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USA - In late May, more than 380,000 people attended two simultaneous concerts in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, organised by the Fundaction ALAS (Latin America in Solidarity Action).

The mission of ALAS is to increase awareness of the more than 32 million children living in poverty in Latin American countries. The organisation wants to encourage Latin American corporations and governments to finance programmes that will provide food, health care, and education for these children.

"We're honoured that our products were chosen to be used at these concerts to help raise awareness of this very important issue," said José Rivas, director of sales and marketing for Shure's International Americas Business Unit. "I'm proud of all of our endorsers who performed at b

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UK - Glastonbury's John Peel Stage monitor tech, Mike Taylor from Emarty used HK Audio stage monitoring products for the first time in 2008.

14 CT 115 ConTour Series high-/midrange units, biamped with DSM 2060 controllers and LABgruppen FP 10000 power amps, served as front monitors. Two CT 112 enclosures and four CTA 118 units provided the drum-fill, and one ConTour Array with two 2 CTA 208 and CTA 118 enclosures made up the side-fill system.

Commenting on the performance, Taylor noted: "I've been an HK Audio user for quite some time. Because the cabinets that we used last year didn't work out so well, this year I used the CT 115 from HK Audio, which satisfied all the demands, and performed and sounded excellent. With 43 bands and 20 minutes each change-over time for the entire stage, you need monitors that handle this kind of action.

"I was tremendously satisfied

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UK - Neil Diamond's engineer Bernie Becker chose the TL Audio Ebony A2 for the singer-songwriter's recent performance at the Glastonbury Festival.

Attracted to the unit by its feature set and ease of use, Becker reports that the 'unit "worked amazingly great... just what we needed to get a little analogue in a digital signal path".

Diamond performed to a large welcoming crowd on Glastonbury's Pyramid stage and received a rapturous response with five star reviews.

Becker states: "We inserted the Ebony A2 on the outputs of the DM1000 before Neil's transmitter for his belt pack. The A2 really did the trick - the compressor worked very well with the adverse levels we threw at it and the tube stage and EQ really shined."

(Jim Evans)

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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 - Jason Kelly has been appointed by Midas and Klark Teknik to the newly-created role of technical sales manager. Kelly, who has spent the last four years working for Midas and Klark Teknik's UK distributor Shuttlesound, has also been a sound engineer and system designer as well as running his own rental and production company. He was also team leader for the development of Klark Teknik's new hard disc recorder, the DN9696.

"I'm very excited about my new role," says Kelly. "It will offer our distributor network a new resource as we look forward to a completely networked range of digital products from Midas and Klark Teknik. The possibilities and flexibility of these new products mean that this type of technical support, for both our distributors and end users, becomes very important. Although our products are always easy for the operator to use, the technology u

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Germany - From July 2008 the Gerriets sales department and management are working together in the completely reconstructed office building in Umkirch. Also, technical production is now located in Umkirch too. The sewing and welding workshops as well as the French subsidiary S.A.R.L remain in the French premises in Volgelsheim.

It took a year to completely redesign the Umkirch building which now offers space on more than 800 sq.m for more than 70 employees from the sales, purchase and dispatch departments.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Kaiser Chiefs lighting designer Richard Larkum and rental company Prism Lighting used over 300 Chroma-Q Color Block DB4 LED fixtures for the band's recent special homecoming concert at Elland Road football stadium.

The Chroma-Q Color Block DB4 provided show lighting designer Richard Larkum's first venture into LEDs for the debut Kaiser Chiefs tour in 2005, and he's been using them ever since on his rig for the band, with the number growing on each successive tour as the budget and venues have got bigger.

The Color Block has also been a main workhorse fixture in the rental stock inventory of Prism Lighting, who introduced Larkum to the DB4 for the band's debut tour and have been supplying the lighting ever since.

For the last Kaiser Chiefs tour, Larkum came up with the idea of custom lighting 'pods' consisting of square frames holding either strobes or Molephay strips. T

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UK - French screen rental company, Supervision, who in 2009 will celebrate 25 years of delivering large mobile LED screens to events across Europe, was the main contractor to UEAFA at this year's Euro 2008.

As the demand for screens for use in public arenas was so high, Supervision ordered two digiLED d11N screens to add to its LED tour inventory.

The two giant 49.52sq.m digiLED d11N screens were installed in the Fan Zones at Basel's Kasernenplatz and Münsterplatz. The Kasernenplatz screen was built into a structure positioned at the side of a stage, whilst the one in Münsterplatz was centre hung above the stage.

Each day's programme started at 1.30pm, with live entertainment, bands and promotional sponsor videos being shown on the screens. DJs revved up the crowds before the football started and then kept the fans entertained during and after the matches. The Supervision

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UK - Adlib Audio supplied sound to six stages at Glastonbury and fielded a crew of 20, chiefed by Hassane Al Essiahi. The project was co-ordinated by Dave Jones back at HQ in Liverpool.

