In November 2015, HSBC unveiled ‘the world’s largest interactive sound installation at an airport’ on the 180m long Skybridge at London’s Gatwick Airport. A remarkable project that takes arriving and departing passengers on a sonic journey of 6300km (3900 miles) down China’s Yangtze river in two minutes, Delta Sound played a major role in the installation’s design and installation.

Courtesy of J. Walter Thompson London

The project, dubbed A Living River, celebrates HSBC’s 15-year partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and The Water Programme, a five-year, $100m programme aiming to provide and protect water sources, inform, educate and drive economic development.
Marketing company J Walter Thompson (JWT) was commissioned by HSBC to provide the project’s soundscape. Tom O’Donnell, JWT creative director for the project, has a long relationship with Delta Sound’s Davey Williamson, whose experience with immersive audio and motion sensors to trigger recordings in real time was invaluable. This has included an immersive 3D show at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport for Toyota, turning the soundtracks to videos into a surround sound experience, using a custom-designed speaker array.

Courtesy of J. Walter Thompson London

“ Tom and I went through a number of different options for what we could do for the Skybridge project.
Could it be a big musical instrument that people could play ? Could it be playback, voice messages ? ” says Davey. “ But then I came up with a idea of having 160 speakers at the side of the Skybridge at chest height and hung from the I beams directly above the travelators in both directions. This would provide a really good, immersive experience, if the speakers were positioned at frequent intervals.

“ Because of my background in producing content for shows, as well as delivering technical sound design, I knew the possibilities and the way a sound designer would work. I wanted to provide a limitless canvas for them to work with. ”
Once Davey had written a technical brief on the design, how audio could be played back and his suggestions for the use of motion sensors, the sound design went out to tender. The tender was won by Nick Ryan, whose concept for location recordings of the Yangtze River really captured the imagination of HSBC and JWT.

Courtesy of J. Walter Thompson London

“ Nick wanted to make it as authentic as possible. Providing Skybridge users with a realistic experience of the Yangtze was the most important thing and he was concerned about the positioning of the speakers. He initially didn’t think it would feel immersive enough, but once we’d listened to some mock-up material, he was sold, ” says Davey.
Nick’s recording concept involved an eight-channel array, based on DPA 4060 omni-directional, miniature microphones and Sound Devices 788T eight channel field recorders. Mounted on customised, lightweight telescopic camera tripods, the microphones were arranged in a row 10.5m long, spaced 1.5m apart, with the ‘height’ mics set back by 1.5m. This meant they were positioned exactly the same distance apart as groups of eight loudspeakers on the Skybridge, ensuring that the Yangtze ambience would sound completely natural when replayed at Gatwick.
“ It’s a fantastic way of capturing audio, ” says Davey. “ It also meant there were no issues of phase. ”

Nick spent five days recording 100 hours of audio in 35 locations along the length of the river, which would give Gatwick travellers the experience of travelling the entire length of the river as they traversed the Skybridge. He also used a selection of other microphones to capture ambience and spot effects, as well as hydrophones to record the sounds beneath the water, including rocks and bottles tumbling along the river bed.
With the recordings ‘in the can’, back in the UK he worked with Davey on a 20m offsite mock-up of a section of the installation, to hear how it would sound to Gatwick passengers and to mix the content. Post-production technologies included ProTools, QLab and Apple Logic Pro, various Waves plugins and others.

The mock-up also gave them the opportunity to work out the best loudspeakers for the finished installation. Davey chose the Bose DS100 SE for the side speakers, because they could run low impedance or 100 volt line as well as delivering good bass extension and a defined high end. For the ceiling speakers he chose pendant models, which provided the easiest method of deployment and had very natural dispersion.

DS100 SE de Bose. Courtesy of J. Walter Thompson London

“ The Bose speaker is a surface mounted product, so I designed a bespoke L bracket, which was manufactured by R Concepts in Shepperton Studios. The speakers almost look like they’re floating in space, ” he says. With the PA/VA room where the amplifier racks were housed being around 400m from the furthest speaker, Davey had to run the speakers as high impedance. He chose Crown 8 x 300w amplifiers and used 80 amplifier channels, the speakers being linked in pairs.
“ We ended up using around 28km of low smoke, zero halogen speaker cable, which was necessary to comply with the Gatwick Airport standard, ” he continues. “ The cabling was arranged as eight 25 core multicores, routed from the PA/VA room, over a service road, up an electrical riser tower to a termination panel in a service room at the end of the Skybridge. From there it was distributed out to 80 two core cables, which ran to the speakers. ”
The use of Merging Technologies Ovation media server allowed different scenes to be played back at different times of the day, all sequenced to a real-time clock, with bidirectional sharing with Pyramix for on the fly asset editing. Nick then created a detailed schedule with options available for six ‘time of day’ slots: dawn, morning rush hour, morning, afternoon, afternoon pm rush hour and evening.

