USA - The Queen of Hip-Hop and three-time Grammy Award winner, Mary J. Blige, is currently touring the United States in support of her current album, The Breakthrough. Travelling with a five-piece band plus three background singers, Blige's Breakthrough Experience Tour is outfitted with Sennheiser and Neumann wireless equipment, including microphones and G2 personal monitor systems, as well as antenna combiners.

Blige is a longtime user of the hybrid handheld microphone that combines a Neumann KK 105-S capsule with a Sennheiser SKM 5000-N transmitter. According to monitor engineer Ramon Morales, for this tour Blige has the Neumann capsule paired with the new nickel finish Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld, which offers a redesigned user interface, mechanics and electronics compared to the previous model.

"The supercardioid 105 capsule is not for everyone," n

Spain - D.A.S. sound systems have recently been installed at the Royal Nautical Club of Tenerife - the most renowned sports club of the island, devoted to the development of sports such as sailing, tennis, swimming and basketball. The new sound installation was handled by Oscar Molowny Sonido e Iluminación, S.L, the Canary's based firm that specialises in the supply and installation of sound systems, which has confided in D.A.S. products over the last after 25 years.

The official opening of the headquarters of the Royal Nautical Club of Tenerife took place back in 1905, in an art nouveau building, designed by architect Mariano Estanga, situated in the façade of the Castillo de Pedro. The Club was reopened after the Spanish Civil War during the celebration of the 1941 May festivities on the island. At that early stage the building hosted bathrooms, a swimming pool, dressing roo

France - The latest in a series of significant new developments for digital console manufacturers, Innovason, the company is pleased to announce a partnership with Aviom, world leaders and pioneers in personal monitor mixing technology.

The initial interface between the two companies comes in the form of an Innovason Dio module, DioAV, which is easily installed in one of the two locations available on the DSP board of the Sy48 and Sy80 consoles. Two CAT5 connectors offer direct digital connectivity to two 16-channel networks and Aviom's signature Pro16 Personal Mixers via Aviom's proprietary protocol, A-Net.

A prototype DioAV interface was shown for the first time at the recent AES show in San Francisco with commercial availability planned for the first quarter of 2007.

Innovason Xavier Pion, director of sales and marketing, regards the partnership as a highly positive move

USA - The hit Broadway musical Sweeney Todd has just finished its Broadway run before going out on tour in the US next year. The award-winning Stephen Sondheim revival starred Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris, with director John Doyle setting the action in a modern lunatic asylum, with a cast of 10 playing the roles of actors and band on stage.

Sound design is by Dan Moses Schreier, who was also responsible for the sound on the last three Stephen Sondheim revivals, with a Cadac J-Type Live Production Console taking a key role at the heart of the show's sound system.

Staged at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, the musical involved a delicate balance, featuring an intricate and highly lyrical score delivered at a cracking pace. Dan Moses Shreier explains:"This show poses an extraordinary challenge from the sound perspective, based on getting the balance between the voices

USA - JBL Professional has introduced the Variable LineArray (VLA) Series loudspeakers, designed for permanent installations requiring high-impact sound reinforcement at throw distances beyond the reach of traditional loudspeaker designs.

"With the new JBL VLA Series, the installed sound industry now has a best-in-class line array loudspeaker series that addresses the need for high intelligibility, powerful high-impact sound, yet extraordinarily even coverage on a stadium-level scale, claimed Ted Leamy, vice president of installed sound, JBL Professional. "Systems integrators will benefit from loudspeaker arrays designed specifically for permanent, large-venue installs with the fidelity and performance capabilities of a powerful touring systems."

The VLA Series is based on the same engineering science used in the established Vertec line array product family, but

UK - Since her first appearance at a Prince's Trust concert in 1996, Imogen Heap's combination of electronica, alternative pop and rock and Euro-pop has gained critical acclaim and a loyal fan base both from her days with band Frou Frou and as a solo artist. For her month-long tour of UK venues during September and October, sound rental company ESS employed part of its new Turbosound Aspect system.

Gary Brookes is the front of house systems engineer for ESS alongside Mike Benson, Imogen's front of house engineer, and Darren Connor who handles the monitor position for ESS.

