Sound

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Spain - HK Audio's Spanish distributor, Adagio, recently staged two separate demonstrations of the Cohedra 'Coherent Dynamic Response Array' system. The May presentations were held in two separate venues, one outdoors and one indoors, to demonstrate the flexibility of the system to local PA rental companies, sound technicians, events promoters and even a politician.

The outdoor demonstration was at the Plaza de Toros de Algeciras - a circular, 50m diameter bullfighting ring with a capacity of 12,500. Here, a customer of Adagio, Sonilprof PA rental company, helped provide a system of 12 Cohedra mid/high cabinets per side - six CDR 208 Ts and CDR 208 Ss - were flown on aluminium trusses. These were supplemented with a stack of 12 Cohedra CDR 210 Sub subwoofers per side. The system was powered with two PR 16 and two PR 8 amp racks.

After putting this system through its paces, th

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UK - Zest Audio Ltd has announced that it has won the Innovation Award at the recent Shell Livewire Business Awards 2004, for the development and successful export of the company's new business music control system, Atmosphere. The awards ceremony was held in Belfast's Waterfront Hall recently.

Atmosphere automatically plays from a selection of pre-programmed music channels: 12 of these channels have been specifically programmed by Zest audio for the hospitality industry. Additional channels may be created by the customer to meet the requirements of its particular venue. Additional facilities include multi-zoning and the inclusion of advertising features.

Zest Audio is a young and quickly expanding export company, with a growing distribution network throughout Europe, and is currently expanding into the new EU countries.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Following the announcement that it is to distribute the Rolls product line in the UK, the US company has now awarded distribution of the renowned Bellari processor range to Smart Sound Direct. Specializing in analogue valve technology, the Bellari line comprises the MP105 valve microphone, the VP129 valve phono preamp and RP220 dual valve mic preamp, the RP503 valve mic processor and RP533 studio valve multi-processor, and the RP583 studio comp/limiter.

The MP105 is ideal for anyone requiring a warm, smooth analogue sound, say Smart Sound, and the VP129 is claimed to possess a more warm and musical tone than solid state preamps. The RP220 boasts smooth yet punchy characteristics that drive vocal tracks to the front and warm up any digital mix, while the RP503 is said to be ideal for any recording situation and the RP533 should prove an ideal addition to any established rig,

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UK - A new technical college has been built from the ground up in the Digbeth area of Birmingham. Described as the biggest thing to happen to education in the City for over 30 years, it forms a £17m, state-of-the-art training facility for Art, Design & Digital Media, Music & Performance, Information Technology and Trade Union Studies.

Since part of the curriculum will be teaching audio and media students, a high-grade playback and recording suite infrastructure was required. While the South Birmingham College was installing Digidesign ProTools suites on the one-hand, locally-based SSE Hire were successfully tendering for the auditorium fit-out.

"We were fortunate to get involved in the project when it was still at the pre-cast concrete stage. Therefore we were able to be involved in the specification and supply a complete turnkey package," says SSE's sales manager,

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UK / Germany - Liverpool-based audio and lighting services company Adlib Audio has made a major commitment to Camco, the German amplifier manufacturer, taking delivery of more than sixty new Vortex 6 digital amplifiers for use with its JBL VerTec system. The equipment is being supplied by Camco's UK distributor Fuzion plc, and is being seen by Adlib Audio as "an initial purchase, and part of a major long-term investment."

"We really feel that the Vortex 6 is the best amplifier on the market for the VerTec," says Adlib's Dave Kay, who has spent a considerable amount of time evaluating leading brands. "The Camco shone above every other model that we tested."

Adlib Audio is sidelining its existing stock of Crown VZ-5002s, principally because of size considerations. "We needed to save weight, and to free up more space in the trucks," expla

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Finland - The Crazy Reindeer complex in Lapland is now one of the Artic Circle's most popular tourist destinations. The centre offers full hotel and conference facilities, gourmet dining, saunas, a jacuzzi as well as a 1,500-capacity club/live venue. Midas and Klark Teknik distributors Oy Hedcom have so far supplied all of the venue's audio and AV equipment, which included a 52-input Midas Legend console in 2002, along with a Nexo sound system. This year, the Crazy Reindeer has opted to install a full monitor system comprising a 48-channel Midas XL250, six Klark Teknik DN360 graphic EQs and Camco-driven Nexo PS15 wedges and side-fills.

