Poland - Tommex Żebrowscy Sp. J. (Tommex) has been appointed Polish distributor for RCF’s installed sound, commercial audio and voice alarm EN54 product lines. Tommex’ commercial director, Marcin Zimny, explains that the move resulted from changes in the ownership structure and distribution strategy of their existing long-term loudspeaker partner. “This meant we were looking for a new partner with a high-quality installation range, that could complement our portfolio; RCF provided a great opportunity and was an exact match. “The combination of 70 years of RCF history with 30 years of Tommex provided a compelling partnership”, he adds. RCF international sales manager, Luca Ombrati, comments: “We were one of the few brands able to fill all the missing product lines in Tommex’s product portfolio. After negotiation I accepted their proposal because
Europe - At ISE 2020, Void Acoustics showcased the latest additions to the Bias and Air ranges. The Bias Q1 joins the Bias family of Void Acoustics amplifiers. It is a four channel DSP+Dante amplifier and has been adapted with smaller dimensions and is lighter in weight than the Bias Q5. Whilst operating from the same amplifier platform the Bias Q1 is still durable and maintains the impressive sound quality which end users have come to expect from Void Acoustics. It is multi-application and designed for use in bars, clubs, for corporate and live music venues as well as large-scale outdoor events and touring. The Airten V3 release is the latest addition to the Void Acoustics Air Series. Having made significant enhancements to the futuristic-styled composite loudspeaker, the Airten V3 offers improved performance and is built for the exacting demands of high-end venue op
Germany - Kings of Floyd are a Pink Floyd tribute band based in Germany. Led by Brit, Mark Gillespie, this assembly of international musicians has earned a reputation for presenting an accurate and atmospheric representation of the supergroup. The band regularly undertake national tours, playing popular theatre venues to sold out audiences. In order to replicate and do justice to the magic and majesty of Pink Floyd, Kings of Floyd and their experienced crew place audio quality high on their list of priorities. FOH engineer Howard Heckers, notable for his work with Supertramp co-founder Roger Hodgson amongst others, is the band’s audio lynchpin and his work in helping to produce the authentic Floyd sound is essential. Central to his setup for Kings of Floyd is a DiGiGrid IOS unit, as he explains: “I’ve been a DiGiGrid user for a while now, having started touring
USA - RØDE Microphones has announced that the doors to the RØDE House have opened. The RØDE House is live music and performance space within the Momentary, a new contemporary art space in Bentonville, Arkansas which officially opened to the public on Saturday 22 February. The Momentary was founded by the Walton Family, based on the vision of Tom, Olivia, and Steuart Walton. The Walton Family Foundation is supporting the project as a way to enhance the quality of life in Northwest Arkansas. Occupying a decommissioned 63,000sq.ft cheese factory in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Momentary is a satellite to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Alice Walton. The RØDE House is a multidisciplinary performance space within the old Milk Intake Room of the factory. In 2018, RØDE founder and chairman Peter Freedman became a founding funder of the Momentary alongsid
Indonesia - The Voices recently equipped the Karnaval SCTV stage with a JBL by Harman audio system to deliver powerful sound with balanced coverage for a variety of musical acts. Karnaval SCTV is a popular variety show on Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV) that is broadcast live from several major cities throughout Indonesia each month. The shows feature a star-studded cast of celebrity guest appearances as well as live musical performances. To commemorate the 18th anniversary of the city of Lubuklinggau, Karnaval SCTV broadcast live from Silampari Sports Park, welcoming a host of celebrities including musicians, television personalities and soap opera stars to the stage. “The client required a powerful sound system that could reach every member of the audience,” comments Liauw Wu Shen, owner, The Voices. “The system had to be dynamic and ada
Europe - Several key exhibitors have pulled out of the postponed Prolight+Sound (PL+S) exhibition due to scheduling clashes and health concerns. Companies including Adamson, Allen & Heath, d&b audiotechnik, Robe Lighting, ETC and High End Systems and L-Acoustics have formally withdrawn from the trade event due to scheduling conflicts or health concerns. The annual Frankfurt-based tradeshow was set to take place at the end of March but was pushed back to 26-29 May due to the coronavirus outbreak. The new dates have however prompted exhibitors to reassess their plans for the fair. d&b audiotechnik announced its withdrawal in a
