Switzerland / USA - Barix AG announces that NJ Transit, the public transportation corporation for the state of New Jersey, has standardized on Barix Audio over IP equipment for IP-based distribution of public address (PA) announcements at rail and bus stations across the state.

NJ Transit is in the process of building out an IP-based PA and digital display network that will disseminate audio and visual passenger information from one to many points. NJ Transit and consultant Baran Design Associates specified Barix Exstreamers to receive and decode PA messages at every NJ Transit location. The devices are currently operational across the River Line light rail system and Northeast Corridor rail lines, as well as a number of bus stations.

Audio messages with relevant passenger information are continuously updated and streamed to pre-assigned, IP-addressable Exstreamers to ensure t

UK - Hip hop trio N-Dubz have recently been promoting the platinum-selling album Against All Odds with a major April UK tour. Accompanying the band have been their Sennheiser microphones and in-ear monitors.

The tour's schedule was relentless, with very few non-show days as the band played gigs from Folkestone to Glasgow and all points between. Reliability was essential, but monitor engineer Chris 'Bronski' Jablonski is just as impressed with the hi-fidelity sound of the Sennheiser equipment.

The band's three vocalists - Dino 'Dappy' Contostavlos, Tula 'Tulisa' Contostavlos and Richard 'Fazer' Rawson were all using SKM 935 G3 microphones and ew 300 G3 in-ear monitors, with a three-piece backing band and Chris also using ew 300 G3 IEMs.

"I've been using Sennheiser for the last six or so years for a wide variety of projects, the 500 series for live vocals, and the

Argentina - Seventeen years after their last Argentinian concert, some 45,000 fans attended , Guns N' Roses' recent Buenos Aires concert - part of the Chinese Democracy World Tour 2010.

Buenos Aires Live Show was responsible for the technical staging of the event, and chose Proel Edge15CXPB coaxial monitors.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Audio visual specialist RaceTech AV is working with sound system manufacturer Bose to provide audio, visual, control and digital signage solutions to the new Marriot Hotel in Lingfield as part of their multi?million pound new build hotel complex.

The project has included design and build services for a bespoke turnkey solution to multiple public areas within the hotel, all controlled by AMX touch panel controls that are networked throughout the facility for maximum flexibility and ease of use. The whole system utilises a simple 'touch screen' interface that manages all of the installed technology.

"By working with prime contractors, architects and client representatives we have been able to provide a leading edge turnkey design and supply service to the Marriot Hotel and commission high quality audio, video, signage and multiple induction loops to many key public are

UK - On 12 February Enter Shikari played the last date of a UK tour at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Lighting designer and programmer Steven Bewley's brief was for a 'big, brash, in-your-face' rig that could keep up with the breakneck pace of an Enter Shikari show and he turned to some of Martin Professional's newest MAC luminaires.

"This was the last show in the UK for a while so the band wanted to go out with a bang so to speak," Bewley reports. "The show had to be quickly rigged and be totally flexible as the tour stretched over a week with venue sizes ranging from big to small. These had to be shows the audience would never forget; they had to walk away feeling hungry for more, which I feel we achieved with the rig chosen."

Bewley created the feel with an arena style set up that fit comfortably within the confines of venues like the Hammersmith Apol

The Netherlands The Daughters of Africa theatre tour saw its premiere in Amsterdam's Royal Theatre Carré recently. The sound is provided by Kater audiotechniek and Van Dijk SoundSupport.

Daughters of Africa is the successor of the African Mamas tour from 2009, that attracted more than 175,000 visitors. For this new show, 12 young women were selected from eight different African countries. Their diversity and cultural backgrounds are the theme of this vibrant show, accompanied by a live band.

For the première in the 1,800-seat theatre, attended by Princess Máxima, The Ribbon Network member Jan van Dijk deployed a large Alcons system, consisting of 30 units of LR14 ultra-compact line-array.

Two main clusters were built upon 12 units of LR14 line-array and four units LR14B line-array bass each. Two groundstacked arrays of three LR14 units and two S

Taiwan - Hot on the heels of his Scandinavian tour, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has embarked on dates throughout Asia, drawing on L-Acoustics' strong Rental Network in the region to provide a system in every location.

