Category: Martin Audio

UK – In a constant drive to keep its long-standing, multi-faceted resorts at the cutting edge of all round entertainment, Butlin’s recently commissioned advance sound system upgrades at their facilities in Skegness and Bognor Regis.

Since Butlin’s entertainment mix now extends far beyond its origins as a ‘holiday camp’ destination — today ranging from Big Weekenders to Conferences and Events — Head of Technical Entertainment, Andrew Sugg, recognised that its development should be matched with professional, best-in-class audio. And so he turned to his regular contractor, Robin Shephard-Blandy of Illuminate Design for advice. The outcome was an advanced, and scalable Martin Audio Wavefront Precision WPC line array in each of its 1200-plus capacity Centre Stage venues.

Butlin’s are no strangers to the British loudspeaker brand. “We’ve been using Martin Audio systems for probably 20-plus years,” says Sugg. Certainly the old sound system at Centre Stage in Skegness — one of four integrated high-octane venues within the holiday complexes — was showing its age. “Both upgrades were long overdue,” he adds. “Robin has worked with us over the years and understands our business and its requirements.”

This can vary from family entertainment, through to Big Weekenders, featuring DJs and bands, while onstage interviews and year-round family entertainment also require high grade speech intelligibility. “So the actual scale of what a system needs to deliver is multi-faceted.”

Conversations took place with different brand vendors before Martin Audio’s Technical Sales Support, Nigel Meddemmen, undertook site visits to Skegness and Bognor Regis and created design options via visualisation models in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY 3 software. Andrew Sugg had recognised the value that Martin Audio could bring through their support and development opportunities for Butlin’s team.

SEEING A NAME LIKE ‘MARTIN AUDIO’ ON THE TECH SPECS HELPS CEMENT THE FACT WE ARE A PROFESSIONAL VENUE.

But the implementation would require far from a cookie cutter approach since structurally the Centre Stages at the respective venues couldn’t have been more different. “The one in Skegness is high, with a balcony, while the one in Bognor Regis is in a fairly low-ceilinged, very wide venue.”

The designs are based respectively on four- and five-box WPC hangs, with four of Martin Audio’s shorter throw TORUS T1215 in a centre cluster. Multiples of CDD15 provide left/right outfills, while CDD10s are detailed for delay duties, and five CDD12s provide balcony coverage in Skegness.

Subwoofers comprise eight stacks of two SXC118 in a cardioid array, run off Martin Audio iKON iK42 multi-channel amplifiers, while iK81s drive the remainder of the rig. “The enhanced coverage and controllability of the Skegness design was such an improvement on the previous setup that it was also deployed at Bognor Regis to deliver a much smoother sub deployment across the room.”

Meddemmen’s Martin Audio tech support colleagues, Paul Connaughton and Marc Paynter, took over at the later stages, assisting with system engineering and commissioning. ‘Hard Avoid’ was applied to the rear of the venue at Skegness, where it abuts onto the Skyline Pavilion, while at Bognor Regis, Centre Stage is housed in a building directly above Reds, another Butlin’s venue — and so that also required some sound isolation. The installation has been set up as analogue but can flip via a managed network switch to Dante digital as needed.

“The fact that Martin Audio were able to validate the system and put their seal of approval on it gave reassurance not only to Andrew’s guys but also visiting acts and engineers that the system has been set up correctly,” says Shephard-Blandy.

Andrew Sugg takes it further. “Although we don’t need to be rider compliant for day-to-day business, when we go into Big Weekenders, seeing a name like ‘Martin Audio’ on the tech specs helps cement the fact we are a professional venue. We now see this very much as an ongoing relationship.”

As for Illuminate Design they managed to deliver both venues, which were commissioned close apart, without either going dark. “The fact that we stayed fully operational is a testament to how smoothly the transition from the old systems to the new went,” acknowledges Andrew Sugg.

Summing up, he says, “What Martin Audio and Illuminate Design have achieved is superb. Artists coming through are extremely happy, putting us at the professional end of audio … something you wouldn’t necessarily expect at Butlin’s.”

“In fact we are now looking at future projects which will certainly involve Martin Audio and Illuminate Design again.”

