UK - London-based audio and lighting equipment supply and rental business Podd Sound has had a busy 12 months supplying sound reinforcement equipment for PAs, live webcasts, launch parties and live performances by some of the hottest names in the music business, including Daft Punk, Little Mix and Olly Murs.

For many of these events, held in smaller, intimate stages or meeting rooms on record company premises rather than traditional concert venues, Podd Sound's owner Mat Podd is increasingly turning to a QSC WideLine-8 line array, supplied by exclusive UK QSC distributor Shure Distribution UK.

For the recent events by Little Mix and Olly Murs, Podd deployed eight WL3082 elements and six WL212-sw subs, arranged in two arrays of four tops and three subs per stereo channel, and driven by six QSC PowerLight 380 amps, with DSP system management by twin SC28 processors.

An additio

Dawn Raid - Tickets for Kate Bush's first live shows in 35 years sold out in less than 15 minutes. The singer said she was "completely overwhelmed by the response". "Thank you so much to everyone," she added. The Before the Dawn concerts, which take place this August and September, mark the singer's first return to the stage since The Tour Of Life in 1979. Demand was so high that the singer's own website, as well as some ticket-selling sites, crashed as people tried to log on.

Late News - A new Michael Jackson album, featuring eight new tracks from the late artist's archive, will be released on 13 May. Titled Xscape, the track listing was chosen by Epic Records chairman LA Reid, who trawled through four decades of Jackson's demos and off-cuts. The tracks were then updated by the likes of Timbaland, who works with Justin Timberlake,

UK - Shure Distribution UK (SDUK), the distributor for leading pro audio brands including Shure, QSC, DIS, Sound Devices, and Radial Engineering, has announced the end of its UK distribution agreement with US company Movek, manufacturer of the myMix network-based personal monitoring and recording system.

The company's internal reorganization last year prompted a review of distributed brands to ensure consistent focus and a cohesive product offering. Both SDUK and myMix recognised that the niche myMix product portfolio, which is a near complete solution to many audio applications, was now a difficult fit and would be better served by a new distributor. Effective 1 May, SDUK will be passing all responsibility for myMix sales and support to UK-based distributors Synthax Audio UK.

"As we moved to a selective distribution strategy and restructured our organisation to support s

UK - The Inception Group's evergreen homage to the late Margaret Thatcher has undergone a major lighting upgrade at the hands of Sound Division.

Opened by the fast growing company's Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling in April 2010, Maggie's in Chelsea is a 1980s-inspired boutique club named after the former British Prime Minister.

It had been trading largely without dynamic lighting until the operators contacted David Graham's London-based installation company, based on their sensitive lighting implementation at another heavily themed Inception venue, DISCO in Soho.

While the focal point at Maggie's is again the dance floor - now brought to life by a laser, strobe, scatter beams and four hemispheres - the more subtle work has been applied to bringing 80s icons such as Wham, Mr T, Super Mario, Sonic The Hedgehog etc to life with a series of cleverly detailed fixtures and driv

China - A Q-Sys Core 250i Integrated Core was recently chosen as the backbone to manage the audio systems in the Grand Ballroom at the prestigious Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong.

A flagship of the Hyatt International Hotel Group in Asia, the luxurious Grand Hyatt Hong Kong occupies a convenient location near the territory's waterfront, directly behind the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. As a result, the Grand Ballroom, 680sq.m in size, is often used for convention centre events during trade fairs and exhibitions.

"The entire audio system is managed and configured via a PC in the control room loaded with the Q-Sys Designer software," explains Tommy Ho, senior sales manager at Audio System Consultants (Asia) Ltd (ASCL), the QSC distributor in Hong Kong. "In addition to providing delay and dynamics processing, and controlling meters, crossovers, filters

USA - Boulevard Pro, a leading NYC metro area audio systems and backline provider, has been assuring clients of great sound since 1986, when owners Anthony and James Cioffi came off the road as musicians, backing up artists like Gary U.S. Bonds and Mink Deville.

It's where they learned the value of having the right technology products for the markets they were working in, from renting out classic Fender Twin amps that clients of their rehearsal studio business in the 1980s knew to come to them for, to more recently having the in-demand products and systems that their live event and touring customers require. Boulevard Pro's latest addition to that latter category has been the recent addition of a full L-Acoustics Kara package.

