Sound

Details
USA - Application-engineered to address the specific thermal, cable and space requirements of today's broadcast and production facilities and components, Middle Atlantic Products has introduced its R4 Series Four Post Open Frame Racks. These are open frame enclosures that support deeper, heavier loads than traditional two post racks, accentuate passive thermal management to effectively vent harmful excess heat, and provide integrators with reliable, versatile and affordable mounting solutions for broadcast applications, says the company.

The robust R4 Series Four Post Open Frame Racks can be ordered in two different styles, each with specific features that make them suitable for use with certain components.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Sunderland-based High Fidelity Studios has just completed the building of a fully-equipped pre-touring rehearsal suite, installing Allen & Heath's new dedicated monitor console, the GL2800M, to complement the studio's existing GL2400 FOH desk.

"The aim of the new studio is to provide a facility for up-and-coming musicians to take their music to the next level," explains High Fidelity Studios MD, David Dorn. "The suite offers bands the experience of a full blown gig, providing quality equipment they would find at a top line event. The space is set up like a venue with a fully furnished stage including drum rises, a valve back line, and top quality 32 channel monitor and FOH desks."

"We are very familiar with A&H mixers as we have GL2200's and GL2400's in our hire stock, and we come across them in most of the venues we engineer," continues dire

Details
Germany - Electro-Voice has launched the ZxA5 powered two-way loudspeaker. At the heart of the ZxA5 are state-of-the-art transducers. To develop the DVX3150 15" high performance transducer, EV used advanced computer aided design techniques to create forced-air, directional voice coil cooling for high power and efficiency, says the company. Finite element analysis was used to optimise the suspension and magnetic structure for long, linear travel, providing low distortion and greater LF extension. Designed for a wide range of applications, the DVX3150 promises "the ultimate in lightweight reliability... but with a heavyweight 500W power rating".

Handling the HF is the ND2, a 2" voice coil compression driver based on a neodymium motor structure that allows maximum output while keeping size and weight to a minimum. The ND2's precision phasing plug and titanium di

Details
UK - Christie has introduced Christie ACT, a new theatre automation controller purpose-built to interface with the latest generation Digital Cinema technology. The system makes it easy to automate presentations by translating cues from connected devices to control most theatre equipment including lighting, curtains, sound, masking and projectors, says the company. The system offers a solution, enabling customisable control to suit the needs of a single screen, a multiplex facility or an entire theatre chain.

Manageable through a web interface, Christie ACT allows the user control and flexibility. It can be accessed from any web browser on a networked computer making it accessible from a portable handheld computer or laptop.

With an intuitive graphical user interface, even the novice can easily customise tasks and events to suit specific needs, says the company. Featuring pre-d

Details
UK - When chirpy pop-rockers Guillemots winged their way around the UK on a bill-topping 10-date tour in February, the flying visits to venues from Aberdeen to Bristol were characterised by a sound which always soared but, thanks to XTA processors, a sound crew who never got in a flap, says the avian-styled press release.

Supplied by audio hire company Concert Sound, six XTA DP226s using AudioCore via a WISER wireless network took care of system control for the tour's Adamson Y-10 / Spektrix line array PA.

"The combination of the Adamson PA and XTA processors was really good," says Concert Sound system tech Aron Ross. "It was a system that looked complex on paper, but it was very straightforward. We could make physical changes to the system very easily. In some venues, for the more awkward balconies we needed to both fly and ground stack the Y-10,"

Two DP

Details
Switzerland - Soundweb London digital signal processing from BSS Audio was recently specified in the fourth biggest ice hockey stadium in the country, with a capacity of 8,000. Built in 1995 the Resega Ice Arena in Lugano is home to the Hockey Club Lugano HCL, which has won the Swiss National Hockey Championship seven times within the last 20 years.

As a result, their home games are packed, with all matches accompanied by a continuous cacophony of crowd noise. This, coupled with a critical reverberation, explains why two different installed sound systems have both been replaced within the last ten years after being deemed unsatisfactory.

In spring last year, the town of Lugano issued a tender for a new sound system which needed to fulfil the sound reinforcement requirements of a wide range of events and also meet the EN 60849 regulation for evacuation purposes.

The concept o

Details
UK - The convenience of a broadcast-quality Flash recorder with USB drag and drop file-transfer built into the body of a studio-quality condenser microphone is making HHB Communications' FlashMic the portable recording device ofchoice for a growing number of news organisations around the world, claims the company.

