Sound

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UK - Adlib Audio supplied a JBL VerTec line array system and full audio production for the Scissor Sisters' acclaimed album launch gig in Trafalgar Square. The Adlib team worked closely with event production manager Steve Allen, technical consultant Roger Barrett and independent sound consultants Jim Griffiths and John Staunton from Van Guardia, plus event producers SJM.

The band launched their second album Ta-Dah in front of a hugely enthusiastic Saturday night party crowd, and were introduced by their special friend, Kylie. Sponsored by comms giant Motorola, all proceeds were donated the Global Fund to raise AIDS awareness in Africa. The show was also recorded for broadcast on E4.

Scissor Sister's FOH engineer is Adlib's Dave Kay. Another Adlib engineer, Ben Booker, looks after monitor world, and Adlib will also supply PA for the band's upcoming UK arena tour later in

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UK - SDD Sound & Light has been awarded a distributorship for Bosch Security Systems. Steve Durrell, CEO for the SDD Group, said: "We are delighted that we have at last found in Bosch, a range of audio installation products that delivers everything in one package."

"Customers are increasingly requesting fully integrated digital systems that provide not only effective distribution and control of BGM along with selective paging but are also approved as emergency systems. The range of Bosch security products now allows us to supply complete solutions whereas historically we have had to 'mix and match' brands in order to achieve the desired results. We are now looking forward to supporting all of our clients, both trade and end user, with what must be the most advanced technology in this field."

SDD Communications, the installation arm in the SDD Group, already

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UK - Despite having to contend with torrential rain and freakishly high winds, the organisers of this year's Minichill Festival are delighted with the success of the event, which attracted more than 1,000 people.

The two-day festival, held on private land near Marlow in Buckinghamshire, aimed to raise money for The Action for Brazil's Children Trust (ABC) and was supported by voluntary performances from a range of artists, DJs and VJs including Hexstatic, The Bays, Cooper's Rage, Alice Mclaughlin, Groovenik, Decatone, Tom Currie, Nettie (Daft Pink), Michael Heap and Nickin & Puskin.

Harman Pro UK supported Minichill by supplying PA systems for the main stage and DJ barn. The company also supplied a Soundcraft Vi6 console, which was used for FOH and monitor mixes. Among the extensive equipment list needed to make the festival rock were a JBL VRX line array speaker system, top o

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UK - MTR says that although you might not think that there was much of a demand for stand-alone phantom power supplies these days, its experience with its 4-channel PPS-48 seems to indicate otherwise. Indeed, the company reports that in response to requests, it is now offering a two-channel version - the PPS-248 - also mains powered and with the same rock solid and ultra quiet 48V, housed in a smaller RF-screened heavy gauge steel box. "The PPS-248 is suitable for all those older, well-loved desks out there without phantom power, for one or two condenser mics in computer project studios, schools, houses of worship, etc," say the company.

(Lee Baldock)

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Spain - D.A.S. Audio has launched two new products in its line of high-power sound reinforcement systems. The new Sound Touring series products are the ST-1510 mid/high system and the ST-182 high performance subwoofer system which are designed to be used together.

The ST-1510 is a 3-way mid/high loudspeaker system designed for use with external amplification. The ST-1510 is ideal sound reinforcement applications where mid-range presence and pattern control are desired. The trapezoidal cabinet houses a 15" low frequency transducer, a 10" 'Bullet' mid-range device and an ND-10 compression driver. The ST-1510 incorporates Ancra rigging hardware. The frequency range of the ST-1510 goes from 50Hz-18kHz, allowing it to be used in applications that do not require bass reinforcement.

Constructed from Baltic Birch plywood and finished in a durable black paint, the cabinet we

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USA - Maryland Sound International (MSI) has recently purchased an additional 36 JBL Vertec VT4888DP-AN midsize powered line array loudspeakers. Located in Baltimore, Maryland, MSI has been an audio production and services company since 1966 and is now celebrating its 40th year in business. MSI provides numerous services, including special event production, concert touring packages, system design and engineering, and system analysis and construction.

MSI has recently been the sound company of choice for diverse and prominent acts like Neil Diamond, Josh Groban and Dream Theater. MSI has provided live sound for high-profile events including the dedication of the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C., the Presidential Inaugurations at the US Capitol in 2001 and 2005 and New York City's Times Square New Year's Eve.