According to Anthony Cioffi, 80 percent of what goes out their door for rentals are sound system components from L-Acoustics, whose products have litera

USA - Cadac Holdings has announced the appointment of US industry veteran Paul Morini, as general manager Cadac USA.

Morini joins Cadac from Music Group, where he was customer service manager for Midas and Klark Teknik for the US and Canada. He will help establish the company's office and sales representative network for the US and Canada, mirroring the recently announced initiative in the UK and Eire.

Based in New York, 'close' to Cadac's traditional Broadway customer base, Morini will be heading up the company's presence at the Live Design Broadway Sound Master Classes (4 - 6 June), in association with Cadac's US theatre sound consultant Tom Bensen of RF Pro.

Commenting on his move to Cadac, Morini says, "I am a 30 plus year dedicated industry professional who's worked in all facets of professional sound: retail, live engineering, production, sound design and installa

Singapore - Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd (E&E) has been appointed as the new Singaporean and Malaysian distributor for Allen & Heath, effective 1 April 2014.

Bardy Hayes, president of Global Market Management, Inc., regional sales managing company for Allen & Heath in Asia Pacific, said, "E&E is a company with a rich history and a promising future. It is an honour to do business with a company with this level of professionalism and deep technical expertise. We look forward to a long and mutually successful relationship."

Gary Goh, Deputy managing director, Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd, commented, "We are honoured to be representing the Allen & Heath brand for the Singapore and Malaysia markets. It is indeed a joy to be working with such a reputable company that shares the same level of passion for audio excellence."

(Jim Evans)

UK - As Meyer Sound's official partner for the north of England, the centrepiece of Pro Audio Systems' stand at PLASA Focus Leeds (29-30 April 2014) will be the manufacturer's latest loudspeaker technology, the new MJF-210 stage monitor. This will be the first public showing of the new unit anywhere in the UK.

PAS's rental division were the first in the UK to add MJF-210s to their inventory, and the new modules have already completed their first hire jobs to great acclaim. Road-ready stock is available for demonstration purposes whether prospective clients are looking to rent or purchase.

Pro Audio Systems' presence at the show has also been completely revamped for 2014, focusing on the company's status as representatives for the leading brands in professional audio. Much more than just a sales outlet, visitors will be able to meet the PAS team and explore the other elements t

New Zealand - Four Allen & Heath Qu-16 digital rackmount mixers were used for the recent New Zealand Folk Festival in Auckland. Running for 40 years, the event annually attracts a line-up of international touring artists.

"There are certain considerations when mixing folk bands; firstly there are many unusual instruments - including bouzoukis, dulcimers, seven string acoustic guitars, harps, and accordions with built in mics, musicians unexpectedly come back on stage to perform with other bands, the crowd like a mix where you can hear a pin drop but at a "festival" level, and vocals must always be on top of the mix," explains engineer, Davyd Hodge. "That's why I need a dedicated surface area to manage this event."

Previously, Hodge has used a 40-channel analogue GL2800 from Allen & Heath but opted to use the company's new Qu-16 digital mixers arra

UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd will be showcasing a wide range of new products at the PLASA Focus show in April (Stand N-C07). In addition to the usual stand in the New Dock Hall, the company will have a live demo room in the Holiday Inn Hotel next door. Demos will be running all day and will give visitors an opportunity to listen to the successful Blakite range of speakers and to see a selection of LED lighting products.

The Blakite speakers were designed by MilTec and are built in the UK. Most are loaded with British drivers. New additions to the range are a compact stage wedge, loaded with a 12" neodymium driver and concentric HF horn, together with a 6" trapezoidal speaker for installations and small conference work.

The success of the speakers has inspired the company to expand the UK manufacturing base to include amplifiers and LED Lighting products.

The new amplifiers

UK - RCF will introduce a number of new products to the UK market for the first time at this year's PLASA Focus in Leeds (29-30 April 29-30, #N-D20).

For pro audio professionals unable to make it over to Frankfurt for last month's Prolight+Sound showcase this will provide the perfect opportunity to assess RCF's new suite, which provides a number of different, mission critical solutions.

Following the success of the HDL20-A active line array, much attention will be focused on the compact HDL10-A - ideal in both live sound reinforcement and reliable installed situations. With purpose-designed transducers, the system is powered from a 1400W (peak power) two-way digital amplifier, while the sound is processed from a powerful DSP. Rental companies will also be impressed by the system's fast and easy set up.

