Sound

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UK - An invitation from the Sussex Academy of Music to help choose and install a digital mixing and recording system has allowed Paul Nicholson of Midas ProSound to go 'back to school' and revisit his years as a lecturer on sound technology.

The Sussex Academy of Music, based on the south coast, provides music tuition of all instruments and courses to all age groups. Midas ProSound has been working with teaching staff to design a digital audio control system that is suitable for use in the 'live' room, and for future shows outside the Academy. The core of the system uses a RSS M-400 V-Mixer with a S-1608 Digital Snake.

"Having lectured in sound between 1990 and 2002, it's extremely gratifying to be involved once again in an academic environment, this time as a systems supplier," says Nicholson. "Today's digital technology certainly gives the student more scope

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USA - Community Professional has introduced S4 (Subwoofer Steering Simulation Software), an application that allows the user to input basic information on the system specifications (number and spacing of subwoofers, desired cut-off frequency) and quickly configure the optimal arrangement for any situation.

Community's S4 calculator's graphical interface provides a two-dimensional polar prediction for an array of LF point sources at any given frequency, and predicts the frequency and phase response in front and behind the array, delivering an accurate prediction of the system performance both onstage and in the audience area. S4 also provides box spacing and DSP settings for bass arrays of Community VLF208 or VLF212 woofers, and advanced settings provide the ability to calculate average bandwidth, polar degree and amplitude resolutions, listener position and several other paramet

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UK - A Proel-based sound system has been installed in Rodizio Rico, the London branch of the renowned Brazilian restaurant chain located inside the 02 Arena.

With the support of the UK based distributor Proel International, the sound system installed in Rodizio Rico is composed of enclosures from the high-end EDGE and NEOS series. EDGE25PB satellites and EDGE112SP subwoofers have been used for the main distributed system; EDGE8CXPB as DJ monitors and the self powered NEOS12A and NEOS115SA as a separate system used for when the restaurant presents live music performances.

Several smaller enclosures from the AVL Systems catalogue have been used to provide coverage to other areas throughout the building.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Out Board's TiMax audio delay-matrix has long been a staple of Bobby Aitken's in-the-round sound design approach, but this year's Raymond Gubbay production of Rogers and Hammerstein's The King and I at London's Royal Albert Hall differed in one significant detail.

The King and I represented the first foray for Out Board's new TiMax2 SoundHub being controlled by TiMax Tracker automation. Aitken observes, "TiMax has always worked well for us on these Albert Hall shows, and with TiMax2 this year I've noticed subtle improvements to the overall openness and clarity of the sound."

Principals and selected chorus members each wore a miniature TiMax Tracker Tag which enabled the tracking system to divine where they were on stage at any given time. 19 delay-based vocal imaging zones on stage were programmed into the TiMax2 SoundHub matrix. These were then ma

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France - Pascal Rossat, head of the events department at Forclum (Groupe Eiffage), which handles sound for the show, again appointed L-Acoustics Rental Network agent DSE to provide the sound system.

The system consisted of a total of 93 Kudo line source cabinets, with four clusters of six for the general public area hung from towers located behind the seating rows. The refuelling area featured three clusters of six Kudo cabinets, while North and South exhibit areas were covered by two clusters of six, seven clusters of three and two clusters of nine Kudo cabinets, all powered by L-Acoustics LA amplified controllers. This was a small amount of sound sources taking into account the total area to cover.

"Despite carrying out Soundvision simulations during the 10-day set up, we faced huge constraints with the North and South exhibit areas due to the presence of the planes, wh

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Belgium - On Sunday 7 June an international press conference was convened at the EU headquarters in Brussels to hear the outcome of the European Parliamentary elections. As vote counts were resolved the results were relayed to the assembled masses of the World's press via d&b audiotechnik's T-Series loudspeakers, and simultaneously broadcast via live TV across the whole of Europe.

The bi-polar system design, two line arrays of 11 T10 loudspeakers positioned directly above the broadcast dais from where the televised result announcements were staged, was made by Patrick Van Cauwenberghe, who barely two months ago attended his first T-Series seminar at the Cirque Royale in Brussels.

"This system is simply the perfect one for the job," said Van Cauwenberghe. "Looks and size are important for television's aesthetics, and the lightweight T10 loudspeaker addressed stru

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UK - SSE Audio Group has purchased the installation operations of North London audio specialists Green-i. This acquisition follows the recent procurement of Green-i's hire inventory. Both additional activities will be amalgamated into SSE London - SSE's audio installations and contract hire division based in Hayes, West London.

