UK The Four Thieves pub in Battersea not only brews up to 40 casks a week of craft ale on the premises, it also houses its very own gin distillery, for which one of the key ingredients is lavender. Of the many plague legends that abound, one of the most plausible is that the oriental rat flea considered responsible for the spread of the disease was resistant to a herbal concoction containing, amongst other things, lavender reputedly preserving the four nefarious thieves from fatal infection.

The floral theme continues at the pub that takes their name; located off Lavender Hill in a Victorian music hall that was previously the site of the original Jongleurs comedy club, the recently re-opened Four Thieves pub hosts highly accessible leftfield entertainment from stand-up comedians to live music and vintage DJs. And integral to that successful performance formula is a new sound sys

UK - With an unrelenting 2015 touring schedule, The Chemical Brothers have upgraded their on stage rig with a pair of Soundcraft GB8 32 mixing consoles, supplied by HD Pro Audio.

Andy Huffer of HD Pro explained, "We were contacted by Matt Cox of iMatt, who handles the live midi and system programming for The Chemical Brothers. The band was looking to retire their much-loved but road-worn eight-bus studio console from on-stage mixing duties. Effectively operating a mini-studio live on stage, the analogue format and familiarity of operation were essential factors so together with Matt we looked at all the options available to replace their existing console and narrowed it down to the Soundcraft.

"The GB8 32 expanded the capability to meet the spec, while maintaining the operational fluency," continued Huffer, "To enable the band to evaluate the options fully,

Arts Cuts Campaign - Equity has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the "catastrophic" effect that further cuts could have on the arts. The campaign, Stop Arts Cuts, has been created by the union to make the case for cultural investment to government in the face of ongoing austerity measures. It follows a Treasury announcement that government departments such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport should prepare for budget reductions of up to 40% in the spending review, the outcome of which will be revealed in November. Equity assistant general secretary Stephen Spence, who is leading the campaign for Equity, said that the arts "simply cannot sustain any more cuts". He added, "Our view is that it would have quite a dramatic effect. You will start to get theatres closing."

Main Attraction - Cast members are the biggest draw for a

South Korea - Dongchun Gym, the home of Ulsan Mobis Phoebus pro basketball team, has updated its sound system with the new HFA series from NEXT-proaudio.

Located in Ulsan city, about 400km to the southeast of Seoul, Dongchun Gym opened in 2000 as indoor sports events and multi-purpose centre. The capacity is 5,500 seats, two-story building with two basement floors. This is a typical gym shaped, but unlike other gyms, its roof was made of light fabric materials for natural lighting.

The new system had to meet number of criteria. "Top of the list was high-fidelity sound accepted by audiences and the team," said Tom Jung, executive director of Avix Tech. "And, the sound system design had to improve much more than former sound systems which the team used in the past."

There were some limitations to design and install the systems. First, Avix Tech had to place

UK - Nexo PS8 cabinets were the first choice of system integrator Design AV for the high-ticket Innovation Centre, newly completed at the corporate headquarters of Renishaw, one of the world's leading engineering and scientific technology companies.

This new facility, located in Gloucestershire, represents a £20m investment for Renishaw, providing an additional 153,000sq.ft of space to house research and development and corporate services staff, as well as demonstration, training and conference facilities.

The company supplies products and services used in applications as diverse as jet engine and wind turbine manufacture, through to dentistry and brain surgery. It is also a world leader in the field of additive manufacturing (also referred to as metal 3D printing), where it is the only UK business that designs and makes industrial machines which 'print' parts from metal

Germany - HK Audio has announced the two latest additions to its pioneering sound reinforcement product portfolio: the LINEAR 5 LTS A mid/high unit and the LINEAR SUB 4000 A subwoofer.

"The first speaker to deliver genuine long throw performance in an ultra-compact format, LINEAR 5 LTS A makes use of HK Audio's revolutionary proprietary Multicell Transformer technology to deliver 138dB maximum SPL and silky top-end frequencies all the way to the back row, whether it's 30, 40 or even 50m away," the company says.

Designed and built at HK Audio's headquarters in St. Wendel, Germany, LTS A's sophisticated features - an affordable price, a small footprint and speed of setup - help users save on people power, truck space and time. Thanks to its straightforward design - which allows it to be stacked on the ground or on its head, or to be clustered with remarkable ease and f

The Netherlands - Engineered in Switzerland and manufactured in Germany, the uTrack-X32 is an all-new expansion card from Cymatic Audio that opens up a host of additional features for the X32 and M32 series of world-class digital mixing consoles.

