Norway - Often referred to as 'the Scandinavian Alps', Hemsedal in Norway is the premier Norwegian ski resort. One of the oldest hotels in the area is the esteemed Skogstad Hotel. Owned by the Thorset family since its beginning in 1905, the hotel boasts more than 100 years of atmosphere and history.

On 17 Febuary, the doors opened to the completely renovated Skogstad Club, which is among the most modern nightclubs in Hemsedal. With a strictly enforced dress code and age limit, Italian-designed furniture and excellent ambience, the Skogstad Club is a classy venue with a genuine club feeling.

The sound installation at the venue, carried out by EHS Pro Shop, utilised a total of 12 Cornered Audio C6TRMs as sound reinforcement for the bars. These were chosen because of the speakers' "Armani-like" design, as one of the hotel's project managers described it! The only compla

Switzerland - Zurich's Alstadt district or "old town" is an area of tiny twisting streets, exclusive art galleries and chic shops which is spread on both right and left banks of the Limmit-river that separates the city. In the outskirts of Alstadt in the left bank resides the famous Kaufleuten building.

Increasingly popular since Prince and Madonna graced it with their presence, Kaufleuten is the best known entertainment structure in Zurich. Located in a historic building, occupying two floors, the venue is comprised of several distinct sections, including a restaurant, a nightclub, bars and lounges. The brand new "festsaal" includes a stage in which regular entertainment is provided by a variety of top DJs and live performing acts. Kaufleuten's plush decor is reminiscent of a baroque theatre with its classic furnishings, antique paintings, chandeliers, and e

Italy / Germany - RCF has introduced the latest addition to their TT+ range of speakers, the TT08-A, which will be displayed on the company's stand at this year's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (28-31 March).

The speaker, by far the smallest member of the TT+ family, is also the most flexible and powerful tool in its class, say RCF. The company says that the TT08-A utilizes the highest quality in-house transducers and a powerful amplifier which makes it an ideal solution for small live sound situations, as well as playback and monitoring, corporate events and broadcast studios.

The TT08-A is a 2-way active system with a 90°x 60° constant directivity horn. The 8" mid-bass, with 64mm voice coil, which provides large excursion with a lightweight neodymium design. RCF's head of Research & Development - Alessandro Manini comments: "The TT08A represents a b

World - Andre Rieu has been called everything from the Waltz King to the Kid Rock of Classical. The charismatic 56-year-old Dutch violinist and conductor is an international phenomenon, selling in excess of 20 million albums and filling halls across Europe, North America and Japan with his Johann Strauss Orchestra for nearly a decade.

The Maastricht-based Rieu is known for being a stickler for sonic excellence. Sensitive to the acoustical limitations of the arenas and stadiums in which he often holds court, Rieu has trusted Montreal-based Solotech with his tour sound for nearly a decade. The highly respected company behind the shows of Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, and many others provides Rieu with a finely tuned audio system based around Meyer Sound's Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

The main system is centred on two arrays of 14 Milo cabinets and two Milo 120

UK - For the fourth successive year, Hawthorns were contracted by the East Midlands Conference Centre (EMCC), based on the Nottingham University Campus, to provide the technical solution for the Xerox Annual Year Start Conference. The Conference took place over four days and attracted 1700 delegates.

"This year, Xerox and the EMCC were looking to do something completely different and less corporate, whilst maintaining the Xerox Corporate Brand and the ability to use their standard PowerPoint presentation content," said Hawthorn's project manager, Oliver Moores.

The Hawthorn solution in the main auditorium was to provide a 24m x 7m cyc white backdrop as a massive projection screen, utilising a triple projection system driven by Barco's encore system. This gave the ability to use many creative and interesting backgrounds, both static and animated, with an infinite numb

USA - There were no sirens or flashing lights, but the return of The Police to the stage at the 49th Annual Grammy Award Show, following a 21-year layoff, was certainly arresting. Just seconds into the telecast, with audience members still heading for their seats, Sting shouted into his Sennheiser e865 vocal mic, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are The Police, and we're back," and the band launched into Roxanne, perhaps their best-known song. Stewart was on the HSP4-EW headset and an SK500G2 bodypack.Andy was on an e865 as well.

The Police were just the first of a succession of artists on the telecast using Sennheiser wired and wireless microphones, many of them also making use of Sennheiser RF personal monitor systems. Beyoncé, Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green, Shakira, Rascal Flatts and a host of presenters and award winners benefited from the Sennheiser

USA - Aviom Inc a leader in personal monitor mixing technology, has enabled Houston-based church Fellowship of the Woodlands to improve its efficiency and sound quality through the installation of Aviom's personal monitor mixing system.

