New location expands HARMAN Professional’s global network of experience centers; Multi-functional facility will serve as new headquarters for EMEA region and showcase cutting-edge technology offerings

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif. & LONDON) —HARMAN Professional Solutions, the global leader in audio, video, lighting and control systems, including networked AV, today announced the grand opening of the HARMAN Experience Center – London. The new facility expands the growing global network of HARMAN Professional Solutions Experience Centers, including locations in Los Angeles, Singapore and Shanghai, and will serve as the new headquarters for the EMEA region.

Designed to showcase how HARMAN solutions uniquely address customer needs across a variety of entertainment and enterprise market applications, the 25,800-square-foot (2,400-square-meter), multi-functional facility including EMEA headquarter offices, demonstrates the integration of brands including JBL Professional®, AKG Acoustics®, AMX®, BSS Audio®, Crown International®, dbx Professional®, DigiTech®, Lexicon Pro®, Martin®, Soundcraft® and Studer®.

“The opening of the experience center in London represents a major investment in the EMEA region, enabling us to deepen relationships with our customers and greatly expand our presence across critical markets,” said Chris Smith, Vice President, EMEA, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “Not only will the facility offer customers the opportunity to experience HARMAN innovation firsthand, it provides our staff with a state-of-the-art headquarters that will allow us to pursue new opportunities with greater speed and efficiency.”

The HARMAN Experience Center—London is comprised of several dedicated spaces along with the EMEA office space and meeting rooms.The Product Showroom is filled with HARMAN solutions including HARMAN’s Connected Retail Experience, Huddle Space, Connected Hotel Room, Home Recording, Networked AVoIP, and much more. The Foyer, Boardroom and Auditorium are not only practical-use spaces, but also areas that demonstrate HARMAN solutions for restaurant, corporate, education, corporate, and theatre environments.

“By opening this HARMAN Experience Center in London, we expanding our robust global network of experience centers and enabling our customers around the world to experience the One HARMAN Solution proposition firsthand,” said Mohit Parasher, Executive Vice President and President, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “From JBL Professional sound and Martin lighting to AMX controllers and Samsung displays, the entire facility is a brilliant demonstration of what HARMAN products can do when deployed seamlessly together in enterprise and entertainment environments.”

The HARMAN Experience Center—London is open by appointment only to HARMAN and Samsung customers, employees, distributors, sales representatives, dealers, artists and other industry professionals for meetings, performances, productions, hospitality events, and more.

The HARMAN offices and Experience Center is located at Westside, London Road, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9TD. For more information, contact European.Marketing@Harman.com.

New video showcases how HARMAN Professional audio and lighting solutions deliver exceptional results for more than 2,000 events each year   

WASHINGTON D.C.—As the nation’s premier performing arts and cultural center, The Kennedy Center houses nine world-class performance spaces, including four theaters, three concert stages, an opera house, and a concert hall. It is also the resident venue for the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and the Washington National Opera (WNO). Each year, the Kennedy Center produces more than 2,000 events and performances, making it one of the only venues in the world to host such a high and diverse volume of programming.

In order to support a huge range of performances on a demanding schedule, the Kennedy Center relies on HARMAN Professional audio and lighting solutions to provide brilliant sound and lighting for each event. Every venue in the Kennedy Center features JBL Professional speakers, Crown amplifiers, dbx signal processing, Soundcraft or Studer consoles, AKG microphones, and Martin lighting.

To celebrate the 20-year partnership between HARMAN and The Kennedy Center, HARMAN traveled to the facility to create this video, which shows how HARMAN Professional audio and lighting solutions give event producers impressive artistic license to achieve their vision.  

• See how a complete HARMAN Professional audio and lighting solution enables the Kennedy Center to produce daring and artistic live performances across its nine venues
• Learn why HARMAN equipment provides the reliability, ease-of-use, and technical redundancy required for 365 days of performances across multiple venues
• Discover how more than 1,000 JBL loudspeakers and 500 Crown amplifiers bring impressive sound to every event
• Find out how Soundcraft and Studer consoles, and dbx signal processing help audio engineers deliver world-class mixes for each event
• See how AKG microphones provide professional sound reproduction for the NSO, WNO, and touring artists
• Learn why production teams use Martin moving-head fixtures to create stunning lighting designs

“The partnership that we've had with HARMAN is 20 years old, and in those 20 years we have done extraordinary work together. We've been creative, HARMAN has been responsive. And together we have done things that we alone could never have done.”
—Deborah Rutter, President, Kennedy Center 

“When the technology is at its best, you never think about it, you never see it. That allows culture to be culture and technology to just be the infrastructure that we know we need. And we're grateful to be working with HARMAN because they're a partner who can help us realize that vision.”
—Garth Ross, Vice President, Community Engagement, Kennedy Center 

Watch the video now.

