UK - Adlib is delighted to be back on the road again with Irish rockers The Script, supplying a CODA audio system for FOH engineer Steve ‘Pato’ Pattison. He and monitor guru Marc Peers are also both well-known Adlib regulars who have worked on previous Script tours and are both assuming engineering roles for the first time. Adlib has provided audio for The Script’s four previous album campaigns which has included three arena tours and some stadium shows. Long term FOH engineer Richy Nicholson has actually flipped roles on this one, after many years of mixing FOH, he’s representing Adlib as the account handler, co-ordinating everything from the office and warehouse perspectives. A top touring crew join Pato and Marc on the road including systems engineer Alan Harrison, George Puttock, Jay Petch and Laurie Binns. It’s the first time The Script have
Poland - The noted Śląski Stadium (Silesian Stadium) in Chorzów, has undergone a complete rebuild to become one of the most modern football and sporting facilities in Europe. The original stadium, opened in 1956, was a symbol of Poland's post-war rebirth. It has held some of football’s most important and memorable matches, played by legends of the sport including Johan Cruyff, George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo. It has also hosted massive concerts by bands like U2, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and The Rolling Stones. In 1993 the stadium became the official home of the Polish national football team. The rebuild of Śląski Stadium has been a long and sometimes difficult project. Started in 2009, the new 43,000sq.m roof proved the biggest hurdle and its partial collapse during construction lead to long delays and a re-design. Despite the problems and additional costs, the na
UK - Dave Ward, founder of Gateway Studio and the Gateway School has announced the re-opening of Gateway Professional Development Training. “We are re-starting the industry training courses that we originally planned with the APRS (Association of Professional Recording Services). They are designed for professionals in the Creative Industries who would like a better understanding of the various disciplines outside their own specialist experience or expertise. They may be managers or administrators as well as operators. Plans are also underway for specialist courses for teachers”, explained Ward. The first course, designed to give a greater understanding of the world of recording and music production, will be held at Mark Knopfler's British Grove Studios in West London. It will run over two days, Saturday, 12 May and Sunday 13 May 2018. It will be led by Dave W
Europe - Snake Newton, FOH engineer for Harry Styles, relies on DPA Microphones to mic up the entire drum kit for their current world tour production, performing over 20 confirmed dates across Europe before jetting off to Australia. Snake opted for DPA d:dicate 4011 Cardioid Microphones on the snare top and ride, a d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphone on the hi-hat top and d:dicate 2011 Twin Diaphragm Cardioid mics on the snare bottom, rack toms and floor toms. His choice won the approval of monitor engineer Charlie ‘Chopper’ Bradley, who says, “I usually defer to Snake on microphone choice unless there is something that really isn’t working for me in the mix. On this occasion I am very pleased that he’s using DPA on the drum kit because I now have one of the most dynamic and natural sounding drum mixes I’ve ever had on a live tour.” Harry Styles’ c
China - Rock icon Wang Feng kicked off one of the country's most highly anticipated live music events in September 2017 with The Times tour. The major national tour supports his latest album 29, Guoling Lane which has propelled Wang Feng to even greater acclaim. Debuting at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, the tour has the popular singer performing in 30 cities over the course of 2017 and 2018. The production requested a sound system without delays on the field, to preserve sightlines and budget. Sound designer Mr Shaogang Jin chose an L-Acoustics K system, supplied by rental company Lab Beijing, for its long throw and even coverage. One of China's most renowned sound engineers, Mr Shaogang Jin has designed sound and manned FOH for Wang Feng over many years both on tour and for the prominent reality TV show The Voice of China. He has also worked as
UK - Born out of the back of van 24 years ago, BCS Audio has gone on to become one of the UK’s premier, multi-faceted pro audio companies. BCS owner David Shepherd explains why DiGiCo’s latest console, the SD12, was “an obvious investment” and the appropriate choice for the current James Arthur and Tom Odell tours. “When the SD12 was launched, I could immediately see it being a very popular console because it’s such a great fit for both small and large jobs,” explains David. “The footprint of the console means it will fit into a bus or trailer, whilst its twin screens give it the feel of the larger consoles in the range, which helps Front of House engineers with speed of workflow. That’s why we bought two of them and they worked hard all summer on the tours, as well as for the both artists’ appearances during the busy festival season.” “I was u