Built on the same technology that has made the uTrack24 a popular recorder/player for audio engineers around the globe, the uTrack-X32 is the world's first 32-channel recorder/player expansion card for the X32 and M32 family of consoles.

The card fits snugly into the X32 or M32 expansion card slot, operates completely independently and does not interfere with the console's mixing operations.

The uTrack-X32 can digitally record 32 channels direct from the console, without the need for additional hardware or computers, so there is no need to setup, wire, make new sessions, arm tracks or verify input levels.

The uTrack-X32 allows you

Canada - When Mike Montaigne of Montaigne Audio was commissioned to design and install a public address system for the outdoor areas of Petawawa Civic Centre, the three critical elements were coverage, clarity and reliability.

Petawawa is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The town lies on the west bank of the Ottawa River, at the confluence of the Petawawa River. The Civic Centre is the town's recreational hub, with its vicinity incorporating an arena, library, playground, soccer field, hockey arena, curling baseball field, miniature golf course and a large children's playground amongst its numerous leisure amenities.

Like all large open areas with multiple outdoor activities taking place concurrently there was a need to be able to inform the public in the event of an incident or emergency. This could range from warning of a fast approaching storm, such as a

UK - sE Electronics International, Inc. has appointed Focusrite Audio Engineering as exclusive UK distributor for sE's entire line of microphones, patented Reflexion Filter products, and studio accessories.

"We are very pleased to announce that we have appointed Focusrite Audio Engineering as our distributor for the United Kingdom," says Ling Zou, general manager for sE Electronics. "The Focusrite brand has an outstanding name in the industry, and their worldwide success is a testament to the drive and ambition that flows through the company. We are very confident that their experienced team will continue the success story of sE Electronics in the UK."

Siwei Zou, founder & CEO of sE Electronics, adds, "Focusrite are a worldwide brand in our industry, and I am very excited to welcome them to our still-growing family of distributors."

Neil Johnsto

USA - On her first tour in more than a decade, Shania Twain bids farewell to her concert fans as she packs "A-level" arenas with a Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system. VER Tour Sound is providing the complete audio, video, and lighting package for the five-month, 59-city Rock This Country tour.

The man behind Shania's concert sound is long-time FOH engineer Nigel Green, who has mixed all of the singer's live shows and concert DVD soundtracks since 1998. Although a studio engineer for most of his eminent career - with credits ranging from Def Leppard and Britney Spears to Billy Ocean and the Backstreet Boys - Green has turned to LEO for a smooth transition from a controlled studio environment into cavernous sports arenas.

"One of the difficult things for me, coming out of the studio world, was that a lot of PAs had an identifiable

UAE - Sennheiser partners, as well as end-users and consultants in the field of integrated audio solutions got a chance to experience the latest audio solution from the audio specialist at an event conducted in Dubai between 8-10 September, 2015.

Centred around the theme of Business Communications, this platform provided attendees with in-depth presentations and hand-on demonstrations of the latest microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems that the company offers and educated them on how these systems can be utilized in smart office, education, hospitality and other industry segments.

The event also gave attendees a first time view of a number of Sennheiser's products that are yet to be officially launched in the region, as well as access to key members from Sennheiser's Business Communications Team from Germany. "Conference and Translation Systems

Azerbaijan - Earlier this year Azerbaijan's largest city and capital, Baku, hosted the inaugural European Games. Between 12-28 June almost six thousand athletes competed in 20 different sports ranging from traditional athletic competitions to less high profile events such as beach soccer and BMX cycling.

Competitions took place across a number of different venues, some permanent, some temporary, some large, some small. Specialist audio supplier, Dimension, and Sports Technology director Damian Rowe had the challenging task of supplying audio systems for the competition venues throughout the games, and for the many corporate and press facilities that required a pro audio presence.

Rowe is no stranger to events of this magnitude; a veteran of the Sochi Winter Olympics, London 2012 and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, his CV is something of a gold standard. "Across the 21 ven

USA - David Vincent has joined Meyer Sound as technical support specialist to bolster support for the growing customer base in Canada and the Northeast US. Vincent comes to Meyer Sound with extensive experience designing and calibrating large-scale sound systems, having served as audio project manager and PA technician at Solotech for 10 years.

