Canada - Wall Sound and Lighting, based in the Canadian national capital of Ottawa, has secured its place as a major player in the region's high-end event rental market by investing in a Meyer Sound Leo Family reinforcement system.

"Here in Ottawa we're sandwiched between Toronto and Montreal, which means we face stiff competition from large regional providers on the major events," notes Neil Collier, senior project manager for the company. "Our recent investment in Meyer Sound's Leo Family not only has helped us maintain our major share of the local market but also has helped us grow our business in new directions by securing larger and more prestigious clients. It has taken us up to the next level."

Wall Sound and Lighting supplies sound, lighting and staging services for a broad range of arts/entertainment, corporate and government events throughout the Ottawa region. A

Russia - In the 30 years since Russian theatre director designer Oleg Tabakov and set designer David Borovsky established an 'alternative' theatre in a small, damp Moscow basement, the name Tabakerka has become legendary to the city's theatre lovers.

Despite often challenging times under the Soviet regime, the company thrived and Tabakov has just opened a brand new, 400-capacity venue. Located in Moscow's Sukharevskaya Street, The Stage at Sukharevskaya features an L-Acoustics loudspeaker system.

Operating in tandem with the original basement venue (now named The Stage at Chistye Prudy), a key aim of the new venue was to continue the sense of intimacy so familiar in the original venue, yet to allow it the flexibility to stage any kind of performance.

To achieve this, certified provider and distributor of L-Acoustics products, Sonoruss, supplied the L-Acoustics elements

USA - Bose Professional is now shipping new ShowMatch DeltaQ array loudspeakers for both installation and portable applications, with field-changeable waveguides that help provide the best possible sound quality throughout the audience area.

DeltaQ array technology improves sound quality and vocal clarity by providing selectable coverage patterns that direct more sound energy to the audience by allowing directivity, or 'Q' to vary with each array module. Traditional line arrays typically have significantly less pattern control.

ShowMatch full-range array loudspeakers are available with 5°, 10° or 20° vertical coverage with class-leading versatility that allows J-array, constant-curvature, or DeltaQ array configurations. Conventional line arrays can require up to twice the box count compared to DeltaQ arrays to achieve comparable vertical coverage. DeltaQ arrays

Germany - For the 20th anniversary of the biggest north German indoor festival of electronic music, Pioneer DJ alpha, over 50 national and international DJs such as Westbam, DJ Quicksilver, Charly Lownoise & Menthal Theo, Pulsedriver and Woody van Eyden and many more took part.

The sound of the Mainfloor including the VIPStage was realised with a VT20 system. Two arrays with two 12 VT20 and a cardioid bass array with 36x VS18 formed the main PA. The whole main PA was powered by only six Delta 20.4-DP system amps effortless hanging on only one 32 A / 400 V three-phase connection.

For the nearfield, eight MT12 were used, which were driven four-ways. The sound engineers at the venue spoke of remarkably detailed and homogenous sound, which impressed very much. Pioneer DJ alpha's André Neuhaus (FOH) comments: "A system in this size had to meet not only the client's expec

USA - The 1,200-plus teenagers in and around Van Buren, Arkansas attend Van Buren High School, and a huge part of their high school experience involves the school's Clair Bates Arena, a 2,000-seat arena built in 2009.

Unfortunately, budget constraints left its original sound reinforcement system underpowered and lacking critical intelligibility. Local A/V integration firm Commercial Audio Systems recently remedied that frustrating situation by installing a distributed Danley Sound Labs system comprised of eight Danley OS-80 full-range outdoor loudspeakers and eight Danley OS-115 subwoofers, citing their fidelity and pattern control for delivering musical impact and intelligibility in an overly-live room.

"The arena is beautiful; it's really stunning," said Jim Crews, co-owner of Commercial Audio Systems. "They did a great job getting all of its permanent architectural aspe

Canada - Known as the birthplace of Manitoba, Upper Fort Garry in Winnipeg is a significant site in Canadian history. Although the original fort was largely demolished in the 1880s, its remaining Governor's Gate and an area of surrounding land was gifted to the city by the Hudson Bay Company "as a public park forever".

Overshadowed by surrounding buildings and nearly forgotten, recent development pressures rekindled interest in the site and led to the inspired vision of a $19m heritage park and interpretive centre for Upper Fort Garry.

