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UK - A new Swiss vegetarian restaurant concept arrived in London recently, and immediately took up occupancy in two prime sites. The first tibits opened in October in London's West End, followed a month later by Europe's largest, inner city shopping mall, The Westfield London Shopping Centre in West London.

Both restaurants have been equipped with 100V line loudspeakers and amplification from QSC Audio - to meet a specification originally drawn up by audio consultant, Christian Beusch of Tonstudio Beusch, who has overseen all the Swiss-based installations.

In the UK, the installation work was handled by experienced sound and light design company, ESL, who were introduced to the project by main electrical contractor, Morgan Cass.

In both sites ESL has used multiples of Q

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USA - The Joint Training Initiative of The ESTA Foundation and USITT has announced Eos Console Training for Basic/Intermediate Programmers. This two-day course, offered 1 and 2 June 2009, is designed to help beginning and intermediate level programmers advance their professional proficiency with the Eos console. The course will be held at the Century Theatre at Electronic Theatre Controls in Middleton, WI and will be conducted by Anne Valentino, Eos product manager and Steve Aldrich, southeast field project coordinator.

This event is limited in size and will be open to ESTA and USITT members only. Sessions will be hosted and co-produced by ETC. Attendees should have prior experience with automated luminaries and a general familiarity with lighting consoles (Eos experience is not necessary). In addition, they should have working knowledge of the DMX 512 communication protocol, fi

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India - Wyclef Jean, multi-platinum hip-hop artist, made an appearance on stage at the Venkestshawara Farm House in Pune (Maharashtra, Western India), on December 8, 2008, with EAW's KF760 line array speaker systems, provided by Mumbai-based Rich Audio.

"For FOH, we flew two KF760 line array modules, plus two KF761 line array modules per site with optimal angles of boxes," recalled Lee Braganza, Rich Audio FOH and System Engineer. "The technical result was that the sound in the venue was perfect with no slap backs. To achieve this, we used two EAW UX8800 digital signal processors with presets for different sound zones."

The EAW processors, along with amplifiers from Crown Audio, were networked to a wireless tablet Laptop, which was equipped with EAW's Smaart Live to provide system correction according to venue and complete system management.

Richie Bragan

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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USA - Touring for the first time since 2003, AC/DC are once again on the road with their Black Ice tour. The X-Array system for the tour, consisting of 96 Electro-Voice X-Array cabinets driven by P3000 amplifiers, was designed by long-time Electro-Voice user and consultant Harry Witz of Clair Global, the man behind some of the largest PA system designs of all time.

Analog-centric AC/DC also favours the sound of Midas mixing consoles. The tour's console spec includes a vintage Pro 40 and a Heritage 4000 operated by Front of House Engineer Paul "Pab" Boothroyd and monitor engineer Mike Adams, respectively. A Klark Teknik DN9696 is archiving the shows. The latest digital offering from Midas, the PRO6, is utilised at FOH for opening acts.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - February marks three notable TV broadcasts watched around the globe: Super Bowl XLIII won by the Pittsburgh Steelers who defeated the Arizona Cardinals held Sunday, February 1 at the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Raymond James Stadium, in Tampa, Florida; the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on February 8 at the Staple Center in Los Angeles; and the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater on Sunday, February 22.

ATK Audiotek (Valencia, Ca.) will once again spearhead audio production for all three extravaganzas. ATK has been supplying audio production services for the Super Bowl since 1998 and for XLIII, they have chosen two Yamaha PM5Ds for audio coverage at the stadium. Faith Hill performed at the Pre-Game Show and Jennifer Hudson sang the National Anthem.

The Super Bowl Half-Time show received an assist by long-time Bruce Springsteen sound company, Audio Analysts (Colorad

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UK - Jan Booth, managing director of Sunbaba has been welcomed as a new council member of the National Outdoor Events Association. NOEA is the leading trade body for organisers and suppliers in the UK outdoor event industry and Booth joins them with two decades of experience in event signage and branding.

John Barton, NOEA general secretary said: "For many years Jan has supported the association and attended conventions and regional conferences. She is well known throughout the industry for her passion, commitment and good ideas and we are excited about her joining us to become involved in the future development of the association."

"I am delighted to have been elected as a council member. Having been in business for 21 years I feel that I can represent small /medium business in the outdoor event industry," said Booth. "We know that the next few years

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USA - Best known for his smooth, dynamic vocals and romantic ballads, Luis Miguel has been one of the most popular singers in Latin America since the early 1980s. During his career Miguel won four Latin Grammy Awards, five Grammy Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the age of 26. Down to the present day he has sold approximately 100 million albums. Currently Miguel is on tour accompanied by a lighting design from Danny Nolan and a grandMA system.

