Arlington, Texas – March 31, 2010: This year’s NBA All Star Game brought some 108,000 basketball fans to the “Texas-sized� Dallas Cowboys Stadium, a record-breaking number for the sport. Consistent with the high-profile spectacle of the event, which included several days of games and skills contests, the big game’s halftime show rivaled that of the Super Bowl, being broadcast to 215 countries in 44 languages. Columbian pop sensation Shakira and R&B superstar Alicia Keys delivered their stellar performances with “wired� fidelity and rock-solid reliability, over thirty channels of Sennheiser 5000 and 2000 Series wireless microphones and G2 and G3 monitoring systems. The Sennheiser gear ably navigated the RF space, which, like the stadium itself, was filled to capacity. In addition, a range of Sennheiser wired microphones handled the backline.

Cowboys Stadium is the largest domed stadium in the world, a fact that simultaneously impressed and intimidated Kevin Sanford, president of Wireless First, the company that provided the gear and RF coordination for the show. Sanford arrived nine days before the game itself to pave the way for hiccup-free wireless performance during all the entertainment phases of the big weekend, culminating with the halftime show. “The sheer size of the place and the distances we had to cover made this a very challenging job,� remarked Sanford. “In addition to the frequencies I was dealing with, there were something like three hundred other wireless channels in use! CNN, TNN, you name it, everyone was consuming wireless channels.� In addition to bringing his arsenal of Sennheiser gear that was used for both Alicia Keys and Shakira’s performances, Sanford relied on often easily-forgotten textbook advice: careful antenna placement that maintains height and line of sight between transmitter and receiver. more

OLD LYME, Conn. – March 30, 2010 – Over the past several years, audio specialist Sennheiser has been a regular presenter in New England Institute of Art’s Boston Area Definitive Audio Student Summit (BADASS), which provides students from all over the Northeastern U.S. with an opportunity to learn about emerging trends in broadcast technology and other areas. After an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from both students and faculty, Sennheiser worked with the Institute to create a potentially ‘life changing’ career opportunity for a broadcast student: shadowing an A1 during a live HBO boxing event.

Dustin Gregg, a senior at New England Institute of Art, was selected from a pool of top student applicants and was asked to shadow Randy Flick, senior audio for HBO Boxing and a top A1 in the sports industry. “It was like learning about basketball from Michael Jordan,” Gregg said. Sennheiser and New England Institute of Art believe that by initiating sponsorships such as this, students will arrive in the working world better equipped with the relevant knowledge and tools that a career in broadcast requires. more

Fairlight’s reputation for innovation and quality has taken another giant step forward with the launch of EVO, a fully self-contained audio production system for video, film and music.

The new EVO system, which will be on show for the first time at the NAB 2010 Convention in Las Vegas (Booth C1739), delivers high end console power with cutting-edge affordability. With prices starting at USD $68,000, it is without question today’s big mixer at tomorrow’s smart price.

“EVO is a major development for Fairlight, one that continues the path started by FAME, Prodigy and Constellation,” says Tino Fibaek, Fairlight’s General Manager. “Although these products already offer our customers an integrated audio and video solution, we wanted to refine and enhance the mixing part of that system so that we could improve usability. With EVO, we have achieved exactly that – a console that not only addresses the convergence of audio and video, but also delivers large format mixing functionality within the small surface footprint that is typical of post production consoles.” more

CLARET, France — March 29, 2010 — NETIA today announced that it has paired its NETIA Workflow Engine with its Radio-Assist™ 8 suite of digital audio automation software to bring users even greater efficiencies and functionality across key broadcast workflow processes. Designed to facilitate exchanges between all applications in a broadcast environment, the NETIA Workflow Engine gives users one graphical interface through which to automate processes involving Radio-Assist 8 and any third-party application. more

BANGOR, MAINE – MARCH 2010: Graduates from the New England School of Communications (NESCOM) are highly sought-after in the pro audio trades for their balanced appreciation of theory, application, and technique. One of the ways NESCOM keeps current is by replacing one of the consoles in its seven fully-appointed control rooms every year, as well as by providing regular upgrades to its remote truck and its 500-seat theater complex. Last year’s pick was a 32-channel API 1608 with a 16-channel expander. The overwhelming enthusiasm for the 1608 contributed to this year’s decision. NESCOM will replace a control surface in one of its surround rooms – Studio D – with a 48-channel API Vision surround production console, providing a superb front-end and mixing environment that ably handles stereo and surround simultaneously with an intuitive and instructive topology.

