France - The legendary Parisian venue, the Bataclan, was packed to the rafters on the night of 17 October as over 1000 people flocked to see their favourite artists take part in a massive charity concert on behalf of the homeless and those forced to live in dwellings unfit for human habitation in Paris.

Organised by the Abbé Pierre Foundation, the line up for the concert, Ne Lâchons Rien read like a Who's Who of the French music scene with performances from the likes of M, Zazie, Alain Souchon, Nolwenn Leroy, Laurent Voulzy and many, many more. In charge of monitors for the event was top French monitor engineer, Christophe Genix, assisted by Geoffroy 'Jeff' Leon and Cedric Pontieux. To handle stage monitoring requirements, Genix specified no less than 12 DX15 wedges from APG.

"I was delighted to be working with APG again for this event," said Genix. &q

Italy - With catching environment and very stylish decoration the QI Clubbing in Erbusco, Brescia is a popular venue. Several times QI Clubbing has been named as one of the best nightclubs in Italy. In October 2011 the QI Clubbing will be opening their new Restaurant and Private Club facilities.

Opening a new facility gives QI a 360 degrees solution of entertainment of dining, nightclub, dancing and social life comes together under the same establishment.

The key of the success for QI Clubbing is the constant investment into developing a good atmosphere and surroundings. To keep the pace as one of the best club in Italy QI Clubbing is constantly upgrading their facilities and recently a new advanced RCF sound system have been installed both in the restaurant and in the private room.

A total of 20 RCF 88 monitors cover the restaurant area to supply the room with high fidelity

Spain - When the Headquarters of the Cervantes cultural institute in Madrid needed to update its ageing analogue conference system, the choice for the institute was a new all-digital DCN Next Generation system from Bosch. And to ensure optimum audibility throughout the acoustically-challenging conference chamber with its classic architecture, two Vari-directional arrays were installed, making for a total Bosch conference and communication solution.

The Cervantes Institute is a public institution set up by Spain in 1991 to promote and teach the Spanish language and to spread Spanish culture worldwide. The headquarters building in Madrid dates back to the start of the twentieth century, with a large conference room featuring a magnificent coloured stained glass dome which makes acoustics in this area quite challenging. A large circular table that can accommodate up to 60 people co

Finland - Housed in the Sibelius Hall Congress and Concert Centre, the 1,229-seat Main Hall serves as the home to the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and a year-round programme of Finnish light music, stand-up comedy, and operettas.

Listed by Sydney Morning Herald and Gramophone magazine amongst the world's best concert venues, the Main Hall's celebrated physical acoustic features were designed by New York-based Artec Consultants in 2000. For presentations that require amplification, the hall has recently upgraded to Meyer Sound M'elodie line array loudspeakers.

Featuring flexible acoustical designs such as corrugated walls to scatter reflected sounds, and moving canopy above the stage, the world-class concert venue chose carefully when it came time to update the sound reinforcement equipment.

"For the sound system upgrade at the Main Hall, we decided early on t

Korea - International hit musical Mamma Mia! has opened at the D-Cube Art Center, Seoul, which has been equipped by L-Acoustics Korea distributor Dream Sound with a K1 WST line source and XTi coaxial system. This is the first permanent K1 theatre system to be installed worldwide.

Located within Seoul's futuristic D-Cube City, the 1,242 seat venue has been installed with two hangs of eight K1s and two K1-SB subs left and right of the stage, six KARAs as down-fill, and two stacks of four SB28 subs in cardioid mode positioned on stage below the K1 hangs. Additionally there are four under balcony hangs of two KIVA WST enclosures, while 32 8XTi coaxial speakers relay musical surround effects throughout the venue. The system is driven by L-Acoustics LA4 and LA8 amplified controllers.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - JoeCo has appointed Mega Audio GmbH as its new distributor for Germany and Austria. The Bingen-based distribution company adds the BlackBox Recorder/Player range to an established portfolio of pro audio and live sound products.

This latest addition to JoeCo's international distributor network follows the recent launches of the BlackBox BBR64-MADI and BBR-DANTE Recorder versions, which have increased the product's live multi-channel audio capturing capabilities from 24 channels to up to 64 channels in the compact 1 rack unit format.