Harold Rubens, the church's director of audio, says that the Aviom equipment has helped reinforce the church's sound integrity and ability in delivering a true worship experience for its 14,000 parishioners.

"Converting 16 channels of audio and transmitting them through a Cat-5 cable directly to the band produces a much clearer and defined sound for the musicians, who can then adjust their mixes as they see fit," Rubens explained. "This helps them keep on key and in sync - a combination that results in a performance that effectively captivates, moves and inspires."

No longer having to devote extra time and energy in creati

Spain - The Ti Line from Vieta is a new, compact, remote-controllable amplifier system, designed for low to medium power use in fixed installations. The small, modular Amplifier Blocks are to DIN rail size and fixing standards, the standard for mains wiring in Europe, compatible with a range of off-the-shelf accessories such as waterproofing and fire-safety covers, which can be sourced from any electrical trade wholesalers. The Ti Line Blocks simply click into place on the DIN rail.

The DIN standard allows the amplifiers to be fitted where all the other electrical mains hardware lives - fuse boxes etc - saving valuable space in smaller shops and bars. Alternatively, the Blocks can be mounted locally throughout larger multiple speaker installations, close to the speakers and thus saving long cable runs and signal losses.

EQ and Level can be set on the Blocks themselves or contr

UK - Bosch's sophisticated Praesideo public address system has been selected by SDD Sound and Light for use in an extensive project for the three campuses of ACS International Schools in Greater London. With a combined area of over 300 acres, the three campuses in Cobham, Hillingdon and Egham enrol a total of 2,400 students offering both day and boarding education. The students come from over 70 countries, predominantly the USA.

Security is a key concern for the school, and to upgrade the small paging system in place, it turned to Staines-based installers SDD Sound & Light to provide a campus-wide system, which could be linked together to provide pre-recorded announcement and other advanced security features across the three sites.

SDD chose Bosch Praesideo, the world's first fully digital public address and emergency sound system, because unlike traditional PA systems, which

France - Digigram, a leader in PC audio interfaces and innovative networked audio devices, has announced the appointment of French pro audio specialists, Audiopole, as their new distributor in France with effect from 1 February 2007. Audiopole is one of France's premier distribution operations with a number of prestigious brands already numbering in their portfolio including Focusrite, Genelec, Turbosound, Studer, Beyerdynamic, ClearCom and Allen & Heath to name but a few.

Digigram's CEO and president Philippe Delacroix is confident that this new partnership will continue to reinforce the company's presence in the fixed installation market in France in addition to providing an avenue into the broadcast market: "A significant part of Digigram's product range is aimed at the broadcast market, therefore it is imperative that our distributor is also operational in that market s

Germany - Audio-Technica is showing major new microphone and professional headphone product for the first time in Europe at this year's ProLight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (28-31 March).

The AT2010 handheld cardioid condenser microphone is a live performance companion to the successful AT2020 large diaphragm studio model, sharing the large 16mm low mass diaphragm of the AT2020.

Joining Audio-Technica's range of professional headphones is a new flagship pro monitor model, the ATH-M50. Featuring the company's latest transducer technology, including proprietary 45mm large-aperture drivers, the closed back ATH-M50 provides exceptional power handling and unparalleled high resolution signal reproduction for critical monitoring applications, the company says.

.Audio-Technica is also introducing the first in its new QuietPoint headphone series, featuring the company's advanced no

UK / Germany - OHM, a leading designer and manufacturer of professional loudspeakers and sound systems, will be exhibiting its full range of business music systems including ceiling speakers, active subs and surround sound for cafe bars, bistros, shops, schools and churches, at the forthcoming ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (28-31 March).

OHM will also be displaying its BR Installation systems, which the company says are particularly well suited to larger venues, night-clubs, cinemas and discos, plus its Planet Suite - a concert and live sound system, and a range of amplifiers and digital controllers.

OHM will also launch its new HD-FM high power stage monitor at ProLight&Sound. Each HD-FM cabinet comprises of two 12" low/mid-range drivers coupled to a coaxial compression driver featuring a separate 3" and 1.75" coil diaphragm assemblies on a single thro

USA - Introducing a new standard of high-definition audio in all conferencing applications, Biamp has launched its new TrueSound AEC algorithm. Available immediately in all Nexia VC and Nexia TC processors and AEC-2HD cards for AudiaFLEX, the proprietary algorithm is the result of intensive, yearlong, in-house research and development initiative. TrueSound is the only algorithm that provides integrators and consultants with a powerful, easy-to-implement solution for true wideband, 20 Hz to 20 kHz acoustic echo cancellation, delivering sound that is true to life, says the company.

