UK - An Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system recently managed FOH on a tour marking the 40th anniversary of the release of Rick Wakeman's landmark concept album, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

Based on the novel by Jules Verne, which also had its 150th anniversary in 2014, the album is one of the rock era's landmark achievements selling 15m copies.

The 14-date tour comprised performances across the UK, including two dates at the Royal Albert Hall. Each show was a live presentation of the album, performed by Rick Wakeman and The New World Symphony Orchestra, accompan

South Korea - This year's Ultra Music Festival (UMF) Korea took place in Seoul, South Korea with more than 100,000 EDM fans and music lovers in attendance. The event, which took place at the Olympic Stadium Sports Complex, featured heart-thumping beats produced by the world's top DJs reinforced by Adamson Energia loudspeakers.

The ground floor of the Olympic arena was converted into the nation's largest outdoor club for the two day event. Electronic music was delivered by a number of big-name DJs including Steve Angelo, Above & Beyond, Steve Aoki and Paul Van Dyk. Empire of the Sun, I

Germany - As in recent years, sound engineer Carsten Kümmel handled classical production duties at the 2014 Thurn & Taxis Classic Festival (Schlossfestspiele) in Regensburg. Among the performances he mixed were Guiseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, Operas in Bavarian and the gala performance of star soprano Angela Gheorghiu and the Symphonic Orchestra from Hof/Germany - all on a Lawo mc²56 console.

The most testing production for Kümmel was Rigoletto, where more than 60 microphones were in use. As previously, he took a two-level approach to the console setup - one level was

Belgium - The Benelux countries are rapidly making a name for themselves as a hotbed of musicals produced on a giant scale. As Soldaat van Oranje continues to wow Dutch audiences in a former aircraft hangar, a new production, 14-18, is now doing the same in a similarly vast Belgian venue - De Nekkerhal in Mechelen.

The production brings the grim reality of Flanders fields to life with a high level of intensity and immediacy for the audience, a spectacle helped greatly by Sennheiser's flagship Digital 9000 wireless microphone system.

Set in Western Flanders during the G

USA - Sound designer Tim O'Heir has chosen a Meyer Sound system built around M'elodie line array loudspeakers to reinforce the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of the musical comedy Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The production entertains audiences with a high energy that Time Out New York says "makes Broadway rock harder than it ever has before".

"The M'elodie centre array is working out perfectly for the vocals," says O'Heir. "It's a rock concert sound, but we also needed great intelligibility along with vocal punch, because the lyrics carry the

Denmark - Sune Snellman Jakobsen is a live mix engineer stationed in Copenhagen whose credits include world tours with The Raveonettes, Mew, Mercury Rev from NY, Kashmir from Denmark, and, most recently, Trentem°ller.

An avid Metric Halo user, Jakobsen owns a ULN-8 interface and a LIO-8 interface and regularly uses their SpectraFoo sound analysis software to set up shows and to help identify and solve problems while mixing. His interfaces carry Metric Halo's optional +DSP, which allows him to run their powerful plug-ins on critical live channels (including the whole mix!).

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USA - The 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention (9-12 October, 2014, at the Los Angeles Convention Centre in downtown Los Angeles) will feature a High Resolution Audio (HRA) programme Friday, 10 October.

The direct result of a collaborative effort between the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the HRA programme will include a number of panels and sessions that address the current and future direction of HRA from various perspectives, including content creation, digital distribution, licensing of hi-res music files, archiving, subscription mo

Australia - DPA Microphones' d:facto Vocal Microphone provided significant vocal improvements to the live broadcast of Australia's The Voice, ensuring an even more enjoyable experience for TV viewers. In similar fashion to other TV singing/talent shows, The Voice Australia relied on wireless microphone technology to ensure that contestants could move freely about the stage. DPA's award-winning d:facto fitted the bill for the show's finale.