At the Brighton Dome the system comprised eight TA-890H mid/high cabinets flown two wide by two deep a side, plus five TA-890L vertically ground stacked with two TSW-718 double 18 subwoofers aside. "We're using the older 718s to emphasise the real low end," explains Brookes. "This is a little o

UK - Adlib Audio supplied Californian hard rockers AFI (A Fire Inside) with a JBL VerTec PA system for the UK leg of their ongoing Decemberunderground tour. The Liverpool-based company, had previously worked with AFI's FOH engineer Pete Keppler on David Bowie's 2003 Reality tour.

With the itinerary covering a host of gigs from Nottingham Rock City to Brixton Academy, the Adlib crew - Hassane Essiahi and Richie Nicholson - knew to be prepared for all eventualities and for the wide discrepancy in venue sizes. The VerTec proved its worth on stages large and small, demonstrating its very flexible and workable floor stacking options on some of the smaller shows.

For Brixton, they utilised 10 flown VT 4889 elements per side, together with eight floor-stacked JBL VerTec 4880 subs. These were run in conjunction with two of Adlib's own FD full range cabinets per side for

USA - QSC Audio are celebrating a summer season which has seen them take full advantage of the massive construction programme taking place in the fast developing Chinese market.

By being able to offer QSC-based solutions from the Californian company's extensive product range, their territorial distributor, Beijing-based Prime Connections Inc (PCI) has successfully tendered for a number of contracts. In particular, they report that QSC sound reinforcement and network control systems have been supplied to a number of conference centres, sports halls and stadiums.

Founded in 1724, Beijing No. 2 Middle School has become the most prominent school of its type in Beijing. With its concept of all-round education, high-quality staff and advanced facilities it has produced many star pupils.

Asked to participate in the provision of a pro audio system for its newly-constructed sports ha

USA - JBL Professional is celebrating a double victory after its products came first in both loudspeaker categories at this year's Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio Awards. Over 750 industry movers and shakers attended the Awards held in San Francisco during the recent AES Convention.

JBL Professional's LSR4300 won the Best Studio Monitor Loudspeaker category, while the company's VRX932LA won the category for Best Sound Reinforcement Loudspeaker.

Martin Seidl, JBL's director of sales, Europe, says: "Everyone at JBL is very proud that our hard work has been reflected in the votes of Mix magazine readers, who have chosen to endorse LSR and VRX as industry-leading successes. We were especially delighted to receive two of the most prestigious Awards in pro audio in front of such an esteemed crowd."

The LSR4300 Studio Monitor is designed to provide accurate mixes i

USA - Meyer Sound has appointed Kurt Metzler to the newly created position of Northwest regional sales manager as part of the company's effort to build a stronger sales structure in the Western US region. Metzler's territory will cover Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Metzler's background includes stints as a live sound engineer, sound company owner, founder and owner of a successful professional audio retail store, and manufacturer's representative, as well as positions at Radian Loudspeakers, Sennheiser Electronic, and LOUD Technologies.

"Kurt's background could hardly be better for us," says Helen Meyer, Meyer Sound's executive vice president. "He knows loudspeakers, he's seen the industry from several sides, and he has been very successful both at sales and keeping his customer

USA - The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson recently completed a total renovation of its set at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The good news for musical guests visiting Studio 58 is that there is now a larger performance area as well as an improved monitor system, which benefits from a dozen new L-Acoustics 112XT and two 115XT stage wedges, all powered by the manufacturer's LA Series amplifiers.

"I'm definitely liking these monitors," says Late Late Show PA/monitor mixer Chris Maddalone, who has also mixed for The Price Is Right and American Idol and recorded and toured with numerous rock acts over the years. "I've gone through just about every box you can think of and these are right up at the top of the list, which makes sense seeing that I've used V-DOSC(r) and dV-DOSC a bunch of times and loved them."

Maddalone notes that the

Italy - Widely used by London rental firm Britannia Row Productions on the occasion of the concert by Roger Waters (Ex Pink Floyd) at Hyde Park and other high profile summer events, the Brescia manufactured line array was chosen by Nuovo Service of Bologna as FOH system for Cesare Cremonini.

The summer tour has lasted three months and the Butterfly system consisted of 14+14 CDH 483 Hi-Packs, 8+8 Victor Live subwoofers (plus 8 HARD 212 low profile wedge monitors).

Willy Gubellini, owner of Nuovo Service says: "I'm definitely satisfied with the results achieved in terms of SPL, coverage of the areas at the shows and as far as actual sound quality is concerned.