Vertec line arrays have played a significant role in

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UK - RG Jones MD, Stephen Hall and his hardy shipmates won the overall trophy at this year's Audio Industry Regatta (AIR) on 23-24 September. AIR is a sailing weekend held over two days for experienced and inexperienced sailors alike, with the emphasis on having fun, with prizes awarded for winning races whilst raising money for The Elizabeth Foundation for Deaf Children. This year was another great success - the conditions were perfect and a great weekend was had by all. Stephen Hall has been an avid sailor and boat owner for many years and with his skill and the determination of the Leisuretec crew, he sailed them to success.

"Over the decades RG Jones has been fortunate enough to be involved with some extraordinary projects, amplifying some of the most magnificent sounds, and it's easy to take the ability to hear for granted," say the company. The Elizabeth Foundati

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Dubai - Recently voted Most Innovative International Retail & Leisure Concept of the Year and International Retail & Leisure Destination of the Year, the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai has attracted over 10 million visitors in its first six months of operation. Quickly establishing itself as both the number one leisure, entertainment and shopping resort in the Emirates and the second largest shopping centre in the world outside North America, the Mall of the Emirates is well on track to hit the 30 million visitor mark in its first year of operation.

Strategically located in the heart of what is now deemed 'New Dubai', the $820m, 250,000sq.m retail and leisure resort is home to over 400 retailers including Harvey Nichols, Emporio Armani, Dolce & Gabanna, H&M, Carrefour, Debenhams, Banana Republic, Zara and Virgin Megastore. However, it is the Ski Dubai complex within the mall that

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USA - Reventón, the largest Latin rock and pop music festival in the US, recently packed nearly 50,000 fans into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to watch RBD, Ricky Martin, Alejandra Guzman, Sin Bandera and seven other Spanish-language acts perform a non-stop afternoon and evening of high-energy live music.

Arcadia-based Spanish Contemporary Hits radio station KSSE 'Super Estrella' 107.1 FM, which has hosted the annual event since its inception in 1998, has typically staged Reventón at Anaheim's Arrowhead Pond in the past. However, after selling out last year's show in less than 15 minutes, the decision was made to finally move it to a much larger venue - the Coliseum.

Reventón 2006 also marked the seventh year that the production team at 3G Live has provided staging, lighting, and sound for the event. Considering that the attendance was expected to triple this year, whic

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USA - The historic Hollywood Palladium in Southern California which as been host to almost every type of popular music and artist since 1940. From Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra to Glen Miler, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and U2, the venue has been host to innumerable musical genres.

The venue is a classic ballroom type, originally designed with Big Bands in mind. Very little thought was given to sound reinforcement and the Palladium is not the easiest room to create quality. The fact is that the entire venue is very wide and to make matters worse, it has a balcony: not impossible, but it would normally require a lot of boxes for coverage rather than just SPL concerns.

The physical dimensions make things difficult. The distance between the rigging points is about 65ft (aprox. 20m) with the FOH position over 125ft back (almost 40m) and the main dance floor being greater tha

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Switzerland - The city of Basel in Switzerland has recently staged its debut Basel Tattoo festival of marching military bands and dancers, supported by a sophisticated "source-oriented" sound reinforcement system based on the TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix and showcontrol software. The sell-out show played over five nights in an outdoor arena specially created in front of the 19th century Kaserne Hof military barracks.

The system was based on over 20 distributed speaker channels including two HW compact line array systems and 14 Kling & Freitag trapezoidal cabinets on poles or on the ground at the front of each audience seating bay. There were also six sub-bass channels feeding separate 2x18" cabinets spread out under the horseshoe-shaped audience bleachers surrounding the 80m x 25m outdoor performance area. The system was designed by Thomas Strebel with the ass

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UK - Entec Lighting rose to the challenge of supplying lighting kit and crew to five separate, high profile offsite shows at London Fashion Week. The shows were for Paul Smith, Giles Deacon, Julien Macdonald, the Fashion Fringe competition for emerging talent and Russian fashion house Kisa.

The venues varied greatly - from a glass walled debating chamber in City Hall (the Mayor's office) to Rochelle School in Whitechapel. Some were not normally used to stage shows, and all presented their own unique sets of logistical and practical idiosyncrasies.

Overall LFW lighting co-ordination and project management was by Adam Stevenson, and the two site teams were led by Andy Keightley (Smith, Deacon, Macdonald) and Simon Honnor and Tony Austin. Entec worked for Inca Productions on the Macdonald, Deacon and Fashion Fringe events, for DSA Production Services on Paul Smith and for My Beau

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UK - With National Music Week fast approaching, national awarding body NCFE has launched a new range of qualifications aimed at aspiring music technicians, DJs and MCs. The qualifications in Music Technology provide learners with the opportunity to explore the uses of music technology and provide opportunities for people to deepen and broaden their musical interests and skills.

