Shaping the future of Imaging

at Canon Expo Paris 2015

Once every five years, global imaging giant Canon shares its vision of the future with a special expo held in the US and Europe. In October 2015, Paris hosted the 3-day event, introducing the company's view of how the world of imaging is evolving to touch every aspect of life.

Bringing its own special bit of magic to the occasion, Orbital Sound was contracted by global creative agency Imagination to handle the sound and communications for the opening event and keynote presentation.

The 15,000 square metre exhibition filled the entire Grande Halle de la Villette, featuring sixteen individual areas designed to provide a gateway into a diversity of products, technologies and solutions focused on professional print, photography, health, education, industry, media, retail and the consumer.

The overall event statistics are impressive, with the scale of the event requiring a sound crew of over twenty. The team was led by Imagination's Sound Designer John Del'Nero, Crispian Covell and Dave Lee, together with Orbital's Event & Comms Director Eric Simpson. Twenty-two Yamaha digital mixing consoles, including three CL5s, were deployed overall, and the main exhibition building was equipped with around 240 loudspeakers, covering the main reception area and exhibition itself.

The main systems comprised a cross-section of d&b audiotechnik cabinets, including Q-7s and T-12s, a comprehensive selection of E-Series speakers, and an impressive line-up of subs including B2s and VSUBS. A separate 4,000 seat temporary auditorium was set up for the keynote speeches, with the team rigging up a system of 24 x Y-Series cabinets, supported by 10 x T-10s for delays, alongside VSUBS and B2s.

In total, over 1,000 crew was involved in the fit-up, keeping the staff catering team busy in the week ahead of the event! The show attracted 16,500 visitors over the three days, keeping them equally busy during the event itself.

For Eric and his team, this was the second Canon Expo Orbital Sound has been involved with, which proved to be an important insight into the demanding fit-up schedule and sheer scale of the event. He explains:

"Given that this is staged just once every 5 years, it is a massive undertaking and requires a lot of careful advance planning and preparation.

The amount of equipment involved was impressive, but more impressive still was the sound team who worked tirelessly on the many varied elements of this project to brilliantly execute John Del'Nero's extensive and detailed sound design.

Everything came together really well, and the event was a great success."

Twenty-two Yamaha digital mixing consoles, including three CL5s, were deployed overall, and the main exhibition building was equipped with around 240 loudspeakers, covering the main reception area and exhibition itself.

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