Sound

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If proof were needed that entertainment technology crosses all boundaries, then here it comes in the story of the newly constructed Potter’s House worship centre, home to one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States.

This 26,000 member nondenominational church in Dallas, Texas, led by Pentecostalist minister, author and entrepreneur T.D. Jakes, set out to build the country’s most technologically innovative church facility yet. $32 million later they have created a 300ft by 300ft, 8,200 seat venue, dubbed a ‘Smart Church’.

Power and data terminals installed at 200 seats allow attendees to download sermon notes and power point presentations onto laptop computers. Altar attendants are equipped with handheld PDAs to allow immediate input of new member data and ‘prayer needs’. An associated language translation centre features translation r

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Soundcraft has announced a new event in its successful series of Going Live seminars.

The ‘Scouser’ Going Live, which will run in Liverpool at the end of April, will feature a panel of engineers who all started their careers in the city.

The formula of Going Live is a simple and proven one. Soundcraft provides comprehensive and professional PA equipment for the students to work on, including a wide variety of mixing consoles for front-of-house and monitoring. All the course tutors are working engineers who tour with the biggest acts in music today. All the usual topics from how to operate front-of-house and monitor consoles, to microphone placement and outboard electronics, will be covered in the three-day agenda. There will also be a special class on digital mixing in a live situation. PA systems and tech support for the seminar will be provided by Liverpool’s Adli

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"You know you’re in trouble when there’s no music playing, just the bass player talking to the audience, and you’ve got feedback." So says Don ‘Dodge’ Dodger, house engineer for Paul Rogers, explaining why he had to dash out to the console during the set of opening act, Asia.

Frankly, their set was a travesty; not only did their sound engineer need new ears, the band only had one original member, Geoff Downes, and it seems that 20 years later, he still has nothing new to offer musically. It would have been funny if it hadn’t have been so sad, to listen to the bass player, trying to pitch songs written in a key suited to John Wetton, his illustrious forebear, and failing like a bathroom lothario.

Thankfully, Paul Rogers was an altogether more professional presentation. While much of his set harked back to an era that pre-dates even Asia, i

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In a drive to match its highly-rated North African cuisine with high quality audio, fashionable restaurant Momo, in London's West End, has carried out a major upgrade to the audio system across both its two floors. Proprietor Mourad Mazouz, enlisted the Sound Division Group to replace the entire system. As a result, a pair of BSS Soundweb 9088 Mk2 devices offers routing and processing capabilities throughout the premises. The Kemia bar downstairs plays host to many up-and-coming bands as well as featuring DJs playing a very wide variety of musical styles. The front end mixing is taken care of by an Allen & Heath Xone 464 with the two Soundwebs’ processing power being used as a combined resource, the bulk of it assigned to running the upstairs dining area (used mainly as a background system although instantly reconfigurable as a foreground system for private parties).

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Cerwin-Vega! has made two significant additions to its Pro series of installation speaker systems. Following the success of the V-152, the Californian-based company has now released the V-252 - a dual 15" two-way, full-range system. It has also revisited those two little digits - 36; drawing on the heritage of the renowned L-36PE and SL-36B, the company has now reinvented its legendary ‘earthquake’ sound in the form of a ‘compact tremor’ - an 18" folded horn known as the LR-36. The V-252’s twin 15" woofers share space with a bi-morph HF driver mounted on a proprietary spherical waveguide horn. Designed as a stand-alone, and producing tremendous bass response, the V-252 does not require bi-amping with a subwoofer. In order to attain a smooth response at high SPLs, Cerwin-Vega! has developed a proprietary spherical waveguide tweeter horn flare.

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Following the news last week that the Gearhouse Group and a large number of its subsidiary operations have been placed in administrative receivership, Avesco PLC has acquired the Midlands and North divisions of Gearhouse Group PLC for £4 million. We understand that the business and assets acquired include the operations in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow and at the NEC.

