Sound

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18 October 2024

Europe - Blaze Audio has announced that its Ci series loudspeaker product line is now available globally. The Ci series was acquired earlier this year from Cornered Audio ApS of Denmark and make a match for use with Blaze Audio’s PowerZone amplifiers, software, and controllers.  

The new Ci series of products - the Ci2, Ci4, Ci4-V, Ci5, Ci5-V, and CS8 and CS12 subwoofers - are designed for use in commercial and hospitality locations. These surface-mounted loudspeakers make for a discrete and elegant installation while offering quality sound reproduction with wide and uniform coverage, clarity, and reliability.  

The IP-rated Ci series is a feature-packed family of acoustically superior 2-way full-range loudspeakers that are designed for a wide range of indoor and outdoor commercial applications such as retail stores, restaurants, cafes, and mee

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18 October 2024

The Netherlands/Slovakia - The global launch of the SRS Lighting VLAN-toolbox has been announced. This product is the result of a collaboration between Podiumtechniek B.V., a leading player in the entertainment industry, and SRS Group, a globally respected name in lighting, rigging, and power distribution technology. Together, they have developed a solution that will ‘significantly simplify the lives of AV technicians worldwide’.

The idea for the SRS Lighting VLAN-toolbox was first introduced by Paul van Schaik, co-owner of Podiumtechniek B.V. During the initial presentation of the prototype at CUE 2024 in Rotterdam, it quickly became apparent that there was a high demand for a simple yet powerful tool for network management specifically designed for AV professionals.

"After the presentation, we immediately saw the potential," says Paul van Schai

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18 October 2024

South Africa - FBT’S distributor StageOne hosted the ArtOfTech event in Johannesburg, marking the South African launch of the FBT Myra Line Array System.

Peter Berry, founder of StageOne, tasked his team with transcending traditional demo events to deliver an extraordinary experience. "ArtOfTech was more than just a product launch; the production successfully merged technology with creativity to produce something truly special,” said Berry.

Over 350 select clients experienced live audio demonstrations of FBT's line arrays, Horizon, Muse, and the star of the show, Myra, the line array system for mid to large-size touring applications and high-end fixed installations.

Kyle Freemantle, a respected freelance sound engineer, praised the Myra for its user-friendly rigging and exceptional sound quality. "The FBT Myra features one of the most str

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17 October 2024

UK - Having completed an impressive navigational trail for the Eden Project using smaller Martin Audio components, Cornwall-based TruCru has ramped up its line array inventory, in preparation for a busy event season ahead.

The rental company has invested in the manufacturer’s Wavefront Precision (WPS) and SXCF118 cardioid subwoofers, giving them a powerful, and recognisable front-line PA. This will bring the company into the community of other Martin Audio WP users, and is the latest step in a phased move towards eventual standardisation on Martin Audio in its hire fleet.

Commenting on the purchase, TruCru project manager and audio lead, Toby Bodman, said, “This is quite an upgrade and a significant leap for us. I first heard Wavefront Precision in 2018 and I was blown away by how consistent the coverage was throughout the space, and with the gro

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17 October 2024

UK - Inspired by a summer of sport, Manchester Day 2024 was a vibrant one-day, event filled with music, dance, performance, acrobatics and a host of other interactive and audience participative events, all with a warm and enthusiastic street party atmosphere, staged in and around the city centre.

Manchester-based audio specialist, tube uk, was asked to provide PA and sound systems for the four main stages, two of which were located in the Deansgate area, two at St Ann’s Square and one on Market Street, all major city centre positions.

tube uk’s Melvyn Coote commented, “It is always fantastic to be part of this event which energises the city centre in the true spirit of Manchester, and it’s amazing to see people from all communities engaging and enjoying, making it their event.”

The main challenges for the tube team of four audio eng

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17 October 2024

UK - RCF UK partner, JPS Sound & Light, fielded 108 RCF loudspeaker enclosures at the recent Zimfest Live 2024 festival in Hertfordshire - now celebrating its 25th year.

Involved with this event for the past five years, John Southee’s company has watched the event - a celebration of Zimbabwean music, culture and music - mature from its old Colesdale Farm site near Potters Bar to the premium Hertfordshire County Show Ground outside St. Albans where up to 10,000 people from across the UK congregate over the two days.

