UAE - The multi-million-dollar Firdaus Studio in Dubai opened its doors in early 2022. Van Damme’s distributor in Dubai, NMK Electronics, supplied Van Damme Tour Grade Classic XKE microphone cables, Blue Series Studio Grade speaker cables, Tourcat Cat 6 Single cables and Black Series Tour Grade UP-OFC Overall Braid Multicore as part of the build. Based at the Expo 2020 site, now called Expo City Dubai, Firdaus Studio is the only music studio in the region to be mentored by Grammy- and Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman, and Dubai’s only certified Dolby Atmos HE studio. Equipped with best-in-class audio equipment and in-house instruments, Firdaus Studio’s live room is able to accommodate and record up to 80 musicians at once (a full orchestra). This space is also the home of the Firdaus Orchestra and is where it practises and does most of its work.
USA - Having sold more than 25m studio albums and over 100m singles globally, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Armando Christian Pérez - better known as Pitbull - earned his other stage name, Mr. Worldwide. As a relentless entertainer, that moniker is equally appropriate when it comes to the Miami native’s global touring schedule, which keeps the pop/rap artist’s calendar ultra-packed with performances, such as his latest 52-show Can’t Stop Us Now tour of North America. To ensure that Pitbull’s backing band, The Agents, are hearing themselves and each other in the most natural and beneficial way, monitor engineer Matt Holden recently added a DMI-KLANG card to his staple DiGiCo Quantum5 console. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Holden has served as Team Pitbull’s dedicated monitor engineer for the past eight years. However, Can’t Stop Us Now marke
South Africa - Pretoria-based Eventech has invested in 12 Kara II boxes and a further 26 Kara II Panflex upgrade kits. The company has also invested in eight L-Acoustics X12 monitors, all of which were purchased from DWR Distribution. “Our original L-Acoustics Kara investment was back in 2018 and it feels like an eternity ago,” says Wynand Veldsman from Eventech. “At that time, we had a fleet of ageing boxes that served us very well over the years, but as times changed and the focus shifted, we required lighter, smaller, high-performance boxes that could be set up with ease and not consume as much time as the older boxes did. “The luxury of having a few days for load-in was gone, and speed, quality and efficiency were key. After many months of considering our options and many product reviews, the announcement came that DWR would be the L- Acoustics agents in S
UK - Shure is increasing its focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) initiatives by announcing a new STEM for STEM programme. This programme will provide donations to various global STEM-based organisations (or STEAM-based organisations) based on each STEM Ecosystem product sold by Shure. “When customers outfit or upgrade their meeting rooms with Stem Ecosystem products, they are automatically supporting the next generation of tech pros,” said Jim Schanz, VP global integrated systems sales, Shure. Shure has been supporting various STEM-focused organisations for years and is expanding to reach even more organisations and young adults worldwide, especially those working to provide more diversity in this area. As part of Women’s History Month and Gender Equity Month, Shure says it is proud to announce this programme to support STEM organisation
Portugal - NEXT Audiocom has introduced A504DSP, an amplifier that combines a lightweight, 4 x 500W (2 x 1000W) amplifier, with a powerful DSP engine that can be configured to suit a wide range of tasks, without the need for additional equipment, to drive a wide range of loudspeaker systems. The close integration of processing and amplification allows the DSP to monitor and better adapt to amplifier behaviour, making dynamics processing far more accurate and effective than that typically achieved with separate components, says Next. The A504DSP flexibly distributes the total amplifier power in various combinations across four, three or two outputs to drive, for example: Four full-range loudspeakers or subwoofers, high-power subwoofer + two full-range loudspeakers, high-power subwoofer + bi-amplified speaker or high-power full-range loudspeaker + high-power subwoofer.
UK - Oastlers School in Bradford is a specialist setting that provides support for children and young people who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. The school takes an empathic approach and offers a number of therapeutic strategies that sit alongside its high-quality teaching. Music and music technology play an important role in Oastlers’ curriculum and are recognised as being vitally important in adding value to personal and social development, helping to to develop increased self-esteem, creativity and confidence. During a recent evaluation of its facilities, the school decided to overhaul its music room and an adjacent small hall to create a recording/rehearsal facility and a dedicated performance space. A key aim was to give learners the opportunity to gain real-world industry experience of working in a professional studio, including broadca
UK - The Cidermill Theatre is a new performing arts theatre owned and run by Chipping Camden School in Gloucestershire. Built to serve both the school and the wider Cotswold community, the £4m venue was opened in October 2022 at a launch event which featured actor Ben Miller and chart-topping singer Jennifer Paige, who performed a set including her international hit Crush. Centred on the Rockspring Auditorium (capacity 292 seated, 450 standing), the complex also includes a dance studio, black box studio, lounge area, rehearsal spaces, classroom, café and bar. The theatre enjoys a full range of professional facilities and is quickly developing an impressive programme of theatrical performances, live music, dance, cinema screenings and talks. An essential component of any modern, flexible performing arts centre is its audio provision, and the theatre consulted with sp
Europe - Sennheiser has launched the Profile USB microphone, a cardioid condenser microphone that presents ‘an easy and stylish solution for streaming and podcasting’. It combines professional sound with direct accessibility of all functions, allowing streamers, podcasters and gamers to fully focus on their content, says Sennheiser. The side-address microphone is available as a table stand version (EUR 129, MSRP) and as the Profile Streaming Set with a 3-point self-locking boom arm (EUR 199, MSRP). Both models are shipping now. At the heart of the Profile USB microphone is an award-winning Sennheiser condenser capsule, the KE 10. Its cardioid pick-up pattern provides the typical attenuation of sound coming from the rear, making sure that the streamer’s voice is in focus. In designing the Profile, product managers Benny Franke and Dennis Stegemerten also put an em
