UK - The 128th Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, the international audio technology organisation and standards body, takes place in London this year, from 22-25 May at the Novotel Convention Centre, Hammersmith.

The Convention consists of technical presentations and discussion sessions, workshops, and student-orientated activities. The associated equipment exhibition takes place in the neighbouring Novotel Exhibition Hall.

An international mix of speakers is lined up for the Convention, in sessions ranging from white-paper presentations on the latest developments in psychoacoustic research, forensic audio restoration techniques and surround sound, to practical discussion sessions on the future of running commercial studios and producing audio soundtracks for console and computer games.

Roger Furness, executive director of the AES, comments: "We're delighted t

USA - Audio-Technica provided wireless solutions for the 45th Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards, broadcast live on the CBS Television Network from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday 18 April 18.

Several performers used Audio-Technica's Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System during the course of the show. Country/pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift paired the 5000 Series system with the AEW-T4100 Cardioid Dynamic Handheld Transmitter for her lead vocals. Audio-Technica endorser Jason Aldean performed with the 5000 Series and the AEW-T6100 Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Transmitter. Darius Rucker and A-T endorser Kenny Chesney each performed with the AEW-T5400 Cardioid Condenser Handheld Transmitter.

"Some of the best ears in the business choose Audio-Technica every day," said Soundtronics Wireless's Dave Bellamy, wireless engineer for the ACM A

USA - In preparing for the 2010 summer tour season, Rat Sound knew it would be adding some new equipment to its inventory. Starting the season doing five stages at the Coachella festival in April and with several arena tours booked, the company is poised for a big summer. "We're seeing demand we haven't seen in several years," notes company president Dave Rat. "This will definitely be our strongest year ever."

One area of need was a new digital mixing console. Rat says: "Knowing our client requirements, we tested several consoles. There were two different angles I look at in evaluating a board - me personally as an engineer, and of course, the company as a sound vendor. Basically, we found that the Midas PRO6 has features and usability that I have not been able to find in other digital consoles."

From a business perspective, Rat Sound's needs were

UK - Prog rock band Aeon Zen is the first band in the UK to embrace fully the system functionality and interconnectivity of the Roland Systems Group suite of sound and video control products, investing in a portable digital mixing and stage monitoring package put together for them by Wigwam Sales. This compact system, contained in just two custom flightcases, includes a six-way stage monitoring system using RSS M-48 individual mixers, and a RSS M-400 digital mixing console with Digital Snake for use at front-of-house.

The band is now trying to ramp up its live touring schedule ahead of the release of a second album. "The only way this music will work live is if we recreate the studio sound with the right gear," explains Aeon Zen's founder and songwriter Rich Hinks. "It's too technical to sound good in a normal set-up so we take advantage of MIDI triggers and effec

USA - Celtic Woman merges modern elements with Celtic tunes through the voices of five female soloists backed by a full band and an eight-member choir. Since its formation in 2004, the group has sold over 50m albums and has played to sold-out arenas throughout the world. The current 75 city tour, Songs From the Heart supports the latest release of the same name and made its way in late February through New York City.

The group invited the Internet phenomenon P.S. 22 Chorus to share the stage at Radio City Music Hall. Under the direction of Gregg Breinberg, the P.S. 22 Chorus is a school chorus from Staten Island, New York, whose performances have "gone viral" on YouTube.com, inspiring over 13m views. In addition to the large amount of Sennheiser wireless and wired microphones and personal monitors that Celtic Woman normally travels with, FOH engineer Wayne Paule

Russia - The premiere of Vladimir Khotinenko's new film Pop (aka The Priest) which took place on Easter Sunday in the Church Council's Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, was a landmark event in the history of the Russian motion picture industry. Kinoproekt Company provided the technical support and installed the digital projection system, which was supplied by Christie.

Pop had become a phenomenon amongst the Russian motion picture industry even before its official release. It is the first to be blessed by the Russian Orthodox Church. The production was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Alexander Rubin, general director of Kinoproekt, commented on the venue for the premiere, "The hall is intended for church assemblies. It is a rather large hall with an amphitheatre and side balconies, but it is not fit for mo

UK - Fifty Nine Productions (War Horse, Waves, Satyagraha) has teamed up with Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi to create a spectacular new live show combining theatre, film, animation, art installation and live music. The production opened in Vancouver in early April and is now touring the world with London performances on 26 and 27 May at the HMV Forum, Kentish Town, plus numerous festival appearances throughout the year.