AUS – The Caterpillar Club, Sydney’s latest underground music venue, boasts one of the world’s largest vinyl collections.

Drawing inspiration from the 70s, and the vibrant clubs of New York, bands also play five nights a week, and according to general manager, Emma Franceschini “any time there’s not a band on there’s a DJ spinning vinyl.” This includes the secret Bamboo Room Tiki bar where DJs can also be found at the weekend.

Tasked with turning the vision of operators Stefan & Anton Forte (from Swillhouse Group) into reality, was renowned sound engineer Anthony Russo from Technical Audio Group (TAG). And he instinctively turned to Martin Audio’s premium CDD loudspeaker system to meet all eventualities.

IT’S THE PREMIUM SOLUTION FOR A LOT OF TOP VENUES AROUND AUSTRALIA

As he emphasises, this needed to be a statement of uncompromising quality “where every seat needs to be the best seat.” His design, therefore, was built to handle everything from the warm sound of vinyl to the crisp clarity of digital recordings through to the huge demands of the club’s live acts.

There is little Anthony Russo doesn’t know about the characteristics of Martin Audio’s coaxial differential dispersion technology, having specified CDD many times. “It’s the premium solution for a lot of top venues around Australia,” he acknowledges. “In every room [at the Caterpillar] you’ll see CDD8s and 6s and concealed SX110 subs in the ceiling and under the banquette seating right through to the FOH system which is a powerful CDD12 system—with a delay system, complete with LE100 foldback wedges.”

In total, he has equipped the venue with over 60 speakers, 30 amplifier channels, and a staggering 40k watts of available amplifier power, ensuring that each patron is treated to unprecedented even coverage over eight zones.Even the Bamboo Room indulges patrons with a powerful Martin Audio system that would be more at home on a large dance floor.

To ensure the detail of vinyl can be heard with absolute hi-fi clarity, while enabling easy conversation to take place at the tables, the large complement of speakers delivers a range from lounge low-volume chill levels to a live performance experience of a concert without needing to be overdriven.

Explaining the rationale, he says, “It is also designed to provide consistent coverage of the whole room while permitting everyone to have what I call a ‘headphone experience’. There’s always a speaker nearby, not too loud, just at the right level. It’s something people haven’t been used to, a real HiFi experience in a live venue environment and that’s why we’re infinitely proud.”

This focus on precision extends to cutting-edge digital audio processing, networking, mixing and amplification, while to do justice to the vast vinyl library, Caterpillar invested in a handmade Australian custom-made rotary DJ console from Condesa.

The final confirmation comes from Emma Franceschini: “The thing about the Martin Audio system is you have that extra clarity in the room. And since we’re a vinyl bar, and you want to be able to hear the nuances, a world class sound system like Martin Audio lets you do that.”

US – Under his company ear NETWORKS, NYC-based Kurt Schlossberg has been specifying exclusively Martin Audio sound systems in Time Out Markets around the world for a number of years.

But recently he undertook his first project for Chilean-born restaurateur Juan Santa Cruz, as Obvio joined the operator’s other upmarket establishments, including two in Central London’s trendy Mayfair and Notting Hill areas.

His latest modern supper club and cocktail bar — named Obvio — is right on his own Manhattan doorstep, and again it is an exclusive Martin Audio house, taking advantage of the CDD series’ unique coaxial differential dispersion technology.

MARTIN AUDIO IS THE ONLY HIGH-END BRAND I USE

“Juan only does super exclusive places, and over Zoom he told me about this little jewel box that he was creating in New York,” said Schlossberg. “He wanted the most discreet high performing system that could be colour matched, and which could double as triple A background as well as triple A foreground. I said there’s really only one product I would put in there!”

Once again the installer recommended CDD as he has for many venues since first discovering them on a visit to the ISE Show in Amsterdam, soon after the series was launched in 2015. “I walked into the [Martin Audio] demo room,” he said, “and I was immediately blown away. Although I have the pick of the litter when it comes to commercial audio, Martin Audio is the only high-end brand I use — it is literally the best of the best of what it is and is my ‘go to’ for all critical path foreground music.”

