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UK - Cambridge Audio-Visual acquired a new 24-channel GL3300 live sound console from Allen & Heath to manage sound reinforcement at a conference marking the 50th anniversary of a landmark in scientific history, the discovery of the structure of DNA.

The prestigious event took place at the University of Cambridge on 25 April, 50 years to the day after Watson and Crick published their landmark paper. Eminent scientists and researchers in the field of DNA, including Nobel Prize winners, members of Parliament and the University's Chancellor, HRH Prince Philip, gathered to discuss a range of subjects from the history behind the monumental discovery, to the progress made over the last 50 years by the science industry that resulted from it.

Cambridge Audio-Visual's general manager, Julian Berry explained: "Our available hire stock did not have the sound quality or number of chan

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France - EASE users can now design and simulate curved vertical Tangent Arrays based on Nexo’s GEO S Series array modules within EASE 4.0. A new Dynamic Link Library (DLL), developed by Stefan Feistel of SDA - Software Design Ahnert GmbH, Berlin, Germany, and François Deffarges of NEXO, allows EASE users access to the same algorithms used in Nexo’s GEOSoft, a compiled MatLab application.

A new feature of EASE 4.0, EASE DLLs operate in a protected environment, allowing secure storage and safe access to the GEOSoft algorithms. The Graphical User Interface of both programs is very similar, and direct field predictions are identical (GEOSoft’s direct field predictions have been verified in field tests).

“We’re very pleased that EASE users can now design and simulate both vertical and horizontal GEO S Series Tangent Arrays," said François Deffar

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UK - Crawley-based TSC Music has achieved the revised BSI ISO 9001:2000 standard. TSC had already been incorporating the previous ISO 9001 standard in its procedures affecting the quality of its products and services since 1994, which has enabled the company to make this transition to the revised 2000 version remarkably quickly. This new standard is recognized as a business-focused quality tool and enables TSC Music to focus more effectively on customer service as well as continuing to incorporate the high quality standards it employs relating to production and installations.

Technical manager and ISO co-ordinator David Foster said: "At TSC we recognize the importance of ISO as a quality assurance standard and the positive impact it contributes towards the company achieving its short term goals and objectives as well as its long term mission and vision."

TSC’s

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UK - The 224th Epsom Derby presented an opportunity for ARB to demonstrate the diversity of its services and equipment. This is the eighth year ARB has worked at the Derby, working both for the racecourse and for production company Net Production to provide a wide variety of equipment for the weekend.

ARB’s project co-ordinator Gaynor Molyneux managed the team on site throughout the event. As part of the company’s overall remit, ARB was the key temporary power supplier to the Epsom racecourse, with 16 generators on site for the Derby ranging from 30 to 320Kva, utilizing three miles of distribution cables and distro boxes all installed by specialist engineers to ensure the safe distribution of electricity. The company’s generators powered various hospitality areas including the Vodafone and Classic Marquees.

With thousands of people working on the racecourse,

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UK - Castle Donington, often referred to as the 'spiritual home' of rock in the UK, played host to nearly 50,000 metal fans who turned out for the first ever Download festival. Fifty bands from across Europe and the United States, including of Marilyn Manson, Iron Maiden, Audioslave and a surprise appearance from rock gods Metallica, roared their way through the two-day festival, ably supplied with PA equipment supplied to Clear Channel Entertainment by SSE Hire, with a little help from ML Executives.

Every console at the event was a Midas one, resulting in an impressive total of eight XL3s, three Heritage 3000s and a Heritage 1000, accompanied by a fair complement of Klark Teknik signal processing equipment. SSE employed its standard 'flip-flop' festival system for FOH across both stages. Three Heritage 3000s with an XL3 sidecar graced FOH for the main stage, while a further tw

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UK - PSD Electronics have carried out a full sound and lighting installation in a converted cinema in Brierley Hill, West Midlands.

When Derek Bater purchased the former 1000-capacity Eclipse nightclub with partner Edwin Amor he immediately contacted his old friend Phil Soltys at PSD. One of Soltys’ first jobs had been at the famous Tall Trees in Newquay many years ago when Bater had been the owner - and the two men have remained lifelong friends.The previous owner had taken it out of its reincarnation as a bingo hall, and when Messrs Bater and Amor inherited the venue - which they’ve renamed ‘The Club’ - they recarpeted and refitted the place. Taking advantage of the extra custom introduced to the Dudley area by the nearby Merryhill Shopping Centre, they are now presenting a full sound and lighting spec in a venue that hosts four bars.

