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ITALY: Martin Audio solution for Chiesa di Sant’Erasmo

There are certain architectural and historic structures that present particularly demanding challenges when it comes to installing and optimising sound systems.

This complexity is particularly redolent of churches and other places of worship: avoiding annoying acoustic reverberations, preventing incorrect propagation of sounds, and ensuring maximum intelligibility of music and speech (while still respecting precise architectural constraints) are of paramount importance, especially when dealing with treasured historical buildings.

This challenge was recently faced head on by the Piacenza-based IT and system integration company Inside Srl, for the Church of Sant’Erasmo in Castel Goffredo, situated in the province of Mantua.

The Church’s parish priest, Don Giuseppe Bergamaschi, explained, “The idea of upgrading the sound system in our church was a need felt for many years by all users—from the congregation to the readers, from the choristers to the instrumentalists, as well as the priests themselves. We entrusted the renovation of the acoustic system to Inside Srl of Piacenza—and right from the outset, when the tests and studies of other systems were conducted, we realised the solution we had chosen would provide optimum performance.” This solution was Martin Audio’s award-winning O-Line micro-array.

The fundamental requirement was to completely replace a very dated, and no longer performing audio system with a system capable of guaranteeing speech that was always clear and intelligible, even in a highly reverberant environment such as that of the Church of Sant’Erasmo.

Added to this was the specific request of the client—the Parish of Castel Goffredo—to have a sound system capable of enhancing the choir, which not only animates the celebrations, but also performs in concerts inside the Church, which also hosts musical performances by other groups.

The solution proposed by Inside Srl’s technical manager, Cristian Sartori, and his colleague Gianluca Pighi, was the Martin Audio O-Line 2-way system (in white version)—four elements per side. The system’s unique technology offers impressive sidelobe-free vertical dispersion.

First, the listening test was successfully conducted inside the Church, with the parish priest and Inside team verifying the suitability of the system for voice and music—as well as its aesthetic integration into the surrounding environment. Next came another key stage in the process as attention turned to acoustic simulation. This was done with the team of product specialists at Audiosales, Martin Audio’s distribution partner.

Completing the Martin Audio deployment, a pair of CDD8W’s are set on two columns towards the altar area, performing fill duties.

Inside’s remit for the Church of Sant’Erasmo was not limited to providing sound reinforcement.

The client also requested that Masses and celebrations be broadcast live via the Castel Goffredo radio station, Radio Alfa. “Many people”, explains Don Giuseppe Bergamaschi, “follow both weekday and Sunday Holy Mass via streaming. We have the church directly connected to Radio Alfa and the audio is excellent as is the video.”

Martin Audio partner, dBS Solutions recently provided sound reinforcement for The Hallé Orchestra at their resident venue, The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. A regular fixture in the dBS Solutions diary, this time the focus wasTop Gun: Maverick – In Concert.

This brought back fond memories of the Tom Cruise blockbuster for a near sell-out audience in the 2,355-cap hall. The show originally premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in late summer, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, attended by Tom Cruise.

In Manchester, under project manager James Roberts, dBS Solutions provided a Martin Audio scalable resolution WPS line array featuring14 elements a side, driven in optimum 1-box resolution by Martin Audio iKON iK42 amplifiers. Martin Audio FlexPoint FP12 sidefills (two per side) provided foldback for the SFX and dialogue to accompany the score.

THE AIM WAS TO GET OPTIMUM GAIN BEFORE FEEDBACK—WHICH IS WHY WE USED THE WAVEFRONT PRECISION.

dBS worked closely with creative producers, ESK Film Services, who oversaw all technical elements with the orchestration and track separation. Roberts explained that the principal musicians, percussion section and conductor, were all on click tracks.

But a large concert hall, with an unconventional shape and four-level tiered seating, presents its own difficulties where amplified music is concerned. “It’s obviously a more challenging acoustic environment than you’d expect in a venue that is designed for classical music,” he said. “All the orchestra were miced, so the aim was to get optimum gain before feedback—which is why we used the Wavefront Precision.”

dBS also deployed the ‘Hard Avoid’ feature on the stage to keep stage levels down. Rear rejection was further achieved by the deployment of four (2 x 2) SXCF118 cardioid subwoofers—a formula adopted by dBS Solutions for all their orchestral work. Aside from the rear rejection, says Roberts, by employing a generous 14 WPS per side they could get consistent coverage from the front row to the very back.

Although the trim height of the rigs was higher than they would have preferred—to avoid obscuring sightlines to the video screen, the splay angles were correctly calculated using a combination of Martin Audio’s proprietary DISPLAY software.

In summary, dBS Solutions MD, Chris Bogg, said, “It’s gratifying that we’ve now become Hallé’s trusted partner for this type of orchestration.”