JPS were tasked with providing a complete technical infrastructure (sound, lighting and video as well as camera crew) - populating two stages, the enlarged main stage and a six-pole Big Top. “The SmartStage180 provided a massive 15m x 12m stage area, with a 10m high roof. This offered an impressive 20-ton weight-loading and additio

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17 October 2024

USA - Little Sister Lounge, a nightclub by Tao Group located in the Moxy Lower East Side hotel in NYC, is an underground cocktail lounge reminiscent of the LES in the 1990s. After becoming familiar with 1 Sound through its performance in neighbouring venues within the Moxy Hotel and Tao Group sister venues like Tao Downtown nightclub, this NYC staple in the nightclub scene, decided to upgrade its audio system to 1 Sound.

Inside the Moxy Hotel, 1 Sound is incorporated into Silver Lining Lounge, a piano bar, Sake No Hana, a modern Japanese restaurant, the Highlight Room, a rooftop cocktail lounge, and The Fix, a bar and all-day cafe. In the past three years of being installed these venue’s, 1 Sound systems have proved their quality and reliability, making it an exciting revamp for Little Sister Lounge to upgrade their audio system.

Installed by Anthe

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17 October 2024

UK - Edinburgh’s W Hotel is the latest addition to the Marriott International estate.  Atop the building’s steel-spiral-clad exterior is a 12th floor rooftop terrace that boasts sweeping vistas of the city’s skyline and is the setting for a multi-speaker sound system from K-array, installed by London-based Link Media Systems.

“Sound is a big thing with the W brand,” affirmed W Edinburgh’s IT manager Kevin Edwards. “It's one of our key components of the brand makeup, and therefore getting the sound right is incredibly important.”

The Link Media technical team came up with a speaker system design that floods the whole terrace area with high level sound while remaining discreet and is also well protected from the elements, thanks to their stainless steel construction.

“We realised straight away that we couldn’t just install

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16 October 2024

USA - Touring arenas and stadiums in support of ninth studio album Trustfall – the fourth to go straight to the top of the UK album charts – P!nk’s successful Summer Carnival tour continues for a second year.

Supplying audio for its entirety, under the expertise of Britannia Row Productions account executive Dave Compton, the tour kicked off in England June 2023, and is currently playing across North America, with a finale planned for Miami this November.

“I’ve been working with Britannia Row since 2010,” begins audio crew chief, Guillaume Burguez. “One of the best feelings is knowing that anytime - day or night - you have their support in case any issues arise. It’s a great family to be part of.”

Riding the faders at FOH is Stephen Curtin, who is no stranger to the capabilities of the Clair Global Group wh

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16 October 2024

South Korea - Genelec has added Seoul to its growing global network of Experience Centres. The Seoul location joins other existing Genelec Experience Centres across Europe, The Americas and Asia.

Located in the city’s Jongro area, the Seoul Experience Centre is a collaboration between Genelec and its local distribution partner SAMA Sound. Offering a wide selection of solutions from Genelec’s Professional Audio, Installed Sound and Home Audio ranges, the Centre is hosted by SAMA Sound’s Genelec product manager Wonjoo Lee and tech specialist Jaehyuk Han, who are on hand to offer personal demonstrations and advice to customers who pre-book appointments.

The Seoul location is divided into three distinct zones. The Immersive Room is designed to allow visitors to experience Genelec’s UNIO monitoring ecosystem, with a 9320A Reference Controller acti

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16 October 2024

France - With its striking pink façade typical of the Art Deco style of the 1930s, the Palais des Congrès d'Issy operated by Viparis is a vibrant conference and entertainment hub in the city of Issy les Moulineaux in the southwestern suburbs of Paris.

Renovated in 2018, preserving interiors adorned by stained glass, mosaics, parquet flooring and marble, this historic building now features 2,800 m² of configurable space including 11 meeting rooms, two multipurpose areas and the Berlioz Amphitheatre.

Inspired by the inside of a cello, this nearly 1000-seat venue stages a variety of productions ranging from intimate concerts to grand opera productions. Initially delayed by Covid lockdowns, a planned upgrade to the sound system has now taken place, with services partner SAV sub-contracting Chalezeule-based event and theatre sound specialists Espace Co

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16 October 2024

USA - Powersoft has announced the appointment of Mitch Rauch as its new sales director for the US market.

Mitch, formerly of Opticis, Vivitek and BenQ, among other well-known AV industry names, will be based in Powersoft’s US headquarters in Flanders, New Jersey. There, he will focus on driving growth in existing verticals while also exploring new opportunities for Powersoft’s audio technologies.

