audio pro september 2009 - issue 22

FIVE�S ALIVE

www.audioprointernational.com

Issue 22 • September 2009

PLASA • THE BEATLES REMASTERED • LARGE FORMAT PA • THE GLADE

Romania's big noise in tour sound squeezes the best juice out of Synco

FIVE�S ALIVE

LIVE • COMMERCIAL • RECORDING • BROADCAST

EVENTSIBC • 8RAI fills up for Broadcast’s main event

PLASA09 • 11Details from London’s big show revealed

API AWARDS • 18Nominations announced

BRUCE SWEDIEN • 38With a new book out about his days with

Michael Jackson, Swedien talks about his

extensive mic collection and working and

writing with the infamous artist

THE BEATLES REMASTERS • 41The Abbey Road team tells all about the four

years spent remastering the stereo and mono

versions of the entire Beatles catalogue

STUDIO/BROADCAST

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

THE GLADE • 21The UKs latest and loudest outdoor event

COVER FEATUREFIVE’S ALIVE • 27Romania’s live sound gurus talk shop

LARGE FORMAT PA • 30A review of the big boxes with a bang

LIVE SOUND/INSTALLATION

> Regulars: Behind the Board 45 In Session 46 People 48 Products 50 Marketplace 53 Mixdown 56

> IN THIS ISSSUE

CONTENTSISSUE 22 September 2009

Contacts for Audio Pro InternationalEditorial: +44 (0)1992 535646 Ads: +44 (0)1992 535647

Fax: +44 (0) 1992 535648

Editor: Andrew Low

[email protected]

Deputy Editor: Rob Hughes

[email protected]

Associate Editor: Samantha Loveday

[email protected]

Advertising Manager: Darrell Carter

[email protected]

Editorial Production: Helen French

[email protected]

Ad Production: Rosie McKeown

[email protected]

Subscriptions Manager: Hannah Short

[email protected]

Designer: Claire Brocklesby

[email protected]

Managing Editor: Andy Barrett

[email protected]

Publisher: Dave Roberts

[email protected]

We always know the

summer is coming to an

end when PLASA comes

around. The festival stages are all

being torn down as Europe’s pro

audio community gears up for

four days of business and

evenings spent in bars and clubs

in the capital city.

We have tried our best to get as much

information on the show as possible, but many

companies are keeping their cards close to their

chests until the day of the show. See pages 11 to 16

for a full report.

Now that the festival season is coming to a close

I do regret not going to more events. With Bestival

selling out and Green Man all the way over in

Wales, it seems my fun in the fields is over until

next summer.

I did make it to the Field Day festival in Victoria

Park, London. After being stopped by Milo the drug

dog and given everything shy of a full cavity

search, I was released into the rainy day to hear a

good mix of DJs and alternative artists. Holding a

live music festival in the middle of a busy city

seems a sure-fire prescription for problems. On

top of the Fort Knox style security that met each

punter at the gate, the lack of adequate facilities

made the rainy day a bit soggier.

And while I hate to use this column to, once

again, complain about noise levels, I did feel

completely ripped off and cheated by the inaudible

sound levels in some of the tents. Four Tet’s

potentially amazing set was so low that I couldn’t

hear the music over the audience’s conversations.

The once great UK festival scene is beginning to

show cracks in its armour as trigger happy councils

pull the plug on loud fun. All the same, the eternal

optimist in me says: “maybe next year”.

However, after interviewing the organisers of the

Glade Festival (see page 21), it seems that picking

the proper location for an outdoor event is

perhaps the only way to keep the noise police and

neighbours’ complaints at bay.

Andrew Low – Editor [email protected]

mobile.audioprointernational.comA bookmark us in your phone

EDITORIAL

LES PAUL • 4A legend passes away

BEIRG • 4Urgent action against Ofcom ruling

STAGE COLLAPSE • 5One dead, 75 injured

MPG AWARDS • 6Nominations open

NEWS

LES PAUL, the guitarist and musicalinventor, has died in NY aged 94.

One of America’s most influentialand accomplished electric guitarists,Paul was an early innovator in thedevelopment of the solid body guitar.His groundbreaking design wouldbecome the template for Gibson’sbest-selling electric, introduced in1952, but among his most enduringcontributions are those in thetechnological realm, includingingenious developments in multi-trackrecording, guitar effects and themechanics of sound in general.

Tinkering with electronics andamplification since his youth, Paul’sexperiments proved to be dangerousand in 1940 he electrocuted himselfduring a session in the cellar of hisapartment. During the next two yearsof rehabilitation, he earned his livingproducing radio music. Forced to puthis career on hold, Paul moved toHollywood and during World War IIhe was drafted into the Army, but waspermitted to stay in California as aregular player for Armed Forces RadioService. By 1943 he had assembled atrio that regularly performed live onthe radio and on V-Discs.

As small combos eclipsed big bandstoward the end of World War II, theLes Paul Trio’s popularity grew. Theycut records for Decca both alone andbehind the likes of Dick Hayes and,notably, Bing Crosby.

Meanwhile, Paul began toexperiment with dubbing live tracksover recorded tracks, also altering theplayback speed. This resulted in Lover(When You’re Near Me), his 1947predecessor to multi-track recording.The hit instrumental featured LesPaul on eight different electric guitarparts, all playing together. Hedesigned his own eight-track which

was later modified by one ReinNarma, who went on to design whatwould become the Fairchild 660/670limiter. The very first model was builtat Les Paul’s request (see Mixdown,page 57, for more on this).

He acquired a first generationAmpex tape recorder from Crosby in1949 and began his most importantmulti-tracking adventure, adding afourth head to the recorder to createsound-on-sound recordings. Whiletinkering with the machine and itsmany possibilities, he also came upwith tape delay. These tricks, alongwith another recent Les Paulinnovation – close miking vocals –were integrated for the first time on asingle recording, the 1950 numberone hit How High the Moon.

This historic track was performedduring a duo with future wife MaryFord. The couple’s prolific string ofhits for Capitol Records includedsome of the most popular USrecordings of the early 1950s and alsowrote the book on contemporarystudio production. The dense butclear layering of guitars and vocals,along with Ford’s closely miked voiceand Paul’s guitar effects, producedunprecedented sonic qualities.

Paul is the only person to sharemembership of the Grammy, Rockand Roll, National Inventors andNational Broadcasters Halls of Fame.> lespaulonline.com

Les Paul - 1915 to 2009

4 audioPRO September 2009 www.audioprointernational.com

> NEWS

Yamaha announcesboard reshuffleCorporation in Japan sees withdrawal of

chairman and director and induction of

several US and European representatives

YAMAHA CORPORATIONin Japan has announced anumber of changes to itscentral board of directors.

Most notably, chairman anddirector Shuji Ito has stooddown from his post, havingcompleted his term at the headof the board of directors.

While no longer on theboard, Ito will continue hiswork with the audio giant inthe role of ‘corporate specialadviser’ and will retain his postas president of the Yamaha

Music Foundation.The Yamaha central board

has seen no fewer than ninenew directorial appointments,including Hirofumi Osawa, thepresident of the YamahaCorporation of America andMasato Oike, the president ofYamaha Music Europe.

Along with Ito, HirokazuKato and Tsuneo Kuroe alsocompleted their terms on theboard and were appointed asadvisers.> yamahaproaudio.com

BEIRG issues rallying crySteering Group urges action against Ofcom ruling

THE BEIRG STEERING Group issoliciting the action of all PMSEowners in response to theGovernment’s decision to clear theentire 800 MHz band.

The ruling will make all radio micsand IEMs operating in channels 61-69obsolete by 2012/2013, therebyresulting in a major cost for all whoown the equipment.

Ofcom and the Government haveagreed to establish a fundingmechanism to cover the costs ofmigration by paying to replace theaffected equipment. Last week, Ofcompublished a consultation – Clearingthe 800MHz Band: Funding forprogramme making and special events –setting out their proposals by whichPMSE equipment owners will beeligible for funding, and under whatcriteria. According to BEIRG, thesecriteria fall a long way short of what isrequired to fairly compensate them.

The committee is urging immediateaction by PMSE users to thisconsultation document in order tocombat Ofcom’s decision and itseligibility criteria, which it is calling“limited and narrow”.

BEIRG commented: “We areeffectively being ‘evicted’ fromchannel 69, along with the rest of the800MHz band, on very sharp terms.

“It is imperative that all equipmentowners who will be affected respondto this consultation. This is the part ofthe process that we need your helpwith if we are to stand any chance ofgetting you what you deserve.”> beirg.org.uk

”Among Paul’s

most enduring

contributions

are those in the

technological

realm.

www.audioprointernational.com audioPRO September 2009 5

Audio Pro Awards

PAGE 18Large format PA

PAGE 30The Beatles remastered

PAGE 41

Soundcraft in the cockpit of Eno’s Apollo

TASCAM HAS ESTABLISHED a dedicated sales and support servicefor the professional AV sector in theUK. The initiative is intended topromote the advantages of thecompany’s new solid-state recorderseries, which offers next generationdigital media storage, playout andnetwork management capabilitiesaimed at audio/visual installer andintegrator applications.

Tascam AV UK, headed up bysales and support manager GaryMaguire (pictured), is focussingresources on the installer andintegrator sectors to promote thetechnological and operationaladvances offered by the new solid-state products, in applicationscurrently fulfilled by various discmedia, cassette tape and commodityPCs. The new products offer theadvantages of compact flash (CF)card and USB media, with nomoving components, file basedmedia management, removablestorage devices, and networkcapabilities.

The Tascam solid-state seriescomprises three 1U rackmountmodels, all employing CF cardmedia: the HDR1, SSCDR1 and

SSR1. The networkable HDR1additionally provides USB, Ethernetand Euroblock connectivity, andmicrophone inputs with discretelevel controls. The SSCDR1combines CF and CD recording andplayback. All units feature RS232and parallel control.

The new Tascam AV UK operationwill provide dedicated sales andsupport for AV installers and

integrators, responding to thesector’s particular requirements.Service features include a dedicatedAV sales and service number, 24-hour turnaround on product deliveryor replacement, FOC loan stock inthe event of products requiringrepair, and personal on-site trainingand technical support for Tascamappointed installers.> tascam.co.uk

Tascam launches dedicated proAV sales and support for UK

NEWS <

Initiative to promote the advantages of the firm’s new solidstate recorder

Roxy Music star celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing with live IMAX performances

A VIOLENT THUNDERSTORMduring a country music festival incentral Alberta, Canada, caused anoutdoor stage to collapse last month,killing one person and injuring manyothers, some seriously.

Thousands of fans were campedout at the Big Valley Jamboree inCamrose, 60 miles southeast ofEdmonton – billed as Canada'slargest country music festival withattendance estimated at 15,000 –when the stage buckled under fiercewinds and heavy rain, sending peoplerunning for cover.

Police and festival organisers told anews conference that one person waskilled and about 75 others wereinjured, most of whom were treatedat the site.

Camrose police chief DarrellKambeitz said about 21 of theinjured were taken to hospitals, twoof whom were in critical condition.

This was the second time in thespace of a month that a stage collapseproved fatal – in July, the stage for aMadonna concert in Marseille,France, fell down, killing twotechnical staff.

ROXY MUSIC’S Brian Enocelebrated the 40th anniversary of theApollo 11 moon landing byintroducing the first of two liveperformances from his 1983composition, Apollo: Atmospheres andSoundtracks, at the IMAX cinema,Science Museum, London.

Mark Hornsby’s company, Headtec,was appointed by the ScienceMuseum to provide the sound andIcebreaker’s FOH sound engineerAlexander Bossew requisitioned aSoundcraft Vi6 digital console.

“I specified this because it is so easyto produce a warm sound withouthaving to eq like mad,” he said. “Also,the few compressors that I used wereworking very discreetly.”

Bossew admits that, with justenough time for a quick run-throughahead of the performance — ratherthan a full rehearsal — there had beenlittle opportunity to pre-configure thedesk, which was plugged straight intothe cinema PA.

However, this hardly concernedhim, as the musicians were soexperienced: “They were all aware oftheir own dynamics and so there wasvery little left for me to correct at thedesk end.”

Nevertheless, the composition,adapted by Jun Lee, required the useof a lot of reverb. “The IMAX iscompletely dry and I had to use sixdifferent internal Lexicon reverbs,which sounded excellent,” he said.That task alone consumed most ofthe one-hour desk programmingtime that was allocated.

Bossew felt particularly privilegedto have mixed the sound for thislandmark event: “Usually mycolleague Ernst Zettl mixes theirsound and for the performance at theIMAX, I was only substituting forhim. But I hope it won’t have beenthe last opportunity I get tocollaborate with this astoundingcollective of excellent musicians.”> soundcraft.com

Canada stage

collapse kills one

and injures 75

Gary Maguire

will head up

the UK pro AV

department

Second tragedy of its

kind within three weeks

6 audioPRO July/August 2009 www.audioprointernational.com

> NEWS

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2010Music Producers Guild Awards arenow officially open.

As in 2009, next year’s ceremonywill be held at Cafe de Paris inLondon on February 11th. TheMPG will again collaborate with theBrits to present the winner of itsProducer of the Year category with aBrit Award for Best Producer.

Last year’s inaugural Awardsattracted the likes of Brian Eno,Duffy, Calvin Harris and more than300 music industry luminaries, whoturned up to celebrate the hugecontribution that recordingprofessionals make to the success ofthe UK’s music industry.

Award categories for 2010 includeBreakthrough Producer andBreakthrough Engineer, whichreplace last year’s Newcomer Award.This change not only increases theAwards tally but also allows theGuild to recognise the achievementsof recording professionals who havebeen working in the industry for awhile but have only recently hadcommercial success.

Music Producers Guild chairmanSteve Levine stated: “The aim ofthese awards is to bring aboutgreater awareness, both within themusic industry and among thewider public, of the skills and talentinvolved in making great records.Therefore we want to ensure that

everyone worthy of an award isincluded for consideration. Audioprofessionals are positioned at thevery heart of the music industry andit is vital that they are given theaccolades they deserve.”

Nominating a worthwhilerecording professional involvesfilling in a very simple online form.Everyone can be part of this processas the nominations are open toanyone who wants to put a nameforward. There is also no bar onnominating yourself and the MusicProducers Guild is activelyencouraging producers andengineers to do this.> mpg.org.uk

THE BBC HAS reported that U2 are hopingto turn the stages from their current worldtour into permanent concert venues in parksaround the world when the tour ends.

The band’s current 360 tour uses threedifferent stage structures, each in the shape ofa giant claw, somewhat resembling a crab.

“My vision, which I've been discussing withthe band, is to turn them into concertpavilions,” said tour architect Mark Fisher.

The band played their first UK date atWembley Stadium in London, before heading

to Glasgow, Sheffield and Cardiff. Bono, The Edge and friends have already

played in Europe and will hit the US nextmonth. The three steel structures, which costbetween £15m and £20m each, were used ondifferent legs of the world tour.

"Part of the tour will finish in Australia andanother part of the tour will finish in SouthAmerica, where people could use a niceconcert pavilion in a park, which has anability to take 200 tonnes of kit hangingunder it,” Fisher added. “It’s a useful thing.”

U2 to give away tour stages£15m structures to become new gig venues around the world

The aim of these

awards is to bring

about greater

awareness of the

skills and talent

involved in

making great

records.Steve Levine

MPG Awards nominations now openMusic Producers Guild activates its online system to gather names of worthy recording professionals

UK music industryrevenues hit £3.6bn

PRS FOR MUSIC haspublished new researchshowing that UK musicindustry revenues totalled£3.63bn in 2008, up 4.7 percent from 2007’s £3.46bn.

The report, entitledAdding up the Music Industryfor 2008 by PRS for Music’schief economist Will Page,showed that the industry’sdiverse mix of revenues isresilient to the recession.

Combined business toconsumer revenues (liveindustry and recorded musicretail) grew three per cent,making up 75 per cent oftotal industry value.

More complex business tobusiness revenues (from

collective and directlicensing, advertising,sponsorship) grew by ten percent, reaching £925m andcontributing 25 per cent oftotal industry value.

Page said: “Readingbeneath the top line,recorded is down and live isup – reflecting the success ofso-called ‘heritage’ acts likethe Police and Neil Youngon the road. Historically,record companies have beenthe primary investor in newacts so the question theindustry should ask is this:who will invest in developingthe ‘heritage’ acts oftomorrow?”> prsformusic.com

New research shows 4.7 per cent rise

THE CATEGORIES ARE:

• Producer of the Year –sponsored by BPI, BRITS 2010

• Recording Engineer of the Year – sponsored by Prism Sound (also Headline Sponsor)

• Best Mix Engineer• Best Mastering Engineer –

sponsored by SADiE (also Headline Sponsor)

• Best Live Album of The Year (09) – sponsored by Shure

• UK Album of The Year (09) • UK Single of The Year (09)• Best Re-mixer • The Joe Meek Award for

Innovation in Production• Breakthrough Producer –

sponsored by Deep Recording Studios

• Breakthrough Engineer • Best Studio – sponsored by

Robertson Taylor• Best International Producer

of the Year • Unsung Hero – sponsored by

Alchemea College in association with Pro Sound News

• Outstanding Contribution to UK Music – sponsored by PPL(also Headline Sponsor)

metering challenges that this brings,such as the implications for the soundfield when the pictures are in threedimensions. Examples include Dolby,which will have key executives onhand to discuss how the company’sportfolio of technologies helpssimplify the delivery of quality audioacross traditional and emergentmedia and the long-term benefits tothe European broadcast community.

