UK - New from Crest Performance - a division of Crest Audio - are two table top/rack mounting consoles. The 16-channel CPM-2426 features 16 mic inputs and 24 line inputs with stereo line-in on channels 9-16. Other features include six auxiliary buses, four groups and stereo master. Mono inputs offer 3-band mid sweep EQ, with stereo input offering 3-band EQ. The CPM-9812P boasts a 2 x 500W built-in amplifier and stereo, graphic EQ with feedback pointer. Other features are eight mono/mic line inputs with 3-band EQ, stereo line input, monitor output, plus one FX output feeding an internal 32-bit FX unit.
Also new from Crest Performance is the CPT Series of loudspeaker enclosures. Offering crisp highs and smooth mid-range performance, the CPT Series is recommended for small- to medium-sized speaking and performance venues, plus all permanent fixed installations. Models CPT-1, CPT-2 and CPT-5 include 3-point flying hardware on both top and bottom for inverted flying, while models CPT-1652 and CPT-2652 include a u-shaped metal mounting bracket. Input on all is via barrier strips and 4-pin Neutrik connectors and all feature 1.4" Crest HF1 titanium compression drivers.
(Lee Baldock)
New Zealand - The Holy Trinity Anglican Parish Church in Tauranga, New Zealand, has risen from the ashes of a disastrous 1999 fire as a striking new structure of concrete and steel, its centerpiece a 900-seat, semi-circular worship auditorium, where a stunning acoustical ceiling treatment (made with rare kauri wood salvaged from the old church) conceals a nearly invisible system of Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers. Church music director Peter Minson says of the sound in the new church: "It has a very sweet, natural sound to it. The comment we get from outside people coming in for concerts is that they are not even aware of amplified sound."
The semi-circular seating arrangement made four UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers an appropriate choice for the main system. These are mounted in the gaps between the overhead acoustical panels, in a left-right-left-right arrangement to provide stereo spread. Sound for seats under the balcony is augmented by a dozen MM-4 miniature wide-range loudspeakers, while deep bass is provided by an under-stage pair of USW-1P compact subwoofers.
Both the sound system and the room acoustics were designed by consultants Marshall Day Acoustics, with Larry Elliot of the company's Auckland office handling the primary system design. Elliot says Meyer's self-powered speakers were the keystone of the design. "The contractors could offer alternatives on other components, but not the loudspeakers," he says. "We had gone to a lot of effort to integrate them with the architectural design. I knew the Meyer prod
Spain - The Artistic Investigation Festival, known as Observatori, was recently held at the Prince Phillip Museum at the City of the Arts and Sciences of Valencia. After five years, this multi-disciplinary, cross-media event has become one of Europe's most renowned experimental festivals.
A 30 x 40m venue was setup alongside the visually striking building that makes up Valencia's City of the Arts and Sciences. Concerts were held every night of the three-day event with a daily attendance of over 3,500 visitors. The 15m wide stage and the D.A.S. Aero 48 line array sound reinforcement systems were provided by Valencia based sound rental company Acustic Crom, S.L.
Six Aero 48 large format line array systems were flown from the truss at a height of six metres and the built-in rigging hardware facilitated the installation of the systems in the venue. According to Ricardo Mascarell, director of Acustic Crom and sound engineer with decades of experience, "The great performance of the Aero systems was seen this spring at the Fallas festivals and this was no different. The sound engineers of the invited artists were very impressed by the high output, great sound and even coverage of the Aero 48's."
The Observatori is a festival in which artists risk and experimentation converge and interrelate in a programme centred around new artistic tendencies. In this event, music, net-art, design, performances and creative videos all have a place. This year's theme was entitled Cultures of Migration, reflecting the new interpersonal relationships brou
UK - Leading RF manufacturer Trantec has recently supplied its innovative S6001 wireless microphone system to broadcast and live events specialists The Wireless Works for the filming of The BBC's topical TV series - Fat Nation.
Screened on prime time TV on BBC 1 and BBC 3, the eight programme series offers practical advice and raises the nation's awareness of the issues of obesity. The Wireless Work's MD Tristian Bickerton specified a number of S6001 systems to join their fleet of OB equipment on location in a residential neighbourhood, north of Birmingham.
Integrated seamlessly to the OB system, The S6001's were used with two fishpoles and RF amplifiers to enable the sound crew to freely run up and down the streets "picking up" crowd effects surrounding the residential area. Deployed also for interviews, the S6001s delivered with an exceptional clarity.