CSA Indonesia upgrades Indonesian megachurch’s FOH and monitor systems with Studer by HARMAN Vista X mixing consoles

SURABAYA, INDONESIA—CSA Indonesia recently installed a complete Studer by HARMAN audio mixing solution at Graha Bethany Nginden, an evangelical church in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Under the leadership of charismatic pastor Aswin Tanuseputera, Graha Bethany Nginden has grown to more than 50,000 members since its humble beginning in 1977. In order to cater to a congregation of this size, Graha Bethany Nginden commissioned the construction of the largest dome-shaped evangelical megachurch in southeast Asia. Completed in December 2016, Graha Bethany Nginden’s new facility accommodates an audience of 30,000 attendees during each service. With the goal of providing an immersive concert-like worship experience to its members, church leaders hired CSA to upgrade its existing sound system by installing Studer by HARMAN Vista X Series large-scale mixing consoles.  

"Graha Bethany Nginden is one of the largest churches in the world,” said Setiawan Winarto, CEO, CSA Indonesia. “Church leaders wanted to replace the old consoles with the most advanced mixers available to better serve their music and multimedia team. We were able to achieve the church’s goals by providing quality solutions, while working closely with the HARMAN team to provide 24-hour technical support. We are proud to be involved with Graha Bethany Nginden, and we look forward to having a strong relationship with them for many years to come."

With the demands of modern worship services increasing every year, CSA Indonesia wanted to provide Graha Bethany Nginden with versatile front-of-house and monitor systems that could handle a range of requirements—now and into the future. CSA Indonesia selected Studer Vista X Series broadcast-quality mixing consoles for their flexible routing capabilities and unmatched CPU-based processing power. The Studer Vista X Series mixing consoles installed at Graha Bethany Nginden offer an incredibly intuitive user interface and unprecedented routing capabilities, providing 800 DSP-enabled audio channels with more than 5000 inputs and outputs of superb sound quality.

"We required mixing consoles that would give us the flexibility needed for future upgrades to the system, as well as world-class sound quality and a high number of channels,” said Canessa Christian Lawanto, Director of Music, Graha Bethany Nginden. “The Studer Vista X mixing consoles are easy to operate, user friendly and fully customizable. It's simply the best option for our church."

With an audience of 30,000, there’s no room for equipment-based failure during church services at Graha Bethany Nginden. The Studer Vista X Series’ Quad-Star technology uses four independent processors to create aviation-standard levels of redundancy, ensuring that Graha Bethany Nginden’s 50,000 weekly attendees experience a flawless production at every service.

Intuitive controls are essential to the smooth operation of any audio system—especially one with the size and sophistication of Graha Bethany Nginden’s system. Studer Vista X consoles are equipped with Studer’s revolutionary Vistonics interface, advanced metering and VistaMix automated multi-microphone mixing.

The Studer Vista X front-of-house and monitor consoles are linked via Dante, and synchronized using a Studer D21 MasterSync word clock generator. Both consoles are fed by a single Studer Compact Stagebox, with additional inputs and outputs provided by a Studer D23m digital I/O module.                         

“At HARMAN Professional Solutions, we take pride in providing best-in-class solutions and customer service,” said Ramesh Jayaraman, VP & GM, HARMAN Professional Solutions, APAC. “We are thrilled to see our solutions elevate the experience of worshippers at Graha Bethany Nginden, and we thank our partner CSA Indonesia for their customer-focused approach and commitment to building relationships.”

Revolutionary audio mixing core is first to run on COTS servers, delivering unprecedented flexibility and cost savings to broadcast studios and OB trucks

IBC (Booth 8.D60), AMSTERDAM— HARMAN Professional Solutions, the global leader in audio, video, lighting and control systems, including networked AV, today unveiled the Studer CoreLink Card, the world’s first broadcast audio mixing core to run on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. Featuring a standard PCIe short format, the all-new CoreLink Card removes the need for custom hardware, leveraging the processing power and hardware that already exists in many broadcast studios and outside broadcast trucks. For broadcasters faced with producing the highest quality content on limited budgets, the Studer CoreLink Card provides unprecedented flexibility, scalability and serviceability—all while dramatically reducing costs.

“As the broadcast industry approaches an era of change, budgets are getting tighter and broadcasters must find ways to do more with less,” said Katy Templeman-Holmes, Director of Solutions & Marketing for Hospitality and Broadcast, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “By taking dedicated hardware out of the equation, the Studer CoreLink Card employs the latest technology to reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and pave the way for the future of our industry.”