Phil Soltys deci

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UK - Industry stalwart, Richie Rowley, has rejoined the BSS Audio team as regional sales manager (for Europe). In his original three-year stint with The Soundcraft Group, Rowley was involved in the development of the Omnidrive and Varicurve platforms. After six-and-a-half years with Martin Audio as product manager, he returns to join a new team, leading an ambitious product initiative.

Of the vigorous BSS R&D programmes in place, Rowley notes: "Some of the modifications will be in evidence by PLASA, while some brand new products will be introduced during the course of next year. For me, the timing couldn’t have been better."

Another man returning to the Soundcraft Group this month is sales engineer Richard Ayres. He spent 13 years handling technical support for all brands, interfacing with dealers and distributors before leaving a year ago to join system integr

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UK - Keith Watson has been appointed to the new position of marketing director for the Soundcraft Group, worldwide. The appointment, confirmed by new Group managing director Andy Trott, is designed to increase the momentum of the Soundcraft, BSS Audio and AMEK brands.

As the company embarks on a vigorous programme of product development, Watson’s primary aim will be to raise brand profile and manage an expedient design-to-market delivery, as well as establish a number of new customer facing initiatives.

Originally a student of engineering and now, with over 20 years experience across a full range of marketing and communications programmes, Watson brings an impressive pedigree to The Soundcraft Group. Since the mid-eighties he has held senior positions responsible for every aspect of marketing, spanning advanced technology, B2B and consumer brands. He also includes band a

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Italy - On 27 May, world-famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti hosted the tenth edition of his annual Pavarotti & Friends charity concert at Novi Sad Park in his home town of Modena. The stellar cast, performing to raise funds for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (this year Iraqi refugees will receive aid from the organizers), was a cross-section of music genres: Bono, Queen, Deep Purple and Eric Clapton.

The event was transmitted live and recorded by RAI, Italy’s state TV/radio broadcaster, and this year’s technical news was audio contractor Agorà’s decision to use three recently purchased DiGiCo D5 Live consoles. Daniel Tramontani was designer and head of the complex audio set-up for the entire event - FOH, monitor, recording and broadcast. "This year’s exciting challenge was to use Agorà’s three new DiGiCo D5 consoles at this very important

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UK / USA - Following its launch at this year’s Frankfurt Musik Messe, Mackie Designs Inc is now shipping its new Tapco 6306, six-channel mixer. This is the first product in the new Tapco family, and its features include low-noise mic preamps and exceptional durability, both Mackie hallmarks.

According to Ken Berger, senior vice-president of marketing at Mackie Designs Inc, the company is committed to redefining the entry-level space by growing the Tapco family of products: "Tapco by Mackie will allow us to significantly grow our customer base by introducing Mackie technology to the entry-level market that, up to now, has had to sacrifice quality for affordability."

The Tapco 6306 features two low-noise mic preamps, two instrument inputs, a stereo aux return to monitor, two aux sends, 8-segment LED metering as well as separate phones and control room level con

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Spain - For the second year running, Blitz Communications have taken advantage of Out Board’s TiMax Production Support program to include advanced TiMax audio imaging as part of the complex audio-visual support for Opel’s European Conference event. In Valencia this spring, Blitz’s Richard Rogers chose TiMax to provide speech localisation for radio mics worn by several presenters positioned around the brand launch arena for this year’s Opel Meriva and Signum product rollouts to the motor trade. Using its Haas-Effect delay-based imaging, TiMax applied independent level/delay relationships between every mic and each distributed loudspeaker to ensure accurate localization for all audience members to maximize intelligibility and message impact.

Last year’s event in Barcelona was quite different, where Blitz used TiMax to provide atmospheric soundscapes a

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Russia - On 27 May the tsarist capital, St Petersburg, celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding by Peter the Great in 1703. Guildia of Masters was commissioned to handle the sound for one of the most spectacular events. The festival featured a lavish programme of concerts, galas and parades and attended by VIPs and politicians of all nations. One of the highlights was the 'Summit Meeting of 44 Presidents' beside the river Neva on the 27 May, at which 15 military bands - each from a different country, with those of Great Britain, Denmark and Sweden featuring prominently - played for the assembled statesmen and an audience of 8,000.

