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NewsJune 2008 New »Ring Lock« speaker stand system from
König & Meyer You know the scenario, you’ve set up your equipment, the speakers are in exactly the right position and then during your performance one of the speakers slips out of position. Those days are over. König & Meyer has a new concept for a speaker stand to keep the speaker firmly in place. The newly designed and patented “RING LOCK” system is based on an expanding mandrel system with flanged bushing providing a reliable fit to the speaker. Straightforward to use, the speaker is positioned on the connector pins as usual, but then secured with only a single twist of the ergonomic ring lock.
QSC provides power and control for new Beijing olympic venues. Huge quantities of QSC amplification and control devices feature in many of the new stadiums and other venues under construction for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which begin on August 8th.
April 2008 The TELEX® Brand Arrives at SF Marketing. SF Marketing Inc. is proud to announce that it is now the exclusive Canadian distributor of the Telex Intercom brand with the Audiocom®, RadioCom™ and Intercom Headset and Earset series of products. Renowned throughout the production and broadcast industries with its flagship BTR-800 intercom system, Telex® intercom products will further enhance SF Marketing’s extensive Pro Audio brand catalog and will provide added exposure of the brand to the music production industry. “SF Marketing is honoured to have been chosen as the Canadian Distributor for Telex Communications Headsets, Radiocom, Telex Legacy, and Audiocom product groups,” says company founder Sol Fleising. “The Telex product mix fits in perfectly with our professional audio portfolio, and our company cultures are very similar, which will make our goal of achieving total customer satisfaction an easy one.” A sub-division of Bosch Security Systems, a division of the Bosch Group, Telex Communications Inc. has been a leading manufacturer of dependable, top-of-the-line communication equipment for over 75 years. With mission-critical installations in every corner of the world, Telex® Audiocom® balanced intercom systems provide the widest range of rugged and reliable intercommunication solutions for virtually any application. Telex® Audiocom® balanced intercom systems incorporate industry-leading balanced audio system structure and highly configurable and expandable modular designs. Telex® RadioCom™ wireless intercom systems lead the industry with a complete suite of full-duplex, highly configurable and expandable wireless intercom system platforms. With multiple award-winning innovations such as the BTR-800 two-channel frequency agile wireless intercom, the TR-825 two-channel 'stereo' beltpack transceiver and proprietary digital encryption, Telex® RadioCom™ has led the way with innovative technology that allows users to move around freely while maintaining “wired-like” quality and reliability. Telex® RadioCom™ wireless intercom systems are utilized in virtually every kind of application and venue throughout the world. Telex Communications Intercom product applications include theaters, sports facilities, stage productions, theme parks, houses of worship, hotels, and casinos, as well as education, industrial, military and corporate venues. January 2008 Xantech Introduces Hdmi Product Series Xantech Corporation, a leading producer of innovative, reliable and problem-solving custom installation signal processing and control systems, is introducing a new series of HDMI™ and HDMI-compatible products, which will be distributed in Canada by SF Marketing Inc. The product series will include cables, switchers, splitters, extenders and boosters – everything needed to ensure the successful distribution of content via HDMI. The new HDMI products will be available in Q1 of 2008 and prices with MSRPs ranging from $34.99 to $2949.99. "The future is clearly HDMI," said Steven Freytag, General Manager, Consumer Division of SF Marketing. "With problem solving products such as the HDMI over Cat5 extender that enables 1080P resolution up to 150 feet through a Cat5 cable, Xantech is clearly committed to being at the forefront of technology.” The list of Xantech’s HDMI distributed video products will include: Switchers, splitters, signal boosters, point to point HDMI/CAT 5 extenders, cables, adaptors and accessories. All Xantech HDMI products are 1.3 compliant and HDCP enabled. For a complete list of products, please visit www.xantech.com. Xantech will be exhibiting at the 2008 Festival Son et Image at Sheraton suite 917 & 918, from April 3rd to 6th, 2008.
November 2007 Dolby and Renault Bring the Sound of F1 to Johannesburg The streets of Johannesburg echoed with the howl of Formula 1 cars when the globetrotting Renault Roadshow made a stop in South Africa to showcase the ING Renault F1 Team, their cars and current drivers Nelson Piquet Jr and Giancarlo Fisichella. Joseph Mandy and Richard Smith of Sound Harmonics, Dolby Live Sound’s distributor in South Africa, employed a pair of Dolby® Lake® Processors and three Lake Contours to control a distributed L-Acoustics speaker system for the event. The Dolby Lake Processors and Lake Contours were hardwired together with two microwave links acting as backup for signal distribution. A Pram Technologies WSL-2E wireless link handled the networking. A mix of L-Acoustics dV-DOSC, KUDO, KIVA and KILO enclosures provided coverage along the main streets, the VIP grandstand and the main control area. “On a job where units had to be so far apart, where there were three different power sources and where easy wireless networking was a must, the Dolby Lake system was the only choice. It made my job a breeze,” commented Smith, who configured and programmed the system to bring even sound coverage to the 60,000 fans lining the course on the streets of the city’s Sandton commercial district. The event marked the first time the sound of F1 cars has been heard in the country since Alain Prost won the South African Grand Prix in a Williams Renault in 1993, the year the French driver retired with his fourth world championship. September 2007 EAW: A Widely Distributed Sound System Retrofit 
On the list of unusual installed sound reinforcement situations, the Olympic Oval in Calgary ranks toward the top, as evidenced by a recent project that saw the venue’s original sound system replaced by a widely distributed, multi-zone design to serve a decidedly unconventional indoor arena. Constructed for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, the venue offers a structure of pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete that completely covers a 400-meter long-track speed skating oval encircling two international sized ice rinks for short-track speed skating and ice hockey. The long-track is surrounded by a 450-meter running track, with other track and field amenities including a 110-meter sprint track, pole vault box and long-jump pit. Spectator seating for more than 10,000 runs along one of the long sides of the oval, continuing around the curves a good distance, with portable grandstands able to be staged where needed along the hockey rink and short track. Known as “the fastest ice on earth” for hosting an unprecedented number of speed skating world records (attributed most frequently to its rare status as a climate-controlled venue combined with the effects of high altitude), the Olympic Oval continues to serve as a premier speed skating site and training facility. In addition, it hosts hockey games, track and field competitions (and practices), and, located adjacent to the University of Calgary, is connected both with that institution in general and specifically with its sports medicine and kinesiology programs. Constantly in use seven days a week, it’s also open at select times for public skating and a wide range of special events. The original PA system relied upon a main centralized loudspeaker cluster comprised of larger format horns and compression drivers – by far the most common and accepted large-venue sound reinforcement approach two decades ago - to provide coverage to the grandstands. But this system’s time had long passed, and increasingly, supplemental rental systems were required in order to meet major-event expectations. Seeking an upgrade, Olympic Oval Director of Operations Kameron Kiland began discussions with Terry McConaghy, general manager of integrated system sales for Allstar Show Industries, a leading installed and portable system provider with offices in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Allstar