USA - DPA Microphones CEO and shareholder Christian Poulsen has assumed day-to-day management of DPA Inc, the Danish manufacturer's US subsidiary, with immediate effect.

Poulsen, who was appointed CEO in October after four years on the DPA board of directors, is a graduate of the Danish Engineering Academy and founder of digital camera and scanner company Imacon. The fastest growing industrial company in Denmark in 1999 and 2000, Imacon merged with Hasselblad in 2004 to transform the Swedish photography giant from high-end film camera company to a fully digital camera operation.

Poulsen has transferred his business acumen to DPA, spearheading a new phase for the manufacturer marked by the launch of the new Reference Standard series. Improvements and redesigns of DPA's classic microphone ranges as well as innovative new product launches are planned for the near future, says the

The Netherlands - Alcons Audio has launched the BC543, a new triple 18" cardioid sub-bass loudspeaker, designed to give the company's pro-ribbon audio systems the tightest and crispest possible low end.

A self-contained, high-output cardioid subwoofer, the BC543 is designed for both permanent and portable ground-stacked applications, offering a high output plus tight and accurate bass response.

The BC543's front and rear located woofer configuration combines with Alcons Digital Drive Processor (DDP) to offer selectable cardioid, low-frequency pattern control and up to 18dB of rear rejection, without any need for additional cabinets.

The unit's front features two AW18.6NDC/8 18-inch, long-excursion woofers, complemented by a 5.3 inch voice-coil with vented triple-spider frame, Neodymium motor structure, carbon fibre cone and dust cap. The rear features a single AW18.6NDC

China - The Meyer Sound stand at PALM EXPO China promises to be a bustling hub of activity, with demonstrations of the Constellation acoustic system alongside an extensive display of advanced audio technologies. Meyer Sound will also make a corporate announcement that will be "of critical interest to audio professionals in the region".

For the first time at a trade show in China, Meyer Sound will present demonstrations of the Constellation acoustic system. Featuring celebrated saxophonist Sarah Underwood, the live demos will reveal how advanced digital processing, working in conjunction with arrays of precision microphones and linear loudspeakers, can transform a performance space into acoustical environments ranging from an intimate theatre to a cavernous cathedral.

At the heart of Constellation is the new D-Mitri digital audio platform, a flexible suite of hardware

India - The Indian Recording Arts Awards (IRAA) aim to highlight the esteemed technical and creative talent contributed by leading sound recordists, music composers, music directors and recording engineers. IRAA was launched in 2006 as the Recording Arts (RA) Awards for music recording, sound designing & soundtrack by Pro Sound Systems - India's only trade publication on music production and live sound - and the Audio Engineering Society (AES) India.

The 2010 Expo saw the rebranding of RA to IRAA, but despite the name change the awards retain the same goal of recognizing the creative art forms of sound recording, mixing and mastering and, of course, creating music, say organisers.

Awards are given across a number of categories including: Best Recording Engineer; Best Mix and Mastering Engineer; Best Record Label; Album of the Year; Record Company of the Year, and Life T

USA - Blue Microphones has extended its audio expertise to the stage with the recently released enCORE series. Bringing studio-quality sound to live performances, the Blue Mics enCORE series of live mics has been infiltrating venues around the globe, says the company. The series includes a range of mics designed to meet specific needs of the live stage or recording studio.

These include: enCORE 100 - a studio-grade dynamic microphone with Blue's proprietary capsule technology; enCORE 200 -adds Blue's custom-tuned active dynamic circuitry, coupling high SPL handling of a dynamic mic with the consistency and low noise of a phantom powered mic; enCORE 300 - the flagship of the series, a live condenser microphone with a Blue capsule custom-tuned to a matched phantom powered circuit and an open architecture design that allows for uninterrupted sound no matter now the mic is gripped,

India - PALM Expo, India's most established exhibition and conference on pro audio, lighting and musical instruments is scheduled for 2 - 4 June, 2011 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (E), Mumbai, India. This June, the Expo will celebrate 11 successful years in operation.

With 15,000sq.m spread across two halls, the PALM Expo 2011 has increased 20% since its last successful staging in 2010.

"A 50% increase in exhibitors showcasing over 400 international and local brands will keep the show floor buzzing with action on all the three days. The 2011 Expo will not only see international product and brand launches, but also product clinics, workshops and an extensive three day Seminar and Conference programme. The Harman sponsored Performance Arena, an open-air line array demo area, an Indian Acoustic Musical Instruments Village, the Integrate Expo Kramer Technical Cla

USA - Donny and Marie's headlining act at Las Vegas' Flamingo Hotel recently celebrated its 500th show, and Audio-Technica has been the microphone of choice for the show since its premiere.

