Sound

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UK - - Radial Engineering confirms that Shure Distribution UK (SDUK) has been appointed the exclusive distributor for Tonebone in the UK.

Peter Janis, president of Radial, commented, "Over the past few years, SDUK has been tremendously successful with our Radial professional products. They have done a terrific job at elevating the awareness of our direct boxes and audio distro systems throughout the UK. Recently, SDUK also took on our Primacoustic brand with vigour. It only makes sense for us to consolidate the last piece of the puzzle and bring our Tonebone pedal range into the fold.

"The timing could not be better either. We've just released the Radial PZ-Pre acoustic instrument preamp to our international customers and it has immediately leaped to become our best selling Tonebone pedal. We also anticipate to deliver the new Bones pedals within the next 60 days whi

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Germany - axxent has introduced a new power mixer in a 19" steel case, with a height of 2 RU (88 mm) - that may also be used without rack ears as a table top power mixer.

The new power mixer features two microphone inputs with 48 V phantom voltage, plus two phone jacks, while the left one is a stereo input for easy connection to appliances such as MP3 players.

The GPX2500 power mixer delivers four times 100W r.m.s. into a four ohm load. Two of the amplifiers are used for the stereo output and one each for the two monaural zones.

A very special feature for the entertainment industry is the built-in multi band limiter made by THAT Corp, that allows reduction of all output levels up to 30 dB.

(Jim Evans)

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EU Update - The governing board of a new European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has held its inaugural meeting in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The European Union is providing initial funding of more than 300m euros (£238m) for the institute, aimed at generating more European technological advances. The EIT hopes to pool the expertise of universities, research bodies and businesses in new partnerships. Renewable energy and new-generation IT projects are among the priority areas.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso described business involvement in the EIT as "crucial, because the lack of business-funded R&D [research and development] explains almost 85% of the gap between the EU and the USA, for example".

Internet News - Only Japan has the broadband quality to cope with next-generation internet applications, a new study has revealed. Swe

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UK - With PLASA 08 hosting the world premiere of Stagetracker FX, its new performer tracking and audio localisation system, Norwegian theatre specialists TTA reports that its four-day show attendance brought a flood of enquiries from Europe's leading cultural centres.

"Last year, we came to PLASA as visitors," said Stuart Kerrison, sales director of TTA."This year we were exhibitors and the show has given us great insight into how far TTA and the Stagetracker product have come in 12 months. We've met industry professionals from all over the world - Canada, Iceland, Singapore, Greece - who have heard about and read about our system. At both distributor and end-user level, a lot of people indicated to us that they are really excited about this genre of technology and its implementation."

Co-exhibiting with new UK distributor Ambersound, TTA was demonstrating

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The Canary Islands' Heineken Jazz Festival is the most popular jazz event on the Islands' calendar. Held each year between June and July, it is staged at different venues around the islands, from open-air events and concert halls to intimate salons. There have been 15 festivals so far.

The 2008 season included performances by The Crusaders, Madeleine Peyroux, Spyro Gyra and many more.

This year sound engineer Hilario Benìtez introduced a new PA system to the event at two of the venues on Gran Canaria. "I've tried the Q-Series loudspeakers from d&b audiotechnik several times on the mainland in recent years," he said, "and I've always believed it would prove an ideal system for this event. I'm so pleased David Rosello from d&b's Spanish office was able to support us with two systems for the festival this year."

Benìtez placed a simple Q1 loudspeaker rig, with a

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Canada - Directed by Frédéric Dubois and staged in the recently renovated Capitol Theatre, Quebec City's new production of Les Misérables has broken new ground in terms of its simple and direct staging, and audio quality. With 32 live microphones on stage, the new Sennheiser MKE 1 lavaliere mic proved to be an asset.

Richard Lachance, vice-president of international development at Solotech, oversaw audio production and managed the selection of the required clip-on microphones and wireless systems for the show.