USA - Harman Professional Solutions has announced new six-year extended warranties on all new Crown product sales in 2020. All Crown products sold between 1 January 1 and 31 December 2020 will automatically receive an extended six-year warranty. This warranty extension applies to all markets globally, excluding Brazil, India, Russia, and China. “Audio professionals rely on Crown amplifiers to deliver clean, stable and reliable power every day,” says Karam Kaul, vice-president, audio, Harman Professional Solutions. “We stand by the quality and workmanship of our award-winning products and back them with some of the best warranties in the business. Now, for a limited time, when customers purchase any Crown product, we’ll extend their warranty to six years at no additional cost. We think your customers will be excited to learn that they can now enjoy unprecedented
USA - Italian luxury brand Bulgari, known for its shimmering diamonds and daring design, recently held the B.zero1 Rock event to roll out the brand’s newest rendition of its B.zero1 collection, with Brompton Technology’s LED processing ensuring captivating visual experiences at the event. Hosted by group CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, the party brought Rome’s sensual and exuberant style to the heart of New York Fashion Week. Full-service event-technology and video-production company Essay Video, that was subcontracted by KCD.INC for to run the production side of the event, chose Brompton Technology’s Tessera SX40 LED processor and two XD 10G data distribution units to deliver Bulgari’s vision on LED screens. Held at Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, guests were led through an entrance tunnel and into a featured concept room entitled ‘Exuberance Room’ where 36 R
Albania - Tirana recently welcomed a new two-tier leisure venue, with the restaurant and night club Lost hosting live bands and DJs, and Tema Lounge - occupying a separate space in the same building - providing background music by day, notching up to foreground music after dark. The sound in both venues (along with control and production lighting) is reinforced by a Martin Audio BlacklineX system, specified and installed by Prosound, the manufacturer’s Albanian distributor. The company’s audio system installer, Armand Dosti, was entirely comfortable specifying Blackline, having earlier introduced other high-profile venues to the same solution. Furthermore, Prosound already had a relationship with Lost/Tema owner Filip Fermanis from earlier projects. Surveying the two spaces - the former holding 200 people and the latter with a slightly reduced capacity - the
USA - Every week for the past seven years, Jimmy Fallon steps onstage in Studio 6B at Rockefeller Centre in midtown Manhattan and leads a viewing audience of over 2.4m through an hour of comedy, talk, and music, always opening and closing the show with Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, the show’s jazzy/funky theme song, composed and performed by The Roots, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s Grammy Award-winning house band. Sound is managed through the show’s three DiGiCo SD7 consoles paired with five SD-Racks. Artless Poole, Jr. has been with The Roots for 20 years, mixing the band’s live shows as their front-of-house engineer, and is there for them on The Tonight Show as the house mixer for the band, as well as the show’s diverse guest artists, and everything else that happens on that stage. It all goes through Poole’s SD7 console, supported by a Di
USA - From its humble, garage-based beginnings in 1992 as a mobile DJ service, Technotrix has grown over the decades into one of Chicago’s leading event services providers, supplying audio, lighting and staging systems for everything from relatively modest productions to arena-sized concerts, large festivals and major corporate events. Technotrix has now become an L-Acoustics certified provider for the rental market (CPr) and expanding its equipment inventory with its first L-Acoustics purchase, a K Standard Kara package. The company’s new gear complement is primarily comprised of two-dozen Kara enclosures paired with eight KS28 and eight SB18 subs. Four coaxial X8 enclosures flexibly serve both monitoring and short-throw PA applications, and a new P1 audio processor brings powerful processing and AVB compatibility to the full rig. Two LA-RAK II - each loaded with
USA - Increasing its presence in the US, Solotech has announced the acquisition of Pro Sound, Inc., an audio, video, lighting and broadcast integration company, headquartered in Miami, Florida with offices and warehouses in Orlando, Pensacola and Los Angeles. Solotech has also acquired Pro Sound, Inc.’s Stage Equipment and Lighting (SEAL) brand as well as affiliates Pro Sound CA, Inc., and Show Systems, Inc. “Pro Sound Inc. and its divisions have an incredibly strong reputation in the North American marketplace. Under the leadership of Rod Sintow, CEO, who has built a well-respected management and operational team, the company has been trusted to work in some of the most renowned venues throughout the United States,” states Martin Tremblay, president and CEO of Groupe Solotech. “Rod and his team share our unwavering dedication to quality work, innovative
