USA - Nestled in the Highlands neighbourhood of White Plains, New York sits Bet Am Shalom Synagogue. In 2016, systems integrator Shadowbox Design Management installed a Prism 12x12 at Bet Am Shalom as the heart of a public address/reinforcement system with four main zones - the main synagogue, chapel, multifunction room, and library. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic caused historic changes to common gathering spaces necessitating strict social distancing rules. This unexpected event imposed new rules and restrictions on how the synagogue could utilize their floor space and ultimately resulted in a mandatory halt in services and activities for their congregants. Leaders of Bet Am Shalom contacted Shadowbox Design Management to find a way to upgrade the audio system throughout the facility so the synagogue could continue their services while foll
UK - In these difficult times for the live entertainment industry, Yamaha is working with both practical measures and its #BringingLive2Life campaign to help audiences and performers alike to experience live entertainment again. One of its first successes was playing a key role in helping Boisdale of Belgravia - the first live venue in London to reopen. Boisdale is a chain of four themed restaurants, located in London’s Belgravia, Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf and Mayfair. Before lockdown they featured live music every night, with a number of well-known artists - including Alexander O’Neal, Mica Paris, Natasha Hamilton, Rebecca Ferguson and Omar - booked for the Canary Wharf restaurant. Boisdale managing director Ranald Macdonald has previously worked with Yamaha Music London and, as the national lockdown began to ease, contacted retail operations manager Stephen Davie
UK - 7thSense has announced the completion of its merger with Medialon. In June 2019, the team behind 7thSense acquired the Medialon brand and ShowControl activities from Barco to form Medialon Limited. Since then, the Medialon team and product line has expanded from offices in North America, Canada and the UK. As part of the integration strategy, which became effective on 1 October 2020, all Medialon products have been added to the 7thSense product portfolio and Medialon product names remain the same. All Medialon staff will now join the 7thSense team and continue to work on the development of the Medialon product line. Matt Barton, 7thSense CEO, comments: “The synergies between Medialon and 7thSense have been demonstrated since the 2019 acquisition - this merger is intended to cross pollinate the knowledge and skills of both companies, while maintaining inde
UK - Arts Council England has opened its £18m Developing your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund to a wider pool of creative practitioners in light of the COVID-19 effects on the workforce. Able to apply for a grant this year will be DJs, performer/creators, arts and cultural educators, community practitioners/engagement specialists, movement directors, cultural conservators, creative enablers and creative technicians. “We know that COVID-19 has had a significant impact for individuals, and many will need to develop themselves and their work to respond to the new environment,” says the Arts Council. “We want to support as many people as possible to reshape and redefine their work and continue to make a positive impact on creativity and culture.” The grants, ranging from for £2,000 to £10,000, will be awarded for development activities from practitioners worki
UK - Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has appointed Jon Rhodes as its new European sales director of unified communications. Leading TIG's team of UC sales professionals and focussing on the Enterprise product range from Crestron, Jon will be responsible for growing the UC division. The appointment comes as TIG increases its focus on being able to provide a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types. On his appointment, TIG CEO Robin van Meeuwen comments: “We are thrilled to welcome Jon to lead our growing team of unified communications specialists. Having worked in the UC and video communications industry for over 20 years, his knowledge of the sector is second-to-none and he demonstrates a range of important skills such as business development, impressive solution selling and fantastic leadership. “It
USA - Los Pentecostales de Newport News is a Pentecostal church serving the Hispanic community in Newport News, Virginia. Pastor Mario Zunzunegui delivers impassioned services and encourages strong community bonds. When local production and integration firm Sound Ideas provided a Danley rig for an outdoor Covid-19 service, Pastor Mario and the rest of the congregation saw new possibilities for clarity and impact. After a successful indoor demo, the church now has its own high-impact Danley system composed of SM80F full range loudspeakers FLX12 monitors, and a DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier. Los Pentecostales de Newport started out years ago with an MI-grade sound reinforcement system and upgraded significantly three years ago with the help of Sound Ideas (design and installation) and Winter Sound (the actual sale of the equipment). Sound Ideas owner Paul Popadak continued his
