UK - In September, Entec renewed its acquaintance with the exhibitions division of media group Future plc to deliver sound and lighting equipment to the two-day UK Guitar Show and the London Bass Guitar Show. Centred around the sprawling Gear Hall, the show saw Entec liaise with production manager Pete Witham to equip five stages that hosted a diverse programme of stellar musical performances, showcases and masterclasses. September’s event was Entec’s fourth for Future in just over a year. “Entec was mainly given the contract because it was able to provide a complete range of sound, lighting and some elements of staging, unlike the other companies we approached,” said Pete. Along with a host of leading microphone models and wireless equipment distributed amongst the performance areas, the audio specification for the main auditorium included a Midas PRO1
Norway - When the summer-long Foynhagen Festival last year adopted Martin Audio’s MLA Compact PA, the complaints it had experienced after experimenting with different systems over the previous four years ‘evaporated’. Although the festival site - located in downtown Tønsberg, 90 minutes outside Oslo - is picturesque, overlooking a harbour and bars on one side and residential buildings on the other, noise spillage was one thing the festival didn’t need. And so the event’s PA supplier Spekter A/S invested in a Martin Audio MLA Compact after a system demo had established proof of concept. Lorry Kristanesen from Atendi A/S, Martin Audio’s Norwegian distributor, confirmed that having established a winning formula last year, the rig again comprised eight MLA Compact per side with four MLX subs across the front in a broadside array. Spekter also supplied 12 x Mar
UK - Power Logistics’ pledge at the start of the year to deliver power monitoring at every project it undertook in 2019 has proved a success throughout this summer. Implementing its bespoke power monitoring system at numerous festivals and outdoor events, the company says it has delivered sustainable power solutions that have resulted in fuel bills consistently being reduced by 20% or more, along with significant carbon emission savings. A bespoke power monitoring system was been devised and developed by Power Logistics’ in-house research and development team. This has proved to have a significant impact on an event’s carbon footprint; reducing fuel consumption and often the number and size of generators required onsite which in turn leads to cost efficiencies, says the company. A key addition to the system is the utilisation of QR codes which are placed on eve
Europe - Optocore’s Festival Box has been successfully deployed on a number of festivals and tours this summer. As demo systems were released to targeted dealers and production companies around the world, Optocore technical sales manager, Maciek Janiszewski, said, “It is gratifying that customers have trusted us with delivering a completely new device concept and placed it immediately on high-profile tours and festivals.” Early adopters have included Billie Eilish and Spice Girls, both with Wigwam, while festivals have ranged from the mighty Sziget in Hungary and KFPP Opole in Poland, to Parklife and Bluedot festivals in the north of England. Festival Box allows any audio protocol as well as video and data to tunnel over the same fibre, making it an efficient solution for multi-act scenarios. Migrating the technology from sister company BroaMan’s Repeat48
USA - At over 130 years old and counting, First United Methodist Church of Midland, Texas is the oldest church in Midland, an oil industry hub and home to over 100,000 people. The church enjoys local fame because its spacious and beautiful sanctuary was the site of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush’s wedding, and the First Lady’s mother, who is local to the area, is still a member. A recent sound reinforcement system ‘upgrade’ to line arrays disappointed congregants, staff, and musicians alike because of its murky, indistinct sound. FUMC called in local AV integration firm Romeo Music, who worked with Danley representative Anderson Sales and Marketing to design and install a straightforward replacement system at a fraction of the cost, using Danley’s patented point-source technologies. The new Danley system is a hit, so much so that FUMC is conside
UK - Throughout a busy summer, event production specialists Light Fantastic Production Services has been supporting a number of major UK cinema releases, includingThe Lion King, Toy Story 4, Aladdin, Yesterday, Good Omens and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Working on behalf of client Limited Edition Event Design, recent projects required custom-built solutions tailored to the associated media campaigns and movie branding. Complementing the colourful look of Toy Story 4, LFPS built a series of frames to surround the LED video walls which flanked the red carpet. Finished in a gloss blue laminate, the surrounds incorporated over 400 LED cabochons to mimic the fairground theme in the films advertising campaign. The same look extended to a 3D ‘step and repeat’ structure used for
