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Friday, July 24, 2009

Eighth Day Deploys Four DiGiCo SD8 Consoles To Main Stages Of Bonnaroo Festival & Hot 97 Summer Jam

At the annual Hot 97, Eighth Day supported all acts, including Mary J. Blige, Jadakiss, T-Pain, Young Jeezy and Elephant Man, while at Bonnaroo, they handled the main music stage (in addition to a handful of the secondary stages) for a diverse lineup that included Erikah Badu, Wailing Souls, Snoop Dogg, Galactic, The Itals, and Rodrigo Y Gabriella

Eighth Day Sound recently did double-duty on two major events, the Hot 97 Summer Jam at Giants Stadium in New York, and then moving south to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee. In both cases, the Highland Heights, Ohio-based sound reinforcement company provided four DiGiCo SD8 digital mixing consoles.

At the annual Hot 97 Summer Jam, Eighth Day supported all acts, including Mary J. Blige, Jadakiss, T-Pain, Young Jeezy and Elephant Man, while at Bonnaroo, they handled the main music stage (in addition to a handful of the secondary stages) for a diverse lineup that included Erikah Badu, Wailing Souls, Snoop Dogg, Galactic, The Itals, and Rodrigo Y Gabriella.

For each event, Eighth Day Director of Touring Operations Owen Orzack specified two sets of DiGiCo SD8 consoles—two at FOH and two on monitors.

“Budgets and specs for these festivals were calling for another console,” explains Orzack. “We wanted to offer a console that would fit the same budget, but would also provide a sonic upgrade. The SD8 specifically offered features that lent themselves to this kind of event: great sonics, reliability, ease of use for the guest engineers who might not be familiar with DiGiCo console—these were the hallmarks of what were trying to achieve. Also, real estate is at a premium at these kinds of festivals, and the SD8 offered a small footprint in an all-in-one package.

“Plus, we were able to keep everything in the digital realm—from a digital AES signal out, into a Dolby digital link EQ, all the way down to the amplifiers.”

Eighth Day was able to do some standard input pre-programming prior to the events, enabling the ‘guest’ engineers to have a head start before their set.

Also, having both consoles in tandem on-site allowed for one act to perform downstage using one SD8, while the subsequent band line-checked on the other. At Hot 97, the input list typically ranged from 12-20 for the hip-hop headliners (with the exception of Mary J. Blige, who used 48 channels of the 120 inputs available with the SD8). Bonnaroo’s full-band roster averaged between 24-36 inputs.   

Having two sets of DiGiCo consoles made for an easy day, Orzack notes, “even when things changed, which is inevitable on these kinds of events. At Hot 97, they changed the schedule at the last minute, and we were able to very easily transfer the data on a USB plug from the ‘red’ console to the ‘green’ console without any problem or wasted time.”

For Eighth Day staffer and event FOH engineer, Chris Berry, the SD8’s sonic transparency sets it apart from other digital offerings. “It’s amazing. I can hear every instrument on stage in the mix. There is no need to EQ out the sound of the preamp, which has headroom for days - even when living in clip you hear no distortion. But for these kinds of events, perhaps one of my favorite features is the macro section. Not only are you able to manipulate the screen, but you can also change console options.

“I found that being able to turn the touch sense fader on and off invaluable and can even assign this to a macro for ease of use. The ability to lock the rotary encoders on a per-bank basis - being able to lock a specific aux send in place so that the drum bank had the drum verb send, the vocal bank had the vocal verb locked in - was a new find for me. And being able to lock the gain to the top encoder on the mix faders, made the ‘throw-and-go’ acts easier to set up. With a very clean input section, dynamically large mix window, and flexible functionality, this console makes it difficult to go back to anything else.”

“Working on the SD8 was a great experience,” says Kyle T. Hamilton, FOH engineer with Mary J Blige, “since I had never worked on the console before. I’ve used the D5, so my knowledge of that desk helped me get around. Since it was a festival, I really did not get to stretch out on the console, i.e. use the FX package, or internal comps, I just used what were in the FX racks… I will say that the console sounds great!”

“We polled everyone who stood behind the desk,” Orzack adds, “and the thing that they all said was how much better it sounded than your standard festival-fare console. It was evident that the acts mixed on the SD8 sounded better than those who carried in their own production packages. We heard that from more than one set of folks.”

Managing all the monitor duties for both events was Eight Day’s Ed Ehrbar, who found the ‘select all’ functionality on the desk more than handy. “It’s a great thing to be able to set all of your compressors, EQ, high-pass filters, whatever, on one fader bank just by touching one thing on the screen. That saves a lot of time, especially when you’re doing drums. It’s laid out very well and sounds incredible—as is the SD7—with tons of headroom.

“When I’m not doing these events, I mostly mix monitors for Tom Jones. For the next tour, I’m looking forward to moving over to an SD8. His entire band is on in-ears, but I have to run some in mono and some in stereo because we don’t have enough outputs on our current console for everyone to be stereo. But with the DiGiCo, because it gets 24 stereo outputs, it will be a refreshing change.”

Coming up on the festival agenda for Eighth Day is the Lollapalooza Music Fest in Chicago in early August, on the heels of the All Points West Music & Arts Festival in New Jersey at the end of July. In October, it’s the Austin City Music Festival in Texas. For more information on 8th Day Sound, go to: .