Green-i director Ian Woodall (Woody) will initially work alongside SSE London's operations director Emma Barwell, to ensure that existing contracts and relationships are supported and fully maintained.

Woodall commented: "I'm delighted with this deal because it means our existing clients will benefit greatly from the strength of SSE Audio Group and the wide range of audio services they offer. It also means in future I can take a less hands-on role, in the knowledge that all our clients are being looked after and the relationships we have built up o

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China - Its designers proclaim it as the world's largest LED Skydome, and with 20 million ultra-bright LEDs covering 500 by 32m,, the LED Skydome at Harmony Times Square in Suzhou Industrial Park near Shanghai is the heart of an ambitious audio-visual installation.

A 3D-capable Renkus-Heinz ceiling loudspeaker system with Camco amplification tracks the action on the 350,000sq.m Sky Mall's overhead LED screen through 106 three-way synchronised loudspeakers and 160 amplifiers. Controllability and directivity, rather than sheer power, lies behind a specification that reads like an arena or major auditorium system.

Harmony Times Square's designers were determined to break records on several fronts - and succeeded. Until late 2008, Beijing's World Trade Centre held the title for China's largest LED Skydome, while Las Vegas' Fremont Street held the title for the world's largest LED

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UK - Void Acoustics reports that multiple systems incorporating its loudspeakers and amplifiers have been installed in Sally's of Omagh, Northern Ireland, contributing to the venue's accolade of being awarded Best Overall Venue 2009 and Best Regional Club 2009 at the FATE Awards '09. The Void systems at Sally's include Mycro, Basys, Impulse and Stasys loudspeaker models, and form part of a complete audio-visual and lighting installation by Total Lite and Sound. Void's Infinite range of power amplifiers have been installed throughout.

John O'Neil, of Omagh-based Total Lite and Sound, commented: "The success of Sally's in the FATE Awards acknowledges its position as mid-Ulster's largest and most important entertainment complex. Sally's has a constant mix of live acts and DJ nights - often at the same time - and we had to install sound and lighting

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Panama - New Nexo system owner Boris Allara of Jobo Productions has deployed his Geo T inventory for two very different events, demonstrating the versatility of the system to more than 100,000 people in Panama City.

The first-ever showcase of Formula DRIFT took place in Panama City, with some of the top Formula D drivers taking their cars south for the demo. Formula DRIFT is a high-powered motor sport where drivers intentionally manoeuvre their cars into well-executed, controlled sideways slides at high speeds through a marked course. Judged on execution and style, rather than who finishes the course in the fastest time, Drifting is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, and is often compared to the freestyle nature of skateboarding and motocross.

Jobo Productions had to face considerable challenges for this event; with the racetrack positioned between the stage (and sound system) and th

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UK - Sound Technology has announced the appointment of Vince Borrelli as tour sound sales manager. His previous experience includes working for Audio Technica and Mackie.

During his seven years at Mackie, Borrelli was responsible for sales and training across all product areas, including the TT24 digital live desk, DXB digital recording console, EAW products and others. He then joined Harman Pro and then went on to Headstock Pro to help create and launch a new PA range from team that created the Laney brand.

Borrelli comments: "I'm looking forward to channelling my knowledge of the pro audio industry into developing the presence of Sound Technology and the Harman brands across the UK's hire community."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Sennheiser microphones, in-ear monitoring, personnel and NET 1 frequency management system were all at the heart of Capital Radio's Summertime Ball held recently at the Emirates Stadium in London.

With Sennheiser's support team of Mark Saunders, Dave Hawker and Phil Cummings on hand to support sound company, Wigwam, a total of 70 presenters and performers used Sennheiser as they entertained the sell-out crowd.

As far as in-ear monitoring was concerned, all IEMs used by performers were Sennheiser's G2 300 series. In addition, all presenter mics were Sennheiser SKM 5200s, the same model chosen by headliner, Leona Lewis.

Other performers, including Saturdays, Daniel Merriweather, Mark Ronson and Shontelle all performed with Sennheiser SKM 935 mics.

