Fulcrum Acoustic has introduced the FLS115 Subcardioid Subwoofer to complement its FL283 Subcardioid Line Array.

Aimed at sue in venues, including performing arts centres, houses of worship, sporting facilities and nightclubs, the FLS115 design calls on Fulcrum’s Passive Cardioid Technology to reduce excessive rear low-frequency radiation without the need for additional drivers, amplifiers or signal processing. Fulcrum’s proprietary TQ processing, delivers exacting pattern control, as well as unparalleled performance and precise transient response, even at very high SPLs.

Like the FL283, the FLS115 enclosure and rigging are designed to accommodate up to 20° of splay between adjacent cabinets, providing for more sharply curved arrays than comparable line array systems.

More: www.fulcrum-acoustic.com

Fulcrum Acoustic has appointed Timo Beckman Geluidstechniek as its distribution representative for the Netherlands. The appointment comes as Fulcrum is gaining brand recognition and sales in key international markets including continental Europe.

Having enlisted UK-based Insynergy Distribution to accommodate a surge of growth in Europe the Middle East & Africa in April 2016 April, Fulcrum Acoustic has added Insynergy to its international initiative: ‘Since coming onboard with Fulcrum, I’ve been seeking out opportunities to expand our distribution through experienced regional representatives,’ Insynergy MD, Stephen Badham explains. ‘Having Timo partner with us in the Dutch market bodes well for our European expansion going forward.’

After attending the Rotterdam Conservatory, Beckman trained to become a sound engineer. His new appointment will he him based in Dreumel, in the Netherlands.

‘I’ve always been impressed by the interesting things Fulcrum does with sound and by their ability to advance professional audio though innovative technologies such as Temporal Equalization and Passive Cardioid Technology,’ he says. ‘I am honoured to represent the company’s technology-based sound reinforcement solutions in The Netherlands.’

‘Timo’s technical expertise, customer-first attitude, and experience representing other leading pro audio brands in the Dutch market make him a valuable partner in helping us achieve our international sales growth goals,’ says Fulcrum President, Stephen Siegel.

Fulcrum Acoustic has appointed Quest Marketing as exclusive representative for Florida.

‘Being very familiar with the company and most of the people involved, we are pleased to represent Fulcrum Acoustic,’ says Quest Founder John Saviano. ‘Even when we weren’t representing its products, we closely followed Fulcrum’s development, being fans of its technological focus and emphasis on quality. We look forward to assisting in their growth.

‘Fulcrum prides itself in manufacturing high-quality, high-performing products in the US and offering customers the most responsive technical support in the industry,’ says Fulcrum Acoustic President, Stephen Siegel. ‘Quest brings more than 20 years of Florida market knowledge and experience to the table, as well as a customer-centric attitude which mirrors our own. We see Quest as a valuable partner in helping us realise our sales goals.’

Quest Marketing provides state-wide customer sales and support in Florida from offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

UK loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion-One has added the Evo 7TH and the Evo 7TL-215 to its Evolution Touring Series, bringing supplementary mid/high and mid/bass enclosures to the line.

Evolution 7TL-215 features two Evo 7T horn-loaded 15-inch drivers. It provides mid-bass reinforcement for flown and ground-stacked Evo configurations. Evolution 7TH is the mid-high section of the Evo 7T. It features 10-inch mid-range and a 1.4-inch compression driver for high frequencies. The Evo7TH is significantly smaller than the Evo 7T, making it extremely flexible and adaptable to a number of configurations. When used with Evo 7T, the Evo7 TH is inverted, meaning the high frequencies and mids mirror perfectly, maintaining coherency which enables mutual reinforcement for increased reach and audience capacity.

Having developed a user-friendly flying system for the series last year, these additions to the series also come with integrated flying gear, enabling rapid configuration with all the components in the Evo 7T flying clusters.

The increase in scalability that comes with the addition of the Evo 7TH and 7TL-215 mean that Evo configurations can comfortably deliver precise and even coverage to audiences of up to 10,000.

‘The Evo Series was born out of the discoveries we made while developing Vero, so the methodology is the same: there needs to be a genuine way of getting more power and more throw to the top – whether it’s a cluster or an array,’ says Funktion-One founder, Tony Andrews. ‘The Evo 7TH gives us exactly that but to maintain balance with the extended mid-highs, we needed to reinforce the mid-bass frequencies, so we developed the 7TL-215.

