Business

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UK - Vince Cable, the new UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills visited UK specialist LED lighting manufacturer i-Pix, as part of a tour organised by David Goddard, leader of Stockport Council, to illustrate the model of a successful economic regeneration project in the town of Greater Manchester.

i-Pix is one of a number of businesses in The 'Stockport Business Incubator', a project located in the Grade II listed Broadstone Mill complex in Reddish. It is a partnership between Stockport Council, the University of Manchester Incubator company and the Mill, which has transformed 40,000sq.ft of the Mill into a state-of-the-art workspace with business incubation facilities.

i-Pix was selected because of its commitment to producing low carbon lighting fixtures and solutions for the entertainment industry, and because of the company's continued success.

As i-Pix

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China - PRG has chosen Barco's video and lighting equipment for their installations at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The company was responsible for delivery and installation of the audiovisual technology in the Belgo-European pavilion, the United Arab Emirates pavilion and the opening ceremony. To bring the designs to life, PRG used Barco's LED, lighting and projection technology.

The most important inspiration for the designers of the Belgo-European Pavilion was the image of a neuron. This image, the 'Brain Cell', represents the central position of Belgium in the heart of Europe and showcases the great cultural diversity present in all major cities of Belgium. To enhance this overwhelming image of Belgium, PRG chose Barco's outdoor black LED displays, the TF-16BK.

The entrance features one 30sq.m screen, integrated in the glass facade, showing a combination of video clips an

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UK - SADiE recently sponsored In The Dark's high profile events at the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF), which took place in early May.

In The Dark is an organisation dedicated to celebrating and enriching the culture of radio documentary in the UK. Through workshops and live 'listening' events that bring together producers from around the world it aims to encourage a thriving community where radio can be easily accessed, enjoyed and discussed.

This year, In The Dark hosted a number of events in association with LIDF. These allowed audiences to close their eyes and open their ears to a world of aural story telling. Running alongside LIDF's programme of films and photography, it asked how story-telling through sound continues to enrich documentary culture as a whole.

All events were guest-chaired by independent producer Alan Hall (Falling Tree

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Australia - Prior to a much anticipated world tour, Crowded House played the West Coast and the East Coast Blues & Roots Festivals, plus a sell-out show at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney. The band's longtime lighting director Dave Harding was there at the helm of a Jands Vista control system comprising of a Vista S1, S3 and a couple of M1's driven off a MAC Midi with a laptop for backup.

Harding has played an integral part in the development of the Vista from the launch of the system at PLASA in 2004 until present day. "I had been working on it for a couple of years prior as a consultant to Jands," he says. "I designed the control palettes and had quite a lot of input into the fixture selector."

"I have a Vista S1 that I carry around in my backpack," he reports. "Once in my hotel room I can just plug into my laptop and it's got encoders, playba

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UK - At the recent PLASA Focus show in Leeds, Martin Professional gave visitors the chance to win one of their popular ZR44 smoke machines. The lucky winners were the team from Barnsley College's two-year, full-time level three qualification in all aspects of backstage management, operations and theatrical production.

Course leader Lee Flint and technical instructor Michael 'Fletch' Fletcher picked up their prize which is now in residence at The Shed theatre on the Honeywell Campus of Barnsley College but soon to move to new premises at the Old Mill Lane new-build site in Barnsley Town Centre.

(Claire Beeson)

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UK - The Lyttleton Theatre of London's National Theatre is one of the UK's most prolific hotbeds of stage creativity, which means its technical team has to cope with changing between very different productions on an almost nightly basis. With a DiGiCo SD7 recently installed in the South Bank premises, life is now a little easier.

"We have a connection with DiGiCo because we often use a D1 console for outdoor productions in our Theatre Square venue," says Lyttleton Theatre sound manager Yvonne Gilbert.

"So we had prior knowledge of the user interface, which helped our choice. But the truth is we looked at a lot of digital consoles and none seemed to do the job we wanted as well as the SD7.

"We're a rep house, we have a different show each night and they are extremely varied. We needed a console that would give us a wide range of possibilities, from mixing

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USA - In outfitting San Diego's Old Globe Theatre for Duncan Sheik's musical Whisper House, the sound design team of Dan Moses Schreier and associate designer David Bullard - who designed the audio for the current Broadway hits Westside Story, A Little Night Music and Sondheim On Sondheim - drew on years of combined experience to select the optimal equipment for every scenario of the complex audio production.

With an on-stage orchestra, a cappella vocal performances, large-group sequences and loud, complicated battle scenes transitioning throughout the entire play, they needed a verstile audio system and ultimately selected AKG's DMS 700 wireless microphone system and JBL VRX loudspeakers.

AKG DMS 700 digital wireless microphone systems were outfitted with a variety of AKG handheld mics, such as the C5 condenser, D5 dynamic, D7 dynamic handheld. The most i

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UK - The fast growing Sweet Potato Restaurant & Leisure Ventures Group has extended its latest restaurant concept - Kitchen Italia - by opening a second site close to Covent Garden's trendy Seven Dials.