“I’ve spent over two decades managing professional AV channels, and I see huge potential for growth with Powersoft,” says Mitch. “The reputation of the brand is rock solid, and the people within the company are committed to delivering best-in-class service to both our dealer base and the venues we work with. That level of dedication is something I’m excited to be a part of.”

Tom Knesel, general manager and COO of Powersoft US, comment

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16 October 2024

Brazil - Started in 1985, Rock in Rio is a flamboyant celebration of music, held in Rio de Janeiro every two years., the festival has a worldwide reputation of excellence, not just in the artist line up, but the festival site itself. The choice to use DiGiCo consoles for the main front of house systems is down to artist preference, explains Peter Racy, Rock in Rio’s front of house (FOH) system manager and mix engineer.

“We are seeing a dominance of DiGiCo consoles being used by artists on the main stage,” he says. “The choice of consoles for the festival is usually determined by the artists’ engineering team and their preference is often a deciding factor. In front of me at the mix position, three of the four consoles are DiGiCo; it seems to be a trend. We are also using an SD-11 to control system feeds, including video mapping, p

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16 October 2024

USA - Clair Global was engaged by Latitude 38 Entertainment (L38), part of Live Nation Entertainment, for the eighth year to provide data solutions to three-day music and food festival, BottleRock Napa Valley.

Clair Global’s data services enhanced the festival experience for 45,000 attendees who came to watch a line-up of musical talent, including Clair Global touring clients Stevie Nicks, Megan Thee Stallion, The Offspring and Queens of the Stone Age.

Clair Global engineers built the network infrastructure to support production connectivity needs around the festival venue, the Napa Valley Expo, before deploying specific solutions for food and drink vendors, access control locations, and site wide attendee WiFi, using enterprise grade network equipment overseen by a crew of 14.

Clair Global relies heavily on the reliability and performance

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16 October 2024

Europe - At IBC2024, Clear-Com showcased communication solutions designed to meet the needs of both live and broadcast professionals, emphasizing the flexibility required in today’s interconnected production environments.

With the EHX v14 software update and enhanced SIP integration on the E-IPA card, Clear-Com is providing seamless communication solutions that work across live events and broadcast settings. This high-density integration with VOIP systems is increasingly important for large-scale productions, where robust communication links are critical.

The Arcadia Central Station’s latest firmware upgrades offer unparalleled connectivity between live event setups and broadcast systems like the Eclipse HX Digital Matrix and LQ IP intercom devices, providing a unified communication backbone. Whether managing a concert tour or a hybrid event with

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15 October 2024

UK - Optimal Audio opened the virtual doors to its training academy. Open 24/7, the Optimal Audio Academy has certification-based courses ‘conveniently available to the world and any time that suits’.

Simple to navigate, the Optimal Audio Academy provides modular courses to help system integrators and installers to understand how to best maximise the portfolio and most importantly, WebApp.

Comprised of a streamlined product offering that works seamlessly together, the Optimal Audio ecosystem is particularly suited to multi-zoned commercial installations, such as retail and hospitality venues. WebApp, the ‘secret sauce’ of the ecosystem, makes short work of customisable installation parameters and provides an intuitive interface for the end user that’s as straightforward as any smart home appliance. Set up is already as simple as possible bu

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15 October 2024

UK - Andy Booth has joined the d&b solutions team as senior contracts manager within the integration team. Andy will play a key role in overseeing projects across our brands, White Light and SFL.

Andy brings considerable expertise in lighting, audio, and large-scale project management, having worked on impressive international projects such as theme parks in the UAE, as well as notable projects in Singapore and Africa. His longstanding collaboration with White Light includes high-profile projects like Jonnie Walker Princes Street, Rose Bruford College, Sky News Studios, World Heartbeat Music Academy, and the Royal Festival Hall. A career highlight for Andy was leading the house and work lighting refurbishment of the Royal Albert Hall, delivered for White Light.

“I’m thrilled to join d&b solutions,” says Andy. “Having already worked wi

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15 October 2024

UK - Martin Audio has announced the appointment of Simon Honywill as its new market development manager for live sound, production, and immersive audio markets.

Honywill’s appointment follows a long association with Martin Audio. "I’m utterly thrilled about this new role," he said. "After years of working as a sound engineer, I’ve been looking for a way to bring my expertise to a broader market and make a bigger impact. This role with Martin Audio offers me exactly that opportunity. I’ve always admired the company’s innovation, and now I have the chance to be part of shaping its future.”