As the sister product to the award-winning S6000 rack based system, the S6001 is a single receiver version, packaged within a 1/2 width, 1U 19" box. Very compact and robust, it offers an ideal solution for any kind of OB work. Tailored specifically for broadcast and AV applications and use in theatre, like its bigger counterpart the S6000, the S6001 boasts an unprecedented and impressive tuning range of 70Mhz (CH62-70).
As a very flexible tool, the S6001 and dual receiver S6002 is capable of operating within user defined frequency sets, programmed either via a USB port, or custom programmed to individual frequencies via the data wheel on its front panel. It's in-built Infra-Red (IrDA) po
Italy / China - At the end of September 2004, the HQ of Chinese multinational company 'Neo-Neon' hosted a demonstration of the Butterfly line array system from Italian manufacturer, Outline. The demo was attended by 50 of the country's top rental companies, as well as contractors, dealers, sound engineers and professors of acoustics. The rig installed, which was sold after the demo, consisted in 12 CDH483 high-packs, plus four CDL1815 low-packs and six subs per side and was powered by the company's Series T amplifiers and controlled by Genius 6 processors. The vast area chosen for the demo enabled the team to calibrate the Butterfly setup for even coverage from 20m to 120m, and allowed a listening distance of over 200m. Outline's powerful V.I.P. aiming and simulation software was used.
During a workshop held during the same period, the concepts and numerous innovative patents on which the line array manufactured by the Italian company are based were described with the aid of images and designs. The White Paper written by designer Guido Noselli was used as a technical basis. Speaker Giorgio Biffi (Outline's sales and marketing manager) was supported by Francesco Ferretti (Outline technical staff) and the entire presentation was translated into Chinese. As expected, the event, skilfully organized by Neo-Neon's marketing manager Nathan Mung, was a unanimous success with the participants.
Here are the comments of Craig Ruan, one of the many top sound engineers at the demo: "This system's patented technology surprised me - even at a distance of 200m. Butterfl
UK - Singing legend Donovan was recognized for his services to the Scottish music industry at this year's Tartan Clef music awards on Saturday 6 November. A native of Glasgow, Donovan collected the coveted Tartan Clef, sponsored by Sennheiser UK, for Outstanding Contribution to Music - in recognition of his varied and colourful music career, which has spanned more 30 years.
A contemporary of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Donovan is known to generations of music lovers for his guitar playing and his passionate concern for the environment and search for spiritual awareness and knowledge.
Donovan, who recently released Beat Café, his first new CD in eight years and is currently writing his autobiography, was presented with his award by John Steven of Sennheiser UK, before a 500 strong crowd at Glasgow's Radisson SAS hotel. This year's Tartan Clefs, traditionally a highlight in the Scottish music industry's calendar, raised £130,000 for Nordoff-Robbins, Scotland's first music therapy charity and saw the glittering crowd party until the wee hours of the morning.
Other recipients of the Scottish music industry's highest accolades included recently reformed Wet, Wet, Wet; glam rockers The Darkness, former Simple Minds manager Bruce Findlay, crooner Edwyn Collins and teenage violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti. Music is central to the work of Nordoff-Robbins, which has long been supported by the Scottish music industry. Developed 45 years ago by Dr Paul Nordoff, a composer and pianist and Clive Robbins, a teacher, it explores the use of music as a communication
UK - Katie Melua's 2004 UK tour has seen some experimentation that led to permanent changes in what the Georgian-born songstress hears every night from her monitor system.
Russell Sladek has the responsibility for Katie's and the band's stage sound. "On this tour, we have been working with new JBL floor monitors," says Sladek. "The speaker processing that came with the system sounded OK on Katie's monitors, but we tried out an XTA on them and the sound just opened up. It was a night-and-day comparison. "We though it was worth trying and it proved correct. I have used XTAs before and love them. I have done a lot of work with their GQ600 graphic EQ at home in Finland and these are the best."
The other element Sladek wanted was some dynamic compression to work the low-mids on the wedges themselves. "The DiGiCo D5 has so much processing power, but I have much of that set-up in Graphic EQ mode instead of Dynamics. What I needed was some extra control and when Matt showed me the SiDD, I had to get it off him. I run the Dynamic EQ section and pick out just over 300Hz when it needs a little attention."
