2001 News Articles

XTA Move into New Purpose-built Facility
Due to continued expansion, XTA has moved to a new purpose-built facility near to the site of their original premises in Stourport-on-Severn in the West Midlands of England. Having steadily increased in growth over the past nine years, the company finally outgrew the original premises at Riverside Business Centre last year.

The new purpose-built factory and R & D facility in The Design House is situated only a few hundred meters from te old site and comprises 8000 square feet of manufacturing, and a further 8000 square feet for R&D, marketing and office facilities. Andrew Grayland comments "For producing hi-tec electronics, you need a special environment. A static-free, clean environment. We also wanted a nice working environment for R&D that allows ideas to flow."

He adds "About two years ago we decided that we neede to put considerable investment into the company.. We couldn't find anything locally that suited our needs, and we wanted to keep our very loyal and highly trained workforce. So we started a million pound investment project."

"There's a nice area round the new building, and it's somewhere quiet where we won't disturb the neighbours, and they won't disturb us. And it's between the river and the pub!"

What could be better?


XTA Announce the Launch of SiDD
After two years of research and development, XTA launch their stereo dynamics processor - SiDD - seriously intelligent digital dynamics.

Designed to be at home anywhere - Front of House syste control, channel insert processing, on monitors, for broadcast, or as a mastering processor, SiDD offers a comprehensive 'audio toolbox' of modules. These include compression, limiting, dynamic equalisation, noise gating or expansion. On top of the dynamics processing, SiDD also has mulitple band parametyric equalisation, a delay line (with separate aulixilary dealy and output), and a harmonics generator.

Coupled with the launch of the product, an entirely new software package has been released to complement SiDD. Offering full two-way communications between a rack of up to 32 SiDD (that's 64 channels or processing!) the PC software gives full control over the units. Comprehensive real-time metering is provided as is the ability to recall memories from an unlimited library stored on the PC.

Find out what SiDD's software offers by downloading the manual - this not only explains the product, but is a valuable resource of information anout how dynamics processing can improve your sound.

Interactive Service CD Now Available
XTA is pleased to announce the availability of an fully interactive CDROM of service information.

The CD, designed for running under Internet Explorer 5 and above has full sets of schematic information for all our products (including obselete ones) accessible via an easy to use interface.

Each product is presented with front and rear panel views which can be pointed at to access part numbers for all external components, and a plan view of the internals of the unit which is used to call up the appropriate schematic diagram.

A separate section conglomerates all manuals and data sheets along with many 'How to...' guides and application notes for each product. Software links to the live XTA website are included to ensure that the latest version for any product is always available.

XTA's Guy Lewis commented "We are delighted to be offering this CD to our distributors; hopefully it will make their lives easier and allow them to answer a lot of user queries quickly and confidently"

The CD also contains a list of all available accessories for the product range, and a few promotional items such as our new screensaver and our promo ident video.

AC/DC World Tour with XTA
The current tour by legendary hard rockers AC/DC has seen the XTA DP226 speaker management system featuring as an integral part of the ElectroVoice PA, supplied by American PA company DB Sound.

AC/DC gigs are well known for their awe-inspiring volume levels and the XTA system is the perfect choice to guarantee maximum clarity for the band's high voltage rock'n'roll, and also for effective containment of the sound, ensuring that rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution for residents living near the band's tour of European outdoor venues.

The flown PA consists of a 7x9 ElectroVoice X-Array system per side, with 16 brand new EV X-Line subs per side for the bottom end. Heavily involved in the development of both systems, DB Sound founder Harry Witz was the brains behind the integration of the XTA DP226: "X-Array is designed to be a building block system that can be zoned and controlled remotely," he says. "I approached XTA and we collectively developed the software. We can store a complete setup as a template, so when we go into a venue, we simply call the template up and all the processors are then loaded, responding and it's ready to use. It saves a whole lot of time."

The XTA software allows the system to work like a mixing console 'in reverse' - with VCA groups controlling groups of outputs, rather than inputs. The UK show, at the Milton Keynes Bowl on June 8th, was the first outdoor venue on the tour. "Here, the noise police don't want it loud on the hill, but within reason don't mind what it is on the ground," says Witz. "We picked the top four rows and assigned them all to additional faders for long throw, the next to medium throw, the next to short throw and the bottom rows to fill."