Romania - In need of an audio infrastructure upgrade, Bucharest’s Hard Rock Café turned to integrator Paradigma Teknik for a system with power, clarity and above all reliability, featuring Powersoft’s latest fixed install Quattrocanali and Ottocanali amplifier platforms. Paradigma sales manager, Laura Angelescu, recommended a system of Martin Audio loudspeakers, and turned to Powersoft’s Romanian distributor AudioVision Store, for the amplification aspect of the installation. AudioVision’s Marius Craiu, explains: “We have a very strong relationship with Paradigma Technik. We have worked with them for many years and Powersoft aligns very well with Martin Audio for many reasons, but primarily because of the powerful DSP: a kind of Formula 1 for series cars.” Understanding the end-user’s needs from the installation, AudioVision specified Powersoft
Philippines - Audiophile Components recently upgraded Café Havana Greenbelt’s aging sound system with a modern live audio solution by Harman Professional Solutions. Founded by hospitality pioneer Larry J. Cruz, Café Havana is a traditional Cuban restaurant located in the Makati district of Manila. In its quest to celebrate all things Cuban, Café Havana features a nightly line-up of live salsa music for standing room only crowds. When the restaurant’s previous sound system began to show signs of wear and tear after extensive use, management hired Audiophile to install a dependable, high-quality audio solution. Audiophile selected a complete Harman live sound reinforcement system comprised of JBL speakers, Crown amplifiers and Soundcraft mixing consoles. With Café Havana’s nearly around-the-clock hours of operation, Audiophile faced a very limited timefr
UK - SixEye is a new technology startup developing a flexible remote management platform which allows manufacturers and system integrators of lighting and audio-visual controls systems to provide a unified remote management solution under their own brand. Bas Hoksbergen joins as SixEye is starting to bring on board manufacturer partners to integrate their products with its platform. His role will see him build relationships with new and potential customers and identify new markets for SixEye’s product. SixEye CEO, Simon Hicks, describes the appointment as “The ideal combination of person, product and timing – we’re very pleased to be working with Bas as we bring SixEye’s solution to market. Having deployed large projects of exactly the kind that SixEye is designed to manage, Bas’s contribution will be invaluable as we add new features and fine tune the offe
UK - Following a management buyout in May 2017, technical production company Saville is continuing its expansion of its in-house expertise with the appointment of international live event specialist, Chris Philpott, as head of operations for the live events division. With over 15 years’ live events’ experience, Philpott has been brought on board to join the evolving senior leadership team and help shape the new generation Saville. The company has recently consolidated its national live event network to form two main operational hubs, located in Leeds and Guildford. Joining Saville AV from Dubai-based Digicomm, where he was director of projects, Philpott was responsible for delivering technically challenging event experiences across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, for top global brands. Colin Nixey, managing director of Saville Live Events, comments, “The
Germany - At Prolight+Sound 2018, Alcons Audio will have its highest profile presence yet. With major demonstrations, new products, commitment to immersive sound and a significant anniversary, Alcons aims to be the word on every sound professional’s lips, says the company. A major highlight of Prolight+Sound is the Production Resource Group’s (PRG) demonstrations in the Festhalle. This year, an Alcons LR28 large format line array will deliver the soundtrack to the hourly presentations. Complemented by further Alcons products, including the BC543 high-output cardioid subwoofer, the system will show that “great sound can be every bit as impressive as great visuals”. The system will also be an important part of Prolight+Sound’s annual opening event, the PRG Live Entertainment Awards, on 9 April. An Alcons RR12 point-source array system, with BQ211 21" subs, will
Germany - Following the successful launch of Yamaha’s Rivage PM7 digital mixing system and other new products in February, there is much for visitors to look forward to on the company’s stand at ProLight+Sound 2018. Exhibiting on Stand E50, Hall 3.1, Yamaha is again exhibiting alongside touring loudspeaker manufacturer Nexo. The launch of Rivage PM7 was one of the audio highlights of the ISE show in Amsterdam and the new system will again be the focus of a lot of interest at ProLight+Sound. Yamaha’s entire range of digital mixing consoles will also be on display, alongside other new products, including the updated R series Dante I/O racks, Version 2 firmware for Rivage PM10 and the updated DXSmkII subwoofers. “ISE was an extremely successful show for us, with Rivage PM7 and our other new products generating a lot of interest,” says Nils-Peter Keller, se