FOH man Matt Manasse had originally requested the XTA SiDD for an upright bass which had two mic channels: "In the end we decided to go to just one mic because Russell just didn't want to let the SiDD go," comments Manasse.
Assisting Sladek and Manasse is Tim Peeling, no stranger to SiDD himself. "I tried one out when the unit first became available. It was just so good I bought it myself. Whenever I am asked to enginee
UK - Mackie has added to its growing collection of awards by winning the prestigious Music Industries Association accolade for Best PA Product of 2004. The award, for the Mackie SRM450 Active PA speaker, was presented to Martin Warr, Loud Technologies' head of UK sales, by MIA president Bob Thomas at the Association's annual Awards Dinner, which took place in October at Sound in London's Leicester Square.
Over 260 guests from across the Music Industry attended the event, at which 40 MIA awards were presented. Commenting on the success of the Mackie SRM450, Martin Warr stated: "It's a great honour to receive this award and we're delighted that the MIA has recognized the impact Mackie's SRM450 speakers have had on the PA industry. For a small speaker the SRM 450 offers incredibly wide dispersion allowing the whole audience to hear clearly, whether they're in the front, back, or way out on the sides of the room."
Warr adds that it is especially pleasing to win an MIA award because the judging panel consists of respected industry experts, including magazine editors and dealer representatives. "Since its introduction, the SRM450 has become the industry benchmark for portable PA speakers and the model of choice for literally hundreds of thousands of customers all over the world. To have that success recognized by the MIA is truly the icing on the cake," he adds.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK/France - A.C. Lighting has sold a Yamaha DM2000 digital mixing console to a leading rental company in Monaco. SES is a mid-size touring rental company which specializes in providing quality, advanced technology products to the entertainment industry. The company recently purchased one DM2000 as an upgrade to their existing stock of O2R digital audio consoles - Yamaha's original digital desk, which has remained the professional standard for mixing consoles since it launched in 1995.
Yamaha's flagship, award-winning DM2000 sets the standard for the next generation of high performance digital mixers, which provide users with total production control. The console offers uncompromised audio quality, extensive facilities and innovative features such as 96-kHz audio, surround monitoring, studio manager software and DAW Control.
Gilles Laguionie, audio buyer at SES commented: "We've had two Yamaha 02Rs before as digital mixing desks, so choosing the DM2000 was inescapable because more and more customers are asking for this console, plus it's also a logical continuity in our path of investment. The other reason is the console's versatility across different environments and the fact that it has some signal treatment units inside it like compressor, gate, reverb, etc. No big racks any more. We chose A.C. as our supplier since they are a serious company with good service and efficient people and offered an attractive package for our order, which included other entertainment technology products."
As a certified Yamaha digital dealer, A.C. is able to offer an ex
UK - Franz Ferdinand hit the road this month for a European Tour. Starting at London's Brixton Academy the band visit five venues in France and four in Germany before returning to their home city of Glasgow for two nights at the SECC on the 18 and 19 December. Originally only one night was planned for Glasgow but tickets sold-out so fast that a second date was added.
FOH Engineer for Franz Ferdinand is Parker, and Sennheiser mics and in-ear monitoring are used throughout: evolution e840 on lead vocals, e935 on backing vocals, e602, e903, e614 and e604 on drums, e421 on bass and e606 on guitars. The monitor systems are evolution G2 300 IEM.
Parker explained: "We started using Sennheiser for Franz Ferdinand in March and excellent support from Sennheiser, in both the UK and USA, has enabled us to test and select for the set-up we now use. For example we originally started with the e935 for Alex on lead vocals, and that was fine, but as soon as we tried the e940 we knew we'd got the exact solution. That's pretty much how it's been throughout and why I'm really pleased with the system. Each mic gives us exactly what we want, consistently and reliably."
Franz Ferdinand has had an amazing 2004, winning this year's Mercury Prize and seeing its debut album go double platinum in the UK.
(Sarah Rushton - Read)
Belgium - Night of The Proms is a high profile music and entertainment spectacular, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, with 18 sold-out nights in Belgium's largest arena, the 15,000 capacity Antwerp Sportpaleis, before touring to Holland, Germany and France. Belgian production company EML is supplying lighting, sound - and via E/T/C UK - large format projection.
