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Sting Records Holiday Special in Durham Cathedral
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| Howard Page, Clair Senior Director of Engineering, mixed the performances, utilizing the Studer Vista 5 SR. The Studer Vista 5 SR digital mixing console is a road-ready version of Studer's Vista 5 console that comes with preset configurations for front-of-house and monitor use. |
| (Main image, above) UK-based lighting rental company HSL supplied all lighting and necessary rigging - including Robe Color Wash and Vari-Lite moving lights controlled by two full-sized grandMa lighting control consoles. |
Sting recently performed two intimate concerts at the Durham Cathedral in northeast England, marking the first time the legendary musician played selections from his upcoming album, “If On a Winter’s Night…” Sting recorded the performances live for DVD release and audio supplier Audio-Rent Clair provided the sound system for the event, which included a Studer Vista 5 SR digital console for front-of-house mixing.
Completed in 1133 AD, the historic Durham Cathedral is known as one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the world and is a major tourist attraction within the northeast England region. Each year, more than 600,000 people visit the Cathedral, which is also well known as a set for some of the Harry Potter films.
Sting’s performances featured an unconventional setup of Sting with a 16-piece string section, multiple percussionists, a brass section and backing vocals, as well as a large selection of traditional English instruments such as the Welsh harp, lutes and Northumbrian pipes. Rehearsals took place over a two-week period in the “Chapter House” adjacent to the main cathedral.
Howard Page, Clair Senior Director of Engineering, mixed the performances, utilizing the Vista 5 SR to overcome the challenges of a 62-input orchestra in a cathedral setting. “The transparency of the Studer Vista 5 SR was certainly a great help to achieve a breathtaking experience for the invited guests,” Page said.
The compact Studer Vista 5 SR digital mixing console is a road-ready version of Studer's Vista 5 console and combines award-winning Vistonics-based technology with a highly cost-effective price. The Vista 5 SR comes with preset configurations for front-of-house and monitor use.
UK-based lighting rental company HSL supplied all lighting and necessary rigging - including eight A&O 7K Falcon Beams and Flowers and over 100 Robe moving lights to support the DVD recording and holiday TV special broadcast.
Lighting designer for the two shows was Manfred "Ollie" Olma of Koln-based mo2 Designs.
HSL project manager Mike Oates comments, "It was a great privilege to get the chance to work in such an amazing building and also with Ollie, who is one of the most respected LDs in the business.
“The project entailed huge challenges as this was the first gig of this scale that had been staged [in the cathedral], which produced some superlative teamwork between the production company, our crew and the Cathedral staff, resulting in a truly inspirational event".
When Olma was commissioned to light the show, he specifically wanted to use Falcon searchlight and flower effects to accentuate the cathedral's architecture in a unique and memorable way, both for the benefit of the cameras and the live TV audience.
Apart from rigging a large quantity of fixtures into an unusual venue, other challenges included the fact that as a place of worship and as a monument of historical interest, the Cathedral was open to the public throughout the get in, tech and rehearsal periods, all of which had to be co-ordinated so not to disrupt its busy service schedule.
The stage was positioned below The Crossing, right at the heart of the church. The key lighting was all achieved using Robe ColorWash 1200s which were attached to the columns around the Crossing and those nearest to it in the Nave on custom brackets. The fixtures were mounted two per column on bespoke steel bars, designed to take the distributed weight down to the ground, and these were strapped to the columns and tensioned using BB lever hoists.
To illuminate the Nave and Aisle, more ColorWash 1200s were rigged on top of their flight cases along to the edges of the Nave, and where possible concealed behind the pillars on both sides.
To back and side light the stage and highlight all the surrounding architecture, more Robe ColorWash 1200s were rigged on the triforium level, a 12-metere-high balcony running around The Crossing area. Additional units were positioned in the Quire area behind the stage. The lighting here was also boosted by Robe ColorWash 2500E ATs, for potent cross stage washes from the floor and at height from the triforium. For the regular Evensong services taking place in the Quire, all the lights had to be removed and then reinstated during the tech and rehearsal periods.
