Germany - Live event audio production supplier Neumann & Mueller (N&M) has augmented its rental inventory with a TiMax2 SoundHub audio showcontrol matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking system. The purchase followed a 12-month period of extensive evaluation that culminated in a well-received outdoor staging of Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute) at Erfurt's Domstufen Festspiele event.

Erfurt's cathedral forms a focus, particularly across the three weeks of every summer when it provides the backdrop to the Domstufen Festspiele - an open-air theatrical extravaganza which takes the vast medieval cathedral steps as its performance platform. This year's production - by Guy Montavon - of Mozart's final opera transformed the imposing cathedral steps into the lush green of a magical garden where the enchanting story unfurled to capacity audiences every night.

With N&M's loc

UK - Flightcase and audio speaker solutions specialist Penn-Elcom announces that Bristol based rack aficionados Rackz is to join the Penn Elcom Group, "bringing a wealth of experience in the field of 19 inch rack mounting design, construction and installation to the equation". Rackz is headed up by Dave Roberts, designer, innovator, engineer and musician.

Rackz will continue to operate exactly as is in its current set up, with Roberts at the helm and all staff staying onboard. They will service their own clients in addition to expanding Penn's current range of racking products and working on a host of new Penn racking-based projects.

Penn-Elcom has expanded its business steadily and specifically over the last two years, strengthening and consolidating its already robust activities in flightcase components and pro-audio peripherals.

Rackz and Penn Elcom have been wo

UK - The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh has recently completed the upgrade of the historic Great Hall. RCPE called in Audio Light Systems as they could provide audio, lighting & AV all from under the same roof. The brief was to install lighting, system control & audio in extremely sensitive surroundings.

The audio system is primarily for conference work, but is also used for foreground music at functions. QSC Acoustic Design speakers were installed as they are compact in size while still being horn loaded. The Acoustic Design subs were also discretely installed in existing wall cavities.

A Crestron processor is controlled wirelessly with an iPad or iPod, which gives user flexibility while also giving a great library of music. The Crestron processor controls the iLight lighting & QSC audio system (via an Allen & Heath DSP) using both presets and individual channel con

UK - The Theatres Trust, The National Advisory Public Body for Theatres, has announced its sixth annual conference, 'Delivering Sustainable Theatres' - on the challenge of achieving the triple bottom line.

Taking place on 12 June 2012 at Stratford Circus, next to the Olympic Park in East London, the Conference will explore how theatre buildings are managing their building's resources and addressing their future sustainability. The Conference takes place the day before the ABTT Theatre Show, allowing attendees and sponsors to take full advantage of these two London events.

The Conference will address the question of 'Delivering Sustainable Theatres' looking at how theatres are addressing the sustainability agenda in these rapidly changing times, and how they are providing a catalyst for social and economic recovery in the communities they serve. Conference speakers, sponsors an

China - The Ejin Horo Banner Theatre complex in Ordos has been equipped with a range of Fohhn loudspeakers, DSP-controlled amplifiers and system control technology. The complex is situated in an area of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China that is historically significant as the location of Genghis Khan's Mausoleum.

Within the complex itself, an impressive 1200-seater theatre space is flanked by a concert hall and multi-purpose hall, each with a capacity of 600, plus six conference rooms. In each of the spaces, Fohhn systems have been installed with a view to achieving excellent reproduction of speech and music combined with flexible remote control and networking possibilities, while remaining sympathetic to the architectural surroundings.

A range of Fohhn Arc-Series compact high performance loudspeakers, including 18 AT-66, 44 AT-07, 12 AT-201 and eight AT-50 models,

UK - Crestron has appointed Matthew Buck to the position of commercial account manager. He will be responsible for bringing new members into the Crestron family as well as maintaining good links with existing clients.

Since graduating from Swansea Metropolitan, Buck worked for Polar Audio (originally Beyerdynamic UK) and progressed from the position of consumer products manager to business development manager; where he was responsible for key accounts in the South East, generating over 30% of the company's turnover.

"Crestron has long since been the leader in control and automation systems which makes my new role a real privilege and hugely exciting," says Buck. "Having gained some valuable experience working within the professional AV market at Polar, I'm relishing the prospect of working with an already strong and successful team to further the success of the

Italy - FaitalPRO has announced the introduction of several new families of Ferrite products.

