Sound

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Italy - A Dog On Tour Service, based in Cuneo, Italy, is a pro audio rental company that specialises in live rock, pop and jazz events. Owner Pier Francesco Leardi officially founded his company in 2007, but has been an HK Audio user since 1990.

Back then Leardi was working as a technician in a recording studio when he bought his first HK Audio sound reinforcement system - one that is still up and running today.

Knowing the reliability of his old system, Pier Francesco Leardi had no qualms about investing more heavily into additional active and passive HK Audio systems once his own company had finally been founded.

The HK ConTour Array system acquired by A Dog on Tour Service consists of four CTA 118 subwoofers and four CTA 208 mid/high units.

Leardi comments, "I have always been very satisfied with the quality of HK Audio products -especially with my good old 1990 sy

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UK - Blackbox Recorder manufacturer JoeCo has announced the addition of four new companies to its international distributor network. Cairo-based Alpha Audio will distribute the products in Egypt, PT Kairos Multi Jaya in Jakarta will handle Indonesian sales, Sounddog Inc. in Seoul is the new South Korean distributor and Quanta Systems will represent JoeCo in Brazil. All have been appointed following successful meetings at this year's Frankfurt Musikmesse.

Launched during 2009, the award-winning Blackbox Recorder is currently represented in over 30 countries. The rack-mounted recorder attaches to any live console and enables up to 24 channels of 24 Bit / 96 kHz audio to be recorded, in Broadcast WAV format, onto a regular FAT32 formatted USB2 hard drive, or USB flash drive, without the need to take a computer to the performance.

JoeCo's managing director Joe Bull commented, &quo

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Germany - At prolight+sound a logo on the Neumann stand alerted visitors to the fact that microphone manufacturer Neumann is now applying its electroacoustic expertise to the other end of the audio chain.

A few months ago it was announced that Neumann would add studio monitors to its product portfolio. This range is based on the products of the Klein + Hummel company.

Wolfgang Fraissinet, president of marketing/sales at Neumann Berlin says, "In the history of the company, Neumann stands for far more than microphone technology. Over the decades we have also produced record-cutting equipment and studio consoles, for example. Our expertise in transformer design - for the microphone - as well as in signal processing and digital audio technology, has already been demonstrated. In addition Neumann has a leading role in the area of high technology, which is successfully implemen

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UK/USA - Midas and Klark Teknik will be launching a raft of new products at InfoComm 2010 in Las Vegas.

Additions to the Midas digital range as well as new standalone audio distribution systems and networking products from Klark Teknik will be unveiled.

The new arrivals will make Midas' digital technology more accessible to an even greater range of budgets and applications, as well as increasing connectivity, both within the Midas/Klark Teknik network and with regard to third party protocols, says the company.

"This is the biggest multi-product launch ever for Midas and Klark Teknik" says managing director John Oakley. "More people than ever will be able to use our products, with new consoles offering on the one hand more power and on the other lower cost entry to Midas mixing. They will also discover the versatility of our audio networking systems and how eas

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France - L-Acoustics has announced the launch of the Kara/SB18 Pilot Programme, having unveiled the concept at Frankfurt Prolight+Sound 2010.

The Kara/SB18 Pilot Programme will primarily involve existing members of the L-Acoustics Rental Network - in particular dV-Dosc owners interested in advanced field testing of the new system for corporate and special events through to concert applications.

The initial companies taking part in the scheme are UK-based rental companies SFL and Plus 4 Audio, French events specialist Impact Evenement, Wilhelm & Willhalm from Germany and global production company PRG, all of which are located near L-Acouistics headquarters and offices to facilitate close collaboration with the R&D team and technical support. Emphasis will be put on preset validation, system configuration and design, rigging and general system set-up and operation.

"We ar

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Uruguay - On 18 March Guns N' Roses brought their Chinese Democracy tour to the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo. Performing to an enthusiastic crowd estimated at more than 30,000 people, the outdoor concert employed a sophisticated sound reinforcement setup consisting of a large quantity of Aero Series 2 and Aero loudspeaker models from the catalog of D.A.S. Audio.

Three sound service companies united for this undertaking: Leggio Sonido (directed by Jorge Leggio), Ariel Marti's Marti Audio, and Victor Lampariello's Compañía Uruguaya de Sonido. Together, these three firms pooled a massive amount of equipment together and pulled off one of the most memorable hard rock concerts to hit Montevideo in some time.