‘We’re happy with how the Evo 7T has performed in a wide variety of tour, live and festival applications. These supplementary additions to the series open up what’s possible, in terms of configurations and audience sizes.’

More: www.funktion-one.com

The Carl Cox and Friends Arena at the recent Ultra Miami music festival saw US distributor Sound Investment set up a Funktion-One Vero large-format touring sound system and F132 subwoofer system.

The extremely powerful bass enclosure combines Powersoft’s M-Force 10kW linear transducer with Funktion-One cone and enclosure technology using a single 32-inch driver with a frequency response of 24Hz to 65Hz. Its physical size and the fact it is horn-loaded means levels of directivity that are not typically possible at these low frequencies; a feat that is achieved without any processing.

Sound Investment installed eight F132s, all positioned on one side of the arena to avoid conflicting sources, resulting in smooth and even bass coverage. These were used in combination with four F221 double-21in bass enclosures. In 2015, 24 F221s were used on for the same stage, which gives an indication of the F132’s considerable output. Each F132 is almost 1.5m deep and over 1.1m wide.

‘The smile on my face was from knowing that this was the very best sonic sound experience I have ever had in that area – like I had never heard before,’ Cox says. ‘It was so warm, pleasing and powerful that it shook all my senses to the core of my soul, and this is because Tony [Andrews, Funktion-One founder] managed to achieve the true sound of analogue in the digital age. This is what has been missing in a lot of sound systems over the years. I wish more people would take a leaf out of his book, but there can only be one Tony.’

‘DJs don’t always have material that does those frequencies, but when they do the result is unequivocal – everybody experiences it,’ Andrews comments. ‘It makes the bass really big and really fat. It’s the first time that we’ve been able to have those frequencies from a fully horn-loaded source.

‘Powersoft’s R&D Director Claudio Lastrucci came over to hear some of the prototypes and definitely got the message,’ he continues. ‘I recall him saying that he’d never heard anything like it. When we got to the final stage, he came over again to help set-up the M-Force.’

Another Powersoft specialist closely involved in the process, and who was able to assess the final stage of beta testing in person at Ultra Music, was M-Force Project & Sales Manager, Massimo Minardi: ‘With the F132 working continuously to the limit – 12 hours a day over three days. It responded brilliantly to the pressure of both artists and a demanding audience. This was far removed from the simulations and tests under controlled parameters in a laboratory.’

Full Throttle Entertainment has invested in a Vero sound system from Funktion-One. According to Adam Ward, the founder of the Melbourne-based audio specialist, the addition of the vertically arrayed loudspeaker system equips them to do bigger shows and meets the requirements of a wider range of clients.

‘Full Throttle has been deploying the Resolution Series with much success for a number of years,’ he says. ‘We were consistently being approached by our clients to do bigger and bigger shows. Vero is the answer in addressing these large-format requirements, as well as bringing what is, in my opinion, a new benchmark to live touring.

Supporting the release of his second studio album, Eternamente Ora(Forever Now), – which includes the hit single, ‘Amen’– Italian electropop singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Gabbani has embarked on a series of live dates across the country. Accompanying him is renowned FOH engineer, Fabrizio Fruzzetti and Allen & Heath’s ultra-compact Qu-Pac digital mixer.

Fruzzetti serves as sound engineer for many top artists and festivals in Italy, including the Primavera Jazz Festival, Stadio, Dolcenera and Nina Zilli, Grignani, as well as working on a number of TV commercials.

‘Qu-Pac is a great mixer offering dynamic management control options, which can be accessed via the iPad app or the mixer’s touchscreen,’ he says. ‘This enables very fast operation, and the possibility to include several operators or places, such as monitor or FOH position. The app is very comprehensive and intuitive, allowing you to keep everything under control simultaneously. Also, each control is customisable, so it fits perfectly into any technical set-up.’

The band set-up for Gabbani comprises drums, keyboard with Pro Tools, vocoder, and Francesco’s vocals, synth vocoder, acoustic and electric guitars. Fruzzetti uses stereo delay FX on vocals and synth vocoder and Hall on vocals and acoustic guitar.

