UK - Following the technical and social success of last year's meeting, the Electroacoustics Group of the Institute of Acoustics is organizing a special Reproduced Sound 21 conference, which will take place in Oxford from 4-5 November. This "coming of age" meeting promises to be a landmark in Reproduced Sound's history and will be an opportunity to look back, and forward - "Feeding back to the future!" - say the IoA.

Reproduced Sound conferences represent the cutting edge of modern audio and acoustics, presented in an informal and convivial environment that allows consultants, manufacturers, contractors and end-users to mingle and share insights and information. It's an opportunity for business networking in an atmosphere that proves you can have 'high brow' and 'informal' in one place at one time, say the IoA.

This year, as you would expect from such an im

Japan / France - Yamaha Corporation of Japan and Nexo S.A. of France, a leading manufacturer of professional speaker systems, have entered into a strategic alliance concerning pro audio product development and distribution. Both companies believe that the integration of advanced digital technology and premier speaker technology will greatly enhance the system solutions in pro audio products. As a part of the alliance, Yamaha has acquired 10.22% of the common shares of Nexo.

Yamaha has over 30 years of mixing console development and manufacturing experience, with over 15 years of experience in digital mixing console technology, including the development of industry-standard products, such as PM1D and PM5D. Yamaha is also well known for its range of digital signal processors, power amplifiers and speakers such as the DME24N/64N and PC-1N power amplifiers.

NEXO is a leading manuf

UK - In the space of just seven days, White Light exhibited at the ABTT Show in London, held a moving light shootout allowing lighting designers to make a real-world comparison of some of the latest automated fixtures, and then rounded things off by holding a Graduates Open Day at its Wimbledon headquarters.

Spread across two stands at ABTT this year, White Light showed items from its extensive hire and sales stocks, including theatre lanterns from Arri and trussing from Prolyte for which White Light has recently been made a distributor; these join products from Robert Juliat, Rainbow, Look Solutions and ELC which White Light already distributes in the UK. The company's award-winning Digital Festoon System was also on show.

The day after ABTT, White Light held a Moving Light Shootout at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio, where lighting designers had the opportunity to com

UK - Stagecraft, one of the UK's leading staging and live events companies, is celebrating a milestone of 25 years in business. The Salisbury-based company, which has achieved massive growth since completing its first year of trading in 1980, has been presented with numerous awards during its 25 years for commitment and dedication to the industry.

Stagecraft produces conferences and exhibitions, as well as providing equipment and technical support for corporate events, festivals, parties and meetings in the UK and abroad. Stagecraft Theatre Services supplies and installs equipment from all leading lighting and sound manufacturers to the educational, amateur and professional entertainment sectors.Managing director, David Goodrich commented: "It is incredible to think that 25 years has passed and I am proud to be part of an exciting and innovative industry . . . the trend has

USA - ETA Systems, a manufacturer of high quality power protection, distribution, and lighting control products for the audio/video industry, has announced that it has been acquired by Powervar Inc for an undisclosed amount. The company's products are sold to broadcasters, recording and production studios, theatres, auditoriums, churches, schools and live performing artists, through distributors, contractors and retail cutlets throughout the US, Europe, and Asia.

Powervar Inc is a privately held corporation based in Waukegan, Illinois, manufacturng high-end power quality solutions for mission critical applications in healthcare, manufacturing, and other industries. Its customers are manufacturers and resellers of high technology systems used in healthcare, digital printing, semiconductor manufacturing, retail POS, and other commercial applications. The company received a 2004 Fr

Singapore - The CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia trade shows have ended on a vibrant and positive note, say the show organizers, having attracted 60,552 attendees from the IT, communication and broadcasting industries. An estimated 1,600 delegates and speakers were at CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia conferences. The exhibitions at the Singapore Expo accommodated 2,238 exhibiting companies from 55 countries covering 62,000sq.m of exhibition space.

For the first time the CommunicAsia Summit conference featured a three-day CEO Perspective panel session, where senior executives of telcos and vendors exchanged industry views and insights with the audience. "I find this conference very good for sharing and bouncing ideas," says Tom Goodwin, regional CTO of Lucent Technologies, and one of the panel speakers.

