Italy / Singapore - Aiming to strengthen its market presence in South East Asia, Italian manufacturer Powersoft has appointed Proaktiv System Pte Ltd as the new exclusive distributor for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Proaktiv will be responsible for the management of sales, distribution, service of Powersoft product range through their regional offices and Partners located in Singapore (Headquarters), Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

"We carry brands that complement each other, however, we had a missing link, power amps . . . But choosing the right brand was not a difficult decision at all," said Chandan Mahtani, managing director of Proaktiv Sys. "Powersoft was the only company we approached and it was an obvious choice. We are very happy that Powersoft appointed us as their distributor for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. I like the energ

Canada - PA Plus Productions (Toronto) deployed a Midas XL8 digital live performance system for this year's Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame Awards. Held on M arch at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, the 2008 show honoured, among others, Paul Anka, with five of his songs inducted. A radio broadcast of the show aired the next day; the television broadcast went out on 3 March.

John Lacina of PA Plus, who mixed the music portion of the show, reports, "The XL8 sounds, feels, and behaves like an analogue Midas, but with huge digital processing power. I noticed a marked improvement right from the start in the sound quality over other digital products I have used. The XL8 lived up to the hype, so to speak, in that it does not sound digital at all. In this sense the stellar onboard EQ and Dynamics can be used to fine tune, rather than outright fix, the sound, sometimes encountere

UK - The introduction of the Digidesign Mix Rack at the recent Winter NAMM Show has had an immediate impact on both the rental and medium install market, says the manufacturer. Now available in Europe, this new hardware option for the Venue live sound environment combines all stage, local audio I/O, and DSP into a single, compact 11-space rack.

In the UK, Wigwam Acoustics ordered nine Mix Racks, which will be divided between hire stock and resale. The company's hire director, Chris Hill, says, "With all the DSP and I/O in one rack, this is a product that we expect to do really well. A lot of customers will be first time users, while hire companies will note other economies, such as the ease of transport, since they can use existing multicores."

Following its initial purchase, Wigwam ordered another six Mix Racks to boost the hire stock, and anticipate firm orders for

UK - Allen & Heath's ZED-24 small format, USB-equipped mixers for live performance, recording, and production is now shipping and widely available, says the company.

The new ZED-24 stereo mixer provides 23 independent sources to the mix, 10 independent outputs, four aux sends (two pre and two post fade), a USB send and return (for PC or Mac recording, playback and effects), a dual stereo input capability, and advanced monitoring facilities.

16 mono channel strips are complemented by four stereo channels, each with a main stereo input on jack sockets, and with the ability to take additional stereo inputs from phono sockets or from the USB audio input, enabling the engineer to control and route any source. ZED-24 features a responsive three-band swept-mid EQ, with an optimised slope for equalising individual instruments. The ZED-24 also features the new DuoPre pre-amps, which us

UK - Cadac Electronics announced a new product line at ProLight & Sound in Frankfurt - the Cadac Classic range. First in the series is the Cadac Classic ME2 2-channel mic pre-amp mixer, designed as a studio, location and live sound front-end unit that captures source material completely and in its truest form. Available from September 2008, the ME2 makes Cadac's hallmark sound and audio performance affordable to a completely new audience, says the company.

The ME2 provides two independent audio paths, each with dedicated mic pre-amp and four-band fully parametric EQ. Each audio path is fitted with fully balanced inserts, switchable pre- or post-EQ, in addition to balanced auto-compensating analogue outputs. An AES-3 output is also provided, enabling direct connection to digital audio workstations, digital mixing consoles or direct digital recording devices. Multiple ME2 units ca

Germany - Renkus-Heinz hosted the European launch of the new EASERA SysTune measurement system at Pro Light+Sound 2008 in Frankfurt.

EASERA SysTune, first revealed at AES 2007 in New York, is a new software based measurement system that measures time-domain and frequency-domain simultaneously using live programme material while an audience is present.

The launch was followed by the announcement by developers Ahnert Feistel Media Group (AFMG) of five live sound measurement and tuning seminars for sound engineers and other audio professionals in April and May 2008, in the USA and Europe, using EASERA SysTune as the primary measurement tool.

