d&b audiotechnik specializes in loudspeakers, electronics, hardware accessories, research and development, construction of prototypes, test runs or mass production. In now 30 years of production, the company has changed one. David Claringbold, Chief Marketing Officer, talks about the highlights of this year’s fair.
1. As one of the “Immersive Technology” founded at the Prolight + Sound in 2018. Was it behind this?
Based on an exceptional audio system processor and two software modules, the d&b Soundscape opens up a whole world of creativity. The product marks the beginning of a new era of sound experience – for the sound designer, for the engineer, for the artist and for the audience.
Combining d&b loudspeaker systems with state-of-the-art processing power, object-based mixing and sophisticated room emulation, d&b Soundscape is a toolkit to enable the creation of an unparalleled listening experience – natural, harmonious, enveloping and emotionally engaging.
2. What is special about this new technology?
David Claringbold is the Chief Marketing Officers from d&b audiotechnik.
Almost 5 years in development and with extensive field testing by some of the world’s leading artists and venues, d&b Soundscape changes the approach to live sound mixing and system design. What has long been an exercise in managing limitations now becomes a process that is freely creative, far from the restrictions of mix busses and stereo imaging, this new technology allows the creation of sound system designs with which acoustic environments can be created and sound sources placed and moved. Soundscape fulfils a devotion we’ve had for decades.
3. d&b audiotechnik is one of the leading manufacturers of audio equipment. What do customers value most about you?
d&b provides professional audio solutions to accurately transfer passions through high-end quality speech and music reproduction. d&b is internationally regarded as a leading company for sound reinforcement systems in installed and mobile applications, with a reputation for quality of construction, standard of service, system integration principles, and pioneering technological development.
4. You have been represented at Prolight + Sound for several years. What distinguishes the fair from your point of view?
Prolight + Sound is a major date on the event calendar that brings together all strands of the industry under the one roof and the d&b family certainly feels at home there. All of our global Partners, distributors, users and friends are warmly invited to share this moment with us.
5. What highlights can visitors to the trade fair look forward to this year?
2018 is shaping up as a stellar year for d&b audiotechnik as we continue our epic quest to deliver two outstanding audio technology innovations into the market in the one year. Having launched the revolutionary immersive sound system processor the d&b Soundscape in February at ISE, winning the Best of Show Award, Prolight + Sound 2018 now becomes the perfect occasion to officially introduce our next generation line array technology, the d&b SL-Series – GSL System.
Sitting above the iconic J, Y and V Series systems as the apex of the d&b range, the GSL-System sets a new standard by delivering unprecedented low frequency extension, significant headroom and a cardioid dispersion pattern performance over the entire operating range. In short: it’s the ultimate touring machine.
Prolight + Sound will also give d&b the opportunity to continue presentations of the revolutionary sound system processor, the d&b Soundscape. d&b Soundscape presentations will take place in the Messe Forum for the duration of Prolight + Sound. In the Mixing Sessions d&b presents how a live production mix on a Soundscape system is being created and engineered. Serge Gräfe, FoH (front of house) engineer of Kraftwerk, will guide the audience through the process of developing a creative concept for the mix on a Soundscape system using multi track recordings as an example.
d&b has already announced a number of integration partners for the DS100 Signal Engine including show control standard QLab by Figure 53, TTA Stagetracker II by TTA, as well as with Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) systems in either VST or AU formats. More integration partner announcements will be announced in the near future.
At the d&b stand you will also find the complete d&b product range including all loudspeaker series E, T, J, Y and V-Series as well as xS, xA and xC-Series. There will also be a d&b Workflow station on the booth featuring NoizCalc, ArrayCalc and ArrayProcessing.
Birthing the SL-Series and Soundscape has changed d&b forever. The resilience, innovation and capacity of the organisation has been tested at every point and from this we have learnt and grown. We expect Prolight + Sound 2018 to be the finale of a multi-year development phase, kicking-off the new journey of these two outstanding audio technology innovations.