Appearances in Tokyo, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore saw local agents Kyoritz, Seoul Sound, MSI Hong Kong and CSP Productions respectively supplying V-Dosc/dV-Dosc systems. However when the tour arrived in Taiwan, local rental company Winly provided Bocelli's sound designer Andrea Taglia with an extensive Kudo large format line source system for the Taipei Arena.

"The system was based on a monophonic concept," says Taglia. "This was accomplished with a centre cluster of 16 Kudos dedicated to the floor audience and first floor central balcony, while two side systems of 15 Kudos each covered the side balconies, and two delays of 12 dV-Dosc each prov

Switzerland - Allen & Heath's Xone:92 was once again the DJ mixer of choice at the recent Caprices music festival, which takes place every year at the Crans-Montana ski resort in the Swiss Alps.

The four-day festival hosts a comprehensive programme of DJ performances, as well as live band performances.

A highlight of the DJ programme was a special daytime event called Modernity, held at an altitude of 2300m at the Cry d'Er station. A new colour Xone:92 DJ mixer was requested for the event, which included sets by Riccardo Villalobos and friends.

In the evening, Villalobos' concept band, Narod Niki, put on a special show. Narod Niki is a collection of international DJ's forming an improv-techno-all-star band, who perform together using a special variation of Ableton's Live software for synchronisation. The Narod Niki line up at Caprices featured eight producers - includ

UK - On the express instructions of sound designer Derrick Zieba, Britannia Row Productions supplied its Electro-Voice X-Line array system for the biggest night in the British classical music calendar - the Classical BRIT Awards 2010.

Marking the 11th year of the Awards, a glittering line-up of international stars gathered on-stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London, home to the Classical BRITs since it started in 2000. Accompanied by the London Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green, the live performers included Angela Gheorghiu, Bryn Terfel, Rolando Villazón, André Rieu and his Johan Strauss Orchestra, and the legendary Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, picking up her Lifetime Achievement Award.

Zieba is a familiar sight at the big awards shows; his contract with BRITS TV also includes the mainstream BRIT Awards for popular music, and he has designed many

UK - When the 133-year-old Father Willis Organ at England's Salisbury Cathedral was sent for repair during February and March of this year, the church's liturgical music programme continued uninterrupted with powerful, richly textured pipe organ sounds. The sounds were instead produced - with uncanny accuracy - by a digital 'virtual organ' and transparently reinforced by 12 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.

Commissioned by the cathedral to help recreate the sound of the organ in the challenging acoustical space, Major Tom Limited was clear that the sound had to be powerful and accurate, and the various audio elements had to be perceived in the same way at various points throughout the building, and particularly in the choir.

"Before the organ repairs commenced, we came in one night with our Meyer Sound SIM 3 audio analyser and eight microphones," says Chris Mars

UK - On 1 May, mac threw open its doors to the public. A £15 million newly-refurbished arts centre in Birmingham, it includes a digital audio system featuring two RSS M-400 digital mixing consoles coupled with the latest battery-powered lightweight RSS Snakes which can be used anywhere inside or outside the building.

Initially established specifically for young people, over the years mac has broadened its remit, and today welcomes over 500,000 visitors each year, including 10% of Birmingham's population, who come to enjoy a programme which concentrates on the contemporary, showcasing artists across the full range of arts practice: film, theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, music and comedy.

The Edgbaston venue, also known as the Midlands Arts Centre, has made the most of the opportunity to install a cost-saving Cat 5e REAC-based network, which provides flexibility to

UK / USA - The spring season has seen a number of high profile new plays and musicals choose to use FocusTrack to give them a complete, accurate record of their show lighting. In New York, these shows include the musicals Come Fly Away and The Addams Family and the play Red.

Come Fly Away, the Twyla Tharp show based around the music of Frank Sinatra lit by Donald Holder took the showfile from their grandMA console into FocusTrack to work out which focuses were used by which lights in the show. The lighting team, including associate lighting designer Jeanne Koenig, assistant Caroline Chao, programmer Joseph Allegro and head electrician Brad Robertston then used FocusTrack to control the console to bring each light on in each position in turn to take a photograph, which was then incorporated into the show's FocusTrack.

The Addams Family, lit by

Italy - Outline now manufactures a third of its loudspeaker systems with the help of the sun. A few months ago, a modern amorphous silicon photovoltaic system for the generation of clean energy was installed on the roof of the Brescia loudspeaker system manufacturer's premises.