Jorge Leggio, director of Leggio Sonido, reportsd, "This was an outdoor concert where the crowd was situated on the soccer field, in an area about 100m wide b

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Belgium - Icelandic volcanoes notwithstanding, Innovason's Belgian distributor Amptec celebrated 20 years in business with a major 'open house' event which counted over 600 visitors over three days from 21 April. Visitors were treated to a factory tour and the opportunity to hear bands playing on stage, and then the opportunity to attend several different workshops during the day.

During the evening, guests were rewarded with a party and a concert. At the heart of all these proceedings was an Innovason Eclipse digital console which mixed the bands, recorded them, and then sent out the recordings over an EtherSound network directly to each workshop where participants could make comparative microphone listening tests, or try their own hands at mixing.

Innovason's Matthieu Le Failler managed the network and 'babysat' the various freelance engineers who were mixing the bands. He e

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Canada - After a thorough investigation of the layout and worship services at Community Pentecostal Church in Ottawa, Ontario, A/V design company Audio Plus Sound Solutions upgraded the church's audio system with JBL loudspeakers. Electing to install three clusters of PD series loudspeakers, Audio Plus was able to cover an additional 20 percent of the seating area for the 1,000-person congregation, providing the church with a sound system that was both versatile and powerful.

Before the Community Pentecostal Church hired Audio Plus for the upgrade, its system was falling apart, according to system engineer Brian Davis. The original component JBL loudspeaker system was still operating but it didn't cover the entire audience or offer reasonable intelligibility because of design oversights, and the concrete at the centre of the room made implementing new communication technology ve

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UK - Denon DJ Europe has announced that it is a musical sponsor of the second edition of HowTheLightGetsIn: The Philosophy and Music Festival at Hay.

Returning with a "bigger and better" programme of philosophy sessions, performances and parties, after its acclaimed debut last year, HowTheLightGetsInruns from 28 May to 6 June in the literary festival town of Hay-on-Wye. It is billed as "bringing together thinkers, performers, artists and musicians to cast light on our lives, to give us insight into what is going on and where we might be heading; and above all to excite the imagination and renew the spirit".

Denon DJ is kitting out the booth for all three 'Live and Night Sessions' parties at the famous Globe at Hay with its latest DN-S3700 digital turntables and DN-X1600 mixer.

The Friday opening party features a night of music and eclectic b

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UK - Renkus-Heinz will demonstrate IC Live, the "world's first digitally steerable loudspeaker" designed specifically for high power rental applications, during the PLASA / L&SI loudspeaker demonstration at The Centaur in Cheltenham from 12:00-13:00 on May 20th. The company's senior vice-president and head of design Ralph Heinz will join a team from UK distributors Polar Audio at the event.

The three-day shoot-out on Tuesday 18th, Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th May, will allow visitors to hear and compare a range of the world's leading professional PA systems designed for shows and events with up to 5000 audience capacity.

Renkus-Heinz, which introduced the world's first music-and-speech digitally steerable array, Iconyx, five years ago, has designed IC Live as the first digitally steerable array loudspeaker for mobile rental applications, with a comprehensive hardware sy

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World - Sound Driver, a five-piece Indie-Rock band, are midway through an unusual world tour. Throughout 2009 and into 2010 they are taking in some of the world's most iconic venues as a way of raising awareness for charity The Smile Train. So far on their travels they've played Sydney Harbour Bridge and broken World Records on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Future dates include The Great Wall Of China, Niagara Falls and Dubai's Burj al Arab hotel, on an ever-growing list of dates on this extravaganza.

To successfully negotiate such a demanding schedule requires gear that's compact and lightweight for easy portability, but also solid and reliable enough to deliver quality sound in adverse conditions.

So when it came to wireless in-ear monitoring, wireless microphones and all of the tour's PA needs, David Spillane, the Chasing Rainbows tour manager, knew that he needed to g

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USA/Germany - The JoeCo BlackBox Recorder recently made a successful 48-track US debut at the annual MerleFest Americana Music Festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, with an audience of over 70,000 in attendance. A 48-track feed from the Midas Heritage front-of-house console (supplied by event sound provider SE Systems) was taken directly into two balanced JoeCo BlackBox Recorder units linked together with sample accuracy, to record main stage events over the four-day festival.

FOH engineer Frank Martin commented on working with the BBR. "It just worked day in and day out, through dust and heat for four straight days and nights! An amazing product that took up very little space in my rack too," he said.

