Business

Details
UK - MSP (Merseysound Productions & Staging) was announced as the winner of Grass Roots' Premier Partner award for delivering exceptional service over the past year. The Liverpool-based company has helped Grass Roots' live event production team produce events both nationally and internationally.

Nick Bender, global head of events at Grass Roots, said: "With each event we need to be able to rely on our supplier partners to help us deliver a perfect experience every time. These awards recognise that MSP consistently go the extra mile for us and demonstrate our sincere appreciation in having such trusted partners on whom we can always depend."

The MSP team were nominated for being excellent ambassadors for Grass Roots and their clients, consistently responding to tight deadlines while exceeding expectations, and donating AV equipment and staff for the charitable event <

Details
UK - A one-off concert was staged at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, featuring Avraham Fried, a popular musical entertainer in the Orthodox Jewish community, and David Fisher, best known for his Broadway performance as Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables.

Jonathan (Speedy) Cole who was LD for the show, reports: "This Concert was a result of over a year of planning. The producer, Danny Kaizler from Israevents paid attention to every musical detail in the show, so I had to come up with a Lighting rig to allow a reaction of lighting to each and every musical point.

"We had rehearsals in the venue on the Friday, followed by a get in time of 05:00 on the day, having the ability to use the Vector PC, meant that I was able to programme each and every cue off site, using Wysiwyg. As we got in, whilst the crew off loaded the trucks, we ran 130m of n

Details
UK - When LexisNexis, a supplier in the business information market, decided to revamp the PartnerPoint meeting room at its London office, it approached Projection Advertising for inspiration and guidance. The brief was to transform a rather outdated meeting room into a leading edge media suite.

After exploring various options they were sold on the AdWindow, the projected capacitance touch screen, using Paradigm AV touch foil technology.

It was essential that the system could be used to access information in the LexisNexis annals - claimed to be the largest online archive of legal and accounting resources in the world. A Windows based platform, AdWindow integrated seamlessly into the established network - the core of the company's business - putting information at the user's fingertips.

Projection Advertising provided a turnkey solution which included fabricating custom brac

Details
UAE - The new Terminal 3 and Concourse 2 at Dubai International Airport were commissioned last October. Prior the grand opening Berlin-based Rahe-Kraft measured all halls for good speech intelligibility of the PA-system. One of the key tools was the portable Acoustilyzer AL1, which saved them a lot of time in their project - the STI-PA measurements could be completed faster than expected.

Rahe-Kraft was appointed to design, predict and commission the complete public address system for the new Dubai airport terminal. The system consists of approximately 4.000 ceiling loudspeakers, 600 passive arrays and about 140 active arrays. Only 18 active DSP-controlled loudspeakers service the huge baggage claim hall (235 x 220m).

The commissioning of the system was conducted by Jakob Kraft personally. Due to the large distances, wired measurements were impossible in many areas, thus a han

Details
UK - Pearce Hire has continued its ongoing investment in hire stock when it recently took delivery of 20 i-Pix BB4 units, complete with flightcases, along with a full range of hanging hardware and optional lenses.

Pearce Hire MD Shaun Pearce commented: "We've been waiting for the right time to make a significant investment in LED products. With the rapid development of LED fixtures over the last few years we've seen fixtures going out of fashion (and so becoming obsolete) very quickly, so we have found it more cost effective to sub-rent, enabling us to provide clients with exactly the right tool for the job.

"With the i-Pix BB4 we feel we've finally found a well designed fixture that will last. It has excellent output and a variety of lens and mounting options which mean it's adaptable to a large number of applications; as a hire company that is an essential feature

Details
UK - Causing the biggest stir for many years amongst audiences and industry professionals alike with the sheer scale of its design and construction is U2's current 360° Tour.

The now-famous 'Claw', designed by the combined talents of show architect Mark Fisher and long-time U2 collaborator, show designer/director, Willie Williams, forms a 28m high canopy over one of the largest stages ever toured.

Pivotal to the 'Claw' is a central spire or pylon, 50m high and loaded with 34 PRG Icon 2 'Bad Boy' moving lights and two 600mm mirror balls, which has been developed and fabricated by UK staging company, Brilliant Stages.