Courtesy of J. Walter Thompson London

“ For example, the market scenes play early in the morning and late in the afternoon. There are some fishermen at work only in the morning or late evening when they’re coming back. Nick’s schedule explained when, how and in what mode each sound would play.
But there were also elements like crickets only being heard in the evening. So we made a cricket overlay and we scheduled the sequencer in Ovation to only play that if it was in the evening time slot, ” says Davey. “ Ultimately programming took 30-40 days, mostly working 16-18 hours. ”

The installation was also designed to interact with the weather in China. A script on a Raspberry Pi mini-computer in the PA/VA room looks at weather data from Yibin in China every 10 minutes and reacts by triggering ‘overlay’ sounds of wind, rain or other relevant material as necessary. Ten further Raspberry Pis were used for the PIR motion sensors, which are located at the second side speaker in each of the five audio zones that span each travelator, as well as multiple other tasks.
“ You can have a sound, such as a moped, coming from behind you and moving in front. This makes it very apparent that your human interaction with the sound installation has made something happen, ” says Davey. “ Also, every time someone goes through the first sensor it starts a dim timer which runs for 30 minutes. So if 30 minutes go by without anyone passing the first sensor again, it fades the whole experience out until it’s woken up by someone passing it again. ”

The installation covers both the arrivals and departure sides of the Skybridge, with all the loudspeakers and sensors mirrored, but reacting independently. When it came to installation, the strict rules governing design approval, materials and airside working meant that the Delta team worked under the sponsorship and guidance of Adam Betherick and Michael Bradey at Corporate Connection.

Courtesy of J. Walter Thompson London

“ They work with HSBC Global, managing and installing their print campaigns across all airports that they have advertising rights to, ” says Davey. “ They’ve been working at airports for the past 15 years and they were the bridge between JWT, me and Gatwick Airport Commercial. Adam and Michael were fantastic, they set up the programme of works, got us accredited, told us best practices of working and acted as a site manager and escorts.
“ Once on site we had two days of induction and training before starting installation. Because you can only work while the passengers are clear and have to be off site an hour before the first passenger would go through, time on site could be very limited. I approached it with a demanding ‘live sound’ schedule, working with a carefully handpicked, four-person team.
This including Mark Powell, Delta’s technical manager. He was able to manage my designs and specification and all the technical and mechanical parts that were needed to complete things. He also built the server racks for the PA/VA room, which were beautifully done.” The Skybridge installation has gained widespread international attention, including from mainstream news media, and Davey is obviously pleased that he and Delta were invited to play such a key role.

“ Nick did an outstanding job and we are all very proud to have been involved, ” he says. “ There’s a fantastic scene where you’re listening to people playing badminton in the park; when you walk along the Skybridge you can feel the shuttlecock move from side to side. It’s incredible. ”

More informations : Web Delta Sound

Clair Global Cohesion CO-12

Clair Global listened to their clients and is now offering their new flagship system: The Cohesion Series. The philosophy that inspired The Cohesion is centered on creating the highest quality and most efficient speaker system.
The Cohesion’s unique design allows for exceptionally smooth horizontal pattern control throughout its’ entire range in a very compact package.
The Series consists of five speaker enclosures that provide high output reference-quality sound within a smaller footprint in both truck space and in the air.

“ The Cohesion combines the best possible sound quality, highest maximum SPL capability, and incredible efficiency. We reduced the weight and size of the PA considerably, while improving virtually all aspects of its acoustic behavior, ” said Jim Bowersox, Clair Global Design Engineer.
“ The new Cohesion Series is going to give other manufacturers a run for their money. It’s absolutely amazing, ” said Derek Brener, FOH Engineer for The Weekend.

Clair Global Cohesion CO-8

Efficient Design
In addition to the sound quality, special emphasis was put into maximizing efficiency. “Based on feedback from our clients, we knew that our job was to design a system that does more with less.
Now we offer a 270-degree coverage system that fits into 30 feet of a truck. The system is engineered for speed and safety,” said Shaun Clair, VP of Sales for Clair Global.

It’s a “Green” System
The Cohesion Series was also conceived to be a very “green” system. By reducing the weight and size, less fuel is required to transport the system from gig to gig. All Cohesion Series amplifiers, including the CP-118 and CP-218 self-powered subwoofers, are Power Factor Corrected for extremely high-energy efficient operation, both of which allow tours to reduce their carbon footprint significantly.

Clair Global Cohesion CP-118

Clair Global Cohesion CP-218

Who is Using The Cohesion System

In 2016, The Cohesion Series is being deployed to both existing and new Clair Global clients as they hit the road.
Expect to experience this technology at shows with artists such as Carrie Underwood, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, The Weeknd and Black Sabbath, just to name a few.

CM 22 deployed by Xavier Gendron for the Calogero tour in France

Learning the System
In addition to Clair’s comprehensive in-house training program, they are expanding their curriculum to offer specialized education classes for The Cohesion Series. This ensures that all of Clair Global’s road staff remain current with the new technology.
Clair also provides regular field training with their personnel at events in order to guarantee maximum quality control, consistency, and safety on all of their systems in addition to the new flagship line.
“ I am proud to be part of the team that is boldly advancing the entertainment experience for the next generation, ” said Matt Clair, Director of Operations for Clair Global.

More informations on www.clairglobal.com

Writing our wishes for the new year is a wonderful exercise that we cherish each year just as much as hosting the old man with his flying reindeer.
But 2015 is an exception to this rule, as all our thoughts are still with the victims of barbarism and their families.

But writing these New Year’s greetings is also – and above all – to wish you dreams, endless dreams, and the real possibility to transform them into reality; we have managed it with Soundlightup, and that was by no means guaranteed…

For this, we will talk even more about you, your ideas, your experiences, your companies, your equipment and try to bring you L’envie d’avoir envie, “the yearning to desire”, as Johnny Hallyday would sing to his fans. And there is so much need for artists and fans!
More than ever, we will be your companion in 2016. With eight feature stories, in-depth articles, exclusive interviews and product tests, plus more than 40 news items every month, we’ll keep you filled with information.
With SLU learning, finding work and selling equipment have never been so easy and enjoyable, and it all costs you nothing. Keep your money and use it to drink to our health.

And finally, since we wouldn’t want you to have to take our word for it, at SLU, our numbers are certified by the OJD – the French organization specialized in verifying and certifying the circulation of print and digital media. This year, thanks to you, we had a growth of almost three figures, with nearly 700,000 articles read. Thank you.

