UK - The introduction of the Digidesign Mix Rack at the recent Winter NAMM Show has had an immediate impact on both the rental and medium install market, says the manufacturer. Now available in Europe, this new hardware option for the Venue live sound environment combines all stage, local audio I/O, and DSP into a single, compact 11-space rack.

In the UK, Wigwam Acoustics ordered nine Mix Racks, which will be divided between hire stock and resale. The company's hire director, Chris Hill, says, "With all the DSP and I/O in one rack, this is a product that we expect to do really well. A lot of customers will be first time users, while hire companies will note other economies, such as the ease of transport, since they can use existing multicores."

Following its initial purchase, Wigwam ordered another six Mix Racks to boost the hire stock, and anticipate firm orders for

USA - Bandit Lites recently lit the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce bi-annual Governor's Luncheon at the Knoxville Convention Center. Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen spoke to a crowd of around 600 business and community leaders.

Lighting Designer Jason Workman chose to use Martin MAC 600s, 500s, 300s and Color Kinetics iColor Accent 4ft tubes to light the event. Lighting was controlled by two High End Systems Whole Hog IIs.

Workman used the MAC 600s to spread general colour throughout the room. Six towers with Color Kinetics tubes on them were used to fill in gaps between the video screens.

In addition to Workman, Bandit crew for this event included Giff Swart and Jeff Archibeque.

(Jim Evans)

UK - HSL and XL Video both supplied a specials package to LD Rob Sinclair for Roisin Murphy's show at London's Roundhouse.

Sinclair has been working with Murphy since January, and this high profile London showcase was a continuation of her ongoing Overpowered tour which visits Australia later on this month. Sinclair brought a new design to the Roundhouse which was based around the house rig plus additional visual elements.

HSL supplied four i-Pix BB 16s - which were used on the floor as massive LED washlight sources. These were joined on the deck by four Martin Professional Atomic strobes along the back.

Front and back of stage were some Lowell Omni Floods on stands, and at the sides, also on Manfrotto stands, Source Four profiles were positioned to provide tightly shuttered beams of light focussed precisely onto Murphy's head.

HSL supplied a white cyc from their dr

France - Théâtre National de Bretagne in Rennes is renowned throughout France for its varied and bold presentations. Home to the European Centre of Theatre and Dance Production, the theatre recently received a thorough renovation completed in December by a dynamic lighting scheme for the theatre's facade.

The city of Rennes sought to animate the front of the building in order to 'announce' the various activities going on inside the theatre. Lighting designer for the exterior illumination was Jean-François Touchard who, with his design team, worked directly with the city on the concept's details.

Touchard proposed an eight-hour per day lighting programme, from 5pm to 1am, in five phases: evening, theatre and cinema opening, beginning of play, during play, and, afterwards, when only the bar and restaurant is open.

"In the beginning, we wanted to light the buildin

This week's many news stories and reports reflect the breadth and global reach of our industries. On the installation front, there is news of Klotz Digital's work in the White House, a major Nexo install in Stockholm's Grand Hotel and much else besides. The trend towards improved audio in cinemas continues with the opening of the 10-screen Arcadia Multiplex in Bellinzago in Lombardy, complete with impressive EV-based sound systems, while sports stadia are also realising the benefits of quality sound and light installs: the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland is the latest example.

While on matters sporting, the Beijing Olympics are fast approaching. The torch has been lit and is now on its way round the world. Politics and boycotts permitting, the Games will no doubt provide a fine showcase for manufacturers and integrators who are also already casting their eyes towards the London Olymp

Ireland - Dublin-based High Resolution Lighting co-ordinated the supply of all video, digital and visual control elements for the 2008 final of You're A Star, Ireland's popular quest to find new singing talent.

The final was staged in the Helix Theatre at the City of Dublin University and the contemporary video-based visual design combined ideas from the creative team of lighting designer Andrew Leonard, set designer Molly Malloy and moving light and Catalyst programmer/operator Peter Canning. Sound was engineered by Paul Ashe-Brown using the house rig.

The show was produced by Screentime ShinAwiL, directed by Pat Cowap and broadcast live on RTE 1 where it consistently topped the Saturday night ratings. The 2008 final was won by Limerick singer Leanne Moore, who beat Wicklow singer Robyn Kavanagh on the results show, with the other finalist, Deidre Archbold from Cork vo

UK - Adlib Audio & Lighting supplied equipment for the high profile Versus Cancer show at Manchester Evening News Arena. The line up included The Enemy, The Fratellis, Happy Mondays, Fun Loving Criminals, Athlete, The View, Inspiral Carpets, The Farm, and the XFM winners All Bar 3.