was no stranger to the challenges of the Oval, having been a primary provider of the supplemental rental systems, and further, the company has a rich heritage of supplying top-shelf design-build solutions to large venues. “From an operational expense standpoint, Kameron realized it didn’t make much sense to continue to finance supplemental systems on a regular basis,” McConaghy explains. “He also had a vision for what a sound system could do in terms of dramatically enhancing flexibility throughout the venue. It was quite interesting to talk though his ideas, a process that generated a lot of investigative thinking.” In addition to dramatically improved coverage to the grandstand, Kiland sought venue-wide sound reinforcement, extending even to ancillary office areas. Further, he wanted a new system capable of simultaneously support multiple events, along with the ability to plug in localized control and source devices. For example, a hockey coach might be outfitted with a wireless microphone to direct a team’s practice session via a portion of the system serving the hockey rink, while PA announcements could be provided simultaneously to another portion of the system serving the grandstand for an audience assembled to view a long-track speed skating competition, perhaps also while another coach is equipped with a wireless mic to direct a practice session via the portion of the system serving the speed skating short track. “The primary impediments to this approach include the close proximity of these respective areas, the fact that physical barriers can’t be erected to separate them, and that the overall scale of the venue dictates rather long-throw requirements from loudspeakers - all topped off by a fairly ambient acoustic environment,” McConaghy says. “We arrived at a design approach centered upon widely distributed loudspeakers offering exceptional directivity and control of output, where sound to each coverage area – or zone of the system - would need to be clear, present and intelligible, but then drop off very quickly immediately outside of the direct field. It was clearly an intensive design that would also require premium loudspeakers meeting the strict criteria.” Subsequent discussions of the project with SF Marketing, a leading distributor of pro audio products to the Canadian marketplace, as well as Joe Fustolo, head of the EAW Application Support Group (ASG) helped firm up this direction. McConaghy (who has recently joined the team at SF Marketing, by the way) notes that EAW attracted his interest, in part, because it’s deep line of installation loudspeakers meet the unique high output and directivity requirements of this project. This was further enhanced by the support of ASG, a team of highly experienced audio professionals that provides data to enhance the design process and also performs design reviews to help ensure projects are fully optimized. Arthur Skudra, a veteran electro-acoustic design consultant based in Windsor, was also invited by SF Marketing to join the system team, focusing on the exacting process of loudspeaker selection, location and positioning throughout the entire venue. He started his design process by visualizing a widely distributed system and then whittled it down to smaller discrete “sub-systems” that would optimally serve their respective regions. ”I briefly considered a line array approach, where a high-Q characteristic might overcome critical distance issues, but that would be very expensive. And in a place this big, even line arrays would still have a hard time overcoming critical distance,” Skudra explains. “It came down to one viable way to do it to meet the client’s needs, and that was distributed, with a whole lot of loudspeakers to prevail over the critical distance issue. So many loudspeakers, in fact, that a colleague asked me if I was crazy when I first designed it.” Comprehensive EASE modeling assisted in sorting things out. The ASG team stepped up to conduct the painstaking process of translating the original architectural plans of the facility into electronic form, which then served as the basis of the EASE effort by Marc St-Jacques of SF Marketing. In the modeling process, Skudra focused in particular on what happens in coverage areas located between loudspeakers. He notes that this factor is one of the most common in compromising the effectiveness of distributed designs; in particular, when time alignment is not optimized between adjacent loudspeakers, resulting in an “echo” effect and other intelligibility compromises. “My goal on this project was keeping delay at 30 milliseconds or less between any two adjacent loudspeakers,” he notes. “This isn’t simply a matter of setting delay times in digital processing, but painstaking placement and aiming of the loudspeakers. Fortunately, the geometry of the coverage spaces, combined with the infrastructure for mounting the loudspeakers, worked out so that we could attain the goal.” Two ceiling catwalks (an “inner” and “outer” catwalk) running above the oval surface proved quite opportune as mounting positions for most of the system’s 66 EAW AX Series (longer throw) and MK Series (shorter throw) full-range loudspeakers. They’re positioned to cover at least a dozen different areas that are broken down into zones. First focusing on coverage to the grandstands, Skudra chose to attach loudspeakers to the outer catwalk that is closer (and lower) to the seating, presenting critical distance of up to 12 meters (a little over 39 feet) – very acceptable in this application. These loudspeakers fire almost straight down in providing coverage from the front row to the back, while energy does not reflect off the back wall. The EAW MK2364 two-way loudspeakers chosen to provide this coverage are located approximately 12 meters apart, with their 60-degree-by 40-degree large-format horns rotated so that the cabinets can be mounted in a lower profile horizontal cabinet position when needed. “We ended up with 18 MK2364 here, and geometry-wise, they worked out perfectly. Actually it was a bit startling as to just how good it is in terms of seamless, full-range coverage,” Skudra says. “These loudspeakers also cover the running track when the grandstands are rolled back, and we established them on their own zone so they can be easily turned off when not needed, cutting down the reverberant field.” The inner catwalk, higher above the floor at about 18 meters (59 feet), proved an optimum position to mount a variety of loudspeakers to handle various event regions. To provide coverage on the lengthy straight-aways of the speed skating long-track, EAW AX344 (45-degree by 45-degree dispersion) three-way loudspeakers, again spaced at about 12 meters, provide coverage up to an “edge of critical distance” of approximately 25 meters (82 feet). They transition to AX396 loudspeakers for each the two “end zones” of this track, selected because their wider horizontal dispersion (90 degrees) helps better spread the coverage over these wider, curved spaces all the way into the corners of the grandstand. “Throughout the track, the coverage happens just right, so that when you step a foot or so off the ice, it almost completely drops off,” Skudra adds. “On the curves, we felt like we were making a compromise by using fewer loudspeakers with wider dispersion, but coverage remains comprehensive and tight. It’s quite impressive, and saved us having to install even more loudspeakers to attain the same thing.” Using both sides of the same inner catwalk, four AX396 loudspeakers (two per side) are dedicated to the skating short-track, and the same approach was duplicated with the hockey rink. These are mounted at a steep down-angle to avoid generating reflections off of ample amounts of nearby ductwork. To cover portable grandstands rolled into place at both of these locations, as well as concession stands and other peripheral areas, the choice was again several MK2364 two-way systems, mounted to rated ceiling beams and firing straight down. “Basically, there’s no excuse for patrons or athletes to not be able to clearly hear announcements anywhere in the venue,” he says. “Being aware of the critical distance for every loudspeaker in the system, and keeping in mind what is happening with adjacent sounds that might also reach listeners, was the key. Discrete echoes resulting from placing a loudspeaker too far away from its intended listeners would have compromised the quality we were all seeking.” The six-week system installation process was headed up by Keith Watson of Allstar, with the venue’s constant use every day of the