Twenty four Tannoy i8 Dual Concentric sound reinforcement speakers have been purchased by Edinburgh-based hire company, Sound and Vision AV, to upgrade its entire mobile audio-visual and conference hire systems. The purchase followed a successful six month trial, which involved field testing four i8 speakers. Sound and Vision's mobile audio visual and conference systems are used at most major four and five star hotels in Scotland on a daily basis. In addition, the speakers are powerful enough to be used for larger conferences and road shows where required.
Ehitiki of Cyprus recently provided a Nexo sound system for the BBC Radio One Roadshow live broadcast from The Square in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. The system consisted of six Alpha EMs and B1-18s per side together with two S2s, all controlled by a single NX241 Digital TDController. The broadcast, presented by DJ Dave Pearce featured performances by Dreem Teem, Mikee B, Timmi Magic & Spoony. The collaboration between Ehitiki and the BBC was described as a complete success and future work together for this type of event is looking very likely.
London-based Orbital Sound has appointed Drew Mollison to its team of theatre sound specialists. Mollison has over 15 years' experience of West End Musicals, working on major shows such as Miss Saigon, 42nd Street and Les Miserables in a range of capacities from front-of-house operator to production engineer and sound designer. He has also worked for the Really Useful Group, supervising audio production of shows such as Starlight Express and Jesus Christ Superstar. Mollison will work alongside Orbital's Tim Sherratt in technical support, as well as expanding the capacity of the production engineering department, headed by Andy Robinson.
GMS Music has introduced the MusicPro music management system. Based on its award-winning SmartDisc technology, MusicPro offers computerised management of background and foreground music, holding up to 500 tunes which can be changed to suit the needs of the venue. GMS also offers a music exchange programme offering users access to over 250,000 hand picked tunes.
As one of the more bizarre applications for a conference system, it could be argued that the Kuwait SAS hotel has got to feature centre stage! The SAS hotel wanted to provide conference facilities with a difference and decided that a traditional Dow boat would be in keeping with both the Kuwait shoreline and the sailing traditions of the local Marafie family to whom the boat is dedicated. It is the largest Dow boat that has ever been built and has been entered into the Guinness book of records to mark the achievement. Distributor AVC won the competitive tender which was valued in excess of £100,000 to supply the AV and conference facilities with the major part of the contract being the new MCW Wireless Conference System from beyerdynamic.
Baldwin Boxall's Vigil voice alarm system has been installed at the Homebase megastore at Braehead - the largest home improvement store in the UK - as part of an extensive fire alarm and evacuation system. This is the first Homebase store to fit the system, although it is already in use by many Sainsbury's stores - owners of the Homebase chain. Fully compatible with BS5839 Pt 8, the Vigil Compact system is a 1U, simple to install voice fire system, capable of operating across four zones. Developed for use in supermarkets and shopping malls, the Vigil Compact provides an ideal solution for applications where larger, multi-zone systems would be unnecessary and more costly.
A new on-line company has been launched which offers for sale the latest range of DMX and audio control equipment. Chamtech, the company behind the site, will offer complete e-commerce facilities on line and will feature over 20 new products, with more being added in the near future. One of the most popular products featured on the site is the X-Buster, a fully specified hand-held DMX tester.
Aura Sound Design Ltd has appointment of Scott George as show control director. Cited as the most experienced show control programmer this side of the Atlantic, George began his sound career in Australia. He worked on a broad range of projects covering theatre, opera, concerts and corporate presentations, and spent three years as the hire manager of Scion Stage Sound and Lighting. He has since worked all over the world, and in the UK has been involved with Coriolanus/Richard II at the Gainsborough Studios, the Royal Shakespeare Company's Macbeth, Plenty and Phedre/Britanicus for the Almeida at the Albery, and Hey Mr Producer at the Lyceum Theatre. George is currently working alongside Aura's John A Leonard programming the complex audio system being designed by Aura for the new Madame Tussauds Exhibition in New York.
The first two of NXT's many patent applications in the USA have now been granted. The original Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA) patent (Panel-Form Loudspeaker), which was exclusively licensed to NXT in 1996, has now also been granted in the USA. A total of 376 granted patents out of a total of 1,316 patents and pending applications in 66 countries worldwide have now been confirmed. NXT has a very substantial portfolio of Intellectual Property including its own patent rights, together with those licensed to it by NCT Inc, of Maryland, USA, Sound Advance Systems of California and other technology partners. To achieve this degree of patent protection NXT spends nearly $5m per annum on patent and legal fees.
