HARMAN Professional Solutions Delivers An Award-Winning Audio Experience at APRA Silver Scroll Awards

June 12, 2018

-- Strawberry Sound select JBL VTX Series speakers and Soundcraft Vi Series consoles to power wide range of performances

DUNEDIN, New Zealand-Strawberry Sound recently deployed a complete sound reinforcement system by HARMAN Professional Solutions at Dunedin Town Hall for the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Awards.

The APRA Silver Scroll Awards is an annual music awards ceremony recognizing the achievements and success of New Zealand-based music creators. Since 1952, the Australasian Performing Rights Association has awarded a single Silver Scroll each year to songwriters and artists across all genres of music, including The Naked And Famous, Bic Runga, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and more. This year, the highly coveted Silver Scroll Award was given to pop superstar Lorde and the songwriters behind the hit Green Light.

In addition to the presentations of numerous awards in several categories, the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Awards also featured live cover performances of many of the nominated songs. In order to ensure world-class audio quality for presentations and performances alike, the show's producers hired live production company Strawberry Sound to provide a sound reinforcement system and mixing solution capable of supporting the prestigious ceremony. Strawberry Sound utilized a JBL VTX V20 line array system and Soundcraft Vi Series consoles to deliver a superb audio experience.

Planning for a show like this can be very challenging from an audio perspective, said David Craig, Audio Production Manager, Strawberry Sound. It is a corporate awards show, yet we are still handling a number of live bands and artists throughout the evening. The PA system needed to deliver crisp and intelligible speech as well as the power and dynamics of a live band. The VTX system enabled us to provide incredible sound quality and completely balanced coverage at Dunedin Town Hall. And because we used JBL's extremely useful HiQnet Performance Manager and LAC Line Array Calculator software to design the system beforehand, minimal changes were required once we were in the venue.

The JBL system deployed by Strawberry Sound included a main hang of six VTX V20 line array speakers per side and three VTX G28 subwoofers per side in cardioid configuration. The team also included six ground stacked JBL VT 4886 speakers for stage fills and two VT 4886 front fills. For stage monitoring, Strawberry Sound provided seven monitor mixes, using JBL SRX 712 two-way speakers. The entire system was powered by Crown I-Tech HD Series amplifiers.

Accomplished sound engineer Kevin Bennett was hired to mix monitors and after being given a choice of several consoles, he selected the Soundcraft Vi2000 for its workflow, audio quality and feature set. The Soundcraft Vi2000 helped Bennett deliver great-sounding monitor mixes for a wide range of performers.

I was given the option to use a number of different consoles and I decided to go with the small-format Vi2000, said Bennett. This was my first opportunity mixing on the Vi2000, and now I'm proud to say it's my go-to console. First off, the audio quality is superb and I can work very quickly with it. The interface is easy to navigate and the whole thing is extremely dependable-and my love of the built-in BSS DRP901ii Dynamic EQ really sweetens the deal!

At front of house, FOH engineer Chris Tate utilized a Soundcraft Vi3000 console to support a wide range of musical performances and ensure smooth transitions between speeches by presenters and recipients. The Vi3000's built-in MADI interface also facilitated the streamlined distribution of all input channels to the television and radio broadcast mixers.

Working with multiple bands and artists at the Silver Scroll Awards kept me on my toes, but mixing on the Vi3000 console made my life a lot easier, said Tate. With the Vi3000's unique workflow makes operations a breeze, including changing show cues, soft patching channels and arranging tie lines. It's also very easy to clock-sync with other devices which, when combined with the built-in MADI outputs, made for a very efficient audio distribution solution for handling the live mix and broadcast mixes simultaneously.

We are pleased to see the continued growth of Strawberry Sound as a production company, with the ability to provide state of the art sound equipment for large scale events, says Nicholas van Dyk, audio specialist with New Zealand JBL and Soundcraft distributor JPRO (formerly known as JANDS NZ).

We're thrilled to be a part of the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Awards recognizing the best musical talent in New Zealand, said Ramesh Jayaraman, VP & GM, HARMAN Professional Solutions, APAC. We thank Strawberry Sound for trusting HARMAN solutions to deliver legendary audio quality for this prestigious event, and we thank our New Zealand partner JANDS NZ, now called JPRO for their loyalty, expertise and customer-focused service.

LINK:	http://www.soundcraft.com/en/news/harman-professional-solutions-delive...
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