week dictating workdays starting at 10 pm and lasting until 5 am, when it was time to get out of the way of athletic programs kicking off before sunrise. The crew had to work on top of - and around - the numerous ice surfaces, utilizing 85-foot lifts to reach ceiling level. First, all loudspeakers were put into place, a painstaking process of exact rigging, support, positioning and wiring. Later, every loudspeaker was re-visited for optimal aiming. The sheer scale of the system, as well as the number of point sources it employs and the requirement for multiple zoning capability, dictated a sophisticated digital backbone to manage and tie it all together. In consultation with SF Marketing, Allstar settled on a Symetrix SymNet Express Cobra System, a series of digital signal processors (DSP) that are controlled by SymNet Designer software. Joining the system’s QSC CX Series power amplifiers, a configuration of four 4-input by 12-output Express Cobra units are rack-mounted in a remote equipment room. These units can be remotely addressed and controlled over Ethernet, and they also support 16 inputs and 16 outputs of CobraNet audio over Ethernet, in addition to analog I/O. Companion SymNet ARC wall panels – installed at several locations and linked via CAT5 cable - provide simple user control of a system. For example, one channel of analog audio can be routed to or from an ARC panel for simple paging or monitoring needs. In addition, the Express Cobra units are also outfitted with an RS485 port for extending ARC and external control capacity. “One of the unique things about this system is that it has six paging locations, and an ARC panel at each of these locations provides audio over the 485 control bus just by pushing a button,” explains SF Marketing’s Rob Deslauriers. This slick interface and networking capability also allows for easy routing of program material from a radio dual tuner to various zones in the system via RS232, even to distributed ceiling loudspeakers in front office and conference room areas. Eight more ARC panels are also permanently positioned around the venue to serve as local inputs, allowing a portable system – Shure UHF wireless microphones, an electronic start gun and a pair of EAW FR129 compact loudspeakers – to be located at race start positions. “As a result, there’s local audio right at these crucial positions, and this program material can also be fed to the designated zones of the main system. It’s pretty slick,” Deslauriers says. “Allstar did a meticulous job in setting up and implementing this solution, and as always, the real success resides in the details.” The sound crew worked around the old system during the installation process, which remained operational until it could be removed after the new system had been activated. Skudra returned to the venue immediately following installation to perform two nights of system tuning and optimization, and he was one of the first audio professionals in the world to utilize new EAW Smaart v.6 measurement and analysis software on a live project. EAW’s Fustolo also provided his input in the commissioning effort, and ultimately, the final performance results proved startlingly effective, perhaps even surpassing the team’s expectations. “Our previous experiences on large-scale, complex system projects proved to be a big asset on this project,” McConaghy concludes. “Everyone involved with this effort, including the brand partners, really proved themselves in exceeding the acoustic and operational challenges of a very difficult venue, and for a lot less budget than anyone expected at the outset.” EAW Smaart v.6 sound system measurement and analysis software represents a striking upgrade from previous Smaart versions. A comprehensive re-write of Smaart’s underlying architecture was done to dramatically enhance multi-tasking, with a new streamlined interface providing simpler operation. And, the biggest aspect of the upgrade in the eyes of many in pro audio is full compatibility with the Macintosh platform. For the Oval project, Skudra deployed v.6 on his MacBook Pro computer, noting, “this proved to be a really awesome combination. For one thing, I was easily able to set time delays in such a way that the system is very transparent in terms of imaging, which can be a problem in such a huge venue and with such a huge system.” Skudra contemplated a 120 Hz crossover point for all loudspeakers in deference to concerns about low-frequency rumble. After some evaluation, however, he decided to establish crossover for both the two-way and three-way loudspeaker models at 90 Hz, providing a very full low-end signature while not resulting in any energy build-up. A Lectrosonics PM400 digital wireless mic was utilized to take measurements, which saved having to run hundreds of feet of mic cable all over the venue. The loudspeakers serving the long-track oval served as the reference (“zero”) point, and then Skudra systematically worked through the entire system, loudspeaker by loudspeaker, and then zone by zone, with a final round of overall time delay optimization closing out the process. “Smaart v.6 proved great in being able to verify that everything was operating optimally and in sync,” he says. “The multi-tasking is invaluable, where you can now run Smaart while at the same time control the DSP from the same desktop. Also, the enhanced snapshot aspect of v.6 is really useful, particularly with a project of this complexity. We take measurements at up to five different locations for each loudspeaker, save these as ‘snapshots’, and then start making decisions on EQ and so forth. The ability to have so many traces (snapshots) accessible on the screen, and then being able to average them as you please, shows me that EAW has really done their homework on this upgrade.” BBC Deploys LightViperTM for Innovative Television Coverage
of Falkland Islands Memorial Service FiberPlex, Inc., the leading professional audio fiber optic supplier to the sound production industry, has announced that their LightViperTM audio transport system was recently utilized by Britain's BBC Television. The BBC's Outside Broadcasts group built a location production room in a tractor shed at San Carlos on the Falkland Islands last month to capture and link live pictures and sound for a Remembrance Service which commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the British/Argentinian armed conflict. Live coverage from the Falkland's service, attended by veterans and currently-serving British soldiers, was sent via satellite and simultaneously fed into live coverage of a corollary service taking place at the Horse Guards venue in London's Whitehall (governmental offices district). For the BBC's senior sound supervisor, Tim Davies, there were a number of important considerations since the crew would be working in arduous conditions with limited electricity supply. High on his list were reducing freight costs and equipment reliability. As the hub for his signal chain, Davies chose a FiberPlex LightViper, a lightweight fiber optic digital audio snake system supplied by U.K. pro audio supplier, Kelsey Acoustics. The LightViper was configured as a 32 x 8 system, enabling it to handle all the live and FX mic feeds, sends and returns. Davies explained, "We needed an easy system to operate and wanted to save on rigging and man-power, not to mention truck space and reduce the amount of multicores we used." However, the BBC Outside Broadcasts did use multicores for signal distribution from the LightViper system. Based in the farm's tractor shed at the top of a hill, the crew set up a communications system with San Carlos Military Cemetery which was located 600 feet away. From there they ran the conventional multicore audio snakes to the various points where the FX mics were situated. To put weight comparisons into perspective, the two 900 ft reels of fiber optic cables brought by the sound crew weighed approximately 50 lbs, including their transport reels. The copper multicore snakes alone weighed a quarter of a ton (500 lbs). "There were enormous advantages in using the LightViper fiber system; with the mic amps being close to the mics there was no danger of capacitance or loss of phantom power," Davies observed. The small stage box was easily concealed and provided a split output with the four-core fiber cable carrying the sends and returns. The audio feeds included speeches, a military band and a choir. Tim Davies continued, "We had 16 mics coming up from the cemetery and we returned an IEM feed to the MD of the Royal Marine Band -- with a click track -- so he could play in time." Davies's