44 l October 2013
www.psneurope.com
livefeature
It seems the shimmering towers of Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road could almost reach the desert moon
PREMIERE LEAGUE
The Cine Royal cinema in Abu Dhabi’s Khalidiyah Mall recently marked a milestone in the development of UAE theatre sound, and delivered a strong affirmation that entertainment technology in this territory can compete with the latest, and the best, in the world. Dolby’s Atmos audio system claims the most convincing reproduction yet in cinema sound by transferring what it calls Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) created in post production into the theatre itself, enabling hybrid surround and dynamic effects within the existing audio channels. Its installation into the Cine Royal confirms a strong interest
lifestyle. But it survived, and the gradual process of blinging up the Persian Gulf seems as unstoppable as a camel with a thirst on. Despite that rigid power structure, a kind of consumer liberalism has taken root, especially in the UAE, with no shortage of Western business partnerships and particularly close ties to that old colonial bedfellow: the United Kingdom. Several UAE service providers
United sheiks
The United Arab Emirates is pivotal to all business-to-business pro-audio development in the Middle East, discovers Phil Ward
GIVEN ITS oil-fired ambitions, it might be said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is skyscraping the barrel. It’s not untypical for this region to endure boom-and-bust financial cycles: quite apart from the natural pendulum of capitalist expansion and contraction, regular shock waves here are exacerbated by the political tremors all too familiar to the Middle East. Right now it’s Syria, and the sudden dip in stock markets caused by fears of a Western military option. Next time it could be Iraq again, or Lebanon. Quite how the big operators within entertainment technology have prospered so well and for so long is remarkable – but they have.
Perhaps the Gulf’s power systems hold a clue. The UAE – and this is also typical – is a hereditary monarchy, effectively absolute. There are elections, but the only candidates are the natural heirs to each emir: the Supreme Council is obliged to vote for them. Dubai’s emir is Prime Minister; Abu Dhabi’s emir is President; and their sons follow on – the arrangement is, to say the least, convenient. And in this ersatz democracy business is bolstered by enforced stability, backed by the oil thing – which, even when the stock markets get the jitters, offers the UAE and its neighbours a regular get-out clause. Business
is also unfettered by social upheavals, at least here, at least so far.
AUDIO EX-PATISE Within this walled citadel, solid distribution channels and reliable service provision have been allowed to flourish, enough to survive blip after blip. Entertainment technology is not crude oil but, every time oil supplies are threatened and investment dips, the whole of the economy stalls. Dubai’s cranes and construction sites were almost completely silenced during 2008 and 2009, when a shock recession curtailed the more extreme projects in leisure and
have British ex-pats occupying influential positions and providing a faint echo of the paternal ministrations that once saw Britain policing this stretch of the coast against rampant piracy. In recent months Glaswegian Dave Gold has joined Oasis Enterprises as engineering & operations manager, having been in the UAE for eight years and working at systems integrator Omnix Media Networks and at Almoe AV Systems, while both Ben Spencer at SLS Production and Dave Williams at Gearhouse have carved out successful niches. Even Britannia Row crops up on the list of recent UAE event providers, with the London-based market leader’s Josh Lloyd attending a son et lumière event to mark 250 years of Abu Dhabi’s Qasr al Hosn fort. “Quite a few of our acts are going out there now,” says Lloyd, “and we’re shipping our gear out to do it. It is a rapidly developing territory, but we’re happy to support the bespoke gigs.” L-Acoustics ARCS was used to create a 7.1 surround system. Today the word piracy means brands, not blackbeards, as every
among Gulf operators in the newest solutions. “We’re very pleased to be the first cinema in the Emirates to have Dolby Atmos in our multiplex,” adds Fazal Ameen, CEO of Cine Royal. “We’re confident that along with our beautifully equipped theatres, the addition of Dolby Atmos will make Cine Royal a unique movie-watching experience.”
major name from Europe, the US, Australia and Japan is represented across a highly professional network. Pro audio is just one beneficiary of the UAE’s progressive attitude towards globalising commerce and its flexible spanning of OPEC, the United Nations and the EU-like Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is helping Dubai- and Abu Dhabi-based rental companies, distributors and integrators to expand across immediate borders into Oman, Qatar, Saudi and beyond.
AV NATION With so much development, it’s not surprising that good business is to be had in AV and related installation disciplines. As well as the tide of offices, malls, hotels and convention facilities there are some seriously prestigious erections in the pipeline – including Abu Dhabi’s very own Louvre and Guggenheim museums. Digital networking is the buzzphrase du jour, as it is elsewhere, and according to distributor VV & Sons’ professional division manager PV Davis this is merely a sign that the distribution channels are doing as required by their suppliers to educate the market in all the latest technology. “We don’t manage whole
projects ourselves,” he says, “but we design technical support for our clients in rental and integration – from small background music packages to entire stadiums. As the technology changes, we pass it on.”
t
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60