USA - The Pig 'n' Whistle in midtown Manhattan is typical of many of the area's taverns. What the narrow storefront space lacks in width, it more than makes up for in depth and height, spanning two floors and extending far to the back of the building it occupies.

"It's only about 25ft wide, but it's more than 75ft deep, and there's an open veranda and dining area upstairs, with a high open ceiling," says Rich Trombitas of Cornwall-based Cardone Solomon & Associates Inc.

"It's a beautiful place," says Trombitas. "The architecture is just stunning, the finish and detail looks wonderful. But sonically it's very challenging. The stage is located on the second level, and particularly on Friday and Saturday nights when they have Irish bands and DJs in there, the noise level can be a real challenge."

The main floor is served by three wall-mounted TRX82

The Netherlands - Owned by Sander Krouwel, Road Productions is based in central Holland and operates in the corporate event, theatre, one-off events, and concert touring markets. The company is a loyal DiGiCo user, being the first rental company in Holland to purchase a dual D1 Live setup back in 2004. It is now adding to its console inventory with the purchase of a DiGiCo SD8 and SD11.

Road Productions is a key player in the Dutch rental market, working with singers such as Frans Bauer and his live band, and Trijntje.

As a satisfied DiGiCo user, Krouwel invested in a DiGiCo SD9 in 2010, but with the market expanding in the smaller and larger jobs, and seeing the range of consoles now available at TM Audio's seminars this year, he decided to make an additional investment in a DiGiCo SD8 and, for the smaller productions, an SD11.

"Our acts are very satisfied with this gu

Malaysia - The Vienna Boys Choir performed in the Plenary Hall of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in November, miked with DPA 2011C mics provided by Orange Events, a KL-based rental company.

Blurr Wong, owner of Orange Events, Blurr used two matched-pairs of DPA 2011C twin diaphragm compact cardioids from DPA's new Reference Standard series to mic the 30-piece choir. "These mics are special," says Blurr. "The twin diaphragm capsule design, combined with meticulous engineering, has resulted in the product being a good all-rounder mic. It sounds luscious."

Blurr also used a sensitivity-selected pair of DPA 4099P instrument clip mics for miking the grand piano, with one mic positioned at each end of the strings and the lid half open. "The 4099's small but packs lot of punches, allowing you to achieve studio-like quality in a live environment," con

UK - Clockaudio has introduced the CW-200 dual channel wireless conferencing system.

The CW-200 provides an affordable, easy to deploy and operate solution for elementary, occasional or portable conferencing applications, says the company. The system comprises two boundary microphone transmitter units and a dual channel UHF receiver.

Receiver and transmitter are operable over 32 selectable frequencies for each channel, and feature auto scan and lock to provide transmission on an available interference-free frequency. Adjustable 'Noise-Lock' squelch and RFI shielding technology negate environmental RF noise and signal interference.

Commenting on the addition of the CW-200 to the Clockaudio range, sales and marketing manager Rod Geary stated, "The CW-200 offers a highly cost effective and versatile solution for a part of the market we have not previously addressed, where

Italy - Designed as a speaker solution for indoor installations where the critical acoustic environment is an issue and where moderate visual impact is required, the RCF VSA is now available in three models - VSA 2050, VSA 1250 & VSA 850.

VSA aims to address the audio signal exactly to the listening area, avoiding sending the acoustic energy to ceilings and empty floors, thus not introducing bad reflections that would affect speech intelligibility, mainly in critical environments with high reverberation time, says the company.

"The target we aimed at when designing the VSA was to offer voice directivity and control over all the voice range, to give high intelligibility performance with wide frequency response and high dynamics and coherence at distance," says a spokesman. "We've been able to reach this goal thanks to the length of the column, the number and size

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced its EASE Level 1 Training Class schedule for 2012. The classes, conducted by Renkus-Heinz application engineers Jonas Domkus and Jim Mobley, cover the basics of using EASE 4.3 and EASE JR 4.3, with specific focus on room modelling techniques and basic electro-acoustic analysis.

Each three-day session is held at the EASE Learning Lab, located at the Renkus-Heinz headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California, with classes offered quarterly throughout the year.