crew were also taking a feed from London to the PA system, as the production team cut between pictures of San Carlos Military Cemetery in the Falklands to London footage from the Horse Guards, mixing in stereo as the main memorial went out live on the U.K.'s BBC Two television station. As for power, the British MOD (Ministry Of Defence) were able to provide the five-camera BBC crew and audio technicians with a 50-amp Rapier missile generator. "The 4-meter satellite uplink dish drew 40 amps of that, while the scanner truck, including two Yamaha O1V's and the vision mixer, pulled just 8!" Tim observed. "We were 75 miles from the nearest habitation and had traveled to the Falklands with just two and a half tons of equipment, minimalist to say the least. But everything worked beautifully, despite operating in the midst of a snow blizzard, with an incredible wind chill factor." Photos: The Falkland Islands in mid-winter June: the BBC's audio crew is en route to the production location in capital city, San Carlos, for a live TV broadcast/simulcast of a 25th Anniversary Falkland's Memorial Service. The BBC's Outside Broadcast team created an impromptu television production room inside a tractor shed located 600 feet away from the services at the Military Cemetery. Shown here is the 32 X 8 FiberPlex LightViper system (in flight case under monitor screen) that was utilized to minimize both manpower as well as shipping weight for the live TV production's audio facilities. Editor's Technical Notes: Fiberplex manufactures the LightViper fiber optic audio cable transport systems. The LightViper systems offer total signal path isolation between both stage and mixer as well as between the mixer and power amplification; the cable is totally immune to ground loops, RFI, EMI and electromechanical noise, and runs of up to 1 1/4 miles (6,600 feet) can be easily accomplished without signal loss or degradation. FiberPlex includes a limited lifetime warranty with all of its LightViper system components. Kinepolis Turns to QSC DCA/Basis Solution for Next Generation of Multiplexes: Belgian-based Kinepolis Group has spent its first decade developing a portfolio of 22 THX cinema complexes throughout Belgium, France, Spain, Poland and Switzerland, making it today one of the most significant players on the European stage. Soon after its formation in 1997, Kinepolis started using QSC Audio THX-approved products - and soon became major users of ISA 450 and 750 Series amplifiers and DCM-3 Digital Cinema Monitors, to meet its processing and system optimisation requirements. But time and technology march on, and with the remorseless advance towards full digital cinema, QSC's local territorial distributors and cinema specialists, AED bvba, ensured that the burgeoning cinema group were kept informed of the tasks QSC's new generation of mission critical digital devices could perform when placed on a CobraNet™ network. As a result, the new eight-screen Kinepolis Oostende multiplex on the Belgian north coast will propel the company into a new technological age entirely. Nicolas Hamon, the operators' Projection and Sound Manager, confirms that Oostende will be the first site to use QSC's BASIS 922az and 914lz network control in combination with multiples of DCA amplifiers - again supplied by AED bvba. The complete network universe has been designed around eight each of the BASIS hubs, in conjunction with 31 x DCA1622, 11 x DCA1824, 3 x DCA3022, 6 x DCA1222 and 8 x DCA2422 two-channel amplifiers. With cinemas in mind, this series also features a PowerLight™ power supply to produce seat-shaking bass, Active Inrush Limiting to ensure that circuit breakers aren't blown at switch-on, and both speaker and monitor panel outputs. Operating under QSControl.net, the BASIS platform meets the control, monitoring and processing needs of Kinepolis' amplification and loudspeaker systems over an Ethernet network, offering system protection and configurable DSP - all integrated within a single RU package. The Kinepolis technician immediately saw all the benefits of this open architecture, such as the ability to route 64 channels of pristine bi-directional audio over a single Ethernet cable, with low latency and quiet operation. "On top of that, this design significantly reduces installation time, allows quicker and easier maintenance/repair and the CobraNet cabling will experience less signal loss than traditional copper wiring," observes Mr. Hamon. These were the principal reasons for choosing the QSC BASIS and DCA multi-channel amplifiers for Oostende. "We want to provide our customers the best entertainment experience - and great sound is pivotal to that experience. "By installing the QSC BASIS and DCA amplifiers we can now guarantee a perfect quality for every show since we can monitor and control the entire system through Venue Manager Software." Mr. Hamon also recognises the true cost of ownership and operation of a system set-up to recognise the limit of each loudspeaker, and provide the necessary protection. The flexible infrastructure will also enable him to look beyond the cinema's mainstream functionality, sensing that the Basis systems will provide the house with the possibility of routing alternative sound sources (such as mics, DVD and presentation audio) into every screening room, using the simple macro selection. "Thanks to the CobraNet network we can patch non-synced music to every screen from a single source without adding extra hardware - as well as being able to monitor sound in the projection booth." With digital projection rapidly replacing traditional 35mm formats, digital soundtracks can also be hooked up directly in the Basis system. Kinepolis Oostende for instance has four with digital capability, two of which are exclusive, end-to end digital. September 2007 BBC Deploys LightViperTM for Innovative Television Coverage
of Falkland Islands Memorial Service FiberPlex, Inc., the leading professional audio fiber optic supplier to the sound production industry, has announced that their LightViperTM audio transport system was recently utilized by Britain's BBC Television. The BBC's Outside Broadcasts group built a location production room in a tractor shed at San Carlos on the Falkland Islands last month to capture and link live pictures and sound for a Remembrance Service which commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the British/Argentinian armed conflict. Live coverage from the Falkland's service, attended by veterans and currently-serving British soldiers, was sent via satellite and simultaneously fed into live coverage of a corollary service taking place at the Horse Guards venue in London's Whitehall (governmental offices district). For the BBC's senior sound supervisor, Tim Davies, there were a number of important considerations since the crew would be working in arduous conditions with limited electricity supply. High on his list were reducing freight costs and equipment reliability. As the hub for his signal chain, Davies chose a FiberPlex LightViper, a lightweight fiber optic digital audio snake system supplied by U.K. pro audio supplier, Kelsey Acoustics. The LightViper was configured as a 32 x 8 system, enabling it to handle all the live and FX mic feeds, sends and returns. Davies explained, "We needed an easy system to operate and wanted to save on rigging and man-power, not to mention truck space and reduce the amount of multicores we used." However, the BBC Outside Broadcasts did use multicores for signal distribution from the LightViper system. Based in the farm's tractor shed at the top of a hill, the crew set up a communications system with San Carlos Military Cemetery which was located 600 feet away. From there they ran the conventional multicore audio snakes to the various points where the FX mics were situated. To put weight comparisons into perspective, the two 900 ft reels of fiber optic cables brought by the sound crew weighed approximately 50 lbs, including their transport reels. The copper multicore snakes alone weighed a quarter of a ton (500 lbs). "There were enormous advantages in using the LightViper fiber system; with the mic amps being close to the mics there was no danger of capacitance or loss of phantom power," Davies observed. The small stage box was easily concealed and provided a split output with the four-core fiber cable carrying the sends and returns. The audio feeds included speeches, a military band and a choir. Tim Davies continued, "We had 16 mics coming up from the cemetery and we returned an IEM feed to the MD of the Royal Marine Band -- with a click track -- so he could