Sound

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UK - Audient plc and LA Audio have announced the formation of a strategic alliance that will see the operations of the two companies merge in a new joint venture under the Audient plc umbrella. Audient has relocated to new headquarters at Herriard Park in North Hampshire, UK, to provide room for the newly enlarged enterprise and for planned future growth.

A new joint sales and marketing resource has been established, headed up by Luke Baldry as director of sales and marketing. Baldry was sales manager with Expotus plc, which had previously handled distribution management for both the Audient and LA Audio brands. Anne Liversidge and Neil Saunders, also formerly with Expotus, complete the core of the team with responsibilities for marketing and operations respectively.

Luke Baldry told us: "This is an exciting development for Audient and LA Audio. It will help us work more

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UK - The award-winning music and sound company Audio Network has started the New Year with 'The European Seal of Excellence 2003' award - an annual award from the European Multimedia Forum distinguishing European multimedia companies with applications, services or technologies which are genuinely outstanding. Richard Field, of the East of England Multimedia Alliance, says: "Audio Network has made a major contribution to providing high quality original music and sound content for the multimedia industry."

Audio Network has been making significant waves in the television and film community with its revolutionary approach to music licensing. Bypassing the traditionally complex process of licensing music for the broadcast industry, Audio Network has written and recorded a catalogue of over 60 hours of cleared-for-use music. Producers pay a small one-off fee and all the mus

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Australia - Perth, Australia-based PIVoD Technologies has teamed with ARX Systems to create new ground-breaking audio streaming technology. ARX's ZA Series multi-channel amplifiers have been installed by PIVoD Technologies into the Victorian Arts Centre, the hub of performing arts in Southern Australia, comprising the Melbourne Concert Hall, Victorian State Theatre and many other performance venues and spaces.

The ARX ZA400, ZA600 and ZA800 amplifiers have been fitted by PIVoD with their new audio streaming technology, VIPA (Venue Internet Protocol Audio). With VIPA, each ARX ZA amplifier features an Internet Protocol (IP) interface that allows the amplifier to be monitored for the operating and control status of each stereo channel pair and the AC power control 'on/off' of each amplifier. The amplifiers are then controlled and monitored with the PIVoD Technologies Show Control

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USA - At the NAMM exhibition in Los Angeles (16-19 January) D.A.S. Audio of Valencia, Spain, will be introducing the new Compact 115, a self-powered loudspeaker system aimed at a wide range of portable and permanently-installed sound reinforcement applications.

The Compact 115 is a versatile three-way, biamplified system, say D.A.S., designed to be used as a full-range stand-alone unit without the need for bass reinforcement. It incorporates a state-of-the-art 1000W 'Class D' switching amplifier which utilizes two 500W ICEpower amplifier modules. One 500W channel is used for the low frequency section and another 500W channel for the mid-high section.

The low frequency section employs the highly efficient D.A.S. 15 GN4, 15" low frequency speaker with 4" voice coil and neodymium magnet structure. Mid range frequencies are reproduced by the new 8 BN mid-range device, wh

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USA - Visitors to this week's NAMM exhibition (Los Angeles, 16-19 January) will be able to see Audio-Technica's new AT3060 which, according to the manufacturer, represents ground-breaking developments in tube microphone technology.

Tthe AT3060 features standard 48V phantom power operation, meaning that it doesn't require a separate power supply and cable, which makes it as easy to set up and use as a standard condenser microphone. Audio-Technica has made this possible at an affordable price point. Other features include a new, large-diameter diaphragm cardioid condenser element, delivering high sensitivity and smooth sound with low overall noise levels, while a precision-machined, nickel-plated brass acoustic element baffle provides enhanced element stability and optimizes sensitivity. The tube used in each AT3060 is hand selected and aged to maintain peak performance, and the t

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UK - The Manchester Evening News Arena recently played host to the Top of the Pops Awards 2002 hosted by by Ireland's greatest pop export, Ronan Keating. Thousands of fans and industry personalities alike were treated to performances from pop princess Kylie, Will & Gareth, Ms Dynamite, Craig David and Moby to name but a few. Hand Held Audio were asked by audio contractors Britannia Row to supply all of the wireless equipment and arrange licensing for the event.

