Nigeria - As THISDAY Music Festival rolled into Lagos, Nigeria this summer, headliner R. Kelly made his first-ever African appearance to a 50,000-strong crowd. Sound reinforcement for the two-day live event at the Federal Palace Hotel and Tafawa Balewa Square was handled by Meyer Sound Milo and Mica line array loudspeaker systems provided by GQ Acoustics.

Nduka Obaigbena, the festival organiser and publisher of THISDAY, Nigeria's daily newspaper, was more than pleased when he saw the crowd dancing to the music complemented by the sheer power and clarity of the Meyer Sound systems. "I like the consistency of the Meyer Sound systems," says Obaigbena. "In the past three years, GQ Acoustics has been supplying sound for our concerts and has never disappointed us in the quality of the production."

Having used Meyer Sound systems in some of Africa's

USA - NLFX Professional recently installed an extensive Electro-Voice sound system at Creekside Christian Fellowship, a church located southeast of Houston, Texas. With the help of EV's IRIS-Net remote-control and supervision software, NLFX continues to monitor the performance of Creekside's new system from its offices nearly 1,500 miles away in Bemidji, Minn.

NLFX's Travis Scharn described the project: "Creekside is really in the first of three stages of completion. At this point the main, 450-seat worship space acts as a large, multi-purpose room, and will remain in use while they complete an adjacent, much larger permanent sanctuary. Anything and everything takes place in the current space, in addition to housing their Sunday services. It doubles as their youth facility, a venue for trade shows and concerts, and even as a site for volleyball practices. We were referred t

UK/Japan - TL Audio has announced that MI7 Japan will now act as exclusive distributor for the Japanese region. The recent appointment was made at AES Japan in Tokyo and both parties are enthusiastic about the new partnership and the possibilities for the future.

MI7 has been in operation for five years and has already established itself as a respected distributor. Managing director, Seiji Murai, has many years experience in the music and technology industry and brings many useful skills and much knowledge to MI7 Japan.

Sarah Yule, sales director for TL Audio comments, "We are delighted to be working with MI7 in Japan, they are a professional and innovative company and Seiji is a clever and inspiring business partner to have, together we are very excited about the future and what we can achieve."

(Jim Evans)

Croatia - Klotz Digital's Varizone digital PA system was chosen for two sport venues in Croatia. Under the lead and management of Dicroic d.o.o., Klotz Digital's Varizone sales partner in Croatia, the complete AV systems for the Športska dvorana Žatika in Pore? and the Spaladium Arena in Split were designed and installed. Both sport venues were built for the men's handball world championship which took place earlier this year.

The Spaladium Arena, which seats up to 12,000 people, received a multimedia application. The core of the Varizone Performance-Line system is a V212 Matrix Controller - the central audio engine - routing any incoming audio signal to the required speakers. DSP features, such as EQ and DYN are integrated, which ensures intelligibility and eliminates listening fatigue. An intelligent digital bus system (DSS Bus) feeds all digital and 100V amplifiers, speaker

USA/New Zealand - Denon DJ has announced a partnership with SeratoTM Audio Research, a software developer specialising in audio production and performance tools. As part of the new agreement, Denon DJ and Serato have commenced work on a new Denon-branded ITCH DJ controller, the DN-HC5000, which is scheduled to ship in Q4 2009.

Denon DJ joins a growing roster of hardware partners that are working with Serato on the ITCH project, which is an integrated software and hardware system designed to give music selectors and mobile entertainers new kinds and levels of control. Serato ITCH software lets DJs control their music from a computer, using purpose-built ITCH hardware. The new Denon model will use a proprietary HIDI technology that Serato developed to increase reliability and speed of communication between their software and partnered hardware.

"We're constantly working to

USA - British audio manufacturer Audient has expanded its distribution in the US with a new partnership with FDW-Worldwide, following a strong period of US sales. FDW-Worldwide adds the entire range of Audient and LA Audio products - including the flagship ASP8024 and the newly released Zen console - to its list of distributed lines including Milab, Violet Design and SonTronics.

President of FDW-Worldwide, Buzz Goodwin comments: "Adding such a prestigious line such as Audient to our portfolio of exclusively distributed product for North America and Canada is a huge win for us. This is a very high quality line of British analogue consoles and outboard gear whose time has come and we are happy to play a part in its on-going success."