The set was effectively the interior of the church, with its imposing arches, pillars, vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows - so it was essential that all these areas could be evenly highlighted for the eight-camera shoot. Oates comments, "Ollie was happy to work with Robes for all his key and architectural lighting - and they proved ideal for the job".
The Falcons were positioned on the floor and in the air. In the High Altar/Quire area were 2 x 7K Flowers, shooting their beams directly down the Aisle/Nave from behind the stage. At the end of the east and west transepts (to the sides of the Crossing) there was a 7K Flower. stood on its flight case, skimming the orchestra's heads and shooting up into the ceiling. At the back of the Nave was another 7K Flower, ideally placed to fire piercing multi-colour beams from the very back of the Cathedral down towards the stage.
For some extremely high-impact over-stage specials, a 7K Falcon Beam and a Flower were rigged 30 metres in the air from the Bell Tower, directly above The Crossing.
During the initial site visit, Oates, Olma and crew chief Simon "Piggy" Lynch noticed a serious looking I-beam and a 1000 Kg winch up in the bell tower. After consultation with the Cathedral's Clerk of the Works Bob Matthews, they realised that this would make an ideal rigging point for the 800 Kgs worth of Falcons.
The lighting scheme was completed with four Vari*Lite 3500s positioned outside in weather domes, rear lighting the main rose window at the back of the church, which created a spectacular backdrop to the performance.
Olma and programmer Markus Janning ran the show on two grandMA full size consoles and four NSPs.
The HSL crew - Simon Lynch, plus Rupert Reynolds, Tim Oliver, Andy "Paris" Hilton, Gabriel Cross and Andy Burrell - arrived on site on the Sunday ahead of the first show on Thursday night. They worked with 10 locals from The Handball Crew in Manchester to get everything prepped and ready in time, an operation that went extremely smoothly.
Cable management required meticulous attention to detail. It had to be neat and tidy as well as completely flat and safe for the many public visiting the Cathedral during the day. HSL invested in 300 metres of black matting to ensure that all cables were as near-invisible as possible.
HSL also sub-contracted Fourth Generation to supply generated power for all lighting and production elements - which included sound provided by Audio Rent from Switzerland - for the duration.
"Sting: A Winter's Night..." was directed and produced by the Emmy award winning team, Jim Gable and Ann Kim of Graying & Balding, Inc.
For more information, visit www.studer.ch, www.robelighting.com, www.hslgroup.com, www.vari-lite.com. |
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STUFF YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ...
Partnership Repurposes, Redistributes Older Sound Systems
 The most common question Moyers Sound receives after a system installation is, "what do we do with the old stuff?" It usually ends up collecting dust in a back closet or being sold on Ebay and the shipping costs more than the selling price.
Moyers Sound has come up with a better solution. The A/V systems integrator with offices in Lubbock, Tex., and Atlanta, Ga, has teamed with non-profit partner, Wings Point Ministries, to re-purpose and distribute older (but still highly usable) sound systems. The partnership believes there many mission points around the world that would never dream of receiving a sound system of their own, least of all free. Moyers Sound and Wings Point recently shipped their first two systems to Nicaragua.
If your church has an interest in assisting in this outreach, either by providing used system parts or by tax-deductable contribution, please email Moyers Sound Solutions at news@moyerssoundsolutions.com.
Bosch, NSCA Education Foundation to establish the Monte Wise Scholarship
 "Monte's excitement for his job was contagious," says Chuck Wilson, NSCA executive director. "This industry is going to miss one of our great personalities and mentors." Monte Wise, who passed away on September 30th, 2009, was systems applications specialist, Pro Sound, for Bosch’s Communications Systems Division.
Bosch’s Communications Systems Division has partnered with the NSCA Education Foundation to establish the Monte Wise Scholarship, an ongoing scholarship named in fond remembrance of Monte Wise — "one of the pro audio industry’s great personalities and mentors” — who passed away on September 30th, 2009. Monte was Systems Applications Specialist, Pro Sound, for Bosch’s Communications Systems Division.
