Mercury Rising - Former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, 20 years after his band's debut album made the shortlist. The singer was just 19 when Supergrass appeared on the list. His solo album, Matador, is more introspective and experimental than his Britpop band. Other artists nominated for the £20,000 prize include Florence + The Machine, Jamie xx and Wolf Alice. The winner will be revealed live on BBC Four and BBC 6 Music next month.

The Book's The Thing - A new theatre company hopes to reinvigorate local libraries through theatre. Librarian Theatre will tour productions to libraries across the UK in what founders Tom Cuthbertson and Kelly Eva-May, who are both actors, say will be the first touring company dedicated to visiting regional libraries. Its first production, an adaptation of Hamlet called The Book'

UK - Martin Audio has continued its long association with Novus Leisure's Tiger Tiger brand, with the company's latest generation of installation speakers, the stylish CDD range, being selected for the operators' original and flagship multi-room venue in London's West End.

One of Novus Leisure's approved suppliers, Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) specified CDD as part of a major overhaul, having already fitted the manufacturer's new Coaxial Differential Dispersion technology in several other high profile sites.

"We had also carried out a number of other recent refits for Novus using Martin Audio's AQ range, which we were great fans of," said MSL project director, Darrel Olivier. "But this high profile venue provided the perfect opportunity to debut the new CDD. In terms of aesthetics and sound quality CDD is a definite improvement, offering wider dispersion, as we

USA - Having witnessed how acoustic technology can elevate the dining experience at their restaurant Comal, restaurateurs John Paluska and Andrew Hoffman have again integrated Meyer Sound Libra and Constellation acoustic systems into their newest culinary venture.

The Advocate, located in Berkeley's chic Elmwood neighbourhood, combines soulful northern Californian fare with the Meyer Sound variable acoustics to create a multisensory dining space in which guests can converse easily over a comfortable background buzz.

Paluska pushed the importance of restaurant sound to the forefront when he installed Constellation in Comal in 2012. "After the success we had with Libra and Constellation at Comal, there was never any question that we would also incorporate them at The Advocate," he says. "It's always worthwhile putting extra effort into making a room sound its best

Italy - German sound reinforcement firm HK Audio has signed an exclusive distribution deal for Italy with Gold Music, effective 1 October 2015.

The respected Bruino, Turin-based distributors are now responsible for the entire HK Audio range, from portable to professional live sound to install solutions, covering products from the diminutive Lucas Nano crossover PA through to the new LInear 5 LTS A long throw system and the Linear L SUB 4000 A subwoofer.

Gabriele Capogna, CEO/purchasing manager at Gold Music, said, "It's an honour for us to be responsible for HK Audio across Italy, and we have big expectations for the brand in the growing Italian marketplace. We're confident that we can help grow HK Audio's popularity and profitability together, and we're looking forward to a long and successful partnership."

Andreas Mayerl, HK Audio's international market manager,

Belarus - The ancient city of Bobruisk, in the Mogilev region of Belarus, is celebrating the opening of its new Alexander Prokopenko Stadium. Named after the famous Dinamo Minsk football player, Alexander Prokopenko, the multi-purpose stadium is designed for football and athletics and also incorporates a separate volleyball/basketball field. The stadium has a seating capacity of 1,500, accommodated by the main and opposing spectator stands running down the length of the playing field. With a heated playing surface, the stadium can be used all year and its primary use is for youth football training.

The audio system for the new stadium was designed and installed by Art Ramos Studio. In addition to planning for harsh winter conditions, Art Ramos Studio also had to design the system to meet the stipulations that loudspeakers could not be pole mounted in front of the seating and the

China - Located on Hong Kong's spectacular Clearwater Bay Peninsula, the Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club has an impressive technological infrastructure and now boasts a high-end audio processing set-up thanks to the installation of a Symetrix Solus open-architecture DSP.

South China House of Technology Ltd (SCHOT) was enlisted to design and install the new processing arrangement, which was timed to coincide with a refurbishment and expansion of the main club house and restaurant areas. The Symetrix Solus DSP was ultimately supplied by regional distributor Soundclassy, whose director Chris Fung explains that the system had to fulfil several primary functions.

"First of all, it had to be able to undertake standalone audio matrix and processing duties for the club house and restaurant areas," he says. "Secondly, it also needed to work seamlessly alongside the AM

Poland - It's taken more than two decades of effort and three years of construction but the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre finally opened its doors last year. This is a considerable achievement; not only is the building the first drama theatre to be built in Poland in almost 40 years, but it utilizes up to the minute design and technology to recreate an authentic experience of Elizabethan theatre.

