May Issue - FOH Online

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News
L-ACOUSTICS Revisits Tinseltown
LOS ANGELES — Three seasons ago the
Hollywood Bowl underwent both a complete
rebuild of its band shell and installation of a full
L-ACOUSTICS amplifier and loudspeaker system.
This season the audio crew went back and
refined the install, thanks to new data they got
from Soundvision, L-ACOUSTICS 3D acoustical
modeling software.
According to Fred Vogler, sound designer for
the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has called
the Hollywood Bowl its summer home since
1922, “Paul Freudenberg, L-ACOUSTICS vice
president of sales and marketing, and I walked
around and literally mapped the entire seating
arrangement to the square foot last year, which
gave us a more accurate depiction of the physical
space in SOUNDVISION and enabled us to
tailor the system’s coverage.”
As a result, Vogler and Freudenberg altered
the box count on the main left and right P.A.
hangs to feature a decreased number of V-DOSC
enclosures on the upper section of the array and
an increased number of V-DOSC, yet decreased
number of dV-DOSC, on the lower section. The
new arrays now consist of eight V-DOSC at the
EAW Hits the Books, and the Road
WHITINSVILLE, MA — EAW has launched
the B4 Roadshow, an education initiative encompassing
both general audio training as
well as focus on new EAW technologies and
products. The B4 Roadshow kicks off with several
dates in Europe in late April/early May, and
will move to America at a later date. No American
dates had been announced at press time.
(The latest itinerary can be viewed at www.
eaw.com/support/b4/.)
The B4 Roadshow is based on EAW’s B3
(“Brains, Boxes & Beyond”) education sessions
presented to hundreds of audio professionals
in 2006. It will be conducted by EAW’s training
and educational staff that offers decades of
collective real-world pro audio experience.
Each two- and three-day B4 event features
a full day of Smaart School, focusing on the fundamentals
of EAW Smaart and the new Smaart
v.6 measurement and analysis software. Taught
by EAW Smaart experts Jamie Anderson and
Martyn “Ferrit” Rowe, the class will also include
tips and techniques for large-scale system
alignment and response optimization.
This is followed by a day of “System Bootcamp”
— led by EAW Training Manager Bernie
Broderick — where attendees are provided
MAY 2007
top, eight SB218 subs in the middle and another
10 V-DOSC with a four dV-DOSC downfill tail
below. The revised box count also came with an
increase in LA48a amplifiers supplied by North
Hollywood-based US Audio & Lighting, which
also assisted with the installation.
“The guest mix position here at the Bowl
is located 95 feet from the stage, as opposed
to our fixed FOH position, which is 220 feet
back,” says Vogler. “With so many tours coming
through, the idea behind changing the
box counts was to deliver a little more impact
to the lower seating area via the larger V-DOSC
boxes, as opposed to the smaller dV-DOSC. We
also aimed the crossover point between the
upper and lower arrays farther back behind the
mix position. It evened out the coverage a little
more and gave us a more accurate depiction of
what the engineers and audience were hearing
down closer to the stage.”
Based on the Soundvision model, the L-
ACOUSTICS and Bowl crew also opted to slightly
tighten up the array angles and lower both
of the hangs by approximately five feet. “By
dropping the arrays, we are better able to blend
with diverse live and installed audio coursework
as well as a step-by-step overview of
configuring, rigging, powering, processing
and tuning a full-scale sound reinforcement
system. Training is also being provided on new
EAW products such as the UX8800 digital processor
providing Gunness focusing for an evergrowing
list of current EAW loudspeakers.
Attendees will also be introduced to other
new EAW developments including the UMX.96
digital live console, SB1002 flyable subwoofers,
EAW Commercial CAM Series mixer/amplifiers
and CXA Series power amplifiers, and more.
It ends with a demonstration of EAW’s latest
technologies and products in action, presented
in a “Tradeshow” format. In addition,
members of the EAW Application Support
Group (ASG), sales team and product development
group will be on hand to discuss products
and answer questions.