However beautiful the setting, and however precise the choreography of the military bands, the task of providing the sound reinforcement was no walk in the park. The team from the St Petersburg-based sound company Guildia of Masters had no fewe

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Australia - System Sound of Melbourne is not your everyday PA company: its expertise is tightly focused in the areas of sound production for musical theatre and musical events. For over 15 years, virtually every major musical theatre production and the majority of musical spectaculars in Australia have been the work of this one company.Its recent work has encompassed dozens of musicals, public celebrations, festivals, orchestral concerts, and musical events, ranging from Andrea Bocelli at the Sydney Opera House and the Cats in a Tent regional tour, to the stadium tours of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Aida. The 2003 Helpmann Awards saw System with three of the four nominations for Best Sound in a Musical, eventually taking the award for its work on Cabaret.

The company’s reputation for care and quality has spread well beyond their home country. The relationships it has forged wi

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UK - Electric Fly Productions, run by Nick Jevons and Philip Winward, was denied the opportunity to completely rerig a two-day live event when the rain washed away the opening day of BBC Radio 1’s One Big Weekend at Heaton Park, Manchester, recently. The pair had been looking forward to combining festival experience with the tools Jevons was first exposed to by Screenco at their Illuminated Video Workshop in autumn 2000.

Radio 1 had stepped up its One Big Sunday events from last summer to include two entirely different production platforms. In the 10,000-capacity Kayam theatre tent, Jevons’ crew was ready to break down the projected Saturday night ‘in-the-round’ 3D dance production format overnight and replace it with a conventional stage (and three-plane video backdrop) for a rock concert on Sunday - until rain forced the cancellation of the Saturday sho

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Italy - Outline H.A.R.D. 212 monitors were used on the Italian version of The Ten Commandments, the French musical which tells the story of Moses and the Israelites' escape from Egypt to the Promised Land. In Italy, it followed up on the famous Notre Dame de Paris, debuted at Milan’s Mazda Palace on 9 March 2003 and closed in Parma on 14 June. The huge 300sq.m set hosted a total of 54 artists, including 38 dancers and 16 singers.

Flown for the first time, thanks to their dedicated hardware (unique for this type of enclosure, normally used on the floor), the Outline H.A.R.D. 212 monitors were greatly appreciated for their distinctive features: ultra-low (33cm) lines, uniform off-axis dispersion over the entire audio band and linear on-axis frequency response even when the distance varies by several metres. This last characteristic ensures artists greater freed

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Italy - Sir Paul McCartney broke from his Back in the World European tour to give a memorable free concert to around 500,000 people gathered outside the Colosseum in Rome during May.

ESS built the main stage, a major undertaking since the sightlines needed to be kept clear to the Colloseum, yet it had to be capable of carrying the 60 tons of flown equipment. Big screen specialists Screenco meanwhile, joined forces with Nocturne Productions - the tour’s contracted video production company - to provide an inventory of 25mm LED displays, which were staggered down the Via dei Fori Imperiale in front of the famous landmark.

The former Beatle played for almost three hours, and for the majority in the audience, their main contact with the legendary performer was via the five 18sq.m screens, the stage action being relayed to the Screenco displays via Nocturne’s production

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Germany - German manufacturer KME's CA 6 active sound system features two top elements (CSA 400 D) and four subwoofers (CBA 600 D), providing a total output of 3kW RMS - transparent and powerful through the entire frequency range, say KME. The top elements have a continuous sound level of 129dB and the subwoofers a powerful 142dB. Weight is kept low by the use of innovative digital amplifiers and neodymium speakers. The rear dual transport cover provides protection for the amplifier module - and the entire 3kW system can be transported in an estate car.

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UK - Arbiter Pro Audio, UK distributor for JBL, has supplied sound installer Audiotek with a JBL system specified by sound designer Santi Arribas, for Rouge - a mix of clubbing, live music and parties. Arribas’ sound design needed to be dynamic yet comfortable for Rouge’s comparatively small areas, so he chose JBL elements for all five music rooms.

In addition to each room having its own character, Arribas wanted to produce a high-clarity, uniform venue-wide sound, so there was no overall dramatic divergence in volume or texturing as people moved around the building. The system also needed to deal equally well with different styles, DJs and mixing philosophies. The basement, ground floor and first floor rooms all feature identical systems speaker-wise, comprising four JBL SP212-9 (with 90° dispersion) and an SP 128 sub - all from JBL’s Sound Power series.

