USA - The long-shuttered 1950s Woolworth building in Downtown Sacramento has been reborn as the Cosmopolitan complex, the city's newest entertainment hub. The building is now home to the Cosmopolitan Cabaret musical theatre, an intimate 200-seat venue with audio delivered by a compact Meyer Sound M1D line array loudspeaker system.

Designed by San Francisco-based theatre consultants, The Shalleck Collaborative, and installed by Hercules, California-based Pro Media / UltraSound, the Meyer Sound system is centred around left and right arrays of six Meyer Sound M1D line array loudspeakers, each augmented by a 600-HP subwoofer to provide low-frequency coverage. As Shalleck's Ian Hunter explains, the M1D's compact dimensions were well suited to the project's requirements.

"As a former retail space, the venue's ceiling height is pretty low," Hunter says. "With the heig

USA - The Vera Project (Vera) is a Seattle music-arts centre run by and for youth. By engaging participants at all levels of music production and community organising, Vera strives to fulfil its mission to foster a participatory creative culture through popular music concerts, arts programmes, experiential learning and volunteer opportunities for all ages, especially young people.

This year's concert calendar boasts performances from singer-songwriter Maria Taylor, electronic musician Dan Deacon and neo-folk act Iron & Wine, among others. EAW is a proud sponsor of the programme and recently donated some products to this worthwhile cause.

In 2008, EAW assisted the Vera Project by providing a selection of LA460 full-range loudspeakers, subwoofers and power amplifiers. Following that, the Vera staff saw an opportunity to upgrade their stage monitors. "EAW was kind enough to

UK - When mobile phone giant T-Mobile brought together over 13,000 members of the public in London's Trafalgar Square to sing along to a variety of iconic songs, video of the event rapidly became a hit on the internet. Five Yamaha digital consoles were there to mix the massed voices.

The 30 April Sing-along is the latest instalment of T-Mobile's Life's For Sharing brand campaign. However, the logistics involved in recording thousands of people singing along to recorded backing tracks - including Hey Jude, Build Me Up Buttercup, Is This The Way To Amarillo?, Baby One More Time and Total Eclipse Of The Heart - were considerable.

To deliver the demanding audio solution, some of the production industry's biggest names - including Britannia Row, Yamaha, Shure and high profile mixing engineers such as Dave Bracey (Robbie Williams) and

Germany - Billed as The Global Show for General Aviation, the 17th annual AERO trade fair in Friedrichshafen ran from 2 -5 April 2009. The exhibition, said to be Europe's foremost show for general aviation, seems to be profiting at the moment from a brisk tailwind: With more than 600 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors, this year's attendance figures were its best yet.

Kamil Swobodzinski, Telex director of sales, comments: "Staying in touch with our customers means maintaining a close dialogue with the consumer. We had direct access to potential and existing customers at AERO, which brought new experiences, insights, and improvements. The design of our booth was also a complete success. Through such measures, we are translating our leading position in commercial aviation into the general aviation market. The overall balance was positive."

The Telex team was showing

UK - Trantec will showcase its extensive wireless portfolio at ABTT 2009. The spotlight will be on the Trantec S-D7000 - billed as the world's first professional fully digital wireless microphone system. Noteworthy features include 24 bit audio resolution, network monitoring for over 60 channels, and you can now benefit from over 20 user channels in an 8MHz TV band.

Trantec will also be previewing its new S6 wireless system which builds on the success of the S6000 range, taking the 19", 8-way concept to a higher level. Trantec has now incorporated a comprehensive user interface on the front panel allowing the user to configure and monitor all channels, with or without an external PC. Based on Trantec's technology, the internal circuitry of the S6 beltpack and handheld transmitter has been redesigned and upgraded, extending the frequency capability to a massive 72MHz.

The

UK - A new addition to the PL remote control range, the PL-11 is an IR receiver, which uses the proprietary PL-Anet Cat 5 plug 'n play protocol employed in Allen & Heath's iDR and iLive digital mixing systems. Built in to a wall plate backing, the PL-11 receives commands from the PL-5 hand held IR transmitter, which can be set to perform specific functions using iDR's System Manager software or via the TouchScreen in iLive mixing consoles.

The PL-11 IR receiver is useful where open or 'hidden' system settings need to be changed by authorised personnel, as they do not have any unguarded controls. 14 soft keys on the PL-5 can be programmed to manage functions such as levels, mutes, preset recall and MIDI strings for external equipment interfacing. iDR systems also provide tally / RS232 out, and IR protocol is contained in the System Manager software download bundle.