Fifty Nine has previously designed sets, video and film projection for a variety of theatrical and operatic production companies including the National Theatre, ENO, Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera New York. The company is now making its first foray into the world of rock music.

Jónsi's live show has been conceived of as a collision of two worlds - the immediacy and energy of rock and roll with the sophisticated production values of a theatrical s

UK - On 5 June, Charcoalblue projects director and motorbike enthusiast Jack Tilbury accompanied by pillion riding, camera wielding journalist Sarah Rushton-Read, will join The First Night Riders - a group of motorbike riding entertainment and theatre professionals - for a seven-day, tour of new, interesting and historically significant UK theatres.

The trip will take riders to venues up and down the UK and raise much needed funds for The Theatrical Guild (TTG) - a charity dedicated to supporting individuals who have been or are currently employed in professional theatre - backstage and front of house.

The First Night Riders will depart from outside London's National Theatre on 5 June and return in time for the start of the International Theatre Engineering & Architecture Conference on 13 June. In all, riders will cover 1400 miles in eight days and finish up at Hampstead Theat

China - KV2 Audio has announced the appointment of Aivin Audio as its new distribution partner in China. Having a wealth of experience in audio installations as well as the thriving Karaoke market, Aivin is well positioned to build on the success of the KV2 brand in the rest of the world.

Currently working towards the forthcoming PALME show in Beijing next month where KV2 will have a demonstration room for the first time, as well as increased exposure on the floor, a new purpose built club demonstration facility is also being constructed for customers to experience the KV2 systems at their Guangzhou facility.

Commenting on the appointment, whilst attending a training seminar for KV2 dealers in China, CEO Jonathan Reece-Farren says: "2010 looks like an exciting year for both companies and we look forward to reporting back on their mutual success over the coming months.&quo

Israel - L-Acoustics has announced the appointment of Lightone as its new distributor for Israel. Lightone has extensive experience of the Israeli sound reinforcement market, and boasts a knowledgeable sales and technical team.

"Having previously worked with Lightone I am excited to renew my contact with them," says Tim McCall, L-Acoustics sales manager. "I anticipate that their appointment will open up new possibilities and markets to further strengthen the L-Acoustics brand name in Israel."

(Jim Evans)

UAE - Al Laith Events Services - Dubai's new specialist event staging and roofing company - supplied a 25m, three-bay Space Roof, complete with full stage decking system and two 12mhigh goalposts flanking the stage for Il Divo's concert at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

It is the first time that the Space Roof design from Serious Stages and goalposts have been used in combination together in the UAE.

Al Laith Events Services was again working for Flash Events, a regular Abu Dhabi based client. Al Laith's project manager was Jacques Smalberger, and he and his crew - numbering of up to 80 people - worked closely with site manager Jean-Carl Saliba, and Flash Events production manager Lee Charteris.

In addition to providing the stage and roof, Al Laith also supplied the gig with a 2500 seater grandstand, two VIP platforms and assorted other structures, including a FOH platfor

Hungary - Loud And Pro has become the first Hungarian rental company to own a Midas PRO6 live audio system, purchasing two for its fast-growing PA inventory. Loud And Pro, which started life 10 years ago, is now the biggest backline supplier in the country, and has diversified into PA hire.

"We have a small PA system at the moment but it was time to upgrade," says Loud And Pro's sales and marketing manager Levente Csecsi. "We contacted many Hungarian distributors including Midas distributor Bluesound, who suggested we try a PRO6 and invited us for a demo. It wasn't hard to convince our boss. We bought two, enabling us to provide a dual FOH/monitor system. We'll be mainly using them for festivals, for open-air stadium gigs, arena concerts etc."

CEO Thomas Balog has long been an admirer of Midas consoles, and was delighted when the PRO6 was launched, finding

Australia - Situated on the scenic Central Coast in Gosford, Bluetongue Stadium has earned a reputation as one of Australia's most picturesque venues.

With a total capacity of 20,059, Bluetongue Stadium has played host to many major events. These include International Rugby Union, National Rugby League and National A-League Football matches, branching out to boxing, motorcross and open-air rock concerts as well as a multitude of local sporting and community events.

