Europe - Following the initial ground-breaking PAVA Facilities collaboration that saw five professional audio manufacturers develop the first-ever multi-manufacturer voice alarm solution that fully complies with EN 54-16, the initiative continues to set the standard for the audio industry. Both LEA and d&b audiotechnik have now joined the multi-manufacturer family to achieve their EN 54 certification. More manufacturers are positioned to join in the near future. When the EN 54-16 voice alarm standard was launched in 2008, it was designed for companies who only made the entire system. Since then, the work PAVA Facilities has been doing has allowed over 40 products to obtain EN-54 16 certification on an individual basis. This method of testing professional products in a compliant manner benefits both sides of the equation. It makes it more straightforward for
Europe - ISE 2023 saw the OCA Alliance bring forward several new developments and announcements that will ‘continue to push the horizons of the AES70 control standard’. During the show, presentations, demonstrations, and new members to the trade association showcased current and future technologies and tools that will further broaden the OCA Ecosystem. A prime focus of the presentations at ISE was the upcoming AES70-2023 revision to the standard. The new revision brings a wealth of new additions and enhancements to the AES70 standard aimed at making the standard more comprehensive, easier to adopt and implement, and expanding its functionality - while maintaining backward compatibility with existing implementations. As part of that effort, new standard adaptations will be released to support connection management for other media networking transports, such as AES67 and
Belgium - When Jozef De Kesel, the Bishop of Bruges, declared that he could see no future for The Holy Family Church in the Langestraat Quarter of the city, the building ceased to be a centre for worship. Enter young entrepreneurs Mon and Zowie Hayen, owners of Brasserie Uilenspiegel, who envisioned the transformation of the 1904-constructed red-brick landmark into a multi-purpose events venue. That vision became a reality with the creation of Owla Bruges, a 270sqm space suitable for concerts, performances, weddings, parties, corporate events, conferences, seminars, fashion shows, product launches and more. High quality, flexible audio would naturally be essential to the venue’s success, although the team at Owla suffered something of a false start when its original installed system was deemed less than optimal during the first concerts staged in the space. Moving q
USA - The annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas has been celebrating the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture since 1987. For the past several years, Allen & Heath has had a significant presence at SXSW, with the company’s mixing consoles being featured at multiple performance stages. This year will be no different, as Allen & Heath consoles will be in use throughout the festival - including the British Music Embassy stage, a venue for breakout UK music stars, where two flagship dLive S5000 surfaces will handle front of house and monitor mixing. Each surface will be paired with its own DM64 MixRack, featuring 128 channels of input processing and 64 configurable buses. Inputs from the stage will be fed into a DX32 modular stagebox, equipped with next-generation low-noise PRIME input modules. Allen & Heath’s propr
USA - The Venue at Thunder Valley Casino Resort is a new 4,500-seat entertainment space officially christened on Valentine’s Day this year. Under the aegis of the United Auburn Indian Community Tribal Council, the $100m, 150,000sq.ft entertainment complex in Lincoln, California, approximately 30 miles north of Sacramento, is already proving the value of its approach to venue technology with the first run of shows. That started with the Eagles’ Hotel California 2023 tour, followed by Bruno Mars, and then Santana with Bryan Adams, plus The Black Crowes, Frankie Valli, Ringo Starr, and many more in the wings, all using The Venue’s newly installed L-Acoustics K2 sound system. Touring artists like these are attracted to the venue for its controlled acoustics and leading-edge technologies, with the L-Acoustics K2 system as its audio flagship. “With a system like K2 i
USA - Meyer Sound has promoted Amy Luley to the position of director of global sales operations. In her new capacity, Luley will assume responsibility for overseeing and coordinating operational activities of the Meyer Sound sales teams both in the United States and internationally. Luley was promoted to the new position based on the e sales success achieved in her prior position as director of U.S. sales operations. She will continue in that role, but now in addition to Meyer Sound’s team of sales managers in the United States, her responsibilities have been extended to include supporting the operational activities of director of international sales Scott Gledhill (Asia Pacific), Meyer Sound Europe managing director Wolfgang Leute (sales for Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and director, Latin America operations Jocelyn Moras. She will continue to report to senior vice p
Europe - The Cure played 46 concerts in 22 countries across the continent with audio reinforcement from long-time rental partner, Britannia Row Productions. “Exciting, powerful and dynamic” is how The Cure’s FOH engineer Paul Corkett describes the band’s latest sonic offering. “Robert [Smith, frontman] has a huge amount of input in the shows; how they sound and how they look.” Continuing a relationship that has lasted decades, Brit Row, part of the Clair Global group of brands, provided equipment, crew, and international support for the recent tour, which was led by production “To achieve the desired sound, I use one delay for vocals, but no other FXs from my console,” Corkett explains. “I hardly use any compression – when the band play hard, Robert wants the audience to really feel the dynamics of the songs and the performance of each indivi
