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Germany - The Ostelbienhalle in Beilrode is proving to be a popular venue for sports and cultural events, following the installation of a line array sound reinforcement system which successfully meets the acoustic challenge of the hall's contemporary design. Berger Veranstaltungstechnik of Mehltheuer worked closely with Camco's fixed installations division to win the contract with computer simulations of the finished design.

The Ostelbienhalle is 44m long and 22m wide, equipped with a gallery all the way round. The area opposite the stage has been built in an attractive, contemporary design using concrete and glass. Though very pleasing to the eye, this presented a problem for balanced sound reinforcement. The Halle's management was looking for sufficiently dynamic musical reprodu

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Greece - The 51st Annual Eurovision Song Contest, a televised live event, took place on 20 May at the Olympia Sports Arena in Athens, Greece.

After five weeks of set-up and two weeks of rehearsals, the indescribably lavish production which included more than 65 tons of trussing, more than 23 European solo artists and bands competed for the title, while a jury at the venue and viewers at home voted for this year's winner.

The Athens based Adamson rental partner Enttech, took on the welcome challenge of designing the audio for this massive production with the help of consultant Scott Willsallen (previous work includes the sound design for the 2004 Athens Olympics also with Enttech). There were some obstacles to overcome, such as having to fly the sound system really high, to accommodate TV cameras and massive lighting rigs, but also finding a comfortable balance for sound

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Hungary - Budapest's Fine Arts Museum has purchased a new 24-channel Allen & Heath GL3800 multi-purpose mixer, which is part of a new mobile PA system that can be set up anywhere in the museum. The museum has a wide range of cultural programmes, including lectures on visiting collections, children's learning sessions, and every Thursday during late opening hours, a Jazz Salon.

"It was very important that the new console should serve many kinds of events, and therefore I specified a mixer that could manage 4-6 wedge monitor mixes and two effect mixes, and had 12-16 mic channels, inserts on each channel, up to eight groups, a matrix, and extensive metering. The GL3800 provided all of these functions and more," commented the Museum's sound engineer, Peter Rozgonyi.

The console is kept in a flight case with cabling to multi-pin connectors for easy installation and transp

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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

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UK - Forge Europa has developed a number of standard assemblies using high power LEDs (1W) known as aLED. These aLEDs consist of a high-power LED mounted onto a thermally optimised substrate complete with a connector or solder pads. This takes the headaches of thermal design away from the luminaire manufacturer and gives them an easy to use sub-assembly. When multiple units are combined into one fitting Forge Europa says it can also measure the junction temperature of the LEDs to verify that the design is working within its recommended parameters.

The standard aLED range consists of 1W hexagonal shaped lamp, 1W triple cluster lamp, 1W lighting strip in single colour and red, green, blue, and 1W double and triple LED lighting strips. These are ideal for backlighting and smaller lighting fixtures (e.g. MR16). As well as standard products customised solutions to meet specific appli

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UK - Entec Sound has made a massive investment in d&b's new J-Series line array sound system, boosting stock in time to help service it's hectic summer order book.

The west London based company has purchased sixteen J8 elements, four J12s and ten J-Subs, together with twenty two D12 amplifiers to power it all and four flying frames to hang it.

This follows on from Entec's major purchase of d&b's first generation of Q-series line array two years ago - which has been on the road for them constantly ever since.

The J-Series has been specifically designed to provide high-power-high-quality audio for arena and stadium shows, and any large spaces requiring very high clarity audio including outdoor shows and festivals.

Entec's head of sound Dick Hayes says: "It made complete sense to carry on the d&b route when this product was released, allowing us to offer d&b for all our

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UK - Orbital Sound has announced its appointment as the exclusive UK dealer for Zaxcom's revolutionary TRX 900 wireless radio mic system. Representing a major advancement in the art of professional wireless, the TRX 900 system is a remarkable product line that is designed and manufactured by New Jersey based Zaxcom, says the company.

Orbital's head of sales, Tom Byrne says: "The TRX900 system simply re-writes everything we have become used to in radio mic technology. It adds enormous potential both to our rental fleet and our sales inventory as it has been designed from the ground-up for use in contemporary broadcast and theatre applications. Gone is any sense of compression, no noise reduction, companders or de-emphasis. Instead the TRX 900 offers a totally open and natural sound with a dynamic range of 114dB."

Setting a precedent as a versatile and reliable tool, s

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Poland - With a Papal visit guaranteed to generate vast outdoor crowds in Poland during May, the country's biggest screen rental company TRIAS needed to ensure that it could provide such numbers with the best possible view. The company therefore invested in a large quantity of Lighthouse R12 outdoor screen.

"The Polish event market is growing rapidly, so to keep our leading position we have to grow at a similar rate - or even faster," says Zbigniew Klonowski, TRIAS' managing director. "Everything we do is focused solely on our clients, so we had many discussions with our events partners and clients on which LED screen to buy. All agreed that the Lighthouse R12 is the best one for outside events."

