South Africa - Established in the mid 1980s, theatre and studio engineering is well known in South Africa for serving the theatre and entertainment market with design work and the manufacture of mechanical equipment and structures. Rob Young took over the company in 2003 and is now pleased to offer his expertise and workmanship to clients at DWR.

"I have always loved what I do because everything is different, " said Rob. The new merge sees DWR Distribution adding a new warehouse to the existing office space situated at Kimbult Industrial Park in Laserpark, Honeydew.

"It's a privilege for us to welcome Rob to the team," said Duncan Riley of DWR. "He is a great man with much knowledge and experience and we hope that the years ahead will be happy ones."

The Netherlands - The 'third chapter' of Yamaha's Dante R-series i/o units received its worldwide launch at IBC 2014, with the introduction of the RMio64-D rack unit for Dante/MADI conversion in broadcast and live sound applications.

Launched with the CL series digital mixing consoles in 2012, Yamaha's Rio3224-D and Rio1608-D i/o units were followed in 2013 by the Ri8-D and Ro8-D, all delivering outstanding sonic performance and flexibility for Dante-based audio systems.

Scheduled to be available in late 2014, the new RMio64-D enhances this legacy further by allowing audio from a CL/QL live sound (or other Dante-equipped) system, to be converted to MADI and fed to an OB vehicle or other recording facility. Alternatively, it can allow a MADI-based console to be easily integrated into a Nuage system for post-production.

Word clock synchronisation can be an issue when convertin

The Netherlands - At IBC, Audio-Technica unveiled its new AT8024 mono/stereo camera-mount microphone at IBC2014, aimed at bringing quality audio to DSLR video shooters in a simple and easy-to-use format.

The short shotgun microphone is powered by a single AA battery and connects to cameras with an unbalanced stereo 3.5mm TRS jack. Aware of the challenges of recording high quality audio in demanding, often fast-moving situations, Audio-Technica has also equipped the AT8024 with a low cut filter to reduce low frequency rumble and -10dB and -20dB pad settings to minimise the chance of overloading the camera's audio input.

Switchable mono or stereo operation extends the new microphone's flexibility. Additionally, the AT8024 features an integrated shockmount and foam windscreen with wind muff.

IBC2014 will also saw demonstrations of Audio-Technica's new ATND971 Cardioid Condenser

Spain - WEQ 231 is the new stereo equalizer of 31 + 31 bands with constant bandwidth (constant Q) by Work Pro. The main feature that makes WEQ 231 different is the addition of feedback alert function.

The feedback alert allows to check in real time if there is any signal peak on a specific frequency. This warning is visible through the lighting of the LED that belongs to the detected frequency. The system adds a general sensitivity adjustment control in order to hit the right frequency value in the hypothetical case of feedback detection on adjacent frequencies; thereby, the user is warned with greater accuracy about the feedback point and is able to modify the response curve removing the one-time feedback.

In addition to this main feature, WEQ 231 adds features that are usually incorporated in this kind of device, such as high-pass and low-pass filters, the possibility of adj

Germany - With the new SL Interpreter console, audio specialist Sennheiser expands its Tourguide conference and presentation system with a complete solution for controlling language interpreting channels.

As a self-contained unit for simultaneous interpreting, Sennheiser's SL Interpreter brings together all the key functions of an interpreting console. When combined with the rack-mount SR 2020 Tourguide transmitter and Tourguide receivers for the audience, it delivers scalable language interpreting solutions that ensure simple installation and user-friendly operation.

"Whether you're doing a small product presentation or an international conference with hundreds of participants - SL Interpreter will impress with its flexibility and ease of use," explained Wienand Mensendiek, manager Portfolio and Channel Development Integrated Systems at Sennheiser.

In combination

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

The Netherlands - HHB Communications debuted several important broadcast audio products with co-exhibitors TC Electronic, Dynaudio Professional, Roland and Mogami at IBC 2014.

With a strong focus on the latest loudness hardware and software technologies, HHB can assist you in meeting the Digital Production Partnership's 1 October deadline for AS-11 file delivery and R128 loudness criteria. As such, HHB hosted the world debut of the TC Electronic's aNorm adaptive normalisation algorithm and the 1U Loudness Pilot, plus the latest software for TouchMonitor audio and loudness meters.

This is in addition to new and enhanced versions of Nugen Audio's range of loudness plug-ins, including the latest version of the LMB Loudness Management Batch processing plug-in featuring DynApt loudness compliant dynamic adaptation.

HHB highlighted several of Roland's newest AV technologies, inclu

The Netherlands - At IBC 2014 Clear-Com introduced the LINQ product line. LINQ interfaces are compact devices that enable connection of two-wire partyline with call signaling and four-wire audio over LAN, WAN or Internet IP infrastructures. Based on Clear-Com's patented I.V.-Core technology, LINQ provides the industry with the next step in intercom/audio linking technology, says the company.

LINQ is available in two-wire (LINQ-2W2) or four-wire (LINQ-4W2) options. The LINQ-2W2 is both Clear-Com and RTS TW compatible. The LINQ-4W2 can interconnect with devices, such as analogue ports of any matrix intercom system, analog telephone circuits, two-way radio gateways and audio consoles. A maximum of six LINQ IP interfaces can be linked together in any two- or four-wire combination.