"Approximately a third of the energy necessary for building our loudspeaker systems is provided by this photovoltaic system," says Outline's Stefano Noselli. "We're at the beginning of the road but are rightly proud. The aim we're determined to achieve by 2015 is to considerably reduce the energy consumption necessary for our activities by means of a series of projects that have already been planned for some time."

In sync with the concept of maximum efficiency and respect for the environment, Outline and its R&D department have built up an expertise enabling it to achieve ambitious

UK - Manchester based DBN Lighting helped creative production company, Just Communicate to realise a visual concept for the annual conference and gala dinner of a leading technology company at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC.

The brief from show producer Julian Ward was to transform the hotel's Monarch Suite into a flexible presentation space and gala dinner venue. This would host a daytime conference for a leading international technology company, and then morph into an X-Factor style televisual environment for the evening awards dinner.

Just Communicate's concept was to use the entire stage set as a screen surface using a large LED screen as a backdrop, DBN's Stephen Page suggested utilising Martin Lighting's LC2140 product wrapping around the back of the stage with a Trevira cloth rigged in front of it for the daytime sessions, giving a dynamic moving backdrop fo

UK - Dolby Laboratorieshelped Disney create a cinema first when it provided technical support to host the global premiere of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Multiple premieres and supporting activity took place on four continents, stretching across five time zones in a single day, as the stars of the new movie linked to every event live from London.

Dolby contributed to the success of the challenging project in the form of technical support in each country to ensure the best screening for each of the invited premiere audiences around the globe. Along with its satellite partner Arqiva, Dolby also provided the satellite and fibre optic links for the live connections to Australia, Asia and Central America which made the whole global extravaganza possible.

"We were very excited to be asked by Disney to be involved in this complex project," said Richard Welsh, dir

USA - Audio-Technica has become a Diamond Level Corporate Sponsor of the Cinema Audio Society (CAS). Audio-Technica has long been a strong presence in the markets the Cinema Audio Society serves - film sound, television sound, sound for documentaries and other produced programs - and A-T's shotgun microphones and lavalier microphones have been increasingly used in the production of numerous major events and programmes.

The Cinema Audio Society, now in its 47th year, is "dedicated to the advancement of sound". It consists of sound mixers and associates from the film and television industries. The Society was founded to create a proper channel of communication between the related sound crafts and between those instrumental to the production and distribution of film and television soundtracks. The Corporate Sponsorship programme allows the CAS to expand their awards progr

France - The city of Orléans, some 130km south-west of Paris, is best known for being the city that was liberated from the English during the Hundred Years' War by Joan of Arc. To this day the city's inhabitants have continued to remain faithful and grateful to her, and the annual FΩtes de Jeanne d'Arc is held in honour of her victory.

Part of the programme this year, which included parades, medieval festivals, markets, concerts and exhibitions, was a late-night open-air DJ session which followed on from a spectacular son-et-lumiere show. Free entry and a stellar line-up including sets from Laurent Wolf, Greg Cerrone and Da Fresh guaranteed a big turn-out, and organisers weren't disappointed - over 21,000 revellers showed up to dance the night away.

AV rental company ACS, provided a powerful Uniline compact line array system from French loudspeaker company

USA - The 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in southern California was once again an overwhelming success, drawing a record attendance of 225,000 people over a three-day span. At Coachella's Mojave Stage, Ian C. Charbonneau of Le Mobile Remote Recording relied on JBL LSR2328 studio monitors to mix a roster of top artists for live webcast.

During the Festival's three days, the Mojave Stage hosted performances by 30 acts, including Devo, Grizzly Bear, Imogen Heap, Julian Casablancas, Shooter Jennings and Les Claypool. In other words, rest was not an option for Charbonneau. "When you're mixing live from 10am to 1am for three days, it's a tough gig for the ears," Charbonneau said, "but it's such a great time doing it, especially when you love music and you love what you do."

Not only does the schedule itself pose a challenge, but Charbonneau

Turkey - L- Acoustics' Turkish distributor Elit Light&Sound Technologies has assisted the Christian & Missionary Alliance of Canada hold its biannual assembly in Antalya, Turkey, providing the requisite PA system and manpower.

