UK - Leisuretec Distribution is gearing up for an interactive seminar on Multi-Format Vision Mixing, in partnership with Roland Systems Group on Wednesday 23 July.

Following the success of their last event, Demystifying Web Streaming in June, Roland Systems Group and Leisuretec have designed this seminar to specifically highlight some of the daily challenges that live event professionals face with different video standards, connections and formats. Focusing on the practical application of managing video production, the seminar is designed for live event equipment users, operators and technicians.

As a market leader in multi format integrated audio and video products, Roland Systems Group has evolved the concept to embrace SD, HD, 4K, audio embedding/de embedding and AV streaming from a single unit. The innovative design of the latest multi format products from Ro

UK - Following a period of reorganisation at Yamaha Commercial Audio's UK operation, the company has confirmed its new sales and technical support team.

Mixing long-term experience with 'new blood', the team is headed by Robert Webster, Yamaha Commercial Audio UK's new divisional director, who has been with Yamaha for 30 years. Previously in charge of both the Electronic Keyboard and AV Divisions, Robert's intimate knowledge of Yamaha, its products and customer base makes him the ideal leader of the new team, says the company.

Working closely with Robert is Karl Christmas, who occupies the new position of sales & marketing manager for UK and Ireland. Karl has been a very familiar face to Commercial Audio customers for over two decades and he will continue to be very 'hands on' with dealer and end-user relations.

Meanwhile, Northern and Southern regional sales will be handled

Europe - Meyer Sound has strengthened its European technical services with the appointment of Oskar Meijer as senior technical support specialist. Meijer brings a wealth of field experience working with Meyer Sound products, including the newest Leo family of line array systems.

In his new position, Meijer will support Meyer Sound's European customers in the design and optimisation of loudspeaker and digital audio systems, on-site project commissioning, and after-sale customer training. He will work closely with the technical support teams in Europe and at the company's Berkeley, California headquarters.

Meijer has more than 20 years of experience in the design, configuration, and commissioning of complex audio systems, and has worked as a stage technician, ground rigger, and project manager. He has served as a lead systems technician at major European festivals such as Way Ou

UK - Solid State Logic has announced that its Offline Setup software for the SSL Live console is now available for free download. The SSL OffLine Setup Application, or SOLSA, allows creation and editing of Live console Showfiles on a laptop or desktop PC. Almost anything that can be done on a Live console can now be manipulated and configured 'offline' when access to a console is not possible.

Software functionality includes console architecture configuration and setup of fader tile layers and banks. Stageboxes and I/O routing can be assigned along with the creation of scenes and other automation editing. SOLSA also allows you to add effects, manipulate channel processing settings, bus routing and VCA assignments. SOLSA includes the same Help System as the Live console software, offering a built-in user guide with tutorials and reference sections.

SOLSA is intended to enable e

USA - George Strait holds the record for the most number one country music hits - 44 top charters since 1981 - of all time. So it only makes sense that the final show of this music icon's national touring career would also set a record for attendance. Nearly 105,000 fans attended Strait's 7 June concert at AT&T Stadium, eclipsing the Rolling Stones' previous attendance record of 87,500 for the venue in 1981, coincidentally the same year the singing cowboy launched his professional career.

Dallas-based Onstage Systems, which has been rigging sound reinforcement for Strait's tours since the beginning of his performing days, pulled out all the stops for the final date on the tour, dubbed The Cowboy Rides Away, powering up a massive L-Acoustics K1/K2 loudspeaker system to fill the stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys.

"K1 is the premier stadium line array system and we'

Ghana - The Gearhouse Group of Companies, the leader in the South African market for equipment rental for live events, is extending its service to the continent with the establishment of Gearhouse Ghana, a fully-stocked operation located in Accra.

The Group has seen a steady increase in demand for cross-border services in recent years, in line with the escalating interest in the African continent as an event destination. Gearhouse regularly services events in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Brunei, Tunisia, Congo, Namibia, Egypt, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Zambia and Tanzania - amongst others.

Now, Gearhouse is able to provide West African events with the same level of technical services as would be available in any other major event destination, both quickly and cost effectively, the company says.

Heading up the new company are Bil

Belgium - One of the Belgium's best-known football teams is celebrating an audio refurbishment at its home stadium, the Stade Constant Vanden Stock, known better as the Stade d'Anderlecht.

