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UK - Allen & Heath showed the latest designs from its award-winning Xone range of DJ products at the Pro Light & Sound exhibition in Frankfurt last week. The Xone:S6 - a sister product to the audiophile valve rotary Xone:V6 mixer - made its debut. Offering an almost identical feature set, fitted with the same top quality components and offering equal sonic performance, the S6 is an accessible alternative to the top of the range V6, say Allen & Heath. Adopted by the leading clubs Fabric and Ministry of Sound, and the top DJ/producers Louie Vega, Sasha, Eric Morillo and Sander Kleinenberg, the Xone:V6 has set a new standard in DJ mixing since its launch in 2002, say the company.

Built to the same standard as the V6, the S6 retains key features including the six dual stereo channels with high pass filters and insert points on every channel, accurate signal level metering, "int

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UK - Energy giant BP has operated on a 13-hectare site at Sunbury for the past 80 years, but at the start of the new millennium plans were put in place to re-develop this into a brand new Business Park. The Park integrates BP's business, commercial and technology activities and is the base for some 3,000 staff.

Part of this integration involved relocating some of the resources from offices in central London and recognized the need for a series of 11 meeting rooms to be equipped with multimedia and videoconferencing support. Located in Building B - where some of the company's Gas, Power and Renewables businesses are located - each would be differently configured but with a standard template and control. Given the number of staff on site the rooms could expect little down time.

All have now been equipped by Pendax UK, and the largest - The Willow Room - utilizes two dnp 84in New

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UK - Astronaut features as part of this year's BITE season at the Barbican Pit and is the third Theatre O production to have been co-commissioned by BITE.

Theatre O's distinctive style pushes boundaries using, dance and comedy, mime and gesture, live and recorded music and sound. Their performances are minutely choreographed chaos, with even the most frenetic movement synchronized in perfect precision. The result is an exquisitely layered experience that combines the power of storytelling with the drama of theatre.

Based on a short story by Andrea Vales, Astronaut's eclectic soundtrack was co-jointly created by sound designer Gareth Fry and artistic director, Joseph Alford. The creative use of sound plays a major role in the world of Astronaut. By simultaneously using sound in both naturalistic and abstract ways, it allows the story to jump-cut through tim

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UK - Jim Griffiths is the director of the acoustics division of Capita Symonds, which has worked on noise issues at hundreds of events and venues for many years. L&SI spoke to him about the issues concerning event licensing . . .

"Over the years, PA systems have become higher quality and increasingly powerful - and therefore potentially louder. Whilst that may be what the dancers want in their club, or the rock fans want from their favourite band, local residents will probably have a contrary view, and a balance needs to be struck. Local councils are caught in the middle of these parties and have to appease the rights of residents, whilst hopefully allowing the leisure and events industry to earn a living . . . We find ourselves very busy working with promoters, venues, event organizers and councils to find acceptable solutions.

"The environmental impact from any ven

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The Netherlands - The new Formula Sound FF-6000 DJ mixer previewed at last year's PLASA show put into use at the prestigious Jimmy Woo club in Amsterdam recently. Formula Sound designed the FF-6000 mixer in conjunction with leading UK loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion-One and a panel of European DJs, and the Amsterdam event represented the mixer's official European launch.

The event, which was hosted by leading Dutch audio promotions company PB Audio, drew a huge crowd to the exclusive nightspot to see the new FF-6000 mixer put through its paces. Heading the list of artists who entertained the crowd on the night were DJ Roog (a.k.a. Hardsoul), and, underlining the versatility of the FF-6000 mixer, Hybrid Sessions, an act that mixes DJ skills with drum machines and a live sax player.

"We feel strongly that the Formula Sound FF-6000 is absolutely the best-sounding mixer the

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UK - Engineer Dave Wooster recently purchased a selection of DPA microphones, including a DPA 3521 complete stereo kit including two 4021 compact cardioid microphones, two DPA IMK4061 kits featuring a DPA 4061 miniature omnidirectional mic with instrument mounting accessories, and a DPA 4088 compact cardioid headband mic. Wooster is using the new mics in both his Kool World studio, and on the road. He is currently touring with Latin jazz ensemble Matt Bianco, bringing together their original lineup of Mark Reilly (vocals), Basia Trzetrzelewska (vocals) and Danny White (keyboards) for the first time in 20 years. The 4061 miniatures are being used for close miking the cymbals, attached to the stands with DPA's magnetic mounts.

