API.com Top Ten <
Abbey Road Studios for sale
EMI’S NEWS that it planned on putting the world famous Abbey Road Studios on the market to help deal with its £3.3bn of debt sparked outraged in the audio community at large. News that the studio responsible for legendary recordings from The Beatles and Pink Floyd fueled a national debate regarding the significance of the studio as a cultural institution that should be preserved rather than flogged off to a property developer. It was later announced that the iconic London studio was granted Grade II listed status. The Government fast tracked the building’s application for listed status after the recording industry, the press, the public and almost everyone who has ever recorded at the studio spoke out against the sale. A statement made by the Government explained that the studio's listed status was granted ‘overwhelmingly on the historic merit of the studios’, thus securing the future of the building as a recording studio. The buildings listed status allows changes to be made to the interior, however Grade II listing means ‘care must be taken to ensure that any alterations with respect to its character and interest are fully considered’. The studio’s Grade II status means that any
attempt to turn the building into residential spaces would be rejected, but it would still be
able to be made into a museum. >
abbeyroad.com
QSC to enter the digital console market
Waves Audio wins lawsuit against two NYC studios
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER,Waves Audio made headlines when it won a lawsuit against two NYC studios that admitted liability regarding intellectual property infringements and the illegal use of its software. The two studios named were New York City-
based Reckless Music, LLC, dba, Skyline Recording Studios NYC and Quad Recording Studios. The suit was one of many of Waves attempts to target studios using illegal or unauthorised copies of its software. The following statements were issued: “This
is a tremendous victory for the studio recording industry and Waves in particular,” said Waves’ attorney, Guy Weiss, of the international
business law firm Adorno & Yoss, LLC. >
waves.com
www.audioprointernational.com
QSC announced a co-development partnership with the M&W Design Group (Greg Mackie and Peter Watts) to create a series of digital audio mixing consoles on the last day of PLASA 2010 show. It was revealed that design work on the
products will be the result of a collaboration of both M&W and QSC while manufacturing, distribution, sales, marketing and technical support will be handled entirely by QSC. The first products are expected to be announced during the first half of 2011. “We needed a pro-audio partner with
established sales, marketing and distribution. A partner with a solid reputation for quality and reliability – one that had the technical capabilities to develop advanced digital mixing consoles and the manufacturing know-how to produce the products,” said Greg Mackie. “I had a long time personal friendship with John and Barry Andrews and knew I could trust QSC
to be exactly the right partner." >
qscaudio.com
AFTER THE sale of Midas and Klark Teknik
to Uli Behringer’s Music Group, the pro audio community had a watchful eye on any story with Midas or Behringer in the title. The announcment that Michael Deeb was
leaving his position as CEO and director of The Music Group also got the mouses clicking. Interest in the brands was revisited with the announcement that Midas had released the Pro3, Pro9 and XL8i at InfoComm and the Venice F console at PLASA.
Behringer himself also graced the top ten when he announced that he intended to acquire a professional loudspeaker brand to complement The Music Group’s portfolio. In an interview with API managing editor, Andy Barrett, Behringer stated: “Behringer is a market leader in the low end and there’s no point pushing it to be what it isn’t,” he said. “Midas is very high end and will continue to be, so next for us is to find a line of loudspeakers. We’re looking now – that’s what we want next.” Although he stated that a deal was imminent, there is still no news on a sale. Finally, David Cooper’s announcement that he
was leaving the company after 18 years at the forefront of Midas and Klark Teknik brought many clicks to the site. “There will be speculation that my departure has something to do with the new owner of Midas Klark Teknik, but this could not be further
from the truth,” explained Cooper. >
music-group.com
audioPRO December/January 2010/11 11
Soundcraft debuts the Si Compact at PLASA 2010
BIG PLASA news came in the form of Soundcraft’s announcement that it would debut its smallest model yet, the Si Compact live digital console just days before the show. Si Compact draws on the heritage of the Si
series by offering powerful digital mixing facilities and Lexicon effects in a small footprint. Andy Trott, Harman’s VP and general manager
for mixing, microphones and headphones, said: “While over the past two years we’ve expanded our digital range with high and mid-range extensions to the Vista, OnAir, Vi and Si Series’, we’ve been determined to drive our product portfolio down into the sub $10,000 price points. Our strategy has always been to integrate no- compromise audio quality together with innovative, feature-rich specifications and an easy- to-use-and-learn, highly intuitive user interface. Si Compact is the result of 18 months of extremely focused and creative development and is particularly exciting as it’s so unique; it brings together so many professional features and technologies from across Harman Professional brands into a highly specified but yet super compact mixing platform at an unbelievably low
price point.” >
soundcraft.com
Avid
introduces Pro Tools 9 at AES SF
AVID ANNOUNCED a new generation of its Pro Tools editing software at AES San Francisco, in the shape of Version 9. The central point of interest in this story was
the fact that, while it can still be used with Avid audio interfaces, Version 9 opens up Pro Tools to third-party interfaces, or no hardware at all when using the built-in audio capabilities of a Mac or PC. New support is also available for the Avid Eucon open Ethernet protocol and expands control surface options to include Avid’s Artist series and Pro series audio consoles and controllers (formerly known as Euphonix consoles and controllers). The open platform of Version 9 also provides
more versatility for Pro Tools users, who, in this day and age, need to work on mixes at home, in
the studio or on the road. >
avid.com
Behringer buys Midas and Klark Teknik
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