USA - Full Sail University, the media arts and technology educational institution located in Winter Park, Florida, has purchased a DiGiCo Quantum338, which has been installed in Full Sail Live 1. The console is also equipped with the new DMI-KLANG in-ear mixing expansion card, bringing immersive audio capabilities to the Quantum338. Further, the school has also upgraded its existing DiGiCo SD7 console with a Quantum engine, endowing it with many of the same features as the Quantum338, including Mustard and Spice Rack processing. The SD7’s metamorphosis into a Quantum7 will allow all of the school’s DiGiCo components to operate on an Optocore network, including a newly-acquired DiGiCo SD-Rack with Ultimate Stadius 32-bit microphone pre-amp and DAC output cards. “The Quantum338 will become our new flagship console for our Show Production degree programme students,
Germany - Badensound event company has worked out a new concert concept that uses existing infrastructure to host performances complying with the local COVID regulations. This concept led to a partnership with Edeka Südwest supermarkets to create the ‘shopping cart festival’. Taking place from 31 August until 5 September in Offenburg, the festival featured famous German artists performing in front of 500 people, the maximum number of people currently allowed for large gatherings, in the parking lot of an Edeka supermarket. Shopping carts were used as social distancing tools to adhere to the COVID regulations. On the technical side, Badensound used the festival to give Dynacord’s new MXE5 matrix mix engine its German debut. "Now is exactly the right time to organize an attractive festival in the region, to offer artists a platform and to support the corona-impac
France - The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (PBA) - a public museum dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities - is one of the largest venues of its kind in France and, as such, welcomes thousands of visitors each year to enjoy its collections by Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya, and Delacroix among others. Despite the continual disruption caused by COVID-19 the museum unveiled on 15 July a new exhibition: the sixth edition of Open Museum Music. At the core of this exhibition sits a visionary creation, which has been developed by electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre in partnership with digital musical instrument and app creator BLEASS. The artwork, known as EōN, has been designed to immerse visitors in ‘an endless audio and visual experience thanks to constantly evolving music and an endless organic progression of the visual content’. The
China - Michael von Keitz started SE Audiotechnik back in 1980,. While the head office is still in Solingen, the production - 100% German-owned - has been taking place in the company's own factory in Jiashan (China) since 1997. This is where the annual Music Festival was held for the third time running; and this time to also celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary. The third SE Audiotechnik Music Festival in China took place as planned on 16 October this year, under strict safety and hygiene conditions. Although the weather was inhospitable, more than 750 guests, partners and fans gathered on the company's premises. They were able to network with the 600 employees on site, and learn more about the products from SE Audiotechnik and the other brands gathered under the roof of parent company Speaker Trade. They also had the opportunity to celebrate a festival with mu
France - L-Acoustics has introduced its first offering in personal audio, Contour XO in-ear monitor powered by JH Audio. Contour XO is born from the meeting of Jerry Harvey and Dr. Christian Heil. Both pioneered technologies that influenced the pro audio industry: multi-driver in-ear monitors and the present-day concert PA based on the L-Acoustics line source array. Jerry Harvey, the founder of JH Audio, focused on the in-ear experience. Challenged by mega-stars demanding better sound quality on stage, Harvey developed the first custom dual balanced armature in-ear monitor. Demand caught fire, catapulting him into the position of a world-leading custom in-ear monitor manufacturer. L-Acoustics, founded by Dr. Christian Heil, revolutionized the live sound industry not once, but twice, bringing the Wavefront Sculpture Technology of V-DOSC line source arrays to t
Poland - Established in 1816, the University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland with over 50,000 students, 21 faculties and a total of 126 buildings across the city. Located in the most famous street of Warsaw and surrounded by palaces from the 18th Century, the main campus consists of two spaces (Golden Hall and the Senate Hall) where the most important celebrations and events of the University take place. With a diverse events schedule that covers conferences, meetings, university readings and the annual meetings of the University Senate, a decision was reached to upgrade the AV solution within the Senate Hall, with the university opting for the performance and reliability of Shure’s Microflex Complete Wireless (MXCW) system. With the increasing number of devices communicating in the 2.4GHz band causing constant problems for the AV team at the uni
