The Netherlands - With immersive audio and audio over IP (AoIP) set to be key talking points at ISE 2016, visitors to the Merging Technologies Stand 7-C160 will have an opportunity to experience a solution that "signals the future of audio in fixed installations".

This solution combines Merging Technologies' newly released Ovation 6 with Genelec's pre-production RAVENNA/AES67 powered 4420 model, in an 18 speaker array which delivers an unparalleled, high quality immersive experience.

"Immersive audio and AoIP are the spotlight and interest is really picking up amongst systems integrators, comments Chris Hollebone, sales and marketing manager of Merging Technologies. "For that reason we've created an installation that demonstrates how these two trends can combine in a powerful, captivating way. We're delighted to partner with Genelec on this, their reputat

China - Cantopop singer and songwriter, Hins Cheung, recently kicked off his Live in Passion tour at Guangzhou Gymnasium with the help of a monitor mixing system comprising Allen & Heath's new dLive and ME personal monitor mixing systems.

Hong Kong production company, A Team Plus, managed audio for the tour, selecting a dLive S5000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack, and ME monitor system provided by Allen & Heath's Chinese distributor, EZPro.

"Due to the size of the band, there is 64 inputs to manage. Fortunately, dLive's control surface is very user-friendly and intuitive. Two screens on the surface provide a fantastic overview of what's going on, and around the screens there are some physical knobs for compressor, EQ, and gate, which are extremely helpful when I mix. I can operate very quickly thanks to the Harmony UI, which integrates screen and wrap-around control,&q

USA - With the newly renovated Frederick P. Rose Hall opening in mid-December, Jazz at Lincoln Centre (JALC) now features Meyer Sound systems in every performance space at the prestigious complex, including a Leopard linear sound reinforcement system in the Rose Theatre, a Constellation acoustic system in the Appel Room, and an Ultra Series loudspeaker system in Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.

Visitors can also experience Meyer Sound technology throughout JALC's stunningly redesigned public spaces, including the Mica & Ahmet Ertegun Atrium and the Ertegun Hall of Fame. The mission of JALC is to entertain, enrich, and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy. Sound is at the heart of the company's commitment to providing the highest quality artistic and audience experience.

Sound Associates of New York led the coordination of all Meyer Sound sys

Denmark - Pascal, the Danish based OEM manufacturer of high-power amplifier modules for the professional audio industry, has been awarded its third B°rsen Gazelle Award.

The prestigious industry honour is bestowed by leading Danish daily newspaper B°rsen on Danish companies that have generated continuous growth in turnover or gross profit over the last four years, and more than doubled their turnover or gross profit in that period. Pascal has now received the award for three years in a row.

On achieving the Gazelle award for third year running, CEO Lars Fenger comments, "This is the result of 10 years of really hard work, so I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Pascal team, as well as our customers who we work diligently to help grow, and who in turn help us to grow."

(Jim Evans)

Poland - Specialist integrator, SLX has completed the design and installation of a state-of-the-art sound system for the new Tychy Municipal Stadium. Located in the city of Tychy, the 15,300 capacity venue is one of the finest sports facilities in the southern Polish region of Silesia.

Home to the football team GKS Tychy, the new stadium has been designed to meet the requirements of UEFA and FIFA and as a true multifunctional venue for concerts, cultural and artistic events, fairs and conferences. In addition to the main sports arena, with six commentary positions, the site comprises restaurants, conference rooms, two TV studios, VIP lounges and impressive amenities for players and athletes. The stadium not only creates a striking new landmark, but is intended to become a showcase for the city.

For the main arena sound system, SLX designed a system using 68 Community R Serie

UK - Close to You - Bacharach Reimagined, is a magical journey through over 30 of Burt Bacharach's classic hits and features a cast of talented actor-musicians in a West End Show.

Tasked with supplying audio production were Stage Sound Services who, having been introduced to the world of KV2 Audio by noted sound designer Richard Brooker, had no hesitation in supplying a complete KV2 Audio solution.

Originally running in the Mernier Chocolate Factory, London before transitioning to the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly, the sound design team of Richard Brooker and associate Tom Marshall opted to provide the performers with conventional loudspeaker monitoring as opposed to IEM. Because the action moves around the stage floor mounted monitoring was not an option as it would impact on audience sightlines and not allow enough flexibility to follow the actors on their journey

USA - When the time came for Cornerstone Church in San Antonio to go digital in its 4,700-seat sanctuary, there were three targets that had to be hit: Freedom for the ministers' and musicians' visions, financial responsibility for proper stewardship, and foundational planning for the future. With a church that ministers to 20,000 members locally and reaches every country on the planet, the genesis of where that ministering signal starts is crucial to the success of everything that follows.