A BlackBox Recorder also featured at front of house during Stoppok plus Worthy's recent Grundblues tour in Germany. FOH engineer Sven Geiger used the B

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Canada - Adamson has announced a new exclusive Canadian distribution deal with Theatrixx, a well-known distributor of lighting, video, and - recently - professional audio equipment. The Montreal based firm also manufactures cable distribution and AC distribution systems for local and export markets.

Jacques Tessier, founder and CEO of Theatrixx comments, "Though I come from an audio background, our distribution has been focused on lighting and video for the past few years. We wanted to expand into audio with a high-end product line. Adamson is clearly one of three dominant players in our eyes, when you look to quality and performance. It's built in Canada and the local market penetration is at a fraction of the potential.

"I've know Brock for more than 20 years and it's always interesting to discuss his innovative approach to speaker design and application. We recent

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Taiwan - Among the many disciplines that Buddhist meditation is widely held to develop is the art of concentration, and so maintaining an atmosphere of calm and serenity at Taiwan's Ling Yen temple was of the utmost importance to Teamwork's recent installation of a Turbosound sound reinforcement system.

Located about one hour's drive from Taichung City on the western flank of Taiwan's central mountainous region, the Taiwan Ling Yen Buddhist temple is set amongst beautiful mountain scenery in Puli township, Nantou County. It has recently been the subject of a comprehensive sound system installation comprising a range of Turbosound loudspeakers.

The specification for the new sound system at Ling Yen was put together by installation company Teamwork Co. Based in Taichung, the company is headed by Harry Chen and regularly works on audio projects all over the island. After extensiv

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UK - Dance troupe Diversity, winners of the 2009 series of televised talent show Britain's Got Talent have just completed a highly successful UK tour with a Yamaha LS9 mixing both front of house and monitors.

Taking the nine-piece troupe's show to 24 sold-out theatre shows across the UK (including three nights at London's Hammersmith Apollo), the tour's 32-channel LS9 was manned by Simon Hall and Rob Priddle, who regularly work on tours by the likes of George Michael, Coldplay and Oasis.

The tour's sound requirements were supplied by Wigwam, the LS9 being set up with 16 channels for FOH and 16 channels for monitors, Hall and Priddle splitting the channels to give separate head amps for each. Diversity and first support act, rapper Aggro Santos, used four d&b side-fills for monitoring, while the second support (duo Mini Viva) used Ultimate Ears UE4 IEMs.

With the audio

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UK - Apple Sound, in conjunction with POLARaudio, recently completed a an audio-visual installation in the new, purpose-built council chambers at Huntingdon District Council.

Apple Sound, a provider of specialist audio, sound masking and speech privacy systems, was commissioned to install a beyerdynamic MCW-D 200 Digital Wireless Microphone System in the Huntingdon council offices after being awarded the tender and successfully undertaking the first stage of the AV installation.

Apple Sound were briefed to provide the council with a secure wireless conference microphone system that would enable full utilisation of the flexible room formats with the facility for voting and recording. It was to be be controlled and managed via MCWD Controller and Steno-S recording software and Apple had specified the beyerdynamic MCW-D 200 Digital Wireless System for the job. beyerdynamic's MCW-

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USA - Brian Tapley, sound engineer for country music star Chris Young recently used an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system for the first time whilst on tour in Florida. Performing at the Block in Fort Walton Beach, Tapley was presented with an Allen & Heath iLive-144 digital system from the venue's audio supplier, TSC Productions.

"Before the band arrived, I set up the surface according to Chris Young's input list, with the routing set up to the main PA," recalls TSC Productions', Brendon Grimes. "Brian had never used an iLive before, so I gave him a quick tutorial, showed him some features I thought he might like, and set him loose. Within about five minutes, he went straight to sound check."

"Every night is different, and that's not always a good thing. You're at the mercy of the venue, so it's always nice to find something that's easy to work

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UK - Systems Workshop Distribution supplied Britannia Row Productions with a range of Schertler DYN Series transducers for miking orchestral strings and a grand piano at the Classical BRIT Awards 2010. The show took place in the Royal Albert Hall, London, last night.

Specially designed for orchestral amplification, Schertler's DYN Series - which includes the DYN-V for violin/viola, DYN-C for 'cello and DYN-B for double bass - offers accurate and natural sound reproduction. Easily moved between instruments, the transducers can be safely mounted on precious violins, 'cellos and basses and connected directly to the microphone inputs of a stage mixer. Schertler's DYN-GP Grand Piano model utilises a matched pair of transducers that capture the sound at two separate points, achieving a greater sense of space and a more balanced tone, says the company.

