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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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