Australia - ARX Systems has recently supplied a large quantity of their USB Ultra I/O audio interfaces to multiple campuses of the Australian Catholic University (ACU). The USB Ultra I/O was chosen by the ACU as part of a series of campus wide AV upgrades designed to facilitate remote and blended learning from each lecture room. David Prentice, audio visual systems administrator for ACU, along with colleague Douglas Simpson, headed up the project. “What we wanted to achieve at ACU, which most other unis are also doing, is being able to use Teams/Zoom in our existing lecture rooms, to facilitate remote/mixed teaching. We are using the ARX DI Boxes to take microphone audio out of the Crestron DMPS (Digital Media Presentation System) and feed it to the PC, so that Teams/Zoom and other software can utilise the microphones in the space.’ The ARX USB I/O range has been a
Germany - DirectOut has named Australian company tm stagetec systems its distributor of the year for 2020, while SeeSound (Spain) and ITR Engineering (Russia) receive the outstanding sales performance and Prodigy of the year awards. Jan Ehrlich, CEO of DirectOut, states, “tm stagetec has demonstrated a very deep knowledge of our entire portfolio during the recent years. At the same time they used this to consult the clients at best and reached out to every single opportunity the market presented. Even though our relationship is still quite young, we are a well-coordinated team with the same customer-oriented understanding.” SeeSound has been the distributor of DirectOut products for the Iberian peninsula for a few years and the relationship between the two companies has been very positive since day one. After a kick-off year in 2018 and a constant growth in 2019, 2
Germany - The Riedel Group has announced an expanded management structure. Starting 1 January 2022, the Wuppertal-based company will be organised into three main divisions: The product division and managed technology business units will have Rik Hoerée and Lutz Rathmann as their respective new CEOs, with Riedel Networks and its managing director and CEO, Michael Martens, forming the group's third division. This move allows Riedel Group CEO Thomas Riedel to devote his attention to driving business development and expanding global partnerships and networks. Together with group chief financial officer Frank Eischet, who is responsible for finance, HR and IT, Thomas will form the spearhead of the Riedel Group. "The last year has given us time to take a deep breath and reflect on our setup. We realised that we would have to change some things to sustain the rapid expansion
The Netherlands - Located in the eastern Dutch town of Hengelo, the Metropool is a long-established live music venue featuring a wide range of acts and genres. It moved to its present home in 2009 and at that point its console stock was updated to include three DiGiCo SD8s and a large-format analogue desk, covering all its audio mixing needs across its Jupiler and Jack Daniels halls. They were one of the first Dutch venues to invest in DiGiCo technology as Teun Zekhuis, their Head Technician recalls: “We chose the SD8 for its sound, interface, workflow and overall look and feel. Being one of the first stages in the Netherlands with this first series of SD8s we were really pioneering in a new world of digital audio. The SD8s proved to be a great choice and served us very well.” Fast forward nine years to 2018 and through a series of events, Metropool found itself ta
Japan - Kobe Port Museum, is a new cultural complex in the Japanese city, consisting of an aquarium, food hall, and bridal desk. The space on the ground floor is a ‘next-generation food hall’ typified by the well-known Kobe restaurant brand, Tooth Tooth which has recently installed a Martin Audio system with background music produced by Fish Four. Based in Kobe, the president Yutaka Okano says: "High-quality BGM is an indispensable element for restaurants and cafes. We choose music suitable for both daytime and nighttime and develop the atmosphere of the place. We have enjoyed a long relationship with Martin Audio and have used the brand in several facilities to date. With confidence in the quality of Martin Audio's speakers, we again requested them without hesitation." A total of 29 CDD6TX cabinets have been installed on several pillars, covering a wide area of th
UK - Sound Technology has announced the addition of Solid State Logic SSL Live consoles and Network I/O devices to its live sound distribution portfolio, with a focus on installed applications including theatre, music venues and educational facilities. "Sound Technology has had a successful long-standing relationship with Solid State Logic distributing its music production tools portfolio in the UK,” comments David Marshall, MD Sound Technology. “We're proud to have the opportunity to expand our partnership with the addition of the SSL Live range of consoles in market sectors in which we also have proven technical and commercial expertise." Responsibility for SSL Live consoles at Sound Technology will sit within its pro audio application team for specification and support, with consoles installed in Sound Technology's pro audio and lighting demo facility at its Let
