Archive for November, 2011

— “I’m thrilled with mine,” quotes multi-platinum, GRAMMY®-winning engineer/producer Ed Seay, who has recently tracked and mixed albums for Lee Brice, Mark Jordan, Blake Shelton, Diane Schuur and John Prine, to name a few —

Nashville, TN: Journeyman recording engineer and four-year Carl Tatz Design PhantomFocus™ System (PFS™) veteran Ed Seay is revered as Nashville’s “engineer’s engineer,” having mentored many up-and-coming young engineers during the course of his three-decade professional career, including Rascal Flatts’ engineer Sean Neff and L.A. mega mixer Dave Pensado.

Ed recently re-implemented his PFS at the Loud Recording complex on Nashville’s venerable Music Row after moving from the old Warner Brothers studio. Both rooms had their unique acoustic anomalies to tame – the former with too much low end ringing and the latter with over trapping and weak bass. The PhantomFocus System provided its signature frequency response curve in both instances, rendering the PFS performance that over sixty Nashville studios have come to trust and rely on. “I heard some of Carl’s systems and knew that that’s what I wanted to be listening to,” recalls Seay.

The PhantomFocus System will be successful in any room with any brand of monitors. In Ed’s case, his monitor/amp selection of choice was a Dynaudio M1/Bryston 4B complement after experiencing that combination at Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus’ Studio, The Grip.

Video URL: http://youtu.be/-pwqX3-PDGg

Christie® brings a wide range of feature-packed display systems to GovComm 2011 in Washington, D.C., Nov. 1 – 2, that demonstrate the company’s full range of DLP®, LED and LCD solutions. Recognized for their power, flexibility and exceptional image brightness, Christie display systems are compact, high performance solutions that meet the needs of today’s government and military control room environments, which demand the latest high tech displays at the lowest cost of operation.
.
“The needs of government, military and contractors for powerful and reliable technology never change, but today’s customers also demand greater versatility and control in more cost-effective, low maintenance packages,” said John Stark, senior director of product management for Christie’s Collaborative Visual Solutions (CVS), Business Products division. “With IT department budgets stretched to the limit across every industry, Christie’s broad choice of visual display systems offer ‘high tech without the high price,’ to address the complex surveillance and security challenges of today’s global environment.”
.
At Booth #117, Christie will demonstrate:
.
Christie MicroTiles Array
Recognized for their versatility that takes them from the heart of the fashion world in New York City to some of the most sophisticated control room environments, award-winning Christie® MicroTiles® are unsurpassed where true-to-life colors, image clarity and long-life capability are crucial. They offer super fine pixel pitch of 0.567mm and a narrow 10 inch (260mm) depth, making installation easy almost anywhere. Able to handle multiple high-definition sources as well as PC inputs, they are modular 12 inches high by 16 inches wide by 10 inches deep rear projection units that can be stacked to form any shape or size. They have won awards that include Eco-Design honors and the PALME Middle East award as the Most Innovative New AV Product of the Year, where they were recognized for their “quality, design, power of operation and rich list of features.”
.
Christie HD10K-M and Christie LHD700 Projectors
The booth also includes two 10,000 ANSI lumens Christie HD10K-M projectors, edge blended on a curved screen showing 2D and 3D content; The most compact in its class, the Christie HD10K-M is noted for its high-performance, feature-rich platform, which delivers brightness, reliability and affordability in a compact package. The Christie LHD7000 is a portable, single-lamp projector that delivers 7000 ANSI lumens of brightness, full HD (1920 by 1080) resolution, 4DColor™ technology and inorganic LCD panels for high contrast and vivid color presentations
.
Christie FHD551-X Tiled LCD Flat Panel
The Christie FHD551-X is the perfect tiled LCD flat panel solution, featuring a virtually seamless display. It is energy efficient, with LED backlighting and high pixel density that looks sharp at any distance. Significantly thinner than conventional display cubes, it is the perfect solution where space is at a premium. The panels automatically map in an array, based on how the cabling is configured, and can be part of a complete Christie turnkey solution that includes mounting brackets, frame and pedestal structural supports, Christie Vista Spyder and Christie Spyder X20 video processors, and an entire range of TVC controllers and media servers.
.
Christie Spyder X20 Video Processor
Powering all of the content at the Christie booth is the world’s most versatile video processor, the Christie Spyder X20. The industry-leading video processor features highly sophisticated capabilities and an intuitive interface, all in a compact design. The Christie Spyder X20 offers total control and flexibility, enabling users to mix an incredible number of sources in multiple windows, create all kinds of picture-in-picture (PIPs) designs, as well as define, shape and blend borders with a remarkable sense of elegance and style, and do it all flawlessly, every time.
.
“Christie visual display products offer the highest level of performance at the lowest cost of ownership, incorporating the latest generation of technology to meet the global needs of today’s more complex control/command environments. Christie can offer a complete turnkey solution for any size installation, to meet any type of challenge and budget,” said Stark.
.
Additional Christie products will be on display throughout the showroom floor, including a 4 by 4 array of Christie MicroTiles with a third-party interactivity kit at the rp Visual Solutions booth # 107. Electrosonic will display a 1 wide by 2 high array using Christie 67” cubes at booth # 610. Avitecture, booth # 412, will have a 1 wide by 5 high Christie MicroTiles column and a Christie LWU420 LCD digital projector. A Christie HD10K-M projector will also be used for a keynote presentation at a session hall.