Adlib's new V-Dosc system was utilised for the PA, with front hangs of 12 V-Dosc per side, complete with 4 dV-Doscs per side for down-fills and side- hangs of 12 dV-Doscs elements. For front- fills, they used eight ARCs cabinets. The subs totalled 16 of the new high-powered L-Acoustics SB28s and 8 SB218s - all ground-stacked.

The front hangs and subs were driven by LA8 amps, with the side- hangs and fills powered by the Lab.gruppen standard, complete with Adlib's speaker cabling and infrastructure to make it work.

At front-of-house they provided two Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles which wer

Italy - Opened in December 2007 in Bellinzago (Lombardy), the Arcadia Multiplex comprises 10 differently-sized auditoriums - the largest, a 300-seater. Every auditorium is THX-certified and offers 3D digital projection.

EVI Audio's Italian partner TEXIM were called in as early as the project planning stage. Arcadia and TEXIM had already worked together on the CineCity multiplex in Padua. In addition to tried-and-tested cinema systems of the TS series (TS 9040D-LX and TS 550D-LX), a total of 28 EV TL 880D subwoofers are employed in the new multiplex. Nine EV TS 9040D-LX speakers handle the reproduction of the L-C-R information in the three smaller auditoriums and 21 further EV TS 550D-LX provide the sound in the seven larger halls. The surround channels in all ten auditoriums are delivered by a total of 154 EV SL12-2V surround speakers.

The massive amplification needs of all th

New Zealand - When North Harbour Stadium in Auckland approached Marshall Day Acoustics to propose a new sound system for their 12,000 seat grandstand, expectations were high. Having suffered 10 years with a budget-driven and ageing system and looking to secure the stadium's future as a nation-leading outdoor arena, the new sound system had to be capable and flexible enough to cater for all possible audience and event requirements, and be future proof to suit its expansion plans.

Enter Audio Telex in conjunction with Marshall Day, who developed a comprehensive state-of-the-art design using EASE acoustic simulation software and based around Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers.

This is the first major Renkus-Heinz stadium sound system in Australasia and stadium marketing manager Chris Kemp comments, "We don't want to tell people we have a new sound system, we just want them to hear th

Ireland - Green Hippo's Hippotizer media servers are frequently seen on big spectaculars and events but it is sometimes easy to overlook their involvement in the quieter projects. Quiet is perhaps the wrong word when describing the phenomenal performances of dancer Colin Dunne, whose latest solo work, Out of Time, Green Hippo has just sponsored.

Performed at the Glór Theatre, Ennis in February, before going on tour later this year, Out of Time explores Dunne's private world as a dancer rooted in the Irish step dance tradition. It looks to the past for simple beginnings as he examines his relationship with a tradition that has shaped his life.

Dunne wanted to find a way to present traditional Irish dance within a contemporary setting and an introduction to Green Hippo's Sean Westgate by the show's director, Sinead Rushe, was the beginning of an evolutionary, crea

UK - Litestructures has been building Westlife's stage sets for seven years now, but their latest is the biggest yet. Designed for their 2008 Back Home tour, the three-tier stage is shaped in their signature 'W' format, and measures an impressive 72'(w)x40'(d)x12'(h).

Following an original concept by Alan MacDonald, it took the Litestructures design team just six weeks to complete the technically advanced structure.

Features within and around the stage's 55 LiteDeck platform modules included a new 3.5m high modular leg lift, constructed using LitePro 4 heavy duty truss. This lift passes through all three tiers. In addition, Litestructures built a 10m 'totem pole', also using LitePro 4, which sits centrally atop the highest tier, and which houses a laser feature.

Rollability for the lower tier was achieved using legframe snap-on bracing. Some 32m of handrails, with per

Germany - Aviom's Pro64 Series was honoured at Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, as the 'Best Sound System Technology for 2008'. The award was was given by the Musikmesse International Press Association, on the vote of 100-plus member publications from around the world.

