USA - After relying on a venerable Meyer Sound system since first opening at its current location in 1997, Yoshi’s jazz club in Oakland, California recently upgraded to a new system incorporating the latest technologies from the same company. Supplied by Advanced Systems Group (ASG) based nearby in Emeryville, the new Meyer Sound installation has earned praise from management, artists, guest engineers, and patrons alike.
“Every artist that has come in here has been blown away,” says Yoshi’s production manager Marcel Quiroz. “Haley Reinhart’s engineer told me it was the best house system he’d ever heard, and the engineer for Dave Weckl said that hands down we now have the best-sounding room in the Bay Area. After his set, Freddy Jackson came up, gave me a hug, and said, ‘Thank you!’”
The prior system had served Yoshi’s well, reinforcing the music of jazz, R&B, and associated pop luminaries for a quarter century. But a gruelling schedule of two shows six or seven nights a week, when combined with some questionable changes in front-end processing, had dulled the lustre of the system. These signs of aging, along with demand for stronger bass by contemporary R&B acts, prompted Quiroz and general manager Hal Campos to look at giving the venue a complete audio renovation.
Preliminary plans were put on hold during the Covid shutdowns, but when business rebounded, Yoshi’s gave the green light to move forward with a new system. Final designs were generated by Joe Mistretta of Meyer Sound Design Services working in collaboration

Finland - To complement its growing global network of physical Experience Centres, Genelec has introduced its online virtual showroom, where visitors can explore a wide range of active loudspeaker systems and technologies in a set of stunningly realistic room settings. This allows customers across the Studio, AV, and Home Audio segments to instantly access valuable Genelec information and resources in a visually engaging interactive environment.
Hosted on the Genelec website, visitors to the virtual showroom can experience the latest in VR technology to navigate separate and distinct areas for professional audio monitoring, AV installation and home audio, which showcase both stereo and immersive systems that comprise a carefully selected range of key loudspeaker and subwoofer models. Visitors can then access detailed product information, video content and valuable learning resources, at any time of day and from the comfort of their own environment.
"One of the powerful effects of the pandemic was to focus our minds on how to communicate more effectively via digital marketing channels," comments Genelec business development director Ken Kimura. "So, we used that period of enforced disruption to explore how to engage closely with our customers in the virtual world, and the virtual showroom was a natural result of that planning process – complementing our well-established website and social media channels."
With the return of face-to-face customer contact, Kimura feels strongly that Genelec now has a perfect balance of demonstration opportunities. "I

Finland - Casino Tampere is a far cry from the glitz and bling-bling of Las Vegas. Located at Tampere’s Nokia Arena, it’s only the second casino in Finland and is owned and operated by the Finnish state-owned company Veikkaus.
Casino Tampere operates a responsible gaming policy with tools in place to enable players to self-regulate as well as mandatory loss limits on slot machines. Exuding Finnish style with lots of natural wood and greenery, Casino Tampere combines Nordic design with advanced casino concepts. Over 100 Genelec Smart IP loudspeakers contribute to a complete sensory experience.
Digital AV solutions experts, Craneworks Oy, won an open tender to design and supply all of the digital AV solutions for the new casino thanks to their imaginative, ideas-driven approach combined with solid technical expertise. As Craneworks managing director, Sami Käyhkö describes, "Our aim was to design the world’s most advanced casino experience with a Nordic twist and a bit of magic."
Genelec’s Smart IP loudspeakers fitted into Craneworks’ vision: "We wanted all of the casino AV technology to be built on an IP network with full remote controllability," explains Käyhkö. "That includes audio, video, lighting, digital signage, the AV matrix and scaler, and even scent control." The Genelec Smart IP loudspeakers made sense in this context. "Aesthetically, their rounded form works very well with the casino’s Finnish-inspired interior – in certain areas we even have some of the models with the RAW aluminium finish, which look amazing – and of c

