UK - Boutique mixer brand MasterSounds has launched a third generation of its Radius 2 and Radius 4 DJ mixers, which contain various technology enhancements. Originally launched in 2016, the two-channel Radius 2 rotary DJ mixer became an instant hit with the high-end DJ and club installation community, and was followed by the introduction of the four-channel Radius 4 mixer, two valve-based versions (the Radius Two and Four Valve), an FX unit and dedicated LinearPOWER supply accessory. "Four years on, and the brand has seen remarkable growth but the higher production costs of a premium rotary mixer rule them out for DJs on a tighter budget,” explains MasterSounds’ founder, Ryan Shaw. “Designer, Andy Rigby-Jones, and I decided to do something about it, by redesigning the compact Radius 2 and Radius 4 to make them more affordable but without compromising any of the
USA - Demonstrating creativity and resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stampede is turning its Cleveland, Ohio Big Book of AV tour stop into a live virtual event on 14 May that will feature pre-arranged one-to-one manufacturer-reseller focused virtual sessions on Stampede’s new COVID-19 business engagement platform. “Nothing is going to get in the way of Stampede helping its resellers to succeed in this challenging business environment,” Stampede president & CEO Kevin Kelly says. “Resellers all across North America rely upon Stampede to provide them with the latest new products, business development programs and training that will enable them to take their businesses to a higher level of success. In the current environment, we are pivoting to virtual events to meet our resellers’ needs.” Cleveland will be the first of several virtua
UK - Celestion has released a library of videos on the CelestionUK YouTube channel offering demonstrations, user tips, reviews, and expert advice, enabling players and producers alike to gain maximum tonal benefit from using the extensive family of Celestion Impulse Responses. Celestion’s collection of guitar and bass speaker IR tones are suited to artists, musicians, engineers, players and producers who are working at home right now, and are available for audition and download at CelestionPlus.com. Celestion IRs (impulse responses) are accurate digital representations of the company’s speakers, available for download. They allow users to closely simulate by digital means, the tone that one would get from playing a guitar (or bass) through one of Celestion’s physical speakers. Th
USA - Michigan-bred and Nashville-based Asher Postman is an electronic music specialist. On top of crafting his own songs, he has remixed artists from Riley Clemmons to The Chainsmokers. His tutorials garner six-figure YouTube views. Postman keeps his setup simple - he works in software on a single desk - but he recently got a game-changing upgrade: a pair of Adam Audio A7X active nearfield studio monitors. “I first heard the Adam monitors when a friend from Detroit and I went on a writing retreat,” recounts Postman. “His name is David Chapdelaine and his artist project is called Augest, with an ‘e’. We had a cabin on Torch Lake in Michigan and his A7Xs were the speakers we brought. I was in the market for new monitors and was immediately impressed. I decided I had to get my own.” Postman explains what impressed him first: “We were travelling light and br
Australia - After 35 years of manufacturing professional audio products, including its popular blue boxes, Melbourne-based pro audio manufacturer ARX Systems has decided the time is right for a cosmetic upgrade across their rack mountable range. Starting with the ZoneMIX multimedia zone mixer, now shipping globally, ARX signal processing products will be manufactured with a stylish grey front panel with blue screen print. “It was a big decision for us to make this change, but it makes sense for us to keep evolving as a company. We are continually upgrading what’s inside the box but until now have not looked at the cosmetics. The new look makes the front panel lighter and the controls are clearer - especially for installations where light or view is limited,” comments Colin Park, managing director and co-founder of ARX Systems. Designed to cope with the va
UK - Playing a role in keeping its listeners connected during the coronavirus lockdown, community radio station, East Leeds FM’s newly created remote broadcasting setup has an Allen & Heath SQ-5 at its heart. Although created as an Internet broadcaster, East Leeds FM identified a need to provide information, advice and company over FM radio to vulnerable older residents without Internet access. The station quickly secured a temporary FM licence and created a new daily show, Keeping A Distance, Staying Close. With presenters and technicians unable to access the station’s regular home at the Chapel FM arts centre in Leeds, UK since March, it fell to volunteer and former BBC sound engineer, Phil Driscoll to devise a solution for recording and broadcasting the show. Phil’s office has become the nerve centre of the organisation, handling the live broa
