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UK - For the past three years, those in the north east of England have witnessed a giant concrete, metal and glass construction rising in Gateshead, on the south bank of the River Tyne. Now The Sage Gateshead - a brand new £70m home for musical education and entertainment - is open for business.

Gateshead Council is extraordinarily keen for the arts to be inclusive, encouraging as many people as possible to be involved. The purpose behind The Sage is to mix education and inspiration, combining state-of-the-art facilities for hands-on learning and performance spaces.

Beneath the metal and glass outer shell there are six separate buildings, which contain four main performance venues, a 26-room music education centre, ExploreMusic (a high-tech hands-on education facility run by Gateshead Libraries), a shop/box office, five front of house bars, a café and brasserie.

Interestin

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UK - After its West End premier in 1989, Cameron Mackintosh's production of Miss Saigon became the third most successful musical in the history of British theatre. It was the longest-running show ever to play at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and two years ago enjoyed record-breaking tour in six of the UK's largest theatres.This newly designed and staged version of the show is once again touring the UK, but this time reaching cities with smaller venues unable to house the original production. However, a reduction in size doesn't mean reduced impact.

It's still one of the largest touring productions in the UK, with a company of over 50 actors and musicians and a reduced sized orchestra supplemented with an RTMS (Real Time Music Solutions) 'virtual orchestra' - a keyboard-driven sequencer and Giga Sampler system - playing the missing orchestra parts to ensure that full aural impact

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USA - Lectrosonics has announced the immediate availability of its DM Series Digital Audio Processor Systems with LecNet2 control software. The powerful DM Series systems provide easily configurable processing, mixing, and routing capabilities for sound reinforcement and conferencing applications often requiring multiple microphones and loudspeakers. The DM Series will also be showcased at NSCA 2005 Expo.

The DM Series consists of three digital automatic matrix mixers - the DM1624, DM1612 and DM812 - respectively offering 16 mic/line inputs and 24 line outputs; 16 mic/line inputs and 12 line outputs; and eight mic/line inputs and 12 line outputs. Each model features a full DSP-based crosspoint matrix, where any input can be routed to any or all outputs, allowing for superb flexibility. Subsequent to each input's A/D conversion, six DSP filters, an automatic digital feedback elim

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Italy - In Venice, leading Italian PA rental company Audio Uno has flown Nexo GEO S speaker arrays in one of the most exquisite architectural settings in the world. The historic Gran Teatro La Fenice de Venezia, which dates back to 1792, has been completely restored to its original glory following a devastating fire in 1996. Audio Uno was called upon to provide a premier-quality sound reinforcement system for the first major event to take place in the Gran Teatro since its renovation and re-opening. The Premio Campiello is Italy's top competition for writers, and this was the first occasion the prestigious awards ceremony had been held in the Fenice.

For the 2500-capacity theatre, Audio Uno supplied a GEO S tangent-array system which was configured in left and right arrays of eight GEO S830 cabinets each side. Two CD12 sub-bass bins were included on each side of the stage, and

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UK - Theatre sound specialist Orbital has welcomed Jeremy Ellis on board as part of its project management team. Fulfilling his childhood ambition to work in theatre, he studied Technical Theatre at Rose Bruford drama school as a mature student. From there he was offered the position of sound number two on Phantom of the Opera, before embarking on countless international/national touring and West End theatre productions as a sound operator.

Bringing a wealth of talent and experience to the Orbital team, he is set to channel his passion for theatre sound into managing the streamlined operations of both West End and touring productions. Ellis said: "It's really fantastic to be part of Orbital's team. The position offers me the perfect role to continue working within the industry I love, but without the strains of touring and mixing eight shows a week. I'm really looki

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UK - Carlsbro has appointed former Academy of Sound sales and operations manager Jon Gold as its new head of brand and marketing development, with responsibility for developing and marketing the Carlsbro Brand worldwide. Gold has had many years' experience in the leisure and live entertainment industry, in a number of senior marketing, brand development and operational roles prior to joining Academy of Sound, where he was responsible for the day to day operation of their stores together with the marketing and promotions, until the recent merger with Sound Control.

Commenting on his new role Gold said: "When Andrew first approached me about the opportunity, it didn't take long for me to realize that this was the ideal role for me. The work that Andrew, Nick, John and the rest of the dedicated team have done in reviving this great brand during the past four years is nothing

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USA - Fur, in Washington DC, is a new multi-level entertainment establishment that's been drawing record crowds since it's opening late last year. Fur features a sophisticated décor, including the trademark mink-covered walls, but more importantly, it's the state-of-the-art EAW Avalon sound system that keeps the devoted patrons coming back for more.