Junger Audio will show a completeworkflow solution for Dolby-coded5.1 audio. It will also be showing newESDI cards for its popular LevelMagic loudness control system andintroducing the new ANA series ofinput and processing cards, which aredesigned to help terrestrial re-broadcasters tackle loudness andsynchronisation issues.

Meanwhile, Linear Acousticpromises to ‘turn the world of audioprocessing for digital television on itshead’, but gives little else away, other than the assurance of severalindustry firsts.

In Hall 7, the free post-productiontraining zones will give visitors hands-on time with the latest desktop tools.

One of the sessions takes acomprehensive approach to Apple’sFinal Cut Studio suite, including itsintegrated audio sweetening toolSoundtrack Pro.

There will also be the newProduction Village in Hall 9, whichfeatures a range of displays and free

training opportunities aroundtelevision production. There arespecial training workshops on gettingthe best out of a performer and settingup interviews – sound recordists willalso be interested in sessions ontapeless workflows in the field.

This year, IBC has been re-organised to focus on three keystrands: technology advances,creative innovation and the businessof broadcasting. Each will have hugeimplications for audio, including thesessions on audio coding and bestpractice in multimedia broadcasting.

An afternoon in the technologypapers section of the conference isgiven over to audio matters. A tutorialwill summarise trends in audio formatsfor next generation services, includingHDTV, and the key considerations inthe selection of an audio format toaccompany Mpeg-4 and other next-generation video or music file delivery.Audio technology: Coding andConcatenation, Loudness and LipSync takes place on September 13th,from 13:30 in the Forum.

Another audio conference sessionwill explore techniques such as text-to-speech processing and voicetransformation and new microphonetechnology to ease the production ofsurround sound. From Audio to 3D –The Latest Ideas Straight from theLab is on Thursday, September 10th,from 14:15 in Room L.www.ibc.org

> EVENT PREVIEW IBC

September 10th-15th RAI, Amsterdam


…will be in abundance at this year’s IBC show, but there won’t be a vehicle in sight (except maybe the odd

OB van). Rob Hughes takes a look at what the event holds for the broadcasters among us…

These days it seems every time Iswitch on my TV there are more‘new and exciting’ channels to

watch. Sure, most of these are targeted atcredit card-wielding housewives or lonely(credit card-wielding) men, but the BBC’schannel-count is fast approaching that ofSky. The same is true of ITV and Channel4 and you only have to look at the qualityof this new programming to realise thepotential in terms of advertising revenue.Taking into account radio and theinternet, it’s obvious that there is now anunprecedented demand for broadcastcontent and an equivalent pool ofmarketing budgets ready to finance it.

THE SHOW THAT GROWSIt’s of little surprise then, that the leadinginternational forum for those involvedwith content creation, management anddelivery has grown year-on-year since itsinception in 2002. This year the show isdue to break the 50k mark, having addedan average 6.5 per cent more visitorswith each successive event. In 2009,1,000-plus exhibitors will attract industrytypes from more than 130 differentcountries; between 15 and 20 per cent ofthese are expected to represent thebroadcast trade. The importance of audiowill be represented by a host of familiar,leading brands such as Audio Technica,Sadie, Sennheiser, Soundcraft and Teac,which will be grouped together in Hall 8.

New broadcast audio technologies arelikely to address the increasing use ofsurround sound and all the mixing and

Top gear…

“It’s obvious thatthere is now anunprecedented

demand forbroadcast

content and anequivalent pool

of budgets tofinance it.


The UK is the arguably the leadingmarket for innovation in theprofessional audio business. With

everyone from boutique manufacturersto big-name brands living between JohnO’Groats and Lands End, the UK setsthe pace for many areas of the business.

While some companies havedropped out and others opt not toexhibit and hold cheeky after-hoursevents, there is no denying thatPLASA is a major show for the UKand Europe’s pro lighting and soundprofessionals, one which saidcompanies wouldn’t dare miss. In theirplace at this year’s show are 40newcomers taking their place. Furtherevidence of its continued relevancewas last year’s digital console frenzy ashalf a dozen manufacturers debutedtheir latest mixing technology.

There is a great sense of prideassociated with PLASA as the UKcommunity shows up every year in fullforce to put their new ideas forward tothe scrutinising eyes of the show’svisitors and exhibitors. Coupled withseminars, special events, an awardsceremony and swanky after-hoursparties at exclusive London venues,PLASA serves as a springboard foropinions, ideas, innovations andnetworking opprotunities that fewother shows can provide. > plasashow.com

ALCONS AUDIO - J18Alcons Audio’s main focus will be onthe LR7 and LR7B, the latest additionsto the L-series pro-ribbon line arrays.The LR7 is a micro pro-ribbon line-array system designed for use in stackedor flown configuration, for bothportable and permanent installations.

The new LR7B is the low frequencyextension of the LR7 system. Sized at awidth and height of three CDs, a single12-inch in a dual-tuned, concentricbandpass configuration caters for cleanlow-mid and broad-band bass responsefrom a micro-sized and weight efficientpackage.

As an annual Alcons feature, it willexhibit a new design study, called“MSRA, Modular Stacked RibbonArray”- a concept for a scalable high-power line-source monitor system,based on vertically stacked modules.> alconsaudio.com

VMB ESPAÑOLA, S.A - F7VMB will show Rainbow, its electro-acoustical prediction software for thecompany’s speaker systems, boastinghorizontal and vertical modelling.

Windows-based, Rainbow allowssimulation of complete systems, such asa main large format arraycomplemented by a smaller delayedarray and front-fills. Thus, its library ofloudspeaker systems includes not only

the company’s self-powered line arraymodules with built-in inclinometer(LX-V8 and LX-F6 with accordion-folded ribbon HF driver), but alsomodels from its Phase or ADP lines.

High resolution (24 point peroctave) speaker polar data provided byRainbow with magnitude and phaseinformation allows accurate modellingdown to 30Hz, enabling user-designedsubwoofer arrays. > vmb.es

OHM UK LTD - J10PLASA will mark Ohm’s third decadeof producing sound equipment in theUK. To honour this anniversary thecompany has brought back, with newlydesigned OHM drivers, the SS-3Smack Stack bass bins, a dance stackdelivering optimised bass. Couplingthis to the new Ersa Major line arraywill provide adequate coverage forvenues ranging from larger dance clubsto concert audiences.

The Ersa Major comprises two ten-inch horn loaded Ohm drivers with acoaxial two-inch and one-inchcompression driver mounted on aproprietary waveguide. This systemruns in three way active mode.

Also featured on Ohm’s stand will bethe Ersa Minor compact line array withthe lightweight DSP-A3 amplifiers.> ohm.co.uk

PLASA EVENT PREVIEW<

September 13th-16th London

Earls Court is set to host the annual PLASA trade show for pro lighting and sound professionals from

September 13th to 16th. Now in its third decade, PLASA remains one of the key European events for its

respective audiences. Andrew Low gives a glimpse of what will be on show...

London is Pro Audio

VMB’s Rainbow is new for the show


PLASA EVENT PREVIEW<

FUNKTION-ONE - F36Funktion-One will be launching threenew products, including the F101loudspeaker enclosure comprising oneten-inch bass/mid driver and a one-inch high frequency device, whichmakes it a larger version of the F81.

Also new for the show is theResolution 3, an all-in-one three-wayenclosure comprising a special horn-loaded, 18-inch bass loudspeaker withfive-inch voice coil, a new Axheadloaded ten-inch loudspeaker formidrange and a one-inch compressiondriver for high frequencies.

The ASPC1 audio system polaritychecker will also be launched as aninvaluable tool for live sound andinstallation engineers to ensure theoptimisation of high performance audiosystems. It is light, compact andsupplied with a belt pouch.> funktion-one.com

INNOVASON - L39 The French console manufacturer willexhibit its Eclipse digital console withthe unique onboard multi-trackrecording via Innovason’s MARSMultitrack Audio Recording System.

A high power console with a smallfootprint, Eclipse’s DSP engine enablesusers to mix up to 104 inputssimultaneously into 48 mix busses, withthe capacity to manage up to 320inputs on the console using up to five

remote audio racks. The controlsurface is furnished with SmartPanel,which provides 48 faders and 48 fullyconfigurable rotary knobs (spread overfour layers) providing 96 ‘faders’.

Available in a variety of formats, thestandard Eclipse package offers 80inputs and 40 outputs, of which 24 arefully processed including 31-bandgraphic eq. It also comes with twoInnovason FM-8VB eight-in/eight-outplugin effects cards and a stage box, allfully flight-cased and complete withthe brand new NOVA software.> innovason.com

YAMAHA - G31Yamaha Commercial Audio willpromote the theme of connectivitywith a stand split into five areasconnected together using a variety ofaudio formats and network protocols,including Dante, CobraNet,EtherSound, MADI and AES/EBU.

The stand’s design will demonstratedifferent audio and control networks inreal time, with Yamaha’s European staff

on hand throughout the show toprovide hands-on demonstrations.

The company will also make theUK debut of Audinate Dante-MY16-AUD interface card (distributedexclusively by Yamaha); the IMX644digital rack-mount mixer; IPA 8200power amplifier; DME Version 3.5 andthe recently announced updatedM7CL V2 mixing console. The SB168-ES scaleable digital stage box solutionwill also be on show.

Complementing these will be all ofYamaha Commercial Audio’s currentranges, including the PM5D, DSP5Dand LS9 mixing consoles, a full rangeof touring and installation amplifiers,Installation Series loudspeakers and itsrange of interface solutions. > yamahacommercialaudio.com

RCF AUDIO - D24RCF, dB Technologies and SGMTechnology for Lighting will beexhibiting for the first time together asthe RCF Group this year. This followsthe Group’s announcement in April ofthe acquisition of the leading Italianlighting company, SGM.

With the addition of SGMTechnology for Lighting, the RCFGroup strengthens its presence at thisyear’s PLASA, showing the products inaudio and lighting fields.

RCF Group now covers all aspects ofthe sound and lighting industry and,whilst RCF and dB continue todevelop new products in a wide rangeof audio fields, with the addition ofSGM, various synergies across the

audio and lighting sides of the Groupare being developed.> rcf.it

RED SQUARE AUDIO - L39Red Square Audio will have a largebooth representing its renownedbrands, including Lab.gruppen, Tannoy,RSG, Feonic, Innovason, and newlyadded Apex.

The stand will feature Innovason’snew Eclipse digital recording console,Tannoy’s VQ series of loudspeakers,including the VQ Live series and sixnew additions to the VQ Series line.Lab.gruppen’s latest amplifiers, withrecently acquired Lake Controllersoftware and firmware technology, willbe on show as will RSG’s M-400 digitalmixing system.

The company will also debut twonew namesake products. The RedSquare M1 nearfield monitors will bedemonstrated with the Eclipse console.It will also show a multitracking PCcreated for capturing live recordings.Available in tower or rack models, thePC recorder is compatible withprograms such as Sonar, Cakewalk andPro Tools. > redsquareaudio.co.uk

JHS - E51JHS will present the new horn-loadedactive system Icon LTS from HKAudio. Icon LTS (Long-Throw System)is a digitally controlled, horn-loaded,active PA.

The primary design brief of the IconLTS was aimed at use in ground-

M-400 V-Mixer M-48 Personal Monitor S-0816 / Cat5E / S-1608 S-4000 Digital Snake

REAC : Capture, Distribute, Mix and Record pristine 24-bit Multi-channel Audio over Cat5e and Fibre

The powerful new M-380 V-Mixer packs all the flexibility of widely-accepted REAC based V-Mixing systems into a 19” rack. It also offers a total 24-bit audio solution, including, 48 channels of mixing with classic onboard FX, GEQ, Matrix, DCA, LCR plus a choice of Digital Snakes as well as personal mixing and multi-channel recording via Cakewalk Sonar. Better still, the M-380 delivers this market-leading power and flexibility at a price that will surprise you.www.rolandsg.co.uk or call 01792 702701

48-Channels of Rackmountable REAC PowerM-380 S t a n d H 4 0

> EVENT PREVIEW PLASA

stacked configurations at events whereconditions or budget constraintsprevent flying a PA.

The new product is a self-containedactive system featuring horn-driven 12-inch/1.4-inch IC 112 LA mid-/highunit with 60-degree x 40-degree CDhorn design and optimised directivityand onboard digital controller thatserves as the stack’s control center.

Two 18-inch band-pass subwoofersprovide the low-end kick for the fullstack. State-of-the-art Class-D poweramp technology delivers the reach andrange to throw these signals acrossgreat distances at remarkable soundpressure levels.> jhs.co.uk

TRANTEC SYSTEMS - J34The spotlight of Trantec’s booth will beon the S-D7000, which features 24-bitaudio resolution, network monitoringfor over 60 channels and over 20 userchannels in an 8MHz TV band.

Trantec will also be previewing itsbrand new S6 wireless system, whichbuilds on the S6000 range by takingthe 19-inch, eight-way concept a stepfurther. Trantec has now incorporateda comprehensive user interface on thefront panel, allowing the user toconfigure and monitor all channels,with or without an external PC. Theinternal circuitry of the S6 beltpackand handheld transmitter has beenredesigned and upgraded, extendingthe frequency capability to 72MHz.

The company will also exhibit the16-channel S5.3 system, the 24-channel S5.5 system and the 16-channel S4. It will also show the S4.4,which features the unique option offour licence-free channels. > trantec.co.uk

POLAR AUDIO - F4Polar Audio will exhibit a number ofnew products, including a range fromthe latest addition to the Polar family,Australian Monitor.

Visitors can participate in livedemonstrations of the latest in digitalnetworked audio from across itsproduct portfolio, with highlights fromAviom, MC2, XTA, Biamp and manyother manufacturers. New productsbeing showcased include, frombeyerdynamic, the Opus 600system and additions to theRevoluto conferencesystem range, fromBiamp, the RED-1Remote EthernetDevice,Dynacord’sPromax 8000system, ASL’sDigital Intercomsystem and a host ofnew products fromXTA and MC2 Audio,including XTA’s DC1048and Network Audio gear.> polaraudio.co.uk

ALLEN & HEATH- E9PLASA marks Allen & Heath’s 40thyear designing and manufacturinginnovative pro audio products for thelive, recording and DJ spheres. TheBritish mixer manufacturer willcommemorate this by displaying a crosssection of its current digital, analogueand DJ mixers on the stand. Theseinclude the flagship iLive digitalsystems, award-winning ZED analogrange and Xone DJ series.

The iLive digital family will becentral to its booth. Following therecent launch of RAB2, iLive’s latest

remote audio card, it is now possible tomix n’ match the flagship modulariLive hardware with the iLive-T fixedI/O MixRacks and Control Surfaces,increasing hire inventory flexibility andsystem integration. > allen-heath.com

SENNHEISER UK LTD - F10Sennheiser UK will focus on severalnew products that were recently addedto its product portfolio. The new G3

Evolution wirelessmicrophones will be on

show to display itsvariety of sets and

accessories forsecure wirelesssoundtransmission.The G3 lineincludes thenew 100, 300

and 500 G3series, as well as

the 300 IEM G3wireless

monitoring system andENG sets designed for

reporters and filmmakers.Alongside G3 will be the new stand-

alone Wicos Wireless ConferenceSystem and the 2000 Series wirelessmicrophone system designed forbroadcast audio.

It will also have products from itsdistributed lines of pro audio brands,including DAS, K Array, Klein andHummel and Rane, among others. > sennheiser.co.uk

XTA - F4XTA Electronics will debut two newproducts at the show, including its firstinstallation product, the DC1048

integrated audio management system.Featuring full matrix mixing and eqfunctions typical of XTA, the DC1048can be completely configured underthe new iCore software package.Twenty-four bit high-end converterscoupled with a 96k sample rate ensurea bandwidth in excess of 30kHz and adynamic range of over 112dB.

The company will also launch itsfirst generation of Network Audioproducts, the NXBoB8 and NXBoB16,which respectively provide eight and16 channels of analog audio fromDante networks. Careful attention tooutput drivers and 24-bit DACs ensureprofessional performance with adynamic range of 111dB un-weightedand 96kHz sample rate compatibility(network dependent).> xta.co.uk

SADIE/PRISM SOUND - D10Prism Sound will debut a series ofrenowned Sadie products nowavailable as software-only versions.

With the new Sadie packages, userscan access its gear on any computerrunning Microsoft Windows withASIO compatible audio hardware, aswell as with the existing Sadie5hardware platforms.

