Sound

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UK - Rycote has upgraded its range of Windshield Kits. Purchasers of Rycote Windshields Kits 1 to 6 will now find their kits fitted with new Lyre suspensions and a Rycote ConnBox, at no extra charge. Windshield Kits 7 and 8 also incorporate the new Lyre suspensions and come with a flexible microphone 'tail' instead of the ConnBox.

Lyre suspensions were first introduced in 2007 as part of Rycote's S-Series and were subsequently launched as part of the InVision range of shockmounts designed for stand or static studio boom use. The response was overwhelmingly positive, so Rycote decided to incorporate the design to enhance the company's most popular range of products - the Windshield Kits.

The supplied Lyre suspensions are universal fits, accommodating microphones from 19mm to 25mm in diameter. Included in the new packages are a pair of 25mm square-sided Lyres that are suitable f

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Competition News - The ESTA Foundation has announced the Behind the Scenes 2008 raffle prizes for LDI. The lucky winner of the Grand Prize will receive a $10,000 gift certificate with a premier travel agent that can be used to travel anywhere in the world. Second Prize is a $2,500 Amazon Gift Card and Third Prize is a $1,000 Amazon Gift Card.

"Often our industry is creating "a vacation look" for everyone else, so we are very excited to offer this great opportunity to get away on your own vacation," said Rick Rudolph, chair of the Behind the Scenes committee.

Tickets are $25 each or 5 for $100 and will be available throughout the LDI show at the Behind the Scenes booth #2810. A maximum of 2000 tickets will be available. Tickets will also be available at the ESTA Annual Dinner on Thursday evening and the Rose Brand party on Friday evening. LDI 2008 takes place from

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USA - Comprised of professional surfing, BMX, skateboarding, freestyle motocross demos, live music, and a fashion show, Go211 Live's recently completed US Open of Surfing offered something for everyone. The event included a fashion show and three days of music that included performances by a wide range of artists - including teen star Jesse McCartney, whose hit single Leavin' was a crowd pleaser.

Held on Huntingdon Beach, sound reinforcement was a massive undertaking that was handled by Torrance, CA-based Broadcast Support and a sizeable collection of loudspeakers from the DAS Audio catalogue.

Broadcast Support was tasked with supplying a sound system that could deliver clear sound under some very difficult conditions, as company founder and co-owner Scott Ramsay explained. "In addition to the usual issues of providing sound for an outdoor event," said Ramsay,

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USA - Elation Professional's new DMX-16 System is an expandable DMX On/Off switch controller system that includes: a 16-channel DMX-16SW Control Panel, two 4-channel DP-415 DMX Switch Packs, and the necessary cables to link the system together.

The DMX-16SW Control Panel can support up to two additional Switch Packs, making it capable of controlling a total of 16 DMX effects. Also, the DMX-16SW Control Panel will work with any DMX Dimmer/Switch Pack on the market, not just those sold by Elation.

To handle even larger numbers of DMX fixtures, multiple DMX-16SW Control Panels can be linked together. Up to 32 DMX-16SWs can be linked, providing On/Off control of 512 DMX channels.

Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies, the parent company of Elation Professional, said: "With more people going to DMX lighting, our salespeople were telling us that

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USA - Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, home of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team, has been outfitted with a new sound system based on the EAW KF900 Series, featuring EAW's Phased PointSource Technology (PPST. The system was designed and installed by ACS Sound & Lighting.

The KF900 Series system consists of 10 KF920P mid-frequency loudspeakers, four KF910P long-throw High-Frequency Loudspeakers, four custom KF914P hgh-frequency up-fill models and two KF913 medium-throw down-fill Loudspeakers.

Seven EAW UX8800 Digital Signal Processors manage the main PA system. In addition, four KF755P down-fill array loudspeakers are used to fill in under the scoreboard, and a pair of KF750Ps are attached to the rear of the scoreboard and facing onto the stadium's parking lot for general announcement applications. All of the EAW KF900 Series speakers

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UK - Kent-based SRD Group was appointed to manage the recent Army Air Corps (AAC) Music in the Air annual concert and flying display, held at the home base of the AAC in Middle Wallop, Wiltshire. SRD used its two new Allen & Heath iLive digital systems to manage sound reinforcement, which needed to cover a 600m x 500m area.

Attracting 15,000 members of the public and service personnel, the event included aircraft displays from the Red Arrows, the Blue Eagles helicopter display team and various historic aircraft, as well as musical performances from the Army Air Corps band, and classical singers Will Martin, Kathy Leigh and Sophie Hill.

