USA - Held at the Twin Cities' largest live performance venue, the Xcel Energy Centre in St. Paul, the annual KDWB Jingle Ball kicked of the holiday season with big name entertainment and big sound to match, thanks to an Electro-Voice X-Line sound system deployed by local production company Eternal Systems, Inc. The 6 December event featured a host of top pop acts including Jordin Sparks, Pitbull, Colbie Caillat, Boys Like Girls, 3oh!3, Justin Bieber, Jay Sean, and local rising stars Owl City.

Eternal were among the first companies to take delivery of an X-line line array loudspeaker system when it was launched in 2000. In fact, they have the system used on the first major tour with X-Line - Diana Ross & the Supremes. Today their rig continues to pay serious sonic dividends on their original investment, aided by EV's NetMax N8000-1500 control platform.

Eternal's EV spec

Italy - Sony BMG recording artist Eros Ramazzotti recently embarked on the first European leg of his Ali e Radici (Wings and Roots) world tour, an impressive 10-truck production trekking around 23 European nations' indoor arenas before South American dates, a series of European open-air summer shows, then off to the US and Australia. Audio and lighting on the show's huge AV set-up was supplied by Italian rental firm Agorà, and included three of the L'Aquila-based company's large stock of DiGiCo consoles: two SD7s and a D5.

Produced by Trident Management in collaboration with Live Nation Italia, the show features a production design by Lemon and Pepper, the creative and technical team that has worked with many of the world's top stars, as well as on previous shows by the Rome-born singer.

The system is set up so that from the analogue splitters on stage, the audio signa

UK - The 500,000 fans attending 54 sold-out shows on Michael McIntryre's 2009 UK arena tour were able to see every nuance of the comedian's performance thanks to Lighthouse Technologies' R7-ER 7mm visual resolution LED screen, supplied by Creative Technology.

An impressive total of 150sq.m of R7-ER made up the LED backdrop, configured as a giant 16:9 aspect central screen, with two square IMAG side screens meaning that even the seats at the very back of the largest of the country's arenas was a viable prospect for the audience.

The majority of venues were supplied with a 10.16m x 6.1m central screen with the side screens measuring 5.08m x 5.34m.

CT's project manager for the tour, Steve Purkess, comments: "Our R7 screen has been used for a large number of high profile live events over the course of the year. For many applications it's the first choice and, because of its

India - Most Technical India has announced the launch of its new website at www.mosttechnical.in. Facilitating access to all events and installations already designed, the website also gives an insight to the company's background, with a brief history of its directors Dave Parry, Isa Sapin and Arjun Bahl.

Best known for his design of the sound and light systems at London club Fabric, Dave Parry has also been responsible for systems at Ministry of Sound in London, Re-Hab in Leeds, Sub Club in Scotland, The W.A.G.G Club in Paris, Elevate in New Delhi and now Fabric's sister superclub, Matter, at the O2 in London.

Direct links to the social networking website Facebook and the video sharing website YouTube are also available with a simple click, giving easy access to anyone who wishes to become a fan of the company and see update

UK - When the University of Hertfordshire's new £38m entertainment venue, The Forum, opened its doors for the new term after a four-year development cycle, it boasted a sophisticated technical infrastructure which had been put together by main AV contractors, TMC, following a competitive tender.

The centrepiece is the 1500-capacity main theatre, but this is supported by a second 310-capacity live/club (The Attic) and bar at balcony level, plus a 220-capacity cocktail bar, shops and café - all surrounding a giant atrium.

It was the venue's experienced technical manager (and mixing engineer), Iain Rendle, who specified the Soundcraft 48-input MH3 as his monitor desk - for many reasons.

The University has a long history with Soundcraft technology, running the popular SM12 for many years in its previous live entertainment venue.

"We were aware that the MH3 ha

Czech Republic - Trussing, roofing and staging systems manufacturer Milos is in the final stages of completing a new 60,000sq.ft building at its already extensive premises near Prague.

This will be fully operational from the start of 2010 and will be utilised to expand and streamline the current manufacturing process.

The new building has become necessary to meet the demand for products and orders that has continued throughout 2009, and this expansion has been financed entirely from existing cashflow, says the company.

Milos is known for its fast turnarounds. The additional space will ensure that even more efficiency and speed can be applied to deliveries, and it will also create more space for the construction of special and custom projects.

