LIÈGE, Belgium — On the occasion of the restoration of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (Royal Opera of Wallonia), a full L-ACOUSTICS system was put in place.

After more than two years of restoration work, the 1875-built Théatre Royal de Liège, home of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (ORW), re-opened its doors to the public at the end of last year in Liège. The whole renovation project, unique in its kind, represented an investment of 31 million euros. more

DALLAS, Texas — HARMAN’s Soundcraft continues its popular “Mixing with Professionals� (MwP) series with a stop in Dallas, Texas on May 15, 2013. MwP offers tips and tricks about using Soundcraft Vi Series consoles from some of live sound’s most accomplished engineers. Ken Newman, front of house engineer for Barry Manilow and owner of Newman Audio will conduct the Dallas sessions.

Ken Newman is currently on tour with Manilow and has done live sound for Chris Isaak, Anita Baker, Stevie Nicks, Liza Minnelli, Paul Anka and other top performers. No stranger to a front of house console, Newman began mixing sound in 1972 as a teenager and hasn’t stopped since.

Newman will give MwP attendees in-depth training on the Soundcraft Vi Series consoles in a classroom atmosphere that allows plenty of hands-on training. If participants bring a USB stick they can save their settings and take them on the road for their next gig, or keep working on their settings using the Soundcraft Virtual Vi offline editors, which is available free on the Soundcraft website.

“I really enjoy doing the Soundcraft ‘Mixing with Professionals’ seminars and so do the attendees, who learn a lot about using the Vi Series consoles in the real-world of live performance,� said Newman. “There’s no console I’d rather have in front of me than a Soundcraft Vi6—it puts everything I need at my fingertips and let’s me handle the most demanding live mixing situations with complete assurance.�

The MwP sessions will be held on May 15 at Dobbs Stanford Corporation, 2715 Electronic Lane, Dallas, TX 75220.

Two time slots will be available from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon and from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm. The course is free to attend but registration is required and space is limited. Details are available at usa.soundcraft.com and participants can register via e-mail at Soundcraft-usa@harman.com.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. 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 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for year ended June 30, 2012.

Source: Electrosonic, http://www.electrosonic.co.uk/news/electrosonic-goes-back-nature-mohonk-preserve-visitor-center

Mohonk Preserve in the Shawangunk Mountains near New Paltz, New York, is marking its 50th anniversary this year with a renovation of its green design award-winning Visitor Center tucked cozily into the woods. Electrosonic was charged with creating several new exhibits for the main floor, which enable visitors to maximize their time in New York’s largest nonprofit nature preserve.

Electrosonic installed and programmed the 10-minute orientation film produced by Richard Lewis Media Group, and displayed it in a visitor orientation theater with bench seating. The theater boasts a 26-foot wide curved screen fed by four projectiondesign F12 projectors blended and warped via Dataton WATCHOUTâ„¢ multi-image display and presentation software.

“The theater was our biggest challenge,� noted Electrosonic project manager Jackson Benedict. “It’s a very small space with a low ceiling. We had to use fixed-lens projectors, which meant there was very little tolerance in installing them. We had to build a custom ceiling mount that allowed for projector adjustment in the field, as necessary. Projector airflow in the small space also had to be managed effectively.

“The very sharp curve of the screen provided a challenge for warping the blend in WATCHOUT,� Benedict said. “It was quite complicated. Shifting the projector one inch in the wrong direction would change everything.�

A small control room behind the screen houses equipment in a single rack. The content for all of the interactives can be updated remotely to keep content fresh and up to date. “Electrosonic worked with the exhibit fabricators to make sure we had relatively easy access to all equipment for service,� said Benedict.

With over 8,000 acres of mountain ridges, fields, streams, ponds and other unique and beautiful places, Mohonk Preserve is dedicated to protecting the Shawangunk Mountains by inspiring people to care for, enjoy and explore the natural world. Visitors can bike, hike, climb, ride horses, run, ski and snowshoe in the Preserve. Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership was responsible for the architecture, interiors, graphic design and exhibit design of the Visitor Center project.

www.projectiondesign.com

Entertainment technology providers, WorldStage has provided a customized iPhone software app for the new Broadway Musical, “BARE”. WorldStage also provided three videomapped Christie WX10K 10K projectors and integrated Dataton WATCHOUTâ„¢ multi-image display and presentation software package featuring display computer, production computers and a Dynamic Image Server that supports live video streaming. WATCHOUT and the servers to run it were supplied to WorldStage by Show Sage, Dataton Premium Partner for North America.

