Author: ContentAdmin

UK: Within 15 minutes of completing victory over Preston North End on Easter Monday, Birmingham City’s St. Andrews stadium had been transformed into a rock concert venue.

The production team behind the staging—enabling local legendsUB40to kick off their world tour and announce their newUB45 album release—was Martin Audio partner, 22live.

At the same time the football club was able to reveal its new branding. Henceforth known as St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, the stadium provided the perfect setting for this post match entertainment. But first 22live, led by Paul Timmins, had many challenges to overcome—not least where to site the 15 ground stacks of Martin Audio WPC and WPS line array, as well as the speed of deployment to get the show underway immediately after the final whistle.

“I always wanted to do this really unique event with the Martin Audio option,” Timmins admitted. “Over the years I’ve put out many perimeter pitch-side systems, delivered half-time shows, and presented playback gigs at sports events … but there has been nothing quite like this.”

The story begins whenUB40production manager Sean Busby-Little, having been approached by the football club about the proposed event, contacted 22live. “We’ve worked a lot together in the past, including military work in Afghanistan, so I’ve known Sean a long time,” continued Timmins. “The fact we were based locally helped, as with the odd timings there was always likely to be a lot of running around.” The fact that the date was suddenly brought forward 12 days from the originally scheduled April 13thdate.

Two days’ rehearsal in Digbeth helped new monitor engineer Harry Le Masurier settle in, while staging options were debated and the fact that 56 channels were required, choice of stage was paramount. He also knew this was no mere playback event … the band were going to perform live!

TO HAVE THE PA RIG BUILT AND DEPLOYED IN JUST 12 MINUTES FROM THE FINAL WHISTLE WAS REMARKABLE.

After dismissing other options they decided to construct the staging in the ‘sterile’ area—or empty block of seating—segregating the home and away fans in the Gil Merrick stand.

“The seats were removed, and the staging company built a two tiered stage because of the raking—set high up to avoid obscuring sightlines. Although big LED screens and lighting were able to be flown from the roof, in view of weight loading, audio was always going to be a pitch side perimeter speaker system.”

From past experience Paul Timmins was aware of safety implications, cabling challenges and the fact the speakers would need to be located behind the LED wall or advertising hoardings without blocking the access.

But because of distance variations each stand required its own unique treatment. The Main Stand is quite shallow and didn’t need as much power as the Kop side, so I chose WPS,four stacks high. On the Kop stand I used WPCs, four high because I needed more power. At the Tilton End I used WPC, three high, because I knew I could get away with less, with just two stacks WPSfour high required on the Gil Merrick stage end—because coverage was only required on either side of the large center section.” Each stack was supported by an SXH218 sub.

TORUS T1230 speakers filled dead spots in corners between the Gil Merrick and the Kop stands and further T1230s and an SX118 subwoofer provided reference sound at the FOH mix position, which was located underneath the stands.

Critical to the success of the optimization was tilt angles. 22live knew that since they would be raking the system back into the stands, rather than have it tip forwards as would be customary, they could dispense with the standard WP grids in favor of straps. After verifying this custom approach with Martin Audio deployed this ingenuous solution, which would also ensure each stack could be deployed swiftly as a single self-contained unit.

Crew boss Glen Little worked closely with extra local crew, who were experienced in dealing with Martin Audio boxes. “The beauty with the weight of the Martin Audio system, was that with four people we could move each stack as a single block, keeping the bottom box strapped to the sub.”

Unlike a typical average home gate of around 19,000 this event drew 25,000 (since there was no increase in ticket price). This double header was clearly a success as the best part of 20,000 returned from the bars within 15 minutes of the end of the match to be confronted by a different scenario, with DJ Jenny Powell leading into the band, who played a full hour long set.

Summing up Paul Timmins said “It was one of those days where everything worked. To have the PA rig built and deployed in just 12 minutes from the final whistle was remarkable.”

