Distributed in 94 countries, Mix is the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry. Mix covers a wide range of topics including: recording, live sound and production, broadcast production, audio for film and video, and music technology.
She’s one of the best-selling recording artists in history, but she hasn’t toured since 1999. Following a record-breaking 5-year engagement at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, Celine Dion is back on the road with her ‘Taking Chances’ production tour, the first major artist to carry two Studer Vista 5SR digital audio consoles to handle front-of-house and monitor mixing.
Dion’s world tour kicked off in South Africa on Valentine’s Day 2008 and is due to run until the end of January 2009. Audio for the tour is being supplied by Canadian PA company Solotech, which has had a long relationship with Celine Dion; in fact, most of the tour’s key personnel have worked with Dion for nearly 20 years, including tour manager Denis Savage, front-of-house engineer Frankie Desjardins and monitor engineer Charles Ethier.
Frankie Desjardins took over front-of-house duties last year, replacing Denis Savage who has stepped up to become tour/production manager. Together with Charles Ethier, they began the search for the tour’s control systems while Celine Dion was performing in Las Vegas, determined to find one model that could be used for both front-of-house and for monitoring.
“The priority was to find a small desk,” says Desjardins. “We needed something compact to carry all over the world, which would work in testing environments like the humidity of an outdoor show in Kuala Lumpur. And we wanted the same console on monitors. This makes it much easier to train people, especially our support techs, and it means that if we want to switch engineers, there is no problem.”
After spending so many years at front-of-house, Denis Savage knew exactly what he was looking for. The critical test involved recording a Dion show and playing it back. “We were very picky – we set the bar very high!” says Desjardins. “The Vista was one of the best-sounding consoles, and it had a very small footprint and weighed just 30 kilos.”
Desjardins is using 96-100 channels for the show, mixing groups and input VCAs. “The Vista 5SR is really different from other consoles. You have to use it to get used to it, but that only took me about a week. Now I find it very fast to use, very powerful and overall a straightforward tool. I’m confident that it was the best choice for this tour. If there are any compromises to be made, we just remind ourselves of the amazing footprint of the desk!”
Because the ‘Taking Chances’ show is staged in-the-round, monitor engineer Charles Ethier typically sets up his ‘office’ in a remote location. In London, for example, there were some 300 feet of cable between the stage and monitorland. “At first, it was a bit of shock! It is totally another world. Of course I have audience mics to give me an idea of what’s going on, but I miss feeling the SPL, the resonance of the room on my body.”
Ethier presides over a very clean stage. All performers are using in-ear monitors and wireless mics, requiring some 60 frequencies between them. The complexity of output routing, more than 120 buss out to handle the 24 stereo in-ear mixes and 12 click tracks, was a big test for Studer’s new Vista 5SR design. “I sent my spec to Studer, and they sent me Jamie Dunn who stayed with us for 3 days.”
The free configurability of the Studer Vista 5SR DSP engine allowed Ethier to custom design the channel/bus architecture of the console to solve a number of key requirements for his monitor application. The first of these was the very large number of stereo in-ear mixes that he needed to provide – 24 in total. “The ‘Contribution’ feature of the desk allows me to handle this number of complex mixes quickly and easily, without compromise and with great speed and comfort, even though the console’s control surface footprint is small.”
Ethier didn’t want to hear the click tracks in his mixes, preferring to inject them ‘downstream’. The flexibility of the DSP allowed him to configure 24 additional stereo Matrix busses, with a single Aux (Monitor mix) feeding to each one. The click tracks could then be fed into the appropriate Matrix busses, without interfering with Ethier’s monitoring. The matrix channels also allowed for additional EQ processing, giving 8 band parametric EQ in total for each monitor path. The powerful DSP Configuration Tool is available as standard with all Vista 5SR systems.
Studer is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com).
Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”
NORTHRIDGE, California – Four southwestern regional rental production and staging companies have each recently chosen JBL’s VERTEC® line array systems for use in their audio rental business operations. With each firm adopting the same midsize powered models from JBL Professional’s industry-leading VERTEC family of line array systems, a significant new rental pool of compatible sound systems is now available to meeting planners, touring productions and event managers in the nation’s heartland. The Dallas headquarters for AVW-Telav (a Freeman company), Ford Audio-Visual Services (Oklahoma City), Gemini Sound (Dallas, Texas), and Backward Audio (Salina, Oklahoma) have each recently selected JBL’s new VT4888DP-AN midsize powered line array systems with VT4882DP-AN powered arrayable subwoofers.
While each firm serves different markets and has its own approach to rental sound reinforcement, the establishment of a large common inventory of similar loudspeaker systems provides some significant new options for rental customers in Oklahoma, Texas and beyond. A total of 72 new powered midsize JBL VERTEC line array elements with 36 supporting powered subwoofers will all now be located within a few hours’ drive of each other in the southwestern United States. AVW-Telav services Fortune 500 firms and is part of Freeman, the world’s leading provider of integrated services for expositions, conventions, corporate events and exhibits. Ford Audio-Visual primarily supports civic events and business meetings including entertainment events, while Backward Audio services a loyal concert and special-event clientele that includes religious associations and gospel musical groups. Gemini Sound provides integrated staging, lighting and video services along with rigging equipment and production services nationwide from its base of operations in Dallas, Texas.
