Sound & Stage Middle East - March 2010

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Vol: 4 Issue: 3 March 2010 VISUAL MEDIUM How Creative Technology is carving a niche in the events biz FUNK MASTERS Egyptian production house Funk Gurus shows off its new facility STOP THE ROCK CSM pulls the plug on festivals business p07 BRIGHT LIGHTS Hot products set to debut at P+S ‘10 p27 THE EASY SELL Our definitive guide to the best DJ gear p32 An ITP Business Publication 1 Licensed by Dubai Media City Showcasing the top tech that will change the way you do business in 2010 and beyond

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Sound & Stage Middle East - March 2010 - ITP Business

Transcript of Sound & Stage Middle East - March 2010

  • Vol: 4 Issue: 3 March 2010

    VISUAL MEDIUMHow Creative Technology is carving a niche in the events biz

    FUNK MASTERSEgyptian production house Funk Gurus shows off its new facility

    STOP THE ROCKCSM pulls the plug on

    festivals business p07

    BRIGHT LIGHTSHot products set to

    debut at P+S 10 p27

    THE EASY SELLOur de nitive guide to

    the best DJ gear p32

    An ITP Business Publication 1 Licensed by Dubai Media City

    Showcasing the top tech that will change the way you do business in 2010 and beyond

  • CONTENTS

    01MARCH 2010 SAS

    March 2010Volume 4, Issue 0307 Regional NewsCSM pulls the plug on festivals business in the UAE; Cirque du Soleil owner unaware of Dubai World plans.

    10 Funk Masters Egyptian production house Funk Gurus showcases its new Red Sea studios.

    14 Visual mediumCreative Technologys Damien McGurn discusses the companys growing AV business in the Middle East.

    16 COVER STORY: Top technologies of 2010S&S gets to grips with the most innovative new technologies set to change the way you do business this year and beyond.

    27 P+S 2010 hot productsThe top 10 companies and tech-nologies to keep an eye out for at this months Prolight+Sound 2010 exhibi-tion in Germany.

    32 Buyers guideThe essential guide to the best DJ technologies in the business.

    40 Backstage

    16

    08 14 32

  • WEB LOG DPme.com

    www.digitalproductionme.com

    2SAS MARCH 2010

    MOST READ SOUND & STAGE NEWS STORIES

    1 AKG debuts iPhone monitoring application

    2 Sting to headline Meydan racing event

    3 Abu Dhabi stadium plans revealed

    MOST READ NEWS STORIES OVERALL

    1 Al Jazeera Sport to broadcast World Cup in 3D

    2 OSN to battle piracy with HD STBs

    3 AKG debuts iPhone monitoring application

    EDITORS CHOICES

    SPOT POLL

    JANUARYS TOP STORIES

    DO YOU PLAN TO ATTEND CABSAT 2010 IN DUBAI THIS MONTH?

    51.9%

    NEWS

    GORILLAZ TO HEADLINE DUBAI MUSIC FESTIVALUK act con rmed for new Elements festival in Dubai.

    NEWS

    SAE MULLS FREE KIT OFFERSAE Dubai may offer its digi-journalism students free equipment.

    AKG has introduced a free wireless audio moni-toring application designed for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

    The application is designed to streamline the work ow for wireless microphone monitoring and con guration by linking Harmans HiQnet protocol to the Apple products app via Wi-Fi networks.

    The new application can be used to moni-tor wireless system parameters and radio frequency connections on stage in conjunc-tion with some of AKGs most popular wire-less microphone systems, including the DMS 700, the WMS 4000/4500, and the IVM 4 in-ear monitoring system.

    AKG debuts iPhone monitoring application

    YES, ILL BE THERE

    18.5%MAYBE

    16.5%NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER

    13.1%NO, ILL SAVE MYSELF

    FOR NAB OR IBC

    Simon Cobon, Nadia Puma

  • LEDSolution ExpertJ&C Joel UAE

  • EDITORS COMMENT

    04SAS MARCH 2010

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    It will be interesting to gauge the response from visitors to the Frankfurt show compared to next months PALME exhibition in Dubai, which is historically a much smaller event, but no less relevant to the Middle East pro audio, lighting and live event production industries.

