December 16, 2024 – Generation AV

MT Helmets MSI, 2024 Moto2™ team championship winners, wanted its new dual-truck hospitality suite to hold pole position in the MotoGP™ paddock, so approached Audio-Technica, who recommended Optimal Audio and its commercial audio ecosystem. Audio-Technica have close links to the MotoGP™ production, working side-by-side with the media company behind the series, Dorna Sports, to develop & deliver both trackside and on-board microphone technologies for race-day audio capture, and were pleased to be asked to help the MT Helmets MSI team with a solution.

The racing team’s requirement was for a high-quality audio system that would operate across the two-truck demountable build but remain simple to set up and use for the team’s crew and non-technical hospitality suite staff. To link the audio system across the trucks, Audio-Technica created custom-designed weather-proof connection boxes. Mounted beneath each truck for safe transit, the connection points are easily accessible on arrival at a circuit for a quick connection via two custom speakON/XLR/EtherCON weatherproof multicore cables.

Logan Helps, Audio-Technica Brand Development Manager, said, “Optimal Audio met all the client’s needs for a simple to use and simple to set up system, with punchy, high-quality audio. It was a really good opportunity to put the kit through its paces – and this was despite the complexity of connecting audio cables across two trucks different venues nearly every other weekend.”

Race day hospitality must meet the changing needs of racers, sponsors, visitors and staff from morning to night. During the day, the event space is a relaxing area with a central covered terrace, to eat and watch the race action and playback on the suite’s big screens. Once the racing is over the space transforms for the evening into a dancefloor area with a DJ – where those all-important podium positions are celebrated.

Designed as either a three-zone, two-truck set up or as a single truck set up with one internal zone and one external zone, the primary truck housed the catering equipment and the main power inputs. Optimal Audio’s Zone 8P was positioned here to run the zoned loudspeakers and microphones. Truck one featured a ZonePad 4 from where the staff could simply control all three of the zones in the two-truck set up. A ZonePad 1 in truck two enabled convenient control of the single space.

The main audio system for the hospitality suite is comprised of eight Optimal Audio Cuboid 6 loudspeakers, four per truck hung in stereo pairs positioned at each end and directed into the space. These ABS-cased loudspeakers provide background music during the day, clear and high-quality race action and serve as an exceptional entertainment system for the evening. Positioned by the DJ area, a further two Optimal Audio Cuboid 8s on stands and an Optimal Audio Sub 10 provide extra support for the terrace area.

Helps added, “Optimal Audio had everything the client needed at a great price point. The ZonePads made control really straightforward. The integration of the microphones into the Zone 8P was very cool, and even used by some riders for karaoke, and the ability to pre-programme the system ahead the installation made for a very swift set up. It was also a great opportunity to use Optimal Audio’s routines, and we set up WebApp on the phones of both the team owner and the hospitality manager so the right mode is immediately available at the touch of a button.

Manu Durán of M-Sport, a team sponsor and one of the owners of the hospitality unit, claimed, “The Optimal Audio sound system and installation by Audio-Technica has been a big step forward in the evolution of our hospitality, helping us to make our guests’ experience at the circuit unforgettable.

“The audio system has given us a lot of versatility. Whether we want to control one of the trucks or both, the control panel makes it very simple to control the audio system. We can even have music on one and use the microphone for a presentation on the other. Even with loud music when it was necessary to celebrate one of the team’s victories this season! The sound quality of the speakers has been spectacular in all circumstances and the performance has been excellent in all the uses we have given it.”

Click here for original article

UK: Part of theMerlinfamily who operate predominantly in the South-West, the500-capacityRegal TheatreinRedruthoccupies a stunning 1930s art deco building, doubling between cinema and live events.

Local contractors, TruCru, were brought in recently to overhaul the theatre PA, replacing an archaic system with a Martin Audio FlexPoint solution. As a community facility, the new PA needed to demonstrate the versatility to cater for a wide variety of shows—ranging from am dram, touring tribute acts, operatic societies and nationally recognised stand-up comedians, with a high SPL. Most importantly, it needed to banish the pre-existing hotspotting that was evident in a challenging building with a balcony tier and an acoustically difficult ‘stepped’ ceiling above.

While TruCru have had widespread experience specifying the manufacturer’s popular CDD series, in this instance both project manager Toby Bodman, and Ben Tucker, from Martin Audio’s Product Support Group, agreed that the shorter throw of the FlexPoint point source speaker would provide a more appropriate solution, with output and dispersion better suited to the room and the balcony rake.

It’s just a fantastic sounding box delivering so much SPL from such a compact form factor.
Toby Bodman, TruCru

Assessing the pre-existing system, Bodman noted, “Certain bits didn’t quite work or had been cobbled together to make it work. Because of these issues the coverage had been very spotty. The client therefore wanted not only the best system to cater to the entire space but one that would provide as even a coverage as possible.”

Any doubts that FlexPoint would be able to throw to the very back of the steeply raked Circle and under-balcony were immediately allayed at the demo stage. “Any scepticism disappeared immediately, and even I was a little surprised just how far back it threw and was generally blown away with its overall performance. In fact the overriding comment from those who have heard the system was the extent to which the sound has improved. My one concern was a very fast reflection at the back of the under-balcony, but such is the efficiency of the system that you really don’t notice it at all.”

So how was this solution achieved? With two left/right FP12 mounted high on the proscenium for Circle coverage, and a further pair underneath for the majority of Stalls coverage, Two smaller FP8 then take over from the middle of the Stalls, while four compact FP4 are positioned along the front lip of the stage, to cover the pit area and front rows of the Stalls. An exposed stacked pair of SX215 subwoofers on each side of the stage occupy the positions of the previous subs, and finally six Blackline X15B have been provided for stage monitoring.

TruCru worked around existing rigging points and ran new speaker cable, although the signal remains in the analogue domain. A pair of dedicated DX4.0 system controllers store the DSP.

Summing up the impact of FlexPoint, Toby Bodman said TruCru had immediately put their money where their mouth is, placing a further order for their hire stock. “Aside from the punch that’s packed in such a small profile, it is also so lightweight. For example the 12in box is lighter than some other smaller 10in boxes we have in our hire stock. It’s just a fantastic sounding box delivering so much SPL from such a compact form factor—and the venue’s tech team fully agree.”

Click here for original article.

WE ARE READY TO ASSIST

NEED SUPPORT?

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EVENT OR PROJECT

BRANDS WE REPRESENT

Copyright 2024 © Generation AV Pte. Ltd. | All Rights Reserved. Site designed by Niche Studio