Enough talk – dreams won’t wait. Happy 2016 from the entire editorial staff at Soundlightup: Audrey, Isabelle, Lydiane, Monique, Claude, Douglas, Jean-Pierre, Jocelyn, Ludo, Patrick, Sébastien, Stéphane, Tristan,

The new ID24 super-compact loudspeaker, the smallest ever made by NEXO, has been installed for the first time in Bristol, UK. Working as under-balcony fills in the 2000-seater Hippodrome theatre, 24x ID24s are a vital element in the high-specification system brought in by London-based Orbital Sound for a specific production.

A couple of ID24 under the balcony

Leading theatre sound provider Orbital Sound is the first rental company in the world to deploy the ID Series, used in Bristol alongside two other NEXO systems – a STM M28 modular line array for main PA, augmented by GEO M6 compact line array modules for upper balcony.

The main system comprising of 9 M28

With a view to forthcoming rental projects, Orbital has ordered ID24 cabinets in black and white. In Bristol, they have been installed as fills under the two large balconies, as well as stageside for front fill.

Orbital MD Chris Headlam describes the ID24 as “ a latest generation product from the modern era of loudspeaker modelling. The ID24 has a user-rotatable horn, providing 60° or 120° degree HF coverage; at 120°, it is ideal for our delay/under-balcony/infill applications in the theatre auditorium. ”

An ID24 showing his rotable horn and the button to achieve it indicated by the green sign.

The petite ID24 cabinet contains twin 4” drivers in combination with an HF compression driver offering two preset directivity options.
Since the box can be mounted vertically or horizontally, this effectively gives the user four different directivities in a cabinet that is just 310mm wide x 132mm high.

“ Vocal projection is very important and these cabinets sound natural even at high SPL. NEXO has made it easier for theatre sound designers; the ID24 is small enough, powerful enough and light enough for use in multiple applications.

Check for some white ID24 attached under the first balcony

In Bristol, we’re using two different NEXO line arrays with the ID compacts, and as a rental supplier, I’m impressed by the ‘family sound’ that makes all these loudspeakers sound so cohesive as a system. ”

The first and second balcony. Under each one of them are attached the white ID24

Orbital Sound is also making extensive use of NEXO’s compact line array system, the GEO M6, featuring as the main PA in two other major British theatres, the Royal Opera House in Manchester (1800-seats) and the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury (1200-seats).
“ This is a totally contemporary and loudspeaker, ” says Headlam. “ Made in 2014, it actually sounds more modern that speakers made even in 2010. It has a really low level of distortion, and a lovely spatial top-end. The SPL and throw almost defies logic, when you consider its size. ”

At the Marlowe Theatre, with 2 balconies, Orbital has installed six arrays of GEO M6; 6-a-side lines at performer level, 3-a-side at upper stage level for Balcony 1 and with left/right 6-cabinet arrays flown over the proscenium arch to address Balcony 2.
In Manchester, at the historic 1800-seat Opera House, the GEO M6 is deployed in left/right 12-cabinet arrays, under the direction of highly experienced sound designer Chris Whybrow.
“ It has outstanding resistance to feedback, so often the problem that lets down the compact line array. GEO M6 conquers this problem completely, and sets a new benchmark. ”

More informations on www.orbitalsound.com and on www.nexo-sa.com

ArtEffect Audioproduktion is a Cologne-based audio post-production studio, specialising in cinema and television blockbusters, documentaries, series and trailers.
It’s owner Peter Schröder Recently invested in a Yamaha Nuage post-production system, which he is so satisfied with that a second one is likely to follow soon.

Peter founded the studio by in 1997, which features three control rooms and two recording rooms. Its work concentrates on sound design, automatic dialogue replacement (ADR), Foley effects and the optimisation of sound recorded on location. Peter saw Nuage for the first time at the biennial international Tonmeistertagung convention in 2012, the first time the show had been held at the Cologne exhibition centre Koelnmesse. He was immediately impressed.

“ I had heard about Nuage and, within five minutes of taking a closer look, was convinced by the concept, ” he says. “ It was immediately clear that the way Nuage connects a mixing surface with a DAW is seamless and perfectly executed. ”
When the time came to upgrade ArtEffect’s technical facilities, for Peter there was only one choice. He invested in an NCS500CT Nuage master unit and two NCS500FD fader units, a solution he is very pleased with.

“ We are all really happy with Nuage and were very impressed with how quickly we got used to its workflow, ” he says. “ The functionality is excellent and we’ve so enjoyed working with it that we are definitely considering buying another system for our second studio. ”

A popular destination for shopping and evening entertainment, Bangkok’s Siam Square has seen the opening of a state-of-the-art theatre on the seventh floor of its newest mall, the Siam Square One Building. An L-Acoustics Kiva audio system ensures audiences in its 1044-seat main venue enjoy high quality sound in every seat.

the main theatre, which features around 700 seats in the stalls and another 300 on the balcony.

Officially named the KBank Siam-Pic-Genesha Center of Performing Arts, the main theatre is complemented by the 200-seat Playhouse and a 40-seat studio theatre. The complex is owned by leading Thai media company, Workpoint Entertainment Public Company Ltd.
The sound system was chosen following a live demo comparing five leading brands. A committee consisting of composers, art directors and board members from Workpoint evaluated various different types of music – male and female vocals, traditional Thai instrumentals, pop and rock music.