Audio-Technica, a leading innovator in transducer technology for over 45 years, has announced the appointment of Doug Swan to the position of Director of Sales, MI/Pro Audio. Michael Edwards, Vice President Professional Markets, made the announcement and indicated that Swan’s appointment will serve to propel A-T toward continued growth in the Musical Instrument and Professional Audio market sectors.

In his new position, Swan will be responsible for the overall management of the MI and Pro Audio channel within Audio-Technica. He will focus on driving sales for A-T U.S. and its dealer network by working closely with A-T’s internal sales force and their accounts, as well A-T’s independent manufacturer’s representatives. Additionally, he will be developing new sales programs that will allow all dealers to grow and maintain even more profitability.

With an impressive background in music and business, Doug is a very experienced MI and Pro Audio industry professional who has lived in California and Florida for most of his adult life. In addition to managing his own rep firm, his previous positions have included sales and marketing responsibilities for Sennheiser USA and the Roland Systems Group.

“Doug is an industry veteran who has a rich history in both MI and Pro Audio,” stated Michael Edwards. “His extensive background in music, business and retail sales makes him uniquely qualified not only to lead our sales team, but also to work closely with and reinforce our unparalleled commitment to our dealers and end users. We welcome Doug to the Audio-Technica family, and I look forward to working with him.”

Please visit www.audio-technica.com.

— RDM’s Kevin Hartmann says that A-T’s BP896 MicroPoint™ Subminiature Omnidirectional Condenser Lavalier Microphone is the smallest and the best-sounding lav he’s ever used—

— A-T’s dual-channel 1800 Series wireless system provides total redundancy on
remote shoots for celeb chef Rachel Ray’s regular forays into the field —

If high-definition broadcast video has made the offerings on The Food Network® look good enough to reach in and sample, Remote Digital Media (RDM) makes certain that the sound is equally enticing. RDM is an EMMY Award®- and Telly Award®-winning audio and video remote company based in Woodstock, New York, that handles audio for several of the network’s most popular programs, including Next Great Baker and Rachel Ray. To get great sound, RDM uses microphones and wireless systems from Audio-Technica on all of its shoots. For instance, RDM has used the Audio-Technica dual-receiver Artist Elite® 5000 Series frequency-agile True Diversity UHF wireless system all nine seasons of reality show Chopped. On Rachel Ray, RDM employs the A-T 1800 Series Camera-mount Dual-channel UHF wireless system as well as the ATR5200 Monophone/Dynamic Boom Microphone Combination Headset. Many shows will also benefit from the Audio-Technica BP4071 Line + Gradient Condenser shotgun microphone for audience and ambience capture, which allows RDM to create a “seamless transition” between onstage and offstage audio.

