UK - Church installation specialists Sound4Churches in recent months has conducted on-site demos (in conjunction with Neville Raine from JHS, HK Audio's UK distributor) which have resulted in a number of installs being commissioned, all using HK Audio Elements line array systems.
Elements has proved a solution for sound reinforcement in a variety of acoustically difficult buildings where clarity of speech is of paramount importance, but the ability to deliver high quality full range music is also necessary, for both playback and the amplification of live instruments.
Designed for situations where a balanced and uniform sound from front row to back row is desired, it's not too loud at the front, not too quiet at the back and intelligibility remains intact over greater distance than with conventional point source loudspeakers.
The compact size and elegant looks he

Europe - Melbourne’s alt-metal titans, Twelve Foot Ninja (TFN), have recently completed a European run of festival appearances and sold-out headline shows, with a dLive Wings digital mixing system.
Performing at multiple festivals including Download (UK), Rock The Coast (Spain) and Nummirock (Finland), the band needed a space-saving system that could fit in any FOH position and be easily transported from show to show. To accomplish this, they adapted their dLive system in a number of ways, often leaving their usual C1500 surface on the bus and hitting performances with just a CDM32 MixRack, an IP8 remote controller and a laptop running dLive Director software.
Dylan Mitrovich, sound engineer for TFN, explains, “There are only a couple of consoles on the market that provide crystal clear audio with the power and flexibility in a format that can be packed up and flow

The Netherlands - Philips Stadion, home to PSV in Eindhoven, is the first venue in the world to install ArenaMatch DeltaQ loudspeaker line arrays and ArenaMatch Utility loudspeakers from Bose Professional.
Audio, video and lighting sales and rental firm Bazelmans AV completed the installation of the Bose loudspeakers at the 35,000-capacity stadium in time for kick off of the team’s first game of the second half of the season early this year.
"The design of the sound system was made especially for Philips Stadion,” says Wiljan Bazelmans, commercial director for Bazelmans AV, which is headquartered in Veldhoven. The combination of the latest Bose Professional loudspeakers, power amplifiers and signal processors enables Philips Stadion to play high-quality music via loudspeaker arrays while at the same time delivering clearly audible voice announcements to every seat

UK - Penn Elcom has introduced a new solution for scenarios where space or access is limited. Suitable for commercial, industrial and residential environments, the R6400-RHF double-hinged wall mount rack enclosure joins the company’s range of 19” rack products.
The new model enables the full rack to securely swing away from the wall, giving technicians and installation engineers excellent access to the rear and sides of the rack and the kit inside of it. The design simplifies the process of running cables, replacing parts or performing regular maintenance and can dramatically reduce the time taken to access the equipment.
Built from rugged but lightweight steel to Penn’s industrial grade specifications, the bracket is reversible so the rack can be configured as left or right opening for full flexibility and space maximisation.
Heavy-duty hinges allow the R6

USA - St. Leo the Great church was established in Lincroft, New Jersey over 60 years ago during the area’s suburban boom of the late 1950s. Its sanctuary seats around 800 people but provides tough acoustics for intelligibility, a problem that had previously been dealt unsatisfactorily with several lines of delay loudspeakers.
Recently, local AV integration firm Concept Professional Systems designed and installed a simple new sound reinforcement system at the church. Ditching the delays and relying on Danley Sound Labs’ pattern control and phase-coherent, long distance throw, the church now enjoys intelligible speech and lively music reinforcement from the front pew to the back pew.
“We originally got involved at St. Leo the Great when they called us to service their old system,” explains Don Gspann, owner of Concept Professional Systems. “After several years

South Africa - Robert Grobler, a lighting designer for Gearhouse Group South Africa is a Vectorworks Spotlight enthusiast who has used the programme to design some of the country’s biggest shows. One of the recent concepts that Robert designed was the Castle Lite Unlocks Post Malone concert held at the TicketPro Dome Johannesburg on 18 June.
An event with international acts comes with its own pre-requisites and between the expectation of the audience and the client, Robert Grobler had to ensure the planning and execution of concept would be world-class. Glenn 21, the events consultation company that organised this event, came to Gearhouse with an idea and Robert was tasked with taking this idea and making it happen.
Robert has used Spotlight for all his drawings 2009 and his experience drawing in Vectorworks offered up a sketch for Castle Lite that was massively deta