Milos' facility is designed to provide the space and the latest technologies to deal with all manufacturing needs in-house.

Facili

USA - American Music & Sound (AM&S) has announced the creation of a new Music Creation Division consisting of the beyerdynamic, Focusrite, Novation, Fostex, Kurzweil, Nord, Vestax, and Xone brands.

"Many of our brands share a common thread - the creation or performance of music," states Lynn Martin, president of American Music & Sound. "In order to better serve our music creation customers and dealers as well as optimise the reach of our ever expanding family of brands, we have organised these brands together into our new Music Creation Division. And, the best news of all is that we have created new positions and are now hiring for six new regional sales managers.

"The new regional sales managers will work hand in hand with our current Independent sales representatives to help organise, facilitate, and execute all the sales, marketing and product training n

UK - A BBC Scotland broadcast, Scotland's History with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and special guests, has been broadcast from the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, and recorded for posterity by the BBC using a large quantity of DPA microphones provided by The Warehouse Edinburgh's Sound Hire department.

A pair of 4061 miniature omnis were used for grand piano with another 10 for first violins, and a total of 24 DPA 4060s handled second violins, violas, cellos and double basses. A DPA MSS6000 microphone summation, designed to reduce 10 or more individual mics down to a single stereo pair system, was used to manage cable runs. Each MSS6000 features independent level and pan controls, freeing up input channels on a console.

The BBC ended up taking down their overhead mics on the orchestra as they were getting too much front-line band sound. This meant that all the strings ca

Spain - The 280-room, five-star Hesperia Tower in Barcelona is one of the Hesperia chain's flagship hotels and its most iconic and innovative project. Its 5000sq.m conference and convention centre is divided into 21 meeting rooms with a total capacity of 2500 people. For the convention centre's auditorium, which seats up to 480 people, a multi-language simultaneous interpretation system was required, to enable all participants to interact in conferences without any interference.

The Bosch DCN Next Generation Conference System together with the Integrus Digital Infrared Language Distribution System was proposed, accepted, and installed by local dealer Mediacom '95. Microphone connectors were installed in the auditorium's seats, with one microphone for every two participants. In addition to these 250 microphones, the Integrus system was installed so that conferences could be follo

UAE - FIFA's World Club Championship sees the cream of the world's football clubs battle it out for the crown of the best club team in the world. The 2009 championship took place in Abu Dhabi and utilised two of the city's stadia, Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium and the flagship Zayed Sports City Stadium, the latter hosting the final.

To accommodate the vast media contingent that follows such a huge event the Zayed Sports City Stadium decided to upgrade some of the facilities and equipment within the media suites, this included the installation of six channels of Sennheiser's new 2000 series. The installation and commissioning was taken care of by live sound specialist Trevor Cronin.

" From previous experience, the transmission range and reliability of the Sennheiser wireless products made this manufacturer my obvious first choice for such a large venue, as I need to get relia

UK - Showsec provided the event security for the 2009 Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Sheffield. The company supplied its own team of UK security professionals, who ensured the safety of guests in the VIP pre-show party, securing all transport between venues and strategically placing response teams around the VIP audience.

With a live audience of 11,000 guests including some of the world's leading sporting personalities, the 2009 awards were the biggest ever staged.

Showsec is the in-house security partner of the arena and security manager Julian Kumah took on the role of head of security for the awards, supported by special projects manager Steve Reynolds and supervisor Mark Wilcock.

Kumah reports, "The multi-faceted security operation started by ensuring the safety of guests as they travelled from various preshow events into Sheffield Arena. The first

USA - Synergetic Audio Concepts (SynAudCon) has announced plans to add online training courses to its audio education offerings.

"Our goal is to provide training to more people and to encourage more 'synergy' among our members," Brenda Brown, SynAudCon director explains. "With the changes in technology and the world economy, we think our new programmes will be a valuable option to the industry."

The on-line training programme will consist of three levels, each offering training modules in a variety of subject areas. Audio professionals will have the option of subscribing to the levels that best suits their needs.

"The hands on content and materials that are constantly changing will continue to be offered as in person training," Brown continues. "Topics that are well suited for online learning will be incorporated into the new programme.&quo

Italy - When the Biella Forum arena in Biella, home to basketball team Angelico Biella, decided to outfit its arena with a new sound system, they chose One Systems, a leading manufacturer of direct weather speakers. The installation, performed by Delta Sound of Val Della Torre (Torino includes eight 112IMs with 105 x 60 degree horns and 14 212CIMs from One Systems.

