Europe Pioneer Pro Audio is expanding its CM Series to include four new units: the 10-inch CM-510ST subwoofer and the IP54-rated 4-inch CM-S54T, 6-inch CM-S56T and 8-inch CM-S58T surface mount loudspeakers.
Says Pioneer, “Since we launched the XY Series loudspeakers, installers have told us they’d like to see smaller speakers added to our range to enable turnkey installations at a wider variety of venues. Nightclubs, bars, shops, offices, hotels and restaurants are just some of the environments where more discreet boxes are needed. And, in areas such as corridors, bathrooms and VIP zones, nightclub installations also often require sound in tight spaces where large units are unnecessary or can’t be accommodated.
“Drawing on our club loudspeaker manufacturing herit

USA - When the leaders at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama green lighted a full renovation of the mega church’s 2,700-seat main worship centre, the job of designing and building a modern, upgraded audio system was awarded to Blackhawk Audio.
In addition to quality sound and coverage, Shades Mountain also wanted to ensure that the new system was discrete in that it was contained within a very compact grill cloth area. Blackhawk found the solution with EAW and its ADAPTive line, including its Anya and Anna loudspeakers and Otto subwoofers, as well as its VFR89i Stage Monitors.
“One of the biggest selling points of the EAW ADAPTive speaker system was that in addition to its audio quality and excellent coverage, it also was low profile and would not visually overwhelm the sanctuary,” says Blackhawk Audio president Rick Shimer. “The previous loo

USA - Southcrest Baptist Church has remodelled a former worship centre on its campus in Lubbock, Texas, reopening it as The Venue, a multipurpose space outfitted with a new Solid State Logic Live L200 digital mixing console. The new L200 desk is being used to mix front-of-house, monitors and a live stream of The Venue’s Sunday morning service, which features a five-piece contemporary band.
The new L200, which was put into service in early November, is the third SSL Live desk to be installed at Southcrest Baptist Church. In 2017, the church opened a newly constructed 46,000sq.ft, 1,600-seat Worship Centre on its campus that is equipped with a pair of SSL Live L300 consoles. One manages front-of-house and monitors and the other handles audio-for-video duties, including live streaming and recording.
“We put in a new audio system in The Venue and wanted an SSL board to
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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

USA - The arid arena of the Arizona desert and the Arcosanti community united for the staging of Existential Reckoning, a site-specific streamed concert of the new album by ‘supergroup’ Puscifer initiated by Maynard James Keenan.
Lighting designer Sarah Landau was asked to light the concert livestream, having been fascinated with the idea of Arcosanti for some time but not yet visited. She added Robe MegaPointes and PixelPATTs to her lighting design for this intricately constructed performance movie.
Keenan lives about an hour’s drive away from Arcosanti, the ‘arcological’ postulation of Italian American architect Paolo Soleri, designed to connect architecture and ecology as a philosophical base for democratic society.
The album backstory involves an alien landing on earth and trying to assimilate.
The Existential Reckoning video sho

Sweden - Malmö Opera presented well-received production of musical classic Funny Girl as part of the autumn / winter repertory programme which continued to run despite the pandemic. Audience figures were dramatically reduced to 50+ a livestream which could be enjoyed by all who had bought a ticket for each performance.
Planned two years earlier and fully sold out many months in advance, Malmö Opera decided to go ahead in delivering all their seasonal main house productions as the budgets were already allocated and spent.
Leading Swedish lighting designer Fredrik Jonsson was delighted to be back working on a live show and helping to create the aesthetic for this vibrant, funny, and poignant piece known for its intricate production numbers.
Malmö Opera has a quantity of Astera fixtures in its lighting inventory which are used for multiple situations and

UK - In a bid to lift the spirits of the local community and celebrate the efforts of the NHS, a team of entertainment industry lighting and laser engineers based around the north of England have set out to create laser lighting art.
Sheffield-based lighting designer Jonathan Dawson-Butterworth wanted to set up a morale-boosting event that could also help the Sheffield Hospitals Charity appeal.
“I thought it would be nice to organise something that people could look at and enjoy, and also do something to help charity. With the terrible situation brought upon us all by the pandemic, I thought it would be great to involve the hospitals charity and say ‘thank you’ to the NHS,” he explains.
Taking place on Monday, 14 December, with powerful laser beams firing from three different areas of the city, with the organisers hoping to deliver an entertaining display

UK - The unprecedented challenges that 2020 presented the live music industry has in turn led to the creative use of technology - by venues and other arts organisations - to continue to deliver performances on-line. Among those adopting a forward-thinking approach to the current situation is Wiltshire Music Centre, located in Bradford-on-Avon, which has been running a series of live streamed concerts from its newly-installed broadcast suite - including a recent performance by artist-in-residence Tom Poster and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
In adapting the venue’s concert hall for streaming, an Allen & Heath Avantis digital mixing system was recently supplied by Plymouth-based Nubsound, to integrate with an existing Dante network and a new camera package for broadcast.
“The venue had been running an Allen & Heath GLD for the past six or seven years i

