Alejandro Sanz Tours Around the Globe with Shure

MIAMI — With 17 GRAMMY awards lining his shelves — more than any other Spanish musician in history — Alejandro Sanz has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. Born in Madrid, Spain, these days Sanz officially calls South Florida home, but more often than not he can be seen onstage performing around the globe. Touring on the success of El Tren de los Momentos, his latest disc featuring a duet with Shakira entitled “Te lo Agradezco, Pero No,” Sanz has trusted his sound to Shure since his first tour.

DENVER — The Las Vegas location of Production Resource Group (PRG) reports that it deployed full L-ACOUSTICS loudspeaker systems for two high-profile events staged in Denver during the recent Democratic National Convention. The first production, Rock The Vote’s “Ballot Bash,” served as a star-studded event showcasing the power of the youth vote in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Featuring performances from Fall Out Boy, N*E*R*D, Jakob Dylan and others, Ballot Bash rocked over 2,500 attendees at the tri-level Ellie Caulkins Opera House, providing an energizing close to the first day of DNC festivities.

LONDON — When Tom Hackley, a final year student at the University of London’s Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD), was tasked with designing the sound for a production of the musical Company, he was also given the opportunity to get hands-on experience of a new piece of equipment on the production. Mindful of his transition into a full-time freelance sound designer, Hackley chose DiGiCo.

CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian rental and production company Sound Art deployed an Electro-Voice sound systems for Canada’s largest annual events, kicking into high gear every summer for the outdoor festival season. This year saw the supply of a suitably muscular EV X-Line system for the Monsters of Rock festival at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, featuring heavy metal legends Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest.

NEW YORK — With an eclectic roster of artists ranging from Van Halen to Jill Scott, Erika Badeau, Ministry and Celtic Woman, Masque Live has added the new Jesse McCartney/Jordin Sparks tour to its resume.

ENGLAND — Featuring internationally renowned surf and skate competitions, the week-long Rip Curl Boardmasters festival held in Newquay Cornwall, also features top line music events at various locations around the beachside town. Three iLive digital systems were used by two PA companies managing the two main music sites.

Soundcraft has launched a mid-market partner console in the Soundcraft Si3 that comes in one chassis — console surface, all input and output connections, power supply. This compact footprint desk can directly handle 64 mono inputs, 4 stereo inputs and has full connectivity for all 35 output busses (24 Aux/Group, 8 Matrix and Left/Right/Centre mix buses). The Si3 includes four Lexicon effects processors, 12 VCA groups, eight Mute groups and bar graph metering for 35 bus outputs. 

BERKELEY, Calif. — Meyer Sound has announced the appointment of John McMahon to the newly created position of executive director of Digital Products. In his new role, McMahon will oversee the strategic direction of marketing, sales, and research and development of Meyer Sound’s digital signal processing technologies, including Galileo loudspeaker management system, Matrix3 audio show control, Constellation electroacoustic architecture, as well as all related hardware and software development.

HOLLWOOD, Calif. –– Like many Hollywood clubs, Vanguard has had many lives. It's been a warehouse, roller-skating rink and, more recently, Qtopia club. Now it's a multifaceted venue with state-of-art sound systems, a solid choice for concerts. According to Richard Ralke of LA Sound, the club first approached him "a few years back, Adam Dugan, the technical director, was looking for a monitoring solution for the many big DJs that play the club. I suggested the Martin W8 system together and it’s been there for two years. Vanguard was doing a facelift and decided to replace the sound systems in the three VIP rooms, which we did with Martin Audio." 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Audio Analysts of Colorado Springs, Co., selected Crown Audio’s I-Tech Series of amplifiers for Bruce Springsteen’s North American tour. Crown’s I-T4000 and I-T8000 amplifiers were used to power JBL VerTec VT4889 and VT4887 line array elements and JBL VT4880 arrayable subwoofers. Springsteen’s tour began in Hartford, Conn. on February 28, making 29 stops throughout North America before a 12-country tour in Europe. 

ORLANDO, Fla. — On the road in support of “Home Before Dark,” his 29th studio album, Neil Diamond has embarked on a major U.S. tour. Diamond has retained many of the veteran technicians who have traveled with him throughout his career.  Among those are monitor mix/live recording engineer Bernie Becker and sound designer/FOH mixer Stan Miller, who hasn’t missed a tour or a show in 41 years.