Romania - For over 50 years, the National Stadium in Bucharest was the venue for all home matches of the Romanian national football team. In 2005, it was decided to tear the stadium down and construct a new one in its place. The new Stadionul National, which was three years (from 2008 to 2011) in the making, is an ultra-modern, multifunctional arena designed for both major sporting events and concerts.

Satisfying the highest international standards, the stadium is capable of accommodating over 55,000 spectators, including 3,600 VIPs. If needed, the total capacity can be expanded to 62,000. The arena is the first in Romania to meet the exacting 'elite stadium' standards for infrastructure laid down by UEFA, making it the first stadium in the country qualified to host the finals of international competitions. The first such event scheduled for the new stadium is the UEFA Europa Le

Mexico - Thanks to a special three-way collaboration between three rental companies, El Estadio Azteca (the Aztec Stadium) in Mexico City was filled with Nexo Geo line arrays for two major live shows.

Starting with L/R arrays of Nexo Geo T for the main PA, with a bone-shaking 18 CD18 subs stacked in front of the stage, the system also used long arrays of Geo D for the out-fill. Halfway down the stadium field, two delay towers each carried an awesome 18 Geo T array with four CD18, ensuring that those at the back of the Aztec Stadium heard just as much PA as those in the front.

These were special events for two radio stations; 92.9fm La Ke Buena, which plays regional Mexican music known as 'Grupera', and Los 40 Principals, which specialises in pop music, mainly in Spanish. Performers were also given the Nexo treatment on stage, where 18 PS15 cabinets were used for stage monitori

India - Close by the popular Juhu Beach in Mumbai is the new Hometown Café, the latest in restaurant brands from the China Gate group. The new venture, which occupies the space where Deltalia once stood, has a relaxed ambience.

Mumbai's Narain Pro Audio & Lighting has delivered the audio solution for the Hometown Cafe with Turbosound loudspeaker products, and the sights and sounds of the venue suggests that the company has done a very commendable job. The setup consists of six Impact55T compact passive two-way architectural speakers powered by NX Audio's MT-601 MK2 power amplifier, and two TCX-15B single 15" compact bandpass subwoofers powered by NX Audio's MT 800-MK2 amplifiers for the lower indoor level. A further six Impact55T and one TCX-15B sub cover the open-air terrace.

Discussing team Narain's experience of completing the project, Manoj Motwani said: "

The Netherlands - Technomad will show "the world's first completely weatherproof, all-in-one, self-casing portable PA system for the commercial pro audio market" at ISE 2012 (31 January-2 February, RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

The DragonFly, adapted from Technomad's rugged military technology, is designed for mobile pro audio and staging events that require outstanding audio quality, lightweight portability, quick set-up, ease of operation and durable construction for outdoor events, says the company. The weatherproof design fully protects system components from moisture, dirt, shock and other elements in outdoor environments, supporting everything from ceremonies and parades to sporting events and concerts.

The inclusion of green, rechargeable and long-lasting NiHM battery power, along with a potent

Serbia - This month sees dBTechnologies announce the appointment of Sky Corporation as the exclusive distributor of its product range in Serbia. It was dBTechnologies' sales area manager Gianluca Dalessandro who closed the deal. "I'm very impressed by Sky Corporation. They handle everything from rental to retail, organise events, logistics and are able to offer every kind of service to meet all needs. It's a huge company," he says.

"It is a long time since I have felt as much excitement as I do about starting this partnership with dBTechnologies," comments Sky Corporation's president Milenko Škari?. "The product range has grown remarkably in recent years. When it comes to the new dBTechnologies products - for example the DVA and DVX ranges - our experts are extremely impressed by the sound quality. The second reason is the great professionalism and frie

Europe - Outline has confirmed a new distribution partnership which will service key territories in eastern and central Europe. Outline Central-Europe Ltd is the brainchild of Tamás Fazekas, CEO and owner of Zaj System House based in Budapest, and whose association with Outline and their products stretches back to the mid-90s.

Outline C-E breaks with the traditional national distribution model in that it is a territorial representative for the brand, responsible for Outline sales, service and support in no less than ten separate countries - Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Outline's sales director Chris Hinds said: "This is an exciting and innovative solution to the problems that normally face national distributors in smaller territories, where the relative lack of sales potential and limited spending

UK - Studiomaster and Carlsbrohave announced the appointment of Ben Millson as regional sales manager across both brands.