UK - Audiologic has announced that as of the 1 December 2021, it has been appointed as exclusive UK distributor for LEA Professional, manufacturer of pro-audio amplifiers with cloud and IoT-based technologies. LEA Professional, founded in 2019 by CEO Blake Augsburger. The LEA portfolio of products is made of the Connect Series smart amplifiers, with both a standard and Dante format available. As the rest of the signal chain has continued to grow with smart connectivity with IoT integration, LEA have bought amplifiers right up to the forefront of the technology race. The Connect Series has full cloud connectivity and monitoring allowing for real time visibility of your entire roster of amplifiers worldwide. David Budge, founder and managing director at Blue5 Technology, LEA’s representative in the UK & Ireland, comments: “LEA Professional has seen exponen
Canada - Brompton Technology recently helped the VFX team at Pixomondo bring Star Trek: Discovery into a new era using virtual production. The new season of the Paramount+ streaming hit leveraged virtual production for the first time, filming on Pixomondo’s large volume LED stage in Toronto, Canada. Pixomondo’s Toronto stage is a 70’ x 30’ horseshoe-shaped volume equipped with ROE Visual Black Pearl 2.8mm (BP2) LED panels for the walls and ROE Visual Carbon Series 5.77mm (CB5) panels for the ceiling, each with Brompton Tessera SX40 4K LED video processors. The volume also features OptiTrack motion capture cameras to handle multi-camera tracking, and the LED walls are fed CG content in real time from Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. The Tessera SX40 offers support for full 4K screens at 60Hz with 12 bits per colour output, as well as a zero-latency up/down s
UK - Harman Professional Solutions has announced that Third Man Records, one of the top independent record labels in the US, selected JBL Professional, Martin, BSS, and Soundcraft solutions for their new store and venue in London. Located in London’s Soho district, the new Third Man Records store is the label’s third location and its first international storefront. Downstairs from the main store area, The Blue Basement is a live music venue designed for intimate and exciting shows featuring local and international artists. Label founder and musician Jack White is a well-known audiophile and personally designed the store’s audio systems to meet his high standards. White selected equipment from Harman Professional Solutions to deliver high-fidelity background music in the store area and impactful live sound for The Blue Basement. "We’re on a mission for purity, w
UK - Dermot Kennedy’s breakthrough #1 album Without Fear, released in October 2019, had its touring cycle interrupted by a worldwide pandemic, just when the Irish singer-songwriter and Brit-nominee would rather have been treading the boards of global stages. Undeterred, Kennedy featured in Billboard's Live At-Home concert, and subsequently organised his own virtual concert, Sound Waves, in May 2020 in support of the World Health Organisation's Solidarity Response Fund. He also performed his own global live stream from London’s Natural History Museum. Now, he’s finally back on the road with two DiGiCo SD5 consoles supplied by SSE Audio and operated by FoH engineer Will Donbavand and monitor engineer Simon Peter Lawson. “We were lucky enough to be back out in the US with rehearsals in Nashville from late July,” says Donbavand. “This was followed by a U
China - Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, the 9th Chinese Peking Opera Arts Festival took place over a three-week period in September and October at The National Centre for Performing Arts. As the leading opera art event in China, the Festival has been the launchpad for a large number of productions and performances, and has been instrumental in the advancement of Chinese traditional culture. The principal work featured at the festival was The Grand Canal of Beijing, a complete orchestral suite for the Beijing Opera, combining a range of different vocal genres with orchestral music. The presentation was a multimedia stage event, combining music, choreography and costumes. Held in the concert hall of the National Centre for Performing Arts, the symphonic performances not only demanded the highest qu
Europe - PRG Switzerland has relaunched as PRG Gear, to bring its dry rental sources under one brand. PRG Gear’s office in is located in Zurich. Within 24 hours PRG Gear will be able to serve a radius of 600 km straight from its 7,500sq.m warehouse, which is amongst the largest equipment inventories for all types of production disciplines in the event industry, says PRG. “Not only will former PRG Switzerland clients be able to rent equipment from PRG Gear in Zurich, they will also be able to count on a widened offer of support solutions for their productions. With the ever-shortening installation and dismantling schedules on-site, we want to include mobile and efficient solutions in our strategic offerings in the future.” says Martin Fischer, general manager PRG Gear Zurich. “We will be offering an additional space in our warehouse facilities for our c
