Author: janice

Ministry of Sound celebrated 30 years of dance in style with a spectacular concert at O2 Arena, with dance classics reimagined by the 50-piece London Concert Orchestra in company with Paul Oakenfold and other guest DJs.

‘Ministry of Sound Classical presents Three Decades of Dance’ took clubbers on a journey through the dance anthems of yesteryear. Martin Audio’s signature sound, as featured in Ministry of Sound clubs worldwide, was provided by RG Jones and mixed by Phil Wright—a devotee of Martin Audio’s flagship and multi-award-winning MLA.

Working for promoters Coalition Presents, who produced the event with Raymond Gubbay, RG Jones—who already had a relationship with MoS, having provided equipment for some of their events—fielded 18 MLA a side. This was a similar configuration to that fielded for War of the Worlds at the same venue. Hangs of 12 MLA Compact provided outfills on each side, and 16 MLX subwoofers were set in a broadside cardioid array with a 2m central gap for a stage thrust, surrounded by a circular screen, on which the DJs performed. Eight DD12s were deployed as front fills along with some MLA Mini enclosures.

The components were chosen by RG Jones’ Jack Bowcher and his colleague Sam Millen handled the prep, assembled the racks, built the network (on a Dante and AES backbone)and was onsite technician alongside Doug Hunt.

Millen stated, “We worked together to achieve a great sounding PA, using the Merlins [Martin Audio’s digital loudspeaker management system] to provide more outputs in order to have greater control of the system. I then time-aligned the PA and then Doug and I tuned the system together.” Hard Avoid was used to avoid slapback from the back of the arena.

This provided a perfect environment for Phil Wright to mix the sound on a 96-channel DiGiCo SD12. “And we used every channel,” he exclaimed.

It was the sound engineer’s first time working at the O2, in front of 18,000 people. Of the challenges he said, “Although it was a loud show, with four DJs, we had to ensure the orchestra was the headliner. Local promoters feared we may had peaked too early, as Paul Oakenfold was on relatively early. But the production went up a level when the orchestra came on.”

Of MLA he confirmed ”We managed to avoid a lot of slapback [using the Hard Avoid feature in the DISPLAY software] and the direct-to-reverberation ratio was mind boggling.”

The entire orchestra were on in-ear monitors, and most of the instruments were miked with DPA CORE 4099. “The combination between this and the PA was fantastic,” he said.

“Despite the proximity to the PA we achieved a super amount of rejection at the back of MLA which meant I could mix it at 105dB comfortably without feedback. The crowd were screaming at 102dB and so I had to put the show on top of that.”

He said the power offered by the MLA / MLX combo meant “I had another 15dB [under the hood] had I needed it; it’s bonkers how loud it would go. By putting in a really big system and merely tickling it, the impulse response was utterly visceral and really grabbed you in the chest.”

Also represented were Martin Audio’s parent company Focusrite, with their RedNet Audio-over-IP solution, an A6R MkII analogue interface for Dante feeding the Shure PSM1000 in-ears.

Other RG personnel on duty included Rosie Tarrant (on stage and RF tech), Leigh Davis (on stage and personal monitors) while Nathan Kennedy was PA tech.

Photo credit: Luke Dyson.

JAPAN: Tooth Tooth, a well-known restaurant brand, has recently installed a Martin Audio system within its food hall located on the ground floor of newly launched Kobe Port Museum. The city’s cultural complex otherwise consists of an aquarium, food hall and bridal desk.
Speaking on the music, which was produced by Fish Four, Kobe Port Museum president Yutaka Okano says: “High-quality BGM is an indispensable element for restaurants and cafes. We choose music suitable for both daytime and night-time that develops the atmosphere of the place. We have enjoyed a long relationship with Martin Audio and have used the brand in several facilities to date. With confidence in the quality of Martin Audio’s speakers, we again requested them without hesitation.”

Twenty-nine CDD6TX cabinets have been installed on several pillars, covering a wide area of the food hall. In addition, Adorn series speakers have been deployed in the aisles with ACP-55T pendant and ASC-55T ceiling speakers. Considering the outdoor terrace also, 52 Martin Audio speakers have been utilised.

“At night, DJs come in and play live. In addition, there is an event space in the hall, and if necessary, a portable Blackline X10 can be set up,” Okano said. There are three locations where DJ booths can be set up, so it was necessary to devise ways to smoothly transfer the signal inputs from these locations, and this was accomplished via a mobile input DSP rack, with the input signal delivered via Dante.

