Ministry of Sound refurbishment
Recently refurbished, the main room at the UK’s iconic Ministry of Sound is now home to a KV2 Audio sound system designed by Technical and Production Manager Oscar Zammit and integration specialist, Louis Jemmott.
Case Study: The Sound Factory
Opened in the early 1960s as Moonglow Records, The Sound Factory’s name was coined by David Hassinger, who purchased the LA facility in 1969. A decade later, the facilty was sold to Sunset Sound Recorders owners Paul and Tutti Camarata, who ran it until 2017.
To reflect changing technology and musical styles, the current owners contacted George Augspurger to create new main monitors.
Case Study: The Other Side
Equipping its 900-capacity main room with L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive audio technology has made The Other Side the first club in the world to fully embrace spatial audio. This move not only honours Amsterdam’s legacy of innovation, but offers a new standard for clubbing experiences worldwide.
‘It was our mission to make spatial audio available to the public,’ says Jasper Löwik, one of the venue’s two founders.
Christian Amonson: Recording Across the Stars
Setting up in the Hollywood Studio Symphony at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, producer and score mixer Christian Amonson recently recorded ‘Across the Stars (Love Theme from Star Wars: Episode II)’ by John Williams.
‘There’s a lot of pressure that comes when producing a piece that’s been recorded – and loved – before, especially Star Wars,’ Amonson says. ‘But that’s the kind of pressure I want...
The Vibe Revival
With the ambition of the first Leslie emulation pedals finally fulfilled, the story of the Shin-ei Uni-Vibe has come full circle. In its wake we have phasers, flangers and digital modelling pedals, each having taken their shot at replacing the Leslie loudspeaker cabinet.
Common sense would have cast the Uni-Vibe aside along the way. But the final twist in the story is its own heritage.
Interview: Lewis Chapman and Geoff Swan
Having been individually and jointly involved in mixing some household names in the music industry, the latest venture shared by Lewis Chapman and Geoff Swan combines a closer partnership with a desire to move into Dolby Atmos mixing.
These goals have resulted in an new Atmos room opening at The Ranch Production House near Southampton – which features a Merging Technologies and Neumann solution that is quickly proving successful.
Case Study: Qube East
With the studio they were using less than ideal, comparing notes between sessions in a cramped kitchen prompted Amin Hamzianpour and Nicholas Sonuga to come up with the concept of Qube – a purpose-built space available to rent to musicians, and also podcasters, YouTubers, artists and photographers.
A London location where members would work and socialise in the same building seemed a good place to start...
Case Study: Festival d’Avignon
The Festival d’Avignon has recently completed a long-term project of major stage and technical infrastructure upgrades for its main presentation area, the Courtyard of Honor at the Palace of the Popes.
The work includes new 2,000-seat bleachers, a new stage, and new audio, video, and lighting – only the sixth renovation project since the festival was founded several decades ago. The project includes Amadeus and Holophonix spatialisation.
Interview: Sennheiser WMAS
With wireless multichannel audio established as an essential element of large-scale music events, theatre productions and broadcasting, can Sennheiser’s WMAS (Wireless Multichannel Audio System) technology survive a practical test by two seasoned frequency managers?
How does the system ‘get along’ with narrowband systems? And how does it respond to direct interference?
Case Study: King Charles III Coronation Concert
Following the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey the start-studded Coronation Concert took place at Windsor Castle, with Terry Tew Sound & Light appointed as the official audio supplier. Among the key kit selections were DiGiCo Quantum 7 consoles and Shure’s Axient Digital wireless mic system.
Alongside the 20,000 attending the concert, it was simultaneously broadcast to millions of viewers in more than 100 countries.
Case Study: Marriott Marco Island
With its legacy audio system fragmented and failing, and no comprehensive understanding of its installation, the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort in Florida was increasingly unable to cope.
The resort is expansive, with 12 restaurants, two championship golf courses, fitness centre, spa and multiple meeting/conference facilities. With music and audio quality of critical importance to the guest experience, it was time to call for help.
Case Study: The VoiceLine
The centenary of the BBC’s first radio transmission saw sound artist Nick Ryan invited to submit a proposal for an installation drawing on the the exchange of ideas, education and art appreciation offered by a well-travelled common space.
‘I was the only artist that suggested sound,’ he recalls. ‘My idea was to use sound in a controlled way. I wanted the soundscape to change every second or every minute, and use a long speaker array to animate the space through sound.’
Case Study: Maintaining the Quo
Status Quo spent much of 2022 playing a series of UK theatre shows, followed by festivals, arenas and theatres across Europe. With the band every step of the way were Yamaha PM5D-RH and M7CL mixing consoles.
‘The band wants three things,’ says FOH engineer Andy May. ‘Reliability, great sound and, just as important, consistency. They need to know that the sound out front and in their monitors will be the same every night.’