"Working with Jeremy Lloyd of Stufish to Mark Fisher's design, we devised a construction that would withstand the rigours of a 44-date, international tour of outdoor arenas and stadia, yet which would also be easy to erect and transport," exp

Details
The Netherlands - Since its inception 34 years ago, the North Sea Jazz festival has grown to be the biggest jazz festival in the world, this year featuring a relentless schedule for its technical crews, with over 1500 musicians performing in 15 different venues over three days. Fast and accurate communication between technicians was crucial, which is why rental company Ampco specified ASL Intercom systems for the 13 main stages at the event.

Taking place between 10-12 July in and around Rotterdam's Ahoy complex, the festival takes in a wide variety of jazz-related musical styles - from traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop and free jazz to fusion, avant-garde, blues, gospel, funk, soul, hip hop, R&B, world and Latin beats. Around 23,500 visitors each day enjoy the diverse music on offer, with the very swift turnarounds between acts meaning technical crews having to be crystal

Details
UK - Two Soundcraft Vi6s have been specified by Academy Music Group to take care of mixing duties at the new £5m O2 Academy Birmingham, which opens on Thursday 10 September, with a sell out performance by Editors.

The Vi6s have the capacity to service FOH and monitor requirements as necessary on the 3,000-capacity main stage, 600-capacity O2 Academy 2 - and a third live room which holds 250.

Adlib Audio has been retained by AMG for this latest development, having installed multiples of Soundcraft's digital desks in AMG's most recent venues, O2 Academy Leeds and O2 Academy Sheffield.

The brace of Vi6's in Birmingham will move easily and quickly around the expansive 45,000sq ft venue, as part of the standard flight-cased touring package.

Commenting on the purchase, AMG's group technical manager, Ed Jackson says: "The new V3.0 software upgrade has taken the desk to

Details
UK - TOA's NX-100 Network Audio Adapter has been chosen as the hub of a new PA/VA installation at a large chemical plant in Wales. Specialist systems integration firm PAS Sound Engineering selected the NX-100 because of its ability to convert analogue audio into digital packets for transmission over an IP-based network.

Jeff Vaudrey, managing director, of PAS Sound Engineering explains the background to the project: "Our client was an international chemical manufacturer that had a 160-acre site in south Wales. For years their PA system was linked via ageing telephone cables, and we were approached to see if we could provide a solution to the unreliability and poor audio quality which plagued the existing system."

Vaudrey believed that TOA's NX-100 could form the basis of a new system comprising 16 outstations spread across the site, using the client's existing IT net

Details
UK - With 13,000 students from over 120 countries, the University of Aberdeen is committed to making education accessible to as many people as possible.

The University has been exclusively using Ampetronic designs and equipment for its induction loop systems for several years, with over 100 currently installed, as its AV manager David Walton explains, "In the past, we got whichever company won the tender to do an AV installation to supply and install the induction loop. But we ran into problems because people weren't as skilled as installing them as they thought and we started to have problems with spill from adjacent rooms, and so on.

Recently the university's Fraser Noble Building has undergone major refurbishment, which has included the complete overhaul of five teaching laboratories. As with all such projects at the university, the opportunity was taken to install the

Details
UK - Arena Television employed their new Optocore system to provide audio broadcast feeds for BBC Two and BBC Three at this year's Glastonbury Festival. The systems were purchased for Glastonbury from Optocore's UK distributor, HD Pro Audio.

To cover the event, Arena provided two OB Trucks for the Other Stage and the BBC Introducing Stage, a large VT truck for the BBC4 and Interactive and Red Button operations and two OB Trucks for BBC2 and BBC3.

The two OB Trucks for BBC2 and BBC3 were each linked via Optocore to the respective BBC2 and BBC3 backstage studios, each feed carrying presenters plus various bands' acoustic sets. A further Optocore run linked the two Scanners to provide full redundancy of the Optocore system. The Optocore systems consisted of 2x 48 in/16 out stageboxes, comprising 2x X6P-16 In, 2x X6P 8/8 and 1x DD32E with 2x DD4ME MADI Interfaces. These were then

Details
UK - Stage Electrics supplied specialist technical lighting equipment to BBC Radio 1's production of Scott Mills the Musical at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The production was performed over three evenings from 11-13 August at the Pleasance Theatre.

The regular Scott Mills Show is currently broadcasting live to Radio 1 listeners from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Scott Mills and his team are attempting to stage Scott Mills The Musical.

Stage Electrics is supplying a variety of equipment to the production including Martin MAC moving lights, Source Fours, Martin Mania Oil Effect Units, Teclumen Follow Spot Kits and all associated cabling, dimming and distribution units. Nic Holdridge is the lighting designer for the show.