"EASERA SysTune is purpose-designed for real-time live-sound applications. It is a sophisticated yet simple to use software tool with novel, patent-pending features that are especially useful for system tuning and live sound measuremen

UK - Adlib Audio & Lighting supplied equipment for the high profile Versus Cancer show at Manchester Evening News Arena. The line up included The Enemy, The Fratellis, Happy Mondays, Fun Loving Criminals, Athlete, The View, Inspiral Carpets, The Farm, and the XFM winners All Bar 3.

Adlib's new V-Dosc system was utilised for the PA, with front hangs of 12 V-Dosc per side, complete with 4 dV-Doscs per side for down-fills and side- hangs of 12 dV-Doscs elements. For front- fills, they used eight ARCs cabinets. The subs totalled 16 of the new high-powered L-Acoustics SB28s and 8 SB218s - all ground-stacked.

The front hangs and subs were driven by LA8 amps, with the side- hangs and fills powered by the Lab.gruppen standard, complete with Adlib's speaker cabling and infrastructure to make it work.

At front-of-house they provided two Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles which wer

Italy - Opened in December 2007 in Bellinzago (Lombardy), the Arcadia Multiplex comprises 10 differently-sized auditoriums - the largest, a 300-seater. Every auditorium is THX-certified and offers 3D digital projection.

EVI Audio's Italian partner TEXIM were called in as early as the project planning stage. Arcadia and TEXIM had already worked together on the CineCity multiplex in Padua. In addition to tried-and-tested cinema systems of the TS series (TS 9040D-LX and TS 550D-LX), a total of 28 EV TL 880D subwoofers are employed in the new multiplex. Nine EV TS 9040D-LX speakers handle the reproduction of the L-C-R information in the three smaller auditoriums and 21 further EV TS 550D-LX provide the sound in the seven larger halls. The surround channels in all ten auditoriums are delivered by a total of 154 EV SL12-2V surround speakers.

The massive amplification needs of all th

New Zealand - When North Harbour Stadium in Auckland approached Marshall Day Acoustics to propose a new sound system for their 12,000 seat grandstand, expectations were high. Having suffered 10 years with a budget-driven and ageing system and looking to secure the stadium's future as a nation-leading outdoor arena, the new sound system had to be capable and flexible enough to cater for all possible audience and event requirements, and be future proof to suit its expansion plans.

Enter Audio Telex in conjunction with Marshall Day, who developed a comprehensive state-of-the-art design using EASE acoustic simulation software and based around Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers.

This is the first major Renkus-Heinz stadium sound system in Australasia and stadium marketing manager Chris Kemp comments, "We don't want to tell people we have a new sound system, we just want them to hear th

Germany - Aviom's Pro64 Series was honoured at Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, as the 'Best Sound System Technology for 2008'. The award was was given by the Musikmesse International Press Association, on the vote of 100-plus member publications from around the world.

In accepting the MIPA. award, Carl Bader, Aviom's president and CEO, noted that the company has come a long way in the seven years since the A-16 Personal Mixer was first sketched out on a design board. "It's very gratifying to be honoured for achievement in such a broad category, almost seven years to the day since we first started working on the mixer," said Bader. "Users around the world are recognising the importance of the technological breakthroughs made with A-Net and are seeing the ways Aviom's technology simplifies their design process while improving the flexibility and fidelity o

USA - QSC Chief Operating Officer Joe Pham has announced that Harold Yin has been named as the company's new senior VP of global strategy and business development. As part of his duties in this newly-created executive position, Yin has been given the responsibility of directing and managing strategic planning and development activities for all global business.

"On behalf of everyone here at QSC, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to Harold," COO Pham said upon introducing Yin to the workforce at QSC's Southern California headquarters. "As we broaden the scope of our presence around the world, his knowledge base and experience will lend steady guidance to the introduction of new technologies developed to meet the expanding needs of our customer base."

Prior to taking on his new role at QSC, Yin was a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company. While with the f

India - Live sound production specialists, Sound.Com provided a complete audio solution for the oldest and most prestigious Indian film industry event using Lab.gruppen FP+ Series FP 10000Q power amplifiers to drive the main JBL PA and stage monitoring system.

The show was hosted at Yash Raj Studios in the heart of Mumbai. Sound.Com's Warren D'Souza reports: "The FP 10000Qs are rock-solid and sound fantastic. The other huge advantage they have for this sort of application is that being four-channel amplifiers, you always have spare channels to take care of extra audio feeds. With space backstage being at a premium, our amp racks were literally half the size of conventional sound systems, but still with all the power we needed, as well as fantastic Lab.gruppen sound quality and reliability. There's no doubt that these amplifiers are worth every penny of our investment."

