Business

Details
UK - Shropshire-based equipment supplier Alana Ecology reports that it has just passed a significant milestone, selling its 300th Edirol R-09HR hand-held digital recorder, on this occasion to the National Trust.

Since 1981, bats and their roosts in the UK have been protected by law. Several thousand people are involved in the monitoring of different bat species and the assessment of their conservation needs, and, at the heart of the bat workers's kit bag, can be found a high-spec portable digital recorder or the Edirol R-09HR, as recommended by the Bat Conservation Trust.

"The R-09HR has been very well received among bat workers for its ease of use and high-quality results," explains Andrew McLeish of Alana Ecology. "Typically they are using it for recording and analysing calls to identify bats in the field, so its simple operation - with a nice big record butto

Details
UK - Six employees from the Royal Shakespeare Company will be cycling from Stratford-upon-Avon to Amsterdam this June. Members of the company's Lighting, automation, transformation and porters departments, together with two freelance lighting technicians, will embark on their 369 km trek from the RSC's Courtyard Theatre at 10am on Thursday 11 June.

The idea was the brainchild of RSC head of lighting, Vince Herbert who says: "When I first suggested the bike ride, the instant reaction from my colleagues was laughter - for some reason they don't think a 50-something like me will be able to manage it. But Holland is very flat, so it can't be that hard, can it?"

The Stratford group will be joined by an additional four cyclists, including representatives from lighting equipment suppliers, White Light, who will begin their expedition in London.

After a journey that includ

Details
Australia - As a general rule, winter in Melbourne is a rather cold, dull and drab experience and not one renowned for its abundance of colour. That was until last year, when the colourful LED artwork maxims of behaviour lit up the winter skyline on the façade of the Royal Mail House building, located on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets in the heart of Melbourne.

June 2009 sees the return of this artwork that transforms this distinctive 1960's era building that had been quietly and unobtrusively minding its own business for over 40 years. As part of an initiative to increase awareness and create more talking points around Melbourne, The Melbourne City Council launched its Illuminating Melbourne initiative, which called for proposals from Australian artists to create a significant new public artwork within the Melbourne CBD.

The proposals needed an empha

Details
UK - A.C. Rigging has been appointed as a distributor for Youngman Group's range of professional access equipment and their growing range of event solution products, including a new Aluminium Crowd Control Barrier System.

Youngman Group is a leading provider of access equipment and systems that are designed and manufactured with safety in mind. Founded in 1926, it has built an international presence in over 25 countries worldwide through partnering with select distributors.

Adam Beaumont, sales manager of the A.C. Rigging division, commented, "We are really pleased to be working with the UK's leading access products manufacturer. With their focus on quality, safety and innovation, the new Aluminium Crowd Control Barrier system is great product and a great addition to our product portfolio."

A.C. Rigging has the new crowd control barrier system available for immedia

Details
UK - Eat To The Beat is celebrating 25 years of service to the music, production and location catering sectors. The company celebrated in style with a party themed and catered for by sister company Upbeat Event Design.

The party was titled The Odd Ball and held in Buckinghamshire as a celebration for employees and friends of the company. The Odd Bal broke the norm of a traditional ball with a topsy turvy theme and a dress code of Black tie - but a bit odd!.

On arrival guests were greeted by serving staff disguised as 'living paintings' who served canapés through ornate frames dressed as Andy Warhol's Marylyn Monroe, The Laughing Cavalier, Botticelli's Venus and The Mona Lisa.

(Jim Evans)

Details
Slovakia - Over 100 Robe lighting fixtures made a stunning appearance at the 2009 Slovakian Miss Universe Pageant, an event on which they have a history, along with lighting designer Martin Kubanka.

The show was staged at the Sibamac Arena in Bratislava in front of a live audience of 4500, simultaneously broadcast live on STV1 to record ratings. It was directed by Thomas Eibner, and Kubanka also worked closely with DOP Vladimir ?ur?ansk? and set designer Martin Klang.

This year, the creative theme was nature and the scenic elements reflected grass and foliage, sea and sun. The overhead trussing configuration followed the wide lines and gentle V-shapes of the stage set below, presenting a coherent and highly attractive visual package to compliment the nature of the occasion and the 12 finalists.

Kubanka wanted to make a big impact with the lighting. He used 50 Robe ColorSpot

Details
Denmark - Lighting Science Group Corporation (Lighting Science) and Martin Professional announced today a distribution agreement that will give Martin access to Lighting Science's X16 DOTZ LED strings for global distribution.

