50 l October 2012
www.prosoundnewseurope.com www.prosoundnewseurope.com/installation For the latest installation news SOUNDBITES
The Katielli Theater in Datteln, Germany, has been upgraded with a new t&mSystems audio system, designed and installed by Muenster-based Prosound Eventservice. The theatre’s FOH system now comprises two t&mSystems Unity 12 loudspeakers left and right, two t&mSystems XS115T subwoofers, and one t&mSystems Unity 10 for centre fill. Four active t&mSystems FG101A were supplied as floor monitors.
www.t-m-systems.com
Midwichhas recently added Yamaha’s WORKproCA installation products to its portfolio. Established in 1979, Midwich is one of the UK’s largest specialist trade distributors for the AV industry. “Yamaha is a ‘tier one’ audio brand and the WORKproCA range fits well with our strategy of offering our large base of audio customers a range of versatile system solutions,” said Midwich business manager Lee Baker.
www.midwich.com
www.yamahacommercialaudio.com
A popular nightclub in the Netherlands, Podium Gigant has invested in a new Clair Brothers audio system which was supplied by The Audio Specialists. The chief sound engineer of Gigant, Peter Boekhorst, after consulting several engineers, chose a Cat 114-based system and 12 Clair WEDGE stage monitors. “We looked for a system that could reinforce our broad scope of visiting acts varying from heavy metal to modern classic and everything in between,” said Boekhorst.
www.clairsystems.com www.theaudiospecialists.eu
As part of a comprehensive renovation, St James Church, Buckinghamshire, UK has incorporated a full audio, video and lighting solution which features a RolandM-480 Digital Mixing Console.
www.rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk installation UNITED KINGDOM The future of sound in London
In the middle of one of London’s most acoustically busy spaces, the BE OPEN Sound Portal transported visitors to strange new sonic worlds. Erica Basnicki stood in the sweet spot, and listened…
By Erica Basnicki
THIS YEAR’S 10th anniversary of the London Design Festival featured acoustic and sound design along with the visual, in the form of the BE OPEN Sound Portal: a black, rubberised, box-like structure created by engineering and design firm Arup. The structure was installed in the centre of Trafalgar Square over five days in September, each day featuring one of the five composers and sound artists specially commissioned by Sound and Music to create a unique piece for the installation: Ivan Pavlov (aka CoH), Nathaniel Robin Mann, Jo Thomas, Tom Jenkinson (aka Squarepusher) and Jana Winderen.
Inside the alien-looking structure were nine B&W CT7.4 LCRS monitors, powered by a 12-channel Rotel RMB-1512 amplifier, arranged in three triangles stacked on top of each other. Under the bench in the centre of the portal were two B&W CT SW10 subs powered by a B&W SA 1000 amplifier. Sound-absorbing foam lined the walls to make the space inside as acoustically dead as possible. Audio was then sent to the loudspeakers via a MOTU 828mk3 interface from a MacBook Pro running Reaper. “I find [Reaper] a very
flexible platform,” said Ned Crowe, acoustic consultant at Arup. “It works very well using Ambisonics [a multi-speaker surround format], because you can render to multiple channels. A lot of platforms don’t allow you to render to any more than four channels.”
Russia-born sound artist Ivan Pavlov, aka CoH, discusses his piece
AEIVAA II – 12 Sonnets for Humankind inside the BE OPEN Sound Portal
directivity where different notes come from.” That piece, A Minor Spiral,
Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher
Not every piece inside the portal used Ambisonics techniques, explained Crowe: “We designed the platform for the artists, then they had free reign of how they wanted to do it. Some of them had worked in 3D before; others had never, so we spent some time with them going through the different options, demonstrating the different panning techniques and then gave them support as they needed it. “Some of the artists chose to
simply send multiple channels to specific loudspeakers. You probably noticed in Tom’s piece, because he’s chosen that method, you get a very clear
featured a nylon string guitar with piezo pickups mounted in the bridge – one for each string. Similarly to his mathematics- influenced Squarepusher alter-ego, Jenkinson placed audio within the space according to a formula based on anti-clockwise and clockwise motion. However, rather than use Arup’s sound lab to spatialise the audio, Jenkinson devised his own ‘Ambisonics’ system: “I went to PC World, and bought myself two desktop 5.1 rigs, and then cable-tied them to three mic stands so I had a scaled down, budget version which cost me £100. The reproduction quality was pretty poor, but it did at least give me a sense of what you were doing with certain techniques of placement and modulation and moving throughout space.” Taking a more analogue
approach to his piece, Soliloquy, Nathaniel Robin Mann used a SoundField SPS200 microphone with a Zephyx windshield, and
made recordings in a variety of environments, including inside a church, an aviary and the footplate of a steam train, capturing their natural acoustic spaces. “Ambisonics is actually about subtlety,” said Mann. “The way we perceive sound is about the intricate details, it’s not really about things whizzing around your head. I did feel a certain pressure to have some whizzing-around-your-head bits. I thought ‘how could I do this without getting the panning out, or the spatialisation effects?” So I took the recordings I had of the choir, I put them on an iPod, and had a speaker at the end of a rope, put the SoundField out and literally swung the speaker around. That’s what I’m interested in; the physical exploration of Ambisonics, rather than then digital processing.” With London Design Week
now over, the BE OPEN Sound Portal is on its way to the Chelsea College of Art and Design, where it will host student sound works, to be presented in 2013 as part of BE OPEN Inside the Academy, a platform to support emerging talent. Elena Baturina, founder of BE OPEN, commented: “We’ve set up BE OPEN so that we can work with the great creative minds of today, encouraging them to continue to innovate so that they can improve on what we have and generate solutions for tomorrow’s world. The designers of the BE OPEN Sound Portal and those who will be creating soundscapes for it are at the cutting edge: they are the future of acoustic evolution. So a journey into the BE OPEN Sound Portal is a must for anyone interested in hearing what tomorrow will be like.” n
www.arup.com www.beopenfuture.com www.londondesignfestival.com
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