INNOVATIVE: INNOVATING

The COVID pandemic has drastically altered the landscape and the trajectory of our industry. Many changes took effect, some more permanent than others. People and companies went in all different directions. For Jeremy Koch and Innovative, it was the perfect time to jump headfirst into Hybrid Events. Innovative have backed themselves by purchasing their own Hybrid Event Control Truck. Its most recent major project was at the GIANTS Stadium as part of the 2023 Sydney Royal Easter Show.

How and when did Innovative start out?

Innovative started from the lounge rooms of co-founders Brendan Sadgrove and Jeremy Koch back in the late 90s. It quickly progressed from a high school hobby business to a company with a 450sqm warehouse in Botany. From there it grew into a 1000sqm warehouse in Matraville and over the course of the seven years in that location it went from about eight full time staff to 22. Both Brendan and Jeremy are still at the company today as company directors.

What was Innovative prior to COVID?

Prior to COVID, Innovative were focused on large scale corporate AV. Innovative used to run themselves as a full live events production house, supplying full production packages from conception through to delivery. Though immensely rewarding and a lot of fun, like everything, it comes with its downsides.

Operating as a ‘one stop shop’ was too resource heavy. You constantly had to be upgrading and spending lots of money to stay in front. Now as we head into the post COVID era, Innovative are fully committed to the world of broadcast, however still with a focus on production management for large scale corporate events.

As live production ground to a halt throughout early 2020 a new opportunity was emerging in hybrid events and streaming. Innovative would jump into this space and hit the ground running. Using most of 2020 to get a feel for the viability and future of hybrid events, they would go in headfirst and it would become a core component of their business. Starting in late 2020, all of 2021 and early 2022, ‘The HUB’ at Pix on Location would be a massive success as a hybrid event studio that produced a constant stream of back-to-back shoots, streams and various other film and broadcast related projects.

What does Innovative do now?

Nowadays Innovative runs a smaller operation that is leaner and significantly more efficient. The focus is on broadcast and all related aspects. They still design, produce and manage the technical aspects of large events. However, inventory has now evolved and revolves around control systems, cameras and broadcast equipment.

They have kept some unique items such as 200+ Martin VDO Sceptron 20 Systems with a plethora of custom rigging and brackets, and BARCO HDX 20K projectors with custom screens including a 25m wide by 4m high curved projection screen.

Innovative have been selling off some major items that are no longer their focus in order to fund a commitment to high level broadcast.

They now have Fujinon 4K 107x Box lenses to complement a set of Panasonic 4K Studio Cameras. They have the first Panasonic UE160 PTZ cameras in the country that bring PTZ performance within the range of studio cameras. The Ross family of products is growing with the addition of XPression real- time graphics.

Hybrid Event Control Truck

As part of their commitment to high level broadcast, Innovative also built their own dedicated broadcast truck. After the truck was acquired, it was gutted, stripped, then rebuilt and refitted, starting fresh. They have been able to take the truck and customise it to suit the needs of their clients.

Because of the type of events covered, its technically not fair to call it a broadcast truck, as it does much more than broadcast. It’s a hybrid event control truck. The goal has been to keep the truck wide scope so it can cover all aspects of hybrid events, not just broadcast. From the time saved on bump in and outs,

the ability to fully program your show in the warehouse, the space savings on site to the increase in reliability, and reduction of risk, all while being an amazing space to work in. Innovative’s truck is a new way to work at and control live events.

It’s a modular set up, so changes and refinements can be made as needed for an event or as a client wishes. Up next is a full overhaul of the broadcast audio set up again before the end of the year. It’s a bit of a secret as to what will be implemented; it will be an Australian industry first, so watch this space!

At GIANTS Stadium

Innovative and their Hybrid Event Control Truck ventured out to GIANTS Stadium in Western Sydney in April this year to run events at the Easter Show. GIANTS Stadium is basically an empty shell. There are no in-house or venue technical crew. Innovative had to rely on themselves.

They will be looking to build on to what they have been given here at GIANTS Stadium. With an eye to run with it as it is for now, but further down the line to add their own flavour. Whilst still learning the venue and its infrastructure, it’s obvious that there is so much potential waiting to be unlocked.

“Working in a stadium for two weeks was a great challenge for us and we learnt so much!” says Jeremy. We really got to ‘stretch the legs’ of the truck and see what we can do with so much amazing technology. We are already looking forward to next year and what enhancements we can bring to the show.”

In a world where change is the only constant, Innovative have made some massive changes, in doing so they have grabbed the bull by the horns and made a full commitment to broadcast and hybrid events. With many more changes and challenges set to come for our industry, Innovative are looking to capitalise.

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Jeremy Koch Co-Founder, Director at Innovative.

When did you start in the industry?

I started in the industry when I was still in high school. I graduated in 1997, but we were doing and running gigs in the school hall before we left. Rock Eisteddfod really helped push me in the direction of show business.

What were you doing when you started? What was your first gig?

This is all a bit of a blur when I look back on those times. We were setting up gear and hiring out our school hall in 1996 and 1997 when it all really started. Add to that I was both on stage and behind the scenes in our school musicals, running from the lighting desk to stage to do a scene or be in a dance routine. So much fun was had!

What has been your biggest achievement to date in the industry?

Well, there have been many memorable and amazing gigs, that’s for sure. Recently I ‘called’ my first stadium show in Allianz Stadium. That was pretty amazing. But really, I would say being in business with Brendan (best business partner in the world!) and keeping a company running for over 25 years is the biggest achievement, especially through a global pandemic!

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Innovative’s Hybrid Event Control Vehicle

• UPS System that can stay online for 30 minutes in the event of power loss
• Ross Ultrix 4K 117 x 112 12G-SDI router with Carbonite SDPE Blade and 5 Ultriscape MultiViewers
• Ross TouchDrive TD2S Switcher Control Panel
• Barco E2 4K EventMaster Screen management system
• Barco EC-30 EventMaster Control Panel
• Capacity for 8 SMPTE cameras, plus the ability to add more if required
• Three hardware Streaming encoders
• 12 BMD Hyperdeck 4K recorders
• ‘Show Machines’ – 6x MACs and 6x PCs for presentations, videos, notes, editing, etc
• Ross XPression Realtime Graphics System
• 50TB NAS RAID Storage Array
• Fully 4K capable
• Three channels of slow-motion replay and slots/wiring for EVS
• A&H dLive Audio Control System – C3500, C1500, DM32 with Dante and MADI
• Directout 1024×1024 MADI Router
• Waves SoundGrid Extreme Server
• Dual 64ch Multitrack Recorders
• Secondary switcher and audio console (BMD Constellation 8K and A&H dLive C1500)
• PEPlink Router with SpeedFusion VPN and 5G wireless connectivity
• Netgear and Aruba Networking
• Riedel Artist and Bolero Comms
• Riedel Micron UHD Signal Transport system to external racks
• Back-ups and redundancies are all accounted for across the board