UK - Baldwin Boxall's Vigil EVAS voice alarm system has been installed in the brand new Caterpillar stand at Leicester Tigers stadium. The new stand completes phase one of the £60m redevelopment at Welford Road.

The voice alarm system, installed by Argus Services Ltd, will ensure safe and controlled evacuation in the event of an emergency. Investing in a well-built voice alarm system enables security and safety staff to feel at ease with the knowledge that the system will activate the instant it is required to do so. In the meantime, for everyday events, the same system provides stadium staff with full public address / DJ facilities and background music creating a great atmosphere for the fans. Other benefits include the ability to record timed messages for announcements such as advertising forthcoming events, venue facilities and closing/opening times total flexibility to

UK - The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG) is inviting an expression of interest from live events production companies to provide the production services for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

LOCOG is seeking a highly experienced live events production company who have Olympic, Paralympic or large scale events experience to provide administrative and production services to the Creative Directors of the four ceremonies. The Creative Directors will be recruited directly by LOCOG through a separate process and so creative content proposals are not being sought from potential production companies. The chosen production company will manage and execute the production process from conception to delivery.

Bill Morris, LOCOG Director of Culture, Ceremonies & Education said: "The

Finland - In late 2008 and early 2009, Finnish band Eppu Normaali enjoyed its Klubiotteella tour with a pair of DiGiCo SD8 consoles supplied by Akun Tehdas, the audio production company owned by the band and directed by drummer Aku Syrjä.

So successful was the tour that TomFloor Production, an associate company run by producer and engineer Tomi Pietilä, has since purchased its own console for Location Factory - the world's first SD8-equipped mobile recording facility.

"When it came to choosing a console, there were a few options which I considered, but very soon it became obvious that the SD8 had more preamps, more power, more... everything... compared with other brands," says Tomi of his new acquisition.

"Most importantly I knew the sound quality of the preamps. Having used the SD8 to make live recordings of the Eppu Normaali tour, I already k

Italy - The ND 850 2.0 from RCF is a driver for professional high performance applications, from high power two-way systems to multiple-way long throw systems.

The ND850 2.0 has a two-inch exit throat featuring several state of the art technologies. The diaphragms are precision formed from made from pure titanium and the suspension is based on a vented and damped design in order to provide low distortion.

Voice coil assembly of the compression driver is designed using high temperature kapton former.

(Jim Evans)

Dubai - Dubai-based company EPIC Events L.L.C. has just invested heavily with NMK Electronics in equipment from Electro-Voice.

The order includes 12 XLC127 line-array enclosures, 20 active ZXA5 speaker systems, and Tour Grade amplifiers (TG5, TG7) with integrated RCM DSP modules controlled by IRIS-Net software. This is state-of-the-art equipment offering the highest degree of reliability, performance and ease-of-use, says the company

"The inventories of three rental companies in the United Arab Emirates now boast Electro-Voice line arrays with remote amplifiers," says Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager, NMK Electronics. "Another thing customers appreciate is the quality of Electro-Voice (after-sales) service. The regular software updates are extremely popular here. They create trust. That's why investing in Electro-Voice is always a sound decision

Germany - With an impressive five-year growth rate of 289%, Coolux, the creator of the Pandoras Box media server system, has reached 42nd place as part of this year's Deloitte's Fast 50 list, a ranking of Germany's 50 fastest growing technology companies.

Deloitte has honoured business growth, technological innovation and entrepreneurial spirit this way for the seventh year in a row. The listed companies' performance highlights the fact that they were able to surpass expectations even in times of economic crisis.

Coolux founder and CEO Jan Hüwel comments on his company's success: "We are now reaping the benefits of our sticking to triple A quality standards, no matter what the economic situation. Pushing our ability to come up with innovative new ideas to the utmost limit and beyond has always been one of our main goals. More than 1500 licences sold since the inception o

Japan - Cirque du Soleil's ZED is playing Tokyo Disney Resort's purpose-built 2,150-seat theatre. The dynamic soundscape created by sound designers François Bergeron and Vikram Kirby helps entice the guests into a world of imagination, giving the show a heightened emotional texture using Meyer Sound's Constellation electroacoustic architecture.

