The Netherlands - Ateis Europe has announced that Edwin Haak has been appointed as its new managing director. Based at the company's headquarters in Rotterdam, Haak is looking forward to further strengthening the company's position in the European PA/VA market and building on its recent programme of expansion.

Haak brings 17 years of experience in the telecom and datacom sectors to Ateis. His knowledge of the IT market will be invaluable in combining IP interactivity and control with established integrated audio networking technologies, which are key to Ateis' on-going product development.

Haak plans to get the Ateis message out to the marketplace not just through its network of distribution and technology partners but also by using regular product training sessions combined with dedicated technical systems support.

"I'm really thrilled to be working with such a forward

USA - Utilizing an extensive array of JBL ControlContractor loudspeakers, A/V integration firm CCS Presentation Systems recently completed the audio system installation at Talking Stick Resort, located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

CCS was tasked with ensuring each sound 'zone' of the 240,000sq.ft of gaming, 50,000sq.ft 22-room conference centre and 13,000sq.ft spa, was perfectly equipped and able to overcome multiple surface types, ceiling heights and the noise of more than 800 slot machines and eager customers filling the areas. Concentrating mainly on the casino floor, conference centre and other common areas, CSS concluded JBL offered the solutions for the variety of challenging audio environments.

"When we initially examined the different rooms and surfaces, we thought we would have to go with several vendors to make it all come alive," said Rod Andrewson, manager of

UK / Spain - Clockaudio signed one of its most important international distribution partners at PLASA 2010, agreeing exclusive representation in Spain with Seesound.

Seesound's MD Nacho Alberdi met with Clockaudio MD Jim Hallington and international sales Rod Geary at the PLASA show in London to finalise contracts. Clock's range of high-performance microphones and DSP solutions will now be added to Seesound's portfolio of pro audio brands, alongside DigiDesign, Adamson and Powersoft.

Nacho Alberdi explains that Seesound has been targeting Spain's installation sector, looking for the best manufacturers and brands on the international scene. "We presented Clockaudio with our immediate and future plans, and they understood that we intend to be a very serious player in this market, from conference and AV business to court rooms and other traditional install work. Clockaudio i

UK - Creative & Cultural Skills (CCSkills) is undertaking a major review of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for technical theatre. Alex Hitchcock, training development manager at Stage Technologies with two decades of training and automation programming under his belt, has written and collated the draft version of the automation NOS for technical theatre, in consultation with other industry stakeholders, and as part of the NOS development working group.

These NOS modules are now available on the CCSKills website and industry professionals are being actively encouraged to provide initial comment and consultations. "It is vitally important," says Hitchcock, 'that the modules are reviewed and commented on by as many individuals, automation professionals and interested parties as possible, to ensure that the NOS become a relevant tool for all employees and employ

USA - Community Professional Loudspeakers has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its work on Carbon Ring Cone Technology.

This technology offers greater efficiency in loudspeaker design, where a ring of extremely rigid carbon fibre is placed around the outer edge of a specially designed cone, resulting in a structure that is both lighter and stiffer than a conventional cone.

"An ideal loudspeaker cone would be infinitely rigid and have no mass," explains Community founder and president Bruce Howze. "Carbon ring cones are a realistic step toward this ideal."

The increased edge strength also enables the use of a deeply pleated narrow surround. A narrow surround permits a larger cone diameter, providing greater piston area in a given frame size.

"In short, a carbon ring cone is lighter, larger, and stron

UK / Europe - European dry hire rental house AED Rent exhibited for the very first time at this year's PLASA Show and felt that they were very well received. The company took the opportunity to announce its forthcoming UK premises which will open towards the end of November.

Hannah Eakins, customer relationships manager for AED Rent UK said: "We weren't really sure what to expect as this is the first time we have exhibited at a UK trade show, but the welcome we have received has been a very warm one and we are looking forward to being open and providing support to UK rental companies from our new building in High Wycombe. We are very happy that we are finally able to announce the news!"

With warehouses and offices in Belgium, Germany, France and The Netherlands, AED Rent is one of the leading pure dry hire companies in Europe, supplying lighting, audio, video, trussi

UK - UK-based loudspeaker system manufacturer Funktion One used the opportunity provided by exhibiting at the PLASA Show at Earls Court last week to formalise the appointment of no less than six new international distribution companies.