This supreme controllability meant that, while SPLs were relatively high within the arena, the hill at the back saw a smooth transition to much lower levels, containing the sound within the Bowl while losing none of the clarity.

This is aided by the recent addition of a wireless touch-screen controller, allowing system tech Dave Dixon to walk around the entire site at any time, adjusting the parameters of the system as he goes. He comments: "I've tried all the other crossovers and processors and, for me, quite honestly none of them match the XTA units. They give us total zone control. The software is user-friendly and the sound quality is the best I've heard. If you start at the base with a good quality processor, the rest becomes a lot easier. If I go to a sound company and I have the option, I'll use an XTA over anything."

The ultimate control offered by the DP226 is fundamentally important for a band like AC/DC, where the initial sound check saw just the band's backline exceed the permitted noise levels! "It's very loud, but it's very controlled and tight. The DP226s allow us to harness that," says Dixon, adding with a grin: "If you want to try and tell Angus Young to turn down, you're a better man than anyone on this whole crew!"

XTA on the Great White Way
Farmingdale, NY….If a Tony Award were to be given for the most appearances on Broadway, it wouldn't go to an actor or actress this season. Instead, it would probably go to XTA. From the ornate 'men's' wear of "Rocky Horror Live" to the complete lack of it in "The Full Monty", the one common 'thread' is XTA.

"We have come to rely on XTA and the DP200 in particular for all our designs" said Dominick Sack, of Sound Associates, co-designer of the "Rocky Horror Live". "We have a track record of reliability and consistent sonic excellence with the DP200 and other XTA products we incorporate into our designs", he added. "They always work", said co-designer, T. Richard Fitzgerald. "We don't worry about being caught with our pants down whenever we use XTA's," he added.

In his design of the new musical "Tom Sawyer", Lew Mead, Managing Director of Pro Mix, commented that the combination of the DP226's for loudspeaker management and the DP200's for EQ's worked well and facilitated common computer monitoring and control via XTA's AudioCore software platform.

2001 appears to be a banner year with DP200's, 224's and 226's appearing in nearly 50 productions this season, both resident New York and touring/road companies. Other notable shows include, "Bells are Ringing", "Contact", "Aida", "Class Act", "Rent", "Civil War" and "The Producers", to name but a few.

New Audio World for the Grammy Awards
XTA Electronics loudspeaker processing was a core feature of the audio system provided by Audiotek (ATK) of California for Cossette Productions at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. The event, which saw awards given to Celine Dion, Lauryn Hill, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Alanis Morissette, Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder and host of others, treated its star-studded audience to 14 live performances on two stages.

With Robert 'Cubby' Colby in charge of front-of-house mixing duties on a pair of Amek Recall desks, Audiotek brought in four Yamaha PM1D consoles to handle the huge monitor task, which for one act alone entailed 134 inputs and 33 mixes. Each stage had a complete, independent monitor setup, with a total of some 600 Shure and Audio Technica microphones in use at various times. The whole 675,000 lb flown production including sound and lighting was rigged from 500 points on 344 chain motors.

The front-of-house system employed nine XTA Electronics DP226 processors and one XTA SiDD (Seriously Intelligent Digital Dynamics) dual-channel digital dynamics processor.

The DP226s were driving a complex PA system designed to cope with the unusually high venue, which has arena seating tiers topped by grandstand seating, a row of private boxes and a further tier of grandstand seating. Audiotek's solution was to use a total of 24 flown clusters, including four hangs of V-DOSC over the stage front, followed three quarters of the way back by a triple-cluster JBL Vertech line array system.

Audiotek's Scott Hamala commented: "The Staples is a difficult venue because of the multiple layers of seating and the enormous overall height. We've found in the past that trying to cover the upper grandstand area from the main stage system is just asking too much. So we've developed a 'ring delay' system that we install around the whole of the upper deck area, using 13 clusters of two of our proprietary C6 boxes.

