26 l July 2013
www.psneurope.com
broadcastfeature
The launch of the Si Performer highlights the fact that R&D teams are working on
products with greater mixed usage in mind
l CEDAR’s rewarding move into audio forensics was prompted by a single enquiry from a large, national police force l A handful of orders by local hotels and restaurants ultimately led to a host of install-specific products from Genelec l Soundcraft’s Si Performer is one of a growing number of hybrid products devised to suit a host of market sectors and applications
Detours and diversions
A studio specialist who quickly found itself with a growing share of the install market… A premastering pioneer who cultivated a lucrative new market in audio forensics… As David Davies discovers, pro-audio R&D is always opening up new avenues of opportunity – not all of them expected
HYBRIDS ARE, literally, unusual beasts. The zedonk for instance – offspring of a zebra and a donkey – immediately attracts the eye while raising questions as to how it behaves and what purpose it serves. The pro-audio industry saw the birth of its own unique hybrid last summer, when Soundcraft launched the Si Performer console, a digital audio mixer with basic DMX lighting control and interfacing. This set PSNEurope wondering about the phenomenon of other hybrid products. At this early stage, one would have to be extremely brave to suggest that the Si Performer heralds a permanent drift away from audio-only mixers, but its arrival does underline a general trend that – not least for reasons of economic prudence – finds R&D teams working on products with greater mixed usage in mind. Although not an insignificant
development given pro-audio’s intrinsically specialist origins – and the fact that many leading protagonists have tended to focus, at least initially, on a single product line or market sector – it is one that has happened fairly naturally. So, for example, a processor developed
“Some areas of business come and go, so you do have to be light on your feet”
Gordon Reid, CEDAR Audio
Genelec’s initial focus was on the broadcast and recording studio sector before finding customers in the hotel and restaurant markets
for studio might achieve lift-off in live, or a console oriented towards the demands of broadcast could lend itself to the new wave of super-churches. Assuming it isn’t just a one-off sale to an unexpected customer (always possible), the opening up of new markets invariably exerts an influence on product strategy and R&D. New sector-specific
variations of existing products are one likely result; so, too, are more extensively featured solutions able to cut a swathe across applications. Sometimes, these new
developments can help decide a company’s survival, but almost without exception they underpin what we might term ‘organic growth’. As Steffen Grachegg,
head of marketing at microphone maker Lewitt GmbH, observes: “Like car companies with their Formula 1 teams, we tend to use our findings in our core business in order to diversify our brand and enter different markets…”
HELLO, INSTALL! Originally established in the late 1970s to meet the audio requirements of Finnish broadcaster YLE, active
loudspeaker specialist Genelec’s initial focus was on the broadcast and recording studio markets. But it was only a couple of years into the company’s history that it started to register expressions of interest from ‘traditional’ install customers – particularly bars, restaurants and hotels – in its smaller form-factor products. “A couple of hotels and
restaurants in Finland – Sokos Hotel Koljonvirta in Iisalmi, and Amarillo in Kuopio – decided to install Genelec speakers. That was the starting point,” recalls marketing and PR director Lars-Olof Janflod. “At the time we were a very small company and looked at all sales with a very positive attitude – not to say gratitude!” The speakers’ low distortion,
even dispersion characteristics proved to be a crucial asset, says Janflod; rather than be “disturbed or annoyed by the background music, customers could now enjoy it”. Their self-powered design also suited them to the space-sensitive nature of many non-studio environments, “where space can be a deciding factor”. Beginning with the 1029A Bi-Amplified Monitoring System, Genelec took steps to build on its products’ install appeal with new features that were “primarily about making it easy to attach a wall-mount or ceiling-mount to the product, and also to furnish that same wall or ceiling mount”, says Janflod. As the years have gone by, Genelec has added more and more accessories to its range – “wall mounts, ceiling mounts, truss mounts, flush mounts… you name it and we have it, more or less”. It has even evolved a separate, install-friendly version of its 8000 monitors in the form of the 4000 series.
HIGHLIGHTS
Photo: Phil Bourne Photography
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