News

LUTON, UK — Concert Sound Limited, of Luton, England, has been providing PA for the Illegal Eagles' 10-week tour, and according to FOH engineer Tim Peeling, the new Vi6 has handled life in the fast lane.

CORNWALL, UK — Loughborough Student Union (LSU) has recently completed an extensive refurbishment, including an overhaul of its audio equipment, to provide a multi-function entertainment venue for its students. All of the audio mixing equipment selected for the six rooms was from Allen & Heath.

RALEIGH, NC — The North Carolina State Fair produces nightly concerts featuring country, bluegrass, contemporary Christian and, more recently, R&B/hip-hop and southern rock bands, and one of the principal challenges for integrator RMB Audio is getting the best possible audio quality in a venue originally designed for rodeos, circuses and livestock exhibitions.

CANDLER, NC — The Unholy Alliance tour has recently shipped into Europe from the US and sound service provider Eighth Day Sound elected to send the complete touring package over with them. "It came about in a funny way," said Tim Quinby, soundman for top of the bill Slayer. "When I was originally asked by management to specify this tour I asked for something else. Eighth Day had just purchased a new J-Series system from d&b audiotechnik, and they asked me to come down and check it out."

LAS VEGAS — Claude "Mégo" Lemay serves as musical director for Céline Dion and her Las Vegas show, A New Day, and he uses the Soundelux E47C, a recreation of 1950s-era German microphones, when working in his own studio. A cardioid microphone with a transformer balanced output, the Soundelux E47C contains large plate circuitry with a traditional resistive load that provides a vintage amplification curve and dynamics response.

LOS ANGELES — This past November, Tony Bennett recorded a live performance at the L.A. Theatre for broadcast for a TV special, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which aired November 21 on NBC. The concert featured the live vocals of Bennett, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Diana Krall, Michael Bublé and Barbra Streisand.

RIO RANCHO, NM — Lectrosonics reports that its new SMQ "Super-Mini" quarter-watt wireless transmitter has cleared FCC regulatory requirements and is now available. The SMQ provides a 250mW RF output and RF-isolated output for when the transmitter is used in multi-channel systems.

BURNSVILLE, MN — Satis & Fy, who recently took delivery of X-Line and Tour Grade amplifiers from Electro-Voice, have been selected to handle the sound reinforcement for this year's Simply Red tour of Germany.

DALY CITY, CA — Digidesign has announced the new Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini, a USB-powered Pro Tools LE system. The Mini is the newest and smallest member of the Mbox 2 family.

BOCA RATON, FL — Mobile Studios, developers of fly pack systems, have selected FOR-A's HVS-500HS HANABI 1 M/E HD switcher for the company's new mobile production console. The MS7HD is a portable live production system capable of multi-camera shooting, targeted for use by corporations, houses of worship, universities, sporting event producers, government video producers and independent production companies.