Europe - This year, Sennheiser will mark its 75th anniversary with a range of events and initiatives and limited editions. During the year, Sennheiser will be “giving voice to the people that make magic sound moments happen, while saying thank you to all Sennheiser fans with exciting promotions, competitions and special editions”. “We are very happy to celebrate our anniversary this year. It is a celebration of our 75-year history, which has not only been shaped by exceptional ideas and innovations, by taking on challenging projects and achieving numerous successes - above all, we are celebrating an enduring passion for great sound”, comments Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, co-CEO of Sennheiser, who alongside his brother Daniel Sennheiser is the third generation of the family to lead the company. “This passion still drives us today. We are constantly innovating new t
UK - Solid State Logic (SSL) and UK distributor Sound Technology have announced that the new SSL 2 and SSL 2+ USB audio interfaces are now shipping in the UK. SSL has been designing mixing consoles and processing tools for the world's recording studios for over four decades, and the new SSL 2 and SSL 2+ interfaces takes this technology and know-how, and places it in the hands of today’s creatives and aspiring professionals. “When SSL's founder, Colin Sanders set about making his first mixing console in the early 70s, he did so because every other console at the time fell short of his expectations and needs,” comments SSL director of new products, Niall Feldman. “Fast-forward 40 years, that same philosophy has inspired the team to create the SSL 2 and SSL 2+ for the personal studio market, and share some of that amazing technology in a new format.” The 2
Norway - Sound engineer Tom Meyer has built up a large collection of DPA microphones over the years and has always been very happy with the results they deliver. He is now spreading the word to artists he works with and has recently persuaded pop singer Lisa Skoglund to switch to one of the company’s new 2028 Vocal Microphones. “As soon as the 2028 Vocal Microphone was released, I ordered one for Lisa and she is so happy with it that she takes it with her wherever she is singing,” Meyer says. “I take a selection of DPA microphones with me on every gig I do because they make my job much easier - and they are popular with my clients, as well.” Based in Bardu in northern Norway, Tom Meyer has been tackling live sound engineering projects since 1990 and now runs his own company, TM Tour Production. He first became aware of DPA through the 4011 Cardioid Microphone
Australia - The J Noosa opened its doors in October 2006 and quickly became a functionally and versatile youth and commercial event space for the Noosa Community and the Sunshine Coast. Positioned in the heart of Noosa, The J offers flexible meeting spaces, conference rooms and facilities for hire, complimented by covered outdoor decks and stylish open foyers. The centre’s J Theatre, a multi-use auditorium and theatre space has installed a Clair Brothers kiTCurve12 system. The project was commissioned and designed by Wayne Grosser, Clair Brothers’ expert audio consultant in Australia, who worked directly with preferred integrator Jason Howley from Distinct Audio & Production for the install. The complete upgraded system in the theatre’s 338-seat main floor and its 64-seat mezzanine section consists of four kiTCurve12s on the left and four on the right a
Germany - Mega Audio is to take on the exclusive distribution of Point Source Audio’s products for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The distributor had been looking to add a miniature microphone brand to its portfolio having previously experienced success with this type of product and was keen to find a company that had the potential to grow substantially. “I had heard of Point Source Audio as one of the top miniature microphone manufacturers in the USA and one of the major US brands in the theatre market,” says Burkhard Elsner, CEO at Mega Audio. “When we took a closer look at their product range, we found them to be very interesting and exciting. I am very happy and proud to be able to offer this brand and its fine products as our new distribution line, it means we can now offer some new and unique products to the market. “We believe that Point Sourc
UK - AVer Europe has launched its professional conferencing system, the VC520 Pro, in the UK. The VC520 Pro has been developed by AVer Europe as a solution for various meeting room sizes, alleviating the challenges that teams face on conference calls. The VC520 Pro has an audio pickup range of 15ft and the ability to daisy-chain two additional speakerphones to reach up to 45ft, offering “ultra-clear unparalleled audio even throughout large meeting rooms”. With Sony True WDR capability, AVer Europe’s VC520 Pro offers clear and high-quality imaging even in high contrast backlit environments. With up to 1080p and 60fps even in poor lighting, the conferencing system’s 12X optical zoom with precise detail enables teams to showcase items such as products or documents live in the room on camera. The VC520 Pro’s SmartFrame technology uses face recognition to a
