USA - Point Source Audio has named Mac Johnson as its market development manager. Previously, Johnson toured as a production sound engineer on a variety of Broadway productions, as well as working as a sound designer for theatrical productions, music festivals and corporate events. With 30 years of experience in the professional audio industry, Johnson understands where the sound starts and how to capture it. As well as being a mixer and designer, he is also a performer and knows how microphones are an extension of an artist’s instrument. Prior to joining Point Source Audio, Johnson was the managing partner of an event production company in Charleston, SC and became an integral part of Meyer Sound’s team in 2007, where he spent 13 years working in various roles across multiple departments, markets segments and all sales regions. Having championed Point Source Aud
USA - DAS Audio of America has announced the appointment of Scott Pizzo to the position of vice-president of sales - professional audio, North America. Pizzo started with DAS Audio in September and is stationed in Peabody, MA. Pizzo brings considerable experience to his position at DAS Audio. Most recently, he was with Harman Professional Solutions, where he served as national sales manager, production audio. Prior to this, Pizzo was a regional sales manager for L-Acoustics US of Westlake Village, California. He has also worked at EAW and Renkus-Heinz. “Throughout my career in pro audio, I have been keenly aware of DAS Audio and its reputation as a manufacturer of innovative solutions for performers, installers, and audio technicians, says Pizzo. “The company has a solid reputation for its well-designed, sonically superior, and reliable loudspeaker systems that enh
Australia - ARX Systems has announced the global launch of the USB DI-Q USB-Analogue interface. Designed by ARX in response to a specific request from the Australian Court System, the USB DI-Q provides a solution for interfacing and monitoring the playback of audio evidence files in a courtroom or similar environment. The USB DI-Q allows the user to monitor and cue audio files in a closed headphone environment and switch/ enable the audio output to a Public address / sound system as required. The simplicity of the setup of the USB DI-Q means that this product can be integrated easily into the existing AV infrastructure of a building. Once in place, the USB - DI-Q only requires touch button operation and the simple user interface means that it is easy to use by non-technical operators. The USB DI-Q is suitable for interfacing any USB equipped computer (especially note
UK - Martin Audio has announced that it has now started shipping the Adorn series ceiling loudspeakers to Europe and North America (following the first shipments to the APAC territories in September). The extension to the installation series was first announced back in February this year. Along with the ceiling speakers is the availability of the company’s first ever pendant speaker, which comes in black or white as standard. All the new ceiling models have a nominal impedance of 16 ohms, enabling four or more speakers to be driven in parallel by one amplifier channel, thereby maximising efficiency and minimising cost. The new ceiling additions are also fitted with an internal high-quality 70V/100V multi-tap line transformer with a switch to select the output level. For full-bandwidth protection, the low and high frequency sections are individually protected against
China - Out Board’s TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking recently made its Hong Kong debut in a new musical play, The Originals, staged at the territory’s Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The tracking accuracy of TiMax TrackerD4 delivered real-time control of vocal localisation throughout the musical’s fast-paced staging. Provided by Hong Kong’s L-Supply, TiMax TrackerD4 precision stage-tracking enabled the principle eight performers, all eminent stars of Hong Kong musical theatre, to move freely across and around the stage without working strictly to pre-assigned cue-points. Discreet TTd4 Tags worn by the performers are small enough to be secured into virtually any costume location with no interference. Meanwhile, the accuracy of TiMax TrackerD4 not only gives peace of mind to performance directors, but substantially reduces rehearsal times, providing not
Taiwan - While the pandemic has forced millions of music lovers into their homes across the world, the appetite for live shows was clearly demonstrated when Eric Chou’s 2020 How Have You Been concerts sold all 42,000 tickets across four concerts in Taipei, and Kaohsiung in just 15 minutes. Thousands of fans gathered together under the roof of Taiwan’s biggest venue, Taipei Arena, to enjoy the magic of Chou’s performance, brought to life by an L-Acoustics K Series sound system delivered by the team at Winly Engineering & Trading, who had previous experience of working with Chou on his first concert at the arena last year. “It was an absolute pleasure to be working with Eric once again on what became the first large-scale live event in Asia since social distancing measures were first introduced,” says Winly system engineer, Mike Lee, who has contributed to