According to Hedcom's Ari Manninen, the choice was a straightforward one. "The client had already made the decision to invest in Midas with the Legend 3000, and it's proved to be an excellent choice. However, the place is packed to the rafter

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UK - PMC, the UK manufacturer of professional monitor and audiophile speaker systems, has appointed Ian Downs to the newly-created position of UK sales manager in its Professional Division. The creation of the new post is a response to the continuing expansion of PMC's sales base and the introduction of innovative new products - including the Flying Mole Corporation's digital Bi-Phase Fusion amplification range and the PMC DB1-A and TB2-A active monitors - both launched at the Berlin AES Convention.

Downs comes with over 20 years of experience in professional audio, including, most recently, more than 14 years with Denon's professional audio and broadcast products. Welcoming him to the team, PMC head of sales, Miles Roberts, commented: "We were on the look-out for someone who could bring a fresh approach to the management of our UK pro sales activity - an important next ste

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Hungary - Martin Audio has announced a further Line Array purchase in Eastern Europe. Last month a new system helped the Slovak Republic celebrate its membership to the EU and now a W8LC/W8C combination has been ordered by Hungarian rental company, RMS.

Tibor Kiss's company has added 12 x W8LC Compact Line Array enclosures, along with eight conventional Wavefront 8 Compact (W8C), a pair of WSX subs and two DX1 system controllers to its rental inventory.

RMS specialize in providing sound reinforcement for rock and pop concerts, and count heavy metal icons such as Slayer, Manowar and Anthrax among their accounts, as well as Clawfinger, TNT, EDDA and events like the Sommer Rock Festival.

"The reason we chose the Martin line array was because of its amazing price/performance ratio," said Tibor. "We auditioned a lot of different line array systems - and always foun

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USA - The fifth annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which crammed sold-out crowds of over 50,000 onto Indio, California's Empire Polo Field for two days in early May, overwhelmed concertgoers this year with five stages boasting more than 80 bands, including Radiohead, The Cure, Kraftwerk, Beck, Flaming Lips, and the recently reunited Pixies. To handle sound reinforcement for the festival, event promoter Goldenvoice once again turned to Rat Sound Systems of Oxnard and U.S. Audio and Lighting of North Hollywood, both of whom brought out sizeable quantities of V-Dosc and dV-Dosc loudspeakers.

In particular, Rat Sound provided the system for Coachella's Main Stage, making this the third year in a row that the company's L-Acoustics rig has been flown at the giant outdoor venue. The main PA system featured left and right line arrays each comprised of 15 V-Dosc cabinets wi

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Australia - ARX Systems, the Australian pro audio manufacturer, has announced therelease of its new AudioBox range of precision tools, designed to perform essential professional audio functions in an ultra compact, flexible package. The first two products in the series released are the ISO Later and the ISO Splitter.

ISO Later is a transformer isolated de-coupler, for preventing and removing ground loops and for use in applications where complete galvanic isolation is required, e.g. installations, broadcast feeds, remote recording, etc.

The ISO Splitter is a transformer isolated 1 input to 2 outputs splitter, for splitting one mic or line level input two ways in applications where complete galvanic isolation is required. Both units feature heavy-duty all-steel chassis, fibreglass PCBs and ultra-low noise audio transformers, and are available in single-channel or double-header

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- Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline, Scotland, has recently purchased a pair of Meyer UPJ-1P powered compact VariO loudspeakers from Scotland's Meyer dealer, Apex Acoustics. Adding to the venue's existing installed sound system, the size and weight, power and versatility enables the use of their UPJ's for FOH or as foldback monitors. Carnegie Hall's Barry Young explains: "I still can't believe the clarity of the UPJ's. It's just a great speaker."

Carnegie Hall is a beautiful 1930s theatre based in the heart of Dunfermline in central Scotland. One of four Fife Council theatres, Carnegie Hall offers a popular and diverse programme of music, drama, dance, film, comedy, children's entertainment and pantomime.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Fox's smash hit American Idol has once again weeded through a pack of young pop star hopefuls to zero in on the big finale of its third season. As to be expected of a show with live performance at its heart, the studio's sound system was top-notch, right down to the 40-channel Soundcraft MH4 console used to mix monitors and house sound.

For the second consecutive year, Andrew 'Fletch' Fletcher was in charge of the live mix at CBS Television City in Hollywood where the event was filmed. He notes that he hand-picked the desk from the inventory of ATK AudioTek, the show's live sound equipment provider, primarily for its comprehensive routing and control capabilities.