More: www.allen-heath.com

Live events supplier Gearhouse has invested in further L-Acoustics K2 and KS28 cabinets, accompanied by 36 LA12x amplified controllers in LA-RakII and eight P1 AVB audio processors – making it the largest L-Acoustics Certified Provider in South Africa and boosting its ability to service even the most ambitious national events.

This investment also makes Gearhouse the first company on the continent to meet the new KX Standard for its large-format systems, which was quickly put into service at the Global Citizen Festival in the 90,000-capacity FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

Gearhouse South Africa has been growing rapidly for a number of years, taking an increasingly dominant role in major South African live events. The Global Citizen Festival is part of the Global Citizen organisation, which aims to end extreme poverty, and Gearhouse’s participation in the event marked a significant shift for the company. Gearhouse took on overall management of the audio side, including liaising with artist management for a raft of mostly local talent supporting some of the world’s biggest acts, including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Ed Sheeran, and Pharrell Williams.

Gearhouse divides its L-Acoustics stock between its three main offices – Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. With the most recent investment, that stock now consists of 48 K1 and 48 K2, 24 Kara, 12 ARCS II, 66 dV-Dosc, 48 V-Dosc, and 36 Kudo. The stock of subwoofers now runs to 16 K1SB, 24 dV-Sub, 24 KS28, 64 SB28, and 16 SB18. There are also 52 115XT HiQ stage monitors, plus LA8 and LA12X amplified controllers, and eight of the latest P1 AVB audio processors.

The Global Citizen Festival required a substantial proportion of those resources and made full use of Gearhouse’s additional inventory, as delay tower deployment had to be limited to protect the irrigation and drainage systems under the FNB stadium’s playing surface.

‘We would really prefer to have four delay towers but, because of the restrictions, it’s two hangs plus one on a V tower,’ Gearhouse Head of Audio, Lewellyn Reinecke explains. ‘At the front we’ve previously used 14 K1 main hangs and then 15 or 16 V-Dosc for the out-hangs, but our increased stock means that we can now use K1 across the board.’

The FNB Stadium has five seating levels, and Level 5, which starts at around 40m  from the ground and goes up to about 60m, is normally treated by Gearhouse as a completely separate venue ‘that gets its own transportation, logistics, and crew,’ explains Reinecke. ‘Up there, you walk about a kilometre just to go around it once.’

Gearhouse uses between 16 and 19 hangs of six elements for Level 5. ‘We prefer to use Kara for that, because they are lighter and are very power-efficient, taking just one LA8 or LA12X for a hang of six,’ says Reinecke. ‘That’s important because the venue doesn’t allow us to use its power in the roof, so we have to run power all the way from the generators.’

Reinecke notes that the company has benefited by using the new L-Acoustics P1 AVB audio processors, which incorporate an EQ station with delay and dynamics processing, and AVB, AES/EBU and analogue audio bridging: ‘The feedback that I have received from the crew has been phenomenal. The AVB works with all the LA12X amplified controllers and we are able to monitor the whole system. It is quite an amazing thing to see.’

Overall, Reinecke says that the new K Series stock has brought new opportunity to Gearhouse and has made a big difference in the field. ‘The new stock and the improved coverage has helped us a lot,’ he says. ‘It means we can get on with our main jobs, without having to worry about how we reach every part of the biggest venues – and the KS28 is a lot lower and louder.

‘Having such a complete system makes a big difference. It’s given us a lot of headroom to play around with, which is to the benefit of the audience, and the engineers.’

More: www.l-acoustics.com

South Africa’s Gearhouse operation has made a significant investment in ARX Systems’ USB interfaces as an essential addition to the company’s live production toolkit. In total, Gearhouse has purchased ten ARX USB DI VC Plus, ten USB DI HP and six USB DI audio interfaces from Octave Distribution, the distributor for the ARX Systems product range in South Africa.

The Gearhouse Group is a collection of companies, branches and divisions that fit together to provide the widest range of technical services currently available to the live event industry in South Africa. With a portfolio that includes live touring, corporate events, concerts, rental and installation, the company prides itself on their creativity, state of the art technology and experience.

