MCM Productions is a fully equipped agency that offers ‘creative business communications’ in events, video, broadcast and graphics and produce high quality communication tools.

The company recently announced the acquisition of leading Southampton-based, AV and technical production company Lite Relief, as a new division within its business.

MCM’s client base boasts John Lewis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Warburtons and Mothercare. The acquisition of Lite Relief comes with a large store of AV equipment, warehouse space and an existing client portfolio including Southampton FC, Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Hampshire Cricket Club.

Lite Relief has so far operated two distinct services:  Audio Visual and Technical Solutions to the corporate sector across the South Coast, as well as renting specialist and general AV equipment to local businesses and theatre companies.

MCM’s southern office will manage the entire AV, technical, design and production stock and be operationally managed by two newly created positions which will support all areas of the business – from corporate clients through to smaller, local businesses.

Neil Crespin, Managing Director of mcm Productions, said of the purchase:

 “Meeting the demands of delivering tangible and successful results for clients in an increasingly competitive market has never been more challenging.  Lite Relief has been a long term supplier to mcm, and this strategic acquisition strengthens our position in the market place at both a local, national and European level.”

Audiotechnews actually knows which hotel this is for, as he’s been approached for one of their jobs before.

In-House Audio Visual Technician wanted

From the Meetpie website:

Our client is a highly successful AV Company who are looking to recruit an experienced AV Technician in to an in-house role within a leading chain of city centre and country retreat hotels.

Each hotel has its own equipment geared towards business meetings and conferences, for which the Technician would be responsible for the onsite rigging, operating and de-rigging of all associated AV equipment.

From the Meetpie website

Audio Visual Operations / Project Manager wanted.

Our client is an established and highly respected AV hire company who are looking to recruit an experienced senior AV professional to their growing team.  The business covers a wide range of corporate events ranging from road shows, conferences and product launches, to award ceremonies and corporate parties, for both corporate and agency clients.

 Operationally you will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of a 20 strong technical team.  This will include staff recruitment and development, the management, purchasing and service of a large in-house equipment inventory, as well as the mentoring and overseeing all workflow through the department.

In addition you will still actively get involved as a Senior Project Manager on key large scale projects, handling all client contact, budgeting, logistics, and on-site management.  In short you will be responsible for making sure that all jobs get done on time, in budget, and to the client’s expectations.

SFX 6 is the new version of Stage Research Inc’s ‘live entertainment sound playback software’. The sessions, for live audio engineers, are to take place on January 29 and 30, 2008 at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Digital Content Producer report:

More than just an update of the popular application, SFX 6 has been rewritten from the ground up and boasts an array of new features. Among the most important changes are:

• An ASIO sound playback engine, which supports 16-bit or better WAV, MP3 or WMA audio files.

• Cues output to a true matrix with virtually any number of inputs to any number of outputs.

• Audio cues can contain mono, stereo and even more channels. Users can even drag-and-drop multiple sound files to create a multichannel, synchronized sound cue from existing mono and stereo sound files.

• Fades are now called Volume Changes, and Volume Change curves can be completely customized. Curves can be assigned on a per crosspoint level.

• Revamped user interface.

• Undo/Redo functions.

• Two new windows are now available. Transport Window shows/controls the execution of cues. Active Matrix gives users control of all the volumes of the standby and playing cues right in front of them and on the fly.

• Collapsible Cues. Cue sequences connected by Waits and Autofollows can be collapsed into one line.

Whether you’re working with a fever which makes you sweat bucket loads, or you’re broadcasting the New-Lobster electoral victory, this moisture proof audio-visual system could help you out.

I’ll let AV Interactive take it from here

Saville Audio Visual has supplied a special moisture proof audio-visual system to help train the British synchronised swimming team in preparation for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Saville has installed a DVD video recording system at the Army Garrison Sports Centre in Aldershot.

Designed for use outdoors or in harsh environments, the 42inch all-weather monitor is completely sealed for use in wet surroundings.

If they send one for review, Audiotechnews could watch TV in the shower.

The woes of a sound man:

Found this on the Meetpie website

Audio Visual Technician (Conference & Events)

Yorkshire – £18 – 22 + Benefits

Our client is an established, successful AV Company based in several locations around the UK. They are involved in all industry sectors from fixed installations and venue management, through to large scale live events for a wide range of corporate clients.

They are now looking to recruit an experienced technician to join their Sheffield branch and over see a small team of technicians, to assist with the delivery and setting up sound, set & staging, lighting and projection equipment. Rigging and operating on conferences & events across the UK and occasionally abroad.

More details by clicking HERE

This from Afterdawn

On Thursday the European Parliament passed the Audiovisual Directive, which addresses issues of regulating video transmissions in a way that’s consistent throughout the European Union.

Besides standardizing laws across national borders, the “Audiovisual Media Services Without Frontiers Directive” is intended to establish a unified set of rules that will apply whether video is being transmitted as a traditional over the air (OTA) signal, an IPTV stream across the internet, or anything in between the two extremes.

Full article here:

And one from The Register for good measure!

It’s good to see that the University of Salford are making use of their time with the Women in Audio Visual Engineering project (WAVE)

They’ve done a survey to find out why more women don’t work in the AV sector.

They’ve spent 12 months on this.

“Typically, audio-video jobs involve working at night in either a freelance role or for a small company” said WAVE project leader Dr Haifa Takruri-Rizk, of the University of Salford’s school of computing, science and engineering. “In the north west 91 per cent of companies employ fewer than five people. For many women with families this isn’t what they are looking for in a career.”

I know women who work in audio and audio visual roles and they’re good at their jobs. Probably because they don’t spend 12 months asking people what they think.

Polycom Inc. today announced that the new award winning SoundStructure(TM) series are now available to customers in North America, Europe and parts of Asia. Boasting to be the first installed audio solutions for voice and video conferencing applications delivering truly immersive sound quality, the series also provides “breakthrough” sound quality for conference rooms, classrooms, customized meeting rooms and telepresence environments.

“The SoundStructure will provide us with the missing link we need in broadcasting our music performances and Master Classes in a video conference setting,” said James Sizemore, Audio Engineer/Sound Designer at the Manhattan School of Music. “With its individual input channel acoustic echo cancellation, microphone preamps, dynamic processors, and robust routing and wiring features, the SoundStructure provides us with all the audio tools necessary for a professional mixing and broadcasting system.”

SoundStructure has been recognized by three audio/visual (AV) industry publications as one of the best products of InfoComm:

–rAVe – a prominent AV consultant’s biweekly online
newsletter, named SoundStructure the “Best New Conferencing System
Product” at InfoComm. In announcing the award, Kayye stated “It’s an HD
audio system (22 kHz) that truly sounds like you’re all in the same
room when you’re talking on it — you can’t even tell you’re in an
audio conference.”

– Pro AV magazine included SoundStructure in its “InfoComm Hot Products”
list, stating “Full-frequency sound and full-stereo echo cancellation
contribute to what Polycom calls an ‘immersive audio experience,’ which
will provide superior audio to any voice-only teleconference and is the
perfect audio complement to a high-definition videoconference.”

– Sound & Video Contractor magazine named SoundStructure a “Pick Hit” of
InfoComm. To be named a Pick Hit, the magazine said, a product “must be
technologically innovative, designed to help systems contractors offer
more to their clients, while making their own jobs easier.”
More details here if you can ignore the punctuation