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USA - This year, one of Shure Incorporated's channel partners, SK Macdonald, is celebrating its 75th year as a Shure sales representative. Samuel K. Macdonald established the firm in 1926, about a year after S.N. Shure founded the Shure Radio Company, and began its partnership with Shure in 1933.

"After the Company introduced its first manufactured product, the 33N microphone, in 1932, Mr. Shure began to establish a network of sales representatives, and S.K. Macdonald was one of the first," said Sandy LaMantia, president and CEO of Shure. "Our companies have enjoyed a long and productive partnership over the years, and we're looking forward to continued success."

SK Macdonald is one of the professional audio industry's oldest and most experienced representative firms. The company currently represents some of the industry's most-respected manufacturers, incl

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UK - The Treasury, a brand new high-end bar in Torquay, Devon, has opened complete with a new APart audio system, installed by Plymouth-based installation company Clockwork Audio Systems Ltd.

Converted from Victorian-era bank vault to sophisticated lounge bar, The Treasury needed an installation with the audio quality to match its uniquely impressive décor.

"The Treasury doesn't have a dance floor," explains Zhev Liberson, director of Clockwork Audio. "It's a sophisticated bar that's music orientated. The volume isn't up to nightclub levels but it's vital that everyone is able to hear the music. The APart system does deliver that kind of quality, and it gives a very good representation of music from different sources like MP3 and CD."Fellow director of Clockwork Audio Systems Ltd David Monk paired eight APart MASK6-W wall mounted speakers with two SU

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UK - Touring their new album Emergency, Pigeon Detectives has just completed a series of hugely successful UK dates where Front of House engineer, Andy Hawkins, teamed up with WE Audio and its Turbosound Aspect system. Initially blown away by Aspect's outstanding control and performance at outdoor gigs, Hawkins brought the system inside and wasn't disappointed, say the company.

Beginning in the middle of May with two nights at Glasgow Academy, the tour took in venues of varying sizes including Manchester Apollo, The Cambridge Corn Exchange, Portsmouth Guildhall, Carling Academy Birmingham, and Brighton Dome and carried 24 TA-890H three-way mid/high cabinets, 24 TA- 890L bass cabinets and eight TSW-218 subs, plus a substantial Turbosound stage monitoring system comprising TFM-450 wedges and TQ-445s for side fills. Control was via XTA DP448s and power from Turbosound-badged

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Germany - The Metro Group has opened a Future Store in the town of Toenisvorst close to Duesseldorf where new retail technologies and concepts are tested. One of the Future Store's highlights is a Litefast Magic 360° Display.

The cutting-edge technology at the Metro Future Store offers maximum customer convenience and information in order to provide a new shopping experience. Customers can scan their purchases while shopping and get information via interactive kiosk systems. If desired, the innovation guides - two mobile robots - show customers around and point out the technical innovations.

An eye-catcher at the Future Store is a Litefast Magic Display, a state-of-the-art digital 360° video display more than 2m in height. Rapidly spinning LEDs in a transparent cylinder create colourful moving pictures which seem to appear out of thin air.

In contrast to common flat

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UK - Just like last year, Shure landed a leading role recently at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss drew one of the Festival's largest crowds this year with a stirring set including material from their debut collaboration Raising Sand.

Plant kicked things off minus Krauss with a backing band featuring T-Bone Burnett. Things took a progressively country turn when Krauss stepped onstage, adding her ethereal vocals and signature fiddle sound

Shure hardwired microphones were used by both artists, an SM58 for Plant and a Beta 58 for Krauss.

(Claire Beeson)

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UAE - Integrated Systems Events LLC, and CMP Information Ltd have announced the launch of a new exhibition for the professional AV and systems integration industry to serve the Middle East and African markets. The inaugural Integrated Systems Middle East Africa (ISMEA) will run from 23-24 March 2009 at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Center (ADNEC), the most modern convention centre in the world.

The agreement between Integrated Systems Events and CMPi will see the two companies being jointly responsible for selling, organising, and promoting ISMEA as the sole trade-only exhibition in the region fully focused on audio-visual and electronic systems integration technologies.

"Just as we successfully partnered with an organization that had strong local roots when we launched Integrated Systems Russia in 2007, so our partnership with CMPi is designed to ensure that ISMEA benefits fr

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USA - Unlimited Visibility Lighting Design (UVLD) combined its expertise at lighting automobiles and corporate events when it designed BMW's twin presentations in Atlanta recently. The three-day event, produced by Media Loft, was held to reveal new products and company plans to the BMW team. Tony Siekman of The WIT Company was the technical director.

