Business

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UK - At a informal on 6 July, Sean Albuquerque (Chair, RIBA South East) awarded Nicolas Chisholm (headmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin School) and ABTT member Mark Foley (principal of architectural practice Burrell Foley Fischer LLP), a RIBA Award lead plaque for Foley's design of the The Menuhin Hall situated within the school at Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey - a winner in the RIBA Awards 2006 - South East category.

Described by the judges as "magic in maple", the full award citation reads: "This building has been delivered on an exceptionally tight budget but is none the poorer for that. Set in the green belt and within earshot of the M25, the hall is conspicuously located in a prominent position on a site that slopes gently away from the loose collection of school buildings strung along the skyline.

"The Hall is the building. Externally, it is simple, econo

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UK - In the history of performing arts, Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's Show Boat ranks as something of a landmark, being one of the first ever musical theatre productions of its kind to hit Broadway.

A completely new production, staged in the round by Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall in London, has become one of the world's first productions to use a revolutionary new technology which tracks the positions of the actors to help create authentic audio localisation that matches their positions on stage.

At the heart of the system, supplied by Out Board, is a 16-input 32-output TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix driven by a Track The Actors (TTA) system. TTA comprises a Cordis Radio Eye mounted in the grid above stage which receives signals transmitted by small radio tags worn by each actor. These are fed via Ethernet to the TTA software which analyses them to der

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UK - Set within the grounds of Balmoral Castle amongst the stunning scenery of the Scottish Highlands, a concert to celebrate the Queen's 80th Birthday took place on Friday 30 June 2006.

The concert, the brainchild and put together by George Walker Events to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust for Leukaemia, featured a north of the border flavour - Fiona Kennedy, The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, The Graham Geddes Scottish Dance Band, Mass Pipes and Drums, Celtic Scottish Dancers, the highlight of the evening being a stunning performance by renowned classical singer Katherine Jenkins. Presented by BBC2's Ken Bruce, the concert was attended by a crowd of over 5,500 people and lasted over a five hour period, including a spectacular fireworks display and an air display by the 2Excel Blades aviation team.

Harrogate based FT Audio Visual Ltd provided the sound and light production

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USA - On June 24, 2006 The Phantom of the Opera - The Las Vegas Spectacular opened at the Venetian Hotel and Casino utilising custom-fabricated equipment from Tomcat USA.

The first items on the list are a series of Dance Towers - an item that has become a favourite with production electricians and has been used in productions like The Lion King, The Producers and Wicked. On stage left and stage right, three hanging towers plus one rolling tower provide an endless number of lighting positions. Unistrut installed in each tower allows the designer to position lighting instruments anywhere in the tower and an adjustable centre pick-up point on top of the towers ensure that the towers remain straight after the equipment has been loaded.

The second part of the order is the front-of-house catwalk truss. Six 10' sections of truss (custom built spans of 30" X

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Belgium - AED Rent has not only been nominated as a new V-Dosc partner for Belgium but also as a dV-Dosc provider for France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Founded in 1987, AED Rent provides dry-rental support to production and rental companies. The AED Rent group has developed its presence in Belgium, Germany, Holland and France, currently employing 68 qualified sound and lighting customer care specialists. AED Rent's stock of rental equipment consists of more than 1700 speaker cabinets from compact systems such as L-Acoustics coaxial MTD and XT series cabinets to WST line sources Kudo, dV-Dosc, and V-Dosc.

"Today's dry-rental market demands instant-access to large inventories of state-of-the-art equipment, complex although 'plug-and-play' sound and lighting systems," explains Eddy Van Nuffel, co-managing director. "Sound systems and lighting configurations requ

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UK - Pixi-Flex consists of individual pixels moulded onto a cable. Each pixel is individually controlled and can display over 16 million colours. Three standard versions are available: 16 pixels with a nominal pitch of 250mm, 16 pixels with a 500mm pitch and 32 pixels with a 125mm pitch. Special variants of these can be manufactured for custom projects.

The product can be surface mounted using the integral 3mm thread, or simply push fit into a suitable hole in the set, wall or fabric. Pixi-Flex is perfect for creating pixilated walls of light, similar to video walls. The big difference is that Pixi-Flex can flow around contours and make three-dimensional shapes.

