UK - Allen & Heath's modular iLive digital mixing system was employed to manage FOH for the recent production of Pete Townshend's Classic Quadrophenia, taking place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

A classical reworking of The Who's 1970s album, Townshend's production featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Oriana Choir, and guest singers Billy Idol, Phil Daniels and Alfie Boe.

"The brief was to emulate the Quadrophenia studio album, and provide clean, open sound, so I knew I had to choose iLive because it fits the bill exactly - it has a very open, clean sound, great audio processing, is super flexible, networkable, and is customisable so I can make it work for me, rather than the other way round. With an 80-strong orchestra, 90-strong choir and various guest celebrity singers, there was a lot going on, so iLive is just what I needed,"

Germany - With new opening times, a new hall layout and a new "Education and Associations" area, it's all-change for Prolight+Sound 2016. Taking place at Messe Frankfurt from 5 to 8 April 2016, the exhibition is moving to the eastern part of the expansive venue. Here it will occupy six halls, two outdoor arenas, a new indoor arena and a new, bigger outdoor area all targeting specific themes.

Organisers comment: "At last year's event more than 900 exhibitors welcomed over 42,000 visitors to their booths. In 2016, we are moving to the east of the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre in order to accommodate our increase in size. Prolight+Sound is the perfect industry forum for face-to face discussions and for developing your business networks. Benefit, too, from the synergies of the parallel Musikmesse and meet the right target groups for you."

Within the framework of

USA - Following the completion of the 2015 cycle of PLASA Focus events in Orlando and Kansas City, a full review was undertaken to ascertain the progress and success of the PLASA events produced in the North American market over the last 4 years. While some progress had been achieved over this period it was decided that significant change was necessary to create an event that better satisfied the business needs of the exhibitors, creating a profitable event for all those involved.

To fully explore and understand the changes necessary the decision of the PLASA Governing Body and the PLASA Executive Management has been to take a hiatus from producing new events in 2016.

Christopher Toulmin, PLASA's Director of the Events Division comments: "Despite considerable financial investment from PLASA and a great deal of hard work from the various members of the events team in the U

USA - Meyer Marketing, based in Wellington, Florida, iselebrating its 30th year in business in 2015. Its staff includes founder Larry Meyer, Larry Boscarino, Garrett Meyer, Sherry Halecki and Daniel Orr.

President Larry Meyer emphasized the importance of building strong relationships with integrators and consultants through regular on-site business meetings, product demos and sales and applications support. He commented, "Community is a great company and we are very pleased to represent their products to our integrators and consultants. Community is a great fit with our company and I'm excited about growing their brand and sales in Florida."

Steve Young, Community's director, North American sales, added, "Meyer Marketing's reputation for great service and strong support along with their complementary, integrator focused line card will help us achieve Community's

Belgium - Following the success of their three-Michelin-starred restaurant Oud Sluis, chefs Sergio Herman and Nick Bril wanted to create a completely new experience for diners: The Jane Antwerp. The Jane serves a mix of fine dining and music in a relaxed atmosphere, set against the backdrop of a stunningly renovated church.

Opened in 2014, The Jane has two areas. Downstairs is a high-end restaurant for 75 people, while upstairs is a 38-seater bar area where guests can share food, enjoy cocktails and listen to local and international DJs. Later in the evening diners can move upstairs to enjoy a pre-clubbing vibe and The Jane also hosts special events where big-name DJs play to the whole venue.

The Jane team had a clear idea of the kind of sound they needed, as Bril explains: "We wanted the music to be like a waterfall - with more intensity upstairs, yet diners downstairs s

UK - The London FolkFest 2015 recently took place at The Bedford in Balham. It was the fifth year for this boutique festival, which has grown into a four-day event with more than 50 acts playing across three stages all under one roof.

This year, The Bedford worked closely with Shure Distribution to provide a whole range of microphones and DI's that could cover every kind of voice and instrument.

Head engineer, Phil Davidson said, "The beta98a was a stand out for me. Its external preamp design makes the microphone very small, so no matter where it was placed, it was completely unobtrusive for both the musicians and the audience. The inherent design, coupled with the incredible sound quality, made it an invaluable tool, and throughout our four day festival, I used it on a huge range of instruments, including acoustic guitars, drums, accordions and cellos."