GB Audio provided the sound system for the Millennium Festival of Flight at the Museum of Flight in East Lothian, which included a display by the Red Arrows aerobatics display team. The full weekend event culminated in a 3½ hour display, which also featured the Battle of Britain Memorial. GB provided commentary and safety notice (voice only) coverage for the main viewing sites carried out by a flown cluster of Shermann HD115s over the main arena, a tower with four Shermann Commando series 3 and various smaller speakers inside the three main display hangars. Chameleon and Crest amplification was used throughout. The main viewing runway was covered by 16 Shermann Cubs. Control of all zones came from a Yamaha mixing desk with Yamaha system EQ and time delays. Around three kilometres of cable was needed and two Audio-Technica VHF wireless links to get sound to where it needed to be.
Audio Technica has introduced the new AT889cw wireless microphone. Designed for aerobic instruction and other demanding applications, this new head-worn mic provides condenser microphone quality with rugged, moisture-resistant construction. The AT889cw is a noise-cancelling microphone designed for use with all A-T UniPak wireless transmitters. Built to withstand strenuous activities, the mic has adjustable head and neck bands which allow the user maximum control over microphone positioning.
Total Audio Solutions (TAS) has commissioned a new all-digital mobile sound recording unit, designed to provide a no-compromise audio service in a compact and affordable format for broadcast, film and music production. The mobile, known as the TArdiS, is based on a 'go-anywhere' Volkswagen LT46, is designed around the new Sony DMX-R100 compact digital console. The DMX-R100 is the first in the UK to be installed in a mobile facility and is equipped with 24 T-DIF I/Os and eight AES/EBU connections as well as analogue ins and outs. Other features include 24-bit/96kHz converters and the on-board dynamics. The TArdiS is equipped with 24 tracks of Tascam DA78 multitrack and the Sony MX-2424 HD recorder, as well as a pair of Sony 4-head PCM-700 DAT recorders. Monitoring is by PMC, while effects are courtesy of a Sony DRE-S777 sampling reverb processor and DPS-V77 effects unit (both of which fea
Two famous Soho venues have been supplied with new Soundcraft mixing desks, by Marquee Audio - including one to the site of the former Marquee Club, where the Marquee Audio story began. Top Conran restaurant Mezzo, which now occupies the famous Marquee Club site at 90 Wardour Street, has replaced its 24/4/2 Delta DLX desk in the basement, where in-house sound engineer Jay Garrett will use it with the growing number of soul/funk tribute bands now being staged. From there, Marquee Audio ventured into famous erotic cabaret club, Raymond's Revuebar in Brewer Street, where their stalwart Delta 200 desk has been replaced by a 16-channel K1.
Apogee Sound International has reinforced its current European distribution channels by the addition of two new partners, Lightfactor Sales (LFS) in the UK and KEM Electronics in Greece. Lightfactor Sales is a long established UK- based distributor, servicing all areas of the pro entertainment and leisure industry, whilst KEM Pro Sound & Vision Systems is a distributor of pro-audio products.
One of the highlights of the German heavy-metal calendar, the recent 'Bang Your Head' festival in Balingen attracted over 10,000 head-bangers for two days of high culture with bands such as Scorpions, Saxon and Running Wild. Sound was once again supplied by event regulars Prolite and Media Systems, who used 30 horn-loaded HK Audio R-Series RT 112 12" / 2" mid/high enclosures along with 74 horn-loaded RL 118 (1 x 18") subs. Fifteen pairs of each were flown on each side of stage, with the remaining 44 subs were split into groups of four along the stage front. The system was controlled via a notebook computer and a network of HK Audio Digital Field Controllers, operated by engineers Alex Baron and Rob Hodgkinson. Each of the front-of-house engineers, Ernst Seider and Tom Pätsch, had his own Yamaha PM3500 mixing console, enabling them to alternate mixing duties to provide smo
English Heritage has recently employed the services of audio-visual specialist DJ Willrich to recreate the atmosphere of a 17th Century riding school at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, through the use of sound. By using a 10-channel sound system and a Maris Stinger to synchronise all the events, including lighting, DJ Willrich has risen to the task, so that visitors to the Castle can now close their eyes and imagine themselves standing in the middle of the riding school as it was more than 300 years ago. A host of sounds, including the horses moving about the school, the voice of the riding instructor, the tack and the onlookers, including Lord and Lady Cavendish themselves, combine to recreate the highly-realistic atmosphere which, according to the Chairman of English Heritage, is "a triumph".
Sennheiser UK is supplying alarge and on-going number of DAS Audio sound systems for installation by Eclipse Lighting & Sound in the rapidly-growing chain of Revolution Vodka Bars openign across the country, operated by Manchester-based Inventive Leisure. Eclipse's John Fearon said that the DAS speakers fitted the bill perfectly: "We essentially use white DAS DS8 and DS12 full-range speakers, with SUB18 bass reflex enclosures and the CT-1 system controller. DAS is perfect for this type of install. The build quality is very good and the sound is exceptional."
