Germany - Brown Box AV, UK wholesalers of AV and lighting solutions, is celebrating its first German installation of Audeon, its wireless personal entertainment system, at the Station One club in Bochum. The managing director of Station One, Winfried Horstenkamp, commented: "I was delighted with the speed at which our Audeon cardio entertainment system was installed at Station One. I had expected some disruption and inconvenience to members but, due to the wireless nature of Audeon, the installation was completely pain free. My members are delighted with this innovative new product and we look forward to many years of enjoyable use."
Audeon is currently one of the only quality, wireless, cardio entertainment product available on the European market specifically designed for the leisure industry that can transmit between eight and sixteen audio channels and provide exce
UK - Italian pro audio manufacturer Outline demonstrated its innovative Butterfly line array PA system to sound engineers and rental company representatives at London's Hammersmith Apollo in late September. Early arrivals enjoyed time to listen to recorded material via CD and MiniDisc and discuss technical aspects of the system with system designer Guido Noselli and president of international sales Giorgio Biffi, along with Peter Barnard, the UK distributor for Outline products.
There was also time for a demo of Outline's proprietary Software Program - VIP (Vector Implementation Protocol), which works on an Open GL Platform and will calculate the number of modules required to achieve optimum vertical and horizontal coverage of any venue, be it open-air or indoor. Further tools to accompany VIP, including a laser range finder and trim height device which will also incorporate a t
International - The Technical Focus column in the November issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine will look at the technology related to Digital Audio mixing desks. The ever-increasing level of technology available today has resulted in the increase of 'all digital' desks, which process audio in the digital domain.
As with most things technological, the ability to perform digital processing continues to become cheaper as semiconductors drop in price, and accordingly digital desks are no longer the preserve of the major league, but are available in more compact versions and making in-roads into the smaller shows and venues. L&SI's article will go some way to giving the reader an insight into this technology, explaining the processes, methods and terminology - and will be followed by a brief profile of the main manufacturers and coverage of their key product(s).
UK - More details are emerging on the restructure at Arbiter Group, including the news that the Group's chairman, Ivor Arbiter, is to retire. The only official confirmation that the company has closed its Pro Audio Division comes from the Arbiter Pro Audio website (see below), which states: "Arbiter Group PLC are no longer distributing products manufactured by JBL Professional, AKG Acoustics, dbx Professional and Digitech." Enquiries are referred to the manufacturer's representative in each case.
There has been no indication as to what UK distribution arrangements will be put in place for the four Harman brands in the long-term, but negotiations with the manufacturers have been ongoing and an announcement is expected from Arbiter within the next few days.
The Pro Audio division was a subsidiary company of Arbiter Group plc and handled the exclusive distribution in th
UK - Nearly 14,000 fans saw David Gray, Morcheeba and Nitin Sawhney perform at a free concert in Trafalgar Square - lined up to boost tourism and showcase the revamped square.
There was also a top line-up of production services to ensure that, technically, the event - organized by b-live, with production by AMP - went without a hitch. Star Hire's Roger Barrett was the show's technical director, working closely with AMP production manager Steve Allen. Other members of the creative team included LD Mark Cunniffe.
The Star Events Group installed a VerTech stage on the North Terrace of the Square, and handled the rigging requirements, with CT Screenco fielding two of the new Lighthouse LVP-1650 16mm outdoor LED screens. While the Lighthouse screens relayed images from the PA wings, the upstage centre backdrop, designed by Cunniffe, took the form of columns of 25mm LED display - th
UK - TC Group announces the appointment of Fred Speckeen to director of business development. In this new position, based at Tannoy Ltd (Scotland), he will be responsible for enhancing overall Group business practice, acceleration of technology transfer between companies within the Group, and the coordination and growth of future business direction. Speckeen leaves his position as CEO / Managing Director of the TC joint-venture company TC-Helicon Vocal Technologies (Victoria, BC, CANADA) after successfully establishing that company in 2000.
Fred Speckeen will be working closely together with TC Group CEO Anders Fauerskov, who comments: "We are very pleased to be able to add Fred to the team of high achievers within TC Group. Through his previous functions at IVL and, more recently, as Managing Director responsible for the successful start-up of TC Helicon, Fred has continua
UK - L&SI joined more than 100,000 people at the V Festival's Hylands Park site in Chelmsford for the V weekend in June, and 65,000 people at Reading for the Carling Weekend. For both events, the weather was spectacular, the perfect backdrop for strong performances from headlining bands such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Coldplay, David Gray and the Foo Fighters at V, and Metallica, Primal Scream, Linkin Park, System of a Down and Blur at Reading.
