China - The Chinese HK Audio distributor Melody Development is now offering regular seminars to customers and partners. This training familiarises dealers, technicians, and sales staff throughout China as well as Melody Development's workforce with new products, teaching participants how to best use this equipment.

Melody Development's chief technician Chen Ziqian usually conducts the seminars, held by turns in the different provinces of China. The recent workshop took place in March at Jinan Shandong province. Chen Ziqian presented the HK Audio product range to 120 attendees, focusing especially on the HK Audio Contour Array system and the HK Audio P:RO series. The presentation's highlight was a live demo of the systems and individual cabinets' audio performance that left quite an impression on the audience.

Melody Development is very satisfied with the results of the worksho

USA - Medialon is organising a Training Session on its show & media control software, Manager V5, prior to the InfoComm 09 Trade Show. The two-day course will be held on 15 and 16 June in the premises of Electrosonic, Orlando, FL.

During the session, Medialon engineers will provide students with the technical skills required to set up and programme a show control system based on the latest Manager V5 software release.

The course is aimed at show technicians, freelancers, and end-user technicians who are responsible for programming and running show control systems in live events or permanent installations.

(Jim Evans)

USA/Canada - Paul Mitchell has a hair salon network of over 70,000 around the United States and Canada, as well as having a presence in 44 countries worldwide. Its professional training arm, Paul Mitchell the School, has a 20-year history, with new sites constantly opening around the US. Its Wichita, Kansas school has recently installed a Turbosound audio system.

The educational facility covers a total area of 12,000sq.ft, which is divided into various areas for specific activities. In The Clinic hairstyling instruction area eight compact passive two-way Impact 55Ts and two TXD-118 subs have been installed, whilst the General Classroom, Core Classroom One, Core Classroom Two, the Wash House area and the office, halls, breakout room and restrooms are covered by varying amounts of TCS-C50T ceiling speakers, numbering 28 in total.

"As a preferred vendor for Paul Mitchell Sch

USA - Bandit Lites was named the best large business in East Tennessee by the Knox Area Chamber Partnership. Bandit took home the prestigious Business Excellence Award on 1 May at the Knoxville Convention Centre.

This award is presented to an outstanding firm in East Tennessee that has clearly shown leadership, innovation and quality. Past winners include Scripps Networks and Pilot Travel Centers.

Chairman Michael T. Strickland said, "All of us at Bandit Lites are humbled by such an honour and promise to continue to earn the accolade. We are truly blessed to have the great opportunities we have and will continue to be a business that everyone can have pride in."

(Jim Evans)

Finland - Formed 33 years ago, Eppu Normaali is one of Finland's longer-established rock bands. With their stock of PA equipment improving and expanding over the years, drummer Aku Syrjä set up sound hire company Akun Tehdas as a subsidiary of the band, to rent out the equipment when the band was not on tour.

The company has become a major player in the Finnish sound rental market and, already owning a DiGiCo D5 Live console, saw the SD8 as the logical next step for its inventory, which is taking pride of place at the front of house position on Eppu Normaali's current European tour.

"The price:quality ratio of the SD8 was just right for us, as well as the console's compact size," says Antti Salminen, Akun Tehdas / Eppu Normaali system tech and monitor engineer. "Currently we also have one on hire, but this summer it's likely that we will purchase a second one.&

USA - A short drive north of Houston, Texas, Devasco International specialises in highly customised welding and metalworking solutions. It's an innovative and creative environment, but with a large staff, a 62,000sq.ft warehouse and plenty of industrial-grade machinery, it's not among the quietest. So when controller/treasurer David Scott took up the task of designing audio systems for the company's various buildings, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Scott selected a variety of loudspeakers from Community Professional to cover different functions throughout the facility.

14 RMG200A voice range horns provide a powerful paging system that covers the main warehouse, easily delivering 94dB of voice intelligibility where it's needed to overcome the din of a busy machine shop. In the company's training facility, a pair of SLS920 three-way boxes deliver music and voice performa

Peru - During their last world tour Iron Maiden visited Peru for the first time and played the Estadio National Jose Diaz in Lima. RCF's TTL33-A line array modules and TTS28-A high power subwoofers were used as the delay and front-fill systems for the show.

