Uruguay - Internationally renowned Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly's latest masterpiece is one that does his native country of Uruguay proud: the new terminal at Carrasco International Airport, near Montevideo. A combination of Bosch Praesideo public address systems and an extensive distribution of Electro-Voice ceiling speakers provide a balance of safety, sound quality and style at the airport, which is now ranked among the most technically and architecturally advanced in the world.

The main terminal building's large, curved roof stretches 400m over the length of the facility, and uses acres of glass to both bring in natural light and emphasize the impressive scale of the structure, which has become a national symbol in Uruguay. As much attention to detail was given to the technologies at work inside the airport as to the building itself, and design/installation contractors

UK - For further education colleges which offer courses covering the technical production aspects of live music and theatre, it's crucial that student training is done on industry standard equipment which graduates will find in the 'real world' after their studies. For this reason, Kendal College has just invested in a Yamaha M7CL digital mixing console.

More famed for its mint cake and being the eastern gateway to England's popular Lake District, over the past few decades the Cumbrian town of Kendal has rapidly become a hotbed for the performing arts, thanks to its further education college.

Kendal College's Music, Performing Arts and Technical Theatre programmes work closely together to provide resources for students who are seeking careers both on stage and behind the scenes. Combining academic tuition with real productions in real venues, the provision of up-to-date equipm

Canada - SW Audio Visual deployed a complete outdoor wintertime entertainment audio system to accommodate up to 50,000 people for the Richmond O Zone, one of the official celebration sites of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The O Zone was open for the duration of the Games from 12-28 February and featured live performances by some of Canada's most successful musical artists across a broad range of genres.

Situated on 60 acres in the heart of the Richmond City Centre, the O Zone featured large high-definition video screens to display the competitions, along with outdoor ice skating, art exhibits, ice sculptures and even a virtual reality bobsled attraction. The O Zone also hosted theme nights celebrating Canada's diverse cultures and regions, including a Chinese New Year Celebration on 14 February.

"There were all kinds of performers throughout the two-and-a-ha

Germany - Yamaha's latest technology - the TLF ( thin, light, flexible) speaker - was shown for the first time outside Japan at ProLight&Sound in Frankfurt. On show was the prototype technology which has produced a revolutionary and highly versatile loudspeaker.

Developed by Yamaha's Centre for Materials and Components Technologies, TLF has remarkable physical characteristics. It is around one millimetre thick and highly flexible, allowing it to be hung and rolled up like a poster. It's also extremely light - just 400g for a speaker measuring one square metre.

The additional attached cloth layer can be printed with any image or design using printing process, such as silk screening or an inkjet printer. On display was an A0 size speaker with a picture of the M7CL48-ES.

It is highly directional, emitting flat audio waves which mean sound can only be heard when the listener is

Germany - Professional loudspeaker systems manufacturer Fohhn Audio AG has won this year's Musikmesse International Press Award (MIPA), in the Pro Audio category of Portable Sound, for its Linea Focus electronically steerable line array systems. The award, chosen by over 100 MI/Pro Audio international publications, was presented at the annual ceremony held during the Frankfurt Musikmesse / Prolight&Sound.

Jochen Schwarz, Fohhn's CEO comments, "We are delighted to have won a prestigious M.I.P.A. award for our Linea Focus systems. It is a great honour for this relatively new product range to receive such an accolade from the international press and we would like to thank everyone for their kind recognition and support."

Launched during 2009, the Linea Focus series is already proving popular for both mobile and fixed installation applications, particularly in environmen

Germany - Audient's signal processing Black Series features in the production of the German tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jesus Christ Superstar which runs until June this year. Technical musical director René Reinhardt tried a BB4 rack containing two Black EQs and two Black Compressors with a view to it being "a good solution as a front-end for a general FOH mix bus freshen-up".

Using it at the initial rehearsal of the Schleswig-Holstein Theatre and Symphony Orchestra Jesus Christ Superstar production, Reinhardt explains, "All artists are a mixture of professional classical and musical singers, so the dynamics on the mix bus are a challenge. We had to find a decent volume solution without it attracting attention. When we tried the BB4 on the master bus switching the bypass, we were amazed: there was no colouring, even with the extreme

USA - Production manager Ted Jonas of Jonas Productions has been working with Harry Connick Jr. since 1995, when he started as the artist's monitor engineer. "I'm an old school analogue guy, and with few exceptions, we've always had a Midas console in Harry's monitors," he says. "Over the years, we've used the XL4, the XL3 and the H3000. We had no desire to go digital until we got our hands on the Midas PRO6."