BMW led off the three-day gathering by unveiling the BMW X6 SUV in an airplane hangar at the DeKalb Atlanta executive airport. The reveal carried the theme 'Ready for Take Off,' in the converted airplane hangar that had been carpeted, furnished and detailed to create a ultra-modern look in line with BMW's branding. A stage was erected and a white-walled metal and plexiglass set installed. "The client was interested in a simple yet elegant lighting look," reports UVLD's Paul Sharwell who designed the lighting with UVLD's Jo

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UK - Edinburgh-based install company Audio Light Systems has recently completed an audio overhaul of the thirteenth-century Dunblane Cathedral, and chose Sennheiser products to be the heart of the system.

"The brief was to design and install a completely new sound system," explains Eddy O'Hare of Audio Light Systems. "They wanted good quality speech, minimal user interface and a heavy use of radio mics."

The answer to that request was a host of radio mic equipment from Sennheiser. The lectern would be home to a ME 34 condenser microphone capsule and a MZH 3042 flexible gooseneck, connected to a SKP 500 G2 plug on transmitter that turned the wired mic into a wireless mic, which in turn would be paired with an EM 300 receiver. For the rest of the Cathedral, ALS chose four ew 322 G2 lapel radio mic kits, two ew 365 hand held wireless mic systems and two ASP 2

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USA - When Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on May 31, a Shure SM11 microphone went along for the ride, just as it has for years, however it wasn't used in a conventional manner as most microphones are used.

The SM11 is part of a system that collects samples of exhaust gases from the Shuttle orbiter's propulsion system aft fuselage area to sense any gas leaks in the plumbing. During ascent, an SM11 Microphone mounted inside a system electronics box, picks up the sound generated from the orbiter propulsion area at launch. Its output signal controls equipment that triggers a sequencing of pyro-valve devices that enable air samples to enter each of 6 vacuum bottles at various times during the ascent. The collected gas samples are later analyzed after the orbiter returns to Earth. Having this data can save maintenance and inspection hours.

"Using the SM11 as the triggering

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Belgium - Barco, a leader in visualisation technology, has announced that its OLite 612 LED displays have been selected by Creative Technology to replace the dot matrix scoreboards on Centre Court and No.1 Court at this year's All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. From 23 June until 6 July, Barco's LED screens will not only keep tennis fans on both courts abreast of on court scores but also entertain them with Hawk-Eye replays and other additional match information.

Last year saw the introduction of the Hawk-Eye system at Wimbledon and Barco's OLite 612 LED screens were installed on No.1 Court to allow spectators to see the replays and judgment calls of the new electronic line-calling system.

Following the successful trial in 2007, the 122nd Championships at Wimbledon will see the traditional scoreboards on both courts replaced by full color LED displays. The di

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Italy - From 9-11 October 2008 Rimini Fiera will hosts the second edition of the seminar event for audio, video and lighting installation and integration professionals. The event will offer three days of meetings with high-tech content on networking, digital audio and video, with authoritative speakers in each field.

The SIB 2008 International exhibition in April, where the first SIB Forum was held, attracted a claimed total of 21,682 visitors to Rimini Fiera, of whom 1,350 were from overseas. This is the only Italian seminar event dedicated to professionals in the installation and integration of audio, video and lighting technologies.

Rimini Fiera general manager Piero Venturelli explains: "The convergence of the installation, system integration and entertainment markets is already the natural trend in these sectors - technologies and know how once limited to specific ap

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USA - Sound Art Calgary has won the contract to install a new Midas XL8 single surface digital live performance system (with an additional four DL451 I/O boxes) at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary. This prestigious 2,500-seat venue is renowned for its stunning architecture and acoustics.

"The confidence behind this purchase was driven by hands-on demonstrations by Sound Art and Mark Kulas (of Midas rep firm PAG Canada), followed by in-depth discussions of the features and advantages the XL8 offers," says Matt Larson, Americas sales manager, Midas.

Dave Cousins of Sound Art adds: "During the specification process, it became clear to the customer that the Midas XL8's sonic performance, ease of use, and ultimate flexibility could not be beaten by any other product out there. The fact that the XL8 is being used on the world's highest profile produc

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UK - Serious Stages ensured that the headliners at the 2008 Glastonbury festival - the UK's highest profile music festival - wowed the crowds from their most advanced structures yet.

