The company responsible for the video wanted to develop a system whereby electronic merchandise would be advertised to the tour audience by way of many large screen displays around the outside of the event arenas.
The idea was that SMS messaging would be given to text certain words to obtain video or music downloads onto the user's mobile phones. The displays were required to be housed in weather-resistant casings, be easily maintainable and be able to provide a good quality, high level audio output.
To achieve the solution Blink TV approached Jon Swain's company SPC, who were asked to advise and project manage the entire manufacture and supply of the equipment together with the fitting out of the electrical components.
The audio was selected by Jon Swain after extensive trials. Shure Distribution was chosen as the supplier, known for quality products and post sales support and the chosen speakers were the QSC AD-C152T ceiling speakers which are mounted into the front of the casing (one pair per rack across the 50 racks), along with amplification and DVD players. The entire unit has been spray painted to a high quality finish with the design reflecting the Close Encounters tour logo.
The somewhat unconventional decision to use ceiling speakers was more than justified by the fact that the sealed back-can aids the speakers' weather resistance (an essential feature) while ensuring that all of the sound energy travels forward instead of resonating inside the very large case. This performance aspect was totally proven by the impressive SPL's and exceptional sound coverage generated over an unusually wide frequency range.
As for the 42in plasma screens, these were designed into a three-part casing, based on a flight-case design, which was constructed and supplied by Absolute Casing. The work that Absolute put into the early stages of the project has proved its worth having been trucked around for thousands of miles over the past few months.
Swain says: "We worked on this as a partnership with Blink TV and ideas and concepts were shared throughout the project cycle. As for the QSC loudspeakers, they performed magnificently and we received great support from Peter James at Shure Distribution to ensure that this concept was realised."
QSC Audio Products, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of power amplifiers, loudspeakers, signal processing, digital signal transport, and computer control systems for professional audio markets worldwide.
(Chris Henry)
