UK - Professional audio and AV suppliers and 19 inch racking specialists Pro Audio Stash (PAS) launches a new slim-line skeleton rack - the R2020,

The innovative R2020 has a 500mm width which enables installation into the very tightest and most challenging-to-access spaces, and is ideal for all types of installations and 19 inch racking set ups where space is at an absolute premium.

The 500 mm wide by 500 mm deep footprint provides a flexible solution for multiple applications, including professional audio and AV, data and computer systems as well as residential installations where purpose-built areas for AV equipment may not be readily available.

Another bonus is the R2020's easy assembly. It has only six components - a top and a base plate plus four rack-rails which are also used as the integral support bars. A single Allen key is the only tool needed to assemble a complet

Norway - The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Concert will take place tonight - 11 December - at the 9,700-capacity Oslo Spektrum arena. An annual musical spectacular, broadcast to more than 100 countries worldwide, this year's concert will feature Meyer Sound's new LEO linear large-scale sound reinforcement system.

Performing to an audience of national leaders and Nobel laureates will be artists including British soul singer Seal, Portuguese trio OqueStrada, Romanian Gypsy brass legends Fanfare Cioc?rlia, as well as Ne-Yo, Kylie Minogue and Milow. The show's diverse musical requirements certainly played a part in sound supplier AVAB CAC AS's audio selection, but above all, the call was for superlative audio quality and rock-solid reliability.

"The Nobel Peace Prize Concert is a very high-profile gig and is televised worldwide, so it is absolutely essential that we work with the hi

China - It's rare that a complex evolution leads to an effective solution, yet the China Broadcasting Performing Arts Group (CBPAG) has forged a laudable reputation, both at home and further afield. CBPAG did much to further the value of Chinese live arts to a worldwide audience in the years when relations were more contentious than they are today. Established in 1953, by 1988 it had already visited fifty countries. CBPAG is the amalgam of five elements: CB Chinese Orchestra, China Film Symphony Orchestra, CB Chorus, CB Talking-Singing Arts Group and CB Electronic Orchestra.

Run by a fully professional management team funded through a special dispensation from the State Council of the People's Republic of China, CBPAG is charged with a noble task; to apply a national level performance group to the construction of Socialist civilisation. This has seen it present regional small sc

Iceland - Made from rough-hewn basalt, the split-circle exterior of the new Hof Menningarhús cultural and conference centre in Akureyri, Iceland, is reminiscent of an ancient druid temple. The technology inside is anything but ancient: both the main auditorium and a smaller multi-use venue are equipped with highly adaptable Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeaker systems.

The 510-seat Hamraborg hall is the larger auditorium in the complex. This space serves as home to the Northern Symphony Orchestra and hosts theatrical performances, conferences, film screenings, and concerts ranging from acoustic ensembles to heavy metal.

To accommodate Hamraborg's range of performances, Reykjavik-based rental and installation company Exton installed a Meyer Sound system based around dual-flown arrays each with nine M1D line array loudspeakers and two M1D-Sub subwoofers. The configuration also

UK - Electrosonic has confirmed its acquisition of Global Immersion which will continue to serve the planetarium, institutional theatreand giant screen markets. The acquisition was completed on 10 December 2012.

"This is a significant strategic move for both companies, and I am excited by the prospects presented by the acquisition," says Jim Bowie, president of Electrosonic Group. "As a single operation, we will service an even broader range of markets, bringing further innovation and an expanded offering to our customers. Our goal to attract and develop the best industry talent has been one of the drivers of the acquisition. Together we will lead by consolidating our strengths and delivering the best visual systems in the world."

Founded in 2007, Global Immersion is known for its work with highly specialised and technically-complex digital immersive theatr

Germany - The historic Deutsches National Teater in Weimar has complemented its purchase of a new Studer Vista8 console with a TiMax2 SoundHub-R32 system matrix and playback server, replacing an old analogue Studer and legacy TiMax Classic matrix which had been in daily use for the past ten years. The new TiMax SoundHub system was purchased from distributor Pro Audio Technik following on-site demos by the company's TiMax technical sales specialist Matthias Ziegenberger.

TiMax SoundHub was chosen by the theatre's experienced and distinguished sound crew of tonmeister Moritz Kobel, tonmeisterin Sarah Hölscher and tontechniker Uwe Kohlhaas, for its dynamic delay-matrix SOR localisation capabilities combined with comprehensive general housekeeping functions of linkable 8-band parametric system eq, routing and multi-zone level grouping.

