Italy - Giovanni Barbieri has taken on the role of general manager of Italian pro audio manufacturer dBTechnologies, part of the RCF Group. Barbieri joined dBTechnologies' sales force as export sales manager in 2009. In 2011, he became business development manager and since 2012 has served as sales and marketing director. The new appointment was announced by the CEO of dBTechnologies and RCF Group, Arturo Vicari, who commented: "The group is expanding, we have several interesting projects to carry out and it is natural to consolidate the organisation of a company that in recent years has shown not only to create quality products, but also to be able to propose and distribute them to an increasing number of users. Over the years, Giovanni Barbieri has demonstrated many qualities, first of all the ability to transmit to the market who we are and what we can do. This make
The Netherlands - Odin Audio Systems has introduced two two-way active side-fill speakers- SF-12A and SF-15A. The loudspeakers have been introduced to make the Odin Line array set-ups more flexible, giving sound engineers the ability to expand the set-up to the live stage. The SF-12A and SF-15A speakers have been engineered according to the already existing Odin-blueprint. They are equipped with Celestion speakers, DSP modules, roadproof enclosures and produce “full range, crystal clear sounds”. The side-fills are designed for X-stage setups to provide a well-balanced and developed sound field across the entire stage. They give the sound engineer the opportunity to deliver a sound image across stage which allows all performers to hear a good mix of the whole band. Both models have 800W continuous amp power and 3200W peak. For a setup which requires a bi
UK - Mamma Mia! The Party has taken London’s O2 as its new permanent home. The high-octane immersive theatrical production which surrounds a dining experience, called for an active spatial soundscape to frame the energy of the event. Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus approached Gareth Owen to bring both his theatre experience and the benefit of his rock n roll roots to the production. With its fully mobile cast and live band, Gareth centred the sound design around the powerful localisation and spatial control capabilities of two TiMax SoundHub-S64 3D audio processors, procured and supplied by Orbital Sound for the show. Dining is established across two floors of the venue, styled as the Greek taverna straight from the Mamma Mia! movie set. As band and cast move freely amongst the tables across the multiple levels of the space, the precise performer localisa
UK - A diverse line up of well-known names descended on Cheltenham for the 70th anniversary of its Literature Festival, including headliners David Cameron, Lenny Henry and Debbie Harry. The multi-site event demanded some serious screen, camera and crew to capture the bookish action and augment it for audiences. Long-time professional partner Production AV - which has been designing AV solutions for Cheltenham Festivals for nine years - supplied 10 venues across the sprawling site, including 2,250-seater The Centaur. In total, more than 800 writers, journalists and cultural commentators appeared over 10 days. Production AV’s high-end stock of Agile Remote Cameras and Barco HDX projectors were out in force. “Cheltenham Festival is one of our longstanding clients and the Literature events are well attended, respected and hugely enjoyable,” says Production AV
Dominican Republic Sound Video Lighting (SVL) has installed a full complement of Martin Audio CDD speakers and SX subwoofers in the Peperoni restaurant and bar in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo. Describing the venue, SVL’s Jonathan Del Villar explains: “Peperoni is a very popular restaurant serving what is essentially international cuisine in a variety of styles. Owner Jean-Pierre Bahsa used to be a club owner who knows that business very well. He had gone to Bachata Rosa, a popular restaurant in Punta Cana, owned by singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra, and was very impressed by the Martin Audio system that we had installed there. “Since we are friends, he asked us to work on the project early on during the planning stages which was good because we were able to have significant impact in terms of everything that has to do with technology - the aud
Europe - With more than 50 destinations across Europe, Event Hospitality Management Holding currently operates more than 80 business and conferencing hotels in Germany, Italy and The Netherlands under its Event Hotels brand. The group’s corporate management regularly liaises with the directors of each hotel, with the focal point of these important meetings being the large conference room at the corporate headquarters situated in Cologne on the banks of the River Rhine. In February 2019, work finished on an ambitious installation which featured Shure’s Microflex Complete Wireless Solution, complemented by an IntelliMix P300 Conferencing DSP Processor. The system was planned and installed by systems integrator Tascan. Due to the conference room being an oblong shape, the previously installed conferencing system was unable to guarantee speech intelligibility dur