"The 4061's dynamic response and ability to handle the vast dynamic range that the band's drummer can generate never ceases to amaze," he says. &q

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UK - How important are the leaders of a company to its financial performance? According to industry analysts Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, we are about to find out, as one in six UK sound equipment company directors will be aged over 60 by the end of 2005. Plimsoll's latest study is an analysis of the UK's top 238 sound equipment companies and the 495 company directors that are responsible for them. David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll, comments, "The reason for most concern is that of the 249 directors that have been in office for over eight years, 26% will be aged 60 or more by the end of 2005. Is the industry facing an experience 'timebomb' as these veterans near retirement age?"

The full 443 paged analysis of the UK sound equipment industry includes an examination of the age and time in office of directors at the top 238 companies. It assesses how their decisions

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Lee Baldock visits XTA on the eve of the European launch of its latest product, the DP428 audio management system.

UK - XTA is a UK manufacturer with as good a reputation for its signal processing and dynamics kit as any manufacturer out there. Formed by three ex-Klark Teknik R&D engineers in 1992, the company has grown from the humble origins of Andrew Grayland's back bedroom (although I'm sure it was a very nice room) to a multi-million pound venture, headquartered in the more businesslike environment of its current home in Stourport-on-Severn.

Now in its 13th year, the company has behind it a string of highly successful products - among them the industry-standard DP224 and DP226 loudspeaker processors, the SiDD intelligent dynamics package and the Series 2 dynamics. Its success has come partly from a market-led approach to product design; Grayland and co-founder John Austin

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UK - While the remaining members of Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor, were pleasantly surprised to find that 21 years after their last tour Clair Brothers Audio is still the biggest PA rental company in the world, some things had changed. The band's itinerary has them scheduled to play the arenas of Europe, followed by some stadium dates this summer and a tour of the US in the autumn, "but we started rehearsals in Roger's home studio, so space was a bit tight," said monitor man Steve May. He explains: "The band suggested I use a Yamaha PM1D, but at that time the pre-amps in the desk hadn't been upgraded, and besides it's nearly as big as an XL4. The logical choice was the new PM5D."

With a stated preference for the old Midas analogue warhorse, how's he finding the Yamaha? "Overall it's sounding great, the band think so too; it's a busy show with lots of

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Slovakia - Slovakian Superstar is the country's first series of the Pop Idol roll-out, and has captured the nation's popular imagination, with up to 1.8 million TV viewers (out of a population of approx. 5.5 million), a highly enthusiastic public, and 3,678 original applicants, whittled down to the 11 most talented finalists.

Superstar is broadcast live each Friday night from the National Tennis Centre arena in Slovakian capital, Bratislava, staged in front of 1,500 highly vocal fans. STV has put 2.6 million Euros into producing the series, making it the country's largest TV project to date, and very much a matter of National pride. The live show tickets are allocated as give-aways for various competitions and about half via the show's main sponsors, including Nestlé.

Naturally, production values are right at the top of the agenda, with STV seeking the best technical and crea

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UK - London's St. Paul's Cathedral is in the midst of a substantial audio upgrade which has seen a complete overhaul of its room and signal processing by long-term contractors, RG Jones Sound Engineering Ltd. System designer and project manager Jon Berry favoured BSS Soundweb architecture following discussions with Arup Acoustics' consultant Sam Wise. Arup had been asked to provide an independent assessment of the original system and identified that while RG Jones' bespoke speakers were still serviceable, the front end - including custom mixer, graphics and delay lines - needed a substantial overhaul to satisfy the broadening function of the Cathedral, and the audio requirements of congregation sizes up to 2,600 people.

As one of the cathedral's preferred suppliers, RG Jones was contracted to undertake the work by St. Paul's Dean and Chapter, acting on the advice of Martin Stanc

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UK - Surrey-based loudspeaker manufacturer EM Acoustics has named Chris Hinds as sales and marketing director. Known throughout the industry for his work with Turbosound and Beyerdynamic, Hinds' role is primarily looking after international relationships, as well as strengthening the already-developing brand within the UK. Hinds says: "The offer of working with an exciting, emerging brand was too good an opportunity to pass up. Drawing from my own experiences of loudspeaker design, EM Acoustics have some very talented designers, and it is this that initially drew my attention towards them."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - London's Sounds Expo will witness a number of UK product debuts and promotions on the Shure Distribution stand 525. Firstly Shure's E4c sounds isolating earphones will make their UK debut, having already made headlines, as they were one of this year's International CES Innovations 2005 Award honourees. They are the ideal accessory for music lovers who are serious about sound quality and detail, the E4c's are also the lightest in Shure's family of E Series earphones and mirror the iconic design of the iPod.

