Newsroom

COSTA MESA, CA — Key changes were made in senior management at QSC effective January 22, 2007, when Joe Pham began serving as the company's chief operating officer. As the new COO, Pham took over an office long occupied by John Andrews, who will move to jointly share the duties of CEO with brother Barry Andrews. Pham, a UCLA graduate with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, will report directly to Barry and John Andrews within the new corporate hierarchy. His duties will include day-to-day management of sales, marketing, R&D, operations, human resources, finance and strategy. Currently serving QSC in a dual capacity as CEO and senior VP of sales and marketing, Barry Andrews will in turn relinquish all sales and marketing responsibilities, and the position of senior VP of sales and marketing will be effectively eliminated. Within the new order, QSC founder and chief designer Pat Quilter will continue to steer research and development on QSC's amplifiers.

SANTIAGO, CHILE — Robbie Williams recently played the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile as part of his current "Close Encounters" world tour, and a crowd of 50,000 people came to see and hear the English pop artist and songwriter, whose career began as a member of the band Take That. As part of the celebration of its 90 years in the nation, Citibank was the official sponsor of the concert in coordination with CIE Chile.

ANAHEIM, CA — The new AKG Acoustics C5 and D5 vocal microphones feature transducer technology with maximum isolation of handling noise to deliver reproduction of vocals in venues ranging from small clubs to large concert stages.

HUNTSVILLE, AL — There is nothing like the backing of a legend when you are introducing a new partnership and product. Future Sonics makes ear pieces, and Hear makes mixing tools both focused on the personal monitor market. Now Hear will market the new Future Sonics Atrio universal earphones and their first big customer is none other than

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — Recently on tour throughout South America, Shakira performed two shows at the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, and D.A.S. Aero powered line array systems were used to provide sound reinforcement for the more than 80,000 fans who filled the stadium.

LONDON — For Daddy Cool, which has been running at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Richard Brooker's audio design deploys a combination of Cadac analog and digital mixing equipment, with an 82-input J-Type Live Production Console and a Digital Series Stage Rack, using D16 Digital Mix Matrices and M16 remote controlled microphone amplifiers. He is also using a large-scale Opus Audio PA system.

WEDEMARK, GERMANY — Sennheiser wireless products celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, as the first Sennheiser transmitter (Photo above), which had a short life span because it required a tube and far too many batteries, was created in 1957. The follow-up, the Sennheiser SK 1002 pocket transmitter, introduced in 1958, was considerably smaller thanks to transistors.

LONDON — Detailing the untold story of the witches of Oz, Wicked is directed by Joe Mantello, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and sound design by Tony Meola, with equipment supplied by London's Autograph Sound Recording and including an 84-slot Cadac J-Type Live Sound Production Console.

RIO RANCHO, NM — The Lectrosonics IFBT4 (Interruptible Fold Back) base-station transmitter replaces the analog IFBT1 unit and is a 250 mW Digital Hybrid Wireless transmitter for IFB and other types of radio links such as camera hops, relay stations and delayed loudspeakers. It is compatible with all Lectrosonics 100, 200, 400 and IFB receivers, along with receivers from two other manufacturers (contact Lectrosonics for details). In 400 mode, the IFBT4 and associated receivers operate without analog companding artifacts. The IFBT4 is designed for use in broadcast, motion picture, theatre and stage applications. The IFBT4 can be used as part of a stand-alone system or patched directly into intercom systems. A "tuning" mode is included so that the transmitting frequency can be selected without broadcasting.