The ARX products that Gearhouse has chosen are plug-and-play USB Audio interfaces, featuring 24-bit high-resolution digital-to-analogue conversion, which removes the need to use a computer’s internal soundcard outputs with its inherent noise and distortion. The USB DI Plus VC is a Dual Mode (Digital and Analogue) audio interface with the addition of volume control. The USB DI and USB DI HP are dual-channel interfaces with full transformer balanced output isolation to eliminate earth loops/ground hum and other extraneous interaction noise and distortion.

One of Poland’s largest rental companies, GMB Pro Sound has purchased three Allen & Heath dLive mixing systems.

With a client list that includes Poland’s major music festivals, concerts and TV shows, such as the Open’er festival, Krakow Live and the huge World Youth Days worship event, GMB’s three new dLive systems comprise the flagship S7000 Surfaces and DM64 MixRacks, plus DX32 expansion racks and Dante networking cards. In addition, the company bought a ME personal monitoring system comprising a ME-U hub and 13 ME-1 mini-mixers.

‘We decided to invest in dLive because of its intuitiveness, and compatibility with other solutions,’ says GMB Pro Sound Production Manager, Remigiusz Kasztelik. ‘The Dante networking option makes it a fully universal device.

‘The systems will be put to work at many of the music and TV events that we manage. I am convinced that dLive will fulfil its duties perfectly.’

Having kicked off in Europe, Ellie Goulding’s world tour has now moved on to North America, with further European and US festival dates plus shows in Australia and New Zealand to follow. Taking over from Adlib Audio in Europe, the Delirium World Tour North America dates production is being handled by Eighth Day Sound. For mixing, this includes a a DiGiCo SD5 mixing console at front-of-house with an SD10 available for opening acts, and an SD7 at the monitor position.

FOH engineer Joe Harling, who has been touring with Goulding for two-and-a-half years, first started using DiGiCo desks three years ago: ‘I find that their routing flexibility and features such as two insert points per channel allow me to achieve what I want. They have a very neutral sound, which is a good blank canvas to start building from,’ says Harling, who has also worked with Lana Del Ray, Maccabees, Michael Kiwanuka, Meteronomy and numerous others.

On the Delirium tour, Harling is also using two Waves SoundGrid servers with the SD5, running MultiRack externally on a Mac Mini via a DiGiGrid MGB interface. ‘I’m using a fair bit of nice outboard for compression and reverbs, but I still lean pretty heavily on Waves plug-ins,’ he says. ‘I like to think of my plug-ins as 50 per cent utility and 50 per cent vibe.’

A second MGB interfaces to another laptop hosting Metric Halo’s SpectraFoo for RTA metering plus ‘weird and wonderful effects from Valhalla and Soundtoys’.

Mike Flaherty, with Goulding as monitor technician since 2013, took over as engineer in mid-2015. He has mixed on DiGiCo desks since the beginning of 2014, initially using an SD10: ‘I found the footprint was perfect for festival situations, and the versatility of the board was everything I needed,’ says the 11-year Adlib Audio veteran, who has also worked with The Script, Foals, and Catfish and the Bottlemen. ‘Since then, I’ve used the SD9 on other tours and have the SD7 on the current tour. I find the dynamic EQ a very useful tool as I don’t incorporate Waves into my sessions. The console’s video input has also been convenient – that was especially useful when we were touring with a B Stage. The video guys ran a show feed into the console, which helped massively when I couldn’t see Ellie at the other end of the arena.’

Harling, who has a background as a musician and has been a FOH engineer for the past 15 years, has been relying heavily on plug-ins on the Delirium tour: ‘The band mix on this gig is very busy and constantly changing, and Ellie’s vocal is very quiet, so I use my utility plug-ins to try and clean stuff up and make space for the vocal. I use WNS on Ellie’s vocal to get a bit more gain before feedback and reduce spill into her mic, which is especially useful if she’s on a B Stage or thrust.’

Harling typically has numerous instances of C6 running: ‘I use quite a lot of side-chaining – for instance, kick drum ducking the lowest band of C6 on bass guitar and synth bass; Ellie’s vocal ducking a tiny bit of mid-range out of a C6 on the band mix; acoustic snare drums ducking the transient of triggered electronic snares in C1; and triggers on the acoustic snares being used to open gates. I then use character plug-ins such as API EQs, H-EQ, CLA76, NLS, the Puig comp and EQ, and H-Delay to give me the vibey sounds.’

