USA - The School of Church Music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary recently enlisted the help of DPA Microphones and Steinway Hall of Dallas, Plano and Fort Worth to put on Keyboards at Christmas - a performance of 'grand' proportions. With 17 Steinway Grand Pianos on stage, student and professional musicians performed holiday songs for the packed house at the 3,500-seat venue.

Already DPA Microphones enthusiasts for the ability of its mics to reproduce the natural beauty of a Steinway, the music staff at Southwestern Baptist knew it wanted to equip all 17 pianos with three d:vote 4099 Instrument Mics each, for a total of 51 mics. A clear, pristine sound was the school's primary requirement when searching for a mic, and it was obvious that the DPA d:vote was the only choice.

"The Steinway instruments have a very beautiful, very unique sound that other in

The Netherlands - With its recent purchase of the 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements and JM-1P arrayable loudspeakers, Veldhoven-based rental company Bazelmans AVR has grown its inventory to include more than 100 Meyer Sound loudspeakers.

"We had heard through the grapevine that the 1100-LFCs were amazing, but when we first fired up the units for testing we were dumbstruck," says Aart Habraken, rental manager for Bazelmans AVR. "The 1100-LFC maintains linearity regardless of power levels and SPL output. It truly raises the bar for all others to follow. With the EDM [electronic dance music] market now showing keen interest in Meyer Sound, the 1100-LFC couldn't have come at a better moment."

Wiljan Bazelmans, founder and CEO of Bazelmans AVR, adds, "We want the best experience for our customers, not just once but every time. We decided to step up fr

UK - Sennheiser's 9000 Series digital wireless system is proving a winner in theatre sound design where absolutely silent operation is critical. After a highly successful trial run on the West End production of Dear World with a system, sound designer Mike Walker has invested in 9000 Series for his company Loh Humm Audio.

Walker had been using Sennheiser's 5000 Series systems for around 15 years, so he was keen to try the 9000 series. "I really like the 5000 Series - of the earlier Sennheiser systems I think it's the best suited to voices and I've been very happy with its audio quality," he says. "But the 9000 Series completely surpassed it - it's the best-sounding digital microphone system I've heard, by quite a large margin."

Walker and his team were so impressed that Loh Humm invested in 24 channels of the 9000 Series, which have immediately been

The Netherlands - In October 2010, an Alcons LR14 loudspeaker system took its bow at the first performances of Soldaat van Oranje, De Musical (Soldier of Orange, the Musical), a huge, technically complex theatrical production based on the book by Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema and the film of the same name. Three years, a thousand performances and over a million audience members later, the Alcons system is still performing flawlessly.

Soldaat van Oranje, De Musical is by far the biggest theatrical production ever staged in the Netherlands, housed in a converted aircraft hangar at a former military aerodrome in Valkenburg, near the city of Leiden. It tells the story of a group of Dutch students in the Second World War, each of whom follows a different path during the conflict, either as a collaborator or as part of the resistance under Nazi occupation.

The show's produc

Gross Income - US rock band Bon Jovi had the biggest international music tour of the year, according to Billboard magazine's 2013 rankings. The group played to more than two million fans during 90 sell-out shows, grossing $205m (£125m).

Cirque Du Soleil's Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour was second on the list, followed by singer Pink. The Rolling Stones were the highest placed British act - at number six - raking in $126m (£75m) from 23 shows. They finished behind Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, who were fourth on the list after grossing $147m from 53 shows. Rihanna was at number five in the rankings after she played to more than 1.5m fans during the year, bringing in £137m.

Ticket pricing - A majority of audiences say booking fees for concert and theatre tickets are too expensive and any extra charges should be revealed up

UK - For their recent 20th anniversary tour, UK band Tindersticks turned to Schertler's new Magnetico AG6 pickup to enhance their acoustic guitar sounds. The AG6 is the first model in a range of specially developed, fretted instrument pickups that combine high-end Schertler electronics with active multiple coil technology.

The compact AG6, equipped with it own volume control, is designed to fit inside the guitar's sound hole. Schertler produced a customized "left-handed" version of the pickup for guitarist Neil Fraser who used it in combination with the new S-MIC-M, a high-quality condenser microphone designed to add more warmth and harmonics to the AG6 sound.