Spain - Clear-Com returns to Barcelona for ISE 2023, where the company will showcase a broad range of intercom applications on Stand 5G820 in Hall 5. Offering innovative voice communications solutions for live events and performance venues, motorsports, theme parks, marine offshore, corporate communications production, and more.
Visitors will be invited to explore the company’s diverse portfolio of intercom systems at the stand, including the award-winning Arcadia Central Station with HelixNet Digital Network Partyline integration, the new V-Series IrisX IP Panel, and a range of virtual intercom clients including the Agent-IC mobile app and Station-IC desktop client.
A popular choice for the largest and most complex live events, Arcadia is a scalable IP intercom platform bringing together HelixNet, FreeSpeak, Encore, other 2W/4W endpoints, and third-party Dante devices in a single, integrated system. Arcadia offers licensed-based scalability that allows it to meet numerous production needs, with support for over 100 beltpacks and up to 128 IP ports. Arcadia has already proven to be a perfect fit for rental applications like shareholder meetings and developer conferences with the right balance of flexibility to fit the various workflow needs of event after event.
For applications requiring up to 200 beltpacks and the broadest range of point-to-point workflow options, Eclipse HX Digital Matrix offers the tools to deliver efficiency. New features introduced in the EHX 13 update allow Eclipse to support systems of up to 200 FreeSpeak beltpacks in a si

Spain - Renkus-Heinz will make its return to Integrated Systems Europe at the Fira Barcelona Gran Via venue in Barcelona.
ISE 2023 attendees will have the opportunity to experience ‘The Sound Solution’ in person at booth #7F680 where Renkus-Heinz will exhibit various systems including the award-winning UBX Series of passive column loudspeakers and Iconyx Compact Series digitally steerable arrays. Members of the global Renkus-Heinz team including president Monika Smetona, CTO Ralph Heinz and many more look forward to meeting with attendees and answering any questions about the company’s latest projects and developments.
“ISE is a great opportunity for Renkus-Heinz to exhibit the progress we have made in the past year as well as strengthen the relationships we’ve made previously,” said Smetona. “We’re bringing our best and most exciting lineup of products to the show this year and look forward to sharing our past year's achievements with our partners and new connections.”
“We are excited to showcase how our award-winning UBX Series and Iconyx Compact Series solve acoustic challenges in many applications,” added Karl Brunvoll, VP international sales, “from transportation hubs and conference rooms to houses of worship, hospitality venues and more.”

China - Located in China’s most populated urban area, Shanghai New York University (NYU) is China’s first Sino-US research university. Founded in 2012 by NYU and East China Normal University with the support of the city of Shanghai and the district of Pudong, the university offers 19 majors and teaches entirely in English.
One of three universities in the NYU Global Network, NYU Shanghai chose Audinate’s Dante audio network platform managed by Dante Domain Manager software to deliver upon its mission to offer its teaching, research and public service.
At the start of 2020, the pandemic forced educational leaders around the world to transition from in-person to remote learning, including the administration at NYU Shanghai. This presented many challenges for the University leaders and its almost 2000 students, including improving the audio setup in 57 lecture hall-style classrooms. Each of the classrooms had existing loudspeakers to reinforce the sound for in-person attendees, but it lacked the proper audio equipment to capture sound and broadcast to remote learners. The University tasked a project team consisting of members of the IT and instructed them to create an audio system capable of delivering high quality performance.
Sunny Qi, senior IT helpdesk manager, was one member of the University’s project team tasked with evaluating Dante. “Our team was not as familiar with Dante as we had experience mostly with analogue connections,” said Qi. “When we determined our solutions required for hybrid teaching, it became clear Dante was the

Canada - The Girardin Sports Centre in Drummondville, Quebec, is the city’s first indoor multisport complex. Opened in 2021 at a cost of $21.7m, the centre is helping to alleviate a shortage in hockey facilities in the area for the city’s 68,000 residents. The centre’s project team chose AtlasIED’s systems to provide audio entertainment and communications for the nearly 5,000 weekly visitors.
The 73,000sq.ft facility needed an audio system to cover key spaces including the ice rink, indoor soccer field which is overhung by a 250m running track, and the 16 rooms including conference rooms, offices, and locker rooms in the complex. One challenge was controlling different music playlists for different zones of the facility with a range of acoustical qualities. The centre chose AtlasIED’s AtmosphereAudio Processing and Control Platform and IPX loudspeakers and endpoints to control and distribute audio throughout the building.
The centre uses the Atmosphere AZM8 to serve as the heart of its system. An eight-zone audio processor, the AZM8 includes learning ambient noise sensing, a built-in message player, and allows up to 16 plug-and-play accessories that can be connected across four accessory ports.
To ensure quality audio in the different zones within the facility, the team chose AtlasIED IPX Series displays with built-in loudspeakers, including the IP-DDS, which is an indoor, dual-sided display to show the time and scrolling messages, and IP-SDM indoor wall mount loudspeakers. All of these IPX Series endpoints are designed to live on an exist