Home to Anderlecht FC, the 24,000-capacity Brussels stadium, used solely for football, needed to upgrade its 25-year-old PA/VA system. Following evaluation of three possible solutions, long time Anderlecht solution supplier Prosonix, together with Nexo's Belgian distributor's Pascal Deneef, proposed a Nexo compact, two-way Geo S12-ST system. The Geo S12-ST, a specialist stadium version of the popular Geo S12, fitted the stadium's requirement for long-throw line array cabinets perfectly. Another major reason for choosing the Nexo option was the success of the Geo S12-ST system installed in France's Stade de Valenciennes, a similar venue in size and design.

Nexo's Paul Massiani, together with

Europe - The climax of Hard Rock Rising On The Road, the European mobile music tour organised by Hard Rock Cafe was staged in Rome on 12 July, with a major live show, Hard Rock Live Roma taking place across two stages in the city's Piazza del Popolo in the lead up to it, a DiGiCo SD9 has been mixing the 15 date European tour, featuring some of Europe's hottest musical up and coming talent.

Taking in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Venice, Florence and Malta before the Rome show, the tour travelled over 8000 miles and required fast set ups, sound checks and turnarounds.

Touring Europe with an articulated truck stage and a long wheelbase van and just four personnel is a tough assignment, so a compact but versatile and fast to set up mixing console was essential. This is why Darren from ProTechTour and Hard Rock

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) has been appointed as Mackie distributor by Loud Technologies.

NMK is taking over the distribution in the whole region covering the countries that haven't been directly covered before. Aside from the distribution itself, the key element of the company's business is the quality service centre which provides required maintenance or repair of both Mackie's new and old models. To provide the best after-sales service during and after a warranty period, NMK keeps investing in training and developing its employees.

NMK began operations in 1987 focusing on the audio, video and lighting industry. From its humble beginnings in Sharjah, the company has grown into a leading distributor of professional audio products in the Middle East. Together with its portfolio of reputable brands, a dynamic team and strong financial foundation ther

USA - What started as a late-night effort between two brothers in 1987 to perfect their mother's secret recipe turned into Crabfries and launched their fledgling restaurant, Chickie's and Pete's Crab House and Sports Bar, to critical and commercial success. ESPN recently proclaimed the establishment to be the 'Number One Sports Bar in North America' and Maxim magazine deemed it the 'Greatest American Neighbourhood Bar'.

Now a well-established Philadelphia favourite, Chickie's and Pete's is expanding its reach and recently opened its 26th location in Atlantic City's Tropicana Resort & Casino. As with all of the other Chickie's and Pete's locations designed and installed by Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Pro Systems, the new one uses Symetrix processing. This time it's two SymNet Radius 12x8 Dante network audio DSPs paired with two SymNet xIn 12 and two xOut 12 audio I/O exp

UK - Famously unfinished at his death, Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor was completed the following year by the composer's student Franz Xaver Süssmayr, prompting over 200 years of debate as to what Mozart really intended the finished piece to sound like. A brand new interpretation of the piece has recently been recorded using Neumann digital microphones, prompting universal praise.

Performed by baroque ensemble The Dunedin Consort under the direction of conductor John Butt, the recording was made in Edinburgh's Greyfriars Kirk and issued on Scottish independent label Linn Records.

"In many ways it was a way of rehabilitating Süssmayr," says Phillip Hobbs, chief producer at Linn Records. "Ever since Requiem was completed, there has been a huge amount of discussion about whether he did a good job of it and so people have been coming up with new ways of f

UK - PLASA has become the latest Associate Member of JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Support), further strengthening the JAMES industry accreditation and education support process.

Matthew Griffiths (CEO PLASA) said, "We have watched the quality work of JAMES grow over several years. We are now very happy to join with the other trade organisations in JAMES, playing our part in supporting education. Being part of the JAMES course accreditation programme will ensure that our sectors will have representation in course design and delivery."

The new association will now allow JAMES to work alongside PLASA to create and develop HE course accreditation structures for the event, entertainment and installation industries.