The show is a fusion of popular and classical music, featuring a 72 piece orchestra and 50-strong choir, conducted by Robert Groslot, plus a series of soloists and special guests. The 2004 Antwerp line up includes Joe Cocker, Shaggy, John Miles and James Brown plus a four-piece 'house' electric band and three backing vocalists.
This year several important production changes were made, the main ones being the introduction of the additional visual component of projection and a new layout for the stage. LD Geert Vanhout approached several companies for quotes, including E/T/C UK. Vanhout specifically sought a creative collaborator as well as a company able to supply the hardware and E/T/Cs Ross Ashton came up with the winning combination - the most imaginative and exciting set of visual ideas and a competitive quote.
Flown on a front of house truss, three PIGI 7Kw projectors fill a gently curved 36m wide by 10m high screen with images, which are blended via soft-edging. The PIGI's are controlled via the WholeHog II lighting console run by Olivier Demoustier.
Vanhout developed the lighting cues closely with the projection, so the two visual elements are interwoven. The rig contains over 13
UK - West Molesey based Sound Associates, the UK's largest supplier and installer of high quality cinema projection and sound systems, has just taken delivery of 16 D.A.S. DS-112A active loudspeakers and 16 Sennheiser evolution G2 300-IEM wireless monitor systems. The equipment make up the sound reinforcement system for eight portable cinema systems that Sound Associates is supplying to Film London, part of the Government-backed strategic agency, the UK Film Council. As part of the Digital Fund for Non Theatrical Exhibition, Film London required eight portable cinema systems that could be used in a wide range of multi-purpose venues including schools, colleges, and local halls.
Jerry Murdoch, sales and marketing manager for Sound Associates, explained the system: "The DS-112A gave us a really tough portable system with the clarity, power and dynamics needed for film but, because the venues could be so varied in size, shape and layout we needed to go for a wireless solution to make installation quick and simple and avoid trailing wires, which could cause a trip hazard. So, we came up with the solution of using evolution G2 IEM and, being Sennheiser, the radio is robust and the audio quality superb. We've securely attached the EK300 receivers to the side of the loudspeakers and located the SR300 transmitters with the DVD system." Murdoch concludes: "It's a great practical solution, which sounds excellent, and the system is up and running in any venue in no time."
(Lee Baldock)
UK - The first ever Nordic Music Awards was held recently in Oslo, Norway and rental company Audio One was the chosen live audio supplier for the event. The show, which was held in Oslo Spektrum and broadcast live on Scandinavian television, featured top international artists such as Robbie Williams, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, Westlife and Brian McFadden.
The Nordic Music Awards is to be an annual event for Norway, Sweden and Denmark, where national and international artists are chosen in different categories, such as Best International Female Artist, Best Nordic Band, etc.
With an audience of around 9000, the event was completely sold out, meaning a large sound system was required to adequately cover the whole audience listening area. Spektrum is a very wide and steep seated venue, so to have an even SPL coverage is always a real challenge. To do the job properly, Audio One put together a system consisting of 78 Alcons LR16 line array cabinets, 16 flown LR16B bass cabinets and 12 ground stacked BF362 subs, powered by ALC controller-amplifiers.
The two front (left, right) clusters consisted of 24 x LR16 plus 8 x LR16B. 15 x LR16 cabinets were flown as side clusters. The large Alcons system was comprised of the inventory of Audio One and fellow 'The Ribbon Network' member, Electrosound from Sweden.
Stuart Mørch-Kerrison, system engineer for the event said: "We have been using our Alcons system now for six months on everything from 'balls-to-the-wall' outdoor rock concerts to televised events like the Nordic Music Awards, all with nothing l
UK - The TOA D-901 digital mixer is a fully modular, cost-effective digital mixer featuring a 12-input, 8-bus, 8-output channel configuration (12 x 8 matrix) with easy operation that can be expanded as applications require. The compact (3U rackspace) D-901 incorporates important functions such as digital mixer, feedback suppression, auto mixing, parametric EQ, compression, delay and echo. Its operational scope allows it to do the work that conventionally requires several different pieces of equipment, providing a cost-effective solution for any requirement, say TOA.
As a full-featured digital mixer, the D-901 incorporates several useful built-in functions to ensure maximum performance without the need for other equipment. A compressor can be switched in to reduce the dynamic range between the smallest and largest signals, preventing amplifier clipping at high levels. The flexible crossover function allows setting speaker crossover points and filter slopes to optimize multi-channel speaker systems. Full equalization and filter setting configurations can be saved in up to 16 memories for instant recall. The time delay function can be used to align remote speakers.
