Poland - Over 10,000 people attended the recent Juwenalia Slaskie 2007 Festival in Katowice. The numbers were far more than was originally expected, but proved no problems to the production team, CMA (A major rental company) who worked closely with Arcade Audio, RCF's distributor in Poland.

"The solution was simple," says Renata Klimek, managing director of Arcade Audio, "We used the new TT+ line array which easily coped with the conditions at the Katowice's sport airport." Headlining on the day were Hev and Dzem, two of Poland's most popular bands.

The sound system installed for the concert comprised eight TTL33-A for each side of the stage and a series of TTS28-A subwoofers. Klimek adds, "The TT+ system supplied a powerful and clean sound to all of the large audience at the concert, 7,000 people were expected but in the end more than 10,000 young stu

USA - Meyer Sound has announced that veteran engineer and sound system designer Paul Giansante has joined the company as touring manager. In this position, Giansante will work closely with tour liaison manager Buford Jones as part of Meyer Sound's expanding touring group.

Giansante has toured with a wide range of artists including Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Sade, Neil Young, Beastie Boys, Zucchero, Parliament and Frank Sinatra. He has worked closely with well-respected engineers as Buford Jones (previous to his joining Meyer Sound), Jon Lemon, Dave Bracey, Robert Collins, John Shearman, Colin Norfield, Roger Lindsay, Al Tucker, Paddi Addison, and Jim "Redford" Sanders.

Giansante comes to Meyer Sound after several years with Sennheiser/Turbosound, and has previously worked with other touring companies including Britannia Row, Italy's Nuovo

UK - Matt Chisholm, winner of the Stage Electrics NSDF 'Contribution To Sound Award' in association with Sennheiser was presented his prize by David Bell of Stage Electrics last week outside the Sennheiser Theatre at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA.)

The National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) is held in Scarborough each year, students some of which have never touched anything technical in their lives, have the opportunity to attend seminars and training sessions, meet industry experts and showcase their often newly discovered talents.

Stage Electrics has been involved with the festival for the last seven years, supporting the NSDF since 1999. The company supplies the festival's technical requirements and helps to deliver the workshop programme.

Chris Patton from Stage Electrics explains, "We have run various courses from basic moving lights workshops to sou

UK - The Sound Division Group were recently asked to provide a combined public address and movie projection system for an Evening of Tribute to Sir Nicholas Winton MBE, held at the Kinloss Synagogue, North London.

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Sir Nicholas Winton organised the rescue of 669 Czech Jewish children from the Nazi death camps in an operation known as the Czech Kindertransport.

The evening commenced with a showing of the 2002 International Emmy Award-winning documentary film, The Power Of Good, followed by an interview with Sir Nicholas Winton by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of the Kinloss Synagogue.

At the conclusion of the interview, Rabbi Mirvis unexpectedly announced that he would invite two 'surprise guests' onto the stage - Kathe Fischel and Vera Gissing, who were two of the original Czech children saved on the Kindertranspor

Germany - Meyer Sound will make its first-ever appearance at Showtech in Berlin (19-21 June), the international trade show for stage and convention technologies professionals. Through demonstrations and displays, attendees will have the opportunity to experience a full complement of products, including the new UPJunior ultracompact VariO loudspeaker, LCS Series Matrix3 audio show control system, and the M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

Meyer will host demonstrations of Matrix3 with SpaceMap multichannel panning, Wild Tracks hard disk playback, and the CueMixer compact control surface. Matrix3 is used in a broad variety of productions and attractions, including numerous Cirque du Soleil shows. UPJunior and the M1D-Sub ultracompact subwoofer will also be in use in the demo room.

"We see Showtech as being an important international event

USA - This month (June) Crown International celebrates its 60th anniversary. From its humble beginnings in 1947, the operation has grown to become one of the world's largest and most respected manufacturers of power amplifiers and microphones for professional audio markets.

"Six decades after Mr. Moore first established this company, Crown still adheres to its founder's reputation for creating innovative products that are both sonically superior and highly reliable," says Crown International president Mark Graham. "And with the resources and support of Harman International combined with our dedicated network of employees, reps, distributors and dealers around the globe, Crown is well-poised to carry on that legacy for yet another 60 years."

