At the 67th
Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles
last month, amplifier manufacturer Powersoft
delivered reliable and intelligible audio to over 7,000 people in attendance,
including the television industry\’s most talented and elite professionals. The
event, which was broadcast live by Fox on Sunday, September 20th to
a viewership of 11.9 million viewers across the U.S., recognised achievements
for the 2014 – 2015 television season.
Hosted by
Brooklyn Nine-Nine star and comedian Adam Samberg, the event\’s big winner was
HBO, which racked up 43 Emmys: more than any other network. HBO\’s Game of Thrones received 12 awards,
including \’Best Drama Series, setting a new record for the most Emmy Awards
received by any show in a single year. For the duration of the event, including
the 67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards held the week prior,
production specialist ATK Audiotek provided flawless live sound services
— with the live system relying on 54 Powersoft K10
DSP+AESOP amplifiers strategically positioned throughout the venue.
Spotlight on Reliability and
Intelligibility
For
ATK Audiotek, the two primary goals for the audio system were reliability and
intelligibility: \”We have been doing the Emmy Awards for so long now that
we know exactly what to expect,\” comments Kirk Powell, System Design
Engineer at ATK Audiotek. \”There are many set changes and different presenters,
and our main job is to ensure that the dialog is intelligible for everyone in
the house to hear while not interfering with the broadcast mix.\”
\”Great
amplification is critical in what we are doing here and we depend on Powersoft
K10s,\” he adds. \”For this show, reliability is key. We rack the
amplifiers up in different locations throughout the venue, and once the
configurations are complete and systems are tuned, we begin programming our FOH
and monitor levels.\”
ATK,
which recently replenished its arsenal with 48 new Powersoft K10 DSP + AESOP
amplifiers, routinely uses them on high profile broadcast award ceremonies
throughout the year, including the GRAMMY Awards, MTV Video Music Awards,
Country Music Awards and others. The K10 is a \’go-to\’ amplifier for ATK, which
acquired a total of 522 of the units over the last six years. Powell says the
K10s were chosen because of their unparalleled efficiency. \”There are many
dimensions where efficiency comes into play,\” Powell explains. \”For
example, from a power perspective, the K10s are so efficient that we can run
them on a 30 amp circuit at high levels as opposed to a 40 amp circuit so there
is significantly less power draw.\”
Then
there is the physical efficiency: \”Since the K10s are smaller and lighter,
we can fit more on the truck,\” says Powell. \”Even though we had
plenty of space to work with at the Emmy Awards, very often times rack space is
at a premium on these awards shows — particularly when your working
environment is on the stage or somewhere in the audience. Powersoft has been a
workhorse in this regard, delivering the power that we need while occupying a
very small footprint.\”
K10: Delivering Power to the Stars
For the 67th
Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, ATK set up a total of 10 array clusters: three in
the front consisting of JBL VT4886 three-way line array elements and seven
other clusters spread throughout the venue, comprising JBL VT4889 three-way
line array elements. Two amplifier rooms were set up in the upper tier of the
facility, as well as a small rack to facilitate some minor wedge reinforcement
at the monitor position.
For the entire
two weeks comprising the Emmys, ATK relies on a DiGiCo SD5 124 input console to
control the FOH system, in addition to a DiGiCo SD10 console with 96 inputs at
monitors. This is then routed to Aviom personal mixing systems on stage for
direct control of in ear monitor levels.
By using
Powersoft\’s built in DSP, ATK is able to remotely monitor all the amplifier
settings from the FOH and monitor stations. Powell says that once the
amplifiers are set up with all the cable runs in place, they are \’plug and
play\’. \”The Powersoft units are very reliable, so we never have to worry
about them — this is key in a production like The Emmys, where there are
so many moving parts at set changes.\”
Slashing Production Time with Powerful DSP
Capabilities
Obviously,
providing live sound services can entail working in a vast range of different
physical and acoustic environments. ATK relies on the powerful DSP capabilities
of the K10 to reduce production times — particularly in the configuration
and tuning phase. \”We have worked extensively with Powersoft on the DSP
features we need and are very pleased with how they have been
implemented,\” says Powell. \”For example, we are able to lock in
presets that we use for specific environments, and this gives us a known point
of origin when we are tuning for a specific room.\”
Different
presets and fine-tuning are required for different array clusters: \”We use
a lot of groups in our DSP settings,\” he continues. \”For example, we
might use a single tuning for an entire cluster, or we could split the cluster
and tune two groups differently. The same goes for attenuation. Oftentimes we
will adjust the bottom boxes down by -2 dB, and the upper boxes by -1
dB.\” Most importantly, Powell says,
ATK uses the Powersoft DSP to set things like delay times and EQ. \”For the
front clusters at the Emmys, the left and right settings were pretty much tuned
the same, but the center cluster was different. You\’ve got to pay attention to
each of the clusters and adjust them appropriately. We have refined all our DSP
settings over the years and now have a great starting point wherever we
work.\”
With decades of
experience under its belt, ATK Audiotek continues to strive for perfection in
all of its productions, and the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
was no exception: \”Everything was executed flawlessly,\” concludes
Powell. \”At an awards production like this, which is broadcast to the
entire country, have the most powerful, Hollywood elite in the room. If
something isn\’t perfect, someone is going to say something. In this regard, as
far as amplifiers are concerned, we are grateful to have Powersoft in our
corner.\”
