UK - Nick Gray of London-based live performance design practice Renegade created an inventive lighting and visuals scheme for the highly acclaimed Atomic Bomb tour by a new international super-group led by David Byrne to honour the work of obscure Nigerian funk musician William Onyeabor.

Onyeabor's distinctive rhythmic, funkadelic, spacey synthesiser-orientated grooves were composed in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a prolific composer / performer, highly original and forward thinking. Since then he has gained a cult following amidst musicians and music aficionados.

An anthology of his old work Who is William Onyeabor? was released by David Byrne's Luaka Bop record label last year, and this was recently followed by a live concert tour to bring the Onyeabor experience to an inquisitive public.

Gray was approached directly by Luaka Bop who had seen his lighting

USA - Sensaphonics reports that five more hearing health professionals have successfully passed the company's Gold Circle training seminar. The two-day course includes in-depth teaching sessions at Sensaphonics headquarters, plus a hands-on studio session with a live band. The event took 23-24 May 2014, at Sensaphonics headquarters and Mystery Street Recording Company, both in Chicago.

Those gaining their Gold Circle certification include: Theresa Bartlett of Virginia Hearing Consultants in Norfolk, VA; Helene Levenfus of Cedar Audiology in Lyndhurst, OH; independent audiologist Analise Ludwig of Minneapolis, MN; Eric Nelson of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York; and Dale Radke of Hearing Consultants in Kittery, Maine.

The Gold Circle seminar teaches audiologists the specific skills required to successfully assist musicians and sound engineers, an outlook that includes

Belgium - Established in 1990 in the Belgian municipality of Kuurne, Temple of Tune specialises in television, film, corporate promos and radio commercials. With owner Fredo Gevaert always striving to improve the facility's service, his investment in a Yamaha Nuage system has reaped immediate dividends.

Temple of Tune comprises four studios, all connected by a network of hard disks, so that several can work on the same project at once, files can be quickly moved around, sound effects quickly accessed and so on. Working on major projects in Dutch, French and English, a regular part of the facility's work is in Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR).

All four studios have used Steinberg Nuendo for many years, which Fredo is happy to continue doing. But, as a company which is always trying to do make its workflow easier, quicker and more efficient, Nuage has solved one of Nuendo's

South Korea - Kinoton Korea, Inc. is named as Audient's distributor of its full range of products in South Korea, including the USB interface, iD22 and the eight-channel mic pre and ADC, ASP880.

Managing director of Kinoton Korea, Inc., Mr Chris Bae comments on the partnership with the British manufacturer, "We, Kinoton Korea, Inc. are pleased to work with Audient and are very ambitious to promote the high-quality products to the Korean market and look forward to having great success and feedback from the market very soon."

Audient's sales & marketing director Luke Baldry confirms, "Audient's focus is on quality, which is supported by a proud heritage. Chris Bae and his team have a strong knowledge of the South Korean market, and we have every confidence that they will handle Audient sales, support and service at exactly the right level."

(Jim Evans)

Italy - Powersoft, a leader in the manufacture of efficient, high-power professional amplifier products, has appointed Gilberto Morejon as regional sales manager for the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) market. Gilberto will be handling sales for Powersoft, facilitating product demonstrations, and providing design assistance and technical support throughout the Latin American region from his office in Miramar, Florida.

An industry veteran, Gilberto has worked in professional audio for 30 years, with roles including sound engineer for Grammy Award-winning artists like Carlos Vives 1994-2011, Franco de Vita 1992-1998, Luis Enrique, Julio Iglesias, and many others. Gilberto has also been involved in the technical production of shows such as Cirque du Soleil, Anthrax, Joaquin Cortes and Luciano Pavarotti.

A significant part of his work will be to increase Powersoft's presence in

UK - Induction loop manufacturer Ampetronic has revealed a new low profile compact hearing loop solution for integration into intercom applications such as lifts, help points, drive-thrus, car park barriers and door entry systems where space is at a premium.

Integration of hearing loop technology into intercom applications is essential for hearing aid users, who struggle to use traditional systems in the busy and noisy environments that they are normally associated with - as hearing aids cannot fully separate the speaker sound from the surrounding din.

A good quality system is crucial if intelligibility of the sound is to be maintained, and as would be expected from an Ampetronic designed solution, the unit features Metal Loss Correction and Automatic Gain Control whist producing ample power and sufficient voltage headroom to allow IEC 60118-4 Standard compliant performance to

Portugal - NEXT-proaudio has announced the appointment of Phoebus S.P.A as its exclusive distributor for the Italian market.

