USA - The Audio Engineering Society has announced the incoming officers and governors following the 2022 board of directors and board of governors elections. The Society’s membership has elected Leslie Gaston-Bird, as president-elect. Also on the board of directors, Valerie Tyler has been re-elected as secretary and Marina Bosi re-elected as treasurer. In the AES Elections for the board of governors (BoG), Angela Piva has been elected vice president Eastern region, USA/Canada, David v.R. Bowles has been elected vice president Western region, USA/Canada and Jamie Angus-Whiteoak has been elected as vice president Northern Europe region. Additionally, newly elected governors-at-large are Lesley Fogle, Toru Kamekawa and Marcela Zorro. Save for the president-elect, each newly-elected individual will serve a two-year term and Bosi and Tyler with have their current te
UK - Bluesound Professional has launched the B170S networked streaming stereo amplifier to North American and global distribution markets. Orders for the B170S are open immediately with warehouse availability starting in September 2022. The B170S is an all-in-one streaming solution for any commercial music installation combining a high-quality stereo low impedance and constant voltage amplifier with a BluOS enabled network music player. The low impedance output is suitable for applications where intelligibility and sophistication are important. Alternatively, multi-speaker installations like corridors or high-traffic areas can be catered to with the constant voltage option that allows for daisy-chained speakers, in turn reducing cable lengths and complexity. With keyhole slots allowing for flexible mounting options, the B170S is well-suited to hide under shelves, tabl
USA - Danley Sound Labs, in partnership with McFadden Sales, is hosting a large-scale demonstration on Thursday, 18 August 2022 at the Upper Arlington Lutheran Church’s Mill Run campus in Hilliard, Ohio. This event follows two prior successful large-scale demonstrations in Rockingham, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada. “Danley Sound Labs is about creating an audio experience,” said Skip Welch, director of marketing and sales at Danley Sound Labs. “We want prospective customers and partners to hear our products. We believe Danley products provide the highest quality audio experiences on the market and simply saying that does not do justice to the experience.” Andy Yost, principal and director of sales adds, “We at McFadden Sales are excited to partner with Danley Sound Labs to bring these experiences to customers in the Midwestern United States. These ‘
China - Fujian Province’s new Pingtan International Performing Arts Center recently invested in a series of Green-GO digital intercom products to provide a much-needed scalable, high-quality sound and simple-to-use solution. The centre, which serves as a cultural hub in the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area in northeast Jinjing Bay, is a vast building. It includes a 1,500-seat theatre, a 400-seat multi-function hall and a public centre for performance and art, covering almost 40,000 sq.m. Now open for business, it will be the home to a stage play directed by Chinese dancer YANG Liping called Pingtan Impression. Chinese AV solution provider EZPro was responsible for the audio system design and installation at the Centre. “The project needed an intercom system with a good quality of sound, which is easy to use and would be scalable. Therefore, we c
Canada - There are two reasons why audio rental company, Gearforce Pro Audio chose to invest in a DiGiCo Quantum 225. Rob Nevalainen, founder of the company and engineer in his own right, has always been forward-thinking. Gearforce has always focused on providing high-end technology that enables the company to meet clients' needs regardless of the demands of the gig. Nevalainen purchased the Q225 to add to Gearforce’s existing DiGiCo inventory in mid-April, ready for the start of a busy season. “After two years away,” he says, “it’s different getting back out. The landscape has changed, for sure.” However, some things have not, including Nevalainen’s reliance on DiGiCo consoles, GerrAudio, who supplied the console, as a distributor and Gearforce’s emphasis on adapting and moving forward. Gearforce purchased the Q225 in mid-April 2022, Nevalainen e
France - Focal sound has launched the 100-T Series line. This new range of in-ceiling and outdoor loudspeakers is designed for large residential, commercial and professional spaces, such as shops, hotels and restaurants. The new range takes its technology cues from Focal’s established 100 Series, with new features and international certifications to meet the requirements of large-scale integrated systems. The 100-T Series includes five loudspeakers: three in-ceiling products (100 ICW5-T, 100 ICW6-T,100 ICW8-T) and two IP66-certified outdoor loudspeakers (100 OD6-T and 100 OD8-T), rated for their guaranteed protection against dust and water. These loudspeakers are direct descendants of Focal’s 100 Series in terms of design, technologies - Polyglass cone, aluminium tweeter - and its sound quality even at low volume. They are compact, slimline and have magnetic
