Sound

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Germany - Having been used for opera and rock and roll, HK Audio's Cohedra (Coherent Dynamic Response Array) system has been used at its first techno music place at the German Mayday festival. Starting early in the evening on 30 April in the Westfalenhallen, Dortmunder, the sold-out event attracted 23,000 hard-core techno fans.

Mayday consisted of three separate dance zones in the Westfalenhallen, a multi-purpose indoor events centre. The largest was held in the 13,000-capacity indoor cycle racetrack, while two smaller areas accommodated around 5,000 people each. The Cohedra system was rigged in Area 3, which hosted a plethora of German DJs as well as Detroit techno legend Jeff Mills and Norwegian musician/production team Röyksopp. HK Audio's Jorg Knieschewski, who spent more than two years conducting the acoustic engineering for Cohedra, configured the system into four identic

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UK - Theatre sound specialist Orbital and the National Theatre's sound department have combined forces to deliver the fourth five-day course for stage management and technical theatre students keen to pursue sound as a career. Theatre sound is advancing at a rapid rate, driven by technological developments and the growing expectations of directors, producers and audiences. Both Orbital and The National say they are concerned that there is a skills shortfall - that young people entering the industry have little experience of the latest technology and techniques.

Building on the success of its previous years, over 20 students attended the complementary course from 10 drama schools nationwide. Benefiting from the opportunity to gain an extra level of technical skill and artistic understanding, their "skills-set" is expanded to enable the level of competence necessary in c

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UK - Reflecting the continuing success of the company, Martin Audio has further strengthened its engineering team, with the appointment of Nick Pocock as senior acoustic engineer. Holding a Master's degree in Sound and Vibration Studies, Pocock is well-qualified for the task and relishes the opportunity to work in an area as challenging as his previous position - designing top-end in-car audio at Goodmans Loudspeakers Ltd.

While in Havant, he worked on audio design for the Queen's Bentley as well as the Bentley GT Continental, Skoda Octavia, Audi TT, Volkswagen Beetle Convertible - and many more. "It will be good to apply some of the experience I have gained through the very precise science of the automotive industry," he said. "I can see a great synergy between what I have learnt designing systems for Bentley and Audi and what I will be doing at Martin Audio.&quo

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Denmark - Capped by a vaulting glass mosaic dome, the new conference room at Danske Bank's headquarters in Copenhagen is one of Europe's more graceful presentation venues. Designed for a maximum 150 capacity, it is a classicist's vision of light and space. But roll down the projection screen, dim the lights, cue the show, and technology begins to impose its presence in a subtle fashion that belies its potency. "The bank approached us with a good brief, very specific in terms of application, but quite open when it came to equipment," explained Jesper Rosgaard of Informationsteknik, the company charged with defining and providing a complete AV system for the conference room.

"Danske Bank had several clearly-defined needs: they wanted a facility that could accommodate events of widely varying scale and complexion, so a dominant demand was for flexibility of equipment

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UK - Chubb, a leading provider of security and fire protection services, has recently collaborated with PA/VA specialist Millbank to provide multi-purpose integrated systems into Swansea's new Maritime Museum, Swansea FC's White Rock (Morfa) Stadium, Newport's impressive new Theatre and Arts Centre and the new Welsh Assembly Building in Cardiff.

As four of the most exciting new multi-million pound new build projects ever seen in Wales, Millbank's CEO Neil Voce and Chubb's customer accounts manager, Scott Philips, worked closely to ensure that each system achieves their exacting specifications.

Scott Phillips explained: "Millbank's support has been invaluable and played a vital role in winning these prestigious contracts. It's terrific to work with a forward-thinking company whose product range and technical know-how enables us to provide such versatile and cutting-edge sy

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UK - Manchester-based installation company Kelco UK Ltd has become the first official UK dealer for EM Acoustics loudspeakers, and has consolidated this with an installation of EM Acoustics' products in new Nottingham nightclub, Stealth.

Although the main club system comprises Funktion One's Dance Stacks and Resolution systems, Kelco owner David Kelland saw EM Acoustics products as the ideal solution for DJ monitoring and infills at the venue. Consequently, each DJ area contains a pair of EMS-121 (12" x 1") full-range enclosures, innovatively mounted on poles built into the DJ console and wired through the pole-mount for security. The club's stylish VIP area contains four EMS-81 (8" x 1") full-range enclosures, discreetly mounted around the neon-lit two-level ceiling, using the enclosure's own internal M10 rigging points.