Crown's history traces back to an Elkhart, Indiana minister named Clarence C. Moore (1904-1979). Moore, a longtime rad

UK - Formula Sound has announced a significant extension to the range of Middle East markets where its products are represented. The company has appointed its existing Dubai distributor, Reference Audio, to represent Formula Sound products in Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Yemen and Qatar.

"We know that quality is an absolutely crucial requirement for customers in this market and quality has been a recognised hallmark of our products for the past 30 years, so we feel our products are ideally suited" says Formula Sound's Barry Penaligon.

"Combining this with the considerable experience that Reference Audio has and the service levels it provides was a logical step to take our products into this region. We are delighted to extend the scope of our dealings with Reference Audio and look forward to doing good business with them in the future."

(Jim

South America - The new REV wireless system from Electro-Voice got its first taste of world-class touring with Latin music superstar Ricky Martin on the recent ten-week South and Central American leg of his current Black and White world tour.

Monitor Engineer Raphael 'Raf' Alkins and RF Engineer William Benavides used the REV, the latest generation of EV wireless, on electric and acoustic guitars.

"We worked with (Electro-Voice dealers) AV Tech Services to demo the REV systems and loved what we heard," Alkins says. "AV Tech Services also made it clear that an investment in EV hardware includes the best manufacturer support out there. At this level there's no room for excuses; equipment needs to deliver, and any tech support is time critical. We obviously had questions about the new systems when setting up for the tour, and we got immediate assistance when

International - In May, Mana, Mexico's most successful rock band, launched a year-long world tour with shows planned in over 70 cities in the USA, Latin America, and Europe. The tour's first shows were at the San Diego Sports Arena and the Universal (Gibson) Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. The US leg of the tour will culminate at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Pro Color from Guadalajara is the production contractor for the tour, providing sound, lighting, and rigging. Included in the equipment specified for the tour are four ProPower RPD power distribution racks, over 400ft of ProSpan truss, and over 20,000ft of ProPlex data and ProCable power cables.

Says Javier Barba, the principal of Pro Color: "The ProPower distro racks are the best. They look great, have many useful features and we have found them to be completely reliable. On the Mana Tour, we use two on each side

Denmark - DPA Microphones received the King Frederik IX's award at a ceremony on Fredensborg Castle in recognition of the manufacturer's outstanding contribution to Danish export. The award was presented by His Royal Highness the Prince Consort to DPA CEO Lars Friis Ostergaard and director of business development Morten Stove.

"I am very proud that the committee has chosen DPA Microphones this year," says Stove. "The company is still quite young, and the growth in our markets in this short time is fantastic. We are continuing this growth, and by building an additional manufacturing plant we are ready to follow up on our success. This award is definitely going to help us increase our export share."

It was emphasised that DPA received this award in recognition of the company's continuation of a Danish long tradition; that of combining state-of-the-art technol

USA - Furman Sound has announced the availability of free online videos that discuss AC power problems and solutions.

Available via the Furman Sound website, the short series of videos provides installers and customers alike with the opportunity to learn about AC power management through dynamic content such as real-world installation examples, active product demos, and 3D modeling of Furman's products and circuitry.

The online videos are divided into two groups: technology and product solutions. Each section is then broken down into short chapters, affording viewers a fast and easy way to brush up on any of Furman's proprietary technologies or products. Visitors to the Furman web site can watch all or part of the videos, which are available with or without chapter breaks.

"Power management is an essential element for the enhanced performance and protection of sensitive

Turkey - Professional audio specialists, SF Dis Ticaret AS, recently carried out installations in three of Istanbul's high-profile retail stores, using ZonePRO 1260 devices from dbx Professional Products as their digital processing solution.

The projects have taken them to the commercial hub of Taksim, where the Levi's Store is based, across to Bagdat Street (on the Anatolian side) to the Nike Store, and finally to Levent, and the prestigious new Kanyon Shopping Mall which houses Harvey Nichols.

SF and its dealer companies maintain regular contact with the leading architectural and consulting companies in Turkey, such as Yalin Tan & Jeyan Ülkü, who handled the Levi's and Nike store projects. The Harvey Nichols project came via SF's dealer, S&S Music Company, with whom they have enjoyed an association extending back more than a decade.

While all the stores required a high-q

Australia - ARX has announced the release of its new ARX USB-DI Digital to Analogue Direct Box.