Another legacy product following the rich heritage of the ART 7 series is

Italy - Keeping the 36,000 inhabitants of Italy's Casalecchio di Reno healthy is the prime objective of the town's fitness centre, Lodi Club. And with the benefit of a new Yamaha MTX3 matrix processor with custom control, the club's audio system is as fit as its instructors.

The system is designed to play background music and broadcast announcements. Installed several years ago by Bologna-based Rokepo, it was due for an upgrade earlier this year as part of a wider club overhaul. Rokepo's Roberto Valentino knew that the MTX3 would be ideal for audio routing and system management.

"When the MTX series was launched, I immediately liked the versatility and great potential of this product, in addition to the excellent audio quality we are used to from Yamaha digital mixers," he says.

"The only potential problem was that I felt the user interface would be a bit too

UK - UK - The only British surviving Second World War-era submarine, HMS Alliance, stands proudly in Gosport, just across the water from Portsmouth.

It has undergone a major £7m restoration project to bring it to life as a visitor attraction, allowing people young and old to go on board and experience what it would have been like on the vessel throughout historic wars.

The audio system was devised by sound designer Sarah Angliss, who also programmed the submarine's novel, generative audio system using MaxMSP. DJW was briefed to install the AV hardware and design, programme and install elements of the audio soundscaping throughout the 218ft submarine. The solution needed to help bring the submarine 'back to life', submersing visitors in the feel of a working vessel.

While throughout its award-winning, 28-year history DJW has worked within some unusual environments (cast

UK - Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Dr. Enrique Perez Gonzalez as chief technology officer for Solid State Logic's Board of Directors. Dr. Perez has been promoted from his current role as head of R&D and became a board member effective 1April.

"Enrique is one of those rare individuals who has deep technical ability, first-hand experience of our markets and the skills to manage product research and development effectively," states SSL's CEO Antony David. "Even more importantly, he has the vision to build upon our technical heritage and the resources to take us forward."

Dr. Perez joined SSL in 2011, spearheading the development of the Tempest processing platform and SSL's new Live console. An electronics and communications graduate from ITSEM, Mexico, which included a year at Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, he is an a

UK - Roland Systems Group (R-B12) will be bringing professional audio and video together at PLASA Focus (Leeds, 29-30 April 2014), providing total solutions for live performance as well as professional audio and video production. With a focus on newly launched products for live mixing, switching, recording and web streaming, Roland will exhibit the VR-3EX AV Mixer, the M-480 and M-200i Digital Mixing Consoles, the VR-50HD High Definition AV Mixer, V-800HD Live Video Switcher and S-2416 Digital Snake at the show.

Now available with a five-year warranty, the Roland M-480 48 Channel Digital Console offers an enhanced level of flexible audio processing with superb sound quality, powerful functions, expandability options and intuitive operation. With 48 mixing channels plus 6 stereo returns for a total of 60 channels, six built-in stereo (dual-mono) multi-effects and twelve graphic E

UK - Country and leisure park operators, Park Leisure, recently undertook a £2m upgrade to its Amble Links 'owners-only' holiday park on the Northumberland coast - part of the Granary Leisure Complex.

Preferred AV integrators, Promotiontime NE, carried out the technology design and fit-out of its main entertainment area, The Links Owners Only Bar & Entertainment Lounge, as well as the refurbished Old Storehouse restaurant/bar, turning exclusively to a Martin Audio AQ solution for all its requirements.

Brian Graham, who took over Promotiontime NE 10 years ago, has been a frequent user of Martin Audio systems over the years, and in particular the Blackline series - but the compact AQ architectural range has opened up a number of new opportunities for him.

"Martin Audio is generally our 'go to' brand for most requirements above a basic bar, and I would probably have

UK - Scrub, a division of HHB Communications Ltd. specialising in serving the post production industry, has supplied a full Dante networking solution to Clearcut Sound Studios' audio post production facilities.

The recent upgrade to Clearcut Sound Studios includes the installation of a Dante audio networking system, providing real-time audio routing between four mix rooms and studio computers. Dante, an IP based audio transmission format, is capable of supporting 100s of digital audio channels at resolutions up to 24-bit uncompressed, and sample rates up to 96kHz.

Scrub also supplied Clearcut with HP Z820 studio computers configured with Yamaha AIC128-D Dante Accelerator PCI Express audio interface cards, and Yamaha MY-16-AUD Dante expansion cards which are fitted to their DM2000 mixing consoles. All of the Dante interfaces are connected to a Gigabit Ethernet switch with stand

UK - Following on from a successful KV2 supplement to their hire inventory for last year's 42nd Street tour, Blitz Communications have further invested in the brand for the current Fiddler on the Roof tour featuring Paul Michael Glazer.

