UK - Stage Electrics reports that its new L-Acoustics stock has been "flying off the hire shelves" since the company signed a UK dealership agreement with the French manufacturer.

The new hire stock includes 24 of the new 12XT loudspeakers and 10 of the LA4 amplified controllers. There are also plans to take delivery of LA8 amplified controllers once they are released. Stage Electrics has also added to its existing stock of 115 XT-HiQ with an additional 12 cabinets.

Chris Vass, Stage Electrics' audio project manager, comments: "The new L-Acoustics equipment is versatile, easy to use, looks the business, and offers great sound. L-Acoustics is a proven manufacturer and well thought of. We had been planning an upgrade for some time and their new range fits extremely well into our current stock profile.

"The new equipment has been constantly in demand since d

UK The new Outline turntable for polar measurement, ET250-3D has been nominated for a PLASA Award for Innovation. The idea came from Guido Noselli, the company's founder, and was initially intended for in-house use, inorder to facilitate measurement of the polar dispersion of the firm's loudspeakers.

In fact, this device became the most sought-after work tool for (well-known and lesser known) competitors and the world's most famous sound designers, as well as multinational companies, authoritative institutions such as MIT and Synergetic Audio Concept and many universities teaching acoustics worldwide, says the company.

After almost 20 years' life, the ET System is still one of Outline's best sellers. The remote control software supplied with the turntable was also entirely developed in Outline's laboratories. This software enables the user to programme 'macros' using an intuit

Brazil - Sao Paulo's Teatro Abril provided the venue for the sixth production of the hit musical Miss Saigon to open this year, as the show started its first ever run in South America last month. Sound design is by Peter Grubb of Melbourne-based theatre sound engineering company, System Sound, with a Cadac J-Type Live Production Console at the heart of the sound system, supplied by local rental company Loudness.

The 1500-capacity Teatro Abril, regarded as one of the city's most beautiful theatres, is the premier venue for large-scale international productions, performed in Portuguese and featuring Brazilian casts. Destroyed by fire in 1969, the theatre was restored to its former glory and reopened in 2001. The venue provided the sound team with a straightforward load-in and set-up, presenting few challenges thanks to the good acoustics.

For Peter Grubb of System Sound,

Germany - Pro Audio Technik has introduced a notebook stand under the name Luke Dreistand. The stand has been designed in close cooperation with renowned DJs during practical work with computer based DJ systems. The notebook stand tray accepts most portable computers. A clamp mounted side tray can be used to hold a Scratch LIVE Interface, an external hard disk or a sound card.

The tripod stand stays securely in place - even on uneven surfaces, with minimum space requirement. Tray height is adjustable and it may be turned sideways and tilted down or up. Thus, the notebook positioning may be adjusted according to the user's preference and to the space available.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - Located in the basement of the five star Kurhaus hotel in Scheveningen, lively bar Crazy Pianos' evening entertainment is provided by pairs of pianists who play requests from classical to rock'n'roll, get the audience to sing along and generally clown around.

The entertainment might be light-hearted, but the business of Crazy Pianos audio system is very serious indeed. A Yamaha DME24N and DM1000 console are at the heart of a flexible system which is designed to give the club's clientele the best possible audio experience.

The system was designed by Jeroen ten Brinke of Audio Design International and installed by More Stage Services. With Crazy Pianos manager Bjorn being a serious audiophile, updating the venue's eight year old sound system had to be done to the highest possible specification.

"When Crazy Pianos installed the first system, eight years a

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden is celebrating the production of W-DMX unit number 10,000 with a special GoldBox, designed as an award to "Outstanding EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Asia) Dealer" to be presented during a special ceremony to be held during PLASA07.

"We are so proud of the growth of our business in the past few years," says Niclas Arvidsson, international sales manager and founder of Wireless Solution: "We want to share the celebration of our 10,000th unit by recognising some of our dealers who have helped make this possible."

On Monday, 10 September at 3:00pm at Booth E81, Arvidsson and Wireless Solution personnel will hold an informal ceremony, where they will present a limited edition Gold-plated W-DMX BlackBox to their outstanding EMEA dealers. Wireless Solution is exhibiting with White Light.

In addition to a focus on dealers, Wirele

Germany - For the fourth consecutive year, rental company Pave used HK Audio to reinforce Nuremberg's Rock im Park festival.

