Producer Max Gilkes has upgraded his Brighton-based mastering and post production facility 1 Sonic by installing SADiE 6 software for Mastering and a Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire audio interface.

Gilkes, who founded 1 Sonic eight years ago, says the support offered by Prism Sound was a key factor in his decision to invest in the company’s products.

“I was previously using Peak as a playlist editor and doing most other things on Pro Tools,� he explains. “But as it was time for an upgrade I decided to go with a company that I knew I could have a good working relationship with, and one that was also based in the UK.�

With a client list that includes Ninja Tune, Big Dada, Sony (France), Smart Move Productions, Mr. Bongo, Keep Up, Silverland and Mission, Gilkes is rarely out of the studio. His recent credits have included Fink, Dobie, Roots Manuva, The Skints, Deco Child, Raffertie, Eliza Carthy and Prince Fatty.

The facility itself is mainly used for mastering and mixing, but it also boasts a live room with 8 tie-lines that is large enough to record drums.

“The outboard in the studio is primarily for tracking, so there are some nice pre’s and compressors,â€� Gilkes says. “I also have a master section by Audient, PMC and Yamaha monitors, Pro-Tools, various classic guitar and bass amps and a range of microphones – not to mention an over-used tea pot!â€�

Moving from one software platform to another can be intimidating, but Gilkes says he has found the transition to SADiE 6 far less painful than he anticipated.

“It’s always hard work making the transition from one system that you are particularly well versed with to a whole new environment, but SADiE 6 is very intuitive and easy to use,â€� he says. “I’m really enjoying the facilities it provides. The editing facilities, in particular, are great and I like the PQ and DDP tools. However, the sound quality is the most outstanding feature and I am really impressed by that.â€�

Sound quality also played a part in Gilkes’ decision to buy a Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire audio interface.

“It was a no brainer, really,� he says. “The studio needed to make a significant step up in convertor quality and Orpheus delivered the transparency and clarity I was looking for, both as an A/D and a D/A converter. It has great sounding pre’s and I like the interface features for multi-tracking in Pro Tools.�

Gilkes is now using SADiE 6 and Orpheus on a variety of projects, including mastering an album for French artist Mayra Andrade on Sony (France), recording tracks for Congo Natty, completing a debut album for Chevron, recording drums for the next Grasscut (Ninja Tune) album, finishing backline tracking for a band called Bentcousin, which is releasing a three-track single through Team-Love NY and completing an album for a local brighton band called the Meow Meows.

And if that work schedule isn’t intensive enough, Gilkes is also producing and co-writing with the legendary Russell Stone of R&J Stone fame.

“The Russell Stone project is very interesting as all tracks are vocal/non-verbal and based on free improvisations.� He says. “The album, which is called HUMU, is very nearly finished and should be out in September.�

-ends-

About Prism Sound
Founded in 1987, Prism Sound manufacture high-quality professional digital audio equipment for the International broadcast, film, music production, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors. The range now includes SADiE digital audio workstations and location recorders. Prism Sound also manufactures audio test and measurement products such as the DSA-1 and the dScope Series III audio analyzer.

For more information please visit www.sadie.com or www.prismsound.com

The University of California, Irvine is home to a celebrated Sound Design program created in 2006. Under the umbrella of the Drama department at the university’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, the program is spearheaded by Mike Hooker along with Vincent Olivieri, who is the head of the undergraduate sound design program. Late in 2012, the department added a DiGiCo SD9, DRack and UB MADI into its inventory, which made its debut on a series of student-designed programs this spring. One of those shows was the Festival of New Musicals, a unique partnership between the university and the Academy for New Musical Theater, a three-decade-old creative incubator. The alliance paired the talents of professional writers and composers affiliated with the ANMT with UCI students to create the fourth annual festival, staged at UCI’s xMPL – Experimental Media Performance Lab (featuring a flexible seating capacity of 25-150) this spring. One of the festival pieces, ‘Digital Natives’, featured sound design by second year MFA student, Matt Glenn. [Pictured L to R: UCI MFA student, Matt Glenn; Karli Blalock, Assistant Sound Designer; Vincent Olivieri, head of UCI's undergraduate sound design program.]