Vietnam - Phuc Giang recently supplied Xu Restaurant Lounge and Cocktail Bar with a JBL Professional distributed audio system. Established in 2005, Xu Restaurant Lounge and Cocktail Bar is a social gathering place located in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to its menu of cocktails and cuisine from Vietnam, Xu offers premium musical entertainment in the form of live bands and guest DJs. During the 2020 lockdowns, Xu took the downtime as an opportunity to upgrade their sound system with the help of Phuc Giang. To provide immersive musical experiences for guests, musicians and DJs alike, Phuc Giang installed a sound system using JBL EON powered speakers and subwoofers. Staff reported that Xu Restaurant Lounge and Cocktail Bar needed a seamless and easy-to-use sound system that would deliver clear and balanced audio in all areas of the restaurant, and that the
USA - QSC has announced that David Angress has joined the organisation as senior vice president and general manager of the company’s new pro audio division. “Throughout the years, I have always had the greatest respect and admiration for QSC – its people, its culture and its portfolio of innovative, market-leading products,” says Angress. “The pro audio division is gearing up for an incredible phase of transformative growth and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to serve as its leader going forward.” Angress, a seasoned veteran of the music and pro audio products industry, brings a wealth of experience in senior executive leadership with roles at brands including ADAM Audio GmbH, Guitar Centre, Harman, and AKG. As principal at Angress Consulting for the last 12 years, he has utilised his extensive international experience in marketing, prod
UK - Void Acoustics has announced the appointment of Dan Moors as head of sales & marketing. Dan joins the team having previously worked in the construction and PPE sectors, and he is motivated about the challenges of working in a brand-new industry and at a time of record expansion for Void Acoustics. “This is the first time I have worked in the professional audio industry which is clearly both dynamic and fast-paced, and I am embracing it 100%! I have a lot to learn from a product perspective, but there is real synergy with what I have done previously with similar supply chain structures and distribution networks. In addition to which, joining Void at this exciting phase of its development is a fantastic opportunity and one I am really looking forward to being a part of.” Alex Skan, managing director Void Acoustics comments, “We are pleased to welcome Dan
UK - Neutrik UK has announced the appointment of Jason Rajack to the position of business development, industrial. The appointment recognises the Neutrik Group’s strategic commitment to expanding market penetration for its signal, data and power connector products beyond its traditional core AV media and broadcast sectors. Rajack brings over 25 years’ experience in business development, sales and project management to the position, with a track record in product design and applications, expanding diverse global markets, strategic planning and engaging customers globally; including with companies like Thales, Bombardier, BAE, Bombardier, Hitachi and TFL, across Mil/Aero, Oil & Gas, Marine Industrial sectors. “Jason’s extensive experience in the wider connectivity market will serve to further accelerate the growth of our customer base beyond our core AV and b
UK - Out Board returns to this year’s PLASA Show (Olympia London – 4-6 September 2022) on stand J5, amidst one of the company’s busiest years, both in global sales and in product development. On-stand there will be the opportunity for a hands-on tryout and audition of the latest TiMax 600-Series Mac and PC software, which boasts significant augmentations to TimeLine and PanSpace object-based spatialisation functionality, along with UI workflow enhancements derived from extensive user-feedback. The 600-Series software also addresses vital compatibility with the latest Windows 11 and Mac M1 platforms. Visitors to the stand will be able to learn a little more about a new TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking plug-in for integrated lighting control which is currently in beta test. The new plug-in, at the show for a sneak offline preview, intelligently directs and f
USA - Popular Richmond, VA live music venue, The Broadberry, has taken delivery of a new Martin Audio Torus constant curvature array, supplied by locally based rental partner, Soundworks of Virginia. Soundworks has been working with the 550-capacity venue, owned by Lucas Fritz and Matt McDonald, providing sound for their outdoor concerts since the Spring of 2021. Explaining the rationale behind the venue upgrade, Fritz says they had been making do with the old system that was in the venue when they took over in 2014. “We were well overdue for a PA overhaul, especially given the calibre of artists we were continuously bringing to the market. We had been working with Soundworks and knew they wouldn’t lead us astray.” The venue’s production manager Justin Lewis confirms that the previous system had been poorly deployed - and he had a firm idea in mind for it