Candidates also study a diverse range of subjects including mixing, sound, live sound, DJing, MCing, sound effects, audio editing and employment opportunities. Learners also produce final recordings using music technology skills through practical work to develop creative skills.

Alasdair Downes, director of business development at NCFE, commented: "NCFE has developed these qualifications to help provide learners access to a range of opportunities within the music industry. NCFE has consulted indust

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UK - In a project that began way back in 2004, Warsaw-based Tommex was asked by the architects from the project company Arconel for cooperation with a range of room acoustic solutions and audio system designs for 'Globus', a multipurpose hall with an ice rink and an audience capacity of 5000 people.

The planned facility would have the ability to host hockey, volleyball and basketball - and music events. By the time Tommex joined the project team the main building was almost complete. Tommex started by preparing a mathematical model of the hall using Ease 3.0 software and the virtual acoustic reality of the hall was far from good. In every instance,measurements were made using Gold Line DSP 30 B to check the RT60 parametersand the poor measurements confirmed those gained from Ease. The RT60 at somefrequencies was almost 11 seconds. This presented Tommex with an enormouschallenge

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UK - PLASA 2006 was a resounding success for Lincolnshire-based loudspeaker specialist Logic System Pro Audio Ltd. Confirmed orders for a further 60 VA boxes on the stand over the four-day period has resulted in total sales for VAs passing 1000 - a notable achievement.

The new Ethos Compact box caused a tremendous amount of interest. Ethos Compact is a fixed angle array box offering directivity of 20° (V) and 90° (H), and using a neodymium 8" cone driver combined with two waveguide mounted 1" neo-compression drivers. The box is passive and has 16ohm impedance, which will allow four boxes to be run from a single amplifier channel. It has numerous applications which include AV theatre and live sound.

A phone call on the first morning of the show from the company's Singapore office confirmed that the new compact box would be included on another large Ethos insta

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Italy - Billy Joel and Bryan Adams were dual headliners at this year's Telecomcerto, the large annual free concert organised by Telecom Progetto Italia in cooperation with the City of Rome. The two-for-one superstar event took place on the July 31 2006, on a stage where many of the world's greatest artists have performed over the last three years, in front of the Coliseum and in the magical setting of the Fori Imperiali (Imperial Forums).

It was a night of great music and high emotion for the estimated 500,000 fans in attendance. The audio and lighting equipment for both concerts was supplied by Italian company MMS srl. of Solaro (Milan); Maddalena Tronchetti Provera and Vittorio Quattrone of the Four One Music company organised the event.

The event was also a great success for Texim, official Italian distributors of the Electro-Voice, Midas and Klark Teknik equipment that com

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France - Digigram, a leader in PC audio interfaces and innovative networked audio devices, announced today that its HR series of professional sound cards have been submitted to Microsoft WHQL tests with success. The sound card used during the tests, a VX222HR, is now acknowledged as "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP", a Microsoft label only given to qualified products. HR Series drivers are also digitally signed for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 (32-Bit edition), meaning that they also comply to WHQL standards.

Until now, no other professional-grade sound card for broadcast solutions has been 100% tested and made available with drivers digitally signed by Microsoft WHQL.

This is a significant demonstration of Digigram's willingness to keep current with professional hardware quality standards: system stability is not compromised

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UK - London-based PA and promotions company, Up All Night Music, employedAllen & Heath GL2400 and GL2800 multi-purpose live sound mixers to manage audio during its busy festival schedule, which included 'Til The Cows Come Home, Bloodstock, Lovebox, and Secret Garden.

The season started with 'Til The Cows Come Home festival, which took place in Bedfordshire at the beginning of July. The independent festival - with an elite 500 capacity - featured an eclectic mix of bands on one stage. Acts included the 9-piece band, P-Hex; The Retro Spankees; Whisky Cats; Delphian Complex, who have supported New Order and Primal Scream; mod-ska British band, Bowfinger; and the Lazarus Plot, who have supported the likes of Supergrass and Shed 7.