"I'd also like to stress the advantage of being able to install an array of 12/14 enclosures in such a small space and with such a very low overall weight.

"I'd say that the tour is definitely one of the

UK - Catalyst Sound & Communication Engineers has completed the installation of a new PA system for the Harlequins' Twickenham Stoop stadium using Community R-Series loudspeakers.

Twickenham Stoop is today home to both the NEC Harlequins Rugby Union and Harlequins RL Rugby League teams. With Rugby Union playing the winter season and Rugby League the summer season, the stadium is in use throughout the year and in all weather.

Catalyst has been handling the installation and maintenance of the public address facilities for the Stoop for over four years and were again appointed to design and install the system for the new Lexus stand in 2006. The system is required for recorded music and live commentary and had to meet the usual requirements for open air sports facilities - very high intelligibility with tightly controlled dispersion to give full audience coverage whilst minimisin

Italy - Italian satellite channel, Sky used Rome's annual Notte Bianca (White Night) festival to launch this year's winter football schedules. White Night is an annual event, which takes place throughout the city and covers visual arts, music dance and theatre.

Locally based events company One Group, were contacted by Sky to look after the sound for the launch. RCF's Fabrizio Grazia says: "When we were contacted to One Group who handle our events business in Rome, we suggested that they use our new Line Array system TT+. We knew that when working in the confirms of Rome's historic piazza's, it can course some acoustic problems. But on the day the line array worked perfectly."

Group One used four TTL33-A per side and 1 TTL28-A per side as FOH.

(Chris Henry)

The Ukraine - Komora, the Ukrainian-British Joint Venture and Harman Pro distributor recently installed a 56-channel Soundcraft MH4 mixing console in the most prestigious concert hall of the country - the National Palace of Arts Ukraine.

In this 3,860-seat concert hall the country's most important cultural, artistic, concert and political events take place - which is why the requirements for the main mixing console are extremely high.

Chief engineer of the Palace Ukraine, Mr. B. Klevtsov, says: "We had been considering the features of different manufacturers' mixing consoles but without hesitation made our choice in favour of the 56-channel MH4."

The company says, the clear sound of Soundcraft consoles, their functional capabilities, ease of control, sufficient number of mono and stereo inputs (56+4), 16 Auxes, eight VCA groups are the essential features that will

The Netherlands - As the countdown to ISE 2007 continues to gather pace, the show organisers have today announced that Russound, a leading supplier of multiroom audio-video systems, multichannel amplifiers, and loudspeakers, is to sponsor a lounge dedicated for European distributors to network with their resellers.

Russound has teamed up with the show organisers at ISE to sponsor this unique offering. Situated in Hall 1 at the Amsterdam RAI, access to this lounge will be free of charge to all distributors and specially invited resellers. This new initiative offers distributors and resellers a chance to network in a quieter atmosphere and to allow intensive one to one discussions away from the bustle of the exhibition floor. Complimentary refreshments will be provided throughout the day.

Jon Le Blanc, director International Division for Russound says: "This is a pivotal st

Germany - Telex/RTS has launched the PAM-16 Production Audio Monitor Panel which fits in a standard 19" rack and is one rack space high. It has 16 push button keys used for monitoring audio inputs. The PAM-16 also has four character alphanumeric displays with adjustable brightness control, making it suitable for all types of ambient lighting: from direct sunlight to darkness.

The output of the PAM-16 can be connected to a monitor speaker or can be used to create a mix (n-1 audio) that can be sent back to the Matrix as input for IFBs.

Features include 16 push-button keys available for monitoring inputs. Easy upgrades are available. Firmware updates can be received via the Internet, and then downloaded to the PAM-16 via AZedit.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Flux Events staged and production managed the recent Secret Policeman's Ball at the Royal Albert Hall for Amnesty International, working in close collaboration with TV producers, Tiger Aspect.

The charity event featured Eddie Izzard, Russell Brand, Chevy Chase, Seth Green, Dylan Moran, The Mighty Boosh, Graham Norton, John Culshaw, Al Murray, Andrew Maxwell, plus live music from Natalie Imbruglia, The Magic Numbers and The Zutons.

"The design brief was to produce a simple and memorable set that effectively communicated the Amnesty message" says event producer John Farquhar- Smith. Two large LED screens flanked the organ; a satellite stage in the shape of amnesty's logo and large projection screen was added at gallery level for those sitting behind the satellite stage to see the faces of those performing on it.