Pixi-Flex uses a new "point-source" RGB LED that creates both a bright white light output and, with their consistent colour mixing ability, provides an enhanced colour palette with a superior range of pastel

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Germany - Berlin's new railway station has been described as "looking like a giant glass spaceship that has landed in the middle of Berlin", 10 years in construction, the station is the largest single project since German reunification, with the opening timed to coincided with the start of the World Cup. As with all new urban developments, the inclusion of retail leisure areas are vital to the stations day-to-day life. With some 1100 train and 30,000 passengers passing through ever day, their every need has been catered for with a three level shopping plaza, where 82 stores, lounges and restaurants provide around the clock service.

One of the main anchors is a Virgin Megastore, operated by HDS-Retail. The AV installation for the new store was carried out by Raum plus Schall, working in partnership with RCF Germany.

RCF's Michael Herweg says: "We have previously

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USA - Turbosound's US distributor, Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, is the official sponsor of the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, which celebrates the essential contributions made by generations of talented musicians in all genres of music. The company has outfitted the complex with a new Turbosound Aspect TA-500 loudspeaker system together with a broad selection of Neumann and Sennheiser microphones for the performance space. Turbosound TCS Contractor Series ceiling speakers and an Australian Monitor multi-zone paging system for the screening theatre and exhibit areas were included in the install.

The multi-million dollar Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum is the brainchild of Nashville songwriter Joe Chambers, who also owns a chain of guitar stores in the area. The 2,800sq.m complex, located in downtown Nashville close to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Gay

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UK - LED lighting specialist and manufacturer i-Vision has expanded and moved to bigger premises in Cwmbran, South Wales. The new facility - the former Matsushita Corporation building - includes an automated assembly production line for i-Vision's Lumos range of interior and exterior LED luminaries plus 12,000sq.ft of warehousing and offices.

The building has been completely gutted, refurbished and customised by the i-Vision team to meet their growing needs, which had completely outstripped the capacity of the previous premises in Chepstow, particularly the manufacturing aspect. I-Vision can also now capitalise on keeping as much of the process as possible in house.

The new address is:
Lakeside House
Lakeside
Cwmbran
NP44 3XS
Telephone: 01633 482500.

All Emails and the web address remain the same.

As an energy conscious company, i-Vision has undertaken all i

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UK - Luton-based TED AV has just completed the installation of a new Communitysound system in the Oasis Club - the main ballroom of the Entertainment Complex at Park Resorts' Cayton Bay holiday park near Scarborough in Yorkshire. With a strong line up of acts booked, including Bucks Fizz, Chas & Dave, Ray Lewis and the New Drifters, The Ivy League and The Real Thing, the ballroom hosts every type of event from bands, themed evenings and discos through to the children's entertainment and parties that run throughout the day.

Park Resorts operate 35 holiday parks at popular tourist destinations throughout the UK and has already spent more than £4M expanding and upgrading its facilities during 2006.

Park Resorts chose preferred-supplier TED AV for the refit at Cayton Bay. TED AV is the sound, lighting and stage equipment design, supply and installation division of TED UK (Th

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USA - After the close of InfoComm 2006, hundreds of audio professionals left Orlando singing the praises of Meyer Sound's new M'elodie ultracompact curvilinear array loudspeaker, says the company. As the newest (and smallest) member of the Milo family, M'elodie captivated long-time Meyer Sound users and newcomers alike with a forceful voice housed in a svelte package. In the process, M'elodie also garnered a Sound & Video Contractor Pick Hit Award from the editors of the industry trade magazine.

M'elodie was the spotlight attraction for three demo sessions staged on 9 June in one of the Orange County Convention Center's exhibit halls. Total attendance for the afternoon topped 450, with corporate AV and installation professionals finding time in their hectic schedules to hear what the "show buzz" was all about.

"Even with such a small footprint the M'elodi

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USA / Hong Kong / UK - Genlyte Group, parent company of a number of professional lighting brands including Vari-Lite, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the US and Hong Kong-based operations of Strand Lighting - and certain assets of Strand Lighting Ltd in the UK, as part of a restructuring being undertaken by Strand.

According to Genlyte's announcement, approximately 80 Strand US employees located in Los Angeles and 22 employees in Hong Kong will join the Genlyte organization. The UK operation is in the hands of administrators KPMG, under Jane Moriarty and Blair Nimmo. KPMG has confirmed to LSI Online that 60 reduncancies have been made in the UK, and it is not thought that anyone from the UK operation is being retained by Genlyte.

In 2005, the Strand business segments included in the transaction reported sales of approximately $31 million. The transact

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Germany - A lot has changed since the first Mayday rave in Berlin's Weissensee 15 years ago. Now staged at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, the event has grown larger and more professional, without sacrificing any of its charm, as illustrated by this year's event, which was attended by just under 25,000 ravers.

