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UK - Specialist architectural lighting suppliers Architainment has supplied over 1300 Phillips SSL iColor Cove MX Powercore LED fixtures for an eye-catching installation in the refurbished atrium of Tower 42 in the City of London.

The main entrance and reception to London's tallest skyscraper has been rejuvenated by Paul Croft Studios in conjunction with Architects Design Partnership (ADP), and transformed into a dynamic, contemporary environment for one of the City's most iconic buildings. Integral to this is a new lighting scheme created by Light Bureau.

They wanted a bright, environmentally friendly lighting feature that would produce atmospheric and vibrant colour changing effects in the space after dark. The atrium lent itself to several lengthy horizontal linear runs of LED traversing the full width of the space.

Architainment was approached as specialist lighting cons

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USA - At this year's Motor Show in Detroit, XL Video Deutschland assisted three major German manufacturers. VW, Audi and Mercedes Benz all put their faith in the media technology specialists. The XL Video team was engaged by the three German companies as media equipment general service providers for the international trade fair that ran from the 11 to 25 January 2009.

The commissions involved the provision of all media and LED equipment for the booths of VW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, the provision of HD control rooms for the VW and Audi press conferences, and the presentation of the new E-Class from Mercedes-Benz in the Westin Hotel, Detroit, on the eve of the first press day.

For the Volkswagen launch, XL Video chose a 4-mm Hibino Black Face comprising 70 modules and measuring 5376 x 2880 mm for the main video wall. This high-resolution screen was framed by over 100sq.m of Barc

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Ireland - The first of PR Lighting's new V-LED Spell pixelated wall tile displays has been permanently sited outside the new Dusk nightclub in Dublin.

When Gary Payne, owner of the €2m euro development, set out his plan to convert his former music lounge above Liz Delaneys Bar into a contemporary nightclub, he knew that an optimally-sited digital promotion and graphics display would attract customers from the retail park in which his leisure complex is based, like moths to a flame.

Situated in the densely-populated working class area of Coolock, close to Dublin Airport, he realised he had a potential catchment of 250,000 people to aim at - and that the 12-tile, 3.6m x 2.4m PR Lighting display, triggered from an ArKaos GrandVJ media server - would create just the wow factor he needed.

The club's technical integrator, Frank Murray, who heads locally-based specialists, Audiote

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UK - When the technical managers at the National Theatre in London decided they needed to update the lighting control desks for each of the three venues, they knew it would be a challenge. The 22 technical staff knew their existing desks inside out, and would only accept something with enough power and a familiar operating style.

About two years ago, the National began the process of trialling a range of desks across six different manufacturers. Each desk was tried out and formally evaluated before a final decision was made. Lighting resources manager Michael Atkinson says: "We knew that whatever we went for, it was always going to perform differently to its predecessor. It is a huge undertaking to update all three theatres with something all the staff like - each venue needs a main desk and backup, plus there is associated hardware which needs to be changed."

Eventu

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UK - Branding specialist Sunbaba opens the doors of its new London studio this week. The studio will be managed by account director Jonathan Booth.

The addition comes as Sunbaba's work with London-based agencies and for events in the capital increased in the last 12 months, prompting the need for a London office for clients to discuss complicated branding projects and see Sunbaba in action, says the company.

Sunbaba launched a range of new products in 2008 for both indoor and outdoor events, expanding the range from air permeable fabrics for outdoor branding to include correx board, voiles and soft fabrics and a range of eco-friendly products.

Jonathan Booth said: "Having a base in London makes us more accessible to our clients in the capital. Customers are welcome to drop into the studio at any time to see fabric samples, review artworks or simply to have a coffee and

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Singapore - W-DMX is playing a major role in lighting Singapore's tallest viewing tower - the Tiger Sky Tower. Located in Sentosa, it offers panoramic views at 131m above sea level across Singapore, Sentosa, the Southern Islands, and all the way to Malaysia and the Indonesian islands.

Creative Lighting Asia (CLA) worked with Saatchi and Saatchi Singapore for the re-branding of the Sentosa Sky Tower for Asia Pacific Breweries. Now renamed the Tiger Sky Tower, the viewing attraction has been given a makeover with Tiger Beer branding with part of the central column becoming a giant Tiger beer bottle.

