Sound

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USA - As one of the most popular rock acts in the world, Foreigner is constantly touring or playing major events, and singer Kelly Hansen relies on beyerdynamic Opus Series wireless microphones night after night.

"In the 20-plus years I've used Beyer mics, I've always been impressed with the sonic quality," states Hansen. "These mics sound like studio mics onstage. I don't want hyped midrange or narrowed spectrum to assist in feedback rejection, I want to hear what I'm putting out, and Beyer does that in a big, warm way. I sing a demanding range of music, and I'm very particular about what I need to hear, so I choose Beyer, every time."

"We carry two systems right now, based on the new Opus 900 wireless with the EM981S condenser capsule," says monitor engineer Lorenzo Banda, who has been with the band three years. "Bar none, it's one of the b

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Mexico - In March, April, and August 2010, Meyer Sound will bring its four-day SIM 3 Training and System Design seminar to Mexico City as part of the company's worldwide education programme. Registration for the seminars is available on the Meyer Sound website: http://www.meyersound.com/education/calendar.php

The in-depth SIM 3 seminar, taught by Bob McCarthy and Oscar Barrientos, provides participants with a thorough theoretical and operational understanding of source independent measurement and a solid grounding in application of SIM analysis in the design of complex audio systems. The seminar gives a brief review of SIM theory and system development, followed by a comprehensive discussion of field use procedures for the SIM 3 audio analyzer.

The seminar then extends the foundation of SIM measurement into sound system design. Participants also look at the complex interaction

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China - Scarlet is no ordinary dance club; an unexpected juxtaposition of Spanish Colonial interior design as context to contemporary dance music. Scarlet is rightfully attracting the young and trendy of Shuzhou in ever growing numbers. Located in one of the most beautiful cities of Jiangsu Province on China's east coast, Shuzhou as a city is no stranger to fabulous architecture; its labyrinth of canals, stone bridges and pagodas rightly earned it the soubriquet 'the Venice of China'.

That's Spain, Italy and China in one breath, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised to find Germany added to the mix, for when it came to audio, Feng Pan of Nanjing Li Te Mei Technology Co, Ltd recommended loudspeakers from d&b audiotechnik. "There is a recent tradition in China for dance clubs to install enormous PA systems," explained Pan, "much bigger than is needed. The owners of S

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Canada - As all eyes focus on this year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the ears of many attendees were hearing the announcements, commentaries and entertainment through Community loudspeakers.

"As a long-time provider of large scale, all-weather loudspeaker systems, we have had a long association with the Winter Olympics", commented John Wiggins, Community's vice-president of business development. "In Turin 2006, Community loudspeakers were installed in three of the major venues. This year Canadian contractors have installed many more Community loudspeakers, not just in host venues but also in numerous practice venues. There's been a major focus on these venues' longer term benefit to their communities."

The Speed Skating Oval in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond is the first Olympic venue to install Community's Entasys compact three-way, full-range, weathe

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UK - Boasting the same form factor as Denon's twin CD controllers for mobile DJs, the new Denon DN-HC5000 is billed as the world's first professional controller for Serato ITCH(TM). The DN-HC5000 provides the same control and performance capabilities as the company's long time market leading twin DJCD systems, with dedicated hardware control of Serato's leading DJ software for digital music files.

The DN-HC5000 is a turnkey digital DJ system; an integrated hardware / software solution, designed to give mobile DJs ultimate control of MP3, AAC, WAV and AIFF digital music libraries. Connection to a PC or Mac with a single USB cable, provides full control of digital music files from the included Serato ITCH software which is quickly and easily installed.

The control layout of the DN-HC5000S is immediately familiar to anyone who has ever used Denon's twin DJCD controllers.

Analog

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USA - As one of the top-grossing tours in 2009, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra fuse elements of progressive rock, symphonic heavy metal, and classical music, and are known for their dazzling live performances, complete with full light show and synchronized pyrotechnics.

In 2000, TSO created two separate touring groups-TSO East and TSO West-to allow the band to cover more ground, and they've maintained that format ever since. Last year, as the band was clearly maxing out their monitor board, the conversation got the ball rolling to implement DiGiCo SD7s for both touring outfits. They previously toured with D5's on monitors and the change to SD7s gave the production what they needed. It quickly became an integral part of TSO's live sound.