Pre-registration at www.eaw.com is required
for the Smaart School course, at a
cost of $300 (USD) that includes breakfast,
lunch and all course-related materials. There
is no cost for System Bootcamp and the
Tradeshow, which are open to all interested
audio professionals.
www.fohonline.com
the acoustic and electro-acoustic energies,”
Vogler notes. “My experience over at the Walt
Disney Concert Hall, where I also spend much
of my time, has been that the more sound you
can reproduce or amplify to the acoustic ensemble,
the better — within reason, of course.
If you want to properly blend the two, you have
to fly the loudspeakers lower and closer to the
ensemble. It can present some opportunity for
feedback, but you definitely have a more realistic
mixture if you can find that ideal proximity.
“So the idea was that when people are listening
to the L.A. Philharmonic, they don’t know
how much is being amplified and how much is
simply acoustic off the stage. This past summer
was the most consistent and loudest season
we’ve ever had — even the Philharmonic was
up anywhere from six to 10 decibels from our
prior summer. But that noticeable increase in
level really engaged the audience. Even the purists
were caught up in it — the same people that
usually sit there and complain about orchestra
amplification. We miked everything tighter and
had much greater levels than ever before, and it
really proved to be quite successful.”
O t h e r
s y s t e m
r e v i s i o n s
included removing
the
three 112XT
loudspeakers
that
were originally
flown
off the catwalk
and 17e
n c l o s u r e
d V - D O S C
center array A tech adjusts the L-ACOUSTICS array
hung from at the Hollywood Bowl.
the peak of the proscenium, replacing them
with a mini center array of nine dV-DOSC flown
from the leading arc of the “halo” over the stage.
“The lower center hang of dV-DOSC nicely gives
us the ability to fill to soloists and ‘smear’ some
of the strings and other elements that I want to
blend across the proscenium so people get the
sense that they’re not just hearing sound from
one side,” Vogler notes.
Getting Rich and Famous in Vegas
John Meanor in monitor world
LAS VEGAS — When it gets done it Vegas it tends to get done big — some might say bigger
than need be, but we will leave that for others to argue. The Green Valley Ranch Resort, a highend
off-Strip property that caters to upper-class locals is opening a new club called Ovation this
month. The 500 capacity room includes a 20-box L-ACOUSTICS KUDO system with five custommade
JBL dual-18 subs, plus 14 L-ACOUSTICS wedges and two subs onstage, plus — are you
sitting down? — TWO Midas XL8 digital consoles feeding a veritable farm of Crown iTech amps.
We’re talking headroom in every sense of the word here. The room was previewed recently with
the introduction of the house band Rich and Famous. Official opening is May 18 with Big Bad
Voodoo Daddy. Install was handled by AVDV out of Phoenix who also recently put in the only
other XL8 installed in the U.S. in a house of worship in California. A full story is in the works.
Hopping Over Wireless Problems
continued from cover
transition is completed in early 2009. Those used
to operating wireless equipment in the 500 to
600MHz portion of the UHF band will find that
spectrum crowded with UHF DTV transmissions.
The 700MHz band will not offer relief because
those frequencies are scheduled for auction to
new users later in 2009. (And for a full rundown
on all the problems this is expected to cause
with wireless audio gear — and what you can
do about it — check out: www.fohonline.com/
whitespace)
Since Tempest operates in the unlicensed
2.4 GHz and 900 MHz bands it is unaffected by
the reallocation of the UHF-TV spectrum. Its 2xTX
Transmission Voice Data Redundancy sends each
packet of audio data twice on different frequencies
and through different antennas. “Spreadspectrum”
and “Frequency-hopping” means that
the audio signal is separated into discrete chunks
(each often no longer than 5 milliseconds, which
hey, is already necessary in the digital domain),
and each chunk is sent over different frequencies.
This allows the audio signal to take up less
bandwidth and exist with other signals without
interference in the same frequency spectrum.
Tempest can interoperate with other Clear-
Com intercom systems, as well as those from
other manufacturers through four-wire and twowire
connections. Each base-station can operate
up to five wireless belt-stations.A Shared-Slot feature
allows one of the five belt-stations slots to be
used for up to 25 half-duplex, single transmit beltstations.
The new system has a PC based control
panel, with set-up and programming transferred
to belt-stations via Ethernet or a USB connection.
We don’t normally put new gear on the front
cover, but this touches a larger issue that we’re all
going to be dealing with, and might just herald a
new way of audio wireless. And we certainly felt
that was worth the front cover.