Short Takes is THE MIX's very own bulletin board – this is the place for dealer information, recording courses, price changes and idle gossip

Dingley Rock School

Set in the splendour of Dingley hall near Market Harboro', the Dingley Rock School is open to guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, drummers and singers aged 15-25. The school is in its third year, and tutors have included John Trotter (drums), Neil Murray (bass), Bernie Marsden (guitar), and Don Airey (keyboards, MIDI, recording).

Taking place from July 30 to August 5, there are 25 places available, and the inclusive price for accommodation, tuition, and meals is £225.

Application forms from: Dingley Rock School, (Contact Details)

Drawmer In Thailand

The futuristic Phoebus Amphitheatre Complex in Bangkok has installed a total of 14 Drawmer DL241X Auto Compressor/Limiters, and four DS404 Quad noise gates, to meet dynamic processing requirements on front of house and monitor systems.

Thailand's prestigious three studio complex Center Stage Recording has included Drawmer equipment in all three of its studios. The designer of the complex, Jomnarong Varabutra included in his specification the ingenious M500 Dynamics Processor and the 1960 Mic Pre-amp Vacuum Tube Compressor, which combines the 'life and warmth' of eight active tube stages with the low noise and reliability of solid state electronics.

More from: Drawmer (Contact Details)

Chipping Norton Studios – For Sale

Blues and R&B producer, Mike Vernon, owner of Chipping Norton Studios, Oxford, has recently started a new record label – Code Blue, in conjunction with East West Records. As a result of his heavy workload on the label, Mike has decided to sell the studio he created with his brother 20 years ago, in the beautiful Cotswold village of Chipping Norton near Oxford.

This is one of the original residential studios, and ranks among the world's best known. It is also one of the busiest in the country, and was placed in the top five quality ratings along with Sarm Hook End, Real World, The Manor, and Ridge Farm, in the industry-wide Music Week poll published in the December 1994.

Some of the world's best known artists have recorded there, and recent hits include albums by Radiohead, Echobelly, Therapy?, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Chris Rea, Beverly Craven, Roachford and Wet Wet Wet.

The property consists of the studio building itself, along with four cottages containing a total of 14 double bedrooms. Chipping Norton also boasts the services of one of Britain's best known in-house engineers, Barry Hammond, who is a major attraction to potential clients – especially those who also want to keep their budgets reasonable. Along with Barry, the management staff are studio manager Richard Vernon and his wife Shirley, who also acts as chef. All three run a tight and efficient business, and would be willing to stay on under a new owner.

The asking price for the freehold of the buildings, full ownership of all the equipment and the good will of the business is £650,000 or they may consider selling a 50% share if the right partner can be found.

More from: Stephen Budd Management Limited (Contact Details)

Metropolis Install Largest PMC System

Metropolis Studios have again selected PMC's largest transmission line monitoring system – the BB5/XBD – this time for studio C at their complex in Chiswick, West London.

The sub 20Hz, three-way BB5 System features a massive 14 foot folded transmission line bass loading system, and soft dome mid and high frequency drivers. The fully active versions purchased by Metropolis are powered by over 5 Kilowatts of Bryston/PMC series amplification and electronics, mounted externally to the main units and now supplied by PMC as an integral part of all their active packages.

The decision to install BB5s at Metropolis was made after recent trials, and follows the success already achieved with the two similar systems installed in the Metropolis mastering facility last year. The BB5 system is available in a number of active and passive configurations, from a cost effective passive system to full 3 way dual 15" active units. The flexibility of the system is such that the units can be mounted in soffits, or less conventionally in a free-standing tower array arrangement.

PMC manufacture a range of both active and passive Loudspeaker designs, suitable for a range of applications. Models range from the new TB1S nearfield, through to the fully active and configurable sub 20Hz BB5 main monitor system.

More from: The Professional Monitor Company (Contact Details)

Synthesizer Suprematism

DIN Communications, those rather ubiquitous specialists in analogue synthesizers and studio equipment, have moved down the road from their offices in Hammersmith in order to accomodate new studio facilities. They are now situated at (Contact Details)

More from: DIN Communications (Contact Details)

Hazzard For Vestax

Vestax Europe has announced the appointment of Alex Hazzard to their team in Haslemere, Surrey. Alex will handle UK sales, and amongst other projects, will be closely involved in setting up special dealerships for the new range of Vestax Hard Disk Multitrack Recorders.

No stranger to the Vestax range of DJ and related products. Alex moves across from main dealer Sound Division in London, where he was a key part in their substantial sales growth. Working from the 'other side of the counter', Alex will forge closer links with Vestax main dealers such as, including Sound Division. 1

Alex is 26 years old and a well known house and techno DJ on the circuit both in the UK and Europe. During the past two years, he has worked on remixes and studio production of several well known recordings on the dance music scene. His performing and production backgrounds will interface well with the Vestax Hi-Tech approach to modern music production.

More from: Vestax Europe (Contact Details)

A Ministry With Intelligence

One of London's top dance venues, the Ministry of Sound has recently undertaken a major development in intelligent lighting, supplied by Pulsar Light of Cambridge via their exclusive London reseller, Cerebrum Lighting Limited.

