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

UK - Sales of Soundcraft's new Vi1 compact digital desk have immediately gone into overdrive, report UK and ROI distributors, Sound Technology, rapidly boosting inventories in both the rental and permanent install sectors.

In the latter category, Paul Duffy's Pacific Sound & Light have been quick to install a 32-input board at the new flagship Glee Club in Nottingham - a hybrid theatre which hosts, comedy and an eclectic mix of both emerging and established song-based artists.

Pacific recommended the desk to Glee Club owners, Comic Enterprises, after working on the resident 'parent' Soundcraft Vi6 console at the O2 Arena's IndigO2 while on tour last year. This led to an invitation for a demo at the Soundcraft HQ.

At the same time, SSE Audio Group had also been speaking to Pacific, which resulted in Jon Nash, the venue's production manager, heading across the Midlands to atte

Japan - Japanese Folk Music is stark, beautiful, and demands to be exquisitely realized. "The reasons are bound in history," explained Mr Sato from M audio labo, a specialist pro audio rental company based in Komaki near Nagoya. "The instruments used, for example the Japanese harp or O-koto, the flute (Fue), and especially the Shamisen, our traditional three string banjo, all differ slightly from region to region. The tuning and tonality from each region exhibit subtle variations; being able to discern them is what excites audiences most."

M audio labo had recently supplied a sound system for just such a special folk music event; staged for an audience of 7,500 people at the Sun Dome in Fukui; the concert was a private function for an important local bank. "It's a very large room, not normal for such recitals. We knew we needed something special to trans

USA - Peavey Electronics is is playing a major role in the re-opening celebration of the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on 28 September as an official provider of amps for the iconic show.

"Peavey amplifiers have a long history with the Grand Ole Opry," explains Hartley Peavey. "It feels great to be able to support the restoration of the Opry to its home stage and the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville following the flood."

Not only will Peavey amps be centre stage for every Grand Ole Opry performance, but also the artists' dressing rooms will be equipped with Peavey's Vypyr 15/ Rage 258 amps, and bass amps. On stage, artists will perform with Peavey Sensation 212 and Classic 50/212 guitar amps, as well as Trace Elliot bass amps and cabs ( AH600/ 1048H/ 1518H) and Budda V40 guitar amps.

"We're pleased to offer Peavey and Trace Elliott amplifiers fo

UK - PLASA Media, publisher of Lighting&Sound International magazine, has announced that the videos of the PLASA Award for Innovation product presentations from this year's PLASA Show are now available to view at the LSIOnline YouTube channel.

The Awards for Innovation, for the first time, were judged 'live' at the Innovation Gallery by an independent panel of 16 expert judges, in front of show visitors and a camera team on Sunday 12 September. Show visitors are able to watch the judging process replayed on large screens in the interactive Innovation Gallery for the rest of the show.

Seven Awards for Innovation and one Gold Award were presented by PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths.

The winners of the 2010 PLASA Awards for Innovation were . . .

Clay Paky Sharpy, a newly developed beamlight t

South Africa - Sun City Resort is home to one of Southern Africa's major venues for entertainment, the Super Bowl. This indoor venue, which can seat 6,855 people for a show or handle up to 10 500, with a standing configuration downstairs, has recently taken delivery of a new J-Series line array system, installed and supplied by Stage Audio Works.

The new sound system, designed by Gustav Barnard from Stage Audio Works and Stefan Goertz from d&b Audiotechnik, comprises of 16 J8 and four J12 Line Array modules, together with flown arrays of five deep J-SUB per side together with four J-INFRA and Q-Series out-fill. The entire system design was first conceptualised and designed using d&b's ArrayCalc and simulated in acoustic prediction software, EASE, to ensure optimal design.

Alan Barry, head of sound for the Sun City entertainment department commented, "After quite a few yea

Saudi Arabia - For the technical fit-out of the new Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) building in Riyadh City. Integrators KHALDI EST turned to RCF to provide high speech intelligibility and full translation facilities.

The MOHE building is considered to be one of the major projects in Saudi Arabia's new era of development. KHALDI EST masterminded the technical fit-out after winning a competitive tender, which included the design, supply and integration of all audiovisual components for the Ministry's main auditorium. The company, which specialises in delivering complete turnkey projects, has so far completed in excess of 100 major auditoriums.

The Ministry auditorium was designed to seat 850 people, with the ground level for use by male guests only, and the upper balcony for ladies (with separate entrances provided for each level). Part of the A/V system design was to link

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