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Allen & Heath

TEC Award Caps Allen & Heath’s Nine Wins at 2019 NAMM

Allen & Heath was among the technical achievement winners at the 34th Annual NAMM TEC Awards held in Anaheim, California on January 26th. Capturing top honors in the Small Format Console Technology category with its SQ Series mixers, the UK-based manufacturer has received 23 nominations in a number of different categories at the NAMM Foundation’s yearly industry gala since 1993.

The TEC Award represents one of nine accolades bestowed upon Allen & Heath in recent months, with the SQ Series named in all but two. Music Inc. gave its 2018 Product Excellence Award to the SQ Series late last year, and Front of House magazine paid tribute to the product group in January, 2019 with its inaugural Gold Star

SQ Series TEC Award serves as capstone among recent crowning achievements

Product Award. Among the MMR Dealers’ Choice Awards given last fall, the SQ Series became the first mixing console to ever gain its Product of the Year distinction. Sound on Sound magazine readers chose the SQ Series as its Best New Live Sound Product of 2019, while the Music & Sound Retailer Award for Best Mixer/Console went to the SQ-7 during this year’s Winter NAMM. Among the ProSoundWeb Readers’ Choice Awards for 2019, Allen & Heath topped the Small Format Mixers category with the SQ-7, and the Rackmount Mixers category with the SQ-5.

Not to be left out, the Allen & Heath dLive S Class Digital Mixing System won the ProSoundWeb Readers’ Choice Award for Large Format Mixers, while its ME-1 40-source Personal Mixer rose to the top of its class among nominees for best Personal Monitor Mixer.

“When it comes to winning high-profile awards in extremely competitive categories, we’ve been having a wonderful time as of late,” Allen & Heath USA marketing manager Jeff Hawley said at Winter NAMM. “The TEC Award is particularly special, because we’ve been nominated 23 times and never won until this year. The old adage is true, I guess, the 23rd time is the charm.”

TEC AWARD CAPS ALLEN & HEATH’S NINE WINS AT 2019 NAMM

Rob Clark, Allen & Heath Managing Director, added, “We’re thrilled that the hard work and commitment of the Allen & Heath team and our extended network has been recognized by these awards. We’d like to thank our industry peers and the many audio professionals who voted for us. It’s a tremendous start to what promises to be an exciting year of progress and innovation for Allen & Heath.”

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath Compact Consoles Cover Coachella

April 30, 2018 – Allen & Heath dLive Digital Mixing Systems were in use on multiple Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival stages in support of a diverse lineup of musical acts and production needs.

Launched in 1999, Coachella has grown into a premier music and arts festival, grossing over $114 million and drawing over 250,000 attendees annually. Coachella 2018 saw a large number of dLive artists on the lineup, including BØRNS, Hayley Kiyoko, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Nothing But Thieves, PVRIS and The Neighbourhood.

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An Allen & Heath C1500 at FOH supporting The Neighbourhood at Coachella 2018

Praised for its intuitive workflow and tiny footprint, the dLive C1500 Control Surface was a popular choice across Coachella festival stages. The C1500 is the first rack-mountable surface for the dLive system. Packed in a diminutive frame are 12 faders over 6 layers, built-in audio I/O, an audio networking port and a 12″ capacitive touchscreen. All dLive Control Surfaces pair with a MixRack to deliver 128 input processing channels, 16 stereo  FX returns and a configurable 64 bus architecture, all at 96kHz, while providing class-leading latency of 0.7ms.

Michael Bangs, Allen & Heath USA Live Sound Touring Manager commented, “Sometimes coming into a festival environment as a visiting artist is a real pain — getting a large mix surface into the FOH position is frequently just impossible. We saw many acts bypass this limitation with the (Allen & Heath dLive) C1500, carrying in a flyable 19” wide desk with the horsepower and capability of desks literally 4-5 times the size.”

In addition to traditional FOH/monitor console support with dLive, compact Allen & Heath Qu Series mixing consoles were deployed to cover a wide range of production duties. A number of Qu production desks were used to play house music while FOH consoles were swapped from act to act, support event announcement playback and carry ‘shout box’ communications for production staff across stage positions and from monitor world to FOH.

“While engineers love to drool over high-end desks like dLive, it is easy to forget some of the unsung production gear heroes of these types of shows,” notes Allen & Heath USA Marketing Manager Jeff Hawley. He added, “Many times the flexible and rock solid operation of consoles like Qu are the key to keeping festivals running smoothly.”

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Pop star Hayley Kiyoko’s Coachella set, powered by an Allen & Heath C1500 (right) while an Allen & Heath Qu Series mixer provides stage production support (left)

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath’s New SQ – Experience this Compact, 96kHz Digital Mixing Powerhouse at NAMM

For Immediate Release – January 19, 2018 – With their 96kHz XCVI FPGA engine, Allen & Heath’s new SQ Series Digital Mixers bring the high-resolution audio performance of the company’s highly acclaimed dLive Digital Mixing System to a compact, cost-effective, multi-application platform that’s both easy-to-use and highly customizable.

Jeff Hawley, Marketing Manager for Allen & Heath USA, commented, “Since its introduction in October, we’ve seen interest in SQ that is just off the charts and we’re excited to be featuring it at NAMM! We’ll have an active display in our booth so that FOH and monitor engineers can experience SQ features like the Chromatic channel metering system and the drag-and-drop ease of setting up a mix.”

Two models offer a choice of size and control configuration. The rack-mountable SQ-5 has 16 onboard preamps, 17 faders and 8 softkeys while the SQ-6 provides 24 preamps, 25 faders, 4 assignable rotary controls and 16 softkeys. Both models support up to 56 input channels via remote expanders and both feature a networking slot for optional Dante, Waves and other cards. An ecosystem of apps, remote expanders, networking cards and personal mixers multiplies SQ expansion and integration possibilities. The new SLink intelligent port allows connection to Allen & Heath’s 96kHz and 48kHz expanders and can link to another SQ mixer, a Qu Series mixer or a dLive system.

Allen & Heath’s New SQ – Experience this Compact, 96kHz Digital Mixing Powerhouse at NAMM

Live sound engineers can customize an SQ mixer’s workflow using a capacitive touchscreen, illuminated rotary controls, custom naming on fader strips and assignable softkeys. Houses of worship can use scenes and layers to configure the mixer for worship, broadcast and special events while simplifying setup for volunteers. Rental and production companies will find SQ mixers well suited to music festivals and touring artists and can use the integrated auto-mixer for corporate events and conferences.

With the built-in “SQ-Drive”, recording engineers can capture high resolution stereo and multitrack to a USB drive. In the studio, an SQ mixer can become a plug ‘n play, Core Audio or ASIO compliant, 32×32 96kHz audio interface, with MIDI and DAW control capabilities. To complement an SQ mixer’s built-in EQ, compression and effects, users can add Allen & Heath’s optional boutique plug-ins while the mixer’s DEEP processing architecture maintains <0.7ms latency.