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Australia - ARX has announced the release of its new ARX USB-DI Digital to Analogue Direct Box.

The new USB-DI Transformer isolated dual channel USB audio to balanced XLR output DI Box is a true Plug and Play digital to analogue pro audio interface, says the company.

The unit removes the need to use any existing sound card outputs, with their inherent noisy environment and problematic grounding. It features full transformer balanced output isolation to eliminate earth loops / ground hum and other extraneous interaction noise and distortion.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Martin Professional, Inc. has announced the hiring of Charles "Meechie" Thomas as regional sales manager - west for the company's Entertainment division.

Thomas, who will be providing support to Martin dealers in the West Coast region from Martin's West Coast office in Simi Valley, California, has 10 years of industry experience with extensive knowledge in truss structures and theatrical motors.

Thomas comes to Martin from a sales position at World Show International, a prime fabric manufacturer for the entertainment Industry. Prior to that he worked for truss manufacturer Total Structures, where he held positions in production control and sales.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Academy Music Group (AMG) has appointed Daryl Robinson as manager of Academy Events, the promoting division of Academy Music Group dedicated to promoting shows of all sizes and genres, as well as showcasing the rising talent of the future.

Robinson joined AMG in 2002. "Academy Events is a forward thinking division of AMG, we create strong ties with local and national promoters and a close link with the bands and artists for a quality of service at our shows and events," says Robinson. "We are also concentrating on developing a strong event production department working with our client partners Carling, Virgin Mobile and Xfm, amongst other leading brands.

AMG also works closely with Arts Council England to develop initiatives and strategies that enable the public and commercial sectors to work together, for the benefit of unsigned talent, new and established

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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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Liechtenstein - RT-Speaker V3.01 is the latest software upgrade for the NTI PureSound speaker test system. New 3.01 functionalities include enhanced user test sequence capability, support for direct DC-resistance measurement for Thiele/Small parameter calculations, a multipurpose digital input/output interface control for automated measurement tasks and other features. The resulting enhanced PureSound system further simplifies even complex sequences of multiple measurement tasks, and is tailored to the needs of today's ever more sophisticated automated production lines, says the company.

Complex follow-on tests and sequence control are made easy with new built-in functionality. Direct measurement of DC Resistance of the driver under test enables precise calculation of the quality factors Qms, Qes and Qts. The PureSound system eliminates disturbing external vibration in the test

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UK - Shoreditch operators The Cantaloupe Group, have opened an authentic Spanish Bar/Restaurant in the new Regent Quarter development at London's Kings Cross.

As with all three of their venues - including the influential Cargo in Shoreditch - the company has turned again to Marquee Audio to deliver their sound reinforcement requirements. Their solution has been to provide a discreet background music system in the new building to meet the eclectic tastes of directors Richard Bigg, Nigel Foster and Chris Greenwood.

It is the company's music guru Chris Greenwood - the man responsible for programming the music at several of London's top Cuban and Latin bars - who has drawn on his huge library of Latin American grooves to create the playlist. "I have tried to make the music much more contemporary and wide-ranging than just the usual Gypsy Kings soundtrack," he said.

Thi

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New Zealand - SAE Auckland recently purchased an Allen & Heath WZ 20S compact stereo mixer for a new mobile film production package to be used by students studying the college's film-making diploma.

"We chose the MizWizard because of A&H's great reputation for professional audio mixers. When we purchase new equipment for SAE, we need to be assured that the product is of the highest quality and is conducive to efficient learning and teaching," says technical services manager, Daniel Larsen.

"The WZ 20S is easy to use, has a large number of stereo channels, simple routing, and clearly labelled sections - including EQ, aux, master section, and rear patching - and we can power the location mics with the phantom power provided on the mono channels."

The MixWizard mounts neatly onto SAE's mobile road case, and integrates the system, comprising a video mixer and

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USA - The duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, otherwise known as Steely Dan is being heard through a powerful Meyer Sound system provided by Thunder Audio on the US dates of the Heavy Rollers Tour 2007.The main system is built around two arrays of eight Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers and two MILO 120 high-power expanded coverage curvilinear array loudspeakers each for the main system, with six 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers covering the bottom end.

"Steely Dan places a premium on audio excellence, and there's no other speaker that can compete with the Milo by way of power or performance," says Thunder VP Paul Owen. "For an act with the sonic pedigree of Steely Dan, it's the gold standard."

Two side hangs of five M'elodie ultra-compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers augment the main arrays, with eight UPJ-1P compact Va

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UK - Vanguardia Consulting is in the final stages of commissioning the sound, noise management and acoustical aspects of The 02, London's largest purpose-built music arena, with 22,000 seats, which opens under the roof of the former Millennium Dome in Greenwich on 24 June with a sold-out concert by Bon Jovi.