Broadcasters including the BBC, BSkyB and Capital Radio in the UK; NHK Tokyo and SBS South Korea in Asia; Al Jazeera in the Middle East; AFTRS Sydney Radio and AAP in Australia and Danish Broadcasting, NRK Norway and Radio France in Europe are using HHB's all-in-one recording solution, with many citing sound quality and ease-of-use as the FlashMic's principal advantages over conventional portable recorders.

HHB managing director Ian Jones says, "FlashMic is conceived as dependable, convenient and easy to operate, providingbroadcast and press journalists with a t

Details
Singapore - Singapore's growing infrastructure - requiring the need for ever more professional staging services - is already having a positive effect on this year's Event 360º show, which makes its debut under the wing of the umbrella PALME Asia expo in July.

Some 1,000sq.m, a quarter of the overall capacity at Singapore Expo, will be set aside for Event 360º Asia. Heartened by the initial response, Davin Er, who is responsible for developing this sector, believes that interest has not only been stimulated by the support from the Singapore Tourism Board, but the building of the S$3.85bn Marina Bay Sands complex, housing casino, hotel and convention centre.

Event 360º Asia will also be working closely alongside Singapore-based UnUsUal Productions, who are among an increasing number of local companies that have the capability of offering world-renowned ev

Details
USA - Los Angeles night club, the Temple Bar in Santa Monica, has installed Allen & Heath's iLive Digital Console, now providing mixing duties for the club's nightly live music schedule.

Based in LA's fashionable Santa Monica area, the Temple Bar is a unique music venue hosting local, national and international artists performing a spectrum of music covering the genres of jazz, electronica, indie, hip hop, soul, latin, reggae, and world music. There is also a house DJ performing between acts, and the venue regularly organises film screenings and poetry nights.

The Temple Bar's music director and chief mixing engineer, Swan, commented, "The sound of the console is magnificent, I've been mixing at the Temple Bar for five years, I have never hear the room sound like this before. It brought our sound system alive! Its compact footprint fit perfectly in our sound booth, and ou

Details
USA - Digidesign has announced a new family of bi-amplified, professional-grade studio reference monitors - the Reference Monitor Series (RMS). Developed jointly with PMC (the Professional Monitor Company, based in the UK), the new RMS monitors unite Digidesign's deep expertise in digital audio with PMC's legacy for fine, cutting-edge loudspeaker designs and meticulous manufacturing, says the company.

"For many years Digidesign's commitment to developing state-of-the-art professional recording technologies has helped artists, engineers, and producers alike create award-winning recordings with unrivalled audio purity," explains Gannon Kashiwa, market manager for Digidesign's professional products. "The new RMS monitors are a natural complement to our existing product line and a logical extension of our commitment to achieving consistent and pure sound from input to

Details
UK - With so many broadcasters now considering IP as a viable and cost effective means of transporting audio, compression specialist APT has joined the debate by publishing a booklet entitled A Practical Guide To IP Audio Networking.

This guide draws on APT's extensive experience in the field of audio over IP networking and gives useful information on IP networks and their implications for real-time audio transfer. It also makes valuable recommendations for those specifying both networks and equipment for audio over IP broadcasting.

Jon McClintock, APT's commercial director, says: "In recent years we have supported many customers through the transition from synchronous to IP and have worked hard in standards bodies within the industry to ensure interoperability of audio codecs over IP networks. This booklet allows us to share our knowledge and experience with those

Details
UK - Summit Steel supplied four SmarTmasts to Britannia Row which were utilised to emulate a concert style set up for sound tests in the new Wembley Stadium. Two SmarTmast 4s were used to suspend speaker arrays that mimicked the height and positioning of PA wing hangs on a typical concert stage set up in the end-on position. The masts were picked for their 15m height, quick buildability and neat footprint.

The main object of the exercise was to integrate a show PA system with Wembley's house PA to provide full audio coverage throughout the stadium. They also took the opportunity to ensure that Emergency announcements could be heard in all locations around the venue.

Summit's Jon Bray was contacted by Brit Row's Bryan Grant to supply the necessary support structures for the tests. Bray and a team of three riggers erected a total of five masts, which stayed up for a two-day peri

Details
UK - Located in Plaistow, east London, Glory House is a family-based, multi-racial and multi-cultural church where audio and visual technologies have been embraced to broadcast the church's message in the most effective way possible.Music is an integral part of Glory House: up to a 100-strong Gospel choir and musical director being complemented by an in-house technical sound team.

