Digital Audio

OPERA BASTILLE • PARIS • OPTOCORE / YAMAHA

The long-established Bikini club in central Barcelona is one of the city’s renowned live venues for indie and alternative rock acts. Bikini enjoys an equally high profile as a destination nightclub - when the bands pack up, the DJs move in. Fans will often cite the powerful cutting-edge sound systems as the reason for the venue’s enduring popularity, but the club has recently made some sweeping changes to its technical inventory and they are not all visible to the naked eye.

With the aid of its regular equipment supplier Doscientos Veinte Sonido, Bikini has Gone Digital. Entirely. From a smart new Yamaha PM5D digital front-of-house console, to the German-made Camco power amplifiers to the substantial line-array speaker systems, Bikini’s artists now perform in the digital domain, using an EtherSound-based network that carries the audio signal from microphone to loudspeaker without any loss of quality.

According to the club’s resident sound engineer Robert Perez, the results are astonishing. “When you hear the system, it sounds so much better than anything you could compare it to, including our old set-up. We have a lot of visiting engineers coming through here with the touring bands and, for a while, I was encountering some resistance when I tried to give them the digital console. But, once they hear the whole system in full voice, they are completely persuaded and forget all about wanting their analogue control!”

Bikini has been in its current location, on the major Diagonal avenue, for the last 12 years, and in all that time, has maintained sound systems from the French loudspeaker manufacturer NEXO in all the different areas of the club. When divided into two rooms, the larger stage will accommodate nearly 600 people for up to three live shows a week, and has recently played host to the likes of Steve Earle and The Charlatans. The Sala Arutanga has a popular itinerary of club nights, but the two rooms can be joined up to house 900, using a relay screen to compensate for a certain lack of sightlines to the main stage.

Initially audio consultant Jose Maria Mendez of Doscientos Veinte was asked to specify and install a new PA system for the smaller of the two spaces, the Sala Arutanga. It was the perfect opportunity to take his client to the next level in audio quality, replacing traditional multicore and wiring with CAT5 shielded cabling, and structuring the whole club system to operate on a daisy-chain network, looped at critical points in the equipment chain to avoid breakdown in the event of any one device failing to work.

Using a network like this confers many practical benefits, such as easy management of the system via PC, reliability and the capability for future expansion. It’s not expensive to implement but, because it involves a minimal number of conversions from analogue to digital signals (and back again), the improvement in audio quality is immediately noticeable.

Wheeling the Yamaha digital console with its outboard pre-amps out into the middle of the room, where there is a patch panel fitted in the floor, Robert Perez explains how it works in reality. “Signal from the mics goes to the pre-amps into the console, which is fitted with EtherSound cards: from there it is carried to the NEXO NX242 crossover units, then to the Camco amplifiers and then to the NEXO GEO T loudspeakers. We have used our own matrix here, which allows us to route that signal to the different rooms, or mix it with other signals, such as TV football matches. All that used to be done with analogue leads, now it is digital.

“We can use the PC to monitor the amplifiers and speakers, their temperature, peaking, etc. It saves the engineer having to walk all the way up to the amp room, which is 20 metres behind the stage. And we can even do mobile recordings from the PC; record companies and band management love this, and they can just come and plug into our system.”

BIKINI CLUB • BARCELONA • NEXO / CAMCO / YAMAHA 

The long-established Bikini club in central Barcelona is one of the city’s renowned live venues for indie and alternative rock acts. Bikini enjoys an equally high profile as a destination nightclub - when the bands pack up, the DJs move in. Fans will often cite the powerful cutting-edge sound systems as the reason for the venue’s enduring popularity, but the club has recently made some sweeping changes to its technical inventory and they are not all visible to the naked eye.