DiGiCo Website

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

On The Road With The Boss; The System & Crew For Bruce Springsteen’s Latest Tour

Appearing in Europe and North America, the system approach is virtually identical on both sides of the Atlantic

Touring in support of the new album, “Working On A Dream,”  Bruce Springsteen and the venerable E Street Band are once again utilizing the services and systems provided by Audio Analysts.

With North American dates throughout the spring and late summer and European dates in between, the approach is virtually identical on both sides of the Atlantic.

Front of House Engineer John Cooper worked with Albert Lecesse, Co-Owner and President of Engineering for Audio Analysts, in putting together the main system for the tour.

“Albert and I are constantly in discussions about how best to proceed with the PA touring plan,” explained Cooper. “We opted for JBL VerTec because it’s versatile – a customizable PA solution to tour with.”

Cooper mixes on a Digidesign Profile digital console, which he chooses over anything he’s tried. “I’m fortunate to be able to use whatever I want to use. At this point, the Profile has proven to be very reliable.”

He explains that he likes the ease of use, paired with the audio quality of the console. “I’ve become attached to using plug-ins for insert processing. Currently I am using a number of McDSP plug-ins, as well as the Waves Live bundle. Both product lines work great.”

For vocal microphones, Cooper made a change over previous tours, selecting Shure SM58 on all vocals. “I’m a bit of an old-school guy when it comes to mic selection. I have run the gauntlet of boutique mics, and I always come back to the industry standard. They just work!”

For background vocals, he time offsets them as a stereo group to give the vocals a stereo image – “A great place to sit around Bruce’s vocals. As far as Bruce is concerned, it’s pretty straight-ahead, with the Waves Renaissance compressor plug-in paired with a McDSP MC 2000 plug-in to put him on top.” Cooper processes background vocals with the Profile onbaord facilities.

Front of House System Engineer Brett Dicus details that the VerTec Series line arrays are powered by Crown I-Tech and I-Tech HD Series amplifiers under the control and monitoring of Harman HiQnet System Architect technology.

“In any given show,” he elaborates, “We have 10 hangs of PA, primarily using the VT4889 and VT4880 for the main hangs and then VT4888 for the additional outfill/delay and rear hangs, with VT4887 for frontfill surrounding the stage.”

The VerTec line arrays are easy for the crew to set up, taking approximately six hours to get fully into place. “Our setup in the field is also made very easy by the system design by Albert and Audio Analysts. The packaging, the cabling, and the prep is a very important part of the system,” Dicus adds.

By having John “Boo” Bruey also on the tour to serve as System Engineer, Dicus is free to handle the archival/recording of each show as well as more IT-related tasks. With the tight schedule, having two system techs doubles what can be accomplished within the same timespan.

Monitor world is a complex affair, with stage left and stage right setups helmed by Monitor Engineers Monty Carlo and Troy Milner,  respectively. Both positions are outfitted with a Yamaha PM1D digital mixing console, a mix of wedges, and in-ear systems.

Monitor wedges are Audio Analysts SLP (super low profile) 1 x 12-inch, 2 x 12 -inch, and 1 x 15-inch models, along with JBL VT4888 (four per side) for stage fill. On the IEM side, there are Sennheiser 300G2 systems with Westone ES2 and Ultimate Ears UE7 earphones. Aphex HeadPods with headphone amplifiers are also deployed for two musicians.

About 60 RF channels are in use during each show, with Sennheiser G2 systems and Shure UR Series for instruments (G1, J5, L3 ranges). The crew reports no RF difficulties to this point, with additional setup and coordination assistance available with the Shure Wireless Workbench and Professional Wireless IAS software with a TTIRF scanner.

Jeff MacKay is Managing Editor of Live Sound International.

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Be sure to take PSW’s Photo Gallery Tour of the crew and system out in support of Springsteen & Company.

Front of House PA
JBL VerTec VT4889 Line Array Modules (18 deep front, 14 deep sides)
JBL VerTec VT4880 Subwoofers (12 flown per side, 4 stacked per side)
JBL Vertec 4888 Line Array Modules (Rear fill - 4 arrays, 12 deep)

Front of House Amplification
Crown I-Tech IT-5000HD
Crown I-Tech IT-12000HD

Front of House Console
Digidesign Profile 96-channel with Pro Tools recording rack

Front of House Outboard
Dolby Lake Processors
Tascam CD burners

Stage Monitor Consoles
2 x Yamaha PM1D v2 96 in/64 out

Stage Monitoring
JBL VerTec VT4888 (4 per side, stage fill)
Audio Analysts 1 x 12-inch
Audio Analysts 1 x 15-inch
Audio Analysts 2 x 12-inch

Monitor Amplification
Crown I-Tech IT-400

Personal Monitor Systems
Westone ES2 earphones
Ultimate Ears UE7 earphones
Sennheiser G2 IEM systems

Wired Microphones
Shure KSM32
Shure KSM137
Shure Beta 98
Shure Beta 91
Shure SM57
Shure VP88

Wireless Microphones
Shure UR
Sennheiser G2

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Midas, Klark Teknik Appoint New Distributor To Serve Singapore & Malaysia

The move comes in a bid to offer superior, dedicated sales and support across the region

Midas and Klark Teknik have appointed a new distribution company, Quad Professional, to serve Singapore and Malaysia, in a bid to provide superior, dedicated sales and support across the region.

