Switzerland - Barix has successfully marketed its two-way Annuncicom IP audio and SIP/VoIP devices around the world, bringing bidirectional audio streaming and control solutions to various markets within the commercial, entertainment, private sector and residential worlds.

Barix now builds on that success with the introduction of two new Annuncicom devices at InfoComm 2012 (June 13-15, Las Vegas Convention Centre, Booth C11722) that are priced to compete in large-volume projects and applications.

The new Annuncicom 50 is built specifically for OEM applications. Barix is now shipping to OEM partners, including a key player in the education and classroom automation market. The device delivers Barix's trademark rock-solid reliability, open standards design and multi-format audio capability at a very low cost for OEM customers.

Additionally, Barix breaks new ground with the Annu

UK - Allen & Heath's Irish distributor, Rea Sound, recently provided all the lighting and sound equipment for the new Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) in Belfast, installing iLive and iDR digital mixing systems throughout the venue.

"iLive is a very powerful mixer with an easy to use interface. Even a technician who is new to digital can easily find their way around this console. The MAC is one of the most prestigious arts venues in Ireland with a variety of acts from across the world using its facilities. The audio consoles provide the venue with a very credible audio infrastructure that everyone visiting can use," explains Rea Sound's Roger McMullan.

The venue has two main spaces, the main auditorium, downstairs, and an upstairs studio. An iLive-T112 Control Surface is located in the auditorium, linked by Cat 5e cabling to the iDR-48 MixRack located in a 'mic patch'

USA - Renkus Heinz has announced two major changes to their sales management force.

Industry veteran Phil Van Peborgh has joined the company as Eastern regional sales manager, while technical sales manager Ladd Temple has been promoted to Western regional sales manager.

Van Peborgh comes to Renkus-Heinz after several years as a manufacturers' representative with Highway Marketing and TechRep. He also founded and was director of marketing for social media portal Knetwit.com, and was general manager of video games magazine Polygon.

Prior to moving to the US in 2000, Van Peborgh spent more than a decade working in live sound, touring the US and Europe extensively as a FOH, monitor and production engineer. His resume also includes several years as a systems integrator.

"We're very excited to welcome Phil to Renkus-Heinz," said Rik Kirby, VP of sales and marketing. &q

South Africa - The 13th Cape Town International Jazz Festival was held at the ICC on 3-4 April 2012. The event kicked off with a Free Community Concert held a few days prior to the event. Various South African rental companies worked on the festival days.

The Free Community Concert was hosted at Green Market Square on the 28 March and boasted the largest crowd to date. The concert is part of the build-up to the CTIJF and features some of the top headliners that also perform at the Jazz Festival. C&S Audio provided the full technical, where the biggest challenge, due to the event taking place in the centre of town, was to close off the streets to set up. In a mere 24 hours, C & S transformed the Green Market Square into a complete concert venue including stage, roof, screens, PA etc. They had six hours to return it back to its former state after the concert!

Around 15 000 peopl

Berlin - The last Friday in May saw the third part of the Digital Workflow seminar take place in Berlin. This workshop is the result of cooperation between Sennheiser/Neumann and Lawo/ Innovason. Whereas the first two sessions were held at Sennheiser and Lawo HQ respectively, (Wedemark and Rastatt, Germany) part three stepped out of pure theory and brought the equipment to a live stage with the British-Nigerian soul, jazz and funk singer-songwriter, Ola Onabule. The aim was to highlight the benefits of working with digital microphones and state-of-the-art digital consoles on a live stage.

The 35 participants were able to follow each step of the planning, setup, sound check and performance phase in a hands-on environment. In the morning they received a general introduction into the technology of digital microphones by Martin Liermann (SVS) and an explanation of the feature

UK - Sherman Cymru recently reopened to the public following a £6.5m transformation. The redevelopment of the building has not only created a new iconic creative venue for Cardiff, but has also vastly improved the experience that thousands of people have when visiting the theatre. The redevelopment marks another milestone in the short history of Sherman Cymru which was formed in 2007 through the merger of Sherman Theatre Limited and Sgript Cymru Limited. Since this time Sherman Cymru has consistently produced critically acclaimed and award winning work in both Welsh and English.