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Stockport-based PA specialist Audio Design Services recently announced the death of its chief engineer, David Aldington. Aldington, who died of cancer at the start of February in his mid-50s, was well known to most people in the public address sector because of his professionalism and his commitment to quality, said David Hopkins OBE, chairman and managing director of ADS. Hopkins continued: "David was also well known for his sense of humour, even at times when his failing health could have excused him for being different. To his work colleagues he will be remembered for his courage and determination that was an inspiration to us all . . . a family man first and last, David and his wife May had Angela as their only child and I know that David was totally devoted to his young grandson Jamie, especially as they did so much together. David and I spent time swapping grandchildren storie

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Z-Systems has appointed HHB as exclusive UK distributor of its full range of professional audio products. In recent years, Z-Systems has established an enviable reputation for its ‘Detangler’ digital audio patchbays which it manufactures, alongside a comprehensive range of sample rate convertors and multi-channel mastering processors.

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The Anima nightclub in Fife, Scotland has a new sound system from RCF, installed by Images of Livingston. After an initial visit to the site, Billy-Ross Sheridan, Images managing director, asked RCF UK if they would travel to Fife and give a system demonstration for the club’s owners. RCF's Steve Coxon made the trip north and presented the Vision PA range of speakers. This did the trick and Images specified a complete RCF sound system, designed with the help of the RCF team. Taking into account the shape of the room and the mezzanine level, achieving the correct sound coverage was a complex process. Images Billy-Ross explains: "We were very impressed by the on-site help we received from the RCF team. With a job like this you need this kind of positive input to ensure the right result." Amplification is from a combination of QSC PLX1202 and PLX 3402 units.

The aim was to

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Installation and service subcontractor Install recently completed the relocation of its head office. The new premises, situated within three miles of the M6 and located within a newly built business complex, boast an 8,000sq.ft warehouse, an electronics workshop, a purpose-designed training and conference suite, and an extensively equipped office area. The rapid growth of Install over the past year has meant that the premises are not the only part of the company to have expanded. The 12-strong workforce has increased to 22, based both on and off-site. The most recent addition to the team is John Elves who becomes the company’s new general manager.

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Federal Signal has won a £150,000 contract to supply digital Akusta PA equipment for an on-shore oil processing plant in Algeria, operated by Sonatrack Anadarco. The contract, which has been placed by Anadarco’s US engineering contracts Brown and Root, sees Federal providing a range of digital PA equipment for installation at strategic points around the processing plant’s fibre optic-based monitoring network. This latest move follows the recent announcement that the company had won its first contract from Romania’s national oil company Petromar. There the contract was to provide an Akusta-based duplicated PA and general alarm system for an offshore oil facility in the Black Sea.

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The Northcott theatre, based in Exeter's university complex, has recently upgraded its sound system. The theatre's sound engineer Jamie Pryke knew that the existing system was past its best and either had the option of short term hire, or start to build a new integrated system. In the end, he opted for a new system and called in Stage Electrics, whose Ian Dixon suggested they listen to the RCF Vision Series. He arranged for RCF to do a demonstration in the theatre and Pryke, with chief electrician Russell Payne, decided they would fit the bill perfectly. Pryke explained: "The RCF people brought the whole of the Vision Range down for us to listen to, once we'd established they could do the job, it was just a matter of planning the way forward. What we have done so far is phase one of the project, which is to have four Vision 121's installed at the stage front. We then plan to add ano

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Bose has been appointed an approved supplier of sound systems to Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts following a two-day Techno Forum in Dubai. The Forum was part of a company conference for Le Meridien’s general managers and aimed at introducing the latest technologies to the Group. Bose were among nine companies invited to make a presentation, and as a result, the company’s Wave Radio/CDs and Acoustic Wave Music Systems are now both featured on Le Meridien’s approved product list.