The appointments are: for Canada - Audio Distributors International; for Taiwan - Audio 6 Ltd Co; for Malta - Fusion Sound; for Lebanon - Mamari Freres sarl; anf for South Africa - Metropolis Sound. At the same time, a new UK-based company called Solution 1 Audio and headed by Chris Hawkes, will be handling Funktion One's distribution in France, Portugal, Belgium and Morocco.

Ann Andrews of Funktion One told L&SI: "We have been exhibiting at PLASA for over 10 years and it has always been a successful show for us. It was a particularly vibrant show this year and we are happy to welcome so many new distributors into the Funktion One family.

China / UK - DiGiCo has announced the appointment of Rightway Audio Consultant as exclusive distributor for China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, a decision that was cemented at this month's PLASA Show.

"DiGiCo is a world-renowned brand with a broad product line which offers excellent value in terms of price and all round performance. As a result, it is a perfect complement to our current and future business model. I am delighted to be the sole distributor for DiGiCo in China," says Mr Danny Lau, MD and owner of Rightway Audio.

For DiGiCo, the change to Rightway is a natural progression for its ever-growing customer base in the region, says the company. Take up of the SD range of consoles, including its latest offering, the SD9, has been strong and utilising the sales and technical abilities of Rightway will ensure that the customer service, training and support for wh

Barbados - Crop Over, a five-week summer festival, is one of Barbados' most popular and colourful events. Its origins can be traced back to the 1780's during the period when Barbados was the world's largest producer of sugar. At the end of each sugar season, there was always a major celebration to mark the culmination of another successful sugar cane harvest.

Since 1974, when the festival was revived, Crop Over has incorporated other elements of Barbadian culture and the event has transformed into an extravaganza that attracts people from around the globe. This year's festival featured several Calypso music performances and competitions. To ensure the thousands of people in attendance were able to hear and enjoy the festive atmosphere, high powered sound systems from D.A.S. Audio were placed into service.

Bridgeport-based Quality Sound Inc (QSI) was contracted to

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa designed and supplied a full technical production package to 94.7 Highveld Stereo's 2010 Johannesburg Day event (in association with Santam), produced by Primedia and staged at Riversands Farm in the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Fourways.

Gearhouse's project manager Dave Tudor comments, "It was the first time we have worked on the show, so we wanted to bring a fresh look and approach, increase the production values, and let the client see just what can be achieved with imagination, appropriate use of equipment and a bit of lateral thinking".

One of the challenges was to create a performance environment that would work in daylight - the show started at 10am and ended after dark, catering for the sold out 18,000 audience as well as the cameras (the show was recorded for DVD for future release).

The line up featured 14 of South Af

UK - West London based Entec Sound & Light continued its supply of lighting solutions in site specific venues for some of the most exciting shows of London Fashion Week.

Working in the former Eurostar Terminal at London's busy Waterloo Station for lighting designer Simon Tutchener was a project with many challenges.

The trains to Paris and Brussels had long left the station, but the perfect fashion runway remained in place along the concourse of Platform 4, complete with all the charisma and transitional charm of the neo-industrial setting. Tutchener and the Entec team's biggest challenges were working the light levels in the ever changing daylight conditions inside the glass roofed building, and installing lighting kit into very limited spaces. Some of this was over the old train tracks, which still contain live DC volt rails that are part of Waterloo's signalling network.

UK - Shure's PSM 900 - the first to market channel 38 ready in-ear monitors - may only have debuted at the beginning of 2010, but in that short time they have picked up fans in high places. They're already being spec'd for high-profile TV shows - including Later with Jools Holland - and are being used on more and more world tours by artists including The Who, IronMaiden, Phoenix and Passion Pit.

And now the PSM 900 is picking up awards too. PLASA 2010 saw a host of pioneering products entered into the Award for Innovation. The PSM 900 was one of three products commended by the PLASA judges, who remarked: "A combination of technology in this in-ear wireless monitoring system allows the user to save significant time in setting up on-stage mixes. The Judges felt the Cue mode and RF mute were useful features that combined to make a flexible system."

Shure Distribu

UK - Tendai Mucheri from Ascot, Berkshire, a winner of the Sennheiser Prize for Best Music Production Recording 2010, graduated with BA (Hons) Audio & Music Production from Bucks New University on 6 September.