USA - The Orpheum Theatre is a 1,364-seat performance space located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Opened in 1929, the ornate, elaborate construction of the Orpheum was adorned within by magnificent murals and mouldings that set the stage for Vaudeville and motion pictures. As Vaudeville died out, movies became the primary use - Paramount purchased the facility in the 1940s and used it as one of its motion picture houses through the 1960s. The Nederlander Organisation then purchased the building to host travelling Broadway performances. In the 1970s a local family bought the location and hosted, primarily, Spanish-language performances and films. In the 1980s the venue branched out to live performance - and acts such as The Ramones, Metallica, Nirvana and REM played the venue as part of their tours. It was then, in the 80s, when folks started to notice the venue h
Europe - Shure worked with Southby Productions to supply Icelandic singer, songwriter and music producer, Bjork, on her concert tour and first theatrical production, Cornucopia. The production is a theatrical experience which toured arenas across Europe, including London’s The O2, and took up residency in New York City’s The Shed and Mexico City’s Parque Bicentenario. The show, described as Bjork’s most elaborate stage concert yet, included a 50-piece Icelandic choir, a live band including a seven-piece flute ensemble, a harpist, a percussion section, water drums, a magnetic harp and a number of bespoke instruments which were implemented in the immersive sound stage design. The show was devised and rehearsed at an Icelandic lighthouse and the Backstage Centre production facility in Essex. With the show evolving daily, the crew were required to work close
USA - Alcons Audio has appointed On The Road Marketing as its representative in the New York / New England region. Based in Rivervale, a short distance north of New York City, On The Road Marketing was originally established as a musical instrument distributor, quickly expanding its portfolio into the live sound, pro audio and AV contracting markets. In 2015, current principal Mark Meding brought 20 years’ experience of professional audio, AV and manufacturer representation to the company. It was his friendships with leading Broadway sound designer Nevin Steinberg and David Strang at PRG which introduced him to Alcons pro-ribbon solutions. “Alcons is a perfect fit for our customers, because the pro-ribbon drivers are the best on the market today. They are some of the most efficient drivers I have ever heard, able to get to extremely high output levels withou
Europe - Live shows may be postponed, but sound reinforcement solutions manufacturer Electro-Voice (E-V) wants musicians to keep performing. To facilitate this, the company is aiming to book 15 artists from any genre to play 15 concerts in May on the Electro-Voice Facebook page for the #EVOpenMic series. The concert series will see artists from around the world perform in one of three time slots to a global audience over five days at the end of May. The 15 selected artists will receive a $300 performance fee, as well as one Electro-Voice Evolve 30M column system and two Electro-Voice performance mics. The auditions are now open and will run until 6 May. Virtual auditions will take place from 7-18 May, and the concerts are scheduled to take place between 26-30 May. Performers can apply now at
Italy - Florence-based loudspeaker specialist K-array is set to restart manufacturing operations next week. A statement from co-founders Alessandro and Massimo says: “Regarding the recent health protocols issued by the Italian government, K-array's production and warehouse in San Piero a Sieve (Florence) will resume operating Monday through Thursday at 8:30am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 5:00pm starting from Monday, 4 May. With the well-being of our staff at the forefront, K-array has implemented all the safety and health regulations required for all its employees to reopen at this time. “Furthermore, we’d like to inform you that our administrative office and several departments will continue to operate remotely to provide customer care as well as design and technical consulting. We remain committed to keeping you informed on our company activity and we thank you for
India - Harman Professional Solutions has appointed ARK Infosolutions as its nationwide master dealer for the recording and broadcast segment in India. ARK will also be Harman’s partner for the PA and retail segment for the North Indian region. The collaboration is aimed at facilitating channel penetration for Harman products to meet the increasing demand in various segments such as broadcast, production, post-production studios, rental companies, cinematographers, musicians, film fraternity, and more. “Collaboration and partnership are essential parts of any organization when aiming for success. ARK Infosolutions’ approach towards customer preference matches our own,” comments Aditya Todi, senior director of sales and marketing, Harman Professional Solutions, India and SAARC. “Collaborating with them will not only allow our partners and customers in N