"One of the main sound challenges for Les Mis was that the audio had to be 5 dB to 6 dB louder than the average Broadway-type show," he explained, "resulting in an average level of 88 dB to 90 dB SPL. And for such a small theatre like the Capitole de Québec, this was a real challenge. So, we turned to Sennheiser an

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UK - One of the hidden highlights of this year's PLASA Show was the presence of Martin Audio's new ASX floor-mounted active installation subwoofer, facing out into the aisles at the astonished passers-by.

Aside from the sheer size of a cabinet designed to house a 21" (530mm) transducer, Class D amplifier and full DSP, the ASX subwoofer "revolutionises ultra-efficient, low frequency sound reproduction -- achieving the highest ever SPL from a single low frequency enclosure housing a single drive unit".

The combination of transducer, amplifier and DSP provide double the output capability of a conventionally driven loudspeaker driver of the same size. When incorporated into a Martin Audio Hybrid horn design, the complete system can deliver a 152dB peak output (measured) from a single enclosure.

This is typically greater than can be achieved by two 2 x 18" (46

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Chile - The Quinta Vergara Park Amphitheater, one of the most important and emblematic venues in Chile and home to the Viña del Mar Song Festival was the stage of a recent concert in which Aero line array systems were used for sound reinforcement.

The sound reinforcement was provided by Chilean company Provotec under the direction of Ricardo Marqués, who also took care of the stage monitoring, choosing the D.A.S. audio systems.

Marco Ambiado, director of Spektra, designed the set up of the PA, consoles and monitors. The main installation consisted of 12 Aero 38A powered systems (six per stage side) and 20 Aero 28A (10 per side) to provide sound coverage for the entire amphitheatre area. Monitoring was achieved through 12 low profile SML-15A powered units installed throughout the stage.

Erickson Cardona of Audiomusica and D.A.S. distributor for Chile comments, "R

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UK - The PLASA Show in London last week was the setting for the landmark launch of the Mayor of London's Green Theatre: Taking Action on Climate Change initiative.

Matthew Griffiths, CEO of PLASA, who welcomed the guest speakers and audience members to the launch, told LSI: "We're very proud to be able to host the launch of the Mayor's Green Theatre Plan at PLASA08. Many of the manufacturers represented here on the show floor are already playing an active role in developing new equipment and technologies to help theatres achieve the goals set by the Mayor's Plan, and the lighting and sound industry still has a great contribution to make. PLASA and its members are very keen to work with theatres and other industry bodies, not only to help improve the power efficiency of lighting and sound systems themselves, but also to support and encourage the adoption of the many s

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UK - KylieX2008, the pop princess's latest tour enjoyed rave reviews from critics and featured two DiGiCo consoles at the Front of House and monitor positions.

FOH engineer Chris Pyne and monitor man Rod Matheson are both long-term DiGiCo D5 users. This time, however, Chris swapped his D5 for a new SD7.

"I was one of the first engineers to see the SD7 and was invited into DiGiCo's 'perspex box' to operate the console at PLASA last year," says Pyne. "Then James [Gordon, DiGiCo's MD] asked me if I wanted to use the SD7 on the dates we did with Kylie earlier this year. Of course I said yes.

"We had one of the very first SD7s, which we took to production rehearsals and helped to make a few improvements to the system - DiGiCo is proactive in getting real world input from engineers."

The complexity of the show meant that Pyne had 65 inputs at FOH

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MC2 Audio has announced the appointment of Audiosure as its new distributor in South Africa. Audiosure is the professional audio division of the First Technology Group, a leading importer and distributor of professional audio and lighting equipment across Southern Africa. With offices in Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Cape Town, Audiosure is well placed to support its nationwide network of dealers.

Audiosure's extensive product portfolio includes Wharfedale Pro, Gemini DJ, Hartke, Quad and Projection Design and its team of professional and experienced staff is led by general manager John Silver.

"Our aim," says Silver, "is to provide a comprehensive array of valuable advice to our nationwide dealer network in order to ensure the achievement of optimum product performance in a wide variety of applications and environments. I have followed the development of MC2

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UK - The Lighthouse Theatre is a new £2m venue which forms part of Kettering Conference Centre. The theatre, which opened earlier this summer, boasts a 562 tiered seat auditorium and balcony with armchair-style seating. The auditorium, along with its large stage is designed to be highly flexible and can accommodate conferences, presentations, award ceremonies and product launches as well as traditional theatre productions. In keeping with the versatile, high-tech nature of the venue, a sophisticated audio system based around Peavey Architectural Acoustic and Crest Audio products completes the installation.