When it ca

UAE - MobileConnect from audio specialist Sennheiser provides live audio streaming to mobile devices for the very first time. The universal system uses a Wi-Fi connection to stream lip-sync audio content to the user's smartphone, which has an app that instantly converts it into a mobile receiver. Applications are unlimited: whether it is in a theatre, a museum, a sports stadium or a company - MobileConnect can be quickly and easily installed and is also cost-efficient in use.

"Smartphone penetration figures in the Middle East exceed the global average making this an ideal market for this solution. For companies, it is an extremely cost effective means of connecting with their audience and also exploits the fact that users are far more comfortable leveraging their own devices as has been proven by the BYOD trend," said Mig Cardamone, director of sales and marketing at S

UK - RF experts Wisycom and Lectrosonics joined forces with mixer maestros Sound Devices. The end result is a synergy of up to six channels of wireless microphone receiver and the very latest in portable mixer/recorder technology.

Wisycom have updated their firmware (v3.5) on the popular MCR42S receiver to allow collaboration and seamless use with Sound Devices new 688 mixer/recorder and its SL-6 SuperSlot power and RF distribution accessory. With the addition of the 688 mixer/recorder and SL-6 accessory, the MCR42 can use 2 analog channels or digital AES3 managed and monitored by the SuperSlot to use all its advanced features including the ability to select the most suitable frequencies over a wide spectrum. The MCR42S / Sound Devices 688 partnership brings an array of versatility and possibilities for users including audio mixing, recording and wireless receiver control all fr

UK - STM modular line array could be found on one of Glastonbury's legendary venues. The Rabbit Hole is a festival highlight; theatrical, interactive, artistic - and super-exclusive, the Alice-in-Wonderland themed live venue attracts top-end DJs and artists such as Mark Ronson to perform in the 600-capacity tented space. This year, the dancefloor system was comprised of Nexo STM modular line array loudspeakers, featuring the new M28 cabinets.

Posh, the production manager for The Rabbit Hole, explains that "our music is primarily house-based dance, and we have live bands with DJs in between, so the sound system is integral to the success of the venue. Nexo's STM set-up looks as though it's not going to do that much but, when you turn it on, it does an awful lot."

Set up as a quad system, STM modules were groundstacked in the corners of the venue. Each stack comprised

USA - Country superstar Kenny Chesney is one of the biggest concert attractions in the world, although he rarely leaves North America. Each of his tours - 13 since he began headlining in 2002 - has sold in excess of 1m tickets; the current 2015 Big Revival Tour passed the million ticket mark before the first note of music was even played.

Production audio - as well as lighting - is provided by Nashville-based Morris Light and Sound. Working with Chesney's front-of-house engineer Chris Rabold, they have pioneered the use of Nexo's STM Series modular line array to deliver in such large venues.

The 2015 Big Revival Tour marks ML&S and Rabold's second outing with Nexo. Chesney's regularised tour schedule - playing many of the same venues, with the same crew and the same rental provider - has provided near-scientific conditions for judging the development of Nexo's radical modular

USA - Located in scenic Columbia, the University of Missouri (MIZZOU) is the Show Me State's flagship public university, with over 35,000 students. In their free time, those students hang out in the MU Student Centre, which offers numerous dining options, a bookstore, a games area, retail outlets, a bank, and countless places to relax and catch up with friends. In addition, it houses university offices.

Recently, A/V integration firm TSI Global Companies, based in St. Charles, Missouri, designed and installed a comprehensive music playback, paging, and sound masking system for the student centre. The new system covers all three floors via 18 zones from a centralized location, but because TSI used Ashly Audio network- and CobraNet-ready multi-channel amplifiers, it required only minimal cabling.

"There were a few spaces, such as the bookstore and a few of the other retail

Australia - In live theatre, communication between the stage manager, sound and lighting operators, stage hands, fly crew and all the other people behind-the-scenes that bring a show to life is paramount. In an environment where half a second can mean the difference between an audience crying or laughing, it's absolutely vital that the command to 'go' on cue comes through clean and clear.

Ben Lightowlers, head of sound at Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf Theatres, had been looking for almost two years for a digital replacement for their aging wireless comms system, but kept coming up against the recurring problems of sound quality and digital signal latency. "There were teething problems in digital wireless technology," he related. "Latency was a problem across many brands, and the audio quality just wasn't there. Latency was particularly troubling; if there's someo

USA - Luke Bryan's concerts are no-holds-barred productions. From the massive PA system to the secondary stage out in the audience, every aspect is designed to create a memorable experience. For Bryan, the key to delivering a consistently flawless performance is the monitor mix. For that, he chooses the Sensaphonics 2MAX.

