Sound

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Directors of the newly-constituted Sound Department chose the Frankfurt Musikmesse this month to unveil their plans for the future.

Following the demise of the former Sound Dept, the new company will commence trading from an operating base in Banbury, Oxfordshire, at the beginning of April, under the executive management of Steve Smith (MD), Andy Simmons (sales and marketing director) and Peter Nicholls (FD).

The new company has consolidated its position with all the premier brands previously represented, and will act as exclusive UK distributor for Crest Audio, Community Professional Loudspeakers, Sound Advance, Level Control Systems (LCS) and Australian Monitor Industrial (formerly Audio Telex).

Other key members of The Sound Department team are technical support manager, Steve Badham, along with Bruce Francis, who will now run the service department from a self-contained unit in

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The new paging system installed by Avalon Communications into the ExCeL as part of the 90,000sq.m world-class, state-of-the-art event space in London’s Docklands, will run on a major BSS Soundweb network. Corporate communications events at ExCeL are hosted in large, reconfigurable halls, enhanced by a sophisticated IT and communication infrastructure. The venue was intent on having a flexible paging system utilising the recently-installed Avalon distributed Jupiter voice evacuation system. Thus Avalon sales engineer Stephen McCay, in conjunction with LMC Audio’s Tom Davis, designed and commissioned the system to meet the venue’s digital networking requirements, based around ten 9088 Soundweb Mk2s and six 9000 hubs. "Whereas the Avalon equipment provides a fully-monitored voice alarm solution via a dedicated digital highway," said McCay, "we cannot match t

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The Mach SlingShot series was in use for the closing concert of the14th Macau International Music Festival. The Venue was Forum I, Macau - a 2000-capacity, indoor venue for multi-purpose activities including sport events and music concerts. Shalom AV Technology Limited (Hong Kong & Macau’s sole agency) and Master Piece Light & Audio Engineering Co (one of Macau’s largest rental companies) provided all lighting, sound equipment and rigging for the show. Master Piece is the first rental company in Macau to introduce the Mach SlingShot for daily use.

A total of eight Mach SlingShot MS1262 three-way top boxes were used as the main reinforcement system. Flown clusters of two MS1262s per side served the front seats and an MS1262 served the side seats, while four MS118 bass cabinets were placed in front of the stage. An EV Dx38 was used as the system crossover for the front SlingS

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Production Resource Group (PRG) has announced that it has established new credit totaling $125 million with GMAC Business Credit, to support its strategic plans. This refinancing was coupled with the sale of PRG's Systems Group consisting of Signal Perfection Ltd and the Ancha and SPL-Integrated Solutions divisions, to a newly-formed entity controlled by shareholders of PRG and Systems Group management. "With such rapid expansion, there have been obstacles and growing pains. None the less, the hard work of the talented people that make up PRG and the new management we've implemented has significantly reduced our debt from $190 million to $110 million," says Jere Harris, chairman and CEO. "I attribute these achievements to the continual efforts of our employees. It's their diligence, dedication and teamwork that has directly resulted in improved performance."

PRG ant

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Level Control Systems (LCS) has showcased the newest component of their dynamic mixing/processing platform - CueConsole. In the past, sound designs for live productions used a standard large format console as the front end - with group outputs feeding the LCS system for matrixing and cue control. Technically, all of it could be done in LCS - just not with real faders and knobs. CueConsole is LCS's proprietary control interface that allows the LCS system to replace the traditional front-of-house mixer. CueConsole's new approach to digital control surfaces is its uniquely adaptable modularity. Four types of control modules interface with the core of the system: the SuperNova audio engine or the new Matrix3 audio engine. The modules are flexible in that they can be configured in whatever way is most convenient for the sound designer/engineer. Because CueConsole is just a control surface wit

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Wembley Loudspeaker has launched a new 15 - 400 Pro Cabinet to coincide with this year’s Frankfurt Music Exhibition. These two-way speaker enclosures have been developed for the professional audio user, and are suitable for mobile applications or installations, as parts of larger sound systems or as stand-alone units. The cabinets are rated at 400W RMS continuous and their performance has hugely impressed listeners, surpassing the output and quality of many more expensive makes. The 15 - 400 Pro contains a PTP 15-190 15" driver and a TP 300 flare, along with a proprietary European compression driver and adjustable crossover, with all the necessary protection built in. The cabinet is rigidly constructed covered in black carpet as standard and weighing in a 30kg they are easily portable. Fittings include protecting corners, top hats, metal grab handles and a full metal grill. Co