Brit Row's Bryan Grant c

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UK - The new Edinburgh Lighting and Sound School will be based at Granton and is being run in association with Black Light, leading specialists in professional lighting, staging, sound and audio visual equipment. Black Light have been supplying products and services to theatres, exhibitions, conferences, tradeshows, heritage centres and many more organisations for over 25 years.

The school will offer a One Year intensive course based at the heart of the industry. The course will include specialist teaching from industry professionals and a series of placements in Theatres, Conference Centres, Lighting, Sound and Events Companies. Fifteen students will be recruited to the course.

As patron of the school, Francis Reid, veteran lighting designer, author of 15 books on theatre technology, and lecturer of lighting across six continents, says: "The staging of plays, musicals, c

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UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises have supplied Spectrum Rentals in Dubai with the Shure UHF-R microphone system for their live sound concerts and corporate events. The sale includes six channels that consist of the UR4D receivers and transmitters with the KSM9 microphone cartridge.

"Spectrum Rentals have completely kitted their microphone inventory with SM and Beta wired microphones," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing manager. "The purchase of the UHF-R series is the icing on the cake as it undeniably propels the wireless microphone system to the market leader position in the live sound market here in the UAE."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, has opened at London's Adelphi Theatre, with cast and orchestra fully miked up with DPA microphones, specified by sound designer Mick Potter and supplied by Autograph Sound Hire.

All 36 cast members are miked with DPA 4061s, with the principals wearing two each with dual transmitters and receivers. The 21-piece orchestra is miked with a selection of DPA mics including 4022 and 4011 cardioids and 4007 condensers across brass, woodwind and percussion. For the string section, Potter has chosen a combination of 4011s as ambient mics and 4061s for close miking.

"The balance between these two mics changes per cue depending on the required feel," says Mick Potter. "In the big cinematic moments the mix is biased towards the 4061s and in the more subtle orchestral moments the 40

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Mexico / Spain - VMB has appointed Hi Tech Audio as its exclusive distributor for lifts in Mexico. Hi Tech Audio will be distributing all VMB models.

"We made contact with Hi Tech Audio in Frankfurt" says Ben Sinclair, VMB's export manager, "and it was immediately apparent that the company was an ideal partner for the Mexican Market. They knew our product well and were aware of all the features and benefits the product delivers. Their approach and experience in the sector leave us convinced that they will do a fantastic job in promoting the brand and offering superb service and sales."

The Mexican distributor recently premiered the TL-A220 at Expo Sound Check and was able to demonstrate to the Mexican Pro Audio market the Line Array lifting system.

Jose Antonio Martinez, from Hi Tech Audio said, "We are very happy to introduce to Mexico a completely

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Georgia - The new trading centre Karvasla, a project heralded as the first and biggest international standard shopping mall in Georgia, features 350 dBTechnologies M50TW loudspeakers. Situated metres from the capital city's central railway station, the shopping centre opened with suitable pomp this month in the presence of the mayor of Tbilisi.

Specified and subsequently installed by local company and dBTechnologies distributor Smarthouse and Office LLC, the full audio system was put to the test on its opening day. "There was a live band and a presentation, in front of many guests as well as the city mayor," says Konstantine Beruchashvili of Smarthouse. "We supplied dBTechnologies' Opera speakers for two floors of the new shopping centre for the opening ceremony, and I'm pleased to report that both the installed and the live system sounded perfect."

Finance

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Germany - Sommer Cable has introduced the Club Series Tempoflex miscrophone cable, especially developed for use on theatre stages, for musical backdrops and large live events.

"Take a pair of conductors with thin 0.34 mm² copper litz wires, braid around them several Kevlar strain relief elements and jacket the whole thing with a special TPE SP moulded sheath (° 7.3 mm) - and here it is, the microphone Liana," says the company.

"We have braided the screen made of aluminised fleece and tinned copper mesh in a motion-optimised angle so that the sturdy cable reels easily on a cable drum and in addition to permanent installations may also be used for mobile applications. The Club Series Tempoflex withstands temperatures between -20 °C and +110 °C."

(Jim Evans)

  1. Audient at Herefordshire College of Technology
  2. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  3. TC Group Americas to distribute Audica Professional
  4. Ancient and modern at University of Leuven
  5. Stage Technologies at Phoenix MI museum
  6. DB prepares for Farnborough International Airshow
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