Rental company, Guillermo Riera e Iluminacion Profesional EIRL was confident in choosing RCF TT+ High Definition Touring and Theatre series to do the job for this large event which attracted more than 30.000 fans.

A significant number of TTL33-A active line array modules were installed in front of the stage to reinforce the sound for the first rows while the two delay towers, each composed by 10 TTL33-A and 3 TTS28-A subs, delivered a powerful and accurate coverage for those sitting and standing in the far distance away from the main stage.

Guillermo Riera, owner of the rental company, said: "What impressed me the mo

USA - San Diego based Sound Image has acquired a new Adamson PA system that includes 24 x Y18, 32 x Y10 and 12 x T21.

SI wrapped up its first tour with the new system on John Legend's North American theatre tour over the winter. "Touring with this show is a little more difficult because on a day to day basis the system has to be very versatile," comments Gary Sanguinet, SI's crew chief. "Everyone bends over backward to make it work because we see that this artist is going somewhere and we want to be there when he arrives."

"We feel that Sound Image and Adamson have a similar approach to the way that they treat their clients," says Jesse Adamson, Adamson Systems Engineering's, director of marketing and sales. "They are a service focused organisation and they do a great job. I had been talking to Dave about what Adamson and Sound Image could do

UK - Adlib supplied sound and lighting equipment to several stages and performance areas at Radio One's 2009 One Big Weekend event staged in Lydiard House & Park, Swindon, Wiltshire. The two-day event kicked off the Festival Season in style with a line up including Snow Patrol, Kasabian, The Prodigy, Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascall with Calvin Harris, The Wombats and more.

This year the Adlib team - co-ordinated by Dave Jones - supplied sound to the second In New Music We Trust stage; the Introducing Stage for up and coming new talent; The Headroom Tent, a live broadcast interview station for artists participating in the event; the Live Lounge Acoustic Stage and the Switch Stage which was upstairs on an open top double decker bus. Lighting was designed and supplied for the Introducing Stage by Adlib Lighting.

It's the third year that

Poland - Riders on the Storm (Jezdziec Burzy), the Jim Morrison tribute musical, recently experienced a surge in attendance after nine years of residency at the Rampa Theatre (Teatr Rampa) in Warsaw thanks in part to a Meyer Sound M'elodie line array loudspeaker system recently installed by Lomianki-based Polsound.

Chief sound engineer Marcin Pawlot reports that the Meyer Sound system has made a night-and-day difference. "The old system was almost 19th century in its sound quality," says Pawlot. "Now, the band sounds more natural and musical despite our using even lower SPL than before. The actors' voices are more intelligible as well, with much higher gain before feedback."

The new system comprises left and right hangs of six M'elodie line array loudspeakers, each with a single 700-HP subwoofer to provide powerful low end. A pair of UPJ-1P VariO l

South Africa - Mark Becker has always had a taste for adventure - and now he deals with it by flying a two-seater microlight aircraft high above the waterfalls and coast of Southern Africa. Through his company Free To Adventure, Becker takes people in the microlight up the coast of Mozambique for diving trips to reefs or into the heartland of Africa to visit the waterfalls, and a couple of years ago, he decided to start filming the trips - in HD video

"HD video cameras were getting smaller and cheaper, and I thought - I could fix these to the microlight itself and get some amazing shots as we fly," he explains. "And it works. But the video was the easy part, relatively speaking."

Whilst filming for his documentary Flying The Falls, about a flight to the waterfalls of Northern Namibia and Zambia, he was plagued by the sound of the wind. "It's com

Italy - A new sound system opens the second season of concerts at the Live Club in Trezzo sull'Adda, near Milan.

After an unforgettable opening, the new club has already hosted a plethora of Italian and international artists such as Elio e le Storie Tese, Caparezza, Afterhours, Piero Pelù, Joe Satriani, Buddy Guy, Asian Dub Foundation, Marillion, Alpha Blondy, The Blues Explosion, and Blue Oyster Cult.

The Live Club is already well into another year of live performances with a Proel Axiom house sound system. At the foundation of this technical decision was the need for the combination of versatility and power, says the company.