UK - The We Make Events campaign has launched the short film The Show Can’t Go On in recognition of all events and creative arts people, and those who support and work in the industry.
Created by Sam Bradford of production company Praxima, the video, available to view here, offers a stark reminder of the harrowing consequences of the pandemic for arts and events professionals, many of whom have had to take on different jobs to survive financially in a year that saw their work calendar wiped out. 
The video is also an apparent rebuttal of the controversial 'Fatima' advert that depicted a young ballet dancer as part of the UK government's reskilling campaign.
“At this time of year, we should be working hard and enjoying the best live events and entertainment in the

USA - In the shadow of majestic Mount Rainier, Experience Church is part of a new generation of houses of worship, a non-denominational Christian church bringing their message to parishioners via modern music and technology. The 500-seat sanctuary welcomes parishioners with upbeat, amplified music and innovative videos.
Installed more than 15 years ago, the church’s sound system was showing its age and in need of an update. Uncertain of the cost and in need of ideas, the church contacted Sumner, WA-based McCauley Systems for advice and consultation.
“I’ve had a long-standing relationship with this church, having designed and consulted on the original sound system about 15 years ago,” reports McCauley Systems principal Ryan McCauley. “Fundamentally the system is still in good shape, with excellent coverage and impact, but many of the loudspeaker components in

UK - Silent Seminars (Silent Noize Events), has launched a mobile app designed to allow audiences to listen to live audio using their own headsets.
Intended to work alongside their existing physical headset systems, the app allows users choice when accessing audio at live events. By offering audiences the option to use their own headsets, the Birmingham based headset supplier is hoping to generate user confidence and demonstrate that delegate health and safety is being taken seriously.
With the option to download the app from either the Apple or Google Play stores, users can connect to the content from their smart phones and listen to the audio using their own headphones. Users can choose which seminar they want to listen to and simply press play to access live events that they would otherwise hear over loudspeakers, or through Silent Seminar’s headsets. The app will

Korea - To create an immersive platform to showcase local culture and arts, Geumjeong Arko Performing Practice Centre partnered with TechDataPS Co to deploy a high-quality sound system from Harman Professional Solutions.
With the foundation of a self-sustaining creative ecosystem, Geumjeong Arko Performing Practice Centre is an optimised practice space for performing artists. The venue consists of a grand practice room, two substantial practice rooms, and two small practice rooms. It also provides a showcase space for performing artists and groups.
TechDataPS Co reports that the client wanted a high-quality audio system to record and edit audio. They also wanted to maximise the design setup and use the space for both practice and small performances. Such a setup needed the infrastructure and speaker systems to be flexibly configured, providing them with the opportunit

Germany - Situated near Wermelskirchen in the Bergisches Land, Schloss Burg is one of the largest completely preserved castle complexes in Germany. Built in the 12th century as the ancestral seat of the Counts and Dukes of Berg, and extensively restored between 1890 and 1914, the castle is one of the landmarks of the Bergisches Land and has been used for years as a museum and for various cultural events.
After a planning period of almost a year, Burg Castle became the scene of the Castle Illumination for the first time this October - and despite, or perhaps because of, the current coronavirus situation, the event was a complete success.
"In the course of the year we had to reschedule several times and, at some point, threw the entire concept overboard," stated Uli Hoppert from Siren, the technical service provider for the event. “We said goodbye to the original idea

Argentina - In April 2018, the Government of Santiago del Estero, together with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), began drawing up plans for a new provincial stadium that was to commence construction in June. Although its destiny of serving as a host venue for the 2020 Copa América was derailed due to the pandemic, the stadium was still completed nevertheless, its final design complying with all FIFA, CONMEBOL, and AFA standards.
The finished Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades consists of a cylindrical covered stadium with a capacity of 28,000 seated spectators, and includes VIP sections, press booths, spaces for catering, and covered parking for 400 cars, as well as a main access plaza and sports museum.
The Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades is also the first stadium in the country to be designed with the sound system in mind from the early stages of construc

Canada - Adamson Systems Engineering’s CS-Series powered loudspeakers provided the audio for Big Wreck’s recent drive-in show at Canada’s Ancaster Fairgrounds
While drive-in concerts have become commonplace during the pandemic, increasingly they require traditional live sound reinforcement and the ability to transmit over FM, explains Colin Moore of Soundbox: “It’s all about the experience, so it’s becoming a mandatory part of the production specifications, and bands and audiences prefer it that way.” You can still socially distance and have great sound, he continues, adding: “Maybe one out of every 10 cars had their doors closed and the radio on, but most people were listening to the PA.”
Big Wreck FOH engineer, Dan Preston adds: “With some rigs, the guitars are producing frequencies through the cabinets that they’re not producing through the act