CLA was asked to come up with a solution for lighting the tower in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manor. 60 Color Kinetics Color Blast Powercore were used to light the rotating cabin, with an additional 30 iWhite Blasts used to light the column above and below the cabi

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UK - eMerging, UK distributors for Merging Technologies Pyramix DAW, has upgraded the twin Pyramix DAWs at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to run Pyramix version 6 software, as part of an upgrade to the in-house broadcasting facilities there.

The Opera House was comprehensively rebuilt in the late 90s, and further work over the past few years had seen the installation of an in-house broadcast centre and an associated sound control room. But following the purchase of DVD label Opus Arte in 2007, the plan has been to expand the number of performances at the ROH that are recorded for subsequent release on DVD with a 5.1 surround soundtrack, and the former sound control room, which wasn't equipped for surround monitoring and mixing, became a liability.

Now a sizable replacement sound control room/audio broadcast centre for radio, TV, and satellite live-to-cinema transmissions

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USA - In the afternoon hours prior to the Steelers and Cardinals storming the field at Super Bowl XLIII, John Legend and Journey kicked off the day's festivities with a concert staged just outside of Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. For its sixth consecutive year, NFL called upon Clearwing Productions to provide the sound reinforcement system for its official pre-game party, which this year made use of an L-acoustics Kudo loudspeaker system.

Partially televised on NBC and attended by 10,000 of NFL's 'closest friends', the invite-only Tailgate 2009 concert featured ground-stacked arrays of six Kudo enclosures per side paired with four SB28 subs, all positioned beneath large video screens adjacent to the stage. Four tiny MTD108 enclosures were spread out across the stage lip to provide front-fill coverage, with eight 115XT HiQ wedges available for monitoring. Loudspeakers wer

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UK - High definition outside broadcast specialists Bow Tie Television has installed a SoundField DSF-2 and DSF-3 digital 5.1 microphone system into its second outside broadcast unit, OB2, which has recently been refurbished and rebuilt to handle 5.1 audio with the cooperation of satellite broadcaster Sky. The refurbished broadcast truck and the newly installed SoundField systems will be used to generate 5.1 surround audio for Sky Sports' premier league darts coverage.

"We recorded the World Championship darts event to multitrack at Alexandra Palace in December, using two analogue SoundField systems," explains Sky's operations manager Keith Lane, speaking in the middle of another darts championship match. "The broadcast itself was in stereo, but we took the multitrack recordings back to HQ to see whether we could produce 5.1 coverage of a game to the standard we wa

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UK - The Script's FOH sound engineer John Delf has been using a Midas PRO6 for the band's UK tour. Delf spec'd the PRO6 - supplied by Entec - after mixing the Irish band on a Midas XL8 for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo last December.

"It was my first time using an XL8 and even after just one sound check I had fallen in love with it," he states. "We were performing with a full orchestra and the production was running two XL8s at FOH and three PRO6s for monitors and recording. The house engineer was mixing the orchestra on one XL8 and I was mixing the band on the other. It just sounded so sweet and it was really easy to find my way around the desk. We were up and running really quickly and everything I needed to do mix wise was at my fingertips."

He continues: "Sonically the PRO6 doesn't disappoint and in my opinion sounds better than an analogu

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Web News - A musical based on the Marvel comic book hero Spider-Man will open on Broadway in 2010. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will include the story of the superhero's origins and will feature music and lyrics by U2 members Bono and The Edge. It will be directed by Julie Taymor, the creative force behind Disney's long-running Lion King. The musical will open in February 2010 at the Hilton Theatre with preview performances beginning in January. The show is reportedly the most expensive Broadway production ever, costing $40m (£27.6m).

China Crisis - Oasis' debut concerts in China have been cancelled after the authorities revoked the band's licences to play, deeming them "unsuitable". Shows in Beijing and Shanghai due to take place next month have been pulled, and fans are to be reimbursed. Concert promoters said the Chinese culture ministry

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USA - For Trinity United Methodist Church in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, sound has always been an issue. The sanctuary's soaring peaked roof and exceptionally live acoustics lends a majestic touch to the choir, bell choir and pipe organ, but rendered the sermons nearly unintelligible. That was the conflict confronting Music Mart's Tom Gallagher.

"The room had a three-second reverb time, and the musicians loved what it did for the sound," says Gallagher. "But for the pastor, anyone more than about 20ft away could barely get a word out of the sermons. We had to find a way to improve the intelligibility factor without resorting to any acoustic treatment that would impact the room's resonance."

