Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Sound

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UK - Suppliers to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be able to champion their involvement in last summer's sporting spectacular, after a landmark deal has been reached by the Government, British Olympic Association (BOA) and International Olympic Committee (IOC). The deal will give companies the recognition that they deserve for the part they played in the success of the London Games.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller and BOA Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe announced that the companies which helped build the Park, venues and provided goods and services for the Games will be able to actively promote their work on the London 2012 Games. The move is designed to provide a significant boost to the country's economy by helping firms land contracts and deals on the back of their involvement with the London 2012 Games.

The new deal will benefit tens of thousands of British co

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Denmark - Just because a venue is located in a small town and prides itself on its community links and support for local artists doesn't mean that it is content with being simply average. The Godset Rock Club in Kolding, Denmark is an excellent case in point. Managing director, Christian Haugk clarifies for the uninitiated, "Although we are not a large community, the local government has been consistently supportive in our efforts to create a set of rehearsal rooms and a live venue that has quality written all over it.

"The Godset is run by an amalgam of volunteers and music organisations and provides a wonderful platform for developing grass roots talent, but our commitment to professional quality means that we have a national profile that attracts acts of international stature. Our success provides a feel good factor that politicians recognise as something of a vote

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Cultural Affairs - The submission process to find the UK's second City of Culture in 2017 has been launched by arts minister Ed Vaizey. The announcement came just days after Derry-Londonderry officially began its year-long celebrations as the inaugural UK City of Culture and sets out the timescale for submission of bids from cities interested in participating. Vaizey said, "The UK City of Culture is a prestigious title that is a vehicle for encouraging economic growth along with highlighting the very best of the country's cultural talent. Derry-Londonderry are already making the most of the opportunities being UK City of Culture brings and I would urge other local authorities and partnerships across the length and breadth of the UK to consider putting themselves forward."

Those interested in submitting bids to be UK City of Culture 2017 are being asked to register with

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UK - Back in 2002, lighting designer Richard Williamson and Peter Kirkup (a student at the time, now VP of entertainment at LumenRadio) had the idea of setting up an online forum to discuss life and work backstage. On 29 January 2003 The Blue Room technical forums were born.

From small beginnings it has grown to become a huge resource to technicians all over the world, receiving well over 5m million hits per month from over 70,000 unique monthly visitors. Members have contributed over 450,000 posts to the site over the 10 years, with over 19,000 members using the site from across the industry.

The Blue Room technical forums are very pleased to be celebrating this landmark

birthday and hope for many more years of support, advice and friendship to come. Peter Kirkup commented, "Richard and I would like to thank all of the users for making us a huge success. We look forwar

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USA - Audinate has announced the newest member of the Dante product family: Ultimo. Ultimo is a complete, fully-featured, ready-to-use Dante interface for networked audio products, integrated into a single 13 x 13mm chip. By providing an integrated, cost-effective networked audio solution over a 100Mbps Ethernet interface, Ultimo extends the benefits of Dante networking to a wide new range of audio devices.

As with Audinate's other networked products, Ultimo uses high-quality, low-jitter clocks with ±1?s time alignment between networked devices. Ultimo does not require specialised switches, and works with existing network infrastructure.

Ultimo includes well-established Dante features like automatic device discovery, plug-and-play networking, network-based firmware updates, and customization of device names and channel labels.

"The Ultimo integrated chip solution accel

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Nigeria - Lagos based sound and lighting company Solution Media and Infotech has invested in its second Midas PRO live audio mixing console in less than a year from local Midas Distributor, NMK Electronics. The investment was made in order to deliver the total sound solution for Africa's biggest gospel music festival, The Experience Lagos 2012.

The PRO3, which was purchased at PALME 2011, was used on monitors while the PRO9, purchased at PALME 2012, took care of FOH. The event was attended by nearly 300,000 people and saw acts including Don Moen, Israel Houghton, Fred Hammond, Deitrick Haddon and many more deliver sharp performances.

"We purchased the PRO9 as a natural progression from the PRO3, which we'd bought the year before." explains Bamishile Dipo, sound engineer from Solution Media and Infotech Ltd. "We decided on the PRO9 because the PRO3 had so totally

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UK / France - SSE Audio Group has acquired French lighting company M.E.S through its French subsidiary Melpomen. Both MES and Melpomen have bases in Nantes and Paris and have worked together extensively on sound and lighting projects in recent years.