The change occurred shortly after a tour of China, when monitor engineer Scott Griffith suggested trying the console. "With the logistics of touring these days, we had to consider going digital," recalls Jonas. "When we brought it into rehearsal, Scott and I both just fell in love with it. And Harry noticed right away. He's a pretty smart guy and knows what's going on in terms of production. He was definitely interested and said he loved

UK - AC-ET's Audio division has supplied four independent PA systems featuring over 90 separate product lines to the University of Glamorgan's ATRiuM drama and music teaching facility. The audio equipment is helping music and technology students to learn the principles of live sound reproduction through a combination of hands-on training in the classroom and during live events.

The ATRiuM campus is a purpose-designed building for the university's creative division, the Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries. Featuring the latest industry technologies, students studying music and sound now have access to a comprehensive list of live sound equipment including four medium venue systems with microphones, mixing desks, outboard equipment and speakers.

A.C. Entertainment Technologies, a previous supplier to the University, won the tender to provide the live sound equipment

UK - Continuing its long and successful relationship with console manufacturer DiGiCo, 5 Star Cases is supplying flight cases for their latest console - the SD9, which was launched at the Prolight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt.

The partnership started with the case design and build for the SD7 in late 2007, and has continued through DiGiCo's SD8, SD8-24, D5 and D1 editions - and now with the SD9.

Ten special versions of the case were fabricated to coincide with the SD9's launch, alongside a standard issue 'production' version. The production model has the additional facility for using optional VESA screen mounts on either side of the console.

As on the SD8 models, a pull-out keyboard drawer and a rear-hinged access flap are included as standard. Colour matched rubber handle grips and the usual DiGiCo branding add further visual impact to the case.

David Webster, DiGiCo's m

Germany - Riedel Communications and DiGiCo announced a close technology partnership at DiGiCo's press conference at this year's ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt.

"Riedel as leader in signal distribution solutions for the event industry is a partner who is interesting for us in many aspects", said James Gordon, managing director of DiGiCo. Riedel and DiGiCo have agreed to work together on the integration of their technologies. Both partners intend to develop solutions that increase the compatibility between products of both companies in order to create benefits for the partner's customers."

"We've always seen our products as an open platform. Integration with other manufacturers always results in benefits for our customers. Therefore we're proud to welcome DiGiCo as our newest technology partner," said Andreas Hilmer, Riedel's director marketing & communic

UAE - The family of advanced Soundweb processors from BSS Audio has been used extensively by one of Dubai's most progressive system integrators, Bond Communications, to provide end-to-end networking at the Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai). This project, six years in the making, is the largest ever undertaken by the company - and the tallest building in the world.

Harman Professional distributors GSL Professional LLC provided the BSS Audio devices to Bond Communications. These audio tools function on most of the Tower's 164 floors, and GSL's marketing & PR manager, Glen Kershaw, states, "We were selling these products to Bond pretty much up until the day of the opening - and I anticipate that the after-sales support will be ongoing following the opening."

Bond Communications AV package manager, Omar Chataw, confirms that his company was asked to provide an integrate

USA - HM Electronics Inc (HME), the first to develop the wireless intercom system for the pro audio industry, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Clear-Com Communication Systems, a business unit of The Vitec Group plc and a leading provider of mission-critical voice communication systems for broadcast, live performance, military, federal government and professional audio markets.

Clear-Com will continue operation as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HME, with no changes planned for its award-winning product portfolio or its current mission to be the world's first choice for high-end intercom solutions.

HME, a privately-held company, based in Poway, California, is a pioneer of digital wireless intercom solutions for restaurant, hospitality, sports and pro audio markets. The company says: "Combining HME's world-renowned expertise in wireless with Clear-Com's leadersh

UK - XL Events, the corporate event arm of concert video giant XL Video, have deployed TiMax Tracker as the core of a groundbreaking show control system for The Tweenies worldwide arena tour. In the illustrious company of Midas, DiGiCo and d&b audiotechnik, the unique performer-tracking system was used to automate not only the TiMax SoundHub audio localisation but also over a hundred moving-light fixtures and a Pandoras Box video effects server plus its attendant live cameras.