Convenient front panel controls and display make it easy to perform all functions and confirm parameter settings without requiring a PC. Another advantage is the ability to store up to 16 sound parameter setting configurations in memory for instant recall when required. These include crossover, EQ, filter slope settings, time delay and other parameters. Control settings can also be locked to prevent unau
USA - Cerwin-Vega! has announced the introduction of its all-new Intense line of portable sound reinforcements products. These were given a sneak preview on the stand of UK distributors, Lamba plc., at the PLASA Show in London recently, and are now shipping.
The series consists of three new models, with a high level of user-researched features, including titanium compression drivers, plywood cabinets and Cerwin-Vega's exclusive HighRoad horns, for dramatically improved high-end performance and clarity.
"The INTENSE line represents a real step forward for Cerwin-Vega! and gives our customers a highly competitive alternative to the more traditional product lines in this segment," said Domenic Buonincontri, general manager, Cerwin-Vega! "For the first time, we are able to produce an entry level line with the look and the feature sets usually found only in systems costing far more. As a result, Intense is now the one to beat in this highly competitive product category."
The INT-152 is an 8-ohm, two-way, 15" passive reflex design featuring Cerwin-Vega's exclusive HighRoad horns for sound clarity. Rated at 600W, with a frequency response of 50-Hz to 20kHz, the 152 is ideally suited as a stand-alone SR solution or for augmenting with the INT-118S subwoofer. The INT-252 is a 4-ohm design that features two 15" woofers with 2.5" high temperature voice coils and Cerwin-Vega's HighRoad horns. Rated at 1000W, with a frequency response of 45 Hz to 20 kHz, the 252 gives users the flexibility to use it in stand-alone mode, arrayed or in conju
Australia / Germany - Smart AV Pty Ltd has appointed the German distributor For-Tune as its distributor for Germany and Austria. Smart AV is the manufacturer of the Smart Console, a revolutionary new control surface for digital audio workstations and live applications. "For many years we have specialized in the distribution of high-end audio technology," said Stefan Mayer, managing director of For-Tune. "The products of Smart AV fit perfectly into our current product range and we are convinced that the Smart Console will set a new standard for hardware controllers in post-production and broadcast applications."
Patrick Woolcocks, European sales manager for Smart AV, commented: "We chose For-Tune not only for its reputation and knowledge of the market and technology, but also for the company's great energy and enthusiasm. I am very pleased to be working with For-Tune."
The Smart Console is the first audio control surface incorporating patented ARC technology, which uses a physical arc located above the controls and within arm's reach of the sound engineer to represent all the channels on a traditional long console. With a simple touch of the arc at any location, the desired channel and the channels surrounding it immediately appear in front of the sound engineer, as though he or she had instantaneously moved in front of those channels on a traditional long console. With this single touch, 800 previously out-of-reach controls snap to within reach. Even the hand-written channel description is transferred to the digital scribble strip
Germany - d&b audiotechnik has announced the launch of a newly-designed website - and really hopes that everyone has as much fun looking at it as they had choosing the images - such as the d&b army knife representing 'Support' (pictured). The website design now matches the most recent marketing design used by the company over the past year and to launch the Q-Series loudspeaker range and the D12 amplifier.
The company says that the new design allows easy navigation to download all d&b documentation and software updates and even includes a site map for those to whom speed is of the essence - zero to E0 in nanoseconds. Even the highly useful d&b calendar has been made more accessible under the News section, say the company.
"Of course," commented Simon Johnston, d&b's marketing director, "being d&b, we will now be changing the design of our advertisements from September onwards, which is lucky; it wouldn't do for us to have everything coordinated, people might think we are a fashion house, not a loudspeaker systems manufacturer."
A second website - called 'democracy for listeners' - is dedicated to the d&b mantra, say the company, providing further information about its unique approach. Address below.
(Lee Baldock)
Worldwide - The edgy melodic post-grunge of Hoobastank is a worldwide hit. Live, the band relies on Audio-Technica mics to deliver knockout performances on stages throughout North America and Europe. Currently trekking through Europe on The Reason Tour, Hoobastank's lead vocalist Doug Robb is using the A-T Artist Elite 5000 Series Wireless System with an AEW-T3300 capsule.
