Sound

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UK - Leeds-based sound hire company, Yorkshire Audio, has enjoyed long-standing success with the Martin Audio LE400 floor monitors they have been running biamped on the university circuit.

When company founder Bob Collinson saw the company's new LE1500's, which were introduced to the market late last year, he decided to upgrade. He contacted LMC Audio's Birmingham office and placed anorder for 12 of the compact wedges, stating confidently, "I didn't even need to try them."

With the festival season around the corner, Collinson says, "It was definitely time to buy. "I was offered part exchange on the old Martin Audio LE400 monitors - but they are still such a great box that I decided to keep them. Just about every spec that comes through has the LE series on the tour rider so it would have been silly to have got rid of them."

With the first batch alrea

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Germany - The new K8 digital audio distribution system from Klein + Hummel, is billed as "ideal for transporting professional quality audio across a facility". It can be used for simple point-to-point connections, or can form a distribution backbone for sending up to 16 audio channels to multiple remote locations.

The advantage of the K8 system, says the manufacturer, is that it carries 16 channels of uncompressed digital audio over a standard Cat 5 cable, at a rate of 48kHz, with a depth of 24 bits, and a total latency of less than 1 millisecond. The same cable also carries bi-directional data for remote monitoring and control of all devices connected within the K8 system over a single Ethernet port.

Cable lengths may be run up to a total of 200m through passively daisy-chained K8 devices. Actively refreshing the line with a K8 distribution amplifier allows "en

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USA - Community has announced the introduction of the WET Series II loudspeaker line. WET is an acronym standing for Weather Environmental Technology and it describes one of the main purposes of the product line - to defy the worst that Mother Nature can throw at it, year after year after year, says the manufacturer.

The original WET Series has been installed in many open-air areas in entertainment venues, sports facilities, cruise ships, water parks, ski resorts, skating rinks, and themed attractions such as Universal Studios' Jurassic Park.

WET Series II boasts a number of enhancements, including completely redesigned crossover networks for improved acoustic linearity, and restyled curvilinear 100% glass fibre composite enclosures that offer a more precise, tighter tolerance fit, and a stronger, more weatherproof exterior.

WET II models now utilise Community's Carbo

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USA - Held in the city's Reliant Stadium, the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) three-week run features a world-class programme of rodeo competitions and nightly musical entertainment. An annual general attendance average of well over 1.1 million makes it one of the highest-attended indoor event series in the world.

Houston-based LD Systems designs and deploys sound reinforcement and lighting on a massive scale for the HLSR. This year, LD Systems' massive 108-speaker Electro-Voice X-Line rig was augmented by the new Midas XL8 digital live performance system.

The HLSR features 23 top tier acts over 20 days, running the genre gamut from George Strait to Beyonce to ZZ Top. Having had the opportunity to demo the XL8 during the day prior to soundcheck and showtime, well over half the performers' FOH engineers opted to use the XL8 for their evening mix - all became comf

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UK - Three acts have now been chosen to go through to the final of AKG's 2007 Unsigned Heroes competition, which is being held at Camden's Koko on 26 April. Against stiff competition, the winner for the Northern region was Liverpool's the Kashmirs, with their fast and furious Fall By The Way Side, while the Southern Region winner was Hitchin's Flamboyant Bella, with the piano-driven stomper Crazy Cool. Completing the trio are London's The Standards.

Amanda Chester, marketing manager for Harman Pro UK, comments, "We've been really knocked out by the response to this competition. It just goes to show how vibrant the UK's new music scene is,"

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Prism Sound launched a new audio interface unit for personal recording and sound production at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt. The new product aims to bring the company's products to the wider community of musicians, songwriters, engineers and producers.

Orpheus, named after the Greek mythological musician whose songs were so beautiful that they could charm wild beasts, delivers the high-end audio quality for which Prism Sound is renowned in a dedicated and highly integrated FireWire interface at a price more accessible than its forebears, says the company.