“There are a variety of schools of thought about whether it is better to mix ‘in the box’ or ‘out of the box’,” said Dave MacLaughlin, executive director of audio for NESCOM. “There are even regional variations. Nashville engineers, for example, tend to treat their DAWs like tape recorders, relying on external gear and summing to complete their mixes. Of course, we think students need experience with both approaches, but we already have control surfaces in a few of our other rooms. For Studio D, we wanted to give students more experience recording on a high-end console and then mixing back through that same console.” more

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 2010: For decades, German sport on television has been associated with one program above all others – Sportschau, the weekend sports roundup produced by West German Broadcasting (Westdeutsche Rundfunk, or WDR) and broadcast on the main German public-service terrestrial channel ARD. As the Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver and German public-service TV channels began their long-planned transition to high-definition broadcasting, the much-loved Sportschau moved to a new timeslot on Saturday nights, and, from February 13, 2010, began transmission in high-definition with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.

WDR needed to ensure that the whole of Sportschau could be broadcast with a 5.1 surround soundtrack every week, even when older or archive material with a stereo soundtrack was due to be included – a considerable technical challenge. Many viewers find it jarring when a stereo segment is broadcast in the midst of a modern high-definition transmission which otherwise features a full 5.1 soundtrack. The stereo parts seem extremely ‘flat’ by comparison. After an intense period of testing various ways of up-mixing stereo to surround, WDR turned to UK manufacturer SoundField and acquired one of its UPM-1 Stereo-to-5.1 processors to handle the job. more

CLARET, France — March 23, 2010 — NETIA today announced that Sistemas Digitales en Audio y Video S.A de C.V, a broadcast systems integrator and distributor based in Mexico City, is now a dealer for NETIA’s Radio-Assist range of digital automation software and Manreoâ„¢ media asset management platform. Serving all of Mexico, Sistemas Digitales en Audio y Video S.A de C.V will provide new and existing NETIA customers with presales consultation, sales, and product support. more

— New recorder features X-Y stereo microphone capsule and SD/HDSD card storage —

MUSIKMESSE, FRANKFURT, GERMANY, March 24, 2010 — Korg has added a new handheld recorder to its MR Series of DSD digital recorders – the MR-2 High Resolution Mobile Recorder. With many new and requested features, the MR-2 is a true workhorse.

As with all of Korg’s MR recorders, the MR-2 records in the ultra-high fidelity DSD format, using a 2.8 MHz sampling rate, which captures every sonic detail while preserving the ambience of the original recording location. Using the included AudioGate software, this original datastream recording can be re-purposed into nearly any audio format with minimal fidelity loss. For job-specific recording, the MR-2 can also record in any of the popular multi-bit formats, from MP2 and MP3 up to 24-bit/192 kHz. more

— Audio-Technica continues to be the microphone of choice at the 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony —

STOW, OH, March 16, 2010 — For the 13th year in a row, a broad range of Audio-Technica microphones was selected to outfit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A-T supplied over 50 mics to capture the audio for this widely celebrated musical event, which took place at New York’s Waldorf Astoria. The 25th annual induction ceremony of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was held on March 15, 2010, with inductees including Swedish pop group ABBA, British progressive and pop/rock legends Genesis, British invasion hitmakers The Hollies, reggae vocalist Jimmy Cliff, garage rockers The Stooges and non-performers David Geffen, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Elie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell. The show was broadcast live on Fuse and www.fuse.tv. more

Cats FM, the first private radio station in Sarawak, Malaysia, has ordered six Jünger Audio D07 two-channel digital transmission processors to iron out audio level irregularities throughout it FM transmission chain.

Specifically designed to optimise program signals for FM broadcast and TV transmission, Jünger Audio’s D07 units incorporate the company’s renowned LEVEL MAGICâ„¢ system. This series of automated Level and Loudness control devices adjusts the level from any source at any time, with no pumping, breathing or distortion. It works by simultaneously combining an AGC, a Transient Processor for fast changes and a “look ahead” Peak Limiter for continuous unattended control of any programme material, regardless of its original source.

Based in Kuching, Cats FM broadcasts in Malay and Iban to a wide ranging audience via a network of FM transmitters that are strategically located across the state of Sarawak. Although primarily a 24-hour music and entertainment radio station, it also covers news and local issues. Its reach is so widespread that it can even be heard in parts of neighbouring countries such as Brunei and Kalimantan-Indonesia. more