HHA supplied a 10-way Shure UHF hand held system and an 8-way Shure PSM-700 in-ear monitoring system for stage use that was hot-swapped between the various performers, plus an additional PSM-600 in-ear shout system with three Shure UHF headset mics for the crew for the purposes of line checking. There were a further four hand held Shure UHF systems for the presenters and another 3-way hand held system for press interviews

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UK - The prestigious Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, has invested in the recently upgraded SoundField MKV RV microphone system. The ROH, a long term SoundField user, has in the past used SoundField systems at concerts by the lake in Kenwood, North London and also for amplifying and recording numerous open-air performances.

The MKV RV uses unique SoundField technology to generate both stereo and 5.1 surround from a 'single point source' and will be a useful addition to the ROH's already extensive microphone collection. The ROH, now under the leadership of ex-BBC man Tony Hall, is reporting an increase in revenue and the aim is to bring its performances to a wider audience group.

Laila Jantunen, SoundField sales, commented: "There have been discussions about the possibility of relaying ROH performances to outside venues. If this does materialize, the MKV system

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USA - Mackie has announced a major software upgrade for their Digital 8·Bus (d8b) recording console with the release of Version 5.0, which includes a completely updated graphical user interface (GUI) for improved navigation, a HUI (human user interface) emulation layer, surround monitoring control, as well as an extensive list of new features.

"Version 5.0 is the direct result of our listening to d8b users and providing them with real-world features and functionality that will improve their overall productivity and efficiency," says Keith Olsen, corporate director, global recording market and product development at Mackie Designs Inc. "The HUI capabilities, for example, were implemented specifically for artists and engineers that are interfacing more and more with desktop systems, but still require the sound-quality, routing, and I/O capabilities of a high-end mi

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UK - Packed with a host of facilities to satisfy a wide variety of different requirements, the 8-channel FSM8 stereo mixer from Formula Sound now offers a flexible solution for many different applications. Compact, versatile and easy to operate, the FSM8 is ideal for use in clubs, pubs and bars, conference centres, hotels, cruise ships and theme parks.

The 8 channels of the single-zone FSM8 are configured as a microphone section with 4 mono input channels (all with optional phantom power), plus a music section with 4 stereo input channels. Each section has its own tone controls, every input has a preset gain control, and all are adjustable through holes in the rear panel. The flexibility of the FSM8 is underlined by the option to connect an auxiliary input such as a jukebox, via a preset gain control, which will automatically take priority over all other music channels.

Other

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France - The Digigram Group has agreed to a management buyout led by top management from Digigram and Audemat-Aztec. The management group, as well as venture capital company Perfectis Private Equity and the Digigram co-founders, will create a new private holding company, Audiendis, which will control three companies: Digigram, Audemat-Aztec and Digigram subsidiary Innova Son.

Three professional audio veterans lead the management buyout: Digigram managing director Philippe Delacroix and Audemat-Aztec managers Daniel Werbrouck and Bruno Rost. Delacroix, Werbrouck and Rost will make up the new executive board of directors for Audiendis: Delacroix will become managing director of Audiendis, in collaboration with Werbrouck as production director and Rost in charge of special duties for the board.

Digigram founders and current majority shareholders, Philippe Girard-Buttoz and Marian

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UK - MC2 Audio has announced the first sales of its T4-250 amplifier, which is designed for multi-zone installations. This latest addition to the T Series has been in production since December and is available on a 10-day lead time. A pre-production prototype of the T4-250 amplifier (4 x 250W/channel in a 2U chassis) was shown to customers for the first time at PLASA in September 2002 and advance orders for this new model were taken at the show. The first production units were shipped to Greece and Austria in December, with orders to Portugal and Spain being fulfilled in the first week of January. In common with all MC2 Audio products, the T4-250 is covered by a five-year warranty.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Hayden Laboratories Ltd - exclusive UK distributor for Denon pro audio products - has announced two new machines, the DN-C615 and the DCM280, both geared to MP3. The DN-C615 is the first Denon Professional MP3 player - and a replacement for the DN-600F CD player. The DN-C615 features CD-R/RW playback, with a pitch control of +/- 12%, and MP3 playback with intuitive folder/title search. Direct Track buttons are available, as well as CD Text.

The unit offers 10 seconds of shock-proof memory, and other neat features include a preset, selectable Auto Cue. 'Playback' mode is also preset as well as selectable for Single Track or Continuous Play. General features include a tidy, standard 19" 2U aluminium front panel. User preset functions are available via an IR remote sensor or a wired remote control terminal.

The DCM280 is a high-performance CD auto-changer with MP3 which

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South Africa - On 28 December, 2002, 10 of Bollywood's biggest stars - including Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and Shilpa Shetty - performed in a major extravaganza at Durban¹s ABSA Stadium. The concert, called Now Or Never Live, was put together by Anant Singh's Videovision Entertainment and Amitabh Bachchan, Indian cinema's biggest star.