The new products are applicationbased and focused on the core Sadieexpertise of radio production, TV/filmpost, mastering, archiving andrestoration and high-level SoundDesign. With no dedicated hardwarerequirements, the product range wasdesigned to be cost effective, therebytaking Sadie into new markets. Themove to software aims to extend Sadie’scompatibility and reinforce its globalappeal in these markets. > sadie.com

> EVENT PREVIEW PLASA


ADAMSON - G36

The Canadian loudspeakermanufacturer will focus on its newPoint Series loudspeaker range, createdfor the installation market anddesigned to provide a completesolution where point sourceloudspeakers are preferable over linesource arrays.

To ensure the Point Series lowfrequency drivers can maintain a highlevel of low frequency energy whenused as a single source (or a small twoor three box array), Adamson usesAdvanced Cone Architecture withKevlar cone geometry and Neodymiumdriver technologies integrated toprovide maximum SPL with zero conefatigue, while providing minimal axialmodes in the passband.

It will also exhibit The Adamson MSeries of high-powered stage monitors.The M12 is the most compact andnewest addition to the family, while theM15 has already seen use as alightweight, high horsepower monitor. > adamsonproaudio.com

ADAM HALL - K20Newcomer to the show Adam Hall willfocus on the new LD Systems Premiumseries of line array PA speakers andpieces from its pro audio hardware line.In addition, product experts for LDSystems, Defender, Eminence and itshardware line will also be on hand toprovide information and support foreach brand.

LD Premium comprises eight-inch,ten-inch, 12-inch and 15-inch multi-purpose loudspeakers, as well VA4 andVA8 line-array systems. Subwoofersincluding a single 15-inch, dual 15-inch and dual 18-inch complement theloudspeaker line up, while a dedicateddigital management processor is alsoavailable for the series.

The whole range features speciallymanufactured high quality componentsexclusive to LD Premium and was co-developed by experienced audio-researchers and FOH engineers. > adamhall.com/uk

CROWN - E21Crown will introduce the PIP-USP4Processor for CTs series amplifiers, the

fourth generation DSP-based PIP(programmable input processor)module for its CTs Series two-channelamplifiers at the show. The USP4 is aHarman HiQnet series component andconnects to the audio control/monitornetwork using 100MB Ethernethardware. The single plug solutioncontains audio distribution, controland monitoring.

The USP4’s OmnidriveHDprocessor provides processing featuring24-bit, 192 kHz Cirrus Logic SHARCA/D and D/A converters and true96kHz processing.LevelMax peak, RMSand transducerthermal voltagelimiterscombine foraccurateresponse,better soundand higherusable SPL.Also availableare proprietaryFIR and IIRfilters for addedclarity and detail. TheUSP4 is capable ofconnecting to an Ethernet network,allowing it to be remotely controlledand configured via HiQnet SystemArchitect. Additionally, the USP4allows the transport of real-time digitalaudio via CobraNet or Ethernet AVB. > crownaudio.com

VOID ACOUSTICS - C12UK boutique loudspeakermanufacturer Void will be present in itsspace age igloo booth with newloudspeaker products, including theStasys Prime wide-band arrayablepoint-source system, designed to offeroptimised efficiency, the Stasys 5 Mk2low-frequency system, with pressureplate to enhance transient responseand the Arcline 12 medium-formatline-array enclosure. Also on its standwill be two new models in Void’s UK-built Infinite X amplifier range, theInfinite X7 and Infinite X8 two-channel power amplifiers.

The head of Void’s new US Division,Ken DeLoria, will also be on the show

floor. Deloria is a well-respectedindustry veteran who was the founderand former CEO of Apogee Sound.> voidaudio.com

AVID - G33The newly rebranded Avid will showits diverse line of digital mixingconsoles and associated products,including plugins, expansion cards,headphones and microphones.

A major highlight for the companywill be its new medium format SC48console. Venue SC48 provides I/O,

digital signal processing andtactile control, with the

same sound quality andclarity of the Venue

line in a compactfootprint.

The newconsole’s specincludes: 48analog mic/lineXLR inputs, 16

analog line outputs(expandable to 32),

16 Aux Sends, eightGroups, plus eight mono

matrixes (linkable as up tofour stereo matrixes), 26 touch-

sensitive, motorized faders: 16 input,eight output master, one Flex Channel,and one Mains and extra I/O, includingtalkback, analog and digital two-track,GPI, MIDI and Word Clock.

D-Show, D-Show Profile and MixRack systems will also be on site foreager knob twiddlers to get their kicks.> avid.com

NEUTRIK - H18Neutrik will display several newproducts at the show, including theTiny XLR, the XL2 Analyzer andHDMI connectors and cables.

The Tiny XLR is billed as an easy-to-assemble three and four pole-shieldedsystem that provides high noiseimmunity. The XL2 Analyzer wasdesigned for acoustic measurementapplications. It generates 48 VDCphantom power and offers automatedmicrophone identification.

It will also show HDMI connectorsand cables for digital connections ofaudio and video devices with HDMI

interfaces. Cables in the line arepreassembled with two HDMIconnectors (male) with gold contacts,foil and braided shield, nylon sheath,black, outer diameter 7.2mm,including protective cap.> neutrik.com

KV2 AUDIO - G35KV2 Audio will unveil two newproduct lines at the show and provideone of its flagship VHD systems for usein the show’s central bar area.

Along with the EX, ES and VHDlines, KV2 Audio will debut the newESD Series, which allows utilisation ofthird party amplification for the firsttime with KV2 products. Featuringproprietary delay line technology inplace of a conventional crossover, theseries features two-way, six-inch ESD6and two-way 12-inch ESD12. The newESP4000, a rack mountable four-channel 4X1000 watt amplifier willalso be on show.

It will also display The LD Series, aselection of four DI-style boxes,featuring KV2 Audio’s VHD linedrivers on each output. The LD Seriescomprises of the LDP Passive LineDriver, The LDD Direct Line Driver,The LDA Acoustic Instrument LineDriver and the LDM Mix Line Driver. > kv2audio.com

ROLAND SYSTEMS GROUP- H40Roland Systems Group (RSG) willunveil its new M-380 V-Mixer atPLASA. The company is boasting thatthe M-380 packs all the flexibility ofthe REAC based V-Mixing systemsinto a 19-inch rack. It is a 24-bit audiomixing system featuring 48 channelswith onboard FX, GEQ, Matrix, DCA,LCR. The new console includes theoption of cordination with RSG DigitalSnakes and multi-channel recordingvia Cakewalk Sonar.

RSG will also have its V-MixingSystem and new M-48 personal mixer.The V-Mixing systems includes the M-400 V-Mixer live digital console (48channels, 16 AUX buses plus Main L/Routputs and eight matrices) and digitalsnakes with high quality preampsfeaturing its REAC technology.> rolandsystemsgroup.com

Several new digital

consoles were released last

year, while 09’s focus is

green technology

The Audio Pro IndustryExcellence Awards is a virtualawards ceremony,

acknowledging the best products,companies and people in all sectors ofthe business. Our readers have sent intheir nominations for the awardcategories and a wide judging panel,drawn from all sectors of the business,will now choose the winners. Thefinal results will be announced inAudio Pro’s October issue. Good luckto all of the nominees.

CATEGORIES

LIVE & INSTALLED SOUND

BEST LIVE SOUND EVENTDownload Festival 09 Main Stage –SSE AudioThe Glade Main Stage – Audio PlusTake That, Circus Tour – CapitalSoundRoskilde Orange Stage – SeeliteU2 360° Tour – Clair Global

MOST INNOVATIVEINSTALLATIONECCO Ultra Lounge, Hollywood –Joe LodiRock City Nottingham – SSE AudioGroupMatter Club 02 London – VoidAcousticsThe Atrium, Westfield Londonshopping complex – Delta SoundTripod, Dublin – Acoustic Audio

BEST NEW LIVE SOUNDPRODUCTL-Acoustics – K1/SB2B PA Digico – SD8MC2 – E90Midas – Pro6Tannoy – VQ Live

BEST NEW INSTALLATIONPRODUCTLab.gruppen – C 88:4 Powersoft – Duecanali5204Adamson – Point SeriesFurman – Pl-Pro Dmc E PowerConditioner d&b audiotechnik – Q-Series

BEST LIVE SOUND ENGINEERGary Bradshaw – (FOH) That,George Michael, Depeche Mode,Pink Floyd and Brian FerryRobbie McGrath – (FOH) Kasabian,Rolling Stones, The Pet Shop BoysKenneth ‘Pooch’ Van Druten –(FOH) Linkin Park, Kiss

Clem Bennett – (FOH) The Script,Just Jack, Bullet for my Valentine,Arch Enemy, Funeral for a Firend,The Horrors, FightstarAndy ‘Baggy’ Robinson – GeorgeMichael's personal monitor engineer,Live8, The Big Chill

BEST AFTER-SALES SUPPORTSSE Audio Group DigicoAdamsonAudio-TechnicaMidas Consoles

BEST NEW COMPANYWard Steedsy AssociatesEM AcousticsSeesound SLHD Pro AudioRed Square Audio

STUDIO & BROADCAST SOUND

BEST NEW STUDIO PRODUCTAnalogue Tube – AT-101Avid – Pro Tools 8Universal Audio – UAD-2 cardSE Electronics – RNR1 Neve RibbonMicrophoneBricasti Design – M7 Reverb

BEST STUDIO ENGINEERJohn Agnello – Sonic Youth, DinosaurJR.Dan Carey – Franz Ferdinand, LilyAllen, Hot ChipHayden Bendall – Paul McCartneyRush, Fleetwood MacMick Glossop – Frank Zappa, VanMorrisonTony Platt – AC/DC, Led Zeppelin

BEST BROADCAST SOUNDThe Brits – ITVEurovision Song Contest– ChannelOne, MoscowX Factor – ITVWimbledon – BBCGuinness Premiership Ruby – SkySports

BEST NEW STUDIOMotor Museum – Liverpool, UKOdds On Records and Studios –Henderson, NV, USAThe Doghouse – Henley, UKKore Studios – West London, UKBlack Rock Studio – Santorini Island,Greece

MOST ORIGINAL STUDIOINITIATIVEThe Way Studio – Music, Media and

Marketing schemeAll Studios website – Discountedrecording time opprotunitiesAPRS – Studio revenue streamsMetropolis Studio – Multi-mediaDVD authoring/mastering andimastering, Studio and live venuecombinationGHQ Sonic Cuisine – Referralscheme set up and loyalty programes

BEST AFTER-SALES SUPPORTStudiosparesYellow Technology Audio-TechnicaSonic DistributionKMR Audio

BEST NEW COMPANYT2Dangerous MusicJDK AudioRupert Neve PorticoBricasti Design

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTAWARDFred Heuves – Ampco FlashlightSteve Levine – MPG ChairmenPeter Gabriel – Real World StudiosCharlie Watkins – WEMMike Low – Britannia Row

> EVENT PREVIEW AUDIO PRO AWARDS


The nominees for the first annual Audio Pro Industry Excellence Awards have been chosen...

The nominations are in

In December of last year the organisers of the Glade Festivalmade the somewhat alarming public announcement thatthey were seeking new grounds for the four-day event. The

organisers were forced to make the late move from their homeat The Woodland at Wasing Estate in Berkshire, UK, due toinflexible noise restrictions enforced by the Berkshire CountyCouncil. The search resulted in a move to a new location atMatterley Bowl in Hampshire, which reportedly elevatedthe show to the next level and secured it as one ofthe UK’s loudest outdoor dance festivals.

Held from July 16th to 19th, the festivalfeatured ten venues with main stageperformances from big names like BookaShade, Squarepusher, Underworld,Rennie Pilgrim, Carl Craig, Krafty Kuts,The Filthy Dukes, Tayo, Benga,Freestylers, Adam Freeland and Plump DJs.

Considering off-site sound levelsforced the move from Berkshire, the newvenue had to be as insulated as possible sothat any sceptical neighbours would beimmediately placated.

“The advantage of the Matterley Bowl is thatit’s surrounded by hills that create, essentially, a hugekidney-shaped bowl, which has amazing sound-insulatingproperties, “ explained organiser Nick Ladd. It’s a remotearea, so we just had to make sure the sound was pointed awayfrom the neighbours.”

Last year’s floods and the site move caused something of astrain on the organisers, but this year’s Glade was a sold-outsuccess, with thousands of happy punters posting their praiseson sites such as ravetalk.com.

“Moving the festival affected the amount of work we hadto do threefold. All the pre-production, planning and layouthad to be done from scratch, but once we settled it all wentvery well,” Ladd explains. “Music of any sort needs to beheard loudly and you have to hear the full range of soundthat the artist is producing, especially with dance music. Thepunters want to be able to hear the bass and get the full

spectrum of sound hitting their body; you want to be ableto feel it and hear it. We feel really strongly about

it and that is why we moved.”

PUMP UP THE VOLUMEUK councils strictly enforce the WHOguidelines for noise, which dictate thatoff-site levels cannot exceed 55dB onthe inside of a bedroom window beforemidnight and 45dB afterwards.

“45dB is about as loud as a lowconversation, so it is really difficult to

adhere to that,” says Ladd. “The South ofEngland is very densely populated, so it is

hard to get away from neighbours. Theproblem is that 55,000 people are having the

time of their lives, but if one person is beingdisturbed it has to be turned down. That is why UK

festivals are really struggling with their volume levels.“We’ve worked very hard to recreate the ‘freestyle’ rave

and the open environment that was established atGlastonbury. There is no corporate sponsorship and I thinkthat is one of the reasons Funktion-One really likes it. It is atrue festival run by lots of different dance communities andwe are not trying to rinse money out of it. Rather, we are justtrying to make a living and put on a good, art-heavy show.

“If one person is

disturbed, music

has to be turned

down, which is

why UK festivals

are suffering with

volume levels.Nick Ladd

Glade organiser

Born from Glastonbury Festival, The Glade has been producing sold-out crowds since its inception six

years ago. This year the 10,000-plus punters who attended the event heard their favourite artists and DJs

through Funktion-One’s purple stacks. Andrew Low talks to the people behind the festival...


THE GLADE LIVE SOUND <

A phat dance party with a heart

Funktion-One speakers

provided high quality sound

for the crowds at The Glade

> LIVE SOUND THE GLADE

“We are trying to keep it true to the spirit of the early 90srave scene and create a phat dance party with a heart.”

Funktion-One’s Tony Andrews concurs: “As festivals goThe Glade is actually a really nice event. We’ve been there since the beginning and never even seen anyoneshouting, much less fighting or getting rowdy. It is similar tohow Glastonbury used to be and that’s why we wereattracted to it.”

Audio Plus provided its Funktion-One gear for the Mainstage and the Vapour stage. The venues featured Funktion-One’s F-221 double 21-inch bass enclosures topped by Res 5loudspeakers for mid and highs. A Midas XL4 and Series 5and Global Acoustics monitors were supplied for the Mainstage. They also employed Midas’ analog H1000 for FOHmixing and Digico’s SD8 for monitors on the Vapour stage.MC2 amps complemented by XTA processing were usedthroughout the areas.

Audio Funktion was also on site with six stacks ofFunktion-One’s F-218s and Res 5s and 4s arranged in ahexagonal configuration to produce an ambersonic soundfield for the Arcadia Stage. Ladd explains: “Arcadia was the

only stage we were able to run until late inthe morning because of the excellentsound cancellation that you get fromAudio Funktion’s system. It is allabsolutely beautiful crystal clear,

humping sound. There is no arguingthat we can get the loudest late

night sound levels of any gig inthe UK. And that is due in

part to the quality of theFunktion-One rigs and

the cancellation of the ambersonic sound field.” LikeGlastonbury, the area also featured a giant, flame-spewing,UFO-like metal structure with a DJ booth positioned highabove the crowd.

The added benefit for engineers and punters alike was thepresence of Funktion-One founders Tony Andrews and JohnNewsham, who were on site to help with system tuning. Thecompany also provided its own personal system for the Originstage, which consisted of F-221s and Res 5s.

“The smaller companies like Audio Funktion are very good.They bought into our systems because they value the audioquality and they want to learn,” Andrews comments. “I’mreally into passing on the knowledge and the best way to do itis by tuning the system together.”

Glade’s director, Luke Piper, feels this year was the best yetbecause the audio systems were able to work at their optimumlevels. “When the engineers are under pressure to reduce thelevels at the desk it becomes very detrimental to the soundand you loose the vibe and energy of the show.

“In addition, having Andrews and Newsham on site wasessential because, although there weren’t any off-site issues,there were clashes within the site because there are a numberof venues that are quite close together. When you get a DJ orartist who is using the system differently it can causeproblems. The Funktion-One team was able to move fromvenue to venue to reconfigure and tweak the sound on theback of the cabs, change the eq-ing and bring it back to thesweet point so they were all sounding really good. It was hardwork for them and a constant process to make sure that allthe systems were working at their optimum levels, but it wasall worth it because the crowds loved it.” > funktion-one.com

DJ Pena (left) and Finley Quaye (right) soak up the atmosphere at the festival while they perform to the masses

“We can get the

loudest late

night sound

levels of any gig

in the UK.Nick Ladd

Glade Organiser

Great speakers and excellent sound cancellation meant festival-goers could really let their hair down


> LIVE SOUND YAMAHA INSTALLATION

Yamaha Commercial Audio’s recently launchedInstallation series is getting major play in Italy’s busynightclub market. Slick interiors and state-of-the-art

AV systems are combined in Italy’s clubs and the puntershave grown to expect the latest technology.