This annual award recognises what Sennheiser considers to be the best recording produced by Bucks graduates. Working with recording artist, The Carps, Tendai and fellow team member, Kumbirai Ruzuidzo, recorded and produced two master tracks as the final project in his production company coursework, and was chosen as the winner of this year's competition.

Tendai, who is originally from Zimbabwe, said: "Wow, a Sennheiser Award! When I found out that I had won it, it was the best feeling ever to know that a reputable company such as Sennheiser recognised all the hard work that was put in to producing the songs."

Phil Cummings, UK artist relationship manag

Germany / USA - Stefan Feistel and Wolfgang Ahnert of Ahnert Feistel Media Group (AFMG), along with Ambrose Thompson of Martin Audio, will receive The AES Publications Award during the 129th AES Convention, 4-7 November in San Francisco.

Their winning article, selected as the outstanding paper published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society during the previous two years, is titled Methods and Limitations of Line Source Simulation. The award "is to be made solely on the merit and quality of the published work" according to AES guidelines.

"We are proud to accept this award in recognition of our work on accurate and efficient measurement and modelling of line arrays", says Stefan Feistel of AFMG. "We have developed techniques that are now in constant use worldwide. This paper outlines the methodology behind simulating the p

UK / USA - Australian surf/roots artist Xavier Rudd is currently in the middle of his Koonyum Sunworld tour which spans the UK, North America, Australia and Europe. The European and US legs of the tour are being handled by Concert Sound Clair and Clair Brothers respectively. Concert Sound supplied an Innovason Eclipse digital mixing console for monitors for the first UK part of the tour and Clair Brothers has supplied one for the US leg. When the tour returns to Europe in November, they'll be going out with a pair of Eclipses from Concert Sound supplied by Red Square Audio.

Production manager Simon Skeet, who started off using the Eclipse on monitors before handing over to engineer Lenny Goncharov, comments, "The first thing to say about Eclipse is that it has proven to be both reliable and stable. From an operational point of view, the flexibility of the control sur

Poland - Leading Polish rock band Riverside utilsed a Midas PRO6 live audio system when they headlined the Metal Hammer 2010 Festival in Katowice, Poland alongside an array of acts including the multi-Grammy award winning Korn. Audio equipment for the entire festival was provided by Kraków-based rental company Prosound.

FOH engineer Daniel Schindler first encountered the PRO6 touring as a monitor engineer for Turkish singer-songwriter Nil Karaibrahimgil. "From the first rehearsal for the Nil tour, I was blown away by the PRO6 sound," he says. "It sounds like an XL4 without 120m of copper between the source and the board. I've been looking forward to using the console with Riverside ever since. I also trained with German Midas distributor Mega Audio, and am proud to be a Certified Midas Digital User."

Schindler praised the natural sounding preamps and onboa

France - AuviTran, the French manufacturer of digital audio networking solutions, has signed a number of significant distribution agreements to increase the availability of its products across Europe.

Six new distributors have joined the AuviTran network this summer: AudioProgetti in Italy, InterSonic in Sweden, Lauda Audio in Poland, Music Data for the Czech and Slovak Republics, Merging Selector in Portugal and Dicroic for the Balkan states, including Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro.

"As AuviTran evolves beyond its origins as an OEM supplier, it is important that we surround ourselves with high-calibre technically literate distributors," says AuviTran founder Yves Ansade. "We have had long associations with many of these companies, which are already working with EtherSound partners such as Yamaha and Nexo, using our devices for the

UK - Riedel Communications unveiled the new RockNet RN.345.IL network plug-in card for Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing console family at this year's PLASA show in London.

The RN.345.IL card fits into any iLive MixRack Port B expansion slot and provides an interface to 64 input and 64 output channels. A rotary switch on the front panel sets device identification and selection of up to 15 programmable routing tables. The RN.345.IL enables the iLive console system to become part of the RockNet digital audio network.

The RN.345.IL in combination with RockWorks also supports RockNet's Independent Gain Feature. Independent Gain allows several mixing consoles to operate with the same mic pre-amps without affecting each other. While the master-console is controlling the analog gain of the pre-amps remotely, all other consoles operate with emulated pre-amps just as if they were al

UK - Yamaha Commercial Audio enjoyed a highly successful PLASA 2010, with the company's new StageMix iPad app enjoying an enthusiastic response from audio professionals. Coupled with the debut for Macintosh editor software for the M7CLV3 and LS9, the company's stand was busy throughout the exhibition's duration.