As applied in ZED, Constellation utilizes 97 compact loudspeakers, 32 microphones, and five dedicated VRAS processors to afford the liberty of creating fully adaptable acoustics.

"Constellation can sound absolutely natural, if that's what you want," says principal sound designer François Bergeron, who is also CFO of Burbank-based Thinkwell Design and Production and designer for six prior Cirque du Soleil shows, "but in pure sound design it also lets you play with the laws of physics. You can create acousti

USA - Since 2003, Guerilla Union's Rock the Bells tour has established itself as a world-class hip-hop platform by hosting performances from leading artists of the genre. This year's tour was no different and included appearances by NAS and Damian Marley, Cypress Hill and Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes plus numerous equally compelling acts.

With an ambitious tour schedule that included stops in Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Washington, DC, Boston, MA, New York, NY, and San Francisco, CA, the musical extravaganza made its Southern California appearance at the San Manuel Amphitheater - formerly known as Glen Helen Pavilion. There, an appreciative crowd of approximately 14,000 revelled to the music delivered by a pulse pounding sound system consisting of components from D.A.S. Audio's Aero 2 catalogue.

Irwindale, CA-based DBS Sound & Lighting was contracted to provide sound reinforcem

Germany - TTA's Stagetracker FX performer tracking and audio localisation system took a starring role in an outdoor performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, presented by the Staatstheater Braunschweig. Distinguished German sound designer Utz Rüscher chose to use Stagetracker RX with its new V4 software for an 'in-the-round' production, part of the Burgplatz (Castle Square) Open-Air Season, held every summer in Braunschweig, near Hannover.

Working closely with Mega Audio, TTA's distributor in Germany, Utz Rüscher deployed the Stagetracker system to track the on-stage movement of six performers and localise them in the mix. Front-of-house engineer Michael Hilla, mixing the show on an Innovason SY72 console, was quick to notice the benefits of using Stagetracker; he could concentrate on monitoring the performers' microphones and levels instead of stepping follower

Indonesia - Loud Technologies held a worldwide distributor conference in Ria Bintan, Indonesia from 17-19 October, 2009. 45 attendees from 26 distributor companies participated in the three-day event that featured in-depth sessions on new products, as well as roundtable discussions on the company's 2010 business plans. The event immediately followed the Pro Light & Sound Show in Shanghai.

"Loud is poised for a breakthrough year in 2010," said Rodney Olson, Loud CEO. "Recent product launches, including the Mackie HD, Mackie Onyx-i, Ampeg Micro-VR, EAW MicroWedge and MicroSub, and the EAW DX1208 are gaining momentum quickly. More importantly, our newly unified engineering and product management teams have solid roadmaps for future growth."

The Company has hosted two similar seminars in the past 18 months -- the first in Opio, France, and the second in

Turkey - Sound and lighting rental company Bros Technic's Bar?? and Ba?ar Kalem have started off their rental inventory with 12 L-Acoustics dV-Dosc line source array cabinets, four dV-Sub low frequency extensions and four SB28 subs, with four LA8 amplified controllers.

"Because we wanted to use what we consider the leading sound reinforcement products in the field from the moment we started our company, there was no choice other than L-Acoustics," says Bar??. "We believe this sets us apart from other rental companies in the region, and we are pleased to join the L-acoustics rental network."

The Istanbul-based company provides sound, lighting, rigging, staging and video services for a wide range of events including concerts, festivals and conventions. Already, the company has employed its dV-dosc system in Istanbul on international bands such as Opeth, Buena

Australia - During October, Sydney played host to the 2009 World Masters Games in which 25 000 people from more than 100 countries came together to compete in 28 sports at 72 venues across the city.

The Opening Ceremony for the Games was held at ANZ Stadium with Jands Production Services providing the audio gear and crew. Out There Productions was appointed to produce the opening and closing ceremonies for the Games which featured the largest athlete's parade on earth and artists such as David Campbell, Jessica Mauboy, Leo Sayer, John Paul Young and the NSW Police Marching Band.

The performance stage featured a JBL VerTec PA system comprising of two strips of 15 deep on the front hangs with the side hangs consisting of seven one side and eight on the other.

