Germany With 22 dates in 3,000 to 12,000-capacity halls, Reamonn's recent Wish tour reflects their status as one of the most successful rock bands in Germany. Satis&Fy deployed EV systems to ensure that the sound reinforcement matched up.

Fronted by Irish singer Rae Garvin, Reamonn first found fame in 2000 with the hit Supergirl. For the Satis&Fy sound crew, led by sound engineer Sven Bonse and system technician Stefan Holtz, the disparities in size between the different locations made theirs a far from easy task. However, as Stefan Holtz pointed out, "with preparation and the right material, we succeeded in mastering it completely."

He continued, "In this way we were able to prepare at least a rough sketch of the configuration with which we would be working in each hall several days before we got there. In addition to the X-Line as the main PA, we

UK - Orbital Sound has announced the launch of its ZedAlpha monitoring software, which has been designed to complement its range of Zaxcom digital radio microphones. Designed by Orbital's Theo Holloway, ZedAlpha boasts "an extremely friendly user interface". It runs on a Windows platform with a Universal PCI interface and is designed for complex theatre and broadcast applications.

ZedAlpha allows the remote monitoring of all the principle parameters of the Zaxcom TRX900 body pack and TRX800 hand-held transmitters. These include remaining battery life, RF levels and audio levels. Plus an expanded view of each channel streams the last two minutes of data for analysis and fault finding. The software can also be used to fully program the receiver functions including encryption levels enabling secure and confidential transmissions.

As a very powerful software tool, ZedAlp

Europe - After the Middle East & South East Asia Tour 2007, in March Sir Cliff Richard continued his tour in the largest European arenas, starting from Finland ( Helsinki ) and finishing in Germany ( Frankfurt ).

For FOH, Britannia Row Productions used a system comprising 48 Butterfly Hi-Pack and 16 Subtech 218 (plus six dV-Dosc on front-fill duty), all powered by Outline T series amplifiers, processed by two Dolby Lake units and mixed with a Yamaha PM5D console.

The set-up changed according to the venue, but, generally two main hangs (16+16) of Hi-Pack systems were used, plus 8+8 for 'side' seating.

In charge of PA was Richard Trow, who was already familiar with a lot of the arenas, as he'd worked in them on the last Depeche Mode tour. He was supported by FOH assistant Davide Lombardi of Brit Row, who also assisted sound engineer Michael "Bunny" Warren (Simply Red

UK - Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets is the first in the world to tour with a Nexo Geo T Series array system implementing the new NXstream system management software. Nexo claims that the new operating software offers significant improvements to system flexibility and audio quality.

Lostprophets and their front-of-house engineer Alan 'Doof' McCann specified an Alpha system worldwide for two tours in 2006. Following the success of last autumn's theatre tour, the band is back to play their first arena headlining shows. For these dates, SSE Audio Group has upgraded them to a Nexo Geo T Series system plus Nexo NX242 second-generation digital controller, fitted with NXtension (expander) memory cards, and carrying the NXstream software operating system.

"It's the best I've ever heard it sound," says Jason 'Baboon' Hattams, SSE's senior systems tech. "The syst

UK - Fuzion plc will join forces with DiGiCo to stage a unique product demo showcase at London's Hippodrome in Leicester Square on Tuesday 22 May.

The event, which will run from 11am-5pm, provides an opportunity for sound engineers, theatre technicians and rental companies to gain hands-on experience and training on DiGiCo's D5 and D1 digital consoles, sending multitrack mixes to Nexo's new GEO D10 tangential array, which will be flown in the venue.

The fully integrated D5 front-of-house and monitor system, with multi track/plug-in unit and ubiquitous stage rack, will be linked by a fully redundant fibre optic system to the Nexo loudspeaker system. A DiGiCo D1 will be available to allow attendees to familiarise themselves with a real-life mixing situation.

Fuzion sales director Paul Ward says: "These two major brands will be combining in a way never seen before, at a le

France - L-Acoustics has announced that Florent Bernard has joined the company's Technical Support Team. Florent boasts 15 years of touring experience, having collaborated as Certified V-DOSC engineer and sound designer with many top international artists including Radiohead, Peter Gabriel and Nine Inch Nails.

Florent says, "The faith and confidence in a speaker manufacturer brand is a prerequisite for considering a mission in tech support. The experience accumulated over a decade with L-Acoustics products and having appreciated the excellence of their tech support over the years, this made me wonder why not see things from the other side of the fence? Now I am truly excited about the opportunity to service, help and support my "fellow" system and sound engineers with a good understanding of their day to day needs. Not to mention the enjoyment of joining a group o

India - One of India's leading sound production companies, V&P Sound Pvt. Ltd., has purchased a DriveRack 4800 system processor from dbx Professional Products, a division of Harman International.

