USA - Just a short drive from the Mexican border and southeast of the city of McAllen, Valley International Christian Centre (VICC) recently opened a new, almost 70,000sq.ft sanctuary. This state-of-the-art church is the largest house of worship in the Rio Grande Valley and, in 2013, was recognized as one of the fastest growing churches in America by Outreach Magazine.

Music plays a vital role in VICC's worship services and, to ensure a high level of speech intelligibility and excellent music reproduction characteristics, church officials recently gave the green light to the deploymen

Japan - Following 12 successful years with its Meyer Sound MSL-4 loudspeakers, the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Japan returned to Meyer Sound when it came time to upgrade. With an emphasis on exceptional audio quality and system reliability, the 2,550-seat venue chose a design based on M'elodie and MICA line array loudspeakers.

"In my opinion, the best equipment should be robust and reliable," says Masaru Kirie of Takarazuka Stage Co., Ltd. "The new system's performance lives up to the prestigious Meyer Sound brand, and the sound quality is excellent in all respects.&quo

USA - Symetrix has announced that Sisme has taken on exclusive distribution responsibilities for the prominent DSP brand throughout Italy.

Beginning operations with a focus on the MI market, Sisme has evolved to place its greatest emphasis on the pro audio and integration sectors. Today its distribution portfolio includes brands such as Audio-Technica, Aviom, Clear-Com, HK Audio, L-Acoustics and Powersoft - while its overall offer was strengthened considerably in 2003 by the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility situated on the central eastern coast of Italy.

"With this fa

UK - The worldwide premier of the new Y-Series loudspeakers from d&b audiotechnik took centre-stage at Stand D80 in the d&b corner of PLASA London 2014.

With utility and flexibility in mind, the design of the new Y-Series from d&b audiotechnik presents both point source and line array modules. The Y7P and Y10P point source and the Y8 and Y12 line source loudspeakers each feature two 8" drivers with neodymium magnets mounted in a dipolar arrangement around a 1.4" compression driver. All models are passively crossed over, keeping amplifier channels to a minimum.

The Y-Series

UK - Creamfields 2014 featured multiple stages catering to crowds of EDM fans, which exceeded 60,000 daily. Swedish DJ, remix artist and producer Avicii headlined the South Stage at the peak of Creamfields 2014, while his FOH engineer, Wayne 'Rabbit' Sargeant, ran the show using an SSL Live.L500 console. The main North and South Stages both featured large-scale PA systems, supplied by Britannia Row Productions, Ltd., with SSL Live consoles at front of house that kept fans raving for the three-day-long end-of-summer party.

"Avicii has a simple setup, with Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS playe

UK - Reading University is a globally renowned institution. Ranked amongst the top 1% of universities in the world, its reputation for teaching, research and enterprise is formidable. Reading is also home to some of the country's most beautiful campuses and a number of heritage buildings. It was in respect of one such heritage site that the university contacted POLARaudio, seeking a solution to an audio headache on a grand scale.

The Great Hall, situated on the original London Road campus, is a Grade 2 listed building which hosts a wide variety of events, not least of which are gradua

The Netherlands - Designed to attract over 500,000 visitors each year, Utrecht's new Tivoli Vredenburg venue covers 31,000m2 and features five auditoriums, 22 dressing rooms, 11 circulation spaces and 24 bars/restaurants. Designing a communications system for such a complex venue was a daunting task, but ASL Intercom had the right solution.

The city's Tivoli and Vredenburg venues have been major centres of music for over 30 years. Bringing them together under one roof with the city's Jazz Centre was achieved by incorporating the existing Vredenburg symphony hall into a brand new, €15

USA - Metric Halo has announced the immediate availability of its new MH Dirty Delay plug-in.

Dirty Delay is a visceral, gritty, fantastic-sounding musical feedback delay processor with integrated Character and filters in the delay path. It can create "awesome vintage echo and tape-delay style sounds as well as lush and subtle spaces in a mix". New users are already finding that it is more "real" sounding than alternative in-the-box delay processors.