Ireland - An Audient ASP8024 Heritage Edition console was installed as part of a full studio upgrade at Dublin’s Dun Laoghaire Further Education Institute (DFEi) this academic year, which has already sparked great interest from students.
Patrick Wall, course coordinator of the Music and Sound Engineering programmes explains, “We offer students the chance to undertake supervised studio time outside of class hours to work on their own projects. There has been really great uptake this year, and I am sure that the new console and studio improvements have played a part.”
The studio setup consists of a control room, main live room, drum room and smaller booth. The control room houses the Audient console, Genelec monitoring, Mac Mini M1 running ProTools and an outboard rack with various processors and effects. “As well as the new Audient console, we installed bespoke studio furniture and a new patchbay to integrate our rack gear,” says Patrick.
Recommended by local pro audio services company, Big Bear Sound, it was the price point and the fact that it’s an analogue desk that originally attracted them to the Audient. William Demange, DFEi’s Sound Engineering & Music Technology teacher is very pleased. “It’s working really well! All I/Os are routed to our new patchbay which simplifies the workflow.
“Overall, the desk offers a lot of flexibility,” he says, when asked about the features that stand out to him. He continues, “The layout of the console and the fact it’s a large format desk makes it easier for students to learn

Spain - In recognition of the changing post-pandemic exhibition landscape, Martin Audio has announced that it plans to run both an online and offline product launch event at ISE 2023, in order to maximise engagement for those that can and cannot attend the trade show.
Marketing director, James King, explains, “The pandemic re-wrote the rule book on launch events. While most industry product launches were previously geared around the trade show calendar, once the pandemic hit, and trade shows were off the agenda, we all moved online.
“Now, that trade shows are back, we are entering an interesting period where attendance to trade shows is still lower than it was pre-pandemic - plus there are always potential visitors who, for whatever reason, are unable to attend. For that reason, we feel the hybrid solution becomes a pragmatic way to keep customers right up to date with the latest developments.”
The online event will showcase latest news from Martin Audio plus the announcement of two new products, while the offline event at ISE will take in both a press event and listening demonstrations. The latter will take place in their dedicated audio demo room (Hall 8, Room F1), with product also on show on stand H200 in Hall 7.
“We’re excited about the possibilities that hybrid events provide for us as a brand and we see this as a template for us moving forward,” King continued. “2023 promises to be one of the busiest product launch calendars in Martin Audio’s history, so ensuring that our customers have the flexibility to keep up-to-date

USA - Renkus-Heinz will exhibit at WAVE Orlando from 24-26 January 2023 at the Avanti Palms Resort & Conference Centre.
WAVE Orlando attendees will have the opportunity to experience the Renkus-Heinz sound solution first-hand at Booth #305. R-H will be exhibiting the award-winning UBX Series as well as the ICLive X Series, C Series and S Series.
“We look forward to bringing our sound solutions to WAVE Orlando. The house of worship market requires robust audio solutions for the wide variety of intricate venues found around the world,” said Joe Fustolo, eastern regional sales manager at Renkus-Heinz. “Renkus-Heinz offers the products and solutions needed for each specific house of worship, and we are ready to show that off in Orlando.”
The UBX Series brings Renkus-Heinz’s sound quality and coverage into the realm of passive arrays, creating more opportunities for AV contractors, consultants and sound system engineers to craft the right sound solution for their projects. Utilizing the same complex steering algorithms as Renkus-Heinz’s flagship Iconyx columns, the UBX Series’ new Passive UniBeam Technology delivers ‘pristine sound and consistent coverage with minimal distortions or side lobe artifacts’.
The UBX Series hardware addresses each transducer with specially designed all-pass filter networks, gain shading and frequency filtering in order to generate a downward steered asymmetrical vertical lobe with constant directivity - resulting in consistent coverage and speech intelligibility from the front of the room to the ba

