UK - Sennheiser's 2015 charity golf day, held at the beginning of July each year to raise money for the Caron Keating Foundation, was another resounding success after customers, suppliers and friends took to the green at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club in Berkshire.

Eighty golfers teed up for a bit of friendly competition to raise money for the foundation, which provides a range of support services for cancer patients and their families, and over 90 arrived for dinner, a charity auction, and entertainment hosted by Russ Williams.

The day involved a range of events that included a long putt challenge, a game of heads and tails and the infamous raffle, giving participants plenty of opportunity to showcase their skill, or luck, while raising money for a superb and worthwhile charity.

Three customers - Autograph, Rocom and European Wealth, Sennheiser's benefits providers, sponsored hol

Italy - During one of his recent pastoral visits nearer to "home", globetrotting Pope Francis celebrated mass before a congregation of approximately 60,000 in Naples' Piazza del Plebiscito. The event was also followed by crowds on nine mega-screens installed in other parts of the city.

Sound reinforcement for the event (featuring a 200-strong choir and a 35-member orchestra), was provided by Dee Jay Service and featured an all-Outline set-up.

The system comprised 40 Butterfly modules (a main system with eight-module left and right main hangs and a pair of delay towers, each with twelve enclosures). A pair of DBS18-2 subwoofers were installed under each of the four arrays and four Doppia systems were used on front-fill and out-fill chores. The monitor set-up featured two DVS 8, positioned alongside the Pope's chair, and a H.A.R.D. 115 for side-fill purposes at each co

UK - Opened by filmmaker Danny Boyle at the end of May, Manchester's new £25m arts complex, HOME, is the largest of its kind outside London. Billed as the cultural jewel in the crown of the 'Northern Powerhouse', HOME is a merger of Manchester's much-loved Cornerhouse cinemas and art gallery and the Library theatre.

The building houses two performance venues - a 500-seat theatre and a 150-seat flexible studio space - as well as five cinema screens, gallery space for contemporary art exhibitions, a café bar and a restaurant. Leading technical systems integrators, Stage Electrics, were responsible for supplying full stage engineering, stage lighting and audio systems for the main theatre including a complete theatre sound system from British manufacturer, EM Acoustics.

For HOME's Sound supervisor, Paul Gregory, the choice of EM Acoustics for the main theatre was vir

China Crisis - The cancellation of two Maroon 5 concerts in China has been linked to a band member tweeting the Dalai Lama to wish him happy birthday. The US group were due to play Shanghai and Beijing in September, but the shows were pulled last week. Promoters Live Nation did not specify a reason for the cancellations. However, a tweet by keyboard player Jesse Carmichael, which has since been deleted, has been blamed for angering Chinese authorities.

Several artists have fallen foul of authorities in Beijing for publicly supporting the Tibetan religious leader who has been exiled since 1959 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Icelandic singer Bjork was criticised after calling for Tibet's independence during a 2008 show in Shanghai while Oasis were reportedly forced to cancel shows in China after Noel Gallagher performed at a Free Tibet concert in New York. In 2011, ro

Spain - Amate Audio hosted its international distributor convention last month, over three days and across a number of spectacular locations in the Catalan countryside around its Terrassa HQ, outside of Barcelona. This was the company's first official event as Amate Audio, following the rebranding of its trading marque from Master Audio at the end of last year.

Around 20 representatives from 13 international distributors, from as far afield as China, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Turkey, France, Denmark and Nigeria, attended the summit, which, over the first two days, was held primarily in the idyllic surroundings of the Hotel & Conference Centre in the grounds of the ancient monastery of Món Sant Benet.

Following the welcoming of the guests by founder and CEO Juan Amate, day one saw corporate presentations by vice president and

Germany - This was the fifth time PUR, Germany's biggest band, has performed at 55,000 seat Veltins Arena, each time in-the-round, and each time with a different PA system. "This is a highly reverberant space," explains system technician Frank Müller, "and we have tried many different PA systems and configurations. This time, with the d&b V-Series, and using the new ArrayProcessing feature in ArrayCalc, we achieved absolutely the best result ever."