Th

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UK - Aura Sound Design recently belied its name to create the video as well as the audio content for the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC's) new stage version of Midnight's Children. Chosen as the ‘Booker of Bookers’ - the best novel to win the Booker Prize in its first 25 years, Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children follows India as it gains independence from Britain through the eyes of a child born at the same moment as the new state. The novel is epic in its scope; for the stage version director Tim Supple and designer Melly Still opted to use video both to provide background footage of the period the novel is set in, and as a means of presenting some of the show's more abstract moments.

The challenges presented to the Aura team, led by LDI Sound Designer of the Year 2002 John A Leonard, were both artistic and technical. They had to gather the archive materi

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UK - Following numerous requests from customers, Galaxy Audio has produced an install version of its top-selling Hot Spot vocal monitor, the Chameleon PMCB. Incorporating the basic concept of the Hot Spot, the main difference of the install version is the replacement of 1/4in jacks with push-pin equivalents, cloth-covered grille and an optional wall- or stand-mounted yoke bracket.

Ideal for for permanent installation in live music venues, studios, conference rooms and houses of worship, the PMCB is fitted with a pair of 5in speakers, pumps out 200W, has a frequency response of 150Hz-15kHz and weighs only 8lb. Thanks to dimensions of just 7" x 11" x 5.25", they’re also relatively inconspicuous. Available in 70V or 100V versions and a choice of white or black (or grey primer for customized spraying). The Chameleon PMCB is available in the UK from Smart Sound D

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Germany - Deutsche Post's new Post Tower in Bonn is the latest creation of widely respected architect Helmut Jahn (of Chicago-based Murphy/Jahn Inc). Ranked the seventh tallest building in Germany (and the highest outside Frankfurt), the 163m high, 48-story skyscraper is elliptical in shape and consists of twin towers connected on every floor by a glass bridge across an interior open space. Scheduled to be used as office space, the Post Tower was constructed for Deutsche Post, Germany's privatized national mail service, the lead tenant for the building. Avi-Sys Kommunikationstechnik GmbH won the audio contract for the project.

Avi-Sys selected QSC's highly-regarded CX Series amplifiers for their reliability and sonic output quality, along with the company's CM16a amplifier network monitors and QSControl, QSC's Ethernet-based network audio system - to power and control the Kling

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UK - Legendary dance event, Southport Weekender, used Allen & Heath mixers on all the arenas at the 32nd event, which took place from 9-11 May at Pontins Holiday Centre, Southport, Merseyside. Divided into four genres, The Powerhouse (house and garage), The Funkbase (R 'n B and hip hop), The Connosieurs' Corner (soul) and The Bacardi Bar (jazz and drum & bass), the event included headline performances from 'Little Louie' Vega, Ronnie Herel, Richard Searling and Gilles Peterson.

Allen & Heath’s Xone:62 mixers were installed in three arenas but a Xone:V6 was the preferred choice for the flagship stage, The Powerhouse. EAW provided speaker systems for the event and European technical sales manager, Sean Martin, commented: “Southport Weekender runs twice a year and attract over 5,000 people from across Europe. DJs apart, the top performance for me had to be Allen & Heath

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UK - Carlsbro Electronics has appointed Jason Woodcock as marketing and business development manager. Woodcock was previously employed by the Hard Rock Café, as sales and marketing manager, during which time he was responsible for the implementation of Midlands Finest band competition, which gained the support of DEP International (UB40’s management company) and has just completed its second year of placing the Midlands’ unsigned talent in the spotlight.

Woodcock spent several years in Ibiza and Greece sampling the highs and lows of life as a club 18-30 rep, during which time he became the regional manager and was involved in the launch of the Sundance festival and the Beaver Espana campaign. Woodcock commented: "In the past three years I have watched with interest the re-structuring and development of Carlsbro. The company has moved forward at an alarming rate

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Germany - Camco is pleased to announce the launch of EtherCai, a software and hardware solution to amplifier networking and remote control which can be run from any PC with Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP, using an Ethernet Network-Card. Camco has been at the forefront of amplifier remote operation since 1993, when the company launched its proprietary control protocol, CAI (Camco AudioInterface) and network software WinCai, based on the industrial RS-485 Bus. The release of EtherCai takes advantage of the faster speeds and improved reliability of 21st century computers and operating systems, and combines the benefit of RS-485 and the Ethernet network.

WinCai software communicates with the new EtherCai-Server, each of which can support connections for up to 32 amplifiers. The current version of WinCai can support up to 100 EtherCai-Servers.Connection to the amplifiers is made via the pr

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