Gearhouse Durban was awarded the contract to provide all the technical aspects of the show. Aside from the massive stage, and three enormous screens, the Gearhouse team managed the technical requirements of live singers, a band of 18 musicians (on a raised platform on the stage), dancers and chorus singers as well as the retinue of stars. The concert aimed to convey that sense of Bollywood opulence and extravagance and the Gearhouse team had to not only create this opulent stag

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USA - A new sound reinforcement manufacturing company, KV2 Audio, launched itself and its first new products at NAMM in Anaheim this week. Consisting of KV2 Audio Inc, based in Woodinville, Washington, and sister company KV2 Audio Europe, based in the UK, the new company has a strong pro audio pedigree, and strong ideas on sound reinforcement.

KV2 Audio Inc is headed by Marcello Vercelli (the 'V' of the company name). Vercelli, the former engineering product director for all Mackie loudspeaker products, is joined by a team of ex-Mackie personnel. The 'K' of the company name is George Krampera, the Czech designer who was responsible for many of RCF's most successful loudspeaker products.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Phil Price, former managing director of Makie/RCF UK, is joined by another well-known ex-Mackie/RCF figure, Andy Austin-Brown, and Jonathan Reece-Farren, until recen

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UK - The newly-opened Lonsdale House in Notting Hill is destined to make its mark very quickly as one of London's most glamorous new high profile nightspots. When it came to supplying the audio, owner Charles Breedan was equally clear about what he wanted. "I'm a huge fan of the restaurant Momo," he stated. "I love everything about it. Indeed, I chose the architects partly on the basis of the work they had done there, and the same goes for the audio-visual contractor. The Sound Division Group was responsible for the installation at Momo, which I greatly admire, so they seemed to be the natural choice to supply the audio for Lonsdale House."

The specification was for a sophisticated audio system capable of delivering high quality background music throughout the venue with the ability to zone to specific areas. The system also needed to be powerful enough to ma

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USA - The layout of Level 3, the latest addition to downtown Atlanta's vibrant dance club scene, might have presented a challenge to many sound contractors, but Dewayne Walters knew exactly where to turn for performance gear. Having already installed powerful Turbosound systems in the city's top clubs, including the Velvet Room, Nomenclature, Lava Lounge, Karma and Globe Theatre, Walters carefully selected a variety of the company's loudspeakers to deliver targeted SPLs to several different areas throughout Level 3. The loudspeaker systems were supplied via Turbosound's US distributor, Sennheiser Electronic Corporation.

Level 3, which occupies over 2000sq.m in a former Planet Hollywood on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, sprawls across three floors and features a large dance floor, a VIP area and balcony seating. The club offers patrons five bars, two downstairs, two upstai

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UK - At a time when the IT sector as a whole is experiencing a marked downturn, indeed, even industry giants such as IBM and Sun Microsystems are reporting reduced profits and scaling back their predictions for next year - Stardraw has announced a staggering 55% growth in sales of its traditional shrink-wrapped range (namely Stardraw Audio, Stardraw AV, Stardraw Radio, Stardraw Lighting 2D and Stardraw Professional) over the last 12 months.

Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson is understandably pleased: "Annual growth of 55% is a considerable achievement under any circumstances, particularly as it represents almost three times the growth rate we achieved in the preceding period, but against the backdrop of the slowdown currently being experienced within the IT and entertainment technology sector, it is especially gratifying. It proves that we are on the right track with

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UK - Aztec, the new live console from Audient, has completed another sell-out tour. This time the console donned stripy leg warmers and backcombed its mullet to join some of the biggest stars of the 80s on a nine-date tour of the UK.

The Here and Now Christmas tour kicked off in Newcastle on 12 December at the Telewest Arena. It then visited Brighton, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Wembley, the London Arena, Sheffield and finally Manchester on 22 December. The line-up of performers included Human League, 5 Star, Kim Wilde, Dollar, Visage and many more from the decade that fashion forgot.

The sound company for the tour, Capital Sound, with the company's Mark Ballard acting as FOH engineer for the tour. Working alongside him were Becky Pell as monitor engineer, James Gebhard as monitor engineer/system technician and Andy Banks as system technician.

