Sound

Details
China - Production company, Hunan Broadcasting System recently purchased an Allen & Heath GLD-112 digital mixer with AR2412 and AB168 IO racks to manage its live entertainment shows, starting with the most popular entertainment show in China, Super Girl.

New for the returning season, the final six episodes of Super Girl were broadcast live on imgo.TV, an Internet TV platform affiliated to Hunan, with more than 35m active viewers per day. The shows featured performances from final competing contestants with commentary from five professional judges on stage, plus two guest performing artists.

The biggest technical challenge was handling the mixture of handheld and headset microphones and various open mics, which was managed by GLD's Automatic Mic Mixing (AMM) feature.

"The AMM feature is just fantastic, making GLD a perfect choice for TV broadcast applicati

Details
Germany - Enhancing the sound in old buildings to match modern expectations is a common task for contemporary systems integrators. This is particularly true of houses of worship, where the different elements of praise often need a versatile sound reinforcement system in a space that was originally designed for purely acoustic sound. The latest in a series of German installations shows, again, that Yamaha's Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) range can make a real difference.

Stadtkirche Aalen is a 250-year-old Protestant church in in the town of Aalen, southern Germany. Built on the site of an earlier church whose tower collapsed in 1765, it is considered unusual for being a Protestant church with a Baroque interior and ceiling frescoes. It is the latest of many Yamaha audio systems that have been specified and installed in a house of worship by Steinheim-based Klartext AV

Details
UK - Symphotech was entrusted to oversee noise monitoring at X Music Festival, which took place at Cardiff's Bute Park, 3-4 June 2016.

X Music Festival is Wales' largest music festival and runs for two days across three stages. Launched in 2015, the festival's first year received a significant amount of noise complaints and the local council requested a professional noise consultancy was brought in to ensure the event met license conditions and festival noise control obligations.

The organisers and the production company, 11th Hour Events, were keen to take their responsibility seriously and brought in Symphotech to ensure noise levels didn't affect local residents. As well as creating a noise plan for the event, Symphotech was also on site throughout the festival to monitor sound levels around the perimeter and all three stages.

Before the event, Symphotech was on-sit

Details
UK - Alcons Audio has appointed InSynergy as its new UK distributor and, with the company's systems having recently been installed at several prestigious theatres around the world, it's appropriate that the first trade event InSynergy will be exhibiting at is London's ABTT Theatre Show.

InSynergy is a new Lancashire-based distribution and installation business, set up by Steve Badham, who has a long association with Alcons. Steve is taking a very proactive approach with the Alcons brand, complementing InSynergy's presence at the ABTT show with setting up a programme of structured demo sessions and training for potential customers.

"Having worked with Alcons in the past, I know both the company and products very well," says Steve. "I truly believe that the performance of Alcons products is unmatched by any other system. The pro-ribbon high frequency drivers and matched elec

Details
UK - KMR Audio has announced Mesanovic Microphones latest offering, the Model 2A Active Ribbon Microphone.

The Mesanovic Model 2A is an active adaptation of the Model 2 passive ribbon microphone and uses the same signature motor structure and resonator plates helping capture any source with detail.

The active circuit in the Model 2A provides high output, extremely low self-noise and works with any mic preamp. The 48V phantom power circuit works as an impedance buffer to avoid any colouration.

(Jim Evans)

Details
USA - On the north end of the Las Vegas strip, deep inside the SLS Hotel & Casino - formerly the Sahara of Ocean's Eleven and Rat Pack fame - is the Foundry: a new state-of-the-art concert venue. It's odd but impressive layout - three stories tall, far wider than deep with two of the three main bars flanking the spacious stage at a considerable distance - makes for challenging sound reinforcement.

The space's brief existence as LiFE Nightclub tested a distributed, million-box solution, and the results were not good. SLS hired JR Sound Company to design a system that would place the Foundry demonstrably above Las Vegas' burgeoning contemporary (i.e. not nostalgic) concert scene. Their forward-thinking plan deftly sidestepped repeated appeals from promoters and industry insiders to go with a line-array solution. Instead, point source Danley SH-96HO mains, SH-95HO & SH-95 fills,

Details
The Netherlands - With expectations of audio quality from both audiences and performers throughout the world continually rising, the question of how to make venues used for drama and amplified music truly suitable for classical and acoustic music is being increasingly asked. A Yamaha AFC3 acoustic enhancement system has provided the answer at a historic theatre in the Netherlands.