Planning the renovation of the church's audio system covered a period of a year and a half and was completed in late summer with the installation of two new DiGiCo mixing consoles: the SD5 at FOH and the SD10 for monitors. These desks act as the hub of a new fibre-based signal transport system that has transformed the church's signal flow and vastly improved the sonic quality of both live and

Germany - Reporting an extraordinarily successful year in the Middle East, Lawo has seen its pioneering IP-based broadcast production video, audio and control technologies and systems adopted by the region's leading TV and radio broadcasters, including installations in Qatar, Jordan and Oman.

Installations across the region reflect the growing number and size of broadcast installations in the region's Arab territories, as well as their increasingly demanding workflow requirements. Lawo's involvement is also an indication of the continued success of the German company's developments in TV and radio broadcast production. It also demonstrates that broadcasters in this expanding and technically demanding market are ready to adopt new approaches and future-facing technologies, and have found a strong partner in Lawo.

"We are becoming more and more recognized in the Middle Ea

UK - A scalable QSC Q-Sys digital audio network has been installed at London's Excel Exhibition Centre by experienced installation specialists Paul Todd and Eddie Thomas of SSE Audio. Based around a Core 1100 processor, the new QSC system replaces Excel's ageing background music system, and is used in conjunction with an existing Ateis voice alarm. All of the QSC equipment was provided by Shure Distribution UK.

Having struggled with the daily management of the previous system, Excel gave SSE a brief to create a fully redundant network with a bespoke, user-friendly graphical user interface. Q-Sys has been integrated into Excel's existing fibre network ring, and now distributes up to 256 x 256 digital audio channels from 18 racks, each with fibre network connectivity and full redundancy.

Excel is one of London's largest exhibition centres, offering a total of 100,000sq.m of us

Poland - Cadac's Polish distributor, Tommex, has installed a CDC six console in the Miejskie Centrum Kultury (MCK) in P?onsk, as part of the modernization of the town's cultural centre. This is the latest in a clutch of initial sales of Cadac's medium format live sound console across Europe, which has seen consoles ship to customers in Benelux, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Consoles have also been sold and shipped to several Asian territories, including China.

The Tommex installation - the first in Poland - is in Miejskie Centrum Kultury's Kalejdoskop Cinema, a multipurpose hall. The MCK facility also features workshops, offices, a recording studio, conference room, dance studio and gallery. The CDC six and two MegaCOMMS connected CDC I/O 3216 stageboxes were chosen by the MCK P?onsk in a tender, providing a system configuration that met the venue's objectiv

UK - Allen & Heath's new dLive mixing system made its debut appearance at London's O2 arena recently, with King Charles supporting Mumford & Sons on their UK tour.

King Charles front-of-house engineer Jon Lewis employed a dLive S3000 console with an A&H DM64 mixrack for FOH, with an Allen & Heath GLD Chrome mixer handling monitor duties. The 20 fader, 12" touch-screen equipped S3000 allows for up to 120 fader strips and extremely fast workflow.

With credits including Roni Size, The Feeling and Clean Cut Kid, Lewis is a fast-rising UK FOH engineer, with extensive experience of Allen & Heath's existing iLive mixing system. And he describes the dLive as being "on another level. From the build quality to the GUI to the flexibility of the console, everything's taken a huge step up. But it's also extremely intuitive - we only had a day's rehearsal with the console before

Latvia - 3S SIA, the Latvian distributor for Portuguese manufacturer NEXT-proaudio, recently installed a NEXT-proaudio LA122 line-array system in Vecpuisu parka paviljons in Valmiera, Latvia. The complex was built in 1914 and after an eventful history completely rebuilt as an event hall for corporate parties, small scale concerts, and medium size parties.

General tech company SIA Decibel, represented by general manager Aivis Balodis, contracted SIA 3S to supply and install the PA system. The calculations and room simulations with Ease Focus were made by Arturs Cintins, technical director of 3S SIA. He also developed and implemented FIR filters for that system.