Poland - JHS has announced the appointment of Grupa ZIBI S.A. as distributor for its brands in Poland. Grupa ZIBI will distribute a variety of JHS’ popular brands including Vintage guitars, Encore guitars, Antoni violins and KAM sound and lighting. Founded in 1989 by Zbigniew Pietrzak, Grupa ZIBI became established as importers of watches, which in turn helped in the rebuilding of the Polish economy, opening its first retail store in Warsaw in 1991. One of the key dates in the company's history is 2004, when ZIBI became the owner of the only music store chain in Poland - Riff stores. Currently, the musical part of the ZIBI Group is its own Riff retail chain, with 16 stores covering the entire territory of Poland and an extensive network of wholesale partners with over 100 leading music dealers. JHS export manager Adam Butterworth comments: “I
USA - Nestled in the Highlands neighbourhood of White Plains, New York sits Bet Am Shalom Synagogue. In 2016, systems integrator Shadowbox Design Management installed a Prism 12x12 at Bet Am Shalom as the heart of a public address/reinforcement system with four main zones - the main synagogue, chapel, multifunction room, and library. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic caused historic changes to common gathering spaces necessitating strict social distancing rules. This unexpected event imposed new rules and restrictions on how the synagogue could utilize their floor space and ultimately resulted in a mandatory halt in services and activities for their congregants. Leaders of Bet Am Shalom contacted Shadowbox Design Management to find a way to upgrade the audio system throughout the facility so the synagogue could continue their services while foll
UK - In these difficult times for the live entertainment industry, Yamaha is working with both practical measures and its #BringingLive2Life campaign to help audiences and performers alike to experience live entertainment again. One of its first successes was playing a key role in helping Boisdale of Belgravia - the first live venue in London to reopen. Boisdale is a chain of four themed restaurants, located in London’s Belgravia, Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf and Mayfair. Before lockdown they featured live music every night, with a number of well-known artists - including Alexander O’Neal, Mica Paris, Natasha Hamilton, Rebecca Ferguson and Omar - booked for the Canary Wharf restaurant. Boisdale managing director Ranald Macdonald has previously worked with Yamaha Music London and, as the national lockdown began to ease, contacted retail operations manager Stephen Davie
UK - 7thSense has announced the completion of its merger with Medialon. In June 2019, the team behind 7thSense acquired the Medialon brand and ShowControl activities from Barco to form Medialon Limited. Since then, the Medialon team and product line has expanded from offices in North America, Canada and the UK. As part of the integration strategy, which became effective on 1 October 2020, all Medialon products have been added to the 7thSense product portfolio and Medialon product names remain the same. All Medialon staff will now join the 7thSense team and continue to work on the development of the Medialon product line. Matt Barton, 7thSense CEO, comments: “The synergies between Medialon and 7thSense have been demonstrated since the 2019 acquisition - this merger is intended to cross pollinate the knowledge and skills of both companies, while maintaining inde
UK - Arts Council England has opened its £18m Developing your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund to a wider pool of creative practitioners in light of the COVID-19 effects on the workforce. Able to apply for a grant this year will be DJs, performer/creators, arts and cultural educators, community practitioners/engagement specialists, movement directors, cultural conservators, creative enablers and creative technicians. “We know that COVID-19 has had a significant impact for individuals, and many will need to develop themselves and their work to respond to the new environment,” says the Arts Council. “We want to support as many people as possible to reshape and redefine their work and continue to make a positive impact on creativity and culture.” The grants, ranging from for £2,000 to £10,000, will be awarded for development activities from practitioners worki
UK - Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has appointed Jon Rhodes as its new European sales director of unified communications. Leading TIG's team of UC sales professionals and focussing on the Enterprise product range from Crestron, Jon will be responsible for growing the UC division. The appointment comes as TIG increases its focus on being able to provide a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types. On his appointment, TIG CEO Robin van Meeuwen comments: “We are thrilled to welcome Jon to lead our growing team of unified communications specialists. Having worked in the UC and video communications industry for over 20 years, his knowledge of the sector is second-to-none and he demonstrates a range of important skills such as business development, impressive solution selling and fantastic leadership. “It
