickly. Equipped with a 60kpps graphic scanner at a maximum deflection of 60°, the laser projector projects demanding animations, such as graphics, text, elaborate laser effects, both indoor and outdoor for temporary or permanent installations worldwide. Safety is paramount, so LPS laser systems have reliable scanner safety, which prevents inadvertently hazardous laser radiation being emitted. LPS-Bax is available from 8W up to 32W in green and from 6W up to 46W in RGB. Optionally available with OPSL Coherent Taipan lasers and JenLas Germany. It is also possible for LPS to create your favourite colour balance and deliver the LPS-Bax with FB4 from Pangolin. www.lps-laser.com
3. Madrix Madrix 3.5 Madrix 3.5 further caters to the diverse and international user base of the powerful LED lighting controller for 2D pixel mapping and real 3D voxel mapping. In addition to English and Simplified Chinese, the main software and its accompanying Fixture Editor have been fully localised again and are now available completely in French and Spanish.
Madrix also continues to be a most flexible solution. With Colorlight A8 and Colorlight T9, two additional ways of communication have now been added to the wide range of LED control protocols that are already available for a quick and easy integration of compatible lighting fixtures and controllers. Full MIDI mapping presets are now directly available within the software for the latest MIDI controllers from Akai Professional, including APC40 mkII, APC Key 25, APC mini, LPD8, LPK25, MIDImix, MPK249, MPK261, and MPK mini. www.madrix.com
4. Martin Audio MA5.0Q Equally versatile in both portable and installed system configurations, and with its four channels delivering up to 5,000W, neatly packed into 1RU weighing just over 7kg / 16lb, Martin Audio’s new MA5.0Q is a flexible solution for small-to-medium sound systems. Benefitting from core technologies found in Martin Audio’s flagship amplifiers, the MA5.0Q sets a class standard in efficiency, leading to low power consumption and, consequently, substantial cost savings on electricity - all in an eco-friendly way. Minimum heat dissipation makes the MA5.0Q suitable for hot or otherwise challenging environments. Delivering fantastic sound quality, due to its unique, patented Class-D output stage design, the MA5.0Q represents high value, practically as well as commercially. The MA5.0Q delivers a number of key features, these include: four channels in 1RU at 358mm / 14.1-inch depth; minimal ‘carbon footprint’ and operational cost of electricity; more watts, less weight (up to 5,000W in 7.3kg / 16lb); switch mode power supply, internally switchable 230/115V nominal; Fixed frequency switch mode amplifier output stages; Patented amplifier output filters with ripple cancellation network; optimised for four ohm loads, thus ideally matching real-world scenarios in targeted applications; AC protection (shuts down power supply when AC mains voltage is outside operating range); clip limiter (prevents severely clipped waveforms from reaching loudspeakers, while still maintaining full peak power output); short circuit protection (protects the amplifier from short circuit or similar events on the outputs, with automatic protection reset); thermal protection (mutes outputs once the output devices reach 75 ºC / 167 ºF - automatic unmute once temperature is down to 65 ºC / 149 ºF); temperature controlled, continuous variable speed fan, and front to rear airflow. www.martin-audio.com
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ES Series Renowned for clarity, output and versatile capabilities that has amazed audio professionals around the globe.