"If you have HD video without HD audio, then you aren't experiencing the full power of high definition conferencing," says Ralph Lockhart, president, Biamp Systems. "With our new TrueSound AEC algorithm, integrators and consultants who are installing or specifying our Nexia VC and Nexia T

Iran - ARX signal processing products featured heavily when newly formed five-piece Iranian rock band Nira performed the country's first two licensed live concerts in the past 18 months. ARX's Iranian distributor ZiroBam supplied the audio system, featuring products from ARX, Martin Audio and Crest Audio - all manufacturers represented by ZiroBam in the Iranian market.

ARX signal processing and interface products used included Sixgate 6-Channel Optical Noise Gates, Afterburner dual-channel dual-band compressors and ARX DI Plus and DI Plus 2 direct boxes. For the 400-capacity venue, six Martin Audio W8LM and two WS2Aloudspeakers were driven by Crest Audio power amplifiers with a Crest Audio console out front.

The two sold-out shows featured covers from Jamiroquai, Arcade and Audio Slave, as well as Nira originals.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - Opened in 1998, Bellagio is located squarely on Las Vegas's Strip, and epitomises the incredible scale and lavishness that has become the city's hallmark. With more than 10,000 blooming flowers and a wide variety of other plant life, plus fountains and themed displays, the conservatory is located in a large atrium with a glass ceiling. The conservatory installs new displays five times a year: spring, summer, autumn, Christmas, and Chinese New Year. The displays feature plantings appropriate to the theme (including sculptures of people and animals made entirely out of flowers), along with scenic elements, active props, and other related items.

Music and sound design are key to creating the conservatory's atmosphere. For each display, sound designer Jason Rauhoff of Goes To Eleven assembles and masters a music programme, as well as sound effects. Original sound designer Jona

USA - Vestax has announced its new PMC-280Pro complete with 4 channels and 16 effects with adjustable parameters.

The PMC-280 offers four channels to serve all DJ styles together with aprofessional DSP effects unit on board featuring 24bit 96kHz samplingrate for quality sound warping. Two rotaries are providedon the control surface to adjust two variable parameters for each effect.16 effects are available with algorithms specially designed for DJsmaking the PMC-280 one of the most powerful and unique DJ tools on the market.

The PMC-280 comes with new channel faders and Vestax's exclusive CF-PCV crossfader for smooth mixing and lightning fast DJ battles. Each channelcomes with a three band isolator EQ. 10 inputs are provided including sixLine, two Phono, two Mic, and the output section features two individuallycontrolled RCA stereo outputs and XLR outputs on Master.

The effec

Asia - Klotz Digital has appointed Thomas Marcher as the new sales director of Klotz Digital Asia Asia. "Thomas brings with him a wealth of experience in the Broadcast and PA industries and has been in this region for a long time. Thomas's track record in managing sales and distribution organizations and his in-depth market knowledge are valuable assets for Klotz Digital and a perfect match for our regional strategies," says Andre Sauer, managing director of Klotz Digital Asia.

Thomas comes to the company from DIS Thailand where he was the area sales manager responsible for the Asia-Pacific markets. Prior to DIS, he worked for TC Electronics, and was elementary in setting up their China office. "I look forward to working with Klotz Digital," says Marcher. "I watched this company grow over the years and it is now one of the best known brands in the broadc

Japan - The first Midas XL8 live performance system into Japan is now up and running at the Shibuya-AX live venue in Tokyo, supplied by EVI Audio Japan.

Located in the Shibuya district, home to the city's leading music, cultural and arts venues, Shibuya-AX has a long tradition of being on the cutting edge of sound technology. As such, it attracts leading domestic and international artists and is well-known by Japanese PA companies, sound technicians and music industry personnel. Back in 2004 the sound crew at Shibuya-AX began to discuss a future upgrade to digital technology. Head of sound, Mr Tsutomu Hashimoto, drew up a list of criteria, which first and foremost included the traditional Midas sound quality, as well as Ethernet networking capability and analogue-friendly operation - the latter of which wasn't available on any other digital console. Having heard about Midas' pla

South Africa - Stage Audio Works has been appointed as the Southern African distributor of Rubber Box products. Stage Audio Works is based in Port Elizabeth South Africa supplying turnkey entertainment and architainment technology solutions in Southern Africa.