In contrast, Flaherty leans on the DiGiCo desk’s onboard processing: ‘I keep everything internal to the board except for Ellie’s vocal and drum effects, where I use two Bricasti M4 reverbs running AES into the console. That helps to keep things as consistent as possible for the band when we have to deal with fly shows and one-offs.’

Both engineers are making use of the snapshot capabilities in the DiGiCo consoles, with Flaherty typically using them to recall fader and mute changes plus some EQ moves between songs. Harling’s snapshots are triggered by Midi time code from the stage. ‘On the desk there isn’t much happening scene-to-scene, apart from mutes, fader levels and some EQs on the electronic sources such as keys and playback,’ Harling explains. ‘Each snapshot also sends Midi to Waves and to my System 6000 reverb unit. In Waves, it’s pretty much just sending tempo information to H-Delay, and the 6000 has various user presets recalled for each song.’

He sends four DiGiCo matrix outputs, designated left, right, sub and fill, to system tech George Puttock’s rack of Lake processing. ‘George does all the system timing, etc., in there, but I still find it useful to have hands-on control over sub levels and so on in the desk. The matrix section of the DiGiCo is great, as anything can go anywhere. I actually don’t send my vocals to the main LR bus, but rather have them meet the band mix in the matrix, where appropriate levels can be adjusted per send. I also can build broadcast mixes and press feeds in there, with different “mastering” compression or EQ applied.’

At monitors, Flaherty is generating stereo IEM feeds from the SD7 for 12 performers, all on in-ears – using Sennheiser EM2050 transmitters – with 22 body packs assigned. ‘There are five mixes for Ellie and the band, with three BGV sends. For this campaign we have the addition of four dancers who have another mix with four cloned packs. The remaining three sends are for the playback tech, my PFL and a spare transmitter. I also run three additional sends to d&b audiotechnik Q-Subs for the drummer, bassist and keyboard player.’

Calling it ‘an epic undertaking’, Britannia Row Productions installed a 7:1 sound system into Wembley Arena for Bear Grylls’ recent Endeavour tour. ‘Bear is a big presence on stage,’ says tour director Jim Baggott from Harvey Goldsmith’s office. ‘Every member of the audience needs to feel involved and a properly implemented surround system goes a long way to making that happen – everything in the production has to come up to that standard.’

‘We were fortunate in that we have done things like this before, so I was able to assemble an experienced team,’ says Project Manager, Lez Dwight. ‘Our system tech Sergiy Zhytnikov did a superb job, supported by Josh Thomas and his crew. And Colin Pink and Fergus Mount building and running the show has proved invaluable.’

Harman Professional Solutions has announced the Harman Connected PA, an integrated ecosystem of live sound products aimed at musicians and performers at any skill level.

The Harman Connected PA ecosystem brings together Soundcraft mixing consoles, AKG microphones, dbx stageboxes and JBL speakers that integrate Harman ioSYS technology to offer a flexible and scalable solution. At the centre of the Connected PA ecosystem is the Harman Connected PA mobile app, which provides central set-up, configuration and control.

‘Musicians need a fast and easy way to set up their PA system so they can focus on performing instead of worrying about their equipment,’ says Harman Professional Solutions Senior Global Manager, Noel Larson. ‘The Harman Connected PA system provides a simple and effective way to set up and operate their entire PA system from one central app, with minimal pro audio skills or previous live sound experience. Now musicians can focus on what matters most – their performance.’

The Harman Connected PA streamlines the set-up process with one central app for the entire component ecosystem, removing the need for multiple apps and GUIs. The app automatically identifies and configures connected equipment, provides set-up wizards for quick and easy system configuration, and offers access from a variety of devices, including iOS, Android, Mac OS and Windows.

The Connected PA product ecosystem is enabled via ioSYS technology and initially includes equipment from Soundcraft, JBL, dbx and AKG, allowing musicians to create systems that suit their specific needs. Additional Harman equipment can be added to increase performance flexibility and meet the demands of future growth. At launch, compatible products include: Soundcraft Ui12, Ui16, and Ui24R Digital Mixers; JBL PRX800W Series Loudspeakers; dbx DI1 Active Direct Box; and AKG P5i Microphone. Harman Professional Solutions expects to extend the Connected PA ecosystem, to provide further versatility and adaptablility.