USA - Dave Matthews Band wrapped their November US tour with two sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, deploying a system anchored by Meyer Sound’s Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers for the first time.
DMB has carried Meyer Sound for their 25+ years of touring, and FOH engineer Tom Lyon was excited for the chance to deploy UltraSound, LLC’s Panther system on this recent run. “I had a lot of fun mixing on Panther. I noticed a certain sparkle to the top end of Dave’s guitar that I hadn’t noticed before. Everything sounded nicer through the system. When we walked around, we could tell the improvement of the coverage consistency: it sounds great off axis as it does down the middle of the coverage. I hardly had to touch the EQ on the system at all.”
The system comprised 18 Panther-L loudspeakers for left and right mains with two Panther-W per side, 10 Panther-L, and six Panther-W loudspeakers per left and right sides. Two 270-degree side hangs of 12 Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers complemented the left and right sides.
In addition, there were flown subs of nine 1100‑LFC low frequency control elements in gradient cardioid per side with two 1100-LFCs per side on the ground. Eight Leopard loudspeakers provided front-fill across the edge of the stage with extra fills of two CQ-2 per side. Everything was driven analogue from four Galileo Galaxy Network Platforms per side.

Singapore - Point Source Audio’s Confidence Collection CO2-8WLp have been specified by theatrical sound designer Shannon Slaton for The Sound of Music’s international tour. The multi-year tour began at the Marina Bay Sands Theatre in Singapore before moving on to Kuala Lumpur and Taiwan.
With more than 25 years of experience as a theatrical sound designer and Broadway audio mixer working on some of the biggest musicals in the world, Slaton has a deep understanding of what is needed to make a tour sound great. “Designing for a tour, I have to think about how much time people have to load the show in and out and the equipment has to sit in a certain amount of truck space,” he explains. “If you’re doing a Broadway show, you have three weeks and you install the equipment where you want it. But with a tour you have eight to 12 hours, so the equipment and ease of travel becomes part of the equation.
“I designed the tour of The Sound of Music in the U.S. for three years and this is the same production currently touring Asia,” continues Slaton. “The design for the International tour is pretty close to the U.S. sound design.”
When it came to microphones, Slaton opted for Point Source Audio’s CO2-8WLp dual element lavaliers for the cast. The lavalier’s design pairs two microphone elements into a single housing to create a form factor that is ultra-low profile. The paired elements are factory matched in frequency and sensitivity so that when a vital backup is initiated, any difference in audio performance is nearly undetec

China - November saw the opening of the 16th Guangdong Provincial Games and the 9th Guangdong Provincial Games for Persons with Disabilities in Qingyuan and, with more than 20,000 athletes, coaches and related staff taking part, it was the largest Guangdong provincial games to date.
The visually stunning main venue for the games, the Qingyuan Olympic Sports Centre, is designed in the shape of a soaring phoenix and consists of a 30,000-seater stadium, a gymnasium with 9,000 seats, a natatorium with 2,000 seats and an Olympic sports park capable of hosting large-scale competitions, concerts, and exhibitions.
AV solutions provider EZPro was handed the responsibility to supply the sound reinforcement system for the centre with two criteria in mind: “First, reliability is absolutely critical for the sound reinforcement system when hosting large-scale competitions,” explains ZHANG Yangyang, senior technical manager of EZPro. “Additionally, due to the long reverberation time of the large venue space, the sound field design needs to be augmented with selective equipment to achieve the ideal sound pressure levels and, importantly, speech intelligibility.”
With these requirements in mind, EZPro decided to deploy Allen & Heath SQ mixers at the heart of the audio system. In the stadium, a pair of Allen & Heath SQ-7 mixers, with 32 onboard preamps and six layers of 33 faders, run as primary and backup systems to ensure no downtime in the audio output.
Both SQ-7 mixers were equipped with SQ Dante cards with the Primary and Secondary ports be