play in time." Davies's crew were also taking a feed from London to the PA system, as the production team cut between pictures of San Carlos Military Cemetery in the Falklands to London footage from the Horse Guards, mixing in stereo as the main memorial went out live on the U.K.'s BBC Two television station. As for power, the British MOD (Ministry Of Defence) were able to provide the five-camera BBC crew and audio technicians with a 50-amp Rapier missile generator. "The 4-meter satellite uplink dish drew 40 amps of that, while the scanner truck, including two Yamaha O1V's and the vision mixer, pulled just 8!" Tim observed. "We were 75 miles from the nearest habitation and had traveled to the Falklands with just two and a half tons of equipment, minimalist to say the least. But everything worked beautifully, despite operating in the midst of a snow blizzard, with an incredible wind chill factor." Photos: The Falkland Islands in mid-winter June: the BBC's audio crew is en route to the production location in capital city, San Carlos, for a live TV broadcast/simulcast of a 25th Anniversary Falkland's Memorial Service. The BBC's Outside Broadcast team created an impromptu television production room inside a tractor shed located 600 feet away from the services at the Military Cemetery. Shown here is the 32 X 8 FiberPlex LightViper system (in flight case under monitor screen) that was utilized to minimize both manpower as well as shipping weight for the live TV production's audio facilities. Editor's Technical Notes: Fiberplex manufactures the LightViper fiber optic audio cable transport systems. The LightViper systems offer total signal path isolation between both stage and mixer as well as between the mixer and power amplification; the cable is totally immune to ground loops, RFI, EMI and electromechanical noise, and runs of up to 1 1/4 miles (6,600 feet) can be easily accomplished without signal loss or degradation. FiberPlex includes a limited lifetime warranty with all of its LightViper system components. Kinepolis Turns to QSC DCA/Basis Solution for Next Generation of Multiplexes: Belgian-based Kinepolis Group has spent its first decade developing a portfolio of 22 THX cinema complexes throughout Belgium, France, Spain, Poland and Switzerland, making it today one of the most significant players on the European stage. Soon after its formation in 1997, Kinepolis started using QSC Audio THX-approved products - and soon became major users of ISA 450 and 750 Series amplifiers and DCM-3 Digital Cinema Monitors, to meet its processing and system optimisation requirements. But time and technology march on, and with the remorseless advance towards full digital cinema, QSC's local territorial distributors and cinema specialists, AED bvba, ensured that the burgeoning cinema group were kept informed of the tasks QSC's new generation of mission critical digital devices could perform when placed on a CobraNet™ network. As a result, the new eight-screen Kinepolis Oostende multiplex on the Belgian north coast will propel the company into a new technological age entirely. Nicolas Hamon, the operators' Projection and Sound Manager, confirms that Oostende will be the first site to use QSC's BASIS 922az and 914lz network control in combination with multiples of DCA amplifiers - again supplied by AED bvba. The complete network universe has been designed around eight each of the BASIS hubs, in conjunction with 31 x DCA1622, 11 x DCA1824, 3 x DCA3022, 6 x DCA1222 and 8 x DCA2422 two-channel amplifiers. With cinemas in mind, this series also features a PowerLight™ power supply to produce seat-shaking bass, Active Inrush Limiting to ensure that circuit breakers aren't blown at switch-on, and both speaker and monitor panel outputs. Operating under QSControl.net, the BASIS platform meets the control, monitoring and processing needs of Kinepolis' amplification and loudspeaker systems over an Ethernet network, offering system protection and configurable DSP - all integrated within a single RU package. The Kinepolis technician immediately saw all the benefits of this open architecture, such as the ability to route 64 channels of pristine bi-directional audio over a single Ethernet cable, with low latency and quiet operation. "On top of that, this design significantly reduces installation time, allows quicker and easier maintenance/repair and the CobraNet cabling will experience less signal loss than traditional copper wiring," observes Mr. Hamon. These were the principal reasons for choosing the QSC BASIS and DCA multi-channel amplifiers for Oostende. "We want to provide our customers the best entertainment experience - and great sound is pivotal to that experience. "By installing the QSC BASIS and DCA amplifiers we can now guarantee a perfect quality for every show since we can monitor and control the entire system through Venue Manager Software." Mr. Hamon also recognises the true cost of ownership and operation of a system set-up to recognise the limit of each loudspeaker, and provide the necessary protection. The flexible infrastructure will also enable him to look beyond the cinema's mainstream functionality, sensing that the Basis systems will provide the house with the possibility of routing alternative sound sources (such as mics, DVD and presentation audio) into every screening room, using the simple macro selection. "Thanks to the CobraNet network we can patch non-synced music to every screen from a single source without adding extra hardware - as well as being able to monitor sound in the projection booth." With digital projection rapidly replacing traditional 35mm formats, digital soundtracks can also be hooked up directly in the Basis system. Kinepolis Oostende for instance has four with digital capability, two of which are exclusive, end-to end digital. August 2007 Aviom Welcomes SF Marketing Inc. as Canadian Distributor Aviom has chosen SF Marketing to be its new Canadian distributor. Aviom’s Director of International Sales Joel Brazy Aviom, exclusive developer of the world’s premier audio transport technology, A-Net®, is announcing that SF Marketing Inc. is the company’s new distributor in Canada. “Sol Fleising and his team have an outstanding reputation throughout Canada and we’re very happy to add them to our family of talented distribution partners,” said Joel Brazy, Aviom’s Director of International Sales. “As our product line continues to grow and we expand into new markets, SF Marketing’s organization, expertise and experience in the Canadian marketplace will be a great asset to Aviom in this important territory.” SF Marketing was established in 1978 by Fleising as a Canadian distributor of professional audio and lighting equipment and has proven itself as an established organization dedicated to providing service and support to professional sound and lighting retailers, contractors and touring companies. With its head office in Montréal, rapid growth and financial strength through the years has led to sales offices in Toronto, Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver. “SF Marketing is thrilled to be the new distributor of Aviom products for the Canadian market,” said Fleising. “Aviom's leading position and technical innovation in Personal Monitoring and Audio Networking solutions fits in well with the professional portfolio of products we support.” Aviom joins SF’s impressive line card, which includes industry leaders such as Dolby, EAW, Genelec, Neutrik, QSC, and Shure. Aviom is the world leader and pioneer of personal monitor mixing technology with the popular Pro16 Series, as well as the exclusive developer of the revolutionary Pro64 Series of audio networking products. All Aviom products are powered by A-Net®, the company’s groundbreaking high-speed digital audio transmission protocol. Aviom products solve problems in a variety of different environments, including live sound reinforcement, audio recording studios, houses of worship, theater, broadcasting and post-production facilities and a host of commercial installations. Aviom’s entire line of high-quality professional audio products are designed and manufactured in the USA. For more information, visit www.aviom.com. Amika is given the QSC Treatment: When Sheriff Taylor set out to convert the Settle Down basement bar in London's affluent Kensington into a venue seeking A-list celebrities, he wanted to create an opulent environment split into three separate areas. Two distinct 'satellite' lounges - the über-chic 80-capacity Cocktail Bar and 120-capacity Champagne Bar - would operate off the main club area, which holds a maximum of 300 people.