Explaining further, he said, “When you can take CDD6 and CDD8 and mix them with the punchy subs they are matched to, you get an experience that makes you prouder in a commercial environment than you would be in your own listening room. And that’s something I’ve not been able to replicate from any other manufacturer.”

And Kurt Schlossberg should know, with four decades in audio (analogue-into-digital), architecture, planning and playlist curating under his belt — skills that were brought to bear at Obvio. “Because a lot of the walls and panelling are rounded it has a very cocoon like feeling and so I worked closely with the architects … and felt good to be part of the architectural process again.”

Matching the speakers to the lighter tone of the wall paneling, four CDD6s are wall-mounted towards the front of the building, with eight CDD8 at the front, where punchier sound is focused over the dance area. Softer background music during the daytime trading is followed by a substantial hike in SPL after dark, when DJs take to the Pioneer CDJs. This is enhanced by a single SXC115 “which lives above the amoebic shape over the bar, and completely out of sight,” as he puts it.

The quality of the sound system has generally received favourable reviews. “In fact it’s proven to be quite a hit,” Kurt Schlossberg exclaims in conclusion.

USA – Based outside Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, the rapidly expanding Stonegate Church moved from its earlier conference centre home to a brand-new building in 2018 — to continue its mission of ‘church planting’, encouraging its congregants to “enjoy Jesus and make disciples”.

The eclectic content of its services — ranging from gospel music to new composition — required a studio- and tour-sound quality sound reproduction, as did the intelligibility of its worship leaders. In this respect the church’s existing sound system was found wanting.

Stonegate was recommended to local AV integration company, Epic Resource Group, whose own mission is to create a direct connection between the stage and each member of the congregation. Although Epic are brand agnostic, in this instance they specified a Martin Audio WPS line array as best fit for purpose, with low end extension provided by SXH218 subwoofers.

Matt Wheeler, himself a former senior audio engineer at a very large Texas church, oversaw Epic’s tech team and undertook the design and system tuning in what was a full AV integration. “This was our first WPS installation, and we were pretty ecstatic with the result,” he exclaimed.

Wheeler has a long association with Epic Resource, which, along with full scope AVL integration, specialises in acoustics excellence largely within the upper end of the worship market.

Company founder (and former worship leader) Brandon Chynoweth advances the company’s ‘every seat matters’ philosophy. “When we sign up with someone, we are entering a long-term, collaborative relationship which our business model supports. It can be really hard to nail it for a client if it doesn’t feel like a completely cohesive effort.

IT WAS THE FIRST COMPACT LINE ARRAY THAT SOUNDED THAT BIG.

“In the instance of Stonegate, we did a deep dive on what their priorities were. It was clear they had a high value for the music experience, because they have a really excellent music department.” Equally, they valued a “personal experience of speech.” Each one of the 1200 or so seats has to feel like the individual is being spoken to directly, he says — values shared by Martin Audio.

The space itself measures around 100ft x 120ft, with a stage thrust. An entire reconstruction took place behind the wall of the stage without any service disruption. “The place became substantially deeper and virtually doubled in size … once we knocked the wall down.”

Brandon Chynoweth has long had a soft spot for Martin Audio since discovering “the best sounding dual 15in sub we could find”, some 15 years ago. Epic have embraced the brand more recently with a clutch of WPM installations (using the smallest Wavefront Precision footprint). “They just sounded great,” he says. “They were lightweight and really great value, delivering a very high quality. It was the first compact line array that sounded that big. Small format speakers with both finesse and power had been hard to find, and we just felt like WPM was a special thing.”

However, for some applications WPM was too small, while WPC remained too big. “There was just nothing in the middle until WPS came along.” The form factor immediately impressed the Epic team.

“WPS picks up where WPM left off,” says Wheeler. “We now have it spec’d on other projects. It punches above its weight and is world-class; it’s been a go-to for us when we really needed it.”

The Stonegate configuration is an alternating left-right system comprising four clusters of WPS — the centre two with eight elements, the outer two with seven — run in stereo. “A lot of us are from a studio background, so with stereo you can pan and be able to get some spatial things going on,” he says. A Martin Audio CDD15 provides centre fill and nine CDD8s, infill at the front.