UK - Key to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s musical curricula is its annual award for The Gold Medal - a performance competition that began in 1915 and had taken place uninterrupted through 2019. Because of the global pandemic in 2020, the annual May performance had to be put on hold as teaching moved online during the summer term. “Because of COVID we needed to be swift in our response to ensure things like The Gold Medal could occur and, very importantly, that in-person classes could still take place with full scale participation,” says Julian Hepple, head of recording and audio visual at Guildhall School. “To make that happen we quickly turned to Dante and Dante Domain Manager. And, in September, as we returned to in-person teaching, we were able to hold The Gold Medal and broadcast the performance online." Dante allows audio, control, and all ot
Australia - Fibre network specialists Optocore has appointed CMI as its new Australian distributors. The brand provides a strong addition to the Melbourne company’s audio division portfolio. CMI CEO, Peter Trojkovic said he was delighted with the appointment, stating that he was impressed by Optocore’s ability to provide “innovative, scalable and rock solid backbones”, embracing open standards. He noted that this will influence a range of their core market segments, including events, theatres, stadiums and studios. “With many fibre-compatible solutions in CMI’s portfolio, this marks a strategic move by the audio division to position CMI as a one-stop solution for performance, broadcast and commercial audio networking. “Optocore are the world’s most popular and innovative manufacturers of fibre optic networks. With systems already deployed in ve
UK - Loudspeaker manufacturer PMC has opened a new factory in Bedfordshire, to cope with burgeoning demand for its CI series. Since launching last September, CI monitors have proved ‘hugely popular’ with the installation market where they are delivering Hollywood studio audio quality. Incorporating the same proprietary PMC technology as the company’s award winning audiophile speakers and studio monitors, these slimline speakers are designed with a shallow depth for on-wall and in-wall custom installations. This design feature also makes them suited to professional studios that are embracing Dolby Atmos immersive audio for music and film mixing and want discreet monitors for their wall and ceiling channels. “In addition to the flourishing custom installation market, CI monitors also form an integral part of our loudspeaker systems for Dolby Atmos and we anticipa
USA - Bose Professional has introduced the Bose L1 Pro portable line array systems, the latest advancement of a PA category created by Bose 17 years ago with the release of the original L1. The three new systems - the L1 Pro8, the L1 Pro16, and L1 Pro32 with its choice of two subwoofers - offer 180-degree horizontal coverage along with clarity and tonal balance. A RaceTrack woofer design integrated into the L1 Pro8, L1 Pro16 and the Bose Sub1 and Sub2 modular subwoofers, provides extended base response and less bulk, making the subwoofers much easier to transport, carry, and fit onstage. Built-in multi-channel mixers offer EQ, reverb and phantom power, while Bluetooth streaming capabilities and access to the complete library of ToneMatch custom EQ presets, allows performers to play with recording-studio tonal quality. These three new portable PA systems are designed to
UK - Baldwin Boxall’s finance director Neil Williams will retire his post at the end of October, leaving the accounts department in the hands of Richard Frost, the company’s new financial controller. Speaking of his time at Baldwin Boxall, Williams says: “I’ve had 13 wonderful years with Baldwin Boxall and served the last eight of those as a director. I am proud to have been a part of the company’s success which could never have been achieved without the hard work, loyalty and dedication of our workforce. Without them none of our success would have been possible. Baldwin Boxall has always been a family orientated company and it has been a pleasure to work in that environment; thank you to everyone at Baldwin Boxall for 13 wonderful years.” He adds: “Joining Baldwin Boxall was the best day’s work I ever did. I leave knowing that I have left the company i
UK - Based in London’s Fitzrovia, Epic Games’ London Innovation Lab is a hub for the creative community, offering creators across industries a platform to produce real-time content and immersive virtual experiences, using Epic’s Unreal Engine (UE) software. The new curved LED Volume, recently installed at the Lab and running on Brompton Technology processing, is a testament to the company’s continuous commitment to empower new ways of content creation using the latest technology advances. Whilst UE has been at the forefront of Virtual Production (VP) since the first workflows began to emerge, it is the first time that the company has introduced its state-of-the-art virtual studio, working with partners such as Brompton Technology, ARRI and creative technical production company 80six, ‘to bring the magic of virtual production to life’. “Our initial convers