As anyone who's worked on them will know, the festival season presents enormous challenges to technical suppliers and employers responsible for planning and co-ordinating such large-scale events. The logistics are complex thanks to the sheer volume of equipment required and the high turnover of acts at each event. When bands 'flip-flop' between venues over a weekend, as in the case of Chelmsford/Telford and Reading/Leeds, festival sit
UK - Radio 1 has re-invented its approach to taking live events to its listeners this year, under the auspices of its live events manager, Dave McCalmont. He joined Radio 1 two years ago having previously worked with MCP/SFX. L&SI spoke to Dave after the final 'One Big Weekend' event in Cardiff, where 20,000 ticket holders got to see some of the world's leading DJs, as well as bands such as The Darkness, Travis and Dido.
Why change the format of your events?
We wanted to create events which would work within the overall festival calendar and still allow us to focus on our organization and promotion. We wanted to produce top-notch events that gave the public good, free entertainment that they couldn't get anywhere else. We were careful to place our three main shows across the summer months, starting in May in Manchester and finishing in September in Cardiff with the 'On
UK - The Urban Music Seminar (UMS) was formed in 1998 as a non-profit making organization to inform and educate young people about working in the music industry, and is now annually attracting around 12,000 visitors. Expert panels hosted by celebrities and music industry executives and offering advice on A&R, artist relations, legal issues, marketing, promotion and publishing are held in the main auditorium of London's Royal Festival Hall, which can accommodate up to 4,000 people.
The event also features live performances, celebrity speakers, master classes, a sound stage for unsigned acts and networking and employment opportunities. It attracted a host of names including Destiny's Child's Kelly Rowland, Mercury Music Prize-winning Dizzee Rascal, producer Damon Dash, Big Brovaz, Norman Jay MBE, Jamelia, Javine, So Solid Crew's Asha D and Heartless Crew.
UK - Few events could match the gathering of celebrity, style and music talent that filled London's Royal Albert Hall recently for Fashion Rocks for The Prince's Trust. The charity event was based around 18 top fashion designers, each with their own catwalk parade and with their chosen artist performing a soundtrack. A circular stage with the catwalk around the outside made an ideal setting for this glamorous event.
Hand Held Audio were asked to provide the radio microphones for all the artists and also presenters Elizabeth Hurley and Denis Leary. Most of the soundtracks consisted of live vocal to playback so a large in-ear monitor requirement added to the complexity of the wireless system.RF expert John 'Freddo' Fredericks, who was on site to oversee operations, said: "It was a great show. There was a really good atmosphere - egos seemed to take a back seat and everything
Czech Republic - Inter-Noise 2004, the 33rd International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, from 22-25 August 2004. The congress is being organized by the Czech Acoustical Society and sponsored by the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering.
The theme for the Congress is 'Progress in Noise Control for the 21st Century', and all innovative contributions to noise control engineering are welcomed. The organizing committee is arranging an outstanding technical program, with a number of structured sessions and distinguished lectures in preparation.
Inter-Noise 2004 will take place at the Czech Technical University, Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Prague. The university campus is situated in the district of Dejvice, in the western part of the city and close to some of Prague's largest hotels. The main cong
Malaysia - An iDR-8 has been installed in Berjaya Times Square, a new multi-million dollar development in the heart of Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Measuring 2,100,000sq.ft, it is the largest shopping/leisure complex and houses the largest indoor theme park in the Asia Pacific region.
Allen & Heath's iDR-8 unit, with an iDR-out expander, has been installed as a zone controller in the indoor theme park, where a resident DJ pumps out the music. The signal from the DJ mixer is distributed to 16 zone loudspeakers. An event schedule has also been created using the DSP system's programmable patches, whereby at 2.30pm daily the zone volumes gradually increase with a 10 second crossfade; similarly at 10pm the volume automatically decreases with the same crossfade effect. There is a dedicated PC at the DJ booth for remote control of the iDR-8 & iDR-out over Cat 5 cable.
