Tunisia - Housed in the Maison Blanche hotel in Tunis, Le Madison is a well-established bar and lounge. Centrally located, it is notable for the excellence of its service and the opulence of its interior design, which has a distinctly French flair - a combination that makes Le Madison a popular meeting place for both tourists and businessmen around the clock.

Tunis-based company Acoustic Design and Broadcast (ADB) were responsible for the planning and installation of the bar's new sound system. ADB's sound specialists opted for systems from Dynacord. The following components formed pa

World - Mongolian band Anda Union are using DPA microphones on their current world tour to provide a powerful live sound for a large and wonderful variety of acoustic instruments. The band, who hail from Hohhot in China, formed in a mission to discover and perpetuate their Mongolian musical heritage, and have been performing worldwide for the past eight years. The mics were supplied by DPA's UK distributor, Sound Network.

"The main instrument I needed microphones for is the horse head fiddle, which is like a smaller, two-stringed version of the cello," explains the band's en

UK - The colourful world of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers is currently bringing its Art Deco delights to audiences across England and Scotland, in the first ever stage adaptation of the 1935 film Top Hat. With some of Irving Berlin's most famous songs alongside full ensemble tap dance numbers and perhaps the biggest collection of hats ever seen in one production, sound designer Gareth Owen chose a pair of Yamaha PM1D digital mixing consoles for this complex production.

"I like to use the PM1D for classic, older style musicals," he says. "It sounds really good fo

UK - Two Welsh theatres have recently installed DiGiCo SD9 consoles. Milford Haven's Torch Theatre is a multi-function venue that combines main and studio theatres, an art gallery and café, it caters for plays, films, live music, dance, conferences and much more.

The Torch has also joined a growing trend in regional theatre of showing live and recorded transmissions of high profile stage shows, such as those by the National Theatre and New York's Metropolitan Opera.

Supplied by Stage Electrics, the SD9 has transformed the theatre's experience with digital audio, which began o

USA - Sports bars have come a long way from the dingy, smoky, male-orientated establishments of the past. The most successful ventures today are big, bright and highly family oriented with casual but generally upscale décor, full lunch and dinner menus, scores of imported beers on tap, and multi-room, high-end audio and video systems.

P.J. Whelihan's is a prime example of today's sports bar with all the right elements. First opened in 1983, the chain now covers 16 locations in the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey region, including the most recent addition in suburban Downin

Europe - Outline has announced the appointment of The Audio Specialists b.v. as their exclusive distribution partners for Benelux and Germany , with immediate effect.

TAS is the brainchild and property of former E-Audio Benelux managing director Axel Nagtegaal, under whom the company "achieved spectacular results for a number of leading pro-audio brands in Benelux , including Midas, Klark Teknik, Electrovoice and others". Nagtegaal and his team pioneered the concept of 'service hatch' distribution in pro-audio, where a territorial distributor effectively becomes the local of

France - Opened in 1998 for that year's FIFA World Cup, Stade de France in Paris has recently undergone a €1.5m upgrade to its audio system, with a major Yamaha and Nexo system.

Famed for staging rugby, football and athletics, Stade de France also hosts concerts by many of the world's biggest artists like the Rolling Stones, U2, Muse, Madonna, Prince and the country's iconic Johnny Hallyday. When constructed it was equipped with a Nexo Alpha audio system but, over a decade on and with considerable advances in digital audio technology, it was felt that a new system would improve the i

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET)'s audio division has supplied a new Nexo speaker system for the Performing Arts Centre at Downe House - one of the UK's leading boarding schools for 11 - 18 year old girls.

An integral hub of activity on the school campus, the multi-purpose space is a former barn, originally converted into a venue during the 1950s. The building is in constant daily use, not just for stage plays, dance and drama shows, bands and live music, but also for lectures and presentations.

It features a very distinctive hydraulic floor, which can be raised up to tr

Latvia - One of the most popular restaurant chains in Latvia and the other Baltic states, Gan Bei has a variety of establishments across the region, all of which are revered for both the quality of the food and the surroundings in which it is served.

When fitting out their new Asian restaurant Gan Bei City, located in the shopping centre Galleria Riga in the Latvian capital Riga, the restaurant owners were keen to continue the tradition of quality with a classy interior that had echoes of the Orient, but at the same time was sleek and ultra-modern. And they needed an audio set up that

UK/Singapore - UK-based broadcast mixing console manufacturer Calrec Audio have expanded their office in the Asia/Pacific Rim region with the appointment of Mr Ace Yip to a full-time technical sales and support position.

Calrec has had a permanent presence in Asia to support its distributors in the region since mid-2009, following a period when all sales and support was administered directly from the company's headquarters in the UK. Now based on the prestigious Alexandra Techno Park development in Singapore (also home to the local headquarters for Hewlett Packard, Nokia and Sennheise

Portugal -- Acoustic solutions manufacturer Vicoustic has released ViTUNE, the company's first acoustic measurement software. More than simply a measurement tool, ViTUNE is designed to help both audio professionals and hi-fi enthusiasts tune their rooms without requiring specialist training.

Based on a simple 'traffic light' indication system, room measurement is carried out in four easy steps via the software's intuitive interface. Configure the sound card, test the signal level, enter the room dimensions and click Go! For customers with more experience of acoustic analysis, the soft

UK - IT and AV rental company DB Systems is already hard at work preparing the temporary internet and telecommunications network for the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) which takes place July 2012.

Over the next eight months DB's Event Networks and Telecoms division will install and manage a temporary internet and telecommunications infrastructure, which will eventually allow internet access and connectivity for over 350 individual companies, hundreds of journalists and thousands of members of the public expected to attend the event.