Katie Walker, RF Manager at Wigwam comments, "With 12 IEM systems, 22 receiver packs and 70 performers sharing t

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Balaeric Islands - A.C. Entertainment Technologies recently supplied event production company Three Media Creative with state-of-the-art sound and projection systems for new show Come Fly with Me at the Gran Casino Theatre in Mallorca. Combining the music of Frank Sinatra with the spectacle of a Broadway show, the production is based around New York in 1959 and features a mix of swing music, acrobatics and dancing.

When the show's producers, Globo Balear, took over the Gran Casino Theatre to host the show, the 1,500-seater custom-built theatre had never been used before for such a technically ambitious production. They therefore appointed broadcast and production specialists Three Media Creative as technology consultants when the show first went into pre-production planning.

James Baker, Three Media Creative Show Technology Consultant and his team had the remit of desig

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USA - The rolling countryside of rural Tennessee is a long way from New Jersey both metaphorically and as the crow flies, but that didn't stop Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band from riveting the audience at this year's Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival. As the Saturday night headliner at the patchouli-saturated festival, The Boss and band performed tirelessly during an epic three-hour set.

Bonnaroo is only the third biggest concert the group has played this year, trailing both the Super Bowl halftime show and President Obama's inauguration. Springsteen's vocals at all three shows have been managed by Shure UHF-R wireless.

(Jim Evans)

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Palestine - The Solomon Pools Convention Centre in Bethlehem is the first of its kind in Palestine. Its dimensions and installations of professional audio, video, simultaneous translation systems and lighting make it suitable for a broad range of events and conventions.

The Solomon Pools Convention Centre construction was financed by the Official Credit Institute of Spain with a FAD credit from the Development Aid Fund. With support and funds from the Spanish authorities, Ecler coordinated the audio, public address, stage, seats, acoustic material, video, lighting, translation systems, CCTV and MATV installation.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - DMi D&M Europe has announced the launch of Escient Zone, its integrated CI home control system. The launch of is accompanied by an extensive programme of product support and training for DMi appointed installers.

Zone complements the latest Ethernet and WIFI network enabled AV source and control components from D&M's Denon, Marantz and Escient brands. Its introduction enables DMi appointed CI professionals to offer in-home automation systems, seamlessly incorporating components from these brands.

Zone is positioned to provide fully featured, high performance home automation and control, at a lower price point than current market leading systems; enabling CI dealers and custom installers to extend their target market for integrated home automation, says the company. Likewise, it enables a greater number of dealers to gain full access to a single integrated home control sys

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UK - A large quantity of DPA microphones supplied by R G Jones were used for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds, which has just completed a sell-out UK tour.

Front of house engineer Simon Honywill specified a total of 37 DPA mics across the orchestra. These were a mixture of 4061 miniature mics, featuring low sensitivity and large dynamic range, on violins and violas, and 4099 instrument mics on cellos and double basses. Honywill was so impressed by the new 4099 instrument mics that he purchased four for his own use from UK distributor Sound Network.

The show's vocalists - Justin Hayward, Chris Thompson, Alexis James, Shannon Noll and Jennifer Ellison - were all on 4088 miniature cardioids headsets with omni back-ups.

"The show is very much about finding a balance between the music and the recorded narration of Richard Burton," says Honywi

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UK - Set up by Martha Lane Fox, founder of lastminute.com, karaoke bar chain Lucky Voice has opened its fifth unit, in Brighton, with a technological infrastructure evolved from the original design by integration company Green-I (now part of the SSE Audio Group). The audio control draws heavily on BSS Soundweb London BLU-16 DSPs to handle the mic mixing.

In Brighton, Green-I has assigned four independent BLU-16's to drive the seven karaoke rooms. "Soundweb London looks after the user interface, the volume controls for the wireless mics and reverb effects," says Green-I's Ian Woodall. "Mic mixing (of both wireless and wired) inputs are carried out via Soundweb's automatic levelling to avoid any feedback, while all the 'intelligence' in each pod is created using the system's Logic programming. The challenge was to get all the mic frequencies operable within an intim

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UK - Recording artist sessions for Global Radio - the group that includes Capital FM, Heart, Xfm, Gold, Classic FM, Choice FM and Galaxy - award-winning producer Chris Denman has worked with artists ranging from complete unknowns to high profile stars like Chris Martin, Placebo, The Mastodons, Lionel Richie, Kelly Clarkson and Bloc Party. But whoever the artist is, Denman's schedule is relentless in its demands.