David Ward (JAMES policy director) commented, "The years of industry experience represented by the PLASA membership is very well-respected and we

USA - Community Professional Loudspeakers unveiled its new corporate brand identity at InfoComm last month. Community's booth and demo room showcased the new look of the brand while I Series, a family of premium point source loudspeakers launched at the show, signalled a bold new direction for the company's product design language.

Founded in 1968, Community has an impressive record of innovation and longevity and the company continues to reinvent itself in response to changing customer needs, global market forces and technical advances in the industry. The new brand identity and product design language are key elements of a branding initiative which reinforces Community's focus on the installation markets and its commitment to innovative product design.

"The revised corporate identity is a vibrant and engaging new expression of the Community brand legacy - past, present

USA - The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) houses one of the most extensive collections of natural and culturally historic artifacts on Earth, over 35m objects in all, some dating as far back as 4.5 billion years.

Since opening in 1913, the NHM's mandate has been to preserve, protect and research those artifacts, and to curate ever more immersive exhibitions in an effort to inspire "wonder, discovery and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds" in visitors. With the 2013 addition of The Otis Booth Pavilion, which features a cutting edge AV system that relies heavily on Tannoy's QFlex, VLS and CMS Series loudspeakers, the NHM has created a space that will allow them to do so more effectively than ever before.

Made possible by a $13m gift from the Otis Booth Foundation and designed by CO Architects, the construction of the pavilion was part

UK - The continuing growth of the JHS pro audio division has led to the appointment of Chris Walton to handle in-house demos and provide detailed technical advice on the firm's pro audio portfolio consisting of HK Audio, Lab.gruppen, LA Audio, Lewitt, Cymatic and more.

JHS exec sales & marketing Alan Smith said, "We often have trade customers coming to our head office demo facilities in Leeds and it's not always convenient to pull our field based pro audio managers in. Chris has the knowledge and expertise to advise, rig and demo the gear as well as providing additional telephone and email support."

As an industry stalwart, Chris Walton joins with many years' of pro sound industry experience. The last 22 years have sent Chris around the land facilitating both live and install audio solutions as well as music production and design. Chris has worked extensively with Yo

UK - Sennheiser UK has announced that Simon Holley has been appointed to the position of commercial sales manager for its Pro Systems division.

Simon joins from his previous position as sales manager at Bose UK and will work closely with and manage Sennheiser UK's extensive pro audio sales team. Simon will also liaise with key accounts and partners in each sector, helping to serve them and, in turn, Sennheiser's end users better.

"Originally coming from a background of B2B and B2C sales in the aftermarket automotive industry, and then spending the past seven years in the pro audio industry heading up the professional systems division for Bose UK, has given me a wealth of experience in sales and sales team management," says Simon. "My experience in the Pro Audio market spans a multitude of market segments and customer/account types. I will draw on this experience

Finland - Genelec is now shipping the 8010 active monitor, the smallest member of the 8000 product range. The 8000 Series is widely used in the high-end professional audio, mastering, post-production and broadcast market sectors around the world. Its professional heritage is reflected in the compact-sized 8010.

Suitable for professional work in small studios, it offers accurate monitoring capability with ease of installation. The outstanding sound quality makes the 8010 ideal for small editorial studios and OB vans, and a perfect companion for portable recording devices and other mobile production work.

Featuring a balanced XLR input, 3-inch bass driver, 3/4-inch tweeter and efficient Class D power amplifiers - one for each driver - the 8010 produces more sound pressure level than might be expected from a monitor of this size. The Intelligent Signal Sensing ISS circuitry saves

The Netherlands - Showcasing new and innovative products and technologies as well as proven devices, Lawo will use this year's IBC to address audio and video broadcast, software solutions and workflow optimization issues

A world premiere to be held on Friday 12 September 2014 at noon will present the IBC audience in Amsterdam with a brand new audio mixing console that "extends Lawo's application range and rounds up the company's product portfolio". This addition to the product family boasts high performance and a new face, with an advanced feature set based on proven Lawo technology. It is, in the company's words, "simply unbelievable".

The new crystal radio console offers a cost-effective entry point into the Lawo world of mixing, bringing comprehensive out-of-the-box functionality plus all of the flexibility and customizability for which Lawo is renowned.

USA - Synergetic Audio Concepts (SynAudCon) has announced their in-person seminar schedule for the fall of 2014. SynAudCon provides real-world audio education through web-based and in-person training worldwide.