LINQ uses the Opus high quality audio codec. The bitrate, bandwidth, and delay can be changed quickly

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

UK - Two well-known figures of the pro audio industry, Barry Revels and Craig Lovell, have made a significant investment in Bel Digital Audio Ltd, resulting in the formation of the Bel Digital Group holding company.

The new holding company will also include British manufacturer 4HM Limited, which specializes in MADI related equipment for the professional audio, broadcast and live industries, allowing the merging the Bel and 4HM brands.

This combination results in a significant expansion of non-overlapping, yet complementary, products and will deliver the associated benefits to product development from significant investment in R&D and the adoption of new technologies.

The enhanced management team is excited by the opportunity afforded to take the well-respected Bel brand forward, with new products that will benefit wider market segments. The combined companies and their prod

USA - As the East Coast's first Olympic-calibre BMX track, Novant Health BMX in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, offers national and world-level BMX racing events. In 2015, Novant will host the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup Finals. This race will serve as the main qualification event for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The track has both an amateur and an elite supercross start hill as well as a pump track and offers amateur events and training. These features are expected to help Novant attract a large sports-tourism crowd.

During the planning stages, the city of Rock Hill contacted Butch Bailey and Keith Ludlam of B&K Pro Audio and Lighting to design an audio system for the track. The city wanted clear voice paging and high-quality music covering the entire venue which extends over several acres.

To meet these needs, B&K designed a system using Community's R Series loudspeakers

USA - California based sales and rental company Felix Lighting - headquartered in Los Angeles with a recently opened office in San Francisco - has added 40 x Robe Robin CycFX 8 moving LED batten fixtures to its rental stock, which also includes Robe Pointes.

The CycFx 8s were initially purchased for the Sunday Night Football introduction with Carrie Underwood on NBC, featuring lighting designed by Benoit Richard, and were part of a specification that also included 47 Pointes.

The new CycFX 8s are now part of Felix Lighting's rental stock where they are already proving popular.

Account representative Charlie Malings said, "We decided to purchase the CycFXs - as opposed to cross rent them for the event - based on research and what we are hearing on the industry grapevine. They are a welcome addition to our rental inventory and have been constantly in demand since they arr

China - Elation Professional's new high-powered Platinum BX beam and hybrid Platinum SBX moving heads debuted in a big way on the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games held 16 August in Nanjing, China.

Lighting designer Sha Xiao Lan, who wowed the world with his lighting design for the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, awed spectators once again with a brilliant light show that incorporated 400 Platinum BX and SBX fixtures. Production company for the event was Beijing Fengshang Shiji Culture Art Co., Ltd.

Held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre and televised around the globe, Sha Xiao Lan created a number of spectacular looks including one in which he placed 20 Platinum BX units in a huge scenic astronomical telescope, which illuminated the night sky and became an iconic element that stood out as one of the main highlights of the ev

Switzerland - 2014 marks the sixth year that DiGiCo has sponsored the Montreux Jazz festival, supplying a wide selection of mixing consoles to all of the event's main venues. Just the place, then, for a Swiss audio company to invest in a new DiGiCo desk.

Based in Elsau-Räterschen, show-concept.ch is a production company that delivers a complete service for live corporate and entertainment events. The company has used DiGiCo's smaller consoles since 2010 but, with one eye on next year's festival season, felt it was the right time to invest in a major Front of House system.

"We have invested in our new flagship DiGiCo SD5, as well as being the first company in Switzerland to purchase a JBL VTX V20 line array. Together they mean we are very well equipped for both touring shows and the summer festival season," says Cyril Schmuki, audio/sales engineer at show-concept.ch<

UK - On behalf of Glastonbury Festivals Ltd, the event production services company was responsible for overseeing all production aspects. A local crowd of over 5,000 enjoyed a stellar line up, as headliners the Foals were supported by Ella Eyre, and local up-and-coming band Fast Decline.

Introduced by Michael Eavis, the event serves as a thank you to Pilton village that lives with the disruption the main festival can bring, with all money raised given in grants to different local organisations.

Managing director of EnTEEtainment Ltd, Dick Tee said, "With the likes of Kasabian headlining in 2005 when it was held at the village hall playing fields, the popularity of the event quickly outgrew its former site, and moved to Worthy Farm in 2007. Drawing on our depth of knowledge of the site and long standing relationship with Glastonbury Festivals, we were brought in to provide

UK - Creative Technology's London operation has recently recruited Dan Burgess in the position of account manager, focusing on the corporate sector.

Having worked within corporate events for 17 years, Dan brings a wealth of experience of the AV industry.

Dan started his career as a production manager at Crown Business Communications where he spent nine years working across a wide variety of shows for both the private and public sectors. Moving to Blitz Communications he quickly progressed from account manager to account director, becoming responsible for the team delivering production company events.

After four years at Blitz, Dan moved to Production Resource Group as account director, where his main focus was establishing video as a new offering into the UK corporate market.