The X16 DOTZ LED string has been well-received in the market since its introduction and will be marketed under the name FlexDOT in Martin's line of LED video products. FlexDOT has already been used in multiple projects across the lighting market.

FlexDOT is a string of (RGB) LEDs designed for a variety of dynamic lighting applications including video and other entertainment displays. Leveraging the DMX512 lighting control protocol, each LED capsule on the string produces a wide colour palette of millions of hues. This allows the user to create a personalised interactive experience through colour control, special effects and animation of each light point.

Details
UK - A.C. Rigging, a division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies, is hosting a series of CM Lodestar training courses at their Leeds premises on 15-17 June. Dave Carmack, entertainment product trainer for Columbus McKinnon, will be leading the training sessions along with Adam Beaumont, sales manager for the A.C. Rigging division. Over the three-day period, A.C. will be presenting two levels of training.

The basic level course on 15 June consists of an overview of the CM Lodestar Hoists. It includes practical exercises on inspection, maintenance testing and troubleshooting CM Lodestars. The course is suitable for technicians dealing with CM Lodestar products on a regular basis and is intended to provide a more comprehensive working knowledge of the products. A.C. will supply all technical documentation, certification of the training and lunch on the day.

The advanced level cou

Details
USA - Barco reports that three major band tours - No Doubt, The Crystal Method and the upcoming Aerosmith tour, are all debuting the new High End Systems' Showbeam 2.5 in their shows.

The Showbeam 2.5 is a new 2500-watt automated wash luminaire that features the Twin Beam technology, allowing two hard-edge beams to exit the fixture on command. Features include variable control over the Twin Beam's deviation and rotation speed, all with little brightness degradation, the ability to add incremental colour to the Twin Beam using the CMY colour mixing system, and a LED tracking system encircling the lens. It also features a user-changeable fixed colour wheel, a variable CTO and the ability to produce an 11-degree fixed hard-edge profile with fast colour change and Electronic Strobe. The profile can be rapidly zoomed from 11 to 33 degrees.

Butch Allen, No Doubt's lighting designer,

Details
UK - Oscar's Pizza restaurant in Kings Langley has always been a successful and busy rendezvous for locals and visitors, but owner Tony Russo had felt for some time that the sound was not quite right. As a music producer, he appreciates good sound and was sensitive to the fact that his restaurant lacked good even audio coverage which is an essential factor in creating good ambience in a restaurant.

He approached Bose, who put him in touch with local Bose Pro Partner, Pod 3 AV. A tight schedule meant that they had just two weeks to remove the old system, rewire and install a new Bose system, alongside designers and builders who were refurbishing the whole restaurant and creating a new bar area at the same time.

A combination of Bose FreeSpace 3 satellite cubes and flush bass, plus full range FreeSpace DS16 and FreeSpace DS100 speakers was specified by Tim Dyer of Pod 3, workin

Details
South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied lighting and power for the spectacular closing ceremony of the 2009 DLF Indian Premier League Cricket series at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. The show kicked off immediately after a knife-edge finish to the Series kept the 35,000 audience enthralled right down to the last ball, before the Deccan Chargers beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs.

Gearhouse's Tim Dunn designed the light-show for the event, - a fusion of Indian, African, Bollywood, Caribbean and American entertainment with special guest appearances by American rapper Akon, Eddie Grant and Bollywood superstar Katrina Kaif. The high energy show also included drummers, fire dancers, traditional dancers and a Miss Bollywood IPL South Africa model parade culminating in a massive pyro and fireworks show.

Four production companies were involved with the event -

Details
USA - When NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon debuted in the changing landscape of late night television grandMA was close at hand. Lighting designer Christopher Landy, who heads Brooklyn's Vibrant Design LLC, specified the console to control a large complement of moving and conventional lights which give the show a hip vibe while paying homage to talk show legends Johnny Carson and Jack Parr who worked in the same iconic Studio 6B at Rockefeller Centre.

"The grandMA is my board of choice for any show," says Landy. "A nightly show like Fallon is very demanding. The schedule is extremely tight and every night is a different musical performance and a different comedic bit. That doesn't leave a lot of cuing time. We need a console that can handle a large library of effects and is programmer friendly. Versatility is key"

For Late Night with Jim

Details
World - Britney Spears's Circus tour finds the pop diva bringing an in-the-round extravaganza to arenas across the US, Canada, and Europe. Montreal-based Solotech is masterminding the tour's sophisticated multimedia, lighting, and sound, including a highly integrated Meyer Sound system, which provides consistent coverage across the arenas.