"To work a room this size with throw distances up to 105m without a delay system, and to do it well, you need to address the typical shortcomings of any line array system, whatever the brand," says d&b Product Manager, Werner 'Vier' Bayer. "For example the low/mids tend to be concentrated in the first twenty metres and muddy the overall tonal balance. Similarly, the spectral balance and intelligibil

The Netherlands - Monitoring specialist Bel Digital will launching "the world's first Dante audio monitor" at IBC 2015, the BM-A1-64Dante, which provides audible monitoring as well as visual signal strength indication.

Designed to provide a simple and effective way of monitoring the audio present in Dante networks, the BM-A1-64Dante provides a visual indication of signal strength on all 64 selected Dante channels. Each individual channel can also be audibly monitored, or the operator can combine up to 16 channels to provide a unique stereo monitor mix.

An on-board matrix enables access to 512 audio sources using Dante Controller software, with the audio present at the front panel mounted speakers also available via balanced analogue (2 x XLR) and AES/EBU (1 x XLR) outputs.

Housed in a rugged, compact 1U rack chassis, the BM-A1-64Dante features a redundant power sup

UK - The Luna Cinema, the UK's leading producer of open-air cinema events, has purchased two complete systems of Nexo's new Geo M6 compact line array from Orbital Sound.

The Luna Cinema's popular screenings are all about classic film entertainment, delivered with state-of-the-art projector and screen technology in the UK's most beautiful and prestigious settings, the grounds of castles and stately homes, city parks and botanical gardens.

This summer, The Luna Cinema has taken delivery of two 24-cabinet Nexo Geo M6 line array systems to provide high-fidelity audio to complement the investment in video technology. Company director and production manager Jamie Plummer explains why the Geo M6 is proving to be a winner, both logistically and musically.

"The M6 cabinets, packaged neatly six to a flight case, work superbly in many different configurations. This is perfect for

USA - Harvey Mudd College, a Claremont, California-based private college, is leveraging a Dante network from Audinate to power a multipoint AV conferencing network in the new R. Michael Shanahan Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Among the many technologically advanced features in the new educational centre, the conferencing network gives facility guest lecturers the opportunity to reach larger audiences across multiple networked rooms. By installing a multichannel audio Dante network, Harvey Mudd College has established a simple yet sophisticated foundation for future expansion while reducing ongoing costs and labour - all equating to exceptionally low total cost of ownership.

Harvey Mudd College refers to the new conferencing system as a "simulcasting network", offering two-way audio and video communication between the 300-seat auditorium, a recital hall and five cl

USA - Bounding off the success of its midtown location, upscale gastro-pub and sports bar Stout opened a second location in Manhattan's financial district. Dubbed Stout FiDi, the new establishment operates out of a 6000sq.ft space and incorporates many of the distinctive design elements of the original Stout, including a 50ft red cement bar, cobblestone floors, stone walls, and custom iron work. All of the furniture is either imported from Ireland or custom made by New York craftsmen.

Local AV integration firm Starview Satellite designed and installed a superior fidelity background and foreground audio system to complement the décor and based it around the unparalleled flexibility of a Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 DSP with ARC-WEB browser-based control interface.

Inputs to the system include a DJ port, iPod output and several video sources, including DirecTV and cable, w

UK - Audient's iD22 made its debut theatre performance, with two-time NSDF Emerging Artist Award winning theatre company at the New Diorama Theatre in London, last month. Sharing the limelight with three performers, including actress and producer Rianna Dearden, the audio interface was used to control the sound on stage for their new play, Goodstock.

Rianna explains how the iD22 worked for the show. "We've been using it along with a Novation Launchkey Mini and Ableton Live to play and control all of the recorded and live sound throughout the show. This ranges from pre-recorded tunes to various DJ beats and loops, triggered with the Launchkey, but controlled by the iD22. There are moments in Goodstock where the levels of the music need to be adapted second by second depending on the action happening on stage, meaning it can be controlled safely and easily by the people right

USA - The 2015 Tony Award winners for Best Musical and Best Play, Fun Home and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, both rely on Meyer Sound systems to carry their stories to audiences. The aural experience for these acclaimed shows is the work of sound designers Kai Harada and Ian Dickinson, with each of the shows winning five Tony Awards.

"I think the role of sound and music is integral to The Curious Incident," says Dickinson, the show's sound designer and an associate of London-based Autograph Sound. "Take them away and it becomes a different and maybe less magical world. One of the production managers once said to me that the play's aural world was like glue binding everything together. I think that is the highest compliment one could pay. I'm absolutely overjoyed for all concerned."

