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Outdoor DJ, dance and concert events in South America


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On a huge ranch outside of Cali, Colombia a massive outdoor dance event starring DJ Carl Cox, world innovator in creating propulsive audio environments, attracted thousands. The stakes were high based on the Barbados-born artist's extraordinary success as the inimitable 3-Deck-Wizard with influential compilations like 'Phuture 2000', 'Global' and 'Dirty Bass 12', film appearances and successful large scale 'drop ins'.
The technology had to be far beyond the bleeding edge to match Cox's creativity and the challenge of ensuring a total audio club experience outdoors in the Colombia countryside. Staged by Colombia's Mission Productions, owner of close to 400 assorted Martin Line Arrays and W8 variants, the event was breaking new ground in terms of new ways to manipulate sound with the TiMax ImageMaker16 audio imaging matrix, essentially a surround processor that doesn't require program information to be pre-programmed on a disk.
Austen Derek of Aurateq Systems in New York and Dave Haydon of Out Board in London (TiMax) surpassed the challenge with an 8-channel surround system consisting of 32 Martin Audio Wavefront 8 Compacts in eight stacks and 64 WSX subs arranged in four blocks at the corners of the site. The W8Cs were processed by XTA, with TiMax used to create all-round L/R images for the main mix with eight surround images and a 'scatter-delay' synthetic image for overhead effects.
The two stacks per side of the site were divided into two channels each for delay imaging purposes, so the whole thing was controlled by 12 channels of TiMax plus two channels for front and rear subs, which in the end were all left undelayed as they inherently combined so well across the length and breadth of the site. The smooth distribution of deep low-end content was assisted by slightly cross-firing the two rear bass stacks to help minimize standing wave interaction with the 32 subs in front of the stage.
Stereo coverage was achieved with Martin W8Cs assigned as alternate Left/Right pairs across the front and down the sides and rear of the site, ensuring any two adjacent stacks were providing a stereo mix. TiMax was used to add subtle rotating mix effects, triggered from a MIDI keyboard at various breakdown sections of the mix, while the system was left to just run in solid multichannel stereo for the main beat content.
To open his set, TiMax 'flew in' Carl Cox with a helicopter sample which literally shuddered around the site, followed by the artist rising slowly out of the stage on a scissor lift. The gig itself totally rocked the house, or as Austen put it, "We annihilated 'em." with Cox first coming on for two hours, and staying for over four, spinning deep hardcore till dawn to over 5000 manic revelers.
Back home in New York, Derek and partner Rachel Stires run Aurateq Systems, a multifaceted design, installation and production company based in New York City with a number of high profile projects in the U.S., London and South America.
In the future, Aurateq will be collaborating with Mission Productions for pop, rock, and other types of large scale live tours through Colombia and other Latin American countries, with plans to add another complete FOH system in the coming months to cover the anticipated increased demand for their large scale stadium productions. Back home, they're at working designing and building doing lounge system and dance club for Bogart's, a club at Park Avenue.
Carl performing in front of an enthusiastic crowd
TiMax control screen
© 01/2004 pro-music-news

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