Production also had to remain nimble, and responsive to 11thhour requests. “In addition to the live sound we discovered we had to provide a broadcast mixdown from stems to Birmingham FC TV, and at the last minute they also wanted to record it—so we brought in Phil Wright, who is such a safe pair of hands, with his own kit to do the streaming.

“On top of it all, Birmingham City, after a wretched run of form, won the game, the sun came out for the concert andUB40 played a blinding set. Sean was over the moon and I’m happy for the club because they went out on a limb to do this.”

Other key personnel who contributed to the event’s success included experienced tour manager Yaron Levy, with Russ Tite mixing at front of house. Jason McAvoy was control tech, Rylan Machin and Ryan Bass were the two system techs on duty, while other techs were Chris Wilcock and Jack Davis.

UK: Inspired by Star-Trek’s Holodeck, and described by customers as “the greatest VR experience they have ever had”, the advanced audio-visual specification and installation for this attraction was entrusted to London-based Crossover.

Sandbox approached the specialists to fit out the three floors of the iconic Post Building in London\’s Covent Garden—a former Royal Mail Sorting Centre that had previously sat derelict for 20 years.

Selection of the right products was paramount and careful consideration had to be given to the challenges around the acoustics and structure of the building. For sound reinforcement they opted for Martin Audio’s popular CDD coaxial differential dispersion series, as they often have in the past.

Crossover specified several different audio-visual solutions for this unique space, with digital signage driving pavement appeal and allowing easy updates of scheduled information and promotions.

WE KNEW THE PENDANT ADORNS WOULD BE A PERFECT FIT

Inside, it’s the four Holodecks, split over the two lower floors, that are the main area for VR participation. Each area houses a wall-mounted large-format display that provides information to the team about the room and mission that has been chosen. Here, diverse audio and visual elements mesh together to dramatically enhanced the visitor experience within a dynamic space.

Crossover Senior Systems Designer, Juan Garcia, said the client had been looking for a high-quality sound system that could operate as a background and foreground system. “We know from past experience that Martin Audio would be able to deliver the quality requirements within reasonable budgets,” he said.

Fed by a combination of customer-profiled media player, iPod and DJ inputs, 14 CDD6WTX-WR speakers are distributed across the multi-audio-zoned venue. This includes the Mezzanine Presentation Area, which serves as a multifunctional events space, where the audio system combines with a large projection screen, fed from an ultra-short throw projector.

“We love the CDDs’ sound quality and reliability,” stated Garcia. “They provide a great base level of sound to work with,” added Crossover Commissioning Engineer, Lewis Spink. “The CDD range has been a good solution across projects, where you can achieve high coverage in areas with fewer speakers, as this minimises phase relationship considerations.

“We’ve seen the speakers give consistent performance across a number of years in very tricky environments, with no massive discernible differences between new speakers and five-year-old speakers that have endured heavy usage. That’s really impressive, and excellent for us and our clients.”

In the main bar area the CDD6s are boosted by a pair of discreet Martin Audio slimline SX110 1 x 10in subwoofers in order to create more of a club feel.

Since the venue is acoustically highly reverberant—with hard, reflective surfaces, exacerbated by the loud noise of excited customers—a warm, rich background audio system had been vital to preserve the sense of immersion. Therefore, Crossover worked carefully to manage the acoustics involved by not only careful selection of loudspeakers, but also through specification of appropriate acoustic panels, which also enhance the overall ‘industrial’ aesthetic of the interior design.

\”Crossover did an amazingjob deploying our AV requirements into the first Sandbox VR venue in Europe,” statedJake Wilmot-Sitwell, co-founder at VR Entertainment Group // Sandbox VR (UK & Ireland). As a result the integrators were engaged for the second Birmingham site, where they turned elsewhere in the Martin Audio portfolio to specify 10 of the ADORN ACP55T 5.25in Pendant speakers in a distributed system, along with four Martin Audio SX110 subs.

