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.
Daly City — Two Digidesign® VENUE live sound systems set sail recently on Cunard’s newest state-of-the-art international vessel, the Queen Victoria. The majestic ocean liner’s twelve decks are replete with some of the most luxurious and modern accoutrements on water, including a grand, multilevel lobby, casino, restaurants, and two theaters.
Nautilus Entertainment Design Inc. of San Diego provided the audio and video designs for the ship’s 30 individual entertainment venues, which range from intimate lounges, fitness centers, and recreational areas to the palatial Royal Court Theatre and Queens Room ballroom. The theater and ballroom are each outfitted with high-tech sound systems that feature a Digidesign VENUE system.
As Nautilus’ principal sound designer Alan Edwards explains, dependability was a key factor in choosing the VENUE systems: “Reliability is a key component to any installation, but even more so for one that is in the middle of the ocean. In the unlikely event that something does go down at sea, you can’t just call the local technical shop for a repair. With the VENUE, it’s as simple as swapping out a component. VENUE gives us the confidence that the show will go on every night.”
The Royal Court Theatre is outfitted with a 96-channel D-Show® system comprised of a D-Show Main unit, two D-show Sidecars, and a sliding script tray. In addition, the system features two 48 input stage racks, a FOH Rack with five DSP Mix Engine cards and additional option cards that provide FireWire interface to Pro Tools LE® for recording and playback and Ethernet connection for remote control of the system. This large setup handles 72 analog/24 digital inputs and 32 analog/64 digital outputs. The Queens Room features a smaller D-Show Profile™ system with similar options to manage 48 analog inputs and 16 analog/16 digital output channels.
Edwards cites the VENUE system’s exceptional audio quality and user-friendly interface as key features, as well as the console’s instant recall capabilities. “These rooms are used for multiple events, from production shows to lectures, and they’re always busy,” he explains. “The engineers typically have less than an hour between shows to do a changeover, and that’s pretty much impossible with an analog desk. VENUE’s snapshot automation gives the engineer the freedom to concentrate on the quality of the mix, rather than worrying about what cue has to happen next. And it’s such an intuitive interface, which really streamlines the workflow. In a busy live situation, that’s invaluable.”
Having a vast array of studio-quality TDM plug-ins available natively to the system is another tremendous advantage, Edwards observes. “There was no need to specify a lot of outboard gear, which was ideal in terms of reducing our overall footprint and cabling runs. We were able to go from five racks of processing gear down to only two.”
Flexibility is also key in the ship’s busy environment. “The system is really adaptable to just about any situation,” Edwards notes. “It’s a really powerful tool.”
About VENUE
Digidesign’s VENUE live sound environment is revolutionizing the art and profession of live sound mixing with studio-quality sound, TDM plug-in effects processing, and direct connectivity to industry-standard Pro Tools® recording and playback systems. For more information about the VENUE line of products, visit www.digidesign.com/venue.
About Digidesign
Digidesign is a worldwide leading manufacturer of digital audio production systems and the winner of the 2001 Technical Grammy® Award and 2003 Oscar® statuette representing the Academy Scientific and Technical Award for the design, development, and implementation of the Pro Tools® digital audio workstation. Digidesign provides the professional music, film, video, multimedia, and radio broadcast industries with tools for digital recording, MIDI sequencing, editing, signal processing, and surround mixing. Digidesign products are marketed in more than 40 countries worldwide through a distribution network of value-added dealers, distributors, and OEM relationships. Digidesign is a part of Avid Technology, Inc. For more information, visit www.digidesign.com.
About Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid (Nasdaq: AVID) is a worldwide leader in tools for film, video, audio, 3D animation, gaming and broadcast professionals – as well as for home audio and video enthusiasts. Avid professional and consumer brands include Avid, Digidesign, M-Audio, Pinnacle Systems, Sibelius, Softimage and Sundance Digital. The vast majority of primetime television shows, feature films, commercials and chart-topping music hits are made using one or more Avid products. Whether used by seasoned professionals or beginning students, Avid’s products and services enable customers to work more efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid® Film Composer® system for motion picture editing. For more information about the company’s Oscar, Grammy and Emmy® award-winning products and services, visit www.avid.com.
HILLSIDE, NJ – Wireworks put this year’s InfoComm attendees to the test as they took a stab at guessing the exact measurement of the company’s ultra-flexible microphone cable, MusiLUX, which was closely wrapped into a small fishbowl, for its “How Many Feet of MusiLUX Cable is in the Bowl” contest. Andy Seale, CEO of Extol Promedia, a consulting, system design and installation company, was awarded 5,000 feet of Wireworks best-selling microphone cabling as he had the closest guess, without going over. Coincidentally Seale was the very first person to submit his guess on the opening day of the show. more
Blue offers rebate on Award-Winning Dragonfly Microphone
Westlake Village, CA, (July 1, 2008) - Blue Microphones, a leading innovator in microphone technology and design, offers $200 cash back on purchases of their award-winning Dragonfly Microphone between July 1 and August 31, 2008.