The Somerset-based suppliers supplied a full range of their products to the event in an impressive order which totalled three stage roofs, 4 PA/Screen Goalposts, 7 PA Masts, 4 Spot Towers, 5 Front-Of-House complexes, around 4000 square metres of decking and the iconic Ribbon Tower in The Park area.

It was a Glastonbury debut for the 22m Supernova roof structure that was the Other Stage, with its smaller sibling, the 16m Supernova, making its first appearance as main stage in The Park.

An 18m Orbit Roof was supplied for the ever-popular Jazz World, plus all decking, PA/Screen goal posts and Lunar delay towers for the main Pyramid stage helped complete the order.

A progression from the Solar Roo

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UK - Norwegian pop band a-ha have played a string of sold-out dates with FOH engineer Sven Persson at the helm of a Midas XL8 Live Performance System.

Four dates at the Oslo Rockerfeller Music Hall preceded an appearance at London's Royal Albert Hall. The concerts showcased each member of a-ha with their individual bands for 30 minutes, with a-ha coming together to launch two new songs for the finale.

The XL8 belongs to Norwegian rental company Avab-Cac, of which Persson is a director. "I've always been a great fan of Midas consoles and we got our XL8 about a year ago, so I have been lucky enough to play around with it at our warehouse," he says. "When this show came up it was the obvious choice of console, combining supreme audio quality and automation."

As the show was divided into four parts, the XL8's automation really came into its own, allowing Pers

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The Netherlands - Digidesign's Venue system has found a home in the competitive Dutch market, with music and theatre production credits growing steadily.

One of the country's flagship venues, Amsterdam's Paradiso, has recently been outfitted with a Venue D-Show system, and two of Holland's top rental companies have also invested heavily in Venue systems.

Story Sound, one of the country's largest rental houses, recently added a D-Show Profile and Mix Rack system to their three existing full-size Venue systems. Story Sound's Michael Story reports the acquisition allows them to offer a wider range of systems to their theatre-oriented customer base, with an increasing number of freelance engineers specifying Venue on their shows, including sound designers Bo Bruijs and Dennis Slot.

"We'd originally been attracted to Venue by its comprehensive plug-in support," reports

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Austria/Swtizerland - Like a plague of mega sports bars, this year's Euro 2008 competition sees Switzerland sprouting giant outdoor LED screens with concert style PA systems in sixteen of its major provincial cities.

UBS contracted Habegger AG, a leading Swiss event and production specialist to oversee the sixteen venues. Like similar 'soft skills' organisations, Habegger does not own any equipment, and always rents in goods and services, in this instance from its regular partner Procon Schweiz, specifying high fidelity d&b audiotechnik Q-Series.

Mostly situated in downtown locations, Procon's project leader Elias Ruh explained: "For us the Q-Series system was an obvious choice; small and easy to rig, the 75° horizontal dispersion of this light weight line array is ideal for sound containment in a close urban area. But of course football fans sitting in the listening

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Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB recently helped make two of California's fastest growing music festivals stay alight.

The three-day Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California near Palm Springs was the first of the two festivals to use the W-DMX system, which performed double-duty at the back-to-back events. Prince, Roger Waters, and Jack Johnson headlined the Coachella festival that included over 130 bands on five stages.

The system consisted of a single S-1 transmitter and 10 R-512 receivers controlling 20 7kW Falcon moving lights from A&0. The lights were mounted on 30ft towers, surrounding the festival area. An 8dBi omni antenna was at the transmitter, and each receiver had a 24dBi grid antenna. The longest distance was 2033ft (620m).

A repeater link was also set up from the main stage to the site lighting control area so the lights could be incorpor

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USA - The American folk singer/songwriter James Taylor performed at the Hamburger Laieszhalle with his One Man Band, Larry Goldings, accompanying him on piano and keyboards. The five-time Grammy winner, with 20 albums made and around 40 million records sold, has a career spanning almost 40 years. With famous songs like 'Fire and Rain', 'Sweet Baby James' and 'You've Got A Friend', he still sings and plays the guitar on his 'One Man Band' European tour.

The Alcons system deployed by Profimusik in Hamburg consisted of six LR16 cabinets per side, with six LR14s as underhang, powered and controlled by ALC2 and DDP processing, with for bass reinforcement a BF302 MK2 per side, powered by an ALC6 amplifier/controller with DDP processing.