Not just a musical feedback delay, MH Dirty Delay is something special. With the integrated filters and character

UK - Soundcraft's UK and Eire distributor, Sound Technology reports that both its award-winning Vi6 FOH console, and the latest addition to the Vi range - the Vi3000 - have both rocked the festival circuit this summer.

The Vi6 was deployed by premier hire company, Adlib, on events including Creamfields, the Liverpool International Music Festival, Kendall Calling Festival and the Wakestock Festival.

Now firmly established on riders, the Vi6 has been acclaimed as one of the easiest to use, most ergonomic, user friendly and best-sounding large format digital consoles around. Thanks to

UK - PLASA London 2014 welcomed visitors and exhibitors to ExCeL, London for the second consecutive year on 5-8 October and impressed with a ground-breaking show floor, an inspiring education programme and a host of important announcements. While exhibitors revealed their latest product innovations, the organisers uncovered plans for the future of the show.

Speaking at the PLASA Awards for Innovation and Sustainability 2014, held on the penultimate day of the show, PLASA's CEO Matthew Griffiths revealed some of the changes for 2015, which will redevelop the scope and delivery of the e

UK - For the first time in the UK, d&b audiotechnik GB is offering an open invitation to their Sound System Optimisation seminar. Each seminar runs for two days and invites participants on a journey through the theory and practice of acoustic measuring, adjusting and fine tuning.

Attendees should have a good understanding of sound system design, setup and tuning along with a confident understanding of basic electroacoustic principles in order to take full advantage of this seminar. This is a practical course that guides participants through the precise process of measuring and adjusti

The Netherlands - Tivoli Vredenburg is a new and architecturally impressive venue in the heart of the beautiful Dutch city of Utrecht. Equally impressive is its technical infrastructure, which features an array of DiGiCo mixing consoles as part of its extensive audio system.

A merger of former venues Tivoli and Vredenburg, both successful in their own rights for the past 30 years, Tivoli Vredenburg has been constructed around the existing Vredenburg theatre and concert hall, now known as the Grote Zaal or Great Hall, which remains in its original form.

The new building houses four a

UK - Islington's famous Sadlers Wells Theatre is often called London's dance theatre. Initially dating from 1683, today Sadler's Wells not only promotes but also commissions and produces outstanding dance. However, in order fully enjoy a performance of dance, it is important that the audience enjoys the music in equal measure. To that end, installation specialists Scanaudio recently upgraded the theatre's induction loop system for the hard of hearing.

Since the introduction of legislation requiring public spaces to provide for all kinds of disabilities, induction loop systems have bee

UK - Jazz Funk band Incognito celebrates its 35th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion the band was recently filmed at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire for a live concert DVD.

To ensure that the sound was as a tight as possible, Incognito's percussionist Joao Caetano took along his own selection of DPA microphones including four d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones and a stereo pair of d:dicate 4011A Cardioid Microphones, which were used as overheads for the recording.

"Normally I use d:dicate 4011A cardioid microphones for studio work and rely on the d:vote 4099 Instrum

Brazil - For the Brazil arm of Fox International Channels (Fox Brasil), coverage of this year's World Cup tournament also signalled the move from analogue to digital broadcast production.

Temporarily deployed in the broadcaster's studio at International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Rio de Janeiro, the Lawo audio consoles, routing system and video devices that made the move possible have in the meantime been relocated at Fox Brasil's permanent broadcast facility, also located in Rio.

The Lawo equipment comprises a Nova73 HD, which serves as the central audio router, a 48-fader mc² 56 M

France - At the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, September saw the 20th anniversary re-opening of the updated Great Gallery of Evolution space featuring an install of site-specific custom-designed Amadeus speakers.

The museum install features an assortment of Amadeus speaker and sub-woofer models to offer the public a Hi-Fi audio experience throughout the vast museum. Merging Technologies, Solid State Logic and Flux also added key ingredients to the new museum install to control the Amadeus speakers.