The Installation series of loudspeakers wasdesigned for live music, theatre and nightclubsand comprises 27 different models to suit awide range of applications, from dual 18-inch subwoofers to dual 5-inch models.

Several Italian venues have beenequipped with products such as the XPand Tn ranges of amplifiers, DME digitalmix engines and compact digital mixingconsoles. Here is a brief run-through:

BLANCO CAFÉLocated in Corsico, a western suburb ofMilan, Blanco Café is a multi-purpose livemusic and DJ venue, which caters for anextensive range of music styles, delivered by a state-of-the-art Yamaha installation.

The venue features four separate zones – the bar, exhibitionarea, a live music area inside the pub and a furtherperformance space outside, which created the necessity for aflexible and easy-to-set-up sound system.


Stefano Papetti of installation company Audio Progettichose a Yamaha Ethersound network, based around theNAI48ES network interface and four AD8HR ADconverters. In the live music area an LS9-32 console issituated at FOH, together with an MY8AE AES/EBU board,

MY16ES64 and MY16EX Ethersound interfaces. Astage rack houses the four AD8HR, a DA824 DA

converter and the NAI48ES network interface.Powered by XP7000, XP5000 and XP3500

power amps, the PA system comprises twoInstallation Series IF2115/64 mid/highspeakers, two IS1118 subs and fourCM12V wedge monitors. Speaker controlis by an SP2060 processor.

In the bar, sound is delivered by fourS15C speakers, powered by an XM4080

amp, while an MG124CX, 12-channelanalog mixer can be patched into the system

for small-scale performances.Meanwhile, the outside performance area

features two Installation series IF2115M/64 speakers,two IS1218 subs and four CM15V monitors, driven by two PC6501N power amps controlled by an SP2060 speaker processor.

“Another advantage of using the Ethersound-based soundsystem is that it will be very straightforward to expand the

...but those in the Italian nightclub scene wouldn’t have it any other way. Yamaha’s new Installation series

has been chosen for a wide variety of Italian venues. Audio Pro travels to the continent to find out more…

Max & Play is a live venue for local musicians (with control room and three recording rooms) that really suited the Yamaha Installation series

Spazio Aurora: a

cultural centre

boosted by Yamaha

Wine, women, and tobacco

can ruin a man…


system in the future,” continues Papetti. “It is a great solutionall round.”

SPAZIO AURORAAudio Progetti has also installed a Yamaha system at SpazioAurora, a multi-function venue in Rozzano, which is alsonear Milan.

Spazio Aurora is a popular meeting place and culturalcentre that offers courses, social projects, theatre shows,dance nights and live music. In addition to a school of musicwith a wide variety of lessons, there are also three rehearsalrooms and a recording studio, which meant it needed aflexible and reliable sound system.

“We did a product demo of the Installation seriesloudspeakers at Spazio Aurora and the venue’s technicianswere very impressed by the rig’s sound pressure andreproduction quality, even though we only used a limitednumber of power amplifiers,” says Papetti.

The system features two Installation series IF2115/64 full-range enclosures with a pair of IS1215 2x 15-inch subs,complemented by two IF2208 2x eight-inch for infills. FourClub series CM12V monitors are provided onstage.

Drive for the system comes from XP3500, XP5000 andXP7000 power amps, with signal processing and distributionhandled by an SP2060 speaker processor, whose LSItechnology promises optimised sound quality and dynamicrange and a signal/noise ratio of over 110dB.

“The system is set for three-way use, the processor beingused as a crossover, limiter and compressor. It makes the set-up extremely flexible,” says Stefano.

“The XP series has excellent units that run very quietlyand the system was designed using Yamaha’s Y-S3 SoundSystem Simulator software, to study the sound and configurethe appropriate presets.”

“For the various outputs, I created and stored a series ofpresets,” says Lorenzo Catinella, who runs the venue’srecording studio and is also in charge of the audio set-upthroughout the building.

“We’ve got a preset for DJ sets, a ‘live’ preset with morepunch on the bottom end, another that has a bit morecompression and one with a compression threshold thatreacts to low input signals, but ensures we have precisepowerful sound even on nights when we don’t have a largecrowd in the room.”

MAX & PLAYMax & Play in Carditio, near Napoli was created as a liveroom for emerging local musicians. The venue includes acontrol room and three recording rooms, one of which canalso be used for rehearsals. There’s also an outdoor‘relaxation’ zone, which is complete with fountains, pools and tables.

The Yamaha audio system in the live room comprises twoflown IF2115/64 full-range cabinets with a ground-stackedIS1215 2x 15-inch sub per side, powered by PC9501N andPC3301N amplifiers while, on stage, two IF 2208 and four IF2108 monitors are driven by XP3500 power amps.

“We’d heard the new Yamaha Installation seriesloudspeaker enclosures and were very favourably impressed,”says Fulvio Liuzzi of installation company Start Up Audio.

“Their very linear response, even at high frequencies, is animportant feature. It ensures fatigue-free listening over longperiods, making them very pleasant to listen to.”

This system is controlled by an SP2060 digital speakerprocessor programmed with two presets: a ‘live’ setting with aflat eq configuration and a ‘lounge’ setting, which has thesubs excluded and a loudness curve set to avoid excessivevolumes in a softer context.

Mixing the system is a compact LS9-32 digital console,that has 32 mic pre and line inputs, 16 mix outs, eightassignable matrix outs, two Mini-YGDAI cards slots, Virtual

YAMAHA INSTALLATION LIVE SOUND <

“ We did a

demo of the

Installation

series and the

technicians were

very impressed. Stefano Papetti

Audio Progetti

Effect Rack, multiple equalisers and a built-in two track USBmemory recorder.

“To link the live room to the studio facilities, Yamahaprovided two Yamaha ACU16-C control units connectedwith the LS9, which send 32 channels of 24-bit audio at48kHz from the FOH mixing position to the control room,for live multi-track recording,” says Fulvio.

“The Yamaha console has two MY16-CII Cobranetexpansion cards, from which the signals are fed via Cat 5cable to the ACU16-Cs, which convert them to analog andsend them to the recording desk’s patch bay. This means that two track recordings can be made of the live mix on theLS9, plus a 32-track dedicated recording mix done in thecontrol room.”

The ACU16-Cs are also configured to control the mainsystem’s PC-N series amplifiers on stage. These units canprovide control of up to 32 separate PC-N amplifiers.

With Yamaha’s NetworkAmp Manager software, it’spossible to control and monitor functions such as in and out levels, limiting, protection circuit, heat sink temperature, power on/standby, attenuation, phase andmuting of the loudspeakers.

NATIONWIDE COVERAGEYamaha installation gear can be found in various placesthroughout Italy, such as in the MD Music Jazz Club inAngri, Kasamatta in Bologna, the Tambien in SettimoMilanese, the Soleluna, Sol Levante and Gattopardonightclubs in Albisolina, Cavi di Lavigna and Alba Adriaticarespectively. That’s Italy covered, then.> yamahacomercialaudio.com

Swiss Army knife® 1897

MODULAR COMPACT VERSATILEWith the addition of six new products the expanded VQ Series offers unrivalled performance in a compact, modular and versatile range

It’s time to simplify your toolbox.

tannoy.com

Tannoy VQ Series 2009

STAND 1-L39

> COMPANY PROFILE FIVE’S


High Five’sOne of Europe’s fastest growing sound and light companies, Five’s is looking to

take its revolution across the Romanian borders with the help of Synco. Rob

Hughes takes in the view with them from the Black Sea coast…

Unsurprisingly, Romania’s first live rock club, BackStage,was a huge hit in mid-90s Bucharest and, as the onlyvenue of its kind in the city, attracted a throng of

movers and shakers, among them, the general manager ofBritish American Tobacco, Alex van Bremen.

After several evenings spent whiling away thehours in the company of proprietors LiviuStanescu and Sorin Danescu, van Bremenoffered them $100,000 to take their club on aten-date tour of the country. Adding LeMaitre pyrotechnics (at their own expense),the pair created a tour that was an out-and-out triumph. Van Bremen walked away ahappy man.

From this, Danescu saw the potential ofthe event hire business, which at that timewas cornered by just one company in Romania;one which had taken a big, wet bite out of thetour profits. He reasoned that, as a band member, hehad more than one motive to buy his own sound system andproceeded to do so, investing his share in a pair of RCF 500s.Initially, Stanescu was less than impressed, reminding hispartner that they had a club to run. Two months later, whenDanescu told him that he had already recouped hisinvestment, he quickly relented and Romania’s second soundrental company, Five’s, was established.

A decade later and, although Danescu has now steppeddown from an active role in Five’s, replaced on an operationallevel by a third partner, Andrei Popea, the RCF cabinets arestill going strong, cared for, as Stanescu explains, like membersof the family, although they have recently been relieved of

much of their duties by a W8LC line array that Five’sacquired when it became a member of the Synco

Network. “Fred Heuves [the founder of the Synco

network] came to visit his partner inRomania, Paradigma,” recalls Stanescu. “Atthe time, Five’s had an event on and Heuvescame along to have a look. I met him and wespoke not about business, but about football.

We talked about Romanian and Dutchplayers. Then I told him that I was looking to

buy a line array system and that I was very closeto making a deal with EAW. I liked him very much

and apparently he liked me, because the next day heasked me if I wanted to buy a Synco by Martin Audio systeminstead. I asked him why. ‘Because this is more expensive,’ hesaid. ‘I don’t know, just for fun, but if you buy this then youcan join the Synco Network.’ He told me the story of Syncoand I found it very interesting. But I liked the guy very muchand I liked the answer ‘just for fun’, so I said: ‘Okay, we’ll do it,just for fun’. I paid more, but I hoped that in the future I could

> COMPANY PROFILE FIVE’S

get something really good from it. And this has happened –many times.”

“Being part of the Synco Network means we cannot beoverbooked,” explains Popea. “It allows us to handle any eventand this is crucial because Romania is a country where you canget a major job for the following week, or even the next day, soyou do not have time to get sub rentals or to search the marketfor new equipment. You simply ask the other Synco membersand you get the equipment from wherever it is available. Asthe system is the same everywhere, you can get speakers fromone member, amps from another and monitors from athird – there’s no problem. They will matchperfectly. We handle international tours inRomania on Synco equipment, satisfyingbands like Faith No More, Iron Maiden andMetallica. We had production managersand sound engineers from those bandstelling us that they didn’t know that theSynco system is so accurate.”

Its alliance with Synco, along with anarsenal of other gear, including MartinProfessional and Pulsar lighting and a 20-metre Eurotruss stage, has seen Five’s thrustto the core of some of the biggest events andtours in Romania.

In July, for the third year running, Five’s stagedRadio 21’s annual Liberty Parade – and did so withbreathtaking finesse. These are not words from a hyperbole-ridden press release (though we receive many), because AudioPro International was lucky enough to be invited by Five’s tothe Black Sea coast to see how it took care of this extravagantshow, which began with a convoy of PA-laden trucks followedby a sea of weirdly and wonderfully dressed revellers, endingwith a 50,000-strong party on a beach at the Venus resort.

Quite honestly, Liberty Parade 2009 put many equivalentBritish events to shame – partly because of the 125dB beingclocked at FOH, but also because the whole gig had a ‘noexpense spared’ vibe and, while the deep pockets of sponsorsPepsi, Red Bull and BAT no doubt helped, Fives’ grandimagination and child-like enthusiasm were tangiblethroughout the spectacle.

This is against protocol, I know, but I’m a big fan of lasersand this was the most extraordinary display I’d everexperienced – nowhere on home soil have I ever seen anythingbut washed-out green beams, but here were colours that evenDulux can’t offer.

Moving back within our remit, the sound system comprisedthe Synco by Martin Audio W8LC line source rig, flanked bytwo Electro-Voice XLC arrays for dual hangs of 12 and 16

elements, respectively, per side. These were complemented bya colossal 60 subs – 18 EV XSub and 42 Synco RH-STSsubwoofers – and finished with 22 W8LM (micro arrayelements) for infills, distributed across the face of the stage.The whole system was driven by Martin Audio amps andcontrolled by XTA DSPs. Five’s FOH engineer, LaurentiuStanga, mixed the show on a Soundcraft MH3, making fineuse of analog, rack-based effects, particularly on the vocals ofone young songstress – I found it hard to believe was singinglive. Onstage, a Yamaha LS9 provided the mix for eight Synco

CW152 15-inch stage monitors – an exclusive part of theSynco package.

Popea, who handles all matters technical,comments: “Liberty Parade is one of the

hardest tests of a sound system because itmust operate at very high dBs for more thannine hours. Not only is the distance achallenge for the sound reproduction athigh levels, but also the weather, which isvery strange. You can have 35 degrees andno wind and the next second 25 degrees

and 50km per hour wind and a sand storm.The W8LC speakers, alongside the amps and

the XTAs, with Synco’s settings, are veryreliable in terms of sound reproduction at high

levels. They make me very happy when we can pushup the dBs.

“Regarding audio, unlike other companies in Romania, wepay huge attention to the sound design. For us, every corner ofa venue is the most important place, so we take care to ensurethe best sound quality everywhere. We’ve invested a great dealof money and research into the best system engineers andequipment available. As a result, since 1997 when we startedFive’s, we’ve handled a lot of events and all of them were asuccess. Liberty Parade is now in its ninth year and since 2006Five’s has been the only supplier. With no modesty I would saythat we have turned it into the biggest dance event inRomania.”

Ably skippered by production manager Catalin Davidescu,Liberty Parade involved 16 trucks of gear, set up over a five-day period by more than 60 keen technicians, with not asingle, disillusioned roadie in sight. Stanescu is confident abouthis team and rightly so, as Five’s has been set up since the verybeginning to attract the best people. Most of the employeesthat occupy influential positions at the firm have a history atBackStage, with aspirations of being much more than a waiteror a barman. This is true of both Popea and Davidescu, whoran the rock club for some time and showed an early interestin the sound system.

“Synco’s settings

make me happy

when I can push

up the dBs.Andrei Popea

FIVE’S COMPANY PROFILE <


For Stanescu, this is elementary. “It was the only club inBucharest with live music, so the people who workedthere were bound to love everything about live music.”

While he is clearly indebted to his workforce, Stanescuhas a surprising acknowledgment to make – a nod to acompetitor which, oddly, has been paramount to thedevelopment of Five’s. “Paradigma is my competitor herein Romania, but it has been good to me. Any time I needsupport, it always opens the door for me. The structure ofmy company now and the way we work here is based on[Paradigma co-owner and Synco founder company]Ampco Flashlight. The knowledge that I got through FredHeuves has been fundamental to our recent achievementsand invaluable for handling gigs such as Liberty Parade.That’s why I see it as my partner, not my competitor. It’shard to understand, but the people there, they are myfriends.”

It certainly seems that Five’s is well placed to move onto grander things – on top of the startling growth it hasexperienced in recent years. Nowhere is this moreapparent than at the firm’s Bucharest offices, which arealmost as impressive as the events that it co-ordinates.Purpose-built two years ago, the building is a testament toFives’ vision and potential, both inside and out.

“Everything here was built for the company as I picturedit being after five years,” explains Stanescu. “It’s biggerthan we need, but, because I love my work so much, Ihave to think about the future. I’m still dreaming, youknow. I never stop dreaming. I’m fighting with myself tobecome the leader of the market – to become the numberone company in Romania. But I don’t want to stop there.”

Stanescu now has a hit list of things that he needs toachieve to take Five’s closer to its goal of traversing theRomanian borders. Top of that list is a new generalmanager, someone with a background in sound and lightat a big European company, who can free up his time andallow him to focus on the task of business development.

Elsewhere on the list are more obvious desires: moreequipment, knowledge and experience, but as he workstowards ticking these boxes, he hopes to form successfuljoint ventures with strong European partners.

With obvious frustration, he tells the story of how hemissed out on the contract for the Romanian leg of aninternational electronic music festival. Secured instead byanother sound and light company, the event was ashambles and the client chose not to return to the countryin 2009. Stanescu has no doubt that if the hammer hadfallen on the other side, this would have been one of Fives’biggest credits this year. Having seen the job it did ofLiberty Parade, I’m inclined to agree.> fives.ro

A staggering (literally) 60 subs were

used on the Liberty Parade stage

Standing under the canvas at a festival last month, Inodded as the system designer explained his belief thatloudspeaker manufacturers developed the flagship big

boxes partly as a marketing exercise to help promote theirmore popular small-format speakers. And listening to such acompact system deliver an easy 100dB with plenty ofheadroom and shimmering high-end, it was easy – or so Ithought – to understand what he was getting at: budgets aretight and how many events truly warrant large-format PAthese days?

As we walked on, however, and the somewhat larger arrayson the main outdoor stage began to deliver some solid soundwaves to our ears, I began to realise, given that the systemlooming in the distance was conjured up by the same man,that I may have misunderstood what he was trying to say.What we were starting to hear were the latest and greatestbig-driver arrays from one of the most prominentmanufacturers. My guide likened it to a huge hi-fi; I actuallyconsidered it to be the best-sounding PA I’ve ever heard.