Drummer Chris Hesse has a pair of Audio-Technica ATM63HE dynamics mics on the top and bottom of his snare, the dual-element AE2500 on his kick drum, an AE5100 on his hi-hat and ride cymbals, and the AE3000 on his rack toms. The AT4050 microphones Hesse uses as overheads are also employed by guitarist Dan Estrin on his guitar amps, while bassist Markku Lappalainen utilizes the AT4047/SV.
Brendon Brown, Hoobastank's tour manager and FOH Mixer for the band's last two tours, likes to work with the combination of the Audio-Technica 5000 Series Wireless System and AEW-T3300 handheld transmitter. "Doug's live vocal dynamics go from soft and somber on songs like 'The Reason' and 'Disappear' to full-out screaming on 'Pieces' and 'Out of Control,'" he remarks. "The 5000 Series can keep up with clarity and no capsule distortion. All the A-T microphones deliver a very clear and accurate representation of the instruments they are assigned to. This allows me as an engineer to create a more accurate audio image of the band's sound."
The AE3000 is also a personal favourite of Brendon's. "It's great-sounding and durable," he notes. Explaining that he attaches the AE3000 to
USA - TAB Technical Services has become a major installer of Allen & Heath's iDR DSP audio distribution and processing systems. For one client, The Cheesecake Factory, TAB has installed the A&H iDR-8 at 75% of the national restaurant chain's 60 locations, according to company president Todd Berman.
Although materials, ceiling height, and décor differ slightly between locations, says Berman, the A&H iDR installation at each Cheesecake Factory restaurant is essentially the same. "It's pretty much an 8 or 10 zone system in each venue. The iDR works out well because there are 10 outs - two monitor jacks in addition to the eight main outs."
Using the multi-zone control and processing capabilities of the iDR-8, audio in each area of the restaurant may be separately programmed and controlled, continues Berman, who also has years of experience with Allen & Heath's DR128 digital installation mixer. "We're able to 'EQ' each individual zone. We have paging going into some of the zones, plus different sources - such as CD music, or television sound, or satellite music - also going into the zones."
Set up of the system involved 'set-and-forget' Windows-based software, which is then removed, allowing the iDR to run as a standalone unit. The iDR System Manager software is "very simple to use, very easy," comments Berman. "I get all the audio sales guys coming to me, but it's actually the easiest software compared to all the others that I've seen - it's very straightforward."
Employee access to the system is limited to the functions
USA - American DJ will be holding its Customer Appreciation Party on February 23, 2005 during the Mobile Beat 2005 Show at Las Vegas' famously popular Beach Night Club, which was voted "no 1 Party Club in Las Vegas" in a 2004 poll conducted by the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The party is free for Mobile Beat show attendees. "It's our way of thanking customers for their patronage and support," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. On most nights, working DJs provide entertainment so that other people can party and have fun. We thought our customers deserve one night when they can kick back and do the partying themselves."
"The 2005 version of this annual ADJ bash promises to be bigger, better and more fun than ever," said Davies. "In fact, this party will be so jamming that it will take two DJs to emcee it, Sparky B, and Stacy Zemon, author of the best-selling industry guide The Mobile DJ Handbook."Las Vegas' own DJ Skilz, who has DJ-ed at many world-famous clubs and events will provide music. Everyone who attends the American DJ Customer Appreciation Party will receive a welcome gift and will be eligible to win valuable door prizes.
DJs and industry members who wish to attend the American DJ Customer Appreciation Party can sign up in advance and receive their personalized VIP 2005 Party Passes on-line at the website below.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK - Professional audio-visual supplier, Snelling Business Systems of Norwich, has just completed an AV system for the new Jarrold stand at Norwich City Football Club. The microphone systems chosen are from Sennheiser's evolution wireless G2 series: two ew322 systems with EM300 receivers and SK300 pocket transmitters with ME 4 tie cardioid mics and two ew335 systems with EM 300 receivers and SK 300 hand-held transmitters with MD 835 cardioid heads. These, plus Denon multi-CD and pro DVD players, plus a JVC SVHS VCR, feed the mixers and DSP audio matrix control. Amplification is handled by a QSC CX254 4-channel amplifier, which drives eight Tannoy iP5 Mirage NXT ceiling loudspeakers. A Tannoy CMS110B active sub adds the lower frequencies to the system.
