Germany - Symetrix has appointed Eckersdorf-based MediasPro as its exclusive distributor for Germany. “We are pleased to partner with one of the top audio DSP manufacturers. Symetrix´s renowned DSP technology complements our current products and will certainly increase our power of impact in the commercial integration market. Symetrix products are known for excellent audio and reliability which suits our current product portfolio and mode of operation,” comments MediasPro CEO Joachim Schwarz. For over 20 years, MediasPro has been a leading supplier of modern, intelligent audio systems. Led by CEOs Joachim Schwarz and Michael Voessing, the company specialises in paging and evacuation systems, room acoustics, conference solutions, processing and networking of control signals, to rack assembly, training courses and technical seminars, and research and development. M
UK - Crystal clear full range flat response sound is the Holy Grail for guitarists using modelling or advanced FX processors - but traditionally the sort of amplifier and speaker quality required has come at a high price. Now, UK PA specialist BishopSound has announced its two “British voiced” FRFR contenders. The Orion 8 300w and the 400 Watt RMS Orion 12 are fully capable of achieving FRFR quality at a very affordable price, says the company. The trapezoidal compact Orion 8 weighs in at 9kg and includes TWS Bluetooth enabling guitarist to sing and play along to any track for rehearsal at home, in a studio, live streaming or professional performance. The Orion 12 is much more than a conventional FRFR amp and speaker, coming with onboard Bluetooth which means users can drive it from a smartphone to provide backing tracks. The Orion also features a separate
USA - “You can tell a successful church just from the vibe,” said Mark Salamone, sales manager at All Pro Integrated Systems. “The first time I visited Wellspring Community Church in Ruskin, Florida, they had a red movie theatre carpet, velvet ropes, popcorn, and Star Wars stuff for the kids. There were a lot of young families, and it felt progressive and brimming with good energy. “The service was amazing - full hands-in-the-air singing from everyone led by a charismatic pastor and a praise band loaded with talented musicians. The sound system was just ok, but Preston Eaves, technical arts director, was squeezing everything he could out of it. In terms of community service, Wellspring made it clear that they weren’t just talking the talk – they are actively working to improve access to the material and spiritual needs of the community.” Salamone, who has
UK - The UK’s first dedicated socially-distanced music venue since the COVID-19 pandemic began recently opened its gates in Newcastle, presenting a programme of top line acts, and equipped with a premium festival kit list provided by AV company, Kingdom Services, centred around DiGiCo SD10 mixing consoles managing FOH and monitor sound. Located in the city’s Gosforth Park racing ground, the Virgin Money Unity Arena consists of a pop-up amphitheatre, with 500 separate elevated viewing platforms spaced two metres apart, and hosting a maximum of 2,500 people. Local hero, Sam Fender, headlined the first two sold-out shows, followed by a diverse line-up of artists including Van Morrison, Maximo Park, Alfie Boe, Ronan Keating, comedians Jimmy Carr and Bill Bailey, as well as the Bongo Bingo dance phenomenon. “Originally, the series of events was going to be a drive t
Japan - Adamson Systems Engineering, together with its exclusive Japanese distributor, ReWire, has announced Osaka Onken as its latest S-Series partner in Japan. With its substantial investment, Osaka Onken now boasts the largest S-Series inventory in the country. “Wanting to significantly boost our offerings with an investment in a high-end, sub-compact loudspeaker system, we invited several very reputable loudspeaker manufacturers to demo their products in late 2019,” says Tatsuo Yamamoto, President and CEO of Osaka Onken. “It was immediately clear that Adamson’s S-Series was the top choice in terms of performance, and we’ve only grown more confident in that decision based on the support we’ve received from Adamson and their colleagues at ReWire in the time since.” The new system comprises 48 sub-compact S10 two-way, full range array enclosures, 16 comp
UK/Ireland - Audiologic has announced that it has signed up to a wider exclusive distribution partnership with Ecler that will now include Ireland and Northern Ireland, alongside its existing territory in the rest of the UK from 1 October. The new extension of this partnership will bring about an even closer and more dynamic relationship from two leading organisations that have worked together, sharing the same values, for more than a decade. It also closely follows the successful appointment of Andrew Matthews as business manager for Ireland (and Scotland) back in August. “Audiologic have proven to be a very strong industry and customer-focused partner, becoming a key ally for the successful development of Ecler in mainland UK,” says Jan Pages, area manager for Ecler. It has a great team of amazing people that have a highly detailed and practical understanding o
