HARMAN International

HARMAN’s DigiTech Begins Shipping Its HardWire V-10 Power Block Pedal Power Supply

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – HARMAN’s DigiTech today began shipping its HardWire V-10 Power Block 10-Pedal Isolated Power Supply, a top-quality pedalboard power supply that delivers dependable, noise-free power for effects pedals.

The HardWire V-10 Power Block features 10 totally isolated high-current outputs and a shielded low-stray-field toroidal transformer to eliminate hum and noise that can be caused by ground loops and interference. It includes four 9-volt outputs, along with two pairs of 9V/12V merge-able outputs for power-hungry digital pedals, and two outputs with variable voltage.

Built road-tough with a heavy-grade aircraft aluminum chassis the HardWire V-10 allows for maximum heat dissipation. With its compact size, the V-10 mounts perfectly under Pedaltrain™ pedalboards. It utilizes standard 2.1 x 5.5mm barrel jack connectors and delivers 1200mA total DC current. The V-10’s front-panel LEDs provide ready indication of output jack status. The V-10 comes with 17 DC power cables, 3.5mm phone plugs and 9V battery clip.

“We constantly hear from guitarists that a high quality power supply is essential and we built the V-10 Power Block to provide the same performance and reliability that our pedals are known for,” stated Scott Klimt, marketing manager for DigiTech.

The DigiTech HardWire V-10 Power Block carries a six-year warranty and has a suggested retail price of $299.95.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

HARMAN’s Lexicon Offers Mail-In Rebate With Purchase of MX200 Stereo Reverb/Effects Processor Through June 30, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – HARMAN’s Lexicon today announced it is offering a mail-in rebate program for its MX200 Stereo Reverb/Effects Processor with USB “Hardware Plug-In” Capability. Customers who purchase the MX200 from a participating Lexicon dealer can receive a $75 rebate from Lexicon. The program is in effect from now through June 30, 2013. Please see www.lexiconpro.com for redemption details

Designed for both live sound and recording, combined with raw processing power and instant front-panel access for live performance, or seeking rich, smooth and complex processing algorithms in the studio, Lexicon® brings the best of both worlds together in the MX200 Dual Reverb/Effects Processor.

The MX200 features the deep, rich reverb and effects algorithms that built the Lexicon legend, and adds increased versatility with specialty effects and dbx® dynamics. Each of the 32 stunning reverbs and effects – and their parameters – are all instantly accessible within a single button push or knob turn on the intelligently designed front panel without wading through bank after bank of tedious menus.

“The MX200 already delivers remarkable performance for its price, and our mail-in rebate offers customers a chance to purchase an MX200 at an exceptional value,” said Noel Larson, Market Manager, Portable PA, Tour, Recording at HARMAN Signal Processing. “The MX200 is ideal for enhancing the sound of a live mix or making a recording sound like a finished professional production.”

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

HARMAN’s Soundcraft Si Performer 3 Helps Educate Seven Lakes High School’s Theatre Department

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:47:00 +0000

KATY, Texas – Seven Lakes High School has one of the most prestigious theatre programs in the Houston, Texas region, while its Performing Arts Center (PAC) plays host to several school and out-of-house productions each year. The school recently purchased a HARMAN Soundcraft Si Performer 3 digital console for its educational theatre performances and technical theatre classes.

The Seven Lakes Theatre Program rents out its PAC to numerous out-of-house groups because it is widely known as the most professional venue in the area. “Most out-of-house groups rent our PAC because they know we run a professional space and the students I train are professional-grade student technicians that no one will find anywhere else,” said Joshua Heerssen, Seven Lakes High School’s production designer and technical theatre teacher. “Groups continue to spread the word: ‘I want to rent at Seven Lakes’ and even other schools want to come use our PAC for their performances.”

At Seven Lakes High School, Heerssen teaches technical theatre classes, which include hands-on training with everything that entails a theatrical production, including lighting and sound engineering. The Seven Lakes High School theatre program performs four to six large productions a year and shares the PAC with in-house groups, such as the school band or choir, as well as rents to out-of-house groups.

Keeping up with the forefront of technology, Heerssen looked to upgrade Seven Lakes’ analog audio console. “I looked into Soundcraft because we already owned a Spirit 8, so I understood the terminology and I really liked the way Soundcraft consoles are set up,” said Heerssen. “After I saw the Si Performer, I knew it would be the perfect board for our space and a great teaching tool as well.”

Heerssen replaced the PAC’s Soundcraft Spirit 8 soundboard with the Si Performer 3 after attending the TETA (Texas Educational Theatre Association) conference. “I saw the Soundcraft Si Performer on display and demo’d at the conference, and the first thing I noticed were the colored faders, and then to a have digital sound board at this price range with 32 channels of control made me look more intently at this console.”

Heerssen noted the Si Performer’s DMX interface, which allows for lighting control, was a key purchasing factor. “It definitely put a smile on my face when I brought up a channel for lighting on the sound board the first time in our PAC,” said Heerssen.

Heerssen uses the Soundcraft Si Performer 3 for large performances in Seven Lakes’ PAC and as a learning tool for his technical theatre students. “I chose the Soundcraft Si Performer 3 because my goal as a teacher is to make sure students learn the tools that will not only serve them well in college, but what they’ll need for professional theatre,” Heerssen concluded.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

HARMAN’s dbx Offers Mail-In Rebates With Purchase of DriveRack PA+ and DriveRack PX Speaker Management Systems, 266xs and 166xs Compressors Through June 30, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:39:00 +0000

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – HARMAN’s dbx today announced it is offering a mail-in rebate program for its DriveRack PA+ Complete Loudspeaker Management System, DriveRack PX Powered Speaker Optimizer, 266xs and 166xs Compressor/Limiter/Gate. Customers who purchase these products from a participating dbx dealer can receive a $100 mail in rebate from dbx on the DriveRack PA+ and DriveRack PX, $75 mail in rebate on the 266xs and $50 on the 166xs. The program is effective May 1, through June 30, 2013. Please see www.dbxpro.com for redemption details.

“The DriveRack PA+, DriveRack PX, 266xs and 166xs are four of our most popular products for their ability to significantly improve the performance of a live sound rig or studio recording, and our mail-in rebate program gives customers the opportunity to purchase these products at unbeatable values,” said Noel Larson, Market Manager, Portable PA, Tour, Recording at HARMAN Signal Processing.

The best selling dbx DriveRack PA+ enables a loudspeaker system to be quickly and accurately optimized for any venue with features like Auto EQ™, Auto Level™, stereo feedback elimination, classic dbx input compression, built-in preset tunings for JBL loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers and more. The DriveRack PX Powered Speaker Optimizer is the first processor specifically tailored for powered speakers and offers Auto EQ, Advanced Feedback Suppression (AFS™), dbx’s patented Subharmonic Synthesizer™ and many additional features.