Nolan said: "Luis Miguel's show design is made up of a large 80' x 30' back low-res panel. In front of the low-res is a 20' x 15' HD LED screen with Barco MiTRIX modules across the front of all the stage. In the air there are several arc trusses with 92 x pixel pars, 80 x moving lights, e.g. 23 x Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot, and two truss spots. Everything is controlled via fibre optic cable by a grandMA full-size

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Americas - Mexican pop superstars Los Temerarious continue their tour of the US, Central and South America with over 120 shows planned for 2009 and a lighting design by Fabian Boggino that includes over 80 Robe moving lights. He has worked for Los Temerarious since 1998 and this is their first tour in three years.

Equipment for the US legs of the tour is being supplied by Paradign Production Services from Florida, and Robe fixtures were originally recommended to Boggino by Paradign's George Valdez, who also programmed the show with Boggino, using a grandMA full size console.

"George is the principal of Paradign and a very knowledgeable LD in his own right," states Boggino. "So I completely trusted his judgement when he suggested I use Robe's ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E AT units for the first time". Once Valdez had demo'd the fixtures, Boggino was very imp

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Neanderthal News - A musical experience with a difference is being previewed at the National Museum Wales in Cardiff - an attempt to recreate the sound of the Neanderthals. Jazz composer Simon Thorne was given the task of creating the "soundscape" to provide a musical backdrop to some of the ancient exhibits on display. The musician says the work is "probably the most unusual" he has undertaken.

There has been strong interest in the composition and it will go on a separate live tour later in the year. Neanderthal man existed side by side with early homo sapiens before becoming extinct some 30,000 years ago. Despite having a reputation for lacking intelligence, recent research suggests the Neanderthals were a lot more resourceful and innovative than was first thought. Thorne said: "Given that Neanderthal man's brain was about the same size as ours, and mu

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UK - LSI Online has learned the sad news of the death of Harry Greenaway, a well known figure in the sound industry and former managing director of TOA. Here, Terry Baldwin of Baldwin Boxall remembers his close friend:

"Born and brought up in Blackpool, Harry spent most of his working life in the sound industry, majoring as managing director for the Japanese-owned company TOA. It was Harry who introduced the "Golden Ears" awards for his best distributor - a most difficult decision as all his best distributors were his best friends! He took his top companies away on "conferences" to boring places like Majorca, Japan and other such locations. (I knew they were conferences because I saw pictures of them all at the bars!)

Harry was also Past President of The Blackpool Magic Circle. I think we all knew he was a "magician" with the tricks he played

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Europe - ETC's Unison Paradigm building control system is now shipping in Europe, just months after it was named Best Debuting Product at the LDI trade show in Las Vegas in November.

Part of the Unison range of control products, Paradigm brings sophisticated and green-minded technologies to theatre house and foyer lighting control as well as rehearsal spaces, offices and even the external lighting of entertainment facilities.

ETC's associate architectural product manager Bryan Palmer says: "A truly comprehensive lighting control system, Paradigm is not only able to run scheduled events, provide local controls and support manual overrides, but can go well beyond, automating control functions, allowing automatic overrides for events and holidays and adapting to individual users and uses."

Paradigm activates sophisticated houselight looks at the touch of a button, run

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Switzerland - Phonak has announced "the world's first truly hands-free secure wireless intercom system." Condor provides any type of small group - from broadcast teams to film crews and security staff - with the ultimate in on-the-go communication flexibility, says the company.

Condor is a durable, license-free all-in-one solution. Produced by miniaturised hearing device specialist Phonak Communications of Murten, it is usable straight out of the box and comprises a palm-sized, easy-to-wear radio unit and the user's choice of Phonak headset.

Crucially for small teams that must remain fully mobile, Condor does not require connection to any form of base station and is therefore 100% free to move with the professionals wearing it.

Condor is also a red tape-free system; because it utilises free-to-use frequencies, no licenses are required and the system can be deploye

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UK - PLASA's forthcoming AGM and Members Lunch is expected to attract a strong turnout in June, on the back of another influential year for the organisation.

PLASA's momentum is certainly growing: its membership base is expanding, its range of services is strengthening and its member networking events are increasing, making the AGM and Members Lunch an important event at which members can come together to discuss solutions and approaches to the current situation.

PLASA is highly active at an industry-level too: its political policy continues to give the entertainment and installation technology sectors a strong profile in Government circles and the organisation is about to announce the next stage in its skills strategy, focusing on the development of a portfolio of qualifications designed to enhance the skills-base of the sector.

It is also just a few months away from the la

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Belgium - ADB Lighting Technologies has launched the latest in its line-up of memory lighting control desks, the Domino series of theatre desks, following its successful premiere at the JTSE expo in France.

Designed to be flexible and intuitive for both professionals and novices to use, the Domino elegantly combines all the functions of a theatrical console, allowing fully automated control, required for theatre and Studio lighting, in a new lightweight ultra-modern casing whose compact footprint will readily fit into the tightest control rooms, says the company.

The four-strong series is available as Domino 24, 48, 48XT and 96XT versions.

Aimed squarely at the large mid-range controller market for theatre, medium to large venues, convention centres and more, a major feature of the Domino is a dedicated theatrical playback fader pair, along with a large number of physical su

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UK - Following the enormous success of the Chroma-Q Color Block LED fixture with rental companies and end users alike, the manufacturer has combined the product's core elements of modularity and versatility with new single colour RGBA optics, 530 lumens output (almost double the original model) and theatrical grade dimming to create the Color Block 2 fixture.