"The MH4's matrix and VCAs were very big parts of my decision to use the console," says Fletch. "I had actually mixed the previous season on a pair of digital mixers with no VCAs or matrix

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USA - At the DanceStar USA Awards post-show party in one of Miami's top club, the Mynt Lounge. Lord Touissant, president of the Florida-based sound company Infinity Audio, which was charged with responsibility for sound at the event, said: "With the Cobra, I feel that Dynacord has come to market with a mobile system solution that makes me a hero. Not only does the Cobra sound great - I mean really great - it's easy to set-up and virtually idiot proof. There's really no way to set the system up wrong, and given the stresses in this type of environment, that's something I've come to count on. It's a great club system, inside or out, and it saves a lot of time and money in set-up - it's really that fast."

The COBRA has become a real hit these days in Florida. Touissant estimates that in the course of the Winter Music Conference (6 - 10 March, 2004) something like ten syst

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UK - Harman Pro UK, a subsidiary of Harman International Industries, will exhibit at ABTT for the first time, reflecting the growing importance of the theatre market for Harman brands.

Harman Pro UK is the UK and Ireland's exclusive distributor for JBL, AKG and dbx products, and offer full technical and service support along with acoustic design assistance to its approved dealer and installer network.

The following JBL products will be shown: JBL VerTec Line Array speakers, JBL Control Contractor Speaker and from AKG the WMS4000 wireless microphones, the installed discreet microphones and the Performance microphones.

From dbx the Zone Pro 640 and the Dbx 260 DriveRack speaker management solutions. Harman Pro UK staff will be on hand to assist with all visitors enquiries on stand 26 in the Lindley Hall.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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Italy - A location sound recordist with a passionate, audiophile approach to his craft, Maurizio Argentieri, found the audio interface of his dreams two years ago when he read about Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882+DSP on the Internet. An audio engineer in the Italian film industry for over 15 years, the Rome native's recent English language work can be heard in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ as well as Mike Barker's upcoming A Good Woman and Michael Apted's much anticipated HBO series, Rome.

Argentieri uses Metric Halo's MIO 2882+DSP and SpectraFoo metering software with MOTU's Digital Performer as the host application on his Powerbook G4. He commented: "I chose the Metric Halo interface because it was the only one to use Firewire bus power. In my application this is a very important characteristic, because we do not always have electrical power.

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UK - Many of this summer's largest outdoor music events the UK has to offer, including Glastonbury, V and Reading will feature a rack of Focusrite outboard on the mix tower of the main stages. Numerous Platinum Compounders will be used for compression and gating whilst Focusrite's latest offering, the ISA 430 MKII Producer Pack is primed for each and every lead vocal.

Currently, F.O.H. engineers for a variety of acts, such as Moby, Pink, Jools Holland and Pavarotti, all insist on Focusrite channel strips for signal processing throughout their live work. A fine example is Tori Amos, who is permanently accompanied by a full rack of Red Range processors at every concert. However, such an immense rack of Red Range processors is rarely an option for the average live engineer, with many having to settle for onboard processing alone. Focusrite will be loaning sixteen Compounders (1U du

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China - Being the first, independent school specializing in sports to be built under the auspices of the Ministry of Community Development and Sports, the Singapore Sports School aims to cater to student athletes who want to excel both in sports and studies. The seven-hectare school is a co-educational and residential boarding school that offers top-class facilities, training and full sports science support.

AUP Consultants were appointed to design the new sound reinforcement needed for the 700-seater indoor auditorium and Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd (E&E Pte Ltd) was awarded the tender to install the system based on a design-build specification. Aside from the general use of the facility for indoor games such as basketball and badminton, the hall is also used for musical performance as it features a large theatrical stage with proscenium, curtains and lighting. A grandsta

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Japan - Allen & Heath has appointed a new distributor in Japan for its award winning range of Xone DJ and club mixers. Tokyo-based High Resolution Co. Ltd has been established since March 2001, dealing with all major MI chain and DJ stores across the country.

"We have been distributing Ableton Live for three years now and are very excited about being the distributor for the A&H Xone series. We strongly feel Xone - especially the new Xone:92 - and Ableton Live are the perfect combination for electro DJ performance, which is growing fast in this country," comments High Resolution's MD, Tatsuya Nishikawa.

Bob Goleniowski, Allen & Heath's Sales Director added: "Allen & Heath is very pleased with the appointment of High Resolution as the new Japanese representative for the Xone Series. We wanted to join forces with a distributor that caters for high-tech performance

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UK - Birmingham-based SSE Hire has carried out an installation at the Oakengates Theatre, Telford, upgrading the equipment it supplied six or seven years ago with a Nexo GEO-S tangent array system.