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Oriel, a designer bar and restaurant, has recently opened in Mere Green, a fashionable suburb of Birmingham. The venue needed to have a sound system that would complement the décor. So owner Ian Sloane contacted 'Lonnie' of 2007 Sound & Light and asked him to design a sound system for Oriel. The brief from the client was simple, says Lonnie: "We don't want to see it."

Once Lonnie had surveyed the venue, he contacted RCF to enquire about their fittings for the Monitor Series speakers. RCF produce a special false ceiling adapter, designed to fit the Monitor 4's, which presents a flush-mounted speaker system. The RCF Monitor speakers deliver a high-quality sound that enhances one of the Midlands’ most stylish venues. The main sound system users a Sony MDS-E11 mini-disc for music. The system in divided into two zones with the rest rooms using 100v line feed to the RCF Spot

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Bliss is a highly-sophisticated new bar/restaurant in Bournemouth conceived by experienced leisure entrepreneur, Richard Carr’s Future 2000 plc (the team behind the phenomenally successful Slinky dance nights).

Having owned the art deco building in Bournemouth’s town centre for several years, they contracted local interiors company, Design Mode, to convert the bottom two floors of the former Maples department store into the heavily marbellised Bliss, at a cost of £1.25 million. For the sound reinforcement, Future 3000’s head of technical services, Lee Price, stuck with the Martin Audio catalogue, which dominates the company’s other venues, as well as providing the touring sound for Slinky.

One of his prime considerations was the acoustic isolation necessary from the five storeys above the ground floor and basement, which the landlord has converted for student

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Traditional brewers Fuller, Smith & Turner, have entered the burgeoning London leisure suburb of Shoreditch - the trendiest colony in the capital - with their new brand, Katabatic.

With 3,200sq.ft offering a capacity of 480, and a late license inherited from the previous incumbents (Propoganda), this is prime real estate. The late night venue will eventually have cost £1.2 million to develop - a proportion of which has gone on an inspired sound, lighting and vision scheme across the two floors.

As well as offering views of the DJ practicising his craft inside, the exterior design shows off the encased foyer decor of AVR Colourchanger beams refracted from a cluster of tiny mirrorballs, with the campest of light sculptures providing an artistic backdrop. The colour-changing spots from Abstract and Martin Pro, working with the fibre optics, bring Katabatic (a metereological word meanin

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London superclub Fabric has commissioned loudspeaker manufacturers Martin Audio to supply a new sound reinforcement system to be installed into the club’s two famous dance rooms. The upgrade takes place just a year and a half after the club opened. For the main Room One system, designed by Fabric’s technical manager Dave Parry and Martin Audio’s Richie Rowley - in collaboration with the Fabric sound team - eight Martin Audio W8C compact enclosures were specified, formatted in a quad array around the dancefloor and underpinned by eight of Martin’s WSX monster sub bass units. The sound design for Fabric’s Room Two incorporates the flagship products of Martin’s Blackline range - the H2 and H3s. The H3s are placed in a quad array format around the dancefloor, supplemented by a further four bi-amped H2 cabinets providing satellite fill down the length of th

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Audio rental companies SSE Hire of Birmingham, UK, and Melpomen of Nantes, France, have announced a move to merge, with the formation of the SSE Audio Group. The move comes at a significant time for both companies: SSE are celebrating 25 years in the industry, whilst Melpomen has been operating in the French market for almost 20 years, recently adding office and warehouse facilities in Paris and La Rochelle to the main Nantes-based organisation. John Penn, MD of SSE, told PLASA Media: "We have been actively looking for ways to develop the business. The trend for sound companies is to expand purely by buying more and more stock. However, we have seen a steady decline in the amount of work undertaken by UK rental companies in Europe, through a combination of the strength of sterling and the number of strong European rental companies who provide a good service. As a consequence, we hav