Those, and the intermediate delays, were all cabled to a flying amp rack platform, 90 ft from the floor with its own power distro, along with a smaller rack of XTA DP226s to drive the ring delays in multiple channel configuration".

XTA DP226 six-output processors were also used to supply individual equalisation settings for each part of the podium and lobby audio systems. Adds Scott: "The Grammy Awards is an incredibly prestigious show with a hugely discerning audience and we're very proud to be able to deliver high quality audio to them - and the XTA processors are a critical part of that quality process."

New French & Greek Partners for XTA
XTA is pleased to announce our new French Distributor is S2CEB, part of the major group of CAE companies.

"When S2CEB appointed me to develop the distribution of pro- audio products for the French market, one part of my job consisted of finding new manufacturers to bring into the fold, especially digital products. XTA was the first name I thought of for several reasons. Many important PA companies already rely on XTA and the company's product range has established a significant reputation for quality, technology, and continued development. I knew they were looking for a new distributor, and we can offer them not only big company advantages (CAE group), but also the dynamism of a more compact structure (S2CEB division). We are very pleased to have concluded this commitment with XTA and anticipate much success in the future."
Gilles Laguionie (Audio Product Manager)

XTA's Guy Lewis commented "We are delighted to be working with such a committed and enthusiastic company. International support is a key component in XTA's increasing success and the S2CEB team give us this for France!"

Work has started already with Lyon-based LA BOITE à SONS adding XTA DS800 mic splitters to their stock of XTA DP-series processors. OPTIMUM have also invested in DS800s for the musical comedy "Romeo & Juliet".

XTA has also appointed Akustiki of Athens to represent the company in Greece.

XTA DS-800 Kicks off New Year with XFL
Farmingdale, NY…It's football like we have never seen or heard it before. Cameras in helmets, dozens of wireless mics, and technology that puts the viewer in the middle of the game.

"Integrating audio from so many different sources was really a technical challenge", said Maryland Sound's Bob Goldstein, Sales/R&D Director.

"Multiple audio feeds on different A/C power sources from various locations would normally be a recipe for ground loops and hum. Thanks to the XTA DS-800, we have rock solid broadcast quality audio with no problems", he added. Goldstein went on to stay that Maryland Sound has used XTA DP Series processors for years in their touring rigs and permanent installations, so they were pleased to see the DS-800's specified for the XFL.

The DS-800 Active Mic/Line Splitter was formally introduced in early 2000 and began receiving instant acclaim in the UK and the US. It has been used successfully on this year's presidential inauguration, the Super Bowl and last year's US Open Tennis championship, as well as numerous domestic and international concert tours and special events.

"As a company who specializes in providing and integrating RF for live events, we were eager to incorporate the DS-800 into our designs" said Mike Mason, V.P. of Yonkers, NY based CP Communications. "We instantly recognized it as a solution, that unlike passive splitters, would actually enhance audio quality when faced with solving the problems we encounter on location", he added. Mason also commented that they have recommended the DS-800 to many of their clients and have installed them permanently in the first of several venues.
One that note, one of the first permanent installations that used the DS-800 was for the renowned "Prairie Home Companion" variety radio program, broadcast live each week from The Fitzgerald Theater, in St. Paul Minnesota.

The DS-800 is an active mic/line splitter providing 8 actively balanced inputs feeding a total of 32 outputs - 16 actively balanced and 16 transformer balanced. In normal mode, each input feeds a pair of each type of output. However, the unit has several internally jumpered options, adding to its versatility.

Audiotek Audio Action at the Superbowl
Audiotek, of Burbank, California, provided the awesome audio production for one of the most spectacular annual events, the Superbowl - broadcast nationwide by CBS from Tampa, Florida in January.

In their fourth year of supplying the Superbowl's complex sound system, Audiotek specified a system employing XTA Electronics loudspeaker processing, EQ and signal distribution, along with a V-DOSC PA for the audience of 75,000 people, as well as one of the largest monitor rigs ever assembled.