Donny and Marie Osmond have been headlining at the Flamingo Hotel since September 2008, and the show has proved to be a huge success, with the duo set to continue their run through at least December 2011. Both performers use Audio-Technica's Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System with the AEW-T5400 Cardioid Condenser Handheld Transmitter, AEW-R5200 True Diversity Frequency-Agile Dual Receiver, the AEW-DA550C UHF Antenna Distribution System and the ATW-A49 UHF Wide-band Directional LPDA Antennas.

Sax, trombone and trumpet are handled by the 3000 Series Wireless System with ATM350cW Cardioid Condenser Clip-On Microphone. Also used are the Artist Elite AE3000 Cardioid Condenser Instrumen

USA - From their home base in Augusta, GA, Quest Sound covers the East Coast from Washington, D.C. to the Florida panhandle, providing sound for a wide range of live events. Quest's go-to rig is built around the Renkus-Heinz CF101-LA modular point source array loudspeaker system.

"We handle everything from local gigs with small combos to larger national acts, and the CF101 cabinets provide the versatility to cover it all," says Rob Boggs. "Recently we used a pair them on sticks with a jazz band, playing to around 100 people here in Augusta. The same week we did a festival down in Florida with close to 1000 people, and ran 14 different bands through the system."

Versatility is one reason the CF-Series fits the bill for Quest Sound. "In the past few months we've used them on music ranging from the Julliard Jazz Band to Shawn Mullins to the band Saliva, a

Germany - A network of Midas PRO9 andPRO6 live audio systems and an analogue XL4 was used at FOH and monitors respectively for the recent PRG LEA German Live Entertainment Awards held at the Frankfurt Festival Hall.

The event featured top acts on stage and celebrities on the red carpet. Bandleader James Last was the surprise guest while Michael Bolton, German country star Helene Fischer, mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and pop artist Juli entertained the crowd.

PRG's Kai Reiss handled FOH duties for the artists on the PRO9 following some training with Lars Lüdemann from German distributor Mega Audio. "It's the best sounding digital desk I've used so far," he says. "It immediately reminded me of the first time I encountered a Midas XL3 back in the early nineties. The EQ is second to none and I really liked the dynamics and effects - I've been a great fan of t

UK - Matt Napier is monitor engineer for Kylie Minogue and has been with her since the summer of 2010. His mixing console of choice is a DiGiCo SD7, chosen because it is a desk that can grow as the tour's remit expanded.

"We're at the end of the UK leg of the Aphrodite - Les Folies tour and heading off to America," says Napier. "The SD7 has done a fantastic job so far. It's done everything we hoped for."

The console, part of audio supplier Solotech's inventory for the tour, is currently running at just 60% of its capability. There are approximately 86 inputs from stage and, with the addition of talkback and effects returns, the channel count runs to around 110. There are 14 stereo and six mono sends for effects subs and thumpers, plus several stereo mic groups, which are used for shout mics around the stage, and a 16x12 matrix, used for backups and s

UK - Baldwin Boxall has confirmed BS EN 54-16 certification on all of its VIGIL2 voice alarm products. The complete range (including touchscreen control , microphones, amplifiers and routers) passed the rigorous testing procedures by an accredited third party testing house. In addition, the VIGIL2 power supplies have been BS EN 54-4 tested and certified.

The company believes it is the first voice alarm manufacturer in the UK to achieve BS EN 54 certification on a complete product range. Due to the number of products and their diversity, the product testing took in the region of six months overall then a further months wait was required for the certification process to be completed.

Marketing director Nick Baldwin commented, " We were determined to have full certification prior to the Standard becoming adopted in parts of Europe. The whole company is delighted that we have

UK - Gruv Gear, the Californian manufacturer of utility carts, hand trucks and music accessories, has signed a deal with Adam Hall to distribute its product line to the European market.

The deal, which was announced at the Musikmesse, Frankfurt, follows a meeting at the 2011 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California, where daily visits from Adam Hall's Markus Jahnel reinforced the positive interest he expressed from day one, Gruv Gear says.

"We had overwhelming attention from dealers and distributors from all over the world." says Jay Baldemor, president of Gruv Gear. "Markus definitely became one of the most familiar faces by the end of the show, and that says a lot about Adam Hall's sincere desire and commitment in working with us.