    This years PALME, which will once again incorporate the systems integration show Install Middle East and musical instruments industry event Musac Middle East, will also provide vital insight into the well-being of the local industry, which has suffered something of a delayed response to the economic downturn compared to international markets. In contrast to Europe, which is showing positive signs of recovery, many local industry identities remain at best cautious and at worse seriously concerned about the local industrys uctuating fortunes.

    The success or otherwise of this years show will provide cold comfort to those still reeling from the serious setbacks suffered in 2009. It will also do little to inspire those operating in live events production and SI markets that remain in a state of ux thanks entirely to an ongoing lack of liquidity, particularly in the Gulf states.

    This months Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, is expected to provide a clear barometer of the health of the professional audio and lighting manufacturingindustries, which have been considerably

    impacted by the global economic downturn.The tradeshow, which is recognised as one of

    the worlds largest professional audio and lighting technology exhibitions, will again be staged in conjunction with Europes premier music equipment industry forum Musikmesse, and systems integration (SI) event, Mediasystems.

    In 2009, Mediasystems and Prolight+Sound attracted more than 845 exhibitors from 42 countries in total, and according to organisers, this years combined event is on track to eclipse this gure, as evidenced by the incorporation of an eleventh hall that will host industry seminars and technology workshops.

    The P+S Media Systems Congress, which will celebrate its tenth year in 2010, will host more than 50 technical workshops over four days. The conference will also boast more than 60 keynote speakers from various technical elds.

    More than 33,000 visitors descended on Frankfurt for last years show, and organisers are con dent this years event will attract at least the same number, if not more.

    The show must go on...

    Aaron GreenwoodSenior Group [email protected]

    ITP Business Publishingalso produces the followingrelated publications:

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  • 07MARCH 2010 SAS

    THE BRIEFING

    CSM pulls the plug on Dubai festivalsDubai-based event promoter Centre Stage Management (CSM) has pulled the plug on its music festivals line-up, which have been staged in the emirate to mixed success annu-ally since 2004.

    The festivals, which include Desert Rock, Desert Rhythm, Urban Desert and Back 2 School, have showcased vari-ous high-pro le acts over the years, including the likes of Kanye West, Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Muse.

    The decision would appear to be in line with CSMs ex-pansion into new markets, including its recent establish-ment of a television production division and its involvement in the opening and closing cer-emonies of this summers FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

    Jackie Wartanian, CSM man-aging director, said: This de-cision was not taken lightly and was well-thought-through with my team in my companys best interest.

    It marks the beginning of

    Universal Music has signed a content distribution agreement with Qatari telecommunications provider Qtel.

    Under the terms of the deal, customers of telcos within the Qtel Group will be offered unlimited music downloads via mobiles and the internet.

    The company will also develop music themed communities and song-sharing applications for its subscribers and offer access to exclusive music events.

    ABU DHABI STADIUM TO SOLVE EVENTS CONUNDRUM

    EXCLUSIVE a new era for CSM, a human-sized yet international enter-tainment-specialised company, which Ive chosen to grow beyond UAE boundaries... we will focus on our international projects and artist manage-ment until further notice.

    Wartanian, who con rmed CSMs headquarters will remain in Dubai, added: Sorry for dis-appointing all of Desert Rocks loyal fans. We would like to re-assure you that our passion re-mains in organising top-scale events. The show will go on.

    Sting has been con rmed as the rst major artist to perform at Dubais new Meydan horse racing precinct.

    The former Police frontman will perform live as part of the Dubai International Racing Carnivals Super Thursday on March 4.

    Meydan is expected to establish itself as one of Dubais premier locations for live music events during the winter months.