UK - Green Hippo’s Hippotizer media servers helped to deliver a press launch show for cosmetics and perfume brand Lancôme in London in September. Produced by Michael Bell Brand Communications, the event included custom video content and projection surfaces designed and delivered by UK-based projection mapping specialist Motion Mapping. Motion Mapping fielded a deceptively simple set-up: two Hippotizer Amba media servers, one as a main server and the other as backup, plus two high-powered laptops for show control and on-site media processing. “The laptops are useful for last-minute on-site changes,” explains Motion Mapping’s Stuart Harris. “By running the file conversions on a separate laptop, I can convert the content quickly, without affecting the Hippo - you just drop it in and it’s ready. Then we run everything through the Amba, a DP [DisplayPort] output to o
Switzerland - Audac has appointed Radio Matériel as the exclusive distributor of its audio solutions in Switzerland. Radio Matériel will be handling sales, distribution and service of the complete Audac product line-up from their offices in Renens near Lausanne. Radio-Matériel SA is a wholesaler specialised in the import and distribution of audiovisual products in both installed as live environments. The company has a long history that dates back to the year 1932. Radio Matériel CEO Christian Cornaz looks towards the partnership. “Audac impressed us with their innovative product range, therefore we are delighted to be adding their products into our catalogue. Together with Audac, we will be able to meet the needs and requirements of our customers even more.” Audac’s international sales director, Marc Asselberghs adds: “We at Audac are always looking
UK - Industry veteran Andrew Smith has joined CUK Audio in the newly-created role of director of business development. Smith, who spent the last 11 years at Kramer Electronics UK in a number of roles including chief operating officer, will be championing CUK Audio’s growing portfolio of video and control products. Commenting on his career move, Smith says: “I've known Stuart and the team at CUK Audio for many years and am delighted to be joining them at such an important point in the company’s development.” Managing director Stuart Thomson adds: “Andrew will be a huge asset to our company. With his extensive industry knowledge, technical skills and sales ability, I know Andrew will help us deliver our ambitious growth plans over the coming years.” (Jim Evans)
USA - JD Sound & Video has installed sound systems for both the outdoor stadium and indoor gymnasium of Winslow Township High School (WTHS) using Biamp’s Community R Series loudspeakers. WTHS is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Winslow Township, Camden County, New Jersey. It serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as the secondary school of the Winslow Township School District. Joe DiSabatino of JD Sound & Video explains: “We’ve been using Biamp’s Community loudspeakers almost exclusively for all athletic venue projects for 13 years. Both spaces needed high SPL and good low-end and the Community R Seriebs with subs met those requirements. We were referred to Winslow High School by Eastern High School in Voorhees, New Jersey. Several years ago, we outfitted their gyms and stadium with various R Series products. After Winslow hear
USA - With an estimated 50m people singing from its catalogue of songs every Sunday and over 1.5 billion minutes garnered from YouTube viewers, Australia’s Hillsong Church is one of the primary architects of modern worship music. Although the Sydney-based organisation has several performing collectives that tour worldwide, Hillsong United is likely the best known, thanks to songs like Oceans, Touch the Sky and So Will I. According to Billboard, the group’s 14th and most recent album, People, made its late-April debut this year as the week’s top-selling album across all US charts. Since the release of its 2011 record, Aftermath, Hillsong United has consistently toured with an L-Acoustics K1 system, after transitioning over from V-DOSC. So when the group headed out earlier this year to support People with its first North American
The Netherlands - One of best-known event venues in The Netherlands has been recently transformed into an intimate restaurant with high-tech decor. Madame Jeanette is the successor of dinner show Pandora, which ended early this year. It is an intense evening full of visual spectacle, where visitors dine in the middle of a vibrant story that is told in a visual, musical and culinary way. In recent months, Studio 21 has been completely rebuilt especially for this show, with the kitchen in the centre of the room and a high-tech decor in which the stage, the video and audio are in a 360° setting around the guests. Dutch lighting, audio, and rigging company Chain was responsible for the technical production. Because of the complete round set up, the decision was made to use six circles in the decor. In the middle of the room a 6mtr FD34 circle was used for t