All classes are based on EASE 4.3 for Windows. Ownership of and basic familiarity with EASE 4.3 is a prerequisite, and students are encouraged to bring their own laptops. Classes are scheduled on 20-22 February, 14-16 May, 20-22 August 20-22 and 12-14 November 2012.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The restoration of Omaha's Greater Beth-El Temple is complete after a June 2008 arson attack that nearly destroyed the Apostolic Christian church, popular among Omaha's African-American community. The congregation was forced to relocate while the temple underwent a complete renovation. Left virtually an empty shell after the fire, the building required new floors, a ceiling, a stage, seating, and numerous other necessities including a sound system.

Greater Beth-El services include a full musical ensemble playing contemporary Christian and gospel music. Theatrical performances and concerts are also regular events at the temple. According to John Manhart of Direct Pro Audio LLC, the contractor who designed and installed Greater Beth-El's new audio system, low profile looks combined with large sound capability were paramount in selecting the new system.

"Greater Beth-E

USA - At Winter NAMM 2012, American Audio will be unveiling a new series of "concert-quality German-engineered professional speakers", the SenSeries, as well as a lightweight and affordable power amplifier line, the XLT Series, the company says.

"Both our new SenSeries speakers and XLT amps fill niches in the pro sound marketplace, and offer solutions that end-users have told us they're looking for," said Tom Freret, national sales manager for American Audio. "That's why we are so excited about introducing these products at NAMM."

The company will also be taking the wraps off the long-anticipated Traktor version of its popular VMS4 MIDI Workstation, which features four selectable MIDILOG (MIDI or analogue) channels, and has been billed is "the ultimate DJ performance tool". The new VMS4 Traktor comes bundled with the popular Traktor DJ s

Australia - The inaugural Equitana Sydney event was an extraordinary success with 45,000 attendees over the four days. Sydney Showgrounds was turned into an equine paradise with over 300 horses, five indoor demonstration arenas, two large outdoor competition arenas, 200 education presentations and demonstrations and 280 trade stands in the exhibition.

The key venue, The Dome, was transformed into a 5,000 seat international venue with concert lighting, sound and visuals supplied by Audio Visual Dynamics.

"The production challenges were enormous and the event could not have succeeded to the degree it did without a very skilled, dedicated - and patient - production crew," commented Colleen Lethbridge, production and media manager for Equitana. "The AVD team worked with us from the beginning to develop The Dome venue, offering advice and design ideas, so that we got

USA - Clear-Com has named Bob Boster, previously vice president of worldwide sales, as the company's new president. Boster succeeds Matt Danilowicz, formerly company president, whose last day with Clear-Com was 31 December 2011.

"Matt's extraordinary vision and leadership turned around Clear-Com and guided it to its position as the most technologically advanced intercom company in the industry," says Chuck Miyahira, CEO of HM Electronics. "Matt has made enormous contributions to the Clear-Com business and built a strong organisation that is poised for long-term success. We thank Matt for all he has done and wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

Boster will be based in the Clear-Com office in Alameda, California, and will report to Mitzi Dominguez, president of HME.

"We are confident that Bob is the right person to lead the Clear-Com busine

UK - Electrosonic has successfully upgraded some of the key audio-visual components in the Scottish Government's Media Centre at St. Andrew's House in Edinburgh. The Centre has the facility to run presentations, record proceedings and relay images to an adjacent room.

Electrosonic's Edinburgh office refreshed the essential presentation equipment in Media 1 (seating 70), Media 2 (a small briefing/meeting or overflow room), a preparatory Green Room supporting Media 1 & 2, a back projection room (for main control and video routing equipment), and a control room (housing video preview and audio equipment). The original equipment was installed around 12 years ago and overdue a refresh.

Carolyne Thomson, Scottish Government project manager, was very happy with the work carried out by the Electrosonic team. "They listened carefully to what we wanted to achieve and they came up w

UK - It all makes perfect sense, conduct an experiment for the Noise Abatement Society and what's the first thing you do? Rent in a PA system. It does make sense in one way, how else can you investigate the suppression of noise without first creating it, "but this was something completely different," said John Tinline of Encore who provided the system.

"This was another Martyn Ware Illustrious Production 3D sound installation", he continued. "The event was sponsored by the City of Brighton Council. We put 18 d&b audiotechnikQ1 loudspeakers in various places around West Street in Brighton. This is the main shopping street, the installation was part of the Brighton Festival, but the purpose was not to give people something to listen to, quite the opposite."