UK - Audiotonix has promoted general manager Austin Freshwater to managing director of DiGiCo, signalling a new era for long-serving MD James Gordon, who remains Audiotonix CEO. Audiotonix oversees entertainment technology brands Allen & Heath, Calrec, DiGiGrid, Group One Limited, KLANG:technologies, Solid State Logic, and newly acquired Sound Devices LLC, as well as DiGiCo. “We were talking about Austin moving into the MD position just before COVID-19 hit, by which time it didn’t feel right for me to run off into the hills,” comments Gordon. “I don't think it would have sent the right message to our customers and teams.” “In March 2020, everyone went into ‘serious concern’ mode,” he adds. “We’ve basically spent this time reassuring people within the company who aren’t used to not hitting their numbers that we’re all in it together.<
Denmark - DPA Microphones is promoting its latest microphone solutions, designed to meet the growing live production needs of the broadcast and AV markets. As the rapid adoption of live streaming continues to grow in broadcast applications, speech intelligibility remains at the forefront of all productions. In recognition of the changes in the media landscape, DPA recently released broadcast mic solutions, the 4466 Core Omnidirectional and 4488 Core Directional Headset Microphones, and the 4097 Micro Shotgun Microphone and Interview Kit. “The pandemic has shown us the true importance of being quickly and easily adaptable to a rapidly changing media landscape,” says Anne Berggrein, vice president, marketing, DPA Microphones A/S. “These new offerings are a direct result of the innovation and forward-thinking response to the industry, and we are excited to call att
USA/Europe - Solotech, a long-time L-Acoustics partner, has extended its inventory. The company’s already substantial stock of L-Acoustics products now boasts a total of 56 of the newest L-Acoustics K3 compact line array cabinets, split equally across its North American and European operations. This investment will help the company to fulfil its ever-increasing 2022 commitments. The new K3 is L-Acoustics smallest, full-range line source system to date and is designed for mid-size events. Its light weight and long-throw capability and extensive bandwidth make it an appropriate addition to Solotech’s inventory, allowing the company to propose new approaches, especially for theatre productions and for deployments using L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal technology, providing a cost-effective solution for projects requiring increased cabinet counts in smaller spaces. “The glo
USA - Offering 360° views over the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline, The Glasshouse is a new multi-function, interconnectable event space in New York City. Able to accommodate almost 2,000 people, and with multiple outdoor terraces set within the 75,000sq.ft footprint, the venue required a cutting-edge production infrastructure, including transparent audio transmission, video and lighting and broadcast-ready cabling. The work went out to tender, and the successful bidder was Martin Audio partner, Audible Difference (ADI). “We were offered the contract based on our design, and the fact that Martin Audio system offered a robust and adaptable Dante platform,” believes ADI principal, Erich Bechtel. Consequently, the stage area pop-up space, taking advantage of the extra ceiling height on the 7th floor, comprises two hangs of eight MLA Compact, while LF extensi
Italy - Designed in collaboration with the Department Of Mechanical And Industrial Engineering at the Brescia University and engineered in Italy by Outline, the new GSR (Globe Source Radiator) provides a tool for acoustic analysis. Optimised acoustics are a prerequisite of many modern buildings and for some (classrooms, offices, theatres, and concert halls for example), their acoustic properties determine how well they are able to perform their core purpose. Accurate and reliable test data is essential for those engaged in the design and construction of these spaces: a powerful omnidirectional sound source is vital to assist in the testing of acoustic insulation of internal walls, floor slabs, and insulation from the external environment, plus the acoustic properties of any internal space where sonic performance is important. GSR’s design combines a robust sp
Romania - Aware that their students needed a way to understand signal flow more easily, course leader Áron Fazakas, associate professor and József ‘Yogi’ Lénárd, sound master instructor at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania “decided to teach a more solid, analogue-based hybrid studio process.” After much research, they chose the Audient ASP4816 mixing console to facilitate this, saying the desk “perfectly met our educational and production needs”. Áron and Yogi make up two-fifths of the teaching staff on the Sound Master course. Yogi continues, “In the all-digital beginnings of our sound engineer training, the problem was that our students were always staring at the computer screen. Reading the various values and admiring the beautifully crafted audio plug-ins on-screen, slowly began to eclipse their confidence in their musical hearing.”