Based in Montreal, Vincent is tasked to help customers with system design support, on-site system demonstration, system commissioning, and after-sale technician training. While at Solotech, Vincent was system tech for major events including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Osheaga Music and Arts Festival, Heavy Montreal Festival, and Electric Daisy Carnival, and toured with artists such as Usher, Leonard Cohen, Michael Bublé, Mumford & Sons, and Sarah McLachlan.

"One of Meyer Sound's strengths is its collective tech

USA/Switzerland - Sensaphonics reports that company founder and president, Dr. Michael Santucci, has been invited to address global conference on hearing health. The WHO-ITU Joint Stakeholders' Consultation on Safe Listening Devices is part of the WHO Make Listening Safe initiative, and will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, 1-2 October, 2015.

The event is a joint effort of two United Nations agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU). According to the WHO, an estimated 1.1 billion young people are at risk of early hearing loss. The conference will examine a wide range of perspectives on best practices and technology to promote safe listening, and will explore mechanisms and technology to reduce exposure to unsafe sound levels in personal audio devices. Attendees include researchers; audiologists; sound engineers; manuf

UK - PLASA, London 2015 marks the UK debut of the d&b audiotechnik V-Series point source loudspeakers. Launched earlier this month V7P, V10P and V-GSUB will be on the d&b stand J50 alongside other mobile and installation products, and on d&b psales partners' SSE / Wigwam stand L10.

"PLASA London is a significant show for d&b this year," says Gianni Abruzzese, d&b GB commercial manager. "We're really pleased to be showing the V-Series point sources, which we think are pretty special. The design of the mid range horn means that the vocal performance is in a league of its own. I think the market has been waiting for a point source with this level of performance for a while now."

Adam Hockley and Steve Jones of d&b GB Education and Application Support will be contributing to the line up of pro audio seminars, as part of the PLASA Professional Development Progra

UK - Two impressive new installations of Nexo's compact Geo M6 line array have been completed by leading educational establishments in time for the new school year, demonstrating the system's flexibility and extremely small footprint to great effect.

In Milton Keynes, the Denbigh School has opened a new building for its Performing Arts faculty, and this 350-capacity multipurpose space will deploy the modular Nexo Geo M6 for the growing number of student activities in music, dance and drama.

Music technology leader Dave Wilkie, who oversaw the audio and lighting project together with Nexo dealer and installer Fabtronic, is himself a FOH engineer. "The Geo M6 system was ideal for what we wanted to do; because of its modular design, it's flexible enough to use for the whole space or part of it, allowing us to move the coverage by adjusting the angles of the lowest boxes.&quo

UK - Completed in 1871, Rochdale's Grade 1 listed Gothic Victorian Town Hall is widely regarded as one of the finest municipal buildings in Britain, renowned for its detailed architecture. The Town Hall functions as the ceremonial headquarters of Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and houses local government departments, including the borough's civil registration office.

With a need to up-grade the audio system in the magnificent Great Hall, industry specialists National Stage Technology were consulted to propose a system which would provide improved audio quality for the wide variety of special events hosted, while blending discretely with the intricate hand painted walls and ceiling panels and stained glass windows showing an outline of English history from the time of the Norman Conquest to the reign of Queen Victoria. In this beautifully expansive, but highly reverberant

World - Opera star Erwin Schrott is touring with a dual GLD mixing system to manage FOH and monitors. Purchased by the singer's head of sound, Martin Laumann, the system comprises a GLD-112 at FOH and the new Chrome GLD-80 on monitors, connected via Dante, with an additional AR2412 and two AR0804 remote IO racks. There is also the option of live recording using Protools via the Dante network.

The singer's latest tour, entitled Erwin Schrott & Friends, explores all areas of Latin music, with dates all over the world.

"I use GLD on every show. The system has very good sound quality, and together with the fast and easy work flow, is my mixer of choice. Another advantage for me is the fact that the mixer is lightweight and easy to carry. Mostly, I have to do the whole FOH setup by myself, and GLD is easy to handle for one person," comments Martin Laumann. "All of GL

USA - The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) has implemented a new Meyer Sound Leopard linear sound reinforcement system in its home, Davies Symphony Hall.