Amadeus' director of R&D, Michel Deluc, and designer Bernard BYK

UK - Edinburgh-based Black Light has continued its work with one of the UK's leading football clubs by outfitting Arsenal's flagship shop with the latest in sound and AV technology. The success of the project at the Armoury store showcases Black Light's technical expertise and creativity and the fact that its team can deliver exceptional installations that bring interactivity and excitement to the retail environment.

"This project was the second time that we have worked on a retail project for the club," said Phil Haldane, who led Black Light's installation team. "Our c

UK - Brighton-based pro audio, video and lighting integrator, Penguin Media Solutions, has recently completed an extensive installation into the University of Kent's new student bar, bistro and live venue, Cargo.

Head of Hospitality for the University, Keith Williams, wanted a system that offered quality, reliability and, above all, versatility. A complex noise management study had been undertaken, so strict guidelines also had to be adhered to from the initial design, through to final delivery.

"We wanted to offer Cargo a simple, versatile but eminently capable system," s

Tunisia - The renowned International Festival of Carthage is a celebration of classical music jazz, folk, theatre, film and ballet that takes place every year in the ancient city of Carthage in Tunisia. Since 1964, the event has been staged in the ancient theatre of Carthage. The next festival event, taking place in the months of July and August 2015, is to be supported by the new Lawo mc²36 mixing console.

Lawo's Tunisian partner Pro Audio and Light (PAL) - the company responsible for light and sound systems for this festival in recent years - closed the deal on a 40-fader mc²36 fo

Switzerland - ARX Systems has appointed Tonspur AG as their new exclusive distributor for Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

ARX's MD Colin Park said: "Tonspur are a well-known and respected Swiss distributor, here at ARX we're looking forward to working with Hansjürg Meier, Eddy Broquet and the team at Tonspur.

"They're very enthusiastic about the possibilities for the growing ARX digital and analogue product range amongst their extensive client base throughout Switzerland and Liechtenstein."

Tonspur's founder Hansjürg Meier said, "ARX fits perfectly in our port

USA - Delivering unprecedented sonic performance in a compact form factor, HARMAN's JBL Professional today introduced the first two models in its new 7 Series Master Reference Monitors, the 708i and the 705i. Usiing patented technologies of JBL's flagship M2 Master Reference Monitor, these two models were developed to meet the needs of broadcast and post-production facilities, producing content in surround and burgeoning immersive audio formats.

From a hardware standpoint, multi-channel monitoring presents several challenges. The presence of video displays may limit options for speake

USA - As a resource for system integrators, consultants and front-of-house engineers, Bose Professional will be hosting one-on-one demo sessions of their RoomMatch Progressive Directivity Array loudspeaker systems at Wild Bills, the premier concert venue in metro Atlanta on Tuesday 28 October, through Thursday 30 October 2014.

The Wild Bills sessions are an extra-special opportunity, with plenty of time for attendees to mix live multitracks on an installed RoomMatch system. And attendees will have a chance to have discussions with Bose Professional Systems engineers. Snacks and refres

USA - Diggerland USA is the country's first construction-themed adventure park, allowing children and their families to operate real construction equipment in a safe environment. The 14-acre park is located adjacent to its sister attraction, Sahara Sam's Oasis, in New Jersey in the suburbs southeast of Philadelphia.

Spellcaster Productions of nearby Hammonton, New Jersey designed and installed the system on a very tight timeframe; from land clearing to opening took just six months. An Ashly Audio ne24.24M modular Protea matrix processor outfitted with 12 inputs and 12 outputs provides

UK - Steinberg Media Technologies has announced upcoming workshops in the UK. Together with Yamaha and sE Electronics, Steinberg has scheduled tour dates from Poole in the South to Perth up in Scotland.

As a part of the ongoing Steinberg Training Centre education programme, these interactive education events feature critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Martyna Wren, session and touring drummer Emily Dolan Davies (Tricky, Becky Hill, Bryan Ferry, The Hours) and multi-instrumentalist, producer and Cubase expert Andy Schrav (Peter Andre, Delta Goodrem, Paper Aeroplanes). Over the next

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