UK - The vibrant Guildford Baptist Church is in the heart of the Surrey town. Established in 1824, the church has expanded its facility many times as its congregation grew. It recently took another big step forward by completing a £7m renovation of its Millmead Centre, including a new, facility-wide AV system based on a Dante network. Graham Bennewith, installation director at DM Music, was the engineer and manager for this project. DM Music focuses almost exclusively on providing technology solutions for churches and protected historical buildings. Opened in 1972, the Millmead Centre at Guildford Baptist Church has a 650-seat auditorium, multiple meeting rooms, classrooms, offices, a recreation hall, a lounge area, and coffee bars. March 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the Millmead Centre's opening and the end of these renovation and upgrade projects. “Fr
USA - Located in the heart of Mobile, Alabama, St. Ignatius Catholic Church has been a cornerstone of the community since its founding in 1947. In 2016, the church undertook a new parish master plan that called for the existing church to be repurposed as a parish hall and a new church to be constructed next door. Designed by Quina Grundhoefer Architects in neo-Gothic style with a brick façade, buttresses, limestone trim and a slate roof, the new church features historic stained glass windows repurposed from an old parish church in downtown Mobile. Five years in the making, the new church opened its doors to great delight in April 2021. Knowing the traditional sanctuary layout would be prone to acoustic challenges, church leadership commissioned steerable arrays from Renkus-Heinz to ensure crystal-clear intelligibility for the spoken and musical liturgy. Quina Gr
Vietnam - To support the music and arts programmes at the Bilingual Canadian International School (BCIS) in Ho Chi Minh City, AV integrator PGI and Harman Professional Solutions equipped the campus with versatile JBL Professional Eon One Mk2 battery-powered column speakers. Founded in 2009, BCIS was the first international school in Vietnam to use a Canadian-based curriculum and has since built a reputation of strong academic excellence. Learning in both English and Vietnamese, the school’s 1,500 students enjoy a conducive environment for learning, critical thinking and collaboration supported by the latest classroom technology. To reinforce strong communication and creativity for the music and arts programme, the school required a dynamic and easy-to-use sound solution that accommodated students and teacher’s various needs. PGI met these requests with a solution
USA - Although home to Stanford University and tech giants, the region south of San Francisco had been curiously lacking a first-rate music club for many years. That void has been recently filled, with the opening of Menlo Park’s intimate Guild Theatre, now attracting top-level artists with support from AV technologies that include a formidable Meyer Sound system. The original Guild Theatre had served as a neighbourhood movie theatre for more than 90 years before closing in 2019. Purchased by the non-profit Peninsula Arts Guild, the structure was totally gutted and transformed into a state-of-the-art venue offering extraordinary technical flexibility for hosting music concerts, film showings, and other special events. The principal focus is on national touring artists, with shows spanning musical genres from acapella Black gospel and neo-bluegrass to punk and EDM. Th
Greece - First opening its doors to paying guests in 1930, Athens Capital Hotel is an icon of central Athens that has played host to everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Now a Marriott property, the former annex of the Royal Palace and Prime Minister’s residence is a five-star boutique hotel. While first-class service is promised, guest safety also needs to be paramount. This aspect of the hotel experience has been ensured as part of a larger plan that has seen the three members of Marriott’s Luxury Collection hotel group in Athens all opt to renovate with modern Bosch public address and voice alarm systems. As the first member of the group to undergo this refurbishment, there was a lot of emphasis placed on finding the right technology for Athens Capital. The requirement was for an efficient solution that would meet the necessary EN 54 standards of this type of
Finland - The Sámi Museum and Nature Centre – Siida – is one of Northern Lapland’s most popular destinations. Dedicated to the culture of Lapland’s indigenous Sámi people, Siida has recently undergone significant renovation and expansion to accommodate increased visitor numbers and to bring the establishment into line with modern standards. As part of the process, Oulu-based technical systems specialists Caverion Suomi Oy, supplied and installed a comprehensive Genelec Smart IP loudspeaker solution on a Dante AoIP backbone. Sound designer Aki Päivärinne from Oioi Collective – experts in interactive experience design – was responsible for the sound design for the new exhibits. The Sámi people live in harmony with the lands they inhabit. Their traditional livelihoods include coastal fishing, fur trapping, sheep herding, and semi-nomadic reindeer herding.