“One of the interesting things about the way we run our sound design program here is that, with little exception, all of the equipment we own is independent of venue,” explains Olivieri. “Most of the equipment is kept in storage, in workshop rooms, and when a show is being developed, the sound designers are able to choose the tools that they need for their particular project, and can spec what they need and just plug in and play.”

The SD9 was the first DiGiCo purchased by the school and was chosen by Mike Hooker, UCI’s Head of Sound Design, in conjunction with RSPE Audio Solutions. “We knew that we were looking for a digital console of a certain size,” Olivieri recalls, “something that was beefy and designed for live playback and mid-range in size. The SD9 fitted that bill perfectly as it’s great for a mid-size show like this.”

The ‘Digital Natives’ piece comprised a juxtaposition of technology and digital feeds against a backdrop of singers and piano accompaniment for a total of 27 inputs (mics, iPod feeds, playback audio off of multiple computers) and a dozen outputs. Glenn configured a deceptively complex playback system, complete with different sounds and setups configured on different templates within the console. Having the ability to recall these different scenes at the push of a button was huge. Additionally, the SD9 was the perfect console not only for its expandability and versatility, but also for its diminutive size for the small theatre space. And, for a first-time user, Glenn was able to get up to speed quickly by watching the online product videos prior to getting hands-on with the console.

“I wanted to keep the console size down, but I also couldn’t sacrifice the number of channels,” adds Glenn. “Back in the planning stages of this show, before I really knew what it was going to be, I didn’t necessarily know how many mics I would have or how big the pit would be but I wanted to keep open my options with the stage box. With the DiGiCo console, I could have up to 32 inputs from stage from just one D-Rack with the expandability for the future of adding another and you wouldn’t necessarily get that with other consoles. I also wanted an interface that I could intuitively navigate around. The SD9 has a structure similar to Pro Tools and other digital audio workstations (DAWs) and when I started playing with the SD9—my first time using a DiGiCo in a real setting—the way it’s laid out just made sense to me. I didn’t want to be fighting my own brain in the middle of tech, especially with this show, where it’s a really fast turnaround of only three-days. That, the expandability and the ability to write snapshots so quickly and easily, it just all came together with the SD9.”

Onstage, I have six Meyer loud speakers that make up the main system and a subwoofer, plus an additional six loudspeakers placed around the stage for various effects. I’m also using two different internal stereo reverbs that are feeding some of the main speakers. I’m also sending my playback channels to various places around the space to kind of give a surround sound for some of the cues, and they also add a bit of warmth for some of the voices onstage. During pre-production, every time I want to change an EQ or I how much reverb is on a person, I was able to program a macro to update the current snapshot I was working in, and quickly get to it without having to think twice about it. Having eight macro buttons is one of the things I love about this board. Beyond that, there’s so much more to explore with this console but honestly, this show is so fast-paced, I don’t get much of a chance to!”

Moving forward, Oliveiri says the console will serve them in myriad ways, for different productions in varying venues. “We do a lot of shows in a lot of different spaces, and the SD9 is going to be an excellent tool for us for mid-sized musicals and musical events. It’s also going to be useful for us on workshop productions, where the technical needs aren’t always completely known in the early planning stages. For those kinds of productions, the flexibility of a console like the SD9 is essential in order to allow the sound team to quickly respond to unexpected needs.”

Revolution is one of the largest and most successful dance/nightclubs in Waterloo, Southern Ontario, Canada. The city has become a leading technology hub of North America largely because well-known high-tech brands such as Blackberry, Sybase, Google, Oracle, Intel, McAfee, NCR Corporation, Electronic Arts and Agfa either grew to prominence or are headquartered there.

Owned by Gary Stewart and his wife Sue, Revolution has been around in its current incarnation since 1996. The club is open Friday and Saturday and shares a 10,000 square foot building with Flying Dog Restaurant, a popular upscale casual dining emporium that offers DJ-driven entertainment on weekends.

Asked about the club’s longevity, Stewart answers, “We’re fortunate to have three universities that provide us with a new group of customers every September, not to mention all those tech companies.

