Sound

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USA - In the Philadelphia suburb of Phoenixville, the Valley Forge Christian College's theatre recently underwent a major renovation, including installation of a state-of-the-art audio/video system based around loudspeakers from Community Professional in nearby Chester.

Pottstown-based systems providers Audiobahn worked closely with the school and the architects in designing and installing the theatre's audio, video and lighting systems. "The architects wanted to keep a very open, somewhat industrial look, maintaining the original brick walls, as well as exposed ductwork along the hall's high ceilings. We added light bars and theatrical fixtures as down-firing lighting to wash the brick walls in primary colours, which really creates a great visual feel," says Audiobahn's president Tony Hersch.

The 300-seat theatre is a multi-purpose venue, accommodating everything fr

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USA - JBL Professional has been awarded US patent protection on its ScreenArray cinema loudspeaker technology. This patent, the third for the ScreenArray family, applies to mid-range array loudspeaker design for use with low-frequency and high-frequency modules in cinema or theatre loudspeaker array systems.

The midrange module is configured with multiple drivers and a waveguide unit that provides uniform sound coverage throughout a theater auditorium, with substantially seamless crossovers at 250Hz and 1.5kHz and with the vertical beam-width held substantially constant by an electrical filter network. The patent addresses the need for a loudspeaker system that is shallower than a conventional horn design, yet provides the frequency pattern control of the horn design and the selective frequency responses of array loudspeakers to satisfy the size, coverage and power requirements

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UK - Allen & Heath has released a new software suite comprising new firmware and Mac configuration utility software for its mixer/controller, the Xone:3D. The updates include an improved interface for Mac users and greater MIDI functionality.

The updated utility software provides an interface - identical to the PC version - for users with Mac computers to set up and configure their 3D unit.

Key to the firmware release - v.1.10 - is the inclusion of a MIDI merge facility, which enables MIDI data from external devices to be combined with the MIDI data from the Xone:3D control surface and passed via USB to the software. The new firmware also includes full MIDI duplex, whichenables MIDI data generated by the software to be sent back down the USB and out of the Xone:3D MIDI socket to an external device, such as a sequencer or sound generation module.

MIDI time clocks can now be g

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UK - 400 employees of O2 were given a night of entertainment to remember in July when phone manufacturer Motorola staged a spectacular evening at Manchester's New Century Hall, organised by event producers Rodber Thorneycroft. Birmingham-based PSP was appointed to provide all of the technical services for the event.

Hosted by popular TV presenter Vernon Kay, guests were invited to take part in two game shows, entitled SLVR of Fortune and Play Your RAZR. One of the UK's brightest new music stars, Paolo Nutini sang four songs from his new album, while magician Paul Zenon and comedian Al Murray added to the entertainment.

The event proved to be technically complex: PSP's 8-way buzzer system was used for the quiz section as well as Flash to create a random name selector for participants. All of the quiz graphics were specifically designed to reflect the Motorola brand. For the sou

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UK - The inaugural Canada Day in Trafalgar Square took place on 30 June. Staged by Canada Day London, it was a celebration of the country's national day with a lively programme of entertainment. Events kicked off at two o'clock with street hockey (the summer version of Canada's national sport), Canadian food, arts and crafts and street performers. Canada on Stage began at five, with performances from across Canada including Dance Saskatchewan and Leeroy Stagger with his blend of country, rock and punk.

Sound for this event (and for Europride the following day) was provided by Britannia Row and included a Turbosound Aspect loudspeaker system with XTA processing and MC2 Audio amplification. Nine Aspect TA-890H cabinets were hung three-deep per side with an additional TA-500 Aspect Wide per side directed outwards to ensure complete coverage.

"Aspect is a very powerful little

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UK - Denon DJ says it was as delighted that Janette Slack walked away with a pair of its flagship DN-S3500 CD/MP3 players for winning the recent DJoust shoot-out, as the fast-rising electronic star was to bag them. Sponsored by Fruityloopy Promotions, the event attracted some of London's best unknown DJs, but Janette was already firmly on many people's radar.

