Business

Details
USA - theMovement, a non-denominational church based in San Marcos, California, has chosen the new Soundcraft Si2 digital console as the heart of its sound system upgrade. The church was making the transition into digital for the first time so the sound quality, DSP power and the ease of use were crucial in the decision-making process for the console.

"TheMovement church is very familiar with high-tech gear," reports Chris Matthews, an engineer of over 15 years. "We needed a console that had the sound quality and the power to be able to use all gates and compressors and EQs at one time. We wanted a console with history behind it and Soundcraft has a rich history including the Vi6, and their partnership with Studer is very appealing."

Matthews adds: "The feature I like the most is that there are no real pages I have to go to in order to get an aux or EQ

Details
UK - Adlib Audio supplied sound for the Love Music Hate Racism Festival 2009, staged at Britannia Stadium, Stoke, UK, organised by Stoke City Football Club and Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

The artist line-up included Reverend and The Makers, Beverley Knight, The New Beautiful South, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Ironik & Chipmunk, Helsinki, VV Brown, The Beat, Bashy, Mick Jones & the Rotten Hill Gang. Other musicians and performers including Pete Doherty, Eddie Izzard and Kelly Rowland spoke out against racism.

Adlib's team was crew chiefed by Marc Peers, the system was designed by Tony Szabo and Dave Kay was looking after FOH. They had to accommodate the assorted audio needs of all performers with quick changeovers, and so adopted a festival style flip-flop system at both ends of the multicore.

Szabo chose 16 V-DOSC speaker elements a side for the main arrays on 17m towers

Details
UK - Hawthorn has recently acquired a substantial stock of over 300 painted scenic backdrops on lightweight canvas which are now available for rental on a daily or weekly basis from both its Midlands and London warehouses.

The backdrops come in various sizes ranging from 10ft x 12ft right up to 40ft x 20ft. They have tie tapes and can also be suspended from our free standing pipe and base support system, offering lots of flexibility in hanging to suit every venue.

Themes include: Olympics, Underwater, Circus, Forest, Carnival, Nautical, Pirate, Motor Racing, Football, Tennis, the Jungle, Christmas/Winter Wonderland, 60's, 70's, 80's, plus topics such as Venice, Egypt, Paris, Rio and Africa.

Hawthorn's new battery powered LED up lighters are suitable for lighting the backdrops without the need for cables or power as they are self contained and last for up to 10 hours, offerin

Details
UK - Business for Lancashire-based Water Sculptures is on a high this month, wowing audiences around the UK with two amazing water installations that follow hotly on the heels of a year of fabulous events, says the company.

Water Sculptures has been in collaboration again with celebrated choreographer Kim Gavin and renowned production manager Chris Vaughan, for Take That's Circus stadium tour.

For the band's Back for Good number, performed on the stadium's central satellite "B" stage, a 7m high screen of water appears from jets concealed within the stage floor, which shields the boys from their screaming fans. As they walk into and out of the water screen, the water disappears and re-appears as though by magic.

Six tonnes of water are stored in tanks under the stage, which during the three minute performance showers the nearby crowds. Although they ar

Details
UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributor of professional audio products in the United Arab Emirates and exclusive distributor of Midas and Klark Teknik products in the territory, have sold the UAE's first Midas PRO6 digital live audio system. The client, Sound & Stage, is a major rental firm in the region with its office in Dubai Media City.

The Midas PRO6 Live Audio System is the second networked digital audio system from Midas, employing technologies developed from the XL8. "We have seen a great amount of interest in the PRO6. The sale to S&S was prior to the PALME event, so we were excited to see the third system in place for the show," commented Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager. He added: "The sale to S&S does not only provide greater momentum but cements the PRO6's position in the marketplace. We are looking forward to the

Details
UK - Katherine Jenkins performed a special one-off concert in front of a packed Birmingham NIA on Saturday evening, as part of the opening celebrations of the 100th Rotary International Conference. Together with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the international mezzo-soprano delighted the audience with a selection of classic arias, tracks from her new album and a rendition of 'We'll Meet Again.'

For the performance Stage Electrics provided two 6 x 4m LED screens, a DMX-controlled Chameleon LED Starcloth, over 100 moving lights including Martin MAC 700s, MAC 600s and Vari-Lite VL2000s. Lighting designer for the night was Neil Tremmell, who used a GrandMA control system. Stage Electrics also specified an L-Acoustics V-Dosc line array system for the performance audio.

