The Award For Monitoring At SAFTAs Goes To… Alcons

This year’s 16th annual South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) took place as a virtual event. Broadcast live, Alcons Audio was honoured that its pro-ribbon systems were chosen for monitoring at this prestigious ceremony.

With Alcons’ pro-ribbon systems taking both live and installed audio to levels of power and quality which are impossible with most systems, choosing them for an event with the theme ‘Frame the Future’ was highly appropriate.

Reliability and consistency

Production company Don’t Look Down Productions contracted Johannesburg-based AV Unlimited to provide the full technical production, with the monitor sound mixed by Adriaan van der Walt.

“Because the awards ceremony was live to air, there was no opportunity to do a second take.  Reliability and consistency were crucial, in terms of both the technical staff and the demands on the equipment,” says Guillaume Ducray, Operations Director at AV Unlimited. “Because of these demands and, as a long-time user of Alcons systems, we had no doubt about which system to deploy.”

“Because the awards ceremony was live to air, there was no opportunity to do a second take.  Reliability and consistency were crucial. Because of these demands and, as a long-time user of Alcons systems, we had no doubt about which system to deploy,” says Guillaume Ducray, Operations Director at AV Unlimited.

For the main stage monitors, Guillaume specified a flown system of left and right arrays, each comprising three LR16 two-way, dual 8” compact line-array modules, loaded with the RBN601 pro-ribbon driver, and one LR16B double 15” compact line-array bass module. A pair of VR12 two-way, 12” mid-size versatile monitors, featuring the patented RBN601 pro-ribbon driver, were used at the mix position. ALC2 2x1kW and ALC4 2x2kW amplified loudspeaker controllers were used to power and control the system.

Mix in studio

“Because this was a virtual event, the broadcast mix was done in the studio, not from an OB van,” says Adriaan. “This meant the mix had to adhere to EBU R 128 loudness normalisation specifications of L(K) = -23 LUFS.  The transparency of the VR12, combined with the clinical damping factor of the ALC2, meant the mix in the studio translated very well on-air.”

Guillaume Ducray (6th from left) and Adriaan van der Walt (7th from left) with their team

The LR16s and LR16Bs were set to a 160Hz preset, the latter no low-end roll-off, while the VR12s were set to full-range. “This resulted in a very smooth transition between both systems, which gave me an accurate reference to what both the artists on stage and the audience at home heard,” Adriaan continues.

“To this day the LR16 system stands its ground against any other professional sound system, with the variety of DDP preset options allowing the user to deploy the system for a wide variety of applications.”

For more info: www.avunlimited.co.za

Alcons products involved:

• LR16
• LR16B
• VR12
• ALC2
• ALC4

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