Of all the major USA sports events that also feature a serious musical entertainment aspect, the annual Superbowl is the year's biggest deal by far. The Superbowl is the grand finale of the National Football League (NFL) season American cities and their major venues vie for the privilege of hosting the Superbowl - which makes tough demands on traffic, accommodations and facilities wherever it lands, requiring 75,000 seats and good weather. This is more than just a football play-off: it is a major entertainment event too, and only nine US stadia fit the bill.

Broadcast rights are won by the highest bidder, with CBS broadcasting this year, NBC last year and Fox set up for 2002.

FROM SPORTS TO AEROSMITH IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

Audiotek (ATK) took care of all audio requirements for the venue's pre-game shows, half-time events and post-game ceremonies. Says Audiotek's sound designer Scott Hamala, "It is a great job for us, the biggest job for us by far including the Grammys and the Academy Awards."

Audiotek also catered for a myriad of audio systems needed for the press, plus off-site conferences and pre-game rehearsals.

Scott continues: "This year it was especially challenging as MTV designed the half-time stage, which was the largest ever designed for the Superbowl."
What he's talking about was a half-time change-over in the Tampa Stadium that entailed a breathtakingly fast change-over from the distributed sound system for the stadium audience to an end-stage sound system in under seven minutes.

Scott: "At half-time we had about seven minutes between the end of the football and the beginning of a concert for 75,00 people. It was quite an undertaking with a stage measuring 125 ft wide, almost sideline-to-sideline, incorporating two side stages, each with one stage complete band performance a side. Aerosmith started on one side and NSYNC on the other, along with Britney Spears and two other guest stars. Each main act started on their own stage and then alternated back and forth, walking all around."

There was a total of eight mix positions, including two FOH positions with a stadium mix feeding the installed sound system, and an 'entertainment' FOH mix for the pre-game, half-time and post-game activities, for which ATK developed a system of V-DOSC arrays and amp racks around the perimeter of the field, with smaller speakers to cover the outer areas. They also used four stacks of Electrovoice MTL-4 subs.

The clusters were compacted into 18 'sound cart' systems of four or five time aligned boxes a piece, with ATK's audio team interconnecting it all in under five minutes. According to Scott, the team transformed the venue from a "nothing to 365,000W stadium system in three and a half minutes".

Needless to say, this also created an immense stage monitor spec. ATK provided a total of 12 in-ear mixes using Shure 600 and 700 Series wireless systems, and 18 wedge mixes using their own proprietary design M5 (2x12in and 2in) and the smaller M2 (1x12in and 1in) wedges, along with New York's Firehouse Productions F12 and F15 wedges. XTA DP226 and DP200 processors were used for all the monitor mixes.

AN IMMENSE PROJECT - AND THE CHANCE TO TRY OUT NEW IDEAS

ATK's task was way beyond the usual gig call of duty. They provided audio links and other sound services for 500 media people in specific areas of the stadium, as well as NFL, agency hotels and headquarters conferences throughout the pre-Superbowl week, bringing in the Westwood One mobile recording truck for broadcast and multitrack playback, providing the source for all of the stadium entertainment, feeds to the broadcaster, and radio communications to 325 positions for lighting, the director and crew.

The company was on site for three weeks with 49 audio crew, with another 60 volunteers to help put the PA carts back into their positions. Comments Scott: "It's the only show where we turn into a full blown production company ourselves with a complete office staff."

A true "first" for Audiotek was its first-time use of wireless control of XTA's AudioCore control software. Scott's team used a Fujistu touch screen running a wireless connection to fine-tune the DP Series processors during the set-up.

Scott: "We could walk everywhere in the stadium with complete system control while running the PA, and make final adjustments, from any seat in the house. We did the same at the Grammy Awards in rehearsal, to do fine tuning of various areas. It's a tremendous capacity that allows you to do that, and we're very excited about it."

He adds: "We started using the DP200 as a programmable EQ five years ago and realized they could also function as a great sounding, programmable crossover for our two or three way amp racks that would be useable for different brands of speakers. We bought 125 in the following year, and we've now loaded all our amp racks with them. XTA then asked us for a wish list of other features and five months later shipped a beta DP226, and it had everything we'd asked for and it sounded great.