Flavio Naggi, overseas sales manager, states, "Our FaitalPRO brand has been on the market for just five years, but we are already appreciated worldwide as a reference point for professional neodymium loudspeakers and are now meeting the requests of numerous clients in the PA and SR areas with the launch of many new products in Ferrite.

"We are offering our clients an alternative based on new, soft and refined acoustic tonalities: the current product range will remain and the new families with a ferrite heart will join them to complete a now very extensive catalogue."

This launch will not only respond to budget related issues: many clients had already requested them also for challenges regarding acoustics and weight: for example, in many fixed installations, where ther

UK - Scottish three-piece rock band Biffy Clyro have played some major live shows in the last 12 months, supporting US rockers, Foo Fighters, at Milton Keynes Bowl, and opening for Metallica in Bangalore, India. A hectic and impressive list of festival dates has underlined the band's ever-growing popularity; they played Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage for the first time, headlined Wakestock Festival in Wales, and hit perhaps their highest point when they topped the bill on day two of the now-annual UK Sonisphere Festival at KnebworthPark.

To ensure they kept at the top of their game throughout the year, the band decided to deploy a Peavey monitoring system into their rehearsal space, which is located in their hometown of Kilmarnock.

"They originally wanted something that would give them eight monitor mixes because one of the options was to have stereo in-ear monitoring. Our p

UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has announced the launch of Stardraw Design 7. Stardraw's all-new system design/documentation tool is available for download from www.stardraw.com. The move follows the initial unveiling of the software at InfoComm 2011 in June which marked the debut of a public beta phase.

The application is Stardraw.com's seventh-generation software solution for systems integrators. Drawing on nearly two decades of market experience, and exploiting the latest in software technologies, Stardraw Design 7 offers audio and video system designers/installers "unparalleled speed, ease of use and task-orientated functionality in a modular package" which will enable integrators to custom configure the software to suit their particular requirements and budget. Users also have access to the industry's largest quality library of manufacturers' products.

Usin

UK - When it was decided that St Mary's Church in Ashford, Kent would benefit from opening its doors to a wider audience, Bose pro partner, Ashdown AV, was approached to provide some advice as to how audio might be used to help create a multi-purpose space for events and concerts as well as the traditional Sunday service.

After careful consideration of the layout of the building and the acoustics of the space, Ashdown AV recommended that a Bose ControlSpace DSP audio management system be installed to control multiple Bose Panaray speakers. The installation includes Bose Panaray MA12 line array speakers delivering clear music and voice to the body of the church, plus Bose Panaray 402 II speakers cleverly flown from the ceiling to cover additional areas, with Bose MB12 bass support.

According to Canon Colin Preece, "At its heart, the refurbishment of St. Mary the Virgin Ash

Singapore - As part of MediaCorp Radio's 75th anniversary, more than 25 local acts took to the stage at Marina Promontory on Saturday, 5 November for more than eight hours of non-stop music.

MediaCorp hosted the MeRadio Rocks The Marina!project - a celebratory concert where music and friendship all came together. With a capacity of roughly 5,000 people, the Promontory was rocking. The sound reinforcement featured loudspeakers from the Aero Series 2, Avant, and Road catalogs of D.A.S. Audio.

Singapore-based Showmakers (S) Pte, with over 15 years of event production experience and owners of a DAS Audio Aero 12A system, was contracted to provide sound services for the production.

The D.A.S. Audio sound system deployed for the concert was large, as Juan Luis Garcia, D.A.S. Audio Asia's managing director described, "We have an Aero 50 system in Singapore that is frequ

UK - London- based Entec Sound & Light supplied lighting, sound and video production and crew for the recent Friends of the Earth's star studded comedy extravaganza at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, Laugh or the Polar Bear Gets It.

The line up of eight comedians, one singer and one larger than life polar bear's head set-piece featured Tim Minchin, Josie Long, Badly Drawn Boy and Richard Herring and was presented by Greg Davies. The venue was completely sold out as all united in an evening of hilarity and arctic proportions.

Laughing all the way to the lighting desk was Entec's Ryan Brown, who created a production lighting design for the evening - which resembled a festival in style and execution.

