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D.A.S. Audio has unveiled a new series of rigging accessories for its popular Sound Touring and Compact series products. The accessories include flying grids of different configurations as well as all the necessary connectors, slings and pull straps.

The new flying systems allow for varying combinations of up to nine boxes per grid with the possibility of multiple grids. The system uses L-track aeronautical fittings mounted on steel angles, which reinforce the box and provide for a secure rigging point on the top and bottom of the boxes. Rear-located pull straps provide infinite tilt angles for adjusting audience coverage. The D.A.S. flying systems provide a practical and secure means of rigging D.A.S. systems.

(Lee Baldock)

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Airport House in Croydon was the host venue on Sunday 28 April when direct marketing company, Smart Sound Direct, held its SmartDay Out open day. Glasses at the bar rattled as associate director Paul Murray guided visitors through an afternoon of demonstrations. The full complement of MSA (Matched System Approach) PA systems were auditioned, accompanied by detailed information to help customers choose a set-up for their specific needs - from the versatile and compact 1,500W RMS (3,000W program) DJ Friendly Package to the 3,500W RMS (7,000W program) Portable Club rig. Live entertainment was provided by the talented Replay, allowing visitors to witness the power handling of instruments through the MSA range, while DJ magazine iDJ, recreated the club scene with a mixing session.

Three new products were launched at the show. The first of these, aimed at the DJ sector, is the affordable Ff

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Ned Jackson, President and CEO of Telex Communications Inc has announced that Telex EVI audio managing director Mathias von Heydekampf has been named President of the Pro Audio Group worldwide. Von Heydekampf, currently resident in Germany where the European headquarters are based, will remain responsible for sales and management in Europe, as well as Pro Audio worldwide.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Klark Teknik Group has announced the departure of David Webster and Bob Doyle who have left to pursue other interests within the professional audio field. According to Telex EVI's Mathias von Heydekampf, recently promoted to President of the Pro Audio Group worldwide (see separate news piece), the pair will be missed, although they leave a strong and thriving business behind them.

"Webby and Doyler certainly had a very charismatic approach to business, and long, successful careers within the Klark Teknik Group and the Telex corporation," commented von Heydekampf. " Although we are very sorry to see them go, we are pleased to report a fantastic first quarter which represents over 30% growth on the same period last year, with the trend set to continue. Midas is amazingly successful with all their current ranges, and Klark Teknik is also on the verge of introducing exciting

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Stardraw.com has welcomed two new members to its team - Frank Walker has been appointed to handle technical sales in the US whilst Francesco Marcolini takes on the role of web developer.

"Our business is expanding daily," said Randell Green, president of Stardraw.com Inc, "so it is important that we have the right infrastructure in place to support growth. Frank Walker has a proven track record within the industry and a high level of technical expertise and we're glad to have him on board." Francesco Marcolini, meanwhile, will develop the company’s web presence. "The Internet is an integral part of our business and will be central to everything we do. Custom-developed, web-based tools represent an important part of that and we aim to deliver world-class products," explained managing director David Snipp. "Francesco is a highly skilled and experi

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Today, the Scottish Parliament will move to Aberdeen for a week. This will be the first time ever that the Parliament has met in Aberdeen, Scotland’s third largest city and the oil capital of Europe. While in its temporary home, the Parliament will score another first, using virtual studio technology, installed and operated by Metro Ecosse.

Using For-A’s state-of-the-art digiWarp-EX technology, Metro Ecosse has created a virtual parliamentary newsroom from which material will be webcast on the Parliament’s website. The virtual studio will provide a modern news setting for a variety of interviews and features, and will incorporate a video screen depicting a virtual image of the Parliament’s new Holyrood site, currently under construction. There will also be a computer-generated image of the interior of the new building, from which the presenter can continue studi

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Rycote Microphone Windshields has appointed Derek West, formerly sales director with Tannoy Ltd, as head of sales and marketing and research and development for both its Rycote and Lightwave brands. The company, based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, together with sister company Lightwave Audio Systems, based in Vista, California, is a world leader in microphone windshield and shockmount products for both professional and semi-professional use.