The Alterna Stage of this festival - which together with its associated Rock am Ring is the biggest German rock and pop festival attracting 100.000 visitors annually - was completely set up with a HK Audio Cohedra system.

Bands playing on the Alterna Stage this year included The White Stripes, Machine Head, Type O Negative, Mia, Wir Sind Helden and Jan Delay. For so many different styles, a multilateral sound system was required. Wolfgang Geisler, CEO of Pave, comments: "The Cohedra has mat everything demanded of it. The feedback we received from the many FOH engineers was generally excellent."

Wolfgang Geisler is also using the same sound system at the Klassik Open Air in Nuremberg which attracts about 70,000 visitors every year. "We wi

UK The new MADI-xx is a multi-format converter based on a 128 x 128 MADI router with multi-channel audio metering, monitoring and alarm functionality.

As well as handling 2 x MADI streams (coaxial and optical) it also has input/output options for analogue and AES/EBU resulting in a flexible multi-purpose device that may be used for conversion, transmission and remote monitoring, locally or over IP.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - Two popular live entertainment venues in Catalonia are so delighted with their recently-fitted QSC line array systems that both report they are planning major expansions which will see them adopt further QSC systems.

Located 100km south of Barcelona, in the heart of Tarragona, the Sala Highland Irish Bar is in the process of doubling in size. Meanwhile, in the Barcelona suburb of Hospitalet del Llobregat, popular indie rock venue Sala Mandra will shortly relocate to an expanded facility further down the street, which will not only give them an enlarged performance space, but allow them to have their own recording studio upstairs.

Packed with memorabilia in a converted Tarragona cinema, and already staging a package of entertainment ranging from club nights to sport (via the drop down projection screen), Highland owner Iñaki Iuain was unhappy with the existing sound sy

UK - Audio Village has recently installed a Community loudspeaker system for the live eviction arena of the hit TV programme, Big Brother. The system was purchased through LMC Audio Systems.

Big Brother is based at the Elstree Film and Television Studios complex, where Audio Village also supplies a number of other top shows. Barry Mizen and Vernon Cooper, directors of Audio Village, have been involved with the audio and PA systems for Big Brother since the second series at Elstree Film Studios and recently upgraded the PA for the outside area of the show.

The eviction arena is completely open-air and focuses on the second floor door, with its familiar Big Brother 'eye' logo, from where those evicted leave the house. A boardwalk leads from the door with steps down to a central podium and the arena floor where up to 800 spectators watch the evictions

UK -Digital Audio and Computer Systems (DACS), which distributes Magix Sequoia recording and editing tools, is working closely with URM Audio to provide approved Sequoia training in the UK.

For many years, Sequoia has been an integral part of leading broadcast and mastering studios worldwide, including the BBC, German public broadcasters WDR and MDR, Radio Bremen, the Viennese Symphonic Library and Sterling Sound in New York. Sound engineers, music producers, radio journalists and editors all see Sequoia as key tool for professional media production.

URM Audio has now established recognised training courses - one or two-day sessions that cover digital music editing and mastering processors and processing - for end users wishing to take advantage of Sequoia's high-end capabilities.

(Jim Evans)

Singapore - Situated in Emerald Hill, the Ice Cold Beer pub has been one of the 'in' places to go in Singapore for many years. Here, patrons can play darts, pool, watch sports on big screen televisions or just relax and listen to classic rock music from the 60s and 70s, played over the pub's recently installed d&b audiotechnik reinforcement system.

The system, comprising E0s, E12 subwoofers all driven by d&b E-PAC and D12 amplifiers, was designed by d&b's Dominic Koh and installed by the pub staff. "The pub chose to use d&b equipment because they wanted a system that could provide high quality sound and at the same time allow comfortable conversation to take place," said Sebastian Song, d&b's Asia representative. "From that point of view, the loudspeaker system has been a great success."

(Jim Evans)

Canada - Richmond Sound Design has announced the release and first sales of its new SoundMan-Designer software which duplicates the functions of its award winning AudioBox model AB1616 Theatre Sound and Show Controller, of which hundreds are still in constant use worldwidein theatres, theme parks, cruise ships, museums and displays. SoundMan-Designer provides a simple and logical upgrade path as new versions can be downloaded at any time, says the company.