While highly regarded for the orchestral acoustics, the hall's warm and reverberant characteristics pose a suite of challenges for its amplified events, which have evolved and diversified under the leadership of Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. Now with Leopard, SFS can offer the same world-class experience it brings to traditional orchestral events to its range of amplified programmes, such as film series, pop concerts, Broadway favourites, and leading-edge contemporary music.

"Regardless of content, sound reinforcement should feel natural and undistorted and defined and clear so that you can focus on what is on stage," says SFS operations director Andrew Dubowski. "Leopard is an exponential improvement in ho

Ireland - Sennheiser has announced the acquisition of several business units of Professional Audio Ltd. (PAL) in Ireland. This new step in the development of Sennheiser's Irish operation follows a mutual agreement between Sennheiser GmbH & Co. KG and PAL, which among others sold Sennheiser products in Ireland.

Sennheiser already employs over 300 people at its manufacturing plant in Tullamore, where it produces headphones, headphone capsules, audiology products, studio monitors and products for the integrated systems sector.

"Ireland is an important market for us and we want to make sure that our customers there continue to be well supported," says Daniel Sennheiser, Sennheiser's CEO. "Drawing business for this territory directly into our global operation means that we are able to offer the same level of service that we offer everywhere else in the world. At the

UK - The Roland O.H.R.C.A M-5000 Live Digital Mixing Console was recently put through its paces as FOH console for the 'Club House' live music tent at the Somersault Festival in Devon. The opportunity to showcase the new live console to engineers working at the festival came from a collaboration with Darryn de la Soul, founder of the audio engineers' network and support service Soulsound.

Renowned Soulsound sound engineer Jose Ortega (also Quincy Jones Productions, Imogen Heap) was at the helm of the M-5000 for the majority of the performances. Describing his experience using the M-5000 for the first time, Ortega commented, "The M-5000 was quick to understand and has really good features that made my life easy."

Roland Product Manager Nico Suarez was also on hand for setup and to support the engineers for three days of back to back performances. Following the success

USA - Based in Santa Monica, California, fast-casual vegan restaurant Veggie Grill has taken off. The restaurant chain, which opened its first store in 2007 in Irvine, California, now operates over two dozen outlets in three states, focused on offering only plant-based food, with no meat, dairy, eggs, cholesterol, animal fat or trans fat.

Veggie Grill's management works hard to have every aspect of its customer experience reflect a sense of high quality and high standards, and that extends from the food to the background music. That's why virtually all of Veggie Grill's more than two-dozen locations - there were 28 as of the end of 2014 - now have sound systems from Bose Professional.

Depending upon an individual location's overall size and interior dimensions, a Veggie Grill restaurant will have anywhere from four to 16 Bose FreeSpace DS-16F, DS-40F or DS-100 surface-mount sp

UK - Fuelled by Green D+, Midas Productions powered the campsites, 21km of LED festoon lighting and a record-breaking disco ball at Bestival last weekend, generating more kVA but cutting costs and emissions in the process.

Situated at the top of the route into the festival arena, and visible from all the main campsites, Midas three-phase inflated Newsubstance's mirror tile-covered PVC bladder to 10.33m, 35cm bigger than the previous disco ball record holder, and kept it at size via a bespoke pressure management system.

Andy Dann, operations director at Midas, comments, "The Guinness World Record was a fantastic achievement for Bestival and it was a pleasure to keep the ball in shape and to bring Green D+ to the event for the first time."

Introduced to the market this year, Green D+ is cleaner on the generator than red diesel and produces 35 per cent less NOx and 85

UK - Thorpe Park Resort theme park in Surrey has recently been supplied with a complete EM Acoustics audio system based on the HALO-Compact line array system supplemented with MSE-218 subs, AD and AQ amplifiers and a number of just-launched M-C12 monitor speakers. The complete system as well as lighting equipment was supplied and installed by production solution specialists, White Light. The system was purchased largely to cater for Thorpe Park's busy outdoor events season which includes the monthly Ministry of Sound club nights and the Island Beats concerts over the summer.

White Light's business development manager, Jonathan Haynes, led the project. "After a number of onsite product demonstrations, it quickly became apparent that the EM Acoustics system was ideally suited to their requirements as it provided the flexibility they required in order to handle the wide variet

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