Phoebus S.P.A. is an established high-end electronics company based in Milan that has always operated in the electronic systems sector supplying conference equipment, audio-video communication and management systems. Now they are starting with NEXT-proaudio for the professional audio segment.

"I met Mr. Luciano and Mr. Tommaso at prolight+sound 2014 and I understood that they were the perfect choice to be the NEXT-proaudio distributors in Italy because They are a very well-known company in that market and they always worked with high-end products. All the team of Next-proaudio is very happy to star with Phoebus," says Andre Correia, NEXT-proaudio assistant manager

"We are very happy to start this distribution. We believe that the distrib

Germany - Sennheiser has founded a new competence centre for innovative streaming solutions, Sennheiser Streaming Technology GmbH (SST).

Sennheiser Streaming Technologies combines the German family-run company's 70 years of experience in the field of audio technology with future-oriented development in the area of streaming. The subsidiary is based in Hamburg and is initially focusing on low-latency streaming to cellular devices.

Jörn Erkau has been appointed managing director of the new company. The 47-year-old has considerable experience in the production of visitor information and audio guide systems. He has collaborated with Sennheiser in the past. He will be supported by Peter Claussen, president of the Integrated Systems Division at Sennheiser, who will also be an SST managing director.

"We will create hardware and software solutions that make life more pleasurab

Production Issues - Jennifer Lopez has pulled out of performing the official World Cup song at the tournament's opening ceremony in Brazil, Fifa has announced. Officials said the singer could not attend Thursday's show because of unspecified "production issues". Lopez was due to perform alongside rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, with whom she has recorded the song We Are One (Ole Ola). Pitball and Leitte will go ahead and perform accompanied by drummers Olodum.

"For production issues, Jennifer Lopez, one of the artists of the official song We Are One, will not be able to perform at the Fifa World Cup opening ceremony," said a statement. The 25-minute ceremony in Sao Paulo will feature 600 artists, including acrobatic gymnasts, trampolinists, martial arts-style performers and stilt walkers.

Fringe Matters - The Edinbur

UK - Monitor engineer Duncan Wild has steadily been building up an inventory of equipment that he knows will give him reliability, flexibility and audio quality. One of his first purchases was a DiGiCo digital mixing console, a decision he has never regretted.

"Like a lot of engineers, I've been developing a rental side to what I do," says Duncan. "I had a few Senneheiser mics and various bits of outboard, and over time you think, 'actually, if I had this bit of kit it would be really useful'. A couple of years ago I was on a particular tour and I thought just that, so I bought a DiGiCo SD8 24 because it was what I needed and I knew there was enough work out there for it."

Since then, Duncan has added to his inventory with an SD11, which he used on the European leg of Rebecca Ferguson's tour. He is now deploying his SD8 with Sophie Ellis Bextor.

"Buy

UK - KV2 Audio was recently specified as the system of choice on another sell out touring theatre show, Dance 'Til Dawn featuring Strictly Come Dancing stars Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace.

Following the success of Fiddler on the Roof, sound designer Richard Brooker, along with his associate sound designer Ross Portway, chose a system based around the KV2 Audio EX 12 active two way theatre box the main front of house multi level solution.

In all a total of 38 KV2 Audio EX active boxes, including fills and subwoofers were deployed on the project and supplied through Orbital Sound, as their first UK KV2 Audio purchase.

The show featured a 12-piece live band which according to Ross Portway, "from the very first rehearsals sounded amazing through the KV2 system"

The success of this debut tour means that the next stop is a 10-week slot in the We

USA - Founded in 1984 by Steve and Tom Alford, Alford Media is a Dallas-Fort Worth area-based company that specialises in staging high-end corporate events throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Asked about the company's criteria for choosing a new speaker system as part of an equipment upgrade, manager of audio services John Caswell said, "We've been using another system for about 11 years and wanted to take it up several notches to offer our customers a high end solution that could stay on the cutting-edge of technology for years to come.

"We demoed many of the top lines before talking to some of our freelancers who'd used the Martin Audio MLA System and had a lot of good things to say about it. Tom Alford spoke with Mario Educate, CEO and founder of On Stage Audio, who strongly recommended that we listen to the system before making a final decision.