“The Singapore market is strategically very important in the Asian concert sound business and it is vital that our distribution channel has the right people in place to service and support our customers there,” says Midas and Klark Teknik Sales and Marketing Director David Cooper.

“The team which have set up this new company, Vincent Tan, Chung Wah Khiew and their new product manager have over five decades of pro audio experience between them, which includes many years of working with the Midas and KT brands already,” he adds. “I am really happy that these talented people will be working with us to support present and future Midas and Klark Teknik customers in Singapore and Malaysia.”

Quad Professional Sales Director Vincent Tan states, “Quad Professional was set up with the philosophy of providing quality services to customers and also the audio industry. Midas has always been linked to innovative and outstanding products, with no compromise. We can therefore provide the best level of services and products to the industry. We are honored and excited to be appointed as Midas’ and Klark Teknik’s new distribution partner for our region.”

Midas has also appointed new Asian distributors for Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Thailand this year.

Midas Website
Klark Teknik Website

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Yamaha Commercial Audio To Present Digital Sound Reinforcement Class In Kentucky

The class provides complete audio system design and networking solutions and will focus on set up techniques ranging from microphones to large-scale loudspeakers

The Yamaha Commercial Audio Training Seminars (YCATS) group will hold a two-day Digital Sound Reinforcement (DSR) 101 class on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 11 and 12 in Covington, Kentucky.

Sponsored in part by Shure, the class provides complete audio system design and networking solutions and will focus on set up techniques ranging from microphones to large-scale loudspeakers. Topics include: gain construction, attenuator settings, and SPL estimation.

Yamaha DSR101 course components include fundamental concepts: dBSPL, dBu. dBV, calculations, and level management; cables for various signal formats, word clock distribution; microphone techniques: microphone characteristics, how to select a microphone, digital technology; wireless technology: how to maximize the benefits of wireless systems and managing frequencies; digital vs. analog systems; speakers and processors: designing output systems and level management for system protection.

The two-day course is designed to assist audio engineers, system designers, system techs, audio operators in houses of worship, live sound venue/tour engineers, obtain a better understanding of available solutions.

In order to maximize the Digital SR System 101 training seminar and demo experience, attendance for the seminar is limited. There is no cost for attending and breakfast and lunch will provided. Travel and accommodations are the responsibility of the attendee.

Attendees must reserve their spot by August 7. Seminar details can be found at http://www.yamaha.com/ycats/digisr101/description.asp.

For Registration visit: https://www.yamaha.com/ycats/digisr101/registration.asp  The location and class time will be provided upon registering on line.

Yamaha Commercial Audio Website

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Mega Audio Utilizes Soundcraft Si3 Digital Console For Outdoors Celebration In Honduras

The event commemorated the 70th Anniversary of the Evangelical Reformed Church of La Lima

Mega Audio recently supplied the audio reinforcement system, including a Soundcraft Si3 digital console, for a concert commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Evangelical Reformed Church of La Lima in Honduras.

The two-night, one-day Evangelistic Crusade Concert included the participation of Ministers of National Praise, Worship Ministry Children’s Church and Evangelical Reformed Church of La Lima, Lourdes Ministries, Carlos Martinez and Ministry Juda, and Roca Fuerte Shekina.

Based in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Mega Audio specializes in the rental of professional audio, lighting and large video systems for projects including conventions, conferences, seminars, concerts and evangelistic religious events throughout Honduras.

For this event, Mega Audio needed a system with sufficient flexibility to facilitate seamless and quick transition between the numerous performers. 

To that end, the company deployed the Soundcraft Si3 digital live sound console at the front of house position. “We chose the Si3 for its exceptional sound quality and for its speed and ease of setup,” says Luis Roberto Lopez Sanchez of Mega Audio.

According to Sanchez, the Si3 played a crucial role in the event’s success. “We had a large number of bands playing at this event, but thanks to the Si3, we were able to make quick and easy transitions between performers,” Sanchez says. “We could also easily make individual adjustments according to the preferences of each musician and singer.“

Boasting intuitive operation and high input and bus counts, the Soundcraft Si3 digital console is designed for live use on both touring sound systems and in fixed installations. Above each fader on the Si3 is a rotary encoder, the function of which changes according to the mode selected.

This ‘bank’ of encoders, known as the VCS or Virtual Channel Strip, can be set to control every function of a channel (known as Channel mode), so mic gain, EQ, dynamics, auxes, panning are all controlled in the same manner as an analog channel strip.

“The event was a tremendous success!” Sanchez adds. “The client and the attendees were satisfied with the quality and fidelity of the sound. The Si3 is an indispensable working tool and a great help for my business. I congratulate Soundcraft on their development of this terrific console.”

Soundcraft Website

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Monday, July 20, 2009

NWGE & Martin Audio Put Focus On Sound At Revelstoke Music Festival In British Columbia

“We were tasked to step things up for the festival as their previous audio supplier had used conventional speaker systems that washed sound in areas, causing some noise bylaw issues. The Martin Audio W8LM line array system was perfect for this job." - Steve Williams, Northwest Global Entertainment

The recent seventh annual Revelstoke Music Festival brought blues, rock, acoustic, Latin and World Music artists together in a sylvan outdoor setting on the Columbia River near the Selkirk Mountains and Glacier Pass in southeast British Columbia, with Northwest Global Entertainment (NWGE) of Kelowna, BC providing focused, high quality audio for the outdoor venue with a wide range Martin Audio system components.