Monitor engineer Ed Janiszewski has been mixing for Luke Bryan since 2008. From Bryan's time playing honky-tonks to today's massive stadium and festival gigs, the 2MAX has been a constant for both. "We're huge fans of Sensaphonics," says Ed. "The sound quality of the 2MAX is outstanding, and they are the most comfortable in-ears out there. Luke never wants to go on stage without them, and I feel the same way."

Another key benefit for Bryan is the high isolation of Sensaphonics all-silicone construction. "Luke does part of his set on a

UK - Sennheiser's 2015 charity golf day, held at the beginning of July each year to raise money for the Caron Keating Foundation, was another resounding success after customers, suppliers and friends took to the green at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club in Berkshire.

Eighty golfers teed up for a bit of friendly competition to raise money for the foundation, which provides a range of support services for cancer patients and their families, and over 90 arrived for dinner, a charity auction, and entertainment hosted by Russ Williams.

The day involved a range of events that included a long putt challenge, a game of heads and tails and the infamous raffle, giving participants plenty of opportunity to showcase their skill, or luck, while raising money for a superb and worthwhile charity.

Three customers - Autograph, Rocom and European Wealth, Sennheiser's benefits providers, sponsored hol

Italy - During one of his recent pastoral visits nearer to "home", globetrotting Pope Francis celebrated mass before a congregation of approximately 60,000 in Naples' Piazza del Plebiscito. The event was also followed by crowds on nine mega-screens installed in other parts of the city.

Sound reinforcement for the event (featuring a 200-strong choir and a 35-member orchestra), was provided by Dee Jay Service and featured an all-Outline set-up.

The system comprised 40 Butterfly modules (a main system with eight-module left and right main hangs and a pair of delay towers, each with twelve enclosures). A pair of DBS18-2 subwoofers were installed under each of the four arrays and four Doppia systems were used on front-fill and out-fill chores. The monitor set-up featured two DVS 8, positioned alongside the Pope's chair, and a H.A.R.D. 115 for side-fill purposes at each co

UK - Opened by filmmaker Danny Boyle at the end of May, Manchester's new £25m arts complex, HOME, is the largest of its kind outside London. Billed as the cultural jewel in the crown of the 'Northern Powerhouse', HOME is a merger of Manchester's much-loved Cornerhouse cinemas and art gallery and the Library theatre.

The building houses two performance venues - a 500-seat theatre and a 150-seat flexible studio space - as well as five cinema screens, gallery space for contemporary art exhibitions, a café bar and a restaurant. Leading technical systems integrators, Stage Electrics, were responsible for supplying full stage engineering, stage lighting and audio systems for the main theatre including a complete theatre sound system from British manufacturer, EM Acoustics.

For HOME's Sound supervisor, Paul Gregory, the choice of EM Acoustics for the main theatre was vir

China Crisis - The cancellation of two Maroon 5 concerts in China has been linked to a band member tweeting the Dalai Lama to wish him happy birthday. The US group were due to play Shanghai and Beijing in September, but the shows were pulled last week. Promoters Live Nation did not specify a reason for the cancellations. However, a tweet by keyboard player Jesse Carmichael, which has since been deleted, has been blamed for angering Chinese authorities.

Several artists have fallen foul of authorities in Beijing for publicly supporting the Tibetan religious leader who has been exiled since 1959 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Icelandic singer Bjork was criticised after calling for Tibet's independence during a 2008 show in Shanghai while Oasis were reportedly forced to cancel shows in China after Noel Gallagher performed at a Free Tibet concert in New York. In 2011, ro

Spain - Amate Audio hosted its international distributor convention last month, over three days and across a number of spectacular locations in the Catalan countryside around its Terrassa HQ, outside of Barcelona. This was the company's first official event as Amate Audio, following the rebranding of its trading marque from Master Audio at the end of last year.

Around 20 representatives from 13 international distributors, from as far afield as China, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Turkey, France, Denmark and Nigeria, attended the summit, which, over the first two days, was held primarily in the idyllic surroundings of the Hotel & Conference Centre in the grounds of the ancient monastery of Món Sant Benet.