USA - The University of Montana Grizzlies sports teams compete in the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference. Although the school has been supporting a track and field team since the 1960s, it only recently added a women’s softball team. Both teams regularly draw crowds of up to 1,000 people. Until this year, staff set up a temporary PA system for every event. With design help from the engineering staff at Danley Sound Labs, both fields recently were upgraded with permanent, fully-weatherproof Danley OS-Series sound reinforcement systems. Now all meets, games, and even practices are full-fidelity, big-impact events with significantly elevated experiences for everyone involved. “It was kind of a homemade sound system previously,” says Chuck Maes, associate athletic director for internal operations and the person who directed the upgrade for the university. “We had a
Spain - Being held for the past decade in Spain, one of the largest annual reggae festivals in Europe has been on the map for 26 years. The festival took place from the 16-22 August and for the seventh consecutive year, it employed DAS Audio systems on the Main Stage. The International Rototom Sunsplash festival has already established a solid foundation in the town of Benicassim, after its relocation from Italy in 2010. In its 10th anniversary in Spain, it has managed to attract 202,000 people from 76 countries during seven days in a celebration not only of reggae music, but also of cultural events with almost 140 extra-musical activities. The festival stands out for welcoming families and for promoting inclusion, social justice, solidarity and sustainability, practices that have made it one of the largest alternative festivals on the continent. Rototom Sunsplash was
Belgium - Established 21 years ago, the PFL Group has grown to become one of the Benelux countries’ leading technical production businesses, servicing over 1500 projects annually with high quality sound, lighting, video and set productions. Constantly developing to meet the demands of its customers, PFL has just invested in more Yamaha digital mixing consoles. Investing in the latest technologies and new equipment is a vital part of being able to offer the best service in the fast-moving live and installed sound industries. This is why PFL has recently purchased two Yamaha QL5 and two QL1 digital mixing consoles, plus a pair of Rio1608-D2 I/O rack units. “The impressive, trusted QL series offers an excellent all-in-one mixing solution for small to medium-sized live events,” says Dominic De Gruyter, owner and CEO at PFL. “With the new QL series in house, we are
UK - 1948Ldn in Shoreditch, London is Nike’s community space for young innovators in the fields of sport and culture. With decor and display units made from recycled materials, 1948Ldn serves as a special outlet for launching Nike’s exclusive limited-edition releases, as well as opening its doors to a wide variety of cultural and creative events for the benefit of the local and wider community. These include music production workshops, fashion shows, poetry readings, presentations, showcases, exhibitions and parties. Every one of the diverse range of events staged requires the support of high-quality audio to ensure that everyone in attendance enjoys their experience to the full. When 1948Ldn sought an in-house audio solution for its multi-purpose spaces, the company approached Pioneer Pro Audio for a flexible system that would be easy to setup and operate and deli
USA - Home to 80 full-time musicians representing more than a dozen nations, the Colorado Symphony is one of North America’s leading orchestras and performs more than 150 concerts annually at the 2,700-seat Boettcher Concert Hall in downtown Denver, at nearby Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and across the state In 2012, the City of Denver purchased a DiGiCo SD7 mixing console as part of a major audio facilities upgrade for Boettcher Concert Hall that also notably included a full L-Acoustics loudspeaker system. With productions growing increasingly complex and technically more demanding over the past seven years, the City once again chose to invest in DiGiCo - this time by upgrading its existing SD7 with a new Quantum engine. For more than 15 years, Aric Christensen has served as Colorado Symphony’s head of audio. Seeing that he individually mics all of the orchestra’s in
USA - Located on Monterey Street in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo, the 865-seat Fremont Theatre is a surviving - and now thriving - example of the Streamline Moderne style favoured by West Coast movie theatres and performance halls when it opened for both roles in 1942. As its entertainment appeal gradually waned over the decades, the facility dodged various attempts to modernize it as a multiplex cinema, and then to be razed altogether. Thankfully, a new group of partners, the Fremont Theatre Entertainment Group, has invested in restoring the theatre’s visual and acoustical charm while also modernising its technical facilities. A key part of that effort was the addition of an L-Acoustics Kara loudspeaker system, originally installed in 2018 and then re-flown with a new truss system installed earlier this year. “We knew from the very start that we wanted an