(Jim Evans)

Eurovision Clash - The date of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest has been thrown into doubt. The UEFA Champions League final, the biggest match in club football, will take place on the evening of Saturday 22 May. 2010 marks the first year that the game will take place on a Saturday instead of midweek. The date is the same as the preliminary date announced by the EBU for the 55th Eurovision Song Contest. The song contest and the UEFA Champions League final are two of the most viewed television shows in the world. It would be almost impossible for the two events to take place simultaneously because many broadcasters are contractually obliged to broadcast both events.

UEFA announced that the dates for the Champions League schedule last December. Because 2010 is also a World Cup year, the Champions League final will not be moved to a later date. It is therefore most likely that the E

UK - Orbital Sound supplied a comprehensive sound system for this year's Flamenco Festival, staged at Sadler's Wells in late March and featuring six companies in a non-stop two-week programme. The system included the new d&b audiotechnik T-Series loudspeakers, with 16 x T10s and T-SUBS configured as a mix of vertical point-source standalone cabinets and horizontal mini line array groups. This is the fourth year that Orbital Sound has been involved with the event, working with resident sound technician Tom Hares.

The 2009 Festival kicked off with less than 24 hours to load in and test the system before the first performance, involving two teams working back-to-back to get everything in place. Tom Hares elaborates: "Every year is different with one exception - it's always demanding. On the Friday night before the festival started, we had 120 children on stage in Dan

South Africa - More than 200,000 men from all over South Africa congregated for the Mighty Men Conference 2009, one of the country's largest annual Christian events, to listen to minister Angus Buchan, farmer, writer and missionary of Shalom Ministries.

For the first time, though, this year's gathering was also broadcast live on local and international cable networks, posing considerable challenges for the event's audio crew. The crew for the event relied on Aviom's Pro16 monitor mixing system as a solution for stage monitoring to minimise stage volume for the live broadcast.

"Since the event was being recorded as well as broadcast live around the world, we needed to ensure as quiet a stage as possible," explains Nik Fairclough, owner of Northwind Recording, system designer for the event. "All guitar and other amps were below the stage enclosed in gobos.

UK - Sheffield-based Cloud Electronics has launched a new zone mixer levelled at bars, restaurants and hotels, even offices: any multi-use area where simple control of high-quality background music needs to be allied with flexible paging options.

The Cloud CX261 is a 1U rack-mounting audio mixer offering simple control of high-quality background music - including a front-panel 3.5mm jack input for easy connection to laptop, portable MP3 connection, or similar - with a host of flexible paging options.

Any one of six stereo line inputs can be mixed with one or two microphone inputs. Independent control of music and mic levels is provided and may be operated remotely. Whilst the main output is stereo, mono output -suitable for providing MOH (Music On Hold) to a telephone system - can be simply configured.

Either mic input may be activated by voice (VOX) or short-to-ground acces

Italy - The new FaitalPRO 520 Loudspeakers feature the new woofers branded FaitalPRO 10FH520, 12FH520 and 15FH520 that are able to handle a nominal power of 600 W. These new models are inserted in the highly appreciated Five Hundred series and teamed with the established models 10FH500, 12FH500 and 15FH500, based on a copper winding voice coil.

The new woofers are conceptually derived from the existing ones and are intended to complete the range; they are the result a direct market request and FaitalPRO immediately replied according to their constant desire to improve - as always - the acoustic performance of their products.

Flavio Naggi, FaitalPRO overseas sales manager says, "We wanted to complete the Five Hundred Series with other professional loudspeaker models appropriate for two or three way enclosures, to be more open, to be cut higher at the level of a low-pass fi

USA - In a significant audio upgrade project at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the first Soundcraft Si3 digital console sold to a House of Worship was recently installed to help deliver better quality sound for the 750 worshippers who attend services and participate in ministries every week. The church has been established in the Grand Rapids neighbourhood since 1979 and continues to uphold the history of The Evangelical Covenant Church.

The church decided to upgrade the audio system after their original analogue system started to deteriorate; a 48-channel analogue mixing console was originally installed in the church, the digital Si3 replaced it with minimal infrastructure changes, immediately providing 64 input channels.