Sound Reinforcement for Technicians (SRT) is a three-day seminar that covers the theory behind how sound systems work and demonstrates how to use instrumentation to troubleshoot systems. The seminar is will be offered in Charlotte, NC on 17-19 September, 2014 and again in Dallas, TX on 6-8 October 2014.

During day one and two, instructor Pat Brown provides hands-on exercises that use a signal distribution system and an iPod Touch loaded with software apps that allows attendees to measure voltage, impedance, polarity, SPL and STIPA. Attendees learn what these measurements mean along with how to use them to troubleshoot systems and make sure they are performing opt

USA - In her young spectacular career, multi-Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles has already worked with an impressive array of superstars, collaborating with the likes of Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and Pharrell Williams, and opening for Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. This summer Bareilles harmonised on stage before a national TV audience with another new star that's been garnering a great deal of attention lately, the Nexus 4x4 COB LED panel from Chauvet Professional.

LD Peter Greenbaum (Illumination By Design), the lighting director for the Today Show, used 12 Nexus 4x4 panels to accent Bareilles' dynamic Toyota Concert Series performance on the popular morning programme. Greenbaum lined the upstage area behind the platinum-selling recording star's piano with two banks of three Nexus panels to create a focal point behind her as she performed. He also lined two upright truss sup

China - The global reach of Coda Audio continues to extend, with installers keen to embrace the company's signature audio quality and seamless coverage. Two of the latest installations are in new Chinese theatres.

Built in the form of a pentagon, the striking Huainan Theatre cost $48m US and covers an area of 24,500sq.m. Capable of accommodating up to 1280 people, the building's internal design caused considerable difficulty with designing a PA system that was suitable for the variety of performances and conferences it is required to host.

After lengthy discussions with the theatre's owners, technical installation company Zhejiang Tongbo Electronic Engineering Co Ltd - otherwise known as Tempo - specified a Coda Audio system.

The system is configured as an LCR arrangement and features Coda Rx35 full-range units as the main speakers, with PW418 subs, K5 compact two-way units

Burundi - Christ for All Nations (CfaN) recently debuted its new Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system at a four-day gospel crusade on the outskirts of Bujumbura, Burundi. Set up in an open field without delay towers, the Leo system performed flawlessly for the musical and speech programmes in front of 200,000 visitors, and replaces CfaN's Meyer Sound MSL-3A conventionally powered loudspeaker system that has served the ministry for 26 years.

Unassisted by giant video screens, lighting effects, or pyrotechnics, CfaN events rely heavily on exceptional audio reinforcement. "Clarity of speech is our primary concern at these events," says Derek Murray, head of sound operations for the ministry. "The Leo system is able to cover very large areas with high intelligibility, as proven by positive reports from the perimeter of the field."

The s

UK - Fresh off the Franz Ferdinand tour, monitor engineer, Tom Howat, took the same iLive modular set up of an iLive-112 Surface and iDR10 MixRack with additional PL10 remote controller on a short UK tour with Paolo Nutini.

Beginning with a set at Radio 1's Big Weekend festival and culminating in a performance at London's Roundhouse, audio production for the tour was managed by Britannia Row. Paolo was on four d&b M2 wedges run as a stereo mix, there was a guitar player on two M2 wedges, and then nine other musicians all on in-ears, plus Tom's PFL wedges, run "a little unusually" in stereo.

"It was very interesting to mix a different act on the same iLive system. Having spent many years working with Paolo this was an excellent opportunity to properly compare the iLive to past experiences. I ended up with only half a dozen unused input channels and because of the

USA - North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, provides high-quality live audio in its main auditorium, broadcasts its worship services over a local television station, records them for use in a satellite church and provides simultaneous translation into Spanish and Chinese, all managed using a new sound and video system equipped with a pair of Allen & Heath GLD-80 digital mixers.

"Our previous system was 17 to 18 years old, and it was designed for our needs at that time," says Mike Jones, who oversees worship production for the church. "We wanted a system that sounded better and had better coverage. Also, we wanted a system that had the capability to handle everything we've been working into the worship service."

Based on these goals, North Boulevard Church retained a consultant to do a survey and provide a basic system design. After a

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