Europe - Continuing his run of sold-out arena shows, Scottish singer-songwriter, Lewis Capaldi takes on the world one show at a time, along with an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system covering FOH and monitor duties. Capaldi made history by becoming the first ever artist to both announce and sell out an arena tour before the release of his album, which went on to become one of the UK’s best-selling record in the past five years and gained him global mainstream success throughout 2019. "In early 2019 we were looking for an audio package that was powerful, flexible and compact enough for us to use on every show, be it a Lewis headline as part of a tour, or a run of overseas festivals where space, weight and set-up time were at a premium” explains FOH engineer, Andrew Bush. Supplied by Glasgow-based audio hire company, FE-Live, Capaldi’s full arena set-up in
UK - The Autograph Group has announced the departure of long-serving Financial Director, Duncan Bell. Bell joined the company straight from school aged 18 and worked his way up to the position of Group Financial Director. He had established himself during the ‘80s and ‘90s as a respected Production Sound Engineer working on many high-profile theatre productions in the UK and abroad. His slavish attention to engineering and economic detail was what set him apart and marked him out for his future role within the companies. Bell went from coiling microphone cables to running the financial fortunes of a group of companies that have a combined annual turnover of over £10M. “A month’s work experience in 1984 has led to a 35-year journey as part of an incredible company and family” says Bell, “but I have decided that the time is right to find a new challen
UK - Green Hippo has strengthened its product development and logistics teams with the appointment of three new members of staff at its London HQ. Joining as supply chain manager is Tosan Kogoro (pictured, left), who brings a wealth of experience in supply chain and distribution processes. Kogoro, who is fluent in English and German, arrives from DHL Global Forwarding where she was responsible for major clients including WH Smith and Argos. Specialist media server and control systems engineer Leon Dickens (centre) joins as product support technician. Leon has three years’ direct experience of Green Hippo’s range of media servers in training, operations and troubleshooting. He was most recently employed as an event services technician at PRG. Joining the R&D team is Pratik Mankawde (right). An experienced software developer, Pratik joins Green Hippo from
USA - New York City-based ear Networks has recently designed sound systems for the newly opened Time Out Markets in Miami, New York and Boston consisting of Martin Audio CDD, SX subs, O-Line arrays and Ceiling Series loudspeakers. The first Time Out Market opened in Lisbon in 2014 and the popular format is now coming to other cities around the world. Time Out Market is rooted in the heritage of Time Out – the magazine created in London in 1968 to inspire and enable people to explore and enjoy the best of the city. Since then, Time Out editors have been writing about the best food, drink and cultural experiences worldwide. Today, a global team of local expert journalists is curating the best things to do in 327 cities in 58 countries across websites, magazines, social media and live events. Now this curation is brought to life at Time Out Market. A
World - Kiss are currently playing on their End of the Road World Tour. The band, whose musical career spans over 40 years, opened the tour in January in Vancouver and will wrap up in Nagoya, Japan at the end of 2019, having played112 dates in between. The larger-than-life tour is a massive production featuring lasers, floating drum kits, fire, pyrotechnics and more. disguise gx2 media servers are powering a key part of the large-scale video for the tour, which features 17 LED video pods above the stage that move in and out via automated winches, a massive upstage LED video wall, and two side screens. “Kiss have an incredible visual legacy spanning multiple decades and multiple generations of fans,” says Danny Firpo, CEO of All of it Now. “Both Robert Long and Sooner Routhier from the SRAE team were incredible in their level of knowledge of the band’s catalogu
Belgium - With more than 45 AV Stumpfl media servers as part of their rental stock - all of which are updated to run the latest version of the Pixera system - AED Display has become the world's largest provider of AV Stumpfl media server systems. In addition to offering the new Pixera servers as a rental product to their customers, AED Display has organised and successfully conducted multiple Pixera training sessions in Belgium since ordering additional servers at this year's ISE exhibition in Amsterdam. AED Display managing director Thierry Heldenbergh explains the importance of providing training sessions in addition to the hardware itself: "Compared to other systems out there, Pixera is still the new kid on the block. This has many advantages and also brings some challenges. The advantage is that we can be among the first companies worldwide to offer a new media ser