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The biggest gaming venue in the world, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, has taken delivery of a Midas Heritage 2000 in time to celebrate the casino’s 9th birthday. Having started life in 1992 as a 250,000sq.ft facility with a 46,000sq.ft casino, Foxwoods has now grown to nearly 20 times that size. The complex occupies an impressive 4.7m sq.ft and contains five main casinos under one roof with 320,000sq.ft of gaming space, 28 places to dine, shops, meeting rooms, nightclubs and spas. While Foxwoods houses six performance venues ranging in size from 100 to 4,500 seats, the premier venue, now home to a new Heritage 2000, is the Fox Theatre in the heart of the ‘Theatre District’. This 1,450-seat showroom opened on Nov. 17, 1993, with a concert series by Frank Sinatra. Since then, the Fox Theatre has hosted hundreds of other entertainers including Tony Be

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For the fourth consecutive year, Audio-Technica microphones were the microphone of choice for the Grammy Awards, staged at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last month. Audio-Technica supplied over 370 microphones for one of the most widely-watched music events of the year. On-hand was New York City-based Effanel Music's all-digital mobile remote truck with John Harris at the helm to mix the broadcast sound as well as ATK/Audiotek from Burbank, California, who supplied the sound system at the event with front-of-house engineer Rob ‘Cubby’ Colby. Audio-Technica's market manager for live sound, Joel Singer, spent the week in LA during the Grammy rehearsals to offer technical assistance. Singer worked closely with both Effanel and ATK/Audiotek, providing his extensive knowledge on microphone selection.

A wide-selection of Audio-Technica microphones was employed, including: AT4

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Shuttlesound has welcomed two new recruits to its team in a move that will strengthen the sales department in the areas of marketing and permanent installations. David Howe, an experienced industry professional, takes on the mantle of Permanent Installation consultant, while Yann Carbonnet, formerly of Shuttlesound’s parent company Telex EVI in Germany, has recently joined as marketing manager where his responsibilities include both brand and company profile.

Howe’s has varied experience in the permanent installation market, ranging from low impedance to 100 volt line to voice alarm systems which, according to Shuttlesound’s senior sales manager, Sean Maxwell, makes him an ideal candidate for the company. "We identified a niche in the market where we really wanted to make more impact with the many new products coming into the market from ElectroVoice and Dynacord

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Designed as a cost-effective solution specifically for sound contractors, the new ISA Series from QSC Audio features six models, including three low impedance models (ISA 280, ISA 450, ISA 750) rated for 2-ohm operation, and three ‘T’ versions with 25, 70 and 100 volt outputs for distributed audio systems (ISA 300T, ISA 500T, ISA 800T). Versatile loading options and a comprehensive feature set make the ISA Series a suitable power solution for a wide range of permanently installed sound systems. The ‘T’ versions will drive 8- or 4-ohm loads and a distributed system on the same channel simultaneously. This enables a contractor to reduce the number of required amplifier channels by allowing a limited number of distributed speakers to be attached to the same amp as is powering the main sound system.

Housed in rugged 3U chassis, all six models feature rear panel gain

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Out Board Electronics’ TiMax level and delay matrix has been specified for the third consecutive year by sound designer Bobby Aitken, for Raymond Gubbay’s annual opera-in-the-round at London’s Albert Hall. TiMax is in place as the delivery engine for the vocal reinforcement system on this year’s production, Aida. TiMax provides precise source-oriented reinforcement, making it obvious where each voice emanates from, resulting in unobtrusive sound reinforcement that is natural and believable, avoiding the ‘disembodied voices’ syndrome that the connoisseurs find so distracting. Out Board’s Robin Whittaker, who has been intimately involved with the programming and set up of the full sound system used for all three annual productions, commented: "The two preceding productions - of Tosca in 1999 and Madam Butterfly last year - were invaluable lear

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The ML5000, Allen & Heath's flagship live sound VCA console, has been to the dark side of the moon and back. An ML5000, owned by Yorkshire Audio, recently went on tour with Australian Pink Floyd and proved itself to be more than equal to the demands of large scale live performance. The console was designed to compete with much larger desks on a more cost-effective basis, without compromising on quality or function. Indeed, many features are sophisticated enough to be associated with more expensive consoles. These include eight assigned VCA groups as an alternative to using the audio subgroups - each with an AFP/PFL button; full three-speaker balance through the LCRPlus panning system; 128 mute/VCA snapshot memories and a group routing which allows the desk to transform into a spacious eight-group, 16-aux configuration.