The satellite stage at the centre of the au

Denmark - Music fans at the Danmarks Smukkeste Festival, Denmark's second-biggest outdoor concert event, were recently treated to probably the best sound in the festival's 26-year history when Nordic Rentals A/S introduced the new Dolby Lake Processor on the mainstage PA system.

Nordic Rentals boasts the largest inventory of Dolby Lake Processor and Lake Contour digital loudspeaker processors in Europe - 20 units in total - and regularly supplies the sound and lighting equipment for all of the festival stages.

"I am a very happy owner after hearing the new Dolby Lake Processor at work over the last three months and receiving a massive positive response from audiences, promoters and band techs," says Jens Elsborg, technical director for Nordic Rentals. Elsborg said. "My first impression was of sweet, soft and highly detailed super-highs, and the lows are filled w

UK - UK cable specialist VDC Trading has been working in conjunction with Roland Systems Group UK to develop an easy way of connecting the company's new RSS Digital Snake to Front Of House mixing consoles.

The RSS system uses CAT 5e to connect the stage hardware to the FOH desk. At the stage end there are numerous female XLR connectors mounted directly onto the brains of the PCB. To make this connection point more rugged - and to give PA companies the opportunity to incorporate their existing line systems - Roland asked VDC's technical staff to devise a panel that would sit over these XLRs and provide one simple multipin connection.

At the other end of the system, where it connects to the FOH mixer, VDC was asked to devise another panel that would convert the fiddly D25 connectors to a simple and much stronger VDM150.

VDC director Giles Copeman, who was in charge of the proj

USA - Aviom's newly updated AN-16/o Output Module, featuring flexibility of improved mic and line output levels, convenient DB25 multipins for audio connections, and heavy duty locking Neutrik EtherCons for network connections, recently made its debut at AES 2006.

The AN-16/o provides sixteen balanced mic- or line-level analogue outputs, with switchable output levels per channel pair. Audio outputs feature secure DB25 multipin connectors. With both mic- and line-level outputs available, connecting to a console is simpler and more flexible.

The AN-16/o can be used both on stage and at front of house to provide outputs to consoles, as well as to amplifiers and speaker processors. Adding a split for recording or broadcast is as quick as running a Cat-5e cable to the additional locations and connecting additional AN-16/o modules as needed. Any number of AN-16/o Output Modules can

USA - When the student body at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas first voted to add a fee to help fund construction of the original Moyer Student Union building back in the early 1960's, UNLV had just 5,000 students, and Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack were still performing regularly down on the Strip. Forty years later the city of Las Vegas has grown beyond anyone's expectations and the current UNLV 28,000-member student population has more than outgrown the Student Union. Clearly time for an upgrade.

The new Moyer Student Union is being built in two stages, the first of which opened this autumn. The new 135,000 sq.ft space is bigger and better, offering a dining court, a TV lounge, office space for student advocacy and interest groups, more and expanded spaces for studying and socialising, a 300-seat movie theatre, and a powerful sound system utilising several models of Commu

Canada - For the Dalai Lama's appearance in front of a 14,000-strong audience in Vancouver's General Motors Place, Audio Image Canada (AIC) supplied a system comprising Meyer Sound's MILO family loudspeakers: the high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker, 120 high-power expanded coverage curvilinear array loudspeaker, MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker, and the new M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

The AIC team began by scoping out the system design using Meyer Sound's MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction software. "MAPP is powerful and accurate," says AIC head engineer Mark LeCorre. "First we worked out the design in MAPP, then my system engineer Jamie Howieson and I spent a lot of time walking every part of the room with a WiFi-enabled tablet PC that controlled our system processor, making adjustments, and using o

UK - Audio-Technica unveiled a major new marketing strategy at this year's PLASA exhibition, comprising corporate and product rebranding, promotional and pricing initiatives. The corporate rebranding is based around the concept of 'a world of serenity', and reflects the founding Zen principles of the Japanese microphone company.

The company's stand at PLASA was designed to provide stimulation of all five senses; sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Visually, the stand adopted a clean, gallery like approach to the display of products and graphics, while digital signage, promoting the new corporate branding, provided additional stimulation. Ambient sounds reproduced birdsong, while an aroma machine produced the smell of freshly cut grass, giving a sense of freedom and of being outdoors. Green tea was offered to visitors, and a central 'chill-out area' offered Japanese head and ha

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