"The sonic difference with the other equipment we'd used was substantial. We discussed changes to the early operating system and they've been extremely responsive and met all of our demands and requirements, and that's really important to us - that kind of response. It's a great relationship and a great product."

Germany's Newest Surround Studio & XTA
The new Waters Edge Studios near Munich has chosen XTA DP226 digital loudspeaker controllers to provide a variety of instantly-recallable monitor EQ set-ups for its main control room.

Waters Edge Technical Manager Andy Hellwig explains: "The main reason for choosing XTA technology was that we wanted to be able to provide a number of different crossover configurations with total recall. For example, we have a stereo setup with a flat frequency response, another stereo setup with our 'house curve' that provides more bass and reduced mids and highs, a special 5.1 setup with a discrete subwoofer, and a 5.0 setup."

This flexibility allows the studio to precisely tailor the frequency response characteristics of its monitor system to the specific demands of an individual project.

Waters Edge boasts a unique version of Dynaudio's M4 monitor in its 60 square metre Control Room 1, designed in conjunction with leading acoustic consultants Munro Associates, featuring a three-way active, one-way passive driver configuration, specially tailored to suit the room's acoustics.

The custom-designed Dynaudio Acoustics M4/P monitoring system is controlled by fully programmable, recallable XTA DP226 processors and is driven by Chevin amplifiers.

As the control room features a substantially analogue signal path, the designers, Audio Consulting Munich, and the installers, Mega Audio, required natural sounding crossovers as well as the obvious need for maximum control flexibility.

Says Hellwig: "A solution such as this could only be achieved with a digital crossover of exceptional sound quality. We did a lot of testing both with our test computer and of course with our ears, because if you have a digital crossover in an analogue speaker setup it's a little break of the rules! But it gave us a lot of possibilities and after extensive tests, we decided that the DP226 would really do the job and deliver the sound quality and flexibility we were looking for."

XTA in Control for the Wedding Party of the Year
XTA digital loudspeaker processors were in the thick of the audio action at London's Roundhouse Theatre when it played host to an incredible wedding party in November. The former Victorian engine shed was transformed into a lavish wedding reception set amid a lush tropical rainforest, complete with a real waterfall and live macaws.

270 wedding guests were treated to performances by Cirque du Soleil, the cast of Disney's The Lion King, Kool and The Gang and Sir Elton John, with production company Banana Split co-ordinating a team that included sound by Forefront Audio, lighting by Vari-Lite Europe, projection by ETC and staging by Supotco. It was, according to the national press, the most expensive private wedding reception ever thrown in the UK. Banana Split's Alan Scoley explains that the couple had recently returned from a rainforest holiday, and wanted the company to elaborate on that theme. The outside of the Roundhouse became a giant projection screen with rainforest imagery, while the bar was a cavern and the venue's pillars were camouflaged as tree trunks.

Forefront Audio provided the party sound using a Funktion One Resolution Series PA system, overseen by Jim Mills and John Newsham, with XTA Electronics DP series loudspeaker controllers. A main left and right PA comprising three understage F218 subs and four flown Resolution 4s a side, while raised table areas were served by Resolution 2 outfills either side, along with four flown Resolution 2s in the bar, delayed at times, with various effects, MiniDisc-sourced insect noises and ambient jungle sounds - which were also piped into d&b E3 speakers (running from d&b E-packs with built-in controllers) high in the truss and in the main entrance. These were fed from the PM4000's matrix sends. A huge thunderclap greeted the call to dinner, when guests were led in by a flautist on a radio mic.

Elton John, after a grand entrance, had his classic piano setup and performed a pair of songs with Kikki Dee, before the grand finale with the full cast of The Lion King, followed by a DJ with a percussionist.

Newsham says there was plenty to keep the team - and the guests - occupied: "When the waterfall parted and the bridge came down there was lightning, and a huge thunderclap through every speaker; at other times we had a live polynesian band, the DJs, a live flute player on a lavalier radio mic, playback for Cirque du Soleil, and Kool and the Gang, who were fully live and mic'd up." Out of sight of the main area, they used a pair of delayed Turbosound TXD530s as nearfield monitors, running an XTA SiDD unit for delay, EQ and compression. GPA Hire's Howard Smart mixed monitors.