World - In a collective show of solidarity, live events professionals from all corners of the world held peaceful demonstrations to once again raise awareness of the dire effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector and its workforce. The #WeMakeEvents #StandAsOne Global Day of Action held yesterday, 30 September, was the single largest coordinated global event to take place since the campaign launched in the summer. Just as with the regional events that preceded it, the demo saw thousands of cultural buildings being lit up in red, whilst the #WeMakeEvents and #LightItInRed hashtags trended on social media. Campaigners have continued to push for state support for an industry that’s been unable to resume sustainably due to COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings. After more than six months of uncertainty, the future of a once-thriving sector and its workforce has
USA - Lawo North America has announced the passing of VP of sales Michael Mueller. “We mourn the premature passing of our colleague, team member, and friend, Michael Mueller (66); a truly unique colleague, with whom we at Lawo had the pleasure to work together for more than a decade,” says the company in a statement. “He passed away after a brief, yet severe illness on Saturday, 26 September, 2020 amid his loved ones. “Michael Mueller brought a wealth of experience to his positions as US sales and marketing manager, and later as vice-president of sales, with Lawo North America. After his initial sales position with Audio Techniques of Stamford, CT in the mid to late 1980‘s, Mueller went on to assume positions with Scharff Weisberg Associates, Siemens Audio Inc. /AMS-Neve, Inc., Solid State Logic, and Fairlight USA. Prior to joining Lawo North America, he was
Austria - The annual Amadeus Austrian Music Awards are the country’s most important music awards, presented for excellence in the Austrian music industry. Since the year 2000, the most successful national artists have been accoladed in various categories. The ceremony traditionally takes place in front of an audience at Vienna's Volkstheater and is broadcast on ORF, but the pandemic caused it to be cancelled, as expected. However, ORF1 prepared the grand stage for the awards to mark the 20th anniversary, as part of a variety TV show, which was broadcast at prime time on 10 September. Conchita Wurst compered the show with a top-class cast, which not only reviewed current top acts but presented highlights from 20 years of the Amadeus awards ceremony. The show acts for the ‘Amadeus Music Sessions’ were recorded in advance on 30 and 31 July in Vienna's Marx Hallen
Mexico - The Querétaro Centro de Congresos in the city of Santiago de Querétaro serves as the premier professional meeting space for the state of Querétaro. The stunningly designed building can host more than 15,000 people divided across multiple spaces. Its Aqueduct Rooms, which comprise of 10 different rooms with a capacity for 150 people each; and its Constitution Room, which can hold a large meeting of up to 80 people, are packed year-round with a variety of in-person briefings, conference calls, seminars, corporate breakout sessions, and other events. The location is also home to the Querétaro Teatro Metropolitano - which includes a 1,345-person theatre, a dance room, and an “experimental” room where live performances take place. The unifying factor across the multi-use campus is a scalable and interoperable AV-over-IP system backed by Audinate’s D
Spain - Arista Corporation, manufacturer of AV extenders, matrix switchers, AV MultiViewers, and related products for the AV installation and professional audio markets, has announced the appointment of Zero DBS of Cabra, Spain as the company’s first European sales representative. Zero DBS commenced representation of Arista products in September 2020. Zero DBS is well entrenched in the concert sound / event productions market segment, as well as both the mobile and fixed recording markets, and the Pro AV installation business. Sales, consultation, and training are important areas for the company to ensure customers get the best possible value for their investments. Juan Antonio Cuevas is the company principal. Reflecting on the new arrangement, Cuevas says: “We are delighted to be representing Arista in our country. Arista’s E-Vocal Dante products offer a compreh
New Zealand - For the Good Vibes Winter Festival 2020, NZ Sound Reinforcement deployed a Harman Professional networked audio solution that includes a collection of JBL Professional VTX Series loudspeakers. Organised by Pato Entertainment and the sister festival of the One Love Festival, the Good Vibes Winter Festival 2020 features an array of local artists, embracing the new music as international borders were closed and set the scene for summer reggae vibes. To elevate the fan experience, the festival organisers hired New NZ Sound Reinforcement, to design and install an audio system that delivers exceptional sound with consistent coverage. “We had multiple venues that demanded a specific combination of audio systems, so we used an assortment of JBL VTX loudspeakers. We also had tight SPL restrictions in most venues, whilst keeping the system sounding energetic and f