Furthermore Phonic's Helix Boards will also be unveiled and consist of two models; the Helix Board 12 is a 12 input compact mixer with 4 mic/line input channels, two paired stereo input channels and two stereo AUX returns. While the Helix Board 17 is a 17 input compact mixer with five mic/line input channels, three paired stereo input channels and three stereo AUX returns

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UK - Leeds is the second city centre site of the new bar and restaurant concept Babycream. The forces responsible for the world famous Cream and some of Liverpool's chicest nightspots are behind this venture. Cream has a strong tradition in clubbing, festivals (including the hugely popular Creamfields), and records.The latest Babycream is a two floor venue occupying a prime site in the heart of Leeds on the Headrow. Intimate booth seating downstairs combine with a bar and dance floor area providing a 600 capacity, whilst the upstairs restaurant seats another 80. Joint operators, The Lyceum Group (founder of Liverpool's renowned Blue Bar & Grill, Baby Blue and The Pan American Club), are keen to ensure that Babycream Leeds delivers on style and contemporary design, with an emphasis on quality eating, premium drinks and cutting edge music.

Music is a massively important part of th

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UK - The Spinal Research Top to Tail Dinner took guests into the world of James Bond and attracted the support of some leading celebrities in raising £80,000 at the Savoy this April.

Lorraine Kelly and Jim Rosenthal hosted 300 guests through a light hearted evening with a serious fund-raising purpose. A fast moving fashion show entertained guests with models including ex bond girls Maryam D'Abo and Caroline Bliss, joined by D'Arcy Bussel, Jilly Johnson and sporting icons David James, Richard Dunwoody, David Ginola and (hotly tipped as the next James Bond) actor Colin Salmon.

Sound engineer Richard Ryan skilfully mixed James Bond tracks to create a dynamic feature of the evening, he commented: "The fashion show was quite complicated due to the number of different tracks behind the catwalk parade. I introduced the stings behind each of the couples whilst keeping the backgr

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UK - Hawthorn was appointed as technical production contractors for the 2005 RSVP party at Olympia, supplying lighting, sound, AV, rigging and drapes.

With a low ceiling height and no provision for rigging Hawthorn decided to make a bold feature of the truss and created a ground support structure with lots of long spokes covering both the stage and the rest of the room. As UK dealers, Hawthorn used Prolyte's X30V truss due to its lightweight but superior strength, allowing large spans of truss with the minimum number of truss legs.

With only a 3m clearance, Hawthorn specified Mac 250's and Mac 300's - due to their small size, uplit with Thomas PIXELline battens. Working in conjunction with Mask Event Design and Production, Hawthorn sponsored the Event Talks area. Hawthorn draped the room in its white Expo Cloth, a fabric it imports for its light reflective abilities. These dra

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UK - Adlib Audio has completed a stylish sound installation, blending art, science, acoustics and aesthetics at Panacea in John Dalton Street, Manchester.

Panacea is the brainchild of one of the City's smartest young local party people and entrepreneurs, Joe Akka. Superlative acoustics was seen as absolutely crucial to creating Panacea's essential atmosphere. Akka contacted Adlib Audio's Andy Dockerty via recommendations from Kennedy Street Enterprises, and asked him to design an appropriate system - keeping the speakers as invisible as possible.

Dockerty - renowned for his attention to detail and quality and Dave Fletcher, who produced all the cabinet work, designed, specified and built a tailor-made system for Panacea. This involved embedding four speakers into each of Panacea's structural pillars with a minimal extrusion to ensure the preservation and integrity of the inter

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Czech Republic - Every year, the Akademie populární hudby (Czech Academy of Popular Music) stages the Andel Awards - the Czech equivalent of the Grammys - which are presented at a glittering ceremony. The event is a major highlight of the musical year in the Czech Republic, staged at Ostrava's CEZ Arena and broadcast live on Czech TV and Czech radio. In 2005, with 14 bands appearing live on stage, the event's promoter called on the extensive experience of Rental Pro for a PA system which featured, for the first time in the Czech Republic, the use of digital mixing consoles.