With the aid of its regular equipment supplier Doscientos Veinte Sonido, Bikini has Gone Digital. Entirely. From a smart new Yamaha PM5D digital front-of-house console, to the German-made Camco power amplifiers to the substantial line-array speaker systems, Bikini’s artists now perform in the digital domain, using an EtherSound-based network that carries the audio signal from microphone to loudspeaker without any loss of quality.

According to the club’s resident sound engineer Robert Perez, the results are astonishing. “When you hear the system, it sounds so much better than anything you could compare it to, including our old set-up. We have a lot of visiting engineers coming through here with the touring bands and, for a while, I was encountering some resistance when I tried to give them the digital console. But, once they hear the whole system in full voice, they are completely persuaded and forget all about wanting their analogue control!”

Bikini has been in its current location, on the major Diagonal avenue, for the last 12 years, and in all that time, has maintained sound systems from the French loudspeaker manufacturer NEXO in all the different areas of the club. When divided into two rooms, the larger stage will accommodate nearly 600 people for up to three live shows a week, and has recently played host to the likes of Steve Earle and The Charlatans. The Sala Arutanga has a popular itinerary of club nights, but the two rooms can be joined up to house 900, using a relay screen to compensate for a certain lack of sightlines to the main stage.

Initially audio consultant Jose Maria Mendez of Doscientos Veinte was asked to specify and install a new PA system for the smaller of the two spaces, the Sala Arutanga. It was the perfect opportunity to take his client to the next level in audio quality, replacing traditional multicore and wiring with CAT5 shielded cabling, and structuring the whole club system to operate on a daisy-chain network, looped at critical points in the equipment chain to avoid breakdown in the event of any one device failing to work.

Using a network like this confers many practical benefits, such as easy management of the system via PC, reliability and the capability for future expansion. It’s not expensive to implement but, because it involves a minimal number of conversions from analogue to digital signals (and back again), the improvement in audio quality is immediately noticeable.

Wheeling the Yamaha digital console with its outboard pre-amps out into the middle of the room, where there is a patch panel fitted in the floor, Robert Perez explains how it works in reality. “Signal from the mics goes to the pre-amps into the console, which is fitted with EtherSound cards: from there it is carried to the NEXO NX242 crossover units, then to the Camco amplifiers and then to the NEXO GEO T loudspeakers. We have used our own matrix here, which allows us to route that signal to the different rooms, or mix it with other signals, such as TV football matches. All that used to be done with analogue leads, now it is digital.

“We can use the PC to monitor the amplifiers and speakers, their temperature, peaking, etc. It saves the engineer having to walk all the way up to the amp room, which is 20 metres behind the stage. And we can even do mobile recordings from the PC; record companies and band management love this, and they can just come and plug into our system.”

MUSEUMSQUARTIER • VIENNA • ALLEN & HEATH

Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier is one of the largest cultural complexes in the world, combining cultural institutions with recreational facilities, and uniting baroque buildings with new architecture, in a single 60,000 m2 location. The venue recently replaced the existing analogue console in its main performance hall with Allen & Heath’s modular iLive digital system.

MuseumsQuartier’s facilities range from art museums such as the Leopold Museum and the MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna), to contemporary exhibition spaces like the Kunsthalle. The international TanzQuartier centre for dance is based there, as well as the Architektur Zentrum production studios for new media, and various artists-in-residence studios, and there is an oasis of terrace cafés, bars, shops, and bookstores.

Halls E G are the exclusive event venues, two large multi-purpose halls hosting a variety of international productions in the fields of music, theatre, and dance, as well as public performances by TanzQuartier, and Vienna’s annual summer festival, the Festwochen.
The new iLive system, comprising an iDR10 stage rack and iLive-144 control surface, has been installed as the new FOH and monitor console in the 279 m2 Hall G, complemented by the existing house PA system, comprising an Acoustic Design TB1 Line Array loudspeaker system and Kling & Freitag monitors, with signal processing by a Yamaha DME32 digital mixing engine.

