Serbia - The success of Yamaha's CL series digital mixing consoles has seen the company invited to provide a series of interactive training seminars in many European countries. The latest was at Belgrade-based Light and Sound Design (LSD).

Run by Andy Cooper, manager at Yamaha Commercial Audio's European Support Centre, the seminars took place at the city's Dom Sindikata venue on the 10-11 October and proved extremely popular. A wide range of audio engineers attended, including studio, theatre and television technicians, front of house and monitor engineers who work with Serbia's highest profile performers.

Sessions included a comprehensive overview of the CL series facilities, the flexibility of the system's Dante networking and the many advantages provided by features like Auto Gain Compensation, Premium Rack effects and seamless integration with the Nuendo Live DAW. Partici

UK - The build-up to PLASA Focus: Leeds 2013 launches today with free registration and a brand new website. The only event for entertainment technology in the north of England, PLASA Focus takes place on Tuesday 30 April and Wednesday 1 May 2013 at the Royal Armouries at Clarence Dock, only a short distance from the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire.

The fifth annual event looks set to continue its success story with over 91% of exhibition space already taken and only 15 stands available to book between now and December. PLASA members and previous exhibitors receive discounts on stand space, but exhibitors are advised to move quickly to secure a spot.

Long-standing exhibitors who will be returning to the show include Shure Distribution, Elation, AC Entertainment Technologies, Adam Hall, Hall Stage, Electro-Voice, Sound Technology, Batmink, Chauvet, J&C Joel, Polar Audio, Avolite

Record Royalties - Big hits from the likes of Adele and Calvin Harris helped British artists earn £188m in overseas royalties last year, according to PRS for Music. The organisation collects royalties from 150 countries on behalf of 90,000 UK songwriters, composers and music publishers.

During a "particularly strong" 2011, UK songwriters and composers earned £187.7m globally - up 10% on 2010. Income earned abroad has doubled in the last decade, the PRS added. Royalties are generated any time a song is played - whether it is on TV, radio, online or at a live event - and distributed between composers and performers.

PRS said that revenues had jumped from £88m in 2002 for two reasons: The popularity of British music abroad and "improved licensing". Live music incomes saw substantial growth from £2.2m to £21m since 2002, due to sel

UK - Essex-based event production company Event Sound and Light is renowned for the variety of shows, concerts, parties, conventions, conferences and product launches it services. Very careful consideration has to be given to the quality, usability and reliability of all equipment the company invests in, which is why its recent purchase of an Apex Intelli-X2 processor has been an unqualified success.

Event Sound and Light has been successfully using one of Apex's original Intelli-X processors for a number of years, so when director Paul Galley was looking for a similar unit for a new audio system, he naturally decided to look at Apex processors again.

"We purchased the Apex Intelli-X after doing a shoot out with a different manufacturer's unit of a similar specification," says Galley. "The Apex unit not only made the other one sound dull, but it was a lot simple

South Africa - A dynamic duo of networked digital Midas PRO2 and PRO9 live audio consoles, supplied by Johannesburg based Prosound, has handled both monitor and and FOH for the debut of Johannesburg's freshest new concert, 'In The City'.

More than 10,000 fans gathered in the city's beautiful and historic Mary Fitzgerald Square to hear headliners, British Indie rock band BLOC Party, supported by top South African acts - Die Antwoord, Tumi featuring Yesterday's Pupil, and Shadowclub.

BLOC Party captivated fans with an 80-minute set that included plenty of old favourites and some new songs. "I've got to say the PRO9 console blew me away," comments BLOC Party's FOH engineer Dan Macbean. "We didn't have long to set up so it was kind of a chuck up mix and I can safely say that the desk saved the show for me! Everything had that lovely Midas analogue sound straight awa

Germany - Following the growing demands and success in the according markets, Riedel Communications has announced that Rik Hoerée has joined the Riedel team as key account manager cruise ship engineering.

Rik Hoerée joins Riedel Communications GmbH & Co. KG. to spearhead the sales efforts in the cruise ship market for the entire Riedel range including intercom, fibre and audio solutions.

"I'm looking forward to developing new business opportunities for Riedel here in this market. From my past experience with Apex in Belgium and France, I'm already familiar with the Riedel product portfolio for a long time. Riedel is one of the most forward thinking manufacturers in this industry. I'm excited to be on-board", says Hoerée.