Another attendee at the CEO dialogue session was Siemens Communicatio

UK - Avolites once again proved to be the most popular festival console of choice at Glastonbury, with numerous desks used to run lighting in a huge variety of areas across the site. On the Acoustic stage, two Diamond 4 Elites were used by LD Rob Sangwell and programmed by Gary Churchill, running Martin MAC 2K Profiles, 2K Performances, 2K Washes, 550s and 250 Entours. The Acoustic stage used Avolites dimming plus Avo DMX buffer boxes and Fineline supplied all lighting.

Gary Churchill said: "The D4 is great. I have used it before a couple of times but here I've really had a chance to put the desk through its paces. I like the wide choice of faders and the fact that you can put any playback anywhere you like and have direct access to all the fixtures onstage." He added that the Elite was also a handy size, and could easily be moved by one person and lifted by two.

In

New Zealand - Six years ago in New Zealand a six-piece cover band was formed and called themselves the Pink Floyd Experience. Their success was such that they grew into their home countries biggest touring production with a three hour plus show that features performances of the original Floyd's albums Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, as well as Shine On You Crazy Diamond from the Wish You Were Here album.

Having successfully toured New Zealand, they moved on to Australia and South Africa with a sound system that has encompassed just about every loudspeaker brand there is. But the consistent element throughout is XTA loudspeaker processing.

Front of house engineer Andy Craig explains the ethos behind the Experience's sound: "On a show like this I work on two levels and XTA products help me throughout the day. My first task is to ensure that t

Poland / Germany - The Polish premiere of the X-Line Very Compact line-array system from Electro-Voice took place in the Stodola - one of the most historic, and still among the most popular, clubs in Warsaw. In this relatively small venue, much loved by the large student population of the Polish capital, the X-Line Very Compact was able to demonstrate its adaptability, its outstanding sound quality and its extremely modest requirements in terms of space.

In mid-May, the Audio Plus team, EVI Audio's Polish partners, demonstrated the system at an open air cinema in the historic centre of Warsaw (the square dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising). This time, the system was flown, and the results were just as convincing. "The X-Line Very Compact filled the representatives of the rental companies with enthusiasm," Sebastian Pawlak, Audio Plus's MD, told us. "The sound was tr

UK - Leading PA rental company, Crayford-based ML Executives, has just purchased 60 Lab.gruppen fP 6400 amps from UK distributor Sennheiser, to drive its recently-acquired V-DOSC and dV-DOSC rig.

Commenting on the purchase, ML's managing director, Gary Marks, says, "We're already one of the UK's larger rental-users of Lab.gruppen, which powers our EAW KF760 rig that's currently out on Iron Maiden's 2005 world tour. When we purchased 24 boxes of V-DOSC and six of dV-DOSC, choosing Lab to power it was a natural. Not only was it our first choice but it's also the amp L'Acoustics recommend for V-DOSC, so it keeps our system consistent with all of the others in the market."

Marks continues, "Our first priority has always been sound quality but another big advantage with the Lab.gruppen switch mode power amps is their class AB performance with superb control and power

UK - James Thomas Pixel Fixtures were utilized in a number of non conventional ways at Glastonbury 2005, including the architectural illumination of the Festival's Pyramid Stage, seen - literally - in a completely new light for the first time!

These various lateral applications of Pixel fixtures illustrated their energy-saving properties, adaptability and low heat emissions. The latter specifically enabled them to be encased in plastic and other impromptu weatherproofing materials to protect them from the swamp like conditions, in abundance at this year's Festival!

Pixel's Chris Ewington and Pyramid Stage LD Andy Porter (AKA Fraggle) had been speaking about architecturally lighting the Pyramid for the last couple of years. In 2004, Fraggle used PixelPAR 90s to illuminate the internal structural detail of the lighting rig. This year, with the new 110ec PixelLine wash fixture co

UK - Lighting designer Peter Barnes wanted to create plenty of visual eye candy for both cameras and the live audience - with what was primarily a daylight show in London.He wanted the brightest and highest impact LED fixtures with which to do this, and chose 120 PixelLine 1044s and 14 of the new PixelLine 110ecs. Barnes created zigzagged LED borders to the onstage trusses and used the 110's at the bottom of the PA scrims firing out into the audience.

Barnes also used PixelDrive for controlling the content running through the Pixel fixtures. The ability to drag, drop, rotate and resize video sources via PixelDrive proved invaluable for his design, as none of the battens were rigged straight. The batten's own onboard effects made it possible to have fast strobe sequences, as seen with The Who and Paul McCartney.Show lighting director for the BBC was Bernie Davies with all lightin

UK - A new licence which permits the use of movies to be shown in public to either private groups or the general public is now available. Videos and DVDs purchased or rented from retail outlets are for personal use only and unless specifically authorized, movies cannot be shown to the public or private group audiences, as this would be a breach of copyright.

