Russia - "The important factor is to analyse exactly what is required, identify the correct tools to achieve this then implement it." Alexander Fetisov talking about a complete refit of RIA Novosty, Russia's largest and most significant news agency. A comparison to the BBC World Service might give a fair insight, RIA Novosty broadcasts in Russian and five European languages, producing programmes focussed upon political, social, economic, scientific and financial information.
"The tasks of the agency also include distribution of official messages of the Russian government, ministries, agencies and social organisations," continued Fetisov. "The offices of RIA Novosty are a complex of multi-storied buildings including a large multipurpose hall the Big Universal (BUH), several conference halls, apparatus rooms, operational halls, all located in the centre of Moscow."
Fetisov, an electroacoustic expert, was engaged to produce a sound reinforcement solution for the BUH. "As is the nature of these large Government projects, the layers of administration were deep; the system integrator was Atlantis Communications; AVI Lab held the subcontract for sound, video and conference equipment, handing the 'sound' brief to audio specialists Aris."
Fetisov is head of Aris's installation department, "The BUH seats four hundred people and had always been used for live presentations, mainly discussion, meetings and conferencing, with the occasional concert. At Government level the brief was to provide 'nothing but the best'; I selected d&b audiotechnik equipment because their loudspeaker systems adhere precisely to what the technical specifications outline; the accuracy of the propagation patterns never ceases to amaze me, and of course they sound fantastic.