UK - Project Audio has installed a K-array background music system of Vyper compact line arrays at London’s historic Burlington Arcade.
Established in 1818, the 196-yard-long covered shopping Arcade runs from Piccadilly through to Burlington Gardens and houses a selection of luxury boutiques much favoured by London’s well-heeled patrons.
When the Reuben Brothers bought the Arcade, the new owners decided that they wanted to create considerably more atmosphere in the naturally lit, galleried Georgian space to provide a more welcoming ambience for shoppers. A discreet, high quality music playback sound system was what was needed, and the brothers approached Crystal Palace-based Project Audio, specialists in custom-designed and high-end bespoke audio installations.
Claire Munnelly, Project Audio’s director and project manager, comments: “The challenge for us was to design a sound system that was not in any way intrusive either sonically or visually, which meant it had to be to all intents and purposes invisible. Additionally, because the system had to be plug-and-play and essentially maintenance free, it had to be electronically bullet-proof.
“We knew that Italian speaker manufacturer K-array offered a good range of solutions for this kind of application, and so we got in touch with K-array’s UK distributor 2B Heard who helped us to define the specification with an unobtrusive compact line array.”
Due to the relative inaccessibility of the hardware once installed, the Project Audio design team decided to implement a uniquely in

USA - San Diego State University recently completed its new $310m 35,000-seat college football venue, Snapdragon Stadium, and crystal-clear sound was of the utmost importance throughout the project.
To achieve a new level of stadium design, complete with the latest technology, audio and video design firm WJHW called on Clair Global Integration to install a wide range of future-proofed products. Most notably, Snapdragon Stadium now features over 100 AC6 ADAPTive Column Loudspeakers from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW).
“EAW supported the design team during the various phases of the project including early demonstrations, proof of concept and modeling for the AC6 loudspeakers, and exporting data for consultants’ integration into the full system design,” says Mark Graham, associate principal, WJHW. “The brand also remained involved throughout the construction process with onsite pretesting, as well as being an integral member of the commissioning and testing team during tuning and calibration of the installed system.”
In selecting the PA system, Graham and the WJHW team found EAW’s AC6’s ADAPTive features to be flexible and customizable while delivering pristine sound to every seat. “The ADAPTive technology of the AC6 loudspeakers allowed us to select mounting locations that better integrated into the stadiums’ architectural and structural elements while maintaining the output levels and coverage patterns needed at the spectator seating,” adds Graham.
“From every seat in the stadium, EAW has allowed us to create a truly wonderf

USA - As the amplified vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth head audio engineer, Randall L. Squires is no stranger to the band’s haunting, hypnotic vocals. After starting with the group in 2015 alongside boss and mentor Damon Lange, Squires eventually took over full audio operations, including recording, mastering and FOH engineering.
Most recently, the group entrusted Squires with recording its latest album, requesting that he create a completely new audio canvas from which they could work. To complement the unique sound and get consistent, reliable audio, Squires turned to DPA Microphones’ d:facto 4018VL Vocal, 5100 Mobile 5.1 Surround and 4011 Cardioid Condenser Microphones.
“The d:factos were perfect for us,” Squires says. “Roomful of Teeth is primarily a live act, so they’re used to amplification and having a handheld vocal mic on a stand directly in front of them. I wanted to find a solution that still fit the look of the handheld mics they were used to, but with a higher fidelity. The d:facto felt familiar to the singers, allowing all the mic techniques for their overtone singing and yodeling to translate directly, while also giving them a more open sound.
“Hitting those higher notes and hearing the overtones is also easier with a d:facto than it is with a dynamic mic. They hear all the upper mid-range sounds that they can go for, and they hit them easier. The singers had a major push after they heard the mics, literally every single one of the performers said, ‘we need these mics’.”
Recorded at the MASS MoCA (Massachuset

USA - Audinate Group has announced it is now offering a subscription model for Dante Domain Manager, its network management solution that brings enterprise-grade system administration to the AV world.
“Dante Domain Manager has become a critical solution in the AV industry, allowing for user authentication, role-based security and audit capabilities for Dante networks,” said Joshua Rush, chief marketing officer at Audinate. “In addition to lowering the up-front costs of acquisition, the subscription model allows buyers to treat Dante Domain Manager as an operating expense rather than a capital expense ensuring it is even more accessible.” 
Available in three editions, Silver, Gold and Platinum, Dante Domain Manager can be tailored to meet user needs and budgets while maintaining the agility, scalability and security necessary to create a trusted audio network.
Dante Domain Manager Silver Edition supports 20 Dante devices in two Dante Domains, and is designed for smaller installations such as houses of worship, recording studios and broadcast facilities.
Dante Domain Manager Gold Edition supports 100 Dante devices in 10 Dante Domains, and is suitable for medium-sized installations, including schools, small businesses, and larger houses of worship as part of a comprehensive AV management strategy. 
Dante Domain Manager Platinum Edition supports 250 Dante devices in 50 Dante Domains and provides enterprise AV management for the largest mission-critical systems found in universities, stadiums, public spaces and corporate offices