"A particular advantage of the R12 is its high resolution and brightness, which means that it benefits a large proportion of the kind of huge crowds that witn

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UK - Event 2006, John Hornby Skewes & Co's trade-only music show held recently at the company's head office site in Garforth, West Yorkshire, proved once again to be a success on the pro audio side. Both JHS Pro Audio specialist sales managers, Neville Raine and Stuart McKay were on site during Event's four-day duration to discuss and offer advice, along with HK Audio's own team of Andreas Mayerl and Christian Stumpp.

With a variety of new HK Audio product ranges coming onstream and various upgrades of established existing systems, Event had plenty to offer new and existing pro audio customers. To set the scene, trade visitors to the show site were greeted with the sight of a fully-flown hang of Cohedra on a line array tower, matched by a tower hang of the new Cohedra Compact (CoCo) system, offering an ideal opportunity to assess the performance of the systems. Already, Cohedra

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USA - Global strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton of McLean, Virginia recently installed one of the largest Symetrix SymNet audio networks ever built for an upgrade in their 147-seat corporate meeting space known as Newman Auditorium.

"In 2002, we recognized a need to redesign and upgrade our AV systems to showcase the latest advances in technology and to better serve the complex needs of our clients," said Gary L. Hall, for Booz Allen. "So in 2004, we began execution of a project to overhaul thesystems in the auditorium."

The Newman Auditorium was originally constructed in the mid-1990s and installed with the current AV technology of that time. Ten years later, Newman Auditorium's aging systems were under constant use and stress so Hall, along with colleague Edwin Morman, worked with Rick Winde, national accounts director, for Profes

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UK - Induction loop manufacturer Ampetronic is now running its training programme for installers, architects, consultants, facility managers and sales professionals.

The training programme covers a broad range of topics from DDA legislation and standards, specifying loop systems for different situations both simple and complex, amplifier specification, input audio design, loop installation, survey and commissioning to system maintenance.

"A good loop system requires careful design - far too many systems are installed without consideration of the loop configuration, the input audio systems and the need to provide intelligibility," explains Ampetronic managing director Julian Pieters. "As a result, we see many systems which fail to provide benefit to the hard-of-hearing or meet the requirements of legislation. We are committed to changing this through the educatio

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Germany - One of Nexo's most successful distributors, Camco GmbH, has supplied the first five Geo D systems in Germany to prominent rental companies, which are already using the new technology for events as diverse as World Cup football and the Bach Festival in Leipzig.

Artecom in Berlin and Dresden, Babbel + Haeger in Bergneustadt, Hermes Music in Kamen, Veranstaltungstechnik Linke in Leipzig and NPB Veranstaltungstechnik in Neunkirchen are the Geo D pioneers. Reflecting the different specialisations of all these companies, the Geo D systems are already being deployed in a wide variety of applications, from corporate and industrial events to live music and sport.

Three companies - Artecom, Hermes and NPB - have been using Geo D for events that were part of the World Cup Football Championships, and Veranstaltungstechnik Linke took Geo D to the Hessentag in Leipzig for the Bach

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USA - In 2000 when Bayside Chapel in Barnegat, New Jersey was making plans for a new church building, Bayside's technical director Bob Seibel put in a call to consultant Tom Young of Electroacoustic Design Services in Oxford, Connecticut. Six years later, the church completed the long journey of fundraising, breaking ground and construction by installing a new sound system featuring Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers which went live in June 2006.

"When we first met, Bayside Chapel was renting a local high school auditorium, but were in the initial planning stages for their own church," said Young, a well-known figure in electroacoustic design for churches. "Around the time, I had listened to several new loudspeakers designed by Tom Danley and was impressed with the pattern control, the phase response and their very natural sound quality. I've kept tabs on his designs

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UK - Top DJ mixer manufacturer, Allen & Heath, hosted a party to celebrate the launch of its pioneering MIDI controller/mixer - the Xone:3D. The event, supported by Traktor creators Native Instruments, was held at leading nightclub, Fabric, and comprised comprehensive demos from Ralph Lawson (2020 Soundsystem) who uses Ableton Live 5, and Chris Liebing & Speedy J who both use Traktor DJ Studio.

DJs, retailers, press, and select Xone and Traktor users, were given a step-by-step explanation of how to construct a DJ set with the 3D, introducing clips and samples from the software - mapped to any of the 3D's 86 MIDI controls, which are in the form of faders, knobs and jog wheels - and syncing other music sources via the 3D's USB soundcard.

Guests were also treated to two two-hour live sets from the demo DJ's and a warm up set by London-based Alt*Ctrl, where the full potential of t

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UK - Thanks to good teamwork and preparation, lighting co-designers Andrew Bridge and Alistair Grant recently brought Broadway classic Show Boat to the Royal Albert Hall in just four days.

Staged over 15 days in June, Show Boat was the first musical ever to be performed at the Royal Albert Hall and the duo faced a very tight timescale as Grant reveals: "The challenge was to create a musical in four days from fit-up to public performance, compared to the usual four to six weeks for a West End production."