Designed by Renatto Rizzi, an Italian architect and professor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, the new venue is located on the site of a 17th century wooden playhouse known to have hosted fencing lessons, animal fights and theatrical performances from the early 1600s. It's not by chance that Shakespeare's dramas are recorded among these; the Shakespeare Theatre is a testament to the cultural link between Gdansk and London.

Although the building appears immovable, with its heavy win

UK / USA - Cadac has appointed Richard 'Fez' Ferriday as director of sales and marketing, with global responsibility for sales and marketing of the Cadac portfolio of audio mixing consoles and high definition networking products. The move sees Ferriday take on direct responsibility for the company's global distributor network and its North America sales and service subsidiary, newly located in Minneapolis, under the management of technical support manager Mitch Mortenson.

The new North American sales and service HQ provides warehousing and greater space for expansion of the product demo facilities. The move is in anticipation of an equally successful launch of the CDC six in the US and Canada, to that in Europe and Asia.

The 139th International AES Convention in New York sees the US launch of the CDC six live sound console.

The CDC six - and the CDC eight - are being shown a

UK - Stage Electrics has announced the relocation of its London operation to new premises in Southwark. The company will continue to offer Hire, Sales and Live Events services from the new London premises just 1.6 miles from the old premises and just 3 miles from the heart of the West End.

Greg Wood of Stage Electrics commented: "We continue to offer our London customers our full range of services, we move a huge amount of hire equipment and sales goods through the London operation each month and having a central London premises to coordinate this is an important part of our strategy.

Stage Electrics provides audio, lighting, staging and video equipment to a wide range of theatre, events, broadcast and corporate clients in and around London. The London operation carries stocks of consumable items, including a comprehensive range of lighting filters, tape and batteries ava

USA - At LDI 2015, Clear-Com will launch HelixNet Version 3.0, a free software-only update to the HelixNet digital network partyline platform. The new version unlocks the HelixNet system in response to the growing need for more communication channels to support live performances and live productions.

"We are extremely excited to unveil the updates in HelixNet Version 3.0 at LDI," said John Wyckoff, Product Manager at Clear-Com. "The additional capacity and simplified control functions create a whole new world of possibilities on this digital network partyline platform."

With this new update, the HelixNet multiplies its basic channel count by three, with a new offering of 12 channels per HMS-4X Main Station. In the previous version, users had to link three HMS-4X Stations together in order to achieve the same number of channels. This capability brings greate

Switzerland - Schertler has added to its family of acoustic amplifiers with the release of the new David, a compact three-channel amp that combines a number of new features and updated technology with a new look.

Equipped with a 1" dome tweeter and 6" woofer, David essentially offers 100W (30W + 70W) of bi-amplified power. However, improvements to the amp's acoustic construction have led to an increase in its internal air volume, an optimization of the bass reflex construction and a larger power supply, resulting in actual sound pressure levels that are typical of more highly powered amps.

David's inputs will accommodate a microphone, an instrument and a stereo device such as a computer, MP3 player or CD. The instrument input and the jack input on the microphone channel both feature a Bootstrap technology that enables the input to automatically adapt to any impedance

Brazil - Held annually since 1998, PrΩmio Multishow (the Multishow Brazilian Music Awards) is hosted by cable TV channel Multishow. Broadcast live across the country, the 2015 event took place on 1 September and featured six DiGiCo mixing consoles.

Multishow is part of GloboSat, the cable television arm of Globo TV, Brazil's biggest television channel. Presented for the fourth year by singer Ivete Sangalo and actor Paulo Gustavo, PrΩmio Multishow 2015 was enjoyed by a huge television audience. The live and broadcast audio was taken care of by São Paulo-based Epah! Estúdios, in collaboration with Globosat's engineering department.

The brief for Epah! Estúdios was complex and included providing the PA and monitors for the ceremony, which took place over three stages; broadcast mix in stereo and 5.1; 128 channel multitrack recording; 'master room' and all internal

Germany - When veteran Berlin punk rock band, Beatsteaks, had the idea of staging a fund raiser for local refugee support organisations at the Dresden Eventwerk recently, local PA company, Complete Audio offered their services to ensure that the sound was first class.