The Biella Forum Arena completed construction in February 2009 and is home to basketball team, Angelico Biella, a competitor in the Italian major championship 'A1', as well as the Eurocup tournament. In addition to basketball games, there are numerous live concerts and events throughout the year as well.

In being awarded the contract to install the new system, Delta Sound worked closely with One Systems' Italian distributor, Etabeta Electronics SRL of Bregnano. The Biella Forum Arena management chose One Systems spe

UK - ExCeL London has announced that it has in-sourced the audio visual services provision for the venue and created a new in house team, ExCeL London Audio Visual Services.

In addition, ExCel London has signed a new five year services agreement with Blitz Communications to provide support to the in house team in regards to equipment hire and services. James Mark commented, "Blitz has been an ExCeL service partner for a number of years and has made a fantastic contribution to the business. I am delighted that this relationship will continue to develop under the new arrangement.

"Over the years we have brought a variety of venue services in-house and these have proved to be extremely effective in ensuring that we maintain consistently high service levels across the whole business. The creation of this new team will allow us to provide a more seamless service for all o

UK - Distributor Polar Audio has announced the appointment of key sub-distributors to enhance the support and penetration of its leading audio brands to the industry.

Seven sub-distributors across the UK and Eire have been selected. Spanning the AV, AV and Pro Audio Installation and Pro Audio sectors, each company has been chosen for its specialist expertise, market position and technical expertise.

UK distributors include AC Entertainment, Audio Logic, Leisuretec Distribution, Louis Grace, RW Salt and The Warehouse, and in Eire, Sound Productions. All distributors will carry a wide range of stock from Polar Audio's product portfolio and will have access to its full range of products; in addition, staff will take part in Polar Audio's regular training programmes to ensure the end user receives the best possible service.

Polar Audio's national sales manager, Simon Druce comme

India - With the goal of setting a new benchmark for India's live production standards, the young entrepreneurs behind new sound rental company Total Production have invested in a major Nexo Geo D line array inventory.

Based in Bangalore, Total Productions got off to a promising start with its new system. Buying the rider-friendly Geo D system helped the company to win a prestigious contract to provide sound for American rock band Mr Big on the India leg of their reunion world tour, and to beat stiff competition to service the opening ceremony for the 2009 IWAS World Games (paralympics).

Total Productions started life as an event management company, promoting concerts, explains head of operations Francis Perry. "Having used most of the sound rental companies in our region over the last 15 years, we knew all the points of difference for the PA systems that were available.

France - Coquelles, near Calais - famous for the French Eurotunnel terminal - is consequently a popular arrival and departure point for those travelling between Europe and the UK.

The City Council of Coquelles decided to beautify one of its key commercial streets - Avenue Charles de Gaulle - with an architectural lighting scheme to extend an eye-catching evening welcome for all those arriving and staying there. Many hotels are located on the busy Avenue, and these are in constant use by visitors and business people in transit.

Installation company Forclum Calais (the electrical division of civil engineering operation, Eiffage) specified Anolis ArcSource 6 RGB Inground LED fixtures for the scheme, a total of 30 of which are used to illuminate the trees and foliage along a key stretch of the Avenue.

Forclum Calais contacted Anolis's French distributor Ambiance Lumiere's commer

Italy - The Magna Lecture Theatre in the Roma Tre University, Rome, is a modern, elegantly-styled venue. Located in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy, it hosts important lectures and conferences. The only problem it had was sound coverage, which can often be a challenge when fine architecture and acoustics come together. The solution was to completely change the sound system for a new innovative system designed specifically to meet this challenge.

The new sound system is based around Bosch's Hemi-directional Loudspeaker. Embodying an innovative acoustic design using 14 specially positioned speaker drivers combined with advanced filtering, it provides a large opening angle for the whole frequency range. The result is consistent, high-quality sound reproduction over the whole coverage area.

The new installation resolved the innumerable coverage problems that plagued the p

UK - London-based drapes specialist Cover It Up has supplied a substantial quantity of drapes and scenic surfaces to Phil McIntyre Entertainment for the current Ricky Gervais Science UK tour.