L-Acoustics 8XTi and 12XTi under balcony fills

Over all systems and L-Acoustics scored highest in all categories. The main house hosts theatrical productions, musicals, live music, ballet, corporate events and talks.
Bangkok-based Vision One was contracted as design and build contractor for the theatre’s technical systems, with Tanapat ‘Tony’ Mongkolkosol, Frank Reuvekamp, Faz Zalleh and Hermann bin Suparman designing, overseeing and commissioning the systems.

The L-Acoustics system was chosen for the house PA, featuring left / right hangs of nine Kiva and two flown SB15m subs, a centre hang of eight Kiva and four ground-stacked SB18i subs.
Five 8XTi were installed as front fills, five more 8XTi and 12XTi as main under balcony/VIP box delays and a further five 8XTi as secondary under balcony delays.

“ Due to the physical layout of the theatre, which features around 700 seats in the stalls and another 300 on the balcony, we needed to satisfy the requirement of 95 dB +/- 3dB loudness over the entire seating area. We chose Kiva because it delivers the required SPL and the exceptional vocal clarity specified by the theatre designers, ” says Tony.

the main house PA features left / right hangs of nine Kiva and two flown SB15m subs with a centre hang of eight Kiva and four ground-stacked SB18i subs (not seen here).

“ Because the main proscenium system is flown quite high, we installed the frontfills to cover the front four rows and the delays to fill beneath the balcony. This achieved a uniform and seamless 95dB at all seats.
“ This is a very high quality venue and the owners are completely happy with the coverage, levels and audio quality that the L-Acoustics system delivers. ”

We knew something big was waiting for us at Amadeus. And indeed there was. The talented, creative and innovative folks at the company went overboard to indulge the Philharmonie de Paris with the perfect monitoring system, with a contribution by Jean Nouvel as a bonus : the Philharmonia

SLU : How did the Philharmonia come about ?

Gaëtan Byk (Amadeus Marketing Director) : It’s a project we submitted to the Philharmonie de Paris. We had started working with them about four years ago on the various locations that needed to be fitted out. When the issue of the studios came up, the scenographers were planning on using existing Amadeus speakers such as the Digital ST 200 N, which are somewhat dated.
As we didn’t have 8-inch based monitoring systems available, and 15-inch based systems such as the 155 would have been too big, we offered to design a new product for their control rooms, including the third, smaller one.

SLU : How are these control rooms layed out ?

Gaëtan Byk : The Grande Salle (Symphonic Hall) and Salle de Répétition (Rehearsal Room) control rooms are both in 5.1 and will be fitted with 5 Philharmonia and a sub. Then, there will be a stereo pair installed in the Christophe Rosenberg room at the Pole Pédagogique (Pedagogic Department), along with a digital mixing console. The two other rooms are equipped with big Lawo mixing boards.

SLU : The LF driver in the Philharmonia is an 8-inch ?

Gaëtan Byk : Yes. Michel Deluc (Amadeus’ Director of Research & Development) started to work on curved shapes and laminar low-pressure vents, envisioning a two-voice bi-amplified model with an 8-inch transducer and an Esotar T330D tweeter, Dynaudio’s classic dome. As the Esotar costs $2000, being used in the audiophile segment of the market, we didn’t pursue that option.

A view on the soft dome tweeter manufactured by Morel, with modifications specified by Michel Deluc so that it better suits the routed pavilion, a trademark of Amadeus, that provides improved spatialization and phase coherency, as well as a little extra gain

SLU : A little expensive for a soft dome tweeter

Gaëtan Byk : Absolutely. Dynaudio do not make them anymore, so they can only be found in limited quantities, at absurd prices. The prototype on which we worked was however fitted with those, flush-mounted. The Philharmonie liked it a lot and ordered twelve of them based on that concept.

SLU : What did you choose to replace the Esotar in the end ?

Gaëtan Byk : Michel went with a tweeter from Morel, and after listening to the results, asked for some modifications so that it was better suited to the flush-mount set-up. They fine-tuned some aspects of the coil and the flange.

Notice the precise adjustment between the woofer and the speaker front panel. The woofer’s neutrality amazes, despite its 3.2 cm excursion

SLU : How about the woofer ?

Gaëtan Byk : The woofer comes from Sweden. It’s handmade by a team of enthusiasts. They are going to be difficult to obtain in large quantities because they only do very small runs. They feature triple-layer cones, and the wait for delivery to us is also triple! But it’s not a big deal, as the goal isn’t to sell truckloads of these speakers.

SLU : What has been used for powering and filtering ?

Gaëtan Byk : It’s all in-house designs. Two 700W RMS Class D amps, and 64-bit/96 kHz digital processing.

SLU : Fitting the electronics inside must have been a challenge, given the shape and the limited space available.

Gaëtan Byk : Everything is in the pedestal, which will also house the analog and digital inputs.

A birch mille-feuille

A view of the remarkable wood work done by hand in Amadeus’s carpentry workshop. This images shows why it’s barely impossible for this speaker to suffer from structural resonances.

SLU : How is the enclosure designed ?

Gaëtan Byk : It’s a complex process, that ultimately contributes to the charm of the Philharmonia. The enclosure is made of layered wood veneers.
Ordinary Finland press-glued 18 mm birch plywood boards. Once they are assembled, a 5-axis CNC router shapes the front panel area which loads the tweeter and helps with directivity.

The pedestal was originally shaped like a sailing mast with flasks on both ends. The whole arrangement looked very light and that was the prototype that was submitted and approved.
That’s when I thought of asking Jean Nouvel, the architect who designed the Philharmonie de Paris building, to work on the Philharmonia speaker’s aesthetics, ornamentation, and finish.
He was drawn to the shape of the speaker itself, and immediately suggested that the plywood stayed visible, rather than being painted as initially intended.

