Sound

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The Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS), has appointed Phil Dudderidge as its new chairman. Dudderidge, who owns Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd, takes over from Dave Harries who has served a three-year term as Chairman.

The APRS, which has been representing the recording services industry for over 50 years, has undergone significant changes in recent years. Technology and convergence between the various creative, entertainment sectors has changed the commercial landscape for all and the Association's priorities have also needed re-adjustment. Dudderidge's appointment at such a challenging time for the recording industry marks the first time for many years that an equipment manufacturer has chaired the Association. "We are almost unique amongst trade associations in that we represent both manufacturers and their customers," Dudderidge says, "but this ha

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Sennheiser UK recently supplied a range of microphones and wireless equipment to help stage the 36th Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Concert at Blenheim Palace. The evening’s tribute lecture by Rt. Hon The Lord Heseltine employed Sennheiser equipment, including two gooseneck mics and an evolution wireless system. The event, which raised £320,000 for various charities, also featured performances by several of the UK’s brightest musical talents.

Independent audio consultant Dr Roger Driscoll was keen to enlist Sennheiser in providing an unobtrusive installation in the Palace’s impressive Long Library. He designed and specified a system tailored to the Library’s acoustics and aesthetics, and subsequently oversaw the smooth running of the event’s audio presentation. The use of Sennheiser wireless technology installed inside the lectern provided a "transpa

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L-Acoustics dealers, Marquee Audio, have sold a 12-enclosure ARCS system to hire, installation and contract rental company, BCS Audio. BCS proprietor, Dave Shepherd, will run the system in his hire stock. "I will be going out and doing shows with it myself," he says. Dave looked long and hard at the market before deciding that for the price the system best suited his requirements. "I chose the ARCS system because it’s a flexible box, which I can run without subs, and is easy to fly. It will also enable me to cover up to a 3,000-capacity venue."

Although he simultaneously purchased amplifiers and processing, the order for the enclosures was placed through Marquee. "Though I knew the company from my days at Case Plant, this is the first time I have dealt with Marquee - and they were extremely responsive." He added, "Marquee also sorted out some c

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Audio contractor Live Business International (LBI) worked from 11pm throughout the night in sub-zero temperatures and several inches of snow in order to refurbish the audio system at Xscape Snozone, a youth leisure complex in Milton Keynes. Xscape Snozone, headed by former Millennium Dome boss P Y Gerbeau, is a major installation featuring food courts, bars, shops, clubs, a multiplex cinema, gymnasium and a climbing wall. The centrepiece is an indoor 170m long ski slope, complete with real snow, up to 12 tons of which is generated each night by 16 'snow guns' and is kept frozen by a mean air temperature of -2°C and eight miles of under-snow cooling pipes.

While the whole of the complex had its audio system updated, the ski slope had a completely new system installed. LBI has extensive experience of using Technomad Vienna weatherproof loudspeakers in harsh environments, such as the dec

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MC2 Audio has announced that following initial contacts at Musik Messe and AES this year, KT Radio & Storm Sound has been appointed as the company’s new distributor for Denmark, while Nefan Ticaret will be handling the brand in Turkey. MC2 Audio’s Ian McCarthy told us: "Both companies are already well established in the audio industry and we now look forward to working with Flemming at KT Radio and Albert and Nevzat at Nefan Ticaret, wishing them every success with the amps."

(Lee Baldock)

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Following SSE’s launch of the Nexo GEO speaker system at the beginning of May the company has supplied a number of high profile events with GEO sound systems. A giant TV screen and sound system was erected outside the final show of the musical Cats in Covent Garden, in order to allow more people than the theatre could accommodate to view the show. SSE supplied a 24 box GEO system for the event.

Hire director Emma Barwell commented:"With a deep site to cover, a conventional system would have required unsightly and expensive delay towers. GEO was able to uniformly cover the audience from directly below the speaker hangs to a point 68m back using only 12 boxes per side. The system looks minute but delivers fantastic sound levels with quality performance."