UK - The market town of Cirencester is home to one of the biggest parish churches in the country: St. John the Baptist, where community members find their home as soon as they step through the 12-century, cathedral-style doors. The church, while visually appealing, doesn’t come without acoustic challenges. Striking stained glass windows and wooden pews lining the space create ample opportunities for reverberation and muffled audio. To overcome these challenges, the church turned to Renkus-Heinz for the sound solution to fit its needs. Together with UK-based supplier CUK Group, Staffordshire-based event and installation specialist Novum Audio Visual worked to specify and install three Renkus-Heinz ICC36/3 column arrays from the US manufacturer’s Iconyx Compact line. As a result of Novum’s work, 12 unsightly box speakers were removed from the white limestone columns of
Australia - Powersoft’s new AES67-enabled amplifier platforms, including the enhanced A+ versions of its innovative, half-size Mezzo range, have made their global debut at the recently reopened Abercrombie hotel in Sydney. The Abercrombie, located in the inner-Sydney suburb of Chippendale, traces its roots back to 1843, when it opened as the Australian Inn. The current, art-deco building, on the old Carlton United Brewery site, was completed in 1938 and served as a much-loved watering hole and live entertainment venue until its closure in 2014. It was acquired by hospitality group Solotel in 2016 and reopened – two years late, as a result of Sydney’s on-off coronavirus lockdowns – with a 36-hour launch party in December 2022. The new-look Abercrombie comprises three venues: a ground-floor club space, public bar and beer garden; late-night cocktail lounge and ro
UK - The Adam Hall Group continues to expand its sales network, following the presentation of the new integrated systems vertical, at ISE 2023 and has announced Commercial Audio Solutions as a distribution partner. “We are very excited to have been appointed a distribution partner for the installation market across the UK and Ireland for the Adam Hall Group. I believe the LD Systems installation range is going to make a big impression on the marketplace,” says Brian Knott, managing director at Commercial Audio. “The focus on quality and performance is world-leading, but what most impressed me, was the deep understanding of engineering and how to improve the job-at-hand for the installer, as well as delivering a fantastic, reliable product for the client. We can’t wait to introduce more people to this amazing product range, and I’m sure it will only be a matter of
Poland - A graduate of Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, sound director Tadeusz Mieczkowski has dedicated his career to not only understanding the art of music, but learning how to bring out the beautiful, natural sound of recorded instruments. Since 1984, he has been primarily recording acoustic instruments and large musical forms, such as oratories and symphonies, for classical and popular music, as well as film. With his current work, Mieczkowski has expanded into recording and mixing in Dolby Atmos, most recently capturing a live performance by trio Surreal Players and Mino Cinélu at the Nowa Miodowa concert hall. Mieczkowski started this immersive project as he does any: identifying the direction of the production. He spent time exploring the acoustics of the famed concert hall, which were designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, director and chief designer of
UK - Immersive audio specialists, Sova Audio, will present Sound II Light - a two-day event dedicated to spatial sound taking place at the Leyton-based creative community space Patchworks on 24-25 March 2023. The event is organised by Sova Labs - the social impact division of Sova Audio, that focuses on creating and delivering educational and cultural activities in sound, with the support of Waltham Forest Council Arts & Culture’s Make It Happen grant. The event will feature live music designed especially for performance on the immersive, 12-point Funktion-One sound system, as well as workshops, panel discussions and a site-specific AV installation exploring the possibilities spatial sound has to offer. The artists performing at this event have residency days at Sova Audio Studio to work on their pieces on a 12.4 sound system mirroring the setup that will be pre
UK - Following a successful start to 2023, E1 London has unveiled its ‘most eclectic season to date’. Featured acts include Blawan, Pantha Du Prince, Dr Rubinstein, Dubfire, DVS1, Ellen Allien, Hector Oaks, Indira Paganotto, Kangding Ray, Kelly Lee Owens, Marcel Dettmann, Matrixxman, Mood II Swing, Nastia, Special Request. This season the club also unveils its new A/V & lighting system. For this latest run of events, all new screens will run up the wall behind the performers, from floor to ceiling and above the heads of the crowd, offering a whole new visual dimension. These will be displaying bespoke seasonal content created by Spencer at Rebel Overlay. It will be regularly updated to keep the venue feeling fresh and play on top of the over 151 lighting fixtures which range from spots to beams to lasers to pixel-mapped LED bars. In all, there are 4,620,288 pixels in
UAE - Out Board has appointed Pro Lab as the exclusive distribution partner for TiMax SoundHub, TiMax Tracker D4 and the full range of TiMax solutions in the Middle East. With a strong and extensive reach throughout the GCC and MENA regions, Pro Lab is an established name known for its pro audio-visual and stage equipment product portfolio. The new distribution partnership addresses the dramatic increase in demand for TiMax immersive audio solutions in the region. As a versatile and autonomous spatialisation engine, designed to work effectively with any loudspeaker on the market, TiMax SoundHub was a logical addition to the Pro Lab’s product portfolio. TiMax offers Pro Lab’s extensive network the freedom to tailor system solutions according to their individual technical and budgetary requirements. Pro Lab has invested in demonstration stock and the company’s newl
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