"Tha

UK - Audio-Technica is to show its new M-Series headphones alongside Allen & Heath digital mixing consoles and Vicoustic acoustic treatment products at this year's ABTT show at the Old Truman Brewery in London on 11 and 12 June.

The new M-Series professional monitoring headphones are at the centre of Audio-Technica's activity at ABTT2014 - the well-balanced, natural sound of the M40x and M50x models is suited to live sound situations, with excellent acoustic seals ensuring isolation from ambient noise.

The Allen & Heath offering at ABTT will focus on the company's flexible GLD-112 and Qu-24 digital mixers with their flexible feature sets and wide-ranging recording options. The ease of use and compact nature of the GLD and Qu ranges makes the mixers perfect for theatre applications.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Seating nearly 8,000 patrons, Starlight Theatre has been a staple of Kansas City's performing arts community since it first opened in 1950. Hosting a full calendar of Broadway plays and musicals each summer season plus numerous concerts, corporate events, weddings and fundraisers - many classic productions have trod the boards of the large open-air venue over the years, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Oliver!, Hair, Camelot, Sweet Charity and West Side Story.

As to be expected, Starlight, which is operated by the not-for-profit Starlight Theatre Association, has been through a few sound systems in its time, with the last one holding out for the past 14 seasons. But none of them have ever been able to deliver the critical combination of the intelligibility needed for theatrical dialog with the full-range frequency response necessa

UK - In his newest sonic sculpture, Vertical Echoes, renowned sound artist Bill Fontana brings the horror of the WWI battlefield to IWM North, part of the Imperial War Museums, in Manchester.

As in several of his sound installations, Fontana has selected a remotely powered IntelligentDC system from Meyer Sound to accurately reproduce his soundscape and immerse museum visitors. IntelligentDC systems will be featured in live demos at InfoComm 2014 in Las Vegas this month.

Vertical Echoes is housed inside a 55m-high tower known as the AirShard, located at IWM North. To evoke battlefield dynamics, Vertical Echoes juxtaposes the crescendos of battle against a backdrop of softer nature sounds. Featuring recordings of a Sopwith Camel warplane and vintage field gun, the soundscape is reproduced by eight self-powered UPJunior-XP VariO loudspeakers with IntelligentD

UK - Cadac has announced the appointment of LMC Audio Systems as an official UK dealer with immediate effect. The leading live audio sales company will be showing Cadac's new CDC eight-16 digital production console at the ABTT Theatre showthis week.

Speaking for LMC Audio Systems, managing director, Paul Hinkly, says, "This is a chance to work in meaningful partnership with a genuinely premium UK brand, meaning, not only top quality products from first class people but also a common purpose, to transfer the technical and commercial responsibilities and values, so expertly acquired through decades of leadership in the theatre market, to all engineers, PA co's and venues who similarly deserve and demand such respect and support for their investments and businesses."

Louisa Hinkly, marketing & PR manager, adds, "When we learned of Cadac's re-positioning for all liv

UK / France - Celebrating its 50th Anniversary year in the professional AV industry, leading UK distributor, CIE-Group, will mark the occasion in September with its biggest charity challenge ever, as they enter three teams to take on a 550 mile cycle challenge across France: in just three days.

The teams - made up of CIE-Group directors and members of the AV sales and technical support staff - will cycle from St Malo in the North of France to Bordeaux in the South, covering more than 550 miles in the saddle.

This will be the seventh year that CIE-Group staff has taken on a charity cycle challenge, having so far raised in excess of £13,000 for Cancer Research, The British Heart Foundation and local children's charity Derby Kids' Camp.

All three teams - riding under the 'HDBaseTeam' banner - are sponsored by UK AV Signal Distribution brand CYP, with the team name giving

USA - Listen Technologies Corporation (InfoComm booth C10339 will be holding a day-long training session, Integration & Commissioning of Hearing Loop Systems (Level 2) on 17 June 2014, in Las Vegas - the day before the exhibitor floor opens at the InfoComm convention. The event will take place from 8am to 5pm at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel.