"I prompted the discussion early on last year for the SD7 primarily because the biggest handicap for us was the amount of outputs our show

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Austria - Award-winning Austrian film Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon) proved such a major hit at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival that Michael Haneke, the film's director, was invited to give a special showing by no less than the country's parliamentary president, Barbara Prammer. And with a DiGiCo SD8 console, supplied by Austrian sound rental company Ton Eichinger, ensuring that the cinematic sound was as good as possible for the assembled politicians and other VIPs, the one-off screening was a complete success.

Having won Cannes' most prestigious prize, the Palme d'Or, along with a special mention by the Ecumenical Jury, then the FIPRESCI Grand Prix at the San Sebastian Film Festival and Film of the Year 2009 at the Sinema Greece Festival, Das Weisse Band has put Austrian film-making firmly on the map.

In recognition of this, the Austrian parliamentary preside

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Qatar - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Midas and Klark Teknik products has sold system integrators Hi-Fi Services a PRO6 Live Audio System for the La Cigale Hotel in Doha, Qatar. Hi-Fi Services is a professional system integration company that has carried out various projects in the region.

"The La Cigale hotel is a premium hotel in Doha," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing manager. "The Pro6 system like the other top end systems in the hotel will be used in their newly built ballroom for various events."

Midas consoles can be found in various locations across the UAE, such as Dubai TV and MBC OB Vans, restaurants such as Trader Vic's at the Madinat Jumeirah and also at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, which uses the XL4.

(Jim Evans)

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France / Canada - Following the recent launch of their latest version 1.0 IQOYA V*MOTE audio-over-IP codec with SIP software, which is part of the IQOYA family of IP audio hardware and software solutions, Digigram reports successful implementation of the product at the Winter Olympic Games currently being held in Vancouver.

HRT, the national public broadcaster of the Republic of Croatia, has been using V+MOTE extensively for their journalists in the field for live contributions from the various Olympic sites in and around Vancouver back to the studios in Zagreb, without the need for cumbersome additional IP audio hardware.

V*MOTE is an audio-over-IP software solution for remote contributions - usually a journalist in the field reporting back to a studio, as was the case here. By simply installing V*MOTE onto any laptop PC, it becomes a professional "contribution" cod

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USA - On the Madea's Big Happy Family tour, fans of Tyler Perry's successful TV shows and movies follow the comedian in his new play in theatres and arenas across the US. The musical tale reunites the audience with Perry's signature character Madea, a silver-haired, aggressive matriarch. TEC Award-winning Thunder Audio of Livonia, Mich. Is providing a Meyer Sound MIca and M'elodie line array loudspeaker system for the tour.

A deviation from mainstream theatre, Madea's Big Happy Family engages the crowd with spontaneous humour, and features musical interludes that find audiences singing along to well-known R&B and rock and roll hits.

For the arena shows that include the RBC Centre in Raleigh, NC and the Target Centre in Minneapolis, Thunder Audio is supplying 16 Meyer Sound Mica line array loudspeakers per side, in addition to side-hangs of 10 M'elodie line array

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UK - Adlib is supplying lighting, sound equipment and crew to the current UK tour by Welsh rockers Lostprophets.

The lighting design was a collaboration between Adlib's Ian Tomlinson and freelance LD Rob Lister (also the tour's production manager), with active input from Lostprophets lead singer Ian Watkins.

Watkins specifically wanted a moody, edgy feel to the lighting and a complete departure from their previous 'rock' style light shows, so there is no front truss, and much of the set is darkly lit. The only front lighting directly on the six band members is supplied by three pairs of individual PAR36 DWEs which are mounted on custom mic stands, about 30cm off the floor.

All 24 of the moving lights in the rig are Martin Professional MAC 301 LED moving wash lights. There are 10 MAC 301s on the back truss, six on two downstage booms - three a side - for low level cross stage

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UK - Audio visual and IT rental company DB Systems has won a major contract to supply the internet and telecommunications systems and services to all exhibitors at the 2010 and 2012 Farnborough International Airshows.

DB will be responsible for the telecommunications needs, including the supply of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), for around 1,300 exhibitors and 60 business chalets, which are the areas where multi-national companies decamp during the airshow. These chalets become large-scale, semi-permanent business centres and offices, as well as hospitality areas.

This move into the internet and telecommunications market will involve a significant investment by DB in equipment and systems, including purchasing around 2,000 IP phones.

