ApexPro invites you to Meyer Sound Training Courses held in Johannesburg
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Meyer Sound Toolbox with Rahul Samuel
Meyer Sound System Design and Optimization with Bob McCarthy
ETC connects with SixEye
ETC has become a SixEye Connected manufacturer, with its Mosaic series becoming the first in its inventory to gain from SixEye’s remote management platform. ETC will be joining companies such as Pathway Connectivity and Pharos Architectural Controls and will have access to SixEye’s latest features.
‘We’re happy to offer SixEye functionality in our Unison Mosaic controllers, the premier system for transforming large scale buildings, attractions or LED walls into eye-popping displays,’ said Shawn Fernandez, product manager for Mosaic at ETC. ‘We have Mosaic controllers for every project, so it makes sense to let users access them from everywhere with SixEye.’
‘We are delighted that ETC has seen the value of the SixEye platform and is joining us as a Connected manufacturer,’ commented SixEye’s CEO, Simon Hicks. ‘For SixEye, having one of the world’s most respected lighting manufacturers on our platform is a leap towards becoming a standard for the remote management of professional control devices.’
Dallas Cowboys expand Electro-Voice line array installation at AT&T Stadium
When the Dallas Cowboys opened AT&T Stadium in 2009, it boasted the world’s largest Electro-Voice sound system in a permanent installation, including over 240 line-array loudspeakers from the X-Line family. The design team, spearheaded by Kevin Day of WJHW, selected EV systems for their audio quality, reliability and depth of control provided by the IRIS-Net processing and monitoring platform. After enthusiastic approval from team owner Jerry Jones, Pro Media Audio Video was enlisted to help coordinate the challenging installation.
Fast-forward to 2019. Noting that the many touring concert acts coming through the world’s largest domed stadium simply do not carry enough PA to provide adequate coverage for the upper seating areas, the audio team decided to take advantage of EV’s scalability to address the challenge.
“We’re always working to improve the fan experience for all events, not just on game days,” says Gary French, Audio Engineer in Charge for the Dallas Cowboys. “Most concert tours augment their traveling systems with our EV arrays as the delay system for the upper levels. We decided a little extra coverage would be a big upgrade for those events.”
The Cowboys’ audio team worked with system programmer Richard Bratcher, along with original design and installation partners including Kevin Day of WJHW, head engineer Demetrius Palavos and COO Ted Leamy of Pro Media Audio Video, and the Electro-Voice engineering team. Together, they determined that the 14 XLCi127DVX (compact three-way) delay systems covering the upper level could be scaled up to produce smoother coverage with improved intelligibility.
Ted Leamy of ProMedia Audio Video reports that the upgrade went very smoothly. “This project is a great example of using real-world experience hand-in-hand with predictive computer models to improve a system,” he says. “By listening to the customer, we find ways to improve a system that already sounds great. We’re all extraordinarily pleased at the increased intelligibility we achieved.”
The upgrade includes two added XLC arrays on each side of the stadium, plus the addition of one more loudspeaker element to the 14 existing arrays serving the 400 level, for a total of 54 added boxes. The system is also bolstered with 20 additional Electro-Voice TG series amplifiers, each equipped with RCM-26 remote control DSP modules. One additional NetMax N8000 digital matrix controller was also added. The IRIS-Net platform’s proven stability and scalability was a key factor in the expansion.
“Having used this system for every type of event, it’s amazing how flexible it is,” adds Gary French. “We’ve had no real issues with it this whole time, and Electro-Voice is there for us whenever we decide to tweak something. After 10 years, everything still looks and sounds new and I’ve been really happy with it. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Bosch enhances security at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center
The Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center is considered to be one of the largest trade fair and congress centres in the world, with an exhibition space spanning over 500,000m2, 19 exhibition halls and 108 meeting rooms. Bosch has created and equipped a customised security and communications solution for all of the centre’s exhibition halls.