With the new the Studer CoreLink Card, customers can select COTS servers independently, allowing them to remain consistent with the rest of their infrastructure and save time during set-up, configuration and maintenance. Since COTS servers are general in purpose and much less expensive than custom-made hardware, the Studer CoreLink Card enables broadcasters to leverage existing servers within their facilities or purchase readily available servers with the required processing power.

The CoreLink Card offers broadcasters incredible scalability as their processing needs grow. If more processing power is required, customers can simply replace a COTS server at a fraction of the cost of replacing the entire system. Furthermore, the Studer CoreLink Card is available with a flexible licensing plan that enables customers only pay for the number of channels they use, and purchase additional licenses when more channels are desired without making any changes to existing hardware.

For broadcast studios and broadcast trucks where space and weight are at a premium, the Studer CoreLink Card offers broadcasters the flexibility to choose the size of the housing server. In facilities with tight space requirements, the CoreLink Card can be placed in a compact server, resulting in massive processing power in a small form factor.

The Studer CoreLink Card is compatible with:

• Studer Vista Infinity consoles
• Studer Virtual Vista
• Studer Vista
• Studer Vista Compact Remote

OB Van passes its first test at the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Competition

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) is a national South Korean television and radio network. As the only private commercial broadcaster with wide regional network affiliates to operate in the country, they were looking to add a new 4K OB Van to their broadcasting capabilities. Investing in their first 4K OB Van meant that SBS wanted to ensure they used the best equipment which is when they turned to Studer by HARMAN.

Dong Yang Digital, HARMAN’s South Korean broadcast partner, supplied the audio mixer and audio matrix with Studer’s Vista X and Infinity Core 400, delivering high quality of sound in the audio room. This is the first 12-G SDI UHD Single link production vehicle to enter the South Korean market and was built by leading German system integrator, Broadcast Solutions, in cooperation with Dong Yang Digital.

“The Vista X together with the Infinity Core offer unprecedented advantages when it comes to live mixing and big productions,” said Junho Yoon, Team Manager, Facility Operation and Management, Seoul Broadcasting System. “For instance the Vista X uses four independent processors to achieve high levels of redundancy in the control surface while CPU-based DSP makes it viable to provide two completely independent DSP cores running in parallel.”

Among its many advantages, the Vista X provides operators with the powerful VistaMix feature which ensures intelligibility and a clear, consistent sound in live, unscripted, multi-microphone events. VistaMix mirrors the capabilities of a highly skilled operator, and does so at lighting speed. It increases gain for talking mics and reduces gain for others, all while keeping the total gain at a constant level.  

The new OB Van successfully passed its first test on the production for the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating competition at Gangneung, South Korea and will contribute to the production of high-quality programs for 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games UHD relay broadcasts.

“This is a prestigious project for HARMAN Professional Solutions and our partner Dong Yang Digital,” said Ramesh Jayaraman, VP & GM, HARMAN Professional Solutions, APAC.”The Studer Vista X chosen by SBS for their OB Van showcases the strength of the brand and its performance standards given that there are several hundred Vista consoles in daily use within the Korean broadcasting industry. The Vista has proven to be a highly reliable console that offers optimal performance and great value to our customers.”

Innovative I/O automation software for broadcasters receives the NewBay Best of Show Award from TV Technology

Northridge, Calif. —HARMAN Professional Solutions today announced that its new Studer DIOS I/O routing software was awarded the NewBay Best of Show Award from TV Technology at the 2017 NAB Show. NewBay’s Best of Show Awards are evaluated by a panel of engineers and industry experts, and are selected based on innovation, feature set, cost efficiency and performance in serving the industry. Unveiled at NAB 2017 to widespread acclaim, DIOS is the world’s first I/O routing automation software designed to manage and simplify complex routing matrices within broadcast workflows.

“The response to DIOS at NAB 2017 has been overwhelming, and we’re honored to receive such a prestigious award,” said Katy Templeman-Holmes, Director of Solutions & Marketing for Hospitality and Broadcast, HARMAN Professional Solutions. “By managing and simplifying complex routing processes, DIOS will help broadcasters increase production efficiency, reduce common workflow errors and expand on-air redundancy. We’re excited to partner with industry leaders to ensure DIOS continually evolves to meet the ever-changing requirements of modern broadcast. This award reinforces our belief that we’re off to a great start.”

“The products nominated for the Best of Show program, now in its fourth year, provide an outstanding overview of new technology on the show floor and shine a spotlight on the very best,” said Eric Trabb, Vice President & Group Publisher, NewBay Broadcast & Video Group.

DIOS offers a number of key features that help broadcasters increase production efficiency and reduce workflow errors, including I/O routing management and automation, automated and redundant pathfinding, diagnostic notifications, transportation of baseband and IP data, offline configuration capabilities and more.

DIOS will be available in fall 2017. To learn more, visit our Studer DIOS product page.