The completed network will be able to del

The Netherlands - Systems integrators visiting ISE 2012 will get an opportunity to hone their audio skills and knowledge with loudspeaker manufacturer, Genelec. The sessions will run on the Genelec booth throughout the show and will allow integrators to get hands-on with products and see demos of acoustic simulation software for the fixed installation market.

"The A-V market is becoming increasingly competitive and integrators with a good background in audio have a real business edge," says Markus Kahelin, installation product specialist at Genelec. "Our short courses w

Canada - DJW has supplied, installed and programmed a wealth of equipment at Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history site on the bank of the North Saskatchewan River.

Thanks to the production team led by Rob Wyatt of Artisan Design, visitors to the park are able to gain a much better understanding of how Edmonton developed through the ages; from the ice age, man inhabiting the planet, Canadian first peoples to the arrival of early settlers and coming up to the date of the Capitol Theatre on the 1920's street and life in Edmonton in the 1920's.

The project is centred arou

USA - Lead guitarist Dave Amato of REO Speedwagon has become a fan of the Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient IEM System he bought a couple years ago, the company reports.

"My problem with regular in-ears was that I couldn't hear my rig," he explains. "The ambient system lets me dial in that outside world, as much of it as I need. Now I have a full band mix from monitor world, plus I can hear my whole rig, including the effects. It's the perfect thing for guitarists."

When REO Speedwagon decided to move to IEMs several years ago, Amato was far from enthusiastic. "

Germany - Live event audio production supplier Neumann & Mueller (N&M) has augmented its rental inventory with a TiMax2 SoundHub audio showcontrol matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking system. The purchase followed a 12-month period of extensive evaluation that culminated in a well-received outdoor staging of Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute) at Erfurt's Domstufen Festspiele event.

Erfurt's cathedral forms a focus, particularly across the three weeks of every summer when it provides the backdrop to the Domstufen Festspiele - an open-air theatrical extravaganza which take

UK - Flightcase and audio speaker solutions specialist Penn-Elcom announces that Bristol based rack aficionados Rackz is to join the Penn Elcom Group, "bringing a wealth of experience in the field of 19 inch rack mounting design, construction and installation to the equation". Rackz is headed up by Dave Roberts, designer, innovator, engineer and musician.

Rackz will continue to operate exactly as is in its current set up, with Roberts at the helm and all staff staying onboard. They will service their own clients in addition to expanding Penn's current range of racking produc

UK - The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh has recently completed the upgrade of the historic Great Hall. RCPE called in Audio Light Systems as they could provide audio, lighting & AV all from under the same roof. The brief was to install lighting, system control & audio in extremely sensitive surroundings.

The audio system is primarily for conference work, but is also used for foreground music at functions. QSC Acoustic Design speakers were installed as they are compact in size while still being horn loaded. The Acoustic Design subs were also discretely installed in existing w

UK - The Theatres Trust, The National Advisory Public Body for Theatres, has announced its sixth annual conference, 'Delivering Sustainable Theatres' - on the challenge of achieving the triple bottom line.

Taking place on 12 June 2012 at Stratford Circus, next to the Olympic Park in East London, the Conference will explore how theatre buildings are managing their building's resources and addressing their future sustainability. The Conference takes place the day before the ABTT Theatre Show, allowing attendees and sponsors to take full advantage of these two London events.

The Confer

China - The Ejin Horo Banner Theatre complex in Ordos has been equipped with a range of Fohhn loudspeakers, DSP-controlled amplifiers and system control technology. The complex is situated in an area of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China that is historically significant as the location of Genghis Khan's Mausoleum.

Within the complex itself, an impressive 1200-seater theatre space is flanked by a concert hall and multi-purpose hall, each with a capacity of 600, plus six conference rooms. In each of the spaces, Fohhn systems have been installed with a view to achieving excell

UK - Crestron has appointed Matthew Buck to the position of commercial account manager. He will be responsible for bringing new members into the Crestron family as well as maintaining good links with existing clients.

Since graduating from Swansea Metropolitan, Buck worked for Polar Audio (originally Beyerdynamic UK) and progressed from the position of consumer products manager to business development manager; where he was responsible for key accounts in the South East, generating over 30% of the company's turnover.

"Crestron has long since been the leader in control and automa

Italy - FaitalPRO has announced the introduction of several new families of Ferrite products.

Flavio Naggi, overseas sales manager, states, "Our FaitalPRO brand has been on the market for just five years, but we are already appreciated worldwide as a reference point for professional neodymium loudspeakers and are now meeting the requests of numerous clients in the PA and SR areas with the launch of many new products in Ferrite.

"We are offering our clients an alternative based on new, soft and refined acoustic tonalities: the current product range will remain and the new f

UK - Scottish three-piece rock band Biffy Clyro have played some major live shows in the last 12 months, supporting US rockers, Foo Fighters, at Milton Keynes Bowl, and opening for Metallica in Bangalore, India. A hectic and impressive list of festival dates has underlined the band's ever-growing popularity; they played Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage for the first time, headlined Wakestock Festival in Wales, and hit perhaps their highest point when they topped the bill on day two of the now-annual UK Sonisphere Festival at KnebworthPark.

To ensure they kept at the top of their game throu

UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has announced the launch of Stardraw Design 7. Stardraw's all-new system design/documentation tool is available for download from www.stardraw.com. The move follows the initial unveiling of the software at InfoComm 2011 in June which marked the debut of a public beta phase.

The application is Stardraw.com's seventh-generation software solution for systems integrators. Drawing on nearly two decades of market experience, and exploiting the latest in software technologies, Stardraw Design 7 offers audio and video system designers/installers "unpar

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