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Article by : https://www.proavl-asia.com/details/69209-tooth-tooth-chooses-martin-audio-system

Kobe Port Museum, is a new cultural complex in the Japanese city, consisting of an aquarium, food hall, and bridal desk. The space on the ground floor is a next-generation food hall typified by the well-known Kobe restaurant brand, Tooth Tooth which has recently installed a Martin Audio system with background music produced by Fish Four.

Based in Kobe, the president Yutaka Okano says: “High-quality BGM is an indispensable element for restaurants and cafes. We choose music suitable for both day time and night time, and develop the atmosphere of the place. We have enjoyed a long relationship with Martin Audio and have used the brand in several facilities to date. With confidence in the quality of Martin Audio’s speakers, we again requested them without hesitation.”

A total of 29 CDD6TX cabinets have been installed on several pillars, covering a wide area of the food hall. In addition, ADORN series speakers have been deployed in the aisles with ACP-55T pendant and ASC-55T ceiling speakers. Including the outdoor terrace, 52 Martin Audio speakers feature in total.

“At night, DJs come in and play live. In addition, there is an event space in the hall, and if necessary, a portable Blackline X10 can be set up.”

Since there are three locations in the building where DJ booths may be set up, it was necessary to devise ways to smoothly transfer the signal inputs from these locations, and this was accomplished via a mobile input DSP rack, with the input signal delivered to the system via Dante. Switching between the ‘Start DJ’ and ‘Return to BGM’ sources is therefore straightforward.

Finally, Mr. Okano reveals, “There is an aquarium water pool above the bar counter in the centre of the food hall, and this is visible from beneath. We’ve created an amazing atmosphere which is well worth experiencing when visiting Kobe!”

Martin Audio has extended its list of notable patents with the addition of a United Kingdom Patent for its XE stage monitor waveguide.

The patent covers the use of Martin Audio’s differential dispersion coaxial drive units and the continuation of their waveguide shape to form the baffle, as seen in the XE monitors to achieve the desired HF coverage.The geometry of the static HF horn, the LF cone/moving waveguides and the static baffle combine to form a single HF horn.

WE ARE DELIGHTED THAT OUR CONTINUING INNOVATION HAS ONCE AGAIN BEEN RECOGNISED.

The XE stage monitor series comprises the XE300 and XE500, both delivering perfect monitor sound with a defined coverage pattern that allows the artist freedom of movement, while reducing overlap with adjacent monitors.

Coaxial Differential Dispersion technology allows the artist to stand directly over the monitor or further back, without significant changes in SPL or tonal balance. It produces the optimal coverage pattern over a listening plane at head-height and helps to contain the sound within that region.

The now patented contour-moulded static third waveguide increases the size of the horn mouth to maintain pattern control downwards and avoid spill outside the desired coverage area. Its rolled contour reduces diffraction and further improves pattern consistency at the lower end of the HF passband.

Managing director, Dom Harter, commented, “Even though XE monitors were introduced in 2017, it always takes time to secure a patent, but we are delighted that our continuing innovation has once again been recognised and I couldn’t be prouder of our R&D team.”

Find out more about XE Series here.

Martin Audio distributor Sama Sound has finished upgrading the first of several Resom Resort facilities that are under new ownership. Caroline Moss, from Pro AVL Asia, discovers how the best audio technology is contributing to the relaxation of clients and venue staff

Three years ago, South Korean construction company Hoban Co began proceedings to acquire Resom Resort from its creditors at a cost of US$224 million. Splas Resom, one of the company’s three resorts in Chungcheong Province, has just undergone refurbishment of its existing facilities and the construction of a new building, reopening as the country’s first membership spa resort.

Previously known as Resom Spa Castle, Splas Resom is located in Yesan, Chungcheongnam-do, an hour-and-a-half’s drive from Seoul and 30 minutes away from mountains, beaches and a variety of cultural tourist attractions. Splas Resom is supplied with waters from the Deoksan hot springs, revered by Koreans for 600 years for their healing properties.

Martin Audio’s Korean distributor, Sama Sound, partnered with dealer Asea Sound to submit a successful bid to supply sound systems for several multipurpose halls, including the main Juniper Hall, all of which host corporate events, seminars and workshops. The systems needed to be sufficiently versatile to handle a number of source feeds ranging from background music to voice announcements and occasionally, live music. Overseeing the project for Sama Sound was sales manager Jong Hwa Seo, while Seung Hwan Kim designed the system and Hong Geun Kim took charge of the speaker installations and system tuning.