www.kv2audio.com/es
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and maximises the laser light source performance. These features create a platform that opens up new possibilities for the digital signage sector, such as permanent 3D mapping shows. http://panasonic.net
1. Neumann KH 805 With the KH 805, Neumann.Berlin is adding a new active subwoofer to its string of acclaimed studio monitoring products. Based on the excellent acoustical performance of the KH 810 subwoofer, the KH 805 is the optimal choice for stereo set-ups in combination with the KH 120 or KH 310. The combination of the new KH 805 subwoofer and KH 120 or KH 310 loudspeakers is ideal for tracking, mixing and mastering in recording, broadcasting and post-production studios. A robust 10-inch driver, solid cabinet and carefully designed ports ensure tight, articulate and distortion-free low-frequency reproduction down to 18Hz, even at high playback levels. Fourth-order crossovers and adaptable acoustical controls allow for seamless integration into existing loudspeaker systems. The KH 805 features a remotely controllable 2.0/0.1 Bass Manager, which enables it to be used in many different applications, for example for extending the loudspeaker bass down to 18Hz, for increasing the maximum SPL of a loudspeaker setup by up to 8dB or for reproducing the LFE channel. The active subwoofer is also an ideal tool to decrease the harmonic and intermodulation distortion of a loudspeaker set-up or to reproduce the ‘sub’ signal of a bass-managed multichannel source, and works as an extension for KH 810, KH 870 and KH 805 subwoofer systems. The KH 805 can be used to make a Plane Wave Bass Array system, which will acoustically improve lateral consistency in the listening area and further increase low frequency linearity. To reduce cabling, the subwoofer electronics can be located remotely, allowing the cabinet to be mounted flush to a wall. www.neumann.com
2. Panasonic PT-RQ13K The 10,000 lumens PT-RQ13K has a quad pixel drive that produces detailed, film-like 4K+ images. The optical axis of the projector is shifted both horizontally and vertically at a high frame rate of up to 240Hz, to create four different pixels from a single pixel effectively quadrupling the pixel density of the image. A new generation of detail clarity processors analyses the requirement for extra pixels and optimises the output for fluid, detailed, high-contrast images. The projector also includes a fail-safe dual-drive laser optical engine which ensures a 20,000 hour light-source life and a laser light-source engine which allows 24/7 operation. A new liquid-cooling system reduces operating noise
3. Powersoft Armonía Pro Audio Suite 2.7.0 With the release of the latest version of Armonía Pro Audio Suite 2.7.0, Powersoft’s proprietary digital signage monitoring and processing software, the company has unleashed further major features and DSP power in its continually evolving roadmap. The update, now available for download, includes the new speaker preset v2 (.spk2) file format; this file can be copied directly onto X Series amplifiers with a USB stick, to be recalled later on desired channels via the WebApp interface. X Series and Ottocanali DSP+D amplifiers are now able to act as totally configurable Dante sources, with the option to stream out eight processed or unprocessed signals. Standalone analog to Dante converters are therefore no longer necessary in complex installations, while direct monitoring of the DSP processing can be easily achieved in third party measurement software such as Smaart v7. A higher degree of loudspeaker supervision is achievable with the new Live Impedance curve, calculated in real-time and storable/displayable against a reference curve in the new .spk2 preset files. New RMS and Peak limiters with side chain Frequency-Shaping are now available on X and Ottocanali DSP+D Series, allowing an even greater level of protection and performance. Frequency-Shaping, in conjunction with Live Impedance monitoring, is an irresistible combination, which safely pushes the speakers even further in terms of overall SPL. In fact the entire communication protocol has been completely rewritten to achieve better performance. Thousands of parameters are now sent in a fraction of a second, allowing for lightning fast operation with X and Ottocanali DSP+D Series devices. In conjunction with the latest firmware, the response to Advanced Groups raised cosine equalization is faster than ever and, most importantly, synchronised across on all channels. In addition to X Series and Ottocanali, the new Armonía release is also designed to offer improved functionality for the M-Drive and DSP 4 + IPALMOD models. Alongside the new release of Armonía Pro Audio Suite 2.7.0, Powersoft has provided full online assistance for Armonía users. This is a useful, fullyaccessible tool that enables issues to be solved in any circumstances. The new release of Armonía Pro Audio Suite 2.7.0 also coincides with the new official firmware for the X Series platform and Ottocanali DSP+D amplifiers. www.powersoft.it
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• Fog machines • Hazer • Fog liquids • and even more... base•classic
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1300 W, standard fog machine
The hazer 19“ sized
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base•touring Ultra strong output. Easy to handle.