The #1 selling dbx266xs and dbx166xs gives users more dynamic control over their live sound and studio recordings to create a more polished, professional sound. Adding compression to the audio chain evens out levels, adds sustain to guitars, gives added presence and provides additional benefits, while limiting and gating provide additional dynamic control and noise reduction.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

UK Production and Songwriting Duo Laconic Chooses HARMAN’s Lexicon Hardware and Plug-In Software

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:14:00 +0000

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Ash Milton and Dan Goudie have been close friends since their school days and followed similar paths as professional musicians ultimately finding their way into the studio. Today that work together continues as one of the UK’s premier production and songwriting teams, Laconic. The duo works with well-known UK pop bands creating albums, EPs and songs, using HARMAN’s Lexicon 480L and PCM Native Reverb Bundle.

“We've been using Lexicon for around 10 years and in every studio we've worked in there have always been Lexicon products,” said Ash. “Lexicon effects always seem to give us real depth but tend not to muddy a mix in the way others might. Having the option of both hardware and software that we can rely on and is also easy to use means we can focus on the music.”

Laconic’s recent work includes the Barbados/UK band Cover Drive, whose first album saw great success in 2012, producing three top-10 singles in the UK (including a No.1). Laconic is also working with X-Factor’s District 3 on its debut EP as well as bands from ITV’s The Big Reunion. The guys have previously worked with Lawson, Katy B and The Saturdays and collaborated with companies such as Sony and Amnesty International on ad campaigns and computer game music.

Although the PCM Native Reverb Bundle offers seven exclusive Lexicon reverbs and effects and hundreds of studio presets, Dan is drawn to the Vintage and Chamber plates. “The sound is so smooth. It’s great that Lexicon reverb hardware units and the software bundle cover all bases but don’t skimp on quality. It’s all of the highest standard,” said Dan. “We love the vintage plate, especially on vocals. We’re also big fans of the chamber plate, which we prefer on guitars and synths as it gives us a more unique character.”

“Laconic’s diverse production portfolio is a testament to just how versatile the Lexicon hardware and software can be in studio applications. We appreciate hearing about long-term users such as Laconic having successfully transitioned from our hardware to software platforms because they believe in the sonic integrity of our reverb plug-ins,” stated Noel Larson, Market Manager, Portable PA, Tour and Recording for HARMAN Signal Processing.

The Lexicon PCM Native Reverb Plug-In Bundle is designed to work with popular DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic, as well as with any other VST®, Audio Unit™ or RTAS®-compatible platform. Compatible with Windows® Vista, XP and 7 and Macintosh® computers, it offers seven unique Lexicon’s plug-ins including Vintage Plate, Plate, Hall, Room, Random Hall, Concert Hall and Chamber, along with hundreds of presets including classics from Lexicon’s extensive library of sounds.

For more information on Laconic please visit: www.laconicmusic.co.uk.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

HARMAN’s JBL Professional Named Official Speaker Provider for The American Pavilion at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:46:00 +0000

NORTHRIDGE, California – HARMAN’s JBL Professional today announced that it is the Official Speaker Provider for The American Pavilion at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, which takes place May 15–26 in Cannes, France. The American Pavilion is the center of activity at the Cannes International Film Festival for the American film community, offering membership for professionals, provocative and insightful programming, immersive student programs, the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase and more.

JBL is providing four CBT 70J-1 column loudspeakers for The American Pavilion, which is located within the International Village. Because of the CBT 70J-1's studio-grade drivers and JBL's exclusive CBT pattern control, the loudspeakers provide the American Pavilion with superb sonic fidelity and even coverage throughout the space. The system includes four JBL CBT 70J-1 column loudspeakers instead of the 20 distributed loudspeakers that had previously been considered.

The CBT’s "Asymmetrical Progressive Gradient Coverage" sends more sound to the far area of the listening space than to the close areas. This allows sufficient sound to reach the far listeners without overwhelming listeners that are positioned closer to the loudspeakers.

The very wide 150-degree horizontal coverage allows more area in the pavilion to be covered from fewer loudspeaker locations and to ensure that off-axis listeners still hear the same quality of sound as on-axis listeners. Two of the speakers are located at the edge of the tent area, allowing them to also cover the listeners on the deck, who were not covered in previous years. In addition, the low-profile design of the CBT Series provides the pavilion with world-class sound while maintaining a visually discreet appearance.

With the ability to cover the area with fewer speakers, the entire system is driven from a single powered mixer, as opposed to the complexity of a rack system. With the power available from the existing powered mixer, each speaker is powered with 125 Watts.

“We are honored to be named as the Official Speaker Provider for The American Pavilion at Cannes,” said Brian Divine, Director of Marketing, JBL Professional. “JBL has a storied history in cinema, and this year attendees at The American Pavilion can look forward to enjoying the powerful, immersive and nuanced sound that JBL is known for.”

"We are thrilled to have the cutting-edge technology that JBL Professional brings to the table, which will give our members a sound experience beyond compare for all our programming this year," said Julie Sisk, Founder of The American Pavilion at Cannes.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN PAVILION

Celebrating its 25th year bringing professionals and emerging filmmakers together, The American Pavilion is the center of activity for the American film community at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Since its debut at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, The Pavilion has served as a hospitality and communications hub for the thousands of Americans attending the Cannes Film Festival and Marché, providing an impressive array of facilities and services, including membership for the international film community, provocative and insightful programming, the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, immersive student programs, and more.

For its corporate sponsors, scores of American participants, and hundreds of exhibitors and office holders, The American Pavilion accommodates the need for information, orientation and recreation, providing both a dynamic business environment and an opportunity to relax in comfortable surroundings for the duration of the Festival.

With a panoramic view of the Bay of Cannes and just a few steps from the Palais des Festivals, where all the major Festival films are premiered, The American Pavilion is now a permanent fixture on the Cannes landscape, proving to be the perfect place to transact business, share ideas and effectively reach the thousands of affluent international travelers who attend the Festival every year.

For more information, visit www.ampav.com.

Pick Of The Hits - HARMAN in Musica & Mercado, May 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:37:00 +0000

RAI Invests in First Four HARMAN Studer Vista 9 Digital Consoles

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:51:00 +0000

MILAN, Italy – Italian state broadcaster, RAI, has taken delivery of its first four Studer Vista 9 digital mixing consoles from Italian distributors Leading Technologies (LT) — including a production console for the control room at the famous La Scala Theatre in Milan (Teatro alla Scala). All formed part of a single tender resulting from a unilateral decision to move up to Studer’s Vista 9 platform.

The new console has been installed in the RAI control room at the theatre, replacing the previous Vista 8, and will be used for live broadcasting for radio and TV, as well as recording of operas and classical concerts. This will meet the venue’s wish for upgraded facilities within the Vista architecture, with the emphasis on 5.1 production.

According to LT’s Studer product manager, Mauro Bucchia, the RAI sound engineers were keen to maintain working with the Vistonics interface. “The TFT based metering in the Vista 9 has provided additional facilities but a further advantage for them was the SCore Live engine, which doubles the DSP capacity, and which the existing Vista 8 doesn’t have.”

The desk is configured with 64 Mic inputs from the stage plus Line and AES I/O for local effects and machines and two MADI interfaces for multitrack recorders.

