Sound

Details
Autograph Sound Recording has just completed its third theatre sound workshop for LIPA's sound technology degree students. This year the workshop took place at the Manchester Palace Theatre, where Miss Saigon has been playing to a full house for the past six months, its first stop on a two year UK tour.

Prior to seeing the show, the students were invited to meet two of Autograph's leading sound designers, Terry Jardine, the company's managing director and Nick Lidster, sound designer for the UK touring production of Miss Saigon. Terry talked them through the roles of a theatrical sound team, from designer to production crew, while Nick explained his design for the touring version and its development from the original West End production, which premiered just over 12 years ago at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

The workshop then moved into the auditorium, were the students met Miss

Details
Martin Audio has supplied a large club sound system through its Irish distributor Rea Sound, to fulfil the exacting remit of club owner Peter Collins at his new venue, Club One in Cork. Collins and partner Denis O’Mullane have spared no expense in converting a former lap-dancing venue into an 800-capacity House/Garage dance club. They reckon to have spent around €1 million euros (£750,000) on the work - without the cost of the building - having brought in interior designer John Duffy, and Cork-based audio consultant Chris Tyler to ensure the venue achieved both aesthetic and acoustic perfection.

It was the latter who introduced Rea Sound to the contract, as the quest began for a system that could reproduce the hard R&B-flavoured music favoured by the clientele. Visits were arranged to Fabric in London - as well as premium Martin Audio sites in Northern Ireland - by Rea Sound&rs

Details
Professional audio systems specialist Shermann UK is reporting excellent orders for two powerful PA products launched in November last year. Shermann's MRL-3, a compact multi-role loudspeaker and the powerful R118-B single 18" VLF system, have already seen success on busy tour schedules by Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior. More orders are now being received from across Wales and the UK. The sound system for the recent Maddy Prior tour was provided by Woking-based Kinetic, one of the network of rental companies who use Shermann equipment. The Shermann R118-B and MRL-3 were also used by Kinetic for Premier Radio's Christmas Party at Westminster Hall where Sir Cliff Richard played a major part in the celebrations.

Kinetic auditioned the prototype R118-B single 18" VLF system on several gigs last September and was delighted with the smooth, powerful LF response and system flexibilit

Details
Audio Sound Advice of Blackpool have supplied a complete audio system for the new production of Funny Girls, which re-opened recently at its new home in the old Odeon Cinema in Blackpool. The Funny Girls concept is to entertain the audience with famous show songs and arrangements, all performed by men in drag.

The refurbishment of the art deco theatre - complete with gilt adornments and deep carpets - included work in the private members club, nightclub, restaurant, main bar and feeder bars.

Audio Sound Advice’s Peter Bawden designed the theatre audio system and he and business partner Kevin Jones spent three months working closely with Phillip Holmes, project manager for venue owners In The Pink Leisure to ensure that it met all the venue’s needs. (ITPL was founded over 20 years ago by Basil Newby and now operates many of Blackpool’s most colourful venues.)

The

Details
Complex, competing and constantly upgraded software packages to drive DSP engines are providing a scourge to installers, according to Ivor Green & Associates. "We have tried most of the proprietary devices in our time - but we desperately need to reduce the time it’s taking our technical staff to get their heads around so many software versions, which they then have to carry to site because they are often not retro-compatible."

Green believes this to be the inherent weakness of the new generation digital processing. But now he thinks he has found the solution in TOA’s DP-0206 modular digital signal processor. And if the first flurry of installations proves successful, he aims to standardise on it. Ivor Green & Associates have already installed a DP-0206 in the new Life in Leeds for Luminar Leisure, and will shortly be fitting out half a dozen Midlands-based Litton

Details
Drawmer has announced the launch of a new product range, incorporating the Tube Station 1 stereo mic pre/tube compressor (TS1) and the Tube Station 2 Dual Tube Compressor (TS2). The TS1 offers a wide dynamic range Class A mic/instrument pre-amp with high-pass filter and HF contour control followed by a stereo soft-knee compressor with independent variable ‘Tube Drive’ control. An optional digital output module (DC1) with SPDIF, Word Clock and AES/EBU connections enables high quality 24 bit/96K digital conversion. The TS2 is a dual mono or stereo linkable soft knee compressor with each channel equipped with a variable ‘Tube Drive’ control which can be switched out of the signal path for instant A/B comparison. An optional digital output module (DC1) with SPDIF, Word Clock and AES/EBU connections enables high quality 24 bit/96K digital conversion.