Audio is transported between TiMax and the S

South America - The Award for the Best PA or Stage Management System 2012 has been awarded to the V-Series line array system manufactured by d&b audiotechnik. This was one of 10 categories in the Innovation International Prizes presented by the prestigious Produção Áudio Magazine Group whose publications are the professionals' choice in the Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American and Brazilian market.

The rigorous judging procedure began with nominations from the editorial teams from across the Produção Áudio catchment. Five entries for each category were then reduced to three through a readership poll. Once the magazine and the readers made their choices the finalists were judged by specialist panels for either pro audio or visual arts categories. The pro audio panel included Professor Homero Sette from Studio R, whose CV covers over 40 years in the industry; Armando Baldassa

UK - Dominic Harter has rejoined Harman to head up Soundcraft's global sales operation, following the promotion of Adrian Curtis to VP Sales of the Harman Professional EMEA sales team.

Harter originally joined Harman in 1998, primarily to manage the systems supply of the vast quantity of Harman equipment to the Millennium Dome project, working with all the Harman brands on all aspects of the project. With the completion of the project, Harter became sales manager with BSS Audio and C-Audio, using his in-depth technical knowledge and sales skills to support the distributors and products. Harter has spent the last 10 years with Turbosound, where he was director of R&D, before becoming sales director.

"It's great to be back at Harman with so many great people and old friends," Harter told LSi. "Soundcraft was the first brand I ever worked for as a student and I am

UK - Wigwam Acoustics has recently completed a comprehensive audio and video installation at Danbury Mission Church in Essex, specifying a full Roland Systems Group REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) system including consoles, stage boxes and personal monitors for the job.

The church, which has a packed events calendar, as well as the Sunday services, requested a high quality, fully encompassing system that would be flexible enough to cater for speech, live bands, vision and playback but simple enough to be used by a number of people with varying technical knowledge.

The Roland M-480 48 Channel Live Digital Mixing Console was chosen for FOH together with the S-4000 REAC Merge Unit, one S-0816 in the rack and one S-4000D REAC Splitter to supply audio and embedded power to the two S-1608 stage boxes with seven M-48 personal monitors for the stage. Roland V-Drums were als

UK - Acclaimed British drummer and percussionist Gavin Harrison, best known for playing with the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, has invested in a large set of AKG recording microphones - including a pair of C12VRs, seven C414s and the new D12VR kick drum microphone. C391s take care of the hi hat and ride cymbal.

Gavin won Modern Drummer magazine readers' poll for "best progressive drummer of the year" for four consecutive years. In 2011 he was voted best progressive drummer by the US DRUM! magazine and won the 2012 prog drummer award in Classic Rock magazine. In 2008, he joined King Crimson as part of a dual-drummer lineup with Pat Mastelotto. Last year Gavin was a featured performer on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' as part of their "Drum Solo Week", along with such players as Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, and Sheila E.

"I used C414s on t

UK - A challenging gig at Wells Cathedral turned out to be the most successful yet for Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends - with a little help from the Roland M-480 Live Digital Mixing Console!

The Fisherman's Friends are shanty singers from Port Isaac on the Cornwall coast, who have been performing their set of shanties and Cornish Folk Songs for over 15 years. The 10-man group also travels around the UK playing at a variety of venues including theatres, festivals and portside concerts, so long serving sound technician for the Fisherman's Friends, Sam Littlechild, regularly works with the 'in house' equipment and engineer to achieve the desired final mix and monitor.

For the Wells Cathedral gig, Paul Nicholson from Midas ProSound supplied the M-480 (as well as a S-4000S-3208 Digital Snake 32 x 8 Modular Unit) convincing Littlechild - who usually prefers an analogue desk - to gi

UK - Sound engineer Simon Allen is set to return to the UK from Cyprus in the new year. Allen has collected a wealth of experience in his 10 years in the industry, spanning everything from studio to live sound reinforcement, including theatre productions, live concerts and music venues. He began as senior audio and events manager at High Barn - a multi-media company, recording studio and live music venue in Essex. Since moving to Cyprus with his family in 2009, he has worked as senior sound engineer for City Studios; he has also been an occasional product reviewer for LSi.