Usually held in Canada, the organisation's proposal to hold it in Turkey posed an interesting situation for Scott Murley and Mark Lasebnik, technical director and FOH engineer respectively, who have been supporting the C&MA Assembly for more than 16 years.

The five-day event includes business sessions, break-out seminars and evening plenary events incorporating a live band, on-stage choir, string section, spoken-word teaching, dramatic elements, pre-produced video, all requiring production equipment and staffing.

The C&MA's assemblies in Canada is known for its quality of production, especially audio, so it was deemed that Murley and Lasebnik find a Tu

UK - London's Albany Theatre has invested in a new grandMA2 ultra-light console to replace their old lighting desk. The Albany in Deptford east London, is a busy producing and receiving house, and one of London's leading performing arts venues. The decision to go with grandMA2 was made by head of production Fiona Greenhill and technical manager Ben Wallace.

Hosting many one night theatre shows and a host of interesting music gigs, they wanted a multi-functional console that would be good for busking and fast programming 'on-the-fly' as well as for handling detailed pre-programmed shows.

grandMA was initially recommended to the Albany by lighting designer Lawrence Stromski, and originally they thought it would be beyond their budgets, but then Greenhill and Wallace took the opportunity to check out what MA had to offer at PLASA 2009. Here they saw grandMA2 in action and were se

Hong Kong - Sa DingDing, a Grammy nominee and winner of the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award in 2008, performed two concerts at the Hong Kong Star Hall for the 38th Hong Kong Arts Festival. Shalom AV Technology provided a Meyer Sound Milo line array loudspeaker system for the event.

Named by The Times as the Asian Björk, Sa DingDing sings in Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Mandarin. By mixing traditional Chinese melodies and Buddhist prayers with electronic instruments, she has inspired many with a spiritual musicality reproduced by a Meyer Sound system.

"Milo was used because it not only provides the power we needed for the size of venue but also gives us the dynamics," states Roland Chan, concert engineer of Shalom AV Technology.

To cover 3,600 spectators in the four-level Star Hall measuring 30,000sq.ft, a Meyer Sound system with 16 Milo and four Milo 120 line array

UK - The first Mic to Master training weekend of 2010 attracted an enthusiastic audience when it took place earlier this month at Deep Blue Sound in Plymouth.

More than 40 students, engineers and producers attended the two-day event, which was organised as a joint initiative by high end recording and broadcast equipment manufacturer Prism Sound/SADiE and JAMES, the education arm of the Music Producers Guild (MPG), the Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS), and the UK Screen Association.

Phil Harding, chairman of JAMES, said, "It was a fantastic weekend that attracted good support from the industry and delivered key insights into some very pertinent topics. Many of those who attended expressed their delight in being able to learn from professionals who were willing to share their expertise and impart some useful tricks of the trade."

Throughou

UK - Occupying the former Neve premises in Litlington, Cambridgeshire, Absolute Professional Audio offers a wide range of sound demonstration, design, installation, commissioning and training services. At the heart of the company's premises is a state-of-the-art studio, where a Yamaha 02R96VCM is providing much-needed versatility.

The company moved to the new, larger Litlington premises from nearby Melbourn because of ongoing expansion. A major attraction of the new building was a studio featuring a live room and two edit suite/control rooms, which had seen very little use and was in immaculate condition.

"It was a fantastic opportunity to create a high quality demonstration and training facility and also to set up a cutting edge recording studio," says Absolute Pro Audio's Phil Darke. "The first thing I did when everything was wired up was to mic up the new Yam

China - Community Professional Loudspeakers and its Chinese distributor, Sanecore Audio, recently hosted the first SynAudCon seminar to be presented in China. Christine Howze, vice president of Community and a big advocate of SynAudCon's audio education seminars, approached SynAudCon in 2009 with the concept of presenting Audio Principles & Applications to audio professionals in China. With SynAudCon on board, the event and seminar logistics were coordinated by Howze, Sanecore's Chinese sales president Jun Zhu and SynAudCon owners Pat and Brenda Brown.

The two and a half day training was held at the IAG Club in Shenzhen. More than 50 participants, consisting of Sanecore audio engineers and audio professionals from all over China, enjoyed the presentations by Pat Brown. The course was offered in English with Chinese translation provided by Tao Zhang, a US based technical a

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