Paul Roughton, business development manager and part of the 'Edinburgh Support Team' at Stage Electrics comments: "We are del

Details
UK - Tascam, the professional audio products division of Teac Corporation, has established a dedicated sales and support service for the professional AV sector in the UK. The initiative is intended to promote the advantages of the professional audio company's new solidstate recorder series, which offers digital media storage, playout and network management capabilities for AV installer and integrator applications.

Tascam AV UK, headed up by sales and support manager Gary Maguire, is focussing resources on the installer and integrator sectors to promote the technological and operational advances offered by the new solidstate products in applications currently fulfilled by various disc media, cassette tape and commodity PCs. The new products offer the advantages of Compact Flash (CF) card and USB media with no moving components, file based media management, removable storage devic

Details
Italy - Wireless Solution Sweden AB recently helped make a monumental concert possible in a delicate setting. Rome authorities rarely give permission for concerts to be held inside the Colosseum but made an exception for Andrea Bocelli to sing in a benefit to help victims of the 6 April Italian earthquake.

Bocelli, together with conductor Marcello Rota and the Symphonic Orchestra of Abruzzo put on a spectacular and emotional 90-minute concert, broadcast live across Europe.

The concert was produced and organised by Four One Music & Events in collaboration with Comune di Roma and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of the Capital. Bocelli sang 12 arias and Neapolitan songs to an audience of several hundred people who paid 1,000 euros ($1,400) a ticket to witness the historical event. The proceeds of the evening were given in support of Abruzzo, to help rebuild the music con

Details
Australia - ARX Systems has announced the appointment of Korschenbroich based IAD GmbH as its new distributor for Germany.

ARX managing director Colin Park commented: "IAD's Frank Swierzy who I've known for some time approached me and outlined IAD's plans to expand the range of professional audio manufacturers they represent and their presence in the German Professional Audio market generally.

"Frank and I quickly concluded that the ARX product range is a very complementary fit with their new direction. From an ARX perspective IAD offers us a stable distribution platform in the German market, enhanced by their extensive regional rep and dealer base.

"ARX is looking to working with Thomas Schrill, Frank Swierzy and the team at IAD to expand ARX's user base in the all important German market."

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Litestructures has announced the appointment of Nippy Industries as a new hire partner. Industry rigging Guru Steven Williams, managing director of Nippy Industries has been involved in many high profile events during his 23 year span in the industry, including The Rolling Stones and Madonna tours.

Nippy Industries has chosen Litestructures to increase their staging by taking a stock of 60 LiteDeck. Williams comments: "We have chosen Litestructures staging due to its versatility and ease of installation. This is rapidly becoming an industry standard product and our association with Litestructures not only gives us flexibility of stock but also compliments our outdoor roofing structures. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Litestructures over the coming months and years."

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - The recent A.C. Entertainment Technologies Video & Lighting Open Day was a great success, says the company, with a high industry turnout taking the opportunity to see the company's extensive stockholding of leading video and lighting technologies under one roof.

Specialists from A.C., as well as manufacturer representatives, were on hand to discuss how the two technologies are increasingly converging to provide innovative backdrops, set pieces and other video-based elements. The showcase included video projection and associated equipment, creative LED surfaces and LED lighting products from Christie, Chroma-Q, Element Labs, GLP, Green Hippo, GTEK, Kramer, Martin, Robe and TV One.

Lighting designer Bernie Davis commented: "I was delighted that the A.C. event was on a day I could go as I find these meetings are a good way to get a closer look at all that is new. The eq

Details
UK/Cyprus - Cooper Controls reports that the ORB lighting controller, the newest theatrical lighting console from Zero 88, controlled the opening ceremony of the eighth Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) held in Cyprus in June.

Production designer, Ben M Rogers, chose the ORB to control the opening ceremony after receiving a product demonstration at the ProLight&Sound show held earlier this year in Frankfurt. "I have used the ZerOS based consoles for many years now with the Frog 2 making regular appearances in Cyprus for large scale events," reports Rogers. "What was significant about the ORB was the re-structuring of the control surface into a more theatrical style and the numerous updates and enhancements to the already strong operating system."

These recent developments include a colour picker and a full tracking back-up solution. "The track

Details
UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics, local distributors for Electro-Voice speakers, amplifiers and processors in the United Arab Emirates, has recently supplied the ZxA5 active speakers to locally based rental firm Epic Events.