The venue now has a new sound system supplied and installed by South London-based Subfrantic Production Services. The Turbosound system comprises four TA-500 Aspect Wide mid-highs, four TSB-118 subs and six TXD-15M wedge monitors, all controlled by two LMS-D24s. Subfrantic also supplied amplifiers, mixing consoles, outboard equipment, microphones, a custom-designed multicore and an ASL communications system.

"The main factor dictating the specification was to get the best sound we could on a rea

Details
USA - Two public institutions in the USA have recently been the recipient of new Merging digital audio workstations. The Washington-based Library of Congress has recently acquired several Pyramix DAWs, each built around a Merging Mykerinos MB5 card with an AES-EBU digital output daughterboard.

The DAWs are being installed in the Library's new facilities at the National Audio Visual Conservation Centre in Culpeper, Virginia, where staff will be using them primarily to digitise the Library's audio collections, creating high-quality preservation files. The Pyramix systems were assembled by Merging Technologies' US distributor Independent Audio and supplied to the Library of Congress by Massachusetts dealer Parsons Audio.

In a separate sale, Washington's National Gallery of Art has also installed a Pyramix for use by the Gallery's audio-visual staff.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Harman Pro UK has announced the judges for the final of the AKG Unsigned Heroes battle of the bands competition, which is taking place at Camden's Koko on 26 April. The Summer festivals at which the winning group will play later in the year have also been confirmed. The lucky band will take the stage at both the prestigious Isle Of Wight festival at the start of June (headlining on the Platform 1 stage), and also on the Brit Bus stage at the Kent Festival, with headliners the Feeling, the Ordinary Boys and the Ghosts, from 29 June to 1 July.

With this and other prizes (such as an AKG sponsorship deal and PA equipment worth £10,000) riding on how the bands perform at Koko on the night of the final, it's important that the competition judges have plenty of music-business experience.

Harman Pro UK's five choices fit the bill nicely: Jez Coad is a renowned film composer

Details
USA - Clear-Com has released a number of upgrades to its FreeSpeak Digital Wireless Intercom System, including a software upgrade, improved electronics with internal silent vibrator alert and a new multi-way battery charger.

With the release of version 1.5.6 of FreeSpeak software, users will benefit from improvements in the software that makes it easy to restore factory default settings, says the company.

Version 1.5.6 will be delivered installed on new FreeSpeak belt-pack purchases, and is available for installation on existing FreeSpeak units as a purchasable upgrade. The software is installed from a PC via a serial connection to the belt-pack.

(Jim Evans)

Details
South Africa - The Durban International Conference Centre in KwaZulu-Natal has celebrated its 10th anniversary with the launch of the new ICC Durban Arena - a sub-divisible 32,000sq.m space that will be used for show space and exhibitions. Midas consoles and Klark Teknik signal processing equipment were used extensively for the new venue's launch, supplied by South African distributor Prosound Pty, which was contracted to provide the audio and production management for the event including overseeing the design and set-up of the audio system.

The opening of the arena coincided with George Benson and Al Jarreau's South African leg of their Giving It Up tour, so it was decided to host the Durban show at the new venue as part of the opening ceremony. The launch also featured a speciality show, The Power of Durban, devised and produced by Durban ICC's technical producti

Details
World - In early 2007 Rod Stewart embarked on his Rockin' in the Round Tour an ambitious theatre-in-the-round production that kicked off a 56-city North American tour in January, to be followed by a swing through European stadiums in June and July.

The production is impressive in both scope and scale. Stewart's tour makes the most of the set, starting with four huge, high-definition video screens that face each direction. Before the show, a video called The Rodfather touting Stewart's history as a pop innovator is screened, while during the show, images of Stewart, his band, and shots of the city in which the performance is taking place are displayed on the screens. Two catwalks coming off opposite sides of the stage allow Stewart to venture out of the main performing area and into the crowd. The intricate lighting rig includes multicolour LED lights built into the

Details
USA - Intelix LLC has announced the release of the AVO-A2-WP-F wallplate balun, which distributes a high-fidelity stereo audio signal up to 2,500ft over standard twisted pair cable, such as Cat 5 or Cat 6.

The front panel of the AVO-A2-WP-F features two gold-plated female RCA connectors on a white decora face-plate. The rear panel features an RJ45 connector and optional grounding screw. The installed unit fits in a standard depth wall-box.

