UK - RCF is to present a seminar on the new DXTsystem at Audex 2007 (18 Oct 2007, City of Manchester Stadium, UK - in conjunction with the RCF Open Day), scheduled for 3pm. in the Audex lecture theatre.

The seminar will provide a full preview of RCF's soon-to-be-released new voice alarm and venue management system, the DXT.

RCF's Phil Price comments: "The DXT system is sure to become a standard specification for any number of venues in the very near future."

The seminar, will be presented by Michele Begotti, product specialist for RCF Spa, Michele will give a complete overview of what the system is, what it can do and some basic design and functionality guides and demonstrations. Price adds: "If you are involved with voice alarm in any way then you really must see this presentation."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - The Weekend is arguably Berlin's hippest house and techno club, and with its high-flying location on the 12th floor of a Soviet block on Alexanderplatz in the former East Berlin, it's easy to see why. The outside might not win any design prizes, but the inside is all geometric lines and minimal chic with breathtaking views out over Berlin - perfect for seeing in the sunrise.

As for the sounds, Atlantic Audio had already put in a powerful, top of the range Crest-driven Martin Audio system into Week12end (on the twelfth floor, naturally), followed by a second system complete with Digitool processing from Peavey into Week15end (yes, on the 15th floor) in February of this year, and have just completed an extension of the system onto the brand new roof terrace on the 17th storey.

Jörg Sandmann, project manager for Atlantic Audio, has specified Martin Audio throughout, (W

UK - The Reproduced Sound Conference, in its 23rd year, is one of the friendliest and most informative conferences available to audio professionals, providing a great opportunity to mix and interact with people from all sides of the industry, say the organisers.

This year, in addition to the usual format of papers, more demonstrations and interactive sessions have been added, which are expected to inform and challenge even the most experienced audio professional, while being easy to understand by newcomers. The addition of a voting system brings audience interactivity to many sessions, and will provide an immediate indication of audience opinion during listening tests and demonstrations.

Papers cover a wide range of topics, with emphasis on issues relating to live music. Presenters are industry professionals including product designers, consultants, sound designers, researcher

USA - The annual Behind the Scenes motorcycle raffle at LDI has become a hugely popular event. Because this year's bike is so special, The ESTA Foundation wanted everyone to have a chance to participate in the raffle, even those unable to attend LDI. A limited quantity of tickets will be available for purchase online from October 1-31 at www.estafoundation.org/bts/events/LDI2007_Raffle.htm. Tickets are $50 each or five for $200. Raffle tickets also include the chance to win the 2nd place prize of a $2500 VISA gift card or the 3rd place prize of a $1000 VISA gift card.

Raffle tickets will be available throughout the LDI 2007 show at the Behind the Scenes booth #1245 and in the evenings at the ESTA Annual Dinner, the Rose Brand Party, and LDI's Texas Hold 'Em Tournament to benefit Behind the Scenes

UK - Alcons Audio reports that its fifth PLASA show was again a very successful one, with many new clients and interested potential Alcons users visiting the company's stand.

"We can look back on another very successful event, where we welcomed many new Alcons-interested people and existing clients," says MD Tom Back. "It was good to see that they could find us on the main floor of Hall 1."

Following its presentation at Frankfurt's ProLight & Sound, the Phitom "large-format pro-ribbon sound-reinforcement" design study was also present in London and proved again to be the centre-point of interest and discussion. Besides this, the Q-series pro-ribbon column arrays and the L-series pro-ribbon line-arrays were on show, including the LR16 line-array, as featuring in London WestEnd's Fame The Musical.

Back continues, "With PLASA also attra

UK - After establishing the concept for an upmarket bowling alley, diner and bar at Bloomsbury's Victoria House in January 2006, All Star Lanes' directors Mark von Westenholz and Adam and Charles Breeden this month opened their second site at Whiteleys Shopping Centre in Bayswater.

All Star Lanes has revolutionised the bowling industry in Britain, and the larger, more luxurious Bayswater site has seen the concept evolve into a flexible space, with eight bowling lanes (including two in a private room), a large sophisticated diner /bistro and glamorous American cocktail bar.

To develop the sophisticated switching and routing of audio and video sources, the owners again turned to the Sound Division Group - who first worked with the Breeden Brothers on their award-winning Lonsdale Bar in Notting Hill.

