Italy - The famed Salone dei 500 of Palazzo Vecchio has long held great importance for the city of Florence. Measuring 54m long, 23m wide, and 18m high, it is the largest and most important room in terms of artistic and historic value in the old place and the largest room in Italy made for a civil power palace. Originally built during the Renaissance to host meetings for representatives of the democratic government of the Florentine Republic, or the Great Council of 500, the Salone dei 500 has changed overtime to accommodate every owner of the palace, transforming from a hall commemorating important battles with artworks to be commissioned by the two greatest Florentine artists of the time, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to the boardroom of the Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, where he received ambassadors and gave audience to the people. Richly decorated and wildly p
UK - Switzerland-based Schertler Group has appointed Systems Workshop as UK distributor for its Arthur modular mixer. The Oswestry-based company will act as a showroom and distribution centre for the mixer, which has attracted a steadily growing list of international users during the 12 months since its release. Arthur offers musicians and engineers a customizable mixing solution for live and studio applications. The mixer’s input and output modules can be assembled in virtually any combination or order, from a basic compact setup with a vocal or instrument preamp and L/R Master, to a DJ / keyboard mixer with stereo inputs for keys and playback devices, right through to a large multi-channel studio configuration with multiple mic and instrument inputs and aux sends. The mixer can be directly connected to a PA system and can be expanded over time as required, or as new modu
UK - Prolight Concepts Group has taken on exclusive UK distribution of Kuzar Systems, a Spanish company located in Valencia, dedicated to the design, manufacture and distribution of lifters and lifting accessories for the lighting and sound industry. Designed for the professional user in the event and rental industry, Kuzar lifters are manufactured in Europe to both BGV C1 and CE (2006/42/CE) standards, and are also backed by a two-year warranty. The lifters feature ‘KAT’ locks that offer two positions, one for raising the lifter and the second for locking the lifter while static at height for increased safety. Each lifter features high quality, AL-KO winches loaded with steel cable and are available in either telescopic vertical lift for truss and lighting fixtures or front-loading for lifting truss and compact line array systems. When not in use the lifters pack
UK - Sheffield based Bring Me the Horizon (BMTH) embarked on their first arena tour of the UK in the latter part of 2016. The tour came in the wake of a year of successes for the band, during which they released a fifth LP That’s The Spirit and played just before Metallica on the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. Kicking off at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, the tour represented the band’s largest gig to date. It saw other live shows played in Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena, London’s O2, Sheffield Motorpoint Arena, and Manchester Arena, before wrapping up at Glasgow SSE Hydro. d&b has long been a fixture at BMTH gigs, with the technology a favourite of front of house engineer Oliver Hutchinson – particularly the subs and the overall high quality of sound delivered. “I am a huge fan of d&b and would happily never use anot
UK - Free to attend, the d&b Software and system fundamentals workshop covers all you need to know about the d&b workflow and system basics. Realising the best sound possible is unimaginable without the d&b software toolkit, a key component in the planning, optimization and control of any d&b system. With a focus on the d&b software programmes, ArrayCalc for simulation, and R1 for remote control, the workshop is completely dedicated to the workflow methodology. Beginning with ArrayCalc, the session will guide you through the steps for simulating line array or point source systems, opening your project data in the intuitive R1user interface, and finally sending all relevant settings to the d&b amplifiers - with just a few clicks of the mouse. The dates are: Tuesday 10 October – Dublin, Thursday 12 October – Belfast and Wednesday 25 October
USA - Located in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida, Daily’s Place is an outdoor amphitheatre connected to the south end of EverBank Field football stadium, and shares space with a "flex field" indoor practice facility for the Jacksonville Jaguars. As a multipurpose venue, the ability to ensure quality sound throughout the space was a crucial consideration for facility management. To address this challenge, loudspeakers from the Artec-300 series and HQ series product groups of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio were placed into service. Florida Sound Engineering Co, also of Jacksonville, FL, provides AV design, installation, and service of commercial audio and video systems for churches, theatres, ballrooms, stadiums, and other facilities. The company was contracted to install the new sound reinforcement system at Daily’s Place. Neil Cooper, senior project manager, handles s
