Government hell bent on extermination

Here at SOStage we try and give you news that's local and relevant, but sometimes our best intentions go out the window for the sake of a good read. This one relates to Sabine selling a feedback exterminator to the Honduras Assembly of Congress.

Besides having obsolete sound equipment, members of the Honduran Assembly of Congress had no choice but to pass microphones back and forth during session when they wanted to speak. Needless to say, the press and gallery could not hear clearly, and it was impossible to control feedback. Add to that a lack of experienced system operators, and it's easy to see why the Honduran government needed help.

The government contacted Unimex International Corporation of Miami to evaluate the system and present a solution. Unimex in turn called on colourfully named Rich LaVoir of Ultra-Live Sound & Video to take on the challenge of designing and installing a new sound system, which includes the Sabine FBX-1802 Dual Feedback Exterminator, and training the technical staff.

The Congressional Hall now has three microphones per table — all permanently installed and they're activated when the president acknowledges a speaker. "There are several systems within the sound system," LaVoir said. "50 mics feed the mains and monitors, the gallery and the press. The FBX-1802 can handle any one of 50 situations. I was able to cascade both channels and set only five fixed filters; the others I left dynamic. I was able to get about 6dB more gain out of the system after inserting the 1802."

Key frequencies to be singled out for filtering were those associated with semi-automatic machine gun fire, and those of the leader of the opposition.

Fuzion. (Contact Details)

Manx for the memories

In the far flung island of tail-free felines, and dodgy tax evaders, Marquee are busy earning an honourable living by the sweat of their collective brows, fitting a fully-specified system into the Gaiety Theatre in Douglas, on the Isle of Man.

Designed in 1900 by the famous Victorian theatre architect, Frank Matcham (and with the name Gaiety, obviously named well before the G word was hijacked by the Old Compton St. crowd), amazingly the theatre has stayed remarkably well preserved. Marquee were called in to provide a quality install sympathetic to the Victorian surroundings. Peavey's MediaMatrix computer controlled system was used; the front-of-house system comprised mostly of EAW subs and cabs, while a brand spanking new Soundcraft K2 was plumbed in to take care of mixing duties.

Marquee Audio. (Contact Details)

Denon and Frank Bruno MD

You wouldn't believe the number of venues using Denon MiniDiscs for SFX and backing music tracks, during the recent panto season (oh yes we would!). The Denon MD has gone a long way to replacing its tape-based counterparts in the UK theatre industry. Dick Whittington in Dartford, Cinderella in Marlow, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Guildford along with many others have all gone the MiniDisc way.

The Questors Theatre, Ealing, West London, recently refurbished their sound system, with Denon source equipment playing an important part. Questors' Head of Sound Ian Howlett chose the Denon MiniDisc as a natural replacement for their old reel to reel machinery. The sound operators rely on the Denon MD ease of use during rehearsals, with on-site editing allowing last minute production changes. When the show is running, track titling and auto-cue to next track make for accurate 'on-cue' sound effects. "My greatest joy," said Ian, "is the complete absence of noise." Ian has installed both DN-990R and DN-980F MiniDiscs along with Denon CD and cassette machines.

I've got an idea. Close down all the pantos across the country, scrub the word pantomine from the Oxford dictionary, and powee! you've cleaned all the annoying untalented Australians out of the country. It's infallable.

Hayden Laboratories. (Contact Details)

Naomi, Claudia, Elle... Martin?

After New York, New Orleans, London, and Jakarta, the most expansive Fashion Café of them all has now opened in the Catalan capital of Barcelona.

The three supermodels — Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Elle MacPherson — drew hundreds of rubberneckers as they arrived at the location on the fashionable Paseo de Gracia for the day-long inauguration — video and TV cameras following not far behind.

Elle MacPherson was first to comment on the building, formerly owned by pharmaceutical company Cros, and now converted into a 2,400 square metre bar, restaurant, and first floor nightclub. Never one to shy away from explaining the dry technicalities of a venue refit and refurbishment she had this to say: "The space inside is incredible, the building is beautiful, and its location perfect." Naturally... these hyperbabes wouldn't 'get out of bed' for anything less than 2,000 square metres of prime real estate.

A closer snoop around reveals a Martin system installed by pro division of MI importers J L Alberdi. In the imposing pillared atrium, with its merchandising counter and entrance to the restaurant, Alberdi have fitted six of Martin Audio's tiny EM15s, and in the restaurant itself, a further 25 of the speakers are strategically positioned. The top end of the EM15s, run with the EMX 1 processors, have been EQ'd throughout.

Up on the first floor landing, the sound is pumped through a further eight EM 15s, underpinned with two EMI 50 horizontal subs, all processor controlled. The discotheque brings the beefy Wavefronts into play, with four flown Wavefront 2s providing the main sound with two 52 subs, infilled by a further 25 EM15s dotted around the room. The system is being driven with a combination of Martin Audio M1200 and M800 amplifiers, achieving around 120dB on the fairly small dancefloor. Each sound zone can have independent switching or be serviced globally from a single source.