The eclectic musical lineup including Donald Ray Johnson, Nuna’Y, Red-Eye Empire, Kyemara, Valdy, Rick Garvin, Blind Spot, Ghost Brothers, Lily Come Down and others performing at Revelstoke Centennial Park.

As NWGE’s Steve Williams explains, “We were tasked to step things up for the festival as their previous audio supplier had used conventional speaker systems that washed sound in areas, causing some noise bylaw issues. The Martin Audio W8LM line array system was perfect for this job, as it provided exceptional coverage and performance, while allowing us to focus and contain the sound where it was needed.”

With a crew consisting of Williams and Ian MacDonald (FOH engineers), Christopher Mayer & Perry MacDonald (Monitor engineers) and Jose Antunes, Greg Anderson, Julian Deacon and Jason Netherton (System technicians), NWGE designed a compact system with Martin Audio’s DISPLAY and Viewpoint software to keep the music focused on the audience.

NWGE used seven Martin Audio W8LM’s and one W8LMD (downfill) per side with eight WSX subs per side powered by MA2.8s and MA4.2s power amplifiers using DX1 digital loudspeaker management. The monitor system consisted of Martin Audio LE400C Monitors powered by Martin audio MA4.8Qs. The front of house console was a Midas Verona, with a Soundcraft console utilized for monitoring.

According to Williams, everyone at Revelstoke appreciated the audio quality achieved by the system. “The festival organizers were ecstatic with the sound this year,” he explains. “The artists consistently commented on the exceptional quality of the sound on stage and in the audience. Vendors and patrons of the festival enjoyed a significant improvement in the sound quality and coverage.

“Headliner Donald Ray Johnson said he’d never heard sound so good on a festival stage and was thrilled to perform there. And, most importantly, there were no noise bylaw complaints and the Revelstoke Music Festival directors were extremely pleased with the performance of the audio system. Everyone is looking forward to next year’s festival event.”

Concluding for the NWGE crew, Steve adds, “We were really pleased with the sound quality and coverage. The W8LM speakers are small and very punchy. The Marin Audio amps provided very warm sound and we had a great level of headroom left in the rack. Minimal EQ was needed to get a great mix platform. Martin Audio really rocks.”

Martin Audio Website

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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Midas PRO6 Moves Into Corporate Events With First U.K. Sale

drpgroup took the decision to purchase the PRO6 having outgrown its previous digital console within a year of buying it

Communications company drpgroup has purchased the first Midas PRO6 digital console to be sold into the British corporate events market.

Established almost 30 years ago, drpgroup has grown into one of Europe’s largest and most experienced fully integrated communication and presentation organizations. Until four years ago, all equipment was dry-hired, but the company has undertaken a concerted investment program, building up a state-of-the-art inventory to which the PRO6 is the latest addition.

drpgroup took the decision to purchase the PRO6 having outgrown its previous digital console within a year of buying it.

“After having a PRO6 on demo, we took the decision that we needed one immediately,” says Ian Ruhback, drpgroup’s head of sound. “Everything is instantly accessible and nothing is menu-based. A lot of the other digital consoles we have encountered use menu-based systems which don’t really suit our purposes.

“The content of the conferences and events we produce often requires a really quick turnaround; things are always changing and we don’t have time to go through overly complicated menus. Any system we use has to be very user friendly, and the PRO6’s POP groups make it an even more accessible device. In my opinion, because the PRO6 uses XL8 technology it’s definitely the best sounding digital desk on the market.”

The PRO6 was used on a small managers’ briefing for Thomas Cook before being deployed on its first major event – a 5,000-delegate Sainsbury’s conference at the NEC.

Midas Website

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Universal Audio Announces Trident Audio As New Plug-In Partner

Digital emulations of Trident consoles to join UAD platform for Mac and PC

Universal Audio has announced the addition of Trident Audio Developments to its roster of premium plug-in partners. The name “Trident” - by way of parent company PMI Audio Group - is notable not only for the U.K. studio that produced a litany of classic recordings, but also for the manufacturer that spawned top console designs such as the A-Range desk.

“It’s well-understood by the audio production community throughout the world that Universal Audio is an unstoppable force in the circuit emulation business,” said PMI President Alan Hyatt. “Their good faith to involve the holders of the original designs and trademarks shows respect to the IP owners and creative contributors such as Trident designer Malcolm Toft. We couldn’t be happier to partner with a company so dedicated to getting every last detail right.”

Universal Audio’s President Matt Ward commented, “Universal Audio has always had a huge respect for the classic Trident designs, and of course Trident’s sonic contribution to some of the best records ever made. We’re very pleased to add Trident to the UAD product line, and I’m certain that our more than 30,000 users will agree.”

Added UA Plug-In Product Manager Will Shanks, “Trident’s indelible impact on the sound of record making is nearly impossible to gauge. The consoles made available to Trident’s staff, and the studios fortunate enough to acquire them, were legendary in both sound and reliability. Every record made on a Trident was uniquely and quite positively altered by the sonic imprint of its distinctive tone. It is exciting to offer this same tone on the UAD Powered Plug-In Platform.”