The 100th Rotary International Convention is a week-long event held in Birmingham, likely to attract 3

Details
UK - Sunbaba created tennis branding which dominated Eastbourne's Devonshire Park for the AEGON International tennis tournament taking place in June, as well as spectacular tennis windbreaks for the AEGON Championships at The Queen's Club in London.

Sunbaba supplied over 800sq.m of digitally printed Ultramesh for AEGON International, which is a combined men's and women's tournament. Three panels were used to brand the main stadia consisting of one for each side and one for the rear, which was made up into one single section. The panels were secured by the edges being connected by heavy duty bungee cord to stretch the panel across the structure while seamless welded flaps hid the bungeed edges so that the tensioning system wasn't visible.

Sunbaba worked alongside rope access specialists Nawrocki Alpin for the install. Rope access allowed the team to carefully attach the brandin

Details
Russia - This year's Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest contest held to date, featured nearly 2,000sq.m of LED screens plus approximately 700 moving lights. For control of most of the massive lighting rig, lighting designer Al Gurdon used a grandMA system consisting of four grandMA full-size consoles and 16 x MA NSPs (Network Signal Processors).

One grandMA full-size plus another one as backup were networked via fibre optic cable with HP2626 switches and 14 MA NSPs. The MA NSPs were installed at the FOH position, and at the two main dimmer cities. From there the DMX signal was distributed to the fixtures. This grandMA also controlled one Catalyst media server feeding the decorative elements. A second system with one grandMA full-size plus backup and one MA NSP was connected to additional media servers for further video screens - the main video elements were handled by a Virtuo

Details
UK - Kensington Gardens in London was a favourite haunt of author J M Barrie, and provided much of the inspiration for his most popular work, the story of the boy who never grew up, Peter Pan. Now the park is playing host to a new theatrical telling of that story in a newly created 1000-seat tent.

The production brings together a creative team from across all areas of theatre, including director Ben Harrison, a leading exponent of site-specific theatre and artistic director of the Grid Iron Theatre company, and choreographer Fleur Darkin, plus set designer William Dudley and lighting designer Mark Henderson, familiar names from the National Theatre, large scale musicals and more.

Peter Pan gives Dudley the opportunity to expand on the dramatic computer-generated virtual environments for which he has become well known since The Coast of Utopia in 2002; that

Details
Cyprus - ALA Equipment Co. has announced an agreement to represent Christie in Cyprus. Christie is the first high end video brand to join ALA Equipment Co's distribution portfolio and part of a planned expansion to create a roster dedicated to the sector.

"Christie is leading the market in video projection, with an excellent and unique range for all core market applications," stated ALA MD, Andrea Piemonti. "We are very pleased to welcome the company to our portfolio and excited by the opportunity to provide maximum market exposure. Through Christie, we have brought three-chip DLP to our market having already successfully closed the negotiation with leading rental company, AVS, for three large-format three-chip high brightness DLP projectors."

As one of the first DLP licensees, Christie attributes its market dominance to the pioneering work carried out in t

Details
Belgium - ADB Lighting's motorised Daylight WARP Zoom profile spotlights have been chosen as part of the lighting rig at this year's Avignon Festival in France, the 63rd in the event's distinguished history at the cutting edge of French and international theatre and performing arts, from 7-29 July 2009.

The war of the Sons of the Light against the Sons of the Darkness, a show staged by Amos GITAI, will mark the opening of the festival at the Boulbon open quarry.

Among the various lighting fixtures selected for this show, the technical team has specified ADB's motorised "Daylight" WARP profiles. The fundamental criteria for this choice are the exceptional light output, repositioning accuracy, silent operation and the quality of the mechanical dimming.

(Jim Evans)

Details
Denmark - The new Danish broadcasting complex, DR Byen, in Copenhagen features a highly creative design inspired by the Middle Eastern Kasbah with a 180m long indoor street linking three segments housing the studios, offices, depots and administration, and one segment housing a world-class concert hall with seating for 1800 people.

Electrical installation company Lindpro made no compromises when selecting the public address and voice alarm systems for the complex. "We chose Bosch Security Systems for several reasons. They were the only producer on the market able to meet the challenges presented by the new complex, and also because Bosch had the widest range of loudspeakers," says Henrik Olsen, product manager responsible for PA and voice alarm system installation at Lindpro.