Martin Audio. (Contact Details)

BSS on the way to The Forum

Encore Pro Audio have installed a BSS FDS-388 Omnidrive at The Forum, the Mean Fiddler Group's famous North London concert venue. It joins the BSS Varicurve, specified by Encore a year ago, and is part of a programme of continuous system upgrade that the company is carrying out at the Kentish Town theatre, where the Martin F2 system is driven by AB amplification.

"We constantly try and keep ahead of the game at the Forum, and we are very satisfied with the audible improvement in the system as a result of fitting the Omnidrive, especially on the tighter bass end," said Encore's John Tinline.

His sentiments were amply supported by resident engineer Gil Brown, who said: "We are especially impressed with the sophisticated time-alignment features, and we like the way we can lock it."

The sale complements the Forum's existing range of BSS products, including the Varicurve equaliser and a number of slaves. "We have always used BSS crossovers in our front-of-house systems and have upgraded from their MCS-200 to the Omnidrive," said John Tinline.

BSS Audio. (Contact Details)

EAW talks Italian

The arena at the new Palas Indoor Sports Complex in Pesaro, Italy includes a sound reinforcement system featuring EAW loudspeakers. The 10,000 seat arena hosts basketball and handball matches, as well as concerts and other productions.

Eight EAW KF695 Virtual Array full-range loudspeakers provide reinforcement to the majority of the venue. They are mounted in pairs and suspended from the catwalk running above the perimeter of the arena's surface, with each pair covering a complete side of seating. In addition, 10 EAW JF260 compact, full-range systems are mounted under the venue's large-scale scoreboard centered above the main floor. Two additional EAW KF650 loudspeakers mounted at this location further bolster reinforcement to the floor and adjacent seating.

Processing for the loudspeakers is supplied by EAW MX800 Close Coupled Electronic Processors that are located with other system electronic gear in an adjacent production room. 12 Crown Macro-Tech Series MA-2400 amplifiers drive the loudspeaker system, with delay provided by Rane AD22 delays and equalization courtesy of ARX EQ60s.

Phew! If that isn't the driest most boringly factual install description to adorn these hallowed pages, I don't know what is. Of course, if I was invited to inspect the work myself, I probably could have whipped up something far more riveting. False economy that is.

Eastern Acoustic Works. (Contact Details)

Midas meet their Destiny

State-of-the-art sound equipment, relying heavily on Midas and Klark Teknik products, has been installed in every public room on the world's first 100,000 ton passenger vessel, Carnival Destiny. High-quality audio was a major requirement with the £5 million contract for design, supply, and commissioning of the entertainment systems, awarded to UK specialists Glantre Engineering.

The ship's principal entertainment centre, The Palladium, is a 1,300-seat theatre, three decks deep. Staging a range of production show and variety events, this contains a fully-equipped 48-channel Midas XL4 console, plus XL42 EQ modules. The second major performance venue is the Criterion lounge, with a smaller stage suitable for revues, cabaret, and bands; the main console, in a scaled-down version of the system in the Palladium, is a 32-channel XL4. In addition, each of more than 20 venues on board is fitted with a Klark Teknik DN500 dual compressor/limiter.

By way of 20th century social commentary, the cruise liners names make me physically sick. Back in the days when ships took you places for reasons other than to swan about in Hawaiian shirts and litres of duty free eau de cologne, they were christened regal and dignified names like the Lusitania, or the Titanic. Today, the reality is very different; it's all Tropical Maiden, Marquess de Fornication, or Wake up Naked and Drunk in the Paddling Pool Princess, to name but a few.

Mark IV PAG. (Contact Details)

TOA laughs all the way to the South Bank

London's prestigious South Bank Centre has successfully completed the installation of a new TOA front-of-house system in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Following a demonstration at the PLASA exhibition, the SBC's Chief Engineer Nigel March commissioned a TOA Z-Drive loudspeaker system from TOA Corporation, which was installed before Christmas.

"The Z-Drive is exceptionally powerful," reports March, "and it has made a huge difference to the hall, getting rid of a number of troublesome dead spots." The Queen Elizabeth Hall is primarily a dance and non-classical music venue, with a varied programme and very tight turnaround times — in the last year, the theatre hosted 340 shows. "In the past, we maintained a speech amplification system and used to hire in the PA as required. We wanted a sound reinforcement system suitable for the more intimate shows of this particular theatre, and the Z-Drive cabinets deliver a very high-quality sound at a most reasonable price."

TOA was also commissioned to install call boy systems backstage in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room, to match the facilities of the Royal Festival Hall, installed by a TOA authorised installer in 1994. Now, every artist performing in the South Bank Centre is called to the stage on the TOA paging network, even if they are working up a bit of Dutch courage in the Artists Bar.

TOA Corporation plc. (Contact Details)