USA / Australia - Sensaphonics, the technology and hearing wellness specialist in personal monitoring, has announced the opening of its new Australian location, Sensaphonics AU in Melbourne. The new facility comprises corporate offices and a manufacturing lab, and is headed by managing director Ryota Tanaka. Operating under the brand philosophy of 'Softer & Safer', Sensaphonics AU is an independent organization, operating as a fully accredited affiliate of Sensaphonics, Inc.

"The music industry is growing very fast in Oceania and Asia right now," says Ryota Tanaka. "We know from experience that hearing loss will also be a growing problem in this part of the world. We opened this new office and lab to help meet the needs of musicians and music fans, representing the Sensaphonics approach - as the experts in safe sound."

Originally an employee of Sensaphonics

UK - System integrators Pure Audio Visual has been achieving increasing success with Martin Audio's discreet OmniLine micro array systems in university lecture and room multi-purpose facilities as its reputation spreads.

Pure AV systems specialist Colin Hasted has helped this award-winning system open up a vibrant new channel for a product that has traditionally been more prevalent in the HoW sector.

"Since receiving budget approvals, universities in the north west, in particular, have gone for this in a big way - adopting OmniLine through example," he says. "OmniLine has proved ideal for awkward, multi-purpose spaces with difficult acoustics, where a discreet solution is required. As a result, we have OmniLine in well over half of the north-west universities and all the Liverpool universities - with more to come.

"This solution stresses the importance of

The Netherlands - At the sold-out STRAF_WERK Festival, four Meyer Sound systems helped transform Amsterdam's Sportpark Riekerhaven into a playground for electronic music fans. Led by a Lyon linear sound reinforcement system, the systems were provided by Generations Light & Sound of 's-Gravenzande, the Netherlands.

"We heard several new systems through the course of last year, and the one that blew us away was Lyon," says Chris van Meer of Amsterdam-based Apenkooi, Inc., the music events company that produced STRAF_WERK. "For a dance music event organizer, sound is a critical element. We need a partner that we can depend on for consistent quality, and for us that partner has been Generations."

This is the second consecutive year that Generations has provided Lyon for STRAF_WERK. "When we first used the Lyonss last year the results were fantastic,"

Germany - As part of Shure's strategic focus on providing innovative solutions in the A/V Conferencing and Integration market, the company has partnered with Polycom. Shure is working with Polycom SoundStructure, HDX, Group Series, and Vortex Solutions to connect wireless microphones to Polycom audio and video conferencing equipment.

Because Shure has satisfied Polycom's extensive interoperability requirements, it can brand Microflex Wireless as Polycom Ready. Polycom Ready solutions, including end-user devices, network devices, and software applications, are tested for interoperability with Polycom products and applications. When customers see solutions bearing the Polycom Ready badge, they know they've been proven to work with the world's leading open standards-based UC&C platform.

"We are very proud that the Microflex Wireless System has earned the Polycom Ready design

Hungary - Although the northern Hungarian town of Tokaj and the surrounding district are internationally famous for their wine production, the area has recently hit the headlines with a truly spectacular open-air performance venue featuring an Outline audio system.

The dramatically beautiful setting of a stone quarry which has as its backdrop a 1,300ft high mountain was recently transformed into a 2,500 capacity open-air theatre hosting a wide variety of events by Istvàn Dévald, director of the Tokaj Amphitheatre.

To equip the venue, Dévald called in Budapest-based ZAJ Show Lighting, whose CEO and founder Tamas Fazekas designed audio and lighting set-ups worthy of the unique location.

Fazekas's brief for the audio system was to ensure it reached the 2,500 capacity audience comfortably, designing an audio system able to ensure optimum sound reinforcement, cover

Italy / Germany - Proel has appointed Mega Audio GmbH as distributor for its Axiom loudspeaker brand and Sagitter lighting brand for Germany.

Centrally located in Waldlaubersheim, less than an hour from Frankfurt, Mega Audio distributes many professional audio brands including SSL, DPA, Ampeg, SE Electronics, and Fostex.

"I am very happy to announce that we reached an exclusive distribution agreement with Mega Audio," stated Pietro Guercioni, Proel's director of international sales. "Proel and Mega Audio have the same vision of the market, and we are very excited about this new challenge. I am sure that together we can establish a strong and long term business for the Axiom Pro Audio and Sagitter Lighting brands. Mega Audio is an established and very well known company, and the right partner for us."

"I am proud to confirm that Mega Audio has signed

Ireland - The Gaiety Theatre on Dublin's South King Street is the city's longest established theatre in continuous operation. Since November 1871 and the opening night's double bill of She Stoops to Conquer and the burlesque tunes of La Belle Sauvage, the Gaiety has been entertaining Dublin audiences with a mix of musical shows, opera, ballet, dance and drama. In more recent times, it hosted the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, a venue in distinct contrast to the mass arena productions of today. Since the millennium, the owners have invested over €7m in the refurbishment and updating of this sumptuous theatre.

In 2013, d&b audiotechnik partner, MOSCO, provided a pro audio installation of Q-Series and E-Series loudspeakers to the venue. It proved a resounding success across all entertainment genres, particularly from Riverdance, having employed the Q-Series for

Singapore - St. Andrew's Cathedral recently installed two Allen & Heath's Qu-32 compact digital mixers at FOH in its two main worship halls, replacing the existing analogue mixers.

Located within Singapore's Central Business District, the Cathedral was consecrated in 1862 and declared a national monument in 1973. As a major place of worship, St Andrew's Cathedral faces the challenge of hosting a number of different services, with a variety of musical requirements, and quick changeovers between events. The installation of 32in/24out Qu-32 digital mixers in the traditional worship hall at the Main Building and the contemporary worship space at the Extension building, has provided a solution.