A shot showing the mille-feuilles speaker made of layered wood veneers, 547 layers. Ordinary Finland press-glued 18 mm birch plywood boards

SLU : It’s still coated with varnish…

Gaëtan Byk : Yes. There will be two versions: one of them stained in Chinese black ink—the wood veneers will be visible, only darker, and the other version in a light color, using a white stain that gives it a clearer tone and gives the veneers unity.

The pedestal will share the speaker material and its looks. It will lengthen the speaker, and at the same time provide a way to house the electronics and the connections.
Jean Nouvel brought a lot to this speaker, whose aesthetics benefit greatly from his talent and his ideas.

SLU : Could this custom-designed pedestal house an extra speaker, besides the electronics ?

Gaëtan Byk : It actually won’t appear as a speaker on a pedestal, but as a tall and all-in-one speaker. Michel is currently thinking about eventually turning it into a sub. Having said that, the speaker already offers an exceptional bass response given its size (42 Hz @ -2dB) and the 8-inch features an impressive excursion, close to 3 cm.

Nothing stops the 8-inch

Michel Deluc (Amadeus’ Director of R&D) : An extra speaker is an attractive idea, but only testing will tell us whether we like it or not.

SLU : Wouldn’t it lighten the load on the 8-inch, offering extra power while lowering intermodulation distortion ?

Michel Deluc : You want to preserve coherency first and foremost, as it’s the strong point of this speaker. Adding speakers invariably leads to extra interferences. As it is now, as a 2-voice system, the max SPL is already 124 dB @ 1m. Having said that, I’m considering an arrangement that would include a second, identical, 8-inch, with a slightly different load, tailored to the larger enclosure and the signal I want reproduced. This speaker is amazing and has many potential uses. I can’t see myself using another speaker, especially given the size constraints and the need to preserve the aesthetics consistency.

A complete view of the Philharmonia. The streamlined design offers a rather substantial load for an 8-inch, and above all, a low-pressure laminar port that behind the scenes provides this speaker with a great low frequency extension and efficiency.

SLU : Why not use another load type such as a band pass, to get extra power at the low end and keep the aesthetics ?

Michel Deluc : I don’t like it. I have never heard anything good coming out of this type of load arrangement. I would have to be pretty desperate to come to that! (laughter)

SLU : What is the target market for this speaker? Its remarkable sound makes it suited to studio monitoring and mastering, but given its design and finish, it could reach a much wider market…

Gaëtan Byk : Indeed. It should appeal to the high-end hi-fi market and was presented at the High End Society in Munich last May. The combination of aspects such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Jean Nouvel and Amadeus’ technological and acoustical contributions makes it a rather unique product.

Conclusion

Now comes the fun part. A half-hour listening session in the middle of the tumult from the show on the company’s booth. The speakers were driven to the max to cover the background noise. Our impression was very positive, on several grounds. First, the sound coherency, fluidity and transparency are close to an electrostatic panel, with the added benefit of an absolutely perfect phase coherency. It’s almost disturbing: a good mono source comes out centered and reveals itself perfectly. You want to touch the microphone you picture in front of the voice that’s facing you. You want to quarrel with the sound engineer that failed to correctly center his sources.

As you can see, we’re deep into precision and every bit of information, the most dynamic percussive sounds, effects such as short and very dense reverberations are conveyed with utmost fidelity. Anything cobbled together or lacking truthfulness is immediately sent to the corner by an absolutely unforgiving Philharmonia. The very high end breathes and rises endlessly.
One can only be in awe of the task carried out, between speaker selection and integration, processing and amplification, especially since one forgets all of that and only retains the amazing fidelity. The bottom end is equally outstanding and many visitors, me included, were busy looking for the subwoofer able to reach frequencies that an 8-inch, even with adequate loading, cannot convey without wind or trailing noises. And all that, I should remind you, in an open field listening session! Again, dynamics and precision were remarkable.

The amp provides all the power you want and the speaker follows untiringly. That is, pretty near that, as comes a moment where you feel that, despite the excursion and its ability to handle the power, the laws of physics regain the upper hand and the mid-range frequencies sound slightly affected. It should be pointed out again that the 24dB/octave filtering, set to a 2170 Hz frequency leaves a rather hefty workload to this transducer in the upper end range. The danger with the Philharmonia is that you can easily let yourself go wild in the level department to enjoy the extraordinary sound quality, forgetting its size.

As I told Michel Deluc, one would have wanted to benefit from the same precision, cohesion and incredible dynamic capabilities and have a little extra power, but nevertheless, as it is, the Philharmonia is a splendid achievement that wholly deserves the monitor designation.
Amadeus just started shipping the Philharmonia at 32,900€ (excl VAT) the pair.

Photo © Cecile Choblet

Affectionately dubbed “ the yoghurt pot ”, Le Volcan (The Volcano) in Le Havre is one of France’s most important theatres and since its opening in 1982 has consistently been in the top five in terms of ticket sales.
A major refurbishment has seen its original audio installation replaced with a state-of-the-art L-Acoustics Kara(i) sound system, chosen for its even coverage, stereo sound quality and ability to cleanly reproduce diverse types of music and performance.

Le Havre was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the 20 year post-war rebuilding by Auguste Perret being recognised as an outstanding example of urban planning and architecture. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the unique concrete building – and its adjacent sibling, Le Petit Volcan – sits in the heart of Le Havre’s cultural quarter.
In 2010 the decision was taken to refurbish the entire area, improving access and lighting, making the atmosphere lighter, more airy and generally improving the original architecture to make the area around Le Volcan and Le Petit Volcan feel much more welcoming.