His aim was to compliment the main set piece, a giant polystyrene polar bear's head, so to connect this to its immediate environment, he imbibed the stage with an arctic ambienc

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Shure microphones and audio electronics in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman have supplied Showtech Rentals based in Dubai with 12 channels of the new PSM 1000 In Ear Monitoring system from Shure. The deal includes six units of the brand new P10T and 12 units of the new P10R together with the SE535-CL in-ear earphone.

"Shure have made great improvements in the In Ear Monitoring product segment that include the new PSM 1000 that give users an amazing 40 compatible frequencies per band in tour-ready build quality," commented Shajahan K K, Shure product manager. "The diversity receiver also makes sure that the artist will never experience any kind of audio drops or interference, which is especially crucial in large budget shows."

(Jim Evans)

UAE - Melody House, distributors of DPA microphones in the United Arab Emirates have recently supplied a range of the 4099 instrument microphones to Sharp Eye Productions. The relatively new rental firm decided to invest in the 4099 microphones from DPA as they offered "complete flexibility for their variety of shows, which include small-to-medium concerts to corporate events".

"The 4099s are clearly the industry standard microphones for violins, sax, trumpet and other wind instruments," commented Dino Drimakis, business development manager at Melody House. "With the use of several kind of mounting clips, Sharp Eye will be able to use the microphone on almost every event making it a great investment. Plus with the microdot connector technology, they can use the microphone wirelessly with pretty much every kind of wireless transmitter out there."

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The Netherlands - Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake will feature a number of firsts at ISE 2012, with Tannoy exhibiting brand new VLS (Vertical Line Source) passive column range. With a sleek curvilinear architectural profile specifically designed for install applications, the VLS Series comes in three models that each utilise proven transducer technology adapted from Tannoy's award-winning QFlex steerable column range. Making its international debut at ISE 2012, VLS promises to be "an evolutionary product that further enhances Tannoy's offering in the architectural installed sound market".

Visitors will also be able to see the full range of Tannoy's VX Series and VXP Series, the latter featuring Lab.gruppen's new IDEEA (Intelli-Drive Energy Efficient Amplifier) power module.

Also on the stand will be Tannoy's QFlex digital beam-steering array loudspeakers, complete with

USA - Aviom's Pro64 Firmware version 4.35 and Pro64 Network Manager version 2.1 are now available for download. The updated firmware introduces additional flexibility to Aviom's m-control mic preamp control protocol for Yamaha digital consoles, as well as the ability to seamlessly extend Pro64 networks while the network is running.

The new m-control feature allows users to select from two methods of mapping mic preamp gain settings from the Yamaha console to the gain and pad settings of Aviom's Pro64 Series mic preamps. For most users, Auto Pad, which automatically switches Aviom pads on and off based on the position of the Yamaha gain control and whether the gain is being adjusted up or down, is a good balance of performance and simplicity. However, for users who prefer separate gain and pad controls, Manual Pad delinks the two settings, mapping Yamaha gain settings directly to

Russia - As part of a massive five-year renovation project that culminated in a star-studded opening ceremony last month, Moscow's premier playhouse, the Theatre of Nations, has been equipped with an APG loudspeaker system.

Designed, supplied and installed by Russian pro audio and lighting specialists, Doka Center, who also supplied the fully motorised lighting and staging systems, the main audio system is based around APG's versatile DS Series loudspeakers. Phase two of the renovation project, which is scheduled for early in 2012 and will include more APG equipment, will concentrate on the renovation of the theatre's smaller hall.

The Theatre of Nations is housed in the former Korsh theatre that was built in 1885 on land belonging to the millionaire Bakhrushin merchant family. The building was renamed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The reopening of the histor

Iceland - ARX Systems, the Australian based designer and manufacturer of digital and analogue interface and signal processing products has announced the appointment of Reykjavík based Northern Lights Audio as their new distributor for Iceland.

ARX managing director Colin Park said, "We're excited to be working with Thor Halldórsson and the NorthernLights Audio team in Iceland, they're enthusiastic about the possibilities for ARX and our products amongst their extensive client base.

"Northern Lights Audio are a growing force within the Icelandic ProAudio Industry and are in close contact with the Installation, live sound and broadcast market sectors.