According to theatre designer Phil Joyce who specified the equipment for the Lighthouse Theatre, the principal criteria were performance and value for money. "Architectural Acoustics from Peavey might not be amongst the best-known brands in theatre-land, but to my m

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UK - The Novas Contemporary Urban Centre (CUC) North West is the flagship venue of a charity for which social inclusion is the key theme. And to ensure that people with hearing loss can derive as much benefit from its facilities as everybody else, Ampetronic induction loops have been installed in four key areas of the building.

Focusing on the key themes of arts, social enterprise, community support / development and pathways to employment, the organisation has moved from being predominately a provider of hostels for homeless people to be at the cutting edge of tackling social disadvantage through social enterprise and innovation.

Three of the Novas Scarman Group's four CUCs are located in London, but it is the 170,000sq.ft, Grade II listed converted warehouse in Liverpool, which grabbed the headlines on its opening in the summer of 2008.

"Novas Scarman was adamant that

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UK - The Sage Gateshead, the landmark centre for musical education, performance and conferences on the south bank of the River Tyne, has begun to use Cirrus equipment to ensure that the hearing of its workers is protected.

The Sage has been using Cirrus doseBadge noise dosimeters to measure its workers' noise dose exposure during sound checks and performances for the last month, as part of a full programme designed to determine the level of noise protection required for both the staff and entertainers who are performing at the venue.

The updated Noise at Work regulations came into force this year, meaning that employers in the entertainment industry are required to manage the risk to their employees caused by excessive noise. The Sage Gateshead is keen to ensure that workers at the venue and groups who work for them outside the building are well protected, and will be taking t

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UK - Audica Professional has awarded UK and Ireland distributor, CUK Audio, Distributor of the Year for the second year running. The award was presented to CUK Audio at PLASA 08 by Audica Professional director, Kieron Dunk.

The annual award is given for business development, service and support. "The UK was our leading market in 2007," commented Derek West, sales director of Audica Professional, "and has continued in this position with an exceptional growth rate of almost 250% this year. BGM and AV communication in retail premises have led the increase, with many major high street brand names joining our user list. Hotels, bars and restaurants have also been a rapidly growing market for us. For both Audica Professional and CUK Audio the key to this growth has been by putting relationships and service first; sales are a result, not an insular focus."

Stuart

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USA - The first annual Regeneration Tour has been filling amphitheatres and arenas across North America, as fans turned out in droves for a jam-packed evening of '80s artists including The Human League, A Flock of Seagulls, Naked Eyes, Belinda Carlisle and ABC. Delivering the musical variety is a Meyer Sound system featuring the Milo line array loudspeaker.

Engineer Wayne Pauley continued his run as the hardest-working FOH guy on the road, taking advantage of a short gap between separate world tours with Celtic Woman and The High Kings to man the faders for all five acts on the month-long extravaganza.

Pauley comments, "I've always loved how the Milo sounds on the Celtic Woman material, but I've got to say it's a lot of fun hearing what it does for that classic 1980s drum machine kick and snare. It's as powerful as it is nuanced, and the amount of headroom is amaz

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UK - The PLASA08 exhibition (7-10 September, Earls Court, London) has bucked the general exhibition industry trend in spectacular style with an 11 per cent growth in visitor figures across the event's four days compared to 2007. The 13,000+ attendance figure (subject to ABC audit) reflects an exceptional level of visitor pre-registration as well as a growth in new and returning exhibitors to an expanded show floor, say organisers PLASA Events Ltd.

"The show's success was due to a combination of factors," said Director of Events Nicola Rowland, "in particular a targeted marketing campaign combined with special online registration offers; a growth in exhibitor numbers; even more new product launches than in 2007; a greatly expanded educational programme; and improved visitor and exhibitor facilities.

