Business News

As the premier production company in the country, AVL Productions was entrusted with the massively important task of providing all technical production services for Lira's live concert shoot at Carnival City, including audio, lighting, special effects and recording. The event, held in August 2009, was a massive success and the DVD has immediately become the fastest-selling video of any South African artists in the last ten years.

This is what Lira had to say on her DVD cover: "To Paul and your team at AVL Productions - OMGoodness I love working with you. That's how live shows were always meant to sound! What a pleasure - thank you for all the value you added!"

Firstly, AVL provided a 15m x 7m ShowLED Animation Curtain that not only dazzled the audience with a host of exciting visual animations, it also sported a moving RMB logo that left the delegates speechless. The backdrop was comprised of three 9 x 4 full-colour Chameleon Star Curtains, joined to make a stunning 12 x 9 curtain that did chases, colour-changes, twinkles and waves. CLS-LED mirror panels were hung around the whole venue to create an amazing 3D effect and AVL's imported CO2 Gas Jets completed the effect by creating 7m gas columns that were uplit to great effect.

AVL Productions would like to thank ATTV's Andrew Tim and Wilma Botha for entrusting this important job to us.

The weekend of 1 December was a busy one indeed for AVL Productions. Not only did the company handle all three big stages at South Africa's biggest concert for local artists, Woodstock 9, it also handled the highly technical recording and broadcast of the 46664 World Aids Day Concert at Ellis Park - all at the same time!

Woodstock

Woodstock was held from 29 November to 2 December 2007 in Harrismith. AVL Productions was tasked with the responsibility of handling the sound, lighting and staging for all three main stages, namely the Jose Cuervo Outdoor Main Stage for headline acts, the Samsung Stage for the country's top underground bands, and the Revolution Stage for the cream of SA's cutting edge bands. Knowing that an important festival like Woodstock required killer sound, lighting and staging, Paul Hughes, AVL Productions' Chief Engineer, made the decision early on that the audio for all three stages should be powered by D & B Audiotechnik.

AVL Productions owns the biggest D & B Audio line array in the country (with the exception of the distributor) and made full use of this excellent German brand of audio equipment on all three stages.

The main stage was created using AVL Productions' highly impressive Eurotruss Roof System, with PA wings on both sides. A vast lighting system was rigged, with 96 parcans, 36 moving heads, two follow spots, smoke and haze, driven by a Hog 1000 control desk. The PA on the main stage was a six-a-side D & B Audio J-Series line array with four J-Subs and two D & B Q-7's per side for near-fills. Stages two and three were both kitted out with AVL Production's Q-Series line array (four Q1's, two Q 7's and two Q-subs per side) ground-stacked, as well as two highly innovative lighting rigs that included ShowLED Star Curtains and CLS-LED Mirror Panels (never seen before at a South African rock concert).

On all three stages, the high-output D & B Audio sound systems blew the crowd away with their amazing power and clarity, and Woodstock without a doubt experienced its finest ever lighting shows.

Many favourable comments were received from artists, engineers and the public about the sound and lighting on all three stages, and particularly the main stage. Said AVL Productions' Paul Hughes, who was stationed at the main stage: "I love the entire D&B Audio range because of the sheer presence of the speakers. As long as the system is set up correctly, no matter where you walk in the venue, the sound is the same. This is a very rare thing in sound reinforcement."

Guest engineers were just as complimentary. For example, Jan van Zyl, (a highly-respected senior lecturer at The Academy of Sound Engineering) who mixed several bands on Stage Two, had this to say: "What an impressive system! AVL Productions' PA isn't just massive in sound, it's also aesthetically pleasing - it's so compact that it just blends into the set. And yet from the sound perspective, I had ample headroom and it was loud without hurting the ears. It was so easy to get a pleasant mix. What also amazed me was that behind the speaker stacks it was dead quiet! I found this to be a fantastic feature because it helped in eliminating feedback and keeping stage levels down. It was brilliant." Gavin Harrison of the Springbok Nude Girls was in full agreement. Said Gavin: "This PA absolutely cooks! I can't wait to mix on it again."

Despite a thunderstorm to end all storms on the Friday afternoon (just as the gig was about to start), Woodstock 9 was a massive success, and the sound, lighting and structures on all three stages was superb. The rain and mud was not enough to dampen the spirits of the crowd who showed their appreciation by rocking until the very last note was played.

AVL Productions would like to thank Clint and Nancy of Authentic Ideas for trusting them with the technical requirements of this important event, SAW for their excellent support as distributors of D & B Audio, and above all, the technicians and crew of AVL Productions, whose tireless efforts made this major event the huge success that it was.

Nelson Mandela 46664 World Aids Day Concert

South Africa's largest and most important music concert was held in Johannesburg on 1 December 2007 and AVL Productions was integrally involved in this massive production, with its Digidesign Venue console being used in various applications. AVL Productions is the only local company with two Digidesign Venue consoles. The Nelson Mandela 46664 World Aids Day Concert, which took place at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, was without a doubt the largest, most important and most technically challenging music event held on the African Continent this year.

Personally attended by Mr Mandela himself, the concert featured the biggest names in South African music and the likes of Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Goo Goo Dolls, Ludacris, Jamelia, Angelique Kudjo and Razorlight.

The SABC appointed AVL Productions to handle the outside broadcast and recording of audio for the entire event. When AVL, in the form of Cristo Hattingh and Evert de Munnik (two of South Africa's top engineers), was awarded the gig, the company had no hesitation in deciding that AVL's Digidesign D-Show Venue Console was the only choice. Cristo and Evert were assisted by students of the Academy of Sound Engineering, an AVL Productions company.

A temporary carpeted studio was set up inside the in-house amp room, where the engineers were isolated. The D-Show system with side car was set up in the room with two Pro Tools HD systems, one connected to the HD X1 card (channels 1 - 48) and the other to the HDX2 card (channels 49 - 96.) There were two stage racks on the stage, which was 85 metres away. The stage was a revolving stage with a front and a back (Stage A and Stage B), hence one stage rack was used for Stage A and one for Stage B. Another console was patched into the inputs on the FOH rack via the analogue inputs to give an additional 16 inputs for crowd effects and choir mics, which were then patched into Pro Tools via the assignable inputs on the HDX card. Hence, 64 channels were running via each HDX card at a time, into Pro Tools. This massive feat was only made possible by the huge versatility and ease of operation of AVL's D-Show Venue system.

In addition to the above broadcast and recording set-up for the SABC by AVL, Venue was also to be seen elsewhere at the concert. Peter Gabriel, for example, set up a D-Show Console at Front of House, as well as a Profile Console on stage for his personal monitoring. The D-Show Console at FOH was also connected to Gabriel's personal Pro Tools system, so that his FOH engineer could make his own recording of Gabriel's set.

Digidesign Venue, with no less than four consoles including the broadcast desk, was therefore in commanding presence at the Nelson Mandela 46664 Concert. The broadcast sound delivered by AVL Productions was immaculate, and many favourable comments have been received from the public, members of the industry and the SABC themselves about the amazing quality and clarity of the broadcast audio. AVL Productions would like to express its thanks to the SABC, the good people at Digidesign for their constant support and to our excellent associate engineers, Cristo Hattingh and Evert de Munnik for delivering what was the finest music broadcast yet seen in South Africa.