August 2009

Integrate 09 - the lowdown

We headed off to the inaugural Integrate expo, held at the Hordern Pavillion (Sydney) in July 09. This was a terrific opportunity to get around and check out all the newly-released bits of gear for a range of applications - pro audio, lighting, audiovisual, installation.

It was also an excellent time to take a very large amount of video. We stayed in South Melbourne for day 1, so by the time we finally hit the show, all exhibitors were on fire! Perfect for turning the camera on and letting them go at it. Tone was also on fire, and we not only got to see lots of gear, but also meet a very interesting bunch of characters. Along the way we discovered more about seemingly inevitable RF (wireless) concerns for Australia - already happening in USA. And we also compared some 'street pricing' between Australia and rest-of-the-world.

Here's a quick run down of the videos... click the highlighted links to go straight to each relevant episode (all hosted via our YouTube page). There's something for everyone in this lot!

Part 1 of our QSC experience. More well-known in our circles for their amplifier prowess, QSC now makes some pretty serious speakers. In this video we get a bit of background info, then delve straight into their compact array offering, and great range of installation products - ceiling and a range of surface mount speakers (5:08 running time).

Part 2 of our QSC-athon. This one is great if you're into powered speakers, it begins with the new K Series from QSC: high power (1000w) and great features. The charismatic Tony Russo (we met him in part 1) talks us through the range, and he brings up some salient points. Episode finishes off with a bit of Martin line array. All impressive. (9:39)

OK, with QSC now done we move around the TAG (Technical Audio Group) stand and meet up with our old friend Horibe from Audio Technica in Japan. Horibe doesn't remember who we are, but does remember the beer he drank when he visited us a few years ago. Once past the re-introductions, Horibe talks us through the IR conference system from AT, and we also test AT 'consumer' mics later in the video. Horibe is great! (6:00).

And then moving right along to studio land, we run into our friend Mick Wordley from Mixmasters. He's talented, and boy can he talk! In fact, we got 30 mins of non-stop Mick...but we've managed to chop him down to 3 bite-sized chunks. In this first one, Mick runs us through some of the great new models he looks after, including some new Empirical Labs, Phoenix and FMR Audio preamps. Mick is as passionate (about audio) as he is enthusiastic. (7:36).

Here's part 2 of Mick Wordley - this time we talk at length about microphones, including his huge range of ribbon microphones, and where he's used them before. For those playing at home, you may remember Mick from way back in Episode 13 of Factory Sound TV, where he takes us through the (then) new Toft Audio ATB inline studio console. (8:01).

And part 3 of the Mick Wordley extravaganza. For this episode, Mick takes us back to the future and we take a closer look at Universal Audio UAD2 - especially for laptop. Mick talks about the high quality of these powered plug-ins, and being a big fan of old school (well...take one look at him!), Mick is able to make some interesting comparisons. He also talks about what a good deal it really can be when you purchase through the right channels in Australia. But then again...if you're reading this, you probably know how we work already! (7:04).

While we're in the mood for computer related gear - check out the awesome demo we got from Joshua of Native Instruments. After a quick intro from Jason Hearn, telling us how great Maschine works with Traktor, Joshua walks us through some of the key features of using Maschine as a serious tool for music production. Like Maschine, he is right on the money. (8:40).

As far as lighting goes, Integrate09 was a little (yep, we'll say it) 'light on' - but the ULA stand had some great demo action. For us it was all back room footage, and we manage to rock up at the beginning of one of their dark and cozy LED effect light demonstrations. In just a couple of years these LED effect lights have come a long way. We were very impressed at the quality of not only the lights, but also with the slick demo from Blair. He is the disco king, and even tells us so at the end of the clip. (8:29).

Back to some serious live sound - this time via our friends at Bosch. Three parts to this lot - in the first part, Bryan Davidson shows us a little of the system power you can grab hold of when using the Midas Pro6 digital console. Yes..we've already covered Pro6 back in Episode 22, but this one looks more at some serious system integration (after all, it was at Integrate09) and the real power of running IrisNet. Bryan looks at monitoring and controlling your stacks and racks via IrisNet, and also using it to control a gang of wireless channels, and even using it with SysTune, via NetMax. (5:44).

Part 2 on this stand, we welcome Phill Webb back to Factory Sound TV. He's a favourite of ours, and comes into his own when talking about microphones. For this clip though, it's all about new Klark Teknik processors, the DN540 and DN530 quad gates and comps. Also we'll see how any outboard dynamics can hook up to Midas Pro6 and how you can audition before you drop it in the chain. As usual, Phill is great value here. (4:45).

More from Phill, and this is rather interesting - in fact it should be compulsory viewing for anyone who uses RF (wireless microphones). Phill talks us through some of what the world is currently 'up against' with regard to what frequencies are potentially going to be wiped out for our purposes. Although no official ruling has been made for Australia just yet, some good speculation here anyway. (6:14).

And some new gear from Roland Systems Group here. You may remember Axel from episode 14, where he took us through the great M400 mixer and S4000 digital snake - and here's a great addition to the chain, the M48 personal monitor mixer. It's very well featured. Axel is an excellent guide, walking us through the many features of M48 and just for good measure, we get a bit of bonus Edirol action at the end. This Japanese-built gear is right on the money, and worth a quick view, too. (8:58).

Another one of our favourite performers at these kind of trade shows is Tony Hosking, whose company TRC imports K&M stands for Australia. Unfortunately he was busy for this clip. Our Tone does his best to show us through the new bits from K&M, and he does a pretty good job, too. The new broadcast boom arm looks the goods. (3:08).

Luckily Tony Hosking is able to join us for this clip. He shows us some great new gear, starting with a newer version of our old favourite K&M speaker stand. We also get a demo (featuring both Tone & Tony) on the cable winder, and also a look at the K&M lectern. All good stuff. (4:17).

And we were very excited to get our first look at Sennheiser's new G3 series evolution wireless microphones. In addition to checking out some of the new features, we also hear about their well-featured new 2000 series wireless, with a bit of bonus info about how many systems Pink is running on her huge Australian tour. (6:10)