“We selected WATCHOUT because it could be deployed for the visual projections as well as integrated with an iPhone app,” says WorldStage account executive, Lars Pedersen.

In explaining how the app works, projection designer, William Cusick says: “One character is asked by another to take his picture with his iPhone. So he aims the phone and slowly the live camera feed from the phone comes up on the concrete wall behind them. Then the character snaps the picture, and we see the frozen video image. That same picture is shown two more times in the show: as a saved screen capture and in a memorial scene after the character dies. So there’s a through-line with the image.”

“Bare” is a contemporary rock musical playing at New World Stages in the heart of the Manhattan theater district, New York City and will make its debut in Switzerland in 2013. It is an emotionally charged tale of a group of teens coming to grips with issues of identity, sexuality and religion at a co-ed Catholic boarding school. It was first staged in Los Angeles over a decade ago and has had over 100 productions worldwide.

Jim Testa, President, Show Sage says: “All WorldStage projects are backed up by local technical service, hardware and software support from Show Sage.�

Fredrik Svahnberg, Marketing Director at Dataton ends: “WorldStage have always pushed the boundaries of our product in the market. It’s terrific to see WATCHOUT creatively integrated as a storytelling medium to delight and engage theatrical audiences.”

www.dataton.com
www.showsage.com

Music director and video director both using ProPresenter 5 in new ways on Contemporary Christian music’s biggest tour

ATLANTA, Georgia — When Chris Tomlin’s latest album, Burning Lights, was released this past January, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, making it only the fourth Christian album in history to do so. To support the new album, Tomlin and his band are once again back out on the road for a two-month, 36-date U.S. arena tour, and along with them for the trek is Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter 5 lyric and media presentation software. more

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – David Rosenthal has enjoyed a remarkably successful career as a keyboardist, synth programmer, orchestrator, and touring musician and that doesn’t begin to cover it all. Rosenthal is also Billy Joel’s musical director, a role that recently has him performing worldwide at events like 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief and the upcoming New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2013. Besides working with Billy Joel for the past 20 years, he’s also worked with Bruce Springsteen, Enrique Iglesias, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper and many others, provided synth programming and musical direction for the Tony-winning Broadway Musical “Movin’ Out� and runs Sonic Adventures Studio in New Jersey. The sonic adventure continues with Rosenthal’s recent discovery of HARMAN’s Lexicon PCM Total Bundle reverb/effects plug-in.

“I’ve been a Lexicon user since the early ’90s,� said Rosenthal. “In fact I was one of the people who contributed customized Music FX presets for the PCM 80 when they used to sell preset sound cards. I’ve used products like the Lexicon PCM 80, 81, 90, 91 and 480L and they’ve always been a big part of my sound.�
Rosenthal has always embraced the latest musical technologies, but it wasn’t until recently that he felt that computers and software had reached the point where he could forego his outboard effects. He used to use banks of keyboards and racks of outboard effects processors because it was the only way he could get the sounds he needed live. It’s only been in the past year or so that computer technology has gotten to the point where Rosenthal needed it to be.

“The tech has turned the corner, thanks to resources like laptops with 16 GB of memory, better synth plug-ins, solid-state drives, 64-bit operating systems and plug-ins like the Lexicon PCM Total Bundle. Now everything can keep up, I have enough processing power and polyphonic capability and everything responds like a musical instrument.� He hasn’t given up his cocoon of keyboards entirely, he still uses multiple keyboards live because he doesn’t want to map a lot of sounds on a limited number of keyboards. “When I’m on stage I want to think about playing, not about program changes and which buttons I have to push during a song.�

“The Lexicon PCM Total Bundle doesn’t sound like it’s close to the ‘Lexicon sound’ – it is the Lexicon sound,� Rosenthal emphasized. “It has the smooth reverb tails and that beautiful natural decay, and its algorithms don’t ‘smear’ the initial attack of my keyboards.� In live performances Rosenthal primarily uses a tweaked sound based on the Concert Hall algorithm that he calls “Bright Keyboard Hall,� finding that it gives depth and spatiality to his keyboard sounds without getting too boomy in an arena or large hall.