Each of the segments of DR Byen has its own specific requirements so it was not possible to

Details
USA - Built in 1894 by Irish carpenters, the elegant 1st Presbyterian Church in Cranford, NJ, is delivering clearer services to its congregations courtesy of a new audio system featuring Renkus-Heinz ICONYX IC8 digitally steerable array loudspeakers.

The historic Shingle Style sanctuary building features Romanesque rounded arches and good examples of American Opalescent stained glass windows, carefully restored in 2000 by members of the 600-strong church community. Inside, a cathedral-style ceiling meets white walls, soft carpet and wooden pews.

Mike Sinclair of New Jersey-based system integrators Audio Incorporated explained that a combination of desires - for both better acoustics and better aesthetics - on the ministry's part led to the choice of audio systems.

"It was partly an architectural and partly an intelligibility issue," he says. "They used to have

Details
UK - Baldwin Boxall's VIGIL EVAS system has been installed in the flagship Ikea store in Wembley. Installed by Logic Fire Systems, the 14-zone emergency voice alarm / public address system will ensure that, should a situation arise, clear, pre-recorded instructions will be heard, minimising panic and aiding safe evacuation.

The system will enable visitors to the store to hear clear general public announcements, listen to background music in the restaurant and be made aware of the store's latest special offers.

The system is accessed by a combination of microphones, each with descending priority; all-call emergency firemans microphone, EVAS 16-zone rack-mounted control panel, three 16-zone paging microphones and two local hand-held microphones. There is also a satellite input providing advertisement and spot announcements to public zones and a background music facility.

Contr

Details
UK - Edinburgh-based Tower Productions recently completed for the first time, the supply of all production, site, sanitation and concession power at this year's sell-out Rock Ness festival on the shores of Loch Ness.

Approximately 50 generators from Tower's own fleet and Aggreko provided power to all critical applications. All major performance areas had synchronised machines, resulting in interruption-free supplies for the likes of Orbital, the Prodigy, Placebo and many others.

Site lighting requirements included 8000m of festoon, approximately 100 floodlights and 30 towable tower lights all deployed by Tower's team of eight led by project manager by James Mitchelmore.

After nearly three weeks at Loch Ness the team is now off to power and light the Game Fair at Scone Palace, the Wickerman Festival near Kirkcudbright, the Countryside Festival at G

Details
UK - SSE Hire gave its new L-Acoustics K1 system its first airing at the Download Festival at Donington Park on 12-14 June, providing sound reinforcement for the main stage. The new system - L-Acoustics' long-awaited successor to V-Dosc - was an immediate success and contributed to what all agree was the best ever Download - the festival has already been named 'Event Of The Year' at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, which took place at the Indigo2 at London's 02 Arena, just 24 hours after Def Leppard closed the Download Festival with a momentous performance on the Main Stage.

"We made history last weekend on two counts." said Download boss and Live Nation's COO, John Probyn. "First, we produced the best rock festival that the world has ever seen and second, we listened to it through the best PA system anyone has heard!"

"Every single enginee

Details
UK / Australia - Polar Audio has announced its appointment as exclusive distributor for Australian Monitor in the UK and Ireland. The brand joins Polar Audio's already extensive product portfolio, which includes exclusive UK distribution for Aviom, beyerdynamic, Biamp, Dynacord, MC2, XTA and Renkus Heinz.

The company says it was chosen for its full coverage of market segments in the UK and its excellent connections with dealers, integrators and consultants across the UK market. Ian Hodgkinson, European Sales Manager for Australian Monitor commented: "We are delighted to announce the appointment of Polar Audio as our UK and Eire distributor. Australian Monitor has a successfully established product range in the UK and is set to expand in the coming months with the introduction of a new range of DSP solutions and digital amplifiers for the installation market. We feel that Po

Details
Greece - Adamson Greece distributor DN'A Systems general manager Takis Tsonopoulos, together with Adamson System's European technical support department, took a week long road trip around Greece, in an effort to visit all users of Adamson Systems. The trio made up of Tsonopoulos, Jochen Sommer and Adamson's newest European addition David Dohrmann, visited users and checked various details on the operation of the these systems.

The road trip started in Athens with NET Audio where a service upgrade on their old SpekTrix demo system was performed. From Athens, the trio continued to Key Sound's shop in Klidi, a small town near Thesaloniki to check on their SpekTrix system, after which they continued to Thessalonic to take a listen to Electrosound's Y10 & T21 Sub system. Sommer and Dohrmann looked into control and measurement systems used by the partner companies and verified each en

Details
UK - The annual May Balls at Cambridge University always generate a fierce rivalry between the various colleges as to who can stage the best. In 2009 Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University, had four stages at its Ball featuring Turbosound systems.