Chris Jordan at Blitz communications had utilised many brands over the years, but feeling audio quality had generally declined in favour of convenience, he was looking to buck the trend and move forwards with something that offered a more musical solution, but presented in a modern way. Along with Ross Portway, who had worked on the successful 42nd Street design, they arranged for Richard Brooker, the Sound designer for Fiddler on the Roof, to be introduced to the KV2 Audio brand.

"I was asked to have a listen to KV2 Audio by a colleague and went along to a very impressive demonstration," says Brooker. "I fou

USA - From hosting NHL and NBA All-Star Games to serving as the home arena for all Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche home games, Colorado's Pepsi Centre also welcomes a wide variety of concerts, extreme sports events, and conventions every year, including the Democratic National Convention in 2008. With this many high-profile events, the Pepsi Centre requires in-house audio equipment that can produce quality sound and withstand a variety of use-cases in a crowded RF downtown Denver environment.

Responsible for the facility's recent audio upgrade and installation was LVW Electronics, a Colorado-based company specializing in providing professional and commercial audio solutions. LVW and its lead engineers chose to install Shure Axient Wireless Management Network when owners of the Pepsi Centre contracted the company. The team selected Axient for two reasons: Shure's reputation

UK - Audio-Technica has confirmed its appointment as UK distributor for acoustic treatment manufacturer Vicoustic. With immediate effect, the company will assume responsibility for sales and marketing of the Portugese brand's acoustic solutions throughout the UK.

Based in Paços de Ferreira near Porto, Vicoustic is respected for its wide range of absorption, diffusion and basstrap acoustic treatments which cater to the music and broadcast, hi-fi and home cinema and building and construction markets. The research-lead manufacturer has strategic partnerships with universities and scientific institutes and works with some of Europe's leading acoustic engineers in the creation of its award-winning product line.

Commenting on the new agreement, Audio-Technica marketing director Robert Morgan-Males said, "We are delighted to be taking on distribution for Vicoustic in the UK - i

UK - In early March audio rental company Capital Sound made its way to London's Bloomsbury Ballroom to provide the sound for an exclusive gig with Kylie Minogue, part of MasterCard's Priceless London, a series of exclusive offers for MasterCard holders to enjoy unique experiences.

Kylie's 45-minute set included songs from her new album Kiss Me Once, as well as some of her best-loved hits and featured a full band and four dancers.

Capital supplied Martin Audio's new MLA Mini system, which comprised main-hangs of eight MLA Mini, with side-hangs of four MLA Mini.

"This was only the second outing for us with the new system," says Capital's general manager Paul Timmins. "It was the perfect tool for the job, as the room had low clearance and lightweight ground support. Weight loading was very limited, but the system weighed in at just under 200kg per side.&qu

UAE - Nicolaos M Kyvernitis Electronics Ent, the designated Shure Axient distributor in the Middle East, has recently supplied Axient wireless system to Sharjah TV, mainstream media in Sharjah, UAE.

The system purchased by Sharjah TV consists of six channels of AXT400 receiver units, six AXT100 Axient Bodypack Transmitters and four AXT200 Axient Handheld Frequency Diversity Transmitters with KSM9 capsule. The complete system, including Spectrum Manager, Show link Access point, Rechargeable solution, Antenna distribution and a road-ready wireless Ethernet switch, offers the complete Axient features.

Since its establishment in 1989, by Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Sharjah TV has been deeply concerned with the Arabic language and national identity. It highlights both environment and community issues, and follows up the country's activities, giving special attention to

Canada - Heard by thousands of people through live audiences, simulcasts, webcasts and recordings, and millions more through online video engines, the annual TED Conference in Vancouver requires gear that matches its prestige. With discussions that address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, microphones are vital to all TED audiences. To provide the ultimate in sound quality for presenters and performers at TED2014, technical team from McCune Audio/Video, the symposium's sound services company, relies on DPA Microphones' classic 4088 Directional Headset Microphones and d:screet 4060 Omnidirectional Microphone.

TED2014 marks the second time that DPA Microphones is part of the audio setup for the conference. The McCune Audio team used the same selection of mics at last year's event because of the high-quality audio of both mics and comfo

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