Canada / Germany - Canadian pro loudspeaker manufacturer Adamson Pro Audio has appointed Trius as its distributor for Germany and Austria. Trius, one of Germany's leading pro audio distributors, was until recently the distributor of L-Acoustics product in Germany: that partnership had been in place since 2000, and is now at an end. L-Acoustics has said it is taking immediate action to offer direct support and service to its German customers during the transition period.

Kai Boeckmann, general manager of operations at Trius, admits: "Technically speaking, we've always considered Adamson the biggest and most dangerous competitor for L-Acoustics, so we have had an eye on Adamson literally since the moment we took on L'Acoustics about seven years ago. When asked about the decision to take Adamson on for the German and Austrian markets, Boeckmann says: "A truly excellent re

USA - Industry pioneer John Eargle was posthumously awarded the 2008 Technical Grammy Award at the Special Merit Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on the evening prior to the 50th Grammy Awards Telecast. The accomplished engineer, musician and longtime JBL Professional consultant passed away on 9 May, leaving a legacy of achievement in the areas of music recording, loudspeaker design, and education. The Technical Grammy Award is presented by vote of The Recording Academy's National Trustees to individuals who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.

"John Eargle left an everlasting and profound impression on the audio industry," said Mark Gander, vice president of Marketing, JBL Professional, who accepted the Grammy Award on behalf of John Eargle, along with John's niece, Cyndi Bird, and nephew and namesake, John Paul Eargle. &

UK - A Shermann RS5 system has been delivered and is now operational in Guernsey - the first RS5 system in the Channel Islands. Kevin Taylor Audio invested in the Shermann system along with an Ashly Protea 3:24CL digital speaker controller to replace an older powered system which he claimed "was not really up to the job".

Kevin Taylor was absolutely delighted following the system's first gigs and called Shermann's HQ in Mid-Wales to register his appreciation. "The RS5 is ideal for my requirements; effortless and really compact too. I couldn't believe how flat it was and I needed virtually no additional EQ to make the system sound near perfect."

Elsewhere, Shermann RS5 systems have been in use on a number of recent events and UK tours including Barbara Dickson, Steeleye Span and Gilbert O'Sullivan. A slightly uprated RS5 model will be available from May 1st

UK - The Digidesign Venue live sound environment took centre stage at Earl's Court, as audio production for the star-studded MasterCard BRIT Awards 2008 became an all-digital affair. Derrick Zieba, the show's sound designer for the past 20 years, shuffled the artists' riders and commandeered full proprietary digital mixing setups for the show's Glam and Punk Stages.

Working with MJK Productions, Zieba had been one of the front-runners in nudging the BRIT Awards live television show into the digital age six years ago, and once again it was left to Britannia Row Productions to fulfill the exacting control and PA requirements.

With Paul McCartney headlining on the Punk Stage (and picking up the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music), Zieba had little hesitation in specifying a Digidesign Venue system - the digital desk of choice for McCartney's (aka "Macca&

USA - German pro audio manufacturer d&b audiotechnik unlocked its latest treasures for all to view at the USITT exhibition in Houston, Texas last week. These included the latest additions to the company's renowned E-Series range, four new loudspeakers; the E8, E12 and E12-D as well as the E15X subwoofer and last but by no means least, their lightweight D6 amplifier.

Lightness and power typifies the new additions to d&b's multipurpose E-Series; thoroughly modern loudspeakers, the E8, E12 and E12-D combine astutely engineered polyurethane hard foam cabinets with highly efficient coaxial LF/HF drivers at their heart, say d&b. Designed for use as stand-alone, full-range loudspeakers, any of these models can be integrated seamlessly into larger d&b systems. All three models have rotatable horns, with patterns of 90° x 50°, 80° x 50° and 110° x 50° (h x v) resp

USA - Pro Tapes & Specialties, a leading provider of pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes for industrial and consumer use, has announced plans to expand and relocate all its operations to a single 140,000sq.ft. corporate headquarters and manufacturing centre in North Brunswick, New Jersey. The company also plans to invest $3.5m during its current fiscal year in equipment, facilities, and personnel.

The move to North Brunswick will be completed by 1 June of this year. Pro Tapes currently operates out of two facilities in Edison, NJ totaling 40,000sq.ft.