Poland - Erected in the 19th century at the request of Ksawery Konopacki, the Konopacki Palace is located on Strzelecka Street in the heart of Warsaw's bohemian Praga district, known as Nowa Praga (New Praga). After major reconstruction works on this Neo-Renaissance style building, the Konopacki Palace finally re-opened its doors as the second home of Praga Cultural Centre in September last year. It offers its auditorium, gallery and outdoor terrace for various functions including music concerts, art and an open-air cinema. Such versatility of events required an equally flexible sound system, with L-Acoustics Polish distributor, Audio Plus, delivering Syva, X Series and A Series systems to one of Warsaw’s newest cultural sites. The diverse genre of events at the Konopacki Palace required a tailored sound system that would keep up with the ever-changing roster of ent
USA - Last year, César Benítez Seilhamer became a fan of KLANG’s approach to immersive in-ear monitor mixing on a co-headlining tour with Latino superstars Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, using a DMI-KLANG card mounted into one of the slots on the back panel of his DiGiCo Quantum5 console. And the shows keep getting bigger - Martin is doing a series of one-off orchestral dates this year, including two recent nights at the Hollywood Bowl with the 100-plus-member Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in July - but Benítez has a new way to keep up with that, as well as giving the artists and musicians the most effective sonic environments possible on stage. His solution is the new KLANG:konductor immersive in-ear mixing processor. Able to deliver 16 immersive mixes and process 128 input signals at up to 96kHz at an astonishing internal latency of less than 0.25ms, th
Austria - Sting visited Eisenstadt during his My Songs Tour and performed on 15 July in the grounds of the Esterházy Palace Park in Vienna. With him on tour were Austrian Audio mics. Since all Austrian Audio mics are hand-made in Vienna, it’s an actual homecoming for the OD505, CC8 & OC818 mics, used on backing vocals and guitar amps. Sting: My Songs is a special performance featuring the 17-time Grammy Award winner's best-loved songs, like Englishman in New York, Fields Of Gold, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne and Message In A Bottle and many more. Sting performs live, accompanied by an electric rock ensemble consisting of: Dominic Miller (guitar), Zack Jones (drums), Rufus Miller (guitar), Sting (bass), Kevon Webster (keyboards), Shane Sager (harmonica) with Melissa Musique and Gene Noble (backing vocals). Sting’s FOH engine
Europe - Located at the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland, the Basel Train Station (Basel SBB) in Basel, Switzerland is a primary hub for travel throughout Europe and is often regarded as Europe’s busiest international train station. With high background and travel noise compounded with highly reflective ceiling and walls, announcements were hard to understand, resulting in traveller confusion, missed trains and unnecessary congestion throughout the station. To combat the acoustic challenges Basel SBB faced, Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Compact loudspeakers were installed to aid in delivering intelligible announcements for passengers and staff. Travellers are inundated with a wide range of sights and sounds as they pass through any busy transportation hub: arrival, boarding and departure announcements, safety and security information, marketing and services messaging
Switzerland - During the first two weeks of July, legions of music lovers again descended on the shores of Lake Geneva for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which returned this summer. Meyer Sound also returned to Montreux at full force for its 36th year as a strategic partner and official sound provider, supporting the festival with nearly 300 loudspeakers deployed across 12 venues, indoors and out, large and small. Most of the festival’s headliner concerts are presented in the 4,000-seat Auditorium Stravinski, and this year the venue also had the distinction of hosting the first indoor concerts to be reinforced by Meyer Sound’s new system, the Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker. “It was pure joy to mix on Panther,” said festival sound coordinator Martin Reich of audioconsulting ag, who also served as FOH engineer for Westerman and Gregory Port
USA - AV systems integrator and remote collaboration service provider Kinly has announced the reappointment of Vel Johnson as its managing director for the US. Johnson returns as Kinly’s US MD, having originally relinquished the position in December 2021 as part of his semi-retirement plans, after three years. Based in Kinly’s Cedar Knolls (NJ) corporate office – one of four on the east coast (Fort Lauderdale, Washington, New York) – Vel was inspired to return to Kinly following positive discussions with newly appointed CEO, Tom Martin, who revealed his growth and expansion plans for the company in the US market. Vel, leading the US team, will now develop and execute ‘a more business and culturally aligned go-to-market strategy to mirror that deployed in Kinly’s other global markets’ including Europe. Tom Martin, CEO at Kinly, comments: “W
