USA - Powersoft has appointed industry veteran Tom Knesel to the position of general manager, North America. Knesel, who will be located at the company’s US headquarters in Kearny, NJ and who will start on 7 October, will report directly to Luca Giorgi, sales & business development director, Powersoft. The announcement follows the successful relocation of Powersoft’s North American headquarters two years ago, and coincides with the company’s increased focus on the systems integration market and launch of the Mezzo amplifier platform earlier this year.
“We are very pleased to welcome Tom into the Powersoft family,” commented Luca Giorgi. “Two years ago, we began a significant restructuring of our U.S. operations, which included relocating our headquarters to the east coast, hiring new operational and sales staff, and realigning our entire North American sales

UK - The University of Northampton has deployed a network of interconnected Harman Professional AV solutions to facilitate a cutting-edge collaborative learning environment at their new Waterside campus.
The university leadership decided to build a new, centralised campus in Northampton’s Waterside district. The project allowed the school to completely rethink how to best serve their students, resulting in a radically different approach that eschewed traditional lecture halls in favour of flexible, collaborative learning spaces.
In order to achieve these goals, AV distributer Midwich supplied the university with a range of AMX, JBL, Crown, BSS and AKG solutions to accommodate the complex technical demands of the ultra-modern campus. The comprehensive Harman solution was designed and deployed by Kinly, a service-led integrator specializing in the design, implementatio

Italy - RTS is well established as a go-to intercom choice for sports broadcasters all over the world. RTS equipment continues to be standard issue in OB trucks covering international competitions at every level.
A recent example is Global Production’s OB coverage of the European Under-21 football championships in Italy. The Turin-based company deployed its OB-8 truck to cover the tournament - the largest and most recently-equipped member of its fleet. In addition to this, OB-8 is also Global Production’s first truck to feature RTS intercoms.
“We have two other vehicles that use different systems,” recalls Luca Manfredi, OB manager at Global Production. “But when we came to making the technical choices for OB-8, we could see that the RTS system was superior.”
As a result of this decision, the large and modern production environment of OB-8 features an

Austria - For the fourth year in a row, Austrian multi-percussionist Martin Grubinger and his Percussive Planet Ensemble, supported by the St. Florianer Sängerknaben boys’ choir, performed outside Linz Cathedral during the annual classical concert series, Klassik am Dom.
Both outside and inside the cathedral, Grubinger, the professor of percussion at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and his ensemble delivered a combination of pop and classical music spanning the history of music. In addition to the audience on site, thousands of listeners followed the performance on TV, courtesy of a live broadcast by Austria’s public station ORF2. Lawo mc² mixing consoles were used for both the FOH mix and the audio mix for the telecast.
The 20 musicians of the Percussive Planet Ensemble - nine horns, bass, guitar, drums, keyboard, piano, five percussionists and Grubinger hi

USA - Fulcrum Acoustic has announced the appointment of loudspeaker designer Kirk Lombardo to its expanding engineering team. An industry veteran, Lombardo has experience in professional and consumer audio, working with companies including Electro-Voice, Altec Lansing, and Velodyne. In addition to his design work, Lombardo has worked in other roles including product management and contract manufacturer/supply chain management.
“We are happy to have Kirk join our team,” comments David Gunness, Fulcrum's CTO. “We have many product and technology goals established for the next several years. Experienced staff like Kirk are essential in bringing those to market.”
“I'm thrilled to have this opportunity,” adds Lombardo. “I've known David since we worked together at Electro-Voice. I look forward to working together again as part of the Fulcrum team.”

The Netherlands - The 2019 heatwave in northern Europe meant that swimming pools were in extra-high demand this summer. Fortunately for the residents of Purmerend, the Dutch town has one of the Netherlands’ largest swimming complexes - and a new Yamaha audio system to make the many activities it hosts even more enjoyable.
Owned by sports and leisure facility company Spurd, the Spurd-Leeghwaterbad complex has four pools in a 55,000m3 building, plus a large outdoor sunbathing area with two further pools. A 15m long by 1.5m high, 10cm thick glass wall in the side of the sports pool connects it with the foyer and reception area, creating a visual impact for swimmers as they arrive.
Based in nearby Edam, installation and rental company Boogy Brothers Showequipment is owned by brothers Johan and Ferdinand Boogaard. Having previously installed new audio systems at swimming pools i