The precociously-talented Eurasian remixer/producer already has eight years DJing experience, and with a wealth of worldwide club appearances - ranging from Montreal to Sydney and Croatia, she has still managed to build up a huge following in London through residencies at Platform 12 and Ali B's Air, as well as highly-acclaimed dance tracks such as Shake & Play (on the Ali B presents Air Breaks album) and Never Enough (on Re:Connect). On top of that she has been tipped as a Mixmag 'Future Hero'.

Janette only entered DJous

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Canada - LTS, based in Vancouver, recently invested in an Adamson Y-Axis rig, comprising 16 Adamson Y10 High Mids and four T21 Subwoofers. "We have used the rig for several productions in the past year, and have had nothing but excellent feedback regarding the system," commented Alan Le Texier.

Alan and Don Le Texier are the owners of LTS Pro Sound & Lighting, a division of Le Texier Systems Inc, which has been providing sales, rentals, consulting, design, installations, and production services to Vancouver and the Lower Mainland for over eighteen years. LTS production services provides sound and lighting equipment as well as transportation, set-up and human resources, and has supplied services for events such as The Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition and The Blue Mountain Blues Festival.

The company's equipment sales division offers products such as portable sound system

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Worldwide - QSC's C-series ceiling speakers are playing an important role on the current Robbie Williams Close Encounters tour - as part of a unique electronic media concept, piloted for Blink TV.

The company responsible for the video wanted to develop a system whereby electronic merchandise would be advertised to the tour audience by way of many large screen displays around the outside of the event arenas.

The idea was that SMS messaging would be given to text certain words to obtain video or music downloads onto the user's mobile phones. The displays were required to be housed in weather-resistant casings, be easily maintainable and be able to provide a good quality, high level audio output.

To achieve the solution Blink TV approached Jon Swain's company SPC, who were asked to advise and project manage the entire manufacture and supply of the equipment together with

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France- The Théâtre Antique is one of France's largest Roman amphitheatres. Capable of seating over 13,000 spectators, it is also the central location for the spectacular Jazz à Vienne festival.

A peaceful village on the beautiful east bank of the Rhône, Vienne has hosted the festival for 26 years. This year's two-week event played host to a number of world-renowned artists: George Benson, Sonny Rollins, Gilberto Gil, Bettye Lavette, Marcus Miller and many others. At the same time, at other historical sites and temporary venues around the town, numerous smaller scale performances are given.

Lyon-based rental company La Boîte à Son provides PA for the festival. FOH engineer/babysitter Jean Lyonnet discusses his audio solution: "As far as console goes, I choose to use the Innovason Sy80 at front-of-house. The amphitheatre is not a simple venue and we invariably

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UK - To a fair cross-section of the entertainment industry's businesses, job-specific education is akin to a sexual disease: it makes students unsuitable for most jobs, yet doesn't stop them from trying to pass it on to others.

However, there are those who are doing something to change this view. One such company is Deep Blue Sound (DBS). Over the past four years it has made huge inroads into bringing the professional audio industry and public education sector together, developing a positive and symbiotic alliance.

Started by Dave Puttick and Nigel Burt, DBS was initially established to bring commercial recording studio facilities to the UK's under-resourced South West region. However, due to a healthy measure of fate and the partners' ability to spot a gap in a market, DBS has successfully combined access to professional-level audio technology facilities with recognised acade

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Germany - The L.U.C.A.S System Check display is now available online featuring many different possibilities to select and adjust application and audience size. With two turn-switches, the adjustments can be selected and the indicator instruments show the load of each system corresponding to the adjustments. This clarifies which L.U.C.A.S system is the most suitable for the requested application, and those interested will be able to identify the right system for their needs.

The System Check offers direct links to the product details of each L.U.C.A.S system by clicking on the logo. By entering the poste code, local System Check partners are listed, where systems are available for listening tests and comparisons.

(Chris Henry)

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USA - The Lollapalooza Festival in early August was an extraordinary event, offering 130 bands on eight stages over the course of three days in Chicago's lakeside Grant Park. Also living up to the dictionary definition of lollapalooza ("something outstanding of its kind"), according to Dolby, was the Dolby Lake Processor, four of which were deployed by production services company StagePro on the festival's Playstation and AMD stages.