The Bangalore-based company, who undertake live concert work and multi-city tours with well-known Indian bands, operate a highly-specified fleet including dbx and BSS Audio processing, Soundcraft mixing consoles, AKG microphones and JBL VerTec and VRX sound reinforcement systems.

It was principally to run JBL's portable compact VRX932LA 12-inch, two-way line array loudspeaker that the company has added dbx's flagship processor to its inventory.

V&P Sound's Director, Vishnu, confirmed that the company will be using the DriveRack 4800 to control this PA in smaller gigs and the VRX915M monitors in larger capacity venues.

"We have been using dbx products since 1999, and they are

UK - Visitors to this week's Harman Pro UK product roadshows in Dublin, Liverpool and Guildford can win a limited-edition AKG C414 microphone worth £1000.

Anyone visiting the PA School in the evening of each roadshow will have the chance to enter into a prize draw to win an anniversary-edition AKG C414 - only 2007 are being produced this year, to celebrate AKG's 60th year in business, and one of them can be won at each of the three roadshow locations.

Roadshow attendees will also receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on selected gear from Harman Group companies, including the AKG D5 and C5 on-stage microphones, any of Soundcraft's EPM- and MPM-series mixers, Lexicon's MX-series reverb processors, and dbx's 166XL dual compressor/limiter/gate.

(Jim Evans)

Norway - An expansive, multi-zone health and fitness centre in Oslo has entrusted all its sound protocols to ZonePRO 1261 digital zone controllers from dbx Professional Products. This solution accommodates all the Myrens Sportssenter's requirements, from the aerobic and spinning sessions to the reception priority overrides and fire alarm interface.

The ZonePRO 1261 digital zone processor forms the hub of an integrated Harman Pro system proposed by distributors, LydRommet. The company was approached by the landlord of the historic building, which has been converted from the famous old Myrens Verksted mechanical workshops that existed here during the last century. Sharing ownership of the large building are four companies who respectively manage indoor climbing, squash, general fitness and golf driving simulation.

Although fitness centres are familiar territory for LydRommet the

UK - Britannia Row Productions' Outline Butterfly system was used on James Taylor's One Man Band UK tour, which took place from 6-30 April. 24 Hi-pack and four Subtech 218 cabinets were employed for the tour, with their relative Outline T series amplification. In addition, two compact DVS 8 monitors were used on front-fill duties.

Davide Lombardi served as head of audio on the tour on behalf of Brit Row, as well as assistant to David Morgan, James Taylor's FOH engineer. He commented: "It was a great challenge - I had 24 Butterfly and two DVS8s controlled by two Dolby Lake units, and had to change the rig's set-up 10 times in 12 different venues, but the system responded fantastically. As it was an acoustic concert, it was fundamental for the vocals and guitar to be clear and up-front everywhere in the theatre - from the front stalls to the last row in the circle.&quo

UK - As the ABTT Theatre Show draws closer (13-14 June, Royal Horticultural Halls, London), its Organisers' - the Association of British Theatre Technicians reports that current pre registrations are indicating another record attendance and that again over 100 exhibitors will showcase a spectrum of technical solutions for everyone involved with housing and presenting the performing arts.

Computers Unlimited will showcase its Vectorworks Spotlight entertainment and lighting design software. Featuring new upgrades its now offers PDF import and export and legend improvements. The programme offers a comprehensive range of 2D drafting and 3D modelling and production management capabilities with advanced lighting design, visualisation and production tools that benefit all phases of the design process - saving time and money.

US based City Theatrical will introduce its Stackers Taper

Greece - One of the best-known nightclubs in Greece, the 7,000 capacity Galea Club, in the seaside area of Voula Attikis, Athens, has just enjoyed a full renovation. This included a serious update of its primary sound systems, which now comprise EAW and RCF loudspeakers that are exclusively Lab.gruppen driven.

The Galea Club is unique in being both a mainstream, year-round venue catering to the local crowd, and one of the must popular summer places to where sun worshippers flock in their many thousands. This puts a lot of pressure on the venue, and especially the sound system that must operate faultlessly 24/7. The Galea combines vigorous dance floor action with a lounge esthetic. And the club mixes an ultra-modern atmosphere with gourmet dishes in the luxurious restaurant it incorporates. The principal of PAVD, the designers and installers of the sound and lighting systems, Mr.