Of the products, Kelland says: &quo

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UK - London's Natural History Museum is using Allen & Heath's iDR DSP system to manage audio distribution for the its Darwin Centre, a new development hosting daily live events, as well as housing precious collections, new laboratories, and access behind the scenes for visitors.

The Darwin Centre live events bring resident experts and specialists from around the world to talk about their work or explore significant specimens from the Museum's collections. The free events, which are also webcast on the Museum's website, are informal and lively with audience participation encouraged. However, the Museum found that the audio system was unable to cope with the demands resulting from live situations and selected Allen & Heath's iDR DSP system to replace it.

"The original audio equipment, designed before the Darwin Centre opened in 2002, was unable to separate microphones indi

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UK - UK - Continuing what will be a busy season for new musicals in London is Beautiful and Damned, set in the 1920s and telling the tragic story of Zelda Sayre and F. Scott Fitzgerald. White Light and The Moving Light Company supplied lighting and Autograph Sound Recording supplied a complete audio and communications system.

LD Nick Richings design included both conventional and automated lighting. The automated rig from The Moving Light Company includes 10 Martin Mac500s, 10 Martin Mac2000 Profile and eight Vari-Lite VL2000 Wash units. The conventional rig features over 100 ETC Source Four profile spots with 10°, 19°, 25°, 36° and 50° lenses, the 10° units using 750W lamps; 40 Par 64s, 12 Selecon Pacific 90°, 20 Strand Prelude fresnels, 10 Thomas four-cell battens and eight Thomas two-circuit MR16 battens. Control is from a Wholehog II console with two 48-

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UK - Already operating successful venues in Rugby and Dunstable, Ricky Pipe's RP Enterprises has converted the Loughborough Conservative Club into a new all-day music-oriented café bar to be known as Alcazar. The new venue will have cost Ricky Pipe between £500,000-£600,000 to develop. Once again he has turned to John Southee's JPS Sound & Light to design and supply the audio and visual infrastructure.

JPS has specified 22 wall-mounted, co-axial design, Wharfedale Pro Twin 12s as the main sound reinforcement system, evenly distributed throughout the 500-capacity venue. Two of the bass reflex enclosures have been deployed as reference monitors in the DJ booth (where the new Denon DN-S3000 tabletop CD player and Allen & Heath Xone:62 mixer provide the source material), and a further Twin 12 greets guests as they arrive at the front door.

The sub frequencies are handled by fou

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Turkey - Sennheiser supplied the microphone and monitoring systems, plus its technical knowledge and support, for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Held in Istanbul's Abdi Ipecki stadium, the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 broke all previous records with 100 million viewers expected to watch the TV coverage of the event, now in its 49th year.

Now that the number of participating nations has increased by around 50%, the Turkish television company TRT held a semi-final round ahead of the actual show on May 15. Sennheiser technology promised perfect sound for both events - even under the difficult radio transmission conditions at the venue.

Wednesday 12 May was the first opportunity for 22 competing nations to show just what they have to offer in the field of popular music, and TRT broadcast the semi-final round live on TV. The 10 best songs then proceeded to the final on the follo

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UK - Bristol-based South West Audio recently completed the 'Evolve' conference for Virgin Mobile using a D.A.S. line array. The conference was held at an IMAX Theatre in Bristol, as the client wanted to use one of Europe's biggest screens and also because the high quality of the IMAX sound.

At the initial technical rehearsal, using the standard Imax Sound system, the client informed South West Audio that they wanted the sound louder, to the point of being almost uncomfortable, but without hotspots and without flying, and with a set-up time of only two hours. Mike Taylor, production manager for South West Audio, explained their solution: "With a clear brief from the client, and with limited time, we decided to put in the active D.A.S. line array system. The system was set-up easily by only two people within the time allowed and, as soon as we powered up, it was clear that th

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USA - Biamp Systems has introduced its new MXA Series of mixer/amplifiers. "Our new MXA Series is designed to meet the most demanding needs of installers, and integrators," said Ralph Lockhart, president of Biamp Systems. "As a replacement for the CMA Series, it provides our customers a more streamlined design and smoother running system than they've ever had before."