As part of the redevelopment, a new sound system was installed into the main house, which is a 468 seat auditorium. The installation of the system was by Marquee installation and Duran Audio UK supplied with two AXYS Scope T2115, two AXYS Scope T2112 (Both three-way full range loudspeakers) and two

UK - Liverpool -based Adlib's audio division has designed and installed a an Adlib FD sound system into the city's iconic live music venue Eric's - which is open again for business.

The basement space in Mathew Street, downtown Liverpool, opposite the Cavern, flourished from 1976 to 1980 as a must-play venue for the best and most innovative punk, post punk, alternative and indie bands. Raw, underground (literally) and edgy, it launched a slew of meteoric, critically acclaimed careers from Echo & The Bunnymen to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, made history with incendiary performances and was a seriously credible hang out for the cool and creative.

More bands graced the stage at Eric's than any other club in Liverpool ... until it was unceremoniously shut in 1980, and closed again in 1981 after a brief afterlife as Brady's.

The room then lay forgotten, derelict and abused

UK - Roland Systems Group is has announced the launch of a dedicated iPad application to control their award winning M-480 Digital Console. This "much requested 'App'" has been designed to control the parameters of the M-480, as well as giving the user practical features such as the ability to store scenes and edit the Channel Strip (EQ), GEQ and Sends on Fader.

Connecting the new Roland Wireless Connect USB adaptor to the M-480 USB port will enable the M-480 to appear on a wireless network so that the iPad can connect to and control the M-480 remotely. Then by simply using the wireless LAN to connect, the user is able to make the necessary level adjustments from different locations within a venue, rather than being restricted to the position of the console.

As well as the obvious benefits of ease of use and mobility, this dual screen set up can also be utilised by t

UK - Engineers from Orbital Sound have completed an intensive training course at Shure Distribution UK, covering all aspects of the Axient Wireless Management Network and resulting in Orbital being recognised as an Axient Partner.

Technical support engineers Richard Carter, Jason Fernandes and Tom Oakes undertook Shure's two-day in-depth training course. Orbital's engineers are among the first in the UK to pass Shure's Axient Certification Program, qualifying Orbital to offer Axient wireless systems as an integral part of its hire stock and sales portfolio.

Peter James, MD of Shure Distribution UK, commented, "We require the highest standards of product knowledge and operational expertise from companies that wish to include the Shure Axient Wireless Management Network as part of their rental inventory. Axient is a ground-breaking product and in order to become an Axient P

Live Statistics - Southbank Centre in London is the leading music venue in the UK , according to new figures released by PRS for Music. During 2011, Southbank Centre, which consists of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery, held 422 musical events - attended by over a million people.

Robert Ashcroft, Chief Executive, PRS for Music said, "I am thrilled to see so many cultural centres featured in the analysis, from the newly opened Kings Place in London and The Sage in Gateshead to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester . These venues have very diverse and exciting programmes that appeal to many different audiences. It is an enormous accomplishment to run a successful live music space and in spite of economic challenges, the British live music scene is still strong."

PRS for Music, the organisation that collects

UK - With so much state-of-the-art sound reinforcement equipment deployed on Diamond Jubilees the length and breadth of Britain, this picture harks back to a bygone age, and is one for the many fans of vintage Martin Audio culture (and founder Dave Martin's unique designs).

Alex Czechowski of Ace Vintage Systems has a veritable museum of working iconic pieces, some of which he fielded at Glastonbury last year (when the Orange Chill 'n' Charge tent was turned into a retrospective space).

This time Ace provided more high quality vintage sound at a Jubilee event in Greatworth, Northampton, which ran totally in analogue from the microphone to the loudspeaker.

The stacks would have done credit to any band playing 25 years ago, since the bass bins were the legendary Martin Audio 215 Mk3, complemented by Martin Audio MH112 mids (also known as 'Ladyshaves') and some tops.

"It

UK - Since its release earlier this year, the VR-3 'all in one' audio and video mixer from Roland Systems Group (RSG) has proved to be a popular choice for companies looking for a compact and portable, streaming ready device for producing live events online. One of those companies, UK based broadcasting specialists IwashTV, have recently purchased two VR-3's to do just that- and were using one of them to stream DJ sets live from Liverpool Sound City (LSC), the three-day international music, media and technology conference and live arts and music festival which took place 17-19 May at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

Working at the event on behalf of live DJ streaming site, DJTVLive.com, IwashTV set up the VR-3 with two cameras to capture the live DJ sets from the festival stage, which were then streamed directly to a computer source, reaching around 4000 viewers over two days. The i

Azerbaijan - To broadcast the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan German Broadcast production company Brainpool TV on behalf of Ictimai TV, used an extensive installation from Riedel Communications. Riedel, one of the leading manufacturers and providers of real-time networks for video, audio, communications and data, installed a comprehensive network infrastructure consisting of MediorNet, Artist, RockNet, professional radios and wireless video links.