Universal Audio Website

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Friday, July 10, 2009

Euphonix Celebrates Film Dubbing Success At Todd-AO Hollywood & Pinewood Studios

Both events featured discussions and presentations from Academy Award-winning sound mixers

Euphonix recently played host to back-to-back audio industry events celebrating the achievements of hi-end film studios in both Los Angeles and London.

On June 25 in Los Angeles, Euphonix and Todd-AO threw a party at the legendary Todd-AO Hollywood film studios celebrating the grand re-opening of the facility’s two newly renovated Stage 1 and 2 dubbing theaters, each featuring a dual-operator Euphonix System 5 digital audio mixing console.

This brings the total of Euphonix film mixing consoles at Todd AO to eight.

Over 100 guests enjoyed cocktails, dinner, and tours of the facility. Later in the evening, guests gathered in Stage 1 to listen to a presentation given by multiple Academy Award-winning Sound Mixer Mike Minkler, who screened examples of his work including clips from Black Hawk Down, Dreamgirls and a sneak preview of his latest dubbing project, Quentin Tarantino’s new film Inglorious Bastards.

Minkler discussed how he approaches mixing on the Euphonix System 5 consoles and answered audience questions.

“The Todd-AO celebration was a tremendous success,” said Euphonix CEO Martin Kloiber, “We were honored to have guests from all the high-end studios in Hollywood, who took time from their very busy schedules to spend an evening with us. And we are especially grateful to Mike Minkler for sharing some of his insights into film mixing.”

One week later and halfway around the world, Euphonix Europe was hosting a similar event at Pinewood Studio in Buckinghamshire, England.

Dubbed as an evening to “Escape the City,” guests were treated to food and drink and given the opportunity to meet and talk with Academy Award-winning Sound Mixers Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke, who won the 2008 Sound Mixing Academy Award for their work on Slumdog Millionaire.

A long time Euphonix client, the Pinewood Studios Group has been steadily upgrading their facilities since 2003 when they added the first of two Euphonix System 5 consoles at Shepperton.

In 2008 the renovations were completed with the installation of two new Euphonix System 5 dual-operator film-mixing consoles at their Pinewood location.  Notably, in the June 2009 issue of MIX magazine Euphonix-equipped Pressburger Theatre at Pinewood was one of only 15 studios chosen as “The Class of 2009: This Year’s Coolest New Studios.”

“We wanted to show our appreciation for the continued support of the Pinewood Studios Group,“ said Mark Hosking, Director of Sales for Euphonix Europe, “and this event was a terrific opportunity to bring together the UK film community for a relaxing evening in great environment and share a glass or two.”

Euphonix Website

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Ocean Way’s Record One Studios Re-Opens After Five-Year Lockout

First project in new film mixing studio is Disney's "G-Force"

After five years of lockout by producer Dr. Dre, Ocean Way’s famed Record One studios have reopened. 

The first project was mixing Trevor Rabin’s score for Disney’s upcoming “G-Force,” about a specially trained squad of guinea pigs out to save the world from evil.  Tommy Vicari and Steve Kempster were mix engineers.

The newly reopened Record One features a half-million dollar remodel and in Studio A, the installation of the largest and most sophisticated SSL Film console ever built, which was acquired from Todd-AO Scoring when it shut down operations in Studio City. 

Studio B features a large tracking room and an SSL custom 9080J console.  All studios feature LCR custom-designed Ocean Way monitor systems. 

Additional amenities include private lounges, full gourmet kitchen/dining room and a sumptuous living room with classic furniture and artworks.

In addition to recent top sellers by Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent, some of the many historic albums recorded at Record One include Quincy Jones’ “Back on the Block” and his follow-up, “Juke Joint,” and Michael Jackson’s “Bad,” “Dangerous,” and “HIStory,” all of which were recorded by Bruce Swedien and received Grammys for Best Engineered Album and sold in excess of 65 million records collectively.

Ocean Way/Record One Website

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Monday, July 06, 2009

Dual Allen & Heath iLive Consoles Bridge Broadcast, Live Sound Across Church Campuses And Continents

Evangelical contemporary church selects two Allen & Heath iLive consoles – an iLive-176 for the main sanctuary and an iLive-80 for the broadcast center located in a separate building

Christ’s Church of the Valley in San Dimas, CA, has been growing steadily in recent years, making a switch to digital audio mixing a virtual necessity.

With multiple locations, six weekend services, and a broadcast component that includes live streaming and re-broadcast in New Zealand and Australia, the number of audio paths has increased far beyond the capabilities of conventional analog.

To meet these needs, this evangelical contemporary church selected two Allen & Heath iLive consoles – an iLive-176 for the main sanctuary and an iLive-80 for the broadcast center, located in a separate building.

Patrick Gourley, technical director for the church, worked with Anaheim-based Sound Bridge during the console selection process.

“All our engineers are volunteers,” he explains. “So in addition to all the technical requirements, we had to find something with a fast learning curve. We field tested eight or nine digital consoles, either at trade shows or going to an existing installation in the area, and kept coming back to the iLive.”

“What drew me to iLive was having all the dynamic processing on board, with dedicated knobs for everything on the channel strip,” notes Gourley. “Coming from an analog background, it made the most sense in terms of layout. For most of our engineers, we could get them up and mixing in under an hour.”