“Monte touched many lives over the course of an exceptional career,” says Daniel Nix, VP of Sales, Americas, for Bosch’s Communications Systems Division. “He was a mentor to many, and helped take hundreds of individuals and companies to the next level with education and technology. We were humbled by the amount of inquiries we received in the wake of his passing, from friends and colleagues asking ‘Is there anything we can do?’
"The creation of the Monte Wise Scholarship, in partnership with our friends at the NSCA Education Foundation, with whom I am proud to serve as a board member this year, answers that question: Yes! Please help extend Monte’s legacy as a great teacher in the art of sound reinforcement by making a donation to this scholarship. Monte was a talented musician, a true gentleman and a dedicated scholar – this will be a fitting tribute to his passionate work in the pro audio industry.”
"Monte's excitement for his job was contagious," says Chuck Wilson, NSCA executive director. "This industry is going to miss one of our great personalities and mentors."
Applicants will be chosen based on their goals and achievements in music, arts and sound reinforcement – Monte's specialty. On behalf of Bosch's Communications Systems Division, NSCA and Monte’s family, friends and colleagues, Thank you.
For more information, visit www.nscafoundation.org.
Historic Massachusetts Church Adds Energy-Efficient LED Lighting
Visible from both the land and the sea, the First Baptist Church's two-hundred-year-old steeple in Beverly, Mass. serves as a landmark for parishioners as well as visitors and residents in this picturesque coastal community.
In the fall of 2008, parishioners of the First Baptist Church unanimously voted to renovate the church's historic but aging steeple. The restoration plan included additional renovations to the steeple's exterior lighting. The new lighting design aimed to fully illuminate the steeple's upper half, while keeping energy consumption to a minimum. Because they need to be replaced frequently, the conventional light fixtures that had traditionally illuminated the steeple were problematic, as replacement and maintenance was virtually impossible in this hard-to-access location. Consequently, the lighting design called for fixtures with long lifetimes and minimal maintenance requirements.
The church staff worked with renowned church renovating specialists, American Steeple & Tower Co., Inc., to update the historic spire. For their lighting needs, they turned to local resident Scott Ferriero of Boston Light Source. The design team chose Philips LED lighting fixtures because they consume less energy, require far less maintenance, and offer an estimated lifetime of 50,000 hours of use.
Before the renovation, the steeple used just eight 150-watt incandescent floodlights to illuminate the top of the spire only. The former lighting scheme called for four sets of lights - each set comprised of two lamps - which were installed on metal arms that extended approximately three feet (914 mm) from the seven-sided structure. The lighting ran from dusk until dawn, and because so few fixtures were used, energy consumption was not a large concern.
Problems arose due to the fixtures' hard-to-access location. The lamps could only be replaced by hiring a steeplejack, which only occurred every seven to eight years when the steeple was painted. The incandescent sources had an estimated lifetime of just 4,000 hours, which meant that the fixtures would always burn out long before they could be replaced, leaving the steeple in the dark.
When choosing the right fixtures to illuminate the refurbished spire, the design team wanted to expand the lighting to fully illuminate the upper half of the steeple. They also required light sources that closely matched the cool color temperature of the former system. And most importantly, they wanted fixtures that required no maintenance and would last until the next painting of the steeple - or even longer.
Philips white-light LED fixtures in a cool color temperature of 4000 K proved to be the ideal option. eW Blast Powercore, a white-light LED floodlight, now highlights the steeple's upper spire. A total of 14 fixtures are in use, two per side of the heptagon. Half of these fixtures use a clear lens to project light to the very top of the spire. The other half uses a frosted lens to illuminate the spire's lower level. Each side uses a fixture with a clear and frosted lens, installed on its bottom ledge.
Not only do the new fixtures consume 58% less energy than the former system, but they also require little to no maintenance. To fully illuminate the spire year round with the former incandescent floodlights, the congregation would have needed to replace the burnt out lamps at least once a year. Taking into account lamp costs, steeple jack fees as well as energy consumption to illuminate the spire year-round, the new maintenance free system yields a 70% savings.