Norway - A 100-year old historical machine hall situated in Oslo is home to Norway’s Design & Architectural (DOGA) foundation, with DOGA responsible for facilitating collaboration between creative talents and businesses, as well as promoting innovation and new ideas on the role of design and architecture throughout Norway. The large main hall, dating back to 1898, needed a versatile and dependable system suitable for conferencing or seminar purposes - from single stage solo presentations through to larger conferencing situations, with multiple presentations held across various locations in the building. For these reasons, Shure Microflex Wireless was selected as the system of choice. The space at DOGA is 340sq.m wide and 8.5m high, which makes it a popular venue for hire when organising large conferences, seminars and parties. As a historical building steeped in
Japan - Martin Audio’s MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array played an important role at the Countdown Japan Festival 19/20 at the Makuhari Messe Convention Centre in Chiba. Countdown Japan is one of the biggest new year countdown music festivals in Japan, held over four days at the end of December (and leading up to the final countdown at midnight on 31 December). This major event features between 40-50 Japanese music acts per day. The main stage is the 40,000-capacity Earth Stage, while the other four stages comprise Galaxy Stage, Cosmo Stage, Moon Stage and Astro Arena (some with acts running through until New Year’s Day morning). Furthermore, a shrine is set within the venue, providing a genuine Japanese new year flavour. On the Earth Stage, 19 x Martin Audio MLA and a single MLD downfill cabinet provided the main arrays on each side of the stage, while si
South Korea - Record-breaking crowds attended Seoul Light, where Nexo’s new Geo M12 line array made its debut. Newly-purchased by audio production company Plan 24, the M12 inventory was augmented by long-time Nexo user Way Audio, which ordered Geo M modules especially for this event. Staged at the Dondaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in the centre of Seoul, the festival attracted more than a million visitors. The DDP is the centrepiece of South Korea's fashion hub and a popular tourist destination, Dongdaemun, which features a walkable park on its roofs, large global exhibition spaces, futuristic retail stores and restored parts of the Seoul fortress. The entire outer wall of the DDP building, designed by Zaha Hadid, becomes a gigantic exhibition hall during the year-end and New Year’s period (20 December - 3 January). As the sun sets and the darkness falls, a larg
UK - JoeCo’s Blackbox BBR64-Dante multitrack recorders feature in Spiritland One mobile studio set-up. The four-unit solution provides 256-channel recording and back-up capabilities so that the Spiritland Productions team can reliably capture live sound recordings over long periods of time. Created by two ex-BBC sound engineers, Antony Shaw and Gareth Iles, Spiritland One is a high-end studio on wheels, designed to go wherever live music takes it. For Shaw and Iles, inspiration struck when they took over the technical fit out and management of Spiritland Studio, King’s Cross. “When we mentioned that we would love to build something like this, the team at Spiritland jumped at the idea,” says Shaw. “The truck is designed to record and mix big live events, with a high channel count to capture sound as reliably as possible.” With the Dante network providi
Denmark - Car manufacturer Porsche launched its new electric Taycan Turbo S sports car for the Danish market at the Porsche Centre Copenhagen in January. In keeping with the electric theme, Hippotizer Media Servers powered the electrifying video-mapping of the car’s exterior at the special event, which was produced for Porsche by Capital Events. Copenhagen-based projection specialist 4K Projects, brought in by technical supplier Nordic Rentals, were responsible for the visuals. They supplied a Hippotizer Boreal+ for the playback, along with a second unit as backup. The graphics and video content was fed from a single 4K output, through a Datapath FX4, which split the output into four HD feeds. 4K Project’s production team was made up of Mikkel Samuelsen, Balder Thorrud and Rasmus Linck, who designed the video content to complement a soundtrack created by Porsche es
UK - Shure collaborated with Adlib to upgrade ACC Liverpool’s RF system. The result is a future-proofed system ready for today’s challenging RF environment. The ACC Liverpool is a conference centre situated on Liverpool’s waterfront. The event campus is an interconnected arena, convention and exhibition centre, which plays a leading role in shining a spotlight on the city. The venue has successfully staged a wide array of national and international events, from shows to conventions and business gatherings to showcase exhibitions. Welcoming more than 7.9m people through its doors since they first opened, the venue is home to a flexible layout configuration. A tiered auditorium, break-out rooms, the exhibition centre and an event arena can be split, joined, and arranged in a variety of ways. Owing to the ever-changing configuration of the building, ACC Liverp