At the heart of the installation was Riedel MediorNet. The fibre-based real-time network transported the majority of the event's signals. Forty HD and SD video signals were distributed within the arena - amongst them the broadcast feed and the signals for the on-site video walls and monitors. Since MediorNet allows the transport of different signal types over a single infrastructure, it significantly reduced the amount

Finland - Genelec Oy has announced the appointment of Lars-Olof Janflod to the position of marketing and public relations director. In addition to this new leadership role the company has also announced an expansion of its marketing team to enhance the delivery of product, training and customer services across the globe.

Siamak Naghian, managing director of Genelec Oy comments, "Lars-Olof has two decades of audio industry experience and is known industry-wide for his distinguished contribution to professional monitoring. This experience and his depth of knowledge of all aspects of the audio industry will be invaluable as he assumes leadership of our newly expanded marketing department."

"On a personal level, I'm really looking forward to this new role as I enjoy being involved in all aspects of the marketing mix," commentsJanflod. "During my time at th

Germany - Dynacord's PowerMate 600-3 is suitable for all professional applications in which few channels yet very high amplifier output are required. The concept of the new PowerMate 600-3 is based on high power, a wealth of features and first class audio characteristics - in a lightweight format, says the company. The youngest in the PowerMate family weighs in at a mere nine kilos, but boasts a total output of over 2.000 watts.

The feature set of the PowerMate 600-3 includes extremely low-noise and low-hum, electronically balanced XLR microphone inputs (low THD, typically <0.002%), stereo line channels, digital audio interface (USB port), PC-MIDI interface and a master section tailored to the needs of day-to-day practice that features a 9-band master stereo equalizer. The Class-D stereo power amplifier delivers a nominal output of 2 x 1.000 watts RMS (into 4 ohms) and has DYNAC

Serbia - Members of the Synco Europe Network work in almost every conceivable location but the top of Serbia's most beautiful ski resort mountain, Kopaonik, must be among the most spectacular. This spring the Audiokonstruktor team, which flies the Synco flag in Serbia from its base in Novi Sad on the Danube, had the opportunity to enjoy the unique vibe and star-studded programme of the Big Snow Festival, providing full audio production.

The festival's line up, staged at Europe's highest music site, was led by Basement Jaxx, Junior Jack, DJ Fresh and Freestylers. The audience could also dance with Ms Dynamite, Skism, Eddy Tample Morris, Micky Slim, and a host of domestic bands.

Created and organised by producers of the award-winning EXIT festival and its president Dusan Kova?evi?, the Big Snow Festival was staged at MK Mountain Resort. This all-year resort is in the heart of th

Ireland - An RCF TTL33-A active line array was deployed in the unlikely location of the Thurles Greyhound Stadium in Co. Tipperary, for a concert by all-girl group, The Saturdays during the June Bank Holiday weekend. It was the largest RCF system ever rigged in Ireland.

Presented by Kennedy's Live Promotions under the banner, Tipp Goes Pop, the special one-off gig by the Anglo-Irish group was designed as a homecoming for the band's Una Healey, who hails from Thurles, and is soon to marry English rugby star Ben Foden. More than 6,000 people turned out to help her celebrate - and listen to a roster of some of Ireland's leading support acts.

Although the site was the scene of several festivals many years ago, these days it is used exclusively for greyhound racing. And with a hospital overlooking one side of the stadium, Declan O'Sullivan, of audio production company Star S

USA - Music Group announced at InfoComm this week the acquisition of UK-based loudspeaker manufacturer Turbosound. The addition of Turbosound allows Music Group to round out their professional and touring sound offerings alongside Midas and Klark Teknik, says the company..

Music Group founder and CEO Uli Behringer comments, "Since the acquisition of Midas and Klark Teknik we have been pursuing a loudspeaker brand that complements the consoles and processing offered by these historic brands. Throughout our search Turbosound have stood out as the ideal match because of their extensive IP, sterling reputation and a first-class team of people. I am very proud to welcome Simon Blackwood and his team to our family."