Commenting on the appointment Rycote MD, Vivienne Dyer, said:"I have known Derek for several years and, during this time, have wanted to bring his experience into the company. Following Rycote’s purchase of Lightwave last year, we needed to increase our strength in the areas of distribution and product development, and I am sure he will prove a valuable asset to the company."

(Ruth Rossington)

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The management of Telex EVI Audio is planning to market Dynacord’s pro audio products in the US. The person charged with responsibility for introducing the brand to the US market is Ernie Lansford, vice president and general manager of Dynacord Pro Audio, USA. Lansford will begin with a campaign to launch the new Dynacord COBRA line array system in the US, has been enjoying enormous success throughout Europe since its launch in the spring of 2002.

(Ruth Rossington)

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SSE has announced the opening of a dedicated sales department, headed up by Julian Ward, who has been appointed to fill the new role of equipment sales manager. John Penn, Group managing director comments: "SSE’s core business has always been hiring sound equipment. We own a vast amount of hire stock, and it has been our policy to renew and replace it on a regular basis, so actually we have always been in the business of selling equipment. We came to the realisation that our customers like to buy equipment from us as it gives them access to the other areas of our business which can really help them in their own ventures. Then we have our manufacturing and electronics departments as a back-up, where we can custom-build anything from a flightcase to a multicore system. Add to that our reconing and service department, and we have the facilities in-house to deal with just about an

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The Greek pro audio industry has received a major boost thanks to a joint venture between the London-based FX Group and Athens-based db Mediahire that will enable the Greek audio industry to tap into the FX Group’s extensive equipment hire stocks.

Db Mediahire was established earlier this year by sound engineer Christos Tsakiridis after he noticed a gap in his local market for a professional pro audio equipment rental company. He explains: "Although there are a large number of companies hiring PA equipment in Greece, there was definitely a need for a company that could supply pro audio equipment to the local audio industry. Almost every day I was receiving requests for this type of equipment, so I set up db Mediahire as a direct response to this demand."

Tsakiridis first came into contact with the FX Group while he was studying and working as a sound engineer in the U

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Unusual Services Ltd are main contractors for the massive Golden Jubilee weekend celebrations that are happening in The Mall, Green Park, St. James’s Park, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park and at the Queen Victoria Memorial.

The company is supplying all technical infrastructure, co-ordination, site and production management for this mind-boggling task, working closely with show producer Major Sir Michael Parker and the Golden Jubilee Weekend Trust. Unusual has employed over 250 sub-contractors and mounted a major logistical exercise to ensure the event - being broadcast live worldwide - is a well-oiled operation. To this end, the company has been interfacing with various authorities including Westminster City Council Special Events, the Metropolitan Police, Royal Parks, the GLA, the WRVS, London Underground, London Ambulance, St. John Ambulance and the British Red Cross.

The event i

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The Public Address, Voice Alarm and Public Safety Conference and Exhibition 2002, organized by the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers, will be held on 9-10 July 2002 in Regent's Park, London. The conference will feature a series of presentations that will take a wide range of construction, insurance and regulatory professionals through the issues surrounding the use of voice alarm systems in emergency evacuation from buildings and stadia. Current, changing and new Standards that impact upon safety compliance issues will be treated in depth.

Detailed consideration will be given to BS EN 61508 for which a new sector specific version applicable to voice alarm systems is now under consideration. This could revolutionise the way insurance companies and underwriters deal with compliance requirements when insuring buildings. The 'Total Systems (Risk-Based) Approach' to safety is

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PSL has announced that it has been awarded a certificate of approval by the BVQI. The award states that the Quality Management Systems in place have been assessed and found to be in accordance with the requirements of Quality Standards, as set out under BS EN ISO 9001:2000. This is the latest internationally recognised standard of Quality Management Systems, established in December 2000 and supersedes previous standards issued in 1994.