Technology has moved on apace since then, and the new bar would not only requi

UK - Artistic Licence has announced the launch of the new web site at www.ArtisticLicence.com. The site contains a range of features that will provide customers and the industry a genuine technical resource, says the company.

The site now provides customers with the ability to log in, save and re-use equipment lists and previous orders. A new projects section allows customers to see how others have successfully used the products.

The support section provides a wealth of information including software downloads, user guides, cad files and frequently asked questions. There is also an online technical dictionary.

The products listing is now fully searchable and cross referenced. Every product displayed will also show links to both higher and lower specification models to make the customers' decision simpler. Products also provide even more technical information, cross referenci

The Netherlands - Dutch rental company More Stage Services managed the audio requirements for a recent open-air cultural event called The Hague Gathering, held in the city's main square, the Spuiplein. The company selected Allen & Heath's iLive digital system, comprising the iDR10 stage rack with iLive-144 surface, as the FOH mixer.

The event was founded by local authorities to bring together different cultures living in the area through music and entertainment. Surrounded by the Parliament and government buildings, various musicians, stand up comedians, bands and politicians from the city gathered on stage. The climax of the event was a collaborative performance between a Surinamese traditional folk band and Dutch rock band, The Hague Rock.

It was the first event that Marc Noble, FOH engineer and CEO of More Stage Services, had worked with the iLive system but he was v

Singapore - In 1966, a Catholic church named St. Stephen's was founded in Singapore's East District primarily for the large English-speaking community - over a thousand parishioners - who lived along Singapore's East coast. Today, most of the Masses in St. Stephen's Church are still held in English, while the early morning Sunday Mass is said in Mandarin.

Local audio firm Sound Principles selected HK Audio ConTour Series loudspeakers for the sound installation. They installed twelve CT 108 full-range cabinets at strategic locations in St. Stephen's Church.

Daniel Ng of HK Audio distributor Peak Fusion in Singapore explains: "For optimal speech intelligibility we recommended the HK Audio CT 108 to our client. The CT 108 is a perfect combination of compact size and full sound. With its combination of 8" cone woofer and 1" high-frequency driver in a 90°-x-60&de

USA - Cascade Sound debuted its new DVX woofer-loaded Electro-Voice XLC line array system at this year's Oregon State Fair in Salem, which featured sold-out shows by classic rockers Heart and Steppenwolf, country artists Joe Nichols and Craig Morgan, and 'American Idol' Daughtry.

"We've successfully used a 15-box per side EV X-Array system at the State Fair for a number of years now, and our new XLC DVX has a similarly warm tonality," says Larry Carroll of Cascade Sound. "However, where the X-Arrays' coverage and throw is impressive, the results we heard from our two 11-box main XLC hangs this year were simply awesome. Plus, adding more EV to our inventory keeps the sonic standard consistently high if we want to mix and match systems.

"The XLC showed itself to be a highly intuitive and immediately satisfying system - very responsive to the engineer and very

UK - Show Way 2008, the new Italian entertainment technology trade show which launches in February, was presented to an international audience at PLASA 07. The organizers say that the new show met with approval both from the audio and lighting manufacturers present and from the associations of the World-ETF (World Entertainment Technical Federation), which consider the initiative an important professional trade fair opportunity in Italy.

Several associations, such as VPLT (Germany), ESTA (USA), PLASA, Secartys (SPAIN) and JASST (Japan), confirmed their support for the show and ensured their presence and that of their members at Show Way.

Show Way is organised by APIAS in association with Promoberg at the Bergamo trade fair, a modern trade fair complex strategically positioned on the Milan airport system. Milan-Orio al Serio airport is only 2km from the exhibition pavilions, wh

Poland - Last year saw the opening of Poland's newest mall, Lodz Manufaktura which is located in a former industrial park with a rich history and great significance to the city. ETC provided lighting solutions for this renowned venue.

In the 19th century, fabric magnate Izrael Poznanski opened a textile factory in Lodz, which grew to become one of the largest in Europe. The factory contained a palace, living quarters, its own power plant, railroad, fire department, school, and more.

Thousands of employees worked and lived in the industrial park until WWI, when production was slowed. In WWII, the German army took over the factory. Slowly, in the post-war era, the factory began shutting down, and finally closed in 1997, leaving behind a cache of historical buildings and landmarks.