China - Adam Hall Group has welcomed Speaker Electronic (Jiashan) Co as an exclusive distribution partner in China. Effective immediately, Speaker Electronic (SE) will take over exclusive distribution for all brands of the Adam Hall Group in the country, including LD Systems, Cameo, Gravity, Defender, Palmer, and Adam Hall. The announcement was made at a press conference with more than 200 invited guests from audio associations, large event companies, and the ME sector. Connected online for this occasion were Michael von Keitz, chairman of SE, and Markus Jahnel, COO and managing director of the Adam Hall Group, as well as members of the German team. Speaker Electronic and the Adam Hall Group’s relationship began in 2006. The Chinese subsidiary Speaker Factory is German owned and has been an important supplier for the Neu-Anspach event technology company since
World - The #WeMakeEvents campaign has been ramping up activity in order to highlight how the global live events industry urgently needs to get back to work. Over 30 million people in 25 countries would usually work in the events industry, but with social distancing measures in place, there is no possibility of a financially viable return for the foreseeable future. Over the past weeks, events have happened around the world - including in the US, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain and the UK - to raise awareness of those impacted in the event supply chain, from manufacturers, production companies, catering, transport, security and others, to the huge freelance community that works within the industry. The majority of the industry has had no income since the beginning of the crisis in March, and with a global second wave of COVID-19 imminent, a date to return to w
USA - QSC has announced a complete portfolio of meeting room accessories certified for Microsoft Teams. QSC has worked with Microsoft Teams certified partners Sennheiser and Logitech to provide complete room solutions that simplify installation and management for high-value divisible spaces, training rooms, executive boardrooms, and all-hands spaces while delivering a high quality Microsoft Teams experience for end users. “These newly certified solutions give IT and AV Managers the opportunity to extend their Microsoft Teams experience into rooms that traditionally required complicated programming, separate DSP and control integration schemes,” says Jason Moss, VP of alliances & market development, QSC. “We have worked with Microsoft to remove the guesswork out of specialty room design and deployment for Teams Rooms.” “Microsoft strives to bring the Tea
USA - Symetrix has announced the release of the latest version of its free Composer programming software for Edge, Radius NX, Prism, and Solus NX DSPs. Composer 8.0 for Windows expands the power of the Symetrix ecosystem with multiple new features including Lua Scripting, Radius NX AEC Enhancement, Audio Playback, and Media Manager. Composer 8.0 has been enhanced with Lua scripting which allows users to create custom Intelligent modules for Composer. These Intelligent Modules allow the software to control and monitor any device that can be controlled by a third-party control system or provide system logic functionality which previously required large and complex logic programming. For example, a council chamber audio system could be programmed so that as each person presses their mic button to speak, they're placed in a queue. When each person is finished speaking, th
Jordan - Sennheiser conducted an in-depth training on high-quality audio capture for 15 of the region’s leading social media influencers in Amman, Jordan. The session was hosted for participants of the latest season of Sadeem, the largest competition for influencers in the Arab world, and focused on how Sennheiser’s portable lavalier mics and headphones can be best utilised accurately capture and master audio for engaging digital content. Sadeem encourages the region's top influencers to achieve their creative potential through the use of the latest technologies. The popular show attracts millions of views across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other leading social media platforms. In this third season, Sennheiser has collaborated to be the show’s official audio partner and intends to utilise this as a platform to draw attention to the v
UK - A Luton van conversion featuring a Martin Audio sound system, has enabled singer-songwriter Olivia Dean to tour her local area during the COVID-19 lockdown. Conceived by Olivia Dean and Emily Braham, with the help of Rob Sinclair and tour manager Andrew ‘Wilkie’ Wilkinson (of Sinclair Wilkinson) the From Me To Youtruck tour has been arriving at some unusual outdoor locations to help promote Olivia Dean’s new album of the same name. The Martin Audio rig has been supplied by Wales-based CS Audio. Wilkinson had met the sound hire company’s MD, Paul Hatt, on the Clean Bandit tour, for whom the latter had been handling monitors and providing the audio control package. As well as mixing monitors for other high profile bands, for the last four years he has also operated Martin Audio PAs increasingly in his hire inventory. “We bought MLA Mini and g