What Ware had designed was a six point sound field, a 3D image formed by Ware's signature eth

UK - Audio-Technica Ltd has announced it has entered into an agreement with Allen & Heath Ltd to act as exclusive distributor for the mixer manufacturer in the UK.

The strategic move mirrors a similar arrangement in Germany, where Audio-Technica has been Allen & Heath distributor since 2005, seeing a significant growth in sales over the last six years in the territory.

Allen & Heath's sales and marketing manager, Debbie Maxted said: "Providing outstanding service to our UK customers is extremely important to us, so we are particularly delighted to be working with Audio-Technica, which has already demonstrated its commitment to the brand and to our dealers and end users in Germany. Allen & Heath has enjoyed strong growth in recent years and we have some exciting new products due for release in the near future, so we feel that this partnership comes at just the right time f

UK - Bradford-based installation company TMC Ltd has announced the death of the company's co-founder, Paul Smith.

The company's statement said: "It is with deep regret that we announce the death of Paul Smith, co founder of TMC Ltd. Paul passed away on New Year's Day after a courageous battle with cancer. His family were by his side at his home in Haworth, Yorkshire."

A service will be held at Haworth Parish Church at 2pm on Wednesday 11 January 2012. The company says all are welcome, but requests no black suits, please. More information is available from TMC on 01274 370966.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - W E Audio, based in North Oxfordshire, has taken delivery of two Midas Pro 2 consoles, purchased from LMC Audio.

With a pair of 'always-in-demand' Heritage H3000s already in stock, which have been used on all of the festivals they have supplied this year, Wayne Barker, MD of W E Audio, and his team are familiar with the audio quality of Midas products.

"We have always loved what Midas put into their consoles, especially the XL3 & XL4 and of course the H3000", explains Rylan Machin, project manager at W E Audio. "So when we saw what Midas had done with the Pro 2, bringing out a console with a small footprint, a respectable channel count, and the same Midas quality and attention to detail, we knew there would be high demand for hire on this console again."

Barker and Machin made the decision to invest in Pro 2 at this year's PLASA Show, where they took

The Netherlands - The KWF (Dutch Cancer Society) has over 120,000 volunteers who help it to raise awareness of cancer and funds towards patient support and furthering cancer research. One of its annual highlights is the Alped' HuZes, which sees thousands of cyclists climb the French mountain Alpe d'Huez. Concluding with a live concert at the resort on top of the mountain, Yamaha equipment helped this latest event to raise a record amount of money.

As well as being a major ski resort, Alpe d'Huez is famous as a stage in the Tour de France, the fastest ascent taking 37 minutes and 35 seconds. This year's Alpe d'HuZes saw 4,661 of the volunteer amateur, professional and celebrity cyclists reach the 1,860m(6,102ft) summit in considerably slower times, but raising over €20m for KWF's work in the process.

The event's grand finale took place in the Palais de Sport on top of the moun

USA - Two illustrious high school stadiums in the Tacoma Public Schools system enjoyed vastly improved sound for the 2011 football season, thanks to comprehensive distributed audio system upgrades at both locations.

Lynwood, Washington-based systems integration firm Electrocom managed the upgrades, installing Technomad advanced audio loudspeakers and high-powered amplifiers among other components at Stadium High School and Lincoln High School. Electrocom handpicked the systems to replace aging horn components that were in disrepair and bleeding into adjacent neighbourhoods - prompting a flurry of complaints.

The stadiums' long, rich histories are evident in their grandeur: large, bowl-shaped venue designs with concrete bleachers and expansive sideline space. This made sound improvements - especially even, venue-wide coverage - unusually challenging.

"These are not typic

The Netherlands - Crestron's new Fusion EM software is a complete energy management solution for organisations of any size from schools and universities to corporate enterprises, says the company.

The Crestron Fusion platform is a scalable framework which provides the basis on which to monitor and manage lighting, energy, and AV, while providing the tools for remote help desk, room scheduling and asset tracking. Fusion expands upon the established Crestron RoomView Server Edition (SE) platform by upping the ante with its scalable redundant architecture and multiple front-end components: Fusion RV and Fusion EM.