Fielding his Martin Audio MLA Compact system, André Rauhut, who heads Complete Audio, reports that the band had originally planned to end their 2015 touring schedule at the Lollapalooza Festival until this came along. "And it turned out to be the longest Beatsteaks show ever - running to two and a half hours!"

It had been a strategic decision to stage this show in Dresden, with the beneficiaries being the charities, Sachsische Fluchtlingsrat and Dresden Fu?r Alle as André explained. "There had been a lot of right wing activity here over the course of the past three months and by going

Singapore - An Allen & Heath Qu-16 rackmount digital mixer was employed to manage the live audio and broadcast feeds at the recent Formula 1 Grand Prix in Singapore.

The system, comprising the Qu-16 and Shure microphones, was supplied and managed by E&E, which was tasked with capturing all the live audio to provide media and local broadcast feeds. The Qu-16 sent mic signals from the drivers to the Formula One Management (FOM) systems, which in turn fed the Media Centre, where the international journalist community were waiting to report. The Media Centre also distributed audio to the arena loudspeaker system for the local audience.

The Qu-16 also managed audio for press conferences in the media centre and at the podium area, as well as the broadcast of the winning team's National Anthem.

"The Qu-16 was chosen for its versatility and power-packed features, available in a

Italy - Italian electropop band, The Kolors, who won first place in the 2015 edition of the TV talent show Amici, recently concluded their Kolors Live 2015 tour in Langhirano, at the prestigious Festival del Prosciutto di Parma - with the help of Martin Audio's MLA loudspeaker array.

Reaching the top spot in Italy's best-selling albums with Out, earning a gold record after just one week, marked a great success for the band led by Stash Fiordispino since forming in 2010. Stars in their own right, they have also been opening shows for international artists like Paolo Nutini, Gossip, Hurts and Atoms for Peace.

For the festival event the rental company All Access provided its ground-breaking MLA to Fare BIS Fare, service company founded by Giuseppe Bisbano.

The configuration adopted by PA manager, Paul 'Red' Talami , consisted of eight MLA elements per side (includ

USA - Opened in March of 2015, 1 Hotel South Beach is an upscale hotel with an eco-conscious design. The hotel features large, sun-lit rooms, five food and beverage outlets and four swimming pools including a large rooftop pool that hosts nightly entertainment, special events and private parties.

AVLI of Miami designed and installed the audio system for the rooftop pool and bar area. The hotel emphasized their desire to be a good neighbour to nearby businesses and residential properties while providing an exciting entertainment experience for its guests.

To meet these goals, AVLI designed a distributed system to cover the rooftop pool and bar area while minimizing neighbourhood annoyance and they chose Community W Series loudspeakers for their ability to provide high quality audio while standing up to the sun, wind and salt air of the beach-front environment. The system includ

Spain - Loudspeaker manufacturer, Funktion-One, has picked up the Golden Moon Award for Best Sound System at the International Nightlife Awards 2015. The ceremony, which was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Playa den Bossa, Ibiza on 8 October, followed the International Nightlife Congress held at the same venue on 7-8 October. Both events were organised by the International Nightlife Association.

More than 500 people from 30 different countries attended the congress and awards evening. The purpose of the event is to create a platform for dialogue about issues affecting the nightlife industry around the world. Speaking before the event, Abel Matutes, president of the International Nightlife Association, said, "We have consolidated ideas on international regulations about the environment, unfair competition, minors, and especially noise pollution, security, taxes and alcohol ab

UK - PLASA (the Professional Lighting and Sound Association) has outlined its current position in the wake of various recent changes, and asked for Members' feedback on its next steps as it moves forward into a new phase of its existence.

Speaking at a meeting for PLASA Members held during the PLASA Show, John Simpson, PLASA Governing Body chairman and chairman of the White Light Group of companies, said, "Without doubt our major issue this year has been that of diminishing profit, which has led to a critical cash-flow problem for the organisation.

"We have taken action in implementing cost-cutting measures across many parts of PLASA, including reduction in staff, putting the Eastbourne office up for sale and a substantial restructure of the organisation. We have overcome the immediate cash flow problems for 2015, but will be limited in services we can provide during

Sweden - After years of working with other products, Fremlab decided the time was right to invest in a bigger system, both as replacement for some older equipment but also to open new business opportunities and enable them to offer a higher level of quality to their customers.

