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UK - Audio Village has recently installed a Community loudspeaker system for the live eviction arena of the hit TV programme, Big Brother. The system was purchased through LMC Audio Systems.

Big Brother is based at the Elstree Film and Television Studios complex, where Audio Village also supplies a number of other top shows. Barry Mizen and Vernon Cooper, directors of Audio Village, have been involved with the audio and PA systems for Big Brother since the second series at Elstree Film Studios and recently upgraded the PA for the outside area of the show.

The eviction arena is completely open-air and focuses on the second floor door, with its familiar Big Brother 'eye' logo, from where those evicted leave the house. A boardwalk leads from the door with steps down to a central podium and the arena floor where up to 800 spectators watch the evictions

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UK -Digital Audio and Computer Systems (DACS), which distributes Magix Sequoia recording and editing tools, is working closely with URM Audio to provide approved Sequoia training in the UK.

For many years, Sequoia has been an integral part of leading broadcast and mastering studios worldwide, including the BBC, German public broadcasters WDR and MDR, Radio Bremen, the Viennese Symphonic Library and Sterling Sound in New York. Sound engineers, music producers, radio journalists and editors all see Sequoia as key tool for professional media production.

URM Audio has now established recognised training courses - one or two-day sessions that cover digital music editing and mastering processors and processing - for end users wishing to take advantage of Sequoia's high-end capabilities.

(Jim Evans)

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Australia - In 2006 the Dandenong Council awarded the contract for the Vessels of Light to landscape architects and artist team Sinatra Murphy P/L. The aim of the project was to create a series of pedestrian focussed art markers at various locations emanating from the Drum theatre at Dandenong Town Hall.

Sinatra Murphy has proven experience in developing public art projects and its response has enabled seven Vessels of Light to be located at four different locations across central Dandenong.

Each vessel incorporates a dynamic lighting element that allows the vessels to be animated after dark creating a special night time experience.

Sinatra Murphy approached CDA for a lighting solution for the project and after a few tests they settled on a 6w,six degree RGB led solution running off a SD-10 DMX playback unit. The lED module is integrated into the top of the lig

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Germany - When the 62nd edition of the International Motor Show (IAA) opens its doors on 13 September, Element Labs' Stealth LED display solution will be there to add glamour to the booths of some of the world's foremost automotive manufacturers. IAA Passenger Cars is the biggest trade show for cars and accessories in Europe. It is held every two years and in 2005 the show attracted 900,000 visitors, with attendance expected to be as high again this year.

Over the past few years, Element Labs Stealth LED displays have appeared on many of the world's biggest car shows. From Frankfurt to Paris and Detroit, Element Labs has created backdrops to help manufacturers launch their latest, flashiest models and concept cars to an audience of industry press, visitors and prospective customers alike.

At this year's IAA, just over 600sq.m of Element Labs StealthLED displays will again form

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Singapore - Situated in Emerald Hill, the Ice Cold Beer pub has been one of the 'in' places to go in Singapore for many years. Here, patrons can play darts, pool, watch sports on big screen televisions or just relax and listen to classic rock music from the 60s and 70s, played over the pub's recently installed d&b audiotechnik reinforcement system.

The system, comprising E0s, E12 subwoofers all driven by d&b E-PAC and D12 amplifiers, was designed by d&b's Dominic Koh and installed by the pub staff. "The pub chose to use d&b equipment because they wanted a system that could provide high quality sound and at the same time allow comfortable conversation to take place," said Sebastian Song, d&b's Asia representative. "From that point of view, the loudspeaker system has been a great success."

(Jim Evans)

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Canada - As the largest outdoor rodeo in the world and one of the biggest shows on the Canadian calendar, the Calgary Stampede attracts well over a million visitors during its ten days in July. In addition to rodeo competitions, the Stampede programme runs the gamut from chuckwagon races to agricultural exhibits and all kinds of entertainment events on numerous stages.

Sound Art Calgary deploys a wide range of equipment from Electro-Voice to meet the Stampede's varied sound reinforcement needs, from compact Sx and Zx speakers on stands to the X-Line, XLC-DVX and XLD line-arrays flown for the Grandstand shows in front of 30,000 people, with headliners including INXS and Collective Soul. Midas mixing consoles and Klark Teknik EQs complete the picture.