A major part of the five year project was refurbishing the venues themselves. Le Petit Volcan has started a new life as a reference library, while Le Volcan was rebuilt internally to bring it up to 21st century standards of equipment, décor, access and safety.

L-Acoustics Kara(i)

Audio visual company Auvisys supplied the new production technology, which has included a comprehensive L-Acoustics package.
The venue features three performance spaces : a 796-seat theatre and rooms for 125 and 150 people respectively.
Installed by Audio Courtin, under the project management of Alain Szklarek, the system in the theatre comprises six L-Acoustics Kara(i), two SB18i and two SB28 subs per side.

L-Acoustics Kiva

These are complemented by a centre cluster of three Kiva, 5XT front fills as well as two ARCS Wide infills, with the passive loudspeakers powered by five LA4x and an LA8.

“ A jury of people from the venue, planners and AV companies listened to a number of systems, ” says Philippe Lacroix, Technical Director at Le Volcan. “ They came away convinced that Kara(i) was the right choice. It had the best coverage, the best stereo image quality and was the most versatile of all the systems they heard. ”

L-Acoustics 5Xt

L-Acoustics Arcs Wide

In addition, a mobile L-Acoustics system has been supplied for use in all spaces or, if required, outdoors. This features a range of loudspeakers, ensuring that any event can be catered for, and includes fourteen 115XT HiQ, ten 108P, eight 12Xti, four 8Xti, two 112P and two SB15P coaxial enclosures.
Meanwhile, the existing L-Acoustics stage monitors – which Lacroix describes as ‘ indestructible ’ – have been retained, which includes 12 MTD112b, eight MTD115b and four SB218.

The entire building features a Dante network, allowing any elements of the mobile system to be easily linked to Yamaha CL1, CL3, CL5 and M7CL-48 mixing consoles anywhere in the building, for maximum versatility.

“ The Kara(i) system is perfect for the diverse line-up at Le Volcan, ” explains José Michel, sound engineer at Le Volcan.  “ From contemporary music to classic concertos or spoken word, our audience can now enjoy clear sound from any seat in the room. ”
The project has also included a major overhaul of the acoustics in the theatre. The combination of movable suspended acoustic panels and the L-Acoustics system deliver excellent results for both audiences and artists.

John Meyer

When John Meyer, President and CEO of Meyer Sound, offers an in-depth view into technological ideas behind the development of LEOPARD, it’s the best solution to discover a new speaker and to learn a lot about sound.
In ” The LEOPARD Project, ” Meyer details his lifelong quest for the perfect loudspeaker—addressing the science of sound measurement and the history of loudspeaker development.

Recognized in the audio world for his thought leadership and future thinking, Meyer offers an insightful glimpse at the scientific research and thinking behind the development of what is already one of Meyer Sound’s most successful products.

Read the paper here http://meyersound.com/sites/default/files/john_meyer_leopard_story.pdf

September 15 is one of the most important dates in the Mexican calendar; this year, it marked the 205th Independence Day for the country, with celebrations in the Zócalo public square in Mexico City.
Multiple NEXO line array systems were deployed around a special 4-sided concert stage, with the full sound reinforcement specification running to 436 NEXO cabinets in total.

A large view of the Greek cross shaped stage. The need for additional speakers, the AlphaE-F, AlphaE B1-18 and GEO S8 is obvious seeing the distance existing between the main hangs of each stage and the distance between the stage and the area of overlap.

Zócalo is one of the largest public plazas in the world. With live music, mass singing and fireworks, the event is attended by 40,000 spectators.

The legacy stage with 2 arrays of GEO-D

The demanding job of providing sound reinforcement for the event was shared between five audio rental companies with a strong tradition of cooperation.

Sound designer Sergio Zenteno coordinated the pooling of equipment inventories from Tecnoson Espectaculos, ROA, Star, Backline and Concepto 3, to create a unique system that used 12x NEXO line arrays around the four-sided main stage to deliver 360° coverage.

Three sides of the stage used NEXO’s modular line array, the STM Series, as the main PA. The fourth, the Catedral side, deployed a NEXO GEO D system.

• 18x STM M46/B112 per side + 2x M28 per side, with 36x S118
• 12x STM M46/B112 per side + 2x M28 per side, with 24x S118
• 12x STM M46/B112 per side + 2x M28 per side, with 24x S118
• 16x GEO D per side, with 8x CD18 per side

Below the STM arrays of main and bass cabinets were NEXO’s latest addition to the STM Series, the M28 omnipurpose module, here used as a downfill. STM subs were groundstacked 3 high.

Two M28 used as downfills and aligned with the top M46, thus aside of the system M46/B112.

Nexo’s wall of sound, at least if we like the first two octaves, and made thanks to 38 S118 subs

One out the four Geo S8 hangs used to fill the gap existing between the main hangs of each stage.

Additionally, there were four arrays of 12 x GEO S8 for frontfill at the corners of the stage, serving as front coverage 45° outside of the main arrays.
With the main arrays set at 17.5° off the horizontal axis, the systems achieved full 360° coverage.

The stage monitoring system used 52 pieces of NEXO PS15, with additional PS15s for for frontfill. Even the classic Alpha eF and eM/B1-18 cabinets were in action for sidefill.

Ready to roll and to yell, the AlphaE-F and AlphaE B1-18 help filling the audio gap close to the stage.

A red shoot. Very dark of the forecasted SPL on Zócalo plaza

STM’s modular design, teamed with NEXO’s standardised Universal Amp Racks (NUAR), makes it easy for PA rental companies to share hardware resources and collaborate on very large-scale concerts and events.

