News

ROME–Around half a million fans steamed to the Coliseum in Rome to enjoy the Telecomcerto concert featuring Billy Joel and Bryan Adams, sponsored by Telecom Progetto Italia and the City of Rome.

SAN FRANCISCO–Wireworks has introduced a stage box that lets DB25 analog and digital connectors play nice with XLR connectors. Offering true AES/EBU 110Ω rugged jacked cable combined with Neutrik Black/Gold connectors, the versatile MMB8D is available in various gender combinations with either analog or digital wired DB25 connectors mounted on the rear, or with a 4ft. tail for in-rack direct connection. The MMB8D cabling system includes the unique MMB8D MiniStageBox and MMLD8D MiniLineBox, DB25 Trunks and the convenient MMBR Rack Adaptor for the MMB8D and MMLB8D boxes. Additionally, Wireworks offers a complete line of companion DB25 assemblies to facilitate installation.

NEW ORLEANS–At Camp Hope in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity volunteers assemble daily and then issue forth to help rebuild hopes and dreams shattered by 2005's "Katrina" flood disaster.

MERIDIAN, MS — The Crest Audio CV-20 live-sound mixing console is a VCA console designed for applications such as front-of-house, monitors and monitors from front-of-house. The CV-20 is available in 24, 32, 40, 48 and 56 mono input configurations with four-band sweepable EQ and fully parametric mid-frequency control on each mono input. A feature set of 12 aux sends, eight subgroup assignments and L/C/R panning to the Left/Right and Mono busses are included as well. Standard on all CV-20 frames are eight stereo input channels consisting of four microphone-line channels and four dual-line channels with the same full assignment capabilities as the mono input channels, plus eight VCA masters, 12 aux masters, eight subgroups and separate left/right/mono controls that can be "fader reversed" to allow fader control of the aux masters.

SAN FRANCISCO–Group One Ltd has announced it is shipping the new MC2 E4-75 power amplifier and XTA DP4 Series Audio Management Systems.

GAMBIER, OH–Kenyon College's new Athletic Center, designed by the esteemed Gund Partnership architectural firm of Cambridge, Mass., makes use of state-of-the-art media systems that have been designed to function under a wide range of scenarios, making creative use of several independent but interconnected DSP and control systems. As Brad Kestner, Operations Manager at Sound Com in Berea, Ohio explains, flexibility and performance were some of the highest priorities in designing the systems. "The building itself is nothing short of massive, but the design of the audio and video systems was actually fairly straightforward," he comments. The various areas of the complex were designed to function as discrete systems, though any or all of them can be tied together as needed.

WOODINVILLE, WA–This year, a record crowd of 45,000 made it's way to the Creamfields festival, a UK dance event, in its new home of Daresbury Estate in the heart of the Cheshire countryside. Headlining the massive main stage this year were the Prodigy, and as headline act, the audio system was designed to meet the specification on their rider. This included a powerful EAW KF760 line array system from UK rental specialists, and long-term Prodigy suppliers, ML Executives.

MIAMI–At a recent special appearance at a large Miami Verizon wireless store, Wyclef Jean was so impressed with sound of a Dynacord Cobra system that he extended his set, turning a brief public appearance into a free concert. Bayshore Sound of Tampa, FL, handles sound for Verizon in-store events across Florida. For Wyclef Jean's outdoor appearance at the busy Miami location, Bayshore wanted to take the sound reinforcement spec to the next level. Having recently demo'd and ordered a Dynacord Cobra system, they felt Cobra would be perfect for the job. That said, their EV & Dynacord dealer pointed them in the direction of Miami-based Drummer Boy Sound, who supplied Bayshore with an interim Cobra rig, complete with EV QRx monitors and RE-1 wireless mics, a Midas Venice console and Klark Teknik EQs.

BERKELEY, CA–A record 37,000 people attended the 11th annual edition of the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival at the Rose Hall Resort & Country Club of Montego Bay to see and hear a star-studded bill featuring artists such as Patti Labelle, Al Green, John Legend, Nestor Torres, Shaggy, Morgan Heritage, Air Supply, and Bo Diddley. The technical team of Jamaica's John Swaby Entertainment, the festival's audio provider, faced the dual challenges of an event featuring groups of widely varied instrumentation and musical genres being presented in an outdoor environment. In order to deliver even coverage and consistent quality across all of the styles slated to be heard on the resort's golf-course-cum-festival-grounds, the Swaby Entertainment team relied on a system of self-powered Meyer Sound loudspeakers.