The club has broken all the rules by operating for the last three years with an almost completely dark dance floor, relying on their amazing JBL sound system to blitz the all-nighter dance clientele. 1994 has been a successful year for the Ministry. It is currently the reigning London BEDA club of the year, and also the Disco International UK club of the year. Many other awards have also been presented for their sound system, which is reputed to be the best in the world, and for their sellout UK club tour.

The Ministry are the first club in the UK to install Super Scans; two of the new top-of-the range Super Scan Zooms and a further four Super Scan MRGs. The list, of course, also included four (now industry-standard) Golden Scan 3s, and to polish off the set-up, ten Silverados.

The choice of control was easy. Already installed was a masterpiece 108, and with both Chris and Joe graduates of Pulsar's Masterpiece training seminars, another Masterpiece 108 was added, complete with screen driver, monitor and memory cards.

At Pulsar's party night, LD Joe Lewis gave a breathtaking display of 'the art of darkness', displaying Clay Paky and Pulsar equipment to maximum effect, in a way rarely witnessed in a conventional nightclub. A number of prominent industry figures, who are seldom impressed by anything at all, were heard to comment on how stunning the lights looked. CP&P and Cerebrum Lighting are looking forward to a close working partnership with the Ministry of Sound over the forseeable future, and close involvement with their future development plans.

More from: Pulsar Light of Cambridge Limited (Contact Details)

Hair-raising Time Trial

Film and TV composer David Dundas has subjected Otari's RADAR hard disk recorder to a real-life time trial, and awarded it flying colours. Stirling Audio, distributor of Otari RADAR (Random Access Digital Audio Recorder), agreed to loan the recorder to Angel Studios, North London, so Dundas could record a 45 piece orchestra for a new Timotei hair care TV ad!

Dundas had already recorded backing tracks on his own Otari RADAR, but lacked the space in his own studio to accommodate the orchestra. The unit arrived at Angel, and the session's recording engineer plugged it in and got to work immediately, despite never having operated a RADAR before.

Dundas has since used RADAR to record the TV channel idents and link music for BBC's two new satellite TV channels: BBC Prime and BBC World which were launched for this month (February).

More from: Stirling Audio (Contact Details)

SSE Choose EV

SSE Hire Ltd has recently purchased six of ElectroVoice's MH4020C horn systems. The full range constant directivity horn features high acoustic output over a wide bandwidth, from 100-4000Hz. Ideally suited for speech and music in large areas, both indoors and out, this new system adds a further dimension to SSE's hire stock.

Each MH4020 has four 10" drivers in a manifold arrangement on a very large 40°x40° horn, with a mouth area of 16 square feet. The drivers have been developed by ElectroVoice specifically for the MH series of horns. A unique feature is their water-resistant quality – the units can be used out of doors even in inclement conditions without the need for protection.

More from: SSE Hire (Contact Details)

Steinberg Score For Education!

Steinberg, makers of the best selling music software in Europe, are introducing education multi-packs for their Cubase Score program, available on Mac, PC, and Atari. The introduction of multi-packs, often referred to as site licenses, confirms Steinberg's commitment to the special requirements of the education market.

Two multi-packs have been introduced for Cubase Score. Schools and colleges seeking to provide the best in music technology facilities can now buy packs containing either five programs, manual and educational tutorial, or ten programs, two manuals and two tutorials, enabling a further saving of approx 10% or 20% respectively on the existing educational discount price. The programs are licensed for use by a single educational establishment only.

More from: Steinberg, (Contact Details)

Granada Goes Uptown

Granada TV has ordered a 32 channel UPTOWN 2000 motor fader automation system for its Soundcraft 3200 console. Supplied by Audiomation, the system will be installed by Interact Systems, the same company that designed and built Granada Television's sound dubbing suite.

Equipped with Dolby Stereo, the suite is already credited with a number of highly successful series, including Prime Suspect. The decision to choose UPTOWN was largely by film sound dubbing specialists, Interact Systems' recommendation. Mallory Nichols, Internet's Managing Director, recognised UPTOWN'S suitability for this application after a demonstration from Audiomation Systems' sales director, David Pope. The same special film software facilities have been specified by Warner Brothers' dubbing engineers, who were also quick to spot the benefits of using the UPTOWN system.

More from: Audiomation Systems (Contact Details)

Sennheiser Endorses new Classical Music

Sennheiser UK is supporting a series of performances by the Steve Martland Band throughout Europe and the UK. The concert series, which started off at the new Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 20 January and will continue throughout the year, takes in both major concert venues and festivals, including Cheltenham, Harrogate, Salzburg and Luzerne.

Martland, enfant terrible of modem British classical music and scourge of atonal elitism, employs the forces of a big band line up, and employs them at volume. The use of reinforcement is also critical to Martland from a compositional perspective, allowing him to achieve in performance the instrumental couplings he chooses to score: "With modern technology, I am able to do what Bach and Mozart were not, write for combinations of instruments that do not naturally balance up." explains Martland.

With high levels of on-stage volume, miking strings is a particular problem for the Martland Band, with both their own lead violin player in addition to a string quartet. The lead violinist's tendency to wander across the stage while giving his virtuosity free rein, clearly suggested a radio mic. Sennheiser's new System 1053 belt pack transmitter and diversity receiver system, with its MKE2 condenser clip mic, provided the perfect solution.

More from: Sennheiser UK (Contact Details)