"Today's audiences are quite sophisticated, and expect album-quality sound at every show, regardless of the venue's acoustics or other variables," observes FOH engineer Blake Suib, whose previous tour credits include Madonna, Prince, Guns and Roses, and Annie Lennox. "Meyer Sound has really been instrumental in providing the tools to achieve a seamless and cohesive sound to every seat of even the largest arenas."

The 360-degree system begins with 64 Milo line array loudspeakers in four hangs of 16 cabinets each, al

Details
UK - On 12th May 2009, Leicester's Curve Theatre welcomed students of technical theatre from across the country for the first of a planned series of educational open days at the venue. The event follows the ABTT Open Day also hosted earlier in the year by Stage Technologies at Curve Theatre, and was conceived as an introduction to automation for students of all non-performing theatre disciplines, from design to stage management.

Around 90 students and tutors from RADA, LAMDA, Central School of Speech and Drama, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Rose Bruford got a first-hand look at how the latest automation technology works at one of the most recent performance venues to be built in the UK. The exceptional environment of Curve Theatre allowed Stage Technologies experts to demonstrate the versatility, precision and capability of the hardware and software systems. The programme f

Details
Austria - With a long and colourful history to its name, today the Ronacher Theatre is one of the two leading music venues in the Austrian capital of Vienna, the other being the Raimund Theatre. Owned by theatre production company, Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, both venues are historical and cultural landmarks of the Viennese landscape. Following recent upgrades to the sound system, these prestigious theatres have now standardised on Lab.gruppen's dedicated installation C Series amplifiers.

According to Erich Hofbauer of ATEC Pro Audio, the exclusive Lab.gruppen distributer in Austria, a number of powerful four-channel Lab.gruppen C 48:4s were put through their paces on the musical Rebecca at the Raimund Theatre last year, driving the in-house high-efficiency coaxial APG Micro Axial FoH system. The reaction was extremely positive, and so the production company decided to inves

Details
UK - PEL Music & Media reports the completion of its fifth Bose Professional sound system installation for high street retailer Oakley.

Originally known for its innovative optical technology for sport professionals, Oakley, Inc. has grown into a world renowned sport and lifestyle brand featuring high performance sunglasses, prescription lenses and frames, goggles, apparel, footwear and accessories. It has a chain of retail platforms across the world, including six Oakley Stores in the UK.

Oakley chose Bose as its sound system and PEL for the installation work for its second UK Oakley Store - in Bluewater in 2007. John Pollard, Oakley (UK) director and general manager, took a hands on role in specifying the sound system.

"I took a far more proactive role in the sourcing of additional services and it was fitting that a technology driven company like Oakley should chose to

Details
Switzerland - Tele Südostschweiz, located in southeastern Switzerland, has recently installed a Studer OnAir 3000 console into the broadcast control room.

The installation of the Studer OnAir 3000 consoles into the new studios emphasise the necessity for clear workflows and an infrastructure that supports the production of daily newscasts and the administration of purchased programmes as efficiently as possible. The VJ's of Tele Südostschweiz have a total of nine HD cameras available, which allows them to directly record reports onto flash data carriers for additional broadcast versatilty.

The Studer OnAir 3000 operates with 12 faders in the main control room at Tele Sudostschweiz studios and is responsible for broadcasting Swiss newscasts, weather reports and talk shows. The programmes are then produced and provided by affiliate TV stations and are efficiently transcoded vi

Details
UK - There will be keyboards, but no traditional wind or string instruments, when a 'laptop orchestra' gives its debut performance at the University of Derby.

Laptop orchestras, of which there are only a handful in the world, use laptop computers to play music, but assemble before a live audience to jointly play a whole composition, as would a traditional orchestra.

Rather than have all the players just using ordinary laptops, the Derby Laptop Orchestra (or DLO) is developing a new range of digital musical instruments for its first ever performance, at 7.30pm on Friday 5 June, in Auditorium Three, at the University's Markeaton Street site.

The event is part of the University's 2009 Degree Shows, running from Thursday 4 June to Saturday 13 June.

The music could be made using Wii game remotes, engineered to produce sounds reflecting the player's motions, or DJ turntables whi

Details
USA - Hip-hop, duo Chester French , currently touring Europe, return to the US in July to begin opening for punk rockers Blink-182 on their North American summer tour. For every performance Chester French will perform through Electro-Voice microphones, mixed by Tour Manager/FOH Engineer Sean Peel.

Peel, a longtime Electro-Voice user, is a busy freelance tour manager and FOH engineer who trusts his EV mics to stand up to the rigours of touring. The new PL80's sound, along with its rugged, natural-feeling design, has made it Peel's go-to vocal mic.