“We’ve been bobbing and weaving over the years, always on the move to stay ahead of changing styles and demands of the market,� Stewart continues. “This year, we decided on a complete audio, video and lighting system upgrade because it was time for a change.�

Although Revolution occasionally features international DJs such as Avicii and Hardwell, Stewart insists the club “isn’t guest DJ driven. We have always appealed to the masses. We’ve managed to fill 1600 seats every weekend for over 20 years by playing what the customer wants and appealing to the ladies.

“In terms of music program, we offer more variety because our guests don’t want to be hammered by a straight EDM program five or six hours a night. They still want Top 40 material and a more accessible pop/dance format to break things up. Most of the pop music on the radio has an EDM slant from a production standpoint anyway. So eventually it all falls into place and works for us on the dance floor.�

In addition to a massive dance floor, Revolution has The Purple Room and a number of VIP suites to accommodate the special needs of its guests. As Stewart explains, “we offer first class furnishings with a degree of privacy, personal service and a feeling of being special when you step into one of our VIP areas, even if you’re not a famous celebrity.

“The Purple Room is our EDM space. We’ve been programming house DJs there for over 15 years. This space offers the more specific EDM fan a place to hear their favorite beats without having to go to a different club. It’s small and intimate with a crushing Martin PA in a room that holds up to 130 customers while total capacity for the club is 1590.�

Revolution’s recent audio, video and lighting system upgrade represents a significant investment consistent with Stewart’s commitment to keep the club at the forefront of technology. As he points out, “Besides the new audio install which features the latest Martin Audio products, we’ve put in 92 Microh LED video panels with 11 screens running around the perimeter of the dance floor and three screens behind the reconstructed DJ booth that is now the featured attraction since the DJ is the rock star.�

In addition to the LED panels, Revolution’s new lighting system consists of an Arkaos Media Master stage server; 24 Elation Design Spot pro 250s; six Martin Professional Atomic 3000DMX strobes; two Titan RBG 6 watt lasers, 60 Microh LED RGBW Max Zoom quad wash lights; a Livid OHM 64 MIDI controller; two Martin Professional/Jem K1 hazers and a 23� LCD touch screen monitor.

Revolution’s current audio upgrade features a new Martin Audio speaker system consisting of eight Blackline H3H+ three-way Hybrid system enclosures, ten WSXa subwoofers, DX2 speaker processing and MA5.2K and MA9.6K power amplifiers. This powerful new setup replaces an older Martin Audio system at a cost of just under $200,000.

Asked about his choices for audio, Stewart responds, “We’d already owned Martin Audio gear for over 10 years, so this was a natural choice for an upgrade.

“Basically, we wanted a bigger, fuller, louder sound. 15 years ago we were top of the heap and state-of-the-art, and you can quickly fall backwards in the ranks if you don’t keep changing.

“Some club owners are usually content to ‘make do,’ but we definitely wanted to make an impact and knew we had to modernize. No complaints about Martin Audio because they are top end all the way. The new amps are state of the art. I don’t know if there’s anything better than what we’re using for power, lightness, reliability and price because everything’s changed so much.

“We’ve gone to a much larger box with the H3H+’s that are mounted on flying points in the ceiling. They give us a whole lot more headroom, which makes it more fun for the customers and the DJs. The 10 WSXa sub woofers are ground-stacked in a line in front of the DJ booth and they provide more than enough low end.�

The updated system also includes new Pioneer CDJ Nexus 2000 and 900 Multi players with new technology that allows DJs to use USB, data cards and Wi-Fi in addition to CDs.

Asked how he feels about the new Martin Audio system, Stewart concludes, “We’re absolutely thrilled with the increased SPL, musicality and smoothness of coverage. It’s given us big smiles and big wow. We did a promotional event with one of the beer companies mostly attended by industry guests and the other club owners in town walked in and their jaws dropped. The room, the changes and the PA system blew them away. They were going on and on like, ‘Oh My God, Oh My God, it sounds so great,’ which is nice to hear from your competition and your peers.�

Photo credit: Scott Ferrede, Core Photography

For more about Martin Audio, please click to www.martin-audio.com.