SoundMan-Designer Windows software uses any standard ASIO audio interface to provide 16 live inputs, 16 outputs and 16 tracks of playback, exactly as AudioBox users have enjoyed for over a decade.

Included is a wide range of audio and show control capabilities, all in real time. Up to 12 bands of parametric EQ, five seconds of delay, automatic fades, mutes, solos, submastering and volume linking are available in every input

Canada - As the largest outdoor rodeo in the world and one of the biggest shows on the Canadian calendar, the Calgary Stampede attracts well over a million visitors during its ten days in July. In addition to rodeo competitions, the Stampede programme runs the gamut from chuckwagon races to agricultural exhibits and all kinds of entertainment events on numerous stages.

Sound Art Calgary deploys a wide range of equipment from Electro-Voice to meet the Stampede's varied sound reinforcement needs, from compact Sx and Zx speakers on stands to the X-Line, XLC-DVX and XLD line-arrays flown for the Grandstand shows in front of 30,000 people, with headliners including INXS and Collective Soul. Midas mixing consoles and Klark Teknik EQs complete the picture.

"We've used EV speakers for every one of the 12 years I've been involved in these events," says Dan Frerichs, general m

Switzerland - The 16th Rock Oz'Arènes festival from 15 to 18 August featured more than 40 acts including Joe Cocker, Stephan Eicher, Jimmy Cliff and Nine Inch Nails, and attracted a record crowd of 35.000.

Jaccoud Music Electronic was responsible for sound and stage equipment of the event. For the reinforcement of the Scène Casino, Christian Jaccoud chose the K.M.E. PANO line array. The Casino stage was equipped with seven PANO line-array tops QL 906 and a QL 1215 each side. As subwoofers he used six cardioid QCB 318s.

Christian Jaccoud reports, "The system providing perfect coverage of the 12m wide stage through QL 906 in combination with QL 1215 was amazing. No front or near-fills were necessary."

(Jim Evans)

Australia - A Klotz Digital Xenon console was installed earlier this year in the University of Newcastle's media production facilities in Callaghan, Australia. Over the past years the university's technical staff have rapidly upgraded facilities, adding equipment that will further enrich student learning experiences through hands-on industry standard technology.

Funding towards the end of 2006 allowed for the replacement of an old analogue broadcast console which had been in use in teaching of radio and journalism courses for approximately 12 years. "I had done some investigation into digital broadcast consoles and it basically came down to two consoles from Klotz DIgital's rival manufacturers," says George Hyde, the technological officer (Audio) of the university's School of Design, Communication and IT.

"What swayed me to the Xenon was its out-of-the-box pre-c

UK - DMi D&M Installation has announced that it only recommends the use of Kingston Technology Compact Flash memory cards in its Marantz Professional range of solidstate recorders. The recommendation is the result of a compatibility assurance scheme developed in partnership with Kingston Technology.

Under the cooperative scheme, Kingston Technology's R&D department has rigourously tested its range of CF cards with all Marantz Professional's PMD products, and has provided a list of all compatible memory cards on its website (www.kingston.com/ukroot).

Mark Perrins, general manager, DMi D&M Installation, commented, "The volume and varying quality of CF cards in today's market can be at the least confusing for the customer, and at worst incompatible with the recorder. This agreement between Marantz Professional and Kingston gives peace of mind to existing and future users of

UK - The Embassy Club in London's Mayfair, has recently taken delivery of a Versarray rig, the new line array system from Peavey. With the acquisition of the new, the club has launched Embassy Rock Nights, fast becoming one of the hottest events on the capital's gig circuit.

Embassy London opted for a system comprising a total of four Versarray 112 mid-hi modules (two per side) featuring a lightweight 12" woofer and 4" voice coil with a neodymium magnet structure. Two Versarray 218 dual 18" ultra-high power vented subwoofers with optional ground-stacking kits complete the line-up. Control comes courtesy of Peavey's VSX speaker management system and amplification from Peavey GPS power amplifiers.

Front of House duties are handled by a Peavey 16FX 16-channel mixer featuring Silencer mic preamps which allow for high gain with low noise and distortion for clear sign

Singapore - For the second consecutive year, the Soundcraft Vi6 was one of the consoles of choice for Baybeats, the annual Indie rock festival at Singapore's Esplanade. Running over three days, the event featured a host of bands from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Sweden, Australia and the US.