The consultants of Vanguardia, which specialises in acoustics, sound system design and noise control consultancy, have been involved in the prestige project since its inception. The team, headed by Jim Griffiths, was brought in by owners AEG Worldwide to ensure The 02 would set a new world standard for stadium acoustics.

The team's task was threefold - completely acoustically insulating The 02 to minimise any noise spill into the environment, specifying an internal acoustic design to control reverberation time (RT) to a remarkable two seconds in the mid frequencies, and sp

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UK - Sound, lighting and AV integration specialists The PAI Group has completed an innovative contemporary audio/visual and lighting installation at the Gwernllwyn Country Club, Carmarthenshire. The 700 capacity venue - owned by local independent entrepreneur Will James - features a split level design with a function room on the first floor and a nightclub below.

PAI Group's general manager Keith Elms led the project, taking Thomas Parry Architects' interior design as an aesthetic starting point for the design, specification and supply of a complimentary, avant-garde technical infrastructure. Elms comments: "We know that the fusion between interior design, AV and lighting systems is intrinsic to delivering the most cutting-edge results for the client."

The club's peripheral features utilise state-of-the-art LED architectural lighting. These architectural elements are

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USA - The Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film has announced that Scott C. Parker has joined its MFA/BFA design faculty to teach lighting. Boasting 26 years of experience in the entertainment field, Parker has credits ranging from Radio City Music Hall to Town Hall. Parker has also worked extensively in television.

According to Parker, "This is an exciting time for the university. Johnny Carson gifted over $9 million for the renovation and expansion of the theatre and film programmes. Of that, $1 million is set aside as an endowment specifically dedicated towards keeping film, lighting and sound technology current."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Lighting Designer Max Conwell devised a staging concept for Razorlight's recent tour and forthcoming summer shows which required eight 2m by 8m drop, DMX controlled Venetian blinds, behind which were flown eight tracking video screens. Additionally the Venetians' 80mm wide louvres had a finish that took colour well and allowed for both colour effects and projection to used on the closed louvres slats which gave a variety of very different looks.

Conwell also commissioned a 5ft high 24ft long 'Razorlight' sign with 800 bulbs which was flown from the front truss. The sign was made out of polycarbonate and when not lit either with its integral lighting or the main show lighting, blended into the rest of set seamlessly.

Max Conwell comments, "Specialz are the first call to make for me when I need bespoke and unusual fixtures and scenic elements. I am always safe in the k

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UK - HSL supplied full lighting production, associated rigging and crew to the recent Simon Webbe theatre and arena tour, with lighting and set designed by (Stephen) Abbiss and production managed by The Production Office.

The account was handled by HSL's Mike Oates, who says: "It was great to be working with Abbiss again. As always, he came up with a really inventive design and a flexible rig offering lots of options for the different sized venues."

Abbiss's initial brief expanded as the tour sold more tickets and some dates moved up to bigger venues, resulting in the final itinerary ranging from the 16,000 capacity Manchester Evening News Arena at the larger end of the scale to Norwich UEA and Ipswich Regent Theatre at the cosier end. "This was the real challenge," says Abbiss, "Designing something that looked equally good in different spaces and that

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Russia - Barco's Encore presentation system, FLM R20+ and CLM R10+ digital projectors were selected for use in the 11th St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The forum, which took place on 9 and 10 June 2007, saw a gathering of 10,000 people - including more than 200 CEOs from top international companies - for a series of high-level industry workshops under the auspices of President Putin.

A new conference hall was built at the Lenexpo complex for the forum. Within the complex, one of the largest Encore presentation systems ever deployed in Europe was set up for the event. The system, along with projectors and other Barco image processing equipment, had been brought over from Finland by Finnish rental partner SVV which is the official video supplier for the event.

Mika Vakkilainen, MD of Suomen Videoviestint (SVV) states: "The event was a great challenge for us wi

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UK - The winners of this year's Annual Awards and the Technician of the Year, were presented with their Hook Clamp trophies - jointly sponsored by Andolite & Triple E - at the Annual Awards Dinner, sponsored by PRG Europe and held at London's Commonwealth Club.

Chairman of the judges, Robin Townley, ABTT Hon. Secretary, remarked that there were again more nominations this year than ever before and that nominations continued to arrive from the ABTT Theatre Show floor, well into the morning.

Judging took place throughout the day, with the final decision made shortly before the start of the Awards Dinner in the evening.

The ABTT Sound Product of the Year 2007 went to Orbital Sound for the Zaxcom digital radio mic system which the judges described as "very impressive, forward thinking application of digital technology".