    MEYDAN PUTS A STING IN ITS TAIL

    Dubai-based Electro-Voice (EV) distributor NMK Electronics has supplied Doha-based equipment rental company Crystal Studio with 16 cabinets of EVs new Zx5 speakers and seven EV CP-4000S ampli ers.

    EVs Zx5 is a 15-inch, two-way cabinet with a high-impact, composite enclosure, featuring an all-new DXV3150 500-watt, 15-inch woofer and two-inch neodymium ND2 compression driver.

    CRYSTAL SOUNDS FOR NMK AND EV

    The Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) has granted the countrys rst private FM radio broadcasting licence to Alf Alf.

    The radio broadcaster spent $20m beating 10 rivals to secure the licence, including Prince Alwaleeds Rotana AV and pan-Arab network ART. Under the terms of the deal, Alf Alfs new service must cover 30 regional centres across Saudi Arabia, with 15 mandated by the Saudi MOCI.

    KSA MOCI GRANTS FM RADIO LICENSE

    NEWS BRIEFS

    Motorheads Lemmy on stage at Desert Rock 09.

    UNIVERSAL SCORES QTEL CONTENT DEAL

    UAE authorities have approved the development of the new 65,000-seat Khalifa National Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

    The stadium will be the rst in the country to feature a retractable roof, which would make it the largest indoor venue in the Middle East, enabling large-scale live events to

    be staged all year-round. The estimated completion date is the rst quarter of 2013.

    If the events industry had access to substantial indoor venues it would expand the season by three months, commented Thomas Ovesen, MD of AEG Live Middle East.

  • 08SASMARCH 2010

    THE BRIEFING

    UK-based LED lighting manu-facturer i-Pix has appointed DLC Dubai its new Middle East distributor.

    This follows an increasing awareness of and interest in i-Pix BB range of products in

    I-PIX TIES WITH DLC FOR ME DISTRIBUTION

    the region over the last two years, together with their use and speci cation on several high pro le projects overseen by leading lighting design-ers including Svend Pedersen, Mark Cunniffe and Billy Aidie.

    DLC Dubai will offer the full i-Pix range including the newly launched BB1, alongside the popular BB4 and BB7 units for sale and rental.

    i-Pix also intends to launch a new architectural lighting range in 2010.

    Cirque du Soleil good investment for Dubai World

    Cirque du Soleil, the Canadi-an-based circus dance troupe which is part owned by Dubai World subsidiaries Istithmar World and Nakheel, is not up for sale, the companys CEO has con rmed.

    To me, its still a rumour, Cirque du Soleils CEO Daniel Lamarre told the Montreal Ga-zette last month. He noted the company was still 80 percent owned by the troupes founder Guy Lalibert. They [Dubai World] cant sell us to anybody without Guy Laliberts ap-proval, Lamarre added.

    A spokesperson from Cirque du Soleil said the company had no indication or discussions with Istithmar World or Na-kheel regarding the sale of the Dubai companies stake.

    Lamarre said that Cirque du Soleil would be prepared to

    buy back their Dubai partners 20 percent stake but that the offer had not been made.

    Its not a conversation right now. We were talking to them [Dubai World] two weeks ago and it was not on the cards.

    As far as Im concerned, its still not on the cards because

    were a good investment for them, he is quoted as saying in the Canadian report.

    In August, Nakheel and Istith-mar World acquired a 20 per-cent stake in Cirque du Soleil, in a deal reportedly worth $600m.

    The Quebec-based act was set up in 1984, has twenty

    shows currently operating around the globe and gen-erates annual revenues of around $810m. It recently in-troduced its seventh Las Vegas show, Viva Elvis, at the Aria Hotel, which is located within the Dubai World- nanced Cit-yCenter development.

    Dubai-based equipment rental rm Protec has appointed John Shanlian to the newly created position of sales manager.

    In his new position, Shan-lian is responsible for pursuing new business opportunities on behalf of the company, which is one of the regions largest equipment rental houses.