"We are delighted to welcome Mega Audio on board," said JoeCo managing director Joe Bull. "Burkhard Elsner and his team have many years of experience in our key market sectors and we are looking forward to building a strong working relationship that will enable us to take the brand forward in Germany and Austria."

&qu

Q Awards - Adele has won best female artist and best track at Q magazine's music awards in London. Other prizes went to rapper Tinie Tempah, who was named best male artist and Coldplay, who picked up best act in the world today. Readers voted U2 the best band of the publication's lifetime. Speaking on the red carpet, frontman Bono said Q had been crucial to his career. "It's a truly great thing," he said. "They're so important for anyone that wants to take all their music all the way."

Adele's Rolling in the Deep was picked out as the best track of 2011 ahead of her ubiquitous hit Someone Like You, which was also nominated. The singer's victory comes just a fortnight after she was forced to shelve a US tour due to problems with her throat. The ceremony also saw Queen entered into Q's Hall Of Fame and Siouxsie Sioux awarded for her outstanding contribution to

UK - PA/VA specialist Ateis has supplied a sophisticated PA/VA system to The American Express Community Football Stadium - the new home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC - aka The Seagulls.

The 22,5000 capacity stadium is nestled in the rolling hills of the South Downs, situated just outside Brighton's busy city centre. The club has been without an official home since the sale of its original stadium in 1997. And the launch of this new stadium coincided with Brighton & Hove Albion being promoted to the championship league for the 2010-2011 season.

Working with specialist installer, VCP Services and electrical contractors, NG Bailey, Ateis UK supplied an Ateis IDA VA networked public address - voice alarm system, which drives 38 zones via Ateis SPA series amplifiers. LAP G2 network audio processors are used for control and DSP. The racks were assembled by Ateis at the Devon based HQ

Malawi - The new Midas PRO2C live audio system has passed its first real world challenge with flying colours, handling front of house at the Lake of Stars Festival on the sandy shores of Lake Malawi. The PRO2 faced extreme temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius, an abundance of sand and grit plus a severe fuel crisis, which meant power was only available 30 minutes before the festival opened.

"I really love the PRO2C; it was very easy to get to grips with, and after just 30 minutes I could start the show confidently," says FOH engineer Craig Williams. "I'm more accustomed to the Midas Heritage series and the classic XL3, which I will always love, but the tiny footprint and low weight for a festival like Lake of Stars is perfect. Not needing a rack of outboard saves a huge amount in shipping costs to somewhere like Africa, and even more in sweat when you have to

USA - The PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 floor plan is now live. From today, participating companies and a full programme of events can be found alongside visitor registration facilities and exhibitor application information at www.plasafocus.com/austin.

The two-day event, to be held 22-23 February 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas, is the first of a new style of regional event for North America. Based on the successful PLASA Focus events in Europe, the new regional model seeks to bring world class professional knowledge and high-profile exhibitors to the heart of beautiful Texas hill country.

Confirmed exhibitors include ETC, Arri, GDS, Robe, Rosco, CommuniLux Productions, GLP German Light Products, Daktronics Rigging, Clay Paky, Total Structures, High End Systems, Chauvet, Philips Color Kinetics, A.C.T Lighting, Doug Fleenor Design, Strong Entertainment Lighting, and Secoa, wi

UK - More than 61,000 people turned up to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium recently to watch the free live streaming of Wales v France in the Rugby World Cup 2011 Semi Final from New Zealand.

This required a hasty sound reinforcement infrastructure to be constructed inside the Stadium for the commentary and live performances, including an EAW KF740 line array speaker system and three big screens.

For Huw 'Buz' Evans and Rob Ashton from Welsh sound rental company ABacoustics, it might have seemed something of a poisoned chalice as they accepted the challenge from local production company Orchard Media & Events Group to rig their EAW PA - and deliver the same outstanding performance from the KF740 system as they had achieved when the two companies last worked together on Ponty's Big Weekend in Pontypridd.

For whilst this would be the biggest production the company had ever

Mexico - PRG, one of the largest rental providers worldwide, has expanded its stock of RockNet digital audio network devices from Riedel Communications. Riedel, delivered 60 RockNet devices that will be directly used at the opening and closing ceremonies of the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

One of the main challenges at the ceremonies of the Pan American Games 2011 is the long distance between the individual positions in the stadium, where up to 300m need to be bridged. Furthermore, the distant master control room, which is located on the first level of box suites in the stadium, also needs to be integrated.