About Martin Audio®
Founded by audio engineer David Martin in 1971, Martin Audio pioneered the use of all-horn-loaded bass designs in world-class touring loudspeaker systems for groups such as Pink Floyd, ELP and Supertramp. Located outside of London, Martin Audio now embodies a sophisticated mix of acoustic design, research, mathematical modeling and software engineering for a wide range of products in the installation, cinema and touring sound markets.

At the Marina at Pier 57, Christie® M-Series HD projectors are helping visitors “travel� through New York City by creating a multi-sensory experience for The Interactive New York (T.I.N.Y) exhibition, an interactive multimedia art installation by video artist Garson Yu. The exhibit is inspired by New York City as a living organism, and will let visitors interact with video and sound reminiscent of traveling in the city.

The interim art space, created at the entryway to Pier 57, features a “magic carpet� sculptural installation of 36 hanging shipping containers designed by Madrid-based architecture firm CH+QS Arquitectos. Eight Christie HD10K-M 1080 HD 3-chip DLP® projectors create a special interactive experience within the space, projecting moving images onto the containers of everyday life in New York, including subway scenes and scenes of childhood memories. Displayed in brilliant HD and using the projectors’ embedded warping, blending and color matching capabilities, the images help to simulate a virtual subway train – with visitors traveling from end to end, passing through the containers as one would walk through the different cars of the train. There is an ambient audio track built around the rhythmic rumble of a subway train and layered with city sounds. Walking further into the installation, visitors become participants, and are encouraged to yell and make different vocal sounds into microphones that trigger motion of the visuals.

“We are thrilled that the versatility, brightness, and interactive qualities of the Christie M- Series projectors have provided Garson Yu with an ideal medium for expressing and realizing his artistic vision,� said Kathryn Cress, vice president of global and corporate marketing for Christie. “His exhibit has brought to life a unique and creative idea that can now be enjoyed by many, with each visitor engaging with the experience in their own personal way.�

Garson Yu said, “As a student, I always wanted to design children’s playgrounds, and this is an opportunity to create something almost like an interactive carnival for families and people of all ages to come play and have fun. My hope is for this to evoke the richness of a full range of memories and emotions. I’m bringing the kind of thinking behind the film projects that I work on in Hollywood, and the Christie projectors are essential to helping me create an immersive, interactive experience that affects everyone based on their personal memories. New York is an important part of my artistic life, and it is great to come back here with this show.”

The Christie HD10K-M is a flexible, high performance 3-chip 1080 HD DLP® digital projector featuring high efficiency and brightness, drawing a maximum power of 1320W. Embedded warping, blending and color matching, along with built-in portrait capabilities provide ideal installation flexibility.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, June 5, 2013 — Leading corporate music provider DMD2 of Switzerland is bringing fresh energy to newly remodeled Victorinox retail stores on two continents using IP-based in-store media solutions from Barix. The Barix devices reliably play out a unique and exciting DMD2-programmed music mix that meets the retail giant’s new branding requirements.

DMD2, which also handles Barix device configuration, service monitoring and music licensing, chose Barix Exstreamer IP audio decoders for playout due to their high audio quality and reliability. DMD2 delivers the program as a single stream across seven stores in Europe and five in Hong Kong.

Habegger AG, a Swiss event and corporate architecture supplier, engaged with DMD2 to develop an in-store music concept that matched the new Victorinox store designs. The channel development phase gave birth to the “Victorinox music mix,� constantly updated with new releases as part of an eclectic music mix from the 70s to the early 2000s.

This was a new concept to the Victorinox stores as many used CD players, FM tuners or iPods to play music. DMD2 considered Barix an ideal partner to transition the stores to IP audio delivery, as many of the tools to support the new stream were well suited for Barix hardware. The music originates from datacenters in Bern, Switzerland and is delivered to Barix Exstreamer devices in each store as 64kb/s mp3 streams, with expectations to add AAC+ streams moving forward.