Purchase any number of Dragonfly microphones between July 1st and August 31, 2008, from an Authorized Blue retailer within the US and Canada and become eligible to receive a $200 rebate per microphone directly from Blue. Purchase one mic and record pristine vocal or guitar tracks. Purchase a pair for killer drum overheads and get $400 cash back. Purchase more and mic up an entire band or percussion set-up, qualifying for even more cash back.
The hand-tuned and tested Dragonfly is a uniquely shaped cardioid condenser mic featuring a rotating spherical capsule head that can be positioned and adjusted in the smallest of spaces. Offering superb detail, the Dragonfly is ideal for recording vocals, drums and percussion, electric guitar, bass and just about any acoustic instrument.
For complete details and requirements, please visit your local authorized Blue retailer or visit http://www.bluemic.com.
About Blue Microphones
Blue was founded in 1995 and has grown from a desire to create a few hand-built microphones for fellow musicians into a unique, multi-faceted audio company with a prestigious line of award-winning microphones and accessories. Headquartered in Westlake Village, California, and with engineering and manufacturing facilities in Latvia, Blue Microphones continues to grow and lead the way with cutting-edge design and technological innovation in the field of recording.
Sonnox MD Rod Densham has announced that the company has joined the METAlliance Pro Partners. “We are extremely pleased to become a partner of this new and forceful alliance,” he remarked.
“Over recent years, Oxford Plugins have gained a wide recognition as the choice software for quality-conscious professionals for recording, broadcast and post-production. Sonnox intends to maintain this high-end reputation with a series of future product releases that follow the no compromise, high-performance ethos.”
The METAlliance is comprised of a group of globally-recognized, award-winning audio engineers and producers who have been deeply involved in establishing techniques and technical standards that are the foundation of modern music recording. The METAlliance Board of Directors is Chuck Ainlay, Ed Cherney, Frank Filipetti, George Massenburg, Phil Ramone, Elliot Scheiner and Al Schmitt.
Pro Partner membership is limited to companies which have shown a capacity and proclivity to manufacture and distribute products that meet the organization’s professional audio qualifications.
“Partnership with the METAlliance is ideal for us in terms of a fundamental attitude to product quality, intuitive functionality, ease of use, compatibility and support,” Rod Densham added. “Professionalism is a key concept for us and our customers, and our membership in the METAlliance will consolidate this.”
Sonnox Ltd. specializes in plug-in software for Digital Audio Workstations, and is based in Finstock, Oxfordshire, UK. Formed in April 2007 after a management buy-out of the Sony Oxford plug-ins business, Sonnox has expanded its product range and doubled its employees in the year since the move away from Sony. With a heritage that includes designers of the world-renowned OXF-R3 digital mixing console, Sonnox and its products are recognized as having an extremely high reputation for quality and performance.
Recognizing the industry’s success in bringing products offering convenience and low cost, the METAlliance is dedicated to the passionate commitment of securing the art of music through recording technologies that best deliver the music in all its many modern forms. To do this, quality needs to be recognized and supported.
Interested companies should contact:
Jim Pace, Dir. of Business Affairs: jpace@metalliance.com
METAlliance : strategic union of music producers and engineers dedicated to the highest standards of audio and delivery of music, securing the art through recording technology in all its evolving modern forms.
Mixers from both Studer and Soundcraft appear at numerous events and broadcast facilities at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Digital consoles from both Harman companies have been chosen and purchased by local Chinese broadcasters as well as worldwide companies who are installing or providing facilities at the events. The increased attention to HD broadcasting and surround has been one of the reasons Studer consoles particularly have been bought by numerous Broadcasters for their games coverage.
By far the largest consumer of Studer consoles for the games is China’s premier Broadcaster, CCTV (China Central Television). Their English-speaking International channel, CCTV-9, is using a Studer Vista 7 in its on-air studio, while the main studios of CCTV have been equipped with four Vista 5’s and five OnAir 3000’s. Quindao Radio has purchased an OnAir 3000 for the games, and Hong Kong’s TVB has purchased a total of five Vista 5’s, three for its studio for the games and two for OB vans.
Studer Vista consoles are particularly popular in OB vehicles because of their compact size, weight, simple user interface and functionality (including surround management and integral Dolby E and SDI decoding capabilities), and local broadcasters Guangdong TV, Beijing TV and Shanghai Media Group all feature Vista 8’s in their trucks. The Shanghai Media Group also fitted a dedicated 5.1 audio truck with a Vista 5. CCTV’s HD OB van is equipped with a Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000, while TJTV’s HD truck is now equipped with a Vista 8. HLJTV’s HD van comes with both a Vista 5 and an OnAir 3000, BTV’s HD truck is fitted with a Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000. Jinan TV and Dalian TV are sending HD trucks, both fitted with Vista 5 consoles.
