Category: TiMax

Canada: For one memorable week each year a wing of the large Vancouver Convention Centre event space transforms into the custom-built 1,200-seat TED Theatre — which hosts powerful, high-profile talks aimed at driving meaningful change.

As the non-profit TED Organisation’s relationship with its current PA supplier was nearing an end, their long-serving and highly experienced audio consultant, Michael Nunan was working on a TED Countdown project in Brussels, alongside FOH sound engineer Miles Barton, another veteran of TED event sound mixing. “We were discussing what PA manufacturer would be a good choice going forwards,” Barton recalls. “I’ve used Martin Audio gear since leaving college 24 years ago—and now use it regularly with [Martin Audio rental partner] 22Live.”

He believed the two brands—TED and Martin Audio—would make a good alliance, and duly asked 22live director Spencer Beard to make the connection with TED Head of Production, Mina Sabet. She, in turn, contacted Martin Audio MD Dom Harter—and the idea quickly gathered momentum.

Sabet was determined to disrupt the orthodoxy when it came to audio projection. “There’s a level of perfection and excellence that we look for and a very specific sound. I want speakers to be very ‘present’—as if they’re standing in front of you—something very different from a corporate event. And for performances and music we really want an immersive space, so that attendees would feel a deep sense of connection with both the speaker and the room.”

This was a challenge that Dom Harter readily embraced. “Miles had recommended our optimisation as a tool to improve TED broadcast quality by reducing spill from the PA. At that point we introduced Simon Honywill to design and spec it—and upgraded it to a TiMax spatialisation platform.”

Honywill himself said, “I was thrilled, as I’ve been a long-term advocate of all things TED related, having worked on a TED Global event back in 2013, and even delivered my own TEDx talk.

Another bonus was the fact that this was to be in their own portable auditorium, made entirely of sourced Douglas fir trees that has been reused annually since 2014 when it was originally designed. “This made it a really beautiful environment to work in,” said Simon Honywill. “It’s the reason I really wanted to go to town on the design, because while most of the output is speech, video content, audio bumpers and live music also play a major part.”

Simon Honywill knew that by incorporating fellow Focusrite Group sister brand, TiMax into his design, a spatialised solution would enable seated audiences of up to 1200 people in the auditorium to receive the sound naturally at their seat rather than it appearing to emanate from a loudspeaker.

For the designer, the challenge as much as anything was the fact that he would be liaising with Nunan, Sabet—and Martin Audio integration partner Alford Media—remotely from his base 4,600 miles away. He was also acutely aware that aside from the live audience, TED would want to deliver a pristine broadcast feed on its streaming platform for its many subscribers.

WHAT I’M VERY IMPRESSED WITH IS THE TIME, ENERGY, THOUGHTFULNESS AND EXPERTISE THAT THE FOCUSRITE GROUP HAS BROUGHT TO THE EVENT.

Honywill developed the workflow, creating a sound system model and transferring designs created in Vectorworks to SketchUp and then importing into Martin Audio’s proprietary DISPLAY3—before handing over responsibility to Eric Faulk at Alford Media for implementation. “The model actually looked great,” he smiles. This enabled him to send comprehensive, and immersive delayed sound to both surround and overhead speaker locations.

China: On February 27, with the successful conclusion of the Guangzhou Entertainment Technology Show (GETshow), the cooperation between Leading Audiovisual Technology Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Stage Art Society also came to an end.

This four-day audio-visual feast not only showcased the industry’s top technology and artistic achievements, but also witnessed the in-depth cooperation and innovative practice between Leading Audiovisual and Guangdong in the field of technology and art integration.

As one of the most influential performing arts equipment exhibitions in the world, GETshow has attracted professional buyers and industry elites from more than 100 countries and regions around the world. The 2025 exhibition was themed “Guangdong Boundary – Breakthrough Space Power”, focusing on multiple fields such as stage art, intelligent sound and light technology, and cultural tourism and performing arts, and fully displays the industry’s cutting-edge technologies and innovative applications.

As a prominent AV company in China, Leading Audiovisual has been committed to providing the market with high-quality audio solutions. Here they showcased the latest results of its cooperation with Martin Audio, including advanced audio systems and TiMax immersive audio technology.

TiMax is one of the world’s pioneers in the field of immersive audio and video technology and their mature immersive technology has been widely used around the world. From London’s West End, New York’s Broadway to Hong Kong, TiMax is the core technology provider for theaters, entertainment and display experience activities.

System configuration: all-round immersive audio layout
The immersive audio system that Yuejie and Leading Audiovisual cooperated on used Martin Audio’s PI8 speakers and PI118 subwoofers, combined with TiMax’s advanced audio processing technology, to create a full-range immersive audio environment.

The successful GETshow 2025 marked the starting point of the cooperation between Leading Audiovisual and Guangdong Stage Art Society, as well as marking breakthroughs in the audiovisual field. During the exhibition, the cooperation projects of both parties attracted a lot of attention and praise from professional audiences.

Xu (Rico) Ruixian, General Manager of Leading Audiovisual, said: “Through in-depth cooperation with Yuejie, we not only demonstrated the strength of Leading Audiovisual in the field of audio technology, but also saw the possibilities of the integration of technology and art. In the future, we will continue to work with Yuejie to bring more immersive audiovisual experience to global audiences.”