This is one of four Vista 9s supplied by the Studer distributors, who over the years have provided Studer solutions for all four RAI production centres — in Milan, Rome, Turin and Naples.

A further Vista 9 has been installed in the RAI auditorium in Turin, supplied along with a Vista Compact Remote Bay to work in parallel. Replacing the venue’s previous digital console, this will be used for live broadcasting or the recording of classical music, since Turin is the base of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra.

The state broadcaster took the decision based on the success they had enjoyed with earlier Vistas, and their familiarity with the desk ergonomics.

The other stand-out features which defined this decision were the TFT metering and the HISTORY mode, which records events such as overloads in the audio path of each channel, and highlights them in red on the channel waveform. This enables the operator to review which channel had such an event, up to 30 seconds after the event has occurred.

The Vista 9 is configured with 88 Mic inputs plus Line and AES I/O for local effects and machines and two MADI interface for multitrack recorders.

At their Rome broadcast facilities, RAI has similarly upgraded its former digital desk to a Vista 9 in the radio production centre of a general purpose studio, which is predominantly used for live music, talk shows and drama. Once again, the HISTORY mode and TFT metering features will future proof the studio’s needs.

This Summer, another studio, identical to the first one, will be upgraded with the second Vista 9 assigned to Rome. Both Vista 9 consoles have the same configuration, with 48 Mic inputs plus Line and AES I/O for local effects, and MADI link to the studio’s monitor mixer.

This is the latest in a long list of Studer desks supplied by LT to Italy’s state broadcaster. Aside from the four Vista 9s, this includes two Vista 7 and a Vista 5 (for radio), as well as two Vista 8s and three Vista 5s for television broadcast.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

Pick Of The Hits - JBL's Bryan Bradley in Pro Sound News Europe, May 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:50:00 +0000

HARMAN’s AKG Exclusively Mics The Stage At Las Vegas Hotel As “Raiding The Rock Vault” Revisits Classic Rock In 31st Century

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:53:00 +0000

VIENNA, Austria – On the same stage where Elvis Presley set the Las Vegas record for consecutive sold-out shows, a collection of classic rockers from decades past are revisiting rock music 1,000 years in the future for “Raiding The Rock Vault” at the Las Vegas Hotel (LVH). Boasting “the greatest set list ever,” the show is exclusively miked with HARMAN’s AKG handheld, wireless and in-ear monitoring systems for the perfect sound to pay homage to rock’s greatest bands and songs.

Written by GRAMMY®-Award-winning producer David Kershenbaum and John Payne of Asia, “Raiding The Rock Vault” takes the audience back to Earth, which was destroyed by a meteor. A search team, whose families were saved by a lottery system centuries before, are searching for time capsules left behind by today’s humans. They quickly stumble on the “Rock Vault” and an energetic flashback ensues with music from the 1960s through the ‘90s.

The all-star rocker cast is comprised of Howard Leese [guitar] (Heart), Tracii Guns [guitar] (LA Guns, Guns n’ Roses), Robin McAuley [lead vocals] (MSG, Survivor), John Payne [lead vocals and bass] (Asia), Paul Shortino [vocals] (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot), Jay Schellen [drums] (Hurricane, Asia), Andrew Freeman [lead vocals and guitars] (Lynch Mob, The Offspring) and Michael T. Ross [keyboards] (Lita Ford, Hardline, Angel).

A full range of AKG microphones and wireless systems are deployed throughout the entire stage. Sixteen channels of AKG DMS700 V2 wireless run through the venue for all of the guitars, which are connected through PT700 V2 transmitters. WMS4500 wireless systems are used for vocalists – 12 channels in all – with HT4500 D5 and D7 capsules for the singers and PT4500 transmitters for the four actors. Twelve channels of IVM4500 are used for in-ear monitoring, with AKG’s new HELICAL antennas for transmission.

“We’ve been impressed with the entire line of AKG, especially the wireless systems. We have a multimedia show here and AKG is the perfect choice for every application,” stated Keith Marks, production coordinator for Rock Vault. “With our intricate setup and the amount of frequency traffic in Las Vegas, the AKG systems are seamless, easy to scan and provide us with a fantastic sound. AKG makes it easy – anything you put into them will sound great!”

Lesse’s mics include two AKG D40 microphones and a D7; Guns uses two D40’s and a D7; Payne’s guitars are miked with C214’s and C4500’s, with a D7 mic for vocals; Shortino uses the HT4500 D5 capsule and McAuley and Freeman rely on the HT4500 D7 capsule for vocals.

Schellen, who mixes his own mics and in-ears for his performances, has been a member of the AKG family for 20 years. He wanted to continue ensuring his sound was nothing short of perfect when he signed up for the show. “It’s a true drum sound through the mics,” he said. “That’s why I’ve been with AKG for so long.”

Schellen’s mics include two D112’s for outer kicks, two D12 VR’s for inner kicks, six D40’s on toms, a D40 on the timbales, two C214’s for overheads and a C214 on the hi hat.

“I’ve been a lover of AKG as both a producer and performer, touring for the last 30 years, while experimenting with a myriad of other, less-impressive microphones,” stated Payne. “This show is an educational experience – a ‘rockumentary’ of sorts – and it’s important to express the significance of the music of each era with an amazingly developed sound rig. These songs are the inspiration to rock and roll and AKG has been essential, helping us pay tribute to our colleagues and friends.”

For more information about AKG, please visit http://www.akg.com and http://www.youtube.com/AKGacoustics. For more information on “Raiding the Rock Vault,” please visit http://www.raidingtherockvault.com

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

ARC Sound Works Its Magic As Shakespeare’s Globe Takes Full Production For First Time Ever with HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi Consoles

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

LONDON, England – Over the years, London based live production company ARC Sound has produced many corporate functions in the Underglobe, the events space situated beneath London’s famous Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. But since the reconstruction in wood of the original Elizabethan playhouse on the Thames South Bank, a full production set up has never been allowed, or indeed attempted, in the main theatre space itself.

However, all that has now changed. To celebrate the Bard’s birthday this month, a concert audio production set-up was allowed into the 1500-capacity space for the first time. As James Dougill’s company has a long standing contractor relationship with the venue, they were asked to plan and produce a working solution which would meet both the technical requirements of the performances, whilst also being sympathetic to the unique nature of the building.

Billed as ‘an evening of music and magic’ ARC Sound dipped into their extensive inventory, and deployed a JBL VerTec line source array loudspeaker system and Soundcraft Vi series digital mixing consoles as the key sound reinforcement components.

“This production was unique, as The Globe hasn't allowed anything this ambitious to take place previously,” confirmed Dougill. “I am certain eyebrows were raised initially when all these flight cases started appearing in a venue made entirely out of wood. But the fact we were able to achieve this without creating any noise pollution was down to the detailed pre-production planning we undertook before the event.”

They also ensured that the main loudspeaker system complied with the maximum weight load of no more than a ¼-tonne to the oak beams in the theatre’s ceiling.

Headlining were The Magic Numbers, supported by singer songwriter Johnny Flynn, along with magicians Barry and Stuart, Piff The Magic Dragon and Chris Cox. With the exception of the Magic Numbers all other performances took place on an oval thrust, which was in front of the main loudspeaker array hangs.