The new USB-DI Transformer isolated dual channel USB audio to balanced XLR output DI Box is a true Plug and Play digital to analogue pro audio interface, says the company.

The unit removes the need to use any existing sound card outputs, with their inherent noisy environment and problematic grounding. It features full transformer balanced output isolation to eliminate earth loops / ground hum and other extraneous interaction noise and distortion.

(Jim Evans)

Liechtenstein - RT-Speaker V3.01 is the latest software upgrade for the NTI PureSound speaker test system. New 3.01 functionalities include enhanced user test sequence capability, support for direct DC-resistance measurement for Thiele/Small parameter calculations, a multipurpose digital input/output interface control for automated measurement tasks and other features. The resulting enhanced PureSound system further simplifies even complex sequences of multiple measurement tasks, and is tailored to the needs of today's ever more sophisticated automated production lines, says the company.

Complex follow-on tests and sequence control are made easy with new built-in functionality. Direct measurement of DC Resistance of the driver under test enables precise calculation of the quality factors Qms, Qes and Qts. The PureSound system eliminates disturbing external vibration in the test

UK - Shoreditch operators The Cantaloupe Group, have opened an authentic Spanish Bar/Restaurant in the new Regent Quarter development at London's Kings Cross.

As with all three of their venues - including the influential Cargo in Shoreditch - the company has turned again to Marquee Audio to deliver their sound reinforcement requirements. Their solution has been to provide a discreet background music system in the new building to meet the eclectic tastes of directors Richard Bigg, Nigel Foster and Chris Greenwood.

It is the company's music guru Chris Greenwood - the man responsible for programming the music at several of London's top Cuban and Latin bars - who has drawn on his huge library of Latin American grooves to create the playlist. "I have tried to make the music much more contemporary and wide-ranging than just the usual Gypsy Kings soundtrack," he said.

Thi

New Zealand - SAE Auckland recently purchased an Allen & Heath WZ 20S compact stereo mixer for a new mobile film production package to be used by students studying the college's film-making diploma.

"We chose the MizWizard because of A&H's great reputation for professional audio mixers. When we purchase new equipment for SAE, we need to be assured that the product is of the highest quality and is conducive to efficient learning and teaching," says technical services manager, Daniel Larsen.

"The WZ 20S is easy to use, has a large number of stereo channels, simple routing, and clearly labelled sections - including EQ, aux, master section, and rear patching - and we can power the location mics with the phantom power provided on the mono channels."

The MixWizard mounts neatly onto SAE's mobile road case, and integrates the system, comprising a video mixer and

USA - The duo of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, otherwise known as Steely Dan is being heard through a powerful Meyer Sound system provided by Thunder Audio on the US dates of the Heavy Rollers Tour 2007.The main system is built around two arrays of eight Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers and two MILO 120 high-power expanded coverage curvilinear array loudspeakers each for the main system, with six 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers covering the bottom end.

"Steely Dan places a premium on audio excellence, and there's no other speaker that can compete with the Milo by way of power or performance," says Thunder VP Paul Owen. "For an act with the sonic pedigree of Steely Dan, it's the gold standard."

Two side hangs of five M'elodie ultra-compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers augment the main arrays, with eight UPJ-1P compact Va

UK - Vanguardia Consulting is in the final stages of commissioning the sound, noise management and acoustical aspects of The 02, London's largest purpose-built music arena, with 22,000 seats, which opens under the roof of the former Millennium Dome in Greenwich on 24 June with a sold-out concert by Bon Jovi.

The consultants of Vanguardia, which specialises in acoustics, sound system design and noise control consultancy, have been involved in the prestige project since its inception. The team, headed by Jim Griffiths, was brought in by owners AEG Worldwide to ensure The 02 would set a new world standard for stadium acoustics.

The team's task was threefold - completely acoustically insulating The 02 to minimise any noise spill into the environment, specifying an internal acoustic design to control reverberation time (RT) to a remarkable two seconds in the mid frequencies, and sp

UK - Sound, lighting and AV integration specialists The PAI Group has completed an innovative contemporary audio/visual and lighting installation at the Gwernllwyn Country Club, Carmarthenshire. The 700 capacity venue - owned by local independent entrepreneur Will James - features a split level design with a function room on the first floor and a nightclub below.