Used in pairs or with a rack-mountable Intelix AVO-A2 modular balun, the AVO-A2-WP-F transmits 20 Hz to 20 kHz analogue audio in either direction up to 2,500 feet.

(Jim Evans)The AVO-A2-WP.

Details
UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), is sponsoring Performing Theatres, part of The Theatres' Trust Conference 07. Performing Theatres follows on from the successful 2006 ABTT Theatre, Architecture and Engineering Conference and develops the need for there to be a stronger profile for users in setting out requirements for building and refurbishing theatres.

Raising issues about how best to maximise theatre design in the 21st Century, the Performing Theatres Conference is chaired by Ian Brown, artistic director, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Genista McIntosh and Venu Dhupa, director of creative innovation, Southbank Centre. The one day event promises to offer a lively and wide-ranging debate on how the design of theatres will meet our needs in the 21st Century.

Complementing ABTT's annual Theatre Show, which highlights technological innovation a

Details
UK - The concrete is dry, the first crowds have walked the terraces, and just after Easter it was time to test the sound. "When we were approached to test the house sound facilities at the new Wembley Stadium in conjunction with a concert system set-up, we were of course delighted," said Mike Lowe of Britannia Row Productions Ltd. "We expect to be servicing many shows here over the coming months and years, so the opportunity to be the first to get a real feel for the building was not to be missed."

Over three days (11-13 April) Britannia Row crews rigged the stadium for 'end on' and 'side on' concert configurations. "We rigged an EV Xline system off 15 metre SmarTmasts from Summit Steel as for a main stage system, and then added Outline Butterfly delays off 11 metre masts out in the field. The system was then linked into the house EAW installed system an

Details
UK - Pro audio manufacturer, Allen & Heath, will be introducing a fourth control surface to the iLive digital mixing console system, joining the existing iLive-122, iLive-144 and iLive-176 at the forthcoming ABTT show.

Designed for smaller venues, the new iLive-80 is the smallest in the range of control surfaces, providing 80 control strips grouped in two sections each with four banks, with an LCD display above each fader for labelling and colour-coding. The channel controls for preamp, filter and EQ are laid out across the top of the surface, while a colour LCD touch screen presents a graphical view of the processing and access to the automation and set up screens.

Also new to the show is the WZ³12M monitor mixer, a rackmount/desktop console which combines the design principles of the industry-standard MixWizard Series with many modern monitor facilities, implemented in the

Details
Italy - FBT has announced the launch of the new HiMaxX series of professional powered polypropylene moulded speaker systems.

The HiMaxX40a is a 2-way, professional powered polypropylene moulded speaker system featuring: built-in 500W rms power amplifier in Class D (PWM technology) for the LF woofer; built-in 150W rms power amplifier in Class G for the HF compression driver; +4dB (measured at 1mt with music signal) increase, thanks to the higher power, to a woofer granting a lower power compression and to a more sophisticated limiting circuit.

Also key to the series is a new FBT proprietary 12" neodymium magnet woofer. B&C custom made, it has a more efficient ventilation system resulting in a 1.5dB reduction of power compression and a more rigid cone for increased reliability and sensitivity. The internal coil has 75mm (3") diameter for greater power handling and reli

Details
Canada - To maximize support, shorten lead times and improve price competitiveness in the European market, Adamson Systems Engineering is announcing a new European support and sales structure.

As of 1 April 2007, Adamson is implementing factory direct sales to distributors, and countries without established distribution, throughout Europe. Previously, France based DV2 managed all EU territories, but now maintains distribution duties for France and Belgium exclusively. DV2 will continue to contribute as a key partner to the overall support throughout Europe.

Countries with established distribution are France & Belgium (DV2), Spain (Lambda/2), Italy (Reference Laboratory), The Netherlands (Sound & Light Import), Denmark (Nordic Rentals), Czech Republic (Mediatech Spol.sr.o.), Greece & Cyprus (Enttech S.A.) and Russia (I.S.P.A.).

Adamson has retained Andy Weingärtner in the ch

  1. Old Showboat gets Turbosound makeover
  2. Orbital scoops second HME award
  3. Second Midas XL8 goes to Japan
  4. Roughton joins Electrics London
  5. New trade fair format for EVI Audio
  6. Neve & Clearmountain at Sonic launch
Page 816 of 1372

Latest Issue. . .