Gallagher found the solution in Community Professional's new ENTASYS column line array system. "We looked into using a steerable array, but it wasn't really practica

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UK - MTFX was at the Brit awards at Earls Court providing confetti 'butterfly effects' for Chris Martin from Coldplay.

This consisted of three cues, one on each of the chorus of Viva la Vida. To produce the effect the producers hired 12 of MTFXs Confetti storms, four extra large venturi blowers, three extra large spinners and 250kgs of red, white and blue Butterfly confetti.

(Jim Evans)

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Indonesia - UK-based luxury lifestyle store Harvey Nichols recently opened an outlet in Jakarta, the first Harvey Nichols in Southeast Asia. Two separate facades of the upmarket department store in the Grand Indonesia Shopping Mall, feature dynamic exterior lighting schemes powered by 144 Martin Professional Cyclo 04 DMX colour changers.

The two facades measure approximately 20m wide x 30m high and 20m wide x 9m high. The feature facade is made of an aluminum composite panel, double layered with wire mesh and a translucent canvas. The parang motif, a traditional Indonesian batik pattern based on sea wave movement, is showcased on the exterior front façade.

Lighting designer for the Harvey Nichols project is Paul Gunawan, principal designer at PT LITAC Konsultan of Jakarta whose initial lighting brief from client PT Hamparan Nusantara called for the feature facade to be backli

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UK - In late January 2009, six performances of The Memory of WT Stead were made at Steinway Hall in London. These performances by artists Lundahl & Seitl and experimental pianist Cassie Yukawa, immersed their small audiences in worlds of darkness, storytelling and music, all the while exploring the geography and contents of the workshops and recital rooms behind the scenes at the piano maker's flagship store.

Sennheiser was an essential part of the process, providing 12 sets of Series 5 headphones for the small audiences. The quality audio of these headphones enabled Lundahl & Seitl to blur the lines between recorded and live sound, making a dramatic experience even more immersive.

"Our specific need was a pair of headphones with open backs, which would not isolate the visitors from natural spatial sound and the live piano play, and also gave us the best binaural p

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South Africa - Sweepslag, now in its second series, is a popular LE music programme on SABC2 (the South African Broadcasting Association). It airs in a primetime Friday night slot and has fast gained a reputation for lighting effects, along with performances by the very best of local talent.

Lighting and set designer Robert Grobler from Global Events is using both Robe moving lights and Robe StageQube 324 video panels in his design. "We wanted to create a generic visuality that looked great on camera and which presented a real 'live' feel to the show - even though it's shot at the Urban Brew studios, Randburg."

Grobler's rig contains 24 Robe StageQube 324 panels, 13 Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs and 11 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs, all rigged in the studio's overhead grid.

Flexibility is also a key with the lighting and visuals. Eighty per cent of the show is music based, f

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Germany - Event service provider Alpha Media Solutions (AMS) has purchased three digital consoles from DiGiCo's German distributor atlantic audio. An SD8 and an SD7 -were delivered at the end of October and December 2008 respectively and another SD8 will further enhance AMS's pro audio inventory this month.

Based in Hechingen, near Stuttgart, AMS has been involved in the professional event business for more than 20 years and its customers benefit from the company's technical and organizational know-how and its experienced staff. "The thing that people remember about an event is its uniqueness," says AMS's owner Jürgen Wirth. "The moment passes, but the fascination will remain... to ensure that this happens, you need technology you can count on."

Wirth continues: "I invested in a D5 in 2007 because, in my opinion, it was the best console on the market.

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Norway - After rocking North America with 42 shows throughout the United States and Canada, AC/DC's rock 'n' roll Train docked at Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway on 18 February to kick off the European leg of the band's Black Ice Tour.

The group's high-tech set, which includes cannons, a wrecking ball and a 60ft inflatable doll, features a massive 70sq.m Daktronics LED video display comprised of modular PST-10 panels.

The display, provided by Screenworks, the tour's official video partner, brings AC/DC's shows to a dramatic opening as a massive mechanical train appears to crash through it while the band strikes the opening chords of Rock 'N' Roll Train. Moving along a synchronized track, the display divides in two as the locomotive steams through, forming a pair of smaller displays at opposite ends of the stage which then screen live video, colourful animations and

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UK - The achievements of Arena Seating were recognised at the National Outdoor Event Association (NOEA)'s Annual Tributes this year, when the company was awarded the trophy for best supplier.