The ongoing, rapid development of digital audio technology for recorded music has had a direct effect on raising expectations of the quality of live sound. Yamaha's AFC3 uses Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to enhance the acoustics of a space - both in the auditorium and on stage - by regenerating the acoustic energy, which precisely tailors the acoustics to both the venue and individual performances.

Nicknamed 'The Old Lady', the 102-year old Parkgebouw in Rijssen, Netherlands is well-establishe

Details
Australia - During the Vivid Sydney 2016 festival, the famous Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) in The Rocks has become a giant canvas for the energy of the creative process. Multimedia art collective, Danny Rose, teamed up with Western Sydney Artist, Huseyin Sami, to create an illusion of the MCA fa

Details
UK - Internationally renowned fine art auctioneers Sotheby's has installed 16 channels of Shure's flagship digital ULX-D wireless microphone system at its London HQ in New Bond Street. Hornchurch-based AV consultant KEL Sound & Vision carried out the system design and installation, and the equipment was sold through Essex-based AV retailer AudioLogic.

"Sotheby's was using an older wireless microphone system in its auction galleries, but wanted to bring it up to date," explains Chris Gutteridge, technical director at KEL Sound & Vision. "The HQ at New Bond Street is much more extensive than it appears from the street, covering several floors and extending right through to St George Street behind the shop fronts on both roads. They were having a few timing problems using their old analogue system, and also wanted to extend their use of wireless across the whole site.

"They w

Details
USA - At InfoComm 2016, Shure introduced the IH6500 Interpreter Headset. Designed for professional interpreters who prefer an integrated headset, the IH6500 provides "excellent speech intelligibility, comfortable fit, and multiple connectivity options for use in multi-language meetings and conferences".

The dual-sided headset has removable ear pads, allowing for convenient cleaning, and also features a flexible gooseneck microphone boom that pivots 270 degrees. The IH6500 is compatible with Shure DCS 6000-series Interpreter Sets, including the IS 6132 P.

"Comfort is essential when performing interpretation jobs and we kept this top of mind when designing the IH6500," said Chris Lyons, senior manager, conferencing products at Shure. "The lightweight and compact fit gives more freedom of movement, accommodates extended wear, and offers a high-quality alternative to using a g

Details
USA - B&L Sound and Lighting is an event management company based in Arlington, Texas that provides turn-key production with sound, lighting, video and special effects for all kinds of live events and conferences.

This spring, B&L provided its services for the Student Leadership University's Lift Tour, a world-class Christian music and worship weekend for middle-school and high-school youth, which covered 19 cities and featured five different Christian music bands, magicians, comedians and worship services.

B&L mixed all of this year's Lift Tour events on an Allen & Heath dLive S5000 Surface with DM64 MixRack.

Lift Tour venues ranged from churches to convention centres to theatres with audiences from 1000 to 2500. Jason Wilson, B&L's production manager and FOH engineer for the tour, described the Lift Tour as a "fast-paced, high energy weekend," and he explained B&L's

Details
South Africa - A wet Johannesburg did not put a damper on the Neon Run, held at the Johannesburg Wanderers Stadium in May. Wizardry Group, who were the full technical suppliers and production team, commissioned Festival Sound to provide the sound at this year's event. Two DiGiCo SD9 consoles were used for this purpose, one for FOH and the other for monitors.

The Neon Run is a night where runners, cyclists and walkers, covered in neon accessories and body paint, cover a five kilometre route. The award at the finish line is a party and entertainment by some of South Africa's top performing artists.

"As always the SD9 worked beautifully," said Petru Palmer of Festival Sound, who worked at the Front of House along with Gabriel Le Roux on monitors. "It's a solid system and bullet proof. I love the sound, flexibility, stability and everything, really, is amazing. The greatest ch

Details
France - Located a short car, bus or train journey from the centre of Lyon, Casino Le Lyon Vert offers a wide range of traditional and slot gaming, as well as a restaurant and brasserie. A recent update of its audio system has seen a zoned Yamaha system installed, featuring Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) products.

Supplied and installed by Lyon-based audio and lighting company Eurosono, the major audio upgrade is based on a Yamaha MTX3 matrix processor, with four XMV8140 and an XMV4140 power amplifiers driving NS-IC400 ceiling loudspeakers, which are installed throughout the venue.