Hoerée has 19 years sales experience in the pro audio and broadcast industry. He has spent the last 14 years as sales

UK - LMC Audio has announced the passing of Steve 'Bunty' King, aged 58, on Wednesday 17 October 2012, after a long battle with cancer. The company sends its deepest condolences to wife Janice and all their family.

Steve started at pro audio sales company LMC Audio in 1996, after an illustrious career in the concert touring rental market with Entec Sound & Light and then Dimension Audio. He quickly applied his no-nonsense approach to Export Sales, mastering many a tricky language in 30 seconds flat in the days before email and auto-translation.

In 2000 he was appointed London sales manager, and enjoyed fruitful and lively relationships with hundreds of customers, suppliers and staff alike. He was responsible for helping many a youngster find their industry feet, building on his gigging teamwork and enjoying the new challenge of achieving satisfaction through the success of oth

USA - The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd built their first sanctuary in downtown Reno in 1951. Over the years the church's congregation has grown steadily, straining the limits of their small facility. Now, after more than 60 years the church has been rewarded with a new 500-seat worship center, directly adjacent to the original sanctuary.

The new facility is big, bright and airy, with an open feel and modern audio and video systems, including a pair of Iconyx IC Live digitally steered line array systems from Renkus-Heinz. As Scott Schmidt of Reno-based JC Productions explains, they were fortunate to have the room's acoustics working for, rather than against them.

"The architect who designed the space has done a number of traditional sanctuaries, and really did a fantastic job," says Schmidt. "Most of the walls are not parallel, and there's a sloped ceilin

USA - New York is the city that never sleeps, and the tiny island of Manhattan has never been able to contain the city's buzz. Just across the river, hip new neighbourhoods spring up like dandelions - once-gritty enclaves like Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant are now home to the trendy elite. As locals are fond of pointing out, these areas have one thing Manhattan lacks: breath-taking views of the Manhattan skyline.

New York's newest peripheral gem is Long Island City. Just a subway stop away in Queens, this aging warehouse district is now buzzing with nightlife, eateries, and fashionable hotels.

And the Z Hotel is a prime example; within months of its grand opening the hotel boasts a 90 per cent occupancy. This former factory has been redesigned from the ground up, with chic décor from its airy rooftop bar to the intimate basement lounge and restaurant. Both venues

Germany - Berlin's enchanting Theater des Westens is currently playing host to a stage musical production of Polanski's Tanz de Vampire (Dance of the Vampires) with libretto by Dr Michael Kunze and music composed by the legendary Jim Steinmann of Meatloaf fame. In keeping with the show's lavish staging, a TiMax Tracker performer tracking system and TiMax SoundHub-S32 delay-matrix have been employed to create authentic vocal localisation and immersive surround sound effects.

Sound designer Thomas Strebel from Swiss event specialists audiopool specified TiMax processing and automation having used it extensively in musical theatre productions across Europe. In a first for Strebel he also chose Turbosound Flex Array for his primary vocal reinforcement and music systems, having been introduced to the product by Robin Whittaker, director of TiMax developers Out Board, who was a

Italy - Few internationally renowned artists begin holding regular concerts at over 70 years of age but, since 2001, legendary soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone, who began his career over 50 years ago, has directed his music before spellbound audiences in venues such as Radio City Music Hall, Verona Arena, Royal Albert Hall, the Kremlin, the Vatican's Nervi Hall, the UN General Assembly and St. Mark's Square in Venice.

For one of the 'maestro's' most recent concerts, staged on Rimini promenade, in a square named after Federico Fellini, Morricone's long-time FOH and recording engineer Fabio Venturi and monitor engineer Andrea Tesini helmed DiGiCo SD7 consoles, mixing genre-crossing music performed by an orchestra, rock band, chorus and solo soprano.

Venturi explains, "My aim is to get as close to the sound audiences heard when they saw the films (which include Sergio Leo

USA - By blending traditional bluegrass technique with modern songwriting themes, Boston based group, Della Mae, brings a new and fresh perspective to their music. When the members of the band decided to step up the quality of the group's live performances and achieve more mobility on stage, they chose DPA Microphones d:vote 4099 instrument microphones to make this happen.

