BRITANNIA ROW PRODUCTIONS NEWS

In April we worked with...

Mike and The Mechanics , Mumford & Sons , Nick Mason, Dido 
Tottenham Hotspur Opening Ceremony ,The Roundhouse, Lar Mac LIVE (Linley Hall) 
Jax Jones, Noah Kahan, Bocelli, Duran Duran ,Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds rehearsals, Bryan Ferry in Italy, Shawn Mendes London,BTS in the U.S,Jay Chou (O2 Arena + Paris Accor Arena) Two Door Cinema Club,Jorja Smith U.S, Laura Holmes - Eye Loewe Nature Launch ,Swedish House Mafia (Stockholm), Alice In Chains 

For April's LSA session Clear-Com provided an introduction to Matrix for Live Sound.

The event gave us the opportunity to learn how Clear-Com is introducing new IP based technologies into its award winning product range, including FreeSpeak II and EHX Matrix Systems.

Damien and John from Clear-Com explained how it is configured, how it interfaces with other devices and the benefits for medium and large intercom installations.

We own both FreeSpeak and HelixNet and that was the basis of the hands-on training delivered during the day. The training was designed to help our people deliver a better service to our clients with these two major products in our inventory.

The evening LSA was an introduction to the capability of their flagship matrix system called EHX. The emphasis of the session was around the importance of communication and how critical is it nowadays. This applies to every industry from military, oil companies, entertainment and broadcast. Every day activity and most operations depend on communication and a reliable and flexible system is essential to meet those needs.

One of the key aspects of the system is the accessibility from everywhere in the globe thanks to their integrated IP communications, interoperability and SIP telephony interfaces, digital wireless solutions and many other devices.

A Fascinating insight!

MARCH NEWS

We had another busy month in March.

We toured with Nick Mason in the U.S and were also in the U.S with Mumford & Sons. We provided equipment for Troye Sivan in Europe and for Jack & Jack London. We were with Paul McCartney for rehearsals, out with The Cure in South Africa and Dido in the UK for an Acoustic show.  We were with Childish Gambino support group H.E.R  in the UK, P!NK for her spectacular U.S shows, Noel Gallagher for a one off show. In the Roundhouse for our regular run of shows there, supporting this years ILMC. We had an Anne Marie show at Annabels Mayfair,  with Joker Xue at Wembley Arena. We had a Red Nose Day Gala Ball at Battersea Evolution, Florence and the Machine out in Europe, At Wembley with the FA Cup Game – England Vs Czech  Republic,Two Door Cinema Club shows and were touring with Mike and the Mechanics.

At Britannia Row we hosted another fascinating 'LSA' session as part of our monthly 'Live Sound Advanced' series of events.

This month’s daytime session was delivered by Shure, a company at the forefront of RF technology for audio. 
Jack Drury and Stuart Moots spent the day taking a number of our warehouse staff through the history and principles relating to the use of RF in live audio events. 

In the evening session Gareth Johnson spoke about his experience as the sound designer for Formula E. Gareth discussed his aims, vision & workflow in creating the sonic identity of Formula E, as well as giving advice to attendees on various ways into becoming a sound designer.

Our thanks and appreciation to Jack, Stuart and Gareth for a very informative and interesting day.

FEBRUARY NEWS

In February we were with Young Voices, Mumford & Sons in the USA, we were at the Brit Awards, in Dubai and Madrid with Jamiroquai, prepping equipment for Nick Mason and with P!nk in the USA for tour rehearsals ahead of her first show in Fort Lauderdale on 1st March, at Festival Hall with Hanson , with Steely Dan in the UK and Maggie Rogers in the UK and at London Fashion Week with shows including JW Anderson and Victoria Beckham.

We were at the 2019 TPi Awards  held at The Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park, on Monday 25th February. 

Chris Kansy, Roger Waters’ Production Manager, and Jon Lemon, Roger’s FOH engineer were among our guests at the Britannia Row tables this year so we were delighted when the Roger Waters ‘US + Them’ tour picked up the TPi Award for Favourite Production.

 
Chris Kansy (L) with the award, Jon Lemon (R)

Also this month we experienced another great Live Sound Advanced evening session. The well attended session was run by DPA's UK distributor, Sound Network, who demonstrated DPA microphone solutions for drums using a live drummer and demonstrating the use of different microphones in different positions and in different combinations through live multi track recording playback.

Les Mommson of Sound Network presented the session and went through microphone theory and basic principles. using videos and slides and then on to talk through the DPA manufacturing process and how the microphone goes through specific treatments and tests before the final product is achieved.Les gave us the chance to take a close look at various microphones' components.

A drum kit and live drummer were in place for a practical demonstration of how to mic up a drum kit .

A thoroughly fascinating and informative day!



Our thanks and appreciation to Les Mommsen and drummer John Scott for a very well presented/informative and interesting day.

In February we also hosted a joint venture with Yamaha Commercial Audio - the PM Series Experience Day.

It took place in one of London’s iconic music venues - the Roundhouse, the event gave Audio Professionals and aspiring Sound Engineers a chance to get a detailed overview of the Rivage PM7 and PM10 mixing systems as well as an opportunity for plenty of hands-on testing and listening in a great, real world environment.

Tom Rundle - Yamaha Product Specialist was on hand to present the product and answer questions and share his experience throughout the event. A big thank you to Tom.

