UK - Experienced industry executive, Garry Broadbent, has been confirmed as the new MD of CRS Ltd and Powerent. Broadbent will take the reigns at two of the Longville Group's specialist equipment rental companies after a complete restructure by the new board which was appointed at the end of last year. CRS is one of the country's leading climate control hire specialists and Powerent provides power and generator solutions.

Broadbent was one of the original founders of CRS in 1995 and moved with the company, becoming sales director, when the Longville Group acquired it in 1999. Broadbent not only has a background in sales but also mechanical engineering, which is crucial in what is a technical, installation and solution driven market.

Broadbent said: "The restructure at Longville has created a great opportunity for our businesses to focus on their own unique strengths and c

Italy - Eros Ramazzotti is one of Italy's top exports music-wise: the Roman singer/songwriter is in fact currently globetrotting with his high-tech World Tour, performing hits and tracks from '9', his latest BMG album, to packed crowds throughout Europe - from Moscow to Lisbon - then over to South and Central America, before coming back for a summer leg in European open-air sports arenas.

Producers Clear Channel Entertainment Italia called in Canadian set Designers Serge Denoncourt and Francis LaPorte and LD Alain Lortié who, along with production manager Giorgio Ioan and musical director Claudio Giudetti, came up with a world-class multimedia spectacle. Ioan says: "Eros decided he wanted a complete change and the show really is different - with a great deal of work going into the actual concept, the lighting, sound and video."

Ioan went to Canada and met the design

Finland - Genelec is launching a new line of near-field, two-way systems - the 8000 Series - comprising three new products: the 8030A, 8040A and 8050A, which replace the 1029A, 1030A, and 1031A, respectively.

Following the footsteps of the 7000 series of LSE subwoofers, the 8000 series takes a new approach to enclosure design, driver technology, and active electronics, say Genelec. All three models utilize all aluminium, minimum diffraction enclosure (MDE) design, with large internal volumes, curved edges, and significant mechanical strength.

Ilpo Martikainen, MD of Genelec, commented: "Genelec changes models only when real performance improvements can be achieved. The design brief for the new 8000 series called for a reduction in various linear and non-linear distortions. After careful analysis of what improvements were technically and economically feasible, our engineer

Iraq - Capital Productions' contract with Combined Services Entertainment (CSE) - which provides entertainment to HM Forces serving worldwide - last year extended to Iraq.

With a high number of British troops stationed in Basra, the shows tend to be more complex. Here Capital created the staging, barriers and ground support system, supplied the backline kit and sub-contracted the lighting from Brian Leitch's company, Siyan.

Capital's Paul Timmins told us: "I'm always striving to improve on the equipment and I desperately wanted to use the Martin line array system. It's the first time these premium speakers have been in the sand."

An array of eight W8L enclosures and six ground-stacked WSX subs were positioned either side of the stage, supported by a further six Martin Audio W2s for barrier fills. With air support provided by the Royal Air Force, some 24 tons of e

Ireland - On 19 February, Pink, the bad girl of pop, made a dramatic entrance onto the stage at the Point Theatre Dublin as she was lowered smoothly to the stage in a rusty steel bird cage (pictured right). Pink opened her show with the hit song There You Go, telling the 8,000 strong crowd that the evening was to be an 'illusion of music'. . .

Brilliant Stages were approached by production manager Rich Barr to work on the Mark Fisher design for the European leg of Pink's world tour. The company supplied two 'smart' hoists - to lower the cage to the stage - preferred for their ability to ramp up and down from a soft start to produce a smooth descent. The set pieces include two exaggerated speaker stacks mounted to an upstage raised walkway, accessed via two open-tread aluminium staircases on stage left and right.

The 64 speaker cones, constructed from fibreglass, are up to 3ft

USA - Well-known for his past work with Primus, as well as the current line-up of Guns n' Roses, drummer Brain (Bryan Mantia) has been pursuing a parallel career in computer music and beat programming for the past few years. Using two portable Metric Halo setups, Brain is able to bring his programming talents to bear on multiple projects simultaneously.

"I do a lot of programming for albums," Brain acknowledges. "I just did a load of stuff for the new Vanessa Carlton album. I also just did an album with Buckethead, the guitarist from Guns n' Roses. His new album has a lot of programming."