In 2006, The Esplanade purchased the new mixing desk from distributors E&E just in time for Baybeats where it was in use as a monitor board. But this year the Vi6 undertook FOH duties while it was joined by its smaller sibling, the Soundcraft Vi4 on monitors at the Nokia Arena.

The Vi4, which was launched earlier this year, offers similar functionality and facilities to the Vi6, but in a smaller, more compact footprint. Measuring just 1.5m wide, the Vi4 offers 48 inputs on 24 faders, with a total of 27 output busses available for use as masters, groups

The Netherlands - The Muziektheater in Amsterdam has chosen to replace its analogue, wired intercom infrastructure with a fully digital intercom solution from Clear-Com, including wireless beltpacks and matrix frames.

The Netherlands Opera and Dutch National ballet both create and produce their own operas and ballets which involves a large amount of rehearsal time on stage where clear communications are vital. The Clear-Com FreeSpeak beltpacks provide a reliable, wireless system for Muziektheater stage, lighting, sound, and technical teams.

"Intercoms are the lifeline between the artistic staff and technicians," said Hans-Willem de Haan, head of the sound and video department at Muziektheater. "We have a long-standing relationship with Clear-Com, so when we decided to move to a digital intercom system, we chose the Clear-Com 4000 matrix in combination with the F

USA - Underscoring the increasing importance of live sound to its overall growth strategy, Digidesign has announced the appointment of former EAW executive and industry luminary FrankLoyko to the position of worldwide director of sales for the Digidesign Venue live sound product line. In hisnew position, Loyko will be responsible for defining and leading all live sound sales strategies worldwide,including managing Digidesign's direct live sound sales team, the company says.

"Frank brings an entrepreneurial spirit and tremendous track record for building professional audio brands,and successfully leading high-performance sales teams," says Tim Carroll, senior director of worldwide sales at Digidesign. "His broad experience in all aspects of live sound sales, along with his deep industryconnections, will be crucial in helping us achieve the next level of growth in l

UK - Since being designated as a New Town in 1967, the conurbation that has been developed around the village of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, has grown rapidly in the ensuing 40 years.

One of the latest construction projects, centred on the Denbeigh district of modern Milton Keynes, is stadium:mk - a football stadium, arena and retail / hotel development. stadium:mk is also home to MK Dons, the football club famously (and controversially) moved from its former home and incarnation as Wimbledon FC, whose chairman Pete Winkelman is the mastermind behind the stadium development.

As a former music industry producer, and previously the owner of Great Linford Manor recording studios, it's unsurprising that Winkelman has taken a keen interest in the stadium's acoustics and audio system, going to great lengths to ensure that the sound quality is as high as possible for both footbal

UK - Allen & Heath has made an addition to the leading Xone DJ range, with the launch of the Xone:42 high performance 4-channel DJ mixer with USB audio interface.

"Designed to seamlessly interface with current leading edge DJ technology, the Xone:42 has an ergonomic, intuitive layout, making it one of the easiest to use hi-tech mix tools around," comments Xone designer, Andy Rigby-Jones.

The Xone:42's feature set is built around 4 dual-input stereo channels; channels 1 and 4 are phono/line, while channels 2 and 3 are line/line. All four channels have a powerful +6dB to total kill 3-band EQ, a 9-segment 3-colour bar meter, gain control, and 60mm VCA faders with illuminated X/Y crossfader selection. Xone's Voltage Control Filter is included on each channel via illuminated assignment switches, with selectable filter type, resonance, and frequency controls.

The mixer s

Switzerland - TiMax Audio Imaging has featured prominently in the sound design of a major outdoor theatrical event in Switzerland. Specified by Thomas Strebel of Swiss sound design and resourcing company audiopool, a 16-input, 32-output TiMax Rack system was integrated with a Studer Vista8 console for the 2007 annual Welttheater production in Einsiedeln.

Das Einsiedler Welttheater features a cast of more than 300 players performing in a roughly 50m x 60m open square in front of the imposing bulk of the town's massive Kloster Einsiedeln monastery. Much of the cast moves all over the space either singing or playing musical instruments, wearing a variety of eclectic garb ranging from nun's outfits to life-like oversized heads.

The primary objective of the sound design was to amplify them authentically and unobtrusively while ensuring that their multiple audio images tracked their

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