Most recently, over the Golden Jubilee weekend, SSE supplied a GEO system for the BBC celebrations in Centenary Squar

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In the absence of a suitable small box from their usual suppliers Blue Box Company has installed a number of Nexo PS-8 systems supplied by Showcom Audio into prestigious bar and restaurant venues in London. The first is into the much talked-about Cherry Jam bar/club in Porchester Road. Cherry Jam is the brainchild of Ben Watt (who is one half of Everything but the Girl with Tracey Thorne and Lazy Dog with DJ partner Jay Hannan) and its raison d'être is to develop a new program of nights and events that reflect the range and diversity of West London cultural life. Live music, DJs, art exhibitions and a film club plus of course eating and drinking are all part of the vibrant scene at Cherry Jam. Blue Box Audio was called in to install the audio system.

Blue Box's Mark Metcalf explained that because owner Ben Watt is now an extremely successful DJ in his own right, he was most particular

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The Vienna Festival 2002 got off to a flying start in front of 60,000 people who had gathered in the town square to hear headliners Bryan Ferry and Nancy Wilson performing songs from classic movies including ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘Casablanca’. The evening was dedicated to Austrian and German composers who, largely in the wake of the National Socialists' coming to power, had emigrated to the US and found worldwide fame as the creators of scores for celebrated Hollywood movies. Adolf Tögel, head of sound for the Vienna Festival and also for Halls E and G in the city's newly created cultural complex, the MuseumsQuartier, engineered the show on his recently acquired Midas Legend 3000 console.

Halls E and G (the former Winter Riding School) were once again the central venues for the annual Vienna Festival, a six-week celebration of international music and perform

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Marquee Audio has supplied a complete PA rig to Time Warner Books for use on their conferences. The Central London-based publishers had traditionally hired in systems to order, but realised it would be more cost-effective to actually purchase a system. Time Warner group marketing director Terry Jackson explained: "We hold two conferences a year for between 60 and 70 people which involves audio reinforcement and playing digital video clips. We felt the time was right to have our own system as hiring was getting expensive."

They thus contacted the Shepperton-based pro audio suppliers, who recommended a ‘plug and play’ presentation system based on sonic fidelity and ease of use. The set-up centres on a pair of Nexo PS-8 full range loudspeakers and LS400 compact subwoofer, powered by a Nexo PS-8 three-channel amplifier. This was supplied with a Yamaha Q2031B dual 31-b

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MC2 Audio Netherlands distributor, Audio Rotterdam, has won contracts to put MC range and T Series amps into a variety of interesting venues and projects in the Rotterdam area. MC450 amplifiers are used in the production of the reality TV show 'De Bar', which is broadcast from two neighbouring bars in Rotterdam. The bars compete to attract the greatest number of customers and thus increase their business - cameras capture all the action 24/7. Audio Rotterdam representative, Jan van Drunen says: "The three MC450s produce enough power for a real party every night".

The very popular Baja Beach Club in Rotterdam is using four MC450 to drive its specially designed PA system and the renowned Rotterdam pub, Café Lebbink has a sound system powered by a T1000 and a T500. Audio Rotterdam also provides the amplification (six MC1250s and two MC450s) for the well-known Dutch language sin

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Avesco companies Dimension Audio and Creative Technology recently joined forces to deliver one of the most challenging projects they have ever undertaken.

Dimension provided the audio infrastructure for the giant automated themed pavilion at the Swiss National Exhibition, Expo.02 (May-October 2002), for production company Live Communication. Pip Campbell was lead producer and Adam Wildi was technical director. Entitled ‘Empire of Silence’, the adventure pavilion is sponsored by telecoms giant Swisscom.

The ‘Empire of Silence’ project highlights how essential communication has become in today’s world. Soundscape designer and Dimension project manager Kevin Swain was handed the demanding audio brief back in July 2001. The solution was to automate the entire exhibit, with a Conductor show control system firing multiple audio cues via MIDI (and interfacing

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SCV London has been appointed the exclusive distributor for MiPro. Based in Taiwan MiPro is a major manufacturer of high quality portable PA systems and wireless microphone solutions. Operating out of a 5000sq.m custom-built facility, MiPro has handled OEM manufacturing for a number of well known companies, but more recently has expanded its production capacity to create its own brand line.