One of the current trends in commercial installations is the requirement for more power. The MXA Series mixer/amplifiers deliver on that promise having been built on the bedrock of the CMA Series, but offering improvement with four more powerful models: 35W, 75W, 150W, or 300W power amplification, each in a 2 RU space. Each model in the series provides a six-input mic/line mixer with an integral power amplifier, including an output transformer for delivering rated power into direct or distribute

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Germany - Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH has released a new update to its Nuendo and Cubase digital audio workstations. The 2.2 versions of Nuendo, Cubase SX and Cubase SL will offer new remote control features, with Cubase SX and Nuendo also receiving three new VST plug-ins. The update for all three programs is now available as a free internet download to existing owners.

The added functionality includes improved support for hardware controllers. New in Cubase SL, Cubase SX and Nuendo 2.2 is support for the Mackie Control Universal Extender units, in addition to the current support for the main Mackie Control unit. Multiple Extender units can be added to a Mackie Control to offer direct access to channels in Cubase SX, Cubase SL and Nuendo. The Generic Remote area of all three applications has also seen an overhaul, with control for a full set of functions now implemented in

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UK / Turkey - Midas and Klark Teknik have announced the appointment of The Atempo Group as their exclusive distributor for Turkey. The experienced distribution specialist, with offices in Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya, has handled Electro-Voice and Dynacord for some years and is delighted to be taking on the Midas and Klark Teknik ranges.

"We view this as a highly significant appointment for Midas and Klark Teknik," commented Midas and KT's director of sales and marketing, David Cooper. "Atempo voluntarily terminated a long-standing distribution agreement with a major Japanese digital console manufacturer in order to be able to carry the Midas brand. They correctly understand that Midas will retain the profile and competitive advantages that we have achieved in the analogue console market with our forthcoming digital products."

Atempo's Okan Akbay says: &qu

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UK - Following the release of the DN-X1500 mixer, Denon has announced a new rack kit (RMK1500), which will allow users to operate it rack-mounted. The rack version of the DN-X1500 occupies 8U of conventional 19" space.

The DN-X1500 is the world's first 12" four-channel DJ mixer to offer 8-channel input matrix control - and the latest addition to Denon's leading range of professional DJ equipment.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK / USA - Software provider Stardraw.com has appointed Dove Net Technologies as resellers of the entire Stardraw product range throughout the United States and Canada with immediate effect. According to Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson, the appointment is a logical extension of Stardraw's activities in North America: "Dove Net's product portfolio complements our own in every possible way," he commented. "Furthermore, they are already familiar with our client base as their own software, The Project System, is designed for exactly the same user profile. Dove Net Technologies are highly experienced in all aspects of complex software sales, technical support and development. I can't think of any company that's better qualified for the job."

Dove Net's own application, The Project System, offers systems integrators a fully featured administration program

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USA - Professional loudspeaker manufacturer Apogee Sound International has promoted Tim Thornton to vice-president of International Sales. Thornton will report to Dave Chambers, executive vice-president of sales, who said: "Tim will be a key contributor as Apogee Sound moves forward to increase its international business in more than 40 countries."

Thornton joined Apogee Sound in 1997 as national sales manager, developing a technical and sales training curriculum for Apogee's factory representatives and dealers. Thornton's classes include topics ranging from the basics of pro audio, loudspeaker technology, system design and system operation, to building a sales staff and bringing them up to speed on Apogee Sound products and customers. Thornton built successful relationships with sound consultants, consulting engineers, designers and architects, and increased Apogee S

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UK - Neil Muckle has used his 14 years' management experience with Mitchells & Butlers to convert the popular Isobar, in the Cornish holiday resort of St. Ives, into an all-day café bar and nightclub venue and at the same time to increase the capacity. Muckle and his Dude Bars business partner Nick Kenlay decided to retain the name of the popular venue, which has been operating as a nightclub for many years.

To accomplish this he turned to Nigel Hodgson of Core Design, who in turn enlisted Mark Brown of Marquee Installations. Hodgson's brief was to get the ground floor bar fully functioning as a multi-purpose chameleon venue in its own right - from an early breakfast and coffee operation through to a pre-club feeder. "As well as the interior design our brief was to re-design the flow round the entire building to enable it to function as a single unit," says Hodgson. T

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UK - Adlib Audio and Harman Pro UK collaborated closely to design, supply and install a JBL VerTec line array system at the Isle of Man's new flagship multi-purpose venue - the Villa Marina, situated alongside its sister, the Gaiety Theatre.