"SIA Decibel is long term customer of ours and he was sure it has to be a NEXT-proaudio system, so he called me. The choice was LA122 line array system, maybe a bit massive for the room, but it can handle anything

USA - Like many audio system design projects, the biggest challenge in specifying sound for a house of worship is often overcoming the limitations of the physical space. That was the situation that Ft. Wayne, IN-based Custom Sound Designs (CSD) Group, Inc. faced in a recent project for First Assembly Church of Raleigh, NC, and a system based on L-Acoustics' Kiva and ARCS WiFo product lines controlled by a Yamaha CL5 digital audio console was its solution.

"This is not just a case of it being a large and acoustically unfriendly space," explains CSD President Doug Hood. "In some ways it was closer to a new-construction project than a typical renovation, but the nature of the construction limited what could be done. The site was originally a manufacturing facility, so it was a large and almost completely open environment. Things like support beams are central to the

EMEA - Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced the appointment of Jamie Ward as international sales manager, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).

Ward has extensive sales and business management experience in the pro audio industry. His previous roles have included regional sales manager with Allen & Heath, sales director UK with Stanton Group and senior sales manager, HPRO EMEA Central, with Harman International.

"I am excited to be joining Community at such an important time in the company's growth and development internationally," said Ward. "With such a strong product offering specifically focused across the commercial and engineered installed sound verticals, there is a huge amount of potential to offer customers the right solutions and support they need."

Ward continued, "With a lot of manufacturing still on site in the US, everyone

UK - Cloud is shipping its new MK4 versions of the Industry Standard Z8 and Z4 Venue Zone Mixer.

The Z-Series of Venue Zone Mixer from Cloud Electronics, first introduced to the market in 2005, is established as a reliable solution for multi-zone audio applications in hospitality, leisure, retail and commercial markets. The Z-Series offers simple, intuitive control for end-users and straight forward installation for system integrators but with flexibility to provide independent zone source/volume selection per zone, paging per zone and independent remote input options per zone, all from a reliable, tried and tested analogue design.

The new MK4 versions have been developed directly as a result of listening to existing installers and system integrators and adding features to improve this already popular model. Whilst the familiar front-panel remains almost untouched, the back-

UK - Peerless-AV has announced the appointment of Tom Fenton as business development manager, EMEA. Working alongside the UK and export sales teams, Tom will be responsible for growing new business opportunities across all regions.

Tom joins Peerless-AV from one of the major global LFD brands where he held various business development and product management positions within the LFD division; most recently focusing on interactive and professional display products.

"Peerless-AV has worked hard to position itself as a market leader and now is an ideal time to join as the company is experiencing strong growth and the biggest ever ISE is around the corner," said Tom Fenton. "I look forward to working with my new team to develop both the UK and export sides of the business even further in 2016."

Based at Peerless-AV's European Headquarters in Watford, UK, To

Theatre Funding - Arts leaders have warned that cuts to local funding will be the biggest issue facing the theatre industry in 2016. This comes after the government announced a total reduction to local authority grants of £6.1 billion, which will be implemented between now and 2019/20. David Brownlee, director of theatre consultancy firm BON Culture, said pressures on council funding would mean the difficulties faced by regional theatre move "from a drama to a crisis". He added that mid and small-scale venues would be most at risk, especially those run directly by local authorities.

It Was 25 Years Ago - On Christmas Day 1990, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau (in collaboration with CERN) communicated between a web browser and a webserver for the first time - thus the world's first website went live.

Honours List - The music world is repre

UK - When the European premiere of the hugely anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens came to London, Utopium were on hand to illuminate the red carpet royalty and Nelson's Column.

Thousands of dedicated fans flocked to London to celebrate the latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise, where Stormtroopers and Jedi knights joined the cast and celebrities for the biggest premiere of the year.

Utopium illuminated Nelson's Column, transforming it into a giant light sabre. Utopium provided 24 Clay Paky Mythos, three MDG One atmosphere machines, four Studio Due City-Color LEDs and two Studio Due City-Beams to create the spectacle.

In Leicester Square, the cast and crew were joined by celebrity guests as the area was transformed into a space-themed venue. Utopium installed 120 tonnes of ballast to stabilise the 26 masts supporting 175m of 52cm ST header truss, from wh

Canada - B&J Music, a division of JAM, will be the new Canadian distributor for the Peavey Composite Acoustics, Trace Elliot and Budda lines. The agreement was confirmed recently after discussions amongst JAM president, Martin Szpiro, VP Jeff Carman, B&J VP David McAllister and Peavey C.O.O., Courtland Gray, GM of North American sales, Fred Poole and Hartley Peavey, Peavey Electronics' founder.