Other awards included: Lighting Product of the

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UK - Like much of the rest of the contest, it was a close-run thing at the end. The final of mic manufacturer AKG's 2007 unsigned bands competition, Unsigned Heroes, which was held at London venue Koko on 1 June, promised a night of great music and a fine display of new talent, and it delivered in full.

Camden's The Standards won the day with their finely developed stage presence and great melodic performance, but Hertfordshire's Flamboyant Bella and Merseyside's The Kashmirs came close behind. As the judges said as they stepped up to make the final announcement: "This has been a really tough decision . . . we'd like everyone to have won."

Amanda Chester, who as Marketing Manager at Harman Pro UK, AKG's UK distributors, played a key role in organising Unsigned Heroes 2007, says, "It's been great to organise this competition on behalf of AKG, and it

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World - The problem of product piracy is one that UK, European and US manufacturers are increasingly aware of. The growth in cheap copies of high-end lighting and audio products is visible at almost every major trade show on the industry calendar, and few manufacturers have not witnessed their own designs on other exhibition stands. Yet tackling this problem is an expensive and arduous task - with doubtful end results.

In the September issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine, we will look at the problem, speaking to leading manufacturers about their experiences, and to leading Intellectual Property advisers, trade show organizers and industry bodies about what, if anything, can be done to combat it. How do we stop importers from selling on copied product? How do we educate end-users about the pitfalls of using cheap c

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Ireland - For the third time in a row Dublin's National Concert Hall (NCH) has opted for a Sound Projects sound reinforcement system. The new configuration, primarily Linex line array, gives the venue access possibilities to wider programming elements. It is the first such installation of its kind in Ireland.

Sound Projects entered the NCH in 1997, when the Dutch audio manufacturer built and supplied a custom made centre cluster which was later replaced by eight Sound Projects SP-2 active cabinets.

The newly installed configuration consists of a Sound Projects Linex clustered 10-cabinet line array facing forward, with four SP-4 Linex speakers facing the rear balcony and one facing each of the side balconies.

Stereo imaging is made possible by the addition of eight SP-2 and four X-Act active loudspeakers. A remotely controlled LCR configuration is also possible. The system is

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Ukraine - With Eastern Europe now clearly highlighted as an area of growing opportunities for pro audio equipment manufacturers, Prism Sound has strengthened its position in this market by appointing Real Music as exclusive Ukraine distributor for its range of recording products.

Founded in 1998 by Sergey Shelkovenko, Real Music offers two distinct services -distribution of high-end pro audio equipment for manufacturers such as TC Electronic, Allen & Heath, Tannoy and Meyersound, and the installation of equipment into music recording facilities. The company employs 56 staff and has four retail outlets, along with offices in three of Ukraine's largest cities, Kiev, Odessa and Donetsk.

"We sell goods all over Ukraine through a network of more than 50 dealers," says Shelkovenko. "We are delighted to be representing Prism Sound's recording products as the company ha

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UK - Three years ago, Basingstoke-based rental and production company Eurohire purchased the first eight production units of EM Acoustics' Quake subwoofers. Demonstrating their commitment to the brand, Eurohire's MD Mervin George recently took delivery of a further eight units to complement their existing point source and recently-purchased line array stock.

Eight of their Quake subwoofers were recently deployed on the Wisley Music Festival in Surrey. The three night event played to sold-out crowds each evening, with a different genre each performance. The first night included Catherine Jenkins, the second featured music from the hit musical Dirty Dancing, and the third night gave the system the chance to really show what it could do with music from the Counterfeit Stones and Killer Queen.

The system comprised four Quakes per side, underpinning a 7-box EAW line array ha

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UK - When Jamaican-born Patrick Marché set out to establish an authentic Caribbean restaurant in London's east end, his sights were initially set on the high footfall cultural area of Stratford - rather than in the shadow of the ExCeL Exhibition & Conference Centre in the fast developing Docklands.

But when council red tape delayed the proposed Stratford project - which will now open towards the end of this year - Patrick and his investors instead launched the 3,400sq.ft Caribbean Scene concept at the Western Gateway overlooking ExCel Marina.

Inside the building the owners tasked The Sound Division Group with creating a vibrant and versatile cross-cultural mix in which audio and video signals can be patched randomly through the building's four zones (including toilets), to change the mood, atmosphere and operating base at will.

Under the project management of Jon Care

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Germany - Klotz Digital has announced that it will supply a Varizone system to the Opera in Halle, the city on the Saale, Germany.

Varizone will be the core technology of the PA system and is included in the opera's central stagecraft/stage management application. Product supply comprises V888 Matrix Controllers and the digital multi channel amplifier modules, I-PAM, which was recently introduced at ProLight & Sound in Frankfurt.

The contract has been awarded to Klotz Digital's German sales and service partner FG-Elektronik, who will be responsible for the complete system integration.

(Jim Evans)

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