The Electro-Voice ZxA5 combines the performance of DVX and ND2 with a high-output, dual-channel, integrated amplifier. In addition to its sonic abilities, the ZxA5 retains all of the functionality of the passive Zx5 in terms of accessories, mounting options, and multi-angle monitors.

"The combination of the 20 pieces of ZxA5 active speakers and Van Damme Ambicore cable is a great addition to Epic Event's rental inventory," commented Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager. "We have heard great feedback from both musicians using the speakers as monitors and from Epic Events on the portability of the system."

(Jim Evans)

Details
Denmark - Aalborghallen, part of the Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre - a multi-purpose conference venue in the Northern Jutland region of Denmark - has taken delivery of a range of ETC dimming and control equipment following a refitting at the end of last year.

S°ren Jørgensen, sales director at ETC's Danish dealer Bico says: "The venue had a short time period in which to swap out its old equipment and install the new, which consisted of an Eos control desk, remote focus unit (RFU) and three racks of Sensor dimming. In all, we installed 280 ways of dimming and four gateways around the building.

"We only had six weeks from getting the request for quotation to completing the installation and training the staff. But because the venue's previous desk was an ETC Expression, which uses the same style of programming syntax, the technical staff quickly got the h

Details
The Great Green Debate - U2 guitarist The Edge has defended the size and cost of their current world tour. Last month, protests delayed the removal of the custom-built set from Ireland, and it also came under fire from Talking Heads singer David Byrne. The three steel structures cost between £15m and £20m each, offering a largely unobstructed view of the rock quartet. Speaking to BBC 6 Music backstage at Wembley, The Edge said, "We're spending the money on our fans, I don't think there's a better thing you could spend it on."

Despite it being the most ambitious stage set of any band's world tour, topping the likes of Madonna and The Rolling Stones, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne was not impressed. He slammed the band on his blog and said their world tour costs were "excessive", considering their stance on world hunger. He wrote: "$40 mill

Details
Canada - Audio-Technica reports that over 3,000 of its microphones will be used at the XXI Winter Olympic Games, coming up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in February 2010. The use of Audio-Technica microphones for the broadcast of the 2010 Winter Games marks the continuation of A-T's Olympic involvement, which has been consistent since the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996.

Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver (OBSV) is the Host Broadcaster for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, responsible for producing and distributing audio and video coverage of the Games. To generate an international production, OBSV will deploy all cameras, develop graphics, and capture audio at each sporting venue. OBSV will transmit this international production to all radio and television Rights Holding Broadcasters, who will adapt the signal for transmission on their networks. In this way, each na

Details
Austria - Vienna's Großer Musikvereinssaal has developed an assortment of AKG microphones to provide unmatched sound quality. The Großer Musikvereinssaal, known to many as the Golden Hall, is home to Vienna's Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra's famed annual New Year's Day Concert. With a worldwide television audience tuning in every New Year's Day since 1959, the world-renowned architectural acoustics needed more; they needed a fully stocked sound system complete with AKG C 12 VR's, K 702's and WMS 400 wireless system.

The Golden Hall is more than just a concert venue; it also hosts numerous lectures and public readings. Because it handles so many types of public events, there is a need for a high-quality sound system that is met with four channels of the AKG WMS 400 wireless system. A mobile lectern has been equipped with a CK 33 capsule on a modified GN 50 goos

Details
UK - Gloria Estefan swept into the UK in late July, headlining at the Summer Pops Music Festival at Liverpool's Echo Arena. The tour, intended to be her last, has covered Latin and South America plus European festival dates, and is being supplied with a Midas XL8 Live Performance System and Klark Teknik DN9696 hard disc recorder by Clair Brothers Audio.

By the time the tour arrived in Liverpool, FOH engineer Mark Dowdle had clocked up around 50 shows on the XL8. "I was searching for something that would give me the facilities I need for a show of this size: normally more than 100 inputs," he says. "I've used some digital desks which allowed me a lot of inputs on a small surface but they didn't give me the sound I was used to getting, so I gravitated back to analogue."

As a longtime Midas user, when Dowdle heard about the XL8 he looked into spec'ing o

  1. Triple E updates cinema screen for National Gallery
  2. Dutch rental company invests in E-V
  3. Cloud Electronics confirms Irish distribution
  4. Implementing BS 8901:2009 - PLASA launches new two-day course
  5. Carbon Clean Up Campaign is back
  6. AP Security at Henley Festival
Page 1088 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .