Sound

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UK - Nitelites has boosted its audio inventory with KV2 Audio EX12s and EX6s. "Ultimately we must never lose sight of the fact that we're a hire company providing a service and earning money from doing that," says the production company's Jamie Moore.

"I am interested in products that sound great and perform to, and in some cases exceed, our expectations but I also need products that can earn me money and without a doubt these EX12's have done that and continue to do that because they sound great and are such a versatile product."

Originally looking for a solution for the audio system for their work with many of the country's outdoor athletic events such as The Great North Run and many a half and full marathon around the country, they were introduced to the KV2 EX series by KV2 UK sales manager Mick Butler who arranged for a demonstration of the EX12 active

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UK - The Queen's Hall and The Hub, two of Edinburgh's most prominent live performance venues, have been equipped for with Nexo's newest line array enclosures, the Geo S12 Series. Edinburgh-based sound rental company A&R Martin has installed the S12 systems in time for the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, which precedes the International Festival and the Fringe Festival.

Located in an old church building, The Hub hosts some of the hottest events in the Jazz Festival - in this 450-seat hall with high ceilings and a wraparound balcony, the neo-gothic interior décor has not been compromised by the addition of a small Geo S12 system flown above the stage, and Nexo's new RS15 subs on the floor.

Long-time Nexo user A&R Martin has supplied rental systems to this venue in the past. "In here, the acts are acoustic by nature, so subtle reinforcement is the name of the game. W

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China - Laoshan Velodrome, which is hosting all cycling during the Olympics, has a capacity of 6,000 spectators. It features a 250m oval shaped track and a total surface of 32,92sq.m. Positioned in the arena are the BSS Audio Soundweb Original SW9088iis, one dbx DriveRack 260 control, along with Crown CTS 600 and CTS 1200 amplifiers powering two JBL AC2212/64 and two JBL AM 4315/64 loudspeakers. The system was sold through Hong Kong-based distributor Advanced Communications Equipment (ACE).

The Soundweb Original SW9088iis forms the heart of the audio system. In a single rackspace unit, it offers eight analogue inputs with comprehensive LED monitoring, eight analogue outputs and open architecture signal processing.

"Laoshan Velodrome presented a challenge because of the arena's smaller size, and unique events for indoor spectator viewing," said Iain Gregory, product m

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Vietnam - Eighty contestants competed this year at the Diamond Bay Resort's Crown Convention Center in the 57th Miss Universe beauty pageant. Broadcast globally on NBC, the event was the first major U.S.-based television production originating in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.

Bringing audio to the event proved to be a logistical challenge managed adroitly by Red Hook, NY-based Firehouse Productions which assembled the components needed for an entire PA in the US and then shipped them to Vietnam. Purchased outright for permanent installation by the convention centre, the system included a microphone package delivered directly from Shure Incorporated's world headquarters in Niles, Illinois.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - A.C. Lighting Ltd has announced that it is changing its name to A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd from 1 September 2008, to reflect the company's increasing range of industry products and services.

No longer just a leading provider of professional lighting equipment to over 80 countries worldwide, in recent years A.C. has extended its vast technology stockholding in response to customers' demand for a single supplier who can meet all their production and project needs.

The name A.C. Entertainment Technologies therefore marks a new era for the company, and encapsulates the wide range of products, accessories, consumables and related services available through A.C.'s dedicated Lighting, Rigging, Audio and Video divisions.

In addition, A.C.'s related services include in-house cable and scrolls manufacturing to order, product training, servicing and after-sales support. S

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UK - Black Cat Music will be presenting a comprehensive range of music and performance equipment for theatre, performance, music, and acoustic treatments at PLASA08.

Theatre products include tiered audience seating, pit filler staging, make-up stations, costume racks and stage boxes. The performance equipment range embraces staging, orchestral chairs, choral risers, seated risers and conductors' equipment. Some of the music products on show will be from the Black Cat range of music stands and lights, posture chairs, instrument and sheet music storage, choral folders and piano accessories.

Black Cat Acoustics can offer a range of noise control treatments, acoustic shells such as Diva, as well as virtual acoustic environments and music practice rooms.

Black Cat Music is the exclusive representative of Wenger Corporation in the UK and Europe. European visitors to PLASA interest

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UK - Soundcraft will make one of the PLASA Show's high-profile product introductions with its latest digital mixing console, the Si3.

This new desk is designed for live use on both touring sound systems and in fixed installations and boasts intuitive operation and high input and bus count makes it a perfect choice for House of Worship sound systems. Theatre users will also find the Soundcraft Si3 very applicable in their area.

The Si3 comes in one chassis - console surface, all input and output connections, power supply - so it can literally drop in and replace an existing analogue desk as almost certainly no additional cabling would be required to install it. This compact footprint desk can directly handle 64 mono inputs, 4 stereo inputs and has full connectivity for all 35 output busses (24 Aux/Group, 8 Matrix and Left/Right/Centre mix buses), and also boasts four Lexicon ef

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China - Bose played a pivotal role in ensuring that clear, intelligible sound was delivered at five of the 12 newly-built Olympic venues, including the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Using Bose Modeler software, Bose engineers created acoustical models, designed sound systems and predicted their acoustic performance.

The Bose Auditioner system enabled everyone to hear how the proposed systems would sound before they were installed, and to evaluate each system to ensure it was the right one for the project. After the installations were completed, Bose used their advanced STI measurement tool to verify the actual system performance.

The Panaray LT family of loudspeakers were chosen for the large venues because they deliver extremely tight pattern control in the mid and high frequencies. This makes them well-suited for use in multiple loudspeaker arrays, long throw distances

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UK - The Hoosiers are playing an extensive array of festivals this summer and their front of house sound engineer Trevor Gilligan is taking his Yamaha LS9 console along to every show. Festival dates include the Isle Of Wight, Glastonbury, T In The Park and V2008 in the UK, Summersonic in Japan, Lowlands in the Netherlands and Gampel Das Festivalgelände in Switzerland.

"Although I've been mixing for 25 years, I'm a relatively recent convert to digital," says Gilligan. "When I first started working with the Hoosiers, I had been using a DiGiCo D5, but for some dates (rental company) Britannia Row didn't have one available. So to save them sub-hiring one in I took a Yamaha M7CL out instead.

"A hard and fast rule I have is that I shouldn't be mixing my band on a console I don't know,' he continues. "You don't know what's going to be available at a festival

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Reggae News - A statue of late reggae legend Bob Marley has been unveiled in a small Serbian village during a rock festival as a token of peace in the Balkans. Musicians from Croatia and Serbia were joined by rock fans for the midnight ceremony in Banatski Sokolac.

Organisers said Marley, who died in 1981, "promoted peace and tolerance in his music". Serbia recently erected a statue of iconic film character Rocky, while Mostar in Bosnia has one of Bruce Lee. Another Serbian village put up a statue to actor Johnny Weissmuller, best known for his depiction of Tarzan. Serbian musician Jovan Matic and veteran Croatian rock star Dado Topic took the covers off the Marley statue at the Rock Village event.

Festival News - A huge blaze at the Reading Festival which spread to 19 vehicles in a car park was started accidently with a barbecue, police have revealed. The fire was under co

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UK - Renkus-Heinz introduces IC Live at PLASA 08. "Originally designed for permanent installation, Iconyx arrays have been used for charity galas, corporate presentations and concerts throughout Europe and the US," says Renkus-Heinz president Harro Heinz. "IC Live meets the needs of PA rental companies, with high output steerable array configurations and a versatile hardware system that is optimized for portable applications."

The company will also launch Iconyx R, the new version of the successful Iconyx Digitally Beam Steerable installation line, with purpose-designed coaxial transducers, RHAON (Renkus-Heinz Audio Operations Network) technology and a slimmer, lighter weight enclosure.

IC Live is engineered to supply natural, musical and intelligible sound for live events from meetings with background music to high-energy theatrical productions and concert

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UK - Wireless Solution Sweden will launch the W-DMX BlackBox S-2000 during PLASA 08. In addition to new gear, there will also be a draw for free W-DMX products plus "many more surprises."

The W-DMX BlackBox S-2000 is a 19" 1U Rack unit that is prepared for ACN Lite, ETC-NET and Strand ShowNET. This is billed as the world's first double universe transmitter that supports both RDM and Art-Net. BlackBox S-2000 is stackable for up to 32 DMX Universes and supports the W-DMX Co-Existence technology with plug-and-play ease.

With full RDM compatibility, the W-DMX BlackBox S-2000 supports remote addressing for up to 512 fixtures in both Point-2-Point mode in daisy chain by cable and in Point-2-Multi-Point mode. This translates to major time savings in big rental productions.

Wireless Solution will also be holding Wireless University during PLASA on Tuesday, 9 September

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UK - Clockaudio has appointed distributors for Russia and South Africa.

RTA-Engineering in Russia has, since its foundation in 1998, risen to become one of the leading A/V design and installation consultancies in the country. The RTA sales network extends throughout Russia from its Moscow HQ. Specialising in the design, supply, installation and support of conferencing A/V in command and control rooms, conference centres and boardrooms, RTA is also recognised for its delivery of turnkey solutions.

In South Africa, Clockaudio has been signed up by Audiosure, the professional audio division of the First Technology Group.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Situated in London's Kingly Court (behind Carnaby Street), Michael Newton's new boutique members club Bureau features JBL Control series loudspeakers. These were specified and installed by Colin Pattenden's CP Sound, who were introduced to the project by leisure designers Satmoko Ball, with whom they also worked at another members club, Volstead.

The venue has been designed into four separate sound zones: the central dancefloor, the seated area to one side, the VIP booths and the toilets. The music is distributed using a four-channel zoner.

Four JBL Control 29s are flown over the main dancefloor area, reinforced by two floor-mounted JRX118S bass bins, in special hand-built enclosures. These were specially made by Nottingham-based joinery company, Interwood, to Satmoko Ball's design, and are clad in American Black Walnut veneer with a hardwood lipping. The speaker grille m

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USA - Crown Audio's I-Tech Series of amplifiers was selected by Audio Analysts of Colorado Springs, Colorado for Bruce Springsteen's North American tour. Crown's I-T4000 and I-T8000 amplifiers were used to power JBL VerTec VT4889 and VT4887 line array elements and JBL VT4880 arrayable subwoofers.

Springsteen's tour began in Hartford, Connecticut in February, making 29 stops throughout North America before a 12-country tour in Europe. The tour returned to Springsteen's home state of New Jersey for three performances at Giants Stadium in East Rutherfordin July. The final show will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 30.

Audio Analysts' FOH Engineer for Bruce Springsteen, John Cooper said: "When Bruce performs, he wants to ensure his fans get the best audio experience possible. We turn to Crown's I-Tech Series because we know these amps will deliver the power and pe

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World - Céline Dion is on a year-long world tour following her residency of nearly four years at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. This current Taking Chances tour began on Valentine's Day 2008 in South Africa and by the tour's completion it will have encompassed 120 shows in over 80 cities on five continents, before winding up in Florida in January 2009.

Dion and her crew have long relied on Sennheiser wireless microphones and personal monitoring systems, as well as Neumann microphones. The Taking Chances tour is no exception, with dozens of channels of Sennheiser RF equipment, courtesy of the singer's exclusive sound, video and lighting provider, Solotech, accompanying her on the global jaunt.

The Tour features a seven-piece band, three backing singers and eight dancers, and is presented in a variety of formats, including in the round, according to each venu

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UK - The newest addition to London's Heathrow Airport, Terminal Five is a massive £4.3 billion (US $8.5 billion) project as large as the city's Hyde Park, and is designed to handle 35m passengers a year. A Meyer Sound audio system features in the World Duty Free stores throughout the terminal.

Designed and installed by Bradford, UK-based Pro Audio Systems, the integrated AV system was commissioned by World Duty Free to provide a multimedia marketing and entertainment package for its seven elaborate stores, which feature cocktail bars and beauty events areas. The sound system employs four Meyer Sound UPM-1P loudspeakers, seven M1D-Sub subwoofers, and a total of 74 four-inch cube MM-4 miniature loudspeakers, many of which are custom-painted to match the décor.