Dave Jones comments: "The Circus and Cabaret fields at Glastonbury are now part of our heritage as we have supplied sound systems since 1994. This year was especially poignant to us as a mark of respect in memory of Bella Churchill, a significant and very sad loss to the festival. We will always look forward to being associated with the Glastonbury Festival Circus and Cabaret fields. To us these stages epitomise what this festival is all about."

In the Cabaret Tent, Adlib set up a Nexo Alpha system, tech'd by Nick Bellis, Steve Pattison, George Puttock and Kenny Kristiansen, complete with a Soundcraft Series 4 at FOH and a Soundcraft MH3 console for monitors. Onstage they also supplie

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UK - A visitor survey conducted during the recent Audio-Technica Road To Success tour has revealed a positive reaction to both the concept and content of the UK-wide roadshow, held in May and June, says the company.

More than 90% of respondents to the survey found their roadshow visit useful and would attend such an event again. And 20% of survey respondents were currently not Audio-Technica dealers or re-sellers.

Audio-Technica senior UK marketing manager Harvey Roberts commented: "The response to the roadshow has been excellent. The survey results show that customers were very receptive to Audio-Technica going out to see them, rather than having to travel to us in the usual trade show environment."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Digidesign has announced the immediate availability of specially-priced MassivePack 7 and MassivePack Pro 7 mixing and sound processing plug-in bundles, exclusively for Pro Tools|HD owners.

The new bundles offer registered Pro Tools|HD owners an opportunity to get significant savings on eight of the most in-demand Digidesign Development Partnersplug-ins from Eventide, TC Electronic, Abbey Road, Brainworx, and more, as well as a choice of eight more plug-ins from Digidesign's own collection, including Eleven, Digidesign's new guitar amp emulation plug-in, ReVibe, Reel Tape Suite, and more.

In addition, the upgraded MassivePack Pro 7 includes an HD Accel card (in PCI or PCIe format) and two additional plug-ins from TC Electronic. Both bundles are Windows XP- and Mac- compatible; many of the plug-ins are also compatible with Digidesign Venue live sound systems.

(Jim Evans)

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Italy - Situated on Italy's Adriatic coast, Riccione has been traditionally known as a tourist resort and haven for nightclubs rather than as a hub for conventions and cultural events. However, the 'Green Pearl of the Adriatic', as it is known, has just opened an architecturally-breathtaking, €32 million congress centre comprising 116,000 cubic meters of glass and steel construction.

Built on the site of a former cinema, the aim of the Pala Riccione (or the Palazzo dei Congressi di Riccione to give it its full name) is to become one of the major conference venues in Italy and Europe - thanks to a progressive audio visual infrastructure, masterminded by Rimini-based installation company Alter Echo, which chose a BSS Audio Soundweb London solution.

The Pala Riccione extends over a number of floors and includes six digital cinemas (on Level 2), and a number of reconfigurable con

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Germany - EVI Audio has announced that Franz-Josef Menke has joined the company in the position of sales manager microphones EMEA. In this capacity he will be responsible for the marketing of Electro-Voice microphones as well as expanding and optimizing the distribution network in concert with the marketing division and sales force.

Menke has been active in the pro audio sector for some years. For the last eight years he was international sales manager for a leading microphone manufacturer.

Vice-president sales EMEA Robert Hesse comments: "In Franz-Josef Menke we have found the perfect man for the job. We are focusing maximum energy on Electro-Voice microphones as part of our growth strategy, and I'm confident that we will see the fruits of our efforts very soon."

Menke stated: "It's really special for me to be part of the EVI Audio family - as we are one of t

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USA - Technomad Associates, LLC has introduced recycled plastic into its loudspeaker manufacturing process as part of the company's developing green initiative in an effort to reduce waste. The company will continue to manufacture all loudspeaker products at its Massachusetts facility, where each loudspeaker is bench-built.

"We want to take advantage of the opportunity presented by our manufacturing process to reduce waste," said Rodger von Kries, vice president of Technomad. "This also benefits our customers by allowing us to minimize our manufacturing costs compared to using new plastic, a petroleum product that is subject to cost increases along with rising oil prices."

The switch to recycled plastic reduces waste without altering the manufacturing process or lessening the durability that is a hallmark of Technomad loudspeakers, says the company. The rec

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UK - For this summer's Royal Ascot race meeting, D.A.S. Aero and Arco systems provided the sound reinforcement.

Installation Company Sysco specified the D.A.S. line arrays and speakers after consultant Roland Hemming recommended that the hire company rented the Aero and use it as the sole PA system for Royal Ascot. After experiencing D.A.S. installations first hand, Sysco director Hugo Roche and associate director Glyn Hughes were impressed and had little hesitation in acting on Hemming's recommendation, finally settling on the Aero 38A powered line array systems.

14 powered D.A.S. Aero 38A modules were flown at Royal Ascot's Silver Ring public enclosure and provided sound to the entire area. The line array modules were accompanied by D.A.S. DSP-26 digital signal processors that provided crossover, equaliser, limiter and delay unit functions, enabling Sysco's engineers to make

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UK - Shayne Ward has just finished his tour around some of the UK's largest arenas in support of his platinum-selling second album, Breathleess. And two important pieces of equipment accompanying the winner of the 2005 series of The X Factor were his Sennheiser SKM 935 wireless microphone and ew 300 IEM G2 in ear monitoring system.