"Jamie (Hickey), our sound engineer is always on the lookout to make us sound better ... so, when he suggested the AG6, I was immediately interested in what it could do for my acoustic guitar" says Fr

The Netherlands - One of the major benefits delivered by the Yamaha CL1 digital console is that it has brought high specification digital mixing to rental companies whose events demand the latest technology, but in a very compact footprint. Such is the case at Sound & Light Technology of Mierlo, Netherlands.

The Dutch company is very much a family concern. Founded by current owner Robin Janssens' grandfather as a woodworking business, under Robin's father it became one of the BeNeLux region's biggest nightclub interior design companies. Working in the audio industry since 1996, Robin became head of Sound & Light Technology in 2001.

The company invested in Nexo GeoS12 PA systems several years ago, purchased from Nexo and Yamaha dealer Iemke Roos. So Robin was happy to return to the Amsterdam-based company to purchased the company's first digital mixing system, comprising two Ya

The Netherlands - Over the last year Dutch based installer First Impression Audiovisueel was commissioned to supply an audio, video and light installation for Basic Fit - a large chain of sport clubs located throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. First Impression found a suitable control solution in the CueCore solid-state control for this customer.

The CueCore is a lighting controller for permanent installations manufactured by Dutch company Visual Productions BV. The device is completely solid-state, with no moving parts; it is a secure and low-maintenance installation control solution that has only a minimal power consumption. All operating and programming is done through its dynamic web interface.

In 170 locations of Basic Fit 'feature video walls' are now installed in the group lesson rooms. These walls are made up from a combination of LED lights, speakers, narrowcastin

UK - The 1,600 capacity O2 Academy Bristol has moved entirely into the digital sound domain, with the purchase of a new Soundcraft Vi4 from Adlib Audio as its dedicated monitor mixing desk.

The decision was taken to retire the long-serving Soundcraft MH3 40-channel analogue desk in the main room - and after reviewing the complete Vi Series, with intuitive Vistonics II interface, technical manager, Mickey Spillane, and assistant technical manager, Matt Royston-Bishop, opted for the Vi4 for a number of reasons. Principle among these was the fact that the latest 4.7 software update enables bi-directional show file compatibility with Vi6 and increases the Vi4 channel count from 72 to 96 channels to mix. With the same high quality preamps and sonic performance as the larger Vi6, the only difference between the two is the number of inout faders - 24 on the Vi4 and 32 on the Vi6.

Acc

Serebia - Nexo was flying high in Serbia, when UK-based AV rental company Aventeq called for a Geo S12/CD18 line array system to handle the largest corporate event in Serbian history, marking the purchase of an Airbus A319 for a new national airline.

The Novak Djokovic Airbus, named after Serbian tennis champion, was purchased following an agreement between the Government of Serbia and Etihad Airways to reorganise and rebrand the country's largest air traffic company, Jat Airways, into Air Serbia. Three unveilings of the aircraft were organised in the main hangar of Jat Tehnika. The first was for the company's 900 employees, the second for press, and finally the aircraft was unveiled to members of the government and diplomatic core, as well as local businessmen.

Aventeq, which handles all Etihad events in Europe, coordinated all three launches, which consisted of speeches and

Brazil - Genelec has announced Quanta as its new distributor in Brazil. Quanta represents over 20 brands in the pro, AV and music industries from its head office in Campinas and was founded in 1990. Offering not only products, but technical support and educational tools to music professionals across Brazil, Quanta offers complete solutions to the professional audio market.

Augusto Gaia, marketing director at Quanta comments, "It gives us great satisfaction here at Quanta to have the opportunity of working with Genelec in the Brazilian market. Genelec is a brand that has always had great admiration and respect. The challenge of adding our value to the Genelec offering is a great motivation and a big responsibility. We believe that the good results of our work will be key to maintaining a long and prosperous relationship."

Miguel Dominguez, area sales manager for Latin

UK - The MMF (Music Managers' Forum) has announced its partnership as Associate Member with JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Support) to accredit university courses that include Music Management.

It has long been an MMF ambition to evaluate academic courses that follow on from their already successful Induction Days and Management Development programmes. Over the past three years the MMF Education Committee led by Jim Thomas had refined two documents; the 'Managers Code of Practice' and 'A Framework for Education and Training'. When deciding on how to implement this framework, it became apparent that JAMES over recent years, had developed the systems required in this area. As an Associate Member working together with JAMES, the MMF can now ensure that JAMES Accredited Music Management courses offer content to the student that is appropriate, engaging and up to date.