USA - QSC Audio Products Inc has announced two new appointments. Paul Kenline takes the position of senior technical trainer, while Shawn Watts joins the company as systems specialist for installed sound.
Kenline joins the Marketing Services team after four years as an engineer in QSC's R&D division. His in-depth knowledge of QSC's products makes him the ideal person to spearhead the company's education and demonstration initiatives, say QSC. Kenline's responsibilities will include conducting informational seminars, overseeing technical marketing support material, and co-ordinating the development of QSC's new education and demonstration programs. These programs are part of QSC's effort to distribute product and background information to each specific vertical market in a manner that is consistent with the company's drive for excellence.
USA - Shure recently announced that it has been recognized by the second annual Chicago Innovation Awards for the development of the Shure E2c sound isolating earphones, a revolutionary new approach for providing a pure listening experience.
The E2c earphones are the result of Shure's long history in "in-ear innovation." The technology for the E2c earphones was originally developed for musicians trying to monitor their performances in loud onstage environments. They work by using soft foam or flex sleeves to seal out background noise, allowing the high-performance mini-speakers to deliver precise sound directly to the ear. The E2c earphones can be used with any audio or video device such as CD, MP3, and DVD players.
Sandy LaMantia, president and CEO of Shure, said: "This award is incredibly exciting for us. We're thrilled to help bolster Chicago's reputation as
The Netherlands - Leading Dutch rental agency, Sound Support, currently touring with one of Holland's top acts, 'Van Dik Hout', has recently made a considerable purchase to boost its Allen & Heath stock. In addition to its existing stock, which includes ML5000, GL4000, GL3300 and MixWizard consoles - Allen & Heath's Dutch distributor, TM Audio, has supplied the company with an ML5000, two ML4000s, a GL3300 and a MixWizard.
Sound Support's Jack van den Berg said: "The diversity of our clients and productions generates complex technical demands, which require flexibility and quality in the equipment we provide. Allen & Heath's GL and ML series have been acclaimed all over the world as great sounding, high quality consoles.''
France - Delta Sound recently provided all sound reinforcement for the prestigious Microsoft Xbox X03 games festival in the South of France, attended by some 400 guests, among them members of the international games press, developers, publishers and programmers.
Microsoft is a long-term client of Delta, and this was the third year running that the London-based PA company has worked on one of the annual Xbox events. It followed the unveiling of the first console, the X01, at Pierre Cardin's 'bubble' villa, also in the South of France, and a second event on a lake in Seville last year. This year saw a return to the Côte d'Azur and the exclusive resort of Juan Les Pins, where the festival was held at the newly opened Les Pecheurs beach club followed by an all-day conference at the town's Palais des Congrès.
The proceedings kicked off with presentations by Microsoft dignitaries
UK - West London's trendy Ladbroke Grove has seen the reawakening of the acclaimed Subterania club, which was closed earlier this year. The new venue, christened 'Neighbourhood', is owned by Ben Watt and Alan Grant, partners in the famed Cherry Jam club. UK AV designers Blue Box created the club's sound system, featuring a mix of four QSC PowerLight PL 2.0 and four PL 4.0 amplifiers driving a four way Funktion One system with six F218 bass boxes and six Res4 mid-high enclosures. The club also uses several QSC PL230 amps to drive the Funktion One F88 cabinets in the ante area and on the mezzanine.
The spacious DJ booth, designed by Ben Watt, is centered on a Rane MP44 mixer. The booth is also equipped for live sound mixing, with a Midas Venice 32-channel board. Effects and dynamics are courtesy of Yamaha, BSS and Drawmer. QSC PL236 amplifiers drive monitors in the booth and on st
Austria - Having received numerous TEC Awards over the years in recognition of its achievements in microphone technology, Vienna-based AKG received the prestigious award again this year for its K 271 Studio headphones.
The award was presented at a ceremony at the New York Marriott Marquis on October 11. Presenters of the awards included music and recording legend Les Paul, Grammy awarded producer Bob Ludwig, bassists Will Lee and T. M. Stevens and famous recording engineers including Al Schmitt and Chuck Ainlay.