UK - Adlib supplied sound, lighting and rigging to two main arenas at Creamfields 2017 - CF03 (Armada / Mega) and CF05 ‘The Curve” - plus CF10, the all-important VIP and hospitality area. The four-day festival was staged at its regular site on the Daresbury Estate near Warrington. Adlib was working directly for creative production specialist LarMac LIVE. On site, the Adlib crews were led by Hassane Es Siahi (Hass) who also designed the audio in CF03 and Adlib’s Kevin Byatt who was project manager over all of the disciplines. CF03 (this year co-hosted by Armada and Mega) is a large tent built on a slope presenting immediate topographical challenges in getting even sound coverage. Added to this, the tent skins were swagged - hammock style - over the king poles, creating further reflections, so dealing with the sonic detractions involved conscientious detailin
UK - The 40th anniversary of the PLASA Show saw its refocussed direction paying dividends, with an increase in visitor numbers, a sold-out show floor and a 25% increase in the number of audio companies exhibiting. Exhibitors reported continually busy stands and a high quality of visitor across all three days, with a particular increase in the number of international attendees, whilst visitors were pleased with the number of brand new products on show and the content rich seminar programme. “The quality of the people was bang on,” says Mick Hannaford from the show’s platinum sponsor, Robe. “The amazing thing from our point of view was the amount of lighting designers attending, especially on the Sunday, and not just from the UK, but mainland Europe, too. It was a really impressive. Undoubtedly, the move back to West London is making that happen. Every time I looked, t
USA - Fashion designer John Varvatos is synonymous with the rock ‘n roll look, and his nearly 30 stores around the world – from San Francisco to Mexico City to London to Moscow to Bangkok and beyond – attest to the global excitement for his uniquely put-together, yet authentically rebellious look. When the Varvatos company added its fifth New York City location in the Westfield World Trade Centre mall, they hired Essential Communications (East Hanover, New Jersey) to design and install a killer music playback system worthy of the Varvatos name. Essential Communications relied on Ashly Audio’s four-channel nXp8004 DSP-equipped network multi-mode amplifier, paired with Ashly’s WR1.5 remote volume control & source/preset selector and Ashly’s custom iPad/iPhone remote control app. “We specialise in retail, restaurant, and hotels where the client cares a l
USA - Every summer, some of country music’s hottest acts head into Eastern New York’s Catskill Mountains to perform at the Taste of Country Music Festival, and every summer, the team at Atomic Professional Audio ensures the main stage sound is as pristine as its surroundings with an E-Series loudspeaker system from Adamson Systems Engineering. “Atomic has been a proud Adamson house since the days of the Y-Axis series,” comments George Perone, Atomic’s head of audio. “Since the beginning, we’ve been impressed by every Adamson model we’ve heard, and we were an early E-Series partner based on that history of superior sounding loudspeakers. But on top of the sonic performance, we’ve also seen a substantial return on investment with Adamson every time we’ve bolstered our inventory.” On the main RAM Trucks Stage, which featured performances by Ja
UK - Martin Audio has announced a significant upgrade to its optimisation, control and monitoring software platforms. Display 2.3 integrates the recently announced Wavefront Precision series featuring scalable optimisation, while Vu-Net 2.1 integrates control and monitoring for the new iKON amplifiers, Wavefront Precision Series and XE stage monitors. For the first time, Display will be available to anyone that registers for the software. Dom Harter, managing director, explains: “MLA users for years have told us that it does things that no other competitor product can do and that we should make this easier for the industry to recognise. Part of this understanding is making Display 2.3 more readily available for the industry to familiarise itself with and to demystify the process. The launch of Wavefront Precision - which has seen unprecedented demand - also precipitated th
Europe - The EVID-S series is the latest member of the EVID (EV Innovative Design) family of commercial loudspeakers for installed applications. Every aspect of the EVID-S series has been designed from the ground up to ensure efficient installation for the contractor and excellent results for the end-user, says the company. The series includes 4-inch, 5.25-inch and 8-inch 2-way models with matching dual-10-inch and single 12-inch subwoofers, making it easy to select a suitable model a specific space – a new go-to solution for distributed sound systems. All EVID-S models offer Electro-Voice-engineered components for superior sound quality, low-profile looks and robust reliability for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications. These include retail environments, hospitality settings such as bars, lounges, patios, pool areas and restaurants; conference and meeting rooms
