USA - The Music Group has announced the appointment of Greg McLagan as AVP, Business Development Professional Division, who will be in charge of developing business strategy and action plans to grow the Pro Division's global footprint. The appointment is effective 13 January 2014.

Prior to joining Music Group, McLagan held top management positions at QSC, Renkus Heinz and Mark IV.

"I am honoured to have Greg join the Music Group team," said Shawn Watts, VP of global sales Professional Division. "We are making preparations to launch the largest and most comprehensive l

UK - A year after the purchase of the ASP4816 for its Fulham studios, Tech Music School London has invested in another Audient console: the large format ASP8024. As with the first one, this latest 24-channel desk with integrated Dual Layer Control (DLC) was supplied by educational technology experts Academia, and according to head of production, Johan Englund, is "...a great sounding desk."

BA (Hons) Music Production degree students spend the most time learning their craft with the Audient desks; in fact the individual courses, Recording Skills and Mixing & Audio Production

Malta - Since the first terminal building was constructed back in 1956, Malta International Airport has seen continued development as air traffic has increased. One of the latest facilities is the SkyParks Business Centre, where Denon Professional audio equipment is helping to keep the Mediterranean island's executives fit and healthy.

Despite Malta's comparatively small size, frequent direct flights to many European destinations mean that customer expectations have risen in line with airport facilities on the mainland. Opened last year, the SkyParks Business Centre is a mixed office,

Germany - New Year's Eve in Berlin! Silvester is one of the largest New Year's Eve parties in the world, attracting around one million people to the city's famous Brandenburg Gate to hear international stars on a variety of show stages, and of course to see the fireworks display.

For several years, Berlin-based rental company artecom Veranstaltungs GmbH has favoured Nexo systems for this event, which involves long throws over the 1.5 km 'party mile', very large crowds and extensive networking demands. To ring in 2014, artecom chose to put Nexo's new modular line array, the STM Series,

USA / The Netherlands - Meyer Sound has announced the self-powered Lyon linear sound reinforcement system, the newest addition to the Leo Family of linear loudspeaker systems. Incorporating the technology of the Leo Family in a lighter and more compact package, Lyon extends the advantages of highly linear self-powered systems to a broader range of venues and applications. Lyon will make its debut at the ISE trade show in Amsterdam.

"With the Leo system, we have shown how a system that stays linear across all frequencies and at very high sound levels can provide a whole new listen

USA - For the Unity Church of The Hills in Austin, Texas, a new sound system was way overdue. The church congregation has grown over the years to now require three services on Sunday with different musical styles and audio mixes required in each.

"We had a flying junkyard, a traditional array of a bunch of boxes. Add to this, our worship sanctuary has a lot of floor to ceiling glass windows so there was a limit to our volume levels due to the reverberation," says Jeff Sarich, sound engineer for the Church.

When it came time to make a decision on which mixers to acquire, Sa

UK - The Institute of Acoustics this year celebrates the its 30th consecutive Reproduced Sound conference and exhibition on 14-15 October at Birmingham NEC. Organised by the Electroacoustic Group of the Institute of Acoustics in collaboration with ABTT, AES, APRS & ISCE, this year's event coincides with the Institute of Acoustics' 40th Anniversary.

Part of the UK's Institute of Acoustics annual conference programme, Reproduced Sound is the IOA's longest running conference; it is well known for its balance of papers on theoretical and practical developments. Says IoA, "We encourag

Italy - Audio-Technica Europe and SISME have announced the formation of a new division dedicated to the distribution of Audio-Technica professional products in Italy. The division, part of SISME, will begin operations on 20 January 2014.

Following an extensive analysis of the Italian professional audio marketplace, Audio-Technica Europe's senior management team identified a need to establish a new approach in terms of distribution within a territory that, along with other Mediterranean countries, has been affected by issues such as the economic downturn.

Taking these issues along wi

UK - Flare Audio Limited, the award-winning British loudspeaker technology company, has announced the appointment of leading UK pro audio supplier Orbital Sound as its exclusive distributor for the UK and Irish markets.

Commenting for Flare Audio, MD Kristin Hanson said, "Our two companies have complementary backgrounds - live touring, entertainment installations, studios and events - making for an extremely powerful combination. At Flare Audio, we are introducing what is essentially a new approach to sound reinforcement, making the choice of our first major distributor absolutel

Benelux - Coda Audio has announced the appointment of Viladco bvba as its new distributor for the Benelux region. Headed by Hans Engelen, the appointment of Viladco ensures seamless continuity of service for Coda customers.

Hans is very familiar to Coda users throughout Europe, having been a specialist for the company's audio systems for several years. An audio engineer for over 20 years, he formed Viladco with his business partner Peter van Meensel and is very excited about the company being awarded the Coda distributorship.

"Coda is always seeking new challenges, looking to m

Austria - Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of additional commercial distribution partners for the SSL Live console with TSAMM as its distributor in Austria and AudioMonde for Hungary.

"As an SSL distributor for many years, we had the opportunity to be involved in many discussions regarding what would be needed in a live console of the 21st century, to cover both touring and theatre applications," says Mario Reithofer, owner of TSAMM. "We visited with SSL several times in the last three years both in Vienna and the U.K., but even I did not expect something

Europe - The d&b audiotechnik White range of integration solutions has expanded to include the xC-Series column loudspeakers. This latest addition contributes the same exacting qualities to the installation specific White range as the xS-Series and xA-Series, offering visual, physical, acoustical and electrical integration in a manner that meets the most demanding specifications, says the company. The xC-Series comprises three loudspeakers, the 16C, 24C and 24C-E, all designed for seamless integration into difficult acoustic and aesthetic environments, from houses of worship to conferen

Finland - The new Genelec 8010 is the smallest member of the Genelec 8000 product range. The 8000 Series is widely used in broadcast, music and post-production studios across the world. Its professional heritage is reflected in the compact-sized 8010. Suitable for professional work in small studios it offers accurate monitoring capability with ease of installation. The outstanding sound quality makes 8010 ideal for small studios, OB vans, and a perfect companion for portable recording devices and other mobile production work, says the company.