Roving TiMax Tracker tags are distributed in toys to children by spotters in the audience, to control tracking cameras which feed images of the childrens' faces to Pandora's Box where they are rendered for projection onto the heads of the dancing Tweenies. The radio mic'd talent are also tracked so their voices can be followed by the demanding and discerning audience.

XL Group director Rich Rowley takes

Singapore - UnUsUal Productions, one of the leading event and concert production companies serving China and the broader Asian region, filled Singapore's Indoor Stadium with its newly-acquired JBL Vertec line arrays, powered by Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers, for a performance by Taiwanese superstar Chang Huimei, aka A-mei, and her 2010 Amit Live First World Tour, named after her latest album. The performer's highly anticipated tour packed nearly 12,000 people each night for back-to-back sold-out shows on 29 and 30 January, 2010.

Born Gulilai Amit, Huimei has been a number-one recording artist since her first album, Sisters, in 1996, developing a substantial fan base for her pop star character, 'A-Mei'. She has since released 17 albums over the past 12 years. Her current tour features a lavish stage production and planned showcases in Malaysia, Hong Kong and other majo

Switzerland - Italian acoustic specialist dBTechnologies has appointed MGM Audio AG as its distributor for Switzerland with immediate effect.

MGM CEO Martin Frigg says, "With the Opera Digital, Flexsys and DVX-Series - and the new ranges launched at Pro Light & Sound this year, I am sure dBTechnologies is offering us exactly the right products to meet our market's needs. Our mission is not just to sell products. We want to fulfill the needs of the customer in terms of consulting and engineering, so that they feel comfortable from the outset."

European sales manager Harald von Falkenstein says: "MGM reflects our desire at dBTechnologies to put the customer first, which goes hand in hand with providing a good product for a good price as far as we're concerned. We look forward to supporting our partners in the Swiss territory to this end."

"We have know

UAE - Dubai-based Al Laith Event Services - the newly launched division of Al Laith Scaffolding - supplied a full staging and roofing system for the recent three-day Wakestock Wakeboarding & Music festival staged on the Corniche Beach in Abu Dhabi.

Event Services was working for Abu Dhabi production company Flash Events and Lee Charteris.

It was the first time that Wakestock has taken its mix of music and extreme sport to the UEA. The artist line up included Maximo Park, De La Soul, Goldierocks, Carole Samaha and many more, and the event hosted the first leg of the 2010 WWA Wakeboard World Series, where local and international wakeboarders showcased their best tricks and acrobatic stunts on the water.

The calibre of the artist line-up dictated they needed a good-sized stage with decent weight loadings to facilitate the flying of sound, lighting & video e

France - Aviom's Pro16 personal mixing system is helping musicians stay on point for the Paris production of Zorro the Musical. The show is being staged at the city's Folies Bergere Theatre.

The show's orchestration places instruments in three separate locations in the theatre: guitars are situated on one platform, keyboards and miscellaneous percussion on another, and a full drum kit on a third. To make this layout work, Stage Entertainment, producer of Zorro The Musical needed a way to configure the monitor mixes to keep all the musicians on cue and in time while also minimising cost and setup time.

"We had only one day for soundcheck with the musicians, so we needed to spend less time on gear settings and more time on sound," says Bertrand Billon, audio manager with Stage Entertainment. "With the Aviom system, all we had to do was run Cat 5 arou

Germany - Powersoft, the Italian manufacturer of innovative power amplifiers, showed a new product line at Frankfurt's ProLight&Sound exhibition recently: the M Series will include two 4-channel and three 2-channel versions. Typical for the brand, with one RU, 358mm/14.1" depth and just over 7kg/16lbs weight, the M Series models are masterpieces of efficiency thanks to Powersoft's own legendary combination of switch-mode power supply and PWM output stages.

M50Q and M28Q are the 4-channel models, with up to 1,250W/ch into 4 ohms. M30D, M20D, and M14D offer two channels each with a maximum output of 1,500W/ch at 4 ohms, and the entire range reaches down to 360W/ch into 8 ohms, resulting in the greatest flexibility for a wide range of applications. The highlight is the plug-in DSP module, which, once inside the amps, can hardly be tampered with, making M Series a 'plug & safe'

The Netherlands / USA - Following a successful ProLight&Sound show in Frankfurt, Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced an expansion of its European operations. The addition of a new warehouse in the Netherlands will enable Community "to dramatically reduce delivery times throughout Europe" for its core products.