Bosch installed 425 LS1‑OC100E hemi-directional ceiling loudspeakers in the exhibition halls as they can reportedly fill the rooms due to their coverage angle and high sound pressure level. ‘We managed to reduce the number of loudspeakers needed by using our hemi-directional loudspeaker,’ said Kevin Xu, product marketing manager at Bosch Building Technologies in China. ‘Energy and operational costs for the operator dropped as a result.’
The loudspeakers are part of Paviro, Bosch’s networked public address and voice evacuation system. The halls were set up with 27 of these systems due to its architecture and use of IP technology, which made it ideal for selecting between music and audio playback in the different halls. ‘The system has to facilitate both building-specific audio signals and system-wide announcements so that visitors feel safe and comfortable in the huge building,’ explained Xu. ‘For example, an announcement in Hall 1 shouldn’t interfere with the music in Hall 2 except in the case of an emergency.’
Xu also noted how the project was challenging due to the complexity of the installation and the small amount of time the team had to set the systems up. ‘Supplying this huge volume of products within such a short timeframe was a major challenge,’ he said. ‘But, despite the tight schedule, the Bosch team came together, from global supply chain to production and other sales regions, as a whole to shorten the original eight-month delivery period to two months.’
ApexPro invites you to a Meyer Sound and DPA Microphones open day hosted at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi
Electro-Voice and Dynacord deliver flexible audio solution for the Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) drew on the combined strengths of Electro-Voice and Dynacord for an audio solution update in the Jarvis Hall at its London headquarters. T S Professional Sound+Light took on the installation project in the protected historic building to create a system that would be as flexible as the room itself.
Created as a lecture and examination space when the building was opened in the 1930s, Jarvis Hall has a 284-seat main hall, which can be expanded to a 400-person capacity with the inclusion of a breakout room, hidden behind a moving tapestry at the back of the space. This split design means that any solution being added to the technical setup needs to flexible enough to cope with multiple configurations.
“We originally had quite a limited system in here,” recalls Steve Barrett-White, AV Manager at RIBA. “We had a two-channel, four-speaker system but because things have grown for RIBA on the events side, we required full 7.1 surround sound to cater to film screenings. In addition to this, the orientation in the breakout room can either face the main stage when it is being used as one large hall or can be rotated 90 degrees. This led to a design with 13 speakers across both rooms.”
Over three days, the T S Professional Sound+Light team installed Electro-Voice EVC-1122s as the main system, with EVC-1082s as side fills and EVU-2082Bs as centre fills in the main hall. Low frequency support is via a pair of EVC-1181 subwoofers installed under the stage. The breakout space features three more EVC-1082s to allow for the different configurations.
“We took a look at what was already here, and we just tried to improve on that,” states Keith Upton, Managing Director at T S Professional Sound+Light. “The speakers had to be larger for a bigger sound. Thankfully, one of the things about Electro-Voice is that there is a speaker for every application, so you are never frustrated when you do a job. It had to be surround, but we were restricted with where we could install the speakers by the Grade II listed building status. So, we plotted where the speakers could be installed on custom brackets and agreed on a design in consultation with Electro-Voice.”
Power and control is via a pair of IPX10:8 amplifiers from Dynacord. These eight-channel installation-dedicated models eliminated the need for a separate audio matrix. These amplifiers feature fully integrated high-resolution 96 kHz DSP with Dante and OCA functionality.
“The amps all have preconfigured settings which we can select for the different uses of the hall,” adds Gabriel Thorp, Senior AV Technician at RIBA. “This has opened up the possibilities for how the space is used, and we can give our clients the assurance that the sound system can be optimized for their needs.”
Completing the solution is Dynacord’s new SONICUE sound system software, which provides comprehensive system monitoring and intuitive control via a “speaker view” GUI. This gives RIBA’s engineers a real-time visual reference to what is happening with the sound system, with the ability to monitor impedance, control levels and mute speakers, when needed.
Reflecting on the upgrade, Barrett-White concludes: “Electro-Voice and Dynacord came out as the number one choice for Jarvis Hall because of their flexibility with working with us and the architects to create the best possible system. The sound was so much better than anybody else’s; it just fit this space perfectly.”