Following huge success in the USA, the Lennon Bus concept has now been rolled out to Europe where it will provide kids and students across the continent with hands-on digital media production experience. Built on a rugged Mercedes-Benz 12m long chassis, the bus also features a roof top terrace and 'pop outs' that offer expansion into exterior space when stationary.
Like the North American Lennon Bus, the European counterpart has two digital recording studios plus an acoustic isolation room. Genelec joins a raft of other sponsors including Apple, Sony, Avid and Roland in providing state of the art recording and audio visual equipment for the bus.
Jeff Sobel, chief engineer and designer of the mobile studios comments, "Naturally, we are very pleased to have Genelec monitors on the Lennon Bus as they are the standard by which all studio monitors are judged by. What is great about this project is that the kids and students are learning on the very best equipment from the start. I'm sure that this will instill a passion for hearing the details and finesse of all their recordings that Genelec monitors provide."
Each of the two studios on the bus has a complete 5.1 surround system comprised of five 8240As and a 7260A subwoofer. Two AD9200A analogue to digital convertors combine with the 7200 Series DSP subwoofers to reach the full potential of the onboard DSP monitoring system. In addition to the interior monitoring systems, students can also make use of two larger 8050As complete with IsoPod floor stands for outdoor monitoring and performance.
In June 2013 the Lennon Bus Europe will be at the Yoko Ono Lennon-curated Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre in London. Acts featured include the Plastic Ono Band, Siouxsie Sioux, Boy George, Marianne Faithfull and Iggy and the Stooges.
(Jim Evans)