USA - McNally Enterprises is a 30-year old family-run business that has grown into one of the biggest scenic event companies for corporate events in California. The company recently made a substantial investment in Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) loudspeakers by adding a 12 enclosure Anna Adaptive System supported by six RADIUS RSX218 dual 18-inch subs as well as 24 RADIUS RSX208L line array cabinets, six RSX12M stage monitors and four RSX12 subwoofers to their inventory. “My Dad started out years ago with EAW JF80s and KF300s,” explains Patrick McNally, director of events. “When we decided to upgrade to newer technology we checked out Anna and RADIUS. It was perfect, almost like coming full circle. Between both systems, we’re confident that we can provide our customers with the very best for years to come.” Anna made its McNally Enterprises debut at a pregame
UK - Yamaha Commercial Audio UK has a key commitment to training the sound engineers of the future. One of the ways that the company achieves this is through taking training ‘on the road’ to education facilities around the UK. BA (Hons) Live Sound degree students at the Plymouth campus of dBs Music have been the latest to benefit from a session, provided by Yamaha’s Tom Rundle and Chris Irvine. Founded in 1998, dBs Music provides a range of professional sound courses, aimed at students who want to be a DJ, composer, performer, producer, a live or studio engineer. The Live Sound degree course started in September 2017, with the emphasis very much on practical experience. dBs has invested in a Yamaha CL5 digital console, plus Rio3224-D and Rio1608-D I/O units, for the course. To give the Live Sound degree students a more comprehensive rundown on Yamaha’s digital
USA - The Cathedral Church of the Advent, a 3,600-member Episcopal church in Birmingham, Alabama, recently completed installation of an Allen & Heath dLive system with C3500 Surface, CDM64 MixRack, IP8 Remote Controller and eight ME-1 Personal Mixers for the musicians. Kent Michael, the Advent’s mix engineer, says, “We had recently ushered in a service on Sunday evenings that incorporated more modern instrumentation, so we needed a system that would be versatile and powerful enough to mix a full band for the evening service and simple enough to operate by our volunteer staff for the traditional services.” dB Integrations of Gainesville, Georgia designed the Cathedral’s new audio system, installing the C3500 Surface on a rolling cart to make it easy to access for the church’s modern service. They also provided an IP8 Remote Controller for volunteers to mi
USA - The Audio Engineering Society will hold its third International Conference on Music Induced Hearing Disorders at Columbia College in downtown Chicago from 20-22 June. The conference will focus on strategies and technologies for safer long-term hearing outcomes in the music industry and includes two days of papers and presentations augmented by lively panel discussions. Registration is now open, with Early Bird pricing through 15 April. The Conference on Music Induced Hearing Disorders will feature presentations by a roster of notable audiologists and researchers. The keynote speech, Music for Brain Health will be delivered by esteemed scientist, inventor, and musician Nina Kraus, PhD, of Northwestern University. Other notable presenters include Sharon Kujawa of Harvard, Dr. Marshall Chasin from Toronto, research psychologist Elizabeth Beach of Austra
Vietnam - Adamson Systems Engineering and its Vietnamese distributor, Van Lam Audio Equipment, have welcomed Ho Chi Minh City’s Van Nghe Music Centreas Vietnam’s first E-Series partner. Following the delivery of Adamson’s Applied Certification training for Van Nghe Music Centre’s technicians, the company will demo its new system at Ho Chi Minh City’s Demo ProSound in Vietnam 2018 trade show from 22-23 March 2018. “I had an opportunity to hear several products from Adamson’s E-Series and S-Series at an intimate demo in Hamburg last year, and was immediately impressed by the audio quality. I knew right there that we’d found the high-end system we’d been looking for that will help scale our company to the next level,” says Mr. Hieu Van Nghe, the owner and namesake of Van Nghe Music Center. “The support we’ve received from Van Lam, Sonos Libra in Th
USA - The World According to Sound is a San Francisco-based immersive aural romp of a public radio touring show. Co-creators Chris Hoff, a sound engineer, and Sam Harnett, a reporter/journalist, mishmash detailed sounds and present them in dramatic fashion to audiences ranging from 80 to 140 people eager to witness the extraordinary. Hoff comments: “Our show invites listeners to re-imagine the world through their ears instead of their eyes. We pass out eye masks, turn out the lights, and take sounds from all over the world and move them around the audience using a ring of eight loudspeakers – the Clair Brothers kiTCURVE12+. All these sounds will swirl around you while you sit in total darkness with only your ears to guide you.” To recreate sounds as diverse as bridges creaking, ants marching and mud pots gurgling to historic street sounds of Berlin, musica