It is this kind of flexibility of architecture, combined with a com

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Sweden’s 'Tunes for Millions' tour in Sweden, with its cast of hundreds, includes some of the biggest concert events staged anywhere in the world. This touring choral concert production now plays 14 shows in Sweden's largest cities, to audiences of up to 4000 people. The tour comprises a small symphony orchestra, four well-known Swedish solo artists and a pop band, plus, at each concert, a large choir. Choral singing is extremely popular in Sweden; typically, the choir size would be 150-280 members. At the headline event at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm, it was 5,000-strong. Front-of-house engineer Thomas Malbeck relied heavily on DPA Microphones, using DPA 4011s to capture the choir accurately on a busy sound stage. "We had so many channels, up to 96 in total," explained Malbeck, "that for the choir I had to choose a microphone with very low noise, that's why I spe

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Audio-Technica has launched its new European Web site, which includes a number of useful features for musicians, retailers, sound engineers and audio installers. The site includes full specification sheets and the 'technica help desk' section to assist with microphone selection. The site also has a comprehensive News & Press section, which includes an archive of product reviews, application stories and up to date information on new product releases. Other features include an audio Exhibition calendar, a selection of useful audio links and a number of links to UK based audio dealers.

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The Brats, or NME Music Awards, held over seven nights at The London Astoria, featured a diverse range of indie bands, all of whom used Shure microphone systems. On drums an eclectic mixture of microphones were used over the course of the shows including Beta91s and Beta52s on kickdrums, Beta98s and Beta56s on toms, Beta56s or Beta57As on snares and SM81s as overheads and on hi-hats. However, the preferred choice for overhead work was a pair of Shure's new KSM44s, which were praised for their smoothness and clarity by all of the visiting engineers who used them. Vocal mics were either Beta58As or Beta57As. Rik Hart, The Astoria's chief audio engineer who oversaw the whole event commented: "Shows like this demonstrate the diversity of the Shure range when it comes to live performance. It's not just SM58s! I was really impressed by the KSM44's and it's interesting to see that, increas

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A company based in the Channel Islands has announced the launch of a product which it claims will "change forever the way sound systems will be built and used." The Linearizer total sound optimiser, from Linearizer Inc, is the result of 15 years of scientific research. Its capabilities include total feedback elimination at all sound levels, live background noise elimination, reduced power amplification requirements, acoustical taming of the most difficult halls, elimination of the need for equalizers and many other commonly-used signal processors, elimination of stage monitoring troubles, simplification of microphone placement, true real-time operation - no delays, notches, or phase shifting, true high-fidelity sound at all times and plug-and play ease of use. Furthermore, the company claims there is no frequency or spectrum shifting, no time shifting, no phase looping, no digi

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The Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock, Scotland, has just received the kiss of life thanks to a recent lottery grant. A complete sound system refit has been carried out in time for the opening production of the new season - ‘Kiss Me Kate’. The comprehensive new sound system, designed by Graham Bodenham of GB Audio and installed by Northern Light of Edinburgh, brings The Palace into the 21st century, and provides the ability to cope with the increasingly sophisticated technical demands of modern theatre productions. Key elements of the system are a Shermann loudspeaker and amplifier system, a 32-channel Soundcraft K3 mixing console, Yamaha 03D digital mixing console, Sennheiser UHF wireless kits, and a Sennheiser Infrared system. Other kit in the new inventory includes AKG, Audio-Technica, Crown and Shure microphones, Tascam MD and CD players, Denon CD players, Roland EQs and Yamah

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Two live sound engineers, Jon Burton and Mark Jones, have joined forces to launch BSA Live, a ground-breaking training forum for young people interested in a professional career in live sound engineering. Burton and Jones have a combined touring experience of over 30 years and have engineered for a diverse array of top-level artists including Pulp, James, Radiohead, Suede, Bryan Ferry and Morcheeba. The decision to launch BSA Live grew out of the general countrywide lack of interactive live oriented courses. Burton said: "We’ve identified a gap in the market. There are studio courses available but virtually nothing specifically addressing live sound in a hands-on manner. We want to provide an opportunity for young people interested in sound and wanting to make a career out of live audio to get started."

