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UK - Advanced Optocore systems were used for site wide signal distribution by both SSE Audio Group and Wigwam Hire when Pope Benedict XVI visited the UK recently.

While SSE was entrusted with providing the full audio design and implementation for the two-and-a-half-hour mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow - as well as the full programme of pre- and post-service entertainment - as previously reported, Wigwam did likewise at Cofton Park in Birmingham.

The solution provided for SSE project manager Dan Bennett, had far-reaching consequences. The bespoke fibre system, configured and supported by Optocore (from both Germany and the UK), was designed to enable them to tunnel Ethernet through their optical fibre system, enabling L'Acoustics' new Network Manager Remote Control Software to reside on the network.

Bennett realised that Optocore would give them the combined benefit of suf

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France - Medialon has launched MAS Pro, a new generation of professional audio server for both multi-track playback applications as well as multi-zone independent playback.

MAS Pro is not a regular multi-track playback unit which plays all audio files at the same time. It can at the same time serve independent channels asynchronously and group together multiple channels for synchronized playback. Any number of individual audio files or groups can be controlled independently when needed, says the company.

Multiple playback channels can output to the same CobraNet outputs, so it is possible to play synchonized background audio and independently triggered sound effects from the same output at the same time. The volume of all players, tracks, and outputs can be controlled independently.

Medialon MAS Pro comes in a new professional hardware 19" 2U rack mount compact form for

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Remembering Lennon - A monument to John Lennon has been unveiled in Liverpool by his first wife Cynthia and son Julian on what would have been the star's 70th birthday. The statue is intended to act as a shrine for fans who want to pay tribute to the late Beatle in his home city. In the shape of a globe with doves flying above, it is also designed to be a monument for peace.

The global birthday celebrations also included a performance by his widow Yoko Ono in Reykjavik, Iceland. In New York, Lennon's original band The Quarrymen headlined a tribute concert and fans gathered to remember the icon in Central Park.

Unveiling the statue, Julian said: "We come here with our hearts to honour dad and pray for peace and say thank you to each and every one of you and everybody involved in the celebrations today." The onlookers also included original Beatles drummer Pete Best, w

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UK - With 65,000 pilgrims attending the Papal mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, the task of delivering Pope Benedict XVI's voice with absolute clarity across the site was entrusted to a pair of Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles, supplied by SSE Audio Group - augmented at the last minute by a Soundcraft Vi1 to increase the channel count.

Once SSE became aware that they would also be mixing a 35-piece brass band, as well as an 800-piece choir - plus various ensembles and pre- and post-show concerts, the Vi1 was brought in specifically to handle the choir sub-mix; this was then piped back into the main Vi6 FOH desk, and sent as a L/R monitor feed to the Vi6 stage desk.

Mixing at FOH was the experienced Craig Pryde - a long-time Soundcraft Vi devotee (whose induction into the Soundcraft environment had originally taken on the first Vi4 prototype). He and monitor engineer Kevin S

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Denmark - Despite surging forward with its Supernova front projection programme, dnp denmark is reporting a sharp uplift in OEM rear projection cube business.

With a growing global market for monitor and control rooms - particularly in their key Chinese market - dnp is continuing to explore new technologies to create higher visual acuity and reduce bezel sizes even further to ensure seamless tiled videowall displays with edge-to-edge pictures.

According to S°ren Weis Lindegaard, dnp business manager, OEM & special projects, the company has called on its heritage in pioneering advanced lens technologies -offering a number of alternatives fit for purpose. But it is the Cross Prism Screen (XPS), supplied by the Danish company, that OEM customers are favouring, while the more mature screen types, like Ultra Contrast Screen and Black Bead Screen, continue to remain popular.

T

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USA - Audinate and Four Audio have confirmed a collaboration in which Audinate's Dante networking solution will be integrated into several future Four Audio products.

Four Audio has licensed Audinate's Dante Brooklyn modules to provide a synchronized TCP/IP networking solution for their HD2 loudspeaker management system. This will enable users to stream 24-bit audio data, control and have the ability to monitor HD2 devices over a normal computer network using only one Ethernet cable. Next to the usual features of an audio controller, the HD2 provides more than 130 dB dynamic range at the inputs and allows control of the phase response of the speaker down to very low frequencies. Its limiter concept uses RMS and peak limiters for the amplifier and thermal and peak limiters for the speakers.