USA - Los Pentecostales de Newport News is a Pentecostal church serving the Hispanic community in Newport News, Virginia. Pastor Mario Zunzunegui delivers impassioned services and encourages strong community bonds. When local production and integration firm Sound Ideas provided a Danley rig for an outdoor Covid-19 service, Pastor Mario and the rest of the congregation saw new possibilities for clarity and impact. After a successful indoor demo, the church now has its own high-impact Danley system composed of SM80F full range loudspeakers FLX12 monitors, and a DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier. Los Pentecostales de Newport started out years ago with an MI-grade sound reinforcement system and upgraded significantly three years ago with the help of Sound Ideas (design and installation) and Winter Sound (the actual sale of the equipment). Sound Ideas owner Paul Popadak continued his
USA - Full Sail University, the media arts and technology educational institution located in Winter Park, Florida, has purchased a DiGiCo Quantum338, which has been installed in Full Sail Live 1. The console is also equipped with the new DMI-KLANG in-ear mixing expansion card, bringing immersive audio capabilities to the Quantum338. Further, the school has also upgraded its existing DiGiCo SD7 console with a Quantum engine, endowing it with many of the same features as the Quantum338, including Mustard and Spice Rack processing. The SD7’s metamorphosis into a Quantum7 will allow all of the school’s DiGiCo components to operate on an Optocore network, including a newly-acquired DiGiCo SD-Rack with Ultimate Stadius 32-bit microphone pre-amp and DAC output cards. “The Quantum338 will become our new flagship console for our Show Production degree programme students,
Germany - Badensound event company has worked out a new concert concept that uses existing infrastructure to host performances complying with the local COVID regulations. This concept led to a partnership with Edeka Südwest supermarkets to create the ‘shopping cart festival’. Taking place from 31 August until 5 September in Offenburg, the festival featured famous German artists performing in front of 500 people, the maximum number of people currently allowed for large gatherings, in the parking lot of an Edeka supermarket. Shopping carts were used as social distancing tools to adhere to the COVID regulations. On the technical side, Badensound used the festival to give Dynacord’s new MXE5 matrix mix engine its German debut. "Now is exactly the right time to organize an attractive festival in the region, to offer artists a platform and to support the corona-impac
France - The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (PBA) - a public museum dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities - is one of the largest venues of its kind in France and, as such, welcomes thousands of visitors each year to enjoy its collections by Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya, and Delacroix among others. Despite the continual disruption caused by COVID-19 the museum unveiled on 15 July a new exhibition: the sixth edition of Open Museum Music. At the core of this exhibition sits a visionary creation, which has been developed by electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre in partnership with digital musical instrument and app creator BLEASS. The artwork, known as EōN, has been designed to immerse visitors in ‘an endless audio and visual experience thanks to constantly evolving music and an endless organic progression of the visual content’. The
China - Michael von Keitz started SE Audiotechnik back in 1980,. While the head office is still in Solingen, the production - 100% German-owned - has been taking place in the company's own factory in Jiashan (China) since 1997. This is where the annual Music Festival was held for the third time running; and this time to also celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary. The third SE Audiotechnik Music Festival in China took place as planned on 16 October this year, under strict safety and hygiene conditions. Although the weather was inhospitable, more than 750 guests, partners and fans gathered on the company's premises. They were able to network with the 600 employees on site, and learn more about the products from SE Audiotechnik and the other brands gathered under the roof of parent company Speaker Trade. They also had the opportunity to celebrate a festival with mu
France - L-Acoustics has introduced its first offering in personal audio, Contour XO in-ear monitor powered by JH Audio. Contour XO is born from the meeting of Jerry Harvey and Dr. Christian Heil. Both pioneered technologies that influenced the pro audio industry: multi-driver in-ear monitors and the present-day concert PA based on the L-Acoustics line source array. Jerry Harvey, the founder of JH Audio, focused on the in-ear experience. Challenged by mega-stars demanding better sound quality on stage, Harvey developed the first custom dual balanced armature in-ear monitor. Demand caught fire, catapulting him into the position of a world-leading custom in-ear monitor manufacturer. L-Acoustics, founded by Dr. Christian Heil, revolutionized the live sound industry not once, but twice, bringing the Wavefront Sculpture Technology of V-DOSC line source arrays to t