Amplification was via QSC PL4s PL2HBs and PL1.8 PowerLight, with two XTA DP224 loudspeaker controllers providing crossover and delay functions for the main system and a pair of DP226 controllers for the Resolution 2s. Since the crossovers and amp racks were dotted around the building, XTA's AudioCore software enabled the team to set up the crossovers from a laptop at the mix position. Mixing was done on a Yamaha PM4000 and, says Newsham, "We needed every input, output, matrix and subgroup!"

Concludes Alan Scoley: "It was a great occasion and the couple and their guests had a wonderful time. It was amazing to see The Roundhouse transformed into somewhere from another continent."

Tourtech Latest Major Convert to XTA Processing
Tour Tech, one of the leading Canadian pro audio companies, last week joined the ranks of sound rental and installation specialists world-wide who are switching to XTA Electronics products for their digital loudspeaker and signal processing requirements.

Tour Tech, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, is a privately owned audio rental, installation and distribution company with a 17-year track record. Owned by president Peter Hendrickson since 1984, Tour Tech began life as a lighting operation but now specialises in sound, lighting and staging rentals, installations, as well as distribution and sales. The company also has movie sound stages within its on-site facilities.

Says product specialist Steve O'Rourke, "We are geographically separated from the rest of Canada by a large distance, so what Tour Tech does in the Atlantic portion of our country, east of Montreal, is to provide virtually everything under one roof. This is not a large market and in order to be a large player we have to be very versatile."

Tour Tech's recent touring clients include Chris de Burgh and Aaron Carter, and they have lately provided complete audio, lighting and staging systems at major North American festivals starring the likes of Peter Frampton, ZZ Top, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Beach Boys, April Wine, Bon Jovi and the Doobie Brothers. Meanwhile, one of the star events of their regular TV show audio work is the East Coast Music Awards (ECMAs), staged in rotation around the four Atlantic Canada provinces every year.

Says O'Rourke: "We made our first foray into purchasing XTA processors at the beginning of March 2001, with the prospect of several large tours this summer using our EV X-Array PA systems - Aaron Carter being one of them."

In combining an EV X-Array PA with XTA DP226 loudspeaker processing, Tour Tech followed the lead of Chicago's dB Sound, who commissioned XTA to supply DP-series processors for the last Rolling Stones World Tour.

O'Rourke: "We embarked on a search for a loudspeaker processor with excellent audio quality, accessibility and which besides being sonically very good also had an easy to use interface, and was packaged very well.

We're very happy with the XTA product. We road-tested three other products in the same vein, but in each case we weren't happy with the ease of use, the computer interfacing and the manufacturer back-up; and ultimately we really didn't feel like doing their R&D for those manufacturers. We're pretty skilled users yet we still couldn't make them work to our complete satisfaction.

"By contrast, we had the XTA product, which came with a clear and concise manual, up and running in 15 minutes. XTA's packaging is one of best highlights of this product, and when we ran it on our test bench all of the features worked as specified and sounded sonically very smooth. XTA excel at making a quality product, and that's why the largest North American and Canadian users are now specifying XTA. We feel it's simply the best product out there.

"The other nice thing is that when we tour into the US, as we will with our upcoming summer tours, if we need extra cabinets, most of the North American rental companies that have X-Array are also using XTA loudspeaker processing, so that's a plus situation because we're all using the same boxes, amplifiers and processors."

H e adds: "Now that we are much more familiar with the XTA products and their features, we are revising our larger nightclub, civic centre and sports stadium X-Array installation proposals, to include XTA processing in our system specifications - because it's clearly the best system out there."

SiDD Helps Jane McDonald To Crack America
Chanteuse Jane McDonald is currently on a self-financed mission to break the American market - and two XTA SiDD processors have gone along as travelling companions to guarantee the quality of these critical performances.

McDonald is performing a week-long residency at the prestigious MGM Ballroom in Las Vegas during July, with the the dynamic EQ, limiting and compression of the SiDDs being used on her vocals and Shure in-ear monitoring system. She is well used to working with the processors, as production company WE Events regularly uses its allocation of five SiDDs across Jane's performances.