The RockNet installation at the ceremonies consists of 56 various RockNet devices. The audio system that is designed by Pat Baltzell, uses 158 channels of RockNet's 160 channels. The system combines the PA drive system, inputs and monitor sends located at

UK - The Sound Division Group (Sound Division) has confirmed its appointment as a Bose PRO-Partner this summer.

A significant proportion of Sound Division's business is in the high-end retail market and has established relationships with many well known high street brands, retail stores, hotels and restaurants.

David Graham MD for Sound Division comments: "Bose is synonymous with quality and we are very pleased to have them on-board. We will now be able to offer the Bose brand particularly to the multiple retailers, five star hotels and high class restaurants and bars where Bose are often the preferred choice of speaker system."

This could not come at a better time for Sound Division with the high level of building and refurbishments taking place in London due to the Olympics next year- Quickly out of the starting block the first Bose system has just been installed

France - Having lacked a multi-purpose live entertainment venue for many years, the patience of the 176,000 residents of Besançon, eastern France, was rewarded this year with the opening of La Rodia. Featuring two concert halls, a lobby bar, two studios and information / multimedia resources, a Yamaha digital audio system ensures that all of the new facility's users - whether local amateurs or international stars - get a universally high standard of sound.

Covering 2000m2, the project was initiated several years ago by the mayor of Besançon. Designed by architect Claude Denu, the audio system was designed by ATES Thise, based in the eastern suburbs of the town.

La Rodia's management team was already an ATES client, having worked with the company on a previous project. "Despite the initial discussions about La Rodia's audio system taking place three years ago, we advised

UK - The Kooks' front of house engineer Russ Tite has chosen a Midas PRO6 live audio system from SSE Audio for the band's European tour.

Tite's re-acquaintance with Midas analogue during this summer's festival season was the reason he chose the PRO6 for this tour. "I'd been using another brand of digital desk, but this summer I was rocking up to festivals and using an H3000 or XL4, and found I loved it again, it sounded like a console should," he says. "We were almost going to take an XL4, but you can't really fit one on a tour like this, so I decided to try the PRO6, and it sounds incredible."

Having learned his trade as a PA tech working on Midas Heritages, Tite found that operating the PRO6 came naturally. "Once I'd got used to how the POPulation and VCA groups worked, I've been finding it a much quicker way of working," he says. "Now I do

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributor of Midas and Klark Teknik products have recently hosted a Midas Academy prior to the InfoComm exhibition held at the Dubai International Convention Centre.

Over 25 sound professionals attended the one-day event, which highlighted the digital console offering of Midas. The event was also used to unveil the new Midas PRO2 and PRO2C live audio systems.

"Our last academy took place in 2009 so it was time for a follow up event in the Middle East, especially with all the new consoles and other products from Klark Teknik," said Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at NMK. "Although it was a busy time of the year we still had a good turn out and more importantly great interest in the new consoles."

(Jim Evans)

Italy - Last summer, a long-awaited jazz festival was staged in Castroreale, an historic Sicilian village in the Messina province. Many international artists performed during the four days of the festival.

The sound system, provided by Tintori della Provvidenza from Castroreale, featured 12 Proel Axiom AX3210P modules and eight EDGE SW121P Subwoofers plus EDGE 12CXP Monitoring, all driven by Powersoft amplifiers K10, Digam Q4004 and Proel HPD3400PFC.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Adlib's specialist installations division has completed the UK's first live music venue installation with an L-Acoustics KARAi system at the newly refurbished 1000 capacity Leeds University venue, Stylus.

Stylus is located in the basement building complex beneath the famous Leeds Uni Refectory, a gig renowned for hosting some landmark live performances in its day.

Adlib has a history of involvement in various capacities with Leeds University Students' Union (LUSU), who run all the venues on campus, and were one of the companies asked to propose a new sound design and system for Stylus, which was compiled by Adlib's Roger Kirby and John Hughes. Although the project funding process was initiated before his arrival in Leeds, the installation was co-ordinated for the Union by technical manager, Ryan Esson.

The new system - with six KARAis a side - is flown above Stylus's ex

Switzerland - For establishing a comprehensive communications infrastructure, the organisers of the Breitling Sion Air Show used an integrated communications solution from Riedel Communications. Riedel installed a combination of Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom and trunked digital radio (TETRA). The project was realised on behalf of Swisscom Broadcast AG.