Germany - With the MAUI 44 G2, introduced in 2020, LD Systems established the MAUI Series in the professional sound reinforcement sector. Since then, the German manufacturer’s most powerful column PA system has proven its versatility in clubs, at festivals, and at corporate events across the world. Now, LD Systems is again expanding the application possibilities of the MAUI 44 G2 – and is launching the column PA in a white colour version. With the white colour version of the MAUI 44 G2, LD Systems is responding to numerous requests from MAUI users worldwide. Technically identical to the black version, the white MAUI 44 G2 integrates seamlessly into modern and open visual settings – from weddings to corporate events and more. “Time and again, we’ve received inquiries and photos from MAUI users asking for a white MAUI 44 G2, or showing us how they’ve converte
South Africa - AV Distribution, the dedicated distribution division of the Stage Audio Works Group headquartered in Midrand, South Africa, has announced an exclusive distribution agreement with Hollyland, specialists in wireless communication. Established in 2013, Hollyland’s wireless solutions are expressly designed for wireless audio and video transmissions and wireless intercom systems for real-time team communication. The product range includes affordable solutions for wireless video broadcast, monitoring and live streaming in addition to wireless microphones and intercom on the audio side, plus a host of accessories. According to AV Distribution general manager, Ashley Coleman, Hollyland is a valuable addition to the brand portfolio. “Hollyland products combine versatility with innovation and a refreshingly robust build quality,” she notes. “Suited to a wi
UK - AED Audio supported a student music showcase, What’s Going On at The BRIT School in Croydon, South London which is funded by the British Record Industry Trust. Its alumni include artists such as Adele, Jessie J and Amy Winehouse. What’s Going On was a showcase of protest music in a variety of eclectic styles, all performed and written by current year 12 music students. The concert took place in the School’s Obie Theatre, which AED Audio provided with a range of equipment to help bring the student’s creations to life. This included two line arrays consisting of eight FLEX6 speakers and one SOLID15 low cabinet/subwoofer, as well as a ground stack of SOLID28 and SOLID15 subs with a FLEX6 in point source to provide infill to each side. The AED Audio system integrated seamlessly with the Obie Theatre’s existing Dante network, meaning it could o
USA - Tallowood Baptist Church, in the Memorial City neighbourhood of West Houston, replaced an aging mixing console at front-of-house with a Solid State Logic Live L350 in recent months. The installation was part of ongoing upgrades at the church that also includes construction of a new video and audio control room, new audio and video equipment and wider implementation of a network infrastructure. When the choir and the musicians returned to the church after the initial lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, they all wore masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and, not surprisingly, it sounded like it. “It was really hard to get intelligibility and clarity,” Tallowood’s director of technology, Miguel Ortiz, says. Then the church replaced the old desk with a new SSL Live L350. “The choir was still wearing masks when we switched the console - and it sounded as if
USA - Veteran audio engineers Ross Landis and Andrew Crow had the opportunity to demo an Allen & Heath dLive system earlier this year. “You can do basically anything, and set it up how you want,” recalled Landis. When it came time to tour with Grammy-nominated rock group Nothing More, the pair opted to each bring along a dLive S5000 surface - one at front of house, and one for monitors. Both Landis and Crow appreciated how many user-defined SoftKeys were available to them on the large format 28-fader dLive surface. “I was able to use those for mute groups, stopping and starting my recordings, FX controls, and even selecting certain channels that aren’t always visible on my fader banks” noted Landis. “To be able to mix how I want to mix without having to navigate through layers - that was huge.” Their system incorporated a DM64 MixRack, which features
UK - Japanese-born singer-songwriter, model, and actress Rina Sawayama, released her debut album during lockdown on the Dirty Hit Label to favourable reviews, from ‘strongest album of the year’ (Elton John) to ‘something truly beautiful’ (NPR). In support of the album, Patchwork London was selected by Rina’s management / record label to record live video shoots during the lockdown period, providing monitoring and multi-track recording, which led to Patchwork being asked to support the UK tour, followed by her biggest show to date at Roundhouse and ultimately the NME Awards 2022 show. With lots of energetic choreography and dancing, on her first large scale tour, a premium wireless microphone system was a necessity. Patchwork London’s touring director and Rina’s production manager / FOH engineer, Calum Mordue selected the Shure Axient Digital Wireless Sys