PSL is the first (and currently the only) rental and staging company to be awarded this accreditation. The process involves an ongoing quality audit by an independent professional body and covers all operating divisions within PSL, who have qualified independently in their own areas of expertise. Gary Davis, managing director of PSL stated: "This accreditation illustrates our ongoing commitment to providing the highest levels of service to our custo

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Cadac Electronics Plc reports that it is supplying four J-Type Live production consoles in a prestigious contract with Singapore's brand new Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, which opens on 12th October this year, following a 10-year multi-million dollar building project.

The J-Types will be used in two spaces - in the main 2000-seat theatre and in the 1600-seat concert hall - with each space having a console located in its own dedicated control room, plus another console for the FOH mix position. This is complemented by two floating 24-input extension frames that can be deployed whenever needed. The desks arrive on-site in early June, with Cadac working closely with Esplanade's sound team to provide on-site training sessions to ensure a smooth, fast commissioning process.

Production Manager Kenny Wong explains: "Our mission is to make Esplanade totally accessible. It may sound

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Hand Held Audio, specialists in wireless and in-ear technology, supplied a substantial radio system for The Planets performance at the Classical BRIT Awards, which took place at London's Royal Albert Hall on 23rd May. The young eight-piece band is currently taking the classical world by storm with their fusion of classical and pop music and has recently spent an impressive 12 weeks at the top of the classical charts with their first album, Classical Graffiti.

The gala evening proved to be a spectacular occasion with performances from the world's best-selling classical artist, Andrea Bocelli who was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award, as well as from Britain's Russell Watson, recently knocked from the number one spot by The Planets. Other performers included the OperaBabes, first discovered busking in Covent Garden a year ago, who will be singing for the World Cup

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Sound Art Canada has established a new division for servicing national and international touring artists. Named ‘Sound Art Touring’, the new division builds on the cross-Canada resources of its parent company to provide custom-configured sound systems for major recording artists in North America and abroad.

Based in Toronto, the Touring Division is managed by concert sound veterans Jon Erickson and Jeff Berryman, formerly of Jason Sound. Erickson, a seasoned touring professional, brings hands-on experience in operations and skills in account and project management. Berryman, an audio and loudspeaker systems architect and computer expert, brings strategic design and planning skills. The parent company, Sound Art Canada of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is a 21 year old sound reinforcement organization with a strong track record in special events, regional touring, corporate audio, and

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During a total refurbishment of The Watermans Arts Centre in Brentford, technical director Andy Mahaffey selected the Special Projects division of A.C. Lighting Ltd, to install the architectural lighting and audio solutions.

The first stage of the project involved architectural lighting, comprising clusters of three 500W fresnels, each fitted with an amber filter; these were used to give a soft glow of light to the stage and bar area. The second stage covered the event and effects lighting system; this employs custom internally wired bars, all with switched and dimmed outlets, as well as DMX connections. A Jands Event 24/120 console was also supplied, which provides control over all functions of the system. The audio requirements were the final stage of the installation and AC were handed the brief of providing infra-red hard of hearing systems in both the theatre and cinema complexes

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Spider Engineering has opened a ‘Flightcase warehouse’ in the UK at its Tamworth site in the Midlands. The new look warehouse, which is open to the trade and public, has over 6,000sq.ft of space, including a new flightcase dept, a used flightcase dept and a used equipment dept. "This is an exciting project which we’ve been working on for three years," comments managing director Steve Austin. "We saw that there was a huge potential market for ‘off the shelve flightcases and have spent the last three years developing our manufacturing process to place us in the best position to supply that market." The company now carries over 700 cases in stock.

(Ruth Rossington)

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ARX Systems, known for its range of innovative signal processing solutions, has released the new CentreMIXX centre channel creator for speaker systems requiring a central cluster.