Australia - B&H Australia equipped Bunurong Memorial Park with a complete AMX by Harman networked AV solution.
Created in 1996 by the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, Bunurong Memorial Park offers settings for a variety of celebratory and commemorative events. Nestled beneath a protective tree canopy, a series of intimate indoor spaces and sensory-rich gardens provides an inspirational environment for funerals, visitations, memorial services and more.
At the heart of the 247-acre site is a complex housing two visitation rooms, three chapels, five multi-function rooms, offices for funeral directors, a café and a florist shop. In order to support services and functions in a wide range of spaces, Bunurong officials hired B&H Australia to outfit the building with a comprehensive, easy-to-use AV and building control solution. B&H Australia chose AMX med

China - Since it was founded 21 years ago, Cellosound has grown to become the premier audio production company in Guangzhou, the city at the heart of the most-populous metropolitan area in mainland China. An Alcons Audio LR28 system is the latest addition to its inventory, bringing HiFi-quality sound at concert SPLs to Cellosound’s biggest events.
Cellosound was founded in 1998 with a used DDA mixing console and a couple of small PA systems. As the Chinese economy started to rapidly expand in the early 2000s, the company’s customer base grew and Cellosound has regularly upgraded its rental inventory.
By late 2018, its customer base had grown to the point where a high-end solution for major events was needed. “Our customers were requesting a system for touring and EDM events and we knew that, to continue our growth and development, we needed a complete, large for

Russia - Recent years have seen the Russian Orthodox church expand its programme of church building. At Moscow’s Khodynka Field, worshippers at the new Church Of Saint Sergius of Radonezh were distracted by having problems hearing services, but Yamaha’s VXL Series slim line array speakers have solved the issue.
Khodynka Field, a few kilometres north-west of Moscow city centre, saw the first Russian flight in 1910 and quickly became the city’s first commercial airport. Finally closing to aviation in the early 2000s, since then the site has been redeveloped as housing, offices, sports venues and open spaces for Moscow’s expanding population.
Located at the end of one of the former airport runways, the Church Of Saint Sergius of Radonezh was opened in 2017 to honour one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most highly venerated saints, as well as the many airmen and w

USA - For rock or pop shows with large, exalted audiences, it is common for engineers to face the challenge of audience leakage. For Eddie ‘El Brujo’ Caipo, monitor engineer for Gwen Stefani’s Just a Girl residency at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theatre in Las Vegas, that’s not the case.
Recognising the importance of delivering pristine sound in every performance of the popular show, Caipo employed DPA Microphones’ d:facto 4018V Vocal Microphone to deliver clear, natural sound.
“Throughout her 20-year career, Gwen has tried many microphone brands and she has definitely noticed a difference with DPA,” he says. “She has told me that she can hear herself more clearly on her in-ears, and this allows me to keep her volume lower and protect her hearing.”
When Caipo was first introduced to DPA’s d:facto, he was blown away by the capsules’

UK - HK Audio’s Linear series of loudspeakers have been specified as part of the sound system at Nightrain, a new live music venue in Bradford.
Founded by Bradford trio Chris Dove, Andy Kettle and Keith Tempest, the club transformed the former Yates and Arena sports bar on Queensgate into a 400 capacity venue that plugs the gap between smaller venues and larger ones, such as St George’s Hall. Nightrain, named after a Guns N’ Roses song, is set to host a diverse selection of live acts every week-end and select weekdays, welcoming local as well as touring acts. The venue is also open throughout the day as a bar and games room.
Mike Smith and Brian Glover of Sound Alliance were commissioned to design and install an in-house sound and lighting system capable of satisfying the most demanding acts.
Having themselves relied on a variety of solutions from German ma

South Africa - Johannesburg rental company MGG supplied the full technical production package for the Africa Play Conference.
Hosted at The Maslow Time Square hotel in Pretoria earlier this year, the conference is a partnership between the Lego Foundation, the Department of Basic Education of the Republic of South Africa, UNICEF South Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA).
Four hundred delegates from around the globe, including educators, policy-makers and researchers, joined together to share insights and come up with ideas to help equip children in Africa to become creative and life-long learners. The emphasis was to explore learning through play and how this could improve the quality of early childhood development and become an integral part of the education system.
“To add an element of fun, MGG was asked to include L

