Sound

Details
Germany - When His Holiness the Pope addressed an audience of over one million young people during the World Youth Day event near Köln this summer, the audio systems were supplied by leading German rental companies Neumann & Muller, Crystal Sound and Sirius, working s a joint venture group: 104 towers of PA were used to relay the messages.

With some of the speaker towers almost 1.5km from the source point, a mean air temperature of 22°C and 50% relative humidity, the audio team were looking at a delay of 4.35 seconds to the most distant tower. Henning Kaltheuner, a senior production planning specialist from Yamaha, volunteered to solve some of the technical issues. "Neumann & Muller preferred to use Yamaha DMEs because of the level of reliability," says Kaltheuner. "We rarely have a chance to join a real world project of this size during its design and performan

Details
UK - Hand Held Audio, UK dealers for Ultimate Ears, have taken delivery of the first shipment of the new 'Super.fi' earphones range. The strength of the California-based manufacturer in the custom earpiece market has resulted in a burgeoning relationship with Hand Held, the UK in-ear monitoring specialist.

The Super.fi range has been developed to address the growing interest in high quality, universal fit earphones for pro audio and for the iPod / mobile listening market. The super.fi studio 3 are single armature, full-range earphones offering high-quality musical sound, with clear highs and a solid low end which will be hard to better in this type of driver, say Hand Held.

The super.fi 5 Pro is a dual armature driver earpiece with a punchy low end, transparent highs and a wide dynamic range which makes it an ideal choice for use with in-ear monitoring. The super.fi 5EB is a s

Details
UK - Surrey-based professional loudspeaker manufacturer EM Acoustics held a series of extremely successful demonstrations during the recent PLASA show in Earls Court, where its products were exhibited by Autograph Sales. Held a short distance from the show in a nightclub, the full EM Acoustics product range was on show, including several new products.

EM Acoustics sales director Chris Hinds said: "Holding a demo away from the show worked very well for us. We had product on display on the Autograph Sales stand, which gave people a point of contact within the show, and for those who wished to see and hear the products in operation as well as talk to the designers it gave them a local venue with a relaxed atmosphere to listen properly."

PLASA saw the official launch of three new products from EM Acoustics - the EMS-152 medium-Q full-range enclosure, the EMS-112 compact

Details
UK - The recent PLASA show in London saw the proliferation of new EtherSound-enabled products launched by EtherSound licensees Allen & Heath, AuviTran, Digigram, InnovaSON, Pinanson, and Stardraw.com. "The EtherSound audio networking standard was without a doubt one of the hottest topics at the show," said EtherSound business development manager Jimmy Kawalek. "The massive launch of new products and the impressive number of Licensees displaying the EtherSound logo at their booth, demonstrated very clearly the momentum EtherSound has gained in 2005. While new Licensees are always seen as a positive endorsement - and EtherSound has more than doubled the number of licensees since the beginning of the year - seeing new and varying products brought to market in a very timely manner is what makes the technology real."

Current EtherSound licensees include Allen & He

Details
Canada - The Blue Man Group has installed a Lake Contour digital speaker processor and a pair of Lake Mesa Quad EQ digital matrix processors in the audio system for its latest international production, which recently opened in Toronto, Canada. The sonic quality and performance of the Lake processors are well suited to the group's dynamic material, says Mark Radu, head systems engineer at Toronto-based PA Plus Inc, the company responsible for the engineering and supply of the entire sound system for the new show at the city's Panasonic Theatre.

Blue Man Group gained national recognition after establishing a production in Las Vegas in 1999, and currently maintains long-running shows in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Berlin. The Blue Man Group team, led by sound designer and supervisor Ross Humphrey, who has been responsible for the sound design of all of the group's productions si

Details
UK - Italian pro audio manufacturer Outline - recent winner of a PLASA Award for Innovation for its COMPASS system - has made its West End debut at London's famous Savoy Theatre, with The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas - the show that takes us through the cabaret capers of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. The Savoy - the first theatre in London to have electric light - sees another first this year, as Theatrelease, a new company formed to supply sound and technical support, employs Outline's Butterfly line array for the show.

Two hangs of eight CDH 483 mid/high packs have been flown left and right to cover 75% of the auditorium, with a further two CDH 483s per side to cater for the stalls area, and two Victor live sub basses for the low frequencies. In addition, 21 Outline IS6T cabinets have been employed as discreet delays.