Three of the SXH218 subs are flown in cardioid — two forward facing, one rear — driven by a combination of Martin Audio iKON iK42 process controlled amplifiers in bridge mode. Elsewhere iK81s are deployed, with the entire set-up powered in optimum single box resolution. “One box resolution is such a difference maker — it’s much more linear and the consistency of volume is much better,” reasons Chynoweth. “In the early projects we did, we just couldn’t believe how much value you get by just spending a little bit more money on amp channels.”

The array processing was modelled in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY 2 and control is under the command of a dedicated DX4.0 processor. A further refinement is the application of ‘Hard Avoid’ to the stage.

The entire signal transmission runs over two Dante networks — one of which the church has access to for patching audio sources around, while the second is a dedicated ‘hidden’ network for the PA. “We don’t want someone patching in a Dante keyboard rig in and accidentally unpatching the bottom box of the right cluster,” smiles Wheeler.

Summing up, Brandon Chynoweth says the church is delighted with the clarity and transparency of the new system. “Their front of house guy is a very accomplished studio engineer and knows what things should to sound like. To say he was impressed is an understatement. Their music minister is a touring artist and is used to high-end sound. Even before [Matt] tuned it, he was stunned.”

“And once we had the array processing and tuning dialled in, he was ecstatic,” concluded Wheeler.

Tokyo, Japan – Giants Town Stadium, which opened in Inagi, Tokyo, in March this year, is the home of the Yomiuri Giants’ ‘farm team’ (nursery club) and will also host women’s and amateur men’s baseball games — as well as being a multi-use facility.

Designed to bring fans closer to the action, the 2,900-seat, three-story stadium has been equipped with a Martin Audio-based weatherized (WR) sound system, to create a listening environment that offers presence and warmth.

With acoustic planning, construction and sales handled by Denon Engineering Co. Ltd, these comprise CDD10-WR (as the main speakers), CDD6TX-WR (100V/70V line speakers for ‘Excite’ premium seats, first base infield, third base infield rooftop garden, and standing room in the right field); CDD8-WR (for outfield grass area, and as temporary, portable speakers), and ADORN A40 (for the Umpire area inside the field).

Transmission is over Dante, with Symetrix processing/distribution and Netgear network switching. The acoustic simulation and tuning were performed by Audiobrains.

The Martin Audio solution, tailored to the space, was proposed in order to achieve an immersive atmosphere and high clarity and intelligibility for each area — as befitting professional sports. In particular, the speaker design needed to be close to the audience.

Stated the Denon Engineering designing team, “At G-Town, the emphasis is not simply on ‘producing sound,’ but on providing the optimal acoustic environment for each area and purpose. The type and placement of speakers are carefully adjusted based on how the sound reaches and is heard. Martin Audio CDD10-WR speakers, which deliver clear sound over a wide area, were used as the main speakers. These cabinets are weather-resistant and dust-proof, preventing deterioration and breakdown due to wind, rain and humidity.”

The ability to mitigate sound leakage outside the stadium was another key issue. In outdoor venues, in particular, there is a risk of sound traveling in unexpected directions. At this stadium, the speakers are housed in dedicated boxes and their directionality is controlled, ensuring accurate sound transmission within the stands themselves, while minimizing sound escape beyond the stadium.

High-quality CDD6TX-WR support the immersive experience of the Excite VIP seats — located closest to the ground. This is a special viewing area offering the ultimate in immersive experience unique to G-Town. To maximize the seating’s features, these speakers, which combine high-quality sound and output, are designed to deliver clearer and more dynamic sound including announcements and background music. This integration is purpose designed to create a more memorable experience for spectators.

In the vast space of a stadium, there is a time lag in the sound from the speakers. For example, the 122m distance from home base to center field is calculated to result in a delay of approximately 0.36 seconds—which can have a major impact on how announcements and background music are heard. Delay correction has ensured that sound can be heard naturally from any seat, creating a comfortable acoustic space. The speakers on the first floor also serve as emergency speakers.