With its radically increased colour palette and high CRI (colour rendering index) of 90, the Color Block 2 fixture can create both vibrant, bold colours and subtle, theatrical hues, the manufacturer says. "Combined with its built-in variable colour temperature capability, even flesh tones look natural, satisfying all but the most critical eye".

The four large, camera-friendly LED cells offer performers less glare and provide single colour output, virtually eliminating the colour separation shadows normally synon

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USA - Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 fixtures are currently on tour with AC/DC. Upstaging, Inc. supplied all lighting for the tour, which includes 48 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 fixtures, in addition to providing their Chicago facility to erect the entire rig in house for pre-programming. Lighting design was done by Patrick Woodroffe and Dave Hill. The design places the Alpha Beam 300s all over the stage, with 12 across the front of the stage, 12 on the backline and another 24 on the upstage truss.

Lighting director and co-designer Cosmo Wilson remarked, "We actually started out with 24 Alpha Beams, but were so blown away that we doubled them and now have 48. What is most impressive is the brightness. Also, I am a big ACL guy, and these are stunning for that purpose, the fact that I can make the beams tighter and smaller is excellent. I love that I can have gobos in a wash light! Th

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USA - As a well established church with a blend of progressive and traditional programmes, Mid-Way Baptist Church recently completed a significant facility upgrade that included the installation of a new and considerably more versatile sound reinforcement system. Music plays a vital role in the church's worship services, so to accommodate a choir of roughly 70 voices, a praise and worship band with six to eight vocalists plus electronic drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, and horns, church management sought to install a sound system with concert level performance attributes. They found what they were searching for with a series of loudspeaker enclosures from D.A.S. Audio's Variant product line.

Orlando, FL-based Owens Audio Video Design was contracted to handle the design and installation of Mid-Way Baptist Church's upgraded sound system. Bob Owens, designer and president of Owens Au

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UK - Turbosound has appointed a new distributor to handle its interests in the rapidly expanding Nigerian market and surrounding countries.

Based in the country's capital Abuja, Kayima-Chris Company provides sales & distribution, rental, sound design, installation, sound engineering, training and consultancy services for the professional audio market, serving both the Nigerian and international markets.

"My first contact with a Turbosound system was at LaScala in King's Cross, London. For me the experience can be summed up as 'breathtaking'," says Isioma C Odukwe, the company's managing director.

"Bringing Turbosound to the Nigerian pro audio market is a landmark achievement for us at Kayima-Chris. With a growing market and consequential growth in professionalism, more people are beginning to appreciate and seek better options for audio systems.

"By bec

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UK - PR Lighting has launched a new LED moving head wash light, the XLED 590. Using Osram's Diamond Dragon LED, one of the world's brightest single-chip SMT LEDs (offering up to 250 lumens), each head contains 90 high power 5W LEDs (30 x Red, 30 x Green, 30 x Blue). The average lamp life is 100,000 hours.

PR Lighting states that the light output closely resembles that of a conventional wash light containing a 1200W discharge lamp, with the advantage of excellent colour mixing and high uniformity of the white beam. The standard beam angle is 22° but 10° and 35° options are also provided.

The XLED 590 comes with ten preset fixed colours. Other features include: colour temperature linearly adjustable (3200°K-10000°K), with four preset fixed colour temperatures (3200K, 5600K, 7200K and 10000K); smooth dimmer; strobe from 1-25 fps; 540° pan, 270° tilt (8

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UK - Ben Tubb recently joined the Global Infusion Group management team as Head of Finance. He had previously worked for Absolute Taste Ltd (part of the McLaren Group) where he held the same position.

His experience in the events and catering industry will stand him in good stead in his new role, say. He has control of the financial, legal, HR and IT areas and is helping to initiate the strategic direction for the company internationally. With new developments in China and the Middle East continuing to expand, Ben's international experience is invaluable as Global Infusion Group continues to grow from its current offices in the UK and US.The Global Infusion Group includes tour, production and location catering specialist Eat to the Beat, as well as Upbeat Event Design and e2b Logistics.

(Lee Baldock)

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UAE - Dubai's latest mega-project, the Atlantis Hotel, hosted a lavish opening party in November. This one-night celebration for 2,000 elite VIP guests including actors, musicians and politicians, was set to be the most expensive private party ever staged. According to press reports, the cost was estimated at around $32 million (£16 million). The firework display was planned by Grucci's, which also organized the displays for the Beijing Olympics. Lighting Designer Raymond Thompson used a grandMA to run the show.

Multiple Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE1200 and Alpha Wash 1200 moving lights, plus 150 ETC Source Fours were used for the light show. Syncrolites were also scattered around the hotel making it a light show to remember. A giant HD video projection sequence visualised the story of Atlantis, featuring the rising of the mythological city from the Arabian Gulf.

Cory Fitzge

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