Apart from the broadcast audience of many millions, the crowd in the Arena numbered around 8,000. For Rental Pro, the choice of the PA system was clear: Nexo Geo T (10 T4805s and three T2815 per side), with Nexo Geo S cabinets (nine S805 and an S830 per side) for the sides of the arena. Powered by Camco Vor

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Australia - Established in 1881, The Three Weeds Hotel in Rozelle (or The Rose, Shamrock and Thistle to give it its official name) has undergone an exciting transformation. The hotel was purchased by Todd Salter of Investment and Development Corporation in 2002. He closed the large rear entertainment section while contemplating the re-design. Besides the extensive building re-development, the AV component was also of paramount importance. Salter therefore turned to Sydney-based Avsound Productions to deliver a top quality result. "Once we knew exactly what Todd required we recommended a high quality JBL speaker system incorporating Crown amplification and BSS Soundweb for all DSP," said Justin Lakerink, Avsound's project manager.

Rod McKinnon and Jeff Shoesmith from Jands worked closely with Justin to map functionality throughout the various audio zones of the venue. D

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Singapore - In 1996, a group of five Christians gathered for its first bible study meeting. Under the mentorship of another established church in Singapore, this small group and its leaders soon increased in numbers and grew to become Heart of God Church (HOGC), a church registered with the Registry of Societies in Singapore in 1999. Very much a part of the charismatic church movement in Singapore, HOGC recently made a bold decision to move to the city, right into the very heart of the Singapore shopping belt. On 12 December 2004, Heart of God Church held its opening service and opened the doors to its training and facilities centre in the city, focusing on reaching the next generation in an urban environment.

Being in the heart of the city, the HOGC converted a whole floor of a prime commercial building into a beautiful new training and facilities centre for the church, allowin

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UK - Marquee Audio has sold thirteen Midas Venice and Verona consoles in the first two months of the year, including a Venice 160 delivered to Jason Wood, rising musical star of one of London's increasingly popular entertainment venues, the Comedy Café.

According to Marquee's Spencer Brooks: "The reliable performance and audio quality of the Midas consoles keeps them in demand with our customers. Recently the volume of sales has been especially high for the compact consoles, first the Venice, and more recently the Verona."

Marquee has supplied Venice desks to Cloud One, Lost It, Blue Audio and AVE. Customers for the Verona model have included Entec, W.E. Audio, Thames Audio and Chaps PA.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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Italy - Gioia Molinari has been appointed head of marketing and communications for Italian audio manufacturer RCF SpA. Molinari graduated in marketing and languages at UWIC (University Wales Institute Cardiff) has previously worked in the banking sector. Initially she worked for two years in London for Deutsche Bank, before moving to Milan. She then returned to London where she was responsible for all the bank's Equities Marketing activities in Europe.

After six years in the banking sector Molinari decided to go back to Italy to pursue a different career in a more creative environment. She joined the RCF team on 1 March where she will be responsible for looking after all the public relations activities, as well as updating the website. Molinari commented on her appointment: "I'm looking forward to working in the audio industry and the new challenges that it offers. One of m

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UK - Following numerous enquiries and subsequent orders from sound hire and touring companies, Smart Sound Direct has launched a special PA package aimed at larger outdoor events such as carnivals, festivals and concerts.

The 'Carnival PA Package' comprises two pairs of Precision Devices-loaded Concert Performance CP115 tops and a pair of CP28SPD subs - offering a total power handling of 7.2kW RMS.

Fitted with a compression driver and super tweeter, the CP115s are rated at 3.2kW RMS, and the CP8SPDs at 4kW RMS. The latter offer added flexibility courtesy of a special input connector plate, allowing for 4 or 8 ohm operation.

Constructed from plywood with a hardwearing carpet finish, the tops and subs benefit from heavy-gauge, zinc-plated grilles for added speaker protection, plus Speakon connectors and bar-type handles for easy handling. Heavy-duty castors and 'skid' mounting

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UK - In a blaze of publicity, live music venue Koko in Camden was recently given a whopping technical refit. However, the last pieces in the jigsaw have now been put in place; new Midas consoles for front-of-house and foldback, including the first Siena to be installed in a live music venue.

"It's the comfort factor," says Santi Arribas, the technical manager at Koko. "Live promoters and engineers see the Midas desks and they know they are getting quality, it's very reassuring for them."

Midas dealer Glen Smith from GSA has supplied Koko with a 40-channel Heritage 1000 for front-of-house, and a 32-channel Siena for stage monitoring. Santi Arribas has had full responsibility for choosing and commissioning the new equipment, and says that both he and his clients are much happier now that the Midas boards are in place."Despite all the excitement about the

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