More: http://connected-pa.com

HD Pro Audio has appointed UK Main Dealer for the 10EaZy sound level measurement system from SGAudio Aps.

‘We see great potential in the touring and installed live sound market for 10EaZy, as an essential tool for both engineers and venues to keep them on the right side of noise regulations,’ says HD Pro Audio Sales Director, Andy Huffer of the system – which is intended for the live sound and entertainment industries. ‘Noise complaints have been identified by many as one of the primary threats to music and performance venues of all shapes and sizes, so to invest in an easy-to-manage way of monitoring SPL and liaise with the local authorities can only be a positive move.

‘10EaZy is already in use at some major UK venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Union Chapel, and on tour with engineers such as Mick Hughes and Jon Burton,’ he adds. ‘We welcome enquiries from potential clients who need to know more about the simple user interface and capability for logging and remote analysis or those wanting to try the system out.’

‘Noise regulations often get a lot of bad press, as do concerts with poor audio performance due to excessive sound levels,’ says SGAudio Aps CEO, Jacob Navne-van Vliet. ‘Both challenges can be countered with proper and unambiguous monitoring. 10EaZy aims at providing this to secure a high quality experience for everyone involved in a sound reinforced performance.

‘We are always looking for dedicated dealers who understand the benefits that come with using 10EaZy at any kind of live event. HD Pro Audio is exactly that. The team has the knowledge and enthusiasm for great audio that we are looking. With HD Pro Audio’s position in the UK market, we are sure the company will be a key asset in the continued growth of 10EaZy in the UK.’

English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist PJ Harvey is following up her UK number one album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, by headlining some of the UK and Europe’s most prestigious music festivals. Along with her nine-strong band, the tour has included appearances at the Glastonbury, the London Field Day, Primavera Sound and Rock Werchter. PJ Harvey’s vocal microphone of choice on these shows is a Sennheiser super-cardioid MD 431.

Harvey’s FOH engineer is Howard ‘Head’ Bullivant, who has been with her since 1990 when he recorded her first demos and co-produced her debut album, Dry. Since then, he has worked as producer, engineer or mix engineer on five PJ Harvey albums, plus a number of other live and collaborative albums. He toured as mix engineer on her first tour in 1992 and has been involved in almost all of her live shows since 2003. He has been specifying Sennheiser microphones even longer.

‘I originally chose the Sennheiser MD 441 for her vocal simply because it’s a fantastically versatile microphone, great for vocals and just about everything you choose to point it at,’ he says. ‘Polly [PJ Harvey] used it on some of the vocal recording on her latest Hope Six Demolition Project album and in rehearsal, so it was always an option for the live shows, but in the end, when the whole PJ Harvey production was set-up with nine musicians on stage and 23 monitors, we thought that the MD 431 had slightly better rejection, and Polly choose it above the MD 441 to use for the festival shows. This is a show where the audibility of the vocal is crucial. I constantly recommend the MD 431 to other engineers. That’s the best I can say…’

Monitor Engineer Magali Couturier, who is new to the PJ Harvey team, but has been using Sennheiser microphones since she started working as an engineer in 1994, adds: ‘We use the MD 441 as vocal mic because of the sound and the look of the mic. The filter and boost have very nice attributes. We also use the MD 431 because, as Head says, the super-cardioid pattern makes it easier to use in loud environments and with her band. And I’m using Sennheiser’s 2000 IEM system because they are the best, with precise sound reproduction and no drop outs.

‘We have had a lot of help getting the right mics for our instruments, radio equipment, and IEM equipment. I can’t speak highly enough of the Sennheiser team, they have been extremely helpful and supportive. Our production is not a usual show.’

Directed by renowned British theatre director Ian Rickson, dressed by Ann Demeulemeester, with lighting by Adam Silverman and set design by multi-media artist Jeremy Herbert, the PJ Harvey live show is receiving rave reviews around the world. ’We are pushing the limits of what is possible on stage and have been very happy with the support we have had.’