Four Audio is also integrating Dante into their solutions for wave field synthesis syste

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Hungary - Hungarian audio distributor, Interton, has supervised a major sound system installation as part of a complete cultural centre rebuild in the city of Ajka.

Located in the north-west of the country, the local government-run Nagy László Cultural Centre has been re-equipped with an end-to-end QSC solution, including an Installation Line Array (ILA) system.

Interton has a long relationship with the venue's acoustic consultant, András Kotschy, who specified QSC components in the tender. "Due to our good relationship with the main contractor [Csönget? Ltd.] we managed to win the supply of the equipment - and the installation works as well," stated Interton MD, Géza Balogh.

The scope of the contract included the commissioning of a new sound reinforcement system for the main auditorium, as well as the intercom system.

The ILA not only had to demonstra

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Norway - Midas distributor AVAB CAC is reporting multiple sales of Midas digital consoles, with several leading venues purchasing models in the Midas PRO range, including the first Midas PRO3 to be installed in the country.

The Arendal Cultural Centre has taken delivery of the entry level Midas PRO3 where technical co-ordinator Finn Cato Andersen comments, "We know how much engineers value the Midas sound, and we wanted the best possible equipment for our venue."

The console is being used at FOH in the centre's performance space, which has a capacity of up to 1,200 standing (700 seated) and hosts a full range of performance arts from theatre to musicals, classical concerts and rock gigs as well as occasional conferences. With a large number of engineers coming in to use the equipment, Anderson is particularly impressed with the PRO3's intuitive design. "It's sim

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UK / Thailand - Rycote, the UK-based manufacturer of microphone suspensions and windshields, has made its first charitable donation from the sales proceeds of its universal microphone suspension system, the Universal Studio Mount (USM).

When the USM was launched in January 2010, Rycote committed to donating one pound from every mount sold to a recognised charity. After much deliberation, the company directors chose the not-for-profit Future Light Children's Home in Tak province, north-western Thailand, which provides a home to 40 orphans from Myanmar (Burma).

Founded in 2006 by a Thai couple and now run by volunteers Jennifer Lo and Natasha Whiting, the Future Light home was begun to provide accommodation for several orphans from over the nearby border with Myanmar, who were discovered begging under a bridge in the village of Mae Sot. The home has moved and expanded several ti

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UK - For the third time in 18 months, production company Event Engineering has expanded its inventory of Electro-Voice Tour X loudspeakers, citing their versatility and cost-effective performance as just two reasons to keep coming back.

Shuttlesound first supplied Tour X to the Loughborough-based rental company in March 2009 when it was one of the first customers in the UK to purchase the new enclosures. "EV's Tour X appealed to us for a theatre show we were doing on the Brighton fringe, and we made an initial investment of a stack a side," says Event Engineering's Mark Thornton.

The price:performance ratio of Tour X ("which is also very loud", adds Mark Thornton) proved an attractive rental proposition, the system paying for itself quite quickly by being such an all-rounder. "Small corporate awards, conferences, outdoor concerts, even the new Vinta

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USA - Union University in Jackson, Tennessee is approaching the final stages of a widespread rebuilding project following a devastating storm that saw a tornado tear through the heart of campus. The campus most recently opened the doors of its large new student commons building, in time for the Fall 2010 semester.

Technomad supplied the outdoor background music systems for two patio areas connected to the new Bowld Student Commons Building. Here, students can gather to socialize and listen to music of their choosing. The PowerChiton amplifiers provide stereo inputs for iPods, mp3 players and CD players, with four Technomad Vernal weatherproof loudspeakers on each patio to playback high-quality audio with pristine musical reproduction.

The Bowld Student Commons Building was just one part of a lengthy rebuilding process.

The F-4 tornado struck the bulk of the residence complex

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UK - WiSE (Women in Stage Entertainment), the industry organization set up to address the under representation of women in the backstage, technical and design disciplines of entertainment, smashed even its own expectations during PLASA 2010.

Co-founder Sarah Rushton-Read says: "During the show we shot past the 200 barrier in terms of membership and now have over 270 members and counting! It was great to meet and greet so many of our members on our own stand and we thank our sponsor Bryan Raven of White Light, Esther Heaslip and the White Light team for making this happen. The WiSE stand was heaving every day during Tea O Clock (4pm - 6pm), where WiSE members served tea and cakes to industry colleagues and other WiSE members. Of course we could not have achieved this without all the wonderful WiSE women who were prepared to - tongue in cheek - don their pinnies, bake some fa

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UK - Audio visual rental company Terry Tew has become the first hire company to purchase a SoundField DSF-2 and DSF-3 digital microphone system for discrete-channel 5.1 audio capture. Within weeks of the digital SoundField mic arriving at the Terry Tew HQ to the north-east of London, the system was in such demand that managing director Tew has now purchased a second complete DSF-2/DSF-3 rig and a UPM-1 stereo-to-5.1 upmix processor as well.