650W, small-sized, compact and economical
hazebase
Stargarder Straße 2 · 30900 Wedemark · Germany Phone: +49-5130-37 10 05 · Fax: +49-5130-37 10 06 · E-Mail: info@hazebase.com
www.hazebase.com
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1. Roland V-1HD The Roland V-1HD provides switching for up to four HDMI A/V sources including cameras, computers, tablets, smartphones and even Blu-Ray players, thanks to its HDCP copy protection support. The high definition output of the V-1HD can be switched between 720p (from 720p inputs), 1080i or 1080p. In either 1080i or 1080p output mode, the V-1HD can accept both 1080p and 1080i input signals simultaneously, allowing it to be used with a range of sources. The V-1HD has a 12-channel audio mixer for mixing stereo audio from HDMI and external stereo audio sources and its dedicated microphone input. The V-1HD includes two HDMI program and preview outputs and a stereo audio output. The V-1HD gives users an array of compositing effects, including picture-in-picture and keying, allowing for graphic insets plus titling and green screen capabilities. Ideal for live event video switching, the V-1HD offers advanced transition and filter effects – more than 30 effects and transition types including mix, cut, full additive mix (FAM), non-additive mix (NAM), wipe and other performance effects. The V-1HD also has output fade, BPM Sync and Auto-Scan functions. The A and B video busses each have controls for effects assignment and parameter control. The output can be switched A/B or in PGM/PST mode where the B buss is used for signal preview. The preview output can be set to a multi view mode - where all inputs are displayed with coloured borders indicating the program and preview selections - or in a full-screen mode. The preview output can be used for additional, menu-driven set-up control, or as a second output for applications such as a simultaneous webcast or recording output. The 12-channel audio mixer offers three-band parametric EQ, reverb, up to 500ms delay for accurate lip-sync, a compressor/gate on the mic input and level/multiband EQ on the master mix. A headphone output facilitates audio monitoring and the V-1HD supports mono or stereo plug-in-powered microphones. The V-1HD features a clean, intuitive control layout with multi-function buttons and knobs as well as a large T-handled T-Fader for key and transition operations. The rugged construction ensures long-term reliability even under the most demanding conditions of portable and professional use. proav.roland.com/v1hd
2. SAE Audio TXQ Series
TXQ Series is an ideal solution for those sound reinforcement applications requiring a multichannel amplifier with a mid output power density and a very good sounding characteristic. Implementing digital Class-D amplification technology with Power Factor Correction (PFC), along with a universal AC mains R-SMPS power supply (90V - 260V), it allows it to draw current from the mains in a more efficient way, translating to a higher output power with reduced power consumption. Additionally, PFC improves audio quality by generating lower harmonics of the mains frequency, therefore, reducing the hum and induced distortion because of a perturbed main. The TXQ Series includes three models: the TX300Q with 750W/2 per channel output power; the TX500Q with 1,250W/2 per channel output power; and the TX650Q with 1,600W/2 per channel output power. www.saeaudio.com
3. Studiomaster digiLiVE 16 The new and unique Studiomaster digiLiVE 16 hybrid micro mixer featuring simultaneous fixed surface / remote tablet operation. The hybrid concept seamlessly marries movingfader and touch-screen control of a physical mixing console with simultaneous remote tablet operation. Its ultra-compact form factor makes it one of the smallest professionally specified digital mixing consoles. Simultaneous tablet operation allows remote mixing and sound checking from almost any position in a venue. The 16 input, 16 bus, eight output digital audio mixer’s control surface integrates a seven-inch high-resolution touch-screen and eight motorised 100mm fader operation, with simultaneous on-board or fully remote (iOS) tablet operation. State of the art DSP technology includes 40-bit floating point on fourth generation SHARC processing and proprietary mix algorithms, for EQ, dynamics and effects. A total of 12 professional XLR microphone inputs, are complemented by two stereo line inputs. Fixed master L/R outputs and six smart assignable outputs are all on XLR, while additional stereo monitor and headphone outs are on TRS stereo jacks. Digital outputs are also included on AES/EBU and SPDIF. Up to eight internal assignable effects busses include reverbs, modulation, delay and 15 band EQ. An internal recording and playback capability can record from or playback via any smart assignable outputs, or via either of the two USB interfaces (one front, one rear panel); these also support scene storage and system updating. Both WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity are supported using external devices. www.studiomaster.com
SAE Audio has released the TXQ Series of power amplifiers, a new four-channel version of the previous TX Series amplifiers. Offering the same features as the TX, the new
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1 night 27 awar ds 1200 guests
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“After four years of development, I came on board and my main task is to establish the company in the international market.”