"We've used EV speakers for every one of the 12 years I've been involved in these events," says Dan Frerichs, general m

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Switzerland - The 16th Rock Oz'Arènes festival from 15 to 18 August featured more than 40 acts including Joe Cocker, Stephan Eicher, Jimmy Cliff and Nine Inch Nails, and attracted a record crowd of 35.000.

Jaccoud Music Electronic was responsible for sound and stage equipment of the event. For the reinforcement of the Scène Casino, Christian Jaccoud chose the K.M.E. PANO line array. The Casino stage was equipped with seven PANO line-array tops QL 906 and a QL 1215 each side. As subwoofers he used six cardioid QCB 318s.

Christian Jaccoud reports, "The system providing perfect coverage of the 12m wide stage through QL 906 in combination with QL 1215 was amazing. No front or near-fills were necessary."

(Jim Evans)

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Australia - A Klotz Digital Xenon console was installed earlier this year in the University of Newcastle's media production facilities in Callaghan, Australia. Over the past years the university's technical staff have rapidly upgraded facilities, adding equipment that will further enrich student learning experiences through hands-on industry standard technology.

Funding towards the end of 2006 allowed for the replacement of an old analogue broadcast console which had been in use in teaching of radio and journalism courses for approximately 12 years. "I had done some investigation into digital broadcast consoles and it basically came down to two consoles from Klotz DIgital's rival manufacturers," says George Hyde, the technological officer (Audio) of the university's School of Design, Communication and IT.

"What swayed me to the Xenon was its out-of-the-box pre-c

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PLASA07 organisers PLASA Events have announced a record number of new exhibitors for this year's show, with over 50 companies exhibiting either for the first time or returning after an absence.The show, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has been radically re-drawn with the former two-level, single hall layout changed to a single-level, two hall format. New facilities include quiet meeting and wi-fi areas and four seminar theatres, where special interest and manufacturer-led sessions will be free for the first time.PLASA is confident that this year's show (which runs from the 9-12 September at Earls Court), will break its previous record of over 500 new product launches. "New products are the number one attraction for visitors," comments Event Director Nicky Rowland. "And with over 50 new products submitted for the PLASA Awards for Innovation, it underlines t

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UK - Robe moving lights have been installed at Glasgow's very 'happening' nightspot Byblos - a 900 capacity venue housed in the basement of an atmospheric listed building in Albion Street - in the Merchant City area of town.

These were specified by Andrew O'Neill of Glasgow-based design and installation company Flashlite. "As always from an installer's viewpoint" he says, "reliability is a key factor - you need fixtures that are going to work with an absolute minimum of fuss and maintenance - so Robe is an obvious choice."

Byblos has two main rooms and a VIP Bar. It is independently owned by three individuals, two of whom are local nightclub industry movers and shakers ...And all of them appreciate the advantages of good production values.

"They wanted a quality installation" explains O'Neill and they were prepared to spend some money on it, whi

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UK - The Embassy Club in London's Mayfair, has recently taken delivery of a Versarray rig, the new line array system from Peavey. With the acquisition of the new, the club has launched Embassy Rock Nights, fast becoming one of the hottest events on the capital's gig circuit.

Embassy London opted for a system comprising a total of four Versarray 112 mid-hi modules (two per side) featuring a lightweight 12" woofer and 4" voice coil with a neodymium magnet structure. Two Versarray 218 dual 18" ultra-high power vented subwoofers with optional ground-stacking kits complete the line-up. Control comes courtesy of Peavey's VSX speaker management system and amplification from Peavey GPS power amplifiers.

Front of House duties are handled by a Peavey 16FX 16-channel mixer featuring Silencer mic preamps which allow for high gain with low noise and distortion for clear sign

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Poland - Throughout July and early August, the Baltic Sea was home to one of the most spectacular annual maritime events, the Tall Ships Race. Starting at the Danish port of Århus, the ships sailed to Kotka in Finland, then the Swedish capital Stockholm, before finishing the season at Szczecin in Poland, where two large Lighthouse LED screens were in place to greet the ships and their crews.

"According to one popular Polish saying 'It's not necessary for a man to eat, but to sail - it is,'" laughs Rafael Kociemski of Polish screen company Wizja Sp. "That is how important an event the Tall Ships is to Szczecin."

Proof of this was provided by a crowd of 1.5 million which came to admire the ships in Szczecin harbour, making it the largest Polish outdoor event of 2007. In total over 200 ships took part, accompanied by a wide variety of other attractions, perfo

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UK - PLASA 2007 sees Zero 88 taking on the European distribution for the LightFactory range of lighting control software. Designed in New Zealand this software has been growing its user base globally.