Juan Garcia said, “Since the Birmingham site had ceilings, we were able to mount from, and the power requirement was less, we knew the pendant ADORNS would be a perfect fit; at the same time we knew they would provide a very even coverage.”

HUNGARY: After working with leading Hungarian artiste, Magdolna ‘Magdi’ Rúzsa for more than a decade, Martin Audio’s Hungarian partner, BG Event, is accustomed to rising to unique challenges.

When it comes to the creative element, they strive to scale new heights with every collaboration. Two recent shows at the 12,500-cap László Papp Budapest Sports Arena proved no exception.

Rúzsa requested a 50-metre-long catwalk thrust, linking to a 6m x 6m ‘B’ stage. While her standard five-piece rock band would occupy main stage, there was a very different set up awaiting on the small ‘in-the-round’ secondary stage, where a 10-piece orchestra would perform. To achieve the end result required some clever positioning and time alignment of nearly 200 Martin Audio speakers deployed by the service provider.

Knowing he needed to adopt a radically different approach BG Event project manager Gábor ‘Mazsi’ Bácskay consulted with regular freelance system designer, Marci Mezei, to discuss a system that would require two unique EQ profiles in his mixer, muting and automatically changing time alignment depending on which location was being used. Also, he knew that such a long extension would obviate the need for further delay points in a venue measuring 120 meters distance from the stage to the back row seating.

The main stage PA comprised two hangs of MLA, each 15 elements deep plus an MLD downfill, with two hangs of 12 deep MLA used for outhangs. A flown hang of eight MLX subwoofers was deployed on the left wing, supported by additional groundstacks of MLX, six per side, in an end-fire configuration. “To balance the low frequencies we backed the ground-stacked MLX off by -6dB, which worked much better,” said Mazsi.

But it was on the ‘B’ stage that the magic took place for an acoustic mini orchestra comprising strings, horns, double bass, acoustic guitar, piano and percussion. Three hangs of 14 MLA Compact were flown at the end of the B stage thrust, used as delay positions to support the Main Stage, and then taking over as the primary system when the B stage was in use.

The main stage MLA and subs were automatically muted when the action moved to the B stage, while the side hangs remained unmuted and realigned to the B stage PA. Four more hangs of 14 MLA Compact were distributed along the walkway, two aside. “The MLA Compacts took over from the first row, and by using Hard Avoid [in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software] we never experienced any feedback problems with the PA whatsoever,” explained Mazsi.

BG Event finessed the PA set-up to achieve evenly distributed coverage throughout the venue by adding 10 Martin Audio CDD-LIVE 8 for nearfills on the second stage, while six MLA Compact carried out similar duties on main stage.

The musicians all took their reference sound from Martin Audio monitors, the foldback comprising a combination of Martin Audio XE300s and discreet DD6’s.

Explaining the monitor set-up Mazsi said, “Having been with the band for 15 years, monitor engineer Ferenc Nagy still adopts an old school approach. He likes to work with wedges—especially [Martin Audio’s] XE series—and while the standard band remains on IEMs, he preferred to provide the orchestra with wedges.”

However, with 60 meters separating monitor world from the B stage he was unable to get clear sight of the band; he therefore received assistance from Miklós Ábrahám, who used a second monitor surface on the same network.

In summary Gábor Bácskay reflected, “When the singer originally came up with this idea, we had to figure out a way to do it. It was a complex situation, but she was more than happy with the result.”

US: One of 21 missions originally built by the Spanish in California, Mission San Luis Rey church, known as the ‘King of Missions’, was founded in Oceanside in 1798. Today it stands as one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial architecture, a national historic landmark that Franciscan Friars call home.

San Diego-based AV company Sound Image Integration, now part of Clair Global Integration, have been servicing the Mission’s audio, camera, and video distribution requirements for the past 20 years. Business Development Manager, Scott Coyle, explained that to keep the Serra Center worship space fully operable as it carries out vital community work, previously sympathetic budget decisions were undertaken.

