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SOUND.COM was once again happy to be a part of Stars Parivaar for the second year in succession and this particular season for the first time we handled complete audio duties, right from the reality sound on the red carpet to the on-ground live sound, broadcast audio, lounge area audio and post show party. The awards were held on the 7th of June 2009 at Film City in Mumbai, and broadcast live on Star Plus to domestic and international audiences. The Star Parivaar Awards is one of the premier televised annual events for the channel, and this year featured 8 live acts and the performers included 80 televisions stars.

Cineyug Worldwide — who managed, scripted and directed the show for television — took the event to a much bigger scale than previous editions, and right from the rehearsals to the final links post the show, SOUND.COM’s team worked round the clock for audio excellence. Nowadays, live events have become very challenging as the stage is monopolised by dancers rehearsing, and it's impossible to get even a quiet 15 minutes for sound-checks. That is where our experience and application engineering comes to the fore — it’s all about getting it right the first time. It's natural for us to go into an event being prepared to do whatever it takes to put on a great show for the audience that looks and sounds great on television.

Sunil Karanjikar of SOUND.COM specified a sound system design based on the JBL VerTec, with a total of twelve VT4887 flown line arrays, arranged in a left-right configuration. Additionally two VRX932LA line array elements provided front fill coverage to critical forward seating areas, and delay arrays of four VRX932LA were hung in the under balcony of the theatre type seating of the film studio. A total of four VT4880A Ultra-Long Excursion arrayable subwoofers provided low-frequency support. The system also featured a total of eight VRX915M monitors and four SRX725 sidefills backstage. All the JBL VerTec and VRX/SRX speaker systems were powered by LabGruppen PLM10000Q and FP+10000Q quad channel amplifiers respectively.

The Film City Studio No 7 was designed with multi-functionality in mind, to accommodate a wide spectrum of film shoots, but not live events — thus, sound design played a very crucial role. Our primary goal was to get predictable acoustical behaviour, whether the studio was empty or full, so that there isn’t the usual consternation during sound checks where event managers are worrying about what the audio will sound like during the event. Our job is to put everyone at ease, because the producer, the artists and the event managers already have a good idea of the way the system will sound on show night.

A Soundcraft VI6 digital console was used to mix the on-ground audio, and custom mixes from this console were sent to the television room where Seby Fernandes, the TV/broadcast sound engineer mixed on a Yamaha M7CL-48 digital console. All the wireless and podium microphones were given direct outs straight from the Whirlwind transformer splitter snake, and our synergy between the Live and TV mixer has helped us achieve superb results as it is just one company providing all the necessary audio related equipment.

SOUND.COM deployed three reality audio units consisting of Sound Devices field mixers and Sennheiser boom and wireless microphones, these portable audio rigs were used to take sound bytes and conduct live interviews of the TV Stars as they walked the red carpet. Reality audio equipment is SOUND.COM’s new foray into providing turn-key audio solutions for major awards functions and unlike the de facto standard gear that’s readily available, we have raised the bar by investing in the top-of-the-line field production consoles and microphones and not skimping on the accessory sets like Rycote windjammers, pistol grips and softie kits. Kalpesh Ajara and Ashok Giri did a commendable job in taking care of the broadcast audio needs along with Seby’s team.

Sunil Karanjikar mix/systems engineer notes that the decision to use our sound systems is highly based on consistent, predictable performance. “The SOUND.COM crew do a great job,” Karanjikar added. “I’ve been designing systems for a few years and for events like this, where you have a great deal of dialogue from hosts, presenters and winners, in addition to the musical numbers, the sound system needs to perform well for music PA as well as large-scale dialogue. SOUND.COM provides that level of audio versatility.

Warren D’souza managing director of SOUND.COM further confirmed satisfaction with the results achieved by the SOUND.COM team. “Our crew have proven to be consistent in providing clear, powerful and controllable sound for some of the country’s high-profile live events and the Star Parivaar Awards was no different,” he noted. “Our systems performed flawlessly and allowed us to stay focused on the task at hand.

Audio Equipment List

Live Sound
Soundcraft Vi6, 96 Inputs
JBL VerTec VT4887, VT4880A
JBL VRX932LA, VRX915M, SRX725
LabGruppen PLM10000Q, FP+10000Q
Sennheiser 300IEMG2, E4, AC2
Shure UHF-R, UR1, UR2 with KSM9, HA8089, UA845, UA875
Audio Technica U857QL
Radial J48, JDI Duplex, Twin ISO
BSS AR133, AR204
Whirlwind 56 Channel Concert Series Transformer Splitter
Clearcom MS232, RS501, CC95, CC260, KB211GM, FL1

Computer & Machine Remote Control
SOUND.COM Instant Player v1.0
Smaart Live v6.0
LabGruppen Lake Controller PLM Edition 5.1
Soundcraft Virtual Vi v3.0.0.119
Shure Wireless Workbench v5.0.1
Presonus Firebox
Edirol UA-25EX

Broadcast Audio
Yamaha M7CL-48
Genelec 8030A, 7060A
XTA DS800
Sennheiser MKH416

Reality/Portable Sound
Sound Devices 302
Sennheiser MKH416
Rycote Softie
Lightwave Audio Boom Pole

Post Show Party
Pioneer CDJ1000mk3
Pioneer DJM800
JBL SRX725
JBL VT4880

Lounge Area Audio
Yamaha O1V
Pioneer CDJ200S
Mackie SRM450