Adlib won the competitive tender to supply the kit - which also includes other Harman brands including BSS, Crown and Soundcraft. The project was co-ordinated by Adlib's Andy Dockerty and Harman Pro UK's Max Lindsay-Johnson, and for the client by Steve Dawson, general manager of the Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre Complex.

The brief was to specify the right production values to attract regular touring artists of all types. It also had to match the architectural integrity of the room and maintain clear sightlines from all around the auditorium. Harman did an initial site survey and constructed an acoustic model of the venue, along with a 3D

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USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced the appointment of David Rahn as national sales manager. "David has a strong background in pro audio sales and marketing," said Renkus-Heinz president, Harro Heinz. "He understands the needs of both manufacturers and independent representatives, having contributed to both types of organizations. We're excited to have him on board as the leader of our US sales team."

Before joining Renkus-Heinz, Rahn covered the Southern California and Las Vegas territory for the Harman pro brands through their independent rep firm Sound Marketing West. As an independent rep, Rahn managed the touring and installed sound markets in these regions. During this time he was involved in the development and successful deployment of JBL's VerTec product line. Rahn left a position as market development manager for AKG Acoustics to join Sound Marketing

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USA - Biamp Systems has supplied an AudiaFLEX system to Central Interconnect of Grand Rapids, Michigan for installation into the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center there. According to Biamp, a single Audia unit can provide the power of an entire rack of processors, bringing even the most difficult acoustic environments under control. "Our flagship Audia currently brings Biamp Systems quality and reliability to the world of networked audio," says Biamp Systems president, Ralph Lockhart. "We're excited to have an institution of the calibre of the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center choose Audia as its central networking platform."

The audio demands at Forest Hills were rigorous. As part of the creation of this multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art fine arts facility, the designers created an auditorium for musical performances. Originally, facility owners designed a syste

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UK - Soundtracs has reported record sales in the first quarter of 2004, with consoles being purchased by an increasing number of post production facilities across Europe. Sales include DS-00s to Molinaire Studios and Alchemy, along with Peter Vitesse's console at Sphere in London; a DS-00 to BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham; a DPC to Sky TV adding to its already extensive inventory of Soundtracs products; a dual master section film-spec DS-00 to Alea Jacta in Belgium; a DS-00 to Yellow Cab in Paris, France plus two DS-00s to Endemol Nederland BV, and another to Archipel Productions in Paris.

"We're seeing a general up-turn in the post-production industry," comments Soundtracs' director of sales, James Gordon. "This is reflected in the amazing amount of sales we've made so far this year and the rest of the year looks set to be equally as good."

(Sarah Rushton-R

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UK - The new RoadGear range from Phonic is a fully integrated mobile sound solution, housed in a moulded case, it contains a powered mixer and two loudspeakers along with all relevant cabling. Both models in the range, the RoadGear 160 and 260, offer enough storage space to safely pack microphones and associated microphone and speaker cables, plus dedicated space for wireless microphone storage, making RoadGear the perfect sound system for use in pubs, clubs, schools, churches and a variety of other applications. Set-up can be achieved quickly and when it comes to break down, RoadGear can be quickly packed up and wheeled away.

The RoadGear 160 and 260 have an output capacity of 160 and 260W as well as four and six channel powered mixers respectively. Features common to both models include 2-band EQ, XLR inputs with universal phantom power, a digital effects processor, 3-band equ

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Denmark - Mach Speakers has expanded its Ceiling/In-wall series of loudspeakers with the new MIW66. The MIW66 is a two-way ceiling or in-wall speaker with separate driver units and excellent sound quality in a strong, moulded plastic cabinet, with a specialized backing case.

The MlW66 is designed for discreet placement and easy mounting in areas where high-definition in-fill sound is required. It features a built in 70/100V module and includes a six-step variable output volume. A 1" polycarbonate dome tweeter and 6.5" propylene woofer provide 90° x 90° dispersion and outstanding sound quality, says Mach. It includes an easy-to-use and secure mounting system, as well as simple press-release terminals for fast connection.

The MIW66 is suited to a wide range of wall cavity or ceiling cavity installations - venues of all sizes, conference rooms, retail stores and mor

  1. Autograph extends its portfolio for ABTT
  2. New digital controller for Nexo speaker systems
  3. Praesideo System receives SOLAS and TÜV approval
  4. Autograph A2D supplies D5T for Queen musical
  5. Barcelona's new concept hotel
  6. Sound Projects reinforces Innocence
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