Designed by John Fiorito, owner of OHM Productions and installed by his associate Jeff Darby, the EAW Avalon system was conceived during the renovation stage of the classic 1890s building. "Because we entered the renovation stage early, we were able to design the floor plan around the Avalon system itself," explained Fiorito. "As a result, Fur's Avalon system is cleverly integrated into all areas of the club whilst not detracting from the meticulous décor."

The main floor, which hosts the stage and dance flo

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USA - Lighting, audio reinforcement, video and technical production management was provided for the Celebration of Freedom Concert on the Ellipse in Washington DC by Showcall Inc, a Maryland based technical event production company. "The Showcall team delivered a flawless event to us despite the crew and equipment having to brave heavy rain, sub-zero temperatures, biting wind and three inches of snow during the load in process on the Ellipse. These guys are just incredible," said Jason Recher, a managing director of events for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

The event was designed to accommodate 65,000 attendees and included three LED videowalls, a Martin Audio Line array for the main and delay audio system as well as dozens of intelligent lighting fixtures. The stage, measuring 60ft x 100ft, was illuminated by BSL Productions using 28 Vari-Lite 3000 and 14 Var

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USA - Even before his graduation from Pasadena Art College of Design as an illustrator and graphic artist, it was pretty clear that Mike Shinoda's band, Linkin Park, was onto something big. In fact, as the story goes, Shinoda was doing his eighth term finals on the same weekend the band was playing a showcase for six different record labels. Despite his growing renown in the hip-hop and rock music scenes, Shinoda's background is in piano and production. "I listen to everything," he explains, "and I try to experiment with as many types of music as I can. I try hard to stay versatile."

Shinoda says a good part of the band's material is written in his home studio or on the tour bus. "We always like to get the basic shell of a song together before taking it into a studio - it's less stressful that way, plus you're not paying for a big studio while you're sc

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Germany - Axxent has revealed its new AX series of power amplifiers, consisting of various models to suit varying power outputs and applications. The professional amplifier models of the T-series have been developed for fixed installations with constant voltage distribution and are optimized for these applications in every aspect, say the manufacturer, such as standard 19" rack housing, detachable knob hoods to insure that settings are not altered accidentally, detachable power cable with rear side connector and balanced XLRs for signal looping.

Axxent has developed the unique ILM-Technology for control of the output current, avoiding clipping distortion and protecting the loudspeakers. Axxent offers the choice between the model AX-2120T with 2 x 120W and the AX-2240T with 2 x 240W of output power with reference to 100V constant output voltage.

For installations requiri

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The Netherlands - HK Audio's Dutch Concert Sound distributor, Audio Insight, supplied an HK Audio Cohedra (Coherent Dynamic Response Array) system for a six-day indoor cycle tournament at the Rotterdam Ahoy club in early January.

The system was set up as a flown centre cluster in the middle of the venue, to cover the audience of 7,500. The cluster consisted of two arrays of 12 Cohedra CDR208 mid/high cabinets, each with six CDR 210 F flyable subwoofers, to cover either side of the hall where the audience was seated. This small 2 x 12 setup covered almost all the audience area around the cycle track, while four sets of two VT115X multi-functional two-way speakers covered small areas in the four corners of the venue, flown closer to the audience and delayed as necessary.

Two hangs of eight CDR 108C Cohedra Compact cabinets, each with two CDR 210 C compact subs, were used for co

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UK - Software provider Stardraw.com will formally launch its latest application, Stardraw Control, at NSCA 2005. Previewed at PLASA in London, the application has already generated a huge amount of excitement amongst manufacturers and systems specialists who have welcomed Stardraw's new approach to solving the problem of controlling heterogeneous systems.

Stardraw Control generates standalone, customized control programs that can manage any type of addressable equipment from any manufacturer over any communications infrastructure. Instead of being locked into closed architectures wherever system control, monitoring or signal routing has been required, Stardraw Control offers systems integrators an open, software-based, unified control framework that can manage the entire system with a single application, regardless of system complexity.

Stardraw Control is fast, powerful,

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UK - Lighting and sound rental house HSL kicked off 2005 as it means to continue, purchasing a large quantity of Vari lite VL1000TS framing units for hire stock. This is in response to the steady and continuing growth of HSL's hire division and to service several immediately up-coming productions.