For the main PA, ARC Sound suspended two symmetrical hangs of six JBL VERTEC® VT4887A compact line array elements, with two pairs of JBL VT4880A subs recessed under the stage apron. Each driver was individually addressed to provide alignment delay in a mini-cardioid configuration. Added to this were two fill clusters, each comprising three JBL VRX928LA Constant Curvature loudspeakers.

The ARC Sound director explained the rationale behind the design. “Although the throw distance was quite small, the coverage we required was steep—and since we were unable to suspend any further weight from the theatre ceiling, we opted for sharply angling back the VRX clusters. The key criteria here was the vertical coverage required to distribute sound evenly from the downstage edge right up to the third tiered balcony.”

The system was set up using a combination of the VERTEC LAC2 (JBL’s dedicated line array calculator) and Smaart field analysis, coupled with the company’s own extensive experience of deploying and using the products.

With a thatched open roof, James Dougill was mindful of the potential hazards of sound spill encroaching onto the Thames. “I wanted to get the boxes up into the air, focussed downwards, rather than on the ground pointing up,” he said. “Monitoring the volume during the show was more a question of using common sense than the SPL metering and LAeq measurement equipment we’d set up.”

At front of house ARC Sound fielded their Soundcraft Vi4, with 64-channel software upgrade, while down at the stage Raghav Narula was responsible for all of the onstage monitor mixes (also operating at near 64-channel capacity on one of the company’s Soundcraft Vi1 consoles).

James Dougill mixed the house sound, before creating a generic FOH set up (and an external rack of FX) for The Magic Numbers’ sound engineer Max Bisgrove — but instead, Max preferred to use all the desk’s internal reverbs and FX.

Summing up, Dougill said the quality of the amplified sound could hardly have been better. “The full range of VERTEC and VRX loudspeakers we stock gives us a very broad tool set to work with, and can be consistently relied upon to deliver. Their profile was ideally suited to this application, and if the glowing comments we’ve received about the sound quality are anything to go by, we got it right.

“It was a huge privilege to have been involved in this project — and The Globe were so delighted they are already talking about the next event.”

JBL and Soundcraft products were originally supplied to ARC Sound by HARMAN's UK distributor, Sound Technology Ltd.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

HARMAN’s Soundcraft Helps Seal LCGC’s Place in Guinness Book of Records

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:54:00 +0000

Raphael Williams with the Soundcraft Vi6 console.

LONDON, United Kingdom – HARMAN’s Soundcraft helped The London Community Gospel Choir (LCGC) into the Guinness Book of Records last weekend when experienced sound engineers Raphael Williams and monitor engineer Nikoma Bell specified 96- and 64-channel Soundcraft Vi6 consoles respectively to mix the largest gospel choir ever assembled on a stage.

The event was to celebrate LCGC’s 30th anniversary—with a 3-day series of performance and workshops at London’s South Bank over the Bank Holiday weekend. The highlight was the concert at the Royal Festival Hall on the Sunday, and since this was being multi-tracked for a live album and DVD, recording engineer Simon Changer also had a third, remote 96-channel Vi6, isolated in the back control room.

In order to beat the previous record of 1,138 voices singing together in concert conditions, LCGC invited 30 other gospel choirs from across Europe to participate, so that the front tier stalls of the hall also became a performance area for the extended choir (leaving the audience to occupy the balcony/under-balcony seats and upper tiers). The show included X Factor runner-up Jahmene Douglas and Magic FM DJ Angie Greaves — and the existing record was broken thanks to an ensemble of 1169 vocalists performing simultaneously.

All the sound equipment was provided by Richard Nowell Sound Systems (RNSS), who have also installed a series of Soundcraft Vi series digital desks into the South Bank venues. The choice by Williams and Bell to use the Vi6’s was a no-brainer as both are staunch devotees of the platform, and have previously used this winning combination on tour with TinieTempah.

“In fact it was Nikoma who first introduced me to the Vi6,” exclaimed the FOH engineer. “Since then I’ve become a Soundcraft man through and through.”

With a strong background in church music, he had been contacted by the Choir “because they knew I had an understanding of their requirements.” He started out with a minor role back in 2010 before choir principle, Rev Bazil Meade, earmarked him for the lead role for this project.

While the choir itself, directed by Becky Thomas, features 50 singers, the prospect of micing up nearly 1200 vocalists created a number of logistical pressures as he set about providing a large inventory of industry standard close and ambient/overhead mics from the RNSS inventory.

Raphael, who also acted as overall technical adviser, explained the challenge he faced in compacting his line inputs. “First of all I put together a complete list of what could happen in a perfect world; we started at 150ch consisting of band, acoustic section and vocals, with 40 direct mics, and a further 48 dotted around the hall. But closer to the time I reined it in and made it more realistic in keeping with the 96ch desk count, with nine direct mics for the main members of the choir and 12 large diaphragm mics for the remainder. These are dotted around the stage for the choir to look more artistic.”

He ended up filling his Vi6 to capacity with 30 band and 21 LCGC mics, plus four radio and 24 mics for the extended choir, eight ambient mics within the room and some playback tracks from the hard disc recorder.

“What I like about the Vi series is ultimately the sound, which is clear, crisp and clean. The gain structure allows you enough headroom, in a sense the more you put in the more it gives out.”

“I also like the usability — it’s very easy to move around on and because of the Vistonics [interface] each screen is independent and so you can do two things at once — it makes things flexible.”

With the channel count that was required to handle the recording workflow of 96ch to a MADI device, he had to think carefully about his card configuration. “To get all 96 ins and 96 outs I had to swop some of the cards to get more MADI outs,” he explained.

Raphael’s solution was to design a 4-card MADI card configuration based on 64ch In, 32ch Out (Card 1); 32ch In, 0ch Out (Card 2); 64ch In, 64ch Out (Card 3); 24ch In, 32ch Out (Card 4).

This provided 184ch In workflow (but only 96ch active at any one time), and 128ch Out workflow (but only 96ch active at any one time).

However, after considering his dilemma, Raphael acknowledged with a smile, “Nikoma probably had it tougher than me, mixing monitors down at the stage.”

The monitor engineer himself commented, “The Vi6 is always my desk of choice; there are other great desks out there but I can configure and use the Vi with my eyes closed, often getting 80% of the mix sorted via the offline software before even switching the desk on. It sounds amazing too!

“The ability to configure the show offline really helped on this occasion due to the channel count. I was using every input and output, seeing 64 lines from stage then 12 return lines from FOH, as well as my effect returns and local inputs. But as I could configure the console on the train to rehearsals it saved a lot of time, allowing the band to get on with what they needed to do.”

The final word came from Musical Director/Production Manager, Ayo Oyerinde. “The Soundcraft Vi6 was the central hub that enabled us to break the world record for the largest choir ever. From FOH, monitors to multi-track recording, the Vi6 took care of it all with the highest quality sound.”