France - Continuing a run of successful festivals as the house consoles of choice, Allen & Heath’s dLive and SQ digital mixing systems headed to Festival Musilac in Aix-les-Bains to provide audio support across FOH, monitors and comms.
Charged with supplying audio for the entire festival, rental company Dushow worked with Allen & Heath’s French distributor, Algam Entreprises, to provide dLive as a house console option on two stages. The dLive systems supplied included S7000 and S5000 surfaces, paired with DM64 MixRacks and fitted with fibreACE cards for optical links with the stage.
Bruno Dabard (application engineer at Algam) comments: “dLive is becoming more and more popular amongst the engineering community in France - it has an extraordinary balance between high-quality sound and powerful tools, all in a reliable package. It’s more than just a cons

The Netherlands - In late May and early June, Dutch star Marco Borsato became the first artist to play five sold-out stadium shows at De Kuip, home of Feyenoord Rotterdam football club. A Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital mixing system helped ensure that the performer, his band and an array of guest vocalists gave a quarter of a million fans an unforgettable experience.
Borsato has consistently been one of the Netherlands biggest and most successful singers since winning Dutch TV talent contest Soundmixshow nearly 30 years ago. Playing to 50,000 people at each show, the four evening and one afternoon concerts ensured that fans of all ages were able to enjoy a huge and spectacular stadium production. It included an 80m wide stage set, pyrotechnics and a 1000sq.m. LED video screen, the largest ever used on a Dutch live show. The singer himself said: “It doesn’t get any bett

France - On 14 July 1789, troops stormed the Bastille in Paris during the French Revolution. Just one year later, the first Fête de la Fédération was held to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France, following the inspiration of a French textile worker, who presented his design for a festival celebrating the Bastille’s storming.
Now formally La Fête Nationale, the tradition continues each year with parades, music and firework displays. More recently, Lawo has become an integral part of the celebration.
Central to the Paris celebration is the Concert de Paris, held at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. It is one of the largest classical music events held anywhere in the world and is followed by a spectacular fireworks display, attracting thousands of live spectators.
The concert is broadcast on France Inter, on France 2, and to 3.13 mill

USA - With most music festivals these days being multi-stage productions, sound reinforcement providers have become remarkably adept in speedily switching over backline setups and minimizing downtime between artists’ sets. But Wilkesboro, North Carolina’s annual Merlefest, reinforced by Greensboro-based SE Systems, was able to take that transition speed to a new level this year thanks, in part, to DiGiCo mixing consoles and the manufacturer’s new 4REA4 networked audio solution.
Established in 1988 in memory of Eddie Merle Watson, the son of bluegrass icon Doc Watson, as a fundraiser for Wilkes Community College, the festival has pushed the boundaries of what Watson called “traditional-plus” music to feature acts as diverse as Elvis Costello, the Doobie Brothers, and Zac Brown Band.
SE Systems has been the sound provider from the beginning, and the systems ha

USA - Based in the foothills of Colorado’s Pike’s Peak, Charis Bible College is the main Woodland Park campus of a Christian school that has more than 70 extension and satellite locations around the globe. Founded in 1994 by Andrew Wommack Ministries, the college’s latest major development is the completion of the Auditorium, a new 3,200-seat worship, performance, and teaching space that now serves as the heart of the picturesque campus and will soon host Charis’ 25th anniversary festivities this September.
For the design and installation of the 150,000sq.ft auditorium’s audio, video, and lighting systems, Charis once again turned to Franktown, Colorado-based HOW systems integrator AcousTech, which installed three KLANG:vier immersive IEM mixing systems as part of the project.
According to Roland Dutzmann, AcousTech’s president and founder, he had planned t

South Africa - Puleng Maponyane, the director of Ventso Productions, has recently purchased a DiGiCo S21 and D Rack from DWR Distribution.
The purchase was followed up with one-on-one training presented by Kyle Robson from DWR. “The training not only strengthened my knowledge, but Kyle showed me some advanced options that have really solidified my investment in the console,” says Maponyane. “I have admired Kyle’s work for many years now and having him teach me some of the more specialised actions has been really cool, he really knows his stuff.”
“Puleng’s work ethic and attitude is amazing,” adds Robson. “He is a talented young man and came in wanting to know more. The S21 is a perfect match for Ventso Productions, and with this kind of passion, we can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
(Jim Evans)