Featuring a balanced XLR input, three-inc

Vietnam - LA212x line array system from Next-proaudio formed the sound reinforcement system for Heineken NYE 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City. The equipment was provided by Pro AVL Group - Next-proaudio's distributor in Vietnam.

The system turned the Heineken New Year Countdown show into a serious party for a crowd of 15.000 people at Crescent Lake, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City on the last day of 2013.

The design included 16 elements of LA212X line array full-size hung in two lines as traditional configuration, 12 elements of LAS218 subwoofers were configured in a combination of L/R and on

Norway - Porsgrunn videregående skole has recently upgraded its main auditorium with a new Community sound system installed by IT, communication and AV specialists, Netsolution AS.

Porsgrunn is an upper secondary school in Norway located in the coastal town of Porsgrunn in Telemark County, 150 km southwest of the country's capital, Oslo. The school is one of Telemark County's largest high schools with a total of 1150 students and 160+ employees. Its multipurpose auditorium contains tiered seating for 180 persons and the sound system was required to be suitable for speech, live music

USA - Event production company, Majic Productions, has expanded its stock portfolio with Qu-16 and GLD-80 digital mixers from Allen & Heath.

At the age of 12, Mike Jurken started running his own DJ business, and 14 years later is president and CEO of Majic Productions, a major player in the event production world, running 1000 events a year with a client roster including Fortune 500 companies ranging from Harley-Davidson to Northwestern Mutual, as well as high profile non-profits such as The Boys & Girls Clubs of America and The American Red Cross.

The real proving ground for any au

The Netherlands - ATEÏS will be introducing switch mode, next to its matrix mode, for its IDA8 modular public address and voice alarm system at this year's ISE on stand M-190 hall 7.

The third generation controller, which can be built up into a zoned installation by adding slave units over copper and/or fibre optic connections, is well established in the PA/VA market and features on recent high-profile projects such as the Signal Iduna Park football stadium in Dortmund and Zurich railway station.

PA/VA installations for sports stadia and transport termini continue to grow in scale

Italy - Outline has expanded its technical staff, which has been joined by telecom engineer Andrea Ippolito, and Anastasia Klinushkina has been appointed as business developer supporting the sales office. The pair have joined the team to enable Outline to ensure clients even better service and further boost its dynamic R&D department's work.

Andrea Ippolito, a graduate in telecommunications engineering and an amateur clarinettist, has already worked for several months on the iMode project, under the guidance of engineer Daniele Pagani.

Ippolito explains, "From my point of view,

Russia / Brazil - Bexel, worldwide provider of broadcast services including video and audio equipment rentals, reports that it will apply Lawo's audio- and video-over-IP networking technology for this year's prominent international sports events in Russia and Brazil. The confidence in the use of Lawo equipment and services derives from experiences in the last year where Bexel, Lawo's North America team and Lawo's rental company ABS (Audio Broadcast Services) designed and approved a flexible fly pack solution for sports production.

Bexel's new systems have been utilized successfully at

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong Academy School was founded in 2000 and has, in a comparatively short space of time, become a leader in educational innovation. A reflection of its emergence as a leading centre of excellence was its decision to develop a new 20,000 sq.m campus in Sai Kung.

In developing this world class facility the HKA remained committed to the principles that it considers to be of paramount importance. In this respect, as well as an internationally acclaimed, dynamic educational programme, the Academy has constructed a campus that adheres to the internationally recognised s

USA - R & B crooner John Legend's Made to Love tour is sweeping across the country playing in 27 different US cities. Concert attendees are treated to intimate, hopelessly romantic presentations of the performer's amorous chart-topping tunes.

Sound Image, located in Escondido, California and Nashville, Tennessee, was once again selected to provide sound reinforcement and support for the tour.

Made to Love is on the road with an Adamson Energia E15 PA. The typical venue configuration features left-right hangs of twelve enclosures per side with front fill support provide

USA - The 'new' Sibley Building in downtown Rochester, New York rose out of the ashes of the original Sibley Building, which served as the city's first department store and burned down in 1906. It has remained an architectural fixture ever since and was admitted to National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

The lower levels serve as retail space and help to anchor Rochester's current downtown revitalization. Its public areas recently benefited from a sound system overhaul that centred on processing, amplification, and control provided by commercial audio manufacturer Ashly Audio of

Germany - With clubs throughout the Germany's Rhineland, including the major cities of Köln and Düsseldorf, Just Fit is one of the region's premier fitness centre chains. The company currently has 18 fitness centres, with two in Frechen and the latest one, in Kerpen, featuring Denon DN-700H Network Audio Players. They will also be installed in two new Köln clubs, due to open in early 2014

"We have chosen the DN-700H because it is very easy to use, it delivers audio from a wide range of different sources, the display provides all the information you need and it can be used full

USA - Mood Media, provider of retail music solutions and sound systems, is seeing recent growth in the design and installation of multi-zone distributed audio in shopping centres and other public locations. Mood Media has turned to components from Bose Professional Systems for many such installations in malls in the US and Canada. Several of these projects have been in properties owned and managed by Simon Property Group.

Craig Breigle, premier systems account executive, Mood Media, based in Austin, TX, notes that the PowerMatch and ControlSpace products are chosen for their reliabili

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