USA - The Audio Engineering Society (AES) will be presented with a prestigious Technical Grammy Award during the Grammy Week celebration in February 2023. The news was made public as part of the Recording Academy announcing its Special Merit Awards recipients. A special invitation-only ceremony will be held on Saturday, 4 February 2023, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.
With the presentation of this award, AES joins an list of previous recipients which includes such well-known names as Apple Computer, Inc., AMS Neve plc, JBL Professional, Royer Labs, Shure Incorporated, Sony/Philips, Solid State Logic, Universal Audio, WAVES Audio and Yamaha Corporation.
This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees.
The Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards recipients press release stated, “The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is the only professional society devoted exclusively to advancing audio technology. Founded in 1948 with the key goals of collecting, collating and disseminating knowledge of audio science and its application, AES facilitates communication and collaboration that unites audio engineers, creative artists, scientists, and students, with hundreds of local sections worldwide.
“Seventy-five years on, AES’s members continue to set precedents and standards wherever sound and technology meet, from recording and entertainment to scientific research in emerging fields such as spatial and game audio, networking and streaming, and audio for virtual an

Spain - RCF will be exhibiting at ISE in Barcelona (Hall7 - J150), showing their current portfolio alongside the launch of new products. The focus on the show floor will be a new section dedicated to RCF power amplification technology, new passive speakers (most notably the Compact A and Compact C series), the versatile active ART 9-AX speaker series, and audio solutions from the Business Music and Installed Sound product series.
The new XPS 16K power amplifier provides extreme power density and control, boasting four 4000W continuous power outputs, routing options with four analogue and digital AES/EBU inputs/outputs, Dante Audio Networking, and a complete set of tools for signal processing and tuning. Thanks to the complete RDNet integration, the sound system manager can choose active powered speakers or externally amplified modules for their system, evaluating the best approach that fits their requirements.
The XPS Series is designed for high-power installation systems such as auditoriums, theme parks, and performance venues. XPS provides installation-specific features, including enhanced system status monitoring, GPIOs for extended capabilities, flexible routing, and integration with the RDNet management platform.
QPS Series is a range of four-channel professional amplifiers that combine high-quality performance and reliability with the latest power amplification technologies. With two models of 10,000 Watts (4 x 2500 @ 2 Ohms) and 6,000 Watts (4 x 1500 @ 2 Ohms) continuous power, this design offers the sound quality and durability of Class HD

UK - Sonnox has joined the Focusrite Group. Sonnox is a well-established brand in the audio industry. Its range of plugins are used in a wide range of audio applications including mixing, mastering, live sound, broadcast, TV and film, and even scientific and forensics projects.
The Sonnox team traces its heritage back to the development of the Oxford OXF-R3 digital mixing console which was installed in recording studios worldwide.
Tim Carroll, chief executive officer of the Focusrite Group, said: “It is an absolute pleasure to welcome Rod and his entire team to the Focusrite Group. Sonnox products are globally recognized as best in class, making them a natural fit in our stable, and we are all excited about the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead.”
Rod Densham, founder and managing director of Sonnox added: “We believe that by joining Focusrite with their scale, industry expertise, and range of premium brands, we can continue to grow, and deliver innovation and excellence to audio hobbyists and professionals alike. Focusrite have a proven track record of achieving this in our industry, and we are very excited to become part of their Group.”
Sonnox continues to develop plug-ins for audio production, embracing new technology and formats with partners such as Avid, Universal Audio and Fraunhofer.