"We love it - it sounds awesome," said Tim Smith, production manager for StagePro, of the Dolby Lake Processor. The company purchased the four units two months ago. "The ability to make changes from multiple locations around the venue, as well as the intuitive control software made tuning the rigs a joy. There were many compliments from both band engineers and patrons. For where we were at with our audio systems, which are b

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UK - This year at PLASA Meyer Sound will exhibit on stand E26 with a selection of products suited for use in fixed installations and touring, including the M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker and Matrix3 audio show control system.

Since debuting at Frankfurt's Pro Light + Sound exhibition in February, the demand for M'elodie, the latest member of the MILO family has exceeded expectations, the company says. With its high output, small footprint, and compatibility with the MILO family of products, M'elodie offers the kind of flexibility required in corporate AV applications, while retaining the power to fill medium-sized venues on tour or in a fixed installation, says the company.

To emphasize Meyer Sound's ability to make products that fit into any environment, M'elodie will be displayed on the stand painted in a custom finish, as will two other popul

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USA - Outline, manufacturer of pro audio, have announced its partnership with Morin Productions. Effective since July 15 2006, Morin Productions will act as the exclusive distributor for Outline products in the United States and Canada. The principals of Morin Productions, Tim Morin, Brandon Pritchard and Tom Nichols, each have over 15 years direct experience in the audiovisual and entertainment industry.

Morin Productions can be contacted on:
29 Front Street
Nashua, NH 03060
Tel: 603-880-3880
Fax: 603-880-3844

(Chris Henry)

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Germany - D-MEXX have started to ship Signal Splitters for transmission paths between audio devices, compliant with the MADI standard. The D-MEXX Splitters are passive, optical devices; consequently, they are free of latency and require no external power source. Three different versions are immediately available.

The simplest model splits an incoming audio signal (transmitted over optical fibreglass cable) to two identical outputs. The same can be said for the "Dual"-version (two input signals to four outputs, respectively two outputs for each incoming signal). By connecting one of the outputs of the Dual unit back to its second input, one can achieve a tripling of a single audio signal. The "Triplex"-version splits two incoming audio signals each to three outputs (for a total of 6 outputs). Here, too, could one use an "internal cascade" to effectiv

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UK - With the industry's leading companies rolling out major new products and services, PLASA06 is going to play a central role in delivering solutions to many of the high profile projects, events and tours of the coming 12 months.

The specialists exhibiting at PLASA06 have the expertise to make anything possible with technologies developed by this industry transforming the quality of experience within the entertainment, events, live arts and leisure markets to a level scarcely imaginable 10 years ago.

And in the building and architectural sectors, the development of audio, video and IT technologies has also transformed the way buildings are designed and used - aesthetically, practically and architecturally - with information and safety-related systems now essential ingredients in the development of public spaces and buildings.

All these developments - together with the next

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USA - Founded in 1867, Howard University is better known for academics than athletics, sports are still a prominent aspect of student life.The university's homecoming football game and accompanying celebration is considered one of the capital's more notable annual events, with thousands of local residents joining the 11,000-plus student body to partake in the week-long gala, which features a cornucopia of musical entertainment and special celebrity guests.

With another year fast approaching, Athletic Department facility manager Isaac Darden knew it was time to upgrade Greene Memorial Stadium's aging sound system, and sought the advice of Beltsville, MD-based RCI Sound Systems, the firm behind other local high-profile jobs including Kennedy Center Concert Hall and the Washington Redskins' FedEx Field.

"We knew the stadium needed an audio system that could withstand the Was

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UK - PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - has announced a new events strategy to drive the development of its market-leading PLASA Show and to advance its range of business and networking events. Central to this major initiative will be the roll-out of a number of satellite events, including the launch of a regional networking event in the north of England, details of which will be announced shortly.

The move will be underpinned by the launch of PLASA Events Ltd, which will implement the new strategy, and also allow PLASA to build on the success of its established PLASA Show, paving the way for a major relaunch of the event in 2007. The new division will be headed by two faces familiar to the industry: Nicola Rowland joins the PLASA team as director of events and Sophie Matthews joins as operations manager. Formerly with Clarion Events, both have wide experi

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Hawaii - The Maui Arts & Cultural Center's (MACC) was founded in 1994and hosts over 1,700 events a year in nine facilities.