From outside China, Spain’s TVE is constructing its own studio in Beijing, where three Studer Vista 5’s handle all the mixing tasks, as will the Vista 5 in the studio of Hungary’s MTV. Danmarks Radio’s facilities include a Studer OnAir 3000 (the corporation operates some 90+ Studer OnAir mixers in Copenhagen), and an OnAir 3000 will be at the heart of Brazil’s TV Bandeirantes’ system, while OB vehicles from France (SFP and VCF) and Norway (NRK’s HD-1) will run with Studer D950’s, Vista 5’s and Vista 8’s. Finally, the OnAir 3000 infrastructure of the Swiss SRG Media Services (MSC) will also be in Beijing, feeding all the radio programs of SRG, 13 networks in all.
For the opening and closing ceremonies, Soundcraft Vi6™ digital consoles are part of a large Harman-based system, while a Soundcraft Vi6 is at the heart of the system in the National Aquatics Centre. Two Soundcraft Vi4™’s are installed at the National Olympic Conference Centre, and numerous Soundcraft analogue mixers ranging from CompAct mixers up to MH4’s are installed in Olympic venues such as the Fengtai Softball Field, Chang Ping Indoor Stadium, Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, Beijing Foreign Language University Stadium, Ditan Park Indoor Stadium, Shanghai 80k Stadium, Hong Kong Equestrian Venues and the Honk Kong Olympic House Conference Room.
Studer and Soundcraft are units 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.”
Front of House Engineer Jon Garber and monitor engineer Stuart Delk discuss how the Studer Vista 5SR Digital Console has made the Rascal Flatts “Still Feels Good” tour such a major success.
BUENA PARK, Calif.─ This summer marks number 10 for Ringo Starr’s All Starr outing and includes returning All Starr members (in alphabetical order): Colin Hay, Billy Squier, Hamish Stuart, and Edgar Winter, and first timers Gary Wright and Gregg Bissonette. The All Starr tour is currently bringing its newest chart-topping lineup to 31 cities in the U.S. and Canada, including New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
For close to 20 years, Audio Analysts (Colorado Springs, Col.) has provided full audio production for Ringo Starr tours. This year, the All Starr monitor rig is centered around a Yamaha PM5D digital console and 20 of the company’s new T5n amplifiers. Manned by monitor engineer Aaron Goldstein and front of house engineer Brian Bravido, the monitor rig also boasts Audio Analysts-designed wedges, wedge cabinets, sub woofers and three-way cabinets.
“We did several listening tests comparing other manufacturers’ amplifiers to the T5n,” states Mario Leccese, VP of Operations for Audio Analysts. “We found that the low end was tighter and the high frequency was more present and ‘in your face’ than any other amplifiers we have tested through the years.”
Leccese said the design of the rig was determined by the size of the band, and the musicians’ needs. “We chose the T5n amp because it was the largest of the power amps and would be able to power all the different cabinets out on the tour,” adds Leccese. “By keeping all the amps the same, you only have to stock one type of spare.”
Goldstein is using a Yamaha PM5D at monitors based on Audio Analyst’s previous experience with the band and their requirements. “Basically, this package makes the monitor rig light, compact, feature-packed and very reliable,” notes Leccese.”
No other single stage produces the hits like Ringo’s All Starrs, each singularly accomplished in their own right. All of the All Starr artists complement Starr’s musical style and share his message of peace and love. As Ringo said in a recent interview, “My live shows are a peace-and-love fest. That’s my main promotion, really.”
Starr’s latest album, Liverpool 8, was released on CD, digitally and on USB wristband on January 15 by Capitol/EMI. His most personal release in years, Liverpool 8’s songs are a reflective journey through Ringo’s storied life and career and feature some of his greatest songwriting to date. Co-produced and co-written with Dave Stewart, Liverpool 8’s resounding message of peace and love will continue to resonate with All Starr audiences across the country while Ringo hits the road this summer for his first tour since 2006.
For more information on Audio Analysts, telephone (719) 632-8855 or visit www.audioanalysts.com.
For more information on the Yamaha T5n amplifiers or PM5D console, telephone (714) 522-9011 or visit www.yamahaca.com.
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About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. offers a complete line of integrated professional audio products for the commercial recording, production, broadcast, live sound, and sound reinforcement markets. The company has a dedicated dealer network, intensive field training, and 24-7 tech support in the U.S. and Canada.
Stay up to date on the latest technology news. Select press representatives post company news several times a day. Check back often to get the latest news on product releases, mergers and acquisitions, and product applications. For more information on this virtual press conference, please contact MixEditorial.
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.