"There were a lot of factors that we needed to decide upon prior to purchasing a digital console, however we knew we wanted

UK - Innovation Productions has embraced line array technology for the first time, adding a new Martin Audio W8LC system and control to its hire fleet.

Managing director Andrew Pygott made the decision to purchase 16 of the mid-high enclosures, along with eight WS218X subs and a pair of DX2 processors, based on recommendation. They have also configured the drive racks to accommodate six new Martin Audio MA5.2K amplifiers, with an MA12K driving the bottom end.

Pygott said the system was purchased as soon as his company knew they had won the contract to supply sound reinforcement for this year's Isle of Man TT Races during the first fortnight in June. Each night a concert will be staged in the Villa Marina Gardens in Douglas, but it is Whitesnake - the main headliner during the week-long Festival - that will provide the W8LC with its first serious test.

While Huddersfield-base

China - Lying at the Western end of China's Great Wall, Jia Yu Guan has been a strategic transport nexus since the days of the Silk Road. This historic city, placed at one of the major crossroads of civilisation has added a grand new theatre to its already bustling streets.

It's a measure of the speed with which complex projects can be completed that the Jia Yu Guan Grand Theatre opened just 16 months after builders first cut turf. An ambitious project by any measure, the fact that this prestigious arts venue was completed during the final year of China's massive construction project for the 2008 Olympics makes it all the more laudable. That and the fact that Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Co, has chosen to endow the theatre with top of the range technical equipment including a d&b audiotechnik PA system.

"The main theatre seats just under 1200 people," explained Danie

China - The Chinese HK Audio distributor Melody Development is now offering regular seminars to customers and partners. This training familiarises dealers, technicians, and sales staff throughout China as well as Melody Development's workforce with new products, teaching participants how to best use this equipment.

Melody Development's chief technician Chen Ziqian usually conducts the seminars, held by turns in the different provinces of China. The recent workshop took place in March at Jinan Shandong province. Chen Ziqian presented the HK Audio product range to 120 attendees, focusing especially on the HK Audio Contour Array system and the HK Audio P:RO series. The presentation's highlight was a live demo of the systems and individual cabinets' audio performance that left quite an impression on the audience.

Melody Development is very satisfied with the results of the worksho

Canada - Adamson Systems Engineering has hired two new tour support engineers after a series of interviews conducted at this year's Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt.

David Dohrmann is currently based in Berlin, Germany and will join Adamson European Tour Support with chief technician, Jochen Sommer.

Dohrmann will provide support and training with Sommer who reports, "After the interviews we all agreed that David's technical knowledge combined with his friendly and highly motivated demeanour made him number one on our list. He's gotten up to speed with our gear very fast, he has good ears, and his system tuning fits our approach. I'm confident that he will be a major reinforcement for Adamson's European Support."

Ewan McDonald, hailing from Sydney, Australia, will be joining Adamson's Canadian headquarters support team. His career began just over 10 years ago, and got hi

Finland - Formed 33 years ago, Eppu Normaali is one of Finland's longer-established rock bands. With their stock of PA equipment improving and expanding over the years, drummer Aku Syrjä set up sound hire company Akun Tehdas as a subsidiary of the band, to rent out the equipment when the band was not on tour.

The company has become a major player in the Finnish sound rental market and, already owning a DiGiCo D5 Live console, saw the SD8 as the logical next step for its inventory, which is taking pride of place at the front of house position on Eppu Normaali's current European tour.

"The price:quality ratio of the SD8 was just right for us, as well as the console's compact size," says Antti Salminen, Akun Tehdas / Eppu Normaali system tech and monitor engineer. "Currently we also have one on hire, but this summer it's likely that we will purchase a second one.&

USA - A short drive north of Houston, Texas, Devasco International specialises in highly customised welding and metalworking solutions. It's an innovative and creative environment, but with a large staff, a 62,000sq.ft warehouse and plenty of industrial-grade machinery, it's not among the quietest. So when controller/treasurer David Scott took up the task of designing audio systems for the company's various buildings, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Scott selected a variety of loudspeakers from Community Professional to cover different functions throughout the facility.

14 RMG200A voice range horns provide a powerful paging system that covers the main warehouse, easily delivering 94dB of voice intelligibility where it's needed to overcome the din of a busy machine shop. In the company's training facility, a pair of SLS920 three-way boxes deliver music and voice performa

Peru - During their last world tour Iron Maiden visited Peru for the first time and played the Estadio National Jose Diaz in Lima. RCF's TTL33-A line array modules and TTS28-A high power subwoofers were used as the delay and front-fill systems for the show.