The Orpheus unit draws on Prism Sound's converter and clock synchronisation expertise and technology developed over many years in products such as the AD-2 and DA-2 and the popular ADA-8 modular converter family, but with new capabilities and features designed to reflect the needs of musicians and producers working

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The Netherlands - Hot on the heels of its successful XL8 seminars, Midas Consoles Holland has continued in an educational role by organising a Klark Teknik Show Command workshop for a selected group of rental companies. The workshop was held at the 8,500 capacity Brabant Hallen, Den Bosch, during production rehearsals for Jan Smit, who is currently touring Holland.

The Jan Smit setup features a Midas Heritage 2000 at front of house and a Heritage 3000 on monitors. The workshop demonstrated the DN9331 Rapide which gives direct access to all graphic equalisation functions of KT's Helix digital equalisers, providing instant recall of fader positions by the use of 31 console-quality 100 mm long motorised faders.

The Rapide provided fader control for two DN9344E quad Helix EQs and one DN9340E Helix dual-channel master for dynamics control, working via the Solo Tracking System (STS)

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UK - The European Broadcast Union has struck a deal with Belfast-based codec manufacturer APT to use the company's WorldNet Oslo units as part of a pilot scheme designed "to push forward the boundaries of new radio listening formats".

During 2007, 20 WorldNet Oslo units will be deployed to a variety of European Public Service broadcasters who will use them to transmit live radio broadcasts in surround sound. Success for this pilot project will lead to the roll-out of an additional 50 units in 2008 to the remaining member and affiliate broadcasters that belong to the EBU.

In recent months the EBU has been actively seeking to agree formats and standards with regard to transporting Multi Channel Audio. A working group brought together the collective findings of those broadcasters who had already experimented with live surround sound, including ORF in Austria and WDR in

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USA - The American DJ Group of Companies has introduced a new line of cables. Sold under the Accu-Cable brand name, the new cable line is designed to fill a gap in the market for high-quality, affordable audio and DMX cables and extension cords in a wide range of lengths and connector-types, says the company.

Included in the Accu-Cable line are mic, patch, speaker and DMX cables and connectors, as well as AC extension cords. A large product selection is offered within each of these categories.

"We developed the Accu-Cable line to provide a complete cable solution, a one-stop source where audio and lighting dealers and end-users could pick up all of their cable and cord needs," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. "We were hearing from our customers that it wasn't always easy to find good, quality affordable cables in the leng

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China - Opposite the famous workers stadium in Beijing, two new locations The Bank Club & Lounge and Jasmine Restaurant & Lounge have been equipped with extensive K.M.E. installations.

The Jasmine, designed in Art-Deco style features a QS 1082, driven by K.M.E. SPA 450 S amplifiers. The digital controller was programmed to customer requirements with different presets while mixing is via a Midas Venice 160.

The Bank boasts a 120sq.m dance floor. On both the right and the left side of the DJ pulpit six PANO QL 906s on TB 500 are flown. QLB 118 subwoofers are set in blocks. The DJ uses K.M.E. CLP 320 as monitors. As front-fill QS 1082 have been installed into the pulpit radiating on the dance floor. Below the gallery on the left and right side QS 1082 are installed as side-fill.

Also, the bar area and lounge are equipped with QS 1082s as delay controlled by a DAP 26. The electr

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USA - The Alfred Lerner Hall at Columbia University has a newly installed sound reinforcement system based around Turbosound Aspect loudspeakers.

"I started the relationship with Columbia University's Lerner Hall by providing rental gear," said Lou Mannarino of L&M Sound in Staten Island, New York. "They would rent our equipment for events and activities in Lerner Hall - for everything from culture shows to meetings, concerts and other activities."

The Hall's previous system included a centre cluster that was not covering the room properly, making for unintelligible speech. Plus, the two mix positions were awkwardly placed. "One was behind glass and the other was difficult to manipulate," said Mannarino. "The system itself was underpowered with ceiling speakers used as under balcony fills."

Mannarino's system is based on the Turbosound

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Greece - A second XL8 order for the Greek market was confirmed on the Midas stand at Prolight + Sound, Frankfurt. A full XL8 Live Performance System has been purchased by dry hire company Manos Backline Services through Midas' Greek distributor, Omikron Control.