Europe - Yamaha has partnered with Entourage Pro, the new free-to-join global networking platform for sourcing accredited production industry personnel. Covering 140 professional freelance roles in a wide range of technical disciplines - including sound, lighting, video, staging, production management, logistics, catering, artist services and more - the platform has been designed to be a quick and easy way to connect personnel to productions (and vice-versa) for anything from a one-off show to a world tour. Its directors, Joel Perry and James Stanbridge, approached Yamaha, “knowing that the company’s reputation for high standards, reliability, future-proofed technology and global reach mirrors the Entourage Pro ethos. Seeing the advantages that Entourage Pro offered, and keen to support the re-emergence of live entertainment, Yamaha was happy to become an official
China - Part of the Aochi Production Resource Platform, Moto Group is one of China’s largest commercial advertising resource platforms. It has offices and service teams in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Vancouver, as well as three large-scale production studios and a Fortune 500 clientelle and has recently announced its first Moto Stage XR in Shanghai. Brompton Technology is one of the partners that has invested its technology and technical expertise into developing this new facility. The studio focuses on the research, development and application of XR visual effects technology, creating seamless connection and a perfect immersion into physical and virtual reality across film, broadcast, TV, advertising and other areas. The studio’s opening ceremony, held on 16 October, attracted many industry leaders including TVCBOOK, Wunderman Thompson, Havas, Publ
UAE - As many as 25 Italian-made Powersoft amplifiers are handling the audio demands of the award-nominated Italy Pavilion at Expo 2020 at the recently opened world fair in Dubai. Over 28,000 people a day are expected to visit the Italy Pavilion, which centres on a spectacular 3D-printed, 1:1-scale reproduction of Michelangelo’s David created in Powersoft’s home city of Florence, over the next six months. The pavilion, based on the theme Beauty Connects People, is one of the 192 stands competing for visitors at Expo 2020, which comes to a close on 31 March 2022. The Italy Pavilion is already proving to be one of the most popular attractions, with more than 200,000 visits in October alone, including the thousands who attended concerts by celebrated pianist Ludovico Einaudi and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. Key to that popu
Japan - A classic concert took place recently at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Concert Hall, featuring Nobuaki Fukukawa. One of the world's most active horn players, he is also principal player in the NHK Symphony Orchestra and a major name in the orchestral world. At this recent recital, Mr. Fukukawa had the clear desire to emulate his recordings from King Records and play the songs on it in the form of an eight-horn ensemble, by overdubbing himself. Mr. Fukukawa and King Records consulted with Koichi Ishimaru, sound master at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, and he suggested “treating the loudspeakers as musical instruments”. His idea was that Mr. Fukukawa should perform live on stage to create the one part while the seven remaining parts should be played back one by one through the surround speakers, with the recorded source created in Pro Tools. However, this
USA - San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival now in its 13th year, returned to Golden Gate Park for a special Halloween weekend edition. For three days, more than 74,000 concertgoers flooded into the park’s vast lawns to experience sets by headliners The Strokes, Lizzo, and Tame Impala, along with more than 80 additional acts performing on four stages and in two tents. Since the event’s inception, festival producer Another Planet Entertainment, Bay Area rental company UltraSound, and Meyer Sound have worked in close collaboration to provide a world-class audio experience. Since the inaugural festival in 2008, Meyer Sound systems have supported the annual festival’s main stage, with strategic system designs meeting the duelling goals of providing clear, consistent sound and keeping the sound contained within the sprawling urban park, which is surr
Spain - Used for everything from indoor rock shows to open-air flamenco events, Zero Dbs’s APG inventory demonstrated its flexibility over the course of an 80-event summer calendar in southern Spain. Cabra-based Zero Dbs boasts one of the biggest APG inventories in the region, having worked with the French manufacturer since 2012. For the 80+ live events it helped produce this summer (20 June to 20 September), the company leaned heavily on its APG equipment, which includes 20 Uniline Compact line-array speakers, four SB118 subwoofers, two Unitrack flightcase racks, and ten compact DX (Dispersion series) multipurpose speakers and stage monitors. Spain saw “an explosion of events” in the summer months, and businesses like Zero Dbs had to be ready to respond to the unprecedented post-lockdown demand for live shows, according to the company’s owner, Juan Antonio Cu