Jim Thom

France - Located on the outskirts of Paris, Dubbing Brothers is a world-leading postproduction centre for adapting major films into foreign languages. Its recently renovated Dolby Atmos mixing stage is now equipped with a Meyer Sound system, which has supported the dubbing and remixing of films including Escape Plan, Saving Mr. Banks and the Dolby Atmos mix of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

"When we decided to update our main 7.1 mixing room to Atmos, we wanted monitoring of the highest quality," says Mathieu Taieb, sales director for Dubbing Brothers. "We knew other major post-production houses were using Meyer Sound for Atmos, so we arranged a session to listen to a Meyer Sound system. We were very impressed with what we heard. The sound was dynamic and precise, warm, and never aggressive. Both bass and high frequencies exhibited very

Germany - Nexo PS15-R2 stage monitors have found their way onto millions of German TV screens during 2013's The Voice of Germany (TVOG) programme. The monitors were given a starring role in both the adult and children's versions of the reality TV singing competition, appearing loud and proud on stage as contestants battled it out.

Both shows were filmed at Berlin's largest TV studio, which, at around 3,000 square metres, has 1,100 seats for live audience members and enough space for a large stage set. The studio is owned and operated by technical production company Studio Berlin Adlershof (SBA). Exclusive audio supplier for The Voice of Germany is Werner Audio, whose owner, Fried Werner, provided the show with 10x Nexo PS15-R2 monitors and four NXAMP 4x4C amplified controllers in active biamp mode for stage monitoring.

"The Nexo speakers were specified by monitor e

Austria - Powersoft D-Cell504 IS high power amplifier modules have been specified to drive a 'Wall of Bass' in an Austrian nightclub - as low as 7Hz.

The newly-reconstructed Club SUB, in the city of Wiener Neustadt, set out to integrate a low frequency solution, capable of reproducing a wide range of live and DJ-derived music (Drum 'n' Bass, Dubstep and Techno) and arts presentations, as well as workshops and theatrical performance in a completely revolutionary way.

And since the 300-capacity SUB is located in a heavily populated residential area heavy emphasis needed to be placed on acoustic isolation to avoid noise pollution.

Project managers, Wolfgang Sauter (from pro performance) and Reinhard Nell (from Lambda Labs), were equal to the challenge.

Speaking of the background to the project, Lambda Labs German based director, Steffen Kroschel, said, "The owners' goal

UK - The British Military Tournament is an exhilarating and breathtaking show which pays homage to the British Armed Forces' military prowess, showmanship and skill. This year's show was the most ambitious yet. Taking place in Earls Court in West London, Delta Sound has been the lead audio supplier to this event since its return in 2010 and has delivered its services for this fourth consecutive year.

Celebrating the versatility and dexterity of the British Army, the event is held to raise money for a number of praiseworthy charities, including the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, Walking With The Wounded and ABF the Soldiers Charity.

This year's event was commentated by British Actor Anthony Andrews and paid tribute to the Tournament's traditional aspects, including a field gun run, the White Helmets Motorcycle Display Team and perform

UK - Jay-Z's current Magna Carter world tour has been wowing audiences across the globe since its first gig at Manchester Arena on 3 October. Wakefield's one-stop-shop stage, set and studio rental facility, LS-Live, was therefore a convenient first stop on the schedule for the US superstar.

For his first solo headline tour in almost four years, Jay-Z wanted to pull out all the stops, so his production team led by production manager Bobby Schneider enlisted LS-Live to design and build what was to become one of the company's biggest projects of 2013; an enormous set of internally lit cubes both on a rolling house stage and hung overhead, encompassing 17km of aluminium and 400 Pulsar LED ChromaPanels.

Schneider had worked with LS-Live on the successful production of Jay-Z's one-off show for the BBC Radio One Hackney Weekend in the summer of 2012, so he knew it would be an

Germany - DVM, the new loudspeakers from German manufacturer Cardinal cover most applications in the daily installation business. A special emphasis was placed on high-grade wooden cabinets, an optimised driver selection and crossover design plus good accessories. All loudspeakers can be used directly on the amplifier without a controller. With only three different performance types a very large range of applications can be covered, no matter if for retail or catering installations, community halls or lecture theatres, school halls, a live club or conference and seminar rooms.

All models are 100% made in Germany and meet the Cardinal DVM typical high quality standards.