UK - This month’s London Design Festival 2017 sees the global launch of Tord Boontje’s new collection of chandelier and crystal lighting components, designed exclusively for Swarovski Crystal Palace in his 15th year of collaboration with Swarovski. The installation includes a highly innovative soundscape which was created in collaboration with sound artist Manabu Shimada and is presented via a surround sound system provided by Yamaha. Yamaha audio equipment is bringing the unique interactive sound design to life. Visitors and people around the globe can tweet to alter the composition of the music by using one of the following hashtags on Twitter to change the soundscape: #crystal #light #reflection #water #swarovskicrystalpalace #tordboontje The installation is accompanied by a quadrophonic, surround soundscape, delivered by four Yamaha VXS3F loudspeakers and a VX
UK - Canadian pop megastar Justin Bieber’s Purpose world tour made just two stops in the UK during 2017, one of which was a sold-out show at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in June which drew ‘Beliebers’ from throughout the UK and Europe. London-based Capital Sound Hire were the audio contractors for the event and supplied a bespoke system design using Outline’s flagship GTO family of products designed by Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Perreux, who already had the Cardiff stadium stored in his OpenArray acoustic measurement files. Capital had of course worked frequently at the stadium before with major pop acts including Take That, and a last-minute decision to close the roof did not necessitate major changes to the basic system design. The main and side hangs comprised 15 of the 2x15-inch GTO elements with one GTO-DF down-fill at the bottom of each hang, in add
Poland - Clarity and transparency were the key reasons why sound engineer Tomasz Klimkiewicz chose DPA microphones when he was recently tasked with amplifying a series of concerts featuring traditional Polish Lenten cantos. “I didn’t want the true sound of the instruments to change in any way,” Klimkiewicz says. “For example, the drums had been tuned by the drummer and I wanted the microphones to capture that exact sound. I chose DPA because I knew that their microphones were capable of delivering the clarity I was looking for.” Entitled For Every Soul, the concerts featured unconventional arrangements of Lenten cantos that, while not as well-known as Christmas carols, are equally rich in beautiful and poignant melodies. With a project of such emotional intensity, Klimkiewicz was keen to keep the aesthetics as clean as possible by not allowing t
Tahiti - Nexo’s flagship modular line array, the STM Series, has been installed in its most exotic location to date – the To’Ata Showground in Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. This very large showground, available for rental in different configurations that can accommodate 3200-6000 people, is the primary cultural events venue in French Polynesia, staging rock and pop concerts for up to 5000 people. It is also home to the Heiva, a spectacular two-month festival of dance and sport which dates back to 1881. Teams and troupes arrive from all the islands, more than 8000 participants in all, with the best chant and dance groups competing on the famous To’Ata stage. Te Fare Tahiti Nui (TFTN), the public service organisation which manages the venue, was tasked with choosing a PA system that could match the showground’s versatility. Working closely with Comimpex, the
Norway - Acoustic problems are not limited to historic venues - many newer concert halls still experience issues with reverb or frequencies that can be difficult to eliminate. But an Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system has made a major difference to the main live venue in Tromsø, Norway. Owned by the municipality of Tromsø, KulturHuset opened in 1984 and is used for a wide range of productions including opera, theatre, stand-up comedy, rock, pop and classical concerts. It also shows films during the Tromsø International Film Festival. The main auditorium can accommodate a seated audience of 620, or 1200 with the seats removed. The main auditorium’s existing PA had been in place for over 10 years and the theatre felt that it was time to modernise and embrace the latest technology to help minimise a problem with bass reverberation. "Sound quality was of course on
UK - Shure UK announced SSE Audio as its 2017 UK Rental Partner of the Year during the PLASA Show at London's Olympia. The award was given to SSE Audio's group managing director John Penn and co-founder Heather Penn at the Shure PLASA stand during the second day at the show, by Shure UK's Pro Audio Group manager Tuomo Tolonen and area sales manager Stuart Moots. "Shure's excellent relationship with SSE Audio spans several decades, during which time they've been a highly valued rental partner for us - but this past year, we've worked especially closely together with them," noted Tuomo Tolonen following the handing over of the award. "SSE were involved with beta-testing for Axient Digital, our new flagship digital wireless microphone system, and this provided us with valuable feedback and allowed SSE to get first-hand experience with the system. After Axient Digital bega