    The economic downturn has seen a contraction in the number of major contracts available, so were looking to pursue new areas of business

    PROTEC APPOINTS NEW DUBAI SALES MANAGER

    in the region, Shanlian said. There is a misconception that Protec is only available to work on massive equipment rental projects, which is actu-ally far from the case. My job is to ensure the right message gets out to the market.

    EXPANSION

    www.digitalproductionme.com

    Cirque du Soleil CEO Daniel Lamarre has refuted claims Dubai World is set to sell its stake in the show.

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  • 10

    FUNK MASTERSFunkGurus, the UK Music Services Company with of ces and recording facilities in Egypt, recently opened the doors to its new recording and music production facilities located on the Red Sea.

    SASMARCH 2010

    AUDIO PRODUCTION

    FunkGurus is one of a small band of audio production special-ists nding success in the Mid-dle East. Having maintained a presence in the region for the

    past six years, the company led by busi-ness partners Julie Potter and Craig Hume took the decision to open its new Red Sea facility in a bid to snare new business, particularly in the booming Egyptian audio post-production market.

    The companys new studio facility, locat-ed in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, is a fully digitised operation primarily run-ning Apple Logic Studio Pro 9 for record-ing, editing and mixing tasks.

    Studio engineers also have access to Apples Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut for industry standard mastering and synchro-nisation projects.

    The facility boasts an extensive range of industry standard condenser microphones and 'MOTU' interfaces and pre-amps for voice-overs and recording projects.

    A 40-input 18-bus Yamaha 01V96VCM digital mixer is the primary desk used for studio recording and production, while monitoring is handled by Yamaha and JBL reference monitors.

    To enable broadcast quality production, the studio utilises the latest recording in-dustry signal processors for EQ, compres-sion and limiting, in addition to various mastering tools to ensure their projects are complete before being sent to clients for their approval.

    FunkGurus counts a number of high-pro le organisations, including Akeel Saatchi & Saatchi and Pinewood Studios, among its clients.

    Remote accessFunkGurus works with an extensive list of well-known session musicians, includ-ing Grammy Nominee Miles Gilderdale of Acoustic Alchemy fame, acclaimed saxo-phonist Snake Davis (Eurythmics and M-people) and Blues legend, Johnny Mars.

    Each artist collaborates remotely using Ap-ple Logic, explains Hume (pictured left).

    We email a Logic project le to a musi-cian who then records their own tracks be-fore sending the completed les back to us here in Egypt, he says.

    This technology means you can be locat-ed pretty much anywhere in the world.

    We have even received ideas for projects from musicians while they are in the mid-dle of a long-haul ight composed on the musicians laptop and then emailed through once theyre on the ground. The possibilities are truly limitless.

  • 11

    Glory daysCraig Hume, who has been working as a sound engi-neer since the late-1980s, vividly recalls the days when manual SMPTE code striping of multi-track tape was required and engineers often used numerous hardware sequencers and time code generators just to ensure the recorded audio would sync to the video footage.

    It would often fall out and require endless xing, he explains.

    One of the biggest problems with that way of work-ing was that you had to manually switch the noise re-duction off on the multi-track tape in order for the SMPTE to record properly.

    Then of course you had to remember to switch it back on afterwards before the next project! Not to mention the huge and obtrusive 22-inch television that sat in between the monitors in the control room, ob-scuring the view into the live studio area.

    These days, Hume receives a QuickTime video clip, imports it into Logic 9, the system identi es the cuts and away he goes.

    Its a highly creative and fast-paced way of working, especially with the added bene ts provided by Logics templates bringing everything into one screen project, at the touch of a button that a composer could wish for in order to start work.

    www.digitalproductionme.com

    MARCH 2010 SAS

  • 12SASMARCH 2010

    AUDIO PRODUCTION

    www.digitalproductionme.com

    Recent media projects include mu-sic and voice-over work for corporate web videos and pre-recorded radio pro-grammes for both commercial and corpo-rate radio stations. Hume says the organi-sation is currently working on a 30-second spot for a well-known motorcycle manu-facturer, recording numerous tracks, fo-ley & sound effects and voice-overs. The advertisement will be mixed in Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

    Through extensive music industry con-tacts and an af liation with the largest music industry and events recruitment agency in Europe, they are also able to provide experienced and quali ed free-lance and permanent personnel for both live events and media projects.