Divided into eight zones, including the gaming rooms, restaurant, brasserie, smoking area and entrance hall, the system is controlled by six DCP1V4S and two DCP4S units and an iPad running Yamaha's ProVisionaire Touch app.

The system is used for announcements and background music fr

Details
Portugal - Held in Bela Vista Park in Lisbon, Gabisom Audio Equipment from Brazil deployed Martin Audio's premier MLA rig on the World Stage for the first time at the recent five-day Rock in Rio Festival in Lisbon. In doing so it was the largest deployment of MLA on a single stage.

The historical ties between Martin Audio's MLA and Rock in Rio began with a system test at the US event in Las Vegas in May 2015, where it appeared on the second stage, the Mercedes-Benz Evolution. An eclectic line-up over the Rock and Pop weekends included Foster the People, Gary Clark Jr., Grave with Steve Vai, Deftones, Jessi J, Charli XCX, Joss Stone, Magic!,Tove Lo, James Bay and others.

Each FOH engineer was extremely complimentary about the award-winning MLA, saying it was one of the easiest shows they had done. Dwayne Baker, FOH engineer for Theophilus London, said, "It's an incredible s

Details
USA - Founded in 1821, the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist was the first church in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. This traditional Roman Catholic church was completed in 1916, and features soaring ceilings and hard surfaces, creating a very reverberant space with difficult voice intelligibility.

Because the church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, there could be no changes to the architecture or physical appearance of the building. To address the situation, Gulf Coast Sound of Rayne, Louisiana and architectural consulting firm BAi of Austin, Texas were brought in.

"It was a very challenging situation. We were dealing with a nearly five-second reverb time, and preserving the aesthetics meant no acoustic treatment, so a big Public Address system wouldn't have worked," says Larry Habetz, CEO of Gulf Coast Sound. "The old system had speakers under

Details
UK - Adlib supplied lighting equipment and crew for the recent tour by UK rock band James who played a mix of UK arenas, academies and city hall venues at the start of their Girl At The End of the World album campaign. Neil Anderson was the tour director, with Matt Johnson (road manager), Cally Harris (production co-ordinator) and Adam Johnston (stage manager.)

Lighting was designed by Chris Montrie and lighting crew chief Ben Hodgkins advanced and co-ordinated all the lighting tenders and related elements of the tour. Chris is based in Washington DC so he and Ben liaised closely in advance and as the tour was approaching, with Ben ensuring that everything was prepped and ready to go for Chris when he arrived at Adlib for a two-day WYSIWYG programme prior to production rehearsals.

Chris had a free reign in creating the design with some input from the band and the li

Details
UK - Riders are revving up to participate in the 2016 First Night Riders 'Magical Mystery' charity motorbike and classic car ride, visiting theatres across the country to raise money and awareness for The Theatrical Guild (TTG).

This year's tour will take to the road between the 7th and 11th of July somewhere within 100 miles of central London.

The Theatrical Guild, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, has long helped those working in backstage and front of house roles during their times of need. The organisation offers advice, re-training opportunities or one-off grants to those who, due to a range of circumstances, may require support.

The ride has a new format this year. For the first time ever the route and venues that will be visited along the way are top secret. The details will be revealed at the Thursday night briefing on the 7th of July. More informati

Details
Germany - In its VSM, Lawo offers OB vans, studios and complete broadcast facilities the most sophisticated and powerful control system to date. Now, customers' demands for a somewhat smaller 'crosspoint switching only' solution are answered by Lawo's VSM SNAP - a budget-friendly control tool that offers just the basic functionality on an LBP pushbutton panel.

VSM SNAP is available for a selection of LBP pushbutton panels to control third-party gear directly and without requiring a VSM server. And while VSM SNAP directly addresses small matrix applications, it can also be used as a backup router control solution for a VSM system.

VSM SNAP requires regular LBP pushbutton panels extended with a memory module and specific software. In this combination, an LBP panel can natively talk router control protocols, and provides processing for simple router control logic without the

Details
UK - d&b GB is all set for this year's ABTT Theatre Show at London's Alexandra Palace, 22-23 June. The show will be an ABTT first for the celebrated V-Series point source loudspeakers.

Renowned for their remarkable sensitivity in the vocal range, the V10P will take centre stage in show's 'pop up' Studio Theatre (PBS). Accompanied by Y7s, V-SUBs, E6s and E8s all powered by the flagship D80, whilst the V7P will take pride of place on the d&b stand no. A54.