The interior creation of this £1 million project was entrusted to Siberian designer, Valentina Druzhinina.Each of the rooms is delineated by different chandeliers and a different colour scheme - white for the Cocktail Bar, a warmer brown for the Champagne Bar and black granite and black marble in the main room, with textured black Ulf Moritz wallpaper and curtains. For their audio requirements, the club contacted residential/home theatre specialists Audio Venue, who were already known to one of the directors, and they in turn sub-contracted builders Goodways. Audio Venue director Saj Afzal, says that having equipped the Cocktail and Champagne lounges with a residential solution, his company sought advice from Shure Distribution UK when it came to the main commercial room, where the DJ booth and percussion platform are housed. Shure Distribution UK's John Perry, and applications and project support sales manager Tuomo Tolonen, recommended four QSC ModularDesign MD-F152/64r enclosures - two clustered each side of the room, to provide 120° of dispersion - with a pair of MD-S218 subwoofers pumping out the sub-frequencies from some of the capital's top DJs. While the mid-highs are assigned to a pair of QSC RMX5050 amplifiers (run in parallel), QSC RMX4050HD amplifiers, operating in bridged mono, drive the subwoofers. Both the turntablists and the percussionist - perched high over the main dancefloor - have been given a pair of QSC AD-S282H enclosures for their monitor sound, powered by a pair of QSC RMX2450s run in stereo. The sound systems in the other lounges are also powered by six QSC RMX850 (three per room), while all control is provided through QSC's DSP322ua processing device, which handles the different gain structures and routes the music to all three zones. Source and volume select are operable manually from the QSC WCP-1 and WCP-2 wall controls. All the QSC equipment, including a highly-specified DJ booth featuring Technics SL1210 turntables, Pioneer CDJ-1000 CD turntables and Allen & Heath XONE:464 mixer, was installed by Stagecraft, under the overall project management of Audio Venue. The club's general manager Alex Nicholl says that the sound system had been a huge success since New York DJ Erick Morillo arrived for the opening night party, officially inaugurating the club with his unique brand of progressive house music. "We used DJs to help spec the sound booth, and without a great sound system we could never have attracted someone of Erick Morillo's calibre," says Nicholls, whose career has been spent in top-end nightclubs. "Now everyone wants to come down and play." The club uses a rota of leading promoters and aims to bring in top-line DJs to support resident house DJ, Rob Marriott. Amika offers three tiers of VIP membership, while other guests will be allowed into the sumptuous venue by invitation only. The club operates from 10am-3am Thursday to Saturday but is available for bookings as a pre-club. Digiflex unveils its new website: www.digiflexcables.com Digiflex and its parent company SF Marketing are proud to announce the unveiling of the all new Digiflex website: www.digiflexcables.com This new site will allow users to easily navigate through Digiflex’s wide variety of cables, snakes and custom products, while providing them with detailed descriptions of each product series. Additional benefits include links to the Digiflex retail price list, raw cable specifications, direct links to our suppliers’ web pages, SF Marketing contact information, as well as recent news updates. Digiflex and SF Marketing strongly believe that the new website will be a great resource tool for both dealers and end users. About Digiflex Digiflex is a Canadian manufacturer/importer of high quality cables for the entertainment industry and is based out of SF Marketing in Dorval, Quebec. Since 1983, Digiflex has gained a Canada-wide reputation for quality products and workmanship. Digiflex cables are made with only world-class components. These components include Swiss-made NEUTRIK® connectors, for their outstanding quality in material and design, and CANARE® cables and connectors, for their excellent craftsmanship which offers improved mechanical and electrical specifications. The result is that you can see a Digiflex cable in scorching sun or sub arctic temperatures without degradation or loss of flexibility. Digiflex’s production methods are known to be the best in the industry. All personnel have been trained in the latest production techniques where soldered joints (versus screws and crimped contacts) are the preferred assembly method for all cables, guaranteeing the integrity of the connection. Digiflex is proud to provide world-class cables by combining quality components with superior production methods. DTS Uses Genelec for Multi-Channel Surround Sound Research & Development Having used Genelec products for a number of years, DTS was already familiar with their high performance output and insisted on a Genelec system. The system was designed for DTS Canada’s listening room where they test audio compression for quality and demonstrate products to their clientele. Because their developing technology supports more than 7.1-channel surround sound, DTS required a high quality system that could expand into multiple channels. The setup includes: seven 8240APM two way active DSP monitors, a 7270APM Active DSP Subwoofer, and the GLM TM – Genelec Loudspeaker Manager TM software package. This Genelec DSP Monitoring System was the ideal solution since the Genelec Loudspeaker Manager software can support up to 30 loudspeakers/subwoofers. Richard Beaton, Senior Vice President of Research & Development/Engineering for DTS is pleased with the results. “The sound is extremely accurate. DTS Canada has been using the room correction software [GLM] and it is very user-friendly. Though they’ve offered great support, we haven’t even needed to contact SF Marketing – Genelec’s Canadian distributor – for any assistance.” “The 8200 series from Genelec builds upon remarkable developments such as the Minimum Diffraction Enclosure™ by adding sophisticated yet user-friendly DSP capability,” said Mark MacLellan, Genelec Product Manager for SF Marketing Inc. “DTS is at the forefront of developing digital entertainment so what better solution for them than Genelec – the leader in precise and accurate reference monitoring technology?” About DTS 5.1-channel surround processor, and there are hundreds of millions of DTS-licensed consumer electronics products available worldwide. A pioneer in multi-channel audio, DTS technology is in home theatre, car audio, PC and game console products, as well as DVD-Video, Surround Music and DVD-ROM software. DTS audio products are featured on more than 28,000 motion picture screens worldwide. Additionally, DTS provides imaging technology and services for the motion picture industry; DTS Digital Images is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DTS and an industry leader in image enhancement and restoration. Founded in 1993, DTS is headquartered in Agoura Hills, California and has offices in Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. For further information, please visit www.dts.com . DTS is a registered trademark of DTS, Inc.
June 2007 On Tour With Tom Cochrane -
QSC’s Wideline covers Canada
Audio Crew As appeared in the May 2007 issue of Live Sound International. Sign up for Live Sound's free Ezine here: http://www.livesoundint.com/subscriptions/lsi_ezine_signup.php Dolby Lake Processors Bring Sound Quality and Control to Skywalker Sound’s Stag Theater San Francisco, June 7, 2007 —Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB) today announced that Skywalker Sound has installed Dolby ® Lake ® Processors to optimize the nine-channel loudspeaker system in its Stag Theater. Located in the Technical Building at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California, the 300-seat Stag Theater supports any film playback format and provides a state-of-the-art showcase for filmmakers working at the unique, full-service postproduction sound facility. Already equipped with a Dolby Digital decoder, the Stag Theater has implemented Dolby Lake Processor technology in order to optimize the performance of the installed cinema loudspeaker system. Cutting Edge Audio Group of San Francisco supplied the five Dolby Lake Processor units, which were installed in the Stag Theater in March. Three of the Dolby Lake Processors have been installed to control five behind-the-screen channels, plus separate center top and low-frequency effects channels, with two additional Dolby Lake Processors controlling the right and left rear surround speaker arrays. The Stag Theater features a custom TAD speaker system that was developed at Skywalker Sound with Meyer subwoofers. “The Dolby Lake Processor is rapidly becoming a recognized tool for quality tour sound, and is also used in many other live sound installations such as theatres, performing art centers, and houses of worship,” said Ervin Grinberg, Marketing and Sales Manager, Live Sound, Dolby Laboratories. “Dolby is very excited to see new markets emerge with music recording studios and now film audio postproduction facilities like the world-renowned Skywalker Sound, which is one of the premiere sound mixing facilities in the industry.” The Dolby Lake Processor is also the first all-in-one monitor speaker optimization solution to be implemented at Skywalker Sound. Audio quality may be compromised on a typical film mix stage due to budget constraints and the large number of converters, digital signal processing (DSP), and interconnecting cabling required in the monitor path. The Dolby Lake Processor is an elegant solution that combines multiple channels of very high quality converters and DSP in a single rack unit. SF Marketing announces the appointment of Terry McConaghy for Alberta and British Columbia
With over twenty-five years of experience in the business, Terry has built a solid reputation and garnered the respect of the industry. States Hugo Larin, Director of the System Solutions Group at SF, "There's no doubt that the addition of Terry McConaghy to our team represents a significant asset for us due to his vast experience and expert knowledge of the professional market. Few people are as intimately knowledgeable about all the facets of the industry, from audio-visual to huge installations, not to mention, the world of broadcast and that of touring companies!". Jean-Louis Blanchard , Vice-President, Sales, adds, "Terry reached a stage in his career where he wanted to take on new challenges. We are extremely happy to welcome him to the SF family and to provide him with the opportunity to reach his career objectives. It is with enthusiasm that Terry intends to apply his experience and expertise towards serving his customers. We are certain that he will be exceptionally successful in his new role as sales representative." Terry can be reached by e-mail at Terry.McConaghy@sfm.ca or by phone at 1-866-443-7362.