As just one example, Gemini Sound in Dallas has chosen the JBL VERTEC DP Series as their first adoption of a powered line array system, after many years of experience with other systems. “We service a very wide range of clients, and we need rental inventory that is both reliable and flexible,” observed Gemini co-owner Tim Cain. “We have found this new system to be very effective, and our first use at an outdoor sports-venue event showed that it had the power, coverage and fidelity needed to serve discriminating concert acts. The integrated power modules, the remote control options and the light weight of the VERTEC arrays along with the rider-friendly aspects of JBL all helped make this a good business decision for our company.”
Like Gemini’s new system, AVW-Telav, Ford Audio-Visual and Backward Audio each have adopted new midsized powered VERTEC systems equipped with JBL DrivePack® technology, with onboard power amplification developed in coordination with Crown using Crown’s exclusive BCA (Balanced Current Amplification) technology and Class I circuitry with temperature-compensated modulation. Precision bandpass limiting, pre-equalization filters and automatic self-test functions ensure optimized performance. With optional network modules installed, all systems are HiQnet™ compatible for remote control and monitoring via Harman Pro’s HiQnet System Architect Software. Each system user has remote access to system functionality and digital speaker presets, enabling a variety of configuration and monitoring functions through software control panels that address not only JBL DrivePack-equipped loudspeakers, but also other HiQnet-compliant audio products from Harman Professional brands that can be integrated into the same sound system.
“The southwestern USA now has a suite of professionally-deployed rental sound systems able to meet the needs of a wide range of entertainment and business events,” noted Jim Bumgardner, Sales Director for JBL’s Central Region. “AVW-Telav, Ford A/V, Backward Audio and Gemini Sound, each serviced by JBL’s regional representative, Dobbs-Stanford Professional, have all seen the integrated-system advantages of JBL’s midsize powered system models, and are now prepared to serve the sound reinforcement needs of the corporate/AV and concert market segments with high-performance sound reinforcement solutions.”
AVW-TELAV
Dallas, Texas
Contact Mark Podany, 214-623-1315
www.avwtelav.com
BACKWARD AUDIO
Salina, Oklahoma
Contact Wayne Backward, 918 434-3461
backward@sstelco.com
FORD AUDIO-VISUAL SYSTEMS
Oklahoma City
Contact Claire Ford, 405-946-9966
http://www.fordav.com
GEMINI SOUND
Dallas, Texas
Contact Tim Cain, 214-341-4822
http://www.gemnilightsoundvideo.com
JBL Professional is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com).
Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”
LAS VEGAS, NV – Auralex Acoustics, the industry leader in innovative sound control solutions, introduces new Ceiling Tiles at this year’s InfoComm show (Booth C4984). Auralex’s premium acoustic Ceiling Tiles can easily be installed into new and existing drop and suspending ceiling grids, and are ideal for upgrading in-room sound quality by controlling ambient noise and reducing noise transmission.
The fabric-faced acoustical panels, which are available in standard ceiling grid sizes (23.875″ x 23.875″x 1″ and 23.875″x 47.875″x 1″), can be customized in terms of size and thickness to meet any project’s requirements. With an overall Noise Ratio Coefficient (NRC) of .80, Ceiling Tiles are the perfect choice for controlling many common acoustical problems at a wide range of frequencies. Available in standard white and black color options, Auralex’s new tiles are also available in custom colors upon special request. more
CME, makers of the BitStream 3X MIDI Controller, have released version 1.8 firmware for the unit, adding new features and enhancing its functionality.
As the world’ s first 3 axis MIDI controller, CME Bitstream 3X is a completely new direction in MIDI controllers and is perfect for controlling Virtual Instruments, DAWs, and even other MIDI hardware. This compact desktop unit includes 35 knobs, 8 sliders, 16 buttons, a joystick, a cross-fader and controller.
The new version 1.8 firmware update adds the ability of the Bitstream 3X to generate SMPTE Sync at 24, 25, 30 dropped and 30 frames per second, 64 new Arppegiator Scenes independent from the 100 existing Snapshot Scenes, and an enhanced Switch (Jump/Toggle) Mode.
Workflow improvements include independent enabling/disabling of Hook Mode, Scenes can now be changed via incoming program changes (0-99), the Arppegiator is now initialized in Automatic Mode after a factory reset, and Start/Stop/Pause bitmaps are now updated when the unit is synchronized from external source.
The Bitstream 3x is fully programmable and includes more than 13,000 presets for popular samplers, synthesizers, and software including Propellerheads Reason and Rebirth, Steinberg Cubase, Ableton Live, Native Instruments Reaktor, Traktor, Kontakt, and Absynth, Fruity Loops and more. An 8 track motion sampler, transport functions, and a large LCD display round out this versatile unit.
Version 1.8 Firmware for the CME Bitstream 3X can be downloaded free of charge for registered users at http://www.waveidea.com/en/products/bitstream_3x/download_fw.php.
For more information, please visit www.cme-pro.com.
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Attention game sound developers: We're guessing you didn't always work in videogames; we know a lot of you have roots in music and post. Tell us why you made the switch to the game world, and the name of the first title you worked on by e-mailing mixeditorial@mixonline.com.