USA - Season after season, through the ongoing upgrade and refinement of its installed live sound technologies, the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl has long ensured that concertgoers enjoy a premium experience at the historic outdoor venue. This year, with one eye on current production demands and another on the next step in the venue’s evolution, the Hollywood Bowl has installed a new pair of DiGiCo SD7 Quantum digital mixing consoles outfitted with 32-bit Ultimate “Stadius” Mic Pre-Amps.
“We aspire to do more object-based mixing, and to have the flexibility of many more inputs and many more outputs, distributing them as needed,” says Fred Vogler, principal sound designer and mixer for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which anchors the Hollywood Bowl’s summer season. “Looking at our options, we thought that taking the Quantum leap, so to speak, was the most

USA - Audio Precision announced today the APx500 Flex audio analyzer, enabling the use of APx audio measurement software with ASIO-capable third-party audio interfaces or sound cards. With the introduction of APx500 Flex, manufacturers can cost-effectively deploy the measurement capabilities, flexibility and quality of APx software to their production lines.
The APx500 Flex audio analyzer is Audio Precision’s APx500 measurement software operating independently of an AP hardware analyzer, with licensing controlled by an APx500 Flex Key. In lieu of a purpose-built analyzer, Flex can be paired with ASIO-capable third-party audio interfaces to create a cost-effective solution for a variety of acoustic and electrical test applications. Measurement scenarios where hardware performance requirements are secondary to test system price - such as production line test of spe

USA - DPA Microphones will debut its new 2028 Vocal Microphone to the US pro audio market at AES 2019 (stand 633). The company will also highlight its new 4097 CORE Supercardioid Choir Mic at the show.
“DPA continually strives to provide the most advanced technology and best sound possible to meet the growing needs of current and potential customers,” says Christopher Spahr, director of sales and marketing, DPA US. “Our new 2028 Vocal Mic and 4097 Choir Mic solutions are the latest representation of our mission. From churches to concerts, DPA is proud to offer ground-breaking solutions that continue to push the limits of modern technology.”
The 2028 Vocal Mic is ideally suited for live stage performances, broadcast and pro AV applications. On a live stage, the 2028 delivers the same sonic qualities as DPA’s other microphone solutions and needs no (

Denmark - Pascal’s CEO and co-founding director Lars Rosenkvist Fenger has been shortlisted for an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is a unique global program that recognizes entrepreneurial achievement among individuals and companies that demonstrate vision, leadership and success - and work to improve the quality of life in their communities, countries and around the world.
Fenger and Pascal are nominated in the Copenhagen region, home to over half the country’s commercial enterprizes. In less than 10 years the company has risen from a start-up to rank among the kingdom’s top 0.07% highest performing companies, in the process becoming the number one supplier of amplifier electronics to the pro-audio industry.
The EY award program focuses on spotlighting the world’s most successful and innovative entrepreneur le

UK - Cadac again provided the audio mixing capabilities for the IBC TV broadcast studio at this year’s convention. The CDC five with its compact form factor, courtesy of a single 23.5” touch screen and 16 fader operating surface, handled the audio duties for the studio.
“You get a lot of audio capability in a small space,” says Pete Craigie, sound supervisor for the channel. “Although IBC TV appears to be fairly straightforward technically, there are challenges with various record feeds going to different destinations and multiple monitoring stations to be set up. The flexible routing on the CDC five handled this well.”
The complete Cadac MegaCOMMS 96k / 24-bit audio mix setup comprised the 48 input / 24 assignable buss console, CDC I/O stagebox and CDC MC MADI bridge. “The use of the MADI bridge enabled quick, easy and stable connectivity to th

USA - JD Sound & Video has completed the design and installation of a new sound system for the 1,800-seat performing arts theatre at South Brunswick High School (SBHS) in Monmouth Junction.
Established in 1960, SBHS is the lone secondary school of the South Brunswick Public Schools, serving around 3,000 students in ninth through 12th grades.
Joe DiSabatino, president and lead design engineer of JD Sound & Video, explains: “Audio quality, coverage, reliability and value were all important for the performing arts theatre at SBHS so, based on previous experience we chose the Community IV6 Modular Vertical Array system. Being a passive system, it delivers a great combination of acoustic purity and long-term reliability and is easily configured for optimum coverage. Our design was verified by Hadi Sumoro of HX Audio Labs, who completed the EASE modellin