Brain now uses a pair of G4 Titanium laptops. Looking for a high quality digital audio interface, he reports that friends in the industry, such as producers Michael Beinhorn and Roy Thomas Baker, recommended that he check out Metric Halo. "Everybody told me about the

UK - The new Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) at Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a unique interdisciplinary project that has brought together experts in the areas of musical composition, signal processing, internet technology and digital hardware. This new centre, established in a purpose-built facility located alongside the engineering departments of Queen's University, will certainly create interest amongst the engineering community in Northern Ireland and particularly those interested in new genre electronic music production using innovative digital signal processing techniques and hardware implementations.

The centrepiece of SARC, the Sonic Laboratory, is a facility for cutting-edge initiatives in the creation and delivery of music and audio. According to QUB, the Sonic Laboratory offers a high degree of flexibility for experiments in 3D sound diffusion and

China - Turbosound reports that over 50 of its products - including some 32 QLight systems - have been installed in the People's Great Hall at Wenzhou in eastern China. Handled by Turbosound's exclusive distributor for the Chinese territories, Hong Kong-based Phoenix Audio and Lighting Technology, the project was designed by Mac Lo, the company's technical director.

Housing five separate conference spaces, the Wenzhou People's Great Hall is a new purpose-built and highly prestigious venue, and the first of several government projects planned for the region. Bordering the East China Sea, the city of Wenzhou represents the economic, cultural and political centre in the southern part of Zhejiang Province. Principally used for high-profile government-level conferences, requiring clear, intelligible speech reinforcement, the Great Hall is also utilized for live music events, particul

UK / USA - According to acoustic specialist Arup, it is now possible for the first time to 'hear' a building even before the foundations have been laid. The company's Arup SoundLab is an immersive listening environment used as a new acoustic design tool to allow the auralization of any building, whether existing or virtual. With listening rooms in London and New York and shortly in Melbourne, it has already had an impact, say Arup, on the design of concert venues, opera houses, studios, airports, railway stations, offices, museums and galleries.

Created by measuring more than 70 prestigious concert halls and opera houses and using over 15 years' research to calibrate 3D models and validate the accuracy of a predicted sound environment, the SoundLab enables the listener to experience the sound of a space or potential space as never before. Listeners can compare the same orchestr

Germany - The Fun Company, a new Germany-based venture aimed at bringing new show control solutoions to the market, launched its E.GO show control system at the recent Frankfurt ProLight&Sound exhibition. The E.GO system offers control of lights, video and sound in professional theatrical or event environments, and follows a fully modular concept which allows the user to add and combine any number of modules to one console.

In addition, each module can work as a stand-alone unit, so it can function as a full desk on its own. There are three modules available, each being tailored towards a specific use: the Designer module for direct access, the Performer for playing back complex shows and the Fader module for flexible device mixing.

Technologies such as the easy to use ColorTarget and the ShowDrive make the E.GO show control system one of the most versatile and easy to use s

UK / Germany - At the recent Frankfurt MusikMesse, UK pro audio and MI distributor, John Hornby Skewes & Co Ltd received HK Audio's award for 'Best Distributor Concert Sound' for 2003.

Exclusive UK and Eire HK Audio distributor JHS says that HK Audio's innovative range of pro audio systems managed to achieve a hugely impressive 40% sales increase overall last year. This result, the company says, was spearheaded by the profile achieved following the introduction of the compact and innovative HK Audio Cohedra compact line array concert system. Dennis Drumm, JHS MD commented: "The UK and Eire pro audio market has demonstrated great interest in the potential offered by the Cohedra system. Sales of this system are accelerating, in addition to ongoing sales figures achieved by HK Audio's existing, established high-performance concert systems, the R-Series, T-Series and M-Series o

The Netherlands - Dutch hire company A.J. Kooijmans Audio is the first European company to place an order for 16 Linex systems, Sound Projects' new line-array. The company already had long experience with the Sound Projects 4 (SP-4) hybrid line array system, and after a comprehensive market analysis and several live gigs with different FOH technicians, Kooijmans was ready to opt for the Linex. A first order was placed for a medium-sized rig of 16 Linex systems. Kooijmans already owns over 120 self-powered Sound Projects systems including a major SP-4 rig and is one of the fastest growing rental companies in the Netherlands.