The huge stage built around the flag pole and the Mexican flag

Country superstar Kenny Chesney is one of the biggest concert attractions in the world, although he rarely leaves North America. Each of his tours – 13 since he began headlining in 2002 – has sold in excess of a million tickets; the current 2015 Big Revival Tour passed the million ticket mark before the first note of music was even played.

An NFL stadium view, the kind of place where nobody must be left in the need of audio, also sitting at 90° off of the stage

Kenny Chesnay in action, thanks also to the Plailly’s guys !!

Production audio – as well as lighting – is provided by Nashville-based Morris Light and Sound. Working with Chesney’s front-of-house engineer Chris Rabold, they have pioneered the use of NEXO’s STM Series modular line array to deliver in such large venues.

The 2015 Big Revival Tour marks ML&S and Rabold’s second outing with NEXO. Chesney’s regularised tour schedule – playing many of the same venues, with the same crew and the same rental provider – has provided near-scientific conditions for judging the development of NEXO’s radical modular system over the first 3 years of its life. The most visible of changes this year is the inclusion of a new downfill cabinet to the system.

Serious, very serious main hangs consisting of 24 M46 + B112 systems and a couple of M28 per side

The M28 module was added to the STM Series at the end of last year, and FOH engineer Chris Rabold describes it as “ the missing piece of the puzzle. One of its primary uses for us is as a downfill, but I don’t think of it as a traditional downfill box at all – it’s an extension, which is voiced very similarly to the M46 main cabinet, so it’s just giving us that extra bit at the bottom of the array.

Chris Rabold, Kenny Chesney’s FOH, as happy as a man facing an SSL desk and a STM system can be

And it is very, very controllable ; I can manipulate it if I choose to, but a lot of the time I really don’t need to because it’s so seamless and smooth. “

Morris Light & Sound was the first major rental company to put STM onto a premium tour.
This year, they increased their already substantial investment, adding the M28 modules to its inventory.

The two new M28 hung under the main line M48

ML&S systems engineer John Mills says :
“ the M28s are a problem-solver. Because the M46s are so powerful, we found ourselves wanting to turn them down, but of course if you do that, you break the line array.

M28 has acoustically less output, so it’s the right box to have on the bottom of the line.
When you walk between the seam, and it changes boxes, you would expect something fairly significant to happen, but from M46 to M28 is a very, very smooth transition. ”

All the Nexo STM catalogue ready to put on fire Kenny Chesney’s audience. M28, M46, B112 and S118, not to mention additional S118 subs groundstacked in front of the stage and the delays…

ML&S has moved some of its new M28 inventory to the delay towers, using anywhere between 12-16 per hang, depending on the venue.

The high frequency output power of this small STM cabinet has impressed John Mills.
“ I can basically do whatever I want with it. When we first made the move from our previous rig to the NEXO system, we had 16 delay boxes back here; we now have 12, and I’ve turned them down!

“ The throw of the system is unbelievable. We have done a few shows where we’ve had to throw 500-feet with no delays, and STM does it. Incredibly, it still sounds fairly hi-fi in the back, too. Sure, you have your physics of air loss, but it still sounds better than anything at distance, and the vocal still sounds like it’s right in front of you. It’s pretty unreal. ”

24 S118 hanged in cardioid mode. For the largest venues up to 72 subs have been used stacked and hanged

Chesney’s tour plays 23 NFL football stadiums, but it also moves through sheds and arenas. “ System configuration does differ quite a bit, but only in numbers of boxes, never audio,” says John Mills.

Nexo’s a power alley, a hot and huge amount of NUAR’s hidden under the stage to get rid of sun, rain and tears !!

“ Two nights ago, for example, I was 18 and 2 on the mains, and now we’re 24 and 2, so that’s going to change the array length and low mid section of it.

Then last night we were 18 and 3; and we’ve done smaller still, such as a 12 and 3.
So it’s scaling almost in half in some of our venues, but the beauty of STM is, it really does translate.

Array length will change some low frequency, and how much there is of it, but tonally, this system is really exceptional, and consistent. ”

ML&S is rightly proud of the fact that, at the time of writing, there have been ZERO audio refunds for well over 1 million tickets.

System specification for Heinz Field, Pittsburgh :

• Main hangs: 24x M46 + 24x B112 + 2x M28 x2
• Subbass: 24x S118 flown x2, 24 groundstacked across centre
• Aux hangs: 15x M46 + 15xB112 + 3x M28 x2
• 270 hangs (90° offstage for the side and back, at the top): 12x M28 x2
• Delays: 12x M28 x2
• NEXO NUARs featuring NXAMPs
• Everything run on fibre via Dante

More information : Morris Light & Sound http://experiencemorris.com/ et Nexo http://nexo-sa.com/en/

MAUI 5 par LD Systems

Easily portable, set up in seconds and conveniently fitting onto a car seat, the most recent addition to LD Systems’ MAUI family impresses with comprehensive connectivity and a powerful, dynamic performance.

Providing both sound reinforcement and monitoring from a single system, the MAUI 5 sports 200 watts RMS yet weighs in under 11 kg (24 lbs.) – making it the world’s lightest column system.

The ported 8″ subwoofer and 3-piece column PA boasts extra wide dispersion, extended vertical directivity and good feedback resistance while custom multipin connectors facilitate fast, cableless assembly.

The 3-piece column PA showing his custom multipin connectors

The subwoofer connectors : line inputs and power supply

A detailed view of the onboard mixer featuring 4 gain controls, line, mic, Hi-Z/MP3 and Bluetooth. Just below the high shelf filter, subwoofer and master volumes enable precise sound balance.