UK - Events and creative industry professionals Mark Davies, Jerry Cleary and Edwin Higgins have joined forces to launch a new event production company, JEM LIVE. The new venture combines a physical event production offering with services such as live streaming, extended reality (xR) and social media amplification to enable organisers and agencies to expand the reach of their event. “We wanted to create a company which was fluent in virtual event technologies while not forgetting the importance of more classic elements of event production,” comments Davies. “High quality design, lighting, sound, staging etc. remain at the heart of live events but in the COVID-19 era we have to be willing to integrate virtual elements too.” Davies has more than 25 years’ experience in live events and entertainment architecture and is responsible for the commercial and
Germany - Looking to provide guests an improved live sound experience, Konzerthaus Dortmund collaborated with Audio Pro and integrators B+B Event Technology to upgrade its sound system with a Harman Professional audio solution. One of the leading concert and event halls in Germany, Konzerthaus Dortmund hosts hundreds of shows each year and can accommodate up to 1,550 guests. With acts ranging from classical music and piano recitals to pop and rock-and-roll concerts, mixed with an increased demand for loudspeaker-supported events, the venue decided to invest in a new audio system that delivers pristine sound for all types of genres and performances. Originally planning for the install to take place towards the end of 2020, a halt in events and gatherings due to COVID-19 sped up the timeline. During the break in action, Konzerthaus used the time to upgrade from its previ
Australia - Green Hippo has added two new distribution specialists to its international sales network. Representing the brand in Australia and New Zealand is Melbourne-based Corsair Solutions. Established in 2009, Corsair imports and distributes professional and commercial AV equipment and has established itself as a trusted partner of AV system integrators, pro audio and video equipment resellers and equipment rental companies throughout Australia and New Zealand. Corsair also distributes Green Hippo’s sister brand within Spitfire Creative Technologies, tvONE. Meanwhile, Wholestage has been appointed to represent Green Hippo in Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in Venezuela in 1998, Wholestage is today based in Miami, Florida, with offices in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Panama, Chile and Spain. It specializes in the distribution of pro video, audio, riggin
UK - 7thSense has promoted Jack Dowd to the position of product manager of the Delta Media Server range. After joining the company in 2013 as systems engineer within the production department, Jack was promoted to technical sales and systems engineer as a key member of the 7thSense sales team in 2019 - providing technical support to customers, as well as the commissioning of systems on-site. “Jack’s promotion is incredibly well-deserved, and a reflection of his vast understanding of, and contribution to, our Delta Media Server line of products,” notes Richard Brown, 7thSense CTO. “Jack has been instrumental in the development of new product features over the years, ensuring that our customers always receive the highest standard of service and support. We look forward to the next chapter with him as a new member of our expanding product management team.”
USA - Formerly known as the Tribeca Grand Hotel, the Roxy Hotel is a 201-room property in the heart of Manhattan's Tribeca neighbourhood. Amenities include an in-room pet goldfish (on request) and free loaner bicycles - and multiple bars offer regular live music, including a jazz club and cocktail lounge. The newest amenity is a cocktail and dining area under the hotel’s marquee, designed for a bite and sip in a pandemic-safe environment. But the hotel didn’t skimp on sound: a pair of Genelec 4430A Smart IP Installation Speakers were installed there over the summer by integrator Essential Communications, which had earlier installed and then updated the hotel’s distributed sound system. “The Roxy is all about music and all about great sound,” says David Schwartz, president of Essential Communications, which specialises in AV for hospitality clients, among oth
USA - Nobu Hotels blend modern luxury and minimal Japanese tradition into the concept of a lifestyle hotel - which is exactly what Robert De Niro, chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and Meir Teper wanted when they decided to open a property in Chicago. The development team sourced architects, designers, GCs, suppliers, and hospitality experts for the 115-room hotel, restaurant and rooftop scene, complete with an indoor lounge and outdoor terrace. Technology had to contribute to the guest experience, and sound was no exception. Nobu wanted a team of experts to come in and run with audio-visual and structured cabling and to own the entire project. Encompass AV gave the team an opportunity to flex their design, acoustics, infrastructure, and overall hospitality strengths. Encompass AV plugged in with the developers early, ‘rethinking the entire buildscape for more efficient str