Martin Searancke of LightFactory says: "I am excited by linking with Zero 88. Their product brand and distribution network is well established in the European market. I am looking forward to working with their distributors in Europe to establish our software as the choice for PC-based control."

Zero 88 will be selling LightFactory as a complete boxed package. This will include the software, Zero 88 USB to DMX dongles and quick start guides to allow the software to be installed and used quickly. The design allows all the DMX processing to be done in the dongle's Neutrik 5-pin connector.

Several options will be offered, from one universe to 64 universes of DMX control.

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Singapore - For the second consecutive year, the Soundcraft Vi6 was one of the consoles of choice for Baybeats, the annual Indie rock festival at Singapore's Esplanade. Running over three days, the event featured a host of bands from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Sweden, Australia and the US.

In 2006, The Esplanade purchased the new mixing desk from distributors E&E just in time for Baybeats where it was in use as a monitor board. But this year the Vi6 undertook FOH duties while it was joined by its smaller sibling, the Soundcraft Vi4 on monitors at the Nokia Arena.

The Vi4, which was launched earlier this year, offers similar functionality and facilities to the Vi6, but in a smaller, more compact footprint. Measuring just 1.5m wide, the Vi4 offers 48 inputs on 24 faders, with a total of 27 output busses available for use as masters, groups

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UK - Norwich Theatre Royal's £10 million modernisation project is entering its final stages, with the new look building due to re-open early in November following major improvements to the auditorium and front of house areas.

The modernisation will provide audiences with greater access and comfort. Improvements include increased leg room and access in the circle, a new air treatment system, double the amount of foyer space, improved eating areas, a newly designed theatre façade, and upgrading acoustics in the auditorium to concert hall standards.

Norwich Theatre Royal closed its doors to the public at the end of March 2007 following the visit of Northern Ballet Theatre's The Three Musketeers. The opening show in the new-look venue will be Glyndebourne on Tour's production of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore on 13 November.

(Jim Evans)

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The Netherlands - The Muziektheater in Amsterdam has chosen to replace its analogue, wired intercom infrastructure with a fully digital intercom solution from Clear-Com, including wireless beltpacks and matrix frames.

The Netherlands Opera and Dutch National ballet both create and produce their own operas and ballets which involves a large amount of rehearsal time on stage where clear communications are vital. The Clear-Com FreeSpeak beltpacks provide a reliable, wireless system for Muziektheater stage, lighting, sound, and technical teams.

"Intercoms are the lifeline between the artistic staff and technicians," said Hans-Willem de Haan, head of the sound and video department at Muziektheater. "We have a long-standing relationship with Clear-Com, so when we decided to move to a digital intercom system, we chose the Clear-Com 4000 matrix in combination with the F

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UK - Following the demonstration days at its west London offices, Essential Lighting customers have adopted Scenic LED at a rapid rate with many clients already delivering new effects at events in July and August, the company says.

Scenic LED sits on the increasingly blurry line between video and lighting by utilising the same individual components of a video wall, packaged in tiles and strips that provide flexibility for lighting and set designers to build dynamic effects into the set. Bringing the control of these elements firmly in to the hands of the lighting designer or visual content director, MiTrix and MiStrip remove the restrictions of content being forced to confirm to a 4:3 or 16:9 screen formation.

With almost constant rental now confirmed throughout September, Essential has further demonstrated its commitment to Scenic LED by doubling its stock of MiTrix and MiStr

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UK - Specialist crowd management and security company, Showsec, provided security for Creamfields 2007 and ensured that festival goers enjoyed their bank holiday in safety.

Creamfields relocated last year from the Old Liverpool Airfield, Speke in Liverpool, to Daresbury Estate, Cheshire, and more than 40,000 music fans gathered on the green-field site this year to see headliners Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada, Kelis and LCD Soundsystem along with the extraordinary line up of top DJs that Creamfields is famous for.

Showsec has supported Creamfields event management company, Loud Sound, for a number of years, working in close partnership with them on many different events all over the country. During the run up to the show, Showsec worked closely with Loud Sound to develop an all encompassing crowd management plan that covered everything from traffic management to on site crow

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UK London-based Event Concept is the first UK production and hire company to take delivery of the new Chroma-Q Color Split multi-purpose LED fixture.