The event was promoted by LCGC with MVLS Music.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

Pick Of The Hits - HARMAN in Entertainment Technology Asia, May - June 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:24:00 +0000

Early to Rise: 13-Year-Old Singer/Songwriter Sophia Dion Performs With HARMAN’s DigiTech Vocalist Live 3 Harmony/Effects Processor

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:07:00 +0000

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – She might be just 13, but Park City, Utah-based Sophia Dion is already well into her professional music career. Combining folk, pop and country influences, she started playing guitar at age 10 and while on a trip to Nashville was discovered by the owner of a guitar company who signed her to a performing artist deal. She’s played on stages with Reese Wynans, Tracy Nelson, John Oates, Ashley Cleveland and other artists – and recently discovered the benefits of HARMAN’s DigiTech Vocalist 3 harmony synthesizer and effects processor.

The Vocalist 3 provides three-part harmony and real-time pitch correction and automatically follows a singer’s vocals and the chord progressions they’re playing. There’s no need to pre-program a song’s key changes to create accurate harmonies, making it ideally suited for live performing. For performers like Dion, the Vocalist 3 facilitates greater musical expression, especially when doing gigs as a solo performer without a backup band.

“I like the high harmony setting of the Vocalist 3 best of all,” Dion said. “I can set it to be a third above my voice and it adds more ‘flavor’ to my singing. Also, I really like the way you can save two different harmonies in the pedal’s ‘A’ or ‘B’ setting, which lets you switch harmonies during a song to add different vocal parts. When I’m playing alone without a band, it gives me a fuller sound to work with.”

Dion had never used a Vocalist while performing live until recently but found it was easy to become a convert. She was drawn to it because of its sound but also its ease of use. “It’s really visually oriented – everything is right there in front of you to see. I am young and sometimes get overwhelmed by too much stuff going on while I’m playing guitar and singing at the same time. The Vocalist 3 makes it easy because I just step on a button and bam, easy as that I get a perfect harmony.”

Dion likes the Vocalist 3’s versatility, noting that some songs call for a fuller sound with multiple harmonies while some benefit from a simple approach. On any given song she might add a high harmony, a lower vocal part or both, often changing up the vocal accompaniment during different sections of a song. “The Vocalist 3 lets me easily add harmonies in any combination I’d like.”

“I feel like the Vocalist 3 is a product that was designed by people who are both techies and musicians,” Dion noted. “ I almost want to keep the Vocalist 3 a secret because it’s so awesome – but I’m having too much fun using it and you can’t keep a good thing a secret.”

The Vocalist Live 3 automatically follows a singer’s vocals and the chord progressions they’re playing using patented musIQ^® technology. MusIQ eliminates the need to pre-program the song’s key changes, making it easier to use than other vocal processors. The Live 3 also provides a number of different vocal effects, EQ and pitch correction to help give vocals a professional studio-quality sound.

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of audio, lighting and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson®, and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with Harman audio and infotainment systems. Harman has a workforce of about 14,300 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

Pick Of The Hits - AKG on ProductionHUB.com

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:53:00 +0000

HARMAN’s IDX Information Delivery System Shines At InfoComm China 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

BEIJING, China – At InfoComm China 2013, HARMAN Professional debuted its IDX Information Delivery System, a networked communications system designed to serve the needs of hotels, hospitals, educational institutions, shopping complexes and transportation facilities. Operating in an exhibit booth which was double the size of last year’s event, the Harman Professional team in China generated a positive response from the nearly 20,000 industry professionals and end users attending the exhibition at China’s National Convention Centre.

HARMAN dedicated a demonstration and training area for IDX in the booth at the tradeshow, where system integrators, consultants, contractors and communication system experts were invited to learn more about IDX and its applications for communicating important information in a flexible and scalable manner throughout a single building, or an entire campus of facilities. A highlight of the display was the company’s new IDX 100 system package, which combines a turn-key software interface with DSP hardware capable of distributing pre-recorded messages, live paging and audio content to multiple zones without the need to learn a programming language. Coupling a dedicated IDX server to a range of audio components that take the best technologies from leading HARMAN brands like AKG, BSS, Crown and JBL, IDX 100 is a complete system solution. Components range from paging mic stations with soft-touch buttons and colored LED visual feedback, to output expanders, a digital audio transport bus, amplifier failover switchers and a broad range of suitable architectural loudspeakers.

HARMAN engineers explained concepts of the IDX 100 system’s total solution for A/V integration through active content and display management diagrams, highlighting the diversity and functionality of the system. With system experts on hand, customers were able to personally operate the IDX100’s wizard-driven Designer Software. This let interested potential users witness IDX’s simple and easy configuration methods and monitoring abilities, which enable the linkage of user-defined requirements into public address systems with ease.

“With a successful demonstration of the HARMAN IDX 100 system during InfoComm China 2013, we now look forward to introducing the complete IDX range to integrators and facility operators, and improving communications in large transportation hubs and other public facilities throughout China,” stated T.J. Smith, Director of Harman’s China Pro Group based in Shenzhen, Guangdong. “Our regional sales and marketing team has received positive feedback from our booth visitors about the technology, and this continues to reinforce HARMAN’s reputation for providing system solutions that offer reliable, high-quality and efficient mass communications.”

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for year ended June 30, 2012.

Radio Stars: CTS Audio Provides Sound for Nashville’s CRS 2013 with HARMAN’s JBL VTX Line Arrays and Crown I-Tech HD Amplifiers

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:30:00 +0000

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Nashville’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS) is an annual showcase week for the industry where new artists and music that will be released over the course of the year is presented to top country radio people and industry heavyweights. This year’s CRS took place at the Nashville Convention Center, February 27 through March 1 and wowed the more than 5,000 attendees with live performances by Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Darius Rucker, Gary Allan, Kellie Pickler and many more--all heard through HARMAN’s JBL VTX Series line arrays powered by Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers.

Live sound for the event was provided by Franklin, Tennessee-based CTS Audio, working with event production company DeLux Productions. CTS staff for the event included CTS vice president Mike Taylor, front of house engineer Jon Schwarz, monitor engineer Scott Heyniger and system techs Jeremy Bayne and Joey Eaker.

“We’ve supplied the sound for CRS for nine years and this is the first time we used JBL’s VTX line arrays for the event, so we were stoked to hear what they could do in this room,” Taylor said. CTS flew nine VTX V25 fullsize line array elements and eight VTX S28 subwoofers on each side of the 30x40-foot stage, complemented by four JBL VERTEC® VT4888 midsize line array elements used as delay speakers.

The V25 speakers and S28 subwoofers were driven by 32 Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers, with 16 Crown VRACK 12000HD and four VRACK 4X3500HD complete amplifier management rack systems powering the VT4888 delay speakers. Because there wasn’t much room for the delay amp racks, the VRACK’s self-contained design, which houses three I-Tech 12000HD amps, an input panel and power management, proved ideal for the application thanks to its high 27000 watts of total power (into 4 ohms) contained in a smaller-footprint package. CTS used JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ software and BSS Soundweb London BLU-80 signal processors for system control and tuning.