To compound matters co-designer Andrew Bridge's time was limited - he was involved with re-creating The Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas. It was this constraint which helped shape the decision to make it a co-design with the pair sharing equal billing.

The solution was provided through teamwork, as they re-united with their Sinatra collaborato

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New Zealand - Hailing from New Zealand, Fat Freddy's Drop is a seven-piece soul, funk and reggae band which is developing a major following on the world music scene. As well as having big selling records and winning awards in both New Zealand and the UK, Fat Freddy's Drop's reputation is built on by its live shows. The band tours heavily, playing to sell-out crowds across New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

Because of the punishing live schedule, a key requirement for the band's audio equipment is reliability, as well as needing the guarantee of excellent sound, and XTA equipment is at the heart of the band's live rig.

"I've been all round the world with XTA gear," says the band's front of house engineer Richard McMenamin. "Countless times I have prayed before checking my rack in with the 'gentle' airline baggage handlers, but XTA processors have never let me dow

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USA - XL Video's UK and Los Angeles office teamed up to support Radiohead's 2006 North American Tour. Des Fallon of XL UK worked with production designer, Andi Watson, to bring the tour to the company, while XL Los Angeles' John Wiseman is managing the North American leg.

XL provided 10 Sanyo projectors in custom made hanging frames which Andi used with six dome camera's and five static mini camera's for the month long theatre tour. Touring on behalf of XL LA is Damion Gamlin.

The tour commenced in Philiadelphia on 1 June, and is concluding on 30 June at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

(Chris Henry)

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UK - SL Retail has completed a sound installation at the FX Leisure group of fitness clubs in the North of England. The company installed a Versatile Video Foreground music system into the FX club in Stalybridge, which allows gym users to choose from thousands of video tracks, while maintaining the correct ambience within the club itself.

FX leisure - which owns five clubs in the region - approached SLR with a dilemma. How to allow customers freedom to choose their own music, while ensuring that the music was suitable for the time of day, or type of activities going on? SLR suggested installing the Versatile Video system into the manager's office and fully profiling the music for every session of the day. A networked, separate remote selector unit was then fitted into the public area of the gym, where customers can choose from the selection of profile tracks available.

Keith B

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UK - Stage Electrics is providing full technical and site production, transport, logistics, marketing, ticketing and administrative infrastructure for the Summer Sounds Spectacularseries of events around the South West of England.

Incorporating ten 5000 capacity green-field sites, the 21 concerts over 10 weekends feature four different formats of entertainment - a Queen / Abba tribute night, the Blues Brothers party, a Rat Pack tribute and a Glenn Miller Band. The shows are tailored to attract families and holiday-makers across the region.

Tour production manager John Radford is working with a team of up to 28 people and three 45 trailers of equipment plus a selection of site vehicles, landrovers, people carriers and cars. Other key personnel include Jono Rose (technical project manager/lighting designer) Jon Rimmer (site manager), Chris Vass (sound design), Brian Clear

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Ukraine - Valencia-based loudspeaker system manufacturer D.A.S. Audio reports that its Aero line array systems have rapidly become the PA system of choice in a number of European countries, including Ukraine.

The Aero 48 large-format line array was used at the 'Samsung Tour' which took place in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. More than 25,000 people showed up to see the Moscow band Korni (Roots) with band leader Sergey Dubov. Six Aero 48 systems were flown from each wing of the stage.

The same system was used for the Europe Days event, staged in the famous Europe Square in Dnepropetrovsk. The event, held on 3 June, had as guests singers the Iryna Bilyck and Disco Avaria.

The equipment was provided by the Ukrainian rental company "StormLine", a partner company of "Indigo Music Company", D.A.S. distributor for the Ukraine. The Aero 48 provided excellent coverag

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Germany - Bosch Security Systems has extended its public address and voice alarm product portfolio with a new range of UHF wireless microphone products. According to Bosch, the range, which includes a true diversity wireless microphone receiver, a handheld wireless microphone and a wireless belt-pack transmitter, offers a host of features normally found on more expensive products. These include a lock function on the receiver and the microphones to prevent accidentally setting changes or switching off, an integrated LCD display and the latest PLL synthesized tuning technology.

Optimized for speech and with 193 selectable UHF channels, the new wireless microphone products are suited to a wide range of applications. The microphone receiver offers a single channel for one transmitter and features true diversity to protect against audio signal drop-out due to movement of the microph

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USA - Audio-Technica, manufacturer of professional microphones and headphones, has announced that its next generation of the classic Artist Series live-sound microphones is ready to hit the road. The company has capitalised on its 40-plus years of transducer design to create the new Artist Series, adding innovative microphones to the line, while upgrading classic models for a selection of vocal, instrument and drum mics.

The new A-T Artist Series was inspired by extensive market research and consultations with leading touring artists and FOH engineers who rely on these microphones onstage every night. Satisfying their foremost concerns, these rugged all-metal microphones are engineered for consistently flawless performance, featuring response and low-distortion characteristics to faithfully reproduce the details of virtually any sound source.

For the singer, the Artist Series

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