With all three software products confirmed as being made available at no cost, interest levels were high.

"Our philosophy is to introduce products that users want and have asked for," says Karl Christmas, deputy general manager of Yamaha Commercial Audio (UK). "There are thousands of Yamaha digital mixing consoles out there and the highest priorities on user 'wants lists' were facilities to make use of them more efficiently."

Featuring a straightforward, intuitive graphic interface and the iPad's multi-touch and gesture control, StageMix uses the

Germany - Since its introduction earlier this year, Yamaha's M7CL-48ES digital mixing console has proved a significant success, with sound rental companies keen to adopt the flexible and highly transportable package of the console, SB168-ES stage boxes and EtherSound multicore. One of the latest purchasers of the systems of Germany's POOLgroup.

Emsdetten-based POOLgroup has one of Germany's most progressive audio companies at its heart - Westfalen Sound - which for 32 years has serviced many of the highest profile tours in Europe and worldwide.

Westfalen Sound has purchased three complete Yamaha M7CL-48ES systems, each comprising a console and three SB168-ES stage boxes. These join six standard M7CL-48 and two PM5Ds already in the company's inventory.

"This purchase was a substantial financial commitment, but the quality and reliability of Yamaha products made it an eas

USA - Responsible for the production of two highly anticipated concerts in one of the country's most difficult audio environments, festival production specialist StagePro successfully conquered high elevation, harsh winds and zero humidity with a complete JBL Vertec line array solution for this year's Rock Jam and Country Jam festivals, staged in Grand Junction, Colorado. With artists ranging from Alice Cooper and Cinderella to Keith Urban and Sawyer Brown, the events presented many of the nation's top current touring acts.

Utilizing 48 JBL VT4889 full size line array elements and 32 VT4880A full size arrayable subwoofers, Ottawa, Kansas-based StagePro president Jay Waller and system tech Nick Mourn overcame the environmental obstacles plaguing the country and rock festivals for nearly 20 years.

"We originally purchased the JBL Vertec rig to help solve the s

UK - At PLASA 2010, organisers of the First Night Riders (FNR), Brenda Edelstein and Triple E managing director, David Edelstein, announced the 2011 route for its second charity motorbike ride.

Surrounded by stars of the stage, screen, and television including: James Fleet, Cyril Nri, Trevor Peacock, Peter Benson, and Phyllida Law, David Edelstein explained the FNR's mission to raise money for The Theatrical Guild (TTG). TTG is a charity that supports active and former backstage and front of house employees that have hit hardship or require support.

The 2011 event follows hot on the wheels of the successful 2010 inaugural First Night Ride. Last June an international posse of entertainment and backstage professionals raised £10,000 by motor-biking around some of the UK's most historic and interesting theatres.

In just eight days they travelled from London's National The

UK - Midas XL8s played a pivotal role at three of the UK's biggest outdoor events of the year as London's Hyde Park hosted the BBC's Proms In The Park, BBC Radio 2's Elvis Forever tribute and Pope Benedict XVI's Evening Vigil.

The consoles were rented from Britannia Row by London-based System Sound, which has been providing the PA and broadcast splits for The Last Night Of The Proms and other Hyde Park events for 15 years. "This year we had the best sounding system we have ever had," says System Sound's Simon Biddulph. "The XL8s contributed to that in a huge way."

Hundreds of musicians in orchestras and bands, plus singers and speakers, participated across the three events before a combined live audience of over 140,000, with millions more tuning in to the events on radio and television. Explaining the challenges the events threw up, Bi

UK - Audio Alliance reports that it designed and supplied the sound and communications systems for two of the five productions that have been nominated for Best Conference at the upcoming UK Event Awards being staged this autumn.

Rapport Events have been using Audio Alliance as their audio supplier since their inception nearly four years ago and are responsible for the production of Astellas Senior Managers Meeting 2010, the first nominated event in the Best Conference category.

The Astellas event was based on a long catwalk used to represent a timeline, running through the past, present & future. Delegates and presenters used the set throughout the day's activities, starting in the past, they worked their way to the future by walking the catwalk. Oliver Driver, Audio Alliance's managing director, designed one single system, with a three way signal split, all controlled

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