Dickinson's design for The Curious Inci

UK - A.C. Audio, a division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd, has been appointed as an authorised dealer for the Midas Digital range of audio mixing consoles, with immediate effect.

Midas has been designing and manufacturing live performance mixing consoles for the world's most demanding live sound engineers, performers and production rental companies since the early 1970s.

The consoles are renowned for their exemplary sound quality, leading to their adoption by international clients for high-profile concert, theatre and studio venue installations, as well as touring, events, and other applications.

A.C. Audio, who are already an established reseller for the manufacturer's analogue consoles line-up, now have direct access to the extensive choice of Midas digital mixers, ranging from the PRO1 console up to the PRO X desk, plus related stage boxes and accessories

UK - PLASA London has announced a number of exclusive and exciting additions to its 2015 seminar sessions, including two new audio panel sessions chaired by industry journalist Phil Ward, three sessions from audio production power house Britannia Row, a further session from the Institute of Professional Sound (IPS), three demo sessions from Adobe and a keynote presentation from Pixar Animation Studios.

PLASA London is delighted to have secured some of the most informative and interesting speakers it has ever had for this year's show. Particular highlights include Britannia Row's sessions, which take a close look at education and industry in this fast maturing sector and the keynote presentation from Pixar Director of Photography Danielle Feinberg and Adobe's Niels Stevens showing off the very latest developments in their Creative Cloud content creation tools and services.

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Germany - The courtyard of the castle St. Emmeran in Regensburg, Germany, has provided the location for the Thurn-and-Taxis festival (Schlossfestspiele) since 2002. The highlights on stage are mirrored by the FoH audio mix: Tonmeister Carsten Kümmel created a concert hall ambience for the performance of Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème, even though it took place in the open air. Key to achieving this was the use of a Lawo mc²56 mixing console.

The natural listening experience of a concert hall was created by using monitor speakers situated below the venue's tribune. These were used to direct effects channels with a high amount of early reflections towards the castle walls, which diffusely reflected them towards the audience. The orchestra itself was not on, or even close to, the stage, but in a ballroom in the castle, where regular microphone techniques were used to pick up

Germany / Turkey - Ankara-based distributor, Atempo, has been appointed by Pan Acoustics as the Turkisch distributor for the Pan Beam, Pan Speaker and Pan Powerline series.

Mr. Volkan Konuralp, MD of Atempo explained their choice of Pan Beam, "With steerable columns being established in the market place over the last 10 years, many companies have engineered their own solutions as part of an existing range of products in an attempt to tap into the growing market. We have looked at the various solutions appearing in the market and all had their strengths and weaknesses. We were looking for a company that specialized in steerable products, that had leading technology and the feature set that the market needed.

"We ultimately wanted outstanding performance combined with simple, intuitive system set-up, so that the installer doesn't need to be a programming expert to get

The Netherlands - Dutch group De Toppers used DPA's d:facto Vocal Microphones for a series of five live shows at the Amsterdam Arena, each of which attracted audiences of around 69,000 people.

The decision to switch DPA was taken by audio consultant John Kriek and sound designer Jeroen ten Brinke, a partner at Audio Design International that provided sound services for the shows.

"I had used DPA microphones in the past and was always impressed by the audio quality they delivered," says Jeroen ten Brinke. "At the end of last year I worked on an All Star show in Amsterdam and that was when I tried DPA d:facto Vocal Microphones for the first time. Even though the mics had a lot of different artists and vocal styles to contend with, they delivered really impressive results in terms of dynamic range, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how good they sounded. This

APAC - Clear-Com has appointed Hans Chia to the role of regional sales manager responsible for Southeast Asia. Hans' responsibilities will include expanding Clear-Com's market reach in the APAC region by managing and developing local channel partners and championing the company's broad range of industry-leading intercom and connectivity solutions.

With over 11 years of pro audio industry experience, Chia joins Clear-Com Systems from Sennheiser Audio where he held the role of integrated systems product specialist, developing, establishing and maintaining contacts with new and existing clients in Southeast Asia. Prior to this he worked at Riedel Communications Singapore office.