Dedicated to crafting exquisite American roots music in the tradition of such greats as Willie Nelson, Del McCoury, Leon Russell and Laurie Lewis, not to mention Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, the members of Della Mae sought out the DPA mics because they knew the gear would give them maximum mobility on stage and bring out the best sound from their instruments. The band members - Celia Woodsmith on vocals, Jenni Lyn Gardner on mandolin, Kimber Ludiker on fiddle, Courtney Hartman on guitar and Shelby Means o

USA - The Fresno Betsuin Buddhist Temple Dharma Center's mission is to promote peace and tranquility throughout the world, so it comes as no surprise that they embraced an elegant yet high-tech approach to upgrading their AV systems. Working with local system designer Tim McFarland of American Music, the Dharma Center chose the new Line 6 StageScape M20d smart mixing system to bring improved quality and ease of use to their presentations.

"After learning their needs, I thought the StageScape M20d was a good fit for the Dharma Center," says American Music owner Tim McFarland. "The system offers all this great technology, but without a big learning curve, which is important since they don't have any professional guys on staff. When I described the system to them in one of our meetings, they thought it would be perfect, so we went for it."

Greg Tsudama, a memb

Austria The most successful German-language musical of all time celebrates its 20th anniversary in the famous Viennese theatre, the Raimund Theater. Having played to over 8.5 million people across 11 different countries, Elisabeth tells the gripping story of Austria's attractive Empress Sisi. The occasion has merited a brand new sound design by world famous sound designer and engineer, Thomas Strebel, with the addition of eight APG MC2 loudspeakers designed for high intelligibility vocal reproduction following the initial installation of an APG SMX15-based loudspeaker system in 2010.

The original design by Matthias Reithofer for the musical Ich war noch niemals in New York was an A-B configuration based on SMX15s and MX1 delays with TB118S and TB218S subs. The idea of using an A-B system to separate the mix was to avoid the summing of microphone signals that can le

USA - St Joseph Parish in Needham, MA has been a part of this community for more than 100 years, beginning with a humble wooden church in 1894 and expanding its campus over the years to include a convent, elementary and middle schools, and a range of ministries. In 1966, having outgrown its existing sanctuary, the church completed construction of their current building.

The space has served them well for more than four decades, though there have always been sonic challenges. The room's architecture provides good acoustics for the traditional choir and organ arrangements, but the sanctuary's spoken word intelligibility left a bit to be desired.

"It's a rectangular space with a flat ceiling and lots of right angles," explains Zeke Zola, install manager at Boston Light and Sound, the company behind the design-build project. The walls are all brick and there's minimal ac

Switzerland - Schertler, the Swiss manufacturer of contact microphones and acoustic amplification systems, continues to grow its international distributor network with recent appointments in seven territories.

Five new distributors have been named in Europe: GVI Vertriebs GmbH of Freistadt is now the Schertler distributor for Austria. Netherlands-based PB Music BV has been appointed to represent Schertler in the Benelux. SC Sound, Vejen, is the distributor for Denmark, completing Schertler's Scandinavian line-up. IMS Distribution in Port-Mort has been appointed as the distributor for France and Waltons Music of Dublin is now handling sales in the Republic of Ireland.

In Asia, Seoul-based Soundstream Co. Ltd is the official distributor for Korea, adding to an existing network of Schertler MI and pro audio distributors in Japan, Singapore, China and Thailand. Dynamic Music, base

Sweden - A former brewery may not seem the obvious choice for a live venue, but that is exactly the use that Stockholm's Bryggarsalen has been put to. A newly-installed Alcons Audio system ensures that the sound for live events has a crisp head and a full body. Just like a good ale, in fact.

Originally built in 1914, Stockholm's Bryggarsalen (Brewery House) ended its first incarnation as a brewery in 1970. The ensuing 40 years saw the building put to a variety of uses, until its rebirth as a live music and corporate event venue in 2010. With a restaurant and two bars complementing the event spaces, it's already extremely popular.

Bromma-based Electrosound has previously installed Alcons systems in several other Swedish venues, so the company's engineers knew that Alcons would deliver in what proved an acoustically challenging room.

Originally it contained the washbacks for b

World - FOH and Monitors engineers, Antony King and Nahuel Gutierrez, have used Midas consoles of varying shapes and sizes during the year-long world tour with Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds. The pair kicked off the tour with a PRO6 then picked up an XL8 for the arena leg and followed up by using a PRO2C for festivals.

For the past 12 months Gallagher and his band have performed to audiences at a plethora of venue types and sizes, from huge outdoor festivals and arenas to small theatres and events - at home and abroad.