"As our worldwide sales continue to grow, we appreciate the need to provide our European distributors with the same speed of service that we can give our customers in North America", commented Julia Lee, Community's director of marketing and sales.

Community's Entasys column line array is among the most popular products being stocked in the European warehouse, says the company. Demand for Entasys has continued to increase as the system gains popularity in house of worship and conference room projects, where quick turnaround time and expe

USA / UK - Following successful showings at the recent ProLight&Sound trade show in Frankfurt, TMB and LumenRadio of Sweden have announced the signing of exclusive distribution contracts for North and Central America and Great Britain.

LumenRadio's CRMX Nova technology (CRMX = Cognitive Radio Multiplexer) is the first automated and adaptive wireless technology specifically developed for real-world conditions in the lighting industry. The products are also available in rugged outdoor enclosures for permanent installation.

Niclas Norlén, CTO of LumenRadio says: "Our goal is simple: Provide affordable completely configurable systems, capable of combining Ethernet, DMX, RDM, DALI and all other popular lighting protocols. Our technology provides total data integrity and no interference with other wireless equipment. We are excited to be associated with a quality-driven

Germany - The Hoellstern Amplifier Days at Prolight&Sound were used extensively by visitors to establish and deepen personal contacts. Hoellstern amplifier users could take a close look at and operate the Konfigurator2 software and the AmplifierTeacher in operation.

As a computer-independent industry standard remote control, the AmplifierTeacher is a rugged solution for monitoring and configuring Hoellstern amplifiers. Supported by control keys and a touchscreen, the high-resolution, high-contrast display allows a comfortable picture and easy operation requiring only a few menu levels.

Owing to its RS-485 network capability several amplifiers may be run centrally. The operating temperature range between 25 °C and +70 °C is limited physically only by the high-quality industry display with its ¼ VGA presentation. The aluminium body, 1 RU 19" mounting option, the US

India - Seeking a four-zone audio solution, with the ability to operate each zone separately or together as required, the seven cuisine Lotus Leaf restaurant in Prashant Vihar, Delhi commissioned New Delhi-based Soundworks to design and install the system.

To accommodate the multi-zone configuration, and provide the flexibility required, Soundworks proposed an Audica Professional MICROseries system, which was auditioned by the restaurant's owner prior to installation.

Each of the four zones of the restaurant was fitted with individual Audica MICROzone controller/amplifier, and each MICROzone was provided with an Audica WMR (wall mount remote) for local individual control.

In the main restaurant area the MICROzone is used to feed a four-channel MICROplus power amplifier, which drives 12 MICROpoint loudspeakers, and two active MICROsubs for additional low frequency reinforceme

The Netherlands - A new touring production of Mamma Mia! is filling theatres across the Netherlands, with dialogue and lyrics in Dutch but with a sound that is universally Abba. The production carries a powerful reinforcement system based around 32 Meyer Sound M'elodie line array loudspeakers.

The particulars of loudspeaker system configuration are the work of the production's associate sound designer, Richard Brooker, who was charged with fulfilling overall requirements set by Bobby Aitken, principal sound designer.

"I'd first used M'elodies on my design for a Spanish production of Jesus Christ Superstar," recalls Brooker. "I needed to handle a dynamic and often quite loud show, but the production had to change venues quickly. Also, in most places I could not fly the system. After much head-scratching, I went the Meyer route with M'elodies and 600

Germany - At ProLight&Sound in Frankfurt, Kling & Freitag presented new products and a new booth concept marked by high columns, a welcoming product presentation and a huge elevated talking platform

"We are proud to set the right signals in the present market situation. The booth visualizes the current evolution at Kling & Freitag", says sales manager Stefan Lenke.

"The booth was extremely well-functioning, during the fair and also on the occasion of the booth evening. Mobile partitions permitted the quick and easy adaptation of the booth to the respective requirements", adds Jürgen Freitag.

In the product range InstallSound, SONA SUB was shown for the first time, a subwoofer for the SONA 5for use as a discreet integration into the architecture or as a design element.

In the ProRental range, NOMOS XLC was presented as a cardioid 3 x 18" subwoofer.

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