Nick Warren has been front of house engineer for Ward since the singer won Britain's highest profile talent show two and a half years ago. "I've used the SKM 935 since it came out," he explained. "Sennheiser have always given me things to try out, and the 935 is a great sounding mic with good feedback rejection. I use them all the time. I always give them to people who've never tried them before and I haven't had a disappointed person yet. They're great mics."

Ward also became a fan of his new ew 300 IEM G2 in ear s

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Denmark - In addition to the varied musical offerings at Roskilde 2008, the colourful fringe programme offered variety of its own as well as a welcome change of pace. One of the most popular highlights this year was a mobile cinema. Equipped with the most modern components and a 60sq.m screen, the cinema was housed in a marquee with seats for over 700 movie-goers.

Danish rental company Jespers Rejsebiograf and the Herlev-based cinema sound specialist Kinovox. Ib Sigismund, a product specialist with Kinovox, reports: "We were not dealing with a normal cinema auditorium here but with a tent, and yet we needed total coverage and optimal intelligibility. Clearly the equipment used had a crucial role to play."

After careful analysis, the team came down in favour of Electro-Voice systems, specifically 15 Electro-Voice XLE line-array tops (five each left, centre and right),

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Germany - Set to become one of the biggest music festivals in Berlin, the Citadel Music Festival is due to welcome well over 100,000 visitors throughout the course of the summer. Over 30 concerts from artists as diverse as Diana Krall and Motorhead will take place from 29 May - 1 September against the spectacular backdrop of the old Renaissance fortress on the banks of the Havel river. Full service production company, Complete Audio Berlin, is supplying all the sound and lighting equipment for the duration of the festival including a powerful Crest-driven Martin Audio PA system.

According to Complete Audio Berlin's general manager, André Rauhut, while the Spandau Citadel is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful outdoor locations in Berlin, it is also one of the most technically and logistically challenging. "The first issue was getting all of our gear onto the site -

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UK - HSL is supplying stage lighting - including 16 new Robe ColorWash 750 AT Tungsten moving light fixtures purchased specially for this event - together with a stage sound system, site-wide lighting and electrics, comms, power distribution and full public address and announcement audio - to the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's 2008 Opera Holland Park season.

For the first time in six years of HSL supplying the event, the moving light elements of the rig have been expanded substantially, including the ColorWash 750 AT Tungstens together with eight Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs rigged on the box truss and two ColorSpot 1200E ATs rigged on the first advanced bar in the auditorium.

London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's operations manager Michael Harth says: "HSL always offer us a very competitive and comprehensive package covering all technical aspects of the pr

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UK - The Edinburgh Festival is fast approaching. By 8 August visitors will be migrating from all over the globe to participate in this year's spectacular festival. The Stage Electrics' dedicated 'Edinburgh Support Team' will be moving up to Edinburgh from 21 July for the duration of the festival to be on hand to provide a rapid response to all technical needs that may arise.

This year Stage Electrics will have a 24-hour helpline available which gives anyone the ability to reach one of its technicians anytime day or night on 0131 522 2251. The team will be permanently stationed in Edinburgh for the duration of the festival, alongside a dedicated support vehicle available to ensure any spare equipment needed reaches the client immediately. All equipment will be ready for immediate dispatch, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

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Thailand - Allen & Heath's Russian distributor, MixArt, has been involved in the design and installation of a comprehensive sound system for the new B-52 night club in Pattaya, Thailand.

B-52's sound system manages two floors, comprising 230sq.m of space on each floor. The ground floor houses a restaurant with an area for live performances, while the first floor contains a dance floor and chill-out area.

A 24-channel Allen & Heath GL2800 multi-purpose mixing console is the core element of the sound system on the ground floor, with a PA12 compact live stereo mixer coupled with a Xone:92 DJ mixer installed on the first floor. The mixers were complemented with amplification and digital control from K.M.E.

"B-52 has a Russian owner, that's why a Russian installation company was selected to perform the installation," explains Dmitry Modin, general director of MixArt Dis

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Italy - Back in April, at the 2008 SIB lighting and sound trade show, Diego Stefani of Dea Service won an ETC SmartFade ML lighting control desk. Dea Service, which is based in the province of Vicenza, rents entertainment technology equipment and solutions, mainly in the mid-eastern regions of Italy. The company supplies many live events including concerts, outdoor events and meetings, recently supplying the Italian leg of the Ferrari F430 Challenge.

Stefani comments: "I was at the ETC stand looking at Source Fours, which I'm an aficionado of and was given a demonstration on the SmartFade ML as I had never used one before. I was familiar with the bigger ETC consoles, but found the SmartFade ML to be very intuitive for such a small desk. I was really surprised to have won it and it will be a great addition to our stock."

The desk was presented to Stefani by Fabio Anse

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