"Anyone that does HD OB work for Sky is now required to use a DSF-2/DSF-3 system, and although Sky has rigged many of them permanently at some Premier League stadiums, not everywhere has one," reports Tew. "We received a few calls asking if we rented them, and I realised it would be worth our while to have a system.

"SISLive used our system this year at Wimbledon, and then our customers started using it so regularly that

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UK - Stage Electrics has once again provided full technical production for the Guardian Hay Festival, held in Hay-on-Wye in the Brecon Beacons each summer. The world's leading literary festival, famously labelled by Bill Clinton as The Woodstock of the mind, has also exported its concept to create sister events in India, Columbia, Mexico, Spain, Maldives and Kenya.

In 23 years the event has grown from a number of venues in the picturesque town to a much larger greenfield site just outside. The site infrastructure is designed to ensure that visitors and guest celebrities alike enjoy the experience without traditional festival discomforts. Generous trackway and tentage ensure that encounters with mud, even in a wet year, are minimised; conversely, on sunny days there is plenty of space for visitors to relax on the lawns.

Content spans the literature readings and di

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UK - A total revamp of the Baldwin Boxall website (www.baldwinboxall.co.uk) has just been announced. There is information on current product ranges with access to downloadable literature, however, there are also presentations, video and accreditation downloads available. In addition, general information on voice evacuation, emergency voice communication and a news page can be found.

Baldwin Boxall care very much about providing full documentation. With this in mind they have ensured that, as well as information on all current product ranges, older material is included too. Instruction manuals for 'out of manufacture' products can be quickly located, either by button navigation or via the site's useful search facility.

Commenting on the new website, Nick Baldwin, marketing director said, "Here at Baldwin Boxall we are all delighted with the finished article. During the des

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India - The 19th Commonwealth Games in Delhi which finishes today is being broadcast for the first time in high definition - 26 Yamaha LS9 consoles are being used by outside broadcast specialists SIS LIVE to ensure that the televised audio is as good as the images.

SIS LIVE is Europe's largest outside broadcast and satellite uplink provider and is supplying production / coverage facilities and services to cover the Games. The company won the multi-million pound contract from India's public broadcaster, Doordarshan, part of Prasar Bharati, the Broadcasting Corporation of India.

Taking delivery of the 26 LS9-32 consoles from SSE Audio Group, SIS LIVE is using YG2/YS2 mini-YGDAI cards, also supplied by SSE, to seamlessly integrate the consoles with a huge Optocore network. The system is bringing 17 different track and field events from 12 different venues to a global television a

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USA - The nearly 12m viewers of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, telecast from the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles on 12 September, saw Sennheiser microphones and wireless technology deliver much of the excitement - at the celebrity arrival area, on the main stage, and across both the indoor and outdoor performance areas. The event showcased a mix of established artists and fresh faces, including Eminem, Rihanna, Paramore, Linkin' Park, Florence + the Machine, Drake, will.i.am, Nicki Minaj, among many others.

Host Chelsea Handler used a Sennheiser wireless microphone, as did all presenters. Wireless specialists Soundtronics supplied one dozen channels of true-diversity receivers, including EM 3532s, along with SKM 5000 and SKM 5200 wireless handheld transmitters.

Sennheiser was also featured in many of the night's performances. Eminem, one of the big award winner

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USA - Entering its sixth performance season, the $64 million DeBartolo Performing Arts Centre at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, campus has recently upgraded its former audio system in the Leighton Concert Hall and now hosts a Soundcraft Vi4 digital console with BSS Soundweb London digital signal processing.

After many demos with the Vi4 and several other consoles, the Centre's technical crew unanimously agreed on bringing the Vi4 to Notre Dame.

"The Vi4 was the perfect investment for the centre's transition to digital sound," said audio engineer Joshua Ingle. "Everything from its ease of use and amazing sound quality to its sleek looks and size were considered, and the Vi4 fits the bill better than all the other choices."

The acoustics in the Leighton Concert Hall are world-class, with the ability to mechanically change wall surfaces and reverb ti

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Australia - ARX has announced the release of its new MSX-12 4 in, 12 out ISO-transformer microphone/line splitter.