UK - The White House in Clapham, London SW, has installed a substantial Turbosound-based sound system as part of a major refit. The White House was originally opened in 2001 as a bar and restaurant, but the three-storey Georgian building has now been converted into a bar/nightclub hybrid. The ground floor features the nightclub and main restaurant area, the first floor a roof terrace and lounge area, with a private members bar on the top floor.

For the sound system, operations director Yann Roberts chose a combination of Turbosound QLight, TCS Compact and Impact loudspeakers . Two TQ-445DPs and two TSB-118 subs service the dance floor area; the restaurant is appointed with six tq-310s, augmented by six TSB-110 subs, while eight Impact 50s with four TSB-110 subs, six TCS-101C and a further TSB-118 provide audio for the first floor. Finally, on the third floor, six Impact 50Ts are

UK - Cambridge-based Audica Professional has announced a significant expansion of its distribution with the appointment of three new distributors - MOCOM Communications Systeme Handelsgesellschaft in Austria, QSC Audio Products Spain, S.L in Spain and Venuetech LLC in the UAE.

Audica Professional was launched at PLASA in 2006 with just two distributors, CUK Audio in the UK and M-Pro in the BeNeLux. This has expanded rapidly and the company now has established distribution throughout all major European markets as well as in Russia, parts of Asia and Australia.

Derek West, sales director of Audica Professional, comments, "The last eight months have shown amazing growth in our distribution and sales, and proved the importance of the main industry exhibitions, the pro audio media and distributor networking. Being with CUK from the start gave us a successful PLASA launch and w

Germany / China - 110PRO Ltd, the international event supporter and owner of the Stagehands.de and Hostesses.de brands, has announced the appointment of Li Xiuming as assistant to supervisor Shu Zang at the company's Beijing office, which opened in January 2007. Since joining 110PRO Ltd, she has been busy working on research, business development and preparing for the 2008 Olympics.

A native Chinese, Li Xiuming studied at the North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering and the renowned Hebei University in Baoding. She speaks not only English and French, but also Japanese.

"I am very pleased with the new support in the office, we have so much to do and new challenges are popping up everyday," reports Shu Zang, the supervisor in China. As of now, Li Xiuming is the point of contact for production issues in China.

Stagehands.de directs a unique and constantly expand

UK - With work on their fourth album currently in progress, in April Welsh metal band Lostprophets took a break from writing and recording to undertake a UK arena tour. The band's Front of House engineer Doof spec'ed 10 XTA processors for the tour.

The dates, at the Glasgow SECC, Manchester MEN Arena, Birmingham NIA and London's Wembley Arena, gave the band a chance to blow away the cobwebs, while giving their UK fan base a preview of one or two new songs.

Supplied by UK rental company SSE Audio, the audio system comprised the latest generation Nexo Geo_T NXStream line array, mixed on a Midas H3000 console. Also specified were six XTA C2 compressors and four G2 noise gates.

The G2s were used across the drums, while the C2s were used on the bass guitar (which was both mic'd and DI'd), clean guitar channels and keyboards.

"I've worked on a lot of things for SSE but I ca

UK - CGA Integration has completed enhancement of Great Fosters renowned Oak room restaurant with dining audio. Gracing an estate of more than fifty acres in what was once the heart of Royal Windsor Forest in Surrey, Great Fosters hotel is a Grade One listed building, combining 16th century grandeur and luxurious modern facilities.

The Oak room at Great Fosters is a prestige dining venue, which prides itself on personal service, quality of finish, attention to detail and inspired gourmet food, for which background classical and light jazz audio was required. A secondary but important function of the sound track was to achieve audio masking of occasional intrusive noises, preserving the exclusivity of the dining experience.

Coming to the project fresh from the Dorchester Crystal Bar installation and through contacts at Le Manoir, CGA Integration were ideally suited to respond t

UK - This year the Davis Cup's Quarter Finals took place between at the National Exhibition Centre NEC in Birmingham. 7700 people attended daily to watch the games and ceremonies. Cloud One Group, based in the city, was contracted to supply total production for the tennis tournament which included opening and closing ceremonies featuring, playback when players accessed court, announcements, match commentary, and broadcast feeds.

The Main PA was designed to cover all seated areas, but not infiltrate the broadcast platform, which was positioned at the back of one row of racked seating. Stand alone PA systems for the VIP area, practice courts, press conference and the fourth, a hardwired wireless show communications system were also provided.