The new PA will service the 600-capacity, multipurpose (and reconfigurable) venue, in which the bleacher seating folds back to allow it to operate as a dancefloor. The set-up comprises five S-805's and a single S-830 enclosure each side of the proscenium arch, with four groundstacked CD12 cardioid subs positioned under the hangs.

The GEO S-8 Series speakers are processed with the Nexo NX241 controller - which includes GEO settings - and powered by three Camco Vortex 4 (2 x 920W/8 ohms) amplifiers. The original speakers have been redeployed as stage monitors. The new Nexo/Camco combination was part of a full audio integration, including playback, processing, mixing desk, and radio mi

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USA - When Ford Motor Company revealed its 2005 Mustang at Ford Division's Spring Dealer Meeting in Las Vegas during the week of 26 April, a herd of Mustang horses galloped around the audience on giant video screens. PRG helped immerse the audience in the experience by using the TiMax system to synchronize the movement of sound with the images. The result was a wild rush of excitement befitting the car's namesake!

PRG helped the audience experience another rush of excitement as Ford's new super car, the Ford GT, was revealed. After providing dramatic audio support for the car's entrance onto the stage, PRG used speakers under the seating area to shake the audience as the Ford GT's engine was "revved".

Other support provided by PRG for the event included supplemental lighting and full sound reinforcement for the event's receptions, speaker presentations, and Q&A sess

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Romania - The Sala Palatului in Bucharest has a capacity of around 3,000 seats and a history that includes some of the most illustrious names in 20th century music. Architecturally the Sala Palatului harks back to the days of Communism, but the managers of Romania's largest concert hall are now looking only to the future. To that end they have chosen a COBRA-4 line array from Dynacord. Gerom International - supported by EVI Audio partners HSA Audio S.R.C. - was responsible for the installation with the acoustic upgrade including the following components: two hangs consisting of six Dynacord COBRA-4 top/far units per side, two X 4 Dynacord COBRA PWH subs per side, eight Dynacord MX12 front fills, 10 x Dynacord L2400 power amps, three Dynacord DSP-244 processors, two Dynacord AM-12 monitors, two Dynacord V12-60P central clusters plus a variety of Electro-Voice microphones

The firs

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USA - The Philadelphia Orchestra has chosen to install an Audient ASP8024 analog console in its new home in Verizon Hall. The 36-input, in-line recording desk is the centrepiece of the audio control room at the 2,547-seat concert hall, which was designed specifically for the orchestra and is located within the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the internationally acclaimed performing arts complex in the heart of Philadelphia.

The Audient was chosen after a lengthy evaluation of analog and digital mixing console options side-by-side in the control room. "Whilst we were seduced by the recall and ease-of-use of the digital solutions, the sound of the Audient was a clear winner," offers Simon Woods, a former producer at Abbey Road Studios in London, and until recently, The Philadelphia Orchestra's vice president of artistic planning and operations.

"It was open

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UK - London-based contracting and installation specialists, Sound Division, has recently installed a Crown-driven Turbosound TXD system into what was one of East London's most notorious watering holes, the Royal Oak in Shoreditch. Originally made famous by the fact that the legendary Kray brothers used to drink there, the venue is now owned by independent entrepreneur Robbie O'Neill, who also owns three more music pub/bars across south and east London.

Of the four venues owned by O'Neill, Sound Division has installed systems into three of them, the other two being 19/20 in EC1 and The Bell in Wandsworth. O'Neill explained: "We're not a massive operator in this industry; we own four modestly sized bars, but the music element is an important part of their identity. I think one of Sound Division's strengths, and the reason we've used them across virtually all our venues, is th

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Switzerland - Outline's Swiss distributor, Stefano Trevisan of Musik Produktiv PA Licht, personally handled the installation of the first Butterfly Outline-array in the country, in Zurich's prestigious Icf-Celebration Hall, a modern recently inaugurated place of worship.

The Butterfly system installed is made up of two flown vertical line arrays, each with eight Hi-Pack C.D.H. 483 and four Low-Pack C.D.L. 1815 enclosures, featuring cardioid dispersion. There are also 2+2 floor-mounted Victor Live enclosures for the ultra-low frequencies. 2+2 Omnia Plus are used to cover the tiered side seating, whereas the stage monitoring is handled by two Bomber systems and six H.A.R.D. 212.

Head of audio at the Icf-Celebration Hall is Christof Mäder, known among local trade members for his 'golden ears' commented: "Honestly, I took it almost for granted that the system would have a v

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