“We’ll eventually switch to AAC+ 48kbps encoding to increase stream stability for retail stores in the more remote areas,� said Alexander dal Farra, owner and president of DMD2. “The flexibility of Barix devices is a big benefit in this regard, as the Exstreamer offers both MP3 and AAC+ decoding functionality. This makes migration to AAC+ an easy task.�

With stores in such cities as Zurich, Dusseldorf, Hong Kong and Geneva, Victorinox now has a corporate audio solution that gives exceptional control to the brand management department.

“It’s no longer an ‘everybody is a DJ’ approach within the different store locations,â€� said dal Farra. “This streamlined process has also brought a fair amount of convenience to the store staff as there is no more music editorial work, licensing or normalizing of tracks.â€�

Dal Farra added that the new solution also provides Victorinox headquarters with the option to introduce real-time advertisements using ad injection software — a potential revenue generator that would quickly monetize the new in-store audio network.

About Barix AG (www.barix.com)
Barix AG, headquartered in Zurich Switzerland, specializes in research and development of state of the art IP based communication and control technology. Barix products are stand-alone and able to remotely connect worldwide over standard networks / Internet offering new and improved solutions to the professional audio distribution, communication and automation industry. Barix products provide solutions in audio over IP (audio distribution and monitoring, communication, security) and automation (remote controlling, monitoring and maintenance).
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Barix AG, Seefeldstrasse 303, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
Phone: +41 43 43322 11, Fax: +41 44 2742849
Barix Technology Inc, St. Paul, MN – (866) 815-0866

http://www.barix.com

http://www.ip-audio.info

InfoCasterâ„¢ solution drives HD video, graphics and advertising content on more than 450 displays across Rogers Arena

DENVER, June 5, 2013 — Canucks Sports and Entertainment, owner of professional hockey franchise the Vancouver Canucks, has deployed an extensive sports video network throughout the team’s home venue based on Harris Broadcast’s InfoCaster™ digital signage technology.

InfoCaster replaces static, backlit signage displays, and was a key building block in a new focus on connecting with fans at Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver Canucks. Canucks Sports and Entertainment, which also owns Rogers Arena, has seen dramatic increases in fan engagement and sales revenues since installing InfoCaster. From the moment fans arrive, they’re captivated by dynamic, cinematic displays of video, photos, and other visual elements to enhance the venue experience — an experience that has quickly translated to bottom line benefits.

“We nearly doubled revenues associated with the digital signage early on, and have since boosted revenues an additional 25 percent,� said David Comuzzi, senior director of corporate partnerships for Canucks Sports and Entertainment. “This has led to a rapid return on investment.�

InfoCaster delivers customized Canucks video presentations to more than 450 digital displays strategically placed throughout Rogers Arena, including entranceways, upper and lower concourses, concession areas and restrooms. Fans can see many concourse banners featuring eye-catching 48:9 cinematic video — such as player profiles — spanning three landscape-oriented HD displays positioned side-by-side at intervals overhead. Displays include welcome screens, digital menu boards, three-screen advertising boards and community boards.

“Our goal was to use environmental branding to create captivating imagery and storytelling that builds excitement for the game, fosters an affinity for our players and team, and builds life-long relationships with our fans,� said Mark Raham, creative director for Canucks Sports and Entertainment. “We also wanted to project a strong, positive brand image, develop partnership revenue, and promote ticket sales and merchandise. This is part of our overall approach to delivering an amazing fan experience, and digital signage is a key touchpoint. In just two years, our fan surveys and market research show greater fan loyalty and enthusiasm for the Canucks.�

Canucks Sports and Entertainment was drawn to InfoCaster because it’s user-friendly, flexible and capable of automating the delivery of different content to targeted, multi-zone displays. For example, content spans the entire three-screen concourse banner prior to the game. During the game, content appears only on the first and third screens while the middle display shows the game. Menus can be changed quickly and accurately on over one hundred concession area displays, and player profiles and fan photos are updated on a regular basis.