In the studio, Rosenthal is still exploring the sonic possibilities of the PCM Total Bundle. “Other reverb plug-ins have fallen short for me and I have always used Lexicon hardware units for my important studio projects – until now. I also like the fact that the PCM Total Bundle gives me 100-percent total recall of my settings, which is an incredible timesaver in the studio and assures I’ll never lose any of my customized sounds.�

“The PCM Total Bundle is exactly what I expected a Lexicon plug-in to sound like,� Rosenthal concluded. “Nothing else sounds like a Lexicon reverb, and the PCM Total Bundle gives me the same sound quality and musicality I’ve come to rely on from Lexicon that I can’t get anywhere else.�

The Lexicon PCM Total Bundle is designed to work with popular DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic, as well as with any other VST®, Audio Unit™ or RTAS®-compatible platform. Compatible with Windows® Vista, XP and 7 and Macintosh® computers, it offers 14 unique Lexicon reverbs and effects, and hundreds of finely crafted studio presets. Its intuitive user interface provides control of key parameters with a graphical real-time full-color display and flexible sonic customization capabilities.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

Student Life, an inter-denominational ministry offering Gospel-centered, high energy summer camps and youth conferences, has taken PixelFLEX’s ultra-flexible and lightweight LED curtain video wall on the road during its Be Last Conference celebrating Mark 9:35: If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

On the tour, Student Life uses 16 PixelFLEX panels across the stage as an accent to the production’s main 17′ projection screen. The PixelFLEX panels run a variety of content throughout the show, including a series of flags from various countries, to provide different looks and feels on stage. For organizers of Student Life’s Be Last Conference, ease of use and set-up are the primary benefits to using the PixelFLEX solution.

“They are extremely easy to use,” said Jake Brantley, producer for Student Life. “Being able to change the look and feel of our stage at the drop of a hat is invaluable. When we have more of an upbeat sound on stage, we can use fast moving graphics and bright colors to add energy. If we’re trying to create a more serious tone, we can add darker blues and slower motion graphics without having to change the backdrops. All of this can be done simply with a click of a button.”

Flexible in all directions, PixelFLEX LED Curtains are able to bend and shape around structures for a more creative display effect and can be stored in a single road case to simplify shipping. This flexibility is critical to Brantley and his team during the Be Last Conference – both during and after the performance.

“With the way we’re using the LED panels on stage, having the ability to shape the panels as we need to is crucial – in one or two places we use them to create a nice arch or 90 degree bend around a corner,” Brantley stated. “On top of that, it only takes two people to load the panels in and out before and after the show, which means we can be done with set up and tear down more quickly. Finally, the fact that you can fold and store the panels in travel cases is a tremendous cost saver for a small tour like ours.”

Videos and images can be sent to PixelFLEX’s screens using any computer with a DVI-D connection. Each typical screen panel is approximately 8×4, but modifications can be made easily to meet specific needs of the consumer – panels can be attached together with PixelFLEX’s proprietary quicklock system.

“PixelFLEX’s panels give us a ton of versatility with regard to the custom content we’re able to incorporate into the tour,” Brantley remarked. “We have an unlimited amount of options as to what our stage can look like and that is cool.”

For more information on PixelFLEX and its growing line of lightweight LED video screens, visit www.LEDCurtain.com. Follow PixelFLEX at www.Facebook.com/PixelFLEXUSA and @LEDCurtain.

Audio Formula installs KUDO/SB28 system at South Beach’s hottest nightclub

MIAMI, Florida — Built nearly seven decades ago, Miami Beach’s Variety Theater — later known as the Paris Theatre — achieved a certain amount of fame in the ’80s when Big Time Productions used the space as a photo/film studio to shoot album covers and music videos for top artists like Madonna and U2.

Today, world-renowned musicians and celebrities are once again pouring into the South Beach hotspot — now dubbed “Bamboo Miami” — but this time for its swanky nightlife. Bucharest-based Bamboo Group, a successful European club owner and promoter, took over the landmark venue last year and renovated it into a lavish nightclub that both faithfully preserves its classic Art Deco ornamentation and dresses it up with a mega-dose of modern ambiance. more

BANGKOK, Thailand – The Thai Government Department of Rural Roads is responsible for maintaining the roads that connect to the country’s main highways—this enables them to set up bypasses where necessary to improve traffic flow. To assist them in responding quickly to provide information across the vast network of roads, the Department has now set up its own radio station—initially for internal broadcasting before it becomes a full FM / AM broadcast channel, streaming digital information for the benefit of the general public. To help facilitate live broadcasts and flag up immediate alerts, HARMAN’s Studer’s Bangkok-based distributor 101 Technology (part of the Mahajak Group) has supplied a compact Studer OnAir 1500 production desk. Fitting a tight budget, the desk will be multi-functional, enabling the station to handle live broadcasts and record live sessions—while operating as a dedicated production mixer.