The construction of Bluetongue Stadium was completed in February 2000, bringing to Gosford a premier multifunctional facility overlooking the beautiful Brisbane Waters. The speaker system installed at that time had been adversely affected by the salt air.

"Some of the speakers weren't working because their components had been corroded," explained Chris Fanning, director of Newcastle-based A1 Audio & Ligh

Germany/UK - Unleashing their third studio album, Humanoid, Germany's biggest rock band, Tokio Hotel, is currently embarked on a mammoth tour visiting over 30 cities throughout Europe. Touring with them, under the guidance of production manager Phil Broad, is a set built by UK-based Brilliant Stages.

As one of Germany's most successful bands, with credits including Germany's first Moonman, MTV VMA for Best New Artist and EMAs in both 2008 and 2009, the Welcome to the Humanoid City tour is the biggest show this multi-award winning band has ever produced.

Brilliant Stages took the set designed by Misty Buckley and turned it into a full on touring show.

"This was the first time I have worked directly with Brilliant Stages and they were absolutely amazing," says Buckley. "Tony Bowern and Mel Welch were so accommodating and understanding of what I was

UK - FOH engineer Trevor Gilligan has just completed a UK tour with Beverley Knight using a Midas PRO6 live audio system.

This was Gilligan's first time out with a PRO6. "I put together a 37 channel mix using one stereo sub group for Beverley and another for the backing vocals," he says. "This was so I could insert a frequency compressor on each sub group, and they worked beautifully. As I mixed our first show I started to notice how solid and smooth the mix was getting, very easy to control."

Gilligan was impressed with the PRO6's accurate metering, often an issue with digital consoles. "Having grown up with analogue desks of all kinds, you get used to how the metering works, what can peak and what shouldn't peak etc, and the PRO6's metering is spot on," he says.

"The effects are also some of the best sounding I have ever used, clean but r

UK - IT and audio visual rental company, DB Systems (DB), helped provide the IT network infrastructure at last week's televised election debate in Manchester, which was viewed by almost 10m people.

Working with high-end technical support company AT Communications, DB installed various services, such as wifi access points, networking and related IT infrastructure. DB also provided IT support to the Media Centre in order to allow more than 300 journalists to monitor and have instant access to the likes of online polls and live data relating to audience reaction.

ATC was employed by ITV to provide the AV for what was known as the Spin Central where journalists and broadcasters were briefed by politicians before and after the debate.

The broadcast itself was projected on a large 21' screen with relay plasmas and PA helping all to hear and see what was going on. Further sc

USA - Lighting designer Kyle Olson from Milwaukee-based Logan Productions used Robe DigitalSpot 7000DTs for the first time at the Milwaukee Urban League's annual Black & White Ball, staged at the Bradley Centre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Rigged above the event's main 40ft x 60ft Transformit Star Stage that was flown over the audience, the two DigitalSpots were utilised as an integral element of the lighting and visuals projecting onto a large screen surface above the audience. The evening also included a live performance by Philadelphia soul legends, The Stylistics.

The DigitalSpots allowed Olson to create a cost effective large projection surface above the guests, with the added bonus of utilising the DigitalSpot's LED module to add colour and depth to the other lighting and creating a "nice even wash".

Olson controlled the units from the lighting desk via Ar

Hungary - Loud And Pro has become the first Hungarian rental company to own a Midas PRO6 live audio system, purchasing two for its fast-growing PA inventory. Loud And Pro, which started life 10 years ago, is now the biggest backline supplier in the country, and has diversified into PA hire.

"We have a small PA system at the moment but it was time to upgrade," says Loud And Pro's sales and marketing manager Levente Csecsi."We contacted many Hungarian distributors including Midas distributor Bluesound, who suggested we try a PRO6 and invited us for a demo. It wasn't hard to convince our boss. We bought two, enabling us to provide a dual FOH/ monitor system. We'll be mainly using them for festivals, for open air stadium gigs, arena concerts and so on."

Loud And Pro cites the PRO6's user-friendliness and classic Midas sound as the main reasons they are the firs

Russia - St Petersburg-based rental company Euroshow has become the latest member of the L-Acoustics K1/Kudo Pilot Programme.

