MTV Dance Surround Sound arena uses TiMax Audio Imaging

MTV Europe recently televised Ireland’s annual Oxegen music festival and also handled promotion of the event’s huge dance venue, branded the MTV Dance Surround Sound Arena. Event production manager for MTV, Ian Martin specified a TiMax Audio Imaging matrix to help configure the massive club sound system and also give the DJ’s a way to play with the surround imaging live during their set.

Headliners over the two nights included international luminaries such as Felix Da House Cat, Eric Morillo and Timo Maas, with supporting sessions from varied and eclectic acts from around Europe. The hall was a vast indoor horse-show arena and was rammed with over 8000 eager revellers for each of the two nights.

The six-channel E-V XLC line-array was supplied by London club sound specialists Systems Etc, under the supervision of Ricky Ramsey. The speaker cabinets were hung inside scaffolding cages dressed to look like six huge oversized studio monitors which arranged in a ring around the dance floor. Each line-array hang was complemented by its own sub-bass array, with some extra subs installed under the stage housing the DJ booth and dance platforms. The system configuration and TiMax programming were handled by club surround sound specialist Andy Carrington and Dave Haydon from Out Board who also supplied the TiMax matrix and showcontrol PC.

The TiMax system was set up with alternate left/right routing for the main mix image which gave a satisfying enveloping surround feel to the room. Also programmed were random-access TiMax cues for multiple dynamic surround pan events with names such as Turbo Revolve, Bounce and Boomerang. These were triggered live by the DJ’s using a MIDI keyboard next to the decks.

DJ booth monitoring was driven off TiMax in surround too, with the six-channel arena surround mix folded down to four channels in the booth. Any time the DJ triggered a surround pan in the arena he would hear a duplicate effect in the DJ booth.

After just a couple of minutes briefing by the system engineers DJ’s were able to make creative use of the MIDI-triggered TiMax pan patterns. Overall their response was really positive, and crowd reaction to the immersive and animated surround sound experience was at times electric.

TiMax Track The Actors receives PLASA Award for Innovation

Out Board has received a PLASA 2006 Award for Innovation for its TiMax Track The Actors automatic audio image tracking system developed in a marketing and development joint venture with Norwegian technologists TTA.

TiMax Track The Actors comprises a foot-square antenna array mounted in the grid above stage which receives signals transmitted by small radio tags worn by each actor. These data are fed via Ethernet to the TTA software which analyses them to derive positional information about the actors.

The TTA software then sends MIDI messages to the TiMax ShowControl software which outputs level/delay instructions in a TiMax Audio Imaging system delay matrix to localize the actors sonically to the appropriate zones on stage.

The system has been previewed on prestige opera and stage musical shows in London and Scandinavia recently, and is now receiving considerable interest from theatres and opera houses in the UK and Europe.

Out Board is also proud to be associated as UK Distributors for the Dolby Lake Processor loudspeaker management system which also received an Award for Innovation at this year’s PLASA show.

PRG Europe and UK Rigging buy new Out Board LV8 motor control for Madonna tour

Out Board have launched a new range of LV-Series chain-hoist controllers, starting with the LV8 8-channel unit. The product’s launch was marked by the purchase of twenty LV8 units split between production rental companies PRG Europe and UK Rigging, for European leg of the Madonna tour.

PRG’s LV8’s were committed to rigging mothergrid and other trusses for all set elements and lighting, while UK Rigging’s LV8’s were looking after hanging the tour’s massive V-Dosc sound system. UK Rigging prepared two individual systems to deal with separate leapfrogging PA rigs planned to cater for the tour’s rigorous back-to-back schedule. Both companies also bought an extensive complement of the new compact and ergonomic RC8 remote handsets, with UK Rigging also buying several RC16 16 channel units with handset splitter cables to control two LV8’s each.

The LV8 extends Out Board’s low-voltage hoist control product range hitherto based on the well-known CM-Series, and includes some additional and alternative features in response to demand from the international rigging community. LV-Series adds a front panel E-Stop switch which can also be linked between units, and the new RC8 and RC16 remote handsets also feature an onboard E-Stop switch. The connectors for the handset cable have been upgraded to a virtually mil. spec version of Souriau multipin connectors.

LV8 provides pairs of male and female Ceep (Socapex-style) rear panel outlets for four channels of separate power and control respectively, with an industry-standard wiring configuration researched with the help of Harry Box from UK Rigging / Concert Lights. Out Board plan to also offer optional dual channels of mixed control and power on each Ceep as demand arises.

Out Board also reports increased interest in the DM-Series of Direct controllers, with purchases of six DM8 units by Star Events along with HC8 handsets and trussmount DM-Splitters plus three DM8 units sold to a major Madrid rigging company by Spanish distributor Pro-Lighting. The DM-Series has also started to break into the North Amercian market with initial sales of DM4 and DM8 units to Scene Scapin Staging in Montreal, featuring Hubbell power connectors to suit local connection standards.

TiMax Audio Imaging supports Basel’s first Military Tattoo October 2006

The city of Basel in Switzerland has recently staged its debut Basel Tattoo festival of marching military bands and dancers, supported by a sophisticated “source-oriented” sound reinforcement system based on the TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix and showcontrol software. The sell-out show played over five nights in an outdoor arena specially created in front of the 19 th century Kaserne Hof military barracks.

The system was based on over 20 distributed speaker channels including two HK Audio ConTour compact line-array systems and 14 Kling & Freitag trapezoidal cabinets on poles at the front of each audience seating bay, plus a couple for front-centre audience coverage. There were also six subbass channels feeding separate 2x18” cabinets spread out under the horseshoe-shaped audience bleachers surrounding the 80m x 25m outdoor performance area. The system was designed by Thomas Strebel with the assistance of Robin Whittaker and Dave Haydon from TiMax developers Out Board.

The job of the TiMax system was to make sure the radio mics placed on various band members and vocalists would localise to where they were standing or marching, all in real time. TiMax was calibrated with ten Haas Effect delay-based localisation zones down the length and breadth of the arena, plus a balcony and “Lone Piper” tower image . Then using its cue-driven Playlist, the various acts’ mics were sequentially applied to these zones both statically and dynamically as they moved around the site. Microphone and playback sources were mixed selectively to eight groups on the Yamaha digital console which in turn fed eight TiMax matrix inputs.

The 16-in x 24-out TiMax system was supplied by Out Board, with imaging delays and cues programmed on-site by the company’s Dave Haydon, in conjunction with Stefan Binggeli who operated the system during the shows. The audio system was provided by Hyperson under the supervision of System Engineer Christian Ramsauer, FOH engineer was Florens Meury, Stage Manager was Klemens Trenkle, supported by engineers Raphael Wäfler and Michael De Mel who looked after the show’s complicated radio mic changeovers. This highly efficient band of experienced freelancers work regularly with Thomas Strebel on his more complex productions and are known collectively as the Audiopool.

From the show’s intro fanfare localised to a first floor balcony, the audio imaging challenges became ever more diverse. The German Gebirgsmusikcorps performed with four huge alpine horns in the centre of the arena, with tinkling cowbell accompaniment. The Schweizer Armeespiel featured a rock ensemble and percussionist, accordion player and three guys spinning coins in a bowl, as well as full military brass band spread out across the arena.

There were also the usual Highland Massed Pipes and Drums who feature at the now legendary Edinburgh Military Tattoo event in Scotland, which has also employed a TiMax system for each of the last six years to help make the event’s audio match up to its consistently spectacular performance and production standards.

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