CTS Audio has been a JBL VERTEC user for many years and Taylor was impressed by the VTX line arrays. “We got a tremendous amount of headroom using the VTX, and as much as we continue to rely on VERTEC, the improvement in clarity, coverage and power output from these boxes was noticeable,” Taylor said. He also found the Crown amps to be an ideal match with the VTX speakers, thanks to their built-in DSP and HiQnet compatibility that enabled the amps to be easily and precisely tuned to get the most out of the VTX arrays during the event.

“The system performed flawlessly,” Taylor noted. “We didn’t have a single problem with the audio and got a lot of compliments from the other engineers in attendance. Even the front of house engineer at the Grand Ole Opry was raving about how good everything sounded.”

For more information on CTS Audio, please visit www.ctsaudio.com

Photo Credit: Kristen England

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2012.

HARMAN’s JBL And BSS Audio Featured In New Zealand-Based Auckland Art Gallery Upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

NORTHRIDGE, California – New Zealand's oldest and largest public art gallery, the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, recently underwent a massive restoration that transformed the building into a world-class cultural facility that now features a world-class audio system with HARMAN’s JBL loudspeakers. The upgrade was designed and installed by two New Zealand-based companies, Jands and Provision, working together to provide a networked audio system as part of the AV upgrade.

Opening in February 1888, the gallery has increasingly become a focal point of Auckland's art scene, and now lies at the heart of the New Zealand art experience for both the local community and visitors alike. Stephen Ward, project manager and lead designer for the project, commented, "This project was unique, in that two of the buildings we were cabling were Heritage Buildings over 100 years old, and not linked, while demolition and construction continued around us. I was able to draw from my knowledge and experience from working and maintaining similar heritage sites in the UK, such as the Royal Society of Art and Tait Britain to assist with the planning and implementation of this project, allowing me the insight and understanding as to how the client would ideally use the spaces.”

In total, over 250 HARMAN JBL speakers were installed throughout the complex including Control 26CT, Control 24C and JBL Control 52 satellite speakers.

One of the design challenges was to provide an audio network with up to 25 discrete zones and over 100 patchable inputs (four per zone), as well as a separate BGM and paging level control per zone. Each of the 25 zones then needed the flexibility to be virtually patched to any combination of other zones. Fortunately the BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-100 signal processors, featuring a 48-channel digital audio bus, gave the flexibility required to make this work within the tight budget.

Ward continued, "The audio was of high importance due to the changing nature of the open spaces in the art gallery and varying exhibitions and the use of Soundweb London allowed us complete flexibility in its design and linking. This provides the ability to expand the AV systems in a modular way and meet the users ever changing needs.”

Provision went about installing 10 Soundweb London BLU-100 devices between the five AV plant rooms. An audio network was setup between the plant rooms using fiber optic cable, which linked the digital audio bus and Ethernet control.

The mammoth task of mapping the level controls from 10 different Soundweb London DSP devices began.

Logan Bent, programmer for Provision with 15 years’ experience and dozens of existing projects involving BSS Audio went about the task of integrating the whole system. Logan comments, "The actual programming was relatively straight forward once a clear scope of works and client discussions in developing the interface were conducted. The most time consuming component during implementation and commissioning was the grand scale of the project. The greatest challenge with the interface was coming up with a way to overflow any of the inputs to any of the output zones. Along with that a simple way to disable a certain link was needed.”

For more information on ProVision, please visit www.provision.co.nz

HARMAN’s Soundcraft “Mixing with Professionals” Seminars Heads Into Dallas With Barry Manilow Front of House Engineer Ken Newman On May 15

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:58:00 +0000

DALLAS, Texas — HARMAN’s Soundcraft continues its popular “Mixing with Professionals” (MwP) series with a stop in Dallas, Texas on May 15, 2013. MwP offers tips and tricks about using Soundcraft Vi Series consoles from some of live sound’s most accomplished engineers. Ken Newman, front of house engineer for Barry Manilow and owner of Newman Audio will conduct the Dallas sessions.

Ken Newman is currently on tour with Manilow and has done live sound for Chris Isaak, Anita Baker, Stevie Nicks, Liza Minnelli, Paul Anka and other top performers. No stranger to a front of house console, Newman began mixing sound in 1972 as a teenager and hasn’t stopped since.

Newman will give MwP attendees in-depth training on the Soundcraft Vi Series consoles in a classroom atmosphere that allows plenty of hands-on training. If participants bring a USB stick they can save their settings and take them on the road for their next gig, or keep working on their settings using the Soundcraft Virtual Vi offline editors, which is available free on the Soundcraft website.

“I really enjoy doing the Soundcraft ‘Mixing with Professionals’ seminars and so do the attendees, who learn a lot about using the Vi Series consoles in the real-world of live performance,” said Newman. “There’s no console I’d rather have in front of me than a Soundcraft Vi6—it puts everything I need at my fingertips and let’s me handle the most demanding live mixing situations with complete assurance.”

The MwP sessions will be held on May 15 at Dobbs Stanford Corporation, 2715 Electronic Lane, Dallas, TX 75220.

Two time slots will be available from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon and from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm. The course is free to attend but registration is required and space is limited. Details are available at usa.soundcraft.com and participants can register via e-mail at Soundcraft-usa@harman.com.

HARMAN’s BSS Audio Backbone Networks Multiple Lecture Halls at the University of Torino

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:07:00 +0000

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TURIN, Italy — In order to allow lessons to be streamed via the Internet at the University of Torino in Italy, integrator Leading Technologies srl (LTech) recently designed a technical AV infrastructure for more than 30 classrooms (and main assembly hall) in the Law & Political Science faculty. At the heart of the network is a complete HARMAN BSS Audio Soundweb London system, which allows for seamless management of the classroom’s audio and video control. The facilities include six lecture rooms, each containing approximately 150 seats, 28 classrooms — and a grand assembly hall with 300 seats, which is also occasionally used to stage small concerts.

LTech chose to place the system on a BSS Audio Soundweb London network, with its proprietary BLU link digital audio bus, to provide a powerful and rock solid backbone. “Our real achievement was the integration of the Soundweb London audio signals with video and our support for the design and programming of these systems. It was vitally important to have audio, video and web control all from a single brand of product,” explained Mauro Lavazza, Project Manager for LTech.

Playback is all through JBL loudspeakers. In the main hall eight JBL Control 29AV-1’s, chosen for their extremely flat, high-fidelity performance, extended bandwidth and well-controlled defined coverage, are driven by Crown XLS 1000 amplifiers, while two compact JBL Control 1 Pro loudspeakers, powered by Crown MA135 mixer amps, act as monitors for the speaker’s table.

In each of the six classrooms are four JBL Control 28 driven by a Crown XLS 1000 and two JBL Control 1 Pro operating with a Crown 135MA amplifier, as monitor speakers. Finally, in each of the 28 small classrooms either two or four JBL Control 25’s can be found — in all cases powered by a Crown XLS 1000 amplifier — with a pair of JBL Control 1 Pro, powered by a Crown 135MA, serving as monitors. Equalization of the large lecture hall and six classrooms has been carried out digitally in the Soundweb London processors, which also handle the automatic mixing of all signals and delay lines.