Live shows from such stars of the scene as The Prodigy and cult DJ Westbam contributed to the atmosphere, as did the sound - provided by TSE AG Berlin. The importance attached to sound by the organizers of this world-famous event is clear from the Mayday website (www.mayday.de), where they outline their vision for the "greatest sound system ever assembled" - one in which "every sound calls forth a shudder from the heart".

They wanted the ground to shake, and they called in the celebrated Berlin soundsmiths TSE AG to make sure it did. TSE sent out its

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Turkey / Sweden - Wybron dealer, Stockholm-based Spectra Stage & Event Technologies, completed a massive permanent lighting installation on the Garantibank Headquarters in Istanbul on 21June, bringing Wybron colour to the skies. The 400-foot-tall structure (120 meters) was the last of eight bank buildings in Turkey for which Istanbul-based The Partners commissioned Spectra to complete the lighting design.

Lighting Designer Per Sundin wanted the façade of the building to stand out, but had to keep Mother Nature in mind. The Spectra team fit 28 Wybron outdoor model Large Format Aquaram colour changers onto Philips ArenaVision MVF 403 1800W HID floodlighting luminaires to drench the front stone walls of the bank in beautiful shades of blue and aqua. In addition to the benefit of delivering exact gel colours, the Aquaram is built to withstand the elements. The control switch panels

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UK - Foo Fighters fans at London's Hyde Park and the Father's Day gig in Manchester rocked on to Dave Grohl and his band's high-energy performance. The sun blazed and temperatures soared, but none of the action from the Foos or support bands Motorhead, Queens of the Stoneage, Angels & Airwaves and The Subways was lost on XL Video's Lighthouse R16 16mm LED video screens.

Three curved columns in a four x nine panel configuration graced centre stage, along with various other ground stacked curved screens - an impressive 160 panels of Lighthouse R16 in total. "The most complicated thing about this was that there was an overnight from Hyde Park up to Manchester," explains Phil Mercer, XL Video project manager for music and live events. "The screen needed to be quick and easy to set up and also lightweight because of limited weight loading on the stage. Lighthouse was t

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USA - A-Line Affiliates are a preferred network of customers who are not only users, but also marketers of A-Line Acoustics speakers. The program is unique in that instead of selling through territorial sales representatives, A-Line shares profits with its best customers who help sales and marketing efforts.

Besides purchasing products directly at discounted prices for their use and resale, Affiliates can make sales commissions by opening and managing down-line affiliates, dealers and installers. A-Line's director of marketing, Bud Mayer says direct networking allows Affiliates to more effectively share information, swap gear and join forces for important events.

The Sound Company, Modesto, CA, recently joined the growing list of A-Line Affiliates taking delivery of an AL10 hybrid-active line array system. The system debuted on the main stage at the Sacramento County Fair with

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USA - Resurrection Life Church, a rapidly growing nondenominational congregation located in Grandville, Michigan, recently completed a $35M expansion project that added 212,000 square feet of space to its facilities in the form of a new 4,300-seat sanctuary, 350-seat chapel, large choir rehearsal area and numerous other support rooms.

Music ministry represents a significant portion of Resurrection Life's overall mission focus and the church's attention to audio performance and production overall truly reflects that. To illustrate, worship services typically will feature up to a dozen ensemble singers on stage backed by a full praise band of eight musicians, eight-piece horn section and 200-voice choir.

With this in mind, the church earmarked just over one million dollars of its construction budget for audio systems and turned to Dallas-based Acoustic Dimensions to specify a so

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UK In the last couple of years, Midlands-based Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) has gone from strength to strength, and its rapid expansion has meant they have had to rethink their whole business processes. Keeping tabs on its kit was paramount, and in this rental management solution inspHire played a key role.

Specialising in conference and live event production, as well as AV equipment hire and sales, CPL has seen massive growth recently. During this frenetic period, they were forced to consider all the facets of their business; from office and warehouse space to the modernisation of the old paperwork systems used to track and invoice its kit.

Increased investment in equipment meant the manual paperwork system began encountering problems - items were mislaid or left on site with no obvious way to trace them, as manual administration systems became time-consuming and laborious

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UK - Wednesday 14 June 2006 saw the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) hold its AGM during the ABTT trade show - and as with the show, the meeting saw record attendance. Richard Pilbrow addressed the meeting highlighting the changes both to the organisation and the industry since the Association was begun. Pilbrow recalled: "The Association began as a lunch club to meet and talk over a few bottles of wine." Pilbrow is member No. 1 and now there are over 700 members.