In accepting the MIPA. award, Carl Bader, Aviom's president and CEO, noted that the company has come a long way in the seven years since the A-16 Personal Mixer was first sketched out on a design board. "It's very gratifying to be honoured for achievement in such a broad category, almost seven years to the day since we first started working on the mixer," said Bader. "Users around the world are recognising the importance of the technological breakthroughs made with A-Net and are seeing the ways Aviom's technology simplifies their design process while improving the flexibility and fidelity o

Czech Republic / Qatar - Trussing manufacturer Milos designed, manufactured and built a special trussing exhibition stand system for its client Digital Print Centre, which was supplied to energy multinational Shell for the Doha Natural Gas Conference in Qatar.

Digital Print Centre - with whom Milos has worked on many previous projects - approached them with a basic brief, explains project manager Milan Kolousek. They had a quick turnaround time and needed a fairly complex design to accommodate various graphics and AV displays along with some sound and lighting equipment. Above all, the client wanted a structure that looked aesthetically stunning.

"This was the challenge" says Kolousek, "Our technical department did a good job to deliver all the drawings from a complete blank piece of paper to the final product in so short a time". The initial design also un

India - Live sound production specialists, Sound.Com provided a complete audio solution for the oldest and most prestigious Indian film industry event using Lab.gruppen FP+ Series FP 10000Q power amplifiers to drive the main JBL PA and stage monitoring system.

The show was hosted at Yash Raj Studios in the heart of Mumbai. Sound.Com's Warren D'Souza reports: "The FP 10000Qs are rock-solid and sound fantastic. The other huge advantage they have for this sort of application is that being four-channel amplifiers, you always have spare channels to take care of extra audio feeds. With space backstage being at a premium, our amp racks were literally half the size of conventional sound systems, but still with all the power we needed, as well as fantastic Lab.gruppen sound quality and reliability. There's no doubt that these amplifiers are worth every penny of our investment."

USA - Lighting designer Scott Warner put his grandMA to work on Grammy Award-winner Queen Latifah's nine-week Trav'lin Light tour which supported Queen Latifah's new jazz CD of the same name. Warner had previously used the grandMA to control LED lighting for the Pussycat Dolls, but this was the first tour where his grandMA controlled moving lights.

"Having used another console for eight years I was initially reluctant to give the grandMA a try," Warner recalls. "But after using the grandMA with the Pussycat Dolls and Queen Latifah, I would never considering working with anything else."

Warner gave Queen Latifah's tour a vintage look with Vari*Lite VL3000s, 5Ks and Pixel Par LEDs, the latter used to change the colour of the singer's logo. "We had a lot of saturated colours but not a lot of movement with the moving lights," says Warner who al

Canada / Germany - Canadian pro loudspeaker manufacturer Adamson Pro Audio has appointed Trius as its distributor for Germany and Austria. Trius, one of Germany's leading pro audio distributors, was until recently the distributor of L-Acoustics product in Germany: that partnership had been in place since 2000, and is now at an end. L-Acoustics has said it is taking immediate action to offer direct support and service to its German customers during the transition period.

Kai Boeckmann, general manager of operations at Trius, admits: "Technically speaking, we've always considered Adamson the biggest and most dangerous competitor for L-Acoustics, so we have had an eye on Adamson literally since the moment we took on L'Acoustics about seven years ago. When asked about the decision to take Adamson on for the German and Austrian markets, Boeckmann says: "A truly excellent re

UK - A Shermann RS5 system has been delivered and is now operational in Guernsey - the first RS5 system in the Channel Islands. Kevin Taylor Audio invested in the Shermann system along with an Ashly Protea 3:24CL digital speaker controller to replace an older powered system which he claimed "was not really up to the job".

Kevin Taylor was absolutely delighted following the system's first gigs and called Shermann's HQ in Mid-Wales to register his appreciation. "The RS5 is ideal for my requirements; effortless and really compact too. I couldn't believe how flat it was and I needed virtually no additional EQ to make the system sound near perfect."

Elsewhere, Shermann RS5 systems have been in use on a number of recent events and UK tours including Barbara Dickson, Steeleye Span and Gilbert O'Sullivan. A slightly uprated RS5 model will be available from May 1st

UK - The Digidesign Venue live sound environment took centre stage at Earl's Court, as audio production for the star-studded MasterCard BRIT Awards 2008 became an all-digital affair. Derrick Zieba, the show's sound designer for the past 20 years, shuffled the artists' riders and commandeered full proprietary digital mixing setups for the show's Glam and Punk Stages.