On stage, 14 mixes are catered for by f

Details
UK - Theatre and special event audio specialists Out Board has introduced a powerful sound effects playback package in the all-new TiMax V2 software just released for the company's TiMax delay imaging DSP matrix processors. TiMax SoundTablet is aimed at anybody using a desktop, laptop or tablet PC in a live entertainment environment, with additional panning functions available for owners of TiMax delay matrix processors.

SoundTablet provides eight mono or stereo sample tracks per cue, all mixable onto eight PC sound card outputs. Any cue can be independently triggered manually or from MIDI, SMPTE, RS232 and internal Timeline, all managed from a Playlist which can effectively contain an indefinite number of cues.

Each Track within a cue can have independently edited Play Zones, Loop Zones and Track Slip positioning, as well as precise volume profiling and mixing. This helps red

Details
USA - Community has promoted Scott Deegan to the position of inside sales and operations manager. In addition to managing the inside sales force, he will be responsible for maintaining Community's high level of customer service as well as general communication, organization and customer interface for sales related issues. A graduate of North eastern University in Boston, Deegan has over three years of successful inside sales experience at Community and an outstanding track record in customer service and operations management.

"I'm glad to be a part of Community's growth and look forward to helping our customers in whatever way I can," said Deegan. "The relationships I have developed with our reps and dealers will be critical to my success in the new assignment."

"It's great to have Scott in this position," stated sales and marketing director Julia

Details
UK - Carlsbro Electronics' revolutionary new Liberty Wireless WP100 system scooped a prestigious Award for Innovation at this year's PLASA Show, securing the judges' vote to become one of eight winners - against competition from 65 other entries including products by other leading manufacturers such as Sony, Soundcraft, Tannoy, Sennheiser and JBL Professional.

The Award marks Carlsbro's ongoing development as a thriving enterprise with 30 staff based at its design and engineering HQ in Mansfield, Nottingham. The company, which has "a number of exciting joint ventures with Far Eastern companies" says the Liberty WP100 is attracting great interest from the export market.

Carlsbro designed the Liberty WP100 wireless technology system especially to work with speakers built for PA applications - concerts, events and performances (indoor and outdoor) plus in many other com

Details
Australia - New from the Australian Monitor Installation Series, the Rapid Fit 4 is a low cost, yet discreet ceiling speaker say the company.

The Rapid Fit 4 is designed for the evacuation market or anywhere a low cost and efficient four-inch speaker is required. It Features a low cost plastic grill and a four inch 100V speaker with five, 2.5, 1, 0.5 & 0.33W tapings. Australian Monitor say, the Rapid fit 4 offers a cost effective and architecturally pleasing ceiling speaker package and also saves on installation cost as it is extremely quick and simple to install via its two pre-tensioned spring clip mounting system.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

Details
UK - Ambassador Theatre Group's west London venue, Richmond Theatre, has upgraded its sound system to cater for the next decade of in-house and touring productions. The new state-of-the-art d&b audiotechnik Ci-Series system was supplied by theatre specialist Orbital Sound's sales division.

Technical manager Mark Warren commented: "Whilst d&b's range impresses me greatly, it also clearly represents the industry standard for international touring productions as over the years it has proved to be the preferred systems' choice of our incoming productions. As a very flexible system, it perfectly meets our requirements as it can be augmented according to any productions' specific needs. We're delighted with its performance and look forward to putting it through its paces through our busy Autumn schedule and beyond."

The system comprises d&b's Ci90 and Ci60 installation ser

Details
The Netherlands - Like most hire companies the Dutch company Atlantic Productions knew it was time to invest in a line-array system. But nowadays this is not such a simple choice, for there are so many suppliers. After extensive testing the company chooses Sound Projects and invested in 12 Linex systems.

One of Atlantic Productions' larger clients is the City of Amersfoort, where the company does most of its large events and festivals. There were important reasons why the company was looking for a line-array system. Chris Polhout (MD) says: "Because we often do events in the centre of the city, we have to deal with stringent rules and laws regarding the maximum allowable SPL at adjacent buildings and/or houses. A great benefit of line-arrays is that it is possible to beam the sound precisely where you want it. We have tried out the Linex system in many of these situations a

Details
Spain - 15,000 people attended the first Metalway festival in Gernika, near Bilbao in Spain, a 3-day heavy metal party headlined by Korn and the band that claims to be the loudest in the world, Manowar. Juan Gonzalez and his team from Swing Electroshow were using their new Nexo GEO T tangent-array system, powered by Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers, the first time the system has been used on a metal festival in Spain.