The decision to try the DPA d:facto Vocal Mics on the show was on suggestion from Australian rental company JPJ Audio. "JPJ's Br

Germany - In Berlin, they call it the Fanmeile - a 1.5km stretch of avenue which serves as the main theatre for Germany's national celebrations. Where else would more than 1m people gather to celebrate the return of the World Cup, after an astonishing summer of football in Brazil!

Rental company auvisign GmbH was called upon to provide the PA for the huge crowds, from the main stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate to the 10 big TV screens spaced down the length of the fan mile and beyond to other stages. This massive task was supervised by sound designer Johannes Raack, who has worke

USA - Ray LaMontagne recently kicked off his North American tour with an Adamson Energia PA powered by Lab.gruppen PLM series amplifiers with Lake Processing.

Fourteen PLM 20000Q amplifiers power the system that consists of Adamson E15 and E12 line arrays enclosures as well as E218 subwoofers. Integrated Lake Processing provides speaker processing, monitoring and control. The amplifiers were provided by Eighth Day Sound, the production company behind the tour.

"It's great to see the Lab.gruppen amplifiers packaged with the Energia system," explains Jon Lemon, FOH engineer

USA - Growing with the community since its founding in 1972, Hosanna Lutheran Church is now a cornerstone of religious life in Mankato, Minnesota. With four contemporary services a week, plus one traditional service and plenty of high-SPL youth events, its sanctuary sound and video systems were tapped to provide a wide range of content.

Despite having loudspeakers made by a respected manufacturer, intelligibility and low-end extension were poor and a regular source of complaints until recently, when Audio Video Electronics (AVE) (Maple Grove, Minnesota) renovated the system. Citing th

Switzerland - This was year 48 for the Montreux Festival and the event attracted the usual spread of artists including Pharrell Williams who had the crowd begging for more during week one.

All the leading DiGiCo models are in play at Montreux, from the flagship SD7, which holds fort in the Stravinski, to the ultra-compact SD11, which sits in the same venue providing talkback, alongside the house SD5 in monitor world. Furthermore, SD8s, SD10s, and SD9s all have their part to play, in the Jazz Lab, the Jazz Club, the Rock Cave, and Montreux Palace.

"My relationship with DiGiCo ha

USA - DPA Inc., the U.S. branch of DPA Microphones, has announced the appointment of Christopher Spahr, Pedro Rocha and Leonardo Romero as area sales managers for the Eastern US, Western US and Southern US/Latin America, respectively. The company has also promoted Shan Siebert to general manager of the Longmont, Colorado-based office.

"This announcement comes at a very exciting time for DPA Microphones' US operations," says Eric Mayer, president of DPA, Inc. "Not only does this serve as an example of how our brand recognition has expanded, but it also means that we'll b

Germany / USA - Lawo has appointed Karl Kussmaul as product support manager. He brings with him a wealth of pro audio and video experience from his many years in product management and support roles with Sony.

In his new post, Kussmaul will coordinate the Lawo service force in North America from his New York base, and will provide assistance to the constantly growing number of Lawo customers and installations using his advanced technical knowledge and long experience.

"I am delighted to be part of this innovative company," says Kussmaul. "Lawo's consistent focus on qu

Germany - With nearly 500 Meyer Sound loudspeakers already installed aboard its ships, Aida Cruises of Rostock, Germany has recently added Meyer Sound UPA-1P loudspeaker systems in four performance rehearsal spaces in Hamburg. In addition to sound quality and reliability, the design team has named accurate sonic translation as a primary reason for the system choice.

"Since Meyer Sound's goal with all products is neutrality, performers will hear the same sound on the shipboard stage as they hear in rehearsals," says system designer Malte Polli-Holstein of Hamburg-based Three-

Camera Shy - Kate Bush has asked fans not to film her 22 Before The Dawn shows at Hammersmith Apollo which start tonight. The Wuthering Heights singer has said it would "mean a great deal to me" if people did not use their phones or tablets during the concerts, which mark her return to live performance after 35 years. Mobile phone technology and home computing were in their infancy when she last performed live in 1979.