With the launch of PVSL, Filmbank say it has made screening films in public easier and more cost effective for all businesses within this industry. For one annual fee, the PVS Licence will enable users to purchase VHS tapes and DVDs from retail outlets to screen within their outlet all year around. A separate PVSL is required for each location where movies are to be played. All VHS tapes and DVDs will need to be purchased or rented from legitimate UK retailers. This licence precludes any charging or promotion. Full Terms and

Europe - Europe's music festival season is in full swing, with the continent's leading sound hire companies working overtime to keep up with an increasing demand for Meyer Sound systems at festival sites from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

In Scandinavia, Sweden's annual Hultsfred Festival has attracted increasing hordes of hard-rock fans with each successive event. In recent years, audio provider Starlight AB has responded with larger complements of Meyer Sound loudspeakers to provide both crowd-pleasing power and the precise directional control needed to comply with Sweden's tough noise ordinances. This year Meyer Sound is powering four main stages: M3D line arrays anchor the systems for the Hawaii and Pampas stages, while MILO high-power curvilinear arrays cover at the Atlantis stage and M2D compact curvilinear arrays pump up a crowd of 2,000 in the indoor theatre.

"

UK - Broadcast sound specialists, Plus 4 Rentals has recently acquired Trantec's internationally award-winning S6000 and S6002 radio microphone systems. Complementing the company's existing portfolio of cutting edge equipment, Plus 4 Rentals has added 32 channels to its fleet; divided equally between the S6000 multi-channel 2U receiver and the S6002 - its compact dual channel counterpart. Both Trantec systems' augment the company's potential to provide advanced solutions for a host of broadcast applications, particularly Light Entertainment and Reality shows.

Ideal for work on location, the S6002 was recently deployed by Plus 4's MD, Stewart Chaney on ITV 1's - Hells Kitchen. Sixteen transmitter channels were combined with the S6002 dual receiver to provide a robust and reliable solution. As the dual receiver version of the S6000 rack based receiver, the S6002, which is housed i

UK - Le Maitre were called upon by United International Pictures/Nibbs Events to turn Leicester Square into an alien attack zone for the premiere of the new War of the Worlds movie on 19 June. A six-man crew of pyrotechnicians worked over two 12-hour days and used a range of different special effects on the set in the centre of Leicester Square. The park was turned into a dramatic bomb site for the stars and guests to walk through before entering the Odeon cinema though a tunnel.

The set was designed to look like the fall out from an alien attack, with piles of rubble, overturned cars, a demolished archway, broken lampposts, park benches and a phone box. Le Maitre used CO2 Jets in the craters on the ground, which fired throughout the show. The craters also held the Dragon gas flame effects, which spewed flames in random bursts. The Pyrotek Dragons were also used on the balconies

UK - Spectators high up on the stadium steps of the Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium were able to see the performance of Coldplay - thanks to the high-resolution LED display produced from a pair of 6m x 4m Unitek V9 screens, positioned at the PA wings.

The 17.5mm pixel pitch media displays were provided by rental company Laser Grafix, whose project manager Arran Hopkins confirmed that the displays had been specifically chosen by the band's video director, Alan Yates, following their performance at the Brit Awards. The screens took their feeds from a camera/hothead PPU, with further live video and visual effects generated later during the show from a pair of RADlites.

But while the Unitek display had to operate 80% of the show in high brightness conditions (reinforcing the images of two support bands during daylight hours), its other attribute, suggests Hopkins, is its lightwei

UK - Adlib Audio sent 22 crew and engineers to Glastonbury 2005 to run eight entertainment areas. Although it was turned into a mudfest on the first day thanks to four hours of violent thunderstorms and torrential downpours, none of the famous Glasto spirit was dampened!

Continuing its association with the Festival, Adlib supplied sound systems for the Theatre, Circus and Cabaret tents, the Outside Circus and Outside Theatre areas, plus a transit van mobile system that was on call for various outdoor areas as required. Engineer Carl Billington battled bravely with the elements to ensure that he didn't become the 'immobile' system!