Central loudspeaker clusters are now becoming a standard in installations and live sound reinforcement systems, providing the operator with the ability to centre the voice and acoustic program material, whilst at the same time retaining the stereo image across the left and right loudspeakers. Until the advent of the ARX CentreMIXX, only users of high end mixing consoles equipped with a separate centre channel output were able to easily derive a vocal dominated mono centre mix. The ARX CentreMIXX allows even a very simple system to derive a centre channel from a summed mono mix of left and light, with a L-R mix accuracy of 0.1 dB.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Kip Whitehead has been promoted to the position of technical support/field service manager for Crown International. Whitehead reports directly to Mark Graham, Crown vice-president of marketing, who made the announcement. Whitehead now supervises Crown’s technical support department in addition to managing, supporting, and training the worldwide organization of Crown-authorized service centers. He replaces Don Peterson, who recently left the company and moved with his family to Florida to pursue new career opportunities.

(Ruth Rossington)

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On 10 July, the FX Group will be popping champagne corks in celebration of its 10th anniversary as Europe¹s premier pro audio equipment company. Over the last decade, FX has grown from a pro audio equipment rental company (FX Rentals) into a Group that now includes equipment sales (FX Music Control), equipment servicing and repairs (FX Cimple Solutions); copying across all digital and analogue formats (FX Copyroom), equipment rentals in southern Europe (FX Spain) and, most recently, audio and video installations (FX Technical Services).

"Diversification has been an important factor in our success," says FX Group chairman Roger Evan. "The pro audio industry has undergone significant changes in recent years and, as a company, we have always endeavoured to stay relevant to our customer base so that we continue to provide them with the highest possible levels of service. Th

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Hand Held Audio, specialists in wireless and in-ear technology, have recently sold a substantial radio system to the popular Irish boy band Westlife. Westlife are currently on their latest sell-out tour in the UK and Europe to promote their latest album, World of Our Own.

The system comprises six Shure SM58 UHF Premier Series microphones, six Sony Freedom headset systems for the numbers that include a dance routine, and six Shure PSM 700 in-ear monitor systems. The SM58s, apart from being favourites of the engineers, Chris ‘Privet’ Hedge at front-of-house and John ‘Grubby’ Callis on monitors, (who claims he wouldn't leave home without them), were also chosen because the capsules work very well for the band. They decided to go with the Sony headsets because they are both light, compact and comfortable, and the Shure PSM700 in-ear systems have a proven track recor

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Symetrix has announced a new software upgrade for the popular 322 DSP engine, the latest generation hardware component in its Audio Workplace line and a "breakthrough in cost-effective technology". The 322 is a two-input, two-output, 24-bit multi-function DSP processor for engineered sound applications. The new software upgrade version 1.02 includes side-screen scrollbars for use with smaller (1024 x 768 or less resolution) monitors.

The software, in general drives the unit, providing real-time control via a Windows 98/2000 environment. "The 322 is loaded with all the audio processing and routing modules that system designers have been asking us for," says Jim Latimer, director of sales. "The 322 is particularly well suited to systems that are too small to warrant the use of larger multi-I/O platforms."

Unlike most compact DSP systems, the 322 offers a c

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Gomez’s recent sold-out UK tour was the first British Theatre Tour for JBL Vertec line array, supplied by Liverpool-based Adlib Audio. The system was specified by Gomez’s front-of-house sound engineer, Chris Leckie. He had listened to the system on several occasions prior to the tour and conducted comparisons to other systems at Liverpool Royal Court Theatre before making his decision.

"I’m really pleased with it" he says, "It’s a very easy-to-adjust, flexible system, I would never return to using loads of boxes when I can now use just one. I’ll definitely be specifying it for other bands I engineer for in the future.” He also comments that many venues they’ve been able to leave the system EQ flat or use it very minimally.

The Gomez system consisted of 16 VerTec High packs - eight per side - and 12 Adlib Audio subs. The optimum

  1. Rane launches DSP programmable multiprocessors
  2. More TV shows than you can shake a mic A-T
  3. Sennheiser provides World Cup support
  4. Racklight evolves into Viperlight
  5. Cats put to sleep
  6. New web initiatives strengthen manager/producer links
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