USA - Danley loudspeakers were recently installed at the Thomas Fieldhouse gym, the home of the Lock Haven Bald Eagles of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.
The university serves 4,600 students in the north-central region of the state and its Lock Haven Bald Eagles sports teams compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s Divisions I & II.
All Bald Eagle indoor sports are played at the Thomas Fieldhouse gym, its boomy acoustics putting a soggy blanket on the intelligibility of Bo Miller’s enthusiastic Lock Haven announcements. But this has now changed, thanks to the installation of Danley OS80 point-source loudspeakers and TH118 subwoofers, which deliver great phase-coherent intelligibility and tight pattern control.
“Admittedly, the poor intelligibility of my announcements was a big part of my desire to replace the nearly 25

Italy - Pro audio solutions manufacturer RCF has announced its HDL 50-A 4K is now shipping. This is the company’s most powerful HDL line array module, with an internal amplifier pushing 8000W peak power under the hood. The amplifier module is available as an upgrade for current HDL 50-A owners, the company has said.
The HDL 50-A 4K is an active three-way line array module designed for large-sized events, indoors and outdoors. It features a sound pressure level of 143 dB SPL with a built-in Class-D 4000 W RMS four-channel amplifier. Equipped with eight transducers, it offers playback quality ideal for high performing musical applications. The proprietary 90 x 10° 4PATH waveguide, paired with the symmetrical design of the cabinet delivers coherent coverage. Each of the four 4K amplifier modules operates at very low impedance producing a quick and detailed transie

Vietnam - Ba Sao Investment Co., Ltd recently installed a Harman Professional Solutions networked audio, video, light and control solution at Van Lang University to deliver pristine sound and alluring lighting for performances, presentations and events.
Founded in 1995, Van Lang University is one of the first and most distinguished private universities in Vietnam. With three sprawling facilities across Ho Chi Minh City, Van Lang University offers an array of educational amenities, including an expansive technology center, a smart library and a world-class concert hall. In order to provide exceptional sound and lighting for events in the concert hall, Van Lang University hired Vietnam's premier AV distributor, Ba Sao Investment Co., Ltd to install an AV solution. After surveying the location, Ba Sao Investment assembled a comprehensive Harman Professional Solutions

India - Martin Audio has appointed Vardhaman Megatech Pvt. Ltd (VMT) as its exclusive distribution partner for India. The appointment was confirmed by David McKinney, managing director of Generation AV, who undertake Martin Audio sales strategy, account management and technical support duties in the Asia Pacific territory.
“VMT has a strength in all the vertical markets that Martin Audio is present in including both Touring and Installation,” he comments. “VMT are headquartered in Mumbai but have teams all across the country and are set up to ensure Martin Audio customers have quick support across all parts of India.
“Having a dedicated team will enable VMT to provide special support and attention to all Martin Audio customers in India. We are proud to be working with such an established distributor, with a rich history in professional audio.”
Martin

France - GB4D-Gilles Bouvard has received BroaMan’s Best BroaMan Distributor award for 2018.
The Chambéry-based company specialises in the delivery of some of the most challenging integrated technology projects across the world - find out about its work on the recent Fête du Lac d’Annecy in LSi October 2019. GB4D has also introduced BroaMan’s application engineered solutions to its many customers at at leading French tradeshows SATIS and JTSE.
BroaMan MD Tine Helmle comments: “GB4D sold the most BroaMan equipment during the year, and among their many projects the two that stand out are the major exhibition and congress centres in Bordeaux and Toulouse.”
“We have been working with Gilles and Diane Hivert, who handles the distribution, for many years, and have enjoyed great cooperation and an enduring friendship,” continues Helmle.

Chile - When Chile’s national police force, the Carabineros, needed a new intercom solution for the lecture theatre at its Santiago headquarters - one which would be unaffected by the building’s busy RF environment - the organisation turned to local AV integrator VGL.
The solution - a digital intercom system from Green-GO - would mark a technology milestone as the first IP-based intercom system to be installed in the country.
VGL had recently encountered Dutch manufacturer ELC Lighting and its Green-GO digital intercom system at the Prolight+Sound exhibition in Germany and thought it would provide the answer that the Carabineros were looking for.
“They needed an intercom system with a good quality of sound, which was easy to use and would be scalable in the time,” says VGL’s Daniel Vinagre. “They didn’t want matrix-based or RF technology, as they