"The reason why they are uneven is that the northern stand has an extra tier so I needed a bit more dispersion to

Germany - RTS has launched the KP 12 CLD 12-position colour display keypanel. The 1RU KP 12 CLD is the latest addition to the CLD colour keypanel series by RTS.

The keypanel includes several new features designed to enhance capability and ease of use. The instinctive graphic interface is housed inside two full-colour 4.2" LCD displays. The front panel also features conveniences such as a user-programmable button, one-touch listen volume adjustment on each of the 14 new multifunction keys, and a backlit keypad.

Like all RTS products, the KP 12 CLD is designed with expansion in mind. The front-mounted USB port and modular rear panel allow for future upgrades that will keep the KP 12 CLD on the forefront of technology for years to come, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

UK - The updated SMI and CMI smart 19" rack-mounted mains distribution units from Bryant, now with power measurement and current signature analysis, offer integrated mains analysis normally only available with expensive, dedicated test equipment, the company says.

Over the past 12 years, Bryant has added a number of optional features to its basic sequential and changeover units. Until now, the top of the range was the versatile SMS single mains supply, or CMS dual supply with changeover, both allowing power outlets to be turned on or off according to a user set 'macro' program. With GPIs, timers and "GoTo" branching, users have been able to solve diverse mains power sequencing problems, for example to power up servers and RAID arrays over a number of minutes, say Bryant.

All Bryant intelligent mains units can detect outlet fuse failure, but the target has been a

UK - This year's Reproduced Sound conference, staged by the Institute of Acoustics, is being held from 19-20 November at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton.

Reproduced Sound has been the leading UK residential conference for audio professionals for 25 years.

The 25th anniversary event - The Audio Explosion looks at: audio quality, intelligibility, loudspeaker design, room acoustics and immersive audio. Full programme and booking details are available at www.ioa.org.uk(Jim Evans)

Luxembourg - MusiRent-Lux has taken delivery of the first DiGiCo SD8 mixing console in Luxembourg. "We had been looking at digital consoles for some time and tried many others, but the SD8 proved to be the ideal combination of facilities, quality and cost-effectiveness," says Musirent owner Georg Feltes.

"While DiGiCo was always our first choice - we still have a Soundtracs MX32 that we use for small covers bands - our company isn't really big enough to buy a D5 or SD7, so the SD8 is absolutely right for us."

Feltes took the SD8 out on tour with French singer Julien Arpetti just a fortnight after taking delivery of it and was already more than up to speed on the console's operation. "The SD8 is very easy to handle. After just three hours I had the first soundcheck on it - and was doing it alone. No problem.

"We did the month-long Julien Arpetti

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied the technical infrastructure - including rigging, sound, lighting, video, media, power and backline - for The 31st annual Loerie Awards. This is the major element of the Loeries Festival.

Themed Feed your Ego, the 2009 event poked fun at the sometimes egocentric aspects of the ad industry - with the aid of content projected from Gearhouse's suite of Christie projectors.

The two nights of awards were staged in Cape Town's Good Hope Centre, a 6,000 capacity theatre venue, and Gearhouse was working for production company H-Factor, who created the production design for the event. The first night's awards were related to print media and communication design, and the second to TV, radio and digital/electronic. Both were recorded by SABC for broadcast.

Technical production was by Steve Collins and the project was m

UK - Kramer Electronics has introduced the VS-211HDxl 2x1 automatic standby switcher for SDI, HD-SDI and 3G HD-SDI signals. When configured as a standby switcher, the unit switches automatically to the secondary input when the signal on the primary input is lost. The unit automatically switches back to the primary input when the primary signal is restored. The VS-211HDxl is designed for use in live events, broadcast, studio and post-production applications.

The VS-211HDxl has two inputs and two outputs and it is compatible with SDI (SMPTE 259M), HD-SDI (SMPTE 292M) and 3G HD-SDI (424M) signals with or without embedded audio. Either of the two inputs can be manually switched via contact closures to the outputs or the unit can be set to switch automatically. A switch on the unit can be set to indicate which input is the primary input.

If the unit detects a loss of signal on the

USA - This November, Renkus-Heinz's Educational Series and AFMG will run a new series of SysTune system tuning and live sound measurement workshops in Cleveland, Ohio and Birmingham, Alabama. Upcoming dates and locations are Cleveland, Ohio - 3-4 November and Birmingham, Alabama - 10-11 November.