LEONARDO DANI Global Sales Manager at APIA Professional Audio Systems Tell our readers how you first got into the professional audio industry? I studied music and was a drummer from the age of 14. I started in 1993 by opening a small rental company, based in Tuscany. After five years gaining experience, I started doing live tours and big festivals in Italy, Europe and the USA as a freelance technician. In 2007, I started as K-array’s Export and Sales Manager. My key task was to successfully develop and grow the international market place, as well as the distribution network worldwide. Within five years, I grew the distribution network from two to 31, plus another 20 dealers worldwide. When and why did you join APIA? After taking a break from sales for personal reasons, I started to look for a new position. While evaluating an opportunity from another audio manufacturer, I got wind of APIA through a friend and discovered a totally new and fascinating world, which, in my opinion had an extremely high potential for growth. It was a big challenge to take on, but I didn’t have any doubts. I started with APIA in January 2015. What makes APIA different from other audio manufacturers? APIA is a young company and the executive team has a clear direction in mind. Considerable investments have already been put in place for the manufacturing facilities, to employ qualified personnel and to ensure that the latest technologies are being adpated. Research of the highest quality is our motto. APIA doesn’t compromise in terms of quality - this is the difference
between APIA and others. Now, we just need time to establish the brand name and reputation. It’s going to be a long journey, but we will succeed. How has APIA developed since its inception? Pia Sahne Teknolojileri A.Ş. is a branch of a bigger company. The core business of the parent company - based in Istanbul - is the construction market, and the company has been in operation since 1963. It also owns the Haliç Congress Centre and Pia is the branch that has been in charge of sound, light and video productions inside the centre for 20 years. Basically, it’s a rental company that operates for its own theatres and facilities. Four years ago, the engineers of Pia experimented with their own loudspeakers and, having achieved very good results, decided to make a huge investment and open a factory - marking the launch of the APIA brand. After four years of development, I came on board and my main task is to bring the company to the international market. What kind of installations has APIA been involved with recently? In Turkey, APIA has completed installations at the Haliç Congress Centre, Hard Rock Café, Mask Music Club, Shot, Tamirhane, Dorock and Dorock XL, as well as the Ayazaga Cultural and Convention Centre. We’ve also worked on some live events in Italy, too. Geographically speaking, which market would you like to grow the
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• Above Leonardo Dani
brand in over the next year? We are still at the very first stage of developing the global market, though we have already signed a distribution agreement in Europe for BeNeLux and Italy. We also have three other important markets in the negotiation phase for the region and I am expecting to close these agreements within the next few months. In Asia, we have a distributor in South Korea, but I am working hard to close other agreements and cover a bigger portion of the Asian territories. My priorities are growing with the brand in Asia and Europe, but I am almost ready to start in North America too, this will probably happen in the second half of the 2016. Tell us something we don’t know about APIA? Working with APIA gives me the feeling of being at home. It’s an educational and multicultural environment, as well as being an extremely fun place to work. What three things would you take with you on a desert island? I wouldn’t want to stay on a desert island, so I would take a sailboat, a GPS that works on solar energy and a reserve of water so I can leave the island as soon as possible. What is your most prized possession? My six-year-old son, Alessandro. Where is your favourite place in the world? Except from my home town, I love New York.
graphics: Vilfredo Maria Ricci - © 2015 Studio Due
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Combining the ‘single point-source’ benefits of Coaxial designs with the consistent coverage of Differential Dispersion technology, the CDD installation series delivers wider coverage - even close up to the speaker ensuring high fidelity sound to every member of the audience. This also means in larger spaces that fewer speakers are required reducing the overall cost of the installation project.
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Unite Your Audience The Martin Audio Experience
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