‘I also switched James Blake onto an MD 431 last year for his festival shows,’ says Head. ‘I have been working with James since 2012, touring extensively world wide since mid 2012, including the whole of his ‘Retrograde’ album tour. James has a slightly unusual stage set-up changing between two keyboard positions for different songs. This means that one of his monitor wedges is pointing at the mic at any one time. Combined with the dynamic changes of this show - alternating between extremely intimate quiet songs, to heavy dub-step and electronic dance tracks - I found the 431 coped very well with this without compromising vocal quality. Sennheiser 904 & 614 are used on the drum kit.’

‘Earlier this year I switched Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes) onto a Sennhieser e935 for her live performances, with keyboard player/backing vocalist Laura Groves also using a e935, as well as the vocals the BFL stage set-up uses 904s, 604s and 609s on guitar amps and drums. I also used Sennhieser 441, 421 & 906 mics during the recording sessions of The Bride, Natasha’s recently Mercury-nominated album, most of which was mixed at my Ice House Studio in Dorset.’

More: www.sennheiser.com

FOH engineer Chris Pollard has been touring with Mumford & Sons since their first album and is currently out on their An Arrow Through The Heartland tour. With him is his mixing console of choice – the SSL L500 live.

Having previously used a top-flight analogue console, the SSL Live had to measure up in terms of sound quality: ‘First and foremost, this console sounds great – the sound quality is amazing,’ he says. ‘The sound of the raw preamp on this console is incredible, and that analogue quality is retained through the console.’

The FOH path count for Mumford & Sons is large – it starts with around 76 inputs, but Pollard adds to that with extensive use of the L500’s Stem bus type – a grouping bus with discrete send levels and full processing that can be picked from any one of six points on the contributing path, and routed anywhere, including to other stems. By inserting an FX into a stem and routing channels to that stem, he creates a fully processed auxiliary bus without requiring a separate return path.

‘I’m not using auxiliaries at all,’ he explains. ‘It’s a new way of working for me, but it works really well.’

Pollard lays out his VCA masters on Fader Tile 1, immediately below the large multi-touchscreen. The tile to the left of that contains banks of instrument channels, and the one above has all the FX stems and other groups. ‘In a way, I’ve replicated an old-school analogue set up, but with this I can quickly access any instrument through the VCA groups, with the Q button.’

The Q button (Super-Query function) enables forward and reverse interrogation, so when Pollard hits the Q button on a VCA master, the neighbouring tiles are immediately populated with the contributing channels. This also works with all bus types, and with input channels (for fast access to destination paths). ‘My layout is built around that,’ he says. ‘A big advantage of this console is that you can put anything anywhere – you can think about your habits and the way you work and design your show file around that... Anyone can create a layout that works for them. Then, as your show evolves – as it naturally does over a year of touring – you can shift things around.’

The L500’s onboard FX Rack offers 96 effect slots, arranged in racks with dual linkable tempo sources – and nearly 50 different SSL effects and tools. Among his favourite, Pollard cites the SSL Bus Compressor: ‘You can really dig in and make it sound the way you want it to, even emulate other compressors.’

‘The phase scope tool is really useful too,’ he continues. ‘I have it set up on a Stem as a tool channel. If I need to check the phase relationship between two inputs I can simply send them to the phase scope, left and right, and see how they are lining up. On the input path, I can use the All-Pass Filter and tweak it until I can see that it’s fully locked up.’

Every one of the available 208 fully processed paths on the L500 (256 paths total) incorporates an All-Pass Filter for adjusting phase without affecting response – extremely useful for multi-miking situations.

As an example, Pollard describes Marcus Mumford’s guitar path, which begins split between two amps – a Fender Super Reverb Amp and another boutique amp: ‘I’ve got a Shure SM57 on one, and a Shure KSM313 ribbon mic on the other. I send both to the FX Rack phase tool and use the All-Pass Filter on the KSM channel to get them sounding exactly right together. They then get sent to a stem, which has a Waves Soundgrid Multirack insert on it; that is then sent to my master band stem which is, in turn, sent to the master outputs.’

For Pollard and the band, the An Arrow Through The Heartland road trip end with the 2016 festival season with the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October.

More: www.solidstatelogic.com

After 30 years of heavy metal service, Hunter are again touring their native Poland and are now carrying an Allen & Heath dLive S Class digital mixing system for FOH.