UK - University of South Wales (USW) Music & Sound students have been working hard to transform what was originally planned to be a series of live gigs in various local venues around Cardiff, into a realtime event of multiple livestreams taking place over the next few days, until 3 May. In partnership with Keep Cardiff Live and Dazed, the USW students had to quickly adapt when the Covid19 pandemic brought with it a unique set of circumstances where those plans were no longer possible. Overcoming many technical challenges, the students will be hosting the festival online, featuring genres that are popular in live music events in Cardiff. The festival will include indie, hip-hop, house, metal and drum’n’bass nights along with interviews with subjects including USW graduate and Grammy nominee, Romesh Dodangoda, Lacertilla and Tidy Records. USW student Lewis
UK - Music Support has launched weekly online support group meetings to allow the music industry’s 12 Step recovery community to continue to connect during the Covid-19 lockdown. Meetings will take place every Monday 18:00-19:00 GMT from 27 April to 28 September 2020. Available to any music industry peers throughout the summer, Music Support will provide a confidential and non-judgemental space for people to share and encourage one another on the journey of recovery. Music Support Services Officer, Joanne Croxford, states: “It might be that someone is in need of a secure virtual space to share their experiences, while others may want to take part in these meetings simply by listening in and feeling accepted and connected during isolation. Music Support will offer strength and hope as we all na
USA - Symetrix has released Composer 7.3 - the latest version of its Windows programming software for Edge, Radius NX, Prism, and Solus NX DSPs. Symetrix Composer software enables integrators to programme a complete end-to-end DSP signal path using just one application. New features in this update include multitrack audio recording, web-based event scheduler, support for new W Series remotes, new device integrations, and more. Multitrack audio recording allows a Radius NX device to record up to eight tracks of audio simultaneously to an external USB device. Audio tracks may be recorded individually or grouped into multi-channel modules of up to eight channels per module. The designer places one or more recording modules into the Design window of a Radius NX processor in Symetrix ComposerTM. Each recording module has its own start/stop controls, assignable storag
USA - Breaking down barriers between athletes and fans, Ross Stripling and Cooper Surles launched The Big Swing podcast in January 2019 to discuss everything from sports to pop culture to finance, with a focus on all things baseball. When the co-hosts were looking to deploy a high-quality microphone solution to capture crystal-clear audio for their podcast, they found what they were searching for with MXL Microphones’ BCD-1 Live Broadcast Dynamic Microphone. “In our first few months of podcasting, audio was the biggest challenge for us,” says Stripling. “Once we were able to deploy the MXL mics and put them in front of each speaker, our audio went up twofold – the sound quality of MXL’s BCD-1 is incomparable to the previous solution we were using.” In addition to quality audio pickup, Surles finds the noise rejection capabilities of MXL’s BCD-1 t
USA - Bright Star Systems recently equipped Marcus Theatres’ new Movie Tavern location in Milwaukee, the first full cinema complex in the U.S. to feature JBL Sculpted Surround technology, with JBL Professional cinema loudspeakers, JBL Professional DSi 2.0 amplifiers and Crown DCi amplifiers. Movie Tavern by Marcus is a premium theatre concept offering restaurant-style dining and in-seat service for moviegoers. At the new location in the Brookfield Square shopping centre, guests can enjoy dinner and a movie in the premium UltraScreen DLX theatre with Dolby Atmos immersive audio or one of seven additional theatres with 7.1 surround sound. Bright Star Systems equipped the complex with JBL Professional cinema loudspeakers, DSi 2.0 amplifiers and Crown DCi amplifiers, following the JBL Sculpted Surround specification in the 7.1-equipped theatres. Sculpted Surround relies
USA/Europe - A group of industry manufacturers, including Audio Ltd., Ambient, dB Audio, DPA Microphones, Lectrosonics, K-Tek, Sonosax, Sound Devices, Bubblebee Industries, Schoeps, Ursa Straps, and Viviana Straps are offering a new-product based virtual event. Virtual Sound Summit 2020 is a two-day virtual event featuring a number of new product and technology announcements that would have taken place at the 2020 NAB Show. Say the organisers, “Presentations will be of interest to location sound and production professionals, chief engineers, news technicians, ENG crews, camera operators, network executives and other audio professionals in the field. This marks the first virtual Sound Summit, a series of educational presentations aimed at joining audio professionals together to collaborate and discuss audio production tools and techniques.” The summit is sched