True, the same concept might sound fantastic even if itwere scaled down, but nevertheless, with my head bobbingand feet reluctant to carry me to the next arena, it was clearthat those 15-inch transducers were the perfect size for thejob. This was, after all, the main stage and with little limit onthe potential size of the audience, it would be folly to push asmaller system to its limits when the big boxes could take careof proceedings much more comfortably and with better soundquality. This seems obvious, but unfortunately it doesn’trepresent the current trend at events around the world.

We all know the reasons for this – it comes down to bottomline. Sadly, for many of the smaller rental companies it justdoesn’t make good business sense to hold large-format PAbecause they don’t handle enough big events to justify it. Theproblem is that some will readily take on large outdoor gigs,while others are capable and willing to undercut the firmsthat are better equipped to handle these events. The result isa depressing triumph of budget over sound quality.

On a happier note, for the touring giants lucky enough toneed them, here are some of the biggest and best boxes going...

The big gunsLord Nelson didn’t deal with Admiral Villeneuve’s mighty fleet

using mere pistols, for there were much more appropriately-

proportioned tools for the job. With this in mind, Rob Hughessizes up the cannons of the loudspeaker world…

For big festivals, you

want big loudspeakers

DAS AUDIO AERO 50Frequency response: 45Hz – 20kHzDispersion (H): 90 degreesPower handling (Watts RMS): LF 2x700, MF700, HF 300On-axis sensitivity (dB SPL): LF 99, MF 104, HF 112Max SPL (dB): LF 136, MF 139, HF 141Dimensions (cm): 47.5 x 135 x 62.7 Weight (kg): 85> dasaudio.com

FUNKTION-ONE RESOLUTION 5Frequency response: 114Hz – 18kHz Dispersion (H/V): 25 degrees/20 degreesPower handling (Watts RMS): LF 300, MF 200, HF 100Dimensions (cm): 97.5 x 48.4 x 51Weight (kg): 49

Funktion-One has resolutely refused to join the leaguesof line array manufacturers and justifies its decision withthe Resolution 5, which, hanging aloft the stage in iconicmushroom-shaped clusters, has capably handled some ofthe biggest gigs around.

Loaded with a single 12-inch LF driver, eight-inch MFdriver and dual one-inch HF drivers – all of proprietarydesign with neodymium magnets – the Res 5, as it is morefamiliarly known, is a high efficiency, narrow dispersion,long throw, upper bass/mid/high enclosure. The high levelof dispersion control afforded by the Res 5, in combinationwith F1’s unique flying system, enables precise tailoring ofthe overall coverage, which helps reduce unwanted roomreflections and increase sound quality.

Among the latest applications of the Resolution 5 wasthe main stage at the Glade Festival, where the cabinetswere ground-stacked for acts such as Underworld, whoclosed the festival. A flown Res 5 system was recentlydeployed at the Wickerman Festival, demonstrating theflexibility of the loudspeaker.> funktion-one.com

> SECTOR SPOTLIGHT LARGE FORMAT PA


LARGE FORMAT PA SECTOR SPOTLIGHT <


MARTIN AUDIO W8L LONGBOWFrequency response: 35Hz – 18kHzDispersion (H / V): 90 degrees (350Hz) / 7.5degrees (-6dB)Power handling (AES): LF 1,000W, MF400W; HF 200WMax SPL (dB): LF 136, MH 135, HF 142Dimensions (cm): 49 x 131.3 x 85.6 Weight (kg): 119.75> martin-audio.com

RENKUS-HEINZ VERSYS VLX3 Frequency response: 45Hz – 20kHzDispersion: 60 – 120 degrees (adjustable)Power handling: LF 1,200W, MF 600W, HF 350WMax SPL (dB): 133Dimensions: (cm): 39.37 x 96.52 x 58.42Weight (kg): 90.72

The VerSys VL3 is a three-way powered line arraymodule with Rhaon (Renkus-Heinz Audio OperationsNetwork) Class D PM3R tri-amplifier, full digital dynamics,networked audio over CobraNet and loudspeaker monitoringand remote control via CAT-5. It sports proprietary dual 12-inch neodymium woofers and dual custom CDT-1.5VCoEntrant MF/HF devices, with 6.5-inch carbon fibre conedmid drivers and 1.5-inch exit diaphragm HF units. Themid/high device is mounted on a compound phase plugattached to an isophasic plane wave generator for adjustable60, 90 or 120-degree horizontal dispersion.> renkus-heinz.com

D&B AUDIOTECHNIK J12 Frequency response: 48Hz – 17kHz (-5 dB)Dispersion (H): 120 degreesPower handling (Watts RMS/peak): LF500/2,000, MF 200/800Max SPL: (dB): 143Dimensions (cm): 36.7 x 110 x 56.7Weight (kg): 59.9 > dbaudio.com

MEYER SOUND MILOFrequency response: 60Hz – 18kHzDispersion (H): 90 degreesPower handling (AES): L/LM1,200W, MH 250W, VHF 100WMax SPL (dB): 140Dimensions (cm): 36.75 x 137.2 x 56 Weight (kg): 106.6> meyersound.com

TANNOY VQ NET 60 LIVEFrequency response: 115Hz – 23kHz (-3dB)Dispersion (conical): 60 degreesPower handling: LM 800W, MF/HF 800W (limited to 400W)Max SPL (peak dB): LF 140, MF/HF 144Dimensions: (cm): 92.5 x 62 x 50.2Weight (kg): 86.5

The VQ live boxes followed the huge success of the installationrange, which was launched at Frankfurt last year. The VQ productsutilise a unique driver technology to radiate a coherent single pointsource for optimum dispersion control when coupled to Tannoy’ssingle horn. It aligns the acoustical centres of the transducers,providing a single coherent wavefront emanating from the throat.The driver uses two concentric annular ring diaphragms. The largerof the two has a 3.5-inch voice coil and reproduces frequenciesfrom 400Hz to 7kHz. There is no crossover anywhere near thevocal region ensuring natural and phase coherent reproduction, sousers need only ensure they have a frontman who can sing in tune. > tannoy.com

JBL VERTEC 4889Frequency Response: 40Hz – 16kHzDispersion (H): 90 degrees (250Hz – 16kHz)Power handling (Watts continuous): LF 2,000, MF 1,400, HF 225Max SPL (dB): 138 – 146 Dimensions (cm): 48.9 x 121.4 x 54.6 Weight (kg): 72.6

JBL’s VertTec 4889 is a three-way line array element loadedwith dual 2255H 15-inch drivers with three-inch dual coils for LF,four 2250H eight-inch drivers with three-inch dual coils for MFand three three-inch diameterberyllium diaphragm (1.5-inch throat) neodymiumcompression drivers for HF.Proprietary waveguidescouple to create aprecision HF vertical slotaperture.> jblpro.com

EAW KF760Frequency response: 80Hz – 16kHzDispersion: 90 x 3 degrees Power handling: LF 1,600W, MF 800W, HF 300WMax SPL (dB): MF 136 dB Dimensions (cm): 36.8 x 114.3 x 78.7 Weight (kg): 102> eaw.com

ADAMSON Y-AXIS Y-18Frequency response: 40Hz to 18kHz (full-range preset)Dispersion (H): 100 degrees (-6dB), 90 degrees (-3dB) Power handling (Watts RMS): LF 1,200W, MF 700W, HF 150WMax SPL (dB): continuous 138, peak 144Dimensions (cm): 46.7 x 146.7 x 67.3 Weight: 122.47 kg

The gargantuan Y-18 is a high power, three-way line arrayelement loaded with dual proprietary 18-inch Kevlar LFdrivers, dual YX 9-inch Kevlar MF drivers and dual JBL 24514-inch HF drivers. The Adamson MF/HF drive module has aco-axial entrance and a co-linear exit comprised of a highfrequency sound chamber mounted within a mid frequencysound chamber. Together, the drive module and trapezoidalcabinet design create a smooth, slightly curved, seamless wavefront with no gaps between cabinets.> adamsonproaudio.com

OHM ERSA MAJORNo concrete specs (or pics) are available on this one, sinceit’s still in the final stages of development, but the secondaddition to the Ersa line array series will feature two horn-loaded LF/MF drivers with a coaxial two-inch plusone-inch compression driver, mounted on a proprietarywaveguide. The system is designed to run in a three-wayactive mode.

The 73cm-wide cabinet is undergoing testing prior tolaunch at this year’s PLASA, but preliminary resultssuggest that maximum SPLs in the region of 145dB can beexpected. For live sound applications, the new version ofthe Smakstak sub will be recommended. If you’re readingthis at the show, head over to the Ohm booth to get a lookat the new cabinet.> ohm.co.uk

> SECTOR SPOTLIGHT LARGE FORMAT PA


VOID ACOUSTICS STASYS PRIMEFrequency response: 90Hz – 20kHzPower handling (Watts): LF 1,500, HF 150Maximum SPL (dB continuous): 142Dispersion (H/V): 25 degrees/35 degreesDimensions (cm): 86 x 58.6 x 77.5Weight (kg): 83

Void’s latest tour-class offering has a wide-band design,with two 15-inch LF drivers and a single 1.5-inch neodymiumHF driver. It can deliver a continuous output of 142dB withunprecedented levels of efficiency and extended low-end

performance down to 90Hz, which negatesthe need for separate upper-bass enclosures.

The loudspeaker has been designed toachieve lossless summation between adjacentenclosures, providing a seamless transitionwithin the array, greatly improvingintelligibility and phase coherence. > voidaudio.com

L-ACOUSTICS K1 / KUDOAs the pioneer of line source PA, it’s not surprising that theFrench firm’s large-format offering, Kudo, is one of the preferredline arrays among rental companies. And the manufacturer iscurrently piloting a brand new big-box system that it hopes willbe made available to the market as a whole in 2010. Thoughpreliminary information on K1 is scant, we know that it’s beendesigned to integrate seamlessly with Kudo, and the big boyslucky enough to have their hands on it at this early stage,including Brit Row and SSE, have not been disappointed.

The K1 is packaged as a complete system for the touringmarket. It combines a three-way, quad-amplified enclosurefeaturing a new K transducer arrangement, with boostedresources on the HF section. The K1 enclosure is typicallycombined with a dedicated LF extension (K1-SB), which thefirm says offers: “an unprecedented level of directivity controland throw at low/sub frequencies.”> l-acoustics.com

KV2 AUDIO VHD 2.0Frequency response: 60Hz to 22kHz (-3dB, full range)Dispersion (H/V): 80 degrees/40 degreesPower handling: LM 1,200W, MF 600W, HF 200WMax SPL (dB): continuous 139, peak 142Dimensions (cm): 93.3 x 70 x 49.5 Weight: 70 kg> kv2audio.com

RCF TTL55Frequency response: 50Hz – 20kHzDispersion (H/V): 90 degrees/7 degrees Power handling: LF 2,000W, MF 1,000W, HF 500WMax SPL (dB): 143Dimensions (cm): 38 x 102 x 55 Weight (kg): 67

RCF says its TTL55-A delivers the maximum output forsize ratio on the market. The system, with integrated 3,500-Watt, four-channel digital amplification digital processing,comprises two woofers in a band-pass loading configuration,providing tight and powerful bass response. > rcf.it

ELECTRO-VOICE XVLSFrequency response: 40Hz – 16kHzDispersion (H/V): 90 degrees/5 degrees Power handling (continuous): LF 1,200W, MF 600W, HF 225WMax SPL (dB): 142Dimensions (cm): 49.4 x 124.5 x 74Weight (kg): 117

The Xvls is designed for the upper section of a linear array and iscomplemented by the shorter-throwing Xvlt for the lower ‘J’ sectionof the array. This summer, the cabinet figured on the Jazz WorldStage at Glastonbury, where APR Audio provided Xvlts in an X-Line system, complete with EV’s new Hydra time-synchronised,high-frequency vertical plane wave generator. APR Audio’s systemdesigner Matt Gunter commented: “The Hydras effectivelyeliminate any trace of oscillation or vibration, so we didn’t have toeq at all. With 12 X-Line modules flown each side (ten Xvls andtwo Xvlt), the system worked straight out of the box.”> electrovoice.com

SOUND PROJECTS LINEXFrequency response: 65Hz to 18kHz Dispersion: 90 degrees (H), vertical definedby the array length and shapePower handling: LF1 1,200W, LF2 1,200,MF 600W, HF 600WDimensions (mm): 600 x 340 x 560Weight (kg): 40 > soundprojects.com

“I can mix from wherever I like, too. I can eq wedges fromthe stage, or mix from the audience to get more of a feel forwhat they are hearing. I’ve also been surprised by the wirelessrange; it didn’t drop out at the John Peel stage at Glastonburyand I was a good 50m away.”

Pattison developed the iLive system used on Black’s tourduring shows he did with Alphabeat last year. Finding somevenues logistically challenging, he began to leave his FOHsystem in the trailer and use the channels and a control layerfrom the iLive monitor system, mixing remotely from a laptop.

“It’s definitely the smallest FOH footprint. It blows people’sminds when they see me rock up to FOH with a laptop andthen just bring two faders up on their desk. Like any otherengineer, I love knobs and faders, but once you’re comfortablewith the Editor layout, mixing becomes second nature. It’seasy to drag and drop any fader to any layer mid gig, so youcan decide exactly what you want on screen, just as you canon the actual surface.

“A colleague recently covered for me at Dan’s Koko show inLondon and the band asked if he’d use the iDR-32 becausethey know they only have to plug in and it’s all there – FOH,monitors, the lot. A couple of calls later and he ran the showfrom his laptop and had a great gig.” > ilive-digital.com

Dan Black’s FOH engineer, Steve Pattison, has consolidated an entire FOH mixing system into an Allen &

Heath’ s iDR-32 MixRack rack and a laptop. Audio Pro takes a look at what’s under the hood…

Dan Black has been thrust forth as a leader of a newgenre of UK musicians, dubbed by the music press asWonky Pop. His track HYPNTZ, featuring a mix of

lyrics from the Notorious Big song Hypnotize, combined with asample of Rihanna’s Umbrella, has earned him notoriety, radioplay and subsequent performances at Glastonbury andthroughout the European festival circuit this summer.

To complement Black’s unconventional mixture of samplesand beats, engineer Steve Pattison has chosen an innovativeand modern FOH set up that is far from the norm. Whateverthe gig, Pattison uses a compact touring system comprising anAllen & Heath iDR-32 MixRack and a laptop loaded with iLiveEditor software, which he uses as a virtual control surface. Thesystem not only mixes FOH audio, but also wedges and IEMs.

“I’m running the iDR rack and that’s it... no desk, nosurface, just the stagebox, which is mounted into our on-stageloopstation,” Pattison explains. He runs looms out of theloopstation to the band’s mics and DIs and a loom into thehouse system, so that all the mics and DIs run straight into thestagebox and from there outputs run to a master L&R mix andthree wedge mixes, which are fed into the house multicore. Formonitors, two lines are sent to the drummer’s mixer for hisheadphone mix, and Ferdi, the band technician, listens to hisstereo in-ears mix by plugging into the iDR’s PFL output.

A GOOD THING IN A LITTLE PACKAGEDespite its size, Pattison feels the iLive system is well equippedfor any venue. “With such varying levels of kit available ateach gig, the A&H system gives us great consistency, becauseI only ever need five channels from the house system, two forFOH and three for monitors, and I can run up to 32 inputs.”

Pattison connects his laptop, loaded with iLive editorsoftware with saved show settings, to a normal wireless routerto operate the iDR-32. “The lack of physical surface means Ican choose which surface size I want to use in the software, soI’m not limited to a certain number of channels or faders. Forthe Dan Black tour I’ve been using the iLive-T80 split intothree desks – the top layer for FOH, second layer for wedgemixes and third layer for IEMs, so each discipline has its ownchannels, eq, gates, compressors and so on.

Little black box

”It’s definitely the

smallest FOH

footprint. It

blows people’s

minds.Steve Pattison

FOH Engineer

> LIVE SOUND DAN BLACK


clean but they expect me to give them separate hotel roomsand have decent catering and a good amount of money fortheir day’s work. It’s not just about an objection to drugs, it’sabout the bigger picture. There are instances where I will turndown work because it’s not suitable for our team any more.

CLEAN CONDITIONS“A lot of the guys I use are also capable of getting a job in ITor flying a plane and other stuff that will earn them 50 grand ayear. So you have to bear in mind the conditions that they’llbe working in when it comes to the tour buses and thecatering. As for the drugs thing, being clean and professionalis just another part of that. Some people don’t want to beinvolved in that scene and the ones who do are jeopardisingtheir work, so why should I look after them to keep them at their best, when they’re ruining it themselves with drink or drugs?

“Only half of what I do is designing the sound systems andputting the gear together – the other half is picking the rightpeople for the job, especially when I have to put 25 peopletogether on site for a weekend. My man on the ground, mycrew boss, is critical and he does a fantastic job. He’s donethis gig for me four years in a row – moving the personnelaround properly, making sure they get the right breaks,making sure everybody gets fed; it’s all very important. Fromour point of view, it’s not just about putting the PA up.