The MiPro wireless microphone series include the new ACT system which gives the user automatic channel targeting which allows for easy assignment and designation of the mics. The ACT-707 goes further - it has hot swappable modules, colour displays and easy assignment of the microphones and receivers by use of the ACT technology. The Wireless series has a large range of options and will suit either the most basic or most complex application. MiPro’s PA systems feature a wide variety of batter

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The PSA newsletter recently carried a story to make grown technicians weep. Apparently, staff at Cardiff Theatre were furious to discover that a duck appearing in a play was being paid more than they were. Ming, a two-year old Aylesbury duck, appeared at the Chapter Arts Centre in ‘The mute who was dreamed’. "Ming is getting paid more than our technician," marketing manager Carol Jones told the South Wales Echo, "and he is not happy about it". The duck’s high wages have also led to allegations that it is not pulling its weight in the performance and that its acting is not vigorous enough. "When the show was put on in Scotland another duck was used," said Jones, "It was much more macho."

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John Hornby Skewes & Co Ltd has received planning permission to add a further extension to its Garforth facility. With a mezzanine floor, the new extension will add an extra 1800sq.m of floor storage space to the company’s existing 4337sq.m. JHS & Co Ltd is the UK & Eire distributor of the HK Audio range of pro audio systems and components.

(Ruth Rossington)

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A new feature film The Water Giant has just completed shooting in one of the more remote locations on earth - around Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand - under the direction of UK veteran John Henderson. As the name suggests, the film was shot in and around boats and production sound mixer Tony Johnson was kept busy managing a complex Audio Ltd multi-mic set-up often on a rolling boat.

Johnson - whose impressive list of film sound credits include The Piano and Hercules - recently purchased the RK4 system from Sound Techniques in Auckland, New Zealand. The Water Giant required a lot of radio boom since running a cable was not practical. With two cameras being used, overlapping dialogue and Henderson keen to retain as much original sound as possible, there was also a lot of radio mic use. "The Audio Ltd system was essential for retaining as much of the original sound as possible,

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The latest addition to Philips CSI’s range of public address equipment is the FlexiLine family of mixer/amplifiers aimed at budget conscious applications ranging from retail, restaurant and catering establishments to schools, leisure facilities and workplaces.

The new FlexiLine family of 120W mono-mixer amplifiers are easy-to-use and ideal for a wide variety of PA requirements where a combination of emergency announcements and voice messages are required, with optional background music. FlexiLine allows up to 3 microphone inputs to be mixed together with music to provide the right combination of public address messages and background music for any application. Microphone 1 can be set as a priority override, automatically muting other microphone inputs and the background music to ensure vital messages always get through. The mixer/amplifiers feature a powerful 120W output with a t

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From its now established base at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London, the ABTT Show continues to underline its role as a key event for the theatre industry. The trade show, which took place last week, attracted well over 100 exhibitors from across the wide spectrum of supplies and services, as a result pulling in over 2,500 visitors.

ABTT’s emphasis on training and education was demonstrated by the wide-ranging seminar programme which accompanied the event, but the highlight was the ABTT Dinner staged on the first evening where Major Sir Michael Parker, famed for his work on such events as the Royal Tournament and more recently All the Queens Horses, was the guest speaker. The Awards announced during the Dinner recognized the work of sound designer Andrew Bruce of Autograph Sound who collected a Lifetime Achievement Award, whilst the Technician of the Year award went to Nick

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Britannia Row really pushed the boat out for the PSA, transforming its London warehouse into a mini venue for a PSA Get Together on the evening of June 12th. Mike Lowe and Bryan Grant demonstrated their corporate hospitality expertise, laying on food and drink and providing audio and visual entertainment for the near 100 attendees. Brit Row’s warehouse, usually home to flightcases and equipment was completely cleared and 'dressed' so that it resembled a well appointed night club. No mean feat!

Guests ranged from well-known industry figures to those at the beginning of their careers: whatever their background or experience, the evening gave an opportunity for everyone to mix and talk over the recent Jubilee celebrations. £400 was raised for the Welfare & Benevolent Fund in a raffle organised by Brit Row with prizes donated by Telex Shuttlesound, Yamaha and Brit Row.