Hunter continue to write and produce music, and to tour on a regular basis. The band’s sound engineer, Marcin ‘Marcel’ Płoński, first tried out dLive last summer, and one of the earliest outings with the system was at the renowned Jarocin Festival – the Polish Woodstock. When the band embarked on their latest tour, Płoński took a Dante-enabled S3000 Surface with DM32 MixRack. Supplied by Konsbud Audio, the system has now completed more than 30 dates since touring commenced.

‘dLive is very easy to manage, and the surface is very clear and logical, allowing you to arrange functions for quick access to suit the individual,’ Płoński reports. ‘The most important feature of the system for me is undoubtedly the parallel compression, of which I am very fond, as well as the new Dyn8. The simple virtual sound check is another great feature.’

HWPco has been appointed Southeast USA representative for Allen & Heath by distributor, American Music & Sound.

Covering the states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, the company serves integrators, rental and staging companies, tour sound specialists and consultants, in markets from corporate communications to worship spaces and performance venues. HWPco offers a wide range of professional services including order processing, high-level tech support and formal training.

‘One of our main missions is to partner with best-in-class manufacturers, like Allen & Heath, to complement our best-in-class customer base,’ says HWPco Principal and AV Systems Group Director of Sales, Trey Gunter. ‘With partners like this, we can focus our efforts, put more feet on the street and bring more value to the conversation. When you put it all together, it makes a sweet recipe for success and we’re excited about representing Allen & Heath because they fit this strategy perfectly.’

‘HWPco is exactly the kind of representative we need to build our brand and grow our sales and market share in the southeast,’ says Allen & Heath USA Senior VP, Tim Schaeffer. ‘The sales and tech support people are well trained professionals who will help us strengthen relationships with dealers, consultants and en-users in a wide range of vertical markets.’

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The East Coast counterpart to the company’s flagship Los Angeles venue, the iHeartRadio Theater in New York regularly hosts A-list artists, including the likes of Mary J Blige, Ed Sheeran, Muse and Blink-182. When the theatre’s sound system was up for renewal, it was decided to install a system on a par with the touring systems used by top performers

Accordingly, an L-Acoustics house loudspeaker system now serves the intimate 200-seat performance space.

With tickets restricted iHeart subscribers, bands’ fan clubs and other exclusive channels, shows are performed on a stage that’s barely a foot off the floor, and streamed live through the iHeartRadio app and more than 850 iHeartRadio stations throughout the US.

The L-Acoustics system was installed by See Factor, a New York rental and installed-sound provider specialising in live clubs and theatres. It comprises two hangs of three ARCS II speakers per side augmented by four KS28 subwoofers under the stage, all powered by three AVB-enabled LA12X amplified controllers. Three X15HiQ coaxial speakers add fill to the theatre’s raised VIP section.

Stage monitoring is delivered by eight X12 and four X15HiQ monitors, with a pair of SB18 subs. The X Series speakers are powered using a mix of LA8 and LA4X amplified controllers.

iHeart Technical Director, Stephen Wyker, says the previous sound system had been the theatre’s weak point since it opened in 2008: ‘When you look at the calibre of artists that perform here regularly, the sound system was not at that level,’ he admits. ‘Now, it’s like night and day. It’s amazing.’

Wyker previously guided the technology at Webster Hall, another New York music venue where an L-Acoustics Kara sound system met rider requirements for artists globally. He says there was never a doubt that L-Acoustics was destined for the iHeartRadio Theater eventually. ‘We wanted the performers and the audience to have the best sound experience possible, and now they do,’ he says. ‘The fidelity is incredible.’

The iHeartRadio Theater is not a typical live-music venue – it was designed from the start as a space to record and stream live shows. That meant the space needed to be an acoustically controlled environment.

‘It’s a pretty dead space, in order to control reflections and volume,’ Wyker explains. ‘So, the sound system has to be able to liven the sound up, and the ARCS II does that wonderfully. And the bass is fantastic. The ARCS II is full range, so we’d get plenty of low end from those alone. But when the KS28’s kick in, you can really feel the bass.

‘What’s really great is now we have a sound system that’s as good as what these artists play through at their own shows,’ he adds. ‘And it’s probably the same one they tour with.’