The Association wishes Geoff Spain every success as he stands down as administrator after seven years' dedicated service. Spain takes the position of technical co-ordinator at Snape Maltings/Aldeburgh Productions. Ian Saunders will combine the day-to-day office business with his role as treasurer.

The Association continues to be very active with its Student and Professional membership, arranging many

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USA - The first annual VH1 Rock Honors TV special paid tribute to the music and influence of some of rock's legendary bands. The two-hour celebration of hard rock, taped at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, featured performances by honorees Kiss, Queen, Def Leppard and Judas Priest with tribute performances by Godsmack, Foo Fighters, The All-American Rejects and Paul Rodgers.

Responsible for lighting design were Roy Bennett and Stan Crocker who had Martin gear at their disposal including Mac 700 Profiles and Mac 2000 Profiles and Washes, as well as Martin U.S. distributed BigLite 4.5 Xenon lamp fixtures. Complementing the large Mac rig were a number of conventional luminaires. Digital effects also played a key visual design role and came courtesy of Martin's Maxedia Pro media server with control from the Martin Maxxyz with Wing. Lighting supply was by Upstaging

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UK - For the fifth year running, Entec Lighting is supplying CMP Entertainment with full lighting production, foyer area and VIP tent illuminations and crew for the month long 2006 Liverpool Summer Pops event.

The hugely successful 2006 Pops season features a lively megamix of international talent - from James Brown to Pops regulars The Australian Pink Floyd, from Westlife to Whitesnake, from New Order to Simply Red - and numerous others. There's something to sate virtually every flavour of popular music!

The event is again staged in its 4,500 capacity SIX pole Big Top, centrally located along the Dock Road.

As in previous years, the lighting was designed by Dave Hill. The rig maximises the available tent space and caters for a wide variety of band requirements and visiting LDs. For the get in, Entec supplied eight crew including Phil White and Leigh Yeomans, who are

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UK - Turbosound distributor Stage Craft International has been busy designing and installing audio systems in educational establishments throughout the Philippines. With power, clarity, versatility and budget all key requirements, Turbosound was the natural choice, says the company.

A HiLight system has been installed in the newly renovated Marian Theatre at Miriam College, Quezon City. The theatre is used for assemblies and school productions and the system comprises two main left/right flown clusters of two THL-811 mid-highs and two THL-118 subs, each arranged in a T configuration. A TQ-310 is used for centre-fill, with six TXD-15M wedges for stage monitoring.

In Mandaluyong City, the Saint Joseph's Theatre at La Salle Green Hills - a catholic boys school - has also been recently renovated. As with the Marian Theatre, its principal purpose is assemblies and school production

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UK - The third meeting of PLASA's Manufacturers Forum takes place next week on the afternoon of Tuesday 18 July at the DTI Conference Centre in central London. First established 12 months ago, the Forum has proved a catalyst in bringing the concerns of manufacturers to the fore and is open to any member of PLASA who wishes to attend. Companies interested in joining the Association are also invited to attend as observers.

The guest speaker at next week's meeting is Steve Andrews from the DTI's Office of Science & Innovation who will update members on the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Regulations) Directive which passed into UK law on Saturday 1 July. The agenda will also address PLASA's recent lobbying activities and its appointment of a political & parliamentary consultancy, which led directly to the tabling of parliamentary questions on RoHS. Energy Minister

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Over a 12-year period, Lancaster-based Lee Engineering has proven to be one of the UK's most dependable technical resource groups. The company's scope of work extends from offering support to large industrial and architectural lighting projects (including power stations on the Isle of Man to lighting the toll booths of the Forth Road Bridge) to providing regular services to the BBC.

Lee Engineering also has a reputation for thoroughly scrutinising each new piece of equipment before it goes out. "The kit goes straight into the workshop," says director Phil Leedal. "We are a sales rep's worst nightmare as we won't sell anything that we know will give us grief."

One of the company's major accounts is right on its doorstep - Lancaster University's nine colleges and Student Union nightclub, The Sugar House. In the past, each of the colleges had operated its own indepen

  1. Showsec in Hyde Park
  2. JHS takes on LA Audio for UK & Eire
  3. Robe at the International Musical Eisteddfod
  4. Country music duo get Martin rig
  5. Bandit Lites on Double Trouble tour
  6. DPA Microphones at Alchemea
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