Italy - An Allen & Heath dLive C Class mixing system was selected for a charity concert by famous tenor, Andrea Bocelli, held at Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico, Italy, for his foundation, Voices of Haiti. Held annually, this year’s concert featured a choir of 60 young Haitian singers, who are part of an educational Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF) musical project. The opera star accompanied the choir and there was also performances from several international guest artists. Now in its 12th year, the concert was attended by more than 15,000 people. PA company, Luciano Spera Audio Video Luci, was responsible for audio requirements on the night, selecting a compact dLive C3500 Surface with CDM48 MixRack, to manage FOH. Sound engineer, Pierpaolo Guerrini, commented: “The dLive C Class was a great choice for this concert. Its compact size means we did not take
USA - What The Festival (WTF) returned to the Wolf Run Ranch in Oregon on 16-19 June for the sixth edition of the boutique festival. Funktion-One sound, including a Vero system for the main stage, was deployed across the festival, courtesy of Sound Investment and Fusebox Productions. WTF was born in 2012, the same year that the festival’s co-founder, Glen Boyd, had Sound Investment install a Funktion-One sound system in his house. This year’s event welcomed 7,500 people, who came for what Boyd describes as: “A totally immersive festival”. “It’s not about massive crowds and headliners, it’s about the whole experience, which includes interactive art, eight stages of electronic and live music, guest speakers and movement classes,” he says. “We don’t do pass outs because we want our community to stay together and for the environment to be as immersive a
UK - Historic landmark building (and former picture house), The Scala at Kings Cross originally opened its doors just after the end of World War 1. More recently, in its current guise as an eclectic live music and dance/club venue, it has played host to many top bands since the venue reopened in 1999, including Tiesto, Bastille, Ed Sheeran, Nine Inch Nails, Kaiser Chiefs, Foo Fighters, Rihanna, Rita Ora, Lana Del Rey, The Killers and Stereophonics. In order to keep up with the demanding technical requirements of artistes of this calibre, the Scala recently upgraded its house PA system to a Martin Audio MLA Compact, with the new system designed and installed by Capital Sound (for whom both The Killers and Stereophonics are long-term touring accounts). With as many as 800 people packing the place for live stage events (rising to 1145 capacity for club nights), audiences
UK - Soundcraft by Harman and UK distributor Sound Technology Ltd are pleased to announce the Vi1000 digital mixing console at PLASA 2017 [Sound Technology Ltd, Stand S71]. Representing the culmination of the groundbreaking achievements and rich feature sets offered by Soundcraft’s acclaimed Vi Series, the new Vi1000 offers 96 input channels with 24 mono/stereo mix busses, plus LRC master busses, and support for Dante audio networking - all in a compact form factor that makes it ideal for smaller touring projects, rental companies, corporate AV applications, as well as music venue, theatre, and HOW installations in search of a versatile digital mixer, says Soundcraft. Key among its many features, the Vi1000 incorporates Vistonics II ‘knobs-on-glass’ functionality, making it easy to see and access the power and versatility of the mixing environment; along with So
UK - DiGiCo has announced the launch of a new DMI-MIC Pre-Amp Card for its S-Series digital mixing consoles, offering additional connectivity. The S-Series has already benefitted from an increase from 40 to 48 flexi channels as part of a recent update, and the new DMI-MIC Pre-Amp Card adds an extra eight mic inputs, connected via a 25-way D-sub, using the same pre-amps already found in the console. This allows for up to 40 mic inputs directly on the console surface. DiGiCo consoles are used on many of the biggest live sound tours and events around the world and the launch of new, compact S-Series made this pedigree of audio performance available to every part of the industry, with Stealth Digital Processing introducing a new standard of audio quality, power and flexibility not seen before at its price point. The S-Series multi-touch touch screens, breaking the mo
UK - Novum Audio Visual Ltd., a leading Midlands-based conference and technical event production company, has just invested in a significant stock of Outline PA equipment along with flying hardware, flight cases and amplifiers as part of an exercise to both revitalize and streamline their rental stock inventory. Novum’s technical team voted unanimously for the Outline products after a blind shoot-out between seven different speaker manufacturers. Novum’s commercial director, Tim Jacques, takes up the story: “In this current tranche of investment, we essentially had two issues to resolve. First, we were looking to overhaul our point source stock, and secondly we wanted to set a foundation and a direction for our next investment into a large-format solution. “Much of our previous audio stock was over 10 years old and over the years we had gradually built up a wid