With its big sharing wooden benches the lively fast-service basement atmosphere is brought to life by a background music system, installed by the Sound Division Group and featuring white Martin Audio architectural AQ loudspeakers, alternating along the vaulted ceiling, down the length of the room.

With its prime location next to the Donmar Theatre, and well-known in its previous guise as the Bunker Bar, Kitchen Italia specialises in fresh, homemade pastas and char grill pizzas.

The Sound Division Group has a long history with the operator, having carried out various installation phases at the leisure group's original venture, Hush in Mayfair, as well as the Villandry restaura

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UK - The BBC has equipped its two newest outside broadcast vehicles with Focal CMS50 active monitors. The two vehicles form part of a BBC Radio OB fleet that became fully operational this spring and will ultimately replace the oldest vehicles in the existing fleet.

The CMS50 is a two-way, bi-amped, nearfield monitor featuring a 5" mid-woofer and it is the middle size in the CMS (Compact Monitoring System) range, which also comprises the CMS65 and the new CMS40.

Garry Robson, of UK Focal distributor, SCV Electronics, said, "We presented the Focal CMS range for approval during late 2009 and were delighted when we heard that the CMS50 had been chosen over the usual suspects. One of our dealers, HHB, received the BBC order in early 2010."

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - The long-running German hip hop band Fettes Brot embarked on their latest tour of German arenas (Fettes/Brot Tour 2010) at the end of April to coincide with the release of their new dual live CD's, Fettes and Brot.

Initially the tour was planned to have taken place in smaller venues but, such was the success of the new CD that it quickly transpired that demand was much greater than expected. Many of the concerts moved to arenas with much larger capacities (ranging between 2,000-9,000) - and this leg will culminate in a performance at the vast, 20,000-capacity Lanxess Arena in Köln.

The variation in venue size had little effect on Gunnar Loose's lighting design as he had created it with sufficient versatility and scalability to be easily implemented in tour venues, whatever the size.

Loose has been working for several years with Fettes Brot, co

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UK - While preparing for their annual Asian cultural show, private school Merchant Taylors' of London was faced with a problem.

"We had a pre-order of eight MAC 250 Wash fixtures to help light an average-sized stage with an audience of over 400 people per night," states lighting designer Ben Yager. "Two weeks before show date, as we visited the hall for the second time, we suddenly realised there was insufficient power for the discharge moving heads we had pre-ordered from Stage Electrics. We immediately made a decision on what to do next."

Yager, who describes himself as a "Martin fanatic," insisted on using Martin products and remembered back to the PLASA '09 exhibition where the new MAC 301 Wash LED fixture was displayed. He was thoroughly impressed and fortunately Stage Electrics had recently invested in the new LED light.

"The low powe

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USA - Lighting designer David Pedemonti specified a Jands Vista S3 console to provide lighting control for a regional production of the hit US Off Broadway show, Altar Boyz. The musical comedy tells the story of a religious boy band trying to save the world one soul at a time.

Some of the original Off Broadway show's creators help bring to life this version produced by and at the Bristol Riverside Theatre, Bristol PA, with stage direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, and musical direction by Gary Adler. Lighting design was by David Pedemonti of APA Music & Pictures Inc., with programming by Nick Wyant.

Pedemonti was particularly impressed with the Vista's ability to combine big bold looks with the show's precise comic timing, and how quick and easy the show was to programme using the console's unique visually based lighting plot. He commented:

"When

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Singapore - Long-term Midas users, the Singapore-based Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC), have purchased their second PRO6 digital audio system this year.

FCBC, which attracts a congregation of up to 10,000 at its weekly services, has installed the second PRO6, purchased from Midas' Singaporean distributor Quad Pro, into its 1,500-capacity Touchcentre place of worship. The first PRO6 is already in fulltime use at the Touch Community Theatre.

FCBC's senior audio engineer, Philip Nadesan says, "The PRO6 retains the warmth of analogue boards yet adds a crisp 'sparkle' at the high end. The learning curve from analogue to digital board was surprisingly fast and smooth with the PRO6. The onboard EQ was a breeze to use and functioned like an analogue board. More impressively, there are four-mode compressors at the input channel and side chain functions.

"An unexpected

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USA - When the 2400-seat Verizon Hall opened in Philadelphia's Kimmel Centre for the Performing Arts in 2001, its automated rigging system seemed like the right choice to move the massive acoustic canopies as each concert required.

Before long, however, the hall's manager, David Thiele - now the Kimmel Centre's vice president of facilities and operations - determined that there were significant issues with the rigging. The hardware components initially functioned properly, but the software did not.

"We discovered early on that the software was not reliable," he said. "We had a series of problems with software bugs that had to be solved. There were unusual error messages that couldn't be cleared without a phone call to the manufacturer's main office."