Simon can be contacted on the following email address: si_the_music_guy@yahoo.co.uk

(Lee Baldock)

Germany - The Menschen in Europa ('People in Europe') events series has been held in Passau every year now since 1996. With its motto 'Art has no mother tongue', the event provides members of the public with an opportunity to become better acquainted with leading artists and performers. Since 1999, Menschen in Europa has been accompanied by a series of roundtable discussions in Passau's Medienhaus featuring personalities from the worlds of politics, business, culture and religion.

This year's Menschen in Europa (MiE) opening event culminated in the presentation of the MiE Award to operatic star Anna Netrebko, but prior to that the artist engaged in a roundtable discussion with the director of the Bavarian State Opera, Nikolaus Bachler, and the former director of the Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender, moderated by the TV presenter Thomas Gottshalk, entitled Die Wa(h)re Kunst (The

Australia - Since acquiring their Shure PSM 1000 Personal Monitor Systems earlier in the year, JPJ Audio has sent them on a variety of tours with great success. Artists such as Pitbull, Macy Gray, Lady Antebellum, and most recently Delta Goodrem have all benefited from Shure's personal monitoring at its most advanced level yet.

The full-rack, dual-channel, networkable transmitter is suited for the demands of professional touring and installation applications, and the diversity bodypack receiver delivers pristine RF signal and audio quality.

Cam Elias, Delta Goodrem's monitor engineer, is delighted with the performance of the Shure PSM 1000 systems on her recent Australian shows.

"The Delta Goodrem live shows require high end production with quality results," he remarked. "In regards to the sound, it is essential that the nine-piece band is on in-ears, and the

Norway - The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra has spent the past 14 years wishing for a new home that it could truly call its own. In September it finally became a reality with the opening of the NOK1.225bn (€165.2m), Stavanger Concert Hall. This world class venue actually features two halls, with DiGiCo mixing consoles chosen for mixing the amplified sound in both.

Designed by Oslo architects Ratio Arkitekter, the 13,800m2 venue has been designed to host all types of cultural events. Each of the two halls - one for orchestral music, the other multi-purpose - has its own independent soundproofing and load bearing systems. The soundproofing is so efficient that a rock concert can take place in one at the same time as a classical event in the other, with no disturbance to the classical audience or musicians. The halls share a foyer and restaurant, complemented by 180 other rooms whic

UAE - UK loudspeaker manufacturer Tannoy has thrown its weight behind the Joining Jack charity campaign by sponsoring the charity's team taking part in Emirates Dubai Rugby Seven Championship in late November 2012.

The charity, which funds research into muscle wasting disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), was set up by ex-Wigan Rugby player Andy Johnson and his wife Alex after their four-year-old son Jack was diagnosed with the rare disease. With no current cure or treatment available, Joining Jack's mission is to raise money to fund trials and research to find an effective set of treatments or cure for DMD.

So far, the campaign has attracted a large number of high profile supporters, including Tour de France and Olympic Gold medal winner Bradley Wiggins, as well as the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Ant & Dec, Andi Peters, the cast of Emmerdale, Niall from One Direction and Rol

China - Parent company Music Group has announced the appointment of Guangzhou Ruifeng Audio Technology Corporation Ltd. as its fulfillment partner for Behringer products in China.

Effective 1 January 2013, Ruifeng Audio will assume responsibility for the wholesale distribution of Behringer products across all areas of the People's Republic of China through a network of authorized dealers. Ruifeng will also assume responsibility for customer service and support through their sophisticated technical sales and support infrastructure.

Ruifeng Audio was founded in 1993 and is headed by CEO Andy Wang, who has presided over the company's meteoric rise. With 600 employees and six wholly-owned subsidiaries spanning research, production, distribution, technical and design support, the company has become one of China's leading professional audio enterprises. Distribution is managed throu

USA - Music Group has announced that effective immediately Starin Distribution has been appointed to distribute Turbosound products in the United States.

Headquartered in Chesterton, Indiana, Starin services the needs of professional audio resellers and systems integrators in North America from its 10 staffed offices and through associated rep firm alliances across the country.

Jay Easley, AVP customer support for Music Group's Professional Division states, "We are very excited to have Starin handle Turbosound products in our market. Starin's thoroughly professional organization and ability to meet customer demands quickly and efficiently will be a huge boost to Turbosound's market presence."