Millson, whose appointment is with immediate effect, comes to the Studioking Group Europe owned companies from AVSL Group, where he was UK south east regional field sales manager, with responsibility for MI, DJ and pro audio brands. Prior to this he was with Adam Hall for five years, where he oversaw development of the LD Systems brand in the UK.

"This is a very exciting time to be joining Studiomaster / Carlsbro, with amazing new products set to expand and extend the Studiomaster brand, and the continuing introduction of beautifully re-engineered vintage and fantastic all-new Carlsbro amp lines," says Millson. "My background in this industry is in establishing new product lines and achieving substantial growth across market sectors, and ther

UK - With long experience in research and development, the last six at XTA, Richard Fleming has been promoted to the role of application and support manager at XTA. Fleming's past includes 20 years working in R&D, with companies including Klark Teknik and Laney / HH Amplification.

"I believe the best way to really appreciate what the working environment is like for both our equipment and the people who use it is to be there at the sharp end with them," he says.

"I attend a lot of trade shows and at pretty much every one I'm first in and last out. It's also very important to have a hands-on, technical approach to customer support and with that in mind I try to visit our customers whenever possible to answer any questions meaning that users can get the most out of our products. At the same time I can get face-to-face user feedback on what product enhancements may

Europe - L-Acoustics' Czech Republic rental network agent High Lite Touring has become the first Eastern European rental company to supply the main PA system for an international tour - Red Hot Chili Peppers' I'm With You tour. High Lite is providing an L-Acoustics K1 WST line source system for the UK and European leg of the Chili Peppers' world tour, which continues through Europe during December, having kicked off at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne in early October.

The main system for the tour consists of 32 K1 boxes with 32 SB28 subwoofers, 54 Karas (36 for side-fill, 12 for down-fill and six for centre-fill) and 12 Kudos for rear-fill. The system is powered by 50 LA8 amplified controllers mounted in LA-RAKs.

"The artist insisted on using a K1 system for the entire tour since it has a reputation for being one of the best sound systems in the world," says High

The Netherlands - At ISE 2012, Genelec will be showcasing its range audio solutions for the commercial installation market, as well as running free, on-booth training sessions that are open to all delegates.

Products on display will include the full 4000 Series active loudspeakers, including the new 4040A, as well as the 1238CF, a 3-way monitor designed for a wide range of professional applications. The training sessions will let integrators to get hands-on with products and see demos of acoustic simulation software for the fixed installation market.

"It's nice to be offering something at bit different at ISE 2012," says Terho Savolainen, marketing manager at Genelec. "Practical training in audio installation can be really useful and ISE is the perfect platform to reach integrators. Although the training sessions are going to be relaxed affairs, the content is g

UK - Monacor International has announced the new and improved MK2 version of the established PAB speaker range. The new PAB-MK2 version features increased power across the range without any additional costs to the dealer.

Topping the range is the PAB-115MK2, a 15" 600W speaker made of a robust plastic cabinet. Featuring a diecast aluminium basket and a high quality 1" dynamic horn tweeter with a large (44mm) voice coil the PAB-115MK2 offers a natural and powerful quality sound.

Neil Clayton, managing director of Monacor UK commented, "Our PAB range of speakers has always been one of our top selling lines due to its phenomenal performance for such little money. To now be able to offer that same quality and reliability with even more power is a great addition to the IMG Stage Line range."

The remainder of the range is made up of the 12" PAB-112MK2, 10&

USA - Bandit Lites spent 2011 with two bands "destined to be major stars in the near future".

Knoxville based 10 Years worked with Bandit business development officer Brent Barrett for all their illumination needs throughout the year. Tour manager Michael Mahar and stage manager Noah Beachy, along with lighting designer Shawn Hammer used a variety of GRN Battens and Washes along with Atomic Strobes and Martin Hazers to produce compact but highly effective shows along the way this year. The venues varied in size and the packages had to fit the many different needs. Plans are being made now for an even bigger 2012 assault.

Barrett also worked with Big Gigantic in 2011. Tour manger Kyle Nelson and lighting designer Colin McQuilkin worked with Bandit to provide VL 2500's, GRN Battens, DF 50's and Hog 2 console and cable packages. Big Gigantic has slowly climbed in the bu

The Netherlands - The POLARaudio team will be attending the ISE 2012 show in force and will have representatives on each of its distributed brands stands. POLARaudio brands exhibiting at ISE 2012 include Biamp, beyerdynamic, Aviom, Cue System, Australian Monitor and Novosonar.

