Wild & Marr held their Impact Tour, which covered South Africa’s major cities Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban over  12, 16 and 19 of October.

Wild & Marr is in an evolutionary process transforming from a predominantly audio company to a complete solutions company covering disciplines ranging from AV, conferencing and delegate systems, room booking systems, video distribution, professional displays etc.

Existing and potential clients, freelance engineers, audio educational institutions, educational institutions, houses of worship, system integrators, rental companies and others descended on the tour to see how JBL Professional, Crown, Soundcraft, Lexicon and BSS Audio showcased how Harman professional brands (recently acquired by Samsung) integrate.

JBL Professional, Shure, Crown, Soundcraft and BSS Audio were the pillars of the system, and the integration was supported by products from DirectOut Technologies, Avid Pro Tools, RME and TASCAM. Various technologies were used in the integration and connection process including Dante, MADI, AES3, BLU-Link, MIDI triggering all aligned with timecode and clocking.

Gabriel Le Roux of Audiosense, a highly respected monitor & recording engineer in the industry and Soundcraft’s Brand Ambassador in South Africa brought to attention that the goal of the tour was to showcase a high level of audio integration, which was achieved by utilizing an audio infrastructure where all source and playback audio remained in the digital realm.

“The Soundcraft Vi1000 digital mixing console was the centrepiece and the scenes on the console were triggered via MIDI that was programmed on the Pro Tools timeline. Timecode was used to trigger lighting cues. It’s key to note that we didn’t utilise any analogue inputs or outputs. Therefore all audio originated from Pro Tools was transported digitally via MADI Coax to MADI fibre to Dante to Blue-Link to AES3. We used Shure Axient Digital and Shure ULXD4D receivers that were integrated via Dante allowing for the Shure metadata to be brought onto the console, allowing for monitoring and controlling various Shure features.” explained Le Roux

“The attendees were impressed by the main speaker system consisting of the 2x JBL CBT1000 and 2x JBL CBT1000E bass extension arrays. This latest addition to the CBT range of column line array speakers created incredible impact in each venue. Sub-bass was augmented with 2x JBL VTX G28 Subwoofers to create a very well balanced and cohesive frequency response with various music genres that formed part of the listening experience.” observed Juan Soothill of In-Harmony Productions. Amplification and processing were provided by Crown I-Tech HD, with control and monitoring through Performance Manager by Harman.

“The JBL VTX A12 system was also very well received and close attention to detail was paid by the attendees on the various components, how small and compact the elements are and most of all how incredibly simple and intuitive the rigging system is,” Juan added.

JBL’s premium dedicated stage monitors the JBL VTX M22 and M20 were demonstrated in a stereo configuration. For the demonstration, they were set-up in passive mode, and high praise for their performance was received especially considering their compact form-factor.

Harman’s Business Development Manager Lyle Tarby added his thoughts on the day: “I think the session had a good turnout and presentations were seamless. The attendees were very engaged, asked lots of questions and were impressed overall. Attendees were taking photographs of the model numbers so they can go back and do some research. The JBL VTX A12s were well received, and the audience was impressed with the ability to rig them and adjust them to varying degrees. It’s an impressive system, and from a rigging perspective it’s very easy to set up with minimal effort.”

Shure has a rich history of being a globally trusted quality product and leader in microphone technology. Andrea Granata, Systems Solutions Manager at Shure EMEA, introduced the audience to Shure’s Axient Digital Wireless Microphone System. A focus was the ability to enable Quadversity mode, the patented technology which allows for extended coverage of a microphone channel.  With the ability to achieve a high density of channels into a single “white space”, with the limitations being placed on RF engineers, is a major selling point for this system. The Axient Digital systems were complemented by KSM8 capsules with patent pending dual-diaphragm design.

“The tour was successful. Most of the interest was derived from the very basic foundation of Shure with its reliability when it comes to wireless microphone technology. There was a fortune of interest generated by the listening station, and it certainly peaked the interest of what I’ve seen”, observed Granata. The Soundcraft Ui24 digital mixer coupled with the Shure PSM300 system and Shure SRH840 headphones, with touchscreen control via the Sharp Professional Touch Screen Display was intuitively operated by the attendees at the listening station, who got to compare a range of Shure microphones.

“The response has been very positive. What got the attention of the attendees was the fact that we are not running any analogue audio between the various devices. Most of the attendees had not seen this level of integration in the digital realm before, and that was one of the three key drivers behind this tour, being connectivity, integration and innovation. By focusing on the technology in the solution whether audio or data as opposed to the individual products, allowed the attendees to use their own creative thinking in solution concepts based on their relevant applications. From that perspective it’s been an amazing success, bringing the innovation not only in the products but in the complete design process too.” concluded Wild & Marr’s Sales Director, Gary Furman

Wild & Marr, recently being appointed sole distributors of Harman Professional’s AMX Control Systems and SVSI Video Distribution, are well positioned to bring your complete solution to fruition.