Marketing direct

Details
Grandmaster Flash, founder of modern hip hop, is touring Europe using a specially customised Rane TTM 54i mixer. Flash’s set is a combination of retrospective sounds from his block party roots in the 1970s, presented in a contemporary style and atmosphere using the latest technology from Rane. His set sounds every bit as fresh and original as ever, creating positive energies and vibes plus a distinctive 21 century sound via the art of scratch mixing.

Flash has always customised his gear, right from the start. Originally, he explained, this was because the equipment simply wasn’t designed for the creative style of mixing he pioneered. He has now used Rane equipment for a couple of years: the first time he heard a Rane mixer - whilst playing at the New York club Life - he fell in love with it’s clear sound. "Rane is simply the cleanest mixer I’ve found,"

Details
Trantec has launched the PT1 ‘Personal trainer’ system, in conjunction with major UK fitness centre specialist, Unique Systems, who will market the system under the Active Audio banner. The system provides each fitness centre member with a choice of multiple audio channels on the move. Up to 14 channels of digital audio can be transmitted from a bank of Trantec PT1 transmitters: any number of users can switch at will between any of the channels within a range of 100m, using their low-profile, personal beltpack receivers. Apart from the obvious benefits to the membership, the system also offers advantages to the club’s owners, as no ceilings have to be pulled down, no walls have to be channelled out and no floors need to be lifted to accomodate the Active Audio system. In fact, Unique Systems are quoting a fourhour installation with no down-time

"For many years no

Details
Proel’s new Extreme PA package offers a plug-and-play solution for bands, artists and DJs looking for an easy to use, reliable and affordable PA. The Extreme EXKIT1210 is a self-powered 250W RMS twin enclosure system comprising a 12" subwoofer with 2" voice coil, 10" woofer with 1.4" voice coil, plus tweeter unit with spherical horn. The system is simple to set-up and operate, coming with all necessary components for a plug and play operation. The Extreme system features carpet-covered, 18mm wood cabinets fitted with kick-proof steel grilles, yet is easily transportable. The subwoofer weighs just 47lbs (21.5Kg), the full-range enclosure just 20lbs (9kg).

(Lee Baldock)

Details
With song-based music currently poised to make a major comeback, the recent growth of London’s Bayswater showcase venue, Tall Poppy Presents, has seen the venue become one of the hottest spots in town for A&R people and unsigned artists. Faced with a demanding, critical audience and international performers whose potential careers depend on the best possible sound quality, Tall Poppy has chosen FBT MaxX4a active PA speakers, supplied by UK distributor Proel (International).

The venue, situated at Henry’s Bar/Restaurant in the Henry VIIIth Hotel, Bayswater, is hosted each week by Canadian singer-songwriter Lee Lindsey, who performs her own material as well as introducing performances from a string of artists. The music is often demanding and the audience is fussy. Responsible for getting the sound right is guest engineer, record producer, Jack Guy. Jack (whose recording cred

Details
A strategic contingent of 27 South African roadies has embarked on a 20-city US tour which will cover coast-to-coast principal venues, in an initiative engineered with UniverSoul Circus, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The seven-month outing with Platinum Soul 2002 carves out the global collaborative stage that enhances technical exchange projects between the Republic of South Africa and the USA.

This initiative extends the five-year European projects, which cover Ireland, Holland, Denmark, France and Norway. In July 2001, while on a world tour through South Africa, Cedric Walker met with the president of SARA (South African Roadies Association), Freddie Nyathela, in Johannesburg and discussed ways and means of establishing joint-projects that could foster technical transfer initiatives. Within a year of that historic meeting, the scheme has come to fruition, falling in line with the ob

Details
Mach’s new M-Flex series offers a unique solution to high quality audio reproduction, whether the application is smaller musical productions, AV work, stage monitoring or spoken word performances. Comprehensive rigging and mounting options combine with intelligent digital bi-amplification technology to create what Mach say is a truly flexible system.