"We talked to guys from Italy, Spain, the UK and others, but I'm thoroughly impressed with what Adam Hall puts on the table.

Slovenia - Akustika Bahun is has purchased the first L-Acoustics Kara WST line source system in Slovenia.

The system's first job was a corporate event in Slovenia's largest and most acoustically challenging arena, Stožice, which has an nine second reverberation time when empty. The complete front of house/front- fill system consists of 36 Kara cabinets configured as 12 per side as left/right hands and 12 as a delay line, eight SB28 subwoofers in cardioid mode, two 108P and two 112P coaxials, and 12 115HiQ active stage monitors. All units are driven with LA8 amplified controllers.

"We'd like to thank the complete team for their technical support during this event," says Akustika Bahun's Miha Bahun. "This includes Slaven Tahirbegovi? from Croatian distributor Dicroic who supplied us with the system; Wilhelm&Willhalm for equipment support; KSS for trussing and rig

UK - Orbital Sound reports on the success of the sound system supplied for the UK tour of dance spectacular Midnight Tango, which features Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, famed for their Tango routines on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing series. With sound design by Gareth Owen, the show is employing a scalable system based on d&b audiotechnik T-Series loudspeakers, to cater for the tour's broad spread of venue capacities and acoustics.

Gareth Owen's design challenge was twofold, involving creating a system that could handle the score's huge dynamic range, while also delivering consistent results across the tour's many venues. These range from small, 600-seaters, up to theatres such as the Brighton Centre, one of the largest regional theatres in the UK, with over 4,000 seats.

Gareth Owen commented, "Midnight Tango is a very classy dance show, and depends as

USA / India - Apogee Electronics has confirmed the appointment of Ansata Computer Systems as its new distributor for the Indian subcontinent.

"We are very proud to have appointed Ansata as our exclusive distributor for Apogee's entire product line in India," said Marc Fenton, Apogee's APAC sales representative. "CEO Leslie Lean's impressive knowledge of the market from both the technical and marketing perspectives along with the company's far-reaching connections across the country make Ansata the perfect partner for Apogee in India."

Ansata distributes pro audio hardware and software, ranging from retail products for budding musicians to industry standard professional gear for studios, live concerts and broadcast. Apart from Apogee, Ansata partners with Avid and Automated Processes, Inc. (API) to distribute their range of digital and analogue audio interfa

USA - The recent installation of dBTechnologies full DVA line array system at Resurrection Power Church in Ohio has significantly improved the audio quality in the auditorium.

Specified by local company Metro Audio Video LLC, the system comprised of two DVA dBTechnologies powered line arrays, each one including a DVA S10 single 18" bandpass subwoofer flown at the top, with three T4 three-way elements below. Metro Audio's Ed Whitney wanted to ensure that the sound was evenly distributed with the new audio set-up, a promise he delivered on, as Pastor Culver confirms - "The sound seems to be coming from everywhere."

"The line array is extremely easy to deploy," says Whitney. "We used a DVA Ease Focus and a laser to sight in each element, which proved to work perfectly. The system's itself is surprisingly efficient - we only needed to install one 20-a

UK - The Bedford in Balham, South London, has earned a national and now international reputation for being one of the most important and critically acclaimed venues in the UK.

Now the venue has formed a creative partnership with Yamaha Music which will see new variations being introduced to the Bedford's successful formula by providing "the very best conditions, technical support and live performance opportunities and exposure for new original UK talent".

The partnership will see top international Yamaha artists performing and sound engineers providing support to new talent, additionally Yamaha's international reach will help promote and expand the Bedford's outreach programmes in the UK and USA. Yamaha are also planning the broadcast 'live' webcasts of gigs and events on their Yamaha Download website.

For artists such as James Morrison, Paolo Nutini, KT Tunstall a

UK - Saville Audio Visual has announced the appointment of Paul Riddell as North East operations supervisor at the Saville Gateshead conference production centre.

Durham-born Riddell has worked in the live events sector of the audio visual industry for 16years, starting as an AV technician at British Airways' conference centre and later working with WH Smith, the Currys/Dixons rebrand roadshow and with NCJ Media.

Speaking about his new role, he said, "I'm really happy to be working with Saville in the north east. It's a difficult time for the events industry but I'm looking forward to the challenge, particularly introducing our developing range of digital event services. Being able to engage and collaborate with delegates live or on-line adds enormous benefits for conference organisers."