Luke Baldry, sales and marketing director adds: "Following on from a fantastic period of trading in the US market, we knew how impor

UK - The Saturdays have had a busy summer on tour, and have chosen Sennheiser microphones and monitors for the entire time. The concerts, which included slots supporting Take That in addition to their own The Work tour, featured all five members of the band singing into SKM 935 mics with ew 300 IEM G2s providing the in-ear audio.

"It's the combination of sound and price that draws me to Sennheiser," explains The Saturdays' production manager and FOH Engineer Andrew Thornton. "I've used both these systems with many other artists and I've always been happy with the results. The mics work well with all voices and give a nice bright sound without too much sibilance. The IEMs have rock solid reception and are small enough to be tucked away inside the most revealing outfit!

"The equipment worked very well for the entire tour. There wasn't one drop out on t

UK - Peak Hire, based in Cheltenham has bolstered its inventory of products from EAW with the purchase of eight EAW KF850 Series Virtual ArrayTM System Modules and eight EAW SB1002 Large Format Flyable Subwoofers.

Peak Hire's EAW arsenal was already sizeable, including 16 EAW KF730 Compact Line Array Modules and eight EAW SB730 Compact Line Array Subwoofers, along with a good stock of EAW JFX88 Compact Full-Range Loudspeakers, EAW JFX200i Compact Full-Range Loudspeakers and EAW SBX220 Compact Subwoofers.

Peak Hire managing director Karl Ashman stated: "EAW has long been a staple in our inventory of sound reinforcement components, and over the years, our clients have always commented about the outstanding sound quality of their modules. That being said, we have increased our warehouse of EAW System Modules and Subwoofers to meet the equipment demands from our clients in li

UK - Walking with Dinosaurs, the award-winning BBC TV series, has come to life in a stunning theatrical event, with 20 life-sized dinosaurs touring the country in what promises to be one of the most groundbreaking arena shows seen in the UK. Integral to this is the set, which has been built by Stage One.

Stage One, who were brought in by The Creature Production Company, creators of the animatronic dinosaurs, were asked to provide several scenic elements, consisting of an automated representation of the Pangaea (the super continent that began splitting up 200 million years ago), several sections of bespoke truss and extensive ground row. They also supplied extensive pre-tour rehearsal space at their North Yorkshire base, in a former aircraft hangar.

"Our extensive workshop facilities and skill base means that we are able to offer all manner of manufacturing techniqu

UK - Showsec reports that it has been selected as finalists in four categories of the Security Excellence Awards, taking place at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, London this October.

Showsec's managing director Mark Harding said: "We are delighted to have reached the final stages of all four categories we entered. This array of security awards demonstrates the range and quality of services the company provides and is testimony to the professionalism of our management teams and staff."

The categories are Event Team of the Year (for work done within UK Arenas), International Achievement Award (for B'estfest in Romania), Training Initiative of the Year (for the Showsec Academy) and Contract Security Manager of the Year (for operations director Simon Battersby).

(Jim Evans)

UK - A.C. Audio is continuing its long established success with digital mixing consoles and has recently supplied both an Allen & Heath iLive-T system and Soundcraft Si3 console to Marine Hall in Fleetwood.

Tony Mitchell, technical manager at Fleetwood Marine Hall, stated: "I have worked with A.C. for a few years now for brown box supplies to larger scale installation and fabrication work in all aspects of our entertainment technology needs, and have developed a good relationship with them. As a local authority, it is always important to remember that I'm spending council tax payers' money; when we place an order with A.C., I'm always confident that I will be getting great value for the overall service they provide."

The Marine Hall is a multipurpose venue covering everything from conferences to Rock and Roll, with both amateur and professional clients. After 10 year

UK - Mojo Barriers UK office has reached a landmark 25,000m of stage barriers installed at events this summer. The barrier supplier has played a key part in maintaining safety over a busy summer of music since starting at the Radio 1 One Big weekend in May, through to providing all of the barriers at Sonisphere.

This new two-day rock festival for 60,000 held at Hertfordshire's Knebworth House on 1 and 2 August was promoted by Monsters of Rock founder Stuart Galbraith's new company Kilimanjaro. With four stages, headliners Metallica, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Limp Bizkit and Nine Inch Nails topped an expansive bill of rock acts.