Stage Audio Works will be stocking standard pre-built boxes and splitters, custom solutions are also possible. Stage Audio Works will also provide technical support, spare parts and training for Rubber Box products in Southern Africa. The new Powercase from Rubberbox offers industry professionals in Southern Africa a revolutionary design in 19" racking systems.

Stage Audio Works will be showing all the Rubber Box products at the Mediatech Africa tradeshow in Johannesburg in June this year.

Gustav Barnard for Stage Audio Works says: "Rubber Box's products offer revolutionary and high quality power distribution

Germany - Baldwin Boxall Communications Limited will be displaying its latest Voice Alarm products and a new range of microphones at this year's ProLight + Sound Exhibition in Frankfurt - the Vigil EVAS, Vigil Eclipse2 and BDM400 networkable range of paging microphones.

Vigil EVAS is a range of DSP controlled voice alarm products and are the latest addition to Baldwin Boxall's expanding product repertoire. The main unit - BVRD2M - is the feature-rich DSP controlled router. Only 1U in height, the BVRD2M has seven audio outputs, eight audio inputs and six flash stored messages. Adding one BVRD2S slave unit increases the number of inputs by twelve and outputs by sixteen. Up to five slave units can be connected to each master - providing 68 inputs, 87 outputs and 30 messages. The EVAS range can provide a decentralised network and up to 128 units can be linked together - creating a v

Germany - K.M.E. will present Versio, a new portable series, at Frankfurt, and will complete Pano with the QLM 115.

The new Versio design has a black comb grid with acoustic foam behind to protect the speakers from dust and dirt. Inside the speakers work high resilient drivers developed to the latest technologies, which also contribute to a weight reduction due to neodymium magnets.Each top unit is equipped with a 1" high-frequency driver.

Versio includes the passive top parts VL 8 (8"), VL 12 (12") and VL 15 (15") as well as the active top unit VL 250 (12"). Subwoofers are available in the passive versions VB 15 t and VB 15 w as well as VB 18 and VB 18 w. The 't' describes the subwoofer variant with twin coil and the 'w' describes the integrated passive crossover. Active subwoofer models will follow this year. Each top unit can be used multifunctional

Benelux / Turkey - DPA Microphones has reviewed its distribution structure in Benelux effective 1 March 2007, resulting in long-standing Belgian partner Amptec taking on responsibility for the entire region. Martin Goosen, DPA product specialist at former Dutch distributor TransTec, joins Amptec to work with existing staff, affording DPA clients in Holland and Luxembourg the continuity of dealing with a familiar and established DPA expert.

An exclusive DPA distributor since 2001, Amptec, is well placed to expand its geographical footprint.

"We have enjoyed a long and fruitful business relationship with the very professional TransTec organisation in Holland, and wanted to simplify the distribution by having only one distributor handling the Benelux region," says DPA's director of sales and marketing, Morten Stove.

Amptec managing director Bart Willems, says: "O

UK - Leading audio-visual equipment and services provider Blitz Sound has developed a healthy appetite for Yamaha's new LS9 Series digital consoles, snapping up four units prior to Christmas, and coming back to Marquee Audio with a re-order for the same again; two16-channel and two 32-channel versions.

"We identified the LS9 as a 'killer product'," says Blitz's Richard Rogers. "It does everything we'd want it to do, it's really well-priced and so versatile, and it fits into our conference market very well indeed. The first four desks we bought more or less entirely on Marquee's recommendation, and, after a few shows, we thought we'd better buy another consignment before they ran out!

"Fortunately, Marquee Audio is always able to source products in time for our demanding needs, even a hot product like the LS9."

Blitz Sound is gradually replacing all i

UK - Yorkshire's historic Scarborough Spa Complex has unveiled the first phase of its £3.75 million pound renovation programme, with a team from Fagan Electrical heading a massive technical refurbishment designed to place the venue firmly on the touring map. The project is headed by Fagan Electrical, lead contractors for the entire technical refurbishment programme, with the audio system design and installation carried out in close co-operation with Lo Humm Audio.

This major undertaking was funded by Scarborough Borough Council, the Yorkshire Forward regional development agency and the European Regional Development Fund. The 1,924 capacity Grand Hall, at the heart of the Spa Complex, has already reopened for business with brand new production lighting, audio and video systems.

Aside from the new, installed lighting rigs, most of the new production systems have been fligh

Latest Issue. . .