eclipse equips IoTWF
Published: MEA
UAE: eclipse Staging Services supplied the audio, video and lighting equipment for the recent Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) in Dubai. Organised by Californian company, Invision Communications and hosted by Dubai Media Office and Cisco, the third edition of the annual event attracted over 2,000 participants.
The audio side of the project offered the challenge of providing even audio coverage to an unconventional room layout. Due to rigging limitations and screen size, the team had to hang its main arrays of two d&b audiotechnik V-Subs, eight V8s and two V12s 40m apart with a small space for two centre hangs consisting of four Y8s. These flown arrays were complimented with E5 lip-fills and M4 fills on speaker stands at the edges of the room. The whole system was ArrayProcessed using d&b’s software and D80 amplifiers.
‘Having a sub array was not an option and not really needed for a conference, we chose to empower the low end by adding six V-Subs divided into stacks of two,’ explained senior audio engineer, Wissam Shaheen. ‘For control and processing, three LM44 processors were used to run AES signals to the D80 amplifiers. The show was mixed using an Avid Profile with two stage racks feeding AES to the LM processors ensuring a digital signal path to the amplifiers. The equipment was rock solid and completely stable as always.’
The mic package saw 12 Shure UR4D+ RF channels used with a combination of DPA headsets, Shure WL184 lavaliers and handheld mics. For comms, the rental house turned to Clear-Com’s Helixnet and Freespeak II system.
‘The audio team on this job was magnificent. Compliments to Nick Pain, who helped us immensely by perfecting the audio design, putting the whole thing together and delivering the show. In my opinion one of the best audio professionals out there. Always a pleasure working with such a set of skills,’ reflected Mr Shaheen. ‘It was quite a big responsibility providing audio for such a high profile conference, but nothing is more rewarding than a happy FOH engineer and a satisfied smiling client.’
‘I have been looking forward to the opportunity to work with eclipse since getting to know John Parkhouse, the head of audio, in his previous role with Protec,’ added Mr Pain. ‘John and I have kept in touch and I was interested to see first-hand the department John has been instrumental in building. ‘The audio department is very impressive with well spec’d equipment run by some very talented staff. Wissam Shaeen, Karl Aldred (intern), Ben Loader and Ben Spencer (both freelancers) were all a pleasure to work with and made it possible to deliver a world-class result for our client despite some really testing deadlines and some interesting technical challenges.’
Away from the audio, the lighting side of the project called on over 200 intelligent fixtures and 40 conventional lights which were all controlled by two full size GrandMA consoles. The event also called for 70 custom gobos to decorate the walkways with the event logo.
The eclipse video department supplied the large presentation screen, measuring 36.5m x 6m and over 6,000 pixels across. This was created using eight 20k J-series panels, all managed by a touring Barco E2 switcher. ‘The system provided superior image quality and ease of operation,’ stated head of video, Lee Worthington. ‘The Barco E2 is a new piece of kit to the market and it was great to get the chance to use it on such an influential and esteemed event.’
‘While it’s sometimes difficult to manage such a large project remotely with almost a 12-hour time difference, we managed to stick to all deadlines of the pre-production and on-site delivery, leading to a very comfortable time on-site with no surprises,’ concluded event project manager, Richard Scott.