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Allen & Heath has welcomed a new PR co-ordinator, Alexandra Pratt. Alexandra has spent much of her career working as a freelance journalist and author, producing material for a variety of specialist markets. Her most recent project is a travel book to be published later this year by HarperCollins, based on the canoe expedition she led to Labrador, Canada in 2000 (www.labrador2000.co.uk). When not shooting rapids or exploring the world’s wild places, Alexandra has also worked as an editor, lecturer and researcher. "I’m looking forward to using my fairly broad experience in the media to help develop and promote Allen and Heath’s profile as a leading manufacturer in the pro audio sector. It is a very innovative and energetic company, which appeals to me greatly." A beneficiary of Allen & Heath’s astonishing growth during the past year, Alexandra will be wor

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RS Pro Audio has announce the appointment of Tony Rimkus as retail sales director. Managing director Roddy Stewart said: "Tony will add substantial experience to our expanding operations, include the organization of our forthcoming move to our new custom-built superstore which is due to open April 2001.

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White Sound’s Josh White’s latest project was a sound upgrade for a new bar/restaurant in the heart of Soho from the owners of the ubiquitous Alphabet bar, for which he turned to the Turbosound TCS range of loudspeakers. White Sound was responsible for the sound system design and install for the Alphabet bar in 1996, and Josh was the obvious choice for Amber’s general manager, Spike Marchant. Amber is a modern styled bar/restaurant set over two floors. The ground floor restaurant features booth seating and required low level and discreet sound reinforcement. For this area, Josh mounted four TCS-20 cabinets on a dropped ceiling raft that runs through the centre of the room. This method ensured the speakers would not be seen - the sound is reflected off the walls into the seating areas.

Downstairs in the basement bar area - which again sports the booth seating, but this

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Macclesfield-based Federal Signal, the leading supplier of public address and voice alarm systems, has won a £30,000 contract to provide an emergency alert system at the new offices of the UK Passport Agency in London. The contract has been won in conjunction with Hull-based systems integrator Galloway Electronics, which was recommended to Federal by Millbank master distributor RW Salt. The system will be based on Federal’s new multi-zone alert system, VeriFire, and will enable the Passport Office staff to quickly and safely coordinate the evacuation of the building from two incident rooms, situated on the first and fifth floors. VeriFire was specififed because of its diagnostic and fault-finding capabilities - a pre-requisite of the contract. The systems also features a digital messaging unit for office-wide public address announcements, and single- and multi-zone paging capabili

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X-Line the brand new line array system from Electro-Voice made its UK debut with Richard Ashcroft at the Brixton Academy recently. Robbie McGrath was engineered the nine-piece band on his console of choice a Midas XL4, accompanied by his custom-built front-of-house and effects racks courtesy of ML Executives. The system comprised a J-hang of five XVLS and three XVLT cabinets at a trim height of 25ft, plus five ground-stacked sub units per side. Infills for close audience coverage were provided by EV X-Array Xi-1152 cabinets, and the whole system was driven by EV P3000 amps. Processing was handled by three Klark Teknik DN9848s, while mic splitting was dealt with by five DN1248s.

This was the first time Robbie McGrath had used the new system. He commented: " . . . as with every first show, there were a couple of adjustments to make before it really started to purr the way I knew it

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UK-based loudspeaker manufacturer Logic System Pro Audio has recently appointed a new dealer to cover the South East Asian market. Following discussions at PLASA 2000, the company has announced that Singapore-based Del Salado Entertainment Pte Ltd has invested in products from Logic’s IS, CM and CS ranges. The company will be developing Logic System’s business throughout Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Louis Teo of Del Salado says he pinpointed Logic System as an important up-and-coming brand name, while Logic believe Del Salado will be the ideal partner for making inroads into this vast market.
  1. Sound Department Returns to Market
  2. BSS Soundweb at ExCel Arena
  3. Mach SlingShot in Macau
  4. PRG Gains $125m New Credit
  5. Modular Control Console from LCS
  6. Wembley Launches 15 - 400 Pro
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