"The Cathedral has many services running back to back especially on Sundays from as early as 6.30am. With the previous analogue mixer, a 'reset' was needed during service changeovers. T

UK - For the second year running Matrix provided a full service solution to Clearscape Communications for Attitude Awards 2015. This included all production management, sound, set, projection and backline equipment.

Scissor Sisters lead singer Ana Matronic hosted the awards ceremony, an honour she enjoyed for a second consecutive year. Each award was presented by one of the many famous faces present, many of whom successfully won an award in their category including Yoko Ono, Vivien Westwood, Lorraine Kelly, Anthony Cotton and Holly Johnson.

Three hundred guests enjoyed a champagne reception, followed by a formal dinner, awards and performances by artists Adam Lambert and VV Brown. After the ceremony guests enjoyed the after party with DJ James Barr from Capital Radio.

Annie Bracken from Clearscape Communications comments, "Glitz and glomour, the Attitude Awards ran per

UK - Sheffield metal titans Bring Me The Horizon have chosen Shure's flagship Axient wireless system and PSM1000 in-ear monitors for their latest tour.

Jared Daly signed on mid tour in 2014 to help fill the monitor engineer position and has exposed the band to the benefits of Shure's PSM1000 IEMs, AXT600 spectrum manager and the AXT200 wireless vocal mic. With input from each of the band, he has subsequently upgraded their in-ear monitoring and helped them to use Shure wireless technology more extensively throughout 2015.

"The band have always used in-ears; they all have very specific mix requirements, including click tracks and cues," explains Daly, who is currently in the USA with the group on tour. "The band and crew have been using Shure PSM900 units for a few years on stage; they owned those when I joined.

"Oli always used wedges for monitoring on-st

USA - A maintenance revision to AES67-2013 - the AES standard for high-performance streaming audio-over-IP interoperability - has been issued. The revision, called AES67-2015, clarifies some of the interoperability requirements, based on general implementation and 'plugfest' experience.

The possibility to incorporate these revisions was identified during the AES 'Plugfest' 1 testing, carried out in cooperation with the European Broadcast Union (EBU), in October last year, and held at the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT), in Munich, Germany. During these tests ten companies tested 16 currently available networked-audio products with AES67-specific extensions against each other to confirm interoperability.

The participating manufacturers were ALC NetworX GmbH, Archwave AG, Axia Audio, Digigram SA, DirectOut GmbH, Georg Neumann GmbH, Lawo AG, Merging Technologies S.A., SOUND4

UK - Having just celebrated its 13th anniversary the Green Man Festival - held in the Brecon Beacons in August - has built a reputation as one of the UK's best music events. Typically featuring a line-up of alternative, indie and folk and dance acts, Green Man 2015 included Leftfield, Hot Chip, Super Furry Animals and Television among the highlights.

During the event, Audio-Technica supplied an array of microphones from its Artist Elite, Artist Series and 40 Series ranges and an Allen & Heath Qu-24 digital mixer for the filming of The Green Man Sessions - intimate live performances of acts appearing at the festival. In charge of proceedings was Charlie Allen from video production company Naked Noise, who faced both a challenging schedule and technical hurdles during the project.

"The Green Man Festival had commissioned us to film and record 14 artists over three da

Spain - Proaudio Granada recently debuted its new Meyer Sound Leopard linear sound reinforcement system at two major outdoor music events in the Spanish city - Jazz en La Costa (Jazz on the Coast) Festival and a concert by the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada (City of Granada Orchestra).

"Ninety percent of our work is supporting classical and jazz music, and Leopard is the perfect system for these applications," says Henry Gómez Rey of Proaudio Granada. "At a Leopard demo in Paris, we listened to a recording of Diana Krall. I closed my eyes and thought, 'It's impossible, it's like she's playing right here in front of me.' It was not like a recording at all.

"With jazz music, people know good sound, and they are very critical," Rey continues. "They loved the sound of the Leopard at Jazz en La Costa. With no delays, we had uniform coverage of the whole a

UK - Edinburgh-based rental and event production specialists Blue Parrot have continued their investment in world class equipment across a busy summer. The company has now added a GrandMA2 Light as the flagship desk for lighting rental and a DiGiCo SD10 fulfilling the same role in sound.

The MA2 was busy across August as the Scottish capital welcomed the world to its Fringe and International Festivals. The desk was used on shows at the Playhouse theatre and Magners Summer Nights concerts in Princes Street Gardens.

Headline acts James, Flaming Lips and The Waterboys all specified MA2 and Blue Parrot supplied a robust control system with a fully tracking back up MA2 onPC fader wing. The Flaming Lips show also saw the company provide a stunning 96 panel 5mm pitch video backdrop using their Chauvet PVP modular system. The band and crew were particularly impressed by the brightness

USA - Fun Home is the unlikely smash hit that took Broadway by storm as an in-the-round production, receiving rave reviews and winning no less than five coveted Tony Awards including Best Musical. The bittersweet comedy - claimed to be the first ever mainstream Broadway musical about a gay woman - pictorialises the chaotic upbringing of cartoonist Alison Bechdel.

Director, Sam Gold - who took the 2015 Tony for Direction - transformed the original 2013 off-Broadway proscenium format to an in-the-round staging, with the intention of achieving more intimate and immersive engagement with the audience.

Sound designer Kai Harada, notes, "It was challenging for all departments, and for the cast, but the show took an incredible leap forward. Now you really feel you're part of the family, watching Alison's past come to life. It is an immersion rather than a presentation.&qu

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

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