A 400ft commemorative wall of naturally rusting Corten steel has been built, with integrated LED lighting by Daktronics and sound by Inland Audio Visual. Marking the height, depth and location of Upper Fort Garry's original west wall, its sculptured layers scribe three continuous lines tracing the history of Western Canada and of Upper Fort

UK - Raynes Park High School, London, is a mixed comprehensive school for 12-16-year-old pupils able to accommodates up to 1400 pupils. Currently employing 120 members of staff Raynes Park High School offers pupils access to an on-site Autism Centre, SEND Department, Sixth Form and Sports Centre.

The paging systems implemented by Clarity in Sound, Light & Vision allows staff at the school to page zones individually or call-all zones. Pre-recorded or live announcements can be made in all the separate buildings which includes a newly built the Sixth Form block, a sports hall and the D&T building, in addition to sports fields and playground areas.

Clarity in Sound Light & Vision Ltd installed a Cloud DCM-1 Digital Zone Mixer alongside several Cloud 100V multichannel amplifiers across eight zones. In addition to two Cloud PM-8SA paging microphones, a Sennheiser wireless radio

UK - VME used its flagship Martin Audio MLA System to the full at the Manchester Arena recently, for Anthony Joshua's latest IBF World Heavyweight Championship defence live on Sky Sports Box Office.

From their 48-box MLA inventory the Manchester-based service providers can rig differently configured systems to suit venue size and technical requirement, with the EQ tailored accordingly. According to VME head of sound, Mark Cleator, the challenges of reinforcing a live Sky Sports broadcast, in-the-round production for promoters Matchroom Boxing, are entirely different to a conventional rock show.

"Each venue is completely unique," says Mark, "and the rig has to be up in the air within three hours. We share a couple of cable bridges with lighting but all our hangs are double motored to reduce the need for having to tie off arrays, which really helps the rig time."

Manches

UK - The contents of the internationally-renowned Fountain Studios in Wembley, north London, will come under the hammer after the recent final of the 2016 X Factor brought the curtain down on 90 years of film and broadcasting history.

The studio has been sold to property developers, and sound and vision equipment, lighting, scenery and memorabilia are all being offered in an online sale between 30 January and 7 February. The sale is being organised by auctioneers Charterfields (www.charterfields.com) and a viewing day is being held on 1 February.

Among the broadcast equipment for sale are Sony HDC cameras, pedestals along with various control units and pan and tilt heads; vision mixers; sound desks and microphones; lighting desks and a large quantity of hoists and pantographs.

In addition, there is also a selection of scenery and drapes, dressing room furniture,

China - KLANG:technologies has announced the appointment of Beijing Huahui Audio Technology Co Ltd (Huahui) as its distributor in China. Established in 2003, Beijing-based Huahui is a professional audio company that provides a comprehensive range of services, including consultation, design, installation, technical support, training and sales.

The company has an impressive portfolio of high-end brands, including L-Acoustics, Midas, Milab, Klark Teknik, t.c.electronic, Point Source, Focal, Adam, Canare and Sennheiser. Operating across the broadcast, studio, fixed installation and live markets, Huahui is focused on its technical ability and customer support and is ISO9001 certified.

KLANG:technologies aim is to create the perfect in-ear monitor sound for musicians, enabling them to work with greater ease and focus on their performance. Its KLANG:fabrik and KLANG:vier 3D perso

Belgium - Apart Audio has announced the release of its CM Design Series speakers, which the Belgian brand has created to offer simple, elegant integration into all interior environments.

A thin edge grille and integrated neodymium grille fixing magnets ensure that the new series is both unobtrusive and easy to install, with Apart's Quick Fix connectors used for speaker connections - avoiding the need for junction boxes and reducing installation time and costs. Clear power tap labelling on the speakers' transformers also aids quick and easy set-up.

The two-way CM Design speakers are available in both 6.5" and 8" sizes, delivering power outputs of 60W and 100W respectively.

(Jim Evans)

USA - With the recent opening of WildPitch Music Hall, downtown Atlanta is home to a new nightlife destination. Best described as an underground dance club that offers live music for special events, WildPitch Music Hall features a variety of established and emerging special guests from across the electronic music spectrum. The new club also represents D.A.S. Audio's first permanent U.S. installation of its recently introduced SoundForce Series loudspeakers.

Global Audio Systems of NY, NY was the AV design-build firm contracted to handle the installation of the D.A.S. Audio SoundForce loudspeaker system at WildPitch Music Hall, with local support from Platinum Sound Atlanta. Owner Jason Ojeda, ultimately installed a system consisting of several prominent models from the SoundForce Series line. He discussed the project and his reasons for choosing D.A.S. Audio.