The six 150-seat classrooms share video and audio signals with the main hall through a central node with a video matrix, and by a Soundweb London BLU link ring consisting of six BSS Audio BLU-100 and six BLU-800 processors, with two BSS Audio BLU-BIB (8-input expander) and BLU-BOB (8-channel output expander) increasing the I/O capability.

The Soundweb London BLU-800 in the main hall shares audio with a Soundcraft Compact 16 via a CobraNet card so that all mic inputs normally handled automatically by the Soundweb London processor can be mixed in manual mode (plus analogue inputs during live concert performance).

In the smaller rooms, mic EQ is handled from a series of Soundcraft EPM-6 mixers. These have been specified throughout the 28 classrooms to handle mic mixing and computer signals.

In conclusion Mauro Lavazza stated, “This has been a successful integration which fully meets the client’s requirements. They were particularly enthusiastic about the performance of the Soundweb London processors that make up the heart of the system, for their flexibility and ease of programming. Without having any previous experience of this platform they have immediately created complete autonomy in the management and maintenance of their audio systems.”

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

David Rosenthal, Keyboardist, Synth Programmer and Billy Joel’s Musical Director Finds HARMAN’s Lexicon PCM Total Bundle Essential Live and In the Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:54:00 +0000

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – David Rosenthal has enjoyed a remarkably successful career as a keyboardist, synth programmer, orchestrator, and touring musician and that doesn’t begin to cover it all. Rosenthal is also Billy Joel’s musical director, a role that recently has him performing worldwide at events like 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief and the upcoming New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2013. Besides working with Billy Joel for the past 20 years, he’s also worked with Bruce Springsteen, Enrique Iglesias, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper and many others, provided synth programming and musical direction for the Tony-winning Broadway Musical “Movin’ Out” and runs Sonic Adventures Studio in New Jersey. The sonic adventure continues with Rosenthal’s recent discovery of HARMAN’s Lexicon PCM Total Bundle reverb/effects plug-in.

“I’ve been a Lexicon user since the early ’90s,” said Rosenthal. “In fact I was one of the people who contributed customized Music FX presets for the PCM 80 when they used to sell preset sound cards. I’ve used products like the Lexicon PCM 80, 81, 90, 91 and 480L and they’ve always been a big part of my sound.”

Rosenthal has always embraced the latest musical technologies, but it wasn’t until recently that he felt that computers and software had reached the point where he could forego his outboard effects. He used to use banks of keyboards and racks of outboard effects processors because it was the only way he could get the sounds he needed live. It’s only been in the past year or so that computer technology has gotten to the point where Rosenthal needed it to be.

“The tech has turned the corner, thanks to resources like laptops with 16 GB of memory, better synth plug-ins, solid-state drives, 64-bit operating systems and plug-ins like the Lexicon PCM Total Bundle. Now everything can keep up, I have enough processing power and polyphonic capability and everything responds like a musical instrument.” He hasn’t given up his cocoon of keyboards entirely, he still uses multiple keyboards live because he doesn’t want to map a lot of sounds on a limited number of keyboards. “When I’m on stage I want to think about playing, not about program changes and which buttons I have to push during a song.”

“The Lexicon PCM Total Bundle doesn’t sound like it’s close to the ‘Lexicon sound’ – it is the Lexicon sound,” Rosenthal emphasized. “It has the smooth reverb tails and that beautiful natural decay, and its algorithms don’t ‘smear’ the initial attack of my keyboards.” In live performances Rosenthal primarily uses a tweaked sound based on the Concert Hall algorithm that he calls “Bright Keyboard Hall,” finding that it gives depth and spatiality to his keyboard sounds without getting too boomy in an arena or large hall.

In the studio, Rosenthal is still exploring the sonic possibilities of the PCM Total Bundle. “Other reverb plug-ins have fallen short for me and I have always used Lexicon hardware units for my important studio projects – until now. I also like the fact that the PCM Total Bundle gives me 100-percent total recall of my settings, which is an incredible timesaver in the studio and assures I’ll never lose any of my customized sounds.”

“The PCM Total Bundle is exactly what I expected a Lexicon plug-in to sound like,” Rosenthal concluded. “Nothing else sounds like a Lexicon reverb, and the PCM Total Bundle gives me the same sound quality and musicality I’ve come to rely on from Lexicon that I can’t get anywhere else.”

“We are always excited to work with an artist of David’s caliber, and his use of one software platform in studio, for touring and instrument processing, shows how amazingly versatile these plug-in are,” added Noel Larson, Market Manager for Recording, Tour and Portable PA at HARMAN Signal Processing.

The Lexicon PCM Total Bundle is designed to work with popular DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic, as well as with any other VST^®, Audio Unit™ or RTAS^®-compatible platform. Compatible with Windows^® Vista, XP and 7 and Macintosh^® computers, it offers 14 unique Lexicon reverbs and effects, and hundreds of finely crafted studio presets. Its intuitive user interface provides control of key parameters with a graphical real-time full-color display and flexible sonic customization capabilities.

Jason “Malletman” Taylor’s Vibraphone Swings With HARMAN’s AKG Microphones

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:39:00 +0000

VIENNA, Austria – One of the few professional jazz vibes players still swinging, protégé of the late Lionel Hampton, Jason “Malletman” Taylor continues on his mission to keep real music alive with his vibraphones on tour, in the recording studio and for clinics across the US. With HARMAN’s AKG C516 ML instrument microphones mounted onto his vibes, Malletman entertains crowds with energetic, explosive jazz performances.

The 5-time GRAMMY-ballot nominated musician, who is recognized for his unique presentation of jazz, R&B and swing has worked, opened for and performed with a long list of notable entertainers, including Earth, Wind & Fire, Tito Puente Jr., P. Diddy, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Wil Calhoun (Living Colour), Chester Thompson (Genesis), Pacquito D’Rivera, and Brad Whitford (Aerosmith).

“I’ve been looking for the right microphone for a long time. Throughout my career, I’ve had all kinds of combinations of sound technicians and microphones that didn’t quite cut it, and the poor sound bugged me. I couldn’t really describe what I was looking for, but I knew I hadn’t found it,” said Malletman. “With the C516’s, my sound is like, BANG! It’s incredible through the mix – crisp, lively, and tight. I move around a lot during my show, so the mics’ durability and ability to remain adhered to the vibes is an added bonus. The C516’s can keep up with me, and that’s saying a lot.”

The C516’s mounting system ensures the mics are always kept in place and out of the way, while the internal shock mounts suppress any mechanical noise from the instrument or stage floor – even the dancing and showmanship of Malletman – keeping the sound of the vibes pure and clean.

Malletman’s performance, in addition to playing the vibes, includes spoken entertainment to his audience and an AKG D5 is on hand for all of his shows.