Amsterdam's Het Muziektheatre, home of the Dutch National Ballet and the Netherlands Opera, recently completed the final phase of a major new sound system installation. Last summer, a full FOH system was installed using Apogee ALA-3s, FH-2s, SSMs and AE-12s. This summer, a complete refurbishment of the ambient surround system was on the docket. A total of 60 Apogee SSMs and 15 custom-built subwoofers were installed at the rear of the seating areas. The five-channel ambient system is used to reproduce sound effects for opera and ballet, and it doubles as the speaker system for 'LARES,' an artificial reverberation enhancement system. Audio director, Hans-Willem de Haan, says: "The change out to the SSMs radically improved the sound quality and believability of the electronically generated reverberation field. And the wide frequency response and power handling of the SSMs let's us pro
Costa Cruises' newest and largest ship, the 2,680 passenger Costa Atlantica, became the company's flagship after joining the fleet at the inaugural ceremony in Venice last month. Built at the Kvaerner Masa yard in Helsinki, the Costa Atlantica is as tall as a 20-storey building, with a surface area 20 times the size of the Olympic stadium in Rome. It has seven bars, a two-level restaurant, café, gym, beauty salon, spa, casino, conference room and three swimming pools. The audio equipment for all public areas, including the 1,000 seat Caruso Theatre, was supplied and installed by MAVCO. The main theatre uses a Midas XL4 fully-automated audio mixer, together with a Midas XL3 side-wing mixer. 90 EAW loudspeakers, together with another 60 Renkus-Heinz and Macpherson loudspeakers provide sound to the audience of 1,170 guests, in an auditorium consisting of both stalls and an upper circle. P
L-Acoustics, distributor for The Netherlands Ogip Audio & Lights, has provided leading European leisure park operator CenterParcs with an SMPTE-controlled audio and light show. Ogip Audio & Lights BV has provided the complete technical package for the spectacular Market Dome entertainment show. Michiel Illy, head of Center Parcs' special products and development department, commented: "The overall idea of the new show is to create a theatrical show programme throughout the whole area, with the audience becoming part of the show."L-Acoustics EX-112 processor-controlled 12" coaxial full-range loudspeakers are installed with L-Acoustics SB-115 bass extensions. The recently launched L-A17 power amplifier powers the total sound system. Ashly's new Protea equaliser is used for tonal balance adjustments and time alignment. The complete system is controlled by a Akai 4-track hard-
The Sanken COS-11 miniature lavalier microphone has proved extremely popular for theatre and film applications where superior sound quality and concealment are demanded. Now Sanken have introduced an improved version - the COS.11s. The new COS-11s features a thicker cable with a 0.5mm jacket - twice as thick as previously. The new cable smoothly matches the entry connector, preventing snags when pulled through hair or clothing. Developed in conjunction with leading sound design companies, the new cable remains soft, pliable and adheres comfortably to the skin, even after extended use. The COS-11s is extremely rugged and impervious to the body humidity associated with rigorous stage film and TV production. Superior sealing between cable and microphone body eliminates ingress of water that can lead to corrosion in inferior lavelier microphones. Ideal for live broadcasting and location reco
Federal Signal has completed a major £100,000 contract to supply the prestigious Commonwealth Pool in Manchester. The company was contracted to supply and install a combined public address and voice alarm system on behalf of electrical contractors NG Bailey at the complex which, alongside the athletics stadium, will take centre stage in 2002 when Manchester hosts the Commonwealth Games. The contract included products from its Millbank public address brand and elements of data communications from its Akusta range. The facility features an Olympic-size swimming pool, a diving and training pool and a leisure area.
Autograph Sound Recording is experiencing a very busy month in preparation for a flood of theatrical events premiering around the county this coming autumn. Autograph will be supplying, installing and, in some cases, designing, the complete sound and communication systems for an eclectic mix of forthcoming premieres including Napoleon - a new musical opening in October at the Shaftesbury Theatre; The Beautiful Game - the latest offering from Andrew Lloyd Webber; The Caretaker - directed by Patrick Marber and sound designed by Simon Baker; Henry V - a timeless classic from the RSC, sound designed by Matt McKenzie; The Secret Garden - a musical version following Henry V also from the RSC and Divas at the Donmar - returning for a third season at the end of August, sponsored by Autograph and sound designed by Andy Brown. The company has spent the last six months investing in new technology a
Following the appointment of Allan Gallacher as its regional sales manager in the North, Trantec Systems has further boosted its sales force with the appointment of Gary Waywell to a similar role in the South. Waywell has spent the last two years with Stagetec UK and was previously with CCT Lighting, where he was involved with the launch of the Freedom range. He will join Tranetc in time for the PLASA launch of a new range of products.