UK - Austrian Audio and UK distributor Sound Technology have announced the OC818 Dual Set Plus, a kit centred around two of the OC818 large capsule condenser microphones as well as a host of accessories. The OC818 Dual Set Plus is available now.
To introduce the new kit, Austrian Audio is offering a free OCR8 bluetooth dongle with every Dual Set Plus purchased, while supplies last.
“We have seen a huge increase in demand for stereo configurations, especially from studio users,” says Martin Seidl, CEO of Austrian Audio, “so we decided to offer the complete package that meets all the recording needs of artists, producers and engineers, whether they record at home or in a studio.”
The OC818 Dual Set Plus which comes in a stylish carrying case, contains: two OC818 large diaphragm condenser microphones with switchable polar patterns; two OCS8 elastic microphon

UK - Martin Audio has announced new additions and upgraded voicing for its CDD series - as well as improved production capacity - as part of a concerted effort to meet the growing needs of installation applications.
CDD was original launched in 2015, bringing engineering innovation to installed applications, combining distinctive curved enclosures with patent protected Coaxial Differential Dispersion technology. Martin Audio further extended the range in ensuing years with both weatherised and marine editions to cater for all outdoor environments including cruise ships.
During the pandemic, Martin Audio has seen a plethora of small to medium installations, both indoors and out, to keep sales of CDD extremely buoyant. Bars and restaurants upgraded systems or extended to outdoor areas to better cater for clientele in changing conditions; houses of worship adapted to soc

USA - Harman Professional Solutions has announced the Martin ERA 600 and 800 Profiles which join the ERA 300 Profile to round out the full-featured range of ERA Profile and ERA Performance fixtures (see LSi December for an in-depth review of the ERA 800 Performance).
The new profile fixtures are suitable for rental and entertainment applications needing an all-in-one moving head that is both compact and lightweight but also bright, efficient and feature-loaded. Whether being used for concerts and touring or corporate shows, cruise lines, houses of worship, and live TV, the new fixtures are designed for a long list of scenarios, requiring a truly versatile LED profile, says the company.
The new ERA 600 and 8

UK - Flipside Soundsystem has installed a new audio system at the recently opened contemporary Asian restaurant, Blue Jasmine. Based in Southampton, the fine dining venue needed an aesthetically pleasing installation for both indoor and outdoor use, and Flipside met this need with equipment from Yamaha and Apart Audio.
Blue Jasmine’s co-owners, Xi and Phoebe Zhao required an audio installation that could be distributed across; the bar, a VIP room, two main dining spaces, a raised dining area and the toilet facilities. With a Yamaha MTX3 acting as the brain of the entire system, Flipside installed a wall panel control for each zone of the restaurant, allowing easy accessibility and seamless coverage.
“Usually with restaurant sound system installations, owners are never too specific on how they want the audio to integrate into their design of the space – they ten

Cyprus - ALA Equipment Company has installed a JBL Professional audio system at Limassol’s Parklane Hotel.
Parklane Hotel is a luxury resort that features luxury accommodations, from lifestyle suites to private villas. Formerly Le Meridien Hotel, the building was purchased in 2015 by Marriott, who commissioned a complete overhaul of all communications and A/V technology. Parklane Hotel hired ALA Equipment Company to renovate key facilities in the hotel, including the Diamond Ballroom, Park Room, Meeting Rooms, Kids Club, as well as other ancillary areas and guest suites. ALA installed a JBL Professional audio system featuring JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown Amplifiers, BSS Signal Processors and AKG Microphones.
More than 2,000 Control 25, Control SB2210, Control 47HC, Control 24C, Control 26C, and Control 19CS loudspeakers and subwoofers were installed througho

USA - Alcons Audio has appointed Taub Sales as its North American representative in the mid-Atlantic territory, which encompasses Virginia, the District of Columbia (Washington, DC), Maryland, Delaware, the southern half of New Jersey and the eastern half of Pennsylvania.
Based in Silver Spring, a few miles north of Washington, DC, Taub Sales was founded by Morton Taub in 1974. Although starting out primarily in the consumer audio business, the company has always had a presence in the professional audio market, switching its full focus to that sector around a decade later. Since the early 1990s, it has sold specialty loudspeakers for the professional live and installed audio markets.
“Alcons Audio pro-ribbon technology is ideal for Taub Sales in two respects,” says Steven, Morton’s son who now heads the business. “The first is that it’s a high-quality solutio

UK - Shure and Curtain Call have announced a series of networking evenings for industry professionals during a time of great need. The virtual gatherings will be an opportunity for people to have open discussions about any issues they may be dealing with and seek advice from professionals, as well as staying engaged with their fellow professionals, ensuring they are work ready as and when the world begins to resume to normality.
Shure and Curtain Call share the sentiment of supporting and championing those that are behind the scenes and Shure’s previous ‘This is the Moment’ campaign was launched to celebrate the tremendous efforts that make theatre productions possible.
Keen to continue supporting industry professionals, whether there is anyone on or off the stage, the sessions are designed to allow people to seek advice or make new connections.
Marc Hensha

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