"We needed to cover the 600m wide and 500m deep runway area with both the music of the Army Air Corps Band and guests, as well as the air display commentators," says SRD's MD, Stuart Roberts.

SRD used four 10m Piram towers to

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UK - Having last year provided an integrated multimedia system for Caribbean Scene's first restaurant in the shadow of the ExCeL Exhibition and Conference Centre, the Sound Division Group have travelled from Docklands to Stratford to complete a similar design on a much larger footprint for the second restaurant.

For the new Caribbean Scene project, Peach Projects, led by Emily Chan, were the architects and main contractors, and for the media distribution Sound Division Group adopted a similar model to the Royal Victoria Dock restaurant with the exception of the speakers - which this time are exclusively Martin Audio AQ architectural series.

Designing the system into eight zones David Graham's company has provided sufficient audio and visual relays to guarantee an authentic Caribbean atmosphere across the 200 cover restaurant, as well as the separate tiki cocktail bar, the that

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China - Following up on the successful deployment of Harman Professional audio technologies at the Beijing Summer Olympics ceremonies and competition events, professional-grade audio components from Harman brands, JBL Professional, Crown Audio and Soundcraft formed the backbone of the AV system used at the Paralympics opening and closing ceremonies.

Hosted at the 90,000-capacity Beijing National Stadium, both events were designed by artistic directors Zhang Yimou and Zhang Jigang and featured highly evocative performances of sound and light that provided a suitable culmination to 12 days of competition.

The main system comprised of 20 JBL Professional Vertec VT4888DPAN powered line array elements featuring Crown-designed DrivePack power amplification modules complemented by four Vertec VT4880 arrayable subwoofers powered by two Crown I-Tech Series iT6000 amplifiers.

This sys

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USA - Founded last year by producer Hank Neuberger, Springboard Productions was enlisted by promoters C3 Presents and Giant Pictures as supervising producer at this year's Austin City Limits Festival.

"Festivals like this differ vastly compared to working with a single band or in theatre assignments," Neuberger says. "First of all, you're doing at least five bands at each stage per day with almost no sound checks, and you can consider yourself lucky if you get a complete line check. On top of all this you're subject to the whims of the great outdoors and whatever weather comes your way, you're not always able to work in the most ideal of locations, and there are a lot of inputs. It's perfectly common to deal with 50 at a time from a single stage."

Working with headlining acts the Foo Fighters, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Beck, Manu Chao, John Fogerty, D

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USA - Although Nashville has long been best known as a country music Mecca, fast-rising pop-punk bands like Paramore are diversifying the image of Music City USA. Recently coming off the road with its final tour in support of the band's second album, Riot!, the group's engineers were impressed by Rat Sound's L-acoustics loudspeaker rig, which the band had been carrying for the first time.

Greg Mahler served as the FOH/system tech for the six-week North American tour, which utilised a PA comprised of a dozen V-Dosc plus three dV-Dosc down-fills hung per side. Three additional dV-Dosc were flown on the downstage lighting truss for centre-fill.

With most of the venues on this particular trek being outdoor amphitheaters, six-box Kudo arrays were also flown on either side of the stage to address the far left and right seating areas. "We also occasionally used Kudo for g

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India - An enthusiastic crowd of more than one million gathered to witness and support the establishment of a new political party in India. Launched by Chiranjeevi, one of the biggest stars in the Indian film industry who has now entered into politics, the new party's name is Praja Rajyam (People's Rule).

The fledgling party's event organizers chose the Ava Lila Tank site in the city of Tirupati, located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, to unveil its political programme. Speeches, film clips and choreographed dance segments were included in the event. Sound reinforcement services for the ambitious multi-media outreach were supplied through a coordinated effort by Taher Sound & Lights of Hyderabad and V&P Sound of Bangalore.

"The venue selected for the huge outdoor gathering was very wide, and four main scaffold-based array hangs were designed for long-throw coverage, inclu

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UK - Marquee Installations has achieved ISO 9001:2000 accreditation. The Egham-based company provides audio, video and lighting installation services for all applications, including the hospitality, entertainment, education and public sector markets.

Mark Brown, managing director of Marquee Installations comments: "Accreditation is an important consideration for some corporate and public sector clients, but more than that it is an extension of our basic ethos of ensuring a level of service that always meets or exceeds the expectations of all of our customers."