Leaders and expert teachers of the Guangdong Stage Art Society said: “Yuejie has been committed to promoting the integration of stage art and modern technology. Through cooperation with Leading Audiovisual, we have successfully combined art and technology to bring a new audio-visual feast to the audience. In the future, we will continue to deepen cooperation and jointly promote the development of the industry.”

Three-act opera presented at The Vache estate in Buckinghamshire supported by an immersive soundscape for audiences of up to 200 utilizing TiMax SoundHub spatial reinforcement guided by TrackerD4 stage trackers delivered by TORUS 8 and FP4 loudspeakers.

A cast of seven members of operatic company Vache Baroque (plus narrator) recently delivered Pergolesi’s 1735 three-act opera L’Olimpiade on the grounds of The Vache estate in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, UK, supported by an immersive soundscape for audiences of up to 200 per performance utilizing elements of the TiMax spatial platform working with Martin Audio point source loudspeakers.

The production was under the direction of Laura Attridge, while the 17-piece orchestra, led by Jonathan Darbourne, helped deliver an interpretation of this Olympics-style story, from authentic early music instruments. Audience members were seated al fresco under a stretch canopy, which simulated a purpose-built concert hall that was achieved by judicious use of reverb and delay.

At the hub of the approach was TiMax SoundHub spatial reinforcement guided by TiMax TrackerD4 stage trackers worn by the performers, and played out through a series of discreet loudspeakers. The challenge had been to provide sound reinforcement without any evidence of amplification attained by rental partners 22live working with technology from within the Focusrite Group.

Dom Harter (managing director of the Focusrite Group’s live and installed sound brands) had initially been approached for assistance by a distant relative (and patron of the company) who sought adequate sound. “The fact that Vache Baroque is a charity, and the money they raise enables them to undertake valuable outreach work for schools in the area, was reason to get involved. We were delighted that with 22live we could ensure high production values.”

Already involved in the process was Harder’s 15-year-old son, Elijah (who has been mixing local musicals and shows), and the journey began. The first port of call was experienced operatic and classical sound designer Simon Honywill, who has a long relationship with Focusrite brand Martin Audio.

Honywill drew up a specification, with an audio visualization “model” constructed in Martin Audio DISPLAY (3D) predictive software before the TiMax PanSpace entered the workflow. The loudspeaker locations were then “recognized” by TiMax. Honywill then instructed TiMax to automatically render the space with Image Definition spatial objects to define where he would want audio source objects to emanate from, both on-stage and in surround for upmixed “virtual room” reverbs.

To retain the purity of Baroque opera and the integrity of the traditional instruments, Honywill says that “with TiMax, we could develop a sound system that would basically ‘disappear’. It would simply ‘lift’ everything and the imaging would remain true to life to what was taking place onstage. No-one would know it was there.”

He also determined that the most obtrusive loudspeakers would be the discreet pair of TORUS 8 mounted on poles either side of the pros arch (the pair of designated SXCF118 subwoofers were already recessed out of sight). This formed a foundation from where the sound from the orchestra would emanate. However, the bulk of the reinforcement was delivered by compact FlexPoint FP6 and FP4 loudspeakers distributed across the multi-layered staging areas.

FP4s provided front fills, while further forward, a row of four FP6 primarily handled vocal image reinforcement. An additional 24 FP4s on poles were arranged in an audience surround delay system; some were towards the stage as a dedicated reverb system for artistic and spatial distribution. This helped deliver a lift in level towards the back row of about 6 dB.

TiMax director Robin Whittaker says, “We were basically playing audio dominos with the various wavefronts through the space, getting them organized within a time window which was constantly being modified as people moved around.” TiMax ensured everyone heard the loudspeakers a tad later than any voice or instrument, thus perceptually localizing to the performance. TiMax TrackerD4 constantly maintained this imaging as performers moved around the stage.

All loudspeakers were powered by six multichannel iKON iK81 DSP amplifiers and controlled from a Yamaha DM7 digital console, supplied along with the DPA microphones, Shure Axient wireless systems and control racks by 22live. It was in the DM7 that the reverbs were generated. “We used the X-Verb reverb and onboard Rupert Neve compressors; a bit of multiband compression as well,” Whittaker adds.

Honywill adds, “The trackers were crucial to maintain the illusion of the sound system not being there. And they worked brilliantly. Both musicians and singers absolutely loved it.” The imaging and spatially upmixed reverbs created the impression that the opera was taking place in an auditorium rather than a back garden.

The show had required balancing at the mix position throughout, not only in levels, but in killing the reverb during dialogue and reintroducing it in during the singing. “Subtle adjustment of reverbs can make a huge difference in how convincing the sound system is,” he explains. “And at no point did I even stop to consider that we had to EQ the PA; because it just didn’t need it.”

Dom Harter states, “Effectively there were only 12 reverb-only loudspeakers; you don’t want to completely simulate the acoustics of a church because you’re in a tent, but if you don’t do something then it just sounds ridiculously dry. When the reverb speakers were pointed upwards it was almost impossible to hear them generating reverb; it was just washing over you from above which is exactly what it would do if you were in a building. This was one of the best sounding concerts I’ve ever been involved with. It all starts on stage — and the musicians themselves are phenomenal.”

And Jonathan Darbourne, Vache Baroque artistic director and co-founder, concludes, “Outdoor performance of traditionally acoustic music comes with many considerations, not least when Baroque-era instruments are being used. The sound team were extremely sensitive to balancing amplification with authentic effect which was very impressive.”