After taking time to consider all available options Fremlab came back to KV2 with Carl Fredrik Malmgren, Fremlab's CEO, explaining, "One of the main reasons for choosing the VHD System, besides the obvious superior sound quality, was both the reliability of all the other KV2 products that we have been using for almost 10 years now, as well as the extremely easy set up and plug and play capability that VHD offers. All this, accompanied by the flexibility that a point source solution offers for both indoor and outdoor events, related perfectly to the needs of our rental and event business."

Addin

USA - UK-based theatre, event and installed audio specialists Out Board will exhibit their TiMax SoundHub and TiMax Tracker audio showcontrol and performer tracking systems 30 October - 1 November at the 139th AES Convention in New York's Jacob Javitts Centre.

TiMax's return to the AES (Stand 665), with longstanding US Distributor 1602 Group LLC, marks a landmark period for the product's core theatre market on Broadway, with five major shows employing TiMax audio showcontrol and localisation in the last two years, and so far collecting 10 prestigious Tony Awards between them.

Disney's Aladdin is moving into its third year at the New Amsterdam with sound design by Ken Travis, using four TiMax SoundHub-S64/AES units and a TiMax Tracker system supplied by Masque and which has gone worldwide with Tokyo, Hamburg and London productions already running or scheduled.

Sound de

UK - FBT UK has announced the introduction of the new JTS UF-20 true diversity, dual channel wide band UHF professional wireless system, which boasts an operating range of 200-480 meters and a one-touch set-up facility, Remoset, which can set all parameters of the transmitter within an effective distance of 10 metres or more. Controllable via Remoset are functions including Frequency Data, RF Power, Sensitivity, Low Cut, Key Lock and User name.

Built to the usual rugged JTS quality standard, the UF-20 also features extremely low companding noise, cascadable power and antenna distribution and comes with an optional slide-in re-chargeable transmitter station.

The transmitter section is available as either the JSS-20 handheld transmitter or the UF-20TB beltback transmitter. Both are manufactured to the highest standards for professional use, featuring rugged aluminium alloy chass

The Netherlands - The 23rd Openlucht (Open Air) Film Festival in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands presented seven nights of blockbuster movies with 3.1 cinema sound provided by a Meyer Sound Leopard linear sound reinforcement system. Recently acquired by Aukes Theatertechniek of Amsterdam, the Leopard system delivered power and clarity for nightly audiences of 1,500 in a secluded forest meadow outside the city.

"I immediately heard the difference in sound quality from last year," says Jelle Bleijenberg of CineMec, the cinema operator that provided the feature films for the festival. "With Leopard, the sound was far more direct, and with a good stereo image throughout the audience."

Mark Oppedijk of Aukes agrees that Leopard was a huge improvement for the festival. "This is one of our largest audio projects on a continuing basis, and Leopard performed far bet

Italy - Seventeen years after his death, the music of Lucio Battisti - one of Italy's best-loved singer/songwriters - is in greater demand than ever. It is kept alive on stage by Gianmarco Carroccia, singing, interpreting and paying tribute to his legacy.

In late August Carroccia's current Emozioni (Emotion) tour played a major outdoor show in the city of Fondi, where a comprehensive Yamaha and Nexo system was appreciated by 6000 passionate Battisti fans.

Carroccia bears an uncanny resemblance to Battisti and, alongside him, the three-hour music and speech recital in Fondi's Piazza De Gasperi featured 18 musicians and Giulio Rapetti, aka Mogol, Battisti's friend and songwriting partner from 1966 to 1981. Technical production was by Sperlonga-based Remix Sound, under the watchful eye of company boss Riccardo De Simone.

The Front of House mix was taken care of by Michele De Si

Congo Republic - Clear-Com intercom systems were at the heart of operations for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 11th African Games, which took place in Brazzaville, in the Republic of the Congo, on 4-19 September, 2015.

The ceremonies were held in the new Kintele stadium which seats 6000 people and celebrated the richness and diversity of African culture with bright costumes, music and fireworks.

Y and Co, the France-based rental company that specialises in audio solutions for events and broadcasts, supplied and installed an Eclipse HX Median digital matrix platform running version 8.5 software, and embedded with three MVX-A16-HX 16-port audio and data frame card, an IVC-32-HX IP interface frame card, and six CCI-22 two-wire partyline interfaces. V-Series V12LD and V24LD panels and the Agent-IC mobile app were provided to the production team for communication.

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