Brown continues: "We had always focussed on measuring quality in the solution delivered to the customer, but ISO 9000 helps by introducing the quality management systems and culture throughout the organisation; it brings in a practical approach to providing, measuring and continuously improving our standar

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UK - When OC Events set out the 2008 circuit for the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series their aim was to emulate and surpass the inaugural high-octane, competitive close-quarter racing the previous year. At the same time they wanted to provide an unforgettable VIP experience by creating a greater buzz both on and off the water for the thousands of spectators.

Orbital Sound's brief was to create a sound relay infrastructure at each location on the five-event circuit including Lugano (Switzerland), Skandia Cowes Week (UK), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and new venues in Germany (Kiel) and France (Hyères).

In addition to the commentary to shore and crew inter-comms, Orbital Sound needed to fit out the VIP tent, provide sound reinforcement for the Saturday night DJ and the prize giving on the Sunday.

Orbital Sound's director Tim Sherratt comments: "The idea is tha

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Japan - The night of 23-24 August was a long one in Izu City, Japan, marking the occasion of Metamorphose, the country's biggest all-night music festival. More than 30 acts - mostly electronica - performed on three main stages and several smaller stages. Headliners were The Flaming Lips, Tortoise, and DJ Krush.

Ortofon reimforced the event with systems from Dynacord, including a Cobra line-array set-up.

Mayuri Akama, founder and promoter of Metamorphose commented: "We get more global feedback every year, and that's why we put a more global emphasis on the line-up for 2008. It's not just electronica anymore; we also have jazz, world music, and rock acts performing. No matter where you were or who was on stage, the sound was excellent all the time."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Less than a month after its launch at PLASA 08, DiGiCo's new SD8 console is already out on the road. An SD8 is being used to mix monitors for Art Garfunkel and his band, currently in the midst of a 12-date European trek. Playing to venues of around 2,000 capacity, it's a one truck tour so audio rental company AudioLease needed a monitor desk that was compact, but delivers quality sound.

"Being a one truck tour, space is at a premium," says AudioLease's Steve Sunderland. "With the SD8 we don't need to carry big racks of outboard gear, it's very compact and yet it still sounds awesome.

"I was amazed that there is now a DiGiCo console at a price that means we can use such a technically advanced desk in these kind of venues. It's very difficult to justify £50,000 to £100,000 worth of console for tours like this so, with the SD8, DiGiCo has fill

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UK - Allen & Heath, has appointed two new distributors to manage sales, distribution and service of its portfolio in Scandinavia.

Benum Nordic AS has assumed the role of exclusive distributor for the Allen & Heath brand in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Based in Copenhagen with an office in Stockholm, Benum Nordic is spearheaded by Jens Brochner Jensen and Flemming Sorensen. Benum is the largest pan-Scandinavian agency for system integration and equipment supply.

Noretron Audio will manage sales for Allen & Heath in Finland. Based on the outskirts of Helsinki, Noretron Audio is part of the Noretron Group of companies specialising in the distribution of audio, communication, AV, and component and measuring equipment.

"Noretron and Benum were selected because Allen & Heath fits well into the mix of brands they represent and both companies have dedicated and experienced sales

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The Netherlands - Alcons Audio's LR7 micro line-array is a passive two-way line-source loudspeaker system. It is a true line-array system, to be used as vertical array, either in stacked or flown configuration, for both portable and permanent installations.

The frequency response of 74Hz (-3dB) to beyond 20kHz enables a full-range deployment without the immediate necessity of additional bass systems. In applications where extended bass response is required, the LR7 can be combined with a pressure-bass or deep-sub system.

Loaded with the RBN401 pro-ribbon driver on a 'Morpher' lens, the system features a 90° or 120° dispersion of choice with seamless coverage, due to the ribbon's all-natural cylindrical (Isophasic) wavefront.

The micro-compact size, combined with the weight-saving all Neodymium drivers, makes the system very easy to handle.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Audio-Technica reports that its SpectraPulse technology was used at the third presidential debate, held 15 October at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.

The Audio-Technica SpectraPulse mtu201 Wireless XLR Desk Stand Transmitter was used with A-T's ES935ML Engineered Sound gooseneck microphone mounted within the conversation table in front of each candidate to pick up the audio from Senators McCain and Obama and transmit it securely, via patented ultra wideband (UWB) technology, with no interference.

A SpectraPulse Digital Receiver Module (drm141) was mounted directly above the conversation table in the lighting truss and connected to the equipment rack via a standard shielded Cat 5 cable.

Larry Estrin, of Studio City, CA-based Best Audio, serves as audio and production communications director for the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). He stated: "The Spec

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Latvia - Held once every five years, the Latvian Song and Dance Festival transformed Riga for one week this summer. Local audio company KM Sound provided a large complement of self-powered Meyer Sound loudspeakers for sound reinforcement for the event, successfully meeting the complex sound design challenges along the way.