Additional lighting added to illuminate of the midsection of the steeple, requiring only an additional 720 watts - less energy than a typical microwave oven uses. Twelve eW Graze Powercore wall-washing fixtures illuminate the two lower sections of the steeple. Underneath the spire, eight fixtures illuminate the wood shutters – a four-foot fixture per shutter to bathe the shutters uniform white light. Further down, four eW Graze Powercore fixtures illuminate the four windows. These low-profile fixtures allow for discreet placement. Like the other fixtures that use Philips proprietary Powercore technology, these fixtures directly accept line voltage for simplified installation.
The church benefits from both the low energy consumption of the new LED fixtures and their rated lifetimes, which are significantly longer than the former fixtures. With an estimated lifetime of 50,000 hours, the new light sources will last for years to come at roughly six hours of use per day. And because the LED sources do not radiate heat or emit ultraviolet light, the fixtures will not damage the integrity of the new steeple.
For more information, visit www.colorkinetics.com.
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| NEW PRODUCTS |
| 01. |
Blue Microphones enCORE Series of Live Microphones |
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Blue Microphones launchee enCORE, a new series of microphones that bring their heritage of high-quality studio microphones to the stage. The Encore 100, 200, and 300 models are designed and priced for any live application from the rehearsal space and coffee shop to the auditorium and stadium.
Blue's entry into the live microphone market brings modern microphone technology with a proven track record in professional studio recording and combines it with a rugged build, individual style, and quality components to help vocalists and musicians sound and look their best on stage.
The new Encore series microphones are the result of years of research designed to bring Blue's legendary studio sound to the stage, starting with their exclusive Aria Capsule. Every element of the Aria Capsule is precisely matched and tuned to achieve a detailed and clear sound. To protect the capsule, the Encore Series feature the thickest steel grills on the market along with an oversized reinforcement ring. Further adding to their ruggedness are heavy, precision-machined cast-zinc bodies, which have been tested to perform uniformly after dropping, throwing, and even being run over by a seven-ton truck.
When asked about the new Encore line, Skipper Wise, one of the founders of Blue Microphones said, "We've always focused our microphones on the artist and their needs and applications. It's only natural that we would follow them out of the studio and on the road with a product that will give them that great Blue sound every night on stage."
The Encore 100 is a studio-grade dynamic microphone featuring Blue's custom-tuned Aria dynamic capsule. This is a go anywhere, do anything mic that offers vocalists and musicians great versatility and value as well as the unique style Blue is renowned for in a rugged package.
The Encore 200 adds Blue's Active Dynamic circuitry and output transformer, coupling the ruggedness and high SPL handling of a dynamic mic with the consistency and low noise of a phantom powered mic. This best of both worlds approach builds upon a proven Blue technology first made popular by the company's Ball Series microphones.
The Encore 300 is the flagship of the series and offers vocalists uncompromised performance featuring a hand-selected Blue ARIA condenser capsule with a matched pre-amp and phantom power circuit, a tuned enclosure, and Blue's proprietary reinforced chassis, which controls airflow around the capsule for unparalleled vocal control and a natural, open sound, no matter how the artist holds the microphone.
Encore microphones recently made their professional stage debut and are already the mic of choice in notable music clubs such as The Highline Ballroom, The Viper Room and The Troubadour in Los Angeles.
Price and Availability
The Encore 100 and 200 microphones will be available at authorized music retailers in October 2009. The Encore 300 will be available in late 2009.
Encore 100 - $99.99 MSRP
Encore 200 - $149.99 MSRP
Encore 300 - $199.99 MSRP
For more information, visit www.bluemic.com. |
| 02. |
Grass Valley K2 Solo Two-channel Media Server |
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Grass Valley unveiled the latest addition to its growing family of K2 server products, the K2 Solo portable multi-format standard- and high-definition server, designed for remote live productions and small studio post-production applications.
The new and totally unique K2 Solo is a compact, cost-effective, broadcast-capable, two-channel standalone server, with up to 20 hours of HD or 40 hours of SD storage. The K2 Solo leverages the K2 Summit production client architecture, making it compatible with the entire K2 family of software applications, control protocols, and formats for file-based environments. K2 Solo also includes all of the same functionality as the standalone four-channel K2 Summit and can be used in any broadcast facility under automation control or with its internal playlist capability.