USA - Members of the final The Allman Brothers Band line-up, dubbed ‘The Brothers’, came together at Madison Square Garden in New York City to celebrate 50 years of The Allman Brothers Band. The Brothers included founding member Jaimoe and longtime members Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quinones, and Chuck Leavell along with guests Duane Trucks and Reese Wynans. The powerhouse band transported Madison Square Garden into the past with songs going back to the band’s original 1969 album. The one-night show was powered by Meyer Sound solutions anchored by Leo and Lyon linear line array loudspeakers, provided by rental partners UltraSound and PRG North America. The system configuration consisted of, per side (L/R), a main PA with 16 Leo loudspeakers, six flown 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, main 180-degree arrays and 270-degree arrays of
USA - St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan features a 250-capacity sanctuary replete with stained glass windows, smooth white walls, and an ornate baptismal font. It was built in the 1910s and continues to serve as a cornerstone of Catholic social life in Kalamazoo An outdated sound reinforcement system made it difficult to understand what was being said during St. Joseph’s services. Local AV integration firm, Sound Connections Group, remedied the problem with the installation of a single Danley SM96 loudspeaker. “St. Joseph Catholic Church had a handful of old loudspeakers in place that were blasting the room and walls with sound and adding chaos to the already poor acoustics,” explained Sound Connections group founder and owner Duane Davi. “To make matters far worse, the church’s priest, Father Antony, is a native of India. His accent made the
Germany - Hippotizer Media Servers were recently chosen to drive the visuals for the Cyber-Gen ShockWave tour. Featuring a line-up of Deutsch-rap and R&B artists signed to the Cyber-Gen music label, including YouTube stars TJ Beastboy, Young Mokuba, Wavvyboi and others, the tour played dates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland - and sold out in under 28 hours. Lighting designer Otto Schildknecht asked Emanuel Jörgner to programme and operate the show’s video and lighting elements. “Because we needed a high performance server, which would ensure all the live notch FX ran smoothly, we chose the Boreal+,” says Jörgner. “The other good reason for choosing the Boreal+ was the fact that we could deform the content with the FX library.” The display setup consisted of a 8m x 2.3m, 16mm pixel pitch LED wall positioned upstage, with alternative configurations fo
USA - For fans of Texas Christian University’s (TCU) Horned Frogs football team, this school year’s Big 12 conference football season was bigger and bolder than ever thanks to the kick-off of a $118m expansion of the Fort Worth campus’ Amon G. Carter Stadium. Among its many improvements, the first phase of this multi-year initiative notably involved a significant upgrade of the nearly 50,000-capacity stadium’s video and audio facilities, including a new L-Acoustics K1/Kara loudspeaker system designed and installed by local integrator Electro Acoustics (EA). According to EA Account Manager Ryan Walker, who has been with the firm for 20 years, the project actually marked the second L-Acoustics system to be installed on TCU’s campus. In 2015, the company installed a Kara loudspeaker system paired with SB18i subs at the school’s Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium,
Thailand - To create an immersive AV solution for a wide range of events, Mahajak Development Co equipped Modena By Fraser Buriram Hotel with a Harman Professional Solutions networked audio system. Located within walking distance of the Chang International Circuit racetrack and Chang Arena football stadium, the Modena By Fraser Buriram hotel features 152 guest rooms, a spacious foyer and a large ballroom and more. To deliver clear, detailed sound in the ballroom and throughout the hotel, Modena By Fraser Buriram hired AV integrators Mahajak Development to design and install a premium networked audio solution. Mahajak Development designed a networked audio system featuring solutions from JBL, Crown, Soundcraft and BSS. “To ensure consistent sound throughout the facilities, we installed a networked audio system using Harman’s industry-leading AV solutions,” s
USA - The luxurious Sir Francis Drake has anchored the San Francisco’s famed Union Square since 1928. And since the landmark hotel’s opening day, Lizzie’s Starlight (originally dubbed the Starlight Room) has drawn hotel patrons and locals alike to the roof of the 21-story hotel for entertainment, food, drinks, and spectacular views. In 2019, Lizzie’s underwent a major renovation - torn down to bricks, bare floor, and bare ceiling and entirely remodelled. Ayre Productions of Chicago, the company behind multiple projects for owners Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, designed and installed a new audio system for the venue, driven by Linea Research 44C and 88C Series power amplifiers. “We worked on this project for two years, and the design has changed three or four times,” notes John Wagner who, along with brother Joe, is co-founder and co-owner of Ayre Productio