The all-in-one MAUI 5 incorporates a 4-channel mixer with LD Systems’ proprietary LECC digital processing, Bluetooth© technology and microphone, line level and hi-Z inputs which can be used simultaneously.

Individual level controls, subwoofer and master volumes enable substantial sound balance while a high shelf filter allows for room correction.

The built-in Class D amplification features overcurrent, short circuit and thermal protection for secure, reliable operation.

Discreet and unobtrusive while delivering audio with clarity and punch, the lightweight MAUI 5 column PA is suitable for a wide array of applications including solo entertainers and acoustic performers such as singer/songwriters.
Manufacturer & Sales : Adam Hall, Germany, Available from November 2015 – RRP : 549 €

More information about the product : http://www.ld-systems.com/en/series/maui-series/maui-5-ultra-portable-column-pa-system-with-mixer/

Based outside Turku, Finnish loudspeaker manufacturer Aura Audio Oy is using the magic of Powersoft’s M-Force’s electromagnetic conversion principle to power its XD30 subwoofer; this was pressed into action at the recent high profile Colors dance festival at Kaapelitehdas, the former cable factory in Helsinki — with devastating effect!

Aura Audio’s managing director, Mika Isotalo, explains that they worked closely with rental company AMJ Turku Audio Oy, who equipped both the main and second stages with Aura’s premier sound reinforcement systems. M-Force first captured their imagination at its launch during Prolight+Sound 2013 in Frankfurt. “We started working with it immediately, so that by Frankfurt this year we were able to present our own M-Force product, the XD30 subwoofer,” stated Mika.

A shot showing Paul Van Dyck and Aura’s Audio A2 in the middle of the set, one playing the music and the others reproducing it !! © Gofoxo.com – Sami Turunen

So what it is about M-Force that has created a true paradigm shift in low-frequency sound, and grafted a new dimension onto electronic dance music reproduction — so that dance music aficionados could hear an all-star line-up at Colors headed by Basement Jaxx like never before?
Essentially, it is an innovative transducer based on a patented moving magnet linear motor structure, offering unrivalled performance in terms of power handling, electromagnetic conversion, reliability and maximum SPL when compared to a conventional moving coil and cone arrangement.

The XD30, next generation subwoofer from Aura dn Powersoft. Delivering over 150dB between 35 and 80Hz. 115kg and the same output than 3 to 4 direct radiating double 18” sub…

Driven by the M-Drive amp module, the M-Force motor is the result of years of FEM magnetic and mechanical simulations, while Powersoft’s Differential Pressure Control (DPC) creates further performance enhancing active control.

“ As a loudspeaker manufacturer focusing on acoustics and new loading techniques we already had a new patented enclosure design which we had been using with different cone drivers for several years. When we saw M-Force we immediately thought it would be good for more compressed loading because of that huge motor strength. ”

“ A single XD30 is able to produce more than 150dB peak SPL in floor and we used four of those in two by two end-fire configuration so we were hitting average of 140dB´s at 10m´s. Low frequency cut of is around 30Hz, but it does go lower than that if necessary. ”
So far the system has been heard by dance music aficionados at such events as DBTL Festival in Turku, Helsinki Pride and Raumarock Festival in Rauma and others.

“ The reaction from pretty much everyone has been one of positive surprise,” says Mika. “ They have all been impressed by the size to SPL, the fast transient response and effortless infra bass. ”

At the same time Aura Audio purchased their first Powersoft X8 amplifiers this year, specifically to drive the top end of their rig and they will be offering them to their clients as a primary choice. “X8 represents an unparalleled package of DSP and electronic power, and it sounds very natural and clear,” observes Mika.

The point source all-purpose actively driven box from Aura Audio, the A1. 15’ Neodymium bandpass loaded for the lows, 6,5 neodymium code driver horn-loaded for the mids and a couple of 0,65 exit drivers for the highs. Max peak SPL is 137dB, the coverage at -6dB is 90×15°.

The « small » Aura’s line-array A2 featuring two 10” for the lows and the very same 6,6” and 0,65 for the mid and highs. Passive 3 ways, handling 600W RMS and 2400 peak, the A2 delivers a max peak SPL of 137dB. The coverage is 90×10° and the weight only 33kg.

At the Colors Festival the system comprised Aura Audio’s A2 line array with six elements per side and six as a delay line to carry sound over 100m to the back of the hall, powered by the X8, fitted with OEM preset libraries. Further A1 point source cabinets were used as front fills.

Since its humble beginnings in the late 90’s, Colors Festival became one of the largest EDM event in Scandinavia and is an integral part of the EDM music scene in Finland. The Helsinki based festival took place on 10-12 of July 2015 and is part of Colors events, which range from intimate club nights to major festivals. This year, Space Ibiza headlined the festival along with Basement Jaxx. Other leading DJs on the Colors Festival bill included Ferry Corsten, Orkidea, Paul van Dyk, ATB, Camilo Franco, Chicane, Deep Dish and Photographer.
Mika Isotalo is in no doubt as to the advantages the combination of their patented enclosure design loaded with the 30″ Powersoft M-Force driver system, brings in setting a new benchmark in SPL versus bass cabinet size. Finland’s nightclub owners are also catching on to the impact this can give their venues.

Dash Berlin. © Gofoxo.com – Sami Turunen

“ We expect to see some new ones using M-Force in the future — both in Finland and beyond, ” summarises Mika Isotalo.
“ I think M-Force open up new ways to make high power subwoofers and coupled with DPC and endless power capabilities of Powersoft amps we´re able to make a new reference for high-end subwoofers in both SPL dynamics and sound reproduction accuracy. ”

More informations :
http://www.auraaudio.fi/index.html
http://www.powersoft-audio.com/en