The Main System consists of 16 Axiom AX3210P elements plus 12 EDGE121SP subs with 21" woofers driven by six Powersoft K10 amplifiers and an XTA DP448 processor. 2 NEOS152A enclosures serve as front-fills. Side-fill duties are carried out by 2 ED

Italy - Lighting designer Giovanni Pinna chose impression and impression XL as key elements for the TRL Awards 2009, staged by MTV Italy at the Piazza Unità di Italia in Trieste.

Pinna selected 12 impression and eight impression XL fixtures - together with standard video and lighting equipment - all supplied by Milan based MMS.

"I really love the impression's rich colours, the colour mixing and the beam quality," he said. "I believe this to be the only professional moving head LED at present ... and they look beautiful on TV." He added, "We had two impression XL at front-of-house shooting a blue front light at a 45 meters distance - but we had to dim them to 50% for the cameras."

The impressions were used as wash lights, as well as for show and peripheral effects.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Human Laser Artistics - the successful collaboration between performance artist Martin Mall and Tarm showlaser has thrilled audiences the world over. The multi-discipline show (juggling, diabalo and more) established a new concept of interaction between human performers and laser light.

Building on the international success of the show, Martin Mall and Tarm showlaser invested 18 months into the planning and development of an extended, evening-long, show programme, LichtGestalten.

The project premiered at the Apollo-Varieté Theater, Düsseldorf in March and has proved to be another hugely successful collaboration. Under the direction of Martin Mall, top talent from across the circus arts world have been brought together with new and original content featuring Tarm's colour graphic laser system.

(Jim Evans)

Greece - Athens's Pallas Theatre has received a full-scale cosmetic makeover, including installation of a sound system based on the Meyer Sound M'elodie line array loudspeaker.

To equip the 1,500-seat theatre with an audio system on par with its architecture, Athens-based audio firm Omikron Control enlisted a complete overhaul of the existing system. Sound designer Vangelis Petridis reports, "The space is mainly used for theatrical performances and musicals, but they also do plenty of classical music presentations, a little jazz, some cinema, and corporate events and ceremonies, making it a truly multipurpose venue. This required an easily adjustable system, but they also wanted us to install the system out of the audience's view."

Petridis decided on flown left and right arrays each consisting of nine self-powered M'elodie loudspeakers, concealed within the prosceni

Poland - XTA Electronics distributor, Konsbud Audio reports its first successful year representing XTA in Poland, including the recent take up of the brand by three well known and significant Polish PA/sound reinforcement companies.

Airpol Sound & Light of Warsaw has operated in the pro audio market since 1996. Its main business is in sound reinforcement, specialising in events ranging from concerts and festivals to corporate events. Airpol Sound & Light has expanded its original stock of XTA DP226s with the acquisition of DP448s and DP324s. Antoni Paluszkiewicz of Konsbud comments: "Airpol told us that they chose XTA family units because of their high quality, high reliability and their reputation, as well as the easy, user-friendly operation, which is due to accessible software."

GMB Pro Sound, also Warsaw based, is described by Konsbud as 'one of the most renowned

USA/China - Shure Incorporated reports that it has struck another blow against suppliers of counterfeit Shure products. Following an investigation initiated by Shure, officials of the Baoshan Office of the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) conducted raids on wholesale stores and warehouses of Han Si Appliance Co., Ltd and Run Zheng Digital Ltd on Baoshan Road. Both locations are in the Zhabei District of Shanghai.

"Counterfeiters are constantly working to duplicate the Shure logo and other product markings as well as the general appearance of the products," said Anita Man, managing director of Shure Asia. "Due to the popularity and reputation of the Shure brand, they know that consumers are interested in an item that bears the Shure name."

In the two raids, large quantities of counterfeit Shure E2c and E4c earphones were seized as well

USA - Just five Syncrolite Xenon Skylights units were used to completely wash the West facade of American Airlines Center in Dallas recently, after the US Navy contracted with Syncrolite to light American Airlines Center and West Village to promote the website www.navyformoms.com.

At American Airlines Center, Syncrolite used only five XL10 Xenon Skylights to light the entire West facade of the building (470ft wide x 120ft tall) and only 6 SXB-7/3 units to light the North facade (380ft wide x 120ft tall). 12 more XL10 units were put on the roof of the building to produce beams in the sky.