To provide audio for the hard of hearing and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, Snelling installed an additional Sennheiser infrared system. Procon and custom Snelling control and processing, together with two Panasonic W6 series plasma screens and a Panasonic 4200 lumen XGA projector, complete the video package for the installation.
Toby Wise, technical director for Snelling Business Systems explained the choice of the audio equipment: "As well as the obvious need for the highest sound quality, the multi-purpose requirements for the room meant the equipment had to be reliable and simple to use - particularly for inexperienced microphone users. The Sennheiser wireless systems gave us the audio quality we were looking for and work beautifully with the Tannoy flat-panel loudspeakers. The sound is co
USA - Community Professional Loudspeakers has launched the new DXP4800, a Digital System Controller that provides precision digital signal processing for Community full-range and subwoofer loudspeaker systems. The DXP4800 can also be used as a generic DSP device for other loudspeaker products.
New system configurations are possible with the abundant number of audio channels. The 4 inputs and 8 outputs allow stereo 4-way, stereo 3-way + mono 2-way, 4 bi-amp mixes and 8-channel zone capability. The DXP4800 enables the audio engineer to come up with creative system architectures via the 4 x 8 matrix feature and programmes allow for fast A/B comparison, and the matrix feature allows any of the four inputs to be assigned or mixed to any output, say Community.
The audio converters in the DXP4800 offer high quality signal reproduction, distortion and noise, with a sampling rate of 96 kHz and signal-to-noise ratio optimized at around 115dB (unweighted). The employed DSP is a true 32-bit (40-bit extended) floating point DSP (600MFLOPS peak) - which prevents induced noise introduced by the truncation error resulting from fixed-point calculations. The performance is far superior to the 24-bit fixed point DSPs that are widely used in the industry today, says the manufacturer.
The DXP4800 can be controlled via front panel controls or remotely by PC via RS232. The firmware of the unit can be flash upgraded when new features become available, eliminating frequent upgrade of the hardware for new software functions.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - The BT Digital Music Awards 04 took place in the Shepherds Bush Arena recently, with PA company Canegreen Commercial providing their specialist audio expertise to ensure the event could be enjoyed by the live audience and be recorded for the all important webcast.
The event was managed by Reality, who have extensive experience of producing corporate style awards ceremonies with a rock'n'roll element. MD Paul Corrick commented: "When music is the central theme of an event we know the sound - critical to the events success - will be in safe hands with Canegreen Commercial. Their knowledge of the venue and their interfacing with a good in-house system helped make these Digital Music Awards run very smoothly to be televised and webcast."
Canegreen has enjoyed a long relationship with the Shepherds Bush Empire, having first installed the in-house PA over 10 years ago, and upgrading it earlier this year with over £350,000 worth of equipment. The company says its knowledge of the system and the venue was very useful in being aware of what was needed to create an effective system for the BT Digital Music Awards.
Canegreen Commercial's Andrew Frengley also designed a secondary control system to carry the awards speeches and pre-recorded 'stings', which was incorporated into the Shepherds Bush Empire's in-house PA. They also supplied the radio mics and comms systems. Frengley commented: "The BT Music Awards is different due to its determination to ensure that every element of the show is webcast. The website for the event is highly important eleme
New Zealand/Australia - Following the recent appointment of Amber Technology as exclusive distributor for DPA Microphones in New Zealand, it has been announced that the ties between the companies have been further strengthened with the appointment of Amber Technology as the exclusive Australian distributor for the range.
For the past decade, DPA Microphones have been well represented in Australia by Leon Hart from D2a Professional Audio. However, in an amiable agreement between all three companies involved, distribution arrangements for DPA products have moved to Amber Technology, with Leon Hart joining the company to ensure his extensive experience and product knowledge will continue to be available to DPA's large Australian client base.
"It was time to grow the DPA Microphones brand name even further and after more than 10 years association with DPA, I am pleased that my efforts will continue into the future," says Hart. "DPA have gained my respect and admiration both for their products and their honest and ethical way of doing business. With the move to Amber Technology, I will be able to continue my involvement with DPA as well as gain the satisfaction of seeing the product further expand throughout the Australian market."
Adds Amber's professional products manager, John Fitzpatrick, "We are delighted not only to be representing DPA's superb product range but also to have Leon's extensive industry experience and product knowledge available to us. We will be able to take advantage of this unique situation to achieve a near-seamless t