Live Performance Masterclasses will take place in the PBS, an opportunity for aspiring technicians to get practical insights into the everyday challenges facing production teams in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The Education and Application Support team at d&b GB - always ready to go back to basics, or share their latest experiments - will be offering sessions on choosing the right loudspeakers and tuning a system usi

Details
USA - As musical director, bandleader, and announcer for The Late Late Show on CBS, improvising vocalist, comedian, and actor Reggie Watts is a busy guy with a lot to keep track of on stage. To monitor his band, Karen, while interacting with host James Corden and taking direction from the control room, he uses Sensaphonics 3D AARO Active Ambient IEM System on stage. The patented system uses microphones embedded in custom soft silicone earphones to add controlled ambience to the in-ear mix, which includes the band feed, host James Corden's mic, and the IFB feed from the control room.

"I'm really big into using the 3D," says Watts. "I love the Full Ambient mode, where you just open up the mics and hear the room as your ears would be hearing naturally, I really appreciate that. It's extra cool during the show, because I get people coming up to tell me things, or when James

Details
Germany - The Museum of Communications in Frankfurt recently invested in Allen & Heath's Qu-16 digital rackmount mixer with AR2412 remote IO rack to manage its varied events calendar.

"The Museum is well known for its regular change of exhibitions and hosting world-famous speakers. We needed a console that is both reliable and with excellent sound quality," explains audio engineer, Kai Grumpe.

The Museum of Communications hosts various events throughout the year, including regularly changing exhibitions, private functions, concerts and conferences. The venue needed a new console that could manage a variety of functions, including live sound and broadcast feeds, for a diverse event programme ranging from jazz bands to panel discussions.

"Allen & Heath's Qu-16 offers everything we need to manage the Museum's daily business. It has stunning FX and very good sound quality,

Details
UK - The list of clients that use London's Factory Studios is a testimony to the quality of its sound design and mixing work. Last year Factory became the first UK facility to include a Dolby Atmos-licenced suite for commercials and trailers, which features 35 Alcons CRMS Cinema Reference Monitor System speakers.

Founded in 1997, the award-winning facility has produced the sound for projects by many high profile clients, including EE, O2, Renault, Nike, Three, eBay, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Harvey Nichols, BT, Sony and Samsung.

"We aim to be at the forefront of developments in audio technology," says Factory sound engineer Ben Firth. "We have a close relationship with Dolby and are always interested in new formats. We were introduced to Atmos at an early stage and, with an increasing volume of work, have been able to build two new sound studios, one with dedicated 9.1 surround

Details
Cyprus - ARX Systems has appointed Nicosia based V HyperSound & Light Ltd as its exclusive distributor for Cyprus.

"V HyperSound & Light's is a well known and respected distributor of Professional audio and lighting products," says ARX MD, Colin Park. "Here at ARX, we're looking forward to working with Vassos Mouzouras and his team. They're the ideal partner to grow the market and user base for our digital and analogue product range throughout Cyprus."

"ARX fits perfectly into our portfolio, and will be of great interest to our installation, live sound, corporate, broadcast and studio customers," says V HyperSound & Light's managing director Vassos Mouzouras. ARX joins a distribution portfolio that includes Mackie, Clock Audio, Logic Systems and Pan Acoustics.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Having helped establish the inaugural Wild Life event at the Shoreham Airport festival site near Brighton last year - fulfilling an idea floated by dance music specialists Rudimental and Disclosure - Capital Sound returned in 2016 with their Martin Audio MLA system to build on that success.

With SJM Concerts again promoting the event on the Sussex coast, and the experienced Simon Barrington and Mike Oates in charge of production duties, Capital equipped three of the four featured stages with the MLA Multi-cellular loudspeaker arrays - including the Indoor Stage (Supercharged) for the first time.

Another first was that they were able to road test the new Beta version of Martin Audio's latest Display software release simultaneously in all three zones, with Robin Conway reporting 100% satisfaction. "The tonal quality is excellent as is the pan control of the lower freque

  1. Schertler's Tim and Tom hit the stage
  2. ARX releases SuperSplitter transformer
  3. Danley and Ashly on track at Atco Dragway
  4. DiGiCo in the mix for Ellie Goulding US dates
  5. New home for FBT Audio UK
  6. Penn Elcom launches Irish operation
Page 451 of 1372

Latest Issue. . .