France - Marking the 45th anniversary of the opening of France’s famous Puy du Fou theme park, the spectacular La Nuit des Feux Follets firework festival was recently revived after a 15-year hiatus. Bringing together three world-renowned pyrotechnic design teams from China, Australia, and Portugal, the major international event selected the industry-standard K Series system from L-Acoustics to deliver excellent coverage and sonic quality. The sound needed to prevail over the noise from the fireworks themselves to the 14,000 spectators seated over the 23 hectares of La Cinéscénie stage, the most famous Puy du Fou show, and the biggest night show in the world. Ranked the second most popular theme park in Europe, Puy du Fou was opened in the late 1970s by entrepreneur Philippe de Villiers and his son Nicolas. The history-based park is spread over 500 hectares i
UK - Universal Live, an award-winning audio-visual integration specialist in the UK has chosen Shure Axient Digital Wireless System as the best solution to upgrade their equipment. The ability for the Spectrum Manager to liaise with the transmitters and seamlessly change to an alternative frequency, along with Shure’s reputation and our experience of using their products, made Shure Axient Digital the right choice. “On the biggest stages in the world, when thousands, even millions are watching, the wireless microphone has an enormous job to do. The audio must be clear. It must be true. No other system is up to the challenge quite like Axient Digital,” comments Stuart Thornton, hire manager, Universal Live. The upgrade of equipment brings with it significant advantages in a variety of areas, both to Universal Live and their clients. This includes technological a
USA - QSC has introduced a major firmware v3.0 update to its TouchMix-30 Pro digital mixer. The new standard for performance in a compact digital mixer, the TouchMix-30 Pro with firmware v3.0 satisfies the needs of many professionals with the addition of Scenes, Snapshots, Cue List management and offline editing functionalities. Scenes provide the user with the ability to store and recall the entire mixer configuration, while Snapshots allow the user to save and recall selected settings for designated channels without affecting other mixer settings. Cue Lists select and arrange Scenes, Snapshots and audio files into a predetermined sequence for recall during a show, while offline editing provides the user with the ability to create and edit mixer configurations without the mixer being connected to Wi-Fi. Previous TouchMix-30 Pro firmware updates added advanced feature
USA - A Wavefront Precision line array forms the centrepiece of a new AV upgrade at the Discover Church in Milwaukee, specified and installed by Martin Audio partner Avenue Systems. The expanding ministry has undergone several campus extensions since 1969, culminating in a major renovation in 2022, which included the sanctuary. Avenue Systems were part of that renovation process. “This is the project that allowed for the installation of the new Martin Audio rig,” confirms founder and CEO, David Price. “We helped coordinate the design and integration for the newly renovated space.” Avenue Systems were tasked with undertaking a full AV makeover of the main worship area and video control room, installing new audio, lighting, video, control and acoustical systems for every aspect of the main auditorium’s AV. Explaining the requirement in more detail, Price
UK - A Grade II* listed former railway engine repair shed in Chalk Farm, London, The Roundhouse is a legendary cultural venue that presents a diverse line up of in live music, theatre, circus and new media. Known for hosting musical giants such as David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, The Roundhouse played a major role in the birth of punk, survived temporary closure in the 1980s, was the site of illegal raves in the 90s, and was reborn at the end of the 20th century with an 11-month residency with Argentinian theatre company, De La Guardia. In the mid noughties it reopened once again, quickly establishing itself as one of the capital’s leading arts venues. Audio specialist DeltaLive has supplied and installed two DiGiCo SD12s as permanent house consoles for the venue’s front of house and monitor positions. Following a tender process, DeltaLive, was contracted in 20