(Lee Baldoc

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The annual music industry Great Googly Challenge cricket event, which raises money for the Music Therapy Charity, will be bigger and better than ever this year thanks to the addition of two extra teams. Eight teams will compete in the one-day league that takes part at the Brondesbury Cricket Club, North London, on Thursday August 22, 2002. Teams already confirmed include event sponsors Pro Tape, last year¹s winners Sanctuary, the FX Group, Arrogant Behaviour, Jolly Singh and Sky Broadcast.

The money raising efforts will be assisted by a raffle with high value prizes, including some exceptional prizes that will be announced on the day. Pro Tape’s ’Butcher’ Bob Matthews will be manning the BBQ again, with all proceeds going to charity. Nick Dimes, one of the event organisers and managing director of PR agency Dimes & Sillitoe (who will be playing for the FX Group) say

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Fuzion has appointed Gary Furman to its sales team. Furman will provide office-based support in handling sales enquiries and generating new leads to complement the activities of the three regional sales managers who are not office-based.

Sales director Paul Ward is pleased with the new development: "We now have an extremely positive sales scenario," he said. "We already have a very strong sales force out on the road who are doing a good job, despite the relatively tough climate. With Gary's appointment they now have the additional reassurance of knowing there is someone back in the office whose sole task is to handle sales enquiries, which leaves everyone else, including those of us based in the office, free to focus on our own particular role."

Furman has several years of pro audio sales experience in his native South Africa where he started in a telesales role b

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Entec Sound & Light has purchased its first Yamaha PM1D digital mixing console. The desk’s first outing will come with the series of David Bowie performances planned for the summer. At the helm will be Pablo Wheeler as front of house sound engineer and desk technician Tristan Johnson.

The addition of the PM1D to Entec’s stock, complements a growing list of audio control systems which now includes the Midas’s XL4, Heritage 3000, XL3 and XL200, along with desks from the Soundcraft range. These are accompanied by a stock of d&b audiotechnik loudpeakers and amplifiers, together with the legendary Entec manufactured APW212 Floor Monitors.

Established in the late 1960s, Entec provides sound, lighting and production services to the concert touring industry, and has grown over the years to service TV, concerts, conferences, theatre, exhibitions and outdoor events.

(Ruth R

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RMS - Rental Management Systems has introduced new options to link its rental management software to external software programs. With the 'input-link', users of RMS are able to import equipment-lists from drawing programs such as AutoCAD and Stardraw. Once a design has been created in a drawing package, a list is automatically generated containing all the elements within the drawing, which can then be imported into a project within the RMS software.

The 'output-link' provides an easy way to connect RMS to the most popular accounting packages.After the completion of a project, all relevant financial information can be exported into a file, which can then be read by the accounting software.

(Lee Baldock)

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The newly renamed Warehouse nightclub, on Friar Gate in Derby, has just taken delivery of a Nexo Alpha E system supplied by Showcom Audio. The system comprises four stacks of Alpha E driven by the new lightweight Vortex 6 amplifiers from Camco with Klark Teknik EQ. An NX241 digital controller from Nexo completes the line-up.

Mike Symes, the club’s owner, commented: "This system represents a great investment for us. The audio quality of an underground club like ours is hugely important. With a lot of the larger clubs down-sizing, potential customers/promoters need a venue of this size to build up a solid core of faithful punters. With resident DJ Jools associated with the club it can only strengthen our position in this market as a growing high quality venue. This is reflected in the fact that we’re the only club in Derby to be granted a 6am licence every Friday and Sat

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tsg, the media programming and systems provider has recruited Natalie Trivass as technical manager. The appointment is part of the ongoing strategic expansion at the company, which will see other key positions filled by experienced and respected industry people over the coming months. Trivass brings a wealth of experience to the role through her previous positions with Sound Power and Greenalls Pubs and Restaurants.

Commenting on her appointment, Natalie stated: "I wanted to work for a company with control over their own media content and product development, rather than working with third party providers. Also, tsg's policy on its people appealed greatly and developed initiatives such as Investors in People and ISO9002 demonstrate that the company is striving to stand out from the pack and put customers at the centre of everything they do."

(Ruth Rossington)

  1. SP Series amplifiers - power at WORK!
  2. ARX releases MSX 8
  3. Irish footballers come home to X-Line
  4. International distributors visit D.A.S.
  5. ISCE ivades Norway
  6. Marquee Audio Lifts the House
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