Grahame Jones, operations director for Farnborough International, said, "Following an extensive and detailed tender process, DB Syste

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USA - Harold Cummings is the founder and CEO of Drummer Boy Sound, a Miami-area production company. "After I did a couple demos on the new iLive-T, I was blown away with what it could do, especially for such a great price. Our roots are in live sound, and we do a lot of high-profile events around Miami," he notes. "When I began using the console at those shows, I can't tell you what a difference it made. Small footprint, easy and fast to set up, no outboard gear - and it sounds fantastic."

One of the first events Cummings did with his iLive-T was the National Day of Prayer at Miami's Faith Centre, which seats about 4,000. The event was also recorded by the Telemundo network. "A situation came up," recalls Cummings, "where a guest musician taking the stage inadvertently crossed through my cordoned off power management area and tripped the

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Finland - Turku City Theatre has installed a TiMax2 SoundHub audio showcontrol matrix and TiMax Tracker performer-tracking system, following demonstrations on-site last year by TiMax distributor Hedcom and Out Board director Dave Haydon. The installation marks the first of several similar TiMax procurements by Scandinavian theatres all undergoing major sound system upgrades during the spring and summer of 2010.Turku City Theatre's refurbishment is timed in anticipation of Turku's 2011 status as European Capital of Culture. The theatre is Finland's oldest municipal theatre, founded in 1946 although re-built in 1962, and Turku itself is Finland's oldest town and a former capital.

At the core of Turku's audio refurbishment is a 48-in/48-out TiMax2 SoundHub-R48 delay-matrix processor equipped with a bespoke selection of audio interfacing options. An onboard Ethersound module provide

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Europe - D&M Business & Professional Group (Europe) has introduced the second model in the new Denon Professional solid state player series. The DN-F400 is a compact half-rack size SD and SDHC flashcard player with both serial and parallel control capabilities, for critical installation applications requiring continuous playback audio, or repeated programmed or instantly triggered messaging or audio FX. Also now available is a dedicated serial remote controller, the RC-F400S.

The DN-F400 is an advanced digital media solution for the continuous or triggered playback of MP3 and uncompressed .WAV sound files stored on SD and SDHC flashcards (up to 32GB). Its compact, single half-RU space saving form and simple facia with hardwire (dip switch) rear panel setup are designed specifically for instant or programmed repeat messaging, fire and safety voice alarm announcements, radio spots

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UAE - The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building, features Tannoy's of in-ceiling and in-wall loudspeakers integrated throughout the vast structure, on almost every single one of its 160 habitable floors.Over 5,000 of the Scotland-based speaker manufacturer's CMS Series in-ceiling loudspeakers have been installed, along with over 1,000 IW Series in-wall speakers.

The majority of the in-ceiling loudspeakers installed were CMS 501PI, which benefit from being supplied with a separate pre-install back can. These zinc plated, fully wired back cans are designed to be pre-installed into newly constructed, non-suspended ceilings leaving the product to be inserted at the final system commissioning stage of the install. This makes them particularly suited to large scale, potentially complicated new-build developments such as the Burj Khalifa, where the contractor needs to get

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UK - A growing number of wireless DMX success stories are coming to light, many of them involving RC4 Wireless, a front-runner in the field with experience all the way back to early productions of The Phantom of the Opera in the 1980s. Today, RC4 products are reliably used all over the world, in numerous productions by Cirque du Soleil, Disney and many others.

"My technical support channels are so dead, I sometimes wonder if anybody is actually using my stuff," says James David Smith, president and product designer at RC4. "Last year I started contacting past customers, to ask them if everything was OK. What a thrill to discover that my systems are not only working well, they are being used constantly. There are numerous repertory companies that purchased an RC4Magic Series 2 system for one particular show, and have incorporated it into every production sin

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Money Matters - U2 made more money than any other music act in the US in 2009, according to Billboard magazine. The music journal said U2 made $109m (£71m) from touring, record sales and other royalties - almost twice as much as the second place, Bruce Springsteen who took home $58m (£38m), followed by Madonna with $47m (£31m) and rockers AC/DC with $44m (£29m). A string of younger pop stars - Britney Spears, Pink and the Jonas Brothers - came next on the list. Coldplay were the most successful British group, at number eight, with takings of $27m (£18m).