Mojo Barriers director Jim Gaffney worked closely with site manager Steve Hill in creating a barrier layout that was safe for the audience, artists and security teams, installing 600m of Mojo Barrier protection around all four stages

UK - The organisers of the PLASA Show (13-16 September 2009, Earls Court, London) have announced the final shortlist of nominees for this year's prestigious Gottelier Award, which will be presented at the PLASA Show on Monday 14 September.

This will be the third Gottelier Award - named in memory of the former designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, who died in 2006. The Award (sponsored by Lighting&Sound International magazine for which Tony Gottelier was a regular contributor for many years), aims to recognise those who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the development of entertainment technology. Former winners are Tony Andrews of Funktion One (2007) and John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo (2008).

The seven nominees this year include four notable figures from the lighting world and three from pro audio. This year's nominees are, in alphabetical

UK - MSP (Merseysound Productions & Staging) was announced as the winner of Grass Roots' Premier Partner award for delivering exceptional service over the past year. The Liverpool-based company has helped Grass Roots' live event production team produce events both nationally and internationally.

Nick Bender, global head of events at Grass Roots, said: "With each event we need to be able to rely on our supplier partners to help us deliver a perfect experience every time. These awards recognise that MSP consistently go the extra mile for us and demonstrate our sincere appreciation in having such trusted partners on whom we can always depend."

The MSP team were nominated for being excellent ambassadors for Grass Roots and their clients, consistently responding to tight deadlines while exceeding expectations, and donating AV equipment and staff for the charitable event <

UK - A one-off concert was staged at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, featuring Avraham Fried, a popular musical entertainer in the Orthodox Jewish community, and David Fisher, best known for his Broadway performance as Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables.

Jonathan (Speedy) Cole who was LD for the show, reports: "This Concert was a result of over a year of planning. The producer, Danny Kaizler from Israevents paid attention to every musical detail in the show, so I had to come up with a Lighting rig to allow a reaction of lighting to each and every musical point.

"We had rehearsals in the venue on the Friday, followed by a get in time of 05:00 on the day, having the ability to use the Vector PC, meant that I was able to programme each and every cue off site, using Wysiwyg. As we got in, whilst the crew off loaded the trucks, we ran 130m of n

UK - When LexisNexis, a supplier in the business information market, decided to revamp the PartnerPoint meeting room at its London office, it approached Projection Advertising for inspiration and guidance. The brief was to transform a rather outdated meeting room into a leading edge media suite.

After exploring various options they were sold on the AdWindow, the projected capacitance touch screen, using Paradigm AV touch foil technology.

It was essential that the system could be used to access information in the LexisNexis annals - claimed to be the largest online archive of legal and accounting resources in the world. A Windows based platform, AdWindow integrated seamlessly into the established network - the core of the company's business - putting information at the user's fingertips.

Projection Advertising provided a turnkey solution which included fabricating custom brac

UAE - The new Terminal 3 and Concourse 2 at Dubai International Airport were commissioned last October. Prior the grand opening Berlin-based Rahe-Kraft measured all halls for good speech intelligibility of the PA-system. One of the key tools was the portable Acoustilyzer AL1, which saved them a lot of time in their project - the STI-PA measurements could be completed faster than expected.

Rahe-Kraft was appointed to design, predict and commission the complete public address system for the new Dubai airport terminal. The system consists of approximately 4.000 ceiling loudspeakers, 600 passive arrays and about 140 active arrays. Only 18 active DSP-controlled loudspeakers service the huge baggage claim hall (235 x 220m).

The commissioning of the system was conducted by Jakob Kraft personally. Due to the large distances, wired measurements were impossible in many areas, thus a han

UK - Pearce Hire has continued its ongoing investment in hire stock when it recently took delivery of 20 i-Pix BB4 units, complete with flightcases, along with a full range of hanging hardware and optional lenses.

Pearce Hire MD Shaun Pearce commented: "We've been waiting for the right time to make a significant investment in LED products. With the rapid development of LED fixtures over the last few years we've seen fixtures going out of fashion (and so becoming obsolete) very quickly, so we have found it more cost effective to sub-rent, enabling us to provide clients with exactly the right tool for the job.

"With the i-Pix BB4 we feel we've finally found a well designed fixture that will last. It has excellent output and a variety of lens and mounting options which mean it's adaptable to a large number of applications; as a hire company that is an essential feature

UK - Causing the biggest stir for many years amongst audiences and industry professionals alike with the sheer scale of its design and construction is U2's current 360° Tour.