Working with MJK Productions, Zieba had been one of the front-runners in nudging the BRIT Awards live television show into the digital age six years ago, and once again it was left to Britannia Row Productions to fulfill the exacting control and PA requirements.

With Paul McCartney headlining on the Punk Stage (and picking up the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music), Zieba had little hesitation in specifying a Digidesign Venue system - the digital desk of choice for McCartney's (aka "Macca&

UK - Abingdon and Witney College has enjoyed the use of Metrodeck staging for the last few years. Thomas Mindenhall originally approached Maltbury as he wasn't happy with the old fashioned wooden system the college had always used and wanted something safer, more versatile and easily stored and transported.

The college started with a straightforward package of Metrodeck in standard sizes. Thomas has returned to Maltbury over the years, ordering a few decks every time which slowly added to their collection as the budget allowed. "The great thing is that when I put the older pieces and the new ones together for a show there's no difference between them," he says.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Over 100 axes of automation control and machinery have been installed at the Royal Festival Hall, transforming the functional properties of the venue. ISG Interior Exterior, the main contractor for this project, contracted Stage Technologies to design, manufacture and install the over-stage suspension machinery and control system, as well as the control systems for the stage elevators and the variable acoustic elements.

The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre is a busy venue with a wide variety of performances; many of which are just a few days long or even for one night only. This poses logistical issues for the production staff who must often do the 'get-in', rehearsals, performance and 'get-out' in a single day.

The major refurbishment carried out at the venue over the last few years presented an opportunity to add to the infrastructure to make this process easier an

USA - Nordstrom, one of America's leading fashion specialty retailers, recently turned to lighting designer and programmer Mike Casale for a spectacular visual display for their Annual Men's Fashion Show on Chicago's trendy Michigan Avenue. Casale employed Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC) to bring his vision to life.

Using Martin's new LC Series panels and Maxedia media server, both Casale and ILC were able to create an atmosphere that would complement the designs while garnering the crowd's full attention.

"The LC Series panels provided an excellent backdrop for the runway and stage area," said Bob Moisan of Intelligent Lighting Creations. "The output of the LED's was tremendous and created an exciting event for the audience as well as the production crew."

(Jim Evans)

UK - An Avolites Diamond 4 has been in control of lighting for the latest UK leg of The Editors world tour, featuring a design by Bryan Leitch, with the show being operated by Chris Steel.

The End Has A Start tour has been ongoing since 2007, and the basic concept of a very contemporary lighting and video show design is modified and morphed slightly between legs as the venue sizes also vary. The UK leg played a selection of arenas, theatre and concert halls.

Running off the D4 were a variety of moving lights and generics positioned on four overhead trusses - a straight front truss, two mid trusses running diagonally along the sides and a back truss that flew in and out to reveal the screen at the appropriate moments.

The core moving lights were 16 SGM Giotto 400 Spot CYMs, six Giotto Wash 400s and 12 Martin Professional MAC 2K Washes distributed between the front and

Australia - Christian City Church in Oxford Falls held its Awakening Conference for young adults in the first week of February, and Mandylights was there to design the lighting and visuals. Richard Neville came up with a design that used a mixture of lighting, projection and the new Martin LC Series LED panels to create a spectacular backdrop to the three day event.

Ten LC Panels were hung 'randomly' around the church's stage, with eight Vari*Lite VL2500 washes behind them to take advantage of the panels' transparency. The lighting and vision was programmed and operated on a full size MA Lighting grandMA console which was networked to an ArKaos media server.

Also in the rig were four Martin MAC 700 Washes, four MAC 300 wash lights and two Look Solutions Unique Hazers. During programming, equal attention was given to both lighting and audio so that each visual medium com

UK - Scattered Media has published visitor figures for its inaugural networking forum, EvenTech Scotland 2008. Confirmed first-show attendance reached 520 visitors across the two-day event - 4% up on original predictions - which took place in Glasgow's Marriot Hotel in February.

Scattered Media director, Darren Brechin, commented: "We are confident in the EvenTech model and these figures back up our extensive research. We created a small and intimate networking forum, based around exhibiting companies and a networking evening - where real and focussed business discussions would take place, unhurried, within the decision makers' region, with solid and lasting relationships forged for the future."

Exhibitors at the event expressed satisfaction with the calibre of attendees the regional forum attracted, with 97% stating that the quality of visitors had met or sur

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