It is expected that Turbosound will benefit from Music Group's extensive infrastructure while retaining their own manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribut

Sweden - LumenRadio was last week honoured with a visit from the Swedish Ministers in The Commission on the Future of Sweden (Framtidskommissionen). Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Minister for Education and Science Jan Björklund, Minister for Enterprise and Energy Annie Lööf and Minister for Health and Social Affairs Göran Hägglund were the most prominent visitors. The purpose of the visit was to discuss how innovation, new technology and entrepreneurship can be encouraged and how Sweden can use new innovative technology like CRMX for energy savings and reliable communication.

The Commission on the Future of Sweden aims to identify major societal challenges that Sweden faces in long term towards 2020 and 2050. The Commission on the Future of Sweden is chaired by the Prime Minister and consists of party leaders in the government and nine individuals with differen

UK - Edinburgh Lighting & Sound School selected Allen & Heath's MixWizard3 16:2 as the main training console on its new Production and Technology course, and an iLive digital mixing system was used for training purposes on one of the modules.

First year students on the year-long course have just graduated, and all 15 graduates have received job offers, including one student who has been employed by Autograph Sound, and is currently working on Damon Albarn's new Dr Dee opera.

"The Edinburgh Lighting and Sound School is delighted to be working with Allen & Heath as a training partner. Allen & Heath has a reputation for high quality products and we are pleased to have a relationship with a British company which has a personal touch and understands the UK entertainment industry," comments George Tarbuck, director at the Edinburgh Lighting and Sound School.

(Jim

Azerbaijan - Battling it out for Europe's highest vote, Green Hippo's Hippotizers were at the core in pulling off a spectacular show at the Eurovision song contest 2012.

Eurovision, known for its epic, weird and remarkable performances didn't fail to entertain us once again as contestants competed, not just with their voices but the effects, lighting and imagery that supported them. This year Europe's guilty pleasure came back bigger and better, with a huge stage, catwalk, six giant LED screens and an enormous lighting rig.

Hippotizer's PixelMapper and VideoMapper components took each performance out into the seating area, bringing the whole 'land of fire' theme into the hall.

Crystal Hall holds up to 20,000 people and the event was witnessed by 125 million people worldwide. The LED screens created an immersive environment for the performances - using all of Hippotizer's aw

Europe - Equipment manufacturer Audient has once again joined forces with Prism Sound, to help present more of the popular creative and technical Mic To Master workshops which are being held in Germany this month. Focussing on recording techniques, mixing and mastering, visitors will have the chance to engage in discussion and learn expert tips and tricks of the trade from experienced audio craftspeople, including Echo award-winning producer, Alex Silva.

Participants will hear keynote lectures from creative professionals and top manufacturers, and Audient's very own Simon Horn will be discussing the concept of the 'ideal' recording process.

Adding even more value to the event, all registered attendees are automatically entered into a draw with the chance to win any one of a range of prizes including Audient's MiCO dual mic preamplifier with A/D conversion, with winners to be a

USA - Meyer Sound has named Antonio Zacarias vice-president of worldwide sales, a newly created position to supervise the company's growing sales activities and support the international and regional sales managers in servicing Meyer Sound customers around the world. Formally director of Latin American Sales at Meyer Sound, Zacarias has been instrumental in the fast expansion of the Meyer Sound Mexico office that he has headed since 1998 and will continue to oversee in his new position.

Reporting to Helen Meyer, executive vice president of the company, Zacarias is charged with all aspects of leading Meyer Sound sales managers and partners across the globe, including setting sales goals and forecasts, developing consistent pricing and distribution policies, and evaluating and communicating new product requirements and business opportunities. Zacarias will also collaborate with th

Poland - The Karol Szymanowski University in Katowice not only boasts one of the most famous music faculties in Poland but is also among the oldest and most highly respected educational institutions in the entire country. Since 1929, the university has been able to offer excellent learning and training conditions for its 850 students - not least because the governing body has evinced a determination to ensure they are provided with the finest possible equipment with which to work.

The sound systems in particular have been chosen with a view to ensuring the closest possible correspondence between the studying environment afforded the university's aspiring musicians and sound engineers and the environment they will encounter in their day-to-day work after graduating. Aside from the technical education, the declared objective of the new Sound Engineering degree of the Department of

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