Dan comments, "It's great to be joining Creative Technology and becoming part of the team. Cr

The Netherlands - Lawo chose this year's IBC as the launch platform for the mc²36 audio console - an all-in-one mixing desk, with a comprehensive feature set that covers broadcast, theatre, house of worship, live and install applications. Along with uncompromised sound quality and Lawo-grade mic preamps, it offers unprecedented value for money, says the company.

The compact size of the console belies its power. A powerful DSP micro-core with internal 512x512 port audio matrix, and integrated I/O make it ideally suited to permanent installations with limited space, as well as to rental companies looking to optimize transportation. As it is natively equipped with RAVENNA/AES67 technology, the mc²36 integrates seamlessly into IP infrastructures. And for operational security, the console not only has redundant power-supplies but also DSP redundancy.

The Lawo mc²36 was designed

UK - Every so often one of those invaluable lighting 'gadgets' comes along that is simple yet indispensible. The Lightsock is such an accessory, say the designers.

Made of flexible, flame-retardant fabric (rated BS5867 Type B), The Lightsock is a reusable, environmentally-friendly cuff that fits easily around the lens tube of a lantern and any accessory attached to it, whether it be a simple top hat or a colour scroller with top hat. The Lightsock eliminates light spill without the use of conventional heat-resistant adhesive black tape.

"There is nothing worse than white light spilling out of the back of colour scrollers or the sides of colour runners into the auditorium and spoiling the audience's enjoyment of a production," says Lightsocks co-director, Peter Lambert. "We have carried out extensive research in collaboration with lighting technicians and product

UK - When it comes to the London premiere of the Marvel superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, you know you're going to need a robust, reliable, and feature-rich console to control the lighting: step forward Luke Edwards and his Avolites Tiger Touch II.

Thousands of fans turned up at the capital's Empire Theatre in Leicester Square to see stars including Vin Diesel arrive on the red carpet and be interviewed on a specially created structure that boasted 20 x LED pixel tracks, amongst other fixtures.

Using the Tiger Touch II's pixel mapping feature, Edwards - who also works as touring LD for acts such as Gary Numan and Crystal Fighters - programmed a video-like look that wowed the crowds.

"Pixel mapper is a fast and effective way to achieve the 'wow' look when the budget doesn't cover media servers," says Edwards, who was working on behalf of Limited Edition

Australia - Sydney based EventSound has added a Soundcraft Si Compact and a Si Performer 2 console to their inventory and managing director Keith Clarkson reports that they have both been "great!"

"As an ardent Soundcraft fan, I was eagerly looking forward to the release of the Compact and Performer series of digital consoles," he said. "These were the first digital consoles I knew how to operate without even turning them on, from just their layout. I like to think of them as the digital console for the analogue guy."

Keith's first gig out with the Soundcraft Si Compact was for Jennifer Hawkins' engagement party held at Palm Beach with live performances from Martini Club and guest performer Guy Sebastian.

"With such an intuitive layout it was easy to set up for FOH and monitor mixes," he added. "Straight away you feel comfortable

Poland - Toru? is an important city on the Polish sports map and its status has recently been enhanced with the completion of the new $40m Toru? Sports Hall. The multi-sports venue has a capacity of 6,000, which can be expanded to 9,000 when required.

Marcin Zimny of Tommex ?ebrowscy Sp. J. was the system designer and project manager for the EN 54-24 certified audio system, which is also used for events information and entertainment. Tommex also provided system tuning and commissioning. Zimny commented, "The installation was handled by ?ód?-based IRBIS. They are a very professional company and did a great job installing the system to the highest standards; an important factor for ensuring quality and long term reliability."

Zimny discussed the system design, "Community R Series is always our first choice of loudspeakers for stadia and large scale sports venues

Australia - The electro-acoustic challenges of traditional stone Christian churches are many. Originally designed to disperse the sound of choirs and organs while filling their vaulted spaces with light, they rarely interact well with modern microphones and loudspeakers.

In addition, their age and heritage status often makes incorporating wiring and any visibly modern technology physically and aesthetically difficult. Sydney's The P.A. People recently took on two separate church projects, the first of which faced all of these difficulties, while the second actively sought to exploit them to its advantage.

Built between 1861 and 1865, St Jude's in Sydney's Randwick is a reproduction of its English architect's own parish church, St. John's at Randwick in Gloucestershire. Feeling it's almost 150 years of continuous use, the parish recently embarked on a major project. "The w

China / UK - Formula E, the new FIA fully-electric racing series, opened with its inaugural race in spectacular style this weekend in Beijing and Leeds-based FAL Systems has provided its full spectrum of systems integration services for the project. FAL was commissioned to build the system by Hayfisher Productions based in the West Midlands who have been contracted by Aurora Media to provide broadcast facilities for the new motorsport championship.

British systems integrator FAL Systems has announced the completion of a prestigious project to provide the complete 'Fly-Away' world feed broadcast facility for the new ten round all electric race series. Their brief was quite challenging in that not only were they to provide all means for acquiring all the audio and video for the transmission but that they were to do so in such a way as to have minimal environmental impact.

Andy U

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