The K 271 Studio headphones have been internationally acclaimed and accepted by audio professionals due to their sonic quality, user comfort offered, product styling, and manufacturing excellence. Dr. Richard Barnert from the Vienna AKG headphone team and Mike Torlone, market development manager of studio products and headphones, from AKG Nashville, accepted the TEC A
Singapore - Richard Lim from ARX's Singapore distributor Bell & Order Engineering Pte Ltd has recently completed two major installation contracts involving ARX products. The new sound reinforcement system Bell & Order has installed throughout the four-storey New Assayfaah Mosque located in Sembawang Road, Singapore caters for the reproduction of both prayers and speech, and includes two EQ60 graphic equalizers, five EQ 15 graphic equalizers, eight ZR 350C constant voltage power amplifiers, one ZR 550 power amplifier and 16 of the company's new Climate weather-resistant loudspeakers.
Bell & Order has also completed the installation of audio-visual systems at the new DSTA (Defence Science Technology Agency) Building, located at Singapore's Science Park #3 complex. The six-storey facility now includes four ZR550 power amplifiers, two ZA400 multi-channel power amplifiers and six ZR3
USA - Broadway's newest musical Wicked opens this month at The Gershwin Theatre, combining a 19th century tale of wizards with a high impact rock sound from sound designer Tony Meola. Wicked concerns the untold tale of the witches of Oz, and comes to Broadway after a successful debut in San Francisco.
Directed by Joe Mantello, the show features a cast of 34 performers, with a 24-piece band, plus a new 101-slot Cadac J-Type Live Production Console, supplied by ProMix-Electrotec. The console is specified with a combination of 35 programmable stereo and mono dual-input modules, 48 standard dual-input modules, 67 motor faders and 14 groups, housed in two frames and controlled with Cadac's Sound Automation Manager (SAM) software.
Meola's hallmark is subtlety, aiming to ensure that the sound appears to come from the performer on stage rather than visible loudspeaker st
USA - Power Plus Sound & Lighting provided audio reinforcement for the San Diego Symphony recently. Searching for a specialized microphone for Ilmar Gavilan - the Cuban-born violinist in Doc Severinsen's Latin Band - audio engineer David Leyton auditioned several mics before choosing the DPA 4061. He characterizes the reaction musicians had to the miniature condenser in a typically straightforward way: "They play for a few seconds, look up and say, 'we want to use that one'."
Leyton explains: "We need a very high quality mic to use on the strings to get more gain with pop and rock acts, and because of the high SPL this microphone can handle, it can be used in virtually any application. What's beautiful about the string mounting system is its non-invasive rubber mount that hooks onto the strings behind the bridge. A lot of violinists are hesitant to hook anything r
UK - The London fashion world turned out in force at the end of last month for the launch of Matches' eighth store in the capital, this time in trendy Notting Hill. Top models and fashion designers including Alexander McQueen rubbed shoulders with 200 guests and fashion celebrities at the event, while Matches turned to entertainment specialist Sound Division to provide the necessary DJ control equipment and audio services, including a radio link to deliver the audio across three separate stores.
Sound Division's Chris Baxter, who was responsible for designing and specifying the system, commented: "As with all of these events, providing the control equipment was the easy bit. We supplied a pair of SL1210 MK III turntables, a Pioneer DJM500 mixer, and a Denon 1800 CD player with a JBL Eon10 powered monitor. The tricky bit was cabling around the store in a discreet and tidy ma
UK - The ISCE (Institute of Sound & Communications Engineers) enjoyed another successful Institute Day recently. The event, held in Watford 17 October, included the 2003 Warren-Barnett Memorial Lecture, given by Dr. Paul Darlington on AFILS (Audio Frequency Induction Loop Systems). Later, the Institute held its AGM and Annual Dinner, during which Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Leon Pieters of Ampetronic and E. A. H. W. 'Bill' Preedy - considered to be the Father of Voice Alarm.
USA - Crown International has released an IQ Network software application for Pocket PC-compatible devices. Called Pocket IQ, this is a free application which allows audio control of TCP/IQ-based networks to be controlled from a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).
Stephen Morris, director of marketing for Installed Sound, Touring and Cinema markets for Crown commented: "This new application makes the IQ Network even more flexible and user-friendly. With Pocket IQ, you can easily walk around and make system adjustments with an off-the-shelf PDA that you may already own and use."
Pocket IQ works together with Crown's free IQwic software suite, enabling Pocket PC PDAs with Ethernet connectivity to control and monitor the audio functions of devices on an IQ Network. IQwic allows users to develop custom control screens for the Pocket PC, which are then imported into the Poc