www.psneurope.com
July 2013 l 41
Jean Jacques Vias, Nexo
livefeature
between agents, there is flexibility of rental supply with worldwide availability of standardised systems. It’s a quality label to engineers, productions, promoters and artists. And finally, distributors: they are certified companies promoting and offering access to L-Acoustics products to regional clients.” Domestic sales are standing
up robustly to the recession in France, according to Surena. “This might sound arrogant or unreal,” he says, “but L-Acoustics’ activity in France has not really been impacted for the moment by the recession. In a time of crisis, clients tend to rely on brand reputation for their investments. This translates into rider friendliness, and high resale value for more return on investment in the long run. Owning a premium and respected brand facilitates positioning in the marketplace.” Installation sales continue to complement the company’s live sound heritage, he adds: “L-Acoustics has built a strong reputation in its historical touring market since the inception of V-DOSC in 1992. However, we have developed in recent years a line of installation friendly systems – the coaxial XTi series, KIVA, KARA line sources – and specific simulation and third-party control tools for integrators. So our French installation business is growing significantly in new market segments such as performing arts centres, convention centres and high-end club installations.” This is backed up by some
impressive locations: Club Monaco has XTi Series and P Series enclosures; the Salle 3000 convention centre in Lyon has KIVA, KUDO and XT Series; there’s a KARA install at Cité De La Musique concert hall in Paris, as there is in concert hall La Villette; and at the Puy du Fou theme park in Les Herbiers there is KUDO, V-DOSC, dV-DOSC and XT. Last year, L-Acoustics kit was employed at no fewer than 25 festivals across France, from Chipo Zik to Petit Bouchon, and this year’s tally will be easily comparable by the time the very last kagoule has been séché.
CANAL PLUS The future, though, is digital: so much so that Sennheiser France has entered into a strategic alliance with console pioneer
Innovason in order to distribute the brand on home turf. “The idea is quite simple,” explains Alain Richer, head of pro audio at Sennheiser France. “We’re seeing a lot of demand for digital microphones and digital solutions as a whole, especially in the pro rental market. Both Sennheiser and Neumann have developed this technology for some years, and during this time our co-operation with Innovason has increased: the Eclipse consoles integrate remote control of our microphones in the software, so it’s become important for us to find a global networking solution.” This effort is bolstered by a
separate partnership with a supplier of EtherSound switches and interfaces. “EtherSound is very popular in France,” continues Richer, “so there is a roadmap to fully digital systems from the capsule to the loudspeaker. We see this happening in both live sound and the installation market – and speaking of install, we also distribute QSC Audio in France, so we can apply the Q-Sys platform too, where it’s appropriate. There is no worldwide standard accepted, so we find the solution that the customer likes. We see the market going digital, networked… and wireless.” And so to wireless spectrum, something very close to Sennheiser’s heart globally. “It’s not easy,” Richer understates. “The spectrum in France is not really managed by anyone – there’s no French equivalent to Ofcom – so it’s a bit of a free- for-all. We’ve lost frequencies in the first Digital Dividend, but we’ve developed tools like the Frequency Finder to enable continued use of wireless microphones. The second Digital Dividend is a worry, and that’s why we’re strongly promoting our new Digital 9000 system: it packs more than twice the number of channels as before into the same space. But this is just the beginning…” As long as they don’t go
anywhere near the bands used for RADAR. French is also the only other official language within NATO, even if it turns out not to be such a different market after all. Just be careful around the shipping in the Channel. n
www.innovason.com www.lawo.de www.l-acoustics.com
APG Uniline at The Voice, Paris
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