JANUARY NEWS

In January we were touring in Australia with Florence and The Machine, Phil Collins and Mumford and Sons. Closer to home we had Young Voices UK shows and Cirque du Soleil (Totem) at the Royal Albert Hall. Ben Howard shows in Brixton, Birmingham, Paris & Dublin. A corporate show at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Roundhouse in the Round gigs, Laura Holmes fashion shows - Kiko & Eye Loewe Nature
We have been in rehearsals with Dido and with Pink ready for shows in Feb, out in the U.S with the Foo Fighters and out on shows with Two Door Cinema Club and Noel Gallagher.

We were also actively busy improving facilities on site at Twickenham for our training endeavours. Steel got tipped in the car park on Monday 29th January and by Tuesday night we had a brand new rigging grid in the warehouse. 

With all of our training efforts, the area our apprentices have been light on is getting hands-on practice in flying P.A. Until now, this begins to happen when our apprentices start to work on their first shows towards the end of their apprenticeships. We wanted to help our apprentices ramp up on these skills so they can hit the ground running on their first shows. 

The grid can be used for many P.A. hang configurations. A reasonable maximum being a main hang, second hang, sub hang and a third hang for 270 degree coverage (using a cable bridge) plus an amp cart.  Therefore, one side of a large arena or stadium PA. Our aim is to start the PA rigging programme in March. 

As part of our LSA series Figure 53 joined us to give a thorough understanding of their software, QLab. These sessions were taught by project manager and sound designer, Sam Kusnetz.

Sam took the class through all the functions in Qlab relating to audio. These included the basics of creating and editing a cue list, as well as the integration with timecode, lighting and video. The session also covered the subjects of how Qlab deals with licensing and redundancy. Towards the end of the class Sam began to look at the advanced ideas of scripting for Qlab which can enable a more flexible and efficient workflow.

The session was informative and engaging, with lots of examples of how the principles built in to QLab can and have aided a performance. 

In the evening, Sam was joined by well respected sound designer and theatre sound pioneer; John Leonard. The pair discussed the art of sound technology over John’s career. Ranging from the use of multiple 78 rpm turn tables for sound effects playback to modern day Qlab. John also spoke about his time as a field recordist and how this helped him to fulfill even the most demanding brief.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening and big thanks to both Sam and John for their time and valuable information  given to us.

A busy start to 2019!

DECEMBER NEWS

In December we were out with Mumford and Sons in the USA, in the UK with Black Stone Cherry, Josh Groban, Anne-Marie and The War on Drugs, who were also touring in Europe. 

One off events included the Mary Poppins Film Premier at the Royal Albert Hall, Christmas without Tears with Harry Shearer & Judith Owen at the May Fair Hotel and the charity Warchild hosted a show at the Porchester Halls.

The final load out from the warehouse on the 21st December went to the Royal Albert Hall for Cirque du Soleil - to kick off 2019.

In December we hosted another great LSA event. During the day Tom Rundle from Yamaha provided training on the PM-10 consoles and Rio & DSP-R10 racks, covering advanced set up, configuration & networking including Yamaha’s new TWINLANe. This included the first dual redundant DSP-R10 setup in the UK. The session allowed our engineers to go in depth in with the system and explore the console to it’s absolute limits.  

For the evening’s LSA  session Tom Waterman from Universal Audio joined forces with Tom Rundle from Yamaha to talk about the UAD live rack and how easily this interfaces with Yamaha consoles. UADs industry leading plugin quality, with extremely simple MADI integration, coupled with the compact, flexible and powerful QL system creates an incredibly compact system.

Big thanks to Tom Rundle and Tom Waterman - a very valuable day.

We look forward to providing more LSA sessions in 2019

NOVEMBER NEWS

We were out touring with Mumford & Sons, Black Stone Cherry, The War on Drugs, You Me At Six, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, Ben Howard, Robbie Williams, Bocelli, Childish Gambino, Greta Van Fleet, Jacky Cheung and Jamiroquai

We had one off shows such as Children in Need Rocks, Jorja Smith and a one off very special show at the Roundhouse - Music 4 Mental Health, presented by award-winning mental health campaign #IAMWHOLE, a groundbreaking new initiative set to bring incredible individuals, influential communities and the most prolific names in British music together for an unforgettable fundraising concert.

The night was hosted by Jordan Stephens, who is half of the chart-topping Rizzle Kicks and also the #IAMWHOLE founding ambassador. The show featured Ed Sheeran, Anne-Marie, James Arthur, Ella Eyre and Olly Murs plus other special guests.

Britannia Row was also the setting for a day of filming in November. The project was in support of and to promote our 3 year Live Sound Production BSc hons degree course which we run in conjunction with South Thames College.

ZuluTango TV run by Sankha Guha were hired to produce the short promotional video. The video is due to be released by mid December and can be viewed on our website.

Big thanks go to Marcel our Warehouse Manager for enhancing the Production with some fine acting and to him and his team in the warehouse for their technical support - and for putting up with a live band during the working day! The band were all music students from South Thames College. Great job all!

On Tuesday 14th November Tom Williams from DiGiCo came over to Britannia Row to provide us with a day of training. 
We ran two sessions, basic and advanced SD series set-up network. This enable us to cover aspects like how desks & racks talk to each other, fault indicators and how to use them/procedures to follow, general fault finding procedures and pathways and checking procedures to make sure that the infrastructure is ‘happy’.

Britannia Row is keen to keep improving our warehouse basic knowledge and provide more tools for people to use in their daily tasks. The attendees were a mixture of full time employees, warehouse operatives and apprentices.
Enhancing and spreading knowledge will help us deliver warehouse daily challenges and expectations of our clients.

During the evening Tom then hosted an exclusive look into the Area4 system for the new Live Sound Advanced series at Britania Row. A presentation and practical demonstration of how to implement and use the Area4 was provided.

A hive of activity in the Britannia Row warehouse once again!