Malta - 1 SOUND has signed Black Box Pro to be their dedicated distributor for Malta. 1 Sound hosted David Zammit, CEO of Black Box Pro, and his team for a demonstration in Italy last fall. Lou Mannarino, audio designer of 1 Sound, and Leonardo Dani, 1 Sound EMEA sales executive, showed them the line of loudspeakers and gave some training. 1 Sound joins the list of brands distributed by Black Box, such as Behringer, DiGiCo, Devialet, and Solid State Logic. The distributorship was made official at ISE, where David Zammit and colleague Sandro Sammut visited 1 Sound’s booth, happy to get their hands on the product and sign the contract. “We are very excited to have Black Box on board as a distributor for Malta. They are one of the key players on the island, with a proven reputation and many records in performances during recent years,” says Leonardo Dani, 1 S
UK - Audio consultancy and networking expert RH Consulting (RHC) has been counting networked audio products and licensees since 2013 to chart the adoption of audio networking in the pro audio, AV and broadcast markets. RHC has compiled the 11th edition of this report that provides insights into the current state of the industry. It covers all the major protocols including Dante, Ravenna, AES67, AVB, Milan and others. Following the addition of video and control protocols in last year’s report, RHC have added IPMX and NDI and will further broaden the scope in the future. The statistics show that the number of networked AV products on the market continues to grow, with the total number of products being shipped being charted at 5,219, from 552 different brands. This increase of over 1,000 from last year’s report seems to indicate that the industry is successfully re
France/USA - L-Acoustics has announced that it has been named for the second time to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. This year’s list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. “Being recognised by Fast Company for the second time in three years as a top innovator is a great honour and a testimony to L-Acoustics’ heritage of innovation and passion for connecting artists to their audiences,” says L-Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié. Notable innovations highlighted by Fast Company include the release of L-ISA Studio that facilitates access to spatial audio creation and listening, as well as Ambiance, L-Acoustics’ award-wining active acoustics solution that turns any studio acoustics into a real live concert environment. Additionall
Armenia - A Europe-wide TV audience of 33m viewers tuned into the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest, held in Armenia, in December 2022. Thirteen-year-old Lissandro from France was crowned the winner in a live broadcast from the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex in the country’s capital city, Yerevan. The size of the audience in the venue demanded a major sound system and this (plus all the sound crew) was provided by Poznań-based Gigant Sound Letus, whose owner Jurek Taborowski commented, “We provided a large Outline audio system for the event, the main PA clusters comprising a total of 48 GTO C-12 modules with GTO-DF down-fills, all hidden from the cameras above the lighting installation, with another hang of C-12 cabinets installed in front of the Green Room platform. “Extensive out-fill and side delay lines were also used, using 48 Superfly modul
Australia - Operating out of Wodonga, Victoria, Professional Audio Services (PAS) is defined not only by its dedication to quality entertainment experiences, but also its dynamic father-son duo: managing director Tony Boon and lighting & technology specialist Adam Boon. Having carved a reputation for itself as a provider of quality audio for theatre shows, council events, concerts and more, PAS sought to elevate their production capabilities further by streamlining their systems catalogue- pivoting to Nexo’s point source offerings. “We were reorganising our business, as we had lots of different speaker systems and older things from separate places,” recounts Tony. “Ultimately, we decided to go with a framework that operates together more seamlessly. From cables to amps and speakers, we now have a variety of Nexo equipment to call on, all from the same famil
USA - EAW has announced Techrep Marketing as its new representatives in the Ohio Valley region. Techrep Marketing, founded by Ted Bahas and Jeff Mcpherson in 1998, has been serving the Ohio Valley for over 22 years. “We saw the opportunity and value of having a technically oriented sales force serving the AV marketplace,” says Bahas, president, Techrep. “We have always envisioned ourselves as solution specialists for the products we represent. Our goal is to act as a multiplier for our vendor’s sales and technical teams.” Bahas expanded on this idea, building out a team of almost 20 professionals. Now working with commercial installs, live sound and music retail customers, Techrep represents various manufacturers such as EAW in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. The company also has reach in Michigan and Indiana for some of its clients.