ARX managing director Colin Park said, "We developed the MSX-12 in response to requests for a smaller format version of our popular MSX-48 16 channel splitter. There's a growing demand for high quality Transformer Isolated Signal Splitting in smaller systems where three or four microphones or line signals are all that are required."

With four channels of three way splits the MSX-12s compact 1 RU package is designed for applications including houses of worship, conference centres, educational facilities and broadcast splitting.

The MSX-12 is a fully passive unit with no AC power required and the units inputs and main outputs are hard wired to pass phantom power from mixing consoles.

(Jim Evans)

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Qatar - An L-Acoustics system has been installed into Seven, the new club at La Cigale Hotel in Doha, Qatar, supplied by L-Acoustics certified provider Venuetech.

The 1,000-capacity oval-shaped club has been installed with an unusual sound system based around a stereo configuration located in front of the DJ booth. This comprises two hangs of four dV-Dosc cabinets focused on the dance floor and four hangs of three Arcs medium format line source cabinets to cover the table areas around the dance floor. A further system of six distributed 12XT coaxial boxes cover a pillared area.

The club also features an unusual sub bass setup of six SB28 subs in a horizontal ARCS/SUB configuration, to deal with the very wide shape of the venue. This provides homogeneous sub/low frequency coverage all around the room.

The DJ, VJ and LJ all have personal monitoring systems of 12XT coaxials, an

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USA - Mark Graham, formerly president of Crown International has joined Loud Technologies as CEO. Graham succeeds Rodney Olson, who over his two-year tenure as CEO successfully steered Loud through supply chain disruptions and the worldwide economic downturn.

"I'm immensely proud of Loud management's achievements over the past two years," commented Olson. "We simplified the company's organizational structure and brand portfolio; restored stability and added capacity to our supply chain; and solidified the Ampeg, EAW, Mackie, and Martin Audio brands' leadership positions through significant new product launches. Thanks to those efforts, Loud is now well positioned for growth as the world economy recovers."

"As both a former competitor, as well as audio industry veteran, I've closely followed Loud's moves over the years and have great admiration for the

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USA - The recently introduced Crown Audio ComTech Drive Core series amplifiers are among a new generation of products at the forefront of Harman International's GreenEdge environmental initiative. Crown DriveCore series amplifiers are designed to be extremely energy-efficient, and use fewer resources in manufacturing.

At the heart of the amplifiers is Harman's new DriveCore amplifier IC chip. This chip, co-developed with Texas Instruments Incorporated exclusively for Harman, incorporates an unprecedented level of component integration into an IC that is smaller than the size of a postage stamp. Harman supplied the amplifier expertise, while TI provided the necessary high-voltage process technology.

The DriveCore chip combines the amplifier drive stage into the power output stage (along with additional audio-signal functions) - circuits that are typically much larger in size an

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USA - With a congregation of approximately 8,000, Vineyard Church of Columbus is the largest church in Central Ohio. The church recently completed a dramatic overhaul of its multipurpose room and installed a new sound reinforcement system drawn from the catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.

Co-owned by Ed Whitney and Mike Hockenberry, Reynoldsburg, OH-based Metro Audio Video was contracted to design and install the church's new sound system. The sound reinforcement system that Whitney ultimately deployed consists of eight D.A.S. Audio Variant 25A powered, two-way mid-high line array elements, two Variant 18A powered subwoofers, plus three AX-V25 steel bumpers to hang the system.

Whitney discussed the challenges of the project. "Vineyard Columbus' multipurpose space is used for everything from meetings and banquets to small concerts. When the church decided to renovate, they wanted t

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India - When this month's XIX Commonwealth Games took place in Delhi, all the action from track and field was broadcast throughout the world over digital fibre networks using more than 100 Optocore devices.

The network was commissioned by SIS LIVE who were awarded the multi-million dollar contract to supply production and coverage facilities and services to the Games.

Working with ZOOM Communications, South-East Asia's largest broadcast services company, coverage was provided for 17 different sports and outside races across 12 venues in Delhi.

SIS LIVE and ZOOM Communications both rented large consignments of Optocore digital and analogue network interfaces from UK sales and hire production company, SSE Audio Group.

In addition SSE provided SIS LIVE with a large number of Yamaha YG2/YS2 modules and 26 Yamaha LS9-32 consoles; the cards were used in conjunction with both the

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