While K2 Solo is optimized for live event workflows—as a replay server as well as a VTR replacement device—it can also be used in a traditional broadcast environment under automation or manual control. This includes automation, media asset management, and support for multiple control panels as well as the K2 Dyno replay controller. Instant replay functionality (record-to-play) can occur in less than ½ second and be performed remotely via Ethernet connectivity.
A highly portable device, with the ruggedness of the Grass Valley K2 Summit server, the K2 Solo is housed in a compact ½ rack width, two RU package and weighs a mere 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs.). It measures 446 mm. (17.5 in) deep, 210 mm (8.25 in.) wide, and 89 mm (3.5 in.) high. A built-in two-channel multiviewer output—with a variety of overlays—is standard, eliminating the need for multiple video monitors.
K2 Solo comes standard with either hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) internal storage. Its compact design and light weight make it easily portable with only a VGA monitor needed to be fully operational. Options include a hard case for shipping, handle and feet/corners protective kit, and a dual rack kit for side-by-side rack mounting of two units.
The K2 Solo provides two DVCPRO 25/50 & DVCPRO HD bi-directional channels, each with MPEG-2 playout capability. A simple software change (without reboot) allows users to go from one operational mode to the other. The system, which includes Grass Valley’s AppCenterPro file management applications suite as a standard feature, is also QuickTime-compatible for edit-in-place applications using Final Cut Pro, Grass Valley EDIUS®, and other NLE systems.
The new Grass Valley K2 Solo starting price is $20,000 (16,400€) and will be available for shipment in November 2009.
For more information, visit www.grassvalley.com. |
| 03. |
StarTech.com Cat 5 Extender Transmitter and Receiver Wallplates |
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StarTech.com, a leading manufacturer of A/V and digital signage connectivity solutions, has launched three new products in its Converge A/V “UTPE series” family of VGA over Cat 5 Extender devices, designed to work as part of an overall system of extending and splitting VGA video using Cat 5 cable between the transmitting and display points.
Intended to provide A/V and digital signage specialists with a convenient way to narrowcast VGA content to remote locations at distances of up to 300m/950ft, the wall plates add to the convenience of StarTech.com’s UTPE series of VGA extenders, providing the option of neatly concealing the Cat5 cabling used to extend the VGA video signal from point to point.
“One of the main differentiators between our UTPE series of VGA extender wall plates and competitive products is that our wall plates are linked to other extender devices using Cat5 cable, as opposed to proprietary cabling and connectors” says John Mardinly, product manager for StarTech.com. “Cat 5 cable is not only easier to run, but much less costly than proprietary cabling. Whereas some types of proprietary video extender cabling can cost up to $5/ft, Cat 5 cable can be purchased for bulk installations somewhere in the price range of 10 cents/ft.”
“Another competitive advantage of using Cat 5 cable to extend the video system” says Mardinly, “is that once the cable has been run throughout the building infrastructure, upgrading from VGA to DVI or HDMI is as simple as swapping out the wall plates. Whereas systems using proprietary cabling require a distinct type of cable for each video standard, our Cat5 system offers simplified upgrades saving not only the expense of new cable, but also the hassle of having to re-run the cable.”
Pricing for the new VGA Extender wallplates will be:
ST124UTPEA VGA Video and Audio over Cat5 UTP Extender (4 Ports): $259.99 (USD) (MSRP)
ST128UTPEA VGA Video and Audio over Cat5 UTP Extender (8 Ports): $399.99 (USD) (MSRP)
STUTPEALR VGA and Audio Cat5 UTP Long Range Receiver: $224.99 (USD) (MSRP)
STUTPEA4X VGA Video and Audio over Cat5 UTP Line Splitter (4 Ports): $399.99 (USD) (MSRP)
These products will be available through leading technology resellers including CDW, PC Connection and Insight and will also be distributed by Ingram Micro, Tech Data, D&H and SYNNEX. For more information, visit www.startech.com. |
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