Sound

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USA / Romania - Loud Technologies Inc. announced the appointment of Bucharest-based Stage Expert as the exclusive EAW distributor in Romania. In addition to being one of Romania's premier professional audio and lighting distribution operations, Stage Expert is also a leading production house offering staging, video and event management services as well as PA and lighting rental.

According to Stage Expert partner/production manager Alexandru Calin, EAW offers a high quality complement to his existing portfolio of brands. "EAW remains one of the biggest names in concert touring and has a well-earned reputation for being world leaders in technical audio advancement and creative loudspeaker design. We are very proud to represent EAW in Romania and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship."

EAW's Sean Martin is equally pleased with the appointment: "In addi

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Audio division has sold a Funktion One Resolution 4 loudspeaker system to Dave Nutbrown at Starsound Systems. Nutbrown was already using Funktion One's award winning touring speakers and had been getting an excellent reaction to them from his customers - particularly the quality of audio and powerful output for such compact cabinets, he says.

As a result, Nutbrown wanted to expand the company's hire stock, so he approached audio sales manager Peter Butler at UK dealer A.C. Lighting to supply four Resolution 4 touring enclosures and two F-218 bass enclosures.

The Resolution 4 touring enclosures feature a revolutionary flying system shared by all Resolution touring enclosures, which makes for fast and easy set up due to all the inter-cabinet flying hardware being built into the enclosures.

The F-218 double 18" bass enclosures utilize Funktion One's re

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Japan - A wonderful example of a modern classical concert hall, Tamba Symphony Hall in Japan has received many compliments for its striking interior design, particularly the use of local wood, something that is both aesthetically beautiful and acoustically ideal. Though relatively new, the concert hall was built in 1988, the Tamba management felt that advancing audio technology dictated the need for refurbishment.

"An acoustic comparison test was made at the site," said Mr Kunitaka Fukatsu of the Otaritec Corporation, which was asked to advise on a new system. "A few selected manufacturers systems were chosen and carefully examined. Finally a Q1 based system made by d&b audiotechnik was chosen. The reasons were clear; the d&b system's high quality sound and intelligibility; the potential for high SPLs when required with no loss of quality; and the low electrical c

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UK - Fuzion plc has announced the promotion of Jez Hunter - to the role of technical sales manager.

Hunter was originally recruited into Fuzion's sister company, Kelsey Acoustics Ltd, a year ago as a product specialist and consultant, where his technical expertise quickly had an influence. He now assumes a broader area of responsibility within the parent company's technical support team.

Said sales director Paul Ward: "Jez's pedigree as a complete systems installer, specializing in AV systems, means that he is sympathetic to needs of our customers. Fuzion is a solution focused company and Jez will further enhance our ability to assist our clients in achieving their goals on a technical level."

Although his previous appointment was timed to coincide with Kelsey's acquisition of the Furman range of products, the integration of the overall business will mean that he w

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UK - Martin Professional's Mach CI6 in-fill loudspeakers - 43 cabinets in total - have been installed into The Strand, Preston as part of a high quality background music system. The Strand is the city's newest and most exciting 'must go' venue, a contemporary new entertainment concept aimed at a lively, stylish clientele with good tastes in food, drink, design and music.

Preston is one of the fastest developing towns in the UK, with over 25,000 students, an ambitious urban regeneration scheme underway and a rich history in culture and commerce. The Strand is independently owned by Dave Patterson and general manager Dave Jones. They spotted a gap for a stylish venue outside the city centre that would attract over 25s and those prepared to make an effort to go out. The Strand is also the first completely non-smoking night venue in Preston.

The various social areas within the Str

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UK - Avril Lavigne's FOH engineer John Kerns looked pleased as he watched the crowd response at the recent Hammersmith Apollo gig. "This is probably the first time I have taken a real rock show out with a Meyer loudspeaker system," Kerns admits.

Having taken over FOH duties from Jim Yakabuski partway through Lavigne's extensive European and American tour, Kerns found himself in the capable hands of Audio Analysts system technician Brett Dicus. "Jim came up with a setup that he really liked," explains Dicus, "which was Meyer mains and a centre sub-hang. That is our priority whenever possible. The Meyer high-end energy from about 5kHz on up can't be beaten. We find we do not have to do the usual boosts for intelligibility with the MILO boxes."

The typical setup for a Lavigne show employs substantial quantities of MILO high-power curvilinear array lo

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UK - The Princess Pavilion in Falmouth, Cornwall has recently enjoyed a pro audio upgrade in the form of a twin HK Audio Actor PA system. Part of HK Audio's portable, self-powered active pro audio range, Actor delivers 2.6kW RMS per system, giving the Princess Pavilion a useful 5kW-plus of quality sound reinforcement.