“We have a massive library of HD video, stills and animated graphics that we need to schedule and deliver in a precise, synchronized sequence across designated screen sets, and this content is scheduled according to different programming blocks such as pre-game, in-game, intermission and post-game,� said Karl Pedersen, digital media technician with Canucks Sports and Entertainment. “Without such sophisticated, application-specific software integrated with the hardware, it would be very labor-intensive and daunting to deliver such a spectacular digital signage experience.�

The InfoCaster installation at Rogers Arena consists of several powerful components including InfoCaster Creator, which has a wide array of tools and templates for the design, authoring and creation process; and InfoCaster Manager for remote network management and control of numerous InfoCaster Player devices. InfoCaster software manages the scheduling process, automating ad and promotional content placements across groups of displays to target specific audiences.

About Harris Broadcast
Harris Broadcast is an industry leader in delivering the most advanced, content-rich media experiences available for a wide spectrum of radio, television and private media networks around the globe. With more than 25 leading brands including Versioâ„¢, Selenioâ„¢ and Maxivaâ„¢, the company enables media organizations to tap into one of the broadest, integrated product and solution portfolios in the industry. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the company is widely recognized for its product quality and reliability, engineering excellence and customer service, and has earned nearly 100 technological firsts and more than 50 awards for technical innovation. For more information, please visit harrisbroadcast.com.

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Poll Sound enhances audio reinforcement with new KARAi, SB18i and KIVA arrays

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Salt Lake City’s 21,000-seat LDS Conference Center, the main meeting hall for conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and summer and Christmas holiday home to the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir, recently expanded its L-ACOUSTICS sound reinforcement system with the addition of new KARAi, SB18i and KIVA arrays. more

Ashtabula, OH––As an integral part of the Roman Catholic Our Lady of Peace parish,
St. Joseph’s Church has been serving the community since the 1930s.

Built in the traditional style and able to hold up to 300 people, St. Joseph’s has an older congregation and, according to Pastor Father Raymond Thomas, “some of our community have hearing impairment problems which presented special challenges for our original microphone system. They couldn’t hear my voice because the sound cut out and it wasn’t clear.�

Elaborating on those problems, CAD Development Engineer Craig Huffman adds, “The existing wireless system just didn’t have the range Father Thomas needed to move around the church. They also struggled with vocal clarity and had recurring problems with microphone pickup.�

A recent upgrade to CAD Audio’s UHF WX100 installation-grade wireless system solved all of those problems. The new system starts with three rack mounted WX100 receivers and three WX155 body packs with rechargeable batteries and BPC drop-in chargers. The body packs are equipped with WXHW and Model 302 cardioid condenser headworn mics and a Model 301 cardioid condenser lavalier mic. A DA100 distribution amp and ANT110 antennas complete the package designed for Father Thomas, Parochial Vicar Father Ernesto Rodriguez and a visiting Deacon.

The result? As Father Thomas says, “I’m very pleased and the sound is beautiful, especially compared to what we had before. The clarity is phenomenal, like night and day. Everyone can hear the spoken word a lot better now, which makes our services much more involving and inclusive.�

For more information about CAD Audio, please call 800.762.9266 or visit www.cadaudio.com.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony returned to the West Coast for the first time in 20 years this April, to induct a new class of musicians and industry icons in a nearly 5-hour evening of music and merriment at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre. The class of 2013—Public Enemy, Rush, Heart, Randy Newman, Donna Summer, Albert King, Quincy Jones and Lou Adler—were honored by a who’s who of music past and present. For the 13th year, Firehouse Productions handled the audio portion of the show, with Mark Dittmar spearheading the onsite crew comprised of Production Mixer Barry Warrick, Music Mixer Ron Reaves (on a DiGiCo SD7) and Mike Parker handling monitors (SD7).