Although Manos started out as a backline company, it has developed its inventory to include consoles and control systems. "We've been developing this concept since digital mixers came onto the market, and have been waiting for Midas to make this big step," says Manos owner Vasilakis Stamos. "Our aim is to provide top quality equipment that PA companies maybe can't afford or don't want to buy, but which they find they need."

Manos Backline Hire will be providing a month of training for local sound engineers upon delivery of the XL8. The first Midas XL8 to arrive in Greece is now up and running at Ath

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UK - Adlib Audio once again worked with New York based sound engineer Pete Keppler on the Nine Inch Nails UK and European tour. The Liverpool based rental company first collaborated with Keppler on David Bowie's 2003/04 Reality world tour and has also worked with him on AFI among other artists. Accompanying him on this tour were Adlib's James Neale and Dave Ryan.

Adlib's Andy Dockerty says, "We consider it an honour to be able to look after Pete, and with so many other quality companies out there we believe in going the extra mile to ensure he is happy. Pete and I have a very similar attitude towards mixing bands and I believe I know what he requires his system to do. The major difference between Pete and myself as engineers is that he is good .....and understands digital."

Keppler used one of Adlib's JBL VerTec line array systems on the tour - 12 elements of

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UK - Jon Lemon used the Midas XL8 supplied by Britannia Row Productions Ltd in their role as part of the M7 Group, for two charities shows in late March. He mixed for what was billed as Noel Gallagher and Friends on two nights of The Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at The Royal Albert Hall and for Manchester Versus Cancer at the MEN Arena later that week.

"Britrow had told me they had one available and I'd been looking at using it for a fair while as an avid XL4 user in the past," says Lemon. "It's a matter of opportunity; I happened to be in London, I was already thinking about these shows, and Mike Lowe told me it was available and I thought, why not?"

After completing the three shows Lemon says: "In practise it came back to that sonic aspect, the desk just stands head and shoulders above everything else for sheer panoramic range. Lots of

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Germany - This year's ProLight + Sound proved to be a lucrative show for UK digital mixing console manufacturer, DiGiCo. One success that stood out, says the company, was the sale of a D1 Live to Dutch sound company De Geluidsmaker.

Based in Groningen in the north of The Netherlands, De Geluidsmaker is one of the country's leading theatre sound suppliers with shows such as Soul of Motown. De Geluidsmaker's D1 is destined for a new production of the highly successful musical Fame, due to open in The Netherlands in September.

"We looked at various consoles, but decided on the D1 for many reasons," says De Geluidsmaker's Herman van Mal. "DiGiCo's David Webster came over to Holland to demonstrate the console for us and we were extremely impressed. The combination of compact size, sound quality, the new V4 software and the ability to record straight fro

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USA - The New World Symphony orchestra's recent performance at the Carnival Center's Knight Concert Hall in Miami, Florida featured cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

Audio Engineering Recording Fellow Gene Gerhiser was on hand to capture the concert on Pro Tools, and used the eight-channel True Systems Precision 8 mic preamp.

"I had used a Precision 8 on one other occasion and knew that it was solid and reliable, which was important given who I would be recording," Gerhiser reported. "In addition to that, the Precision 8 has dual outputs, which allowed me to easily record a primary to Pro Tools and a backup to digital tape."

Gerhiser recorded the concert with two Schoeps MK4 capsules on CMC6 bodies configured in an ORTF configuration. He supplemented those with two Schoeps omnis and a pair of Neumann 140s as an XY pair on the woodwinds

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UK - System integration specialist Broadcast Networks has appointed Tony Simpson to the position of general manager, with immediate effect.

Simpson has extensive experience of the broadcast industry having previously run his own company, Audionics, which handled productions for television, advertising agencies and the audio industry.

Commenting on his appointment, Tom Haye, director of Broadcast Networks, says: "Broadcast Networks is expanding and with more projects coming in, we needed a general manager who could take charge of the office, liaise with clients and co-ordinate our workflow to ensure efficiency."

Simpson adds, "I ran my own company for more than 20 years and have a thorough understanding of what it takes to make a business successful. Tom is simply too busy to do everything himself and I am looking forward to the challenge of helping the company

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USA - Designer John Lyons has specified Crown XTi Series for his new Martini Park chain of concept cocktail lounges offering live bands and DJs six nights a week. The first Martini Park, co-partnered by Lyons and Chris Barish, opened recently in Plano, Texas, close to the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, with other locations scheduled to come online in Chicago and Houston during the summer.