    Craig Hume CVHume boasts more than 15 years experience in music performance, media composition and event management. Initially, he trained and quali ed as a sound engineer and has played saxophone professionally, working with The Justin Hayward Band (Moody Blues), Mike DAbo from Manfred Man, The Johnny Mars Band (USA) and numerous other professional artists.

    Hume launched UK based Meantime Artist Management in 2003, creating a roster of performers and entertainers. Amongst others, his artists have performed before luminaries including HRH Prince William of Wales; Gerhard Schroder; Oscar Lafontaine; Ronnie Wood; Planet Hollywood Berlin; Elton John; GQ Magazine; The British Film & TV awards; Garrards Jewellers.

    Working in the Middle East, Hume has produced music for advertising agencies including Akeel Saatchi & Saatchi and Tihama, and worked on various projects for Coca-Cola, MBC, Kelvinator and La Vache Kiri.

    Hume holds a Ba (Hons) in Business Management and a Diploma in Media Composition from the Film Music Institute of Los Angeles.

    siwgrrasa

  • 14SASMARCH 2010

    INTERVIEW

    VISUALMEDIUM

    Dubai-based rental company Creative Technology is carving a successful niche supplying cutting-edge video technology and know-how to events production and corporate clients across the GCC region. Aaron Greenwood recently caught up

    with general manager Damien McGurn in Dubai.p g

    with general manag

  • 15MARCH 2010 SAS

    www.digitalproductionme.com

    Sound & Stage: Hows business?Damian McGurn: Business is really great at the moment. Weve got a couple of massive projects on the boil, the most important being Meydan [racecourse in Dubai]. Its a massive development and weve been given a number of opportuni-ties to supply kit to both the Dubai World Cup racing carnival and associated events throughout the city. Certainly the last ve months has been the best period of busi-ness since we started, which is brilliant giv-en the current economic circumstances.

    S&S: Why do you think this trend has emerged?DM: Weve worked really hard to educate clients to use specialised serv-ice providers, rather than full service companies. Obviously, theres a mar-ket for the full-service guys, but cer-tainly, with some of the big projects weve been involved with, the project manager knows what they want and knows whats required to get the best value and service for their budget.

    S&S: Do you think this is because there are more quali ed project manag-ers based in this region nowadays than a few years ago?DM: Absolutely. There is de -nitely a greater number of spe-cialised operators in the market who know what they want and who to work with to get it. The

    industry has matured a great deal in Dubai in recent years. Were lucky in terms of how many projects weve got and the big clients we work with, such as Flash in Abu Dhabi. Because CT also has of ces worldwide, we quite often pick up work via our international partners.

    S&S: You also source kit when required from your interna-tional partners, dont you?DM: Yes, thats a bit of a unique capability of ours, in that we can source kit from dif-ferent divisions of CT located worldwide.

    For example, with the Meydan gig, were working with CT London and a couple of other divisions to meet the clients select demands for kit.

    What were nding now is most of our business is coming from incoming produc-tion managers and what they tend to do is broker the deal, then well have to deal with the end-client in terms of billing and payment, which is challenging at times given that we may not necessarily be privy to information regarding the deal.

    S&S: Did you ever consider expanding CTs remit outside professional video services?DM: We did toy with the idea of being a full-service rental company when we rst started the business, but we fast realised it would be more bene cial specialising in video than trying to take on existing busi-nesses and treading on too many toes.

    Were forging a successful niche as a video supplier, and were nding other niche operators in this industry are enjoy-ing similar levels of success.