The popular venue is host to a variety of shows and performances ranging from theatre and live concerts to charity and benefit evenings. In recent months, an increasing number of musical acts has included teen blues-pop favourites Rooster and rockgrass cult act, Hayseed Dixie amongst many others.

Supplied and installed by Cornwall-based specialists RJF Audio Visual, the twin Actor system setup is supplemented by four HK Audio Premium Series PR115X plus two Premium Series PR112M stage wedges. The Pavilion's management has said they are "supremely happy'"

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UK - Wigwam Acoustics' hire department deployed large numbers of Audio-Technica microphones to reinforce and provide broadcast feeds for the 100 piece tri-service orchestra at The WWII Commemoration Show on Sunday 10 July, staged on Horse Guards Parade, London.

11,000 WWII veterans joined a line-up of celebrities, including Dame Vera Lynn, Jane Horrocks, Bruce Forsythe and Simon Callow, with the tri-service orchestra and the Bach Choir, for the Festival of Commemoration in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. Televised live, the gala performance was designed by leading sound designer John Del Nero, whose credits include The Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Queens Golden Jubilee Celebrations at Buckingham Palace.

The Show was very complex and needed over 220 channels of microphone and instrument feeds, along with numerous sound effect and video feeds to and from the BBC. Audio-T

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UK - APR Audio made a successful debut at Glastonbury this year, using some of its large inventory of Electro-Voice X-Line to provide audio production services for the Jazz World stage, which this year hosted Roy Ayers, Roots Manuva, The Wailers, Taj Mahal, Femi Kuti, and the Levellers amongst others, attracting crowds of up to 30,000 for the biggest shows.

Under the supervision of Pete Russell, APR Audio provided left and right Electro-Voice X-Line hangs, each featuring 14 Xvls and two Xvlt cabinets, and using 32 matched X-subs, with eight XI 1152s for fill. Control was provided by way of Midas Heritage 3000 consoles on stage and at front-of-house, with KT Helix EQ with DN370s. All power was delivered by Precision Series P3000RL amplifiers, managed by the latest v2. IRIS control software which allows up to 250 amplifiers to be remotely controlled and supervised.

APR is partic

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UK - FX Rentals provided the PA system for an important new fixture in the arts calendar - the New Music Award, presented by the PRS Foundation for New Music, held in July before an invited audience at London's Living Room. FX, one of the major sponsors of the event alongside the PRS (Performing Right Society), provided four Mackie SRM 450 self-powered speakers with two HZ PB400 sub bass units, Pioneer CDJ1000 mk2 CD turntables and a Pioneer DJM600 DJ mixer, mics and a video distribution box for the evening's speeches, music and visuals.

"The PRS Foundation has worked with FX Rentals on several occasions, and their ongoing support is hugely significant," says PRS Foundation manager David Francis. "They are extremely helpful in working with us to ensure that our events run smoothly and successfully, and their technical knowledge and experience is second to none.&qu

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USA - EAW announced today the appointment of Mary Cook to the position of Application Support Group (ASG) Manager. Cook brings to EAW more than 15 years of experience in professional audio system design, installation and engineering, having worked for such companies as Ascom North, Al Nalli Music/Creative Audio and the Bose Corporation.

In her new role as ASG Manager, Mary will be responsible for coordinating EAW's worldwide system design support services that are offered to all distributors, dealers, consultants, and facility managers. She will also directly manage the ASG personnel in Whitinsville as well as support all international ASG personnel. Cook will be located in EAW's Whitinsville, Massacusetts office.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Superstar DJ Pete Tong recently selected two Allen & Heath Xone VF-1 analogue stereo filter units for use in his London studio, and performing live at his numerous global tour dates. Tong has also installed two VF-1 units in the Pacha club in Ibiza for him to use during his summer residency at the venue. "I'm always looking for ways of enhancing my live performance," comments Tong. "I got into Allen & Heath's filters when using the Xone:92 mixer, so, as a dedicated unit for the job the VF-1 is the next level in sophisticated filtering. It offers an impressive and dynamic range for me to experiment with."