Highlights of the show will include new touch screen technology from Cue Systems, presentations from Biamp on its Tesira range and innovative AVB technology (Audio Video Bridging). AVB bridges the gap between AV and IT by providing the first open, industry-accepted standards (IEEE 802) for transporting audio and video over the network.

Biamp Tesira is a networked audio system that supports 420x420 channels of digitally matrixed audio with flexible I/O configurations. Unlike other DSP-based media systems, Tesira is an enterprise-wide solution made up of network modules that share and boost performance.

UK - Rycote, the UK-based manufacturer of microphone windshields and shockmount systems, is launching a new version of its InVision Universal Studio Mount microphone suspension at this year's Winter NAMM show.

The existing InVision USM can be used to mount microphones from 18 to 55mm in diameter, and thus accommodates most studio recording microphones, but the new InVision VB will hold the broadest large-diaphragm models from 55mm to 70mm, such as the Neumann M149 and M150, the Studio Electronics Gemini 5 and G3500, the Rode Classic II, and the BLUE Microphones Kiwi and Mouse, as well as design classics like the original Neumann U47.

"With the addition of the USM VB to the InVision range, there's now a USM for almost every microphone," explains Rycote's sales & marketing director Stefano Pucello. "The original USM, launched at Winter NAMM two years ago, has been

Portugal - The Embassy Beach Club in Portugal's Algarve region is owned by Iron Maiden bass player Steve Harris, and recently underwent a full Peavey installation comprising a number of loudspeakers, amplifiers and a processing and control system.

The installation was completed by Ian Dunn, who also did the install for Embassy London in Mayfair, and the new Peavey system comprises 22 speakers laid out in five zones covering the club's bar, stage and DJ areas. There are three Impulse 1012 whites, two Versarray 118s, 13 SSE26 whites, and four SSE12Ms; and thirteen Versamount 35 whites and three Versamount 70 whites are used to suspend the loudspeakers.

The club also boasts a 16-channel Peavey 16FX mixing console and an Audiolink 20 pair 100' multi-core, a QF 215 15-band graphic equaliser, and a Digitool MX fully programmable audio processing and control system, along with a numb

Indonesia - The Midas PRO2 and PRO2C live audio systems were given their first Asian unveiling during the JAPEX Exhibition in Jakarta in November. Midas' Indonesian distributor, PT Gracia Auvindo, together with Midas' David Cooper, demonstrated the new consoles on their booth.

"We are very proud to be the first to show the amazing PRO2 in Asia," says Thomsen Phan, managing director, PT Gracia Auvindo. "With the unbeatable sound quality of an XL8, an extremely easy to use control surface, very stable architecture and the networking capability of larger Midas digital consoles - all at a remarkable price - the PRO2 is set to change the Indonesian pro audio market."

"It's an honour for me to help Thomsen and his team launch PRO2 to the Indonesian market," says Cooper. "The response has been phenomenal and all is set for PRO2 to become the best se

UK - Long-running BBC TV sports quiz A Question of Sport set off on its second UK tour during November with a full quota of DPA's new d:fine single ear headset mics. The show's audio provider, RG Jones Sound Engineering, purchased the mics from UK distributor Sound Network especially for the tour.

"We bought the d:fine mics essentially because of the ease of fitting them," explains RG Jones' Owen Relfe, who was on radio mic duties for the tour. "We have eight people per show to fit within a 15 minute window, and they're all athletes and sports stars who don't like standing still. They've all noticed the new mics, and we've had some great comments from them.

"They especially like the rubberized ear fitting, which allows them to put them on and forget about them. If they can't feel the mics, they tend to fiddle with them less, and this reduces the self

UK - Adlib supplied a full technical production package of sound, lighting, AV, staging and crew for the recent John Barrowman tour.

It's the fourth JB tour that Adlib has supplied. Having the resources and flexibility to offer all the technical elements in a single source operation enabled a very cost-efficient package to be tailored to the client for the successful six weeks of sold out shows around the UK.

FOH engineer Walter Jaquiss once again specified a Coda Audio LA12 system, following its performance on the last tour. Systems tech Kenny Perrin explains that their standard configuration was 12 x LA12 cabinets per-side with a variable amount of LA8 down-fills.

For subs, they used two sensor controlled Coda SCPs per side for the standard set up, boosted to four columns of two SCPs along the front of the stage for the arenas. The in-fills were normally four LA8 speakers.