The show has grown exponentially over the years into what Dittmar calls ‘fast and stupid.’ “And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way,” he laughs. “It’s just that this is the sort of show that keeps growing and giving and growing and giving, and they will never get smaller. There’s so much more desire for content, and there’s a lot more figuring it out on-site. Ten years ago you would spend a huge amount of prep time. Now you fly in and the producer’s like, “Oh, I just added a band.’ Last year they added Green Day, literally two days before the show and we’d already loaded in. We don’t get to say, ‘I’m sorry you didn’t tell us that three weeks ago, we can’t do it.’ You say, ‘OK, we have an hour to set them up.’ You look at what we do routinely now, and if you had asked us to do it 10 years ago, we would have freaked out. We simply didn’t have the tools or the technology to accomplish it. Two years ago we outgrew our Yamaha PM1Ds at FOH and in monitor world because the show kept adding inputs to the point that our only choice in inventory were the DiGiCo SD7s, and it was a logical move for doing these shows. The pace has become very, very fast and we have a great team and great tools in place now that can get the job done easily.”

The show’s drive system is all on fiber optics now with the SD7s and a trio of SD racks networked via Optocore. “Everything is digital, front to back,” Dittmar adds. “The signal path from the input of the SD7 into the amplifier is digital the entire way. You couldn’t easily accomplish that 10 years ago; we would’ve run out of horsepower with the consoles. Several yeas ago, we thought that we’d probably never fill a 96-input desk, and then we filled a 96-input desk… and more. Now that these things can do hundreds of inputs, the question is, ‘how much can a guy like Ron mix?’ You know, where does your brain give out and say, ‘I can’t find the fifteenth snare drum?!’ We’re doing things very powerful and very fast now, and a key component is the SD7, which allows us to do these shows. The SD7 is powerful and you can put a lot of inputs and outputs into it. Once you’re into an SD7, you no longer need to think about the layout. We just go very, very large with the splits, we give the mixers everything instead of having to repatch in the middle of the show. Parker and Ron don’t have to have a conversation about what they want to see where. We simply send everything to everyone and it’s very easy for them to deal with.”

“The challenge for me on a show like this, where I have a house band and artists walking on and off—as compared to one that’s a bit more ordered like the Grammys, where you have 20 separate bands and 20 different snapshots—is that you have to be a bit more flexible here because it’s all going to change… sometimes multiple times. This is an outstanding band, with some of the top session players, who’ve played on tons of hit records: drummers Steve Ferrone and Jim Keltner, bassist Will Lee, guitarists Waddy Wachtel and Ray Parker Junior, Greg Phillinganes on keys under the direction of Paul Shaffer… it sounds amazing! But for example, on day one of rehearsals, we were on version 10 of our input list. And it changed even more before we took the stage.”

“I’m using my basic Grammy template file because it’s a good starting point for music,” Reaves continues, “and I can just switch the inputs around from there. I’m landing about 112 inputs for the music performance. I do a lot of pre-dialing and I use a lot of presets on this desk, which enables us to go very fast, which is very important for doing TV. And as long as I have plenty of faders, I’m good. And that’s the beauty of the SD7. I can make it as big as I need it to be and can have 256 faders if I need them. I can put everything in the entire show in the console and have it there all night long. And no matter what anyone calls for at the last minute, it’s there. That’s why this is the perfect tool for jobs like this. You can build yourself a giant console so to speak, in terms of layers, and have everything right at your fingertips. These shows keep getting bigger and bigger because we keep pulling it off, but it would never have fitted on the consoles we were using previously. This is the perfect example of how the hardware helped fix the problem.”

At monitor world, it was only Mike Parker’s second time on an SD7, although he’d mixed numerous times on SD10 for events ranging from the Grammys to the Video Music Awards. He found the console’s updated software features exceptionally powerful in managing approximately 130 inputs and 84 outputs for the show.

“The DiGiCo platform is so versatile you can layout any show they throw at you and it can handle it,” he offers. “Not only does it sound good, but it’s probably the most advanced live mixing console in use today. I love the functionality and how you can route things… its quick, easy and very helpful. It enables me to sketch out the console in rehearsals and start dialing up the EQ.

“Monitors are in a critical place for shows like this,” Parker adds. “If the artist is happy with their monitors, chances are you’re gonna get a better performance. But it requires everyone: that means the house mix is good, the crowd reacts and the artist reacts off the crowd… it’s a loop. It creates a great energy that is not seen, but felt. When the monitors and house couple together it’s called a ‘lock’—when everything locks together. I’ve witnessed it several times and it’s magic.”