Talking of the event, Lucy Turner of the Hallé commented, “We’ve worked with dBS Solutions for some years now on our amplified concerts. The team there really understand what we and our players need when amplifying an orchestra. The sound of theTop Gunperformance was a superb balance of orchestra and film, covering every seat in the hall. It was dynamic throughout without being too loud or bass heavy for our players on stage. We look forward to working with Chris and the team again soon.”

Mons Faraya is a Lebanese ski resort— a buzzing hotspot that effortlessly combines a chic restaurant vibe with an electrifying music bar scene. Set on approximately 1400m2, it strikes the right balance, accommodating a lively crowd without losing its intimate charm. With indoor, outdoor and pool area, it’s a location where haute cuisine meets high-energy beats, drawing in locals and tourists alike. The venue hosts the best local and international DJs as well as popular local bands such as Kimotion, Moblack and Aryme.

The venue itself, which has been masterminded by Youssef Hadid, Nazir Bassit and Chris Bosnoyan, recently took ownership of a Martin Audio PA after Charbel Fahed of Technosound, the Martin Audio partner, met with Bassit and Hadid. “They were seeking a top-tier sound system, so I recommended Martin Audio for its exceptional quality and performance,” he said. ”However, it wasn’t their first time working with Technosound, since my father, Pierre Fahed, had previously worked on several projects with Mr. Hadid.

“The owners were already well-versed with the stellar reputation of Martin Audio,” he continued, knowing that we have previously worked on other projects for one of the owners using Martin Audio BlacklineX. They knew that only a brand of this calibre could deliver the immersive audio experience they envisioned.”

THE OWNERS WERE ALREADY WELL-VERSED WITH THE STELLAR REPUTATION OF MARTIN AUDIO.

Technosound’s Pierre Fahed and Tony el Bitar meticulously designed the system, ensuring every corner of Mons resonates with crystal-clear sound and pulsating energy. CDD15, CDD12 and Blackline X218 subs are strategically placed In the outdoor and pool areas. The remainder of the CDD12 speakers and Blackline X118 subs are stationed in the indoor areas of Mons.

Elsewhere, Martin Audio ADORN speakers are strategically placed in the rest room area to ensure guests remain immersed in the venue’s vibrant atmosphere and never miss a beat. While there is a traditional stage, the system effortlessly transitions from ambient background music during the day to high-octane beats at night.

The music profile during the day is lounge music and a dynamic blend of mainly Afro House and chart-topping hits at night,as well as during their ‘après-ski’ events, creating a vibrant atmosphere.

The owners have expressed immense satisfaction with the system. Nazir commented, “Working with Technosound has been a fantastic experience. Their Martin Audio solution has helped transform Mons Faraya into a top-tier venue with exceptional sound quality.

“The system perfectly complements our dynamic atmosphere, and our guests have consistently praised the audio experience. We highly recommend Technosound for their professionalism, expertise and commitment to excellence.”

The Sportcampus Zuiderpark is an indoor sports arena located in The Hague. Opened in 2017 it is used for several indoor sports and the main 3,500-cap hall is the home arena of professional basketball club The Hague Royals.

Every year, just before Christmas, the venue hosts the annual Sportgala, which recognizes the achievements of local athletes and sports teams, as well as coaches, referees and volunteers.

Also based in the Hague region is Roel Bik’s rental supply company, Minigigs, who were contracted to provide sound, light, video and rigging. While Roel has reinforced many sports events at the arena, the challenge this time was to convert a cavernous and reverberant multipurpose sports hall into a chameleon ‘theatre’ type venue by providing a constantly changing technical infrastructure. This would initially support the formal awards presentation, before enabling the audience of 1100 people to make its way from the stalls and bleachers down to the main floor for the after-party.

A curtain then lowered to form a partition between those wishing to engage with the high energy dance sounds of the DJ (replacing the live band of earlier), and the corporate dignitaries preferring to engage in polite conversation on the other side of the curtain, immune from the high SPL.

And with so much speech how would Minigigs maintain intelligibility, and mitigate against reflections and feedback from roaming presenters with head-worn mics.

While Roel Bik has much experience at this venue, it is only since the rental company replaced its previous frontline speaker inventory a year ago with Martin Audio that all the pieces of the jigsaw have fallen into place.

WE RECEIVED A NUMBER OF GREAT COMMENTS FROM PRODUCTION AND OTHER VIPS.

“The main reason for moving to Martin Audio is that they have a solution for each of the [projects] we do. We use TORUS for a number of venues where we need the width of coverage, and the ceilings are low, and we need to direct the angle of the speaker. CDD-LIVE we use for applications where we need little cabling, good sound quality and use Dante for getting the sound to the speakers. But just as important as good equipment is good service and our relationship with Martijn de Jong [at distributors Ampco]—and their vast experience with Martin Audio—was key.”