"The decision to partner with B&J was given great consideration. After looking at other opportunities and initiatives, we realized that the JAM organization is best positioned to enhance Peavey and grow its presence in Canada," said Gray.

"This giant U.S. amplification and instrument brand is a welcome addition to B&J's existing catalogue of exclusive products and we believe that B&J aligns well with Peavey's decision to transition to full distribution in Canada. To kno

Switzerland - Swiss manufacturer Schertler has announced the release of JAM, the third member of its "next generation" acoustic amplifier series. Representing an evolution of the company's best-selling JAM 150 amplifier, this new 5-channel "all-rounder" offers greater flexibility in both live performance and studio situations. The amp combines a comprehensive feature set with the updated technology and enhanced "look" that is characteristic of all the models in this series.

Equipped with a 1" dome tweeter and 8" woofer, and featuring an optimized 2-way bass reflex construction, JAM offers 200W (150W + 50W) of bi-amplified power. The amplifier includes a balanced microphone (XLR) input, an unbalanced mic/instrument input and an input offering both balanced microphone and unbalanced mic/instrument options. Both instrument inputs feature a B

The Netherlands - Analog Way is exhibiting at ISE 2016 in February and will present the new VIO 4K, a premium multi-format converter, along with the NeXtage 08, the latest premium seamless switcher added to the LiveCore series. Also showcased on the booth will be the new firmware version for the Vertige remote controller that brings new features.

VIO 4K is a powerful multi-format converter offering the latest generation of digital connectivity. Natively equipped with seven inputs, VIO 4K enables the conversion of a multitude of signals including: Dual-link DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, 6G-SDI Optical, and universal analogue, into an impressive array of output signal formats up to 4K 30Hz. VIO 4K was designed to provide optimum versatility; it includes three slots for optional I/O modules, two for video processing with capacity to handle formats up to 4K 60Hz 4:4:4 and one for audio p

UK / Netherlands - Cloud Electronics has announced additions to the recently launched CS-C in-ceiling speaker series, and will unveil three new speaker models at ISE 2016 for contracting audio installations in retail, hospitality, commercial and leisure.

The new premium speaker models include the CS-C3, a 3" full-range in-ceiling speaker, the CS-S3, a 3" full-range surface speaker and the CS-SSUB8 a versatile 8" passive surface subwoofer, a companion for the surface and ceiling models. All speakers adopt an architectural aesthetic, are available in black or white and feature ZeroEdge grilles which makes them suitable for most environments including restaurants, hotels, leisure centres, houses of worship and retail stores.

Having already introduced a 5, 6 and 8-inch in-ceiling speaker range with the CS-C Series in 2015, the new full-range CS-C3 3" ceiling

UK - John Hornby Skewes & Co has released details of its new HK Audio Dealership Agreements. They have opted for "a Selective Distribution Agreement with a view to creating a tighter network of enthusiastic, committed, likeminded dealers".

There are three dealership options available for existing and new dealers to apply for including Reseller, Lucas Nano, and Commercial Partner options.

JHS executive director, sales and marketing Alan Smith explained, "Over time we'd noticed that our resellers had become very diverse with differing levels of commitment, and all of those resellers have varying levels of product presentation and technical understanding.

"We're creating a new network of dealers who will be creating the high-end quality environment in which we'd like HK Audio to be represented. It'll be a new and stronger partnership where we'll be invest

USA - A 24 channel Audient ASP8024 analogue mixing console is now at the heart of a new 1400sq.ft teaching facility at Lake Havasu High School's CTE (Career Technical Education) Audio Production Program. Remodelled earlier this year under the close supervision of its director, Sam Brindis, the upgrade of this new studio space - to be known as Knight House Studios - heralds the beginning of a new era for the Music & Audio Production Technology programme.

Brindis has adapted the course over the four years he's been at Lake Havasu High School with programme numbers steadily increasing from the initial 45 in his first year. "The programme used to be called Audio/Video; there was pretty much no audio whatsoever." That has certainly changed, with 160 students in regular contact with the desk today, learning basic recording techniques, tracking, mixing, signal flow and patch

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