"After more than 12 years servicing the professional audio industry, Northern Lights Audio now distribute product ranges including BeyerDynamic, LabGruppen, Cerwin Vega and Celestion Audio."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Hosted by Selena Gomez and with a show stopping performance by Lady Gaga, who walked away with multiple awards, 6 November saw the great and the good of the contemporary music industry descend on Belfast's Odyssey Arena for the 2011 MTV European Music Awards. Sennheiser radio equipment was in use by a number of the show's performers.

As in previous years, the live sound design for the show was by Derrick Zieba, with audio equipment for the performances supplied by Britannia Row Productions.

Actress and singer Selena Gomez used a 'custom bling' Sennheiser SKM 5200 mk II with a Neumann KK 105 capsule for her duties as the show's host; further SKM 5200 mk IIs and KK 105 combinations were used by those presenting the awards, including David Hasselhoff, Hayden Panettiere and Jessie J.

All show in-ear monitors were Sennheiser G3, G2 or 2000 series, while some of the highest p

The Netherlands - At ISE 2012, Analog Way will exhibit a selection of its powerful solutions. Di-VentiX II is a multi-layer mixer scaler seamless switcher with universal analogue and digital input/output and full high resolution digital processing. It can display up to seven layers: four live sources, one Frame, one logo and one mask. Live layers can be customised.

Eikos is a multi-layer mixer scaler seamless switcher offering up to 12 inputs including four fitted with SDI and two fitted with DVI-D. Eikos offers three operating modes: Multi-Layer Mixer, 12 by 2 Seamless Native Matrix and QuadraVision modes.

OPS300 is a multi-layer mixer scaler seamless switcher with full high resolution digital processing. This high-grade and easy-to-use solution is particularly adapted to rental and staging and high-end installations, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

Super Star - Madonna is to perform during the interval at next year's Super Bowl, it has been confirmed. The singer will take to the stage at the game on Sunday 5 February at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Her performance is expected to coincide with the release of her 12th studio album and she will collaborate with a team from Cirque du Soleil. Broadcast around the world, more than 162m viewers tuned into last year's half-time entertainment which featured Black Eyed Peas.

Parking Protest - Musicians and actors held a protest in London's West End against Westminster City Council's plans to extend parking charges in the borough. The new parking charges will target the area south of Oxford Street, including Theatreland, and will see a rate of £4.40 an hour charged all day on Fridays and Saturdays until midnight, and between 1pm and 6pm on Sundays. It will be t

UK - The UK government has more than doubled the budget available for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies - from £40m to £81m.

The increase, which was announced in the latest London 2012 quarterly economic report by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), comes from the £9.3bn public purse, which is in theory meant for building, infrastructure and security, while the ceremonies is paid for from the privately-raised funds of the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games - money raised from the IOC, ticket sales and sponsorship.

In the DCMS report, Hugh Robertson MP, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, says: "The ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a unique opportunity to portray a positive image of the UK to a huge potential global audience - an estimated 1 billion people watched the openi

Spain - The domed roof of La Esfera (The Sphere) is a distinctive feature of the city of Alcobendas, north of Madrid, Spain. Hosting a variety of live entertainment, a recent major upgrade of the venue has seen a Yamaha / Nexo digital audio system installed.

Half-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the €650,000 project included new dressing rooms and public cloakrooms, upgraded entrance facilities, an improved electrical system, a higher stage and all-new stage lighting and sound.

The venue is almost constantly in use by performances which showcase a wide range of local, national and international culture, from rock concerts to folk music. This variety of use was a key factor in specifying a new system, as was the requirement that the front of house multicore be routed around the edge of the auditorium. With these in mind, equipment supplier and installer Milan

Czech Republic - The J.K. Tyl theatre in the Czech Republic city of Plzen (Pilsen) is one of the city's most historic cultural landmarks. Built in 1902, the impressive building honours the city's outstanding theatre tradition, which is second only to that of the capital, Prague. The theatre has recently benefitted from a significant audio system upgrade which has seen the installation of a new Innovason Eclipse GT digital mixing console and a sophisticated EtherSound digital audio network.

Muscdata, exclusive distributor in the Czech Republic for the Innovason brand, selected cable from German cable manufacturer, Sommer Cable as the backbone of the system with an AVM500-ES EtherSound network matrix from Auvitran which enabled star as well as daisy-chain connections. The AVM500 is connected to the control room via optical fibre.

The result is a completely flexible network which

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