Writing on her website, the singer said, "I have a request for all of you who are coming to the shows. We have purposefully chosen an intim

Spain - Nexo's STM M28 compact line array has proved a great success for new owners BTM Sound S.L., debuting at the Porta Ferrada International Festival in Sant Feliu de Guixols on the sunny Costa Brava.

This international festival, first held in 1958 and now one of the most important summer cultural events in Catalonia, has seen a high-quality and eclectic programme of performers throughout July and August. In its picturesque location beside Sant Feliu's town harbour, the purpose-built stage has hosted local and international artists such as Belle & Sebastian, Silvia Perez Cruz and R

Switzerland - A new Nexo Geo S8 compact line array system has enhanced the ambient environment of the multipurpose l'Amphimax hall at Lausanne University.

The hall, used for exams, meetings, assemblies, lectures and the occasional celebrity visitor such as the Dalai Lama, is the largest space on the university campus. It can seat more than 1,000 students for examination: 650 in the primary space and a further 400 in an extension behind a moveable wall. The university was looking for a system with clear intelligibility as it will mainly be used for speech applications.

The system was

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK), distributor of Midas in the United Arab Emirates for the live sound market segment, is offering demo sessions on the manufacturer's M32 console to all audio professionals in the region.

"Since the publication of our demo sessions, we have been getting the inquiries from UAE, Qatar and Bahrain," commented Pramod Manerikar, Midas and Klark Teknik product specialist at NMK. "The advantage of ongoing demo sessions is that client has the opportunity to keep a console for a few days at his warehouse in order to test all

UK - Young Scottish-born violinist, Nicola Benedetti, is one of the UK's rising stars. Currently enjoying a top 20 position in the UK pop charts - the first time a British violinist has scored a top 20 album since Vanessa Mae in 1995 and Nigel Kennedy in in 1989 - Benedetti is a sought-after performer.She recently played a sold-out concert at the Guildhall in London as part of the City of London's Curtain Raiser programme for the Commonwealth Games. Audio production was supplied by Scottish audio specialists, The Warehouse who opted for a Halo Compact line array system from EM Ac

UK - In conjunction with live sound equipment company Tour Supply, Shure Distribution UK has been supplying equipment and technical support services at a number of the UK's biggest festivals during the summer period.

Tour Supply's distinctive cabin could be found backstage at the Radio 1 Big Weekend, Parklife, Wireless, Sonisphere, Bloodstock, Download, London Calling, Lovebox, and the V Festivals. Shure UK technical experts were on hand at select festivals with Tour Supply providing technical assistance to engineers and crew members offering trials of new products such as Shure's new

UK - Biodiesel specialist Midas will power the first Technopop Festival this autumn, a four-week pop-up science, technology and innovation experience in London's East End.

Caroline Johnson, Technopop's production manager, comments, "Environmental and social considerations run through the core of the Technopop concept and the Midas team identifies with that. Midas has proved itself in all sorts of environments over the years, so getting them on board to support our approach was one of the easier decisions."

Held in a Neptunus structure, Technopop, a partnership with Oxley I

Europe - The first product to prove the Open Control Architecture (OCA) in the field, the D80 amplifier from d&b audiotechnik, was already at launch in January an innovative product with many features and benefits making it immediately attractive to the d&b user community. Why the addition of OCA? "You might call this parallel evolution," explained Marc Weber, the driving force in product management behind the development of the D80 at d&b. "The new amplifier was designed to include sophisticated functionality and control, the future possibility of interoperability with o

UK/Serbia - Trilogy has announced that N1, a new news channel that will cover the Balkan countries of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina has selected Trilogy's Gemini distributed matrix intercom system.

Sold by Amisys, a broadcast systems integration company covering Serbia and neighbouring countries, to Balkan DTH and cable operator United Group, which will run N1, the Gemini system will provide critical communications within the channel's main production facility in Belgrade, Serbia, plus local news centres in Zagreb, Croatia, and Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Taking advantage o

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