40 l September 2014
www.psneurope.com
live
The 26-year-old DJ Hardwell (Robbert van de Corput to his mum) thrills the Rimini crowd
Loud and hard for DJ Hardwell $13m
ITALY Italian audio manufacturer powers a world number one, reports Mike Clark
RIMINI’S ALTRO Mondo Studios, Italy’s fi rst mega- disco, has been a trendsetting venue since it opened in 1967. Owners Enrico Galli and Piero Bevitori recently organised the fi rst edition of the Too Loud Festival, taking the name from Rome’s Loud Professional, the event’s audio contractors and manufacturers of the club’s sound systems.
Headliner DJ Hardwell from the Netherlands, crowned World’s No.1 DJ in the 2013 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll (and recently in Forbes’ list of top earning DJs) has such a large following that an alternative venue had to be found. The impressive sound system – over 140,000W RMS from the main system alone – was installed in one of Rimini Expo Centre’s huge halls.
The rig included two
additions to Loud Professional’s range on their fi rst outing: the VH Layer212H and Smart FocusEight, the fi rst of a new series of compact line arrays. The former is a horn-loaded three-way line-array element designed for large-scale events (the hall was almost 200m long and about 60m wide).
The main system comprised a left and right hang, each with eight VH Layer212H elements (the bottom two in each processed as downfi lls), plus 32 VH Sub121H, which allowed the bottom end to be extended
down to 30Hz. The subs were fl oor-installed in groups of four along the front of the stage and, with the exclusion of the two external groups, a pair of VH SM12 enclosures was installed as nearfi ll on top of each group of subs.
Two delay towers each had an array with six VH Layer 112H+EMD elements and three VH Sub218R.
The Smart FocusEight, a two- way line array element featuring compact dimensions, low weight and high power handling capacity, was used on monitor duty with two VH Sub218R subwoofers.
Simone ‘Zeta’ Saccomandi (systems engineer, FOH sound engineer for the support DJs and assistant for Hardwell’s sound engineer, Bas Rijsdijk), also had to consider a reverb in the 50-200Hz range of approximately 12 seconds with an empty room.
He says: “We also had to ensure plenty of low frequencies for the EDM sounds spun by Hardwell, and the VH Sub121H subs, which have a horn-loaded part that makes them really ‘fast’ and effi cient, were spaced suffi ciently far apart to avoid the frequencies around 40Hz being summed together and were processed in a 90º electronic arc delay confi guration.”
The signals from the stage were fed to an Avid SC48
console, then on to a Meyer Sound Galileo 616 processor. Power was generated by
Lab.gruppen FP 14000 and Powersoft DIGAM 7000 amplifi ers. XTA DP 448 audio management units were also deployed for the job.
After the show, Saccomandi enthused: “I was amazed by the system’s power and effi ciency. I normally work in jazz and classical music situations and was astonished to be able to work on a show with peaks of 108dB SPL with really high sound quality – and no need for earplugs!”
Although a relatively new addition to the international pro-audio market, Rome-based Loud Professional has built up considerable well-proven experience in the pro sound reinforcement sector since its creation.
Founder and general manager Valerio Cherubini explains: “We began designing and experimenting speaker systems over 15 years ago – the brand was actually registered almost 20 years ago – and through the years saw that our systems were attracting increasing attention, thanks to the results achieved with in-the-fi eld applications, in the rental sector, for example. We presented our range – which now has about 30 models – to the international market [at the Frankfurt Musikmesse [for the fi rst time] fi ve years ago.
Loud Professional VH Sub121Hs lined up in front of the stage – 32 of them
“Our design process, supervised by a team of specialised professionals using cutting-edge technology and sophisticated simulation and measurement systems, enables us turn out innovative products with high performance – sensational sonic impact, high intelligibility and crisp clear sound,” continues Cherubini. “Moreover, our relationship with
Lab.gruppen and Lake
has enabled us to exploit our systems’ potential to the full.” Cherubini notes that Loud Professional’s simple but stylish lines and black and white livery make its products “interesting for permanent installations where aesthetics play a key role”. Loud Professional is distributed in the UK by Yes Audio and also has a distributor in Hanoi.
www.loud.it
Hardwell’s estimated earnings over the last 12 months (Source: Forbes)
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