The drive units in the M-Flex series have been custom designed to address key issues such as ultra-wide dispersion, linear frequency response, ultimate speech intelligibility and all fitted in a compact, lightweight and easy to handle cabinet. A unique customized 12" full-range coaxial drive unit has been designed for the M-Flex 12, which offers unsurpassed speech intelligibility, wide dispersion and impressive sound pressure. The 12" unit features a strong die-cast chassis and a 3" edge-wound voice coil. The 1" c

Details
ARX Systems, the Australian manufacturer of professional audio products, has appointed KEM Electronics Ltd as the company’s new exclusive distributor for Greece. ARX managing director Colin Park told PLASA Media: "ARX is delighted to have Thimios Koliokotsis and his experienced team at KEM on board as our new exclusive distributor. KEM were established in 1983 and are viewed as a pioneer in the Greek professional audio and video market."

(Lee Baldock)

Details
D.A.S. Audio created its Autopol directivity measurement and post-processing platform in 1994 to provide high resolution polar measurements. A key element of the system was a large group of in-house developed algorithms that took care of the numerous computations. This included the PolArray module for performing array simulations with an accuracy unknown to commercial software. Due to the ‘in-house’ nature and the cryptic user interface of PolArray, the challenge became turning the overwhelming amount of information generated into a meaningful tool for the end-user when designing arrays.

Joe Brusi, Autopol director, explains: "People frequently ask us about what the coverage of such and such array would be for a given speaker model. Really, there is no quick answer, since it involves calculating the interference between the different boxes in the array. Even though, th

Details
Beverley Knight, the UK’s premier soul/R&B solo artist, is currently touring Europe and recently appeared as a special guest to Jamiroquai on his UK arena tour. Beverley is enjoying high chart positions with her two recent hit singles ‘Get Up!’ and ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’ and after a break of two years the multi award-winning artist returns with a long awaited new album, which has just gone Gold.

A gospel singer since the tender age of three, Beverley has a voice which will send a tingle down the spine of the most cynical sound professionals. Beverley is an avid Shure user and her front-of-house engineer Matt Napier commented: "Shure mics were used exclusively for Beverley’s band and included Shure Beta 52s on kick drums and bass with a Beta 56 on snare drum, an SM81 on hi-hat plus two Beta 98s on the toms. The three backing singers used Beta 58

Details
At the recent NSCA exhibition in Denver, Colorado, Mackie Designs introduced a high performance, flush-mounted ceiling speaker for the fixed installation market. The new SP400C achieves superior dispersion and pattern control over conventional coaxial designs thanks to a unique high-frequency, exponential wave-guide originally developed for Mackie’s award winning studio monitors. The wave-guide combines with a 6.5-inch driver that has been optimized for smooth frequency response and seamless transition through the crossover point to redefine the price/performance ratio for commercial ceiling speakers.

"This is a very exciting new product for Mackie," stated Costa Lakoumentas, corporate director for global installed product and market development for Mackie Designs Inc. "The SP400C has been designed to be extremely contractor-friendly and easy to install while benef

Details
Soundcraft’s worldwide headquarters in the UK has promoted Ian Staddon to the position of product development director, a newly-created role at the head of a team of experienced product managers. Staddon assumes responsibility for Soundcraft’s strategic product development activities, including market research, new product definitions and specifications, project management and new product introductions.

Staddon, who has been with Soundcraft for more than 10 years, has worked in purchasing, project management, production and sales, where his most recent role had been regional sales manager for Asia and South America. Prior to joining Soundcraft, he started his pro audio career at Bandive over 16 years ago, where he moved up to production manager for the last SECK range of mixers.

"This job calls for someone with knowledge of product and market application, as well as

Details
Pensacola Christian College has recently completed a top-level facility at its Florida location. Designed and installed by All Pro Sound, a design/build contractor located in Pensacola, the facility comprises a comprehensive array of sound reinforcement, recording and broadcast systems, which were installed in the College's Crowne Centre over an 11-month period, and include over 160 Turbosound loudspeakers.