UK - Sound and communication specialist integrators T.G. Baker have transformed the entertainment experience for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC fans, updating the PA/VA system at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton with a Nexo solution. Molineux, the club’s home ground since 1889, was the first stadium ever built for the Football League. It was one of the first grounds in the UK to install floodlights, and one of the founding hosts for European club games in the 1950s. Now owned by Fosun International, a Chinese conglomerate and international investment company, this 31,000-capacity stadium continues to innovate. Called in by Steve Sutton, Wolves head of operations, the T.G.Baker team was asked to design and install a new audio system for entertainment and public address/voice alarm. “Our old system was 24 years old, and well past its recommended working life,” says S
Indonesia - CSA Indonesia recently supplied Gamung Productions with a complete inventory of live audio solutions by Harman Professional Solutions. The Harman systems supplied by local dealer CSA Indonesia include JBL, Crown and Soundcraft solutions. Setiawan Winarto, CEO of CSA Indonesia, says: “An inventory of high-end products is essential to supplying performances with exceptional sound quality and coverage - no matter the size of the event. With the addition of JBL line arrays, Crown amplifiers and Soundcraft consoles, Gamung Productions gained an advantage over its competition, establishing a reputation for versatility and reliable service.” Ramesh Jayaraman, VP & GM, Harman Professional Solutions, APAC, adds: “We’re happy to see our products being used by Gamung Productions, a leading touring and rental solution provider in Indonesia.”
USA - Psychedelic rockers, Portugal. The Man, have been on a charge. Fresh from collecting a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with the song Feel it Still, they're currently on a world tour promoting the band's eighth studio album, Woodstock. Front of House Engineer Charlie Izzo has chosen the SSL L300 live console as the right tool for this dynamic, multifaceted show. On this tour Izzo deals with anything from 40 to 60 inputs per show, depending on factors that include a steady stream of guests, choirs, and/or orchestras - variable according to the city they happen to be playing in. This, the wide range of material and styles that the band visits, and the fact the band refuses to use any tracks, makes for a challenging, and very 'live' show. "The set opens with a Metallica cover," says Izzo. "And they might do anything from an Oasis tune, some Be
Italy - At Prolight+Sound next month, Outline will introduce Newton, the company’s new FPGA-based processing platform. Designed to be “the management and control core” for audio networks in touring, broadcast and fixed installation applications and provides management of sophisticated audio systems by combining multi-format channel routing with simultaneous standards conversion and digital signal synchronisation. Newton additionally incorporates powerful new filter technology along with clock and powering redundancy in a 1U networkable chassis. A system topology is provided by very high-quality FPGA-based SSRC (synchronous sample rate conversion) and ASRC (asynchronous sample rate conversion) with outstanding dynamic range and ultra-low distortion. The unit supports up to 15 clock source options and a virtually unlimited number of filters using Outline’s
Germany - L-Acoustics will demonstrate its L‑ISA Immersive Sound Art technology at this year’s Prolight+Sound. The technology recently embarked on Lorde’s Melodrama tour across North America, as well as present new hardware and software tools – including the P1 networked digital audio processor, which begins shipping in June – that will make it easy for L‑Acoustics partners to realize optimised performance for their L‑Acoustics systems. Established in London in 2014 by L-Acoustics founder Dr. Christian Heil, L-ISA is L‑Acoustics’ immersive sound brand. L-ISA draws on extensive audio and psycho-acoustic research to develop sound design and processing tools for live shows, creative events and private residences. L-Acoustics will showcase the new L-ISA Island on stand C11 in hall 3.1. This complete integrated personal auditorium plays the hi
USA - Some of the biggest names in Latin music landed in Las Vegas in January for a night to remember at the Calibash mega-concert. Held at the 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena, the spectacular staging featured an array of 18 LED screens with content fed from by Avolites Ai Infinity RX8 Media Servers. YC3 Lighting Design supplied the Ai servers to VJ director Richard Vicens, who oversaw the visuals for Latin/Urban music stars including Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Ozuna, Maluma and Bad Bunny. "All of the artists wanted to give their audiences an awesome show," says Vicens. "As VJ director, it was vital for me to be able to design and create pixel maps and LED processing that worked for everybody and be ready to backup all of them with Ai media Servers. "The show's size meant it was certainly a challenge - I have to go through every detail to make sure the audience