“The industry is changing; we’re not in the 70s and 80sanymore and our industry is now catching up with the rest ofthe workforce in the country. Health and safety and the hoursthat we have to work mean that we’ve had to take a very hardstand. It’s very difficult to talk about it because it sounds likeI’m saying some companies aren’t like that and that’sabsolutely not the case, but the bottom line is, yes, we expectour people to be responsible.” > sseaudiogroup.com

After 33 years in the business SSE knows that drink and drugs should remain the preserve of the punters.

Rob Hughes went along to the Global Gathering festival to see a sober crew at work…

Giving the mob of inebriated revellers a wide berth,Miles Hillyard is easy to spot in the distance as hestrides purposefully over to our rendezvous point by

the main stage. His decision to shun the day-glow uniform ofthe raver in favour of more practical apparel is something of agiveaway, but he’s also moving noticeably faster thaneverybody else and I can tell he’s got a lot on his plate.

As we walk on past the beer tent, despite the heaving packof bare-chested lager louts trying desperately to get theattention of bar staff, I reason that he must by now haveearned a drink and offer to brave the sweaty mass of tattooeddrunkards in the name of refreshment.

“Thanks, but no way,” comes the reply.Slightly parched but not offended, I politely enquire as to

the reason.“I don’t allow my staff to take drugs on the job and that

includes booze. If they can’t do it, then I can’t either. Theycan do what they want in their spare time, but not here. Iwouldn’t turn up to the office with a four-pack of Stella. Ifthey’re drinking then they’re not working to their potential.”

I begin to realise that the finer points of staging a successfulgig are not so obvious. The sound and light rental industry mayhave risen from rock n roll, but the companies such as SSEwhich have turned it into a realistic, profitable business havedone so because they have taken a more disciplined approach.Good food and hotel rooms have somewhat refined the roadielifestyle, but drink and drugs are out.

Hillyard confirms this: “We have to be a lot more business-oriented now and the crew being clean is just one part of it.There’s no resting on your laurels, because competition isfierce these days. The law is so tight now that you have to bea very professional outfit, because everybody wants to shootyou down. A lot of the crew now are very anti drugs and ifanybody comes into the fold with other ideas they getshunned because it’s a two-way thing – I expect them to be

”We’re business-

orientated and

the crew being

clean is just one

part of it.Miles Hillyard

SSE

> LIVE SOUND GLOBAL GATHERING


Roll without the rock

> INTERVIEW BRUCE SWEDIEN

Universal Audio in Chicago in the 1950s was the hub ofbig band activity. Everyone from Dizzee Gillespie andCount Basie to Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock and

Frankie Valli used its big rooms to create timeless recordings.Universal engineer Bruce Swedien (pictured, inset) metQuincy Jones while working at the studio and began whatwould become a 30-year working partnership.

Jones and Swedien worked with Michael Jackson on hissolo career from 1979 to 2001, producing the best-selling albumof all time, Thriller. The trioworked on the composition, arrangementsand production as a group.

“I was mainly involved in engineering,but through working with Jones andJackson I got more and more involvedin production. I am a composer andhave written songs with Jackson. Idon’t really know exactly where I fitin,” he says, laughing, “but I suppose itdoesn’t matter.”

Money and accolades aside, the thingSwedien enjoyed most about his work withQuincy and Jackson was the faith they had inhim. “I have been very lucky, because those guysknew that I had something different to offer and theywould go away and let me do my thing,” he explains. “The best part of a relationship like that is the trust they hadin me.”

Much like his ghoulish alter ego in the Thriller video, fromthe studio to the stage Swedien saw a massive charactertransition when Jackson performed live. “My wife was heavilyinvolved in my career and we went to see him in concert andrealised that we never met the guy that he became on stage,”Swedien reflects.


“He was really different than any other artist or vocalist.When we recorded some of the early hits, like Billy Jean, Ihad the studio carpenter build an eight foot square drumplatform to stop the kick drum from spreading across thefloor into the other mics, but I found out that Michael reallyloved to record his vocals on the stage, because he alwaysdanced when he sang.”

Swedien feels that his mic collection is the signature partof his sound. His most coveted piece is a microphone

designed by Finnish engineer Martin Kantola. Heexplains: “I met Kantola in Helsinki while

doing a lecture at The Sibelius Academy andimmediately recognised that he was a reallyunique musical and technical force. Themic he designed uses a similar capsule andtube as the Neumann U47 and it soundsabsolutely incredible. There are several ofthem now, but when I first began usingthem there were only three in the world. I

don’t think there are many of them in usetoday. Björk had one of them and she

absolutely loves it. “I also used one of the very first Shure SM7

dynamic mics. All the vocals on Billy Jean and Beat Itare all done on that mic, which proves that it is not necessaryto have a condenser mic to do fantastic recording.

“I am also lucky because Neumann came to my aid andsent me some wonderful stuff. I bought a pair of U47s in1953, but one of them was stolen during the making ofThriller. I bought them for 390 bucks and I recently turneddown 20 thousand dollars for the remaining one. It is justsuch a phenomenal microphone.

“I also have some AKG C12s in my collection, but they arenot my favourite. I think that the U47 has more character. I

“ Through

working with

Jones and

Jackson I got

more and more

involved in

production.Bruce Swedien

Bruce Swedien started his engineering career in 1950’s Chicago at Universal Audio, working with legends

like Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie. Swedien met super producer Quincy Jones at Universal and became

a key figure in Michael Jackson’s solo career. With a new book on the way, Swedien talks to Andrew Lowabout his mics, studio and three decades of classic recordings…

Art doesn’t talk to money

am not a purist and a lot of people look at me as grandpa hi-fi, but I am after the musical value of gear – and that’s all.It has nothing to do with the technical parts.”

Along with his microphone collection, Swedien’s 1985Harrison 32x32 series recording console is still used in hisprivate studio. “Dave Harrison was a friend of mine and Igave him a lot of input when he was designing the desk. Ilove it madly. It has the greatest high and low filters; they areextremely dramatic. It was the forerunner of the great filteron the SSL desks. I don’t know if it was copied, but they werevery similar.

“Anyone who works in the box and thinks it sounds goodshould hear what they are doing compared to my Harrisondesk and they will be able to tell an immediate difference.”

After 30 years and 13 Grammy nominations, Swedien hashis own studio in central Florida that does not have a websiteor public contact details. He picks and chooses the projectshe wants to work on and, fortunately for Swedien, artists likeJennifer Lopez still hunt him down.

The Harrison desk is the centre point of the studio thatalso features Bill Putnam’s original 1176 compressor/limitersand four of Universal Audio’s LA-2As, which he boughtduring his Universal days, in addition to Westlake Audiomonitors. “I first started using the Westlake monitors when Iwas working on Jackson’s albums in California. They areabsolutely fabulous and I still use them. I don’t think there isanything else out there that compares.”

His studio is equipped with a Pro Tools rig, howeverSwedien misses the analog sound and is thinking of goingback to it. “I was very fond of the 3M 24-track machines and the Studer is an excellent machine. There is somethingabout the sound that is different now and I think using those analog tape machines had a character to them that isreally great.”

After such a long and successful career in the recordingbusiness, one would assume that Swedien would be put off byrecent trends in the modern music industry. Instead he states:“I think there are a lot of young people out there who care. Iwas always of a different style and I didn’t want to fit in themould. When it comes down to it, it’s the passion behindthat music that really matters. Art does not talk to money.”

BRUCE SWEDIEN INTERVIEW <

Swedien’s new book, called In The Studio WithMichael Jackson, will be available in Europe throughjawbonepress.com

Swedien’s home studio

Swedien’s many Grammys

Recording the orchestra for The Wiz

Control rooms at

Universal Audio


THE BEATLES STUDIO <

Remastering the masters

Audio Pro talks to the team of Abbey Road engineers who spent the past

four years remastering the entire Beatles catalogue…

Roughly four years ago, Allan Rouse got the call from EMIthat the entire Beatles catalogue needed to beremastered. Like Hannibal on the A-Team, Rouse needed

only to make the call and his men sprang into action. The yearsbetween then and now have comprised long hours spent by ameticulous team that worked from the original masters andlaboured over every detail at each step of the process.

The team consisted of Rouse as project co-ordinator,recording engineers Guy Massey, Paul Hicks and Sam Okell,mastering engineers Steve Rooke and Sean Magee, and SimonGibson, Cedar Audio restoration engineer.

With the men assembled and plans in place, Guy Masseybegan the process for the stereo versions while Paul Hickstackled the monos. Hicks explains: “We wanted to make therecordings sound the best they could, very respectfully. Our firstprocess was spending a lot of time going through quarter-inchmachines and a range of EMI test tapes from over the years.”

LOADING THE TAPES After trying out several machines, the team chose a StuderA80 tape machine with a 1972 test tape. Each song was thenloaded from the original analog tapes through Prism Sound’sADA-8XR multi-channel modular ADA converters into ProTools. Massey states: “Pro Tools was treated as a mastermachine and we didn’t use any plugins. The songs wereformatted to 24 bit/192kHz and video referenced. The speedof the tape machine was always watched to make sure it wasrunning at the right speed.

“The tapes are still in great condition –nevertheless we loaded everything track-by-track, cleaning the tape machine heads androllers between each song.

“The original transfers were done in 1986 whendigital was in its infancy. I am not knocking the originaltransfers, but I think from the point where we re-transferredand archived the master tapes, we were already a step aheadbecause the technology has come on in leaps and bounds.What some people may perceive as an added eq is actually theresult of better transfers, especially in the low end and the hightop. Upwards of twenty tracks were not eq’d at all because wedidn’t think we could improve them in any way.”

The team at Abbey Road was very conscious of not affectingthe spirit of the songs from their original versions. As such, theyperformed A/B listening tests with the existing CDs and vinylat every step of the process. Hicks comments: “It’s not a projectwhere we could forget the past. We had cutting notes from theoriginals so that we could see what they were actually doing.”

“Once we archived the masters we would get a print out ofthe lyrics and timings and listen to each track on a separatebasis three or four times, make detailed notes of technicalnoises that we felt we would like to remove or reduce,” Masseyexplains. “We only addressed things that we considered to beextraneous to the performance, such as clicks from mics andfaders, tape drop outs, bad edits, mic pops and sibilance.

“We then took the master 24-bit/192kHz file to SimonGibson in the restoration suite and he used Cedar Retouch to

“What some

people may

perceive as

added eq is

actually the

result of better

transfers.Paul Hicks

fix anything we wanted to change. We then chopped those fixedbits back into the master file so that we had a new, edited masterfile. The whole team deliberated every change and we weredetermined to keep the audio as pure as possible.”

Massey states that de-noising was a bit of a contentiousissue, thus it was used for less than one per cent of the entirecatalogue – five minutes of the 535 total minutes. “De-noisingwas used for things like intros or if hiss was enough that it wasexcessive, but we have only taken it down very subtly.”

MASTERINGOnce all the edits were made the files were taken to themastering suites at Abbey Road where Steve Rooke and SeanMagee handled the stereo and mono recordings respectively.

“It was an analog process from that point on,” Rookecomments. “The tracks came out of Pro Tools through thePrism AD8s into the analog domain and were then injectedinto the studio’s 1972 EMI TG mastering console. We theneq’d and transferred them to a Sadie Series 5 PCM 8 DAW at24-bit/441kHz. The main carrier was going to be CD so wekept it at 44:1 to avoid the extra process of sample rateconversion, therefore keeping the signal as pure as possible.Once each album was compiled we did a digital capturethrough a Jünger DO1 digital limiter, the limiting was doneafterwards to give us more flexibility. We didn’t want to limitas we eq’d because it would have been difficult to change at alater date. The team listened to them post limiter.

“When we were capturing the final mastered version, weplayed the songs out of Sadie in the digital domain through theDO 1 limiter into a Prism AD-124 AD converter for noiseshaping. All the songs were noise shaped and dithered back into16-bit and then captured back into the Sadie at 16-bit/441kHz,which is what we made the masters from.

“During the mastering process we listened to each track anddecided where we wanted to go with it, if we wanted to add orremove eq to help instruments or vocals. We went througheach track, made the adjustments and then recorded into Sadie.

“The next day we listened to the tracks in Studio 3, talkedabout it and made notes for changes. The changes were madeand we started the entire process over again until we were allhappy with the tracks.

“We mostly used the eq on the TG desk, but it is in dB stepsso any additional eq’ing was done on a Prism ME2 to honeinto something with finer steps or target certain frequencies.Different parts of certain songs were treated in different ways.If a chorus was a bit bright or brittle we would adjust thataccordingly. This was especially apparent on a song like YellowSubmarine because the sound effects were so bright. I am theWalrus was another tricky one because it was so different fromthe rest of the catalogue.”

> STUDIO THE BEATLES


LIMITING“All modern day CDs are limited very heavily becauseeveryone wants to be the loudest,” Massey states. “We spokeabout this at the very beginning and it was unanimouslyestablished that the stereos would be limited slightly becausethey are aimed at the modern market. The monos are more forthe collectors so they were not. The stereos are probably threeto four dBs louder than the original, so a lot of the time thelimiters are not working.”

Rooke adds: “It is just the very fast transients that wouldnormally show over level on the digital metres that it took down.There are still waveforms to be seen. We really wanted to keepthe dynamics.”

“We liked a bit of limiting because we felt it made therecordings a little more exciting, but not to the point where wewould be upsetting the original dynamics,” says Massey. “Somemodern recordings really shout at you and we didn’t want to dothat to these songs. This is a back catalogue that has never beenremastered before and everybody knows The Beatles. We knewthat fans were going to be inspecting the catalogue through amicroscope and we wanted to get it right.

“The purist might ask why we didn’t just transfer the songsstraight from the quarter-inch machine straight into Sadie, butwe felt that we wanted to address anything that they wouldhave wanted to remove. When I do a recording I don’t wantto hear pops all over the vocal – it annoys me. If The Beatleswere recorded today I’m sure they would have addressed thosesame issues.

“With all the changes that we made, if we felt it interferedmusically we wouldn’t do it. For instance, the chair sound atthe end of A Day in the Life or Ringo’s squeaky drum peddle –they are part of the history and vibe of the song so we didn’twant to remove those things.”

“It takes a lot of time to get the confidence to get your headdown and go for it on a project like this,” Hicks states. “I haveto be happy and then the team has to be happy and thenRouse and then Apple and The Beatles and then that is whereit stops. It is just too big.

“If you went into the project thinking about all the peoplewho are going to analyse the waveforms you would never getanything done. We did what we thought was right and hopethat everyone likes it.”> abbeyroad.co.uk

The boys lay down

tracks in Abbey’s

Studio 2

Classic artwork

for classic music

– now lovingly

restored


Morrisey’s FOH man tells us about

good brews and bad breaks…

DAVID ‘MILKY’MILLWARD

Which band/project are you

currently working on?

Currently I’m mixing FOH forMorrissey.

Where are you at the moment?

Vienna.

What audio console are you

utilising? And how many channels?

Digidesign Profile using 46 inputsfrom stage, plus effects and so on.

What decision process was behind

the choice of this audio console?

I wanted a very compact FOH areaand I also wanted to go completelydigital from and to the stage.

Do you utilise any outboard

effects/eq?

In the past I have favoured bothAvalon Pre Amp compressors andalso Focusrite ISAs, used inline onmain vocal channels. However, Iam not using any outboard on thistour, just fairly basic plugins.

Favourite console?

If you’d asked me not so long ago, itwould have been the Midas XL4(as long as it had an easy tilt, ofcourse). At the moment I’menjoying learning to use all thedigital desks there are now.

Favourite PA system (or monitors)?

I’ve just finished a US tour using thed&b Q1 system, which is one of themost amazing boxes around. It neverceases to impress me with how goodand how ‘large’ it sounds. It’sincredibly compact, light and easy to

rig, too. I’ve been a fan of d&bspeakers for many years, ever sinceusing the F1 and C4 systems.Recently I’ve got a taste for MeyerMICA and I’m using that system forthe second time now here in the UKand Europe.

Favourite venue/festival/studio?

The Manchester Apollo, RoyalAlbert Hall, Östersund Festival andBenicassim.

Best toy you take on tour?

My kettle.

What’s been your worst

professional experience to date?

Breaking my foot within minutes ofentering a venue in Buenos Aires onthe second show of a month-longSouth American tour and beingplastered up to the knee for weekson end before I could get home.

What’s been your career highlight?

My first ever show at the RoyalAlbert Hall in the late 80s with AllAbout Eve, and subsequentlyplaying Manchester MEN Arenaon Morrissey’s Birthday.

What pisses you off when working?

When there is no kettle available.

What makes you happy at work?

When things work.

Finally, if you weren't working

now, you'd be?

In a comfy café with a good bookand a pot of tea, or driving alongcountry roads in my motor.

“I’ve just finished a US tour using the d&b Q1 system,which is one of the most amazing boxes around.”