"Combined with the effort that so many exhibitors made to p

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UK - EAW, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, has announced that March, April, May and June were each record sales months for EAW and EAW Commercial in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA).

Sean Martin, director of EAW European Operations, attributes the growth to several key factors. First of all, the EAW Europe headquarters in Wickford, England, has altered its setup and operations, improving efficiency in regards to customer service as well as the sales and shipping of new product and spares/replacement parts. The division has also made a point of keeping a greater inventory holding, resulting in order fulfillment being more direct. Additionally, EAW Europe has placed special attention on increasing its market profile and building brand loyalty by comprehensively training customers and reps.

Martin also notes the particular commitment of EAW distributors

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USA - Shure UHF-R wireless made its mark on the national political convention scene this year, serving as the wireless microphone system of choice for handheld and lavalier microphones as well as in-ear personal monitors at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Used by performing artists, including Trace Adkins, Stevie Wonder and John Legend, UHF-R wireless also gained prime-time exposure in the hands of Cindy McCain, who delivered a speech introducing her husband John McCain with the aid of a Shure UHF-R/KSM9 microphone.

Separated by slightly more than 72 hours in their scheduling, the Republican National Convention kicked off at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on 1 September, following the close of the Democratic National Convention in Denver on 28 August. This presented a formidable logistical challenge for ATK Audiotek, the Valencia, California-based sound c

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USA - PRG Audio has provided the live sound reinforcement for NBC's Toyota Concert Series On Today, airing throughout the summer on the network's Today Show. This year, the concert series has featured performances by Alicia Keys, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus and many more.

The performances have been staged outdoors at Rockefeller Centre in New York City, drawing thousands of fans in the early mornings. Two stages facing each other, separated approximately 200ft apart, allow for consecutive performances by different artists. The south stage features a sound reinforcement system consisting of two ground-stacked line arrays, one per side, each containing seven JBL Vertec VT4887ADP-AN powered compact line array loudspeakers. The north stage features two arrays of five VT4887ADP-AN loudspeakers per side. Each array is accompanied by a VT4881ADP-AN powered compact arrayable subwoof

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USA - Audio professionals from across the US flew in to Minneapolis, Minnesota on 10 September to attend the two-day US launch of the Midas PRO6 digital console. This was the latest in a world-wide programme of global launch events for the console.

The introduction of the PRO6 brings Midas digital technology to a more compact size and price point. The PRO6 has been introduced as "digital, with Heritage", invoking the legacy of its analogue predecessor the Heritage 3000 while taking Midas deeper into the digital realm.

The launch took place at the MYTH concert venue, where three PRO6 consoles were demo'd through the club's Electro-Voice X-Line sound system in a 5.1 listening environment. Guests had plenty of hands-on time with the PRO6 and the response to the system's feature set, work surface, and sound quality was uniformly enthusiastic, say the organisers.

The Eu

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UK - The AES convention in San Francisco will see TL Audio launching a new version of the M1 Tube tracker console. The new M1-F features the same tube preamps EQ as the original but has some additions too.

The master section has been improved and now features a mono button for use when mixing and also balanced insert points for mixdown, summing and mastering.

It has the ability to be fitted with TL Audio's latest, newly designed, digital interface - the DO-F card. The addition of the DO-F card will enable all channel inputs and outputs and main outs to be accessed via a single Firewire cable connected to a computer without the need for an additional interface or soundcard.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - axxent has introduced a new call light for wired party line intercommunication systems, featuring four jumbo size LEDs for call alert.

The large LEDs indicate incoming calls even from great distances, the company says. The call light may be inserted in the intercom signal chain via standard three-pin XLR connectors, and is therefore compatible with most so-called party line intercom systems. A recessed potentiometer allows variable reduction of the LEDs' brightness.

(Jim Evans)

  1. Deep Cut and Duran on The Fringe
  2. Electro-Voice networks London church
  3. Sennheiser MKE 1 shipping now
  4. Sound Technology offers Soundweb training
  5. Adamson Installed in Singapore Zoo
  6. La Cigale reinforced by Electro-Voice
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