"The room at

Russia - Nobel Hall, the main auditorium of Moscow's Financial University, is a multipurpose space within this prominent and prestigious educational facility.

Equipped with a Martin Audio W8LM Mini Line Array, the hall, which operates under the Government of the Russian Federation, is capable of hosting 1,350 people. The opening was timed to coincide with the First Moscow International Economic Forum and has since been used for many world-leading scientific conferences and seminars.

This hall is also used for various forums and events, involving numerous creative teams of the Financial University and prominent guest performers, while a university tradition includes hosting two lectures from Nobel prize winners every year. Thus perfect speech intelligibility and highest quality of music reproduction were key requirements during the design process - and Martin Audio products

China - This past May, Adamson's Chinese distributor Real Music launched a national education and demonstration programme to promote the new S-Series amongst the brightest up-and-coming show service providers in the nation. The results of this effort has now lead to the introduction of 12 new S-Series partners in the region.

David Dohrmann, Adamson's technical director Asia Pacific, will head up in-depth training this month for these newest customers in Xi'an and Beijing, and he is excited for the next phase of the partnership with Real Music.

"The extensive after sales support and training facilities they offer to their client base is the natural progression of this campaign and will provide a solid foundation to further strengthen the Adamson brand in China," he said. "It is a model we will continue to implement with our partners and their contacts across the globe."

UK - The Haven + London is a charity offering support and counselling for the creative community. On 8 December it staged a fundraising Motown Christmas Concert at the church of St Giles-In-The-Fields, hosted by renowned musician and musical director Mo Pleasure. Yamaha was happy to help by providing equipment and staff.

A fixture in Earth, Wind & Fire for many years, before becoming Michael Jackson's keyboard player and, currently, Bette Midler's musical director, Mo Pleasure has a close relationship with Yamaha in the US and developed links with Yamaha Music Europe UK through various events in London. He is an active supporter of The Haven + London and asked if Yamaha would be willing to be involved in the Motown Christmas Concert, for which he was musical director.

"Mo is a great musician and musical director, plus he really likes developing new talent," says Chris Irvi

Austria - Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced the appointment of Schneider Audio Concept Vertriebs GmbH (SAC) as its distributor for Austria.

Based in St. Leonhard am Forst in central Austria, SAC was founded in 2001 by its current management team who each have more than 25 years' experience in the professional audio industry. With a portfolio of premium brands, the company is strongly focused on delivering the highest level of service and technical support for its customers in the installation market.

"SAC has a well-established network of installers and integrators in the installation sector and will provide Community with great distribution," commented Community's EMEA sales manager, Jamie Ward. "Equally important is their first-class technical backup and support for customers. We're pleased to welcome them as our partner and look forward to working togeth

UK - Cardiff-based 11th Hour Ice has enjoyed a busy and very productive lead-up to Christmas, supplying and installing ice-rinks at several locations in South Wales. Temporary ice rinks are becoming an increasingly popular feature in the landscape of the festive events season, something with which 11th Hour Ice is well acquainted, having operated in the field for a number of years. The company covers all bases in terms of ice rink provision, offering everything from the ice itself, to any infrastructure and ancillary services that are required.

Essentials such as power generation, distribution and site lighting can be supplemented with everything from project management, ticketing, rink marshalling, decorative lighting, sound systems and even marketing and sponsorship. Effectively, 11th Hour Ice offers a bespoke ice rink service tailored to meet the needs and budgets of a rang

UK - Current RMS reports having had a "huge year" in 2016, with major feature releases on display at multiple shows in the UK and US, as well as significant team growth, enabling its team to provide more support to customers worldwide.

To end 2016, the company has revealed a brand new feature, ready for users to have a play with over the Christmas holidays . . .Users can now Clone or Copy & Paste Opportunity Groups across different jobs, which is useful when providing kit for a job with multiple rooms or venues. Rather than having to use the Product Picker to select the same item across multiple jobs, users can now select 'copy' next to the item and paste it onto a different job.

Current RMS will be seeing in 2017 with over 2,100 rental experts onboard, across 1,300 cities worldwide. Major feature releases such as; Simultaneous Scan, Organisation Discounts and a new Costin

Ireland - As Europe's premier mixed martial arts organization, BAMMA is used to delivering powerful output at their explosive events.