The Xone VF-1's circuitry is an enhanced version of the filters built into the industry-standard Xone mixers, offering three basic filter types, which can be combined to create further filter types. The VF-1 can interface with any mixer, has MIDI capabil

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UK - Cadac Electronics plc is emphasizing its quality pedigree at PLASA 2005, showing its analogue console range alongside the M16 Remote Controlled Microphone Amplifier and the D16 Digital Mix Matrix. The M16 is gaining widespread recognition as a top quality, highly versatile remote mic amp, capable of operating seamlessly with all types and marques of console. Cadac's M16 is featuring on the Broadway musical Sweet Charity, with sound designer Peter Hylenski citing its "unbelievable sound in a small, remotely controllable box".

In the Far East, a number of M16s are earning their credits at the Yonsei Baptist Church in Korea, after selection for their "clearly superior audio performance." Cadac also reports a growing user base for its D16, with applications ranging from use as a standalone digital console, to providing extra inputs alongside J-Types o

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UK - Riding the success of the recent DJ Telegraph competition, where she finished runner-up, DJ Fyrbeat (Amber Angell) is theatening to "hit the London scene with force" with her new DJ partner, pirate radio specialist Manda Dex. The two met by chance after a gig at the university where Amber is entering her final year (Royal Holloway, Union of London); as a result the newly-formed Angels of Dex will serve up a cocktail of house, trance and breaks - starting with the VIP Room at Turnmills on 9 September, where they will be playing funky house with guest DJ's Kid Lopez and Honest Jon.

Manda Dex says: "When we started talking we realized we were heading in the same direction, embracing a wide range of styles - from soulful, funky-chunky house, including tech and tribal beats to trance and nu-skool breaks."

Dex says that as a female DJ it is hard to get taken

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UK - Audio-Technica has uprated its 3000 Series UHF True Diversity Wireless Systems with the addition of Automatic Frequency Scanning functionality, as found on its flagship 4000 and 5000 Series systems.

The new 3000A 200 frequency agile, UHF wireless system, represents a high performance, professionally spec'd, mid-budget wireless solution, for AV rental, sound touring, theatre sound, sound installation, and broadcast production applications, say the company. The inclusion of A-T's Automatic Frequency Scanning technology greatly enhances operation, automatically searching and setting the best available frequency in the spectrum, avoiding interference and intermodulation problems.

In particular, when operating multi-channel systems, the function provides for interference free frequency configuration of each receiver at the touch of a button. Up to 16 simultaneous systems per f

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UK - The new Plena Voice Alarm system from Bosch Security Systems meets all requirements of IEC60849, the European standard for voice alarm systems which apply to factories, offices, hotels, shopping malls, supermarkets, schools, and sports facilities, say the company. According to Bosch, the new Plena voice alarm system makes a significant contribution to public safety at lower cost, allowing emergency evacuation facilities to be installed in areas where it was previously too expensive to install.

The system includes all essential EVAC functions and elements, such as system supervision, spare amplifier switching, loudspeaker line supervision, digital message management, and an interface for a fireman's panel. The six-zone Plena voice alarm system controller contains a 240W booster amplifier and a supervised digital message manager for up to 255 pre-recorded announcements or chi

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USA - Digidesign has announced the release of Digidesign Venue D-Show 1.1 software. A free update for registered D-Show console owners; D-Show 1.1 adds new software features and support for a variety of hardware options that significantly increase the power and flexibility of the Venue live sound environment, say the company.

D-Show 1.1 introduces variable groups mode, which allows Venue operators to configure 24 discrete mix buses in addition to the main left/right and centre/mono buses, dramatically improving overall routing flexibility and usability for monitor mixing and FOH applications. Buses can be mono or stereo linked in any combination for a maximum of 12 stereo mixes. All 24 buses are easily accessible from the D-Show console or the software interface, and no hardware changes to the console are required.

D-Show 1.1 includes a host of additional new features that imp

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Australia - The Australian Monitor Pro Series SM12 and SM16 mixing consoles are a compact design and provide ultra-low noise operation. With a mixture of mono channels featuring balanced XLR or TRS inputs and switchable 48V phantom power, and stereo channels all boasting three-stage EQ and pre and post fader auxiliary sends the SM series mixers are as versatile as they are cost effective.

The SM series mixers feature peak LED indication and low cut filters on all mono channels, high quality 60mm faders and sealed potentiometers, 19" rack mount kit and accurate 10-segment bar graph meters for the stereo output bus. The Pro Series SM12 and SM16 give the audio professional a sonically superior mixing console, say the company, offering a feature set and versatility usually found in mixing consoles many times their price. SM12 features four mono channels and four stereo channels

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UK - When Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed the nation from the recent G8 summit, it was VDC microphone cable that ensured the world heard him speak.

Over 200 microphone cables were used during the G8 summit and UK-based cable specialists VDC Trading supplied them all.