Kevin Hartmann, one of two owners of RDM, is also its Head of Audio. (Sandor Bondorowsky is Hartmann’s partner and oversees the company’s video operations.) “These shows are about food, but they are actually reality shows, and you have to approach the audio that way,” explains Hartmann, who also uses A-T microphones and wireless systems on other projects, including audio for numerous MTV music shoots and for Inside the Actors Studio, whose host, James Lipton, he says, is a huge fan of Audio-Technica’s BP896 MicroPoint lavalier. “The MicroPoint is the tiniest lav I’ve ever seen, and on reality shows, the key is the ability to be able to completely hide the microphone yet still get great sound and a reliable signal. The MicroPoint does all of that and does it better than any other lav out there,” Hartmann adds. Bakers’ white tunics, he notes, offer the perfect opportunity to keep lavaliers well hidden.

Hartmann says that A-T’s system designs are what put it out in front of the pack. “People think that RF performance is all about power, but the fact is that it’s really about tuning – the ability to understand the environment you’re working within in terrestrial TV and build your RF system around that. The A-T systems give me a high degree of control over my RF.”

Hartmann uses the 1800 Series camera-mount wireless system because it gives him ENG-quality audio when doing remotes for celebrity chef and host Rachel Ray. “I’ve been using that and the 5000 Series Wireless on her remotes since the show began six years ago,” he says. “The sound quality and reliability are the best. In fact, one of the main reasons I’m drawn to Audio-Technica equipment is that it’s so reasonably priced – nothing in its price point can touch its performance, and it actually sounds better than microphones costing far more money. It’s just very, very good, reliable equipment.”

Please visit www.audio-technica.com for more information.

The latest to discover the utility and versatility of High Resolution Systems LLC’s Universal Device Controller (UDC) is SPEED, a member of the FOX Sports Media Group, which is deploying a UDC-400 in its Charlotte, North Carolina studio. The software-based UDC-400 is the product of choice for the live event, staging and rental, worship, corporate industrial and broadcast markets.

“We have a Vista Spyder and were looking for a way to integrate control functionality for the Spyder when the Vista people recommended the UDC-400,” says Tom Creter, vice president of engineering for the cable motor sports network. “We use the Spyder on one of the sets of ‘SPEED Center,’ our live weekend news show. Spyder sends video and graphics to three large videowalls, which are captured as part of the show.

“The UDC-400 controls the Spyder, an Abekas Mira four-channel video server that plays graphic elements into the Spyder, and Omnion video ports. It also controls LED lighting that runs concurrent with the videowall,” Creter explains.

He reports that the UDC-400 learning curve was very short for the studio technicians. “Everyone picked up on it really quickly. It’s easy to manipulate and control the templates and profiles they need – they’re able to create a template, effect or move on the videowall almost on the fly. It’s such a versatile little device and allows us to control multiple systems simultaneously – it works really well for TV. We’re thrilled with it!”

Creter also gives kudos to High Resolution Systems’ hands-on service and post-sales follow up. “Drew Taylor and company have been just terrific in detailing and fine-tuning the solution for us,” he says.

It’s time for the Elm Shakespeare Company’s annual free summer Shakespeare production in New Haven, Connecticut’s Edgerton Park, and once again Robert Juliat followspots will play a key role, this time for The Bard’s “Measure For Measure.” Some 30,000 people are expected to attend performances through August and over the Labor Day weekend.

“It will be our fifth season using Robert Juliat spots,” says Jamie Burnett, who serves as lighting designer, production manager, resident set designer and master electrician for the Company. “We are using the Super Korrigan [1200-watt HMI] and Topaze [1200-watt MSD] fixtures for the play, and their light output is great.”