As market development manager, Honywill will spearhead efforts to expand Martin Audio’s presence in the live sound and immersive audio markets. His new responsibilities will involve working globally, with a particular focus on Europe and the Middle East

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15 October 2024

USA - The OCA Alliance, the trade association supporting the AES70 standard for Open Control Architecture, has announced the public availability of the latest revision of the standard, AES70-2024, which introduces ‘several valuable additions’. Along with new classes, the update features new methods, a new specification for using the OCP.1 protocol, and several documentation updates.

Fully backwards compatible with existing implementations, AES70-2024 continues to expand the technical foundations of the growing and evolving OCA ecosystem. Summaries and overviews of the most recent additions to the standard can be found on the OCA Alliance website: https://ocaalliance.com/latest-updates/

“AES70 is very much a living and evolving standard, and we are grateful to the developers and contributors who continue to support and expand it,” says Ethan W

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14 October 2024

UK - Essex-based event production and AV installation company Spotlight Sound has announced its partnership with Hylands Estate. Spotlight Sound is now the accredited event production partner for the 574-acre estate.

Chelmsford-based Spotlight Sound was founded in 2009 by director Sam Dimond. In that time, the business has grown exponentially and now supports events with production and audio-visual equipment across Essex and throughout the UK. Spotlight Sound has worked on the BBC Make A Difference Awards, The London Football Awards, and many other high-profile events. During the Covid pandemic they spectacularly lit up Hylands House as well as other venues across the city in NHS colours to thank our emergency services for their work on behalf of Chelmsford City Council.

Sam Dimond says. “Our partnership with Hylands Estate means

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11 October 2024

Norway - Just off the coast of the North Sea lies the Norwegian island municipality of Askøy. Bounded on all sides by coastal fjords, the municipality of 30,000 people is home to several boat-building companies, football clubs, and a bustling seafood industry.

The island’s population greatly expanded after the opening of the Askøy Bridge in 1992. To expand its options for local artists and theatrical performances, the local government recently commissioned the creation of a new cultural hall – the Kultursalen Kipo. Powering all the loudspeakers in the acoustic enhancement system are Connect Series amplifiers from LEA Professional.

Venue staff contacted Benum Norway A/S to design the audio system for the cultural hall. Based in Oslo, Benum is well-versed in the challenges associated with performance venues like Kultursalen Kipo.

“Norwa

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11 October 2024

Canada - Simon Fraser University (SFU), consistently ranked among Canada's top research institutions, has taken a pioneering step into immersive communication and spatial acoustics processing. Thanks to a recent grant, SFU established an acoustics lab equipped with 128 Renkus-Heinz C Series loudspeakers to support its research in the field.

Located across British Columbia’s three largest cities – Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver – SFU offers diverse programmes ranging from anthropology to marine science. The university's drive to leverage technology for societal benefit led to the creation of a new lab focused on 3D multimedia applications, including surround sound, video, and spatial acoustics, commonly referred to as "immersive communication."

Senior professor Rodney Vaughan spearheaded the project and partnered with TiMax, Advanced Audio, Dire

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11 October 2024

Hungary - Lightware Visual Engineering has announced its latest AV solutions, designed to deliver flexible, high-quality AV-over-IP connectivity hybrid work and meeting room AV environments. The new Taurus TPN and Gemini GVN products address the growing demand for seamless, real-time connectivity and outstanding performance in collaborative workspaces and mission-critical environments, says the company.

The Lightware Taurus TPN is a device for large meeting rooms, boardrooms, and conference settings. It offers USB-C and SDVoE technology for high-quality HDMI 2.0 4K60 4:4:4 matrix switching over 10G Ethernet networks, with a range of up to 100 metres. Its independent USB 2.0 matrix switching layer supports multiple devices, providing users with automated and manual switching options. This ensures seamless video transitions and an exceptional AV experience, ma

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10 October 2024

USA - Rock titans Metallica roared into North America this autumn for the latest leg of their juggernaut M72 World Tour, now elevated by the power and precision of Meyer Sound’s 2100-LFC low-frequency control elements.

The tour, which began in April 2023, stops for two nights in each city, presenting two sets on ‘no repeat weekends’. Fans experience a stereo mix in every seat, one that’s faithful to 40 years of studio recordings, explains FOH engineer Greg Price. “Our goal was to bring that intimate environment into a stadium.”

Staged in the round, the tour is supported by a staggering 522 Meyer Sound loudspeakers, including 288 Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers, 96 2100-LFC low-frequency control elements, 48 VLFC very low‑frequency control elements, 16 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, 22 Ultra-X40 com