These challenges were not limited to the sheer size of the festival. "It was very difficult to provide coverage to the auditorium area," notes sound engineer and FOH mixer Andris Uze. "We had no rigging points available, no cranes allowed, plus no place to put a centre cluster, which necessitated many small delay and fill boxes."

Meyer Sound's MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction programme proved to be a great partner for Uze, and helped to create a design of left and right towers of 12 Milo line array loudspeakers per side, with

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Germany - The Halle Münsterland is the largest events centre in the region of Westphalia. 80 years after the first events were staged there, the Congress Hall has made a significant investment in a new sound reinforcement system for its main auditorium, a cutting-edge design driven by an EtherSound audio network via a digital matrix, allowing the settings of different sound reinforcement situations to be retrieved at the push of a button.

Jens Schmidt from installation specialists Trendco and Norbert Sangermann, the acoustics expert from CAMCO responsible for fixed installations, joined forces to design a system tailored precisely to the Congress hall.

For Schmidt and Sangermann, the concept design had to accommodate possible future requirements while offering the clearest possible signal transmission. Decision-makers at the Halle Münsterland focussed strongly on the reliabi

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Greece - DiGiCo has moved its Greek distribution channel to newly established company DN'A Systems, which is set to focus its attention heavily on the digital sector of the Greek pro audio market.

"DiGiCo is the top digital console, so this appointment is very important for us," says DN'A's general manager Takis Tsonopoulos. "We want to steer the Greek pro audio community more towards the digital world and teach traditional analogue users, who are nervous about using digital products, that DiGiCo is a very friendly console and will make their everyday life easier and more productive."

Although DN'A Systems is a relatively new enterprise, its founders - Tsonopoulos, sales director Yannis Tatsis, digital and concert sound technician Aris Koyntouris and installation technician Alexios Gkanas - are familiar figures with much industry experience.

"The ski

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UK - DMi D&M Installation has introduced a new entry level DVD player from Denon Professional. The Denon DN-V110 replaces the DN-V100 and integrates a raft of features derived from Denon's hi-fi press award winning DVD-1740 consumer player within a professional rackmount model; all designed to provide rich, cinema like replay on today's large scale high definition flat screen displays, says the company.

New to the DN-V110 is the 108MHz/12-bit video DAC with full 1080p video upscaling, providing for full HD specification output of standard definition DVD signals, with a resultant significant increase in picture quality when connected to HD Ready and Full HD displays. Upscaling is performed to 1080p, 1080i or 720p, as determined by the specification of the connected display.

To match the picture quality, a 192kHz/24-bit Burr Brown audio DAC provides high resolution audio decodin

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USA - Continental Air Show Productions (CASP) travels the country with a powerful sound system that breathes life into some of the most spectacular air shows around. The main rig comprises two Community RSH462 loudspeakers and 24 more R.25 loudspeakers, along with six R.5 subwoofers. "We mount the RSH462s on man-lifts, on all-terrain forklifts, and even on scaffolding, depending on what's available," says CASP's Dave Olmstead. "We mount the R.25s on tripods about seven feet up, to cover the areas where VIP and sponsors are hosted."

Aside from the near deafening ambient noise, the other challenge is the sheer size of the areas needing coverage. The purpose-built distributed system can cover nearly a full mile of show line. Using a pair of 5.8GHz wireless remote systems, the loudspeakers can be placed anywhere along the ramp where extra coverage is needed. &quo

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USA - Crown Audio has appointed Matt Bush to the position of vice president of sales starting in November. Bush joins Crown Audio from sister company, Harman Music Group, where he was vice-president of operations and takes the position previously held by Scott Robbins who was promoted to VP of sales for Harman Professional last month. In his new role, Bush will direct worldwide sales operations from Crown Audio's Elkhart, Indiana headquarters and he will report directly to Mark Graham, president, Crown Audio.

"Matt Bush is a strong business leader, an excellent organiser and an experienced pro audio veteran," Graham said. "We are very pleased to welcome Matt to our team and I am confident that he will grow our sales and strengthen our partnerships with reps, dealers and distributors across the globe."

(Jim Evans)

  1. Revitalised sound system at the Brighton Centre
  2. eMerging complete HD upgrade at Lime Pictures
  3. D.A.S. Audio hosts Miami seminar
  4. Community sound for classic cars
  5. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  6. PLM takes to the water at Expo 2008
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