Second in line is rental company Spot & Speaker, located in Utrecht. House supplier of the European Darts Championships and specialising in major events, Spot & Speaker also placed an order for 16 Linex systems. Dennis Bos, managing director, said: "Init

USA - Studer - the US manufacturer of digital and analogue mixing consoles, tape recorders, and other high-end products for broadcast and recording applications - has appointed Clayton Blick as national sales manager, reporting to Kim Templeman-Holmes, Harman Pro North America (HPNA) general manager and vice president.

Based just outside of New York City, Blick is now overseeing all aspects of Studer's domestic sales efforts on a daily operations basis, and HPNA is actively recruiting further members for the Studer USA sales team. Blick will initially focus his main sales activities on the eastern half of the country, with a western region sales manager to be appointed shortly.

Blick comes to Studer from Sony Electronics Inc, where he spent 17 years in various sales and marketing capacities including, most notably, a seven-year stint as national sales manager for the company'

USA - Ziggy Marley and Spearhead have just completed a co-headlining US tour. California-based Rat Sound supplied the concert sound system, including a pair of InnovaSON digital consoles which enabled the live sound production company to meet the weight restrictions of the truck and the space limitations at some of the smaller venues.

Crew chief and monitor technician Chris 'Grandpa' Rymarz, is something of an InnovaSON veteran, having recently completed a year-long world tour with Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals and a pair of InnovaSON Grand Live digital live sound consoles. For the Ziggy Marley/Spearhead tour, Rymarz brought along a Grand Live at front-of-house and an Sy40 for monitors.

Ziggy Marley, son of the legendary reggae star Bob Marley, was promoting his first solo album, 'Dragonfly' - a recording made with a seven-piece backing band instead of the Melody Maker

Ireland - L-Acoustics recently announced that CAVS (Corporate Audio Visual Services) based in Harcourt Lane, Dublin, has become the first L-Acoustics V-Dosc Network Partner for The Republic of Ireland. CAVS initial hire stock purchase includes 24 V-Dosc and 16 SB218 subs all powered by L-Acoustics' LA amplifiers. The Turnkey system will now line up alongside the company's existing dV-Dosc, Arcs, MTD, and XT systems.

Fran Quigley, MD of CAVS commented: "I see the V-Dosc purchase as significant because it allows CAVS to offer the same high level of audio quality and service associated with the V-Dosc network to our existing Irish customer base, plus allows touring acts, promoters (Irish and international), large one off events, and international touring rental companies the use of this prestigious brand in this territory or abroad. Furthermore, I also see this investment as a

UK - Hire and production company Villa Audio has recently been putting KV2 speakers though its paces, which included a very special party. Villa Audio's Gareth Jones takes up the story, "Having known Andy Austin-Brown for some years, I was very happy to be introduced to the KV2 range. I knew that this new product range would be no pup and fortunately the system lived up to all my expectations".

To begin with they ran the system up in a warehouse as Gareth explains "Running up loudspeaker systems in a warehouse is never an ideal environment, hard walls and floors, let alone the unexpected items that are shaken out of the roof! Without a doubt, this was by far the most convincing warehouse experience I have had. Seamless, clear and extremely punchy."

Once he was convinced of what the KV2 system was capable of, his next task was to convince the engineers, &quo

USA/Europe - Digigram, one of the market leading developers of PC sound cards for high end pro audio applications, announces the arrival of a new industry standard by taking its PCX range of sound cards to the next level. The new cards will be previewed this spring at NAB 2004 and AES Europe.

The HR (High Resolution) series of PCX sound cards is designed for the most demanding applications in broadcast such as production, on-air, continuous playback, and logging. Featuring state of the art sound quality with 24-bit/192 kHz converters, more advanced functions, more processing power, and greater flexibility for custom developments, the new generation will be the Number one choice for pro audio manufacturers and independent software vendors. The design of the new generation addresses current and future market needs as expressed by Digigram's 100+ OEM development partners.

Philipp

The Netherlands - De Tiliander is a new multi cultural building in the Dutch city Oisterwijk. It houses a theatre, a school of music, the Grand Café and a library. Sound Projects dealer Van De Klundert recently installed a compact Sound Projects 10 (SP-10) line array set-up in the theatre (450 seats).