Pro Audio's managing director Brian Lumb says: "Aesthetics has been a major consideration. And the bri

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France - An Allen & Heath iLive digital system was employed for the recent Festival Arte Flamenco held in Mont de Marsan, France. Celebrating its 20th year, the festival is one of the most famous of its genre, hosting the world's greatest Flamenco artists.

The main events took place at the Espace François Mitterand, which boasts a large stage for the dance displays. Bordeaux-based Sté Ateliers Lumières managed the AV requirements, selecting a Meyer line array system with an Allen & Heath iLive digital system at FOH. The iLive system, comprising an iLive-144 control surface and iDR10 stage rack loaded with 48 inputs/32 outputs, was connected to a PC equipped with an LX6464 Digigram card for multi-track live recording.

"Some of the touring sound engineers were familiar with the iLive system from previous events, but by the end of the event even the engineers

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UK - Designed by leading sports architecture firm HOK Sport, Stadium MK - home of Wimbledon football club - features a two-tier seating layout separated by a 360-degree open concourse; it also boasts UK's first Meyer Sound self-powered system installed in a stadium.

When looking for audio equipment for the venue, club director Pete Winkelman - a former record-company executive who owns the nearby Great Linford Manor Studios - sought advice from two old friends in the music industry, audio consultant Gary Garner and Metallica sound engineer "Big Mick" Hughes. Hughes admits to "not having the slightest interest" in football, but stresses that "just because you're in another world, doesn't mean you should walk away from good sound."

Through the auspices of Hughes and Garner, as well as Taylor, Mich.-based rental company and long-time Meyer Sound user

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Germany - Despite soaring temperatures, there was a massive entry for this year's Corporate Fun Run in Munich. 30,000 runners completed the five-mile course winding its way through the Bavarian capital. Fancy dress was essential and the 150-strong team from Bosch Security Systems once again proved invincible, securing first prize in the Most Original Team category.

The team from the company's production facilities in Ottobrunn, Straubing, and Nuremberg, adorned with blue wigs, Elvis sunglasses and headphones, managed through the ingenious use of themed t-shirts to reproduce the entire signal chain - from microphones, to mixers, amps and loudspeakers - covered by the Business Unit Bosch Communications Systems.

With dance steps custom-choreographed for the occasion and a converted handcart providing a lightshow, sound from Dynacord loudspeakers and refreshments, the fleet-footed

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USA - This year's presidential campaign has seen Senators Obama and McCain on the road across the US, ably assisted by audio prodycts from Shure inc.

In Ohio, Mike Volkerding of Cincinnati-based Frequency City Sound, with the help of Thunderbolt Systems helped move Senator Obama through three different campaign stops in a single day in February. With the first set for a boardroom conference at Cincinnati's Museum Center at Union Terminal, the following two landed at the Fifth Third Arena across town and the Nutter Center in Dayton.

"It was a real foot race," Volkerding says, "with only an hour between each event. That put us in a place where we had to have three different systems in place ready to go at each stop, with crews in place. The boardroom speaking engagement used Shure lavs and podium mics, while the arenas required full-blown PA rigs flown in front of

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USA - JBL Professional has announced the promotion of Harman Professional veteran, Stephen Morris, to the position of executive vice president of sales, JBL Professional. Morris takes up the position having led group-wide sales and marketing for Harman Professional's cinema business and prior to that held senior sales and marketing roles at sister company, Crown Audio.John Carpanini, president, JBL Professional, says: "Stephen's background in marketing and sales will bring a fresh perspective to JBL Professional. We look forward to working with Stephen to forge stronger connections with members of the professional audio community in all of the vertical markets and geographic territories in which we operate. With his energy and experience, I have high confidence that Stephen will generate new ideas and programs to advance our group's sales performance and that he will make a s
  1. Iconyx R models set for PLASA 08 launch
  2. Barix streamers at World Youth Day
  3. Yamaha at heart of refurbished Pontoise theatre
  4. Behringer extends Eurodesk line
  5. Dobson Sound and DiGiCo chill out
  6. Stage Sound Services invests in Trantec
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