(Jim Evans)

UK - The Bose Professional Systems Division has introduced the RoomMatch series of array module loudspeakers and PowerMatch PM8500 configurable professional power amplifier. Using new Bose technologies and innovative designs, these products are designed for venues including arenas, performing arts centres, and houses of worship.

"Our engineers challenged conventional wisdom for both loudspeaker and amplifier design," said Akira Mochimaru, general manager, Bose Professional Systems Division. "The result is a new approach for the industry, one that lets sound designers and integrators meet the acoustic challenges of any fixed-installation sound system with more flexibility and far less compromise to audio performance."

RoomMatch modules overcome the acoustic performance limitations of conventional line array and point-source loudspeakers, says the company. Av

USA - The impact of Meyer Sound's EXP cinema loudspeaker systems was driven home by the first screening of Thor on screen 9 at Pacific Winnetka 21 multiplex in Chatsworth, a suburb of Los Angeles. Working in tandem with a new Dolby 3D projection system, the heightened sonic experience of EXP cinema sound technology is a key component of Pacific Theatres' Immersive 3D Experience.

In order to give moviegoers an enhanced 3D experience with the sonic impact that they cannot get in conventional cinemas or at home, Pacific Theatres management chose to install a permanent Meyer Sound EXP cinema sound system.

"The accurate delivery of the creative content is of the utmost importance to the movie going experience and the EXP System exceeded our expectations. Meyer Sound was very professional in their approach to the design of the sound system while effectively collab

Switzerland - 'Yodel rock' may sound like an esoteric brand of music, but it is a highly successful one for Swiss band Sonalp. Together with Sonoval - the sound company which usually supplies the band's audio equipment - Yamaha equipment is helping to prove that the hills are alive with the sound of music.

Sonoval is built on foundations laid by Pierre-Alain Fumeaux, through his work with comedian and impressionist Yann Lambiel, and the company's director of sound and light is Valentin Jacquaz who was the first audio professional in continental Europe to purchase the M7CL48-ES digital mixing console and the company's Yamaha inventory also includes SB168-ES stage boxes, as well as more consoles, including M7CLs and LS9s.

"Yamaha equipment is a professional choice, the technology is 100% stable, many engineers know them and the price is also right," he says. "I re

UK - Liverpool UK based Adlib supplied a V-DOSC sound system, DJ set and crew for the recent David Guetta UK Tour.

Guetta's FOH sound engineer is Hassane Es Siahi, who came onboard last August at the start of a festival tour which was also serviced by Adlib. However, this is the first full DJ set production tour in terms of touring the equipment, as Guetta's action-packed performance schedule normally consists of large one-off gigs worldwide using local productions.

Adlib's account manager Phil Kielty says, "David Guetta is by far one of the most innovative producers in the dance world and his live performances are always show-stopping. Hassane's creative talents are really shining through in producing a great sound, and of course it's good to be working with Alan Green & his team again".

Es Siahi conferred with Guetta and they listened to several options before bo

UK - AKG's CS 5 Conference Systems have been specified by Paul Fox of Blue Spider - both as upgrades, and as part of new technical fit-outs for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) facilities in Manchester and London.

Fox, who undertakes all the AV and digital signage consultancy and implementation for main contractors, Barbican-based Trans European Technology (TET), has placed these at the hub of a Harman Pro audio solution.

In Manchester, where a second conference room has just been added, this includes eight JBL Control 26CT recessed ceiling speakers (in the larger room) and eight Control 24CT in the smaller, driven by Crown XTi amplifiers - with the sound processed and distributed via two dbx ZonePRO 641M 6 x 4 digital zone processors.

But the hub of the installation is the new AKG CS 5 Conference System. Each of the two rooms is equipped with

Germany - From unicycling Moldovan fairies to transparent Italian pianos and Irish twins in giant shoulder pads, the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest delivered a feast of everything that one would expect from this most famous televised event. More than 20 Yamaha digital mixing consoles helped to ensure that the sound matched the spectacle.

Taking place at the Esprit Arena - a temporarily-converted football stadium - in Düsseldorf, the contest featured performances by acts representing 43 different European countries and was televised live to an audience of millions by national broadcasters Norddeutscher Rundfunk Fernsehen and ARD German Television.

Yamaha worked closely with rental company Neumann & Müller to provide an audio system that would provide both high quality sound and cast-iron reliability. The event's senior sound engineer (PA), Jochen Jensen, approached Yamaha's Art

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