The main system consisted of five SP-10 line-array systems per side. To provide the first four rows with sound, two compact X-act full-range systems are positioned as front-fills. To augment the sub-lows, three self-powered SP-15s were also flown with the line array. Three Sound Projects SP2600 amplifiers power the array, while a dbx 480 DriveRack does all necessary processing.

Van de Klundert sound designer Dennis van der Vleuten commented: "Our choice for a Sound Projects line-array was obvious. The Sound Projects Wave-shape-transformer promises a real HF line source, nec

Australia - Sydney Olympic Park, the home of the 2000 Olympics, recently saw the first outing for the new Midas Verona mixing console in Australia. The event was a concert entitled Would you like Music with That and featured artists such as Eon Groove Orchestra, Swing City and OzOpera.

The console was a Verona 560 fitted with 48 mono inputs and eight multi function inputs (can be either stereo or mono). Sydney-based rental company Coda Audio, already well known for its considerable inventory of Midas mixing consoles, and thus an obvious choice to take the Verona out for its first spin down under, supplied the production for the event. Coda proprietor Michael Wilkie was impressed with the size and feature set and surprised by the extensive EQ on the input channels. The console performed faultlessly on the gig and delivered the classic 'Midas Sound' that engineers have come

USA - At this year's NAB show, Mackie unveils its latest digital recording console based on the versatile dXb platform launched at the AES show last October. The new dXb.400, which joins the dXb.200 - introduced at the NAMM show last January - is designed with professional recording and post-production applications in mind.

Ken Berger, vice-president of marketing and product development at Loud Technologies Inc said: "The significant excitement generated by the dXb concept at the AES show last October revealed a universal acceptance for the platform. Because the dXb platform is so versatile, we've been able to introduce two distinct models for two individual markets, in a very short period of time."

Both dXb.200 and dXb.400 share the same basic architecture including the unique dual touch-screen interface, 96kHz operation (optional to 192kHz), on-board automation and

Finland - Allen & Heath's DSP system and accompanying PL range of remote controllers have been installed in a new operation facility of the Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) in Helsinki, Finland. The audio equipment will improve VHF radio communications, which are crucial to the rescue operations taking place at the stormy Gulf of Finland.

EP-Engineering Ltd Mediasolution managed the installation, equipping the operation centre with innovative and advanced multimedia and communication technology, making the centre the largest and most modern facility of its kind in Scandinavia.

Operations of the network of rescue units are determined by the crucial information received from different VHF radio channels. The MRSC needed a solution that would effectively aid access to the VHF radio channels. The challenge was to set up five operators at individual console locations, and enable t

Russia - The cinema market in Russia is enjoying a sustained boom, with large, luxurious cinemas equipped with state-of-the-art equipment springing up in all the major cities. The latest example is the Cinema Park in Moscow, which opened on 15 February. The multiplex cinema in the heart of the Russian capital boasts nine cinemas of different sizes, covering all needs from a relatively small atelier cinema showing art house movies and foreign language films to a huge screening auditorium designed for the premieres of major releases.

After conducting numerous comparisons, interviews with prospective suppliers and exhaustive tests, the management of the Cinema Park awarded the much-coveted commission to supply the sound systems for the complex to EVI Audio's Russian partners, Ruton S. It was a decision based on two main considerations, say the company. Firstly, Ruton S, which is ma

Germany - The Volkstheater in the Stiglmaierplatz area of Munich, Germany, has upgraded its FOH console to a 40-channel Allen & Heath ML3000 VCA console, in preparation for the theatre's 2004 season. The theatre specializes in traditional Bavarian folk plays and adaptations of modern novels.

Volkstheater's sound engineer, Pit Ries, commented: "The theatre has used Allen & Heath consoles for many years and we have had nothing but good experiences with them. When an upgrade was required, Allen & Heath was the only choice for the replacement. The ML3000's features give me great confidence and I am particularly impressed with the console's quality EQ. The VCA capability makes grouping easy to set up and operate during live situations. Furthermore, in a practical sense, the mixer does not take up much space, which helps us provide more seating for the audience."

(Sarah Ru

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