Head of sound, Walter Novacek, commented: ”We configured and used the new system on a live performance straight away after very little training and it went very smoothly. The layout and functionality of iLive is remarkably easy to understand, which is essential given the number of visiting engineers we have throughout the year who may not be familiar with the new digital system. It’s so easy to work with, sounds fantastic, and has the capacity to cope with whatever we throw at it. We are very happy with it!”

STADSTEATER • HELSINGBORG • DIGIGRAM

Helsingborgs Stadsteater is one of the most well-known city theatres in Sweden. Located at a well-placed geographical link between Sweden and Denmark, Helsingborg has a proud theatre tradition that first came to fame under the tutelage of one of Sweden’s most famous sons, Ingmar Bergman. The summer of 2007 saw the theatre’s main stage undergo major refurbishments including an upgrade of the audio cabling network around the stage to allow for digital audio distribution over EtherSound.

According to sound engineer, Per Wennling, the benefits of a digital network are appreciable, not least in terms of dramatically reduced installation costs in comparison with a traditional analogue solution. “A large scale CAT6 network cable installation was already planned, so adding a bit more cable for audio use was easy,” explained Per. “We opted for audio distribution over EtherSound because of its extremely low latency, excellent sound quality and because it is compatible with equipment from a large number of reputable manufacturers, so we can be flexible in how we build our system.”

In this instance, a Yamaha DME64N digital mix engine was selected as system controller, while the mixing console is connected directly to the EtherSound network using an AuviTran AVY16-ES card. Two Digigram ES8out devices are handling D/A conversion, chosen for both their simplicity and cost-effectiveness. “Combined with the old analogue cable system that we kept, this has resulted in a very flexible solution,” noted Per. “One of the biggest benefits is the fact that we can move a mixing console or a stage box very easily now, because we only have one CAT6 cable to deal with rather than heavy multicores. That’s a great advantage when you are using the same stage for several events while two or more theatre productions are in progress. And the sound quality remains excellent throughout.”

LE QUAI D’ANGERS • ANGERS • INNOVASON

Le Quai d’Angers was the biggest installation project to be completed in France in 2007. A vast, purpose-built multipurpose performing arts venue built in the beautiful city of Angers on the banks of the Maine river in the Anjou region of France, le Quai d’Angers boasts three performance spaces along with three Innovason digital mixing consoles and an extensive 1Gb Ethernet network across the entire building.

According to the consultant, Jean-Paul Chabert, who designed the audio installation and the networking concept, each type of data (audio, lighting, video and control) has its own identical, dedicated network that is fully interchangeable in the event of a breakdown or a hub problem. “The advantage of such an approach is that we have total redundancy for very little hardware cost,” he explained. “We deliberately designed the network so that we have network access points all over the building, so that any Ethernet-compatible device can be plugged into the network from almost anywhere, making data exchange from one point to another extremely simple. It could be a Power Point presentation from a projector to a computer, or audio from one performance space to another.”

Indeed, talking of sound, the networking capabilities of the Innovason consoles were part of what made them such strong contenders for this project. A total of three consoles, (one Sy80 and two Sy48s) were specified by Chabert, who explains, “Innovason consoles still represent today, as they did when the project was first being specified, the best compromise between complex network management, in particular the stability and high quality of the signal which that enables, and the quality of the mix, the ability to handle external effects, and the ergonomic control surface.” The consoles are also incredibly easy to work with. “Front of house, monitors, recording – any of it can be done from anywhere,” says Chabert. “The only limit to sound design is proximity to a network access point, and you’re never far from one of those!”

Le Quai also uses ES-Monitor software from Auvitran which enables you to monitor and control what happens where on the EtherSound network. As Innovason’s Xavier Pion explains, “It’s a bit like an electronic routing switch, and it allows you to manage your sound very precisely because you can control every single speaker and all its parameters individually. If the producer wants a certain effect on a certain speaker, it can be done very easily.”