Dolby Lake Processor Adopted Throughout Europe for Speaker Management
Previewed at last year’s Musikmesse, the groundbreaking technology and features of the Dolby Lake Processor were honored with the PLASA06 Award for Innovation from the Professional Lighting and Sound Association in London and the 2006 Best PA Product Award from Producción Audio and Producción Profesional in Madrid, and most recently, the NSCA 2007 Innovations in Technology Award for Audio. Major live performance and club venues across the continent are benefiting from the advanced features of the Dolby Lake Processor. In Spain, systems have been installed at the prestigious Theatre, Auditorium and Music Conservatory at the Villa Cultural de Prado in Valladolid, Theatre Principal of Sabadell, Theatre Principal of Mallorca, and Circus Estable of Madrid, and at the DiscoClub Visazzi in Alicante. Vox, Fever, Romeo and Iera Odos, some of the best-known nightclubs in Athens, Greece, have also installed Dolby Lake Processor technology. Blue Man Group continued its adoption of Dolby Live Sound technology, already installed at the organization’s permanent venues in Canada and the United States, with Dolby Lake Processor systems at the Bluemax Theatre in Berlin and in Amsterdam at Theatre Fabriek. The Dolby Lake Processor has also enjoyed adoption by European production sound rental houses. Companies in Germany , the UK, and Spain, as well as Denmark, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Poland, have taken new Dolby Lake Processors into rental inventory for regional, national, and international productions. In the UK, Britannia Row Productions purchased 13 Dolby Lake Processors just in time for the massive Robbie Williams: Close Encounters world tour, and also used the processors for Brit Award-winner Amy Winehouse’s tour, the Kings of Leon tour, and at a unique Jamiroquai show in Athens. Wigwam Acoustics used the new processors on the sell-out George Michael 25 Live tour. Adlib Audio put Dolby Lake Processors to use on tours by Scissor Sisters, Nine Inch Nails, and Brand New, and Production House took their new units on tour with Van Morrison. In Greece, production sound company Audio Control SA supplied Dolby Lake Processors to several high-profile events, including separate concert appearances by Shakira and James Brown in Athens. The 51st Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens also took advantage of the new technology, as did the closing ceremony for the European Capital of Culture in Patras. In addition, Swedish-based power amplifier manufacturer Lab.gruppen AB announced that it intends to use Dolby Lake Processor technology in future products. Dolby will be demonstrating the Dolby Lake Processor with its local distributor EAS-Excellent Audio Support in Hall 8 in booth A42 at the International Musikmesse Frankfurt . To learn more about the Dolby Lake Processor, please visit www.dolby.com/livesound . About Dolby Laboratories Certain statements in this press release including statements regarding the performance, features, reliability and capabilities of the Dolby Lake Processor; the potential benefits to production companies, entertainment venue companies, and audiences of the Dolby Lake Processor; and Dolby’s plans regarding the incorporation of the Dolby Lake Processor in Lab.gruppen AB’s future products are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. The following important factors, without limitation, could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: risks associated with rapid changes in technical requirements for sound production technologies; building acceptance of and demand for Dolby Lake products and technologies in the sound production industry; risks associated with integrating new technologies with existing systems; and other risks detailed in Dolby's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including the risks identified under the section captioned "Risk Factors" in its most recent Periodic Report on Form 10-Q or 10-K. Dolby disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. May 2007
"We chose the new Dolby Lake Processor for this tour because of the nice incremental improvement in the sound quality," said Jackson, "as well as the fact that you get much more bang for your buck." In addition to a new, advanced converter design, some of the features introduced in the new Dolby Lake Processor include the unique portal front-panel interface, Iso-Float(tm) ground isolation, LimiterMax(tm) true-RMS limiting, and flexible hardware configuration options. Dolby, Lake, and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. Genelec Announces SF Marketing Inc. as International Distributor of the Year
"We are very honored to receive this award from Genelec", states SF Marketing Product Manager Mark MacLellan. Congratulations to all Genelec’s partners for their contribution to this brand success in Canada. March 2007 QSC Recognizes SF Marketing Inc. as International Distributor of the Year Also in attendance at the presentation were: Mauricio Saint Martin, Director of Sales for The Americas at QSC, SF Marketing’s Pro-Audio sales force, as well as Mark MacLellan, QSC Product Manager for SF Marketing. “Sol has created an amazingly solid and successful distribution company that should serve as a role model for many Pro-Audio distributors throughout the world. That itself deserves an award,” said Saint Martin . “ At QSC, the Distributor of the Year Award is given to the company that provides a combination of good communication, support, sales, and most importantly commitment to the QSC brand. SF Marketing excels in all these areas and I am proud to see them win this award.” “QSC is one of our most valued partners, offering us and our customers industry leading products and support,” said Fleising. “We are already working hard to make 2007 another banner year for QSC in Canada.” ^^ UP ^^February 2007 QSC Announces Second Generation of HPR Speaker LineBuilding on the success of its first generation of HPR speakers, QSC has announced the new HPR Series including HPR 152i, 153i, 151i, 181i (and the previously announced 122i). As an enhancement of the original HPR line, this new line offers users the power, technology and legendary reliability of QSC amplification combined with the simplicity and convenience of powered loudspeaker systems.
All four HPR Series models have been fully replaced by their new versions as follows:
The new HPR Series will be available in February from SF Marketing Inc. January 2007 EAW Delivers Excellence with Sound Systems PlusSound Systems Plus, a Halifax-based A/V solution company, was called upon to provide sound for the QEII Excellence in Research Dinner, using EAW loudspeaker systems . The annual fundraiser took place this past November at Halifax’s newest event venue, the Cunard Centre. With dinner and entertainment served for a crowd of 1,000, EAW’s NT Powered speakers were selected for their reliability, consistent sound dispersion, and quality. The QEII Excellence in Research Dinner was developed to recognize outstanding achievements in health research and to thank the corporate community for its generous financial support. Dave Corkum, the show’s designer and manager, and also President at Sound Systems Plus says, “The system sounded flawless. The NT’s worked as a perfect solution to provide quality sound to every seat in the house.” Sound Systems Plus is a Halifax based company located in the Bayers Lake Business Park. The company was created to provide Atlantic Canada with sales, service, rentals and installation of sound, lighting and audio/visual products. In addition, they also provide flexible solutions to meet a variety of needs including concerts, worship gatherings, special effects, and much more. EAW’s NT Series is available from SF Marketing Inc.
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From now on you will be able to fix your loud speakers safely and firmly in any position you want. The mandrel system not only prevents the speakers from tilting when the floor is uneven or the stand is subjected to wind pressure, it can even withstand a serious onrush of fans. The »RING LOCK« does away with speaker tilt caused by too much room between the connectors and the extension tube, something only worsened by elongation sections. The »RING LOCK« has one more advantage. The high quality polyamide mandrel system provides a low-resonance connection between the stand and the speaker, enhancing music transmission. The whirring and rattling background noise, often a problem with conventional speaker connectors, is a thing of a past. 