Two of the MACC's premier venues, the 1,200-seat Harold K.L. Castle Theater and the 250-seat McCoy Studio Theater, have just been given major audio upgrades with the installation of new self-powered Meyer Sound systems. The Castle Theater's new MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers, 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers, UPJ-1P compact VariO, UPA-2P compact narrow coverage, M1D ultra-compact curvilinear array, and CQ-1 wide coverage main loudspeakers, are put to use with the aid of Meyer Sound's RMS remote monitoring system and a SIM 3 audio analyzer.

The system was installed by Docktrdave Audio, specialists in theatre sound system retrofits. Company president Dave Lawler and his partners, Craig Doubet and Eric Laliberte, saw the opportunity

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UK - UK cable specialist VDC Trading supplied a large amount of cabling to A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division, which recently installed a background audio system for the newly refurbished Wembley Arena. A.C. Lighting was contracted by Wembley London Limited through Stace Project Management to provide the background audio system for the Arena's five separate sound zones, including specification and supply of all equipment, custom-built AV racks, electrical power and data cabling, trunking, routing and programming.

The installation of the system was scheduled to take place during the final stages of the building works, so A.C. was under both budget and deadline pressure to complete all work in time for the re-opening. A.C. chose VDC because the characteristics of its cables were ideal for their requirements, plus the company was able to respond quickly to their brief, which

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UK - Top DJ, Paul van Dyk, has adopted Allen & Heath's new Xone:3D mixer-controller as the core control element in his live performance set-up. PvD has purchased two Xone:3D's, one for touring, and one installed in his studio.

"The 3D is perfect for my live set up as it's not just a mixer, it's also a controller, which means I can programme in real time using the unit's MIDI sends and returns," explains van Dyk. "As soon as I got the 3D I configured it with all my software and it worked straight away. Iuse two computers - one loaded with Scratch Live using time-coded CDs, and the other with Ableton Live and all of my sequences and elements. I also have an E-MU keyboard, which records and plays back sequences. And at heart is the 3D, controlling and syncing it all. It's liberating - I'm constructing and creating tracks on the spot, and every performanceis unique.&q

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UK - For companies involved in the sale, hire or use of radio microphones, in-ear monitoring systems, talkback systems or wireless links, then next week's PLASA '06 will be the place to be.

On the Tuesday of the Show (which runs from Sunday 10 through to Wednesday 13 at Earls Court One), BEIRG - the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group - will be hosting a Forum to inform attendees of the current situation with regards to the impending sell-off of the RF spectrum.

At present, it appears that if the industry doesn't act, the entire RF Spectrum from 470-862MHz will be auctioned to the highest bidder. The Forum is a chance for anyone affected to have their say and contribute to the debate about how the industry can preserve enough spectrum for it to continue to do what it does, in the way that it does it.

The forum moderators will be Duncan Bell of Autograph Sound recordin

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UK - The Birmingham Conservatoire, a faculty within The University of Central England, selected the summer break to undertake a major refurbishment of The Adrian Boult Hall - a refurbishment which included the first UK installation of the RCF TTL33A line array.

The hall, built in the 1970s was designed and equipped for recording orchestral concert works having a technical control room, but as an acoustic concert platform had only very limited public address equipment. The largest element of work involved sound system infrastructure and equipment. The shortcomings with the public address have now been resolved with the help of the new RCF TTL33A line array loudspeakers. Two arrays with five TTL33A segments in each and two TTS 18A sub-bass units were floor mounted rather than flown with the arrays.

The TTL33A is a compact active box with 1250W of amplification (2 x 500W + 1 x 25

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UK - When the Rose Bowl was constructed at the start of the millennium, offering a new headquarters for Hampshire County Cricket Club, it offered all the facilities expected of a modern stadium. Shaped like a circular amphitheatre, its flexible capacity of 9,000-plus rose to over 19,000 for the 2006 Twenty20 International between England and Sri Lanka. In addition to offering cricket at the highest level, the stadium also hosts rock concerts and numerous functions and conferences.

But five years after Hampshire played their first county match at the Rose Bowl, there were signs that the public address system was leaving a lot to be desired - particularly in terms of speech intelligibility and even distribution. This is vital, not only for voice evacuation purposes, but for spectators to keep up with the commentaries from the scorer's boxes.

Rose Bowl plc, the owner of Hampshire

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