    S&S: Are you investing in new kit at the moment?DM: Theres been a massive increase in demand for LEDs from clients in recent months. This region is still fairly seasonal, so what we dont want is for kit to be sit-ting in Dubai not being used. So, as an organisation we buy kit and then the vari-ous divisions can use it as required. In say-ing that, our new warehouse facility stores around 150 sqm of Lighthouse LEDs.

    Were also looking to invest in high de nition. The demands not quite at the point where we can justify buying a mas-sive number of HD projectors, but most of our data switching tech is HD-ready, so its increasingly making commercial sense for us to update our inventory to HD. Were looking to invest in a number of Christie HD projectors, as we see strong demand for the brand in this region.

    S&S: Do you have enough equipment locally to keep up with demand? DM: In terms of whats happening here,

    S&S:trendDM: Weducaice procompket fotainlywevprojewangetthei

    S&bequernyDncww

    induin Dubai in

    CT has supplied video tech to a range of high-pro le events, including Yasalam (pictured above and main).

    Damien McGurn and Mark Woodhouse.

  • 16SASMARCH 2010

    INTERVIEW

    we can certainly grow the business, but at the moment were running at 100%. Thats why its so impor-tant that we maintain access to this equipment inventory that be-ing part of a much bigger group provides us with.

    S&S: How long does it take to source the required kit?DM: It depends where its coming from and whether it needs to be air freighted. Obviously, we make the client aware of the costs involved if its an urgent request, and if theyre happy to cover these costs were happy to source the equipment.

    Were pretty exible and we can discuss the options with the client.

    S&S: Which clients are re-questing HD equipment?DM: We recently supplied HD kit to the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

    We also provided some large- scale projectors to the Future Energy Summit Awards. Corporate clients are increasingly demanding HD equipment.

    S&S: You mentioned Qatar as a major source of new business.Can you elaborate?DM: Qatars proving one of our best mar-kets in the GCC at present. We supplied a range of video equipment to the Doha Tribeca Film Festival last year and weve also been involved in a host of corpo-rate projects in the country over the past 12 months. To give you some indication,

    were currently pitching to be in-volved in more than 10 separate projects in Qatar over the next four months, which are primarily gov-ernment funded events. The Qa-tar Foundation is really pushing the country to the forefront in this re-gard.

    S&S: So, where do you see your business heading over the next 12 months?DM: Well, Im con dent it will keep grow-ing exponentially over the next year. Were involved in a great number of events scheduled over the next couple of months and were con dent this trend will contin-ue well into next year. Were not interest-ed in doing really small corporate events. Were pitching for big business, and hope-fully the momentum weve enjoyed in re-cent months will sustain us well into the next period of growth.

    Sound Foundations

    T: +971 4 375 7668E: [email protected]

    e to We also provided some large scale

    wvopromoerntarcougard

    www.digitalproductionme.com

  • 18SASMARCH 2010

    INTERVIEW

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    For dealer opportunities and more information:[email protected] +44 1494 446000 www.chroma-q.com

    Artistic Licence is the designer and manufacturer of Color Web. All Chroma-Q LED products are licenced by Color Kinetics. Chroma-Q and all associated product names are recognised trademarks, for moreinformation visit www.chroma-q.com/trademarks. The rights and ownership of all trademarks are recognised. The information contained herein is correct at the time of printing, however as we are constantly refining our

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  • COVER STORY

    20SAS MARCH 2010

    2010 is shaping up as a watershed year for technological innovation in the pro audio, lighting and AV presentation sectors. Aaron Greenwood previews the top 10 technologies set to change the way you do business through 2010 and beyond.

    FUTURESHOCK:THE TOP TECH OF 2010

    COVER STORY

    20SAS MARCH 2010

  • 21SAS MARCH 2010

    www.digitalproductionme.com

    INTERACTIVE HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS

    Undoubtedly the coolest AV technol-ogy yet imagined, prototype interactive holographic projectors were rst pre-viewed at SIGGRAPH 2008.