VDC Cat 5 cable was also used to link the various buildings that comprised the Media Village, which was set up in the grounds of Gleneagles to house over 1,000 journalists who were covering the event for the international media.

Audio specialists Delta Sound Inc was given the task of linking all of the buildings so that when a call for a press conference was made, every journalist would hear the announcement regardless of where in the Village they were.

"We installed a BSS Soundweb network system, which was linked to 140 small distribution speakers throughout the Media Village," says Delta Sound'

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Italy - Prism Sound's Italian distributor, Paolo Orizio, of Funky Junk Italy, has notched up significant sales success since he was appointed to handle the company's range of AD/DA converters earlier this year.

"Paolo has sold more Prism Sound ADA-8 converters in the last six months than we had previously sold in Italy in the last three years," says Jody Thorne, sales manager of the Cambridge-based company. "His contacts within the Italian pro audio industry are extremely valuable and we are delighted that he has put his faith and expertise into promoting our products to this important market."

Prism Sound's ADA-8 converter is widely regarded as an industry standard when it comes to analogue and digital processing and is already in use at many of the world's top recording facilities including Metropolis, Air and Abbey Road in London; Sterling Sound in New Y

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UK - Liverpool's third HUB Festival - a mix of art, music and extreme sports staged at the Pier Head - expanded and featured several new elements this year.

The event is the brainchild of the Council's Liverpool Culture Company and included music, skateboarding and BMX competitions, graffiti art exhibitions and music performed by many excellent local bands

Kirstie Blakeman, event manager, explained that they had created a new look main stage under the cover of a single king pole, purple membrane tent supplied by Wangos, which was chosen for its aesthetics. She added: "With the event being held at Liverpool's waterfront World Heritage Site we wanted something unique and different looking, something really special and dynamic for the music zone this year - not just another standard stage or marquee."

The same was true for the DJ tent, compared by Spykatcha - which sa

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Indonesia - Jakarta's new Sands International Executive Club is a luxurious multi-entertainment 'mega club' comprising a restaurant, live theatre, discotheque, wine bar, chill-out bar, and spa centre, all fitted with Allen and Heath mixing products. Encompassing three floors - with plans for expansion - Sands is classically designed with high ceilings, gilded walls, marble floors, plush carpeting, and crystal chandeliers. The owners appointed Singapore's Electro-Systems Industries to design and install the sound reinforcement systems, in partnership with project co-ordinator, Peter Loh Productions, catering for the complex AV requirements of the venue.

The Grand Ballroom and Dining Theatre make up the largest live performance area in the club, divided by a partition wall to enable the venue to host independent functions or combine and expand the rooms for bigger functions. The s

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China - China's National Broadcaster CCTV has selected HK Audio's Cohedra Coherent Dynamic Response Array system for its Studio 1, from where the prestigious CCTV New Year Gala TV show is broadcast to over one billion Chinese people at home and abroad. Studio 1 was constructed on the site of a circular garden alongside the main CCTV building in 1997. The 1600 square metre building, which can seat 800, was purpose-built for the New Year Gala show and other large-scale live broadcast programs. As the studio was constrained by the shape of the garden, it is also circular in shape, meaning that improving the sound quality has become a constant challenge to the CCTV audio department, and this is why CCTV chose to install the Cohedra system. Sixteen CDR 208 T/S mid-high cabinets have been installed into the room where they have already been used for shows such as Joyride in China - Seve

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UK - For the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II the Ministry of Defence engaged Unusual Services to provide production services for a weeklong programme of events.

The main focus of the week was on Sunday 10 July with an event staged on Horse Guards Parade for 11,000 veterans. Edwin Shirley Staging built a 40m x 25m stage with sound supplied by Wigwam, lighting provided by PRG Europe and a 160m scenic wall from Centrestage. Other key suppliers included Search, Power Logistics, Arena Seating, Unusual Rigging, Screenco, Show & Event, Dobson Sound, Delta Sound, Thorns and National Radio Bank.

During the week leading up to the celebrations, images of previously unseen World War II photographs were projected onto the façade of Buckingham Palace. In addition an 85m x 30m tented Veterans Centre was installed in St. James's Park along with a Living Museum, Press Centre, a BB

  1. TL Audio launch new M4 Tube Console at AES
  2. New Crown Xs amps on Live 8
  3. Lavigne tour carries MILO on European sweep
  4. Audio-Technica shows new product at PLASA
  5. ML5000 selected for world music festival
  6. Revolver is top gun for Soundcraft's GB8
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