David Milward, FOH

BEHIND THE BOARD WITH…

> IN SESSION


Abbey Road, London

Telephone: +44 20 7266 7000 Web: www.abbeyroad.co.uk

Sterling Sound, New York

Rooms: Eight mastering suites and six production rooms

Consoles: Custom proprietary consoles designed by Chris Muth

Mics: Test mics by DPA and Earthworks

Outboard: Sontech, Focusrite Blue, Chandler, Tube-Tech, Prism Sound

Monitoring: B&W, Energy Veritas, Pro Ac, Dynaudio, Classe, Hafler

Telephone: +1 212 604 9433 Web: www.sterling-sound.com

ONE OF THE most respected mastering

facilities in the industry, Sterling Sound

has mastered an abundance of

celebrated albums since the

introduction of the compact disc in the

early 1980s.

One of Sterling Sound’s more

famous assets is its collection of

proprietary signal processing and

techniques, developed both internally

and in collaboration with leading

manufacturers. In 1988, the firm

developed a DSP device that allowed its

engineers to make louder CDs without

use of a compressor or limiter. A

decade later it created a new

generation of custom analog mastering

consoles with performance

specifications so exacting they

approached those of 24-bit digital.

Sterling’s in-house technical team

has created high performance

mastering systems personalised for

each engineer. For monitoring,

beginning with a six-deck, hand-

soldered stepped attenuator, the team

designed and built a series of six

channel preamplifiers and digital input

selectors. The result is a precision

monitoring environment where each

channel tracks to within .01dB and

engineers can select between

stereo/surround, pre/post-eq and

pre/post-encoding, with outputs

routed to reference DA converters. For

clients who require video lockup during

the mastering session, Sony Beta SP

machines can be provided with

advance notice.

Senior engineers Ted Jensen, George

Marino and Leon Zervos’ surround

mastering studios provide true

uncompromised 5.1 reference

environments. Designed by Francis

Manzella of FM Design, the studios

conform to the ITU music surround

specification, which calls for five identical

full range free standing loudspeakers

placed at specific equidistant locations.

Jensen is one of the world’s most in-

demand mastering engineers, working

on projects across virtually every genre

of music. In 2002, he won the first-ever

Grammy for mastering for his work on

Norah Jones’ multi-platinum album

Come Away With Me. Recently he

mastered Green Day’s 21st Century

Breakdown and Muse’s The Resistance.

Other notable engineers at Sterling

include Greg Calbi, Ray Janos, Tom

Coyne, Chris Athens, Chirs Gehringer

and Ryan Smith

Sterling Sound’s in-house technical team has created

high performance mastering systems personalised

for each engineer.

UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOSTdocumented studio in the world, Abbey

Road was opened in 1931 by Sir Edward

Elgar, who conducted the London

Symphony Orchestra’s recording of

Land Of Hope and Glory in studio one

– the largest purpose-built recording

studio in the world, able to

accommodate a 110-piece orchestra

and 100-piece choir, simultaneously.

The building started life as a grand

residence at No. 3, Abbey Road, St

John’s Wood, but became the first ever

custom-built recording studio. Three

differently sized studios were built on

the garden and neighbouring spaces in

order to accommodate the different

types of acts being recorded there.

The facility quickly attracted stars

such as Noel Coward on his triumphant

return from Broadway and, later, Fats

Waller and Fred Astaire.

Abbey Road’s legendary status was

established immediately and it remained

in service during WW2, involved in

propaganda recordings for the British

government and radio broadcasts for

the BBC. Even as London was gripped

by the Blitz, the studio took delivery of

the most advanced mixing desk of its

day, worth an eye-watering £1,000.

Abbey Road’s most famous employee,

George Martin, arrived in 1950 when he

joined the Parlophone department and

began to take advantage of some major

technological advances being made by

EMI, including the world’s first limiter.

The ensuing years would see Martin

record weird and wonderful material

with the likes of Peter Sellers, Spike

Milligan and Peter Ustinov. His later

work at the studio needs little

introduction, but the four young men

who turned his life upside down in 1962

also changed the recording schedule of

Abbey Road completely. This was soon

justified in 1963, when 15 out of the 19

number ones of the year were recorded

at the studios.

After their disbandment, The Beatles

were replaced by a new ‘house band’,

Pink Floyd and, from that time until the

present day, the calibre of acts that have

recorded at Abbey Road has never

waned. Now a complex offering a

multitude of professional audio services,

Abbey Road remains at the cutting-

edge of the industry and has an enviable

reputation as the film community’s first

choice for film scoring outside the US.

Current in-house engineers include

Peter Cobbin and Simon Rhodes.

The facility quickly attracted stars such as Noel

Coward on his triumphant return from Broadway

and, later, Fats Waller and Fred Astaire.

Studios: People and equipment behind studios

in the UK and around the world...

Rooms: Studios 1, 2, 3, penthouse, mastering rooms

Consoles: Neve 88 RS, Neve DFC Gemini, SSL 9000 J, Neve VRP Legend

Mics: AEA, Neumann , Gefel, RCA, Royer, Schoeps, STC/Coles, B&K

Outboard: EMI, Prism, Chiswick Reach, Manley, Fairchild, Pultec, Massenberg

Monitoring: B&W 800D, Quested, Yamaha, Meyer, Classe

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Metropolis, LondonESTABLISHED IN THE spring of1989 by Karin Clayton, Gary Langan,Carey Taylor and AlexanderSkeaping, Metropolis is celebratingtwo illustrious decades as an in-demand recording studio andmastering house.

Metropolis offers a one-stop-shop of creative services forthe entertainmentindustry. Its fourrecording studios,including two largetracking rooms, sixmastering suites and 11mastering engineers,make it Europe’s largestindependent musicrecording complex andindependent mastering house. Inaddition, four production andprogramming rooms house a varietyof successful producers.

The facility can be used to recordfull band sessions, string sections (upto 28-piece) and overdubs. It featuresboth Pro Tools and Logic DAWs and

has a wide range of analog and digitaltape machines available. Mixing canbe done on one of its four high-endanalog mixing consoles. The studiocan also mix to picture and offersboth stereo and 5.1 mixing for PCM,SACD and DVD audio and Blu-ray.

The team at Metropolis hasrecorded and mixed numerous

albums including TheVerve’s Urban Hymns,The Stone Roses’ TheSecond Coming, Queen’sMade In Heaven andInnuendo, The

Libertines’ The Libertines,and Grammy Award

winners Amy Winehouse’sBack To Black and Lauryn Hill’s

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, as wellas the Live Aid and Live 8 DVDs.

Metropolis’ engineers include NeilTucker, who, since joining the studioin 1996, has worked with artists andproducers across a wide range ofgenres, coping with many demandingand high pressure sessions.

Rooms: Two recording studios, four mixing rooms, six mastering suites

Consoles: SSL 9072 J, SSL 4064 G, Neve VR

Mics: Neumann, Royer, Coles, Schoeps, Sanken, EV, Shure, SPC

Outboard: Manley, GML, TubeTech, Chandler, Maselec Prism, Neve, Drawmer

Monitoring: Yamaha, PMC, Auratone, M&K

Telephone: +44 20 8742 1111 Web: www.metropolis-group.co.uk

Metropolis offers a one-stop-shop of creative

services for the entertainment industry. It’s Europe’s

largest independent music recording complex.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

To have your studio featured in this section, please send all details to:

[email protected] or call +44 1992 535646

IN RECENT YEARS we have allwitnessed the changes in the waymusic is made; many of theworld’s largest studios have closeddown and we have seen a shifttowards more compact facilities.Even the smallest studios can nowafford to buy scaled-downversions of the high endequipment in use at full-sizestudios as manufacturers ofreference quality equipment nowcater for this market.

So what is it that has enabledsome of our oldest and largestinstitutions to maintain asuccessful studio business?Certainly there are a number offactors, including brand value, acatalogue of seminal recordingsand the sheer commitment tosucceed. One very importantfactor, however, is the dedicationto technical excellence. Themajority of today’s leading studiosemploy full-time, highly skilledengineers to commission, serviceand maintain their facilities, inorder to uphold the highest levelsof quality throughout therecording process.

When you step inside a world-class studio facility, not only willthere be a selection of the bestequipment from the world’sleading manufacturers, buteverything will work flawlesslytogether, free from troublesomepops, glitches and intermittentfaults, allowing the artists to focussolely on what they do best. Andof course this is no accident…

There is often an assumption,especially in digital audio, that thepresence of an audible signal at theend of a signal path is enough toverify that everything is OK. Buteven the most experiencedengineers will tell you that youcan’t always rely on your ears astest instruments. Do you know forsure that your digital installationhas been correctly synchronisedthroughout? Have you verified thatdither is being used at the correct

word length at digital interfaces toavoid unintentional truncationdistortion? Are you sure that thecorrect digital cable impedancehas been used throughout toprevent excessive jitter?

Or is your system so close tothe limits that interference fromsomething as routine as flicking alight switch in the control room islikely to take your system down inthe middle of that otherwiseperfect take?

These are the kind of problemsthat engineers face on a daily basisas systems evolve, equipment isrepaired or replaced, or even justre-routed in differentconfigurations.

At Prism Sound we take testand measurement very seriouslyand appreciate how important it isfor any audio business to beconfident about the performanceand safety margin of their systems;in fact, we have been supplyingaudio test and measurementinstruments for longer than wehave been making recording andproduction equipment.

The more astute studio ownersknow only too well that there is adanger in compromising ontechnical excellence: The cost canrange from inconvenient re-work ordowntime at best, to ruined workand lost business at worst. Thesesame studio owners also know thatthere is real commercial value intaking technical proficiencyseriously; invest in the rightequipment and the right people andthe value will be in the quality ofthe final piece of work. Thistranslates to happier customers and,in turn, to more business.

Prism Sound’s Simon Woollardon the importance of technical

maintenance...

We appreciate how

important it is for

audio businesses to

be confident about

their systems.

Simon Woollard is an experienced design engineer and Salford University

graduate. He works for Prism Sound as their sales and applications engineer

for test and measurement products. He has been with the company for the

past two years, prior to which he was with Mission and Saitek.

Ditch the glitch

www.audioprointernational.com To contact Prism Sound Tel: +44 1353 648888 Email: [email protected] www.prismsound.com

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Vince Borrelli takes on tour sound Former Mackie man joins Sound Technology to represent Harman brands

Ahlborn

appointed as

financial officer

> PEOPLE

MIDAS AND KT haveappointed Quad Professional astheir new distributor forSingapore and Malaysia. Themove is part of a bid to offerdedicated sales and supportacross the region. “It is vital thatour distribution channel has theright people in place to serviceand support our customersthere,” said David Cooper.> midasconsoles.com

IN BRIEF

SHURE HAS announced theappointment of James Ahlborn as its newvice president of finance and chieffinancial officer (CFO).

In this position he will lead thecompany’s finance division and have fullresponsibility for all of its functions,including internal auditing, financialplanning and analysis, treasury, payroll,financial reporting, cost accounting,customs, accounts payable and receivable,tax analysis and credit. He will alsoprovide strategic counsel as a member ofthe executive staff.

“Jim brings a broad financialmanagement background to Shure,”commented Sandy LaMantia, Shure’spresident and CEO.

“His experience with globalmanufacturing operations, mergers andacquisitions and strategic planning will beespecially important in helping thecompany to continue our long history ofgrowth and profitability.”

Before joining Shure, Ahlborn servedas vice president of finance and CFO atthe Tuthill Corporation. Prior to that, heworked at Deloitte & Touche, where heheld various positions in both financeand auditing.> shure.com

SOUND TECHNOLOGY hashired Vince Borrelli as its new toursound sales manager.

Borrelli will work with theHarman brands, such as JBL,Soundcraft, AKG, Crown, dbx, BSSand Lexicon, particularly within theUK hire community.

His experience includes work forAudio Technica, Headstock andMackie. During his seven years atMackie, Borrelli was responsible forsales and training across all product

areas, including the TT24 digital livedesk, DXB digital recording consoleand EAW products. He then joinedHarman Pro and, after 20 months,went on to Headstock Pro.

Borrelli explained: “The people atSound Tech are spot on. I’m nowlooking forward to channelling myknowledge of the pro audio industry into developing thepresence of the Harman brandsacross the UK’s hire community.> soundtech.co.uk


APPLICATIONS <

TWO SOUNDCRAFT Vi6s havebeen specified by Academy MusicGroup to take care of mixing duties at the new £5m O2 AcademyBirmingham, which opens this month with a sell-out performance by Editors.

The Vi6s have the capacity toservice FOH and monitorrequirements as necessary on the3,000-capacity main stage, 600-capacity O2 Academy Two and a thirdlive room which holds 250 people.

Adlib Audio was once againappointed by AMG for this latestdevelopment, having installedmultiples of Soundcraft’s premierdigital desks in the firm’s most recentvenue renovations: O2 AcademyLeeds and O2 Academy Sheffield.

The brace of Vi6s in Birminghamwill move easily and quickly aroundthe expansive 45,000 square-footvenue, as part of the standard flight-cased touring package.

Commenting on the purchase,AMG’s group technical manager, EdJackson (pictured inset, above), said:“The new version 3.0 softwareupgrade has taken the desk to a newlevel and this is largely the reason weare specifying these at our new venue.

The new snapshot saving function isvery important and there are otherexceptional features.”

Jackson also noted that the channelextensions offered in the new softwarewere a further bonus, giving the Vi696-input capacity potential.

Other new features in version 3.0include finer adjustment of input andoutput delay trims, enhancedmetering on the master bay whichincludes gain reduction, import andexport of channel labels from and tospreadsheet files using USB, gangingof graphic eqs on output busses andselective loading of showconfigurations.

“Everyone is talking about howgood the sound is and a lot ofengineers are now touring with it,”continued Jackson. “It makes lifeeasier because it’s one less piece of kit [touring productions] have to bring in.”

The first of regular, monthly, freededicated Vi training days will behosted by Sound Technology atSoundcraft’s Potters Bar HQ on 17thJune. All professional sound engineersand designers are welcome to go alongto the training days.> soundcraft.co.uk

Revamped 02Academy sportstwin Vi6s

100’S OF NEW PRODUCTS OVER 300 EXHIBITORS PLASA BAR - OPEN TILL 8PM NEW DEALER LOUNGE NEW INTERNATIONAL PAVILIONS INNOVATION

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MINUTES HEATHROW AIRPORT 20 MINUTES UNDERGROUND AND OVERGROUND RAIL ACCESS 250 HOTELS, 983 RESTAURANTS, PUBS AND BARS

WITHIN EASY ACCESS

AMG once again plumps for

Soundcraft’s digital flagship in

£5m development

THEY SAY: The DSi 6000 is designed to

provide further support for the JBL line

of cinema loudspeakers.

SPECIFICATIONS: The newest addition

to the DSi series. Features automatic

presets for JBL cinema speaker systems

and user-friendly front LCD panel for

speaker signal processing presets and

other system parameters. All DSi amps

can be configured through the Harman

HiQnet System Architect platform.

DSi 6000 cinema amp provides 2,100

Watts at four Ohms and was designed

to be lightweight and efficient at just 24

pounds. Onboard digital signal

processing includes crossovers, eq

filters, delay, and output limiting. Rear-

panel HD-15 connector provides easy

input/ output connectivity between DSi

amplifiers and new DSi-8M monitor.

> crownaudio.com

Crown DSi 6000amplifier

THEY SAY: A clear cost advantage to

the DMI-8 since no additional

converters or preamps are required.

SPECIFICATIONS: The Neumann DMI-8

is an eight-channel digital microphone

interface, which provides AES 42 to

EBU conversion, synchronisation of the

mics without a sample rate converter,

automatic word clock or AES 11

synchronisation, sample rates from

44.1kHz to 192kHz and control and

storage of settings via Mac or PC.

Cascading up to 128 channels, level

meter and gain setting on front panel,

D-sub 25 outputs with Tascam and

Yamaha pin assignments, Optical ADAT

interface, open architecture for later

connection to other multi-channel

interfaces and audio networks.

Compatible with mics from any

manufacturer that complies with the

jointly established AES 42 standard.

> neumann.com

Neumann digital micinterface

THEY SAY: Best-in-class monitors

provide an expansive soundstage as

well as customisable controls for

greater flexibility in any environment.

SPECIFICATIONS: Available in eight-

inch (CX8) and five-inch (CX5)

configurations. Both with custom

waveguide.

CX8 with 120W of dispersed power, a

1.25-inch, silk-domed, HF driver, eight-

inch, Kevlar, LF driver and internally

braced cabinet.

The CX5 with five-inch, Kevlar,LF

driver, 1.25-inch, silk-domed, HF driver,

90-Watts dispersed power.

Biamplified design, 80 Watts for lows,

40 Watts for highs for CX8 (50W & 40W

for CX5). Acoustic Space settings of

both monitors include -4dB, -2dB and

flat, monitor with LF Cutoff, MF boost

and HF trim switches for additional

customisation.

> m-audio.com

M-Audio Studiophile CXactive monitors

THEY SAY: The new ScreenArray

loudspeakers feature new high-

frequency drivers and improved,

patented crossover design.