For more information about AKG, please visit http://www.akg.com and http://www.youtube.com/AKGacoustics. For more information on Jason “Malletman” Taylor, please visit http://www.malletsplace.com

HARMAN’s Soundcraft Si Expression 3 Takes Center Stage at The Parker Playhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:13:00 +0000

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – Parker Playhouse first opened its doors in 1967 and has played an important role for performing arts in the Fort Lauderdale community ever since. The performance venue, now managed by Broward Center for Performing Arts, fully seats 1,168 and hosts concerts, plays, musicals, and other events. Anton Foresta, Head Audio Engineer for Parker Playhouse and owner of Anton F. Audio Design, recently purchased a HARMAN Soundcraft Si Expression 3 digital mixer for use at Parker Playhouse, as well as other one-off events.

Parker Playhouse hosts various productions for the Fort Lauderdale area and needed a digital mixer that would fit its needs. “We host everything from a single mic production, like a comedian, to a full band. The Parker Playhouse just recently hosted comedian Jim Breuer and Alan Parsons before that,” said Foresta, who is also a touring FOH engineer for “Arrival—The Music of ABBA, Direct From Sweden.”

Foresta required a console offering user-friendliness and excellent sound quality both for personal use and at the Parker Playhouse. “I wanted a small-format console that I could have for myself. I came across info on the Si Expression 3 online and as soon as I read about it, I knew that was what I wanted,” said Foresta. “I have always been a Soundcraft fan. Their consoles provide tremendous ease of use, and even during the transition to digital they kept the consoles simple, especially with their Si Series.”

Since he began using the Si Expression 3, Foresta has appreciated its performance and unique features. “Everything has been solid. I like the I/O, the 32 inputs and 16 outputs. Having a graphic EQ on every single output is an advantage that’s unique to this board as well,” said Foresta.

“At this price for a Soundcraft console, nothing compares,” Foresta concluded. “The preamps on the expression sound fantastic. I’ve used all types of consoles and this is the best-sounding console I’ve found in the small-format category.”

“God of the Small Strings” Indian Guitarist Baiju Dharmajan Relies On HARMAN’s DigiTech for His Signature Sounds

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:30:00 +0000

KOCHI, India – Baiju Dharmajan is one of India’s most celebrated guitarists. Known as “God of the Small Strings” to his fans, Dharmajan has been voted India’s best guitarist [at the Jack Daniels Rock Awards for two years in a row in 2008 and 2009] and was a long-time member of legendary Indian rock band Motherjane before launching his solo career and releasing his first solo album The Crossover in 2012 on the Cochym record label. Strongly influenced by Carnatic music, Indian artists K.J. Yesudas, Ilaiyaraaja, Raveendram and G. Devarajan and guitar heroes like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, Dharmajan is known for his extended, Carnatic-inspired guitar solos – and his long-time use of HARMAN’s DigiTech pedals.

“For the last 30 years I’ve been playing, DigiTech pedals have always been my first choice, to the point where it’s hard for me to think about using any other brand,” said Dharmajan. His current pedalboard includes the DigiTech Main Squeeze compressor, Hardwire Tube Overdrive, Harmony Man intelligent pitch shifter, Whammy™ pitch shift pedal and a JamMan™ Looper.

For Dharmajan, DigiTech effects aren’t add-ons – they’re fundamental to his sound, whether on the iconic Motherjane album Maktub, voted 2009 Album of the Year by Rolling Stone India or his versions of the Indian national anthem “Jana Gana Mana” and the popular song “Mile Sur Mera Tamara” promoting national integration and unity in diversity. “One of the questions I get asked most often is how I am able to produce a certain sound or tone. I always tell young guitarists that it has a whole lot to do with the combinations of pedals that you use,” added Dharmajan.

“My DigiTech pedals have played a pivotal role in the tones you hear in my solo album The Crossover and in many Motherjane songs. I should also point out that from a practical standpoint the pedals have helped me greatly at live concerts because they are able to drive a whole gamut of amps very effectively,” Dharmajan noted.

As an artist who has helped define the sound of Indian rock guitar, Dharmajan continues to innovate, blending Indian and Western musical influences in his band Baiju Dharmajan Syndicate, in the group Kashmir co-founded with Santee Thomas, in experimental jazz-fusion band Karnatriix and in collaborations with artists like Susmit Sen of Indian Ocean and electronica act Midival Punditz.

“DigiTech pedals have always been trustworthy, effective and affordable,” said Dharmajan. “They continue to power up my musical dreams.”

HARMAN’s Studer Sets Radio Roadmap for Rural Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Definition Branding and Marketing) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:53:00 +0000

BANGKOK, Thailand – The Thai Government Department of Rural Roads is responsible for maintaining the roads that connect to the country’s main highways—this enables them to set up bypasses where necessary to improve traffic flow. To assist them in responding quickly to provide information across the vast network of roads, the Department has now set up its own radio station—initially for internal broadcasting before it becomes a full FM / AM broadcast channel, streaming digital information for the benefit of the general public. To help facilitate live broadcasts and flag up immediate alerts, HARMAN’s Studer’s Bangkok-based distributor 101 Technology (part of the Mahajak Group) has supplied a compact Studer OnAir 1500 production desk. Fitting a tight budget, the desk will be multi-functional, enabling the station to handle live broadcasts and record live sessions—while operating as a dedicated production mixer.

101 Technology reports that this is the first OnAir 1500 to be sold in the country. The company’s Wiboon Lertkultanon explains, “We put all the Studer OnAir 1500 launch information up online. The people involved in the radio station knew of Studer’s reputation and I was contacted immediately after they saw it on our website.”

In fact the OnAir 1500, configured with 12 faders, was designed to provide the versatile hybrid solution for radio broadcasting and production that the studio required … a compact and cost effective production room console. The additional integrated USB playback and record functions make the OnAir 1500 a highly comprehensive desk.

“After initial concerns about the budget they found they could do everything they needed with the OnAir 1500 and still have funding remaining for room decoration,” reports Wiboon. “The fact that the desk could double as a production mixer was a bonus since they don’t have the budget to build another production studio yet.”

The compact form factor provided another compelling reason for adopting this platform. Converted from a small meeting room, the studio measures just 4m x 3m and can accommodate a host and two guests. Notes Wiboon, “The idea of separating the surface from the DSP held the key to space saving. Also the ease of the flash drive plug and play is another highlight.”

Assigned to the faders are a host and two guest mics, solid state player, CD players, automatic play out, and two off-air feeds, a telephone hybrid and production workstation (plus GPIOs). The host microphone can also send out to record in the production workstation and the mixer takes the input from the production workstation back to the studio monitor.

The outputs feed: Internal broadcast; Radio broadcast; Internet Radio Streaming and Production workstation which runs Adobe Audition, enabling it to record and edit files.

Now up and running, the station is performing a valuable public service —spreading information to road users and enabling them to plot alternative routes. Conversely, drivers are able to phone in live reports to the station, flagging up road blocks, accidents and hold-ups.

In summary, Wiboon says, “The Studer name sells itself for the ease of use, reliability and sound quality. But its legendary quality has never come in such a compact box as this before. This, coupled with the 101 Technology support team, means that the OnAir 1500 is in safe hands.”

And one of the radio hosts added “The OnAir 1500 has met all expectations, showing that it can function as a production mixer within a tight budget.” And the sound remains top quality, even when playing MP3 sound files.

Further information from: HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2012.