Following the welcoming of the guests by founder and CEO Juan Amate, day one saw corporate presentations by vice president and

Germany - This was the fifth time PUR, Germany's biggest band, has performed at 55,000 seat Veltins Arena, each time in-the-round, and each time with a different PA system. "This is a highly reverberant space," explains system technician Frank Müller, "and we have tried many different PA systems and configurations. This time, with the d&b V-Series, and using the new ArrayProcessing feature in ArrayCalc, we achieved absolutely the best result ever."

"To work a room this size with throw distances up to 105m without a delay system, and to do it well, you need to address the typical shortcomings of any line array system, whatever the brand," says d&b Product Manager, Werner 'Vier' Bayer. "For example the low/mids tend to be concentrated in the first twenty metres and muddy the overall tonal balance. Similarly, the spectral balance and intelligibil

The Netherlands - Monitoring specialist Bel Digital will launching "the world's first Dante audio monitor" at IBC 2015, the BM-A1-64Dante, which provides audible monitoring as well as visual signal strength indication.

Designed to provide a simple and effective way of monitoring the audio present in Dante networks, the BM-A1-64Dante provides a visual indication of signal strength on all 64 selected Dante channels. Each individual channel can also be audibly monitored, or the operator can combine up to 16 channels to provide a unique stereo monitor mix.

An on-board matrix enables access to 512 audio sources using Dante Controller software, with the audio present at the front panel mounted speakers also available via balanced analogue (2 x XLR) and AES/EBU (1 x XLR) outputs.

Housed in a rugged, compact 1U rack chassis, the BM-A1-64Dante features a redundant power sup

UK - The Luna Cinema, the UK's leading producer of open-air cinema events, has purchased two complete systems of Nexo's new Geo M6 compact line array from Orbital Sound.

The Luna Cinema's popular screenings are all about classic film entertainment, delivered with state-of-the-art projector and screen technology in the UK's most beautiful and prestigious settings, the grounds of castles and stately homes, city parks and botanical gardens.

This summer, The Luna Cinema has taken delivery of two 24-cabinet Nexo Geo M6 line array systems to provide high-fidelity audio to complement the investment in video technology. Company director and production manager Jamie Plummer explains why the Geo M6 is proving to be a winner, both logistically and musically.

"The M6 cabinets, packaged neatly six to a flight case, work superbly in many different configurations. This is perfect for

USA - Harvey Mudd College, a Claremont, California-based private college, is leveraging a Dante network from Audinate to power a multipoint AV conferencing network in the new R. Michael Shanahan Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Among the many technologically advanced features in the new educational centre, the conferencing network gives facility guest lecturers the opportunity to reach larger audiences across multiple networked rooms. By installing a multichannel audio Dante network, Harvey Mudd College has established a simple yet sophisticated foundation for future expansion while reducing ongoing costs and labour - all equating to exceptionally low total cost of ownership.

Harvey Mudd College refers to the new conferencing system as a "simulcasting network", offering two-way audio and video communication between the 300-seat auditorium, a recital hall and five cl

USA - Bounding off the success of its midtown location, upscale gastro-pub and sports bar Stout opened a second location in Manhattan's financial district. Dubbed Stout FiDi, the new establishment operates out of a 6000sq.ft space and incorporates many of the distinctive design elements of the original Stout, including a 50ft red cement bar, cobblestone floors, stone walls, and custom iron work. All of the furniture is either imported from Ireland or custom made by New York craftsmen.

Local AV integration firm Starview Satellite designed and installed a superior fidelity background and foreground audio system to complement the décor and based it around the unparalleled flexibility of a Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 DSP with ARC-WEB browser-based control interface.

Inputs to the system include a DJ port, iPod output and several video sources, including DirecTV and cable, w

UK - Audient's iD22 made its debut theatre performance, with two-time NSDF Emerging Artist Award winning theatre company at the New Diorama Theatre in London, last month. Sharing the limelight with three performers, including actress and producer Rianna Dearden, the audio interface was used to control the sound on stage for their new play, Goodstock.

Rianna explains how the iD22 worked for the show. "We've been using it along with a Novation Launchkey Mini and Ableton Live to play and control all of the recorded and live sound throughout the show. This ranges from pre-recorded tunes to various DJ beats and loops, triggered with the Launchkey, but controlled by the iD22. There are moments in Goodstock where the levels of the music need to be adapted second by second depending on the action happening on stage, meaning it can be controlled safely and easily by the people right

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