Robert Juliat followspots have made “a vast improvement” to the Company’s productions, he reports. “I get a lot of punch and control in an outdoor environment for a small footprint. The operators like them, and learn them quickly – they enjoy the very smooth and precise control they get with the spots. The spots are very intuitive to operate and it is easy to control the beam.”

Previously, Burnett tapped Robert Juliat followspots for “The Three Musketeers” where the fixtures were placed in towers in a downstage side light position. He says the production was “one of our most elaborate to date with a turntable holding the central two-level set. The spots allowed me to pick the action out of the background while, at the same time, keeping the use of followspots subtle and appropriate for a dramatic piece. I could pick out characters from the darker background in the more somber scenes, such as when the audience feels the treachery of Milady de Winter’s plans.”

According to Burnett, the followspots “played an indispensable role in the production allowing me to supplement the stage lighting with pinpoint accuracy as sword fighters leapt around, climbed stairs and traversed bridges while the set was in motion. “Because of the fixtures’ accurate dousing mechanism, the spot operators were able to fine tune their performance to keep the light subtle or dramatic as needed to help convey the mood of the scene,” he reports.

About Robert Juliat

Robert Juliat is a three-generation, independent family-run company dedicated to the manufacturing of professional stage lighting products. Robert Juliat lights are used by customers who include Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, New York’s Lincoln Center, LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Bruce Springsteen, Disney Theme Parks, Carnegie Hall, The San Francisco Opera and Ballet, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Comedie Francaise, The Sydney Opera House, plus theatres, schools and public venues around the world.

R&D, production and the company headquarters are based in the village of Fresnoy-en-Thelle, 50 km north of Paris. Robert Juliat USA is located in Wallingford, Connecticut. For more information visit www.robertjuliatamerica.com.

Fully uncompressed 3D at up to 1,920 x 1,200 pixels and 120 Hz for superior imaging and performance.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

Further consolidating the Norwegian manufacturer’s reputation for innovation in display technology, projectiondesign® announces that its F35 AS3D – the world’s highest resolution Active Stereo 3D DLP® projector – is now available for immediate shipping.

With up to 1,920 x 1,200 pixel resolution at full 120 Hz refresh rates, the F35 AS3D displays fully uncompressed 3D with more detail than any projector in its size, price and performance category, creating the best and most life like 3D experience available anywhere.

“One of the real user benefits lies in the deployment of our newly developed dual bandwidth imaging”, says Anders Løkke, Marketing Director at projectiondesign. “With double the image processing speed of competing products, we are able to display pictures that do not rely on compression technologies, thus outputting full image detail and accuracy without artefacts.”

Particularly useful for scientific visualization, virtual reality, visitor attraction and training and simulation applications, these higher detail levels allow users to make quicker and better-informed decisions, saving them both time and money.

The F35 AS3D is based on the already popular F35 wqxga model – the highest resolution DLP projector available for commercial use. Roger Carver, manager of DLP’s front projection business at Texas Instruments, developers of the DLP imaging platform, comments: “The F35 wqxga was a stunning technological achievement – now the F35 AS3D version takes this innovation to a new level of image detail. We are proud to be associated with such ground-breaking engineering by a manufacturer that is consistently pushing the boundaries of industry imaging standards and excellence.”

The F35 AS3D features a wide range of specifically designed high resolution projection lenses and incorporates projectiondesign’s unique RealColor™ colour management suite for perfect on-site calibration and unmatched colour accuracy. Natural and precise colours add to the high-resolution performance of the F35 AS3D, and image quality can be guaranteed over any number of projection channels.

The projector offers brightness levels up to 7,500 ANSI lumens, a range of configuration options, and seamless switching between 3D and 2D. Additional benefits include user adjustable Smear Reduction Processing that reduces motion artefacts in high-speed imaging – yet another key feature for simulation applications.

As with all projectiondesign professional projectors, the F35 AS3D benefits from up to five years of full 24/7 warranty availability and is incorporated into the company’s ProNet asset management software suite.

www.projectiondesign.com