Comprehensive and efficient thought the network is at le Quai, this has not prevented Chabert from being extremely forward-thinking and installing a fibre-optic network at eh same time that can be accessed from all of the existing network terminals. “It’s not in use yet, but with the ever-increasing amount of data that people want to put on the network, and the increasingly bandwidth-hungry nature of developing technology, it won’t be long before the existing network will be saturated – but we’ll be ready for it!”

FAT BUDDHA • DURHAM • BIAMP NEXIA

Demonstrating how systems integrators can provide restaurant and hospitality outlets with audio systems that advance the atmospherics and branding of an enterprise, leading UK integrator Blaydon Communications recently deployed Biamp® Nexia® digital sound processors at the new Pan-Asian restaurant ‘Fat Buddha’ in Durham City. The AV design for the £1.4m, 220-seat restaurant needed to be visually discrete, highly intelligible and scalable for future expansion.

Blaydon Communications Limited insisted that the system be controlled by two of the highly versatile Nexia SP digital sound processors purchased through beyerdynamic UK. Dave Chapman from Blaydon commented: “We have used these and other products from Biamp and found them to be extremely adaptable and allow us to give the client virtually whatever they require.”

The multi-zone restaurant comprises a ground floor bar covered by six powered loudspeakers; a side seating zone covered by an additional two powered loudspeakers; a main restaurant with four loudspeakers, and four ‘Tatami’ rooms catering for about 12 people in each room with local volume controls and loudspeakers. The sound system is divided into four zones including a local digital control panel the restaurant staff uses to select the music source and the volume level for the various parts of the venue.

The flexibility of Nexia was demonstrated in a very short time; the client required another sound source for ‘birthday’ music to be played only in the main restaurant with automatic muting of whatever music is being played; another audio input was also required from a freeview box. The software controlling the Nexia was amended by Blaydon Communications engineers and uploaded to the processor after the new inputs were installed. The venue has quickly built on its strengths and is now often fully booked with the sound system enhancing the overall ambience of the restaurant.

Commenting on the installation, Graeme Harrison, Biamp Systems Vice President noted, “Driven largely by broader availability of advanced automotive sound and higher-end home theatre systems, consumer expectations for better sound have reached the retail and hospitality market where audio atmospherics have been elevated as critical contributors to the customer experience. As the restaurant market continues to gravitate to quality, we’re seeing more and more integrators turn to Biamp Nexia as it comprehensively addresses the integrator requirements and the end user needs. Blaydon Communications’ excellent work with Fat Buddha’s is a prime example.”

VIKING XPRS • HELSINKI • BSS SOUNDWEB

Near the end of last year the Finnish shipping company Viking Line Abp signed a contract with Aker Finnyards Oy for the construction of a high-speed passenger ferry for the route between Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia), with delivery set for April 2008.

The new Viking XPRS had to be tailored for the growing customer needs that have characterised the Helsinki-Tallinn route since Estonia joined the European Union in May 2004. The emphasis was thus on providing full facilities, including a modern range of shopping and dining choices, flexible conferencing spaces and a nightclub. At the same time it needed to meet the increased requirement for passenger vehicles - 365 days of the year.
Multiple Soundweb™ SW9088iis DSP devices from BSS Audio®, have been specified to create the routing flexibility.

Jouni Sironen, AV co-ordinator for Viking Line Abp, developed an architecture for the signal flow based around nine Soundweb SW9088iis devices, with a pair of SW9016 audio/video matrix devices to switch the video signals. Two strategically-placed SW9010 ‘Jellyfish’ wall remotes offer local source selection and volume control while three SW9012 anlogue controllers provide further simple, five-position wall-mount system interfaces.

The Soundweb system is used for signal distribution and sound processing in the nightclub, restaurants, shopping area and conference rooms.

Jouni explained, “We chose Soundweb Original because we already have it on six of our ships, and we have been using this system for many years without problems. We think it’s a great product and the possibilities it offers are limited only by the imagination.”