New Zealand - Distribution and AVC support company JPRO presented an exclusive demo of the JBL VTX A8 line array to a group of entertainment and commercial industry representatives in Christchurch. The VTX A8 is a compact line array system available in various formats for small to medium size installed and tour configurations. VTX A8 and its bigger brother VTX A12 have impressed this year during NZ's Summer Festivals - being used extensively with touring artists and music festivals such as Toto, UB40, Slayer, KORA, Sound Splash and The Hollies. The demo took place at the newly rebuilt Christchurch Town Hall in the James Hay Theatre. “It’s fantastic that we are able to use venues such as the James Hay Theatre to allow audiences to get a first-hand impression of the JBL VTX A8,” comments JPRO’s Nicholas van Dyk, sales manager South Island. “This is a new
UAE - ARX has appointed Gala Pro AV as its distributor in the United Arab Emirates. Based in Dubai, Gala is a leading pro AV and lighting solutions provider who also represents Bosch, Lavoce Italiana and Odyssey. The company is exhibiting at the upcoming Prolight+Sound Middle East expo (15-17 October) in Dubai. “Gala are ideally placed in the UAE to strengthen our brand and to build sales in a market where we see a great potential for growth,” comments Colin Park, managing director of ARX Systems. (Jim Evans)
USA - This week’s AES New York Convention will feature its first visit from the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, which invites AES attendees to tour its facilities, learn about its mission of inspiring creativity, and participate in the interactive tent experience featuring jam sessions using the latest gear. Daily gear giveaways worth over $6,000 - with gear from Audio-Technica, Focusrite, Genelec, K&M, Neutrik, OWC, and Yamaha - will take place at the bus at 1:00pm each day of the exhibition. The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. In its 22nd year, with the latest technology and gear, the bus continues to be dedicated to providing young people with tours of the studios, participation in free digital media production workshops, and the production of giant peace signs. Assisted by three on-board engineers
Europe - Loudspeaker technology specialist Fulcrum Acoustic has appointed Audires BV as its exclusive sales representative for Europe, Middle-East, and Africa. Audires BV, based in Belgium, will be responsible for Fulcrum product sales and support within their territory. This appointment comes as Fulcrum is expanding its presence in the international market. “As Fulcrum continues to grow, so does the demand for our products,” says Stephen Siegel, president and co-founder of Fulcrum Acoustic. “Audires will help us serve the EMEA markets directly with experienced representation.” “My goal at Audires with my team is to represent the best brands in the industry. Fulcrum's exceptional product line, and the solutions they offer, definitely puts them in that category,” says Alain Boone, founder and owner of Audires BV. “I look forward to working closely w
China - Powersoft amplifier platforms have been chosen to drive the new audio system installed at Qingdao World Expo City (QWEC), a 32,000sq.m conference venue in the ancient coastal city of Qingdao. The upgrade, handled by EZ Pro, focussed on QWEC’s Great Hall, which accommodates up to 1,500 people, has an area of 3,000 sqm, and can even be divided into two parts. “We hoped to create a destination that is, in terms of scale and technology, far ahead of anything else in Northeast Asia,” says general manager Zhao Guangjun. The venue was to be equipped with world-class audio-visual equipment to meet the needs of a variety of international and domestic high-end conferences. With this forward-thinking ethos in mind, Powersoft amplifier platforms were chosen. “Powersoft products offer a traditionally amazing sound quality and reliability,” says Alan Ho
China - National television broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) used Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless equipment from audio distributor Beijing Pacific Budee Technology Development Co. to record ambient sound during the dragon boat race at the 2019 Dragon Boat Festival recently held in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian. CCTV captured the sound using the WM Watertight Belt-Pack Transmitter, Venue Receiver, M152/5P Lavalier, and ALP620 Antennas. The Dragon Boat Festival is an annual traditional Chinese holiday held on the fifth day of the fifth month near the Summer Solstice. Before 221 B.C., this day of the year was considered unlucky, and to counter this, Chinese cultural practices evolved to include the Dragon Boat Festival, a day for clearing disease and bad luck. A more modern celebration of the holiday includes the commemoration of the poet and minister Qu Yuan, w