Event Concept provides a creative event design and full technical production service for both corporate and private clients, and is listed as an approved supplier in over 35 of London's most prestigious venues.

Roger Deane, Event Concept's head of company operations, had been considering a number of LED products on the market when he contacted long-time supplier A.C. Lighting, who recommended the new Color Split fixture.

Deane comments: "The Color Split is ideal for our needs. It provides a very smooth colour change without any sudden 'jumps' that are common with other products and also a very smooth output for uplighting columns or walls. The colour mixing effects are also very impressive - I've seen people trying to use

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UK - Hoist UK Ltd has announced a new strategic alliance with Litestructures GB. The alliance allows both companies to distribute each others products and services.

Hoist UK's Tony Dickson says: "This is a great opportunity for both companies, the natural union of truss and motors makes this a symbiotic relationship, you can't think of one product without thinking about the other. By forming this relationship we can offer the end user a very economic and customer orientated service. The partnership gives the opportunity to offer a realistic one stop shop for rigging projects in entertainment, retail and industrial applications."

Litestructures' Adrian Brooks comments: "I have known and worked with Tony Dickson for several years on different projects, when he and Paul set up their own company I was really pleased that Litestructures were amongst the first people

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Czech Republic / Denmark - Martin and Robe have entered into a licensing agreement, entitling Robe and its affiliated companies to utilize Martin's US patents 6,601,973 (the "973-patent"), 6,971,770 (the "770-patent") and 7,222,997 on gobo holder and animation wheel technology, covering Robe's Color Spot product series. The licensing agreement also entitles Martin and its affiliated companies to utilize technology covered by Robe's US patent application 10/534927 (titled 'Equipment for a change of rotary gobos').

The agreement allows Robe to manufacture, market and sell its Color Spot product series in the United States and allows Martin Professional to manufacture, market and sell products incorporating the technology in Robe's patent application.

The licensing agreement follows litigation in the United States in which Martin claimed that Robe's Color Spot

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UK - Since being designated as a New Town in 1967, the conurbation that has been developed around the village of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, has grown rapidly in the ensuing 40 years.

One of the latest construction projects, centred on the Denbeigh district of modern Milton Keynes, is stadium:mk - a football stadium, arena and retail / hotel development. stadium:mk is also home to MK Dons, the football club famously (and controversially) moved from its former home and incarnation as Wimbledon FC, whose chairman Pete Winkelman is the mastermind behind the stadium development.

As a former music industry producer, and previously the owner of Great Linford Manor recording studios, it's unsurprising that Winkelman has taken a keen interest in the stadium's acoustics and audio system, going to great lengths to ensure that the sound quality is as high as possible for both footbal

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Germany - For this year's Arnsberg International Summer of Art, designer Heinz F.W. Stahl and sculptor Friedrich Freiburg made imaginative use of light in the creation of two concrete sculptures - with integrated LEDs from VLM.

Art and Light was the theme of the 11th International Kunstsommer Arnsberg (Arnsberg International Summer of Art), which ran from the 22 June to 5 August. The festival, in the historic capital of the Dukedom of Westfalia in Germany's Sauerland included a pair of sculptures equipped with ultra-modern LED systems - the work of the designer Heinz F.W. Stahl and sculptor Friedrich Freiburg.

The two objects - one (Lichtobjekt) an obelisk and the other (Ein heißes Eisen) a giant pair of pliers - are cast in concrete and attracted a great deal of attention on the Ruhr Promenade - especially at night, as Stahl and Freiburg equipped the two sculptures wi

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Switzerland - TiMax Audio Imaging has featured prominently in the sound design of a major outdoor theatrical event in Switzerland. Specified by Thomas Strebel of Swiss sound design and resourcing company audiopool, a 16-input, 32-output TiMax Rack system was integrated with a Studer Vista8 console for the 2007 annual Welttheater production in Einsiedeln.

Das Einsiedler Welttheater features a cast of more than 300 players performing in a roughly 50m x 60m open square in front of the imposing bulk of the town's massive Kloster Einsiedeln monastery. Much of the cast moves all over the space either singing or playing musical instruments, wearing a variety of eclectic garb ranging from nun's outfits to life-like oversized heads.

The primary objective of the sound design was to amplify them authentically and unobtrusively while ensuring that their multiple audio images tracked their

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