SPECIFICATIONS: Large-format three-

inch neodymium, titanium diaphragm,

HF compression driver for ultra high

performance. HF driver is coupled with

the new patented HF horn with Screen

Spreading Compensation to correct HF

dispersion through perforated screens.

LF sections with the patented

Differential Drive, Direct Cooled, 15-

inch woofers. All with optimised

aperture waveguides for low distortion

and uniform frequency response.

Patented, crossover design.

ScreenArray speakers consist of

4732, 3732 and 3731 three-way systems

(triamplified or biamplified versions) and

the 4722 and 3722 2-way speakers (bi-

amplified or passive systems).

> jbl.com

JBL ScreenArraycinema speakers

THEY SAY: Opus 600 is the latest in a

long line of innovative wireless

microphone systems from

Beyerdynamic, which began with the

invention of the early wireless systems

Transistophone in 1962.

SPECIFICATIONS: Beyerdynamic’s new

Opus 600 offers a comprehensive

feature set for its price point. Key

features include interchangeable

capsules, more than 20 hours’ battery

life, true diversity reception, up to 16

compatible channels and switching

power-supply. The system is available in

five pre-configured sets, Lavaliere,

Neckworn, Dynamic vocal, Dynamic

vocal & speech and Condenser vocal &

speech versions.

> polaraudio.co.uk

Beyerdynamic Opus 600wireless mic system


> PRODUCT

THEY SAY: The most powerful speaker

controller currently on the market

SPECIFICATIONS: New DSP-2 engine

composed of three dual-core

processors, capable of processing over

1,500 MIPS. EV Netmax and FIR-Drive

(Finite Impulse Response Filters), drive

devices controlled via IRIS-Net and a PC-

based line-array controller GUI.

Audio converters deliver a dynamic

range of 114dB from analog input to

analog output, including all signal

processing, autocompiling DSP engine

provides fixed latency of 2.19ms from

analog input to analog outputs.

N8000-1500 provides 24-bit linear

ADA conversion, 48 bit processing and

runs on Ethernet-10/100 MBit/s, RJ-45

network interface. Its power

consumption is 90W max with a signal-

to-noise ratio (A–weighted) of < 115 dB

at a weight of 7.37 kg (16.25 lbs).

> electrovoice.com

THEY SAY: Features an internal reference

condenser microphone, ideal for

capturing inspired musical moments.

SPECIFICATIONS: Pocket-sized,

portable USB music interface and

microphone for Mac computers. Single

input, stereo output USB music interface

designed to work with Apple’s iTunes,

GarageBand, Logic, Final Cut or any Core

Audio compliant application on a Mac. It

also features an internal reference

condenser microphone and mic preamp,

instrument input for guitar, bass and

keyboards, studio-quality stereo output

for headphones or powered monitors.

Single channel input using one of the

following three options: internal

condenser microphone, balanced XLR

microphone preamp input with +10 to

63dB of gain, unbalanced 1/4” high

impedance instrument input with 0 to

45dB of gain.

> apogeedigital.com/one

>> Recent releases in audio technology

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

NEW GEAR

Electro-Voice N8000-1500 speaker controller

Apogee One USBinterface

THEY SAY: Massive Pack 8 features a set

of plugins used by leading studios and

professionals to create mixes for

albums, TV and film.

SPECIFICATIONS: Massive Pack 8 was

designed exclusively for Pro Tools|HD

and features 11 plugins from Pro Tools’

top development partners, plus a

choice of 12 more Digidesign plugins.

Massive Pack 8 Pro offers a PCIe HD

Accel card and the same set of plugins.

The plugin pack is comprised of an

Abbey Road/Chandler TG Mastering

pack, Brainworx bx, Brainworx bx

hybrid, McDSP FutzBox, Softube FET

compressor, Sonnox inflator, SPL EQ

Rangers Vol. 1, SPL Transient Designer,

TC Electronic VSS3 stereo source

reverb and URS N4 Series

> avid.com

Avid Massive Pack 8

PRODUCT <

1

5

6

8

3 4

2


7

SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT

EMINENCEIN 1966, Bob Gault founded what wasto become the world's largestloudspeaker manufacturing companyafter working as an engineer forMagnavox and CTS (ChicagoTelephone Supply). Under the leadershipof Gault and most recently his son Rob,Eminence's capacity has grown to over10,000 speakers per day, employingnearly 200 people.

The first Eminence facility was lessthan 6,000 sq. ft., and production wasless in one week than it is in one hourat the Kentucky facility. In 1972Eminence moved across town toMulberry Pike where the companyheadquarters remains today. The facilityhas since grown to occupy nearly100,000 sq. ft.

In 2004 Eminence expanded itsworldwide operations with theEminence Dongguan Enterprise Ltd.The 200,000 sq. ft. Dongguan, Chinafacility was part of the internationalEminence effort to provide loudspeakermanufacturing in areas strategicallylocated near manufacturers of musicalinstrument and professional audioproducts. The manufacturing processesand equipment there mirror thoseproven at Eminence USA. Sales andengineering functions are administratedfrom the Eminence USA facility toprovide the same level of personal

attention Eminence has become knownfor over the last 40-years.

In 2009 Eminence further expandedits Dongguan operations by opening theEminence Cabinet Shop. As one of theworld’s number one custom loudspeakermanufacturer, Eminence has spent thelast four decades collaborating withdesigners and premier brands indeveloping one of the music industry’smost well respected product lines.

Eminence engineers understand itscomplete product development processis combined to represent a wealth ofknowledge in sound reproduction andguitar tone, with name brand sub-contracting the design andmanufacturing of its products.Many OEM and ODM suppliers causeproblems with communication,intellectual property, quality, delivery,and after sales sevice. Eminence meetsthese concerns head on through theEminence Cabinet Shop. It takes ideasand concepts through the design anddocumentation process, production,certification, and on to market.> eminence.com

DISTRIBUTION LOUDSPEAKER

Your Box

Ready to Snatch01525 850085 www.leisuretec.co.uk

Sound • Lighting • Special Effects - Established 1990 - Distribution Power Squared

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FLIGHTCASES

42”/50" plasma case

These cases are always available ex stock.

We foam them to suit withpartitions for speakers etc.

From £279.00 inc VATand UK Mainland

delivery

•Full touring specChoice of finishes:

9mm BlackLaminate/hexaboard

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•6 x Recess Sprung handle•High density foam padded interior

•4" Rubber Castors `(2 braked)

Unit 2 Meltex House, Mariner, Lichfield RoadIndustrial Estate, Tamworth, Staffs, B79 7XE

Tel: 01827 60009 Fax: 01827 313877Email: [email protected]: www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk

MANUFACTURER

“One great sounding amplif ier”

Highlights Flat, fully load-independent response Very low output impedance Low, frequency-independent THD Very low noise Industry best EMC

Kattegat 8 | 9723 JP Groningen The Netherlands | +31 50 52 64 993

[email protected]

TMPerformance meets power! The famed UcD sound quality is now TMavailable at over 2kW. If you must know more precisely: the UcD2k

module delivers up to 120Vrms and up to 35Arms to the load, depending on the capabilities of the power supply. Conservative thermal design insures all parts remain well within their ratings even with the most unfavourable programme. Contact Hypex or have a look at www.hypex.nl for more information.

Introducing the

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actual size:141x110x35mm

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> MARKETPLACE

O n t h e l a r g e s t s t a g e s

Complete Sound System Solutions by Electro-Voice

Kenny Chesney on tour with EV

System Design by Phillip Scobee, Morris Leasing

MANUFACTURER

MANUFACTURER

+1-858-535-6060www.HMEDX.com

WS200 Wireless Speaker Station

NEW

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MANUFACTURER

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STUDIO

When you hand your precious music project over toWes at the GHQ Sonic Cuisine you can relax, knowingyou have chosen an experienced and passionate soundengineer who will care about getting it right for you.

With a tried and tested combination of classic production values andcontemporary technology, Wes will deliver a finished master you can beproud of. You won’t have to pay double the price to attend the sessioneither, nor will you be charged exorbitant prices for reference copies.

If you can’t attend the session, everything can be done on-line via Wes’swebsite. If you do attend, you can expect a warm welcome, excellentcoffee and lashings of Belgian chocolate - well, he is Belgian after all.Which means he speaks Dutch, German, French and English fluently.

Book your first mastering session quoting SAFEHANDS09and get a 10% discount on the total cost of your job.

E-mail your name and address to [email protected] and enterWes’s monthly draw to win a box of the best chocolates in Belgium!

Wes MaebeThe GHQ Sonic Cuisine, West London

Freelance recording,mixing,mastering and live engineer.

T: 020 8749 5654M: 07875 401114

E: [email protected]

www.wesonator.co.ukPhoto by Stefan Lubo. www.stefanlubo.com

“ It’s great to knowthat your masteringjob is in a really safepair of hands.”

STUDIO

2 studios powered by Pro toolsLarge live room with three iso boothsLogic ProDigital PerformerAll styles welcomeResidential accommodation availableIn-house orchestral compositionScores/Film / TV music compositionAccess to severalPhilharmonic orchestras for live purposesMastering / re-mastering3 Preproduction / rehearsal roomsFully Licensed Bar with games facilities

Recent clients include:BBC | Warner Bros | EMI | Euro Sport | PGA

Graphic Nature Ltd18 Mimram Road

HertfordHertfordshire

SG14 1NN

Tel: +44 (0) 1992 558800Fax: +44 (0) 1992 584823Skype ID: [email protected]


Here we see Adam Hall’s general manager, AndrewRichardson, in full-on superhero mode, taking part in the

Christian Aid London to Paris bike ride.The gruelling, four-day marathon, which had cyclists covering

an average of 75 miles per day from July 22nd to 26th, is a bigfund-raiser for the Christian charity, earning the organisationupwards of £230,000. Richardson added a good £2,000 to theamount. Those interested in this or other Chirstian Aid charity

events should visit christianaid.org.uk.

PULP FICTION Richard Hawley, best known as theguitarist for Britpop band Pulp, fillsup while recording vocals for hisnew solo album, Truelove's Gutter.Hawley is using Telefunken’sElektroakustick U47 valvemicrophone to capture his folornvocals. We regret calling Pulp aBritpop band because, as frontmanJarvis cocker once said: “Pop is afizzy drink, rock is monumental.”

The last word in Audio Pro

The Audio Pro paparazzi is infiltrating all audio events, snapping away for our

monthly Mixdown, which features friendly faces of people in the business and

shots from industry events. If you have any pictures from an event that you

would like us to include, please send them to [email protected].

PIC OF THE MONTH

HOW IT’S DONEBuilt to Spill’s critically acclaimed album Keep it Like a Secret is adense and melodic album featuring lead guitarist Doug Martsch’smassive guitar sounds and Neil Young-esque vocal sytlings.Producer Phil Eck recorded the album ar Bear Creek studios inWoodinville, Washington with overdubs done at Avast! Recordingin Seattle, Washington (see Desert Island Desks, page 58).Recorded on Bear Creek’s Trident TSM console to two-inch tape,Keep it like a Secret also benefitted from the classic collection ofoutboard gear at Bear Creek and Avast’s API console.

IN HOUSE MUSICIntent Media’s group advertisingmanager Lesley Blumson is bestknown for reminding Audio Pro’sDarrell Carter of his targets. But,as you can see here, she startedher engineering career early at thetender age of 12. Her father, JohnMcDiarmid, was hired byEuphonix to open its first UKoffice and Blumson was eager totwiddle the knobs in their demoroom. McDiarmid is anexperienced audio engineer whohas also held positions at Neveand Focusrite.

>>www.audioprointernational.com audioPRO September 2009 57

LATITUDE

This family’s father gets a sternwarning from mum as hebemoans his tuna sandwich at theLatitude festival. Held inHenham Park in Southwold, UK,even headliners The Pet ShopBoys, Grace Jones and Nick Caveand the Bad Seeds could notappease her. To the beer tent...

POSERS

LOFTY SOUND: Nexo’sIrish distributor, Rea Sound,recently supplied North Ireland’sLoft Sound with a 24 box GeoS12 system. A young company,Loft has expanded from its placein the corporate market tobecome a forerunner in thenorth of Ireland for concert andfestival gigs. Loft Sounds hasenjoyed a long and relationshipwith Rea Sound and its in-houseback-up service.

Digico and Soundtracs’ technical director, John Stadius, takes this

month’s title for Audio Fish of the Month with this 20 pound pike that

he pulled out of the freshwaters of Cobham, Surrey, UK. Send pictures

of your big catch to [email protected]

SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHTThe ladies of The Saturdays strike a pose with Sennheiser microphones. The UK pop stars chose the

company’s microphones and monitors for their summer tour dates.The concerts, which included slots supporting Take That in addition to their own The Work Tour,featured all five members of the band singing into SKM 935 mics with ew 300 IEM G2s providing

the in-ear audio.

Fairchild 660 & 670Ordinarily, we wouldn’t pull out the second Audio Archetypes ‘big gun’just one month after the Pultec equaliser, but with the sad passing of the

eminent Les Paul it seemed only right that we pay homage to his proaudio legacy – the greatest compressor of all time: the Fairchild 660/670.

Paul himself didn’t design the device, but he set the ball rolling bycommissioning Estonian-born Rein Narma to build him a limiter. A

refugee from Soviet Russia, living in New York and working as anengineer at Gotham Recording, Narma had cut his teeth as a

broadcast/recording tech for the US Army during the Nuremberg trials.He had initially impressed Paul by modifying his first eight-track.Narma’s design was so remarkable that word soon reached serial

entrepreneur and owner of 30 patents Sherman Fairchild. Fairchildlicensed the design from Narma but retained him as chief designer at his

new firm, Fairchild Recording Equipment Corp. Its two products, thestereo 670 and mono 660, graced almost every pro recording of the 60s.Until recently, the 670s changed hands for up to US$30,000, but theiraverage price has now slipped a little due to Analgue Tube’s brilliant

recreation (nominated for an Audio Pro Award, see page 18). I can’t helpbut imagine that somewhere amid one of the worlds most prized

collections of musical equipment, left behind by the venerable Les Paul,sits the first model ever made. Lord only knows what that one’s worth…

AUDIO ARCHETYPES

AUDIO FISH OFTHE MONTH


To discuss advertising contact Darrell Carter on 01992 535647 [email protected] editorial enquiries email Andrew Low [email protected] or call 01992 535646

Intent Media is a

member of the Audit

Bureau of Circulation

and the Periodical

Publishers Association

Audio Pro International is published 11 times a year by Intent Media

~ Saxon House, 6A St. Andrew Street, Hertford SG14 1JA, England

© Intent Media 2009. No part of this publication may be

reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission

of the copyright owners. Printed by Manson Group, AL3 6PZ If you or one of your colleagues would like to request a

subscription to Audio Pro International, please email

[email protected] or call 01580 883848

SUBSCRIPTIONSUK: Free Europe: £60 Rest of world: £90

ISSN: 1755-4918

If you would like to receive your own copy of Audio Pro International, please email our

subscriptions department on: [email protected] or call 01580 883848A

A>>

AVAST! RECORDING’S STUARTHALLERMAN ON THE TRIDENTA-RANGE AND API LEGACYAvast! Recording fields two lovely large-frame analog audiodesks. Since I’ve been assigned to desert island music recording duty,I’m choosing whether to bring Avast’s classic Trident A-Range consoleor our ’90s era API Legacy desk. I’ve elected to take the API Legacyalong to this beachfront. The sliders on the Trident would be tooexposed to sand!

The API fulfils many requirements of a studio mixer – it soundsgreat, with an all-discrete audio path. Its controls seem minimalist andare labelled in clear nomenclature, so it’s easy to teach a guest engineerhow to operate it, yet it is capable of inventive routing and patching andhas many more inputs and auxes than would appear. The uptown/APIautomation on it is also easy to learn and use. In half a song, anyengineer knows his way around the desk and its automation.

So, in addition to sounding fantastic and being easy to operate,another function of a console for a studio operation is to attractproducers and bands. The API has been wonderful for doing that hereat Avast! Studios and I hope to see your projects on my tropical desertisland soon.> avastrecording.com

THE’RE BEHIND MEAREN’T THEY? Karen Partridge is less thanimpressed as she is attacked byover zealous crab people at thisyear’s Glade Festival.

Glade was moved to MatterlyBowl in Hampshire, UK fromWasing Estate due to the strictnoise regulations enforced bythe Berkshire council.

Partridge has only one thingto say about the festival: “Thiswould never have happened atThe Big Chill.”

GLAD AT GLADE???

Bastille Day: July 14th is the most important national holiday inFrance. For over 200 years people have celebrated the storming of theBastille and the start of the French Revolution. Part of the celebrationincludes a military parade on the Champs-Elysées with brass marchingbands from the French military. More than 100,000 spectators joinedthis year’s festivities.

The French integrator BS Technology used a Riedel RockNet digitalaudio network at the Bastille Day celebration in Paris. Apex deliveredthe RockNet equipment for the event.

audio pro september 2009 - issue 22

Documents

field day festival

alive music festival

rainy day

festival stages

festival season

londons big

big boxes

gladeromanias big noise