The French design firm Apsys Polska began rebuilding the area, preserving most of the original st

UAE - Gearhouse Middle East staged a preview of the Lighthouse R16i/o-II panel for its industrial customers at the Medinot Jumeirah in Dubai on 12 September. The screen, 16 panels wide by 8 panels high - 128 panels in total - measured 16.26m (w) x 6.10m (h).

A Dataton Watchout system was used to provide the graphics animation and video overlays through to Lighthouse processor LIP-KX to the screen. Customers were thrilled about the quality of the 16mm panel, say Gearhouse.

With 5,000 nits brightness, high contrast ratio and 16mm pixel pitch, R16i/o-II panel is ideal for both indoor and outdoor applications, say Lighthouse.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - French digital mixing console manufacturer, InnovaSON reports a busy and successful PLASA 07. The last 12 months have been a prolific period for the company, with several new products making their debut, all of which bring new functionality to the InnovaSON digital mixing experience.

The most important and most recent development is the powerful FM-8VB 8-in/8-out plug-in effects module, which was demonstrated for the very first time at PLASA 07. Built on original algorithms from VB Audio, the FM8-VB features a powerful DSP engine, which enables you to run up to four digital effects per channel simultaneously. Users have access to a wide range of effects (reverb, delay, de-esser, limiter etc) including StripTool, a vintage design channel strip which offers fast and easy access to a full range of audio processing with a warm analogue feel.

Compatible with all Innovason audi

UK - Summit Steel designed, supplied and installed a massive ground support structure to transform a 1000-seater circus big-top in the grounds of Harewood House, Leeds, into a pros arch theatre for the much heralded revival of Carnival Messiah.

The production, directed by Geraldine Connor and produced by David Lascelles features a cast of over 100 and commemorates the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, drawing vividly on the colour and vibrancy of 'carnival' in Trinidad, Tobago and Leeds to deliver its powerful message.

Summit was asked onboard by Leeds-based production company TechSpec, headed by Graham Nixon, who are responsible for all-things technical. Nixon says, "I was researching the best options for sourcing the structure that we needed to stage the event - and all roads led to Summit."

Jay Call was Summit's project manager for the show

Austria - The recently opened Stadion Center, a huge shopping centre in Vienna, and grandMA consoles, five grandMA media servers, eight MA NSPs and 21 MA 2Port Nodes combined with the latest networking and LED technology form the technical basis in this ultra-modern building.

"It was important to the lighting design that the installed LED fixtures, DMX controlled as well as video walls, were fully integrated into one system," explained Manuel da Costa of mo2 design who was responsible for the realisation of the lighting and media design concept. "It was also necessary to implement a sophisticated control interface with minimal user interaction. The idea was to create an ambient lighting design and mood management from a mixture of different LED fixtures matching the architectural characteristics."

Multiple moods and looks as well as randomly selected movies

Scandinavia - In a meeting of Scandinavian design classics, F1+ sx+ video projection systems from Norway's projectiondesign have been deployed in two visitor-centre environments at the Volvo Cars brand experience centre and the Demo Center for Volvo Trucks.

Systems integrator Primetec, now part of the MediaTec group, specified the projectors and carried out the system design for both applications. Primetec's Torbjörn Sterner takes up the story: "Volvo wanted to update the safety and environmental exhibition at their car factory in Göteborg, Sweden and in the process they decided to merge their existing visitor centre into the same facility, creating a Volvo Car brand experience centre. As well as the safety and environmental displays, the centre has an auditorium with a car presentation stage, together with conference facilities and press rooms."

In the auditorium

USA - Bandit Lites was once again involved with Farm Aid which took place last month at New York's Randall's Island, a 480-acre island located in the East River between East Harlem, the South Bronx and Astoria, Queens.

Farm Aid 2007 hosted a unique musical collaboration: Gregg Allman performed a special acoustic set with Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews. Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds and The Allman Brothers Band all played full festival sets. Other performers included Counting Crows, Guster and Montgomery Gentry.

The first Farm Aid concert was organised by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp in 1985. They wanted to increase awareness about the loss of family farms and raise funds to keep family farms in business. Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid Board of Directors in 2001. Farm Aid has raised more than $30 million dollars to

USA - Wybron has committed 82 CXI IT colour scrollers, nine RDM compatible power supplies and five InfoTrace Control and Management Systems to the fourth annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF).

