SEATTLE and CHICAGO – In the past six months, Microsoft hosted two of its premier events, the developer-focused Build, and Ignite, the innovation showcase. Both events were supported by a Cohesion P.A. systems deployed by ATK Audiotek, a Clair Global Brand.
More details from Cohesion Audio (www.cohesionaudio.com):
Both Build and Ignite highlighted brand new products, bleeding-edge software, and technological expertise. Build was held in May at the Seattle Convention Center, and Ignite took place Nov. 18–22 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
While Microsoft’s highly anticipated events were broadcast to hundreds of thousands of remote attendees, Ignite 2024 also sold out to 14,000 in-person attendees almost immediately. The company announced on Friday that Ignite will move to San Francisco for the first time next year, signaling likely plans to host even more attendees. Microsoft, which recently received a $3 trillion valuation, hosted in 1995 its first Ignite conference under the name “TechEd” and its inaugural Build in 2011.
With significant focus on their industry-shaping speeches and presentations, these events have relied on Cohesion products for the past two years. Clarity and coverage are of utmost importance, particularly in the keynote halls, which seated 4,000 at Build and 6,000 at Ignite.
“Microsoft’s motto is ‘see and hear.’ You must be able to hear those on stage as clearly as you see them,” explained Andrew Waterman, FOH Engineer and Senior Engineer, ATK Audiotek.
“To Microsoft, audio is important,” said freelance technical producer Eric Batt. “These rooms are big conference rooms and halls with stages at the front, main screens on the stage and repeater screens, and a truss. Where do you hang speakers? How do you have coverage? We take up fly space with LED screens, so how do you minimize reflective surfaces and manage the PA?”
Batt has worked on Microsoft events for thirty years, including the Windows 95 launch. He has been the technical director and producer for Microsoft events since 2008, and he and Waterman have frequently worked together on Microsoft’s annual conferences. “Microsoft leans on their vendor teams as arms and legs for the show—they approach vendors as production partners,” Batt said.
At Build, ATK Audiotek deployed 32 Cohesion CO10 for the mains, comprised of four hangs of eight to optimize the available space without directing energy toward the video screens. “We had to be under the screens, and we could only wrap the arrays so much until we were back behind the screens again. The CO10 was perfect that we could hang eight cabinets and get a nice line length,” said Waterman.
“We had low trim height, limited rigging points, and video walls. We needed even coverage, so we needed the Cohesion form factor to get up in the ceiling but also not shoot directly off a video wall and directly back onto a lav,” said James Ellison, Clair Global System Engineer.
Six Cohesion CP218 II+ were deployed three per side in cardioid configuration, for low end and “even consistency from the inside to the outside seating,” said Clair Global Tour Support Coordinator Rich Schoenadel.
Four Cohesion CO8 in a center cluster assisted in ensuring the “image was centered rather than being up front and relying on left-right clusters,” said Waterman.
Ten Cohesion CP6+ across the front—six in the middle, two on either side of the stage to help bring imaging down to stage level in the first few rows—and an additional pair of CP6+ were used as near-field monitors.
The delays, eight hangs of eight CO10 each, were the key to the Build PA. “We’re talking about 320–330 feet to the back of the room, but only about 30 feet to the system. It dictated a lot of the smaller hangs and delays,” said Ellison. “The PA tilt was undershooting the video wall; the delay hang acted more like a distributed audio system, not like a classic delay. With lower SPL shows, you can’t push the PA as hard as you could to get to the back of the room.”
“The CO10 is full-range,” said Schoenadel. “You get that speech intelligibility and that impact, and even the widest side seats get full, proper audio.”
“We got the low end we needed out of the CO10,” agreed Ellison. “Microsoft had some promotional videos with high production value where we want the room to rumble. We had CP218 II+ only in the front because we had that low end impact in the back of the room from the CO10. With the low ceilings, the form factor allowed us to get the proper splay angle with eight-box hangs and not lose the SPL that we needed.”
Waterman summarized the value of selecting Cohesion for both Build and Ignite: “The quality it gave us, from rear rejection to ease of installation, made it the right choice.”
“Cohesion is the easiest and fastest PA to fly,” Ellison said. “We can do unusual things like side-by-side double sliders because it has a lot of versatility. Everything, including infrastructure and cabling, was done in a handful of hours.”
The PA deployed at Ignite featured 22 hangs of eight CO10 bolstered by a half-dozen CP218 II+ and CP6+ across the stage for front fill. Helping to ensure seamless coverage above the Keynote stage and ancillary stages were four hangs of eight CO8 as center clusters.
“It’s a similar layout to 2023,” said Ellison, “but it’s a bit wider, so we added those extra CO10.”
After the Day 1 keynote, the room was reconfigured into three discreet spaces for general sessions. In addition to the Ignite on-site audience, more than 170,000 watched via streaming broadcast. The most significant presentations focused on the power of team collaboration driving productivity via multi-platform use of AI, delivered by Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, EVP of Experiences and Devices Rajesh Jha, EVP of Microsoft Security Charlie Bell, and EVP of Cloud and AI Scott Guthrie.
“It’s important to be live and in person. Everyone wants to feel the energy of the stage,” said Waterman. “Things just happen when you’re in person. You walk by someone, you get to talking, and that’s how ideas form.”