The Avalon Sound division of the Las Vegas-based entrepreneurs' design/build firm, John Lyons Systems, is responsible for the custom PA and lighting systems being used at the new Martini Park venues. Lyons also owns Avalon clubs in Boston and New York, as well as Avalon and Spider Club in Los Angeles, and was co-developer of the Avalon Series professional loudspeakers. "My extensive experience in the entertainment industry enables me to provide visionary design concepts combined with

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USA - Zaxcom has introduced a new plug-on recording transmitter. The TRX700 is designed for quick and easy integration with the shotgun-type microphones typically used in boom-pole applications. The TRX700 records up to 12 hours of timecode-referenced audio on a removable miniSD card, a patent-pending feature that provides an automatic back-up of the system's RF transmission, says the company.

"The TRX700 provides much of the functionality of our popular TRX900 series of digital wireless microphone transceivers, but with the ease-of-use of a plug-on system designed specifically to address the needs of boom-pole operators," said Glenn Sanders, president of Zaxcom. "We're very excited to introduce this product as a means for quickly integrating audio recording and transmitting capabilities into microphone systems that are already owned and used."

From two AA

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Spain - The Ti Line from Vieta is a new, compact, remote-controllable amplifier system, designed for low to medium power use in fixed installations. The small, modular amplifier blocks are to DIN rail size and fixing standards, the standard for mains wiring in Europe, compatible with a range of off-the-shelf accessories such as waterproofing and fire-safety covers, which can be sourced from any electrical trade wholesalers. The Ti Line Blocks simply click into place on the DIN rail.

The DIN standard allows the amplifiers to be fitted where all the other electrical mains hardware lives - fuse boxes etc - saving valuable space in smaller shops and bars. Alternatively, the Blocks can be mounted locally throughout larger multiple speaker installations, close to the speakers and thus saving long cable runs and signal losses.

EQ and Level can be set on the blocks themselves or contr

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UK - Ko Ko's in Leamington Spa, which boasts a large music bar, restaurant, nightclub and a roof terrace bar, has invested heavily in both décor and entertainment, appointing PSL to handle the entertainment lighting and sound design and installation throughout.

Peter Smith of PSL reports, "The management not only started with high ideals, but as opportunities were realised, these expanded the specification and flexibility required as the project developed. This made for an interesting installation and we had to be fast to react as requirements increased with tight deadlines. This in turn placed high demands on my suppliers so I was pleased I had chosen Community for the core loudspeaker systems; their range could meet any requirement and their distributor, CUK Audio, were well up to meeting our needs."

The main bar on the ground floor changed from its original

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USA - One of the Discovery Channel's most popular and entertaining shows, Mythbusters features five special effects and science experts taking turns debunking (and sometimes proving) common and, often, silly urban legends. Based in San Francisco, the show has, for several previous episodes turned to the audio experts at Berkeley-based Meyer Sound, just across San Francisco Bay, for help in researching sound-related myths. The resulting partnership has produced fascinating, if sometimes predictable, results.

Previous shows involving Meyer Sound have explored myths such as the assertion that a duck's quack does not echo (debunked) and whether a human voice can shatter glass (confirmed). When the programme makers set out to apply their zany method to one more myth requiring sound expertise, they again turned to Meyer. "This story started with the myth that deceased Cali

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USA - In a move to provide integrators with a clear understanding of power distribution and grounding of audio, video and telecommunications equipment, Middle Atlantic Products has announced that its newest industry resource, Integrating Electronic Equipment And Power Into Rack Enclosures is available for download from the company's website, MiddleAtlantic.com.

The result of a collaboration between Bob Schluter, president and chief engineer, Middle Atlantic Products, Bill Whitlock, president, Jensen Transformers and Neil Muncy, president, Neil Muncy Associates, this new white paper provides installers with a basic understanding of effective power distribution while offering tips and tricks for avoiding common problems, says the company.

Commenting on the announcement, Schluter said, "The intent of this paper isn't to teach integrators how to be electricians. Rather

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