The company has supplied many previous projects for McIntyre's including Dancing on Ice, Peter Kay, Bottom, Chris Rock, Russell Brand, The Mighty Boosh, and not forgetting - notably - a pair of giant 20ft red underpants for one of the Little Britain tours.

The basic touring package was specified by Adam Scott, the tour's production manager, complete with a selection of "get out of trouble" items.

Cover It Up's Rhys Sion says, "It's been great working with the team at Phil McIntyre Entertainment again and especially with Adam Scott. The drapes give the stage clean edges and the versatility of the touring package has made the tour possible in ven

Belgium - XL-Technologies is a new, Belgium-based LED sales and solutions company, launched to offer innovative solutions for anyone interested in utilising LED technologies for their shows, events, displays, art and installations of all types.

Grown out of the XL Video Group's expertise, XL-Technologies is an independent company well placed to maximise the expertise and knowledge held within the group, thus offering its clients a wide range of LED products and design solutions for purchase.

All major and currently specified LED brands will be available through XL Technologies. Not being tied to any specific range or brand, the company can offer a fully integrated service to fit the exact requirements of its clients.

There is the flexibility to offer standard LED solutions from the wide product range and also second-hand sales from large projects that are now finished, plus

UK - The new self-powered Meyer Sound ultra-compact UP-4XP loudspeaker recently made its debut at the Royal Albert Hall's renovated Elgar Room. With its peak SPL of 121 dB at one meter, the UP-4XP has helped transform the Elgar Room into an intimate and atmospheric venue in which to appreciate live events and discover new artists, from late night gigs to after-show parties, comedy nights, cabaret and theatre performances.

As part of a £1 million makeover, Sound By Design created a sound reinforcement system of four UP-4XP and four UPJ-1P loudspeakers for the diverse activities at the 350-capacity Elgar Room, with equipment supplied by Amber Sound. "Our brief from the Royal Albert Hall was to create a flexible new performance space that would sound great," says Griff Hewis of Sound By Design. "The UP-4XP fit perfectly for what I needed for the bar area, and a

UK/Singapore - SADiE's LRX2 location audio workstation has been busy playing a key part in two high-profile live music events, showing off its suitability for live touring. It was selected by Richmond Studios Productions for recording both the recent Children in Need concert at the Royal Albert Hall and the F1 Rocks concert which followed the Singapore Grand Prix.

The LRX2 was used at the concerts by Richmond Studios Productions MD, Toby Alington, and head of audio, Richard Lancaster. Alington has been a SADiE user for over 10 years, with SADiE PCM16 and BB2 systems also in use at the studios, and despite only having had the LRX2 for three months he had no hesitation taking it out on the road.

"I'm always on the lookout for bullet-proof equipment for live multitrack recording systems, but also systems that offer some kind of versatility for fast editing onsite,&quo

USA - Butterfly and mini-COM.P.A.S.S., two of the vertical line arrays manufactured by Brescia's Outline, were used on the occasion of the lighting ceremony of the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre in New York, at the crossroads of 50th Street and Fifth Avenue.

America has celebrated Christmas round this tree - decorated with 20,000 coloured lights - since 1931. Once again this year, there was a show that attracted thousands of people: this was also thanks to the spectacular ice rink, which, since it was opened in 1936, continues to draw people of all ages.

On stage to celebrate the event, amplified by the 'Outline arrays' - as well as other systems - stars included Aretha Franklin, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart and the Muppets, all performing Christmas classics.

The show, transmitted live on NBC and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg turned on the lights of tree, w

USA - In an upgrade, Baker Audio recently selected JBL VLA and PD series loudspeakers for the new audio system at Bobby Dodd Stadium, home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets' football team.

Renovations to the Boddy Dodd Stadium audio/visual system began two years ago with the upgrade of the Stadium's 10-year-old video setup. Although most of the budget focused on the video system, Baker Audio was still charged with providing an audio system that could mirror the new scoreboard's quality. The company developed a JBL solution that included two arrays of four VLA601H and two VLA601 line array loudspeakers in the stadium scoreboard on either side of the video board.

The VLA series loudspeaker arrays cover approximately 80 percent of the stadium. There are four PD5212 boxes for down-fill in front of a Panasonic video board in the south end zone, and four PD764 loudspeakers used for

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