Australia - Based in the Sydney suburb of Rhodes, The P.A. People are leading suppliers of event communications systems, having worked on many of the largest celebrations and events across the globe, including five Olympic Games. Their inventory includes wired matrix and digital matrix intercom systems, trunked and traditional two-way radios, CCTV systems, time code displays, event networking and WiFi, mass cast monitoring and full duplex comms systems. Recently, the company was looking to augment its equipment arsenal with a broadcast quality video transport solution. “We looked at quite a few solutions from a number of vendors from around the world,” comments Chris Dodds. “Our initial focus was on equipment based on the emerging SMPTE 2022 standard, but it quickly became apparent that the level of networking equipment required was simply not tenable for live short-t
Vietnam - Upgrading its facilities with sound that matches the property’s aesthetics, Silk Path Grand Hue Hotel & Spa hired Ba Sao Audio to design and install a resort-wide premium Harman Professional audio solution. Overseen by Silk Path Hotels & Resorts, which manages various luxurious hospitality properties, the Silk Path Grand Hue Hotel & Spa is a lush travel destination that is also used for special events, meetings and conferences. With a location in the heart of the regal capital that offers phenomenal city views, the hotel features a blend of eloquent furnishing and traditional architecture. “The client wanted an audio system for clear background sound and a centrally controlled music system that keeps the resort energized and enhances customer delight,” comments Nguyen Khac Anh, CEO at Ba Sao Investment Co. “They wanted a cutting-edge soun
Europe - Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has opened two of its new series of Experience Spaces - in Frankfurt and London. These spaces will welcome integrators, consultants, specifiers and end-users and showcase TIG's ecosystem of AV, UC, IT and control solutions in a safe and socially-distanced way. The Experience Spaces will serve to demonstrate how TIG's brands work together to form bespoke bundles that ‘match the client's exact brief, and help integrators deploy fully integrated, tailor-made and future-proof smart spaces in a wide range of environments including corporate, retail, residential, hospitality, education and healthcare’. The locations of the new Experience Spaces were carefully chosen for their ease of accessibility and central positions in both Frankfurt and London. Guests can book their personalised visit with one of TIG's experts by
UK - PLASA, the lead association for the events and entertainment technology industry, has announced PLASA Online 2020, a programme of free online content running from 12 to 16 October. Designed to provide industry professionals with the knowledge and confidence needed to navigate the COVID-crisis and prepare for what’s next in live events and entertainment, the week-long online event will consist of a curated selection of keynote talks, panel discussions, product presentations and technical sessions. Thought-leaders and business experts will address the most pertinent issues such as the COVID crisis, Brexit, technological innovations, and safety regulations. Additionally, leading brands from audio, lighting and AV will present their latest products and solutions, including: Adam Hall, DiGiCo, ETC, Highlite, Signify, Sound Technology and Vectorworks. “These sessio
USA - With the recent increase in online and broadcast delivery of a near limitless array of information, entertainment, and social information, the AES Show Fall 2020 Convention’s Broadcast and Online Delivery Track will examine key technologies and applications while taking a look back at broadcast history and a look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead. The session Practical Tips for Using Digital Audio in a 2110 Facility will offer in-depth expertise on IP Architecture and the SMPTE ST 2110 media networking protocol, of which the Audio Engineering Society’s AES3 and AES67 standards are key components, as well as related technologies and workflows. Track sessions of historical importance include Pass the Mic which will celebrate this year’s 100th anniversary of radio broadcasting and its innovations with host John Holt, and A Century of
Germany - HK Audio is expanding the Premium PR:O series with the addition of the new Move 8, a high-performance, battery-powered loudspeaker. “The new Move 8 combines impressive acoustic performance with superb battery management and fascinating features that are truly unique in its class”, says Rüdiger Forse, senior product manager at HK Audio. “This combination makes it a real all-rounder for all musicians, DJs, speakers, music enthusiasts and audio professionals. With the Premium PR:O Move 8, HK Audio has invented a new level of freedom in the use of mobile loudspeakers.” In contrast to previous battery-powered speakers, the new Move 8 has a slot for two rechargeable batteries (both batteries are supplied with the speaker), which are either inserted simultaneously to extend the running time or inserted alternately to ensure uninterrupted playback. Thanks to