Other recent lighting purchases include Avolites dimming and control - with more Pearl 2004 consoles and rack mount optical splitters joining the inventory. Additional WholeHog II and Hog 1000 consoles have also been added to HSL's stock, plus a series of power distribution units from SES Ltd.

Blackburn-based HSL also continues to invest heavily in LED technology, and the number of James Thomas Pixel LED units continues to increase. HSL now offers access to over 250 JTE 1044 PixelLine battens and 150 PixelPAR 90 units - making HSL the largest European supplier of LED lighting.

MD S

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USA - Richmond Sound Design Ltd (RSD) of Vancouver, Canada, and London, England, has appointed Merv Buchanan to the newly created position of market development manager for North America. Buchanan brings a wealth of experience to RSD, having worked as a music producer, systems designer, college instructor and marketing executive with organizations as diverse as Videomax, Trend Records, Toa Electronics, Fanshawe College and MuchMusic. A native of Cape Breton, Buchanan began in the entertainment business in 1963, while attending DeVry Technical Institute, an electronics college in Toronto.

During the sixties, Buchanan operated his own record label and recording studio in Toronto. Trend Records was Canada's first independent, fully integrated record company. In 1969 he produced the landmark 'Sussex' by Bent Wind, the most collectable album ever produced in Canada. In the 70s he ra

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UK - Sound design and installation company CP Sound has completed an eye-catching integrated audio system at Cocoon in Regent Street - an elegant, classy sushi bar and Japanese restaurant. CP Sound encountered many challenges throughout the project, the major one being the design and build of 18 custom spherical speakers: these contain JBL components, and were designed and produced by CP Sound's in-house team. CP Sound won the contract on the strength of previous successful one-off projects for Cocoon's owners and operators, Ignite.

The entire geometry, design and individual ambience of Cocoon - created by the renowned New York-based Stephan Dupoux - revolves around a spatially lavish series of interlocking circles and spheres. This specific environment required highly precise audio: "The only way to achieve exactly what they wanted was to start from scratch, producing a s

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UK - The Spring Term at Reading University began in 2005 with a bit of a party which was also the opening night for its new AD Systems sound installation. The university Nightclub - 3sixty - opened in January 2001 with a capacity of 1200 and holds events up to four times a week so quickly established itself as one of the best Student Union venues in the country.

As well as catering for the clubbers in the university, there has been a number of major acts making an appearance on the 3sixty stage including Supergrass, Miss Dynamite, Lisa Mafia, Reef, Dannii Minogue, The Bluetones and Judge Jules! The new sound system had to ensure it did not infringe on the stage or floor area, remained within the aesthetics' of the existing décor, provides a system that will cope with play back and touring bands and finally be cost effective, reliable and low maintenance. Ian MacDonald, Readings

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USA - The televised pre-game entertainment from Super Bowl XXXIX (that's 39 for non-Romans), held at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, used a variety of Sennheiser equipment. "The entire pre-game entertainment was all Sennheiser," confirms James Stoffo, an RF expert who works on many major sports and entertainment events. "There were Sennheiser 3000 in-ears and Sennheiser EM1046 receivers and Sennheiser 5000 handhelds with Neumann heads."

Stoffo, whose Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a Masque Sound company, is based in Orlando, Florida, supplied the RF microphones, receivers and antennas, while sound production company ATK AudioTek supplied the 3000 Series personal monitor systems. Every handheld comprised a Sennheiser/Neumann hybrid RF mic, which combines a Sennheiser 5000 Series wireless transmitter with Neumann's KK105 capsule.

"But the cool th

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France - d&b audiotechnik's latest Qi-Series installation range of loudspeakers made a colourful display at the SIEL exhibition in Paris. Personnel from d&b audiotechnik France along with its sales partners played host, presenting a selection of the product range, including the renowned Q-Series, the D12 amplifier, d&b's Remote network and ROPE C software.

The Qi-Series, based on d&b's popular Q-Series products, includes loudspeakers and specialized accessories that can be properly colour matched to interior designs, are mechanically adapted for installation use and can be protected for climatically hostile environments. Five loudspeaker types make up the Series; the Qi1, Qi7 and Qi10 that are passively crossed over two-way loudspeakers sharing the same physical size, shape, weight and driver compliment (a 1.3" exit HF and two 10" LF drivers), while the Qi-SUB and QiC