The company, which became an L-Acoustics rental agent last year with the purchase of a Kudo large format line source system, has taken delivery of 48 K1 large format line source cabinets, 24 K1-SB subwoofers, an additional 36 Kudo cabinets and 32 SB28 subwoofers, plus 23 LA-RAK touring racks fitted with LA8 amplified controllers to drive the system.

Euroshow joins several of the world's leading rental outfits in collaborating with the L-Acoustics R&D team to field test the K1/Kudo system. So far, the new system has been used for Rammstein and Faithless concerts plus several local Russian artists.

"The K1/Kudo system is very stable across the full frequency range, as well as being very reliable, convenient to install and, of course, great sounding

UK - PLASA Focus: Leeds 2010 - which takes place this week on Tuesday 27 & Wednesday 28 April at the Royal Armouries in Leeds is looking set to break records as visitor pre-registrations top 2,700 - an increase of some 20% on last year's inaugural show.

The exhibition space itself sold out long ago, as last year's returning exhibitors were joined by 33 new names, filling both The Royal Armouries & Saviles Halls. Dozens of new product launches have been announced, many making their first UK appearance following international launches at Pro Light+Sound.

Another major draw has been the two-day Education & Learning Programme, a popular feature last year, which has again attracted top industry names in a feature-packed seminar agenda.

"There are lots of reasons to visit," said Kelvin Brown of Brooklyn Sound Systems in Middlesborough. "PLASA events are always well

UAE - Despite the airline chaos just prior to the PALME show in Dubai preventing UK staff attending, SES/RFW had a very busy show serving existing and new clients. The stand was set up and ready to go by Saturday lunchtime, and the enquiries and orders gained during the show proved a year on year increase to the business in the region.

SES's Gordon Cooper commented: "The aim of this year's show was to launch the RFW business as THE main Dubai-based supplier to the industry for Power Distribution and associated products. This has been well received since its inception back in January and sales are increasing on a monthly basis, as customers realise that RFW have the stock on the shelf ready for collection or delivery at very competitive prices, along with top quality. Palme has proved yet again to be a great springboard for both SES and RFW in the region, and this has been p

UK - This spring, Somerset House Trust and Sound and Music, presents 'River Sounding,' a major new commission by sound artist Bill Fontana, inviting visitors on a journey through the hidden sound worlds of the River Thames. This new work was made possible by Richmond Sound Design's brand new AudioBox II which is capable of controlling up to 576 channels of audio using a variety of standard computer audio interfaces and represents a significant breakthrough in multichannel sound.

Located at Somerset House, 'River Sounding' creates an imaginary acoustic map of the Thames, taking visitors through Somerset House's atmospheric subterranean spaces, normally closed to the public, and out to the Great Arch on the Embankment, highlighting the building's historical connection to the river.

'River Sounding' at Somerset House features a series of different sound sequences, recorded by Bil

Philippines - The First Philippine National Police (PNP) IT Exhibition has come to a close, and the LED screen provided by Lighthouse Technologies played a key role. The exhibition, held at the PNP Multipurpose Centre, demonstrates Lighthouse's commitment to support the Philippines' e-governance efforts as well as its continued rise in the Asia Pacific region.

The R16i/o 16mm 4.092m (W) x 2.304m (H) LED screen was installed at the main entrance of the PNP Multipurpose Centre. It was used to display important event information and visuals in clear, accurate colour, while a 2000:1 contrast ratio and 5000nits of brightness ensured excellent visibility even under direct sunlight. A seamless mechanical system made assembly and installation quick and painless, and minimal maintenance was required.

The exhibition, titled Transformation through Information and Communications Techno

UK - AC-ET's Rigging division has supplied a quantity of Litec QL52A truss to production services company Peak Hire for various events, including the spectacular pantomime production of Peter Pan at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. Starring Ade Edmonson as Captain Hook, the production featured "dazzling sets and fabulous musical numbers".

Peter Pan was held in the Marlowe Theatre Arena, a temporary venue, in use until the original theatre re-opens in 2011 as a much larger concern with a new programme of world-class shows. Peak Hire was approached by Theatre Tent to provide a rigging solution for the lighting and sound systems, as well as a track for flying Peter and Wendy above the audience.

The project required a compact, high load, anti-twist truss that would be strong enough to support the weight of the various production rig equipment. As an existing Lit

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