This eight-hour training session will take participants through the steps required to properly install a Hearing Loop system. The course will introduce loop system principles and give greater understanding in the specification and design considerations of different kinds of loops systems, including basic, advanced, and phased-array. All attendees will gain both theory and hands-on practical experience of installing, setting up, testing, and certifying a hearing loop system. They will learn how to effectively set up and measure the

UK - Baldwin Boxall will be demonstrating its new voice alarm - VIGIL3 - (and some of the company's most popular products) on the Plug & Socket stand (Q300) at Firex 2014 which takes place at London's ExCel, 17-19 June.

Says BB: "We hope you don't mind, but if you do visit our stand we are likely to ask you to dip your hand into your pocket for some loose change (or the paper stuff if you are feeling generous) to help us raise funds for RAFT (Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust): RAFT website."

Products on show will include the VIGIL3 voice alarm, a new touchscreen microphone, Omnicare EVC with touchscreen control and the new style Advance DRS, CARE2 EVC and VIGIL2 Eclipse3.

(Jim Evans)

USA - German loudspeaker manufacturer, Coda Audio has been making waves in the European and Asian markets with its innovative range of loudspeaker systems. Coda is a name as yet relatively unknown in America, but this June sees the company set sail for the United States to make its first appearance at InfoComm 2014.

There are many reasons why Coda has captured the imagination of the audio industry with its innovative patented technology, not least of which is the company's commitment to delivering outstanding dynamic results through the design and manufacture of each and every component of its systems at its European facility.

Booth # C12319 and demo room MR - N105 at InfoComm 2014 will see Coda reveal its prowess by showing a comprehensive range of products that deliver high quality, cost effective solutions to satisfy the most discerning and complex professional sound reinfo

USA - West Side Story, the timeless musical set in the Upper West Side neighbourhood of New York City that explores the rivalry between two gangs-the Jets and the Sharks-while drawing inspiration from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was recently recorded by the San Francisco Symphony for release on SACD and digital download.

To be released on the SFS Media label in June 2014, the use of wireless microphones in the recording of this project is believed to be the first time this work has been captured in this fashion. Digital Hybrid Wireless technology from Rio Ranch, NM-based Lectrosonics was utilised.

San Francisco-based Jack Vad, whose pedigree includes over 200 commercial classical releases for prominent labels including BMG Classics, Nonesuch Records, and New Albion Records in addition to projects for SFS Media, serves as the producer / engineer of the San Fr

USA - The Zion Lutheran Church of Anoka, Minnesota, has installed an Allen & Heath GLD digital system following an expansion of the sanctuary and an upgrade to the audio system.

Originally built in the 1950's, the Church has recently grown to over 2500 congregants, presenting the need for expansion including an expanded sanctuary area, as well as an audio upgrade.

"The project had a lot of design challenges that added time to the build calendar," shares Jeff Geisler of EMI Audio, the AV design/build contractor for the project. Enter the implementation of an Allen & Heath GLD-80 mixing console as the centrepiece of an extensive audio upgrade.

"The ease of set up with the Allen & Heath GLD-80 helped us make up for lost time due to construction issues. Everything about Allen & Heath mixers and accessories worked as billed and are straightforward. Sometimes you ha

China - British manufacturer Audient has appointed Digime as the new distributor for its compact product range, including the USB interface, iD22 and the 8-channel mic pre and ADC, ASP880.

Fresh and fully energised after the recent PALM Expo 2014 in Beijing, Digime's COO Lenlo Zhu and his team are encouraged by the visitor response to the Audient range. Lenlo says of the iD22, "It's simply fantastic! It has that traditional, classic Audient console sound, with a British design style. A monitor, mixer and mic preamp all combined in one unit - it's a best buy!"

Audient's Simon Blackwood confirms, "Digime has built a strong presence in the pro audio market and is uniquely positioned to connect directly with our rapidly growing customer base in China. We couldn't be happier with the new partnership."

China distributor HX Audio will continue to look after Audi

UK - Huge events are the norm for Delta Sound but when faced with a major product launch in an aircraft hangar, additional challenges faced the sound design team.

Appointed by brand experience agency Jack Morton Worldwide, the size of the venue was not the only problem because significant movement was also involved, requiring 24 surround sound zones plus significant LFE. This was achieved with 12 powerful yet detailed point source speakers either side of the seating block and enough strategically placed subwoofers to thrill the audience. This system was mirrored on the other side of the 'catwalk' style staging to complete the 24 zones.

This was not something that could be easily managed with the existing portfolio of equipment, so the search began for something that could do the job. The Delta team had encountered Pyramix being used at the London Olympics in 2012 and wondered

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