Rental company, Guillermo Riera e Iluminacion Profesional EIRL was confident in choosing RCF TT+ High Definition Touring and Theatre series to do the job for this large event which attracted more than 30.000 fans.

A significant number of TTL33-A active line array modules were installed in front of the stage to reinforce the sound for the first rows while the two delay towers, each composed by 10 TTL33-A and 3 TTS28-A subs, delivered a powerful and accurate coverage for those sitting and standing in the far distance away from the main stage.

Guillermo Riera, owner of the rental company, said: "What impressed me the mo

USA - San Diego based Sound Image has acquired a new Adamson PA system that includes 24 x Y18, 32 x Y10 and 12 x T21.

SI wrapped up its first tour with the new system on John Legend's North American theatre tour over the winter. "Touring with this show is a little more difficult because on a day to day basis the system has to be very versatile," comments Gary Sanguinet, SI's crew chief. "Everyone bends over backward to make it work because we see that this artist is going somewhere and we want to be there when he arrives."

"We feel that Sound Image and Adamson have a similar approach to the way that they treat their clients," says Jesse Adamson, Adamson Systems Engineering's, director of marketing and sales. "They are a service focused organisation and they do a great job. I had been talking to Dave about what Adamson and Sound Image could do

UK - Adlib supplied sound and lighting equipment to several stages and performance areas at Radio One's 2009 One Big Weekend event staged in Lydiard House & Park, Swindon, Wiltshire. The two-day event kicked off the Festival Season in style with a line up including Snow Patrol, Kasabian, The Prodigy, Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascall with Calvin Harris, The Wombats and more.

This year the Adlib team - co-ordinated by Dave Jones - supplied sound to the second In New Music We Trust stage; the Introducing Stage for up and coming new talent; The Headroom Tent, a live broadcast interview station for artists participating in the event; the Live Lounge Acoustic Stage and the Switch Stage which was upstairs on an open top double decker bus. Lighting was designed and supplied for the Introducing Stage by Adlib Lighting.

It's the third year that

Poland - Riders on the Storm (Jezdziec Burzy), the Jim Morrison tribute musical, recently experienced a surge in attendance after nine years of residency at the Rampa Theatre (Teatr Rampa) in Warsaw thanks in part to a Meyer Sound M'elodie line array loudspeaker system recently installed by Lomianki-based Polsound.

Chief sound engineer Marcin Pawlot reports that the Meyer Sound system has made a night-and-day difference. "The old system was almost 19th century in its sound quality," says Pawlot. "Now, the band sounds more natural and musical despite our using even lower SPL than before. The actors' voices are more intelligible as well, with much higher gain before feedback."

The new system comprises left and right hangs of six M'elodie line array loudspeakers, each with a single 700-HP subwoofer to provide powerful low end. A pair of UPJ-1P VariO l

South Africa - Mark Becker has always had a taste for adventure - and now he deals with it by flying a two-seater microlight aircraft high above the waterfalls and coast of Southern Africa. Through his company Free To Adventure, Becker takes people in the microlight up the coast of Mozambique for diving trips to reefs or into the heartland of Africa to visit the waterfalls, and a couple of years ago, he decided to start filming the trips - in HD video

"HD video cameras were getting smaller and cheaper, and I thought - I could fix these to the microlight itself and get some amazing shots as we fly," he explains. "And it works. But the video was the easy part, relatively speaking."

Whilst filming for his documentary Flying The Falls, about a flight to the waterfalls of Northern Namibia and Zambia, he was plagued by the sound of the wind. "It's com

Germany - Dynacord continues its tradition of manufacturing high-performance amplifiers with the three models of its new DSA Multi Channel series. The new models are notable for their high output, high degree of efficiency, and ability to integrate with IRIS-Net.

The new amplifiers' Variable Load Drive (VLD) technology makes them flexible. Each channel can be individually configured to deliver a maximum power of 500 watts or 1,000 watts into any load from two to 10 ohms, or drive 70 or 100 Vrms loudspeaker lines directly without an output transformer.

When connected to an optional RCM-810 module, users can configure the new power amplifiers with the help of IRIS-Net to deliver maximum output per channel in a range from 100 watts to 500/1,000 watts in one-watt increments into any load from two to 10 ohms (adjustable in 0.1 ohm increments).

(Jim Evans)

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