The ‘Foundation in Live Sound Engineering’ course is de

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Autograph Sales, the London-based distributor of professional audio and control system technology, has appointed Rob Piddington to its board of directors. Moving to Autograph Sales from Sennheiser UK, where he was sales manager, he will take up his new position as a director from the beginning of April, with new business development his prime area of responsibility. Piddington will be working closely with Autograph’s existing team of sales engineers, alongside directors Graham Paddon and Richard Barman.

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Music Marketing Services (MMS) has been selected by the SFI Group to design, supply and install the advanced sound and lighting systems for new gentleman’s nightclub, ‘For Your Eyes Only’, in London’s Mayfair. The newly-opened Mayfair club is the fourth ‘For Your Eyes Only’ in the UK, the others being situated in Bournemouth, Southampton and Park Royal in North West London. The new venue has three stages all providing tableside-dancing and high-quality erotic entertainment. All FYEO venues are furnished to the highest specification, and the creative use of sound and lighting both contribute to creating the ideal atmosphere of opulent sophistication. "SFI gave us a very free hand," explains Paul Evans, project manager at Music Marketing Services: "We decided to go for a system that would really do justice to the FYEO concept. The audio co

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Trantec’s award-winning S5000 microphone system is currently being used on a touring revival of the popular Thirties musical by Cole Porter, Anything Goes. The system was supplied through Wigwam Acoustics Ltd. The four-month UK tour kicked off in Blackpool and will complete its run in St Helier, Jersey, where it will be for the whole of the summer. The 14-channel belt-pack system is being used by all the lead performers and key members of the chorus. The positioning of a live band in the middle of the set means that radio mics for the cast are crucial. Sound designer Glen Beckley is also using an S5000 system on the current UK tour of the seventies disco musical, Oh What A Night.

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Fast-expanding installation contractors, Promedia Systems have just completed an audio fit-out of City Bars & Restaurants plc’s flagship venue, 10 Covent Garden - a transfiguration of the New Connaught Rooms banqueting facility. Promedia have deployed 10 C Audio Pulse 2x1100s and a single 2x650 amplifier to drive the sound systems installed throughout the five rooms, and director Ian Woodall says that the flexibility this affords has provided a winning combination. "We have an ISDN line in the amplifier room, with one of the channels hooked up to Soundweb and the other to the C Audio’s proprietary Connect network to allow remote amplifier diagnostic and reprogramming of the EQ and/or matrix parameters. This means that the network can be dialled up from home and any problems solved remotely." But he adds that since 95% of problems end to be user error, it makes a gr

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Stagetec (UK) Ltd has been awarded the contract to supply a sound and lighting system for the 'Pride of Rotterdam' - the first of P&O North Sea Ferries' two new cruise ferries. The new vessels will have accommodation including luxury suites and all cabins will have their own private facilities. They will also offer an à la carte restaurant, a two-tiered show lounge, wine bar, business centre and even a cyber zone, where passengers can surf the web. The system, being supplied through Ellie Jay Cruising Entertainment, consists of a Compulite Spark 4D lighting control desk, Allen & Heath GL3300 32-channel mixer, Sennheiser Evolution radio mic systems and a complement of signal processing and effects equipment. The ship sails on 12th April and will sail daily from Hull to Rotterdam.

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L-Acoustics and CATT-Acoustic have been working in close collaboration to develop a DLL Directivity Interface (DDI) for modelling V-DOSC and dV-DOSC. This WST DDI allows for directivity modeling of L-Acoustics’ Wavefront Sculpture Technology (WST-based) line source arrays and represents a significant advancement in addressing the needs of acoustic consultants and sound designers. Generally, acoustical prediction software programs describe the directivity of a sound reinforcement system with a balloon representing the magnitude of the sound pressure as a function of site and azimuth radiation angles. This type of balloon works for a single source, but is not sufficient to simulate the behaviour of large line source arrays that have both an extended near-field and distance-dependent directivity. Developed using proprietary theoretical modeling, the WST DDI allows the user to make acc
  1. Linton Smeeton Joins Paso UK
  2. Proel Wins B&C Deal
  3. Craig David
  4. Neutrik’s Phone Plug for Live Sound
  5. St Saviours Turns to Turbosound
  6. ISCE Seminars
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