Installation was very simple, consisting of replacing the old analog console with the control surface and installing the iDR10 mix rack into the existing racks at FOH. “Our existing snake was already terminated at the console,” he recalls, “so there was no need to locate the mix rack remotely. With all the effects being onboard the iLive, we had plenty of space available in our old effects rack.”

When the church’s broadcast needs expanded, they stayed with Allen & Heath. “We bought the iLive-176 knowing we would be adding a broadcast console. That was one of the big selling points,” Gourley recalls. “Originally, we were running three different matrices on the iLive-176, but adding an iLive-80 with a dedicated engineer for the broadcast mix really gave us the flexibility and quality control we needed.”

The broadcast audio is mixed in a separate building about 500 feet from the sanctuary. The two consoles are connected with a single Cat5 cable, with a Linksys hub to boost the signal a bit. The inputs are sent from the stage to the iLive-176 and relayed to the iLive-80 there.

The stereo mix is then sent back to the video booth in the church for capture along with the switched live video on an Apple G5 computer. “What’s amazing is, even though we’re sending the audio 500 feet there and 500 feet back, we can’t sense any audible delay,” Gourley notes.

After Sunday’s first service, Senior Pastor Jeff Vines’ message and any special elements are burned to DVD and delivered to the church’s auxiliary campus for use in the morning service. The recorded service is also sent to New Zealand and Australia, where it goes on network TV after local production elements are added.

In the main sanctuary, the iLive-176 handles both the house and monitor mixes. Typically, there are 24 to 36 inputs coming from the stage, ten more from wireless systems located at the console, plus auxiliary inputs for CD and DVD sources. That still leaves plenty of inputs available for special events, like the recent production of “Beauty and the Beast” that required 24 channels of wireless.

While most of the praise team uses the Aviom personal monitor system, some still use traditional floor wedges. To simplify this process, the engineer creates and saves four wedge mixes directly from the stage during rehearsals, using a touchscreen laptop to control the iLive wirelessly.

With three different worship teams on weekends plus rehearsals and evening events during the week, it’s no surprise the Patrick Gourley points to scene save and recall as the biggest advantage of going digital. “Different engineers have different styles, and now everyone can have the channel strips laid out exactly how they like. And being able to change scenes within a service adds another dimension to what we can do.”

Allen & Heath iLive Digital Mixing System Website

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Sound Construction And Supply Unveils New Divinity Series Console/AV Gear Desk For Churches

Desks come in three sizes to handle a variety of console sizes and are available in oak or maple finishes

The new Divinity Series from Sound Construction and Supply is a desk available in three sizes to accommodate a variety of mixing consoles, ranging from 24 to 40 channels, with aesthetics that discretely fit into any church environment.

“We realize that audio equipment is an integral part of many worship services,” explains Todd Beeten, president of Sound Construction and Supply. “We can also appreciate that the equipment should not be the focal point of the room. Our objective with this new line of technical furniture is to ‘camouflage’ the recording console in the most tasteful, elegant manner.”

In addition to accommodating mixing consoles, Divinity Series desks also offer space for storing additional audio/AV equipment, such as wireless microphone systems and outboard gear. The lower portion of the desk contains a built-in 6-space equipment rack.

The Divinity Series desk is hand-made in the USA, and comes 99 percent pre-assembled. Finish choices are oak and maple.

Sound Construction and Supply Website

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Midas and Klark Teknik Take U.K. Product Distribution In-House

“With the U.K. being one of the most influential markets in concert touring, it warrants direct access to the factory.” - Bob Hughes, Midas/Klark Teknik

Midas and Klark Teknik have brought U.K. product distributorship in house, with Rob Hughes, previously employed by Shuttlesound to handle the brands, joining Midas and Klark Teknik to continue his role as U.K. sales consultant.

“With the U.K. being one of the most influential markets in concert touring, it warrants direct access to the factory,” says Hughes. “With this move, U.K. customers will have the direct support of not only me, but also Karl Brant and his service team, technical sales manager Jason Kelly and brand development manager Richard Ferriday, plus the factory demo facilities.”

Adds Midas and Klark Teknik sales and marketing director David Cooper, “This is a fascinating time for Midas and Klark Teknik, both in the UK and internationally, and the future for the brands looks very exciting. As Midas and KT are UK based, it makes sense for the Kidderminster HQ to run UK distribution.

“Given the ongoing success of the Midas XL8 and PRO6 digital systems and increasingly complex Klark Teknik products, it’s important that we maintain strong personal relationships with rental companies, sound engineers and end users, which the move will facilitate. This closer relationship with our customers will have the added benefit of providing useful feedback for both new and existing products.

“Over the past couple of months we have worked in conjunction with Shuttlesound regarding the move, and by taking Midas and KT out of Shuttlesound, it will allow them to free up valuable resources and focus on the Electro-Voice brand, so customers win all round.”

Midas Website
Klark Teknik Website

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British Indie Band Doves On Global Tour With DiGiCo SD7 & SD8 Digital Consoles

The group needed compact consoles to handle FOH and monitor necessities, with a small footprint that could handle the varying venue sizes with ease

British indie rockers Doves are currently headlining their first world tour in four years in support of their latest and fourth outing, Kingdom of Rust. Front of House Engineer Paul Ramsay specified a DiGiCo SD7 digital console for the U.K./Ireland bigger venue shows and a DiGiCo SD8 digital console for the smaller club tour in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Monitor Engineer Ian Barton has been using an SD8 for the entire tour run.

