31/5/2011 [Commercial Audio]
When you’re putting on a show for the best in the world, you can only rely on the best in the world.
With that in mind, Sydney production and integration company The PA People were for the first time charged with the exciting responsibility of providing trackside audio and other PA facilities for the annual Formula One Qantas Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, March 24-27 2011.
The audio requirements included
- a network of trackside speakers spanning the 5.3km circuit
- conference systems in both the National and International Media Centres with CobraNet feeds to and from the “GP TV” trackside broadcast
- a number of entertainment locations throughout the grounds; and
- the responsibility of playing back the Australian National Anthem to literally millions of people around the world
The PA People had no small task in front of them. To do it properly, they chose Yamaha LS9 and M7CL digital mixers. While the M7CL handled the larger entertainment mixing duties, the small footprint of the LS9-16 made it a perfect fit for the pressure of the Media Centres.
“Choosing the LS9 for the media conference systems just made sense. The combination of on-board DSP processing and the availability of CobraNet I/O made integration of the mixers with the rest of the control system simple and foolproof.”, said Chris Dodds, Managing Director of The PA People
Each LS9-16 digital mixer was fitted with an MY16CII CobraNet expansion card and provided 16 mic in, 16 CobraNet in and out, 32 mono mix channels, 4 stereo mix channels, 16 mix busses, 8 matrix busses, stereo bus, mono bus, up to 16x31-band graphic EQs and up to 4 SPX2000 multi-effect units, not to mention 95 additional dynamics processors on both mix channels and busses. Not bad for a mixer measuring 48cm wide and 50cm deep.
Yamaha’s MY-card expansion system, standard across all models of Yamaha digital mixer and programmable DSP, enables connectivity to all major digital audio protocols, including the vast CobraNet distribution backbone that ran around the F1 track. The modularity and simple interchangability of the cards enable any Yamaha device to connect to almost any third-party device, whether over an ethernet network, fibre optic, or even good old-fashioned copper.
Jarrod Dunn, Power and Communications Superintendent at the Grand Prix, had this to say about the efforts of The PA People;
“The PA People have done a great job in their first year at the event. The F1 GP is a challenging project and requires a great deal of skill and management to deal with the dynamic environment. The efforts of the PA People in 2011 are the benchmark and it is expected that this standard is either met or exceeded in future years. The PA People should look forward to many GPs to come.”
For further information on all Yamaha Commercial Audio products, please visit www.yamahaproaudio.com or call Yamaha Music Australia on +61 3 9693 5272
For sales enquires regarding all Yamaha Commercial Audio Products, please contact The PA People directly on +61 2 8755 8700 or email sales@papeople.com.au