This year's event was particularly special as it celebrated 725 years of the first college in Cambridge and the 800th anniversary of the University itself and, with a Britain and its rich history theme, the event featured a wide variety of entertainment, from civil war recreations to the most contemporary performers.

Supplied by South London-based Subfrantic Production Services, the four systems had to cope with a remarkable array of audio. "The line-up was eclectic, to say the least," says Subfrantic proprietor and general manager Steve Davies. "For example, the main stage featured modern acts like Si

Details
Palestine - The Church of the Nativity, one of the most emblematic sites in Bethlehem, universally known to mark the birthplace of Jesus Christ, hosted a sermon given by Pope Benedict XVI last May, with the attendance of more than 10,000 people. The sound for the event was carried out by Antarelectronics, who opted for the Aero 38 line array systems.

In total, 16 systems, eight flown about 5m up on each side of the stage, were used. Low frequency reinforcement was handled by Aero 182 systems, two ground stacked on each side of the stage. The choice of the Aero 38 proved a success for the sound company, as the system gave uniform coverage across the square, providing high-end sound for one of the most anticipated events of the season.

This is the second time that a pope has visited the sacred Jewish site, the first being the visit by John Paul II during his pilgrimage to the Ho

Details
USA - Pro AV industry AC power protection and control leaders SurgeX and LynTec have now officially announced the formation of a strategic alliance.

Under the new agreement, LynTec and SurgeX will now be cross-pollinating their software and hardware engineering departments with the goal of delivering improved solutions for professional applications.

LynTec president Mark Bishop said, "Our customers have been asking for integrated power control and electrical protection systems, and there is no one we'd rather bring these solutions to the table with than SurgeX. The combination of our respective technologies will set the standard for professional A/V system power platforms moving forward."

Michael McCook, SurgeX founder and new business development consultant, added, "These two innovative companies have come together to collaborate on the most critical aspect o

Details
UK - After a successful initial UK tour and run in London's West End, Take That 'tribute' musical Never Forget is currently on a further, far more extensive, tour of UK venues. This is the first theatre production on which sound designer Richard Brooker has used a DiGiCo SD8, which he chose because it immediately addressed a range of the challenges that provincial tours inevitably throw up.

"As a sound designer, I have been quite faithful to established analogue theatre consoles like Cadac," he says. "But, as associate sound designer on Mamma Mia!, I was looking after a DiGiCo D5T and was very impressed by it.

"I also designed a production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Spain last year which used a D5T12. I got on fine with it and was very happy with the results, so when I heard about the SD8, I thought it sounded very interesting. At the

Details
Russia - The 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, held in the Olimpiysky Arena to a live audience of 18,000 and an estimated 200 million television and internet viewers.

Lighting designer Al Gurdon carefully selected all of the lighting equipment to meet the challenges of the production and the long wish list of the Russian organising committee. This translated to over 750 moving lights, 250 LED lights and 100 conventionals, extending to every corner of the arena, including the rig, balconies, floor and scaffold.

The roof load was a massive 140 tons, which was over the load capacity for the venue. The solution was to allocate 40 tons to a supporting scaffold approximately 100m wide by 22mhigh, and providing additional functions beyond just support.

135 Alpha Spot HPE 1200 fixtures were placed inside the colossal grid, arranged in vertical columns of five fixtures from top

Details
UK - The Institute of Acoustics' much anticipated new website has been launched with facilities for e-commerce. The new site, www.ioa.org.uk, which has the facility to make bookings for events and conferences, includes a new improved modern interface with various features designed to make the user experience more enjoyable.

As well being able to book online for some of the IOA's major events, users will also be able to order publications from the online shop. The new site also includes a newly developed online version of its Buyers' Guide for Acoustic Products, Services and Instrumentation. This is a searchable database of acoustic products, services and instrumentation, containing direct links to supplier's websites.

The Buyers' Guide comprises three main categories: consultation, instrumentation and products. These are then divided up (in the form of a drop-down menu) into i

  1. EAW installed in Palma's Teatre Principal
  2. grandMA at the Bollywood Oscars
  3. Zero 88 announces ORB UK training dates
  4. HSL equips top talent show
  5. Oasis breaks i-Pix BB records
  6. Shure triumphs in shadow of Mt Wilson
Page 1072 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .