Week of July 2
ESTA Announces Public Review of Speaker-Rigging Standard
BSR #1.8, Entertainment Technology –Loudspeaker Enclosures IntendedFor Overhead Suspension — Classification, Manufacture and StructuralTesting is now available for public review until September 25,2001.
This document describes the structural requirements for loudspeakerenclosures intended for ov erhead suspension, which include enclosureconstruction, component part security, enclosure suspension hardware,manufacturing control systems, structural testing and productrepresentation.
The draft standard can be obtained from the ESTA Website atwww.esta.org/tsp.
RoomService Expands Engineering Staff
RoomService Audio (New York City), an onsite audioproduction/post-production company, celebrated its one-year anniversarywith an expanded engineering staff. Tim Grove and Rich Cutler, bothseasoned engineers with extensive experience in the New York audiocommunity, have become the newest members of the RoomService team.
“RoomService was founded to provide clients with a professionalbroadcast-quality audio studio that comes to them,” said Alan Varner,president of RoomService. “Securing top-notch engineers to facilitatethe sessions is key. Both Tim and Rich were chosen from among thecity’s best.”
Tim Grove’s credits include senior engineer at Kamen EntertainmentGroup/MRK Records, where he was responsible for the recording, editing,and mixing of radio and television commercials for numerous advertisingagencies.
Rich Cutler’s background includes experience in several ofManhattan’s major audio facilities, including Soundtrack NY, FirstEdition/Aural Fixation, Magno Sound, and Video and Editel.
For more, visit www.roomserviceaudio.com.
Gibson, Guitar Center Renew Parnership
Gibson Musical Instrument and Guitar Center announced that they willrenew their business relationship, with initial fulfillment ofinstruments to the music retailer scheduled over the next eightweeks.
“We are confident that Gibson Musical Instruments can best reachAmerica’s musicians by continuing the tradition of selling qualityGibson product through America’s biggest musical instrument retailer,”commented Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson MusicalInstruments.
“The Gibson and Epiphone brands are two of the most highly respectedbrands in our industry, and we are very happy to be able to offer themto our customers,” said Larry Thomas, chairman and co-CEO of GuitarCenter.
For more information, visit www.gibson.com orwww.guitarcenter.com.
Sennheiser New Appointments
Sennheiser Electronics (Old Lyme, Conn.) announced new promotionswithin the company.
Karl Winkler, veteran brand manager for Neumann mics, has beenpromoted to director of marketing communications for Sennheiser. Inthis new position, Winkler will oversee all advertising, publicrelations and field communications for the Sennheiser, Neumann,Innova-Son and D.A.S. Audio brands. Additionally, he will beresponsible for new promotional items, all printed materials, andcorporate Website development and maintenance. Winkler and his teamwill also initiate on-going in-house training programs, manage the SECmerchandising calendar and provide the company’s monthly sales repupdate newsletters on programs and new products.
Mario Sousa, a longtime electronics and service technical manager,has been named service manager for Sennheiser.
For more information, visit www.sennheiserusa.com.
Pulse Acquires Sonicopia
Pulse (San Francisco), a leader in 3-D animation and rich media forthe Web, announced that it has acquired Sonicopia (San Francisco), aprovider of interactive audio solutions for digital media.
The two companies have already begun integrating Sonicopia’s audiotechnology into the Pulse platform, which will take affect with Version5.0 of the Pulse product line. While the Pulse platform previouslysupported interactive audio for content streaming to a Pulse Playerwindow, Sonicopia’s technology can sonify all HTML elements external tothe Pulse Player window on any page.
Sonicopia founder Stuart Dubey stated, “Pulse and Sonicopia bothshare the vision and passion for revolutionizing the Web experience,and together will provide rich media solutions that createdROI-building experiences for an ever-growing hose of marqueeclients.”
The acquisition includes Sonicopia’s technology, engineering andproduction teams, and their expertise, exclusive use of itsstate-of-the-art digital audio production facilities and access tolibraries of thousands of sound assets.
For more, visit www.pulse3d.com or www.sonicopia.com.
Composer Peter Fish Teams Up with Cool Beans
Cool Beans Digital Audio (New York City), a Manhattanpost-production audio finishing and mixing studio for commercials, hasentered a partnership with Emmy-winning composer and producer PeterFish and his company, book It. Ltd.
As Fish joins forces with Multi-Video Group Ltd. (parent of CoolBeans and Rhinoceros companies), Cool Beans will culminate its risetoward becoming a full-array audio post company.
Fish has produced such artists as Judy Collins and Carly Simon; hascomposed themes for The Rosie O’Donnell Show, 48 Hours,Extra, America Undercover and several others; and hasscored such films as Dangerous Games, Bodysnatchers andWigstock.
“We’re elated to be working with Peter,” said David Binstock, CEO ofMulti-Video Group Ltd. “Obviously, his work speaks for itself. But whatimpresses us so much about Peter is the diversity of that work. And,not onlyo is Peter brilliant on the creative side, but he also shows anenormous talent for studio design and operation.”
Fish is overseeing the design and construction of the audio postfacilities for public television at Thirteen/WNET New York. Cool Beansand Thirteen have entered a cooperative agreement whereby Cool Beanswill operate and manage these facilities at the Thirteen production andbroadcast center in Manhattan upon their completion in 2001.
New VP of Education at Ex’pression Center For New Media
Chris Coan, actor, musician, recording engineer, educator andinnovator, has been appointed VP of education at Ex’pression Center forNew Media (Emeryville, Calif.).
Prior to joining Ex’pression, Coan was director of corporatetraining at Full Sail Real World Education in Florida, where he taughtcourses for nonlinear audio and video editing. His tapeless and digitalprograms included the Synclavier Digital Audio Workstation andSoftImage Digital Studio.
As VP of education, Coan wants to “create a global awareness of theschool’s immersion techniques, student accomplishments and thedevelopment of creativity for the digital age.”
For more, visit www.xnewmedia.com.
Steinberg Nuendo Seminar Tour Dates Announced
Steinberg North America announced the tour/seminar dates for Nuendoacross the U.S., beginning in Hollywood on July 9, and ending August 7in San Francisco after hitting the Eastern and Midwest states. Allseminars start at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
For a complete list of dates and to find a seminar near you, visitwww.nuendo.com.
New President, Owner at Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios (New York City) welcomed Kirk Imamura as its newpresident and owner. An extensive career with Sony Corporation and SonyElectronic, Imamura is excited to guide the studio toward embracingfuture industry trends.
“With the continued evolution of digital audio workstations and harddisk recorders, recording studios are in an interesting phase,” saidImamura. “It’s an industry that is being driven by the inevitableadvances in technology, and the situation where businesses are beingforced to change by this trend is familiar territory for me.”
For more information, visit www.avatarstudios.net.
Mackie Loudspeaker System Named BEDA Product of the Year
Mackie Designs’ (Woodinville, Wash.) Fustion Active LoudspeakerSystem was named “Product of the Year” by the British Entertainment& Discotheque Association (BEDA) at BEDA’s annual awardsbanquet.
BEDA is a professional association that represents the leading andmost-influential nightclubs, bars and discotheques across the UK.
“We are honored that BEDA members and a distinguished panel ofjudges selected our new Fusion system for this prestigious award,” saidPhil Price, managing director of Mackie UK.
For more information, visit www.mackie.comwww.beda.org.uk.
Brian Moore Guitars Has Moved
Brian Moore Guitars has moved to a new, expanded facility.
The company’s new billing address is:
P.O. Box 540; LaGrangeville, NY 12540-0540
The new shipping address is:
Town of LaGrange, 60 Firemens Way, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603;845/486-0744; fax 845/486-0745
For more, visit www.brianmooreguitars.com.
QSC Hires Audio Design Liaison
QSC Audio Products (Costa Mesa, Calif.) recently appointed DukeDucoff to the position of audio design liaison. Based in Austin, Texas,Ducoff’s responsibilities including assisting consultants andcontractors with specifying QSC’s expanding product line, includingsignal processing, signal transport and audio network systems.
“It’s an honor having someone with Duke’s background and years ofexperience on our team,” commented Greg McLagan, QSC marketing managerfor installed sound.
For more, visit www.qscaudio.com.
LDI 2001 Dates Announced
LDI 2001, an entertainment design show in the U.S., will be held inOrlando, Fla., November 4-8, 2001.
Industry professionals will be able to find their interestsrepresented in areas such as entertainment lighting, professionalaudio, architectural lighting, staging, rigging, pyrotechnics, lasers,software, special effects and much more. Representing these areas willbe over 440 exhibiting companies.
The event will kick off with the 4th annual LDInstitute, October 29through November 1, 2001, which will offer creative imaging courses, atechie boot camp and ESTA (Entertainment Services and TechnologyAssociation) training.
Returing this year will be the ExpoLatina, which will focus on therapidly growing Latin American segment of the industry. ExpoLatina willinclude workshops, a keynote luncheon, Spanish-language sessions andthe ExpoLatina caliente party (Friday, November 2).
For full exhibitor, attendee and conference information,www.ldishow.com or call 800/288-8606.
Week of July 16
TOA Extends Warranty On Products
TOA Electronics (South San Francisco) will increase the warrantyperiod on all commercial and engineered sound products sold to fiveyears from the date of the original purchase, beginning July 1, 2001.This new policy replaces all previous TOA product warranties, whichvaried among the company’s different product categories.
“A five-year product warranty across-the-board will give ourcustomers even more confidence when specifying and installing TOAproducts,” said Jeff Pallin, VP of TOA.
Fore more information, visit www.toaelectronics.com.
An Afternoon With George Massenburg
AES-LA is planning another of its popular “Afternoon With….”program. This time, the special guest will be George Massenburg, aseasoned producer, mixer, equipemtn designer and keynote speaker at teh103rd AES Convention in New York. The event is scheduled for Saturday,August 25, 2001, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., at The Eileen Norris Theatre,located on the University of Southern California campus, downtownL.A.
Price for AES members if $15; $20 for nonmembers; and $10 forstudents with ID. Reservations will be required.
To find out more, www.aes.org/sections/la.