101 Technology reports that this is the first OnAir 1500 to be sold in the country. The company’s Wiboon Lertkultanon explains, “We put all the Studer OnAir 1500 launch information up online. The people involved in the radio station knew of Studer’s reputation and I was contacted immediately after they saw it on our website.�

In fact the OnAir 1500, configured with 12 faders, was designed to provide the versatile hybrid solution for radio broadcasting and production that the studio required … a compact and cost effective production room console. The additional integrated USB playback and record functions make the OnAir 1500 a highly comprehensive desk.

“After initial concerns about the budget they found they could do everything they needed with the OnAir 1500 and still have funding remaining for room decoration,� reports Wiboon. “The fact that the desk could double as a production mixer was a bonus since they don’t have the budget to build another production studio yet.�

The compact form factor provided another compelling reason for adopting this platform. Converted from a small meeting room, the studio measures just 4m x 3m and can accommodate a host and two guests. Notes Wiboon, “The idea of separating the surface from the DSP held the key to space saving. Also the ease of the flash drive plug and play is another highlight.�

Assigned to the faders are a host and two guest mics, solid state player, CD players, automatic play out, and two off-air feeds, a telephone hybrid and production workstation (plus GPIOs). The host microphone can also send out to record in the production workstation and the mixer takes the input from the production workstation back to the studio monitor.

The outputs feed: Internal broadcast; Radio broadcast; Internet Radio Streaming and Production workstation which runs Adobe Audition, enabling it to record and edit files.

Now up and running, the station is performing a valuable public service —spreading information to road users and enabling them to plot alternative routes. Conversely, drivers are able to phone in live reports to the station, flagging up road blocks, accidents and hold-ups.

In summary, Wiboon says, “The Studer name sells itself for the ease of use, reliability and sound quality. But its legendary quality has never come in such a compact box as this before. This, coupled with the 101 Technology support team, means that the OnAir 1500 is in safe hands.�

And one of the radio hosts added “The OnAir 1500 has met all expectations, showing that it can function as a production mixer within a tight budget.� And the sound remains top quality, even when playing MP3 sound files.

Further information from: HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. 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 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2012.

NORTHRIDGE, California – If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere—and HARMAN’s JBL VTX line arrays have made it in New York in a big way, with Clair Brothers Audio Systems installing a comprehensive VTX system, powered by Crown Audio I-Tech HD amplifiers, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

“The Theater at Madison Square Garden is a world-class venue and nothing less than a world-class sound reinforcement system would be appropriate,� said Jim Devenney, Senior Engineer for Clair Brothers Audio Systems. “Tom Arrigoni, Russell Lynn and Tim Parsaca, from the Garden’s production staff, provided critical design and logistical support, helping to make this install successful.�

The main loudspeaker system consists of left and right flown clusters of nine JBL VTX V25 fullsize line array elements each, along with two hangs of four S28 subwoofers each. The centerfill cluster includes six VERTEC® VT4887A compact line array elements. The main left and right clusters are located just offstage of the proscenium opening and the subwoofer hangs are offstage of the main arrays.

To cover the back third of the venue’s seating, Clair Brothers deployed two delay rings—the first ring has 16 bi-amped JBL AM7212/66 loudspeakers and the second delay ring includes 14 AC28/95 loudspeakers. In addition, eight JBL AM5212 loudspeakers cover the side box seats.

“The V25 line arrays proved to be the perfect choice for this application, since they deliver higher sound output and wider coverage for their size than any other line array I know,� Devenney said. “We were able to fit in nine per side, which, in combination with the VT4887A center fill speakers, were more than enough to do the job.�

“We wanted to ensure even coverage throughout the back of the theater, which is why we went with the additional JBL AM7212/66, AC28/95 and AM5212 speakers,� Devenney added. “The combination of the main VTX and VERTEC and the delay speakers enables an optimum sonic balance throughout the venue.�

All system amplification and speaker processing is handled by 24 Crown IT 4x3500HD 4-channel amplifiers. Two BSS Soundweb London BLU-160 signal processors with digital audio bus and additional input and output cards are placed inline before the amplifiers for system routing and to interface with the fire alarm muting system.

“The before and after difference in sound quality is phenomenal,� Devenney concluded. “We knew the VTX and VERTEC line arrays would provide better clarity, output and coverage over the previous system, but the level of improvement really needs to be heard to be appreciated.�

For more information on Clair Brothers, please visit www.clairsystems.com

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. 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 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2012.