(left) and Sol Fleising of SF Marketing seal the deal with a handshake at the distributor’s Montreal headquarters.
DTS, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTSI) is an international digital technology company dedicated to delivering the ultimate entertainment experience. They have been instrumental in changing the face of multi-channel sound through their digital surround sound format. In addition, they continue to lead the consumer entertainment industry as part of the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD standards. Recently, at their Canadian office in Vancouver, British Columbia, DTS installed a Genelec 7.1 Monitoring System that will play an integral role in its ongoing research and development efforts.
The 8240 monitors boast a performance that is comparable to much larger systems. They feature an ingenious, flow optimized, reflex port that provides solid, clear, and articulated low frequencies. Absent is any form of compression, distortion or port noise. The subwoofer brings the flexibility and accuracy of room response equalization to an entirely new level. This powerful and precise low frequency monitoring solution is designed for modern multi-channel systems. The GLM brings the entire DSP system together under computer network control. It allows for an unlimited number of System Setup Files to store all system level and acoustical alignment settings. It also features a step-by-step System Setup Wizard that guides users through complete cabling connections and speaker labeling. It further enhances the system’s performance as it allows for adjustment of levels, distance delays, phase and flexible room response improvement equalization with the reliable and robust AutoCal™ automated calibration system.
DTS, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTSI) is a digital technology company dedicated to delivering the ultimate entertainment experience. DTS decoders are in virtually every major brand of 
If you’ve heard the song “Life Is A Highway,” you’ve heard Tom Cochrane’s biggest hit song. Debuting back in the early ’90s, the song was recently re-recorded by Rascal Flats for the Pixar movie Cars last summer. Touring Canada in support of his latest release, No Stranger, Cochrane worked with a newly formed sound company, Metalworks Productions to provide sound reinforcement. Metalworks is well known in Canada as the country’s largest recording studio, which also formed Metalworks Institute, an educational institution teaching audio engineering among other related topics.
The duo is using QSC’s Wideline line array loudspeakers, powered by QSC PL-230 power amplifiers. Setup for the system happened quickly each day, taking approximately an hour. After time-aligning the rig with Smaart, Caccamo was also using Ease Focus to make sure everything was accurately set up. “We’d be finished setting up by 11:30 each day,” recalls Caccamo. “It was such an easy system to set up.” ET mixed the tour on a Yamaha PM5D-HR digital console. “I’ve used this board with all the acts I work with,” he explains. “ They’re very economical to rent, and when I’m touring at the theater level, they take up very little space. When I travel to Europe on tour, I simply show up, plug my card in, and away I go. I’m totally sold on digital consoles! Some people say they aren’t quite as warm as analog boards, but it’s really easy to get that warmth you want with digital. Plus, they’re convenient to use in that I can tour with a FOH console, a monitor console, a snake, and all the mics, then use stacks and racks in the venue. I’ve been using the Yamaha digital consoles pretty since when they first came out, from the PM1D to the PM5D.” 
The Canadian tour lasted several weeks, traveling coast to coast, giving the crew a chance to work in a variety of venues. “All the venues have been great,” recalls ET. “We’ve played some orchestra halls, which are really loud, and are BUILT for orchestra. We haven’t had to fight volume in many of the halls. Paul and I both will bring the array in a bit closer to the audience. The computer will tell you to hang it at a certain height, but we find that things can be a little tighter and will open it up and sound nicer. All those computer programs are great for giving you a start at setting things up, but then you have to use your ears, just like everyone sitting in the audience.”
Live Sound caught the show on the final date of the tour, in Toronto’s famed Massey Hall. If you saw Walk The Line, the Johnny Cash movie, you’ll remember that he proposed to June Carter in Toronto. This is the stage where he popped the question. This is the same stage that Neil Young’s recently released live album Massey Hall 1971 was of course recorded on as well. Needless to say it’s steeped in history. For what was the biggest show of the tour, Caccamo flew eight boxes per side, placing the remainder of the array on deck to fill the room. “Most of the venues would tell us that we didn’t need to hang loudspeakers, but we did anyway,” explains Caccamo. “Every time that happened the same people would tell how great they thought it sounded. One venue is even considering purchasing the Wideline array after hearing it on this tour. This system has everything you need, but you just take out the things you don’t want. With a lot of loudspeakers, you need to add things to them, but these ones seem to have it all.”
With several of Skywalker Sound’s mix stages upgrading to 96 kHz operation, the Dolby Lake Processor was initially selected for the performance of its converters. “The main thing that intrigued Skywalker Sound and sold us on the Dolby Lake Processor was the overall quality of the sound without doing any processing,” said Jim Austin, Skywalker Sound Engineering Services. “It’s a really good sounding system and the quality of sound is unparalleled.”
SF Marketing announces the appointment of Terry McConaghy as sales representative dedicated to the System Solutions market, for Alberta and British Columbia. This nomination is effective immediately. 
“We are very pleased by how quickly our customers in Europe have recognized the advanced design features and loudspeaker management functionality of the new Dolby Lake Processor , ” said Ervin Grinberg, Marketing Manager, Dolby Laboratories Live Sound Group. “ The award-winning Dolby Lake Processor provides a visionary approach to controlling the most complex loudspeaker system while simultaneously improving the sound quality .” 
‘’Barbra Streisand: The Tour," which concluded in late 2006, made use of 18 Dolby® Lake® Processors to control and optimize the main PA and monitor systems, which were supplied by Clair Brothers Audio. Front of house mixer Bruce Jackson utilized nine Dolby Lake Processors on the zoned left/right PA speaker system and side hangs, while Ian Newton, mixing monitors for Streisand and for guest artists Il Divo, made use of seven units to control a stage-wide wedge speaker setup.
Genelec is pleased to announce that the Canadian firm, SF Marketing, has been named Genelec’s 2006 Distributor of the Year. The award was presented at Musikmese to SF President Sol Fleising by Genelec’s team, consisting of Ilpo Martikainen, Vaikko Hyvonen and Lars-Olof Janflod. Lars-Olof Janflod, International Sales Manager, was quoted as saying, "It’s a pure pleasure being able to present SF Marketing with this award, but in no way a surprise, as I see SF Marketing as a role-model for a successful distribution company, a company driven by knowledge and passion for our industry and its products."
QSC Audio Inc., a leading manufacturer of power amplifiers, loudspeakers, and signal processing, recently recognized SF Marketing Inc. with its International Distributor of the Year (2006) award. Sol Fleising, founder and president of Montreal-based SF Marketing Inc., accepted the award for the company’s outstanding commitment and professionalism at QSC’s Annual Global Sales Meeting held in Costa Mesa, California. Greg McLagan, Vice President of Sales was on hand to present the award.
Conceived for live sound reinforcement, higher-SPL dance music, and live performances, the most notable feature of the new HPR series is the integrated suspension points. For example, three M10 inserts have been added to HPR 152i and HPR 153i for vertical hanging. The new series also features a modified input sensitivity allowing for more input headroom while total output remains unchanged. All models boast a power module based on the best-selling RMX series amplifier technology that provides from 500 to 700 Watts of class H power. Other features include the rugged birch ply enclosure, tour-grade 16-gauge steel grille, non-slip grip handles, and an attractive and professional appearance.
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