The Aztec Live Performanc

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UK - CP Sound has designed, specified and installed a discreet, powerful audio system at The Zinc Bar & Grill in Fulham, London, for Conran Restaurants. This follows hot on the heels of their other successful sound reinforcement projects at Zinc sites in Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.

This latest Zinc occupies a prime location amidst the bustle of Fulham Broadway, one of the liveliest parts of London. Although a smaller space than the other restaurants, the same aesthetic and sonic requirements were applied to this venue. Sound equipment had to be invisible, to offer comfortable and almost imperceptible background levels and dispersion, yet also be capable of pumping up the volume in the venue when needed. Zinc's bar area is designed for multi-purpose use, and can be converted into DJ/dancing mode. It was also important that sound in the two adjacent areas - restaurant an

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The Netherlands - In less than three months, Electric Audio BV has found takers for three complete EV XLC systems. Since the summer of 2000, the team led by Axel Nagtegaal, managing director of Electric Audio BV, has been pulling out all the stops with its marketing: advertisements placed in all relevant magazines, demos and comparative tests are just as much a part of the business repertoire of this Almere-based EV and Klark Teknik distributor as regular direct mailing, intensive customer service and a range of made-to-measure campaigns targeted at dealers and rental companies. The EV Europool, a loose association of Electro-Voice users that today comprises seven sound companies and offers many advantages to its members, is another idea that originated in Electric Audio BV. The slogan of the company is 'We power your ambition'.

In the three months since the official launch of t

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UK - With the country's flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal now on its way to the Mediterranean, it's interesting to note that part of the ship's complement of equipment for the military exercise includes two HK Audio E.L.I.A.S. active PA systems.

"We were really surprised when we got the call," explains Paul Siddall of Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems. "This happened a couple of months ago, when the Navy were fitting the aircraft carrier out for the exercise, and were looking for some powerful, yet compact PA systems for off-duty entertainment purposes. They must have been browsing the web, found our site and decided to put in an order with us for various bits and pieces of equipment for the carrier, which included the two HK Audio systems."

Following a drive down to Portsmouth to deliver the order to the Ark Royal, Pro Audio Systems were further rewa

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UK - The last few months have seen the introduction of some significant new technology to the Stardraw product portfolio via the unique 'Feature-per-Month' update service. The newest feature to be added is the Symbol Wizard.

Even with the hundreds of products added to Stardraw's libraries every month there are likely to be times when users wish to create their own symbol. The Symbol Wizard can be used within the Block Schematic environment of Stardraw Audio, Stardraw AV and Stardraw Radio to create a high-quality symbol in seconds. The new symbol can be based on one of hundreds of pre-drawn templates which are grouped by product types such as Amplifiers, Loudspeakers, Players/Recorders etc. Alternatively, the user can start from scratch with a blank template. The Wizard's dialogues allow set up of the product details (for instance manufacturer name, model number and product desc

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Canada - The Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick, hailed as one of the most beautiful performing arts spaces in Canada, is one of the country's latest venues to invest in a Midas Legend 3000 supplied by Tour Tech East. The plush 800-seat auditorium, now fully refurbished and restored to its former glory, dates back to 1922. As is the case with most theatres, space for permanently installed audio hardware, particularly a large format mixing console, is extremely limited, so the small footprint of the Legend 3000 suited the Capitol perfectly.

Tour Tech's Dave Rudderham explained: "The theatre was fed-up with their seats getting damaged by people hauling their heavy flightcases to the temporary FOH position. Eventually they decided to reduce the physical impact on the theatre by investing in a high quality console of their own that was capable of supporting some of the s

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UK - Hayden Laboratories Ltd - exclusive UK distributors for Denon pro audio products - offer new advanced MP3 and other features to the DN-D9000 dual CD player. The high compression rates and portability of the MPG3 format has made it the medium for exchanging music files on the internet, establishing it as one of the essential elements of global communications.

With MP3 now widely recognised as a core music medium for both established and unsigned artists, hardware manufacturers recognise it as central to the way we enjoy and listen to music. Utilising the new plug in, the DN-D9000 offers MP3 playback - via MP3 files on CD. This vastly increases the machine's flexibility, giving access to approximately 250 tracks per CD plus full filename viewing facilities on the front LCD. This reveals useful info. like artist and track names Other features enabled with the software update i

  1. Mobile Home
  2. Tuning by Wireless
  3. Mach Speakers & Pioneer: strategic alliance in US
  4. Pete Hughes joins Canegreen
  5. Gary Orrell leaves NXT to join Newlands Technology
  6. Soundcraft introduces MH3
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