PAI Group's general manager Keith Elms led the project, taking Thomas Parry Architects' interior design as an aesthetic starting point for the design, specification and supply of a complimentary, avant-garde technical infrastructure. Elms comments: "We know that the fusion between interior design, AV and lighting systems is intrinsic to delivering the most cutting-edge results for the client."

The club's peripheral features utilise state-of-the-art LED architectural lighting. These architectural elements are

UK - The winners of this year's Annual Awards and the Technician of the Year, were presented with their Hook Clamp trophies - jointly sponsored by Andolite & Triple E - at the Annual Awards Dinner, sponsored by PRG Europe and held at London's Commonwealth Club.

Chairman of the judges, Robin Townley, ABTT Hon. Secretary, remarked that there were again more nominations this year than ever before and that nominations continued to arrive from the ABTT Theatre Show floor, well into the morning.

Judging took place throughout the day, with the final decision made shortly before the start of the Awards Dinner in the evening.

The ABTT Sound Product of the Year 2007 went to Orbital Sound for the Zaxcom digital radio mic system which the judges described as "very impressive, forward thinking application of digital technology".

Other awards included: Lighting Product of the

UK - Like much of the rest of the contest, it was a close-run thing at the end. The final of mic manufacturer AKG's 2007 unsigned bands competition, Unsigned Heroes, which was held at London venue Koko on 1 June, promised a night of great music and a fine display of new talent, and it delivered in full.

Camden's The Standards won the day with their finely developed stage presence and great melodic performance, but Hertfordshire's Flamboyant Bella and Merseyside's The Kashmirs came close behind. As the judges said as they stepped up to make the final announcement: "This has been a really tough decision . . . we'd like everyone to have won."

Amanda Chester, who as Marketing Manager at Harman Pro UK, AKG's UK distributors, played a key role in organising Unsigned Heroes 2007, says, "It's been great to organise this competition on behalf of AKG, and it

Ireland - For the third time in a row Dublin's National Concert Hall (NCH) has opted for a Sound Projects sound reinforcement system. The new configuration, primarily Linex line array, gives the venue access possibilities to wider programming elements. It is the first such installation of its kind in Ireland.

Sound Projects entered the NCH in 1997, when the Dutch audio manufacturer built and supplied a custom made centre cluster which was later replaced by eight Sound Projects SP-2 active cabinets.

The newly installed configuration consists of a Sound Projects Linex clustered 10-cabinet line array facing forward, with four SP-4 Linex speakers facing the rear balcony and one facing each of the side balconies.

Stereo imaging is made possible by the addition of eight SP-2 and four X-Act active loudspeakers. A remotely controlled LCR configuration is also possible. The system is

Ukraine - With Eastern Europe now clearly highlighted as an area of growing opportunities for pro audio equipment manufacturers, Prism Sound has strengthened its position in this market by appointing Real Music as exclusive Ukraine distributor for its range of recording products.

Founded in 1998 by Sergey Shelkovenko, Real Music offers two distinct services -distribution of high-end pro audio equipment for manufacturers such as TC Electronic, Allen & Heath, Tannoy and Meyersound, and the installation of equipment into music recording facilities. The company employs 56 staff and has four retail outlets, along with offices in three of Ukraine's largest cities, Kiev, Odessa and Donetsk.

"We sell goods all over Ukraine through a network of more than 50 dealers," says Shelkovenko. "We are delighted to be representing Prism Sound's recording products as the company ha

UK - Three years ago, Basingstoke-based rental and production company Eurohire purchased the first eight production units of EM Acoustics' Quake subwoofers. Demonstrating their commitment to the brand, Eurohire's MD Mervin George recently took delivery of a further eight units to complement their existing point source and recently-purchased line array stock.

Eight of their Quake subwoofers were recently deployed on the Wisley Music Festival in Surrey. The three night event played to sold-out crowds each evening, with a different genre each performance. The first night included Catherine Jenkins, the second featured music from the hit musical Dirty Dancing, and the third night gave the system the chance to really show what it could do with music from the Counterfeit Stones and Killer Queen.

The system comprised four Quakes per side, underpinning a 7-box EAW line array ha

Latest Issue. . .