With left and right arrays of 12 GEO T4805 full-range cabinets, plus three T2815 downfills, the system used 16 CD18 sub-bass units each side. Fills were all Nexo Alpha, and Nexo PS15s were used as floor wedges. Swing has been using Nexo systems for 12 years, but Gonzalez praises the GEO T system, which he purchased last year, as "without doubt, one of the best systems presently available". His systems are powered by Camco Vortex 6, and Swing uses NexoO NX241 pro

Details
UK - Sound Foundation, provider of sound, lighting and video equipment and services, as well as a growing range of short training seminars for live audio production engineers, has added two new one-day seminars to its training programme, featuring the Yamaha PM5D or Yamaha M7CL digital live mixers. "We believe that 2005 is the year in which the scales have tipped in favour of live digital audio mixers in terms of price, performance, features and ease of use," says Sound Foundation's Mark Payne.

In order to allow our sales and hire customers and engineers extensive exposure to these new technologies we are keeping the digital seminars free of charge till the end of 2005. For more information, contact Mark Payne, tel: 0118 969 0900.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
Norway - The original Arena in Bislett, Oslo, host venue for speed skating at the 1952 Winter Olympics, was organized as a stadium for sporting events as far back as 1922 and its present shape dates from just before World War ll. In the following years, the arena served speed skaters in the winter and footballers and athletes in the summer, but by the end of the century the neglect of maintenance resulted in the inevitable decision that a new stadium had to be built.

As a much-treasured building in the region, the decision was taken to construct the new stadium in the form of the old one, but with 21st Century facilities and to current standards. So true was the new building to the design of the original that, at the opening for the "Bislett Games/GoldenLiege", some locals were heard to question it being an entirely new build.

A major addition in the new stadium is t

Details
Switzerland - Switzerland-based rental company, Livesound B AG, has become an Adamson European rental pool partner with the purchase of 24 Y18, 16 Y10, 8 SpekTrix and a planned November delivery of 12 units of the Adamson T-21 subwoofer.

Livesound, founded in 1976 by Werner Christen and Thomas Gfeller, has grown to become one of the most important production companies in the European, and Swiss, pro audio industry. "We knew that investing in a large line array system was a very important step for us", says Thomas Gfeller. "Therefore we investigated intensely, for more than 18 months, before we made our decision. We evaluated most of the famous systems available and came to the conclusion that the Adamson Y-Axis system is the perfect tool for us. Not only is it well accepted by sound engineers, but we discovered very early that the people at DV2 (Adamson's European

Details
UK - Pro Musik GmbH from Trier was responsible for design and implementation of the sound reinforcement system for a two-night open-air event - a lakeside festival beside the Losheimer Dam, near Saarburg, Germany. Pro Musik manager Elmar Hubert chose a Nexo/Camco combination sound system for the job.

The main PA consisted of 19 GEO T4805s plus 1 GEO T2815 cabinet in left and right arrays, coupled with 12 GEO CD18 sub basses on each side of the stage. This was supplemented by Nexo Alpha near and sidefills and all monitoring was supplied by highly effective Camco and Nexo products. The entire sound reinforcement system was driven by Camco amps, 44 Vortex-6s, eight Vortex-200Vs and five Texton 38.4s.

Elmar Hubert, the manager of Pro Musik GmbH, commented: "The sound left absolutely nothing to be desired. We had nothing but positive feedback from the bands and sound engineers

Details
UK - Bosch Security Systems has launched the Plena Loop Amplifier, an addition to its Plena Public Address and Voice Alarm System range introduced in response to increasing legislation with respect to disability, specifically for the hard of hearing. The Plena Loop Amplifier also follows the launch of another innovation - Bosch's Integrus infrared (IR) wireless language distribution system for hearing-aid assistance.

The EVAC-compliant Plena Loop Amplifier integrates inductive-loop hearing-aid facilities for the hard of hearing (T-mode) into the public address and voice alarm system allowing hearing-aid users to clearly hear announcements including emergency announcements, music or soundtracks within a selected area.

The Plena Voice Alarm System is EVAC-compliant and meets the requirements of the IEC60849 standard and its national equivalents for emergency messaging. EVAC comp

Details
UK - Manchester's contemporary arts theatre, the Green Room, recently installed an Allen & Heath multi-purpose live sound GL3800 mixer as the venue's main FOH console.