"I love the PL80," says Peel. "It's awesome - I'm glad it's back with a vengeance. The PL80c is just like it was back in the day, but with all the advantages of state-of-the-art materials. And not only is it a great live microphone, it even works great when we're recording TV and doing in-studio stuff like that. But it

Details
Turkey - The end of May saw the spectacular opening ceremony of the five star Mardan Palace hotel take place in Antalya, drawing an illustrious international presence of celebrities and press. LSE, the Belgian based multi-media show company, worked with long-time collaborator Tara W Smith, the Australian creative director of Stargrace, to create a memorable visual experience for the opening.

The event, which took place over two days, was a high profile affair featuring presenters and performers including Sharon Stone, Richard Gere, Paris Hilton, Monica Belluci, Tom Jones and Seal.

Two multi-media shows took place over the two days, the first at the Grand Inauguration on 23 May, the second the following day at the Dance of the Scorpion beach party on the hotel's Scorpion Pier.

For the Grand Inauguration, Smith wanted to celebrate the historical influences, modern techn

Details
USA - The Broadway production of British-born musical Billy Elliot swept the board at last night's Tony Awards, taking home 10 of the 15 awards it was nominated for including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (for Stephen Daldry - who also directed the film version of Billy Elliot) and Best Performance by a Leading Actor for the three teenagers who share the role of Billy - David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish. It was the first time in the 63 years of the Tonys that three actors won for one role in the same category.

At the Creative Arts Awards, a special ceremony held prior to the main event and broadcast online at www.tonyawards.com, British theatre talent continued to shine as Billy Elliot won in six categories - including Rick Fisher for Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Paul Arditti for Best Sound Design of a Musical. The award for

Details
USA - SIA Acoustics has recently completed the design and commissioning of the P.C. Richard & Son Theatre in TriBeCa, NYC. The 5,500sq.ft theatre will serve as a live performance, recording, and broadcast space for Clear Channel Radio, which includes New York stations Q1043, Z100, WKTU, Power 105.1 and Lite-fm.

To meet the theatre's demanding performance requirements, two four-element arrays of Outline Butterfly C.D.H. 483 loudspeakers were specified, powered by Outline T7 amplifiers. Low-frequency reinforcement is provided by six Outline LAB 15 SP subwoofers, arranged as three cardioid pairs under the stage.

For delay, one array of three Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. self-powered line array loudspeakers is employed, with additional fill provided by Micra II SP self-powered loudspeakers. Both the Outline T7 amplifiers and the Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. self-powered loudspeaker include on-board DSP

Details
USA - Jeff Dunham has amassed legions of loyal fans with his thousands of sold-out arena, theatre, and comedy club performances, countless television guest spots, and three top-rated specials on Comedy Central. Building on this success, Jeff Dunham is taking North America by storm in 2009. Dunham's newest tour, Spark of Insanity, is playing to sold-out arena crowds. An Electro-Voice sound system from LIVE! Technologies is taking care of sound reinforcement.

The tour's extensive run includes stops at American Airlines Arena in Dallas and the HP Pavilion in San Jose. To meet the challenges posed by such imposing venues, Dunham and his crew needed a touring rig with a reputation for outstanding audio quality and reliability. LIVE! Technologies prescribed Electro-Voice X-Array and X-Line loudspeakers for the job.

The Spark of Insanity touring rig comprises 12 X-Lin

Details
UK - Baldwin Boxall has presented the staff of RAFT with two very heavy collection boxes. Over £400 was raised for the charity on Baldwin Boxall's exhibition stand at this year's International Firex. Visitors to the, now infamous, Plug & Socket stand were asked for donations in return for a glass of Harveys Real Ale.

The boxes were presented to chief executive of RAFT Leonor Stjepic and laboratory technician Julian Dye. The team at RAFT were delighted by the amount raised (£437.04) in such a short space of time. The charity relies heavily on donations such as this.

After a tour of RAFTs laboratories in Northwood, Nick Baldwin, marketing director, Baldwin Boxall, commented, " We had the idea of raising money shortly before the show. Although we have supported RAFT on other occasions, this is the first time we have used an exhibition for this purpose. The

  1. Volkswagen shifts gears with Soundcraft in India
  2. Yamaha ensure that life's no drag for Priscilla
  3. Milos flies high In Dubai
  4. A.C.Audio sets Soundcraft & A&H open day
  5. Chroma-Q Color on tour with Elaine Paige
  6. Hallyday's Route 66 rocks with Stageco
Page 1067 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .