The request from the client may seem straightforward—they want you to livestream their conference or tradeshow to a virtual audience and provide the AV production for the live event itself. However, putting together such an event in a way that is audio and visually seamless without any technical delays or hiccups can be anything but straightforward - and requires a combination of technical skills. Moreover, as hybrid event production becomes an important way for generating much needed income or engagement for the client, the expectation to deliver high quality audio and visual production live and in real time, has never been higher.

Here Roland talks to Bram and Dingeman de Jong from Dutch AV solutions company DEJONG AV and find out more about the challenges they are facing - and how Roland products are helping them to meet the quality expectations of their international client base.

Controlling the situation

For a turnkey AV solutions provider such as DEJONG AV, the ability to control all of the variables on a live event is extremely important and a great deal of preparation is done with the client beforehand. Yes, there will always be things that happen unexpectedly, but their experience means they have the knowledge – and importantly the right gear - to deal with that different connector, that extra laptop, that new video from the client. Prior to lockdown, DEJONG worked closely with the major Dutch broadcast companies, which meant they were prepared to deal with the move to virtual events as they had the experience of how it should work from the ‘old fashioned’ TV production.

One of the biggest concerns when streaming live for DEJONG is the one variable that is most difficult to control – the internet – and avoiding issues with the internet has seen the company take a pioneering approach in AV and IT convergence. ‘The internet can cause a lot of stress on a livestreaming production because you are completely dependent on it. Normally we have a lot of backup things – a backup projector, a backup switcher – but a backup internet is just not possible!’’ explains Bram. In the beginning this was the hardest part – because we could test everything else in advance, but the internet was out of our range.’

For productions that are streamed from the company office location in Glessenburg, of course DEJONG have several ‘Plan B’s’ in place. ‘We actually do have a 4G backup solution here, we have two fibre lines at 500Mbps and a Ziggo cable line at 200MB and we also one 4G module for if something goes wrong here, we have a backup.’

DEJONG are continuously testing new technologies to find the most secure way to provide internet when a stable connection is paramount. ‘There are times when we have done events but as an external company, we could not use the company internet for security reasons’, Dingeman explains. ‘One such case was an insurance company, with one main room and five sub rooms that were to be broadcast online – we actually ran the whole project on 4G with a VMT unit with 9 sim cards inside. In that case you have a huge amount of data, so it’s not very cheap but it is very stable. We also used a similar setup for Unit 4 (TV production) as the backup for two live events. Before COVID, IP management had started to become very important as part of the AV industry and nowadays everything is IP, every tool that we buy has something to do with IP – everything is on the network.’

Building the business with Roland

DEJONG started their journey with Roland products soon after the introduction of the Roland V Mixing Systems and the Digital Snakes and have since built an impressive Roland inventory. Along the way they have added every Roland switcher except one, as well as two M-5000 console systems to their toolkit. Initially, DEJONG used products such as the Roland V-1600HD as complimentary video solutions to Barco and Panasonic, but now the products very much stand on their own. Out of all the products they have to hand, it is not surprising that the multi-tasking Roland VR-50HD HD Multi Format AV Mixer and the Roland V-1200HD Multi Format Video Switcher get the most use. Both flagship models in the Roland line up, the VR-50HD and the V-1200HD are ‘all in one’ designs that are packed with features to handle most switching and mixing eventualities.

Now, as an established service provider and with a reputation for quality, DEJONG work on an international scale for a number of famous brands, and a big part of their business is for the corporate conference market. A typical client would be the oncology department at Novartis, the worldwide pharmaceutical company, where DEJONG work with an exhibition organiser to cater for their company presentations all over the world. Sometimes this will involve facilitating focussed collaborations with 25 VIPs from the industry where budget is not the issue - but the production quality certainly is – it has to be perfect in terms of look, feel and quality.

The emphasis of quality is the same for the numerous events that DEJONG handle on their behalf for between 200 and 1000 people – each involving a lot of video and audio. DEJONG have also been entrusted with the execution of press conferences for motorcycle giant Kawasaki at exhibitions in Milan and Munich and for several car manufacturers. ‘All the productions that we do are different every time. For example, we find with Kawasaki that they want a new look and feel every year, so together with creative companies we put a concept together, we build it and we run it’.