Poland - Audio rental operation Target Sound has expanded its inventory with a major investment in Outline products, including GTO, C-12, Mantas 28, Superfly, X8 amplifiers and the Newton FPGA processor.
Based in the southern Polish city of Chorzów, Target Sound is one of Poland’s largest full-service production companies, providing lighting, staging, multimedia and audio for a variety of events including conferences, live music, festivals and TV.
The company is also an L-Acoustics K1 partner and owns a complete inventory of L-Acoustics products.
Target Sound’s owner Adam Guzdek describes his reasons for adding Outline: “We chose to make a large investment in Outline products for several reasons. Their systems are characterised by incredible precision in reproducing sound, with unprecedented SPL - the musicality of each of their products is overwhelming, a

USA - Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania has completed the first phase of upgrading its park-wide audio systems. Located in the bottom of an abundantly green valley formed by two converging streams that flow through the very heart of the park, Knoebels is America’s largest free-admission amusement park, with over 60 rides, award winning food, swimming in its 900,000 gallon Crystal Pool, games, and gift shops. Visitors can also enjoy golf at Knoebels’ Three Ponds Golf Course.
Drew Kanaskie, Knoebels’ audio technician, was in charge of the project from conception to implementation, with design assistance provided by Moyer Electronics of Pottsville, PA. Kanaskie explains: “The audio upgrade is planned for completion over several years of off-season projects. The first phase of the upgrade was to replace our aging 70-volt system, with a new system that

Belgium - In the heart of Brussels, private members’ bar Impérial oozes with charm and the underground cool of a turn of the last century speakeasy. The vintage atmosphere and jazzy vibe that draws guests in, however, integrates a full, leading edge, AV solution with TiMax SoundHub and dcontrol central to the immersive environment, realised from concept by design and installation integrator, FACE Projects.
The vision of Carl de Moncharline, owner and manager of several successful Brussels venues was for an ‘immersive environment creating spherical sound experiences’, as well as a stylish lighting system in keeping with the historical façade and vintage ambience of the venue, that was versatile enough for live jazz concerts, a DJ clubbing experience, or even as a cocktail bar. The challenge to create this in a low-ceiling and small, 300sq.m space fell to long term and

UK - The summer classical concert season is in full swing at a range of heritage sites across Britain. The Proms in the Castle in the grounds of Pontefract Castle, West Yorkshire was an evening of music with the West Yorkshire Symphony that took place at the end of June and was witnessed by a capacity crowd of 2,000 people.
Local full-service production company, Sound & Light UK, put an EM Acoustics HALO-A large format line array system through its paces for the first time on a live outdoor event.
SLUK has been looking after the event since 2015 with an active system that required covered PA towers to protect the internal electronics. The client was extremely nervous about changing the system which, according to SLUK’s Chris Bottomley, had always done the job well enough, but as he pointed out, the opportunity to put HALO-A on the event was too good to miss.

UK - The beautiful surroundings of the Royal Botanic Gardens in south-west London, better known as Kew Gardens, provided the location for the facility’s annual six-day music festival Kew The Music.
Now a consolidated part of London’s summer festival tapestry, and with the world’s biggest Victorian glasshouse as the imposing backdrop, it is the quintessential summer event. For the past five years rental company, Capital Sound, and its loudspeaker partner, Martin Audio, have enjoyed a growing presence on the site.
Working with promoter, Stuart Galbraith from Kilimanjaro Live, and production manager, LarMac Live director Ian Greenway, Capital Sound again fielded Martin Audio’s MLA for audiences of 8,000 who arrived to see headliners, including Lewis Capaldi, Rick Astley, Garbage, Craig David and Billy Ocean.
To provide balanced audio coverage, Capital had t

For 11 years, DiGiCo has supported the Montreux Jazz festival. At this year’s event, the company introduced its latest product development, the new SD7 Quantum console, and the 32-bit ‘Ultimate Stadius’ microphone pre-amp and DAC analogue output cards.
In 2019, DiGiCo consoles were installed at all of the festival’s major sites, each fitted with the new 32-bit I/O cards, whilst SD7 Quantum consoles were installed at FOH and monitor position at the flagship venue, Stravinski Auditorium. An SD7 Quantum was also installed in the demo/prep room, a facility DiGiCo provides each year, for visiting engineers to come and explore the new developments.
As well as the two SD7 Quantum consoles, the system specified for the Stravinski Auditorium included four SD-Racks and two SD-Mini Racks.
Festival highlight Janet Jackson performed her much-anticipated headline show at Stra

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