“This is one of my favorite shows,” Dittmar muses. “I’ve been doing this show longer than anything else in my career and it’s a night of amazing talent. The house band is incredible and you’re getting to hear your favorite bands growing up. Go on YouTube and watch Prince doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from the ceremony several years ago… everyone’s jaw was just on the floor, including Eric Clapton’s!

“When we do large shows like this, I like having the cool tools like the DiGiCos. I like pushing the technological barriers and having the slick setup. But we also like when they work and the SD7s have been flawless for us. We also had a pair of them on the Tony Awards and not only do you have an immensely powerful platform, but you also have the reliability and that makes them very viable. They’re certainly the most popular desk right now, too!”

Pictured LtoR: Production Mixer Barry Warrick, FOH Tech Michael Bove, Music Mixer Ron Reaves and Production manager Mark Dittmar.

UTRECHT, The Netherlands – When Dutch sound engineer Bart Schulz set up his own company, BSAmedia, at the beginning of this year, his main goal was “to deliver a high standard of sound engineering and make high quality gear affordable for everyone.� Having worked as a sound professional for 30 years—including live sound, studio and remote recording, live radio and TV broadcasts—he had recently been training sound engineers while developing broadcast sets and studios in his native Utrecht.

Setting stringent standards of equipment specification, he purchased a HARMAN Soundcraft Vi1 digital console from the company’s Benelux distributors Audio XL to form the hub of a modular mobile unit — knowing that the brand would be familiar to a customer base comprising broadcasters, musicians, recording studios and theatres.

Supplied with Compact Stage Box, a MADI optical card and 100-metre Quad Fibre drum, the Vi1 replaces a previous 16-channel analogue live set-up.

“I can use this as a stand-alone unit for live sound, or combine the Vi1 with a 19-inch recording module for remote recording and music production,� he said. “Alternatively I can connect the Vi1 and stage box with a set of 19-inch broadcast modules to do live broadcasts on location. It is perfect for the market niches that BSAmedia wishes to cater to.�

Bart Schulz has used Soundcraft consoles throughout his sound engineering career, and being active in broadcast is also very familiar with Studer. “The fact that the Vi1 is combining key elements of both brands made it BSAmedia’s ideal desk, suitable for all our activities.�

The reduced footprint of the Vi1 is also a huge advantage—for two reasons: “Most of the time I work alone and cannot physically handle a big console, and secondly, most theatres and other locations where I intend to use my Vi1 are pretty small.�

But prior to making the decision Bart Schulz set out a wish list and surveyed the market options within his budget. He knew the desk needed to be both flexible and versatile—and then a sound engineer friend suggested he contacted Audio XL, who arranged a demo.

“Some of the desks I had reviewed were very good for mixing music but missed broadcast features, and others were very good for broadcasting but unsuitable for music production. There was only one desk that was able to handle everything straight out of the box, and that was the Soundcraft Vi1.

“It was of high quality, with a very good sound, packed with great effects and all the broadcast features like GPIO’s and intercom incorporated into a single package. It seemed like the ideal solution. Although I had done my homework, Martin van Kouwen, at Audio XL answered any other questions and arranged delivery in double quick time.�

Although a newcomer to the Vi Series he says the platform is extremely easy to work with. “I got the Vi1 up and I had it up and running within the hour.�

Once he delved deeper into the Vi1’s attributes he was quickly impressed with the overall layout of the control-surface: “All functions are grouped logically — you instantly know were to look/grab, and FaderGlow® is a useful addition.� He also highlights the layout and ease of use of the Vistonics™ screen, combined with the placement of the rotaries. “This makes for a straightforward approach — just as on an analogue desk — while it packs all the power and benefits of digital.� Finally, he says the Gang Mode and Follow Output Solo Mode are extremely useful additions. “These speed up set-up and operation,� he notes.

“Now it’s time to discover all the extras that the desk’s software has to offer, such as snapshots, cues, and the iPad Remote.�

For more information on BSAmedia, please visit www.bsamedia.nl or follow the BSAmedia Twitter page: @bsamedia

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.