    Dubbed the Ultrasound Tactile Dis-play (UTD), the technology employs ultrasound technology to enable touch-able holograms, making the realms

    portrayed in lms from Blade

    ALTERNATE REALITIESRunner to Minority Report an entirely tan-gible reality.

    The technology, developed by research-ers at the University of Tokyo, utilises a 3D projector and mirror re ector, which radi-ates high- delity pressure on to the users hands, providing a degree of tactility when interacting with the holographic images.

    In a research paper published to coin-cide with the UTDs debut, the Japa-nese research team revealed it was working to develop the technology for applications ranging from gaming to stereoscopic 3D displays.

    It is also expected that by superim-posing the acoustic radiation pressure onto the 3D graphic objects presented with stereoscopic displays, it will effec-tively enhance the reality of the 3D vir-tual objects, the report concluded.

    How cool is that?

    LIGHTING TRENDS

    NEXT-GENERATION AMPLIFIERS

    The future is brightThe lighting technology for now and the foreseeable future, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have found favour in every corner of the lighting industry, from architec-tural to stage effects design.

    The technologys future prospects hinge on two main areas of develop-ment: improved brightness providing for spotlight applications and intelligent de-sign incorporating a range of visual me-dia facets, including digital projection and interaction with other LED xtures.

    The rapid development of these x-tures is mirrored by the emergence of highly capable media servers and switch-ers managing output and control of mul-tiple xtures in large-scale lighting rigs.

    Combine this hardware with super-quick microprocessors and advanced software control, and the future looks bright for LED lighting xtures capable of projecting pure white light, multimedia content and a variety of gobos, all from the one device.

    Stepping into the lightThe limitations of LED lighting technolo-gies to project a pure white beam of light has ensured the continued popularity of halogen xtures in the live events mar-ket. However, things are changing rap-idly in this regard.

    cnwfto

    ponwtivtu

    INTELLIGENT LEDS

    Power ampli ers have improved remark-ably in recent years, but recent advances in ampli cation technology promise to change the way the pro audio game is played entirely.

    In nitely smaller microprocessors will not only enable a host of applications in previously unheard of products every-thing from mobile phone loudspeakers to active studio headphones theyll also support new, expansive wireless net-works of active speakers in large-scale live audio environments.

    Improvements in class D ampli er de-sign have opened up the market to pow-erful amps with little if any latent power loss, ensuring greater operational ef -ciency (around 40% on average) com-pared to class A or B products.

    According to Sergio Sanchez Moreno, an audio engineer with coldamp, the theoretical maximum ef ciency of class

    D designs is 100%, although more than 90% is regularly attainable in practice.This ef ciency is high from very mod-erate power levels up to clipping, and it is higher as the power increases, due to some xed losses in the control and gate-drive circuitry, he says. In class B, around 50% ef ciency is achieved in practical use with music signals.

  • COVER STORY

    22SAS MARCH 2010

    Apples iPhone has unexpectedly emerged as one of the most useful and versatile tools available to pro audio engineers, with a huge variety of applications being developed for the handset by some of the industrys top manufacturers.

    While most are available for nominal download and licensing fees, some of the best can be found for free, such as AKGs free wireless audio monitoring application released last month.

    Other apps, such as the Sound Trends Looptastic Producer 3, enable users to track recordings on the y, bringing new meaning to the term rough mix.

    For a comprehensive list of dowloadable applications, check out www.apple.com.

    QUANTUM DOTS

    DIGITAL DISPLAY TRENDSETTERS IPHONE APPS

    One of the most exciting discoveries of recent years in terms of commercial lighting applications relates to the quan-tum dot.

    In 2005, Michael Bowers, a gradu-ate student at Vanderbilt University in the United States, discovered a new application for minute quantum dots crystals only a few nanometres big that contain anything from 100 to 1000 electrons when he shone a laser on the collection during an experiment.

    Quantum dots generally produce a vibrant colour when a regular analogue spotlight is shone on them. But with the laser, the electrons reacted to create a bright white light reminiscent of a regu-lar halogen lamp.