The XL10s produce around 450,000 lumens each, while the SXB-7/3s produce around 350,000 lumens. The products provide an alternative to far more complex and maintenance-heavy automated fixtures as well as providing savings in time and money over greater numbers of smaller fixtureswhen it comes

South Africa - Yebo Radio studios at Vodaworld in Midrand features Martin smartMAC luminaires in a design by Gerrie Swart of Secelec Consulting Engineers, whose brief from Tom London and Umayya Theba of Yebo Radio was to make the studio a "funky and exciting" place for 12-25 year olds.

"And it certainly has been the most exciting project I've ever worked on in terms of lighting", said Swart. "The lighting was a key element and once I'd investigated the architectural lighting options available, it was obvious that the Martin gear could offer all the components the client was hoping for."

Gerrie approached Martin's South African representative, Electrosonic, with a CAD drawing of the concept and a request for equipment that would add colour and light to the contemporary design. Electrosonic immediately arranged a demonstration.

"Electrosonic

USA - On 15 February 2009, the House Depot, along with We Love Industries, teamed up with Congo De Oro Productions to help bring Miami the first annual Carnaval Electronic Music Festival at Miami's Bayfront Park.

Celebrating one of Colombia's oldest carnivals, Carnaval is the 2009 Miami rebirth of that event. Featuring a variety of music, the event drew approximately 2000 spectators. With a crowd of this size, the sound system needed to be and offer considerable control of the sound dispersion characteristics. For Franco Sound, the company tasked with providing sound reinforcement for the event, the solution was to deploy a loudspeaker system drawn from the catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.

Based in Miami, Franco Sound is owned and operated by Ramon Franco, who also serves as FOH engineer for many of the projects his company services. "This festival had two stages running, with

USA - As part of its ongoing education efforts in the industry, Tomcat has introduced a new video podcast series as an extension of Tomcat U. The Did You Know videos are relatively short in length - about two to four minutes each - and will address a variety of topics in rigging, motors, fall protection and truss.

The first release in this ongoing series addresses fall protection harnesses and how to properly inspect them before use. Additional releases will follow in the coming weeks. The videos can be viewed and downloaded from Tomcat's website.

"TOMCAT is very proud of its industry-renowned workshops and the valuable safety training they provide," stated Keith Bohn, technical sales director for Tomcat USA. "This new series of video podcasts is an extension of our mission to spread the word about safe practices and principles in the entertainment indust

Brazil - Carnival in Rio de Janiero is one of the most extravagant celebrations of the year, complete with parades, dancing and loads of dazzle. The newest Clay Paky fixture, the Alpha Beam 1500 was included in the recent 2009 gala, helping make the festivities some of the most memorable to date.

Lighting designer Naldo Bueno from Oficina de Luz designed a parade route sculpted with the Alpha Beam 1500 fixtures, creating a skyline effect. Lighting equipment was supplied by MR Light the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in Brazil.

Renan Mendez, commercial director for MR Light commented: "Every year for Carnival, we have problems with the power of the common moving lights, because in the Apoteose, where the parade takes place, there are more than 1200 lux of illumination in order to guarantee good video TV reception. Alpha Beam 1500 surprised us all with its ligh

UK - Lloudspeaker manufacturer Tannoy has launched a brand new website designed to reinforce and enhance the company's presence in each of the three main markets it operates in: Commercial/Professional, Residential/Hi-Fi and Studio Monitoring. The new site reflects the new, more modern brand style and provides a comprehensive easy-to-navigate information resource for both professional and consumer customers, the company says.

"With three distinct areas for each of the main markets, the site is more photographic than its predecessor with a much sharper aesthetic and consistent Tannoy identity. Each distinct section is designed to appeal to its respective target market, in terms of visual appeal and organisational layout - a huge improvement on the previous homogenized site."

Other enhancements include the News section, which allows users to browse through the latest p

USA - XFC, the newest form of Mixed Marshal Art has tapped Bandit Lites to provide the illumination for their PPV events. XFC is broadcast on HD NET.

Bandit VP Michael Golden works with XFC production manager Kenn Bradley to deliver the event production. Lighting designer John Lucksinger brings the violent vision to life with an octagonal truss grid to mimic the cage below.

PARs, MAC 600's, Atomic Strobes and other equipment all driven by a Hog 2 console provide the gritty crunch the event demands and Bandit delivers.

(Jim Evans)

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