Lawo partner Professional Audio & Television has announced a technical partnership with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to rebuild and fit out the historic Wellington Town Hall.
The NZSO is one of the world’s oldest national symphony orchestras and has charmed audiences with memorable concerts and recordings since 1946. In 2016, the NZSO was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance at the prestigious Grammy Awards, and has recorded music for several film and game projects, including Wish Dragon, The Hobbit, The Lovely Bones, Krampus, Emperor, Escape Plan, Mortal Engines and Titanfall 2.
PAT says it is delighted to be selected as a technology partner for this project. A 72-fader Lawo mc²96 audio production console sits at the heart of the install, complemented by a 16-fader Lawo mc²56 console. Both consoles pool their DSP resources from two fully redundant, 1RU super compact Lawo A__UHD Cores. Lawo A__stage boxes feed audio in and out of a redundant SMPTE 2110-30 AoIP network. According to PAT, a Meinberg microSyncRX clocks the media network by offering a high level of efficiency and versatility, and impresses with its high port density.
HOME at the heart
Lawo’s new HOME cloud-native management platform for IP-based media infrastructure connects, manages and secures all aspects of the live production environment. PAT has also supplied and fully integrated Merging Technologies HAPI interfaces into the Lawo environment via HOME, as well as into the 2110 network via Microsens Fibre bridges. PAT says this boosts the IO capabilities and provides a seamless and unified interface for control room operators and to several AVID ProTools terminals throughout the facility. A Lawo PowerCore fitted with a Dante IO expansion card and StudioHub XLR breakout panels will feature as a central comms and talkback system. Densitron’s IDS Core software controls this via Ember+. The Densitron core will also orchestrate and control lighting, digital signage and video elements between each performance and educational space. The Densitron solution will display performance space booking and status information outside the Townhall’s rooms and keep conductors and music score readers on track with Beats and Bars information during performance recordings.
Craig Thorne, NZSO senior manager of projects, said, “When the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra started designing its new audio recording studios, we wanted to work with not just any supplier, but a partner who would be right with us from inception through to operation. In PAT, we got just that — a family of genuine, supportive, specialist designers and engineers who understand our business and collaborated with us to supply the right solutions for our specific needs. Our Lawo mc²96 and mc²56 production consoles are already the envy of many sound engineers, and once open for business, NZSO Studios will rival the best in the world.”
Mike Heard, senior solutions architect for PAT, said, “Being involved in this project has already become a career highlight for me. Everyone from the construction supervisor to project managers and our team at PAT has a common sense of care, genuine interest and passion for an outstanding end result. I can’t wait for the doors to open and to sit back and listen to the magic on opening night. The world is watching this one, but we know we have the skill and technology to pull it off and deliver something that will turn heads.”
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