According to Pro Tapes executives, the company has enjoyed five consecutive years of double-digit sales growth, straining the capacity of its current production facilities. They forecast continued sales growth for 2008 and beyond in such key markets as contract converting and private-label services for the retail, paint and h

UK - DiGiCo has chosen 5 Star Cases to manufacture an innovative flightcase solution - based around the popular industry 'Nosecone' type flightcase - for its recently launched SD7 console. 5 Star worked closely with DiGiCo's Chris Ladbrook, who heads the company's mechanical design team, to develop a case to meet the additional demands of this high specification console.

"We wanted a flightcase that took on the no-compromise design concept used on the SD7 project. Working through the process with 5 Star, it was clear that they value attention to detail as much as we do. It's a great case for an awesome console," says DiGiCo's managing director James Gordon.

(Jim Evans)

Australia - Melbourne's St Paul's has had an ambitious restoration and conservation programme in place since 2001. Along with many important structural building repairs, substantial work on the interior and a major upgrade of the building's services is being undertaken.

A key component of the restoration is a complete reworking of the Cathedral's audio distribution system. To this end the services of Acoustic Directions' principal acoustics consultant Glenn Leembruggen were engaged. His brief was to design and commission a modern and effective audio system which would enable the Cathedral to more effectively conduct its ministry and communicate with the congregation.

Leembruggen is a pioneer in the use of beam steered line arrays and knew that this technology would be the best solution for the problems associated with long reverb times and multi-path reflections which are evid

Thailand - Ten Years After Audio (TYAA), one of the leading audio rental firms in Thailand, provided the live sound system for the recent Assanee and Wasan Ram-Rai Concert at Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok. TYAA deployed JBL Vertec line arrays throughout the entire venue.

Brothers Assanee and Wasan Chotikul are popular, pioneering Thai rock artists. With a strong following of local fans and support by Thailand's music industry for over 20 years, Assanee and Wasan are being heralded for having brought back the classic rock era of the 70s and 80s. Their latest production, the Assanee and Wasan Ram-Rai Concert, drew a sell-out attendance of more than 50,000.

The audio system included a total of 54 Vertec VT4889 full-size line array elements, configured as 30 enclosures for left and right main arrays serving the open field, with four clusters of six VT4889 line array elem

Australia - Easter 2008 saw the Australian Gospel Music Festival celebrate its tenth anniversary with a name change to Easterfest. Getting bigger by the year, the festival featured seven stages across Queens Park in the centre of the city of Toowoomba, Queensland.

Located inside a large six pole tent, the festival B stage -called the Bigtop - featured a full Electro-Voice sound system, including XLC/XLD combination line arrays, QRx 218 subs, and a spread of new Phoenix monitors, all powered by EV amplifiers.

The Bigtop stage also relied upon EV equipment at the input end of the signal chain, thanks to a complete EV microphone kit. Along with a number of RE-1 wireless systems, a pair of new REV wireless handheld transmitters, custom supplied in chrome, made a visual impact.

The REV dual receiver was purchased by longtime festival FOH engineer Phill Webb."I have an

USA - Clair Brothers Systems has installed six Dolby Lake Processors at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York to control a zoned and distributed speaker system that is part of a complete audio system upgrade and modernization at the venue. The multipurpose HSBC Arena is home to the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres and the National Lacrosse League's Buffalo Bandits and hosts a variety of other sporting events in addition to music concerts, ice shows and other entertainment.

Jim Devenney, senior audio designer, Clair Brothers Systems, selected the Dolby Lake Processors for their familiarity, he said. Although the processors may be controlled from a wireless tablet, Devenney said: "They have a rack-mount computer with which to control the system. They didn't feel there was a need to go around tweaking the system once it was in and tuned."

The full audio system replacem

Germany - Designed for the working musician, HK Audio's Premium PR:O series now offers further flexibility with the addition of new versions of all models with integrated Class-D digital power amplifier, providing 600W RMS. This only adds an extra 1.5kg to the overall weight of the boxes, the company says, thanks to its innovative internal cooling system.

The powered components have been designed to match the tonal qualities of the passive versions, and to further facilitate the use of both powered and passive components in one system, the powered cabinets are equipped with a parallel 'speaker out' which allows another passive cabinet to be fed.

All full range cabinets come with gain and tone (music/speech) controls and a Mic/Line switch. Furthermore, the integrated active stereo crossover in the Premium PR:O 18 Sub A makes system expansion even easier. The light weight and en

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