MES Eclairages was founded in 1981 and is now the leading provider of theatrical and event lighting in western France. It has an extensive inventory of lighting equipment for rental including moving heads, LED units and control and also installs permanent lighting rigs into venues.

In 2012, sound rental company Melpomen, a member of SSE Audio Group since 2001, decided to establish its own lighting department and recruited Jerome Malen to run it. The move came as more and more event promoters in France are looking for a comprehensive and integrated hire equipment package. In line with this, Melpomen has also just created a video de

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USA - Mackie has confirmed the sale and transition of Tracktion Music Production Software to the Tracktion Software Corporation (TSC). TSC is led by three principals - Julian 'Jules' Storer, the original creator of Tracktion as well as former 'Mackoids' James 'Woody' Woodburn and Dave Christenson.

"With Mackie's continued focus on creating innovative hardware solutions, the choice to transition Tracktion to TSC was clear," said Matt Redmon, Mackie product manager. "TSC is fully dedicated to the development, support and marketing of Tracktion. Their experience with the DAW market and intimate knowledge of Tracktion made them the perfect group to take Tracktion into the future."

"We are proud to announce not only the acquisition of Tracktion Music Production Software, but that Tracktion 4 is available immediately," remarked James Woodburn of Trackti

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UK - Peavey Commercial Audio has appointed Mark Coombes as their new European sales manager. The role comes with responsibilities for all direct accounts in the UK and Ireland, as well as distribution customers in Iberia, France, Iceland and all of Scandinavia.

Coombes has worked in the commercial audio and video sectors for more than 15 years, and steps into the post following a six-month candidate search.

"Mark has a great mix of experience," says James Kennedy, operations manager at Peavey Commercial Audio. "His track record speaks for itself, having worked in an international sales capacity for a string of major industry manufacturers including Samsung, Opus and Crestron. He fits all the criteria for the role and we're delighted to have him on board."

Coombes adds, "Peavey is a world renowned company with an amazing audio heritage. I'm looking fo

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Germany - Dynacord has announced that Toni Scherrenberg joins the sales team as sales manager for Eastern Europe, effective 1 February, 2013.

After holding key positions in the pro audio industry, both in the United Kingdom as well as the Netherlands, Toni Scherrenberg was further responsible for market consulting in Austria as well as business development in Asia.

"Dynacord is an internationally renowned company with products that - without doubt - can only be described as outstanding", says Scherrenberg. "The Eastern European region is a highly interesting, expanding market, where top-quality products are in great demand. Our partners can be sure that I will put all my effort into focusing on the further development of our partnerships and the position of Dynacord in the respective markets."

"Toni Scherrenberg is a highly qualified sales specialist

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The Netherlands - At ISE, Tannoy launched a new flagship digital beam steering loudspeaker array, the QFlex 64.

Extending the performance capabilities of the QFlex range, QFlex 64 complements the six existing models in this product line, with QFlex 48 previously being the largest column available, offering new possibilities for the product in particularly demanding applications.

Tannoy's QFlex is a range of digitally steerable, self-powered column array loudspeakers aimed at the high performance installation market. Purpose-designed for applications with problematic acoustics (where good intelligibility is required), QFlex technology gives the system designer a unique set of tools for controlling sound in large, acoustically challenging, highly reverberant spaces - typically involving expanses of reflective surfaces such as glass, metal, concrete or stone.

The QFlex 64 is no

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UK - Nexo hosted the first public listening sessions for its new STM modular line array, choosing the LH2 Studios in London as a venue for the international production community. Despite terrible January weather causing London airports to close, prominent rental companies from all over Europe, and several from the Far East, made the trip to discover the reality behind Nexo's much-discussed Scale Through Modularity concept.

In LH2's huge production rehearsal studio, which regularly hosts the biggest artists in the world from the Rolling Stones to Robbie Williams, Nexo and its first UK rental customer Capital Sound Hire set up the STM modular line array in a nine-sets a-side configuration.

Over the course of four days, the STM Sessions, which were hosted by Nexo's concert sound manager Stuart Kerrison, also included workshops on Nexo's proprietary design software NS-1, and innov

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UK - As the players - including progeny of some of Britain's theatrical elite - gathered to present Eton College's School PlayMacbeth, they colluded with a technical infrastructure worthy of professional West End theatre, including not only Out Board's TiMax2 SoundHub audio showcontrol system for a second year, but also the addition of a new Digico SD9 console which helped deliver vastly improved sonic detail in the house system.