Owing to the compact enclosures with its multitude of integrated mounting points, the available accessories and the optional lacquer finish in the required custom RAL colour a trouble-free and unobtrusive mounti

Italy - The 17th century parish church of St. Alexander is a centre of the community in Villongo, an Italian municipality located in the foothills of Lombardy's Alpine region. When the church recently needed to upgrade its audio system, a seamless combination of Yamaha's Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) series products and the DUGAN-MY16 auto mixing card provided an elegant solution.

Designed and installed by Brescia-based Sil Sound, a main requirement was that the system could handle a 25-piece choir and live band, with the audio being routed to the speakers in the nave, monitors, a pair of exterior horn loudspeakers and to a codec for broadcasting Mass on live radio.

"The system needed to be versatile, reliable and deliver great sound quality, but it also needed to be user friendly so it could be used by church staff who are not audio professionals," says Si

UK - Southend-on-Sea Leisure and Tennis Centre in Essex boasts a large range of facilities including a 150 station fitness suite, 25m swimming pool, world class diving pool with 10m diving board, teaching pool, eight court sports hall, two court sports hall, dry dive gym, four indoor tennis courts, four outdoor tennis courts and an athletics track.

Hosting a wide range of galas, aqua aerobics and teaching instruction, the centre needed a high intelligibility sound system for the highly reverberant diving area and they commissioned audio specialists Soundtrack (Audio Visual) Ltd to design and install it.

Having previously used Community R-Series loudspeakers, Soundtrack knew they would ideally meet the need for moisture resistance and durability and provide the vocal intelligibility required. The well-defined dispersion was also critical in directing the sound accurately to the

USA - Pearl Jam recently wrapped up a sold-out, two-month sweep of North American arenas in support of its tenth and latest studio album, Lightning Bolt. The outing marked the Seattle-based rock band's first official return to the tour circuit since 2010, and, as it did then, the group carried a full L-AcousticsS K1 system supplied by Rat Sound Systems.

Rat Sound's relationship with Pearl Jam goes back to the band's debut album, Ten (1991), when it opened for one of Rat's other longtime accounts, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Since then, the company has served as the group's primary live production provider.

According to Rat Sound's Kevin McKenzie, who has served as Pearl Jam's system tech for the past decade, the PA deployed at each stop typically featured 14 K1 plus six Kara down-fills per side with adjacent hangs of a dozen K1-SB. Additional left and right side hangs

UK - Audio manufacturer Audient received a significant boost in the form of new ownership under audio veteran Simon Blackwood. Taking the helm at Audient this month, Blackwood is already working closely with the Hampshire-based team, using his considerable business experience within the audio industry to further strengthen the Audient brand.

Blackwood is clearly impressed by the current product line and personnel - including recently appointed managing director, Steve Flower, chief technical officer, Tom Waterman and sales and marketing director Luke Baldry. "I have keenly followed Audient's success over the years, so the opportunity to work directly with the team to take the business to the next level was too compelling to turn down," he says.

"The brand has become universally recognised for producing award-winning, innovative products for modern music recordin

Poland - An Outline sound reinforcement system has been installed in the Kashubian Philharmonic Hall, located in the city of Wejherowo in northern Poland.

As well as the multi-purpose concert hall, the striking venue (which takes its name from the local area's ethnic and linguistic community), designed by Arch-Studio and inaugurated in 2012, also features a culture centre with numerous workshops hosting a wide variety of artistic activities.

Leading Polish designer, manufacturer, and supplier of sound reinforcement systems and system integrator, Gda?sk-based Outline distributor Ambient System was called in by the venue's owners, Wejherowo City Hall, to supply and install the audio equipment, as well as coordinating the hall's AV design.

The company's brief was to provide a system which, as well as ensuring high quality sound and even coverage throughout the 400-seat auditori

Finland - Solid State Logic has appointed pro audio sales and support company msonic Light + Sound as its Live console distributor in Finland. msonic specialises in high-end audio and video sales and engineering, and is the latest addition to SSL's Live console partner network.

"We are very proud that we have the opportunity to represent the SSL Live console for the Finnish market, and are convinced that the future is bright for SSL Live products," says Tero Hölttä, pro audio sales manager, msonic. "After we first saw the SSL Live Console at Pro Light + Sound, we knew that it would be the next big thing in the live market and that it would be the perfect addition to our premium product line, which already includes d&b audiotechnik, DirectOut, Radial, Sony Digital Wireless systems and, of course, SSL broadcast consoles and studio products. We recently presented t

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