The Breitling Sion Air-Show is one of largest events in Switzerland in 2011. The comprehensive communications infrastructure of the event integrated the organising team, the pilot's radio network or the local security such as police or fire fighters. The system combined Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom and digital trunked radio. At the heart of the installation were three Artist 64 mainframes. They provided the fibre backbone for a total of 16 Artist control panels that were used at various different departments such

Europe - When George Michael returned to the stage for 25 Live, the console of choice was the DiGiCo D5 Live. Now, as George travels Europe with Symphonica: The Orchestra Tour! DiGiCo consoles are still an integral part of the audio production, but this time four of the British manufacturer's flagship SD7 digital mixing consoles have been chosen to handle the demands of this production, forming what is currently the biggest SD7 rig on a single optical loop on any touring production.

Symphonica, as Andy 'Baggy' Robinson, Michael's monitor engineer and head of sound for the tour, explains, is "tunes you know and covers you don't, all re-arranged".

"It's the first time George has toured with an orchestra," Baggy adds. "Everything came together very quickly and it sounds amazing."

Three of the SD7s sit in monitor world - one ope

Australia - After a tireless summer touring the biggest European festivals as well as an extensive run of headline shows, Liverpool-based indie rockers The Wombats have just completed a successful tour of Australia that included several sold-out shows.

JPJ Audio provided the audio set-up for the tour including the Soundcraft Vi6 console specified by the band's sound engineer Dave Samwell.

"When I started my career as a sound engineer I used Soundcraft products all the time and so I really feel at home with them," remarked Samwell. "My first impression of the Vi6 was that it was the first digital console that laid out everything you need right in front of you. You didn't need to look around pages or anything as the whole mix was in front of you. But most importantly, I thought it was the best sounding digital console on the market without spending insane amounts

Wolrd - DJ Sasha, has been road-testing Allen & Heath's new Xone:DB4 digital FX mixer on his busy global tour schedule, and since the beginning of the year it has been his mixer of choice.

"The Xone:DB4 has so many features and it's really compact and easy to transport around. My favourite thing is the fact that you have 4 digital channels, very nice effects and the beautiful A&H filters and EQ, all in one product. For me, the DB4 is a digital mixer with an A&H analogue heart - it's the best of both worlds," says Sasha.

"I use the DB4's big reverbs and delays - all the simple effects. They have a sound to them that isn't coloured like the effects you find built in to other mixers, which you can spot straight away. DB4's effects are very transparent, they sound like studio effects to me as they're so clean."

Sasha's set up is now based around the Xone:DB4,

Spain - From the moment the Estrella Levante SOS 4.8 festival kicked off the start of the 2011 summer concert season, D.A.S. Audio and its Aero Series 2 loudspeaker systems were at the front of concert sound throughout Spain. Dates included the 16th Annual Viña Rock Festival of Native Art in Villarrobledo, Albacete and the Benicàssim International Festival (FIB.

Viña Rock 2011's artist roster included artists such as Rosendo, Raimundo Amador, Habeas Corpus and Los Delincuentes and uncooperative weather did not stop more than 30,000 music fans from attending the Festival's upbeat three days. D.A.S. Aero Series 2 line array systems provided the sound for two of these stages, the Metalika and the Babilonia, which stood up to the weather brilliantly.

May's SOS 4.8 festival saw some 80,000 music revellers taking in performances by artists like Suede, Patti Smith, Lori Meyers, Ve

Europe - dBTechnologies' latest and largest line array module, DVA T12 has been showcased simultaneously in Holland and Spain this month, at two local events organised to give current and prospective dBTechnologies customers unique chance to hear the new system in a stadium set up.

"What better way to find out about the T12 than to actually hear it in a live situation?" says Michael Herweg, MD of dBTechnologies German HQ, who was at the demonstration. "In my experience this is the only way to fully appreciate what the product has to offer."

Holland's Kerkrade football stadium was the backdrop for the Dutch event, where visitors were able to hear different configurations for a DVA system. Twenty-four T12 units were flown (12 per side) and after hearing these, tracks were played through the 36 T4 units (18 per side). Then the subwoofers were added to create a

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