Culture Matters - The final four cities hoping to be named the UK's first city of culture in 2013 have been revealed. The cities chosen by an independent judging panel are Birmingham, Derry, Norwich and Sheffield, with a winner due to be announced in the summer. The competition aims to

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UK - Systems integrator IVC Media, has has strengthened its management team with the appointment of John Smith to the board. Smith's remit will be to focus the company on converged market sectors and coincides with a renewed direction for the organisation.

"The world has changed and IVC is changing with it," confirms John Smith, sales director IVC Media. "No two clients are alike and the majority of our customers now require tailored solutions. As a systems integrator with a vast knowledge gained developing some of the world's leading IT, AV and broadcast installations, IVC is now well placed to source, supply and deliver best-of-breed solutions that precisely match customer needs, and those of the future.

"Our focus is predominantly on converged solutions being delivered over IP networks," continues Smith. "On the one hand, that may mean deliveri

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USA - Xantech Corporation is now shipping the 10.4" WiFi CWTC10 Commercial Wireless Touch Controller, following its unveiling and "overwhelming positive industry response" at ISE 2010. Running Microsoft Windows CE in Kiosk Mode, the CWTC10 provides complete PC power with a full-colour 800x600 control panel interface.

Xantech's latest addition to its line of advanced touch panel controllers, it is a complement to Xantech's new WIC1200 Web Intelligent Controller. The CWTC10 provides a full 10.4" wireless control panel (4-Wire Resistive Touchscreen), suitable for a variety of applications, including conference rooms, hotels, athletic facilities and much more.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Solid State Logic has opened its new west coast office location at 3700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 720 in Los Angeles, CA. The new building offers expanded demonstration facilities to further showcase the successful 'C' series digital consoles and full line of analogue products including the flagship Duality SE, AWS 900+ SE, Matrix and the new X-Patch.

Commenting on the recent move, Piers Plaskitt, CEO of SSL Inc., says: "This is an exciting opportunity for SSL to expand its West Coast office and reaffirms our commitment to our US operations and our planned growth over years to come. The new location offers the ability to provide a more comfortable environment to demonstrate our products. Customer demonstrations are already underway for our new C10 HD broadcast console."

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Cadac continues its expansion across all areas of sound production - including sound touring, theatre sound, event production, location and studio recording - with the ongoing diversification of its product portfolio and core technologies, resulting in the presentation of a range of new products in final production form at this year's Prolight&Sound exhibition.

At the apex of Cadac's digital development programme is the S-Digital mixing system. Commenting on the S-Digital development, Peter H McGuire, operations manager, Cadac Holdings, stated: "From its conception the S-Digital was engineered with the express intention of replicating the audio quality and extending the functionality of the Cadac J-Type, which became the de-facto console for musical theatre following its launch in 1992. The S-Digital has been designed in conjunction with practising sound engineers

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UK - Korg UK has announced its appointment as UK and Eire distributor for Behringer from 1 May 2010. Korg managing director Rob Castle says: "This is an opportunity to expand our business, improve our systems and service to our customers whilst increasing our product offering and strengthening the company for the future. Behringer has recently appointed selective distributor partners across Europe and we have studied how this has worked successfully in other countries, including France, where Korg and Vox distributor Algam took on Behringer earlier in 2009.

We have separate sales teams across our business including the recently announced Pro Audio Division headed up by Mike Gibson. Many Behringer products complement our existing products and wherever there is some overlap we will focus these through different teams as appropriate."

Behringer Vice president of Europea

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USA / Europe - Following our news in January that US-based manufacturer Technomad had added three new companies to its dealer network in Europe, the company reports that it is now looking to make contact with local pro audio dealer/installers in the UK who are interested in adding Technomad's range of weatherproof loudspeakers and amplifiers to their product ranges. However, the company says it is not, looking for distributors or web-only sales partners at this time.

Technomad has a product warehousing facility in Amsterdam with a wide range of stock available for quick supply to the UK and the rest of Europe.

(Lee Baldock)

  1. Optocore makes 'massive difference' on stage
  2. Aviom Pro16 mixes it on the Fiorello Show
  3. Midas adds mystical touch to M tour
  4. Condoleezza Rice relies on AKG in Tennessee
  5. Sirius creates PUR sound with DiGiCo
  6. Kling & Freitag stage LIPA workshop
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