"Jane really likes the sound of the SiDDs," says WE Events' Wayne Baker." They're very dynamic and the compressors don't really sound like a compressor when they're running. She's really enjoying working with them."

At the beginning of July, McDonald and WE Events worked on an orchestral show in aid of the Heartbeat charity at which the SiDDs also came into their own, being used for front of house as well as on the singer's vocals and monitoring.

The show was performed to a 5,000-strong audience at Harewood House, near Leeds, and featured a rig comprising Accusound instrument mics, McDonald's Beta 87 wireless handheld, 30 flown stacks of Turbosound Flashlight, flown delays and three Soundcraft Series Five desks - two on FOH and one on monitors.

"The SiDDs suit classical music because the EQ and dynamics of the compression are very good," adds Baker. "There's really not a lot else like it on the market."

WE Events' investment came about because it already used XTA technology and wanted to bring the quality of its compressors in line with the rest of its systems.
"We felt the quality of our compressors was getting left behind," says Baker. "We invested in SiDD because it offers very consistent compression and limiting. You're able to pick out frequencies for things like knocking out sub-bass problems and noise abatement. It's a very versatile unit. In Las Vegas, the Americans will say 'Hey man, what's SiDD?' - and we'll have to educate them!"

SiDD at New Orleans Jazz Festival
The annual New Orleans Jazz Fest has become a touchstone performance for music fans from around the world, and John "Klondike" Koehler, Owner of Greenfield, MA-based Klondike Sound, has been the sound reinforcement consultant for Jazz Fest for the past 24 years. As Audio Director for the show, Koehler is responsible for virtually every aspect of Jazz Fest's sound, including site layout of stages, sound field containment, system optimization during the event, and every audio spec involved in every aspect of each system for the multiple stages.

For the past three years, Koehler has employed the ubiquitous XTA DP226 processors as system controllers, with great success. At this year's Jazz Fest, however, with on-site assistance from XTA's Tom Bensen, Koehler added eight XTA SiDD systems and soon realized just how flexible SiDD could be.

"I placed several of them as overall left-right system controllers for several stages," Koehler explains. "They performed that task exceptionally well. But they were also just as good at other roles, such as two-channel discrete compressor/limiters. One of the uses they really stood out on was as dynamic EQ units for the house console at the Gospel Stage. We patched the SiDD through a stereo subgroup for the choir microphones."

" When you've got 80 singers up on the stage, channels can be tough to mix. The SiDD was very, very effective at smoothing out the mid-range peaks and the overall sound and dynamics in that instance." In another overall application, the XTA SiDD system's fine-tuned parametric filters made a tremendous difference as part of the system control on various stages. "They allowed the engineers to pre-tune the sound without resorting to graphic EQs," Koehler comments. "The SiDD was a very good solution to a number of issues at a complicated, multi-stage show like Jazz Fest."

Out on the high seas, Silversea Cruises' new flagship liner, the Silver Whisper, has taken the notion of luxury cruising to new heights, pampering a limited number of high-ticket clients per cruise. The 350 passengers on each cruise expect the absolute best from every aspect of the trip, from the food to the entertainment. The XTA SiDD helps ensure they get the maximum benefit from the ship's sound systems.

David Shapiro, Partner in New York City-based Audio Design International, designed and installed the sound system in the Silver Whisper's sumptuous lounge, in which three shows rotate performances. "It's a very multi-purpose room." Shapiro explains. "It needed very sophisticated signal and dynamics processing to handle a wide range of shows. And, of course, on a ship, space is limited, so you want as much power as you can get from the least amount of equipment. "

"The SiDD solved a lot of problems from one box, in just one rack space." Along with a pair of XTA DP200s and a DP226 processor, Shapiro used the SiDD system as a processor inserted into the vocal chain's subgroups. "It enabled us to get absolutely perfect parametric EQ and compression, out of a single unit," he says. "This is a tough room, in that one person has to operate both sound and lights. So the SiDD system offered another advantage to us in that it was very, very simple to set up and very easy to operate. Overall, it's a great piece of gear."