The set up was performed by Cloud One System technicians Jasen Hattams and Miles Barton according to the design executed by Paul Stratford

UK - Singer-songwriter Jodie Jones is endorsing Audio-Technica's new Artist Series microphones. The 21 year old from Devon, who released her debut album, All Dressed Up, in 2005, is the first artist to endorse the Artist Series. Having supported the likes of Van Morrison, Supergrass, Roy Wood and Midge Ure, and appearing on BBC TV in the ensuing months, Jones is now back in the studio with guitarist and percussionist husband Joff Alexander-Frye, she is recording new songs for her follow up release exclusively with Artist Series mics, says the company.

Jodie, who plays acoustic guitar and piano, has chosen the ATM710 condenser for her vocals, both live and in the studio. "We are using the ATM710s for all the vocals, both for me and Joff. I love what the mic does for the sound of my voice, the amazing clarity that it gives me. The leap in sound quality with the Artist

USA - Now in its ninth year, the Ultra Music Festival has grown to become one of the world's premier electronic music events. This year's EDM (electronic dance music) extravaganza, held at downtown Miami's, Bicentennial Park, attracted a record 50,000 fans from around the world, all convening for two, 12-hour days of nonstop music and mayhem. Festival-goers caught performances from The Cure, Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Paul Van Dyk, and Tiesto, and more than 150 other high profile DJs, producers, and artists spread between nine outdoor stages.

With sound pressure levels sometimes reaching nearly 120dB at the main stage's front-of-house position, and a need to deliver "ultra-pure" sound to a crowd spanning several city blocks, robust loudspeakers - and lots of them - became a necessity. Line array systems based on Meyer Sound's Milo high-power and Mica compact high-power cur

USA -The Pearl concert theatre at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas recently opened its doors, immediately establishing itself as one of the world's most technologically advanced performance venues. SIA Acoustics designed the acoustics and sound system, which was installed by lAudio Analysts, and features JBL Vertec DP Series powered line arrays.

The Pearl, which seats a modest 2,500, provides an intimate setting for high-profile artists, as evidenced by Gwen Stefani's performance at the venue's grand opening on April 21. Other acts slated to perform at The Pearl include Tool, Morrissey, Bloc Party and Fall Out Boy.

The heart of the system includes a total of 40 JBL Vertec VT4888DPAN powered enclosures (one line array on each side of the stage), with 20 VT4882DP arrayable subwoofers. Additionally, three groups of four VT4887DPAN powered line array elements (12 in total) pro

UK - DMi D&M Installation has announced the appointment of KGa marketing & media as its European PR representatives, with immediate effect. The move comes in response to the perceived requirement for a dedicated press and public relations service for the professional AV and CI markets.

Having previously worked for Marantz professional in Europe, as well as many other clients in the professional AV sector, KGa has an extensive knowledge and experience of product technologies and applications in these markets.

DMi D&M Installation, a division D&M Europe, is dedicated to the distribution and support of products from all of D&M's brands to the commercial AV and custom install markets. DMi offers products from Denon, Denon professional, Marantz and Marantz professional ranges, alongside Escient digital music servers, Opus multi-room systems, and Boston Acoustics' wall, ceiling and

USA - Emerald Downs, Seattle's horse racing circuit nestled at the foot of the Cascade Mountains, has installed an iLive 144 and iDR10 digital mixing system from Allen & Heath. The console is installed in the track's main control room and handles 56 inputs from various audio sources including announcer mics, the many simulcasts that provide playback of events for the spectators, and more. Walter Lucas of Seattle Pro Audio presided over the installation.

All 32 mix outputs of the iDR10 are utilised, and the programmable nature of the iLive surface allowed the engineers to configure the different mix outputs to provide feeds to the stadium, boxes, hospitality suites, track, OB vans, other broadcast feeds, and monitor mixes.

"The iLive was chosen for its routing flexibility, easy of use, superior audio quality, and small footprint, " states Owen McClain, Emerald Downs'

UK - London's Camden Crawl festival which covers 15 different venues, gave Britannia Row the opportunity to give a demanding field test to Turbosound's new NuQ loudspeakers.

2007 was the first time that this unusual festival took place over two days, 19t-20 April, with artists such as Travis, The Charlatans, The Damned and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club sharing the same stages as lesser-known acts.

"As we were working in so many venues and there were so many bands playing, the idea was very much to have a standard system in all of them," says Britannia Row's Roly Oliver. "We needed to deliver a package that was very simple and very compact, but delivered great sound. Self-powered Turbosound cabinets gave the size, quality, reliability and flexibility we needed - and we also wanted to give the new NuQ cabinets a tough test."

The NuQ systems were installed in

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