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USA - Bogen Communications. and Apogee Sound announced today that Daytona International Speedway has installed a broad and extensive array of leading edge Bogen and Apogee sound equipment in its new "World Center of Racing". The World Center of Racing, built in just seven months, embodies a new multi-million dollar, state-of-the art venue located within the Daytona Speedway's infield. It offers the world's most extraordinary, "up-close and personal" fan experience in motor sports: interactive displays; a tribute area to the legends of the Speedway; rooftop spectator areas; upgraded specialty vehicle infield parking; renovated NEXTEL Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series Garages; a new Gatorade Victory Lane; and a new signature infield structure, the Daytona 500 Club building. All sound reinforcement in each of these locations is delivered exclusively through Bogen

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UK - Ampetronic induction loops have recently been installed at the heart of two major London tourist attractions, ensuring that the hearing impaired can enjoy the experience just as much as those with no disability. Driven by twin Ampetronic ILD9 induction loop amplifiers via an SP5 phaser, Scanaudio has installed adjacent ultra-low spill loop systems at the British Museum's Virtual Mummy exhibition. This showcase is made possible by CAT scanning technology, allowing the Museum to see 'inside' an Egyptian mummy which has resided intact at the museum since the late 19th Century. The exhibition is based on the resulting three-dimensional model and explores who the body inside the mummy might have been, how he lived and so on. Visitors are treated to a 20-minute IMAG show, featuring full surround sound and 3D visuals.

"Because of the show's format, our main consideration was

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UK - Hawthorn Theatrical, has made its first investment in line array technology - with Martin Audio. The company has consolidated a relationship with the High Wycombe company that extends over a decade by purchasing 16 x W8LM Mini Line Array enclosures, matched with six WLX subs.

Hawthorn's head of sound, Iain Reinhold, said the acquisition made perfect sense. "It creates compatibility with our already comprehensive inventory of Martin Wavefront systems and will allow us to expand our work portfolio by quoting for more outdoor work."

This portfolio is already substantial, as Martin Hawthorn's Leicestershire-based company has carved out an enviable share of the large-scale corporate event market since setting up the business 18 years ago as sound and lighting specialists.

"As we were being asked to service more arena-style conferences we decided to demo the Ma

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Germany - The new D-Lite 2000 satellite system from Dynacord combines audio performance; easy handling, versatility and expandability say the company. The 2000W system is tailored to the needs of entertainers, mobile DJs and small bands.

The central unit of the Dynacord D-Lite 2000 system is the PowerSub 315 active sub-woofer. Weighing in at 39 kilos, the PowerSub 315 houses the 1000W Class D amplifier that drives the integrated 15" sub-woofer plus 2 X 500W for the connected satellites but also all the audio processing. By optimizing the air stream, the integrated high-speed laminar vent (HSLV - patent pending) delivers extremely high sound pressure levels in the sub-bass region, which here reaches all the way down to 32 Hz!

The PowerSub 315 is capable of powering up to four eight-ohm satellites (two per side) and an additional pair of eight-ohm subwoofers. The sub-woofer

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USA - Sennheiser RF and wired microphones and wireless personal monitor systems played a significant part in the 47th Annual Grammy Awards show telecast, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. In addition to the wide array of Sennheiser and Neumann equipment used onstage, this year, for the very first time, the stereo and 5.1 surround broadcast audio was enhanced with the addition of more than 36 audience microphones. Capturing the crowd ambiance were four Sennheiser shotgun microphones, plus Neumann cardioid compact miniature and large diaphragm mics.

Wireless systems, provided and overseen by frequency coordinator Dave Bellamy and his Soundtronics RF service company, included Sennheiser SKM5000-N handhelds fitted with Neumann KK 105-S elements for a variety of artists, including Eve, performing with Gwen Stefani, Tim McGraw, and Joss Stone. Two-thirds of the 24 RF persona

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UK - Although Andrew and Roselyn Baldwin have been operating in the nightclub industry for the past 14 years, it has been during the 12 months since establishing Jedi Light and Sound that they have really made an impact on the installation front.

Last month the company provided a radical sound and lighting upgrade to the former Oval in Wood Green - animating the venue (now known as Club KO) with a number of original Geni scanning effects from Lighting Effects Distribution and re-configuring the resident Martin Audio sound system.

DJ Spoony had been one of the partners in the previous Oval operation, which opened in the spring of 2002, but these days the venue is under the proprietorship of Mick Theo. "It was already a nice venue but lacked that wow factor," declared Andrew. Firstly they recommended two Geni Burst 2X 360° full-barrel effects - flipping and spinning 1

  1. VDC & Capital Sound on tour
  2. Allen & Heath: Frankfurt preview
  3. InnovaSON for Estrel Convention Centre
  4. Horizon Music Inc
  5. Shure's big night at the Grammys
  6. Aviom Inc
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