King and Gutierrez's mission - to ensure the quality of Noel's distinctive sound remains the same for every gig. Gutierrez explains, "The High Flying Birds tour has demanded several different engineering approaches to make it work. We had PRO6s in every territory for the first three months of the tour. Then we came back to the UK and into the aren

UK - Although the old rhyme would have you believe that you will find a fine lady upon a white horse in the Oxfordshire town of Banbury, nowadays you're far more likely to find an event enjoying all the sonic benefits of a pair of DiGiCo SD9 consoles.

Recently purchased by production company Sound & Light Guys, the purchase of the two consoles and their associated D-Racks was the result of lengthy deliberations by co-owners Ged and Freddie Fitzpatrick.

"It took us several years to decide to change from analogue consoles, the reason being that a lot of the digital desks we listened to had that typical 'digital' sound," says Ged. "When we first heard the sound of the top of the range DiGiCo SD7, we realised that was the way to go. But, as we do mid range acts, the more compact SD9 was the best package for us."

With the same sonic quality as the SD7 and supp

UK - Liverpool-based technical solution specialist Adlib's audio division is supplying an L-Acoustics K1 sound system and delays for the UK and European leg of Radiohead's current world tour.

They are also supplying two of their top engineers - Tony Szabo and George Puttock - who are working with the Radiohead audio team to ensure that the band's quest for producing the very best sonic audience experience is achieved.

On the road, the sound crew is headed by FOH engineer Jim Warren, monitor engineer Mike Prowda and production systems designer Sherif el Barbari. Also integral to this set-up is Ross Anderson, who looks after Prowda and Brett Taylor, from New York based US audio contractor Firehouse Productions, who is overseeing the delays.

Adlib was asked to quote on the tour by Radiohead's production manager Richard Young, and were delighted when selected. Says Adlib's Direc

UK - With Leona Lewis set to perform at one of London's top private members clubs, Annabel's, Steve White from Patchwork London, the club's audio provider, needed a loudspeaker system that would provided a high quality sound, without unwanted visual impact. A KR200 system from the Italian innovators proved the solution for both requirements.

The system specification originally came from Leona's front of house engineer Dave Wooster, who knew they needed something that could cope with the very low ceiling and compact nature of the venue.

"From my perspective this is the perfect system for the job, not only for size, but for the performance that was required for a very discerning audience," says Wooster. "Leona performed a completely acoustic set featuring a band comprising backing vocals, piano, acoustic guitar and cello, the balance and nuances of which were perf

USA - Spain based loudspeaker manufacturer Lynx Pro Audio S.L. has partnered with new US pro audio and entertainment technologies firm Event Systems Group, Inc. The agreement gives Event Systems Group exclusive distribution of the brand throughout the entire US and Canada.

For Lynx Pro Audio, the long awaited introduction to the North American market means a whole new realm of possibility for a brand that has seen great success in other countries in recent years. Lynx Pro Audio was formed relatively recently and already has a product line that is quickly gaining recognition as a major player on a global scale.

Ben Sinclair - Lynx Pro Audio export manager says, "Event Systems came to Spain and spent a whole week with us. They listened to all our systems, spent valuable time with the engineers and by the end of the week we were confident that they were the right guys to rep

UK - Vicarage Road Stadium has been home to Watford Football Club since 1922, and Premiership Rugby high-flyers, Saracens, for the last 15 years. Over the past few decades, the ground has also played host to a number of major music concerts, most famously perhaps, the several headlined by its world famous piano-playing former-owner, Reginald Dwight (AKA Sir Elton John).

As part of its recent ground renovation plan, the stadium needed to improve the quality of its sound system, and opted to install a new integrated Public Address and Voice Alarm (PAVA) system. As well as adhering to a number of crucial life-safety standards, the system needed to provide excellent vocal clarity, and be loud enough to overcome the crowd volume.

Consultant for this project, Roland Hemming, says he had no hesitation in specifying a Peavey MediaMatrix system, as it was perfect for the job in hand.

UK - Allen & Heath's UK distributor, Audio-Technica and SRD Group have created a free training day on 31 October to be held at K College in Tonbridge, Kent to boost sound engineers knowledge of the manufacturer's GLD and iLive systems.

The training day, which include hands-on interactive sessions, is aimed at industry professionals and engineers and designed to give delegates both working and theoretical knowledge of the systems.

From a previous training day, Andy Woodward from AW-PA Sound Systems in Kent, UK, said, "It was really informative, in a non-technical way for people with little digital experience. These are great desks with an impressive feature set - until the training session I didn't realise just how much you can do with them."

Stuart McKay, digital console and installation specialist at Audio-Technica, added, "I'd encourage anyone interested in

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