As a result of the band’s streamlined transportation accommodations for the U.S. leg of the tour (band bus plus gear trailer), plus the moderate venue sizes (1,000 to 3,000 capacity), and a scaled-down production budget, the group needed compact consoles to handle FOH and monitor necessities, with a small footprint that could handle the varying venue sizes with ease.

“Size was definitely a big issue for this tour,” Ramsay explains. “The gear trailer needed to fit everything—from the band’s backline equipment, my FOH console and outboard gear, monitor console and in-ear systems, snakes, mic stands, sub boxes, and also a projector, lighting desk, back drops, etc. Basically, it’s our entire production in a trailer. The FOH and monitor consoles fit the space with room to spare at the back.”

Ramsay has been mixing on DiGiCo consoles since the start of 2003, first on a D5 and later an SD7. Working on an SD7 initially on tour with The Who in 2008, he was impressed with its user-friendly look and control surface right out of the gate.

“I think it is stunning! I love all the functions, the color-coding, and it has a very analog feel to it,” Ramsay says. “The dynamic EQ and multiband compressor were a huge bonus, not to mention the I/O counts. After hearing it, it does sound slightly different than the D5; the high-end sounds sweeter and the low-end tighter.”

When he eventually migrated to the SD8 for the first time, he was somewhat unprepared for what to expect. “At that point, I hadn’t actually mixed on one, but what blew me away about the SD8 was when I was pre-programming the show on my laptop using the RCE (Remote Control Editor). I didn’t think its technology would be so much like the SD7, especially being so much less expensive. But in fact, the sound quality is equally as good. OK, so it doesn’t have the multi-band or dynamic EQ, or the dual engine redundancy, but with only one screen it’s still really quick to get around.

“I had to ring DiGiCo to confirm the cost (U.S. list $53,000). I would have still been impressed if it had been double the money. I have now had the chance to mix the same band on first the SD7 and then the SD8, and I felt quite comfortable moving from one to the other, and the sound quality was equally as good.”

As for inputs, the tour requirement is approximately 60 inputs total—from the stage, for various stereo feeds and effects. “We are running 42 inputs from the stage and I have some VT playback at FOH for the intro, which is a stereo feed. I’m running three internal and five external stereo effects, with an iPod and mic at FOH, which brings up to around 60 inputs total. As we are using house PA generally, it adds just a left and right to this and maybe an infill or delay, so that’s maybe an additional four outputs, and I also have sub setup on a mono aux if required. In addition, I’ve got eight stereo effects sends, a couple of sub groups for kick and snare, which I compress at FOH on internal compressors, and that’s it. It’s pretty simple and straightforward.”

In order to keep his packaging small, Ramsay is using all the internal EQ as well as delays when necessary on inputs and outputs. In addition, he’s using snapshots for each song, which changes faders, dynamics, mutes, pans, and internal/external effects fired via MIDI. So at the start of each song, he’s already ready for it with adjustments made and programming set, and can just concentrate on listening and tweaking the mix.

Virtual soundchecking has literally removed the need for nightly sound checks, and Ramsay also uses this tool on an Apple MacBook Pro in tandem with a RME MADIface, to archive shows nightly. “I record broadcast wave files straight into the laptop with great results,” he explains. “I’m archiving every show for potential use as a future B-side or a live album, because for the cost of hard drive space, we can literally record every show on the whole tour. In fact, I’m so impressed with the MADIface, I’m buying one for myself.”

On side-stage monitors is engineer Ian Barton (Chemical Brothers, The Charlatans, Air), who is handling 41 inputs and 21 outputs from an SD8—which includes mixes for floor wedges, in-ear monitors, a subwoofer and drum seat ‘thumper’. Apart from a handful of one-offs on a D5 in the past, this was his first experience using a DiGiCo console for a lengthy tour.

“I had used a D5 years ago and found it to be very friendly compared to other digital consoles I had used. With the SD8, I like being able to update snapshot groups or single snapshots with ease, while still having my eye on the artist and show,” Barton says. “Also this console has enough outputs in a single layer to not have to switch constantly between layers during shows—which has been an issue when so much is happening on the stage… knowing what position your board is in needs to be instantaneous! The ability to run two solo outputs for in-ears and wedges independently and simultaneously is easy to do with the SD8. Overall, it sounds great. Having used wedges everyday in the harsh land of U.S. club/theatre touring, this was a dream: Trailer, backline, two SD8s, tour bus… ‘Let’s go!’”

DiGiCo Website

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Friday, July 03, 2009

Top-Flight Sound Reinforcement For A Raucous Week Of Concerts At Arizona’s Annual Cyclefest

Pro Production Services handles the wild ride by combining experience and top components to serve a week of live performances by a roster of A-list artists

Fifty weeks out of the year, WestWorld in Scottsdale, Arizona is an equestrian center and special events facility, but during Arizona Bike Week (ABW), held in early April of this year, the ABW Cyclefest turns WestWorld into a raucous concert venue.

A 27,000 square-foot tent is erected on the premises and dubbed the HandleBar Saloon, and it’s where the majority of the concerts take place during Bike Week.

Arizona Bike Week, which actually spans 10 days, is an annual event that has taken place for the past 13 years in the territory in and around the city of Scottsdale and is the fourth-largest bike festival in the country.