Juniper Hall is mainly rented to third parties for a diverse programme of events, most of which include a speech component. This made speech intelligibility one of the first priorities when selecting an audio system for the hall. A cardioid subwoofer had also been specified in order to reduce leakage from behind the sub. Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision Compact (WPC) proved to meet all the performance criteria. “The system pretty much decided itself,” explains Sama Sound product manager, Edan Kwon, “and since a cardioid subwoofer had been specified, we designed the system using Martin Audio’s SXC118 sub.”

The scalable Wavefront Precision offered additional advantages, too. “The venue was constructed without regard for architectural acoustics, so there were consequently many sound reflections, especially from the venue’s back wall, as well as from backstage,” continues Kwon. “The Hard Avoid feature in the proprietary Display software helped us to control those reflections, while the customer was more than satisfied at how the SXC118 cardioid subwoofer reduced the radiation behind.”

A main system of five WPC elements per side and a single W8VDQ Differential Dispersion central speaker, driven by iKON iK81 Dante eight-channel and four iK42 Dante four-channel amplifiers, has been installed in the Juniper Hall, accompanied by two-per-side SXC118 compact subs in cardioid mode, with a pair of LE200 wedges provided for stage monitoring. Four CDD12Bs function as delay speakers, with side fill handled by a CDD12B on each side of the hall.

In the smaller Rosemary Hall, a pair of Martin Audio W8VDQs and two SXC118 subs form the main system, with two CDD8Bs acting as delay speakers, all powered from a four-channel iK42 and an LEA Connect 702 amplifier.

The Geranium Hall has a pair of CDD8Bs as main speakers and a pair of CDD5Bs for delay, with four CDD8Bs in the Iris and Marigold halls, and a pair of the same speakers in each of the Sage Hall, Jasmine Hall and Verbena Hall spaces. All the CDD models are powered by LEA Professional’s Connect amp series, a relatively new brand which Splas Resom’s house engineer, Seung Hyuk Im, hadn’t worked with before. “I was surprised at the sound performance in conjunction with the CDDs; they are a really good combination,” he says. “Considering the performance and the IoT features they offer, they are very cost-effective products.”

All other equipment installed throughout the halls was well-known to the engineer. “Since the venue is mostly rented, I wanted to choose equipment that was familiar to visiting engineers,” continues Im. “Martin Audio was one of my considerations from the beginning, and it provided me with the best solution. I have experienced [the brand] both at exhibitions and also when I was working at a rental company. The sound is so clear and punchy, and the balance extremely good. Engineers who came in to rent systems for their events were all 100% satisfied.”

The optimisation and Hard Avoid features had worked really well, he adds. “I was also satisfied with the performance of the SXC118 cardioid subwoofer. Since we are a resort, the aesthetics were also important. Martin Audio speakers look classy and fabulous but are also small enough to be fairly unobtrusive – particularly the cardioid subwoofer; it is not easy to find one this small.”

Im is also unstinting in his praise for the CDD Series. “We are using many CDDs in our rooms for main speakers and also for delays,” he says. “In the Juniper Hall, they work as delay speakers, but also as the main speaker system when the hall is divided into several spaces. What makes them so special is that they sound exactly the same, no matter which size, from 5- to 15-inch models. It’s so easy for me to control the sound when there are different sizes of CDDs installed at the venue and, as well as the sound, I also love its small size and design.”

A top-of-the-range Allen & Heath dLive S7000 with DM64 mix rack was selected as front of house console in the Juniper Hall. “The dLive S7000 had enough input channels to handle all the equipment and devices in the room and it has an outstanding preamp,” says Im. “My most important consideration was stability. I’d never experienced any issues with the Allen & Heath SQ6 which we used before the S7000, so I am very satisfied with the stability of Allen & Heath consoles. I also like the fact that the interface is simple and intuitive, and it was very easy for me to learn how to use it. One click and you are there.”

Sama Sound also supplied Shure QLXD4 wireless mic systems to all the halls. “I am very satisfied with Shure QLXD; not just with the sound quality, but with the RF stability,” says Im. “I have many times suffered with RF disconnections with other wireless products, but I haven’t experienced any with QLXD over the course of a year. I tested them using all our 24 channels at the same time at the venue before installing them, and there was no problem at all.”

Im is confident that the new audio infrastructure will allow events to be staged smoothly using the resort’s own equipment, and that visiting rental companies can put on events without needing to bring in their own systems. “Thanks to Sama Sound, their proposal was just what I needed and our collaboration fulfilled all the requirements to achieve my plan,” he says.

Article Source : https://www.proavl-asia.com/details/69040-spa-break