Fusion RV software, which provides AV, help desk, meeting scheduling and technology management, is the upgrade path from RoomView SE. The all-new Fusion EM provides energy management and tracking. Both front-end components coexist on the same server platform and share t

USA - The Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College is a historic landmark in the heart of Boston's theatre district. Built as an opera house in 1903, this intimate venue serves student, community and professional theatrical productions.

In 1999, AV systems integrator Boston Light & Sound was brought in to design and install a PA system utilising a pair of EAW MQ1364 MF/HF Array Loudspeakers on either side of an MQTD412 LF Array Loudspeaker with a single MQ1394 below and JF290zs for L&R Orchestra-fill. At the time, with the theatre's balcony closed, the system provided complete coverage of the venue's main-floor and mezzanine seating areas. In 2003, when the balcony was reopened after extensive reconstruction as part of the theatre's 100th anniversary, additional EAW AS690e fill speakers were added for balcony coverage, based on a consultant's design.

Over the summer of 2011,

Qatar - Continuing its success with rental companies in the Middle East, Unique Sound based in Doha, Qatar has recently acquired an HK Audio Elements system from Melody House. Distributors for the Middle East, Melody House have sold two complete systems that include the EF435 Mid/Top, EP1 Poles and the EA600 Active Subwoofers.

"The Elements is very successful with rental firms as it is a compact system that is also versatile to meet various kind of applications without compromising on the quality of audio," commented Amrith Verghese, HK Audio product specialist at Melody House. "In addition, the fact that the system is scalable allows Unique Sound to grow the system ad their business grows making it a great return on investment."

(Jim Evans)

Spain - Lasting 1395 days, the siege of Sarajevo was one of the darkest episodes witnessed by mainland Europe since the Second World War. Revisited in a major exhibition at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Yamaha audio technology is helping to bring a powerful depiction of the siege to life.

The exhibition comprises a film, 1395 Days Without Red, by Sarajevo-born artist Šejla Kameri? and his wife, Anri Sala. Designed to be shown in adjacent rooms, each version of the film features the same events and narrative, but shot from different camera angles.

Throughout every day the 1992-96 siege, thousands of citizens had to cross a myriad of streets threatened by snipers and mortar rounds. The films bring the past and present together by following a woman - played by Spanish actress Maribel Verdú - as she follows her daily route through Sarajevo to a rehear

China The hit musical Mamma Mia! has recently broken new ground as the first western musical to be performed in Mandarin with a Chinese cast. After runs in Shanghai and Beijing, the show is currently playing in Guangzhou, with a DiGiCo SD8 at the helm.

Although western musicals have previously toured China, this is the first time that one has been performed by a local cast, with a translated script.

Mamma Mia! in China is produced by United Asia Live Entertainment Co by arrangement with Judy Craymer, Richard East and Bjorn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal. Technically the approach for the audio was the same as it has been for all other recent productions of the show, including the DiGiCo SD8 mixing console. But a few hurdles had to be cleared regarding the supply of equipment.

"Because of China's import laws, we realised that it would b

UK / Spain - Cadac Holdings has announced the appointment of Adagio.pro as exclusive distributor of its new range of analogue and digital compact consoles in Spain and Portugal.

Headquartered outside of Barcelona, Adagio.pro is the pro-audio distribution arm of Grupo Adagio, which also incorporates an extensive MI distribution division and owns a chain of music and pro-audio stores throughout Spain and Portugal; including the Music Gallery stores within the leading El Corte Ingles chain of department stores in Spain. The company owns exclusive distribution rights to some of the leading pro audio brands in the region.

Commenting on the agreement, international sales development manager Vincenzo Borrelli stated, "Adagio.pro is an ideal distribution partner for our new line up of analogue and digital consoles, which are aimed at the general pro audio and live sound sectors,

Italy - Several years ago, the Amerigo Vespucci Airport's terminal building in Florence was equipped with an RCF sound system.

But by the time it came to equipping the new terminal earlier this year, new regulations for security and evacuation, coupled with an evolution in sound system technology, meant that while RCF was once again chosen as the preferred supplier, the company was now required to deliver a far superior solution, in keeping with the new regulations.

Work began on the project in mid-August 2011 under the supervision of RCF project manager, Aristodemo Preda, and the whole system became operational in mid-December.

At the submission stage, various acoustic simulations were carried out, necessary to determine the efficiency of the system and necessary compliances. In addition to meeting the normal requirements of speech intelligibility (public messaging), backgr

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