BPM Announce Technology Partner

Marked Events – organisers of the upcoming BPM show have announced MediaMatrix as their new technology partner for this years expo. Read on for all the latest…

Press Release

Marked Events has announced its technology partner, MediaMatrix (part of Peavey Commercial Audio), for the PA Experience at this year’s BPM show. The show is centred around the DJ and electronic music production markets, and takes place annually at Birmingham’s NEC (September 13-15).

A Peavey Commercial Audio (PCA) MediaMatrix system will be deployed to control the show’s ‘PA Experience’ feature, which will see 30 loudspeaker systems side-by-side, all in one place, and all at one time. The PA Experience is broken down into three categories: Compact (extremely portable); Full Range Cabinets; and Bins & Tops. All systems, which vary greatly in size and price, will be demoed during show hours.

The announcement follows a successful partnership in 2013 when PCA approached long-time MediaMatrix user, Mark Andrews of Incus AV Ltd, who worked with the event’s sponsor, RSDmusic, to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible.

“Effectively we deployed a three NION n3 system to provide a pair of stereo inputs to 76 L/R outputs; the audio is being transferred using XDAB, the proprietary bussing of MediaMatrix, between the three NIONs,” Andrews explains. “It’s all compiled at 96 kHz sampling rate to ensure the highest purity of signal throughout the system, from input to output, to try and achieve a transparent switching matrix. It also has to be as neutral and as pure as possible without any additional processing other than muting; MediaMatrix is perfect as it allows us to be meticulous in deployment, providing ultimate stability and configurability.”

But it’s not just about audio in 2014 – as a side function, Andrews has been asked to serve video slides for each manufacturer so that when the audio is switched between systems, an HD image will accompany each company’s respective offering.

“We plan to use MediaMatrix to display HD images of all manufacturers’ respective slides; it’s a truly seamless integration between the video and the audio, and the images are stored in the NIONs,” Andrews reveals. “It’s easy to operate too, as it’s just a basic control page; a very simple but extremely effective one-horse solution.

“MediaMatrix has been and always will be my choice for these kinds of jobs, as I know what it can and can’t do,” he continues. “Having that reassurance when somebody throws you a curve ball on site is priceless, especially as most of the time you’ll need to achieve a result quickly. I’m always comfortable using MediaMatrix because it brings confidence – and in honesty, I would question whether I’d feel that way using anything else.”

Marked Events Sales Director, Mark Walsh explains the importance of the BPM PA Experience: “In today’s competitive and extensive market it can be hard to decide which speaker system is best for your particular needs and, while reading reviews and listening to the word on the street is all well and good, the only way to know for sure is to hear the systems yourself. The PA Experience offers a controlled environment off the main show floor. As you can imagine, having thirty systems powered and ready to perform is no small task; the team at Peavey have really come through with the heart of the operation and, thanks to the collaboration between them and RSDmusic, we now have a world class show feature.”