The award, sponsored by Access All Areas, was presented to Arena Seating's sales director Dave Withey by promoter Harvey Goldsmith and TV's Ed Stewart. It recognised Arena Seating's track record of service and innovation at events like Wimbledon, Red Bull Air Races, X Factor, the Hyde Park festivals and many other events.

"We're delighted to receive this NOEA Annual Tribute, which we feel reflects the hard work and dedication of everyone at Arena Seating," said Dave Withey. "It is a privilege to win the recognition of our industry peers and we look forward to working with many NOEA members at every type of event over the next 12 months."

(Jim Evans)

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Korea - Technomad reports that SBPROLINE, a sound system consultant and global supplier of professional audio and public address systems, has installed 18 Technomad weatherproof loudspeakers throughout Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Olympic Park, Seoul.

Jamsil Baseball Stadium, built in 1982, seats 30,265 people and is home to both the Doosan Bears and LG Twins, both professional teams of the KBO Baseball League. SBPROLINE installed Technomad Berlin 15/H, Noho C, Paris 616T and Vernal 15T loudspeakers at various stadium points depending on the audio requirements for each location, relying on the abundance of mounting points and strong construction to ensure the best possible placement of each loudspeaker.

Specifically, six Berlin loudspeakers were selected to provide short throw audio to the main seating areas. Two Paris loudspeakers and eight Vernal loudspeakers provide satellite

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UAE - Over 60 Clay Paky spotlights were used at the Destined Multimedia Show in Dubai. Gulf Arena designed and compiled the show together with Zayed University. Accreditation was celebrated in style, retracing the story of humanity and the passing on of knowledge through 25-minute choreographed combination of video, light, sound, fireworks, flames and 'dancing waters', with the special appearance of Japanese drumming group Yamato.

Referring to the Alpha Beam 300s, LD Pawel Pajak - also GrandMA programmer and operator for the occasion - said: "These lights clearly have a never-seen-before brightness for their power class. They have a compact body, are lightweight, and consume only 300W. They also have a CMY wheel, very useful frost effects and a set of gobos for changing the distinctive features of the beam. Alpha Beams are also very reliable. I have used them on several occ

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Gibraltar - St. Michael's is the most visited of the more than 150 caves found inside the Rock of Gibraltar, receiving over 1,000,000 visitors a year and making it one of the country's top tourist attractions.

The long passages and large caverns were created over thousands of years by rainwater, turned into a weak carbonic acid by slowly seeping through limestone, gradually dissolving the rock itself. Stalactites and stalagmites in the caves are formed by an accumulation of traces of dissolved rock deposited by water dripping from the ground above.

The cave's structure remains as nature intended, but they have been subject to a sympathetic sound and lighting treatment to reveal the natural beauty of the formations and to guide and inform visitors.

The largest chamber, called Cathedral Cave, has been used to create a an auditorium and houses a permanent stage and seating for

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USA - Highland Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, recently built a new facility, upgrading the sound system with an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system.

"It's not a typical sanctuary," notes Tim Cates, audio-visual director for the church, "it's a multipurpose facility where we also host concerts and banquets in addition to two full size basketball courts. So we needed something with lots of flexibility and, of course, we had a budget. We looked at all the alternatives, and in terms of bang for the buck, iLive hit a home run."

In its primary use as an 1800-seat sanctuary, the church has a 90ft wide stage along one of the long walls of the rectangular room. The iLive-176 Control Surface is positioned halfway back, with the iDR10 MixRack located backstage, connected by two Cat 5 cables. The system also includes the optional Aviom module which integrates wit

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UK - With Red Nose Day just over a week away, HHB reports that the Comic Relief media team is using FlashMic Digital Recording Microphones to gather interviews from participating celebrities, members of the public, and from those whose lives are transformed by the work of Comic Relief.

"The FlashMic has been used by Comic Relief to help achieve widespread coverage, which helps us to raise awareness of our campaigns and raise much needed funds in the process," says Comic Relief media officer Lucy McGill.

"Whether collecting soundbites in London, in any of the regions across theUK or at our international projects in Africa, the FlashMic has been invaluable."

Commenting on the news from Comic Relief, HHB managing director Ian Jones says: "The FlashMic is all about making it easy to record and deliver great results, and that makes it useful for gathering

  1. White Light will rock around the UK
  2. Stage Electrics provides for Opera Ireland
  3. Yamaha Ethersound network distributes The Dolphins
  4. Community called to the bar in Coconut Creek
  5. Warhol comes alive with Meyer Sound
  6. Sennheiser hits at The Brits
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