He records two full band sessions every working day with his Yamaha DM2000 mixing console. "When I first went to work for Global, I was presented with a Yamaha 02R, which was later replaced with the DM2000," he says. "They were originally chosen because they delivered the best performance for the available budget and I can honestly say that over 10 years they have fulfilled every requirement I have had of them."

He continues: "Another advantage

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UK - The iTunes Festival relocated to The Roundhouse in North London this year, with over 60 artists playing live at this free event, which runs throughout the month of July.

With bands ranging from Oasis, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and Snow Patrol at the commercial end to acoustic performers like Newton Faulkner, quirky performance artists with wide dynamic ranges (like Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan), leavened with some good old fashioned hard house and R&B, it added up to something of a Molotov cocktail for iTunes production manager Stuart Turvill, system tech Dave Roden - and the Martin Audio W8LM Mini line array system.

Stuart Turvill has chaperoned the event's steady growth from the ICA through nearby Koko (last year) and now to the Roundhouse, where he designed the audio infrastructure for the televised event, in collaboration with Martin Audio's Jim Cousins

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Cuban News - The UK's Royal Ballet has arrived in Havana for its first visit to Cuba. It is putting on five days of shows, featuring the company's Cuban star Carlos Acosta and a tribute to Cuban ballet legend Alicia Alonso. All the tickets were sold out within hours, as Cubans looked forward to seeing the first major ballet company since the Bolshoi almost 30 years ago. To cater for the huge demand, the performances will be shown on giant screens outside the theatre. The director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason, said the national passion for ballet was one of the attractions of taking the company to Cuba. "Dance is central to the culture in Cuba. It's at the very heart of the Cuban people," she said. The company will perform at the Gran Teatro in central Havana the first three days, where the screens will be based. The Karl Marx Teatro will host the final two.

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UAE - The Cavalli Club in Dubai, bearing the name of the famous Italian fashion designer, staged its grand opening on 7 May. Roberto Cavalli has been involved in every detail of this $30m investment; crystal curtains by Swarkovski being just one example of the opulence this venue affords.

For Triangle Entertainment Services, who won the contract to design and install the audio system, the demands were of the highest order, "Hard work in recent years means we have established a good reputation in Dubai," said Triangle's managing director Zahid R Elian. General manager of the Cavalli, Mr Khoury added, "We did not hesitate one second to go ahead with Triangle on this project; both their expertise and reliability are unrivalled. Personally I know that Zahid is a man of his word and can deliver."

The owners and operators of the Cavalli, Pragma Group, had specifi

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USA - Extending its sound reinforcement capabilities, Florida-based systems integration firm Multi Image Group has purchased 110 Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers. MIG, which specialises in corporate AV projects for clients such as CitiGroup, Deutsche Bank and Proctor & Gamble, upgraded its entire amplifier inventory from the original I-Tech amplifiers.

"MIG was not using Crown amplifiers when I joined the company. I didn't agree with this because I had been using Crown since I started in the professional sound industry back in 1981 and they are bulletproof," said Andy Kakas, audio department manager for technical services at Multi Image Group.

MIG purchased its first Crown amplifiers in 2002 with Macro-Tech and soon purchased I-Tech series amps as well. "We started by building a few JBL VerTec line array systems with the Macro-Tech amps and about six months later we g

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UK - Software providers Stardraw.com have announced their support of the Mirage Media Control System 2.0 from Autonomic Controls. The Stardraw Control software allows creation of customised graphical user interfaces to control any hardware device over any protocol, while Mirage MCS software allows two-way control, over a TCP/IP or serial connection, of music and video content hosted in a Windows environment. Together, the companies' respective applications deliver comprehensive, integrated control of any system, the hardware it comprises and its media content. This is all achieved without having to write a single line of code.

The Mirage MCS service hooks into media content stored on a PC and interfaces with Windows Media Centre, Windows Media Player, iTunes, Pandora Internet Radio and XM Radio. Its client UI can be accessed from any browser that supports Flash and there is also

  1. Aero 12A debuts in Germany
  2. Proel array on Caparezza's summer tour
  3. SNP Productions is a UK Catalyst dealer
  4. RSS and Liz Hobbs join forces at Glastonbury
  5. PLASA 09: Harting to feature connectivity solutions
  6. AvitaS offers comprehensive audio training
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