    Bowers then extended his research, coating LED nodes with a collection of quantum dots, only to nd the xture gave off a pure white light that shone twice as brightly and lasted twice as long as a regular 60W bulb.

    Quantum dots offer huge potential not only in the lighting sector but also

    While a host of consumer electronics manufacturers have released 3D televi-sion displays in recent months, commercial applications of the technology have re-mained limited, mainly due to the dif cul-ties to date of integrating the technology in large-scale high-resolution displays.

    However, the situation recently took a quantum leap forward with the de-but of a massive 280-inch 3D LED display manufactured by Sony at Ja-pans International Broadcast Equip-ment Exhibition (IBEE) in November.

    The screen itself consists of 70 LED displays measuring 28-inches in di-ameter and requires users to wear polarised glasses to view the stere-oscopic images on display.

    Sony is also working on a true

    CONNECTING MORE THAN FOUR

    3D PRESENTATION SCREENS

    the digital display market. US company QD Vision has led the pack in this respect, developing QD-LED displays in addition to a Quantum Light optic for a new LED lamp developed by Nexxus Lighting that is claimed to combine the warmth and colour of incandescent bulbs with the ef ciency of LED technology.

    The commercial potential of the tech-nology is evident in the interest shown by investors in the company in recent months, despite ongoing economic dif- culties in the US. At the time of writing, the company had attracted more than $15m in the previous six weeks alone in seed funding, as well as of cial commen-dations from the Obama administration.

    We believe that quantum dot-based materials have physical properties that can help display and lighting makers reach the holy grail of breakthrough performance in mass production with competitive con-sumer prices, says QD Vision CEO Dan

    360-degree stereoscopic display that al-lows a 3D gure to be viewed from any angle inside a LED tube.

    While the prototype technology boasts a limited 96x128 pixel, 24-bit colour dis-play, Sony is said to be working on an in-terlaced version that is said to provide en-hanced picture quality.

    Button. The key issues facing lighting and display manufacturers lifetime, col-our, power ef ciency, manufacturability and scalability are being addressed by this technology.

    KEY FEATURES OF QUANTUM DOT TECHNOLOGYHigh ef ciency: More light with less power.Colour purity: Highly saturated, precisely tunable colour.Stability: Inherent material reliability and colour balance stability.Design exibility: Thin, exible structures that can be used for any size area and with any printing or coating method.

  • 23SAS MARCH 2010

    The concept of cloud computing work-ing over a network and storing content on a remote server that can be accessed and worked on by others concurrently is increasingly nding favour in high-tech organisations. The technologys applications are also per-tinent to the audio production sector, particularly as more and more audio professionals choose to work in remote locations far removed from the tradi-tional recording studio.

    Combining this capability with the latest pro audio recording and produc-tion software the likes of Pro Tools or Apples Logic Pro Studio 9 is set to create signi cant commercial oppor-tunities while rationalising the cost of production services for clients.

    23

    DIGITAL KILLED THE ANALOGUE STARThe impact of digital technology on the eld of professional audio engineering from audio capture and playback to advanced networked studio environments has opened up a whole new realm of commercial opportunities both for product manufacturers and the clients who employ them.

    According to preeminent industry institution the Audio Engineering Society (AES), one of the greatest single developments made possible by this seismic shift has been digital signal processing (DSP).

    Widely in use since the mid-1990s, DSP has signi cantly improved the exibility and scalability of sound reinforcement systems, according to a recent AES research paper on the subject.

    It became possible to infuse facilities such as theme parks and stadiums with hundreds of individually processed audio signals, and thus, the need arose for a exible, optimised distribution system for these signals. Since audio was now processed in digital format, logically the distribution system should be digital as

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    well. Live sound applications were the last to adopt digital technology. However, with the introduction of digital consoles and distribution systems targeted to live sound applications, this has changed.

    The present marketplace for digital audio networking might be described as fragmented, with multiple technology providers. This is the result of disparate performance requirements, market forces, and the nature of technology development.

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