As time went on, Thiele noted, the manufacturer's ability to help him waned as well - and then hardware pr

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UK - HHB Communications has supplied two RSS M-400 digital consoles, with RSS S-1608 Digital Snakes and stageboxes, for installation in an Outside Broadcast Vehicle newly acquired and fitted out by SECMedia, the AV arm of the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Ahead of the Church's biggest annual get-together at Camp Meeting in Wales, SECMedia has refurbished an OBV built by Sony Broadcast, once part of the Grampians TV fleet. Equipped with a new 48-channel M-400 digital console plus configurable digital snake solution, the truck will handle a packed schedule, recording and mixing for internet broadcast six programmes a day throughout the six-day event.

The South England Conference is the umbrella organisation that enfolds all the Seventh-day Adventist churches in the south of the country. Stefan Stanciu, leader of the 15-man AV and IT team, was the fir

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Greece - The Nuevo Trova is one of the latest additions to the vibrant night life in Athens. Housed in a neoclassical building in the centre of the Greek capital, the new bar/club is the work of Greek actress Katerina Papoutsaki and her brother John Papoutsakis. Their aim was to create a stylish and elegant environment for the people of arts to enjoy (although not exclusively) and also to provide a stage to express various forms of art, such as concerts with bands from all genres, theatrical groups and entertainers, stand-up comedy and high quality music playback.

The building had to undergo major internal surgery in order to meet the demands of a modern space whilst retaining the aesthetics and the feel of such an ancient structure. The sound was therefore a very important issue, hence the reason they turned to audio specialists and Peavey distributor, DNA Systems.

According

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Greece - Meyer Sound has announced Philippos Nakas as the company's new distributor, providing technical support, product servicing, and coordination of educational programmes for the Greek professional audio market.

The publicly listed Philippos Nakas has been supplying musical instruments and professional audio equipment in Greece since 1937. Today, the Athens company distributes for manufacturers including Robw lighting, Sennheiser, Klotz, and Neumann, in addition to Meyer Sound.

"We have been looking for a big name in loudspeakers for a long time now, and are very excited to add Meyer Sound to our offerings," says Konstantinos Nakas, managing director of Philippos Nakas. "The current economic state is driving a wave of new sound rental companies to the market and these companies are demanding quality equipment like Meyer Sound."

Philippos Nakas has es

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Australia - Sydney Theatre comprises an impressive 896-seat auditorium with outstanding technical capabilities as well as a sprung-floor rehearsal studio, spacious function room and stylish, sweeping foyer spaces.

Throughout the year, Sydney Theatre plays host to productions from the Sydney Theatre Company as well as dance and drama productions from companies such as the Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company and the Australian Ballet.

Since many recent productions have been specifying next generation lighting consoles such as ETC Eos, head of lighting Andrew Tompkins decided it was time to upgrade. After testing various consoles the undisputed winner was the ETC Eos range.

"EOS gives us a very powerful set of lighting tools to meet the expectations of today's designers, while providing a familiar syntax for operators moving up from our old Strand consoles,&quo

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Germany - Over 1000 visitors from more than 30 countries attended the recent Lightpower Open Days, hosted by the German distributor of professional stage lighting and show technology.

This international business symposium proved to be a major meeting place for the lighting and visuals industry. In addition to lectures by like Patrick Woodroffe, Rick Fisher, Manfred Olma, and Jürgen Schmidt-André, scores of guests from theatres, TV, concert touring and live events came to Paderborn to share the Open Days experience which took place in the Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum.

As well as interesting lectures and informative seminars, all guests were able to get an insight into the latest developments in the fields of control, video, dimming, networking, moving lights, spot lights, follow spots, LED sources, trussing, clamps, custom-made products, power supplies, gel strings and n

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UK - Over the weekend of 21-23 May, The O2 in London hosted its first fully staged opera-a larger-than-life rendition of Bizet's vibrant and passionate Carmen. To convey both the power and subtlety of Bizet's music throughout the 18,000-capacity arena, Autograph Sound Recording provided a massive Meyer Sound reinforcement system.

To cover The O2's main seating bowl, the production relied on left-right arrays of 16 MIlo and two Milo 120 line array loudspeakers each for the orchestral system, with 90 Mica line array loudspeakers dedicated to performers' voices. A total of 60 UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers serve as front-fill to cover the front rows and provide correct imaging of the performers.

"It's a fascinating project," says Autograph's Duncan Bell. "Starting with many theatre-based techniques and using 32 channels of radio and then applying them to a scale

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UK - When Peter Gabriel decided to promote his latest album Scratch My Back via select live shows with a 54-piece orchestra, an immediate concern was how the Front of House mix position would accommodate the exacting audio requirements. The answer was a DiGiCo SD7, with enough inputs to make Gabriel's New Blood tour both a reality and a major success.

Manned by Richard Sharratt, the DiGiCo SD7 was supplied, along with the rest of the audio rig, by Britannia Row. After rehearsals in Shepperton and a Paris warm-up gig, the tour took in dates at Paris Bercy, the Berlin O2, London O2 Arena, Montreal Bell Centre, New York Radio City Music Hall