Chia commented, "My real-world experience of working on large-scale deployments throughout the region will help me build on Clear-Com's already strong foundation in Southeast Asian markets. I am exci

Ireland - Set up 30 years ago, and today providing a vast range of technical services, including sound reinforcement, radio comms, full AV, CCTV and access control, Kildare-based Mongey Communications needs to maintain its inventory at the cutting edge in order to provide top drawer reinforcement and network control for some of the biggest events in Ireland.

This led to them purchasing a substantial JBL VerTec VT4886 Subcompact system and Crown VRack amps. According to director David Mongey, who runs the family owned business with brother Cyril, the acquisition marks a return to the brand that his company first invested in around two decades ago.

"We cover a wide range of events, from European summits to major sporting events, and provide services from access control to broadband; our policy is to buy only the best," he stated. "Our existing front-line PA system

Italy / Iran - Tehran-based Shidco has been appointed by Italian control and amplification specialists Powersoft to handle their distribution in Iran. Set up in 1960 the country traded in electronic music equipment before advancing into leading professional audio equipment as well as instruments. In 2003 they adopted Shidco as a trading company and expanding into lighting.

By the time they were introduced to Powersoft (by long-term supplier FBT), they already had a number of the world's prominent sound and lighting brands in their brand portfolio, according to sales director and technical manager, Amir Fani Saberi.

"As one of the best-known companies in the market, we were already familiar with both Powersoft and its technology, from working with their customers. As a powerful trading company, we required a leading brand amplifier to cover the full range of professional a

UK / Turkey - Allen & Heath has appointed Info Muzik Elektronik (Infogroup) as its exclusive distributor in Turkey. With more than 20 years' experience, Infogroup is one of the leading sound and lighting companies in the country, representing other well-known names within the audio industry that will complement the Allen & Heath brand.

"Allen & Heath is one of the best brands in the world and we are very excited to be able to add the name to our portfolio. Allen & Heath's superior and diverse range of products, and our focus on quality customer service, will give us a huge advantage in advancing the brand in Turkey. We are certain our collaboration will see many successful sales and installations," comments Emre Abdurrahman Maras, managing director at Infogroup.

"Allen & Heath is delighted to appoint Info Muzik Elektronik as its exclusive distributor in Turkey.

Italy - Every year on 24 June, Turin is crowded with thousands of people - not only from Turin but from other cities such as Florence and Genoa, where it is an annual public holiday. Its purpose is to honour the Feast of St. John (La Festa di San Giovanni).

Shows, games, concerts, sport events and wonderful exhibitions take place, with people dressed in traditional costumes and spectacular fireworks over the River Po - this year watched by up to 200,000 in the city's biggest square, Vittorio Veneto Square.

This is where Martin Audio's technology partner, Corsinotti Sas, had fielded its new MLA Compact system, which was being deployed for the first time. The company has handled this event since 1986, using a Martin Audio W8LC Martin Audio compact line array since 2004. However, Rinaldo Corsinotti, the eponymous rental company owner, said that this year they had made an importan

UK - At the start of 2015, Current RMS became an Add-On Partner for cloud accounting software Xero. Now the system has just released a seamless, real-time integration with QB Online, another popular cloud accounting software in the AV, Production and Events industry.

"Post invoices and credit notes from Current directly to QB Online and effortlessly keep you customer data in sync, reducing duplication of data and time spent updating multiple systems - streamlining the rental cycle that one step further," says Current RMS.

"Using cloud solutions to manage your business processes, instantly allows you to become more agile and versatile, responding to customer requests at the drop of a hat. Your cash flow and the management of your accounts is vital to the growth of your business and by moving your accounts into the cloud, you are provided with real-time visibility

Sweden - Nordic rock band, The Cardigans, are currently touring with Allen & Heath's GLD Chrome digital mixing system, supplied and managed by Swedish PA company, Parashoot.

"We have been using Allen & Heath's iLive systems on The Cardigans since the revival tour in 2012, and more recently, I used the GLD system on the Nina Persson's Animal Heart solo tour, so it felt natural to move to the GLD Chrome for this summer tour. Nina's vocals in particular sound so wonderful through GLD, I was confident about making the switch," says Parashoot's Oscar Söderlund.

Parashoot selected a Chrome GLD-112 for FOH, with a Chrome GLD-80 on monitors. The band's monitor set up is mixture of wedges, and wireless and hardwired in-ears. An AR2412 remote IO rack is installed as a stage box, with two 2 AR84 racks in another rack containing a multi-track player/recorder and the band's and

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