"Our aim is for customers in the US to perceive Turbosound not as an import but as virtually a home-grown brand," comments Turbosound's marketing director Martin Rei

South Africa - Traction Sound has announced iLED as its new distributor for South Africa. iLED first met Traction Sound during September's PLASA trade show in London, where Traction was co-presenting one of the show's seminars. After initial meetings, the team from iLED took the train to Traction Sound's seaside home in Brighton to have a listen to the products.

"It didn't take iLED's Justin Mamulis long to understand the benefits of Traction Sound's SDS Horn," says the company. "When listening to the loudspeakers he was soon searching through his music collection to see how good his favourite tracks could sound.

This is a similar reaction Traction received when initially demoing at the English branch of the prestigious Roedean School. The school theatre now has a full installation of Traction Sound loudspeakers."

Traction Sound's Billy Wood explains: &qu

UK - FBT Audio UK Ltd, the UK distribution subsidiary of the Italian pro audio manufacturer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Podmore as area sales consultant for the North of England and Scotland. In his new role, Podmore is responsible for all sales activities to MI, DJ and pro audio installation dealers and contractors within the area.

Commenting on Podmore's appointment, Mark Parkhouse, MD of FBT Audio UK Ltd, said: "Having set up the company a little under a year ago, we have been delighted with how quickly the UK dealers have taken to the brand and its products. As we move into the second stage of our plan, we knew we would need to expand and I am delighted to have someone of Andrew Podmore's experience join the team and very much look forward to our continued growth."

Podmore joins FBT Audio UK Ltd with over 20 years' experience of working with

The Netherlands - After putting DPA Microphone's new hand-held d:facto Vocal Microphone through its paces on her recent tour, Dutch singer and vocal coach Margot Giselle says she is delighted with the natural sound it gave to her voice.

"For the first time ever I was able to hear my voice as it really sounds because the microphone only amplified the sound - it didn't change my voice in any way," Margot Giselle says. "It was bright, clear and warm - and by allowing me to create all the vocal colours I wanted, the DPA d:facto microphone made singing really easy."

During her recent tour of the Netherlands, Margot Giselle worked with sound engineer Roel van Zeelst, from Dutch rental company IDAK, which has a large stock of DPA microphones. In conjunction with DPA's Dutch distributor Amptec, van Zeelst arranged for Giselle to test the new DPA d:facto Vocal Micro

Taiwan - Originally used as a town hall, Zhongshan Hall in Taipei City, Taiwan has continued to host a series of important functions since it was built in 1928. From serving as a venue to presidents such as Richard Nixon of the United States, and Syngman Rhee of South Korea, to the signing of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and other governmental ceremonies, Zhongshan Hall has earned its designation as a Class Two National Historical Site. Today, the hall is used as a traditional art and culture centre.

First renovated in 2001, the main hall, Zhongzheng Auditorium, seats over 1,000 people and these days it serves mostly as a venue for cultural performances. In 2012, the building decided to upgrade its sound system, using d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers. With help from system integrator WeiShin Co., Ltd, co-designers Alex Poon (d&b China) and audio consultant Mr. Liu of Top

USA - Acoustic Technology Group has announced a strategic alliance with Knitting Factory Entertainment to upgrade all existing sound systems in their venues as well as installation in future Knitting Factory venues worldwide. The alliance was forged after extensive listening tests at a recent ATG demonstration of their LS1000 system in Los Angeles.

The alliance will provide continuity of equipment and sound quality throughout the chain. The first venue to upgrade to an LS1000 system is in Boise, Idaho followed by The Federal in Los Angeles. These venues will be replacing EAW and Meyer systems respectively.

"The alliance with The Knitting Factory venues is much appreciated recognition of the superiority of our LS1000 system and the technology we have developed over that of the competition." said Wilfred Norton from ATG.

(Jim Evans)

Nepal - Investment in Alcons Audio systems is being made by cinema owners in an ever-increasing number of countries across the globe. The company has recently broken yet more new territory with the installation of systems in Nepal.

Located in the Sundhara district of the capital Kathmandu is QFX Civil Mall, the country's largest shopping area, covering a total of 25,000sq.ft.This houses a new three-screen multiplex cinema, the QFX Cinemas, which are capable of seating up to 939 viewers at any one time. This is Nepal's first truly world-class Cineplex and is one of a trio of cinemas owned by QFX in the city.

QFX is the brand name of Quest Entertainment (QE), which was launched in Nepal a decade ago with the QFX Jai Nepal Cinema. The company is also involved in film distribution and production and as such has a thorough understanding of how important high quality sound is to mod

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