Poland - Established in 1816, the University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland with over 50,000 students, 21 faculties and a total of 126 buildings across the city. Located in the most famous street of Warsaw and surrounded by palaces from the 18th Century, the main campus consists of two spaces (Golden Hall and the Senate Hall) where the most important celebrations and events of the University take place. With a diverse events schedule that covers conferences, meetings, university readings and the annual meetings of the University Senate, a decision was reached to upgrade the AV solution within the Senate Hall, with the university opting for the performance and reliability of Shure’s Microflex Complete Wireless (MXCW) system. With the increasing number of devices communicating in the 2.4GHz band causing constant problems for the AV team at the uni
UK - Key to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s musical curricula is its annual award for The Gold Medal - a performance competition that began in 1915 and had taken place uninterrupted through 2019. Because of the global pandemic in 2020, the annual May performance had to be put on hold as teaching moved online during the summer term. “Because of COVID we needed to be swift in our response to ensure things like The Gold Medal could occur and, very importantly, that in-person classes could still take place with full scale participation,” says Julian Hepple, head of recording and audio visual at Guildhall School. “To make that happen we quickly turned to Dante and Dante Domain Manager. And, in September, as we returned to in-person teaching, we were able to hold The Gold Medal and broadcast the performance online." Dante allows audio, control, and all ot
Australia - Fibre network specialists Optocore has appointed CMI as its new Australian distributors. The brand provides a strong addition to the Melbourne company’s audio division portfolio. CMI CEO, Peter Trojkovic said he was delighted with the appointment, stating that he was impressed by Optocore’s ability to provide “innovative, scalable and rock solid backbones”, embracing open standards. He noted that this will influence a range of their core market segments, including events, theatres, stadiums and studios. “With many fibre-compatible solutions in CMI’s portfolio, this marks a strategic move by the audio division to position CMI as a one-stop solution for performance, broadcast and commercial audio networking. “Optocore are the world’s most popular and innovative manufacturers of fibre optic networks. With systems already deployed in ve
UK - Loudspeaker manufacturer PMC has opened a new factory in Bedfordshire, to cope with burgeoning demand for its CI series. Since launching last September, CI monitors have proved ‘hugely popular’ with the installation market where they are delivering Hollywood studio audio quality. Incorporating the same proprietary PMC technology as the company’s award winning audiophile speakers and studio monitors, these slimline speakers are designed with a shallow depth for on-wall and in-wall custom installations. This design feature also makes them suited to professional studios that are embracing Dolby Atmos immersive audio for music and film mixing and want discreet monitors for their wall and ceiling channels. “In addition to the flourishing custom installation market, CI monitors also form an integral part of our loudspeaker systems for Dolby Atmos and we anticipa
USA - Bose Professional has introduced the Bose L1 Pro portable line array systems, the latest advancement of a PA category created by Bose 17 years ago with the release of the original L1. The three new systems - the L1 Pro8, the L1 Pro16, and L1 Pro32 with its choice of two subwoofers - offer 180-degree horizontal coverage along with clarity and tonal balance. A RaceTrack woofer design integrated into the L1 Pro8, L1 Pro16 and the Bose Sub1 and Sub2 modular subwoofers, provides extended base response and less bulk, making the subwoofers much easier to transport, carry, and fit onstage. Built-in multi-channel mixers offer EQ, reverb and phantom power, while Bluetooth streaming capabilities and access to the complete library of ToneMatch custom EQ presets, allows performers to play with recording-studio tonal quality. These three new portable PA systems are designed to
UK - Baldwin Boxall’s finance director Neil Williams will retire his post at the end of October, leaving the accounts department in the hands of Richard Frost, the company’s new financial controller. Speaking of his time at Baldwin Boxall, Williams says: “I’ve had 13 wonderful years with Baldwin Boxall and served the last eight of those as a director. I am proud to have been a part of the company’s success which could never have been achieved without the hard work, loyalty and dedication of our workforce. Without them none of our success would have been possible. Baldwin Boxall has always been a family orientated company and it has been a pleasure to work in that environment; thank you to everyone at Baldwin Boxall for 13 wonderful years.” He adds: “Joining Baldwin Boxall was the best day’s work I ever did. I leave knowing that I have left the company i