The now-famous 'Claw', designed by the combined talents of show architect Mark Fisher and long-time U2 collaborator, show designer/director, Willie Williams, forms a 28m high canopy over one of the largest stages ever toured.

Pivotal to the 'Claw' is a central spire or pylon, 50m high and loaded with 34 PRG Icon 2 'Bad Boy' moving lights and two 600mm mirror balls, which has been developed and fabricated by UK staging company, Brilliant Stages.

"Working with Jeremy Lloyd of Stufish to Mark Fisher's design, we devised a construction that would withstand the rigours of a 44-date, international tour of outdoor arenas and stadia, yet which would also be easy to erect and transport," exp

The Netherlands - Since its inception 34 years ago, the North Sea Jazz festival has grown to be the biggest jazz festival in the world, this year featuring a relentless schedule for its technical crews, with over 1500 musicians performing in 15 different venues over three days. Fast and accurate communication between technicians was crucial, which is why rental company Ampco specified ASL Intercom systems for the 13 main stages at the event.

Taking place between 10-12 July in and around Rotterdam's Ahoy complex, the festival takes in a wide variety of jazz-related musical styles - from traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop and free jazz to fusion, avant-garde, blues, gospel, funk, soul, hip hop, R&B, world and Latin beats. Around 23,500 visitors each day enjoy the diverse music on offer, with the very swift turnarounds between acts meaning technical crews having to be crystal

UK - Two Soundcraft Vi6s have been specified by Academy Music Group to take care of mixing duties at the new £5m O2 Academy Birmingham, which opens on Thursday 10 September, with a sell out performance by Editors.

The Vi6s have the capacity to service FOH and monitor requirements as necessary on the 3,000-capacity main stage, 600-capacity O2 Academy 2 - and a third live room which holds 250.

Adlib Audio has been retained by AMG for this latest development, having installed multiples of Soundcraft's digital desks in AMG's most recent venues, O2 Academy Leeds and O2 Academy Sheffield.

The brace of Vi6's in Birmingham will move easily and quickly around the expansive 45,000sq ft venue, as part of the standard flight-cased touring package.

Commenting on the purchase, AMG's group technical manager, Ed Jackson says: "The new V3.0 software upgrade has taken the desk to

UK - TOA's NX-100 Network Audio Adapter has been chosen as the hub of a new PA/VA installation at a large chemical plant in Wales. Specialist systems integration firm PAS Sound Engineering selected the NX-100 because of its ability to convert analogue audio into digital packets for transmission over an IP-based network.

Jeff Vaudrey, managing director, of PAS Sound Engineering explains the background to the project: "Our client was an international chemical manufacturer that had a 160-acre site in south Wales. For years their PA system was linked via ageing telephone cables, and we were approached to see if we could provide a solution to the unreliability and poor audio quality which plagued the existing system."

Vaudrey believed that TOA's NX-100 could form the basis of a new system comprising 16 outstations spread across the site, using the client's existing IT net

UK - With 13,000 students from over 120 countries, the University of Aberdeen is committed to making education accessible to as many people as possible.

The University has been exclusively using Ampetronic designs and equipment for its induction loop systems for several years, with over 100 currently installed, as its AV manager David Walton explains, "In the past, we got whichever company won the tender to do an AV installation to supply and install the induction loop. But we ran into problems because people weren't as skilled as installing them as they thought and we started to have problems with spill from adjacent rooms, and so on.

Recently the university's Fraser Noble Building has undergone major refurbishment, which has included the complete overhaul of five teaching laboratories. As with all such projects at the university, the opportunity was taken to install the

UK - Arena Television employed their new Optocore system to provide audio broadcast feeds for BBC Two and BBC Three at this year's Glastonbury Festival. The systems were purchased for Glastonbury from Optocore's UK distributor, HD Pro Audio.

To cover the event, Arena provided two OB Trucks for the Other Stage and the BBC Introducing Stage, a large VT truck for the BBC4 and Interactive and Red Button operations and two OB Trucks for BBC2 and BBC3.

The two OB Trucks for BBC2 and BBC3 were each linked via Optocore to the respective BBC2 and BBC3 backstage studios, each feed carrying presenters plus various bands' acoustic sets. A further Optocore run linked the two Scanners to provide full redundancy of the Optocore system. The Optocore systems consisted of 2x 48 in/16 out stageboxes, comprising 2x X6P-16 In, 2x X6P 8/8 and 1x DD32E with 2x DD4ME MADI Interfaces. These were then

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