Germany - Inaugurated in 2005, Munich’s Allianz Arena, with its striking façade of almost 3,000 air-filled panels which made it the first stadium to display a full colour-changing exterior, is one of the best-known football stadiums in the world. Inside, too, the three-tiered stadium construction leaves an impression on the 75,000 plus spectators who come to see top national and international sport, and especially to support home football team Bayern Munich. For this season, the sound system in the Allianz Arena has stepped up its game. In cooperation with the engineering and planning office Müller-BBM, L-Acoustics certified provider system integrator, Wilhelm & Willhalm event technology group, have installed an extensive Kara system from L-Acoustics. Since the Arena opened, Wilhelm & Willhalm has been the infotainment technology service provider to the ven
Finland - The Pori Jazz Festival is one of the oldest music festivals in the world. Technical provider for the event, rental company Aku’s Factory Oy, provided audio support which included multiple DiGiCo consoles for this event’s main stage. Pori Jazz Festival started in 1966, with 2019 being its 54th consecutive year. The majority of the festival takes place on the beautiful Kirjurinluoto park island in the heart of the coastal city of Pori and delivers a diverse music programme that attracts artists from around the world. This year’s main stage headliners were Stray Cats, Christina Aguilera and Toto, with popular local artists including contemporary singer-songwriter J Karjalainen, and global artists such as world music singer-songwriter, actor and activist Angélique Kidjo and living jazz legend, saxophonist Archie Shepp, also gracing its stages. House
USA - A roundtable discussion exploring the transformative effects networked AV has on learning and higher education will take place at 11am, PT on 29 October. The event includes an in-person discussion between multiple AV experts. A live Q&A, where webinar attendees can ask questions of the participants, will occur immediately after the discussion. Registration for the webinar is open now at: www.audinate.com/ddm-edu The roundtable event is hosted by Audinate, developer of the Dante AV networking technology, and brings together experts from the University of Southern California, University of Oregon, Arizona State University, University of Colorado, Denver and Brigham Young University - Idaho. “When we talk with our partners about how they are using networked AV we always come away impressed at their innovation and ingenuity,” said Joshua Rush, senior vice pre
Germany - Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) uses Sennheiser wireless systems in its lecture halls and seminar rooms to convey the spoken word in the best possible audio quality. It currently has 53 wireless channels from the Sennheiser SpeechLine Digital Wireless series operating in the DECT range. The systems are spread around different university locations and were installed successively over a period of two years. The conversion from UHF to DECT frequencies has not yet been completed at Martin Luther University – an application to purchase further Sennheiser wireless systems has already been made. The homogeneous wireless equipment at the Universitätsplatz, the Steintor Campus, the Weinberg Campus and the Francke Foundations simplifies both handling and servicing. Up to three SL Rack Receiver DW units are used in typical lecture halls at MLU. These
The Netherlands - dBTechnologies has added another user to its Vio family. TSR AV - Audiovisual Interactions is the first company in the Netherlands to acquire the Vio line array system. The company has decided to purchase several elements of the VIO system. In total, TSR AV added 16x VIO L212, 12x VIO L210 and 16x VIO S218 modules to its rental inventory. Han Wassink, managing & sales director and founder of TSR AV, comments, “We see great potential for the audio system in the Dutch market. As a long-standing dB Technologies user we have great trust in the expertise and quality of the dBTechnologies brand. With the Vio system, dBTechnologies has taken an enormous step in technical development. And last but not least, we are very satisfied with the dBTechnologies R&D team.” Martijn Groot, managing and operations director adds: “One of the goals in purchas
Canada - Cast Software has released wysiwyg as a 64-bit application. Available for download from the Cast members area, the application offers noticeable stability and performance increase across all modes and can now utilise more than 4GB of memory to open files. Cast VP of product, Dino Mazza comments: “This is a special release for Cast. I am proud of the entire wysiwyg development team for getting us here, identifying the challenges along the way and finding the easy, and sometimes difficult solutions, and continuing to plug away at this project until its completion. “R43 delivers our wysiwyg in a 64-bit architecture, and along with the increased responsiveness and improved user experience, which we know the users will love. But, also included are some new features too. I know there are some happy faces around Cast, and I’m suspecting the same is true a