Europe - Renkus-Heinz has announced a new partnership with Denmark-based AV distributor Matrix Sales.
As one of the largest AV distributors in Denmark, Matrix Sales works to bring audio, lighting and stage equipment solutions to conference rooms, meeting rooms, stages and studios.
“At Matrix Sales, we take pride in offering our customers only the best AV solutions. The company originated as a rental business, and all employees have personal experience with live or studio sound, so quality is paramount,” said Thomas Christensen, CEO, Matrix Sales. “Our team is impressed with Renkus-Heinz’s audio solutions. Quality, paired with extraordinarily good support, gives us the impression of a supreme brand that we will happily represent.
“The advantages of this partnership are obvious. We know the business, the customers and their demands, and Renkus-Heinz offers solutions that certainly meet and exceed their requirements. We have great expectations for our future collaborations.”
“We look forward to working with Matrix Sales, whose team is experienced and well-versed in the audio-visual industry. We feel confident that this partnership will bring the best possible solutions to our Danish customers,” said Karl Brunvoll, VP international sales, Renkus-Heinz. “We appreciate how the Matrix Sales team cares about its solutions and customers and eagerly anticipate the future of this partnership.”

USA - The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) recently hosted an in-house event with recording engineer, mixer, and record produce Bob Clearmountain and Apogee founder and CEO Betty Bennett with CRAS’ AES student section at the school’s Gilbert, Ariz. campus.
The Apogee CRAS Takeover included Apogee product demos and interactive mix sessions, alongside more intimate student discussions. Clearmountain and Roger Robindoré hosted Dolby Atmos demos in CRAS Studio D. Apogee Product Specialist George Williams showcased Apogee products and answering student questions.
“It was gratifying to interact with the inspiring, dedicated and professional students I met during our recent visit to CRAS,” said Clearmountain. “I was impressed by the facilities, especially those offered as part of the broadcast audio curriculum. After my visit, I have high hopes for the rising generation of audio engineers.”
Added Bennett, “What an inspiration to encounter the young men and women of CRAS - the future of our audio industry. As much as technical expertise is important, I’m glad to see that the CRAS curriculum accentuates personal responsibility, professional etiquette and good old tenacity, a message I reinforced in my communication with the assembled student body. We at Apogee look forward to continued collaboration with CRAS.”
Apogee VIP Artist Theron “Neff-U” Feemster also showcased music production using an Apogee workflow. He discussed how he adapts his workflow to follow the inspiration, from hotel room to world-class stu

Germany - VDC Trading is providing Van Damme cables to the motorsports industry where they are used in real time professional driving solutions. These simulation tools accelerate product development and innovation across the motorsports and automotive industries by enabling designers and engineers to experience the full ‘experience’ and performance of the vehicle they are developing without having to build a prototype.
Simulators are vital to the motorsport and automotive industries, as they not only reduce time-to-market for new vehicles but they also ensure they are totally safe when finally on the road.
Recently, Van Damme’s German distributor, Audiosteps Commerce, supplied Van Damme Black Series 18x2.5mm Speaker POWER multicore cables to a business in Europe for several simulator projects.
Andre Masterati Freitag at Audiosteps commented: “Audiosteps regularly supplies a specific business with custom cables for projects in the automotive industry. The most recent job was for a high-profile automotive client with an exciting plans for the future. These organisations rely on Van Damme cables because they have been proven to be 100% robustly reliable and can be adapted for any particular situation.”
Herpreet Kaur Singh, commercial director at VDC Trading said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Andre and Christian at Audiosteps in providing our first-rate cables for such an interesting business. We look forward to supporting them in further ventures in the automotive industry. In today's competitive business environment, it is ve

USA - Fulcrum Acoustic has welcomed Zuo ‘Rambo’ Zhao as the newest member of its engineering team. As acoustic engineer, Rambo works on developing new technologies and designing new products. He comments, “I’ve always wanted to work with Dave Gunness and know I will learn a lot from him. “However, what made my decision to come to Fulcrum is that they really invest in technology. I’ll have the opportunity to focus on the research part of R&D and look forward to contributing to the next generation of loudspeakers.”
“Rambo’s passion for loudspeakers and related technologies is immediately apparent. In his short time with us, he’s already become a valuable member of the team” says David Gunness, co-founder and VP of engineering. “We are excited to have him on board and know that he will make significant contributions.”
Rambo brings a decade of experience in the audio industry working as a live sound engineer, technical director for a touring company, and an audio engineer at Eastern Acoustic Works.