"We are very pleased to help sponsor one of the premier sources for new musical theatre material and talent," said Larry Turner. "Our goal is to offer the world's stages lighting products that help lighting designers and engineers both fulfill their artistic vision and flawlessly run every show."

Herrick Goldman, lighting designer for three of the NYMF shows, states: "I have worked with Wybron's CXI colour changers for more than a decade and have always been impressed with the company's products. The CXI line has improved greatly over the years. Working with these RDM-controlled lighting devices allows the venue technicians to easily maintain the fixtur

UK - An interesting set of challenges awaited Star Events Group on the Isle of Wight in early September, when they provided a range of structures for the fourth annual Bestival.

Although - unusually for 2007 - the weather managed to stay fine for the entire duration of the build, festival and load out, the site of this chilled-out event provided Star Events Group with a number of challenges.

Bestival takes place at Robin Hill Country Park, a well-known local tourist venue that nestles in a scenic valley, featuring woodland, lakes and winding paths. This year the event expanded to take in part of an adjacent farm, but a major concern for Star Events Group team of 12, led by Andrew 'Bomber' Phillips, was the undulating nature of the terrain.

"All the structures we built were on sloping sites. There wasn't one that was on flat ground," says project manager Phil Addyma

Japan - The Last Summer Fantasy music festival attracted over 10,000 fans to the Aspecta outdoor theatre in Aso Kumamoto, Japan on 25 August. Two leading SR companies - Kumamoto-based Sound Kyushu and Osaka-based Z Sound collaborated for the event, deploying an Electro-Voice PA featuring new XLC127DVX and XLD compact line arrays, Phoenix PX2152 loudspeakers and Tour Grade TG-5 power amplifiers.

Both sound companies agreed that the main XLC and XLD systems offer remarkable versatility, with the coverage and power handling capacity to precisely address a wide range of applications, from small indoor venues to large outdoor festivals like this, and always with a tidy footprint. Since both companies handle SR for a continuous stream of large scale events, it was important the new XLC127DVX system proved itself at Last Summer Fantasy.

"We are very happy with the XLC system we

UK - Harman Pro UK reports the completion of a prestigious PA installation at North London live music venue, Koko. The Camden venue has added to its Harman inventory this month, choosing a JBL VerTec line array driven by Crown iTech amplifiers to achieve a comprehensive upgrade of its sound system.

16 JBL VT4888 mid-size line array elements have been installed by Camden based electrical contractors RAG Support, as part of the upgrade of the venue's sound system with a view to provide full, even coverage throughout the venue. To complete the latest Harman package, iTech 4000 and 6000 amplifiers from sister company Crown were also chosen.

Tim Hamper, head sound engineer at Koko, explains the decision: "Buildings of this age are often irregular shapes, which is part of their charm. When it comes to setting up an audio system however, this has its drawbacks as the sound can b

UK - As the largest charity in the UK and the second largest medical research charity in the world, the Wellcome Trust is currently spending around £500 million each year to support biomedical research.

Reinforcing this position has been the recent opening of the Wellcome Collection, a £30 million visitor centre in London's Euston Road which combines three exhibition galleries, the Wellcome Library, a conference centre, public events forum, club, café and bookshop.

Installed by Sarner Ltd, a specialist audio visual systems integrator, Ampetronic induction loops form a vital part of the project, being provided in the main circulation area, conference centre auditorium, forum and three seminar rooms.

With the close proximity of several loop systems, minimising crosstalk between each one was of the utmost priority, so Sarner invited Ampetronic to design low s

The Netherlands - Stock Audio & Light recently provided a high-end sound reinforcement system featuring dual EAW UX8800 digital processors in tandem with EAW KF760 Series line arrays for a memorial concert by the Limburg Symphony Orchestra that marked the liberation of the Netherlands in World War II.

The concert, held on the grounds of the American Battle Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, the Netherlands, was highlighted by a performance of Verdi's Requiem, accompanied by the Vocal Collective, a 60-member choir from Belgium.

Stock Audio, based in Geleen, the Netherlands, worked with the concert's front-of-house engineer, Jo Smeets, to assemble a system providing enough headroom to reach a coverage area spanning beyond 150m, while also capable of presenting a very natural sonic signature.

The sound team responded with a main system featuring dual line arrays, each comprise

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