There were further challenges. The G-Town stadium sound control room is located on the third floor, and there were concerns that this would make communication between the referee and the public address announcer difficult during games. To address this issue, mics were installed on the field to allow communication between the referee and the PA announcer, and sound equipment was improved to ensure smooth communication between the two parties. Martin Audio’s ADORN A40, renowned for its clear sound quality, was used for this communication.

The central control system emphasizes intuitive operability, and uses tablet devices in the Symetrix control environment. In addition to intuitive operation of mics, background music and other controls, the screen is customizable to suit the user’s proficiency level.

A patch panel for maintenance services is also provided within the ground, allowing the system to be monitored from the ground side, ensuring ease of maintenance.

In a space where sports and entertainment combine, sound is one of the keys to creating emotion. The project team are satisfied that the Giants Town Stadium maximizes the power of sound to enhance the spectator experience, embracing the cutting edge of sound engineering required for professional sports facilities such as this.

USA – Situated in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Christ the King was initiated in 1981 as a Catholic ‘Charismatic Renewal’ church. Its current church building was dedicated in 2001 — and although it may be fairly new by church standards, the church was still operating off its original sound system, which was struggling to provide even coverage across three naves, fanning out from a central space.

“While they had some good seats, some were not so good in terms of coverage, and that was their main impetus for the upgrade,” stated Steve Newby, founder of family-owned AV systems integrator Annunciation Audio-Visual Services, who won a three-way competitive bid.

“While we’ve replaced the electronics a couple of times, and the operators were doing a fantastic job making it sound as good as possible, there was no getting away from the fact that an upgrade was necessary,” he said. This would require addressing the three spaces individually.

Considering all the coverage parameters, and the fact that houses of worship are inherently reverberant spaces, it was deemed necessary that a system with a higher degree of control was essential. As a result, Martin Audio’s smallest Wavefront Precision footprint, WPM, was installed in three L/C/R clusters of six elements in each, along with three SXC118 cardioid subwoofers. To safeguard against any holes in the frontfill coverage Annunciation specified four CDD10s and a pair of CDD8, and to complete the Martin Audio deployment have provided 24x C6.8T powerful ceiling speakers to “a funky underhung area” — essentially extensions of the left and right naves.

THE FEEDBACK HAS BEEN 100% POSITIVE, BOTH SOUND WISE AND AESTHETICALLY

Steve Newby’s confidence in specifying different Martin Audio series is based on his experience supplying largely Catholic churches with different solutions — including O-Line and CDD — in the 18 months since he first started using the brand. “Last year we got a trio of jobs which was perfect … and all three have been met with universal praise and satisfaction from the clients,” he said.

“I had experienced pattern consistency with all Martin Audio products,” he continued. “The lack of beaming was one thing, but also the way it actually sounded off axis. We care about that because off axis response will colour the room if it’s not relatively smooth. [With Martin Audio] you can be 90° off axis and know there’s nothing bouncing off the wall that’s likely to destroy the coverage area.

“We’re also very comfortable with DSP optimisation and what it can and can’t do. The fact that both O-Line and WPM integrate this control with the digital steering was very appealing conceptually to me — in my opinion, having the best of both worlds is fantastic.”

Once again, the systems have blended well at Ann Arbor he said. “The voicing between these three different series in the Martin catalogue was all very consistent and we achieved seat to seat consistency very well.”

Newby rationalised that foremost in a reverberant space was “control and granularity.” Explaining the choice of the smaller WPM over a larger format, he said, “Better to have the less expensive box, and use more of them, to focus on control. Having individual amplifier and processing per speaker within a 6-box array made more sense as it was more efficient. We wanted to maximise that, as there were surfaces we needed to avoid.”

The choice of the SXC118 cardioid subs was also axiomatic. These are attached to the ceiling structure, 40ft in the air, and like all enclosures, are finished in white.

The design of the arrays was carried out in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software. The 3D visualisation model translated exactly into real life, “and we quickly noticed that the sanctuary was the same volume as halfway back in the church.”

Assistant Director of Worship, Adam Plomaritas, who had originally introduced Annunciation AV to the project, stated in summary, “I’ve been a part of several sound changes over the years, and this is the first time the feedback has been 100% positive, both sound wise and aesthetically. There hasn’t been a single negative response.”