The Theatre stages an assortment of local, national and international productions throughout its calendar year, comprising original dance, music, poetry, play and film performances. The new 24-channel desk was chosen predominantly for its capacity to manage the larger musical events and theatrical productions, running in conjunction with the Theatre's existing Allen & Heath MixWizard 14:4:2 to run line level sources such as CD, mini-disc, or DAT where required.

"We're extremely pleased with the purchase. The GL3800 is a great desk and provides us with a huge amount of versatility for the diverse performances we manage, for instance, one of the productions scheduled this month involves constantly changing ro

Details
UK - Stage Electrics have taken delivery of the complete range of RCF's new Acustica speakers. Acustica is a compact series which consists of six speakers and two subs and is designed for both portable and installation applications.

RCF's Phil Price explained: "With the introduction of Acustica I feel that we have produced a range of speakers equal to any of kind on the market today. The positive thing about the Stage Electrics investment is that they have the complete range on active demonstration at their showrooms in Bristol, London, Cardiff, Plymouth, Newcastle and Exeter, whilst also holding stock at their other branches.

The demonstration systems at each branch allow customers to audition all the different models within the Acustica Line Up. Furthermore each system is powered by RCF 'HC' Series Professional Power Amplifiers and the systems utilize RCF's new DX4008 d

Details
UK - Glassheart Audio Services, known for its custom cabling and panelling solutions, has now expanded into Sound Equipment Hire - although it could be said the company is going full circle as that is where it all started. MD Chris Mellors has taken delivery of 10kW of Court Acoustic RAMJET speaker system from Stephen Court, MD of Court Acoustic systems.

Mellors says: "We have been all over the place trying out different manufacturers products but the only speaker that provided the clean bass we were looking for was the Court Acoustic RAMJET, it won hands down!" The major feature of the Glassheart Audio Services touring rig is the attention to matching individual components to give an exceptional clarity to the systems delivery.

"Power with clarity is the one thing that I personally have found lacking at performances I've attended in recent years - I used to get

Details
UK - The PLASA Show has again proved itself one of the most influential events in the industry calendar. Around 13,000 (subject to ABC audit) key industry people visited London in early September to participate in what is now the major international gathering-point for the entertainment, event and installation industries. The emphasis was very much on business, with exhibitors not only generating significant leads, but also reporting an unprecedented number of orders being placed.

As in previous years, the Show had a strong international profile with a third of exhibitors based outside the UK, and an increasing international visitor attendance, which is now nudging the 30% mark.

One of the key reasons for the Show's continued momentum is its focus on new developments and its ongoing investment in interactive feature areas, awards that recognize the best design work in the indu

Details
UK - The Solent was the location for AIR 2005, the newly-launched Audio Industry Regatta, held this year on 24-25 September. Formerly known as the DAMMSTY weekend, this annual event has been organized since 1989 by Ken Walker and Brenda White. The DAMMSTY sailing trophy, introduced in 1993, is awarded in memory of Dave Martin of Martin Audio.

This weekend raises money and awareness for the Elizabeth Foundation for Deaf Children. Based in the Portsmouth area, the Elizabeth Foundation offers support nationwide to deaf children, from birth to five years old, and their parents.

This year's splash and dash event was held over two days, with 13 sponsored boats from the pro audio world competing over five races. Saturday evening's fundraiser event at Gunwharf Quays included dinner, auction, raffle and the obligatory pop quiz, all washed down with more than the odd tot of rum.<

Details
Malaysia - Ten Lake Contour Pro 26 Digital speaker processors have been integrated into the installed and mobile sound reinforcement systems at the newly opened Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Six Lake Contour processors are integrated into the audio system in the main Plenary Hall, a two-level, tiered seating venue that accommodates 3,000 people and is intended for concerts, opening ceremonies, conferences, and product launches. The processor system, controlled by a wireless touch-screen tablet, is being used to optimize a Left-Center-Right (LCR) speaker system. In addition to advanced sound, lighting, and audio-visual systems, the hall incorporates state-of-the-art conference facilities, including an interactive microphone system and built-in multilingual interpretation systems.

The smaller Plenary Theatre on the convention centre's third floor is outfitted with three Lake C

  1. Auger tours with MixWizards
  2. Peavey: Messenger improvements
  3. Ms Dynamite sings TL Audio's praises
  4. Absolute Music's technology open day
  5. A.C. Lighting wins Dealer Awards
  6. Entry level wireless from AKG
Page 717 of 1372

Latest Issue. . .