That was until a decision was made to reorientate the interior, from its traditional long rectangular shape, through 90°, to bring the congregation—which can reach 1200—closer to the altar. Coyle recognised that “While it made more sense that way, the sound was compromised due to a succession of ceiling speakers.”

When administrators recognised that a more serious and permanent approach to their sound was required, it was the Martin Audio TORUS T820 constant curvature solution that Coyle proposed, bearing in mind that with the reconfiguration, the church now had extraordinary width but little depth.

“We knew the focus needed to be principally the spoken word,” he said. “However, at the same time they have large congregations attending their weekend masses when a full choir and band perform.”

THIS WAS A PERFECT PROJECT FOR THE TORUS 8.

They looked at the space, and reviewed the types of speakers that would serve best for clarity, coverage and budget. “Having undertaken several projects with Martin Audio over the years in the house of worship space TORUS was our recommendation. Based on our long-standing relationship I knew we would have their trust,” he added.

An approach was made to Martin Audio Product Support Engineer, Will Harris, who duly set to work on a design. “When [the church] saw the visualisation and coverage map of how the speakers would react within the room, they were truly wowed,” said Coyle.

Harris himself recalled, “With such a beautiful and historic building I knew that the minimal visual footprint would be needed to get this done right and the TORUS T820 really fit the bill. We were able to get them well tucked away within the architecture of the building.”

Delivering high output from an 8” speaker within a compact footprint, it is the 100° horizontal and 20° vertical dispersion pattern that make it so ideal for the short throw requirement within this space. Left/Right flown pairs flank a central cluster of four T820 elements, while out wide on each wing wall-mounted Martin Audio CDD10’s provide optional outfill reinforcement, generally depending on whether the choir is in session. SX112 subwoofers warm up the sound and fit snugly into the existing cut-outs in the ceiling, while the entire rig is powered by a pair of matched iKON iK81 eight-channel amplifiers.

Finally, working in such historic buildings—this unique space enjoys classical and baroque architecture—as the integration experts at Sound Image often do, this installation was undertaken with great sensitivity. “Once our engineering team had purpose manufactured good rigging points, the system went up easily.”

When it came to fine-tuning the system, Coyle said they were fortunate in that the room was not as ‘live’ as is typical in what he terms as “an A-frame type of scenario.”

Will Harris undertook final commissioning. “When he fired the system up, he looked at his screen, smiled and said, ‘This is why I love these boxes!’” reminisced Coyle. “Testament not only to the box but to our installation craftsmanship.

“This was a perfect project for the TORUS 8. The constant curvature systems just work so well together delivering even and seamless coverage across the entire room, while handling the entire frequency spectrum with very little effort.”

Kerey Quaid, The Mission’s Music Director, agreed wholeheartedly. “The new speakers and amplification system are a great improvement for both music and spoken word in our worship space. We have both clarity and bass (for the first time), and equally good sound for the whole congregation. Great equipment!”

INDONESIA: Satulapan Group recently opened OPUS Karaoke in North Jakarta’s PIK area, following the success of its Mantra Club. The new venue was equipped with a state-of-the-art audio system by professional audio installer Music Art and Goshen Swara Indonesia, focusing on Martin Audio speakers to enrich the karaoke experience.

OPUS Karaoke features 11 rooms, including a VVIP Penthouse, two VIP rooms, four medium rooms, and four small rooms, each designed to offer a distinctive singing experience. The project faced challenges such as varying room acoustics and integrating the system with the venue’s design, especially in the VVIP Penthouse, which was prone to sound reflections due to its glass surfaces. Here, Martin Audio’s speakers and subwoofers were deployed to ensure immersive sound quality.

The setup was completed in time for the venue’s grand opening in early March, with both Music Art and Goshen Swara Indonesia acknowledging the success of this collaborative effort. This installation demonstrates the adaptability and excellence of Martin Audio’s products, ensuring OPUS Karaoke delivers a premier audio experience for its patrons.