USA - Harman Professional Solutions has announced the new JBL Eon One Compact portable PA system. The latest addition to the JBL Eon One range of portable PA systems, the Compact is an ultra-portable, all-in-one PA system with Bluetooth that “delivers high-quality sound anywhere, for hours on end”. The swappable, rechargeable battery lasts up to 12 hours. Weighing less than 18lb with a built-in carrying handle, the Eon One Compact is easy to take anywhere. A variety of inputs for microphones, instruments and more, plus a four-channel mixer with onboard Lexicon effects and dbx EQ provides ultimate flexibility. Bluetooth connectivity makes it easy to stream music and link multiple speakers, and a handy mobile app for Android and iOS provides intuitive control. “The Eon One Compact’s impressive volume, bass output, portability, connectivity and control featu
UK - The eighth Sundown Festival, promoted by U-Live, took place at the Norfolk Showground in Norwich over August Bank Holiday weekend. It was the first at which the record crowds of 22,000 on the Saturday were treated to the optimisation technology of Martin Audio’s MLA. The company’s rental partner Capital Sound had been brought in by production company, Mark Ward’s Proper Productions, with whom they have a long-standing relationship, most notably at Hyde Park’s British Summertime season - and on this occasion the production manager was Rishi-Louis Gowry. With acts including Mabel, Jax Jones and Anne-Marie topping the bill on the Saturday and Example, Ella Eyre, Jonas Blue and Becky Hill supporting headliner Tinie Tempah on Sunday’s main stage, dance aficionados were in for a treat. Capital’s project manager Amy Newton-Smith confirmed that the event had r
UK - Occupying the site of the former Cabin Club on Bold Street, Jimmy’s is Liverpool’s newest live music venue. It opened on 1 August with a homecoming by favourite sons of the city, The Coral and has already attracted a positive wave of support from punters and press alike. Sister venue to the already-established Jimmy’s, Manchester, the venue is in the hands of George and Jimmy Craig, who have created a seven-nights-week basement live room, as well ground floor bar and first floor eatery. Fundamental to the success of any live music venue is its sound system and as pro musicians themselves, it’s something that the entrepreneurial pair took very seriously during the creation of the venue. Installer Adlib was consulted over the way forward. Given that the venue was set to attract a high proportion of signed artists, it was essential that the system carried a s
Spain - In a Roman Catholic ceremony to mark the beatification of Guadalupe Ortiz de Landazuri, audio rental firm Delta Sound Spain employed a Bose Professional ShowMatch DeltaQ system to provide full-bandwidth sound and exceptional audience-area coverage for the event. Landazuri was the first lay member and the first female member of the Catholic church’s Opus Dei body to be beatified. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, represented the Holy Father at the beatification ceremony. The ceremony took place at Palacio de Vistalegre, a multipurpose venue that originated as a bullring (and therefore has a 270-degree seating aspect); the space is usually configured for 9,000 attendees, but was reconfigured to accommodate 11,000 for this special occasion. To meet the needs of the Vatican for the special event, a sacristy, chapel, pres
South Africa - Pretoria-based rental company AJR has decided on the L-Acoustics colinear Syva system to offer high-end quality audio to their corporate events. In doing so, they have become the first in South Africa to purchase Syva. Owned by Altus van Rensburg, AJR was one of the first in the country to buy into the L-Acoustics X Series with X12 and X8. Contemplating the best way to build on his existing audio system, he came across the Syva at local distributor DWR Distribution and was sold. “When Syva first came to the country last year, we stood around like excited school boys, listening and wondering what magic was coming out of the boxes,” Altus says. “We hoped that someone would buy the system first because we wanted to hire it from them and try it out. My initial thought was to expand on our ARCS WiFo system. We currently have six X12, six X8, six ARCS W
UK - Adlib delivered a full-service production package including lighting, audio, video and rigging for Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival 2019, held at Glasgow Green in July. This popular event is now in its third year and headliners included Stormzy, Catfish & The Bottlemen and George Ezra. Serviced from Adlib’s Glasgow office, it was project-managed by Chris Neary, assisted by Graham Cochrane and Craig Hamilton. The company deployed part of their large L-Acoustics inventory including K1, K2, Kara and KS28 loudspeakers, five DiGiCo SD12 digital mixing systems were used as the house desks for FOH and Monitors plus visiting consoles. At the heart of the system was, once again, Outline’s Newton FPGA-based processor, which has become Adlib’s go-to device for interfacing multiple consoles with the PA at festivals, in addition to many other duties. James Coghlan was Adl