The Cabaret tent featured a Nexo Alpha system with a Soundcraft Series 4 console at FOH and an SM20 onstage, complete with a full ADLIB active/passive wedge monitor compliment. This tent was run by Dave Jones on monitors and Ben Booker at FOH plus te

UK - Marquee Audio has completed a complex and pioneering digitally-based public address/voice evacuation system at Derby County Football Club's Pride Park stadium, making it arguably the most technically advanced stadium system to date.

In seeking to develop a fully featured system with complete redundancy, the company approached Beyerdynamic, whose technical director, Jon Stanley came up with a design concept. This was duly adapted so that it could be delivered as a compliant system that would both integrate with the club's existing infrastructure and extend the scope into the corporate areas and ground control.

Working in conjunction with Stanley, Marquee Audio's Scott Wakelin project managed the installation of an IP-addressable, fully-monitored, A + B redundant system - both inside the grandstand of the 30,000-seat bowl as well as the general concourse, season ticket hold

Russia - The Eastern Europe Music Convention (EEMC), which staged its premiere event on 16-17 June in St. Petersburg, Russia, was a great success according to the organizers, with 365 companies from 42 countries attending. There was a strong presence from Eastern European countries like Russia and Ukraine, but also a great number of international professionals, they say.

In addition to the trade fair the organizers entertained visitors with 96 different artists at the 'EEMC Music Festival' next to the exhibition centre and at several parties in the leading clubs of St. Petersburg. The conference on Digital Distribution and Copyright in Eastern Europe was one of the highlights of the event, say the organizers. Representatives of leading collecting societies and distribution companies as well as specialized lawyers lectured about digital distribution and copyright within the EEMC.

UK - It's all happening in the world of the DJ - the technology, the software, the formats - they're all changing dramatically, and there's one place where you can learn all about this digital revolution. This year's PLASA Show (11-14 September, Earls Court, London) will give DJs a chance to check out all the latest gear and mix with some of the best-known names in the business, say the organizers.

Events kick off with 'DJ Sunday', on 11 September. Sponsored by iDJ Magazine, the day showcases all the major manufacturers' new kit and includes various events, product launches, on-stand demos, giveaways and workshops. Central to it all is the Gemini 'Extreme V' DJ Competition - a major showcase of current and new talent that attracts entries from all over Europe.

Spurred on by the evolution of digital technology, the latest major DJ technology developments can be seen - many of t

Switzerland - The 39th Montreux Jazz Festival marks the 19th year that Meyer Sound has been a sponsor of international music festivals. Meyer Sound loudspeaker systems in use at the festival's venues this year will feature 20 different models, including the new MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

The company's co-founder Helen Meyer, says: "We've been a festival sponsor for three-quarters of Meyer Sound's existence and, in addition to the challenge of providing high-quality sound for such a wide variety of artists and venues, it is very satisfying to feel that we can contribute to an outstanding experience for music fans at these festivals."

The largest sound system will be in the 3,500-seat Auditorium Stravinski and will feature 20 MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers, supported by four MICA cabinets, eight 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoof

UK - The former head of lighting at the Millenium Dome defrauded its operator out of nearly £4m. Simon Brophy, 39, and David Gordon, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC).

It has been found that Brophy used his position as head of lighting to ensure that an extremely profitable contract went to a company he specifically set up for his own benefit - Pro Design - of which Gordon was also a director. Both are to be sentenced later this month.

The fraud was discovered when in September 2000 the NMEC had become suspicious and called in the Metropolitan police. This was followed by an investigation by the Public Sector Corruption Team and the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Directorate. Detectives discovered false information within the tender document submitted by Pro Design and Brophy, Gordon and several others were subsequen

UK - Following on from this weekend's spectacular Live 8 gigs, London's Metropolis Studios is gearing up for the marathon task of mixing, mastering, compiling and authoring the audio from the concerts for subsequent DVD release.

To facilitate this process, Metropolis is utilizing ADA-8 multi-channel converter and processor units from Prism Sound, including its recently purchased ADA-8XR units. Building on the success of the ADA-8, the XR operates at sampling rates up to 192kHz and boasts even greater analogue performance. Metropolis Studios is well stocked with Prism Sound equipment, including A/D and D/A converters and Maselec Master Series EQs and compressors. The facility was the first in the UK to buy ADA-8XRs and according to John Goldstraw, head of technical development at Metropolis, they are ideally suited to mastering applications.

"We recently added to our compl

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