Following its successful Eton debut the previous year, TiMax2 Soundhub is now a staple element of the School Play - this year a challenging modern-classical "suits & swords" interpretation of Shakespeare's infamous tragedy. Sound designer Rick Sarson envisioned and produced the immersive sound environment and programmed the TiMax2 SoundHub show in rehearsals for the student technical team to operate during the performances.

Act One's

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USA - Audio-Technica has expanded its role as sponsor of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a non-profit state-of-the-art mobile recording and multimedia studio. For several years, A-T has served as the Bus's microphone sponsor, and they now also serve as headphone sponsor, supplying ATH-M40fs Precision Studiophones and ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones to be used by the Bus's patrons.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus travels around the U.S. throughout the year. Outfitted with traditional musical instruments as well as high-tech professional audio and video gear, the Bus has provided free hands-on programmes since 1998 for hundreds of high schools, colleges, boys and girls clubs, music festivals, concerts, conferences and community organizations.

Jeff Sobel, John Lennon Educational Tour Bus chief engineer, stated, "The Lennon Bus demands a lot from its

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USA - The historic 920-seat Edwards Hall Auditorium on University of Rhode Island's Kingston Campus recently upgraded its sound system with a selection of products from Bose Professional Systems Division. The system was spec'd and installed by Sudbury, Massachusetts-based Adtech Systems. Adtech's senior design engineer Charlie Crane served as lead on the project.

The final system consists of two L/R clusters consisting of two RoomMatch RM12060, two RM9020, two RM7010 array modules, and two RMS215 subwoofers, all powered by four PowerMatch PM8500 configurable professional power amplifiers.

Crane points out the challenges of tackling the project in such a space: "The room was originally built as a library and converted into an auditorium much later, so they've always struggled with good sound quality in there. The university's architect was working with administration, and

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USA - Inedit, a new establishment for Spanish cuisine / tapas and music, is rapidly becoming the spot for dining and entertainment in the South Florida metropolitan area. Inedit, derived from the word 'Inedito', which refers to the unknown that inspires discovery within the Spanish culture, is a beautifully decorated facility.

To ensure the music throughout the building sounds every bit as compelling as the food and the patrons who frequent the establishment, management decided to install a new loudspeaker system that would keep the music lively. Ultimately, they selected a system drawn from the catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.

Miami, FL-based FM Lab, a design / build firm with a focus on sound and lighting for commercial properties, was contracted to handle the design and installation of Inedit's new sound reinforcement system. Fernando Mezzarapa, owner and president of FM Lab, dis

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The Netherlands - The focus of d&b's eight demonstrations staged over the three days of the ISE show was the latest software Version 7 of the d&b ArrayCalc calculator that predicts the physical, acoustical and safety performance of its systems.

Janko Ramuscak from the d&b education and application support department who conducted these demos commented, "To demonstrate the ease with which users can now map coverage on all projects the ArrayCalc V7 software was used to model point source products from the d&b White range in both light and sound. That is, the software predicted SPL coverage patterns that were projected onto the floor of the demo room using light; then the audience was invited to walk into the pattern, listen to audio projected from these same calculations, and ask themselves, is what I see and hear the same?"

As well as the ability to now perform acoust

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The Netherlands - ISE 2013 saw record numbers of exhibitors and visitors. The show's final total of 44,151 registered attendees represents an 8% increase on 2012's world record of 40,869. Just under 900 exhibitors - also a record for ISE - occupied all 12 halls of the Amsterdam RAI from 29-31 January, with most reporting a brisk three days of business involving a healthy mix of new and established contacts.

On Monday 28 January, ISE celebrated its 10th edition with a widely lauded opening keynote address by renowned cyber-illusionist Marco Tempest, followed by a 10th Birthday Party at which some of ISE's founding exhibitors - those companies that have supported all 10 shows since Integrated Systems Europe began in Geneva in 2004 - were honoured in a special presentation. The celebrations were preceded by three pre-show conferences and over 1,200 people attended the Monday events

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Italy - Fibre network giant, Optocore has made a significant change to its distribution arrangements in Italy, appointing Prase Engineering S.p.A to handle the installation/contractor sector.