"A small portable board was needed for a quick and easy set up, so I selected a 24-channel GL2400," explains Up All Night sound engineer, Ed S

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UK - Blitz, the UK's leading technical staging specialist, will join Phantom of the Opera in celebrating its landmark 20 year anniversary this October. Blitz has worked on the award-winning show, since it opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on 9 October 1986.

Blitz provides a complete sound solution for the stage show. Phantom of the Opera is notable for its pioneering use of Sennheiser radio mics, now a West End standard, as well as sound designer Martin Levan's first use of open Tannoy loudspeaker drivers. Today, as 130 cast, crew and orchestra members are involved with each performance, the show demands a large volume of high technology to work in concert.

Having worked with Phantom of the Opera since its inception, Blitz has adapted with the musical over time, supplying new equipment for two major refurbishments in 1994 and 2004 to keep up with the changin

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UK- Community's new VERIS (VERsatile Installation Systems) comprise a range of small-to-medium-sized loudspeakers that are precisely engineered for versatile array construction, while aesthetically styled to meet modern architectural requirements.

A powerful resource for the professional contractor, each VERIS model exhibits linear phase throughout the critical crossover regions and features Community's unique, uniform full-range voicing system to minimise variations in sound quality among the range of models.

Ken DeLoria, Community's product manager says: "VERIS' smooth and intelligible sonic output is the result of patent-pending carbon ring cone technology, coupled with Ferrofluid-cooled and damped MF and HF drivers. This proprietary union of technologies brings low distortion, high-impact sonic capability to a wide range of applications. And because we manufacture the

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New Zealand - One of the leading sound rental companies in New Zealand has snapped up its first Soundcraft Vi6 digital audio console. Concluding his three-year search for the right digital console format, Chris Tate at College Hill Productions considers the Vi6 to be "light years ahead of its competitors at this level in the market".

Based in Auckland, NZ, College Hill has enjoyed a steep trajectory of success since it was founded by Chris Tate in 1996. With a strong presence on the national and international touring scene, working recently with The Rolling Stones and Cher, College Hill also provides high-end systems for corporate events and theatre productions, as well as working with radio and TV broadcasters in NZ.

One of his country's most respected sound engineers, Chris Tate has been evaluating digital consoles for several years, with no single product satisfyi

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France - Digigram, a leader in PC audio interfaces and innovative networked audio devices, is taking advantage of IBC 2006 to introduce Visiblu, a revolutionary audio processing and networking middleware developed specifically for building network-centric digital radio infrastructures.

Visiblu is a powerful standards-based software services framework that combines audio processing and networking technologies. It unifies Digigram's proven legacy sound cards and audio processing together with EtherSound protocol and professional audio IP streaming into an engine that runs under both Windows and Linux. Visiblu allows broadcast solution providers to easily and rapidly develop IT-based audio and data routing, transport, encoding, and processing systems across both local facilities and wide areas. Using a graph-style application programming interface (API), remote management of distri

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UK - A major government lobbying campaign is about to be initiated to address Ofcom's proposals, as part of the planned TV switchover from analogue to digital, to sell-off the radio frequencies currently used by the UK entertainment industry.

BEIRG - the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group - is fighting to maintain access to a sufficient quantity and quality of radio frequencies to ensure that the UK live events sector can continue to deliver the world-class theatre productions, concerts, festivals and events that it has become known for worldwide.

If BEIRG is not successful in persuading Ofcom to review the situation, the entire RF Spectrum from 470-862MHz will be auctioned to the highest bidder, most likely operators of mobile telecommunications networks, leaving the UK entertainment industry without a licence.

Thanks to a strategy suggested by PLASA and its politic

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UK - With only one week to go before the first of this series of Hawthorn@Home events, a 'Pyro Day' on October 13 featuring a demonstration of pyrotechnics by Le Maitre, registrations for the event are doing well, the company reports. "The numbers and quality of the registrations we have already received is encouraging," says Alan Jackson of Hawthorn, "however, we still have capacity at the event to accommodate even more delegates."

Hawthorn regularly organise a series of events, which take place at its base at Old Dalby in Leicestershire. The events run under the heading Hawthorn@Home which give lighting, sound, AV and scenic materials users the opportunity to get hands on with the latest equipment and technology. It is intended the workshops will allow manufacturers, suppliers and users to discuss the products and to gain an insight not normally available o

  1. d&b's Js beat at Bay Beats
  2. What can't technicians live without?
  3. The first Nexo Geo D tangent array installation
  4. A big event at Northern Light
  5. Meyer Sound Compass and SIM 3 updates
  6. CP Sounds Out Benares
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