Pre-Rally Days, the five days leading up to Cyclefest, also features concerts, rides and events – including the coronation of Miss Arizona Bike Week – that take place at various towns in the area. This year Pre-Rally Days started off with a concert staged at Chester’s Harley-Davidson in Mesa by the Charlie Daniels Band.

Pro Production Services has been handing production for ABW Cyclefest since 2004, and the Tempe-based company maintains a pretty diverse client base covering everything from fairs and festivals to corporate shows and even events for the White House.

Donovan Mote, director of operations for Pro Production Services out of their Phoenix office, relied on EAW KF750 loudspeakers and BH760 subwoofers driven by Crown I-Tech Series amplifiers to provide the wide horizontal coverage needed for the tent, as well as satisfy rider requirements for the bands coming through. This year’s lineup featured performances by hometown group the Gin Blossoms, Blackfoot, Eddie Money, and Cheap Trick, as well as performances by local bands.

Faced with the physical challenges of staging a large scale production in a tent, Mote has tried various configurations opting this year to go with ground stacked mains positioned in front of a 40- by 40-foot stage, expanded up this year from a 40- by 32-foot stage to satisfy set requirements for Cheap Trick. Crown I-Tech amps provided the power, and Rational Acoustics Smaart was employed by Mote primarily for time alignment of the system.

At front of house and monitors, both analog and digital consoles were represented. “This year we had a Midas XL200 (analog) at front of house, which is kind of our festival workhouse,” Mote says. “It’s really easy to use. There’s not always a lot of time for sound checks and there are charity raffles and things like that that happen in the tent where the concerts occur as well, so something that is really familiar to everyone is pretty important.”

A Midas Heritage 3000 (analog) console was provided for monitors, while Yamaha M7CL digital consoles were situated at both house and monitors. Mote continues, “It’s really kind of an ideal scenario for us, some bands prefer to work on the M7CL because they already had the cards or were more familiar with the console, so we were able to provide the headlining acts what ever they wanted to use.”

Both 12- and 15-inch Radian MicroWedges (the original Dave Rat design that the new EAW monitors of the same name are based upon) were employed on stage, again powered by Crown I-Tech Series, though as Mote recalls, “Several of the acts had in-ears, and we provided some. We used the Shure PSM 700s and the PSM 600s for hard-wired, and Cheap Trick brought out their own set.

“We just picked up Crown I-Tech 4000s for the monitor amp rig and that was the first time we used them all networked. It’s really nice to be able to set up a custom panel and see the status of all the amplifiers and know how much headroom you have.”

“I’ve got our laptops set up so I can monitor all of the (Harman Pro Group HiQnet) System Architect devices, and in this case, it’s the I-Tech Series and a dbx 4800 DriveRack at house,” he continues. “I can also monitor all the wireless systems, and I also have it so I can run either of the M7CLs remotely from the laptop, walking through the crowd making mix adjustments and so forth. To be able to do all that from one laptop is pretty cool.”

The microphone selection is diverse, including AKG C414s and Neumann KM 184s, Shure KSM 9s and a standard selection of Shure SM58s and SM57s. Sennheiser e908s handled toms with Sennheiser 421s for other drum needs.” We just bring out basically two full mic packages and they’ll have pretty much anything that they could want to choose from,” says Mote.

In addition to sound reinforcement, Pro Production Services also provided all staging, lights, video, and backline, with Mote explaining, “More and more these days clients want to have company that they can make one phone call to and have most of their needs, if not all of them, met. So we’ve been trying to diversify our business model to accommodate that.”

He estimates that 50,000 people attended the five days of Cyclefest. “This year there were two other really large festivals that were the exact same time frame, and I hear reports from the other two as well as Bike Week that the numbers were as high as ever and in some cases higher. So while the economy is affecting a lot of people, we’ve been real lucky.”

(Be sure to check out our accompanying PSW Photo Gallery to see a wide range of images of the system, gear and people at Arizona Bike Week/Cyclefest)

Arizona Bike Week Equipment List

Front of House Consoles
Midas XL200
Yamaha M7CL-48

Front of House Processing
Yamaha SPX-2000
Yamaha SPX-990
TC Electronic D-2
BSS DPR-404
dbx 1066
dbx 1074

Front of House Drive
dbx DriveRack 4800
Klark Teknik DN360
Shure P4800

Front of House Loudspeakers
EAW KF750/755
EAW BH760
EAW JF80
Mackie SRM450 (vendor area public address)

Front of House Amplifiers
Crown I-Tech Series

Monitor Consoles
Midas H3000
Yamaha M7CL-48

Monitor Processing
BSS DPR-404
BSS DPR-504
Yamaha SPX-990

Monitor Drive
Klark Teknik DN360

Monitor Amplifiers
Crown I-Tech Series

Monitor Loudspeakers
Radian MicroWedge
EAW KF600i
EAW SB250
EAW SB1000
Buttkicker
Shure PSM 700 wireless IEM
Shure PSM 600 wired IEM

Microphones
Shure UHF-R wireless
Shure
Sennheiser
AKG
Audio-Technica
Neumann

Miscellaneous
Motion Labs Distro
Rational Acoustics Smaart
Harman HiQnet System Architect

Mark Johnson has been involved with audio and video for more than 35 years, including production, manufacturing and writing for various publications.

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