Following the direct contact between the two companies at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt last year the agreement was confirmed by Optocore marketing director Tine Helme and Ennio Prase, founder of the Venice-based company.

"This opens up an important new channel in Italy for us," stated Helmle. "Ennio and his company fit perfectly with Optocore - they are strong in permanent install and the AV market, and with our new MADI switches we can hit both these markets."

She added that the catalyst for the appointment had been Duran Audio, which Prase distributes, and with whom Optocore has a partnership arrangement.

Ennio Prase also welcomed the move. "It's great that a

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USA - The Church of the Greater Faith is an active and forward-thinking Pentecostal congregation that has been growing by leaps and bounds, thanks in no small part to their contemporary approach to worship. Indeed, Greater Faith's rapid growth has been a source of both joy and challenges, and as their numbers have swelled, their modest 700-seat sanctuary now hosts two Sunday morning services, with a third service added in the afternoon.

The peaked, metal A-frame structure has long suffered from challenging acoustics, and as Jason Ryder, general Manager of Lake Charles, LA-based Porche Advance Systems explains, efforts over the years to improve the situation have only made things worse.

"Their original system was poorly designed and underpowered to begin with, and they spent the next 11 years trying to fix it," says Ryder. "The end result was a patchwork of mis-w

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USA - The first four days of the new year found more than 60,000 college-aged Christians from around the globe flocking to Atlanta's Georgia Dome for Passion 2013, an annual conference of message and music that just raised over 3.3 million dollars to combat slavery and human trafficking worldwide.

Hosted by Passion City Church Founders Louie and Shelley Giglio, this year's event drew students from 56 countries and 2,300 universities and featured a long list of top Contemporary performers, including Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Matt Redman, Kari Jobe, Lecrae, Jesus Culture and numerous other artists, alongside notable evangelical speakers like John Piper, Judah Smith, Francis Chan and Louie Giglio, himself.

With a large increase in attendees anticipated for this year, Giglio's Choice Ministries and Passion Conferences hired UK-based management company Black & White Live to over

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UK - Toby Alington and his team at Richmond Studios Productions are amidst last minute preparations for recording the UK's largest annual music show, The BRIT Awards 2013 in association with MasterCard.

Whilst this will be Alington's 19th year recording The BRITs, it is set to be one of the most exhilarating productions with the Nation's on-going Diamond Jubilee and Olympic fever. The new BRIT Award statue has been designed by Damien Hirst and has already caught the public's eye, and the show will once again be hosted by James Corden.

Alington and his audio team will mix the music for the live-to-air show from Floating Earth's state-of-the-art mobile recording unit, Floating Earth. This is equipped with an SSL C200 digital console, linked to over 100 remote mic-amps connected by fibre-optic cable which provide the feeds to be mixed and broadcast live on television. This will b

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France - L-Acoustics reports that new modules are now available for third party software including CATT-Acoustics (Dynamic Link Library - DLL), EASE (Generic Loudspeaker Library - GLL), ODEON and LARA.

Sound designers and acousticians can now simulate the L-Acoustics line source arrays via specific GLL or DLL files respectively for the electro-acoustic software EASE and CATT-Acoustics. L-Acoustics coaxial speakers can also be simulated using the dedicated GLL file in EASE and the Common Loudspeaker Format (CLF) file for CATT-Acoustics, ODEON and LARA.

Each third party software can be used in parallel with Soundvision to simulate additional parameters such as total sound pressure level (taking into account the reverberation field), intelligibility and clarity factor thanks to the fact that they include room acoustics properties.

Germain Simon, application engineer at L-Acoust

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UK - Such has been the interest in Martin Audio's Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) that the company has now created an MLA dedicated web portal, in order to "share the secrets of its advanced control technology with the growing community of users and potential customers".

This will be represented in two hierarchical modules. The public portal has now gone live and is available to everyone, while the private portal will be confined to MLA rental companies and trained technicians, allowing them to access more in-depth information and engage in discussion forums. This is scheduled to go live in the near future.

Running hand in hand is a new personal Certified Training Programme which complements the online resource, where technical information is hosted alongside an open forum. This gives MLA technical users the opportunity to share knowledge and experience, both

  1. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  2. LarMac LIVE production manages Donny & Marie
  3. Soinua named as Spanish distributor for Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake
  4. National Theatre of Saint-Nazaire opts for Innovason
  5. Music Group names head of Professional Division
  6. Community brings technology to historic church
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