Ibiza - Best known for his hit singles We Found Love, This Is What You Came For, Summer, and Feel So Close, Calvin Harris recently completed his six-week DJ residency at Ushuaia in Ibiza, flying out for each of his tour dates in-between. FOH engineer, Nathan Lettus, was brought on to the tour last minute, specifically requesting that an SSL console was used to support Harris mixing songs on the fly.
Having been with American rock band, Chicago, for 10 years, FOH engineer Nathan Lettus is very much used to working on rock and pop music. During that entire run with the band, he was happily using a console of his choosing, until he met up with a good friend - FOH engineer for The Killers, who was using SSL.
“I’d seen one of the SSL Live consoles before, but I hadn’t had a chance to play with it much; I ended up mixing most of the opening act

UK - Following on from the resounding success of its production of The Flying Dutchman in summer 2017, Theater Regensburg has once again pushed the boundaries of open-air opera with its latest offering - a version of Puccini’s semi-staged concert performance in three acts, Tosca.
Like its predecessor, the event was held at the West Port of the bayernhafen business park, a freight traffic hub in the East Bavarian town of Regensburg. The stage was situated on the historic Municipal Warehouse side, while the audience of nearly 3,000 was seated opposite on the North Quay. The side of the warehouse itself served as a gigantic projection surface upon which visuals were beamed, courtesy of Digital Projection Titan laser projectors.
“The video aspect was the main part of the show,” comments video operator, Wolfgang Frauendienst. “The actors and their audi

UK - The 1975’s video for new single People sees the band performing the alt rock track inside an LED cube, supplied and installed by 80six Ltd, displaying swirling lyrics and quickfire, colour-changing content. Filmed at London’s Black Island Studios, the production was an ambitious surround-video setup, powered by a Hippotizer V4 Taiga servers from Green Hippo. Directed by Warren Fu, the video featured premade content inspired by the band’s lyrics, created by Jon Emmony.
Simon Harris, project manager at Bryte Design, was approached by The 1975’s tour director James Valpy to project manage the video content delivery. “Set up was simple, utilising Hippotizer’s Output Manager and VideoMapper to map the five sides of the cube, outputting six HD signals via Evision LED processors,” says Harris. “As the content was running to timecode, playback was simple

UK - The MK Gallery in Milton Keynes is a new arts venue designed by award-winning architectural firm, 6a architects. The development, which opened in March, encompasses the original MK Gallery and adds a new structure to more than double the space available, providing five exhibition galleries, a learning and community studio, and The Sky Room, a flexible auditorium on the upper floor.
With 150 retractable seats (300 standing), the Sky Room is the home of independent cinema in Milton Keynes (in partnership with Curzon) and also hosts live music, theatre, lectures, conferences and more. The venue is equipped with an EM Acoustics sound system based on the EMS Series and the dedicated installation i-Series range supplied by event production specialists, Hawthorn.
An EM Acoustics system was specified as part of the global design of the Sky Room. “It sounded great but I

UK - ArKaos, realtime visual processing technology provider for live performance and displays, enjoyed a busy PLASA 2019 expo in London Olympia (15-17 September) on the stand of its UK and Irish Republic distributor, Entedi.
ArKaos highlighted the latest version of its flagship MediaMaster Pro 5.6 realtime video control software, which is also now available with a License Rental service that enables weekly rental periods of MediaMaster Pro usage. This greatly increases flexibility and affordability for anyone involved in specific projects or events on which they want to use this award-winning platform, says the company.
ArKaos CEO Agnes Wojewoda comments: “PLASA was great! A lot of buzz and activity at the show and a lot of interest in MediaMaster Pro in particular and in the new Licence Rental options for this as well as some other ArKaos products. It’s

Spain - Every year, Arenal Sound - an open-air music festival held in Arenal de Burriana - presents an unbeatable package of music and party by the beach. In 2019, more than 300,000 flocked to the event, with tickets selling out 14 hours after going on sale, even without the full line-up being announced.
DAS Audio has accompanied the festival over the past 10 years, providing new solutions and optimizing resources and service. In this last edition, DAS Audio has been on all the stages deploying the necessary equipment to cover the acoustic needs of this large-scale event and rising to the challenge posed by the location of the stages near a residential area.
With this in mind, Audioprobe, the company responsible for the sound system and its installation at the festival, deployed on the Desperados main stage 32 AERO-40A, 18 flown UX-218A subwoofers and six sta

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