As stage-lip fill for the first rows, four units of SR9, also with ALC2 and DDP came into play. Taylor's engineer David Morgan and James' crew were

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UK - In celebration of one full year at its new 16,000sq.ft Lancashire-based facility, housing office, warehousing and factory space, family-run Slingco opened its doors to customers and other companies connected to the business.

Slingco services a broad range of markets with its wire rope and engineering solutions and a diverse range of companies were represented on the day - from theatre equipment suppliers to garage equipment suppliers, and from lift installers to aerospace designers, to name a few.

The move from the previous home four miles away has given the company a 50% increase in building size and additional land for expansion. With the building needing extensive remedial work prior to moving in, the Slingco team was able to shape the facility just as they wanted it.

On the day, sales director, Matt Dykins, introduced visitors to the full scope of the company's work

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UK - Shure Distribution UK (SDUK) joined forces with Humanbeatbox.com to help support the Vauxhall UK Beatbox Championships 2008. As part of their ongoing campaign to highlight home grown music talent whatever the genre, SDUK provided an essential accompaniment for any beatboxer, a Shure microphone. Armed with Shure mics, beatboxers were challenged to use their vocal cords to compete against each other in a series of one-to-one battles to take the trophy and win some audio equipment from Shure Distribution UK.

After months of heats around the country, the final eight beatboxers battled it out at the Grand Final at the London Islington Carling Academy on 13 June. Last year's champion Beardyman, as well as Shlomo and Killa Kela presided over this year's event and eventually judged the winner to be MC Zani.

The KSM9, one of SDUK's flagship microphones which is currently being use

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USA - Taking place at the end of April in Indio, California, the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival regularly sees festival-goers enduring temperatures in the high 90s Fahrenheit. In that kind of heat, somewhere to cool off is essential and with one area providing cool music via Turbosound loudspeakers as well as shade and water, it inevitably proved one of the most popular parts of the festival.

A total of five main stages for live acts were dotted around Coachella - this year headlined by Roger Waters and Prince - with the aforementioned 'cool' area run by the Do Lab artist network. Ostensibly an art installation, it featured kind souls wielding hosepipes to help cool festival-goers off, as well as the latest dance beats and DJ sets playing in 'hexaphonic' sound day and night.

Audio provider Whump! Sound provided an all-Turbosound rig for the installation, with

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Counterfeit News: Microphone and other component manufacturers will no doubt have taken note of a recent judgement. A French court has ordered eBay to pay 40m euros (£31.6m; $63m) to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing online auctions of fake copies of its goods. LVMH said eBay's French site had not done enough to stop the sale of counterfeit bags and perfumes. An eBay statement said LVMH was trying to "protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice" and added that it would appeal.

Disturbing News: Almost one in four secondary schools in England no longer has any specialist physics teachers, a survey suggests. The report, published by academics at the University of Buckingham, warns of a threat to the subject's future. The government has set targets to promote the number of physics teachers in secondary schools. But the report's authors wa

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Sweden - The Greek Theatre, an award-winning 5,800-seat open-air amphitheater located at the edge of Griffith Park close to Hollywood, has earned an enviable reputation providing high-performance sound in an intimate environment. When the time came to replace the power amplifiers, Schubert Systems - the company responsible for supplying and operating the Greek's state-of-the-art PA rig - decided to integrate Lab.gruppen PLM Series Powered Loudspeaker Management systems and FP+ Series amplifiers at what many consider to be the Number 1 US outdoor venue.

"I have admired the company's product line for many years," says company founder Dirk Schubert. "We received one of the first pallets of amps shipped to the US in 2002, and adopted Lab.gruppen for our systems the first time we listened to them. No other amplifier makes a rig sound as good as Lab.gruppen. I particul

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Germany - Yamaha has been one of the main driving forces in the development of digital sound over the past two decades and, with digital now well-established in the audio industry mainstream, the company says it is forging ahead with the next big step of digital audio technology - digital networking.

The knowledge of Yamaha engineers is regularly being used to help a wide range of audio professionals to improve their skills, via teaching documents, a range of seminars and 'hands-on' training programmes.

"In order to design reliable and functional networked audio systems, the application of this complex technology requires a very high level of technical knowledge," says Nils-Peter Keller, YMCE deputy general manager. "Therefore, Yamaha actively provides the knowledge and support required to those who need it."

One such event was an advanced training semina

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