UK - 2012 marks a significant anniversary for DiGiCo, as it celebrates 10 years since the arrival of its ground breaking D5 Live. Over that time, the company has expanded its product line and launched the revolutionary Stealth Digital Processing FPGA audio engine, found in all SD series consoles.

As DiGiCo has grown, it has expanded its facilities and team to become a leading live sound console manufacturer. The move to partner with ISIS, combined with Matrix, secures an enviable position for the company and its future, it says.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for DiGiCo to build further on the achievements of the last five years," says James Gordon, DiGiCo CEO. "The company has expanded rapidly in a short space of time and the timing is perfect to add some new investment and experience to the team. ISIS's historical knowledge of our niche industry is going to

UK - Apollo Cinemas and Dolby Laboratories have announced that they completed a project to upgrade the audio experience for cinema goers at all of its screens throughout the UK.

The 22-month programme concluded with the upgrade of the Apollo Cinema in Rhyl, where the installation of the latest 7.1 Dolby digital sound processors marked the conversion of all 83 of Apollo's cinemas screens at 14 locations in England and Wales.

"Quality surround sound is absolutely critical to the overall experience of enjoying a film," says Rob Arthur, managing director, Apollo Cinemas, "so we wanted to be able to offer our customers the very best with the quality and flexibility of the new Dolby digital cinema processors.

"We have been delighted with the results. The improvement in sound quality is really noticeable and we feel this, as part of our conversion to all-digital

UK Indie folk rockers Bombay Bicycle Club are currently touring their latest album, A Different Kind Of Fix throughout the UK. So far the tour has been a great success, playing to sold-out venues nationwide, including the Brixton Academy. The band's monitor engineer, Dan Hermouet, was delighted to be trying out some SMX15 stage monitors from APG for the tour.

"I was specifically looking for a wedge monitor that would work with our in-ear monitors," explained Hermouet. "The band enjoys using their in-ears but we all agreed that it would be great if we could find something to supplement the IEMs so that they could benefit from the physical sensations on stage that you only get with a wedge monitor."

Hermouet took three pairs of APG SMX15 on tour; one for each guitarist on stage and one as a listener. "I had several occasions to compare the SMX15s

China - Belgian manufacturer Apex Audio has moved its distribution in China to Rightway Audio Consultants. "When we established Rightway, our aim was to offer advanced audio products to boost the level of product sales, engineering and systems integration of technologies into the Chinese market," explains Monica Au, marketing and communications executive at Rightway. "Our first priority has always been the quality of the brands we work with. We distribute a variety of top brands under an exclusive basis, which fully satisfies the needs of the audio professionals.

"The demand for audio equipment, especially at a professional level, is expanding due to the cultural development of the audio industry in Mainland China. To meet the various demands of our customers, we need to provide equipment with advanced technology.

"Apex is a professional audio manufact

USA - Jason Aldean, just 10-years old, has been selling out coast-to-coast and sweeping awards shows regularly. Aldean just won a record six American Country Awards, including Single of the Year, Album of the Year, and the Holy Grail of live shows, Touring Artist of the Year.

Bandit Lites has been part of the Aldean family since the start. Lighting designer Aaron Swetland has continued to craft his art as the shows and lighting systems have grown geometrically through the years.

The My Kinda Party Tour has been setting records throughout 2011, and it continues into 2012. The album is platinum and Aldean is currently on top of the country and pop charts with the smash hit Don't You Wanna Stay with Kelly Clarkson.

For 2012, Swetland has utilized a great number of different technologies to help Aldean shine each night. His arsenal includes Martin MAC III's, MAC 2K

USA - On 2 December 2011, the RBC Centre, home of the NHL Carolina Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack Men's Basketball and host of the 2011 NHL Allstar Game and numerous large events in Raleigh was transformed into the world of Hip-Hop and R&B music and grooves.

The concert The Platinum Legends of Hip Hop and R&B featured the top original pioneers of Hip Hop includingThe Fat Boys, Kurtis Blow, Kool Moe Dee, Christopher Williams, Al B. Sure, Aaron Hall, Doug E. Fresh and more.

The cutting edge RCF TT+ sound system, supplied by Rock Quarry Productions of Raleigh NC, included 32 TTL55-A, eight TTL33-A and 18 TTS56-A Subwoofers all software controlled by the RDNet management software

"RCF TT55 never fails to deliver the power and performance we need to cover even the largest of rooms. The RDNet system allows us amazing detailed control of all aspects of the system in real

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