SysTune Live Sound and Measurement Seminars emphasize the practical use of SysTune for sound system measurements. Particular emphasis is placed on making fast and accurate field measurements and interpreting the results.

Seminars are two-day sessions and feature both presentations and hands-on exercises, covering the basics of using SysTune with particular emphasis on sound system measurement basic theory and techniques.

With Doug Fowler as SysTune Instructor, the class includes an overview of all the modules of SysTune. Due to the complexity of the programme, every option will not

USA - Vestax is now shipping the new TR-1 Traktor Controller, a USB MIDI controller designed in cooperation with one of the pioneers of laptop-based DJing in Japan, Hiroshi Watanabe. The TR-1 is a compact, user-friendly controller designed to emulate the touch and feel of a traditional DJ mixer while providing the features and usability that professionals demand in a laptop-based system, says the company.

Working directly with Watanabe over two years, the Vestax design team has created "an easy-to-use, compact and logical design with an array of faders, switches and rotary controllers tuned to combine the natural touch of a DJ mixer with the advanced functionality offered by Native Instruments Traktor software".

The TR-1 features seamless command of Traktor Pro software for control of up to four laptops through two programme channels. Key features include soft-push s

UK - Late 2009 and early 2010 are giving many thousands of fans of Cliff Richard and The Shadows the last chance to see both acts performing together, as their last joint tour swings through Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa mixed through Yamaha PM5D mixing consoles.

The tour started in the UK and Ireland, taking in 22 arena dates, most of which were sold out including three at London's O2 and two more at Wembley Arena.

John 'JJ' James and Mike 'Bunny' Warren are long-term members of the touring crews for both Cliff and The Shadows. "This year's tour is simplified in terms of the production, although we're using more-or-less the same front of house rig as last year - a PM5D, L-Acoustics PA and an Avalon compressor on Cliff's vocal." says Warren.

"I'm using a dbx162 compressor/limiter on Hank (Marvin)' s and Bruce (Welch)'s vocal, but apart from t

Norway - Eivind H. Solberg AS, also known as EHS Proshop, has recently been appointed as the exclusive Proel distributor for the Norwegian market. EHS is among one of the leading audio companies in Norway with many years of experience.

EHS is celebrating their 40th birthday this year. Its services include turnkey projects, rental, commercial audio installation and distribution. Today the company has 15 employees with five departments in-house. It is based in Oslo and has an office in Kristiansand.

Over the last couple of years EHS has invested in its distribution business and its dealer network has been expanded to cover the all types of retail business, from smaller MI stores, chains to pro audio dealers.

"We have been very selective in our product portfolio," says Pål Gulbrandsen, sales manager at EHS. "We don't want to work with too many lines, but will fo

Download Update - People who download music illegally also spend an average of £77 a year buying it legitimately, a survey has found. Those who claimed not to use peer-to-peer filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay spent a yearly average of just £44. Almost one in 10 of those questioned aged between 16 and 50 said they downloaded music illegally. However, eight out of 10 of that group also bought CDs, vinyl and as MP3s. A total of 1008 people in the UK took part in the online poll commissioned by researchers Demos.

"Politicians and music companies need to recognise that the nature of music consumption has changed and consumers are demanding lower prices and easier access to music," said Demos researcher Peter Bradwell.

"The scale of unlawful file-sharing poses a real threat to the long-term sustainability of our creative industries," said a sp

Italy - From 29 October to 1 November, RCF will be providing the sound for the 16th annual Skipass, the most important Italian exhibition for winter sports and freestyle, staged in Modena Feira.

New Light Service chose RCF to supply the sound for all the events that will taking place in the main outdoor arena, such as snowboarding and ski contests, as well as in the main exhibiting hall B, where they are planning to hold the award ceremonies for the winners and also an entertainment area with music.

Several ART 310-A have been installed on the indoor perimeter of the hall B for background music and paging purposes while TT+ High Definition Touring and Theatre Series has been installed outside.

TTL33-A Line Array systems coupled with TTS28-A high power subwoofers have been installed in the main outdoor arena (20000sq.m) where contests and demonstrations will be held by

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