Conceived as a multi-purpose state-of-the-art facility, the Crowne Centre is the College's newest development and contains a large, 6,035-seat auditorium, with a flexible below-balcony area that can be divided into three separate 600-seat seminar areas. The auditorium's 33-metre two-storey stage includes a rotatable section, and has a frontal area that can be configured in four different formats. The Centre also houses two 200-seat wedding chapels, hospitality areas and classrooms,

Details
Simon Sinclair, who for the past five years has been heading up the TC sales operation in the USA, is joining Tannoy as sales director. He replaces Derek West who is leaving the company after 10 years. West’s decision to leave coincides with the TC Group's commitment to Tannoy, which requires all senior management personnel to be based within easy reach of company headquarters in Scotland. "After 10 years, the commute between Oxford and Glasgow has begun to lose its appeal," says West. "I've been thinking seriously about a change in career path, so, as I wasn't keen on re-location, it seemed the right time to make the change. However, after such a long association, I shall be sad to leave my colleagues at Tannoy, but I know the success we've enjoyed will continue in Simon's capable hands."

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
Orbital Sound combined forces with The Royal National Theatre to deliver its second annual advanced training course for students wishing to pursue a career in theatre sound. Building on the success of the first course initiated jointly last year by Orbital’s Simon Whitehorn and The National’s Rob Barnard, the second edition expanded on its successful formula to be co-produced and staged at The National Theatre and at Orbital’s Brixton-based facility.

This year the creative and conceptual workshops were staged at ‘the National’, whilst in-depth technical sessions were held at Orbital’s headquarters in mid April. The importance of sound in theatre continues to grow at a rapid rate thanks to advances in technology and the changing expectations of audiences, producers and directors. As audio technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, both Orbital an

Details
UK Distributor HW International has announced that the final two models in the Shure Easyflex Range are now in stock. The Easyflex family of high-quality cardioid and omnidirectional condenser microphones is designed for budget-minded installations.

The new Easyflex Boundary microphones, suitable for low profile applications, complete the family of eight miniature microphones, including both gooseneck and overhead versions. Both new boundary models are offering a choice of cardiod (EZB/C) or omni-directional (EZB/O) condenser cartridges. All with a charcoal grey finish, with attached 12’ cable, in-line preamplifier and recessed mounting holes for quick installation. The Shure EZB/C retails at £120.00 ex VAT with the EZB/O retailing at £110.00 ex VAT.

Whilst the Shure Easyflex Gooseneck (EZG) versions, make an ideal miking solution for podium and lecterns, are available in eit

Details
Crown International announces that IQ for Windows software version 5.1 is now currently available for free download. The new application is an upgrade from version 5.0 released last fall and offers two key improvements over its predecessor. First and foremost, IQ for Windows v5.1 fully supports Crown’s six new CTs Series amplifiers, including the four-channel CTs 4200 and eight-channel CTs 8200, all of which debuted at the NSCA Expo in Denver.

Secondly, and very importantly, the new software now implements a drag-and-drop methodology for the creation of custom user control panels. For example, by simply clicking on a desired control, such as a fader, on the standard control panel and dragging it onto the control surface, v5.1 automatically links the component into the signal chain. To group faders together, all one needs to do is take another fader from a different control panel

Details
The new Wharfedale Pro LA-15/LA-15SB portable installation loudspeakers have been designed to meet the most critical sound reinforcement requirements in venues as diverse as classical music and theatres, discotheques and places of worship.

The Wharfedale Pro LA -15 series is a 15in, two-way, full-range loudspeaker. Its high-efficiency, constant-directivity, reconfigurable design is especially suited to high-quality applications where its power response and overall performance provide excellent results, even in challenging acoustic spaces. The LA-15 series feature a dynamic high frequency driver protection circuit which gives progressive-dynamic limiting for both short-term peaks and long term overload conditions. The sophisticated limiting function works progressively, giving smooth sonic performance even when driven beyond the design limits of the system.

Where significant extensi

Details
BSS Audio has released new firmware for the Omnidrive Compact Plus (FDS-366) loudspeaker management system. The new firmware, V1.10, features a new menu system with more functions on a single screen, which makes navigation and setup much faster and easier. BSS has also enhanced the functionality of the Alignment Assistant facility, where loudspeaker drivers may be automatically aligned using an integral pink noise source and alignment algorithm. Current FDS-366 owners may update their firmware for free via a software loader obtained online from the website below:

(Lee Baldock)

  1. Benaroya Hall benefits from BSS Soundweb DSP
  2. ARX appoints Park Audio & Lighting as distributor for Turkey
  3. AKG for St Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry
  4. QSC powers 15.1 surround sound at Legoland
  5. Marquee Audio supplies Nexo system to Wilde Theatre
  6. Nightlife in Freiburg with Dynacord
Page 553 of 1372

Latest Issue. . .