Tools that they trust

DEJONG bring their own gear and people with them for every production wherever possible. On many projects they are starting from a blank room and building the complete production including the creative and all the AV production, so it’s important that the products and the team flow together. ‘Like a carpenter we take our own tools, we know our tools and get the best results. We think the best way is to have a team that knows how everything works and how it goes together, unlike the US model perhaps where dry hire companies are used and a freelance brought in for the job. We are a small company of maybe 10 people, and we may bring in freelance specialists for a particular job. For example, right now downstairs (in the DEJONG offices) we have a virtual congress going on and we have 5 or 6 specialist freelance video editors working on this who are specialised in the virtual techniques needed for this job.‘

The power of DEJONG

This team bond and ethic that ‘nothing is too much effort’ is what they call the ‘power of DEJONG’ and what makes this company stand out amongst other AV companies. ‘We always try to make the best of a project because nowadays anyone can buy equipment, not like 10 years ago, now you can buy expensive investments on lease for a couple of years and that’s quite normal – the equipment you have doesn’t make you stand out, it’s your team’.

Another power that DEJONG certainly has is that of ‘knowing your tools’ and delivering a job perfectly. ‘This is why Roland products have appealed – they are smart, have well thought out functionality and they are efficient. The V-1600HD ten years ago showed us this, we compared the PCI quality and the scaling against a much more expensive product – and thought that’s very good – so we bought 5 or 6. When we came to our next event, we had a number of freelance technicians who were unsure of Roland and dismissed it as ‘not serious’ – but they were encouraged to try it.

Now those people who doubted the V-1600HD have Roland equipment in their rental stock! In fact, the same happened when we needed a Yamaha M7 console and we couldn’t get one anywhere, we tried the M-5000 as an alternative. We did a test with some engineers and after a few days it was okay.

DEJONG has seen Roland grow ‘the quality is good, and it’s easy to use, the reliability – I think one time about 7 years ago we had a problem that the backup battery was empty on an M-400 – that’s the only problem we’ve had with Roland products’.

The ultimate toolkit

So, which Roland product do DEJONG always pack in their events toolkit? ‘Well, if it is available, and almost everyone in the company will do the same, I want to take the VR-50HD’ explains Bram. ‘If someone rents a small VR-1HD or something, we might take the VR-50HD as well, just in case, because it will always work. In fact, in 95% of all the streaming we do, we always have a VR-50HD as the final mixer to the encoder before streaming. So, if anything happens you have the chance to do something about it with the VR-50HD, such as add PinP. Also, you have all the tools included in the VR-50HD such as an onboard audio mixer, delay line – all the tools that you would normally need to bring external equipment for. ‘Another product is the X-84H Matrix Switcher that is used a lot, and is a great tool because on every channel you have the possibility for correction such as scaling or audio delay, it’s all in the machine and that is something that you want – to have it with you because for every production there are always little surprises!’

Managing expectations

DEJONG always try to avoid the unexpected by managing client expectations from the outset. Sometimes a client doesn’t quite understand if they want to do a stream or an online meeting where attendees can participate, and DEJONG are keen to clarify their needs from the start. ‘A big part of what we do is working with the client in the first place to figure out what they want, what is the purpose of the meeting or event, what do they want to achieve. Often a production company will be working between the client and us, and the producers there have a relatively good technical understanding of the audiovisual opportunities, and we can suggest improvements for the execution’.

There is however a job to do in educating clients on the complexities of the virtual world of production and how labour intensive or time consuming such projects can be. ‘We do a lot in the green screen room so the whole environment is virtual so you can go through it with a virtual camera – the possibilities are endless but there is a lot of work to do to setup, and we need to educate client that small changes can cost a lot of time and subsequently money. It’s not like when someone asks to move the screen ‘this way or that way a little bit’ at an actual event – that we can do no problem. But sometimes we might spend a week on the green room setup and asking to move something a little bit actually is going to be a problem!’

A reputation of reliability

DEJONG are undoubtedly a formidable team with a wealth of knowledge and experience that allows them to advise on and execute the best event, conference, or presentation regardless of the challenges that may arise. Having the right team in place is essential, but having the right products to support that team, is equally important.

‘We like using Roland, they’re great products and we can rely on them to deliver every time. That’s everything that is important for us.’