The latest instalment of the regular BAMMA events - BAMMA 27 - took place at the 3 Arena, Dublin on 16 December 1and Dublin-based production specialists Just Lite turned to the new VHD 5.0 System from KV2 Audio already known to pack a punch, delivering a knockout blow to the belief that only a Line Array solution could tackle such a venue.

KV2 have always embraced the principles and established benefits of point source speaker system design and have risen to the challenge of building a system for audiences of 20,000+ - the VHD 5.0 System.

BAMMA 27 is just one of a number of wide ranging events that Just Lite have deployed the VHD 5.0 System on and have proved that the system is equally at home in the raucous environments that BAMMA crowd

Germany - A multimedia Christmas musical, A Star is Born, was one of the performance highlights during the Christmas advent events held at the ZKM Art & Media Centre's Filmpalast cinema in Karlsruhe, Germany, mixed on an Allen & Heath dLive system.

The production switched between stage, screen and live music, requiring a flexible audio system at the helm. Managed by ICF Karlsruhe in cooperation with Baden TV and involving the children's charity, ARCHE Karlsruhe e.V., there was a total of 20 shows and audiences of 11,000.

Andreas Kurcz, sound engineer of ICF Karlsruhe specified the dLive system, comprising two S7000 Surfaces with DM64 MixRacks to manage FOH and monitors.

"Our great Christmas musical entailed a run of 20 shows, 53 inputs and 30 outputs, over 11,000 visitors, and an alternating team of 10 technicians. The dLive systems were an important part of the

USA EAW has announced the addition of Paul Lamarre to the growing sales team. Lamarre is tasked with managing sales and support for future and existing customers in the Southern US. The announcement was made by James Newhouse, North American director of sales for EAW.

"Adding Paul to the team furthers our commitment to interacting directly with our dealers," explains Newhouse. "He joins a team of individuals that are responsible for not only expanding sales and the reach of the EAW brand, but also continuing our efforts to work with each dealer directly to ensure that they receive the support to service their projects."

Prior to joining EAW, Lamarre was regional sales manager for EDA Pro AV, based in Duluth, Georgia and served as general manager of Sam Ash Music in the greater Nashville area. Lamarre also served the US Army for nine years prior to beginning his career in p

UK - Flightcase hardware and 19 inch racking manufacturer Penn Elcom has introduced the FT80-Q - quiet - cooling unit for active heat management in cupboards, closets and other enclosed environments.

The new exhaust fan product has been developed by Penn's R&D team for fitting into sealed enclosures housing 19-inch racking systems, servers, etc, where hot air is not being expelled. These type of enclosures have a high risk of thermal / component failure as the inbuilt fans only re-cycle hot air, so additional cooling is essential for the well-being of the equipment.

The FT80-Q has been designed to efficiently extract air for rack cooling in these situations.

The product comes with a drill template to allow easy installation, creating an extraction hole and then fitting a cover to keep the overall cabinet / rack enclosure looking smart and streamlined. Its fan has numer

- Australian pop innovator Sia set numerous attendance records on her Nostalgic for the Present Tour, which crisscrossed North America during the fall of 2016 in promotion of her latest chart-topper, This Is Acting. The artist is continually redefining performance art and relied heavily on a full complement of Adamson E-Series loudspeakers to do so on her most recent run.

FOH engineer Jon Lemon was given direct instructions from the artist to "make it sound like the record". He subsequently received the original mix sessions and holed up in a rehearsal room with playback engineer Marco Gamboa to build and convert the studio material for the live arena. In all, it was an intensive and lengthy process, but fortunately, choosing a PA to faithfully reproduce those sounds was anything but.

"I wanted to use Adamson from the get go," Lemon asserts. "The fidelit

USA - Tir Na Nog is a supernatural realm of everlasting youth and beauty in Irish mythology - and a killer Irish pub in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Tir Na Nog recently opened a second location across from Madison Square Garden (the pub, not the supernatural realm), and NYC's Starview Satellite provided it with a sound system for games, background music, and video DJ sets as part of a complete renovation.

Integral to the design are two Ashly KLR-4000 amplifiers and four Ashly KLR-2000 amplifiers, which give Tir Na Nog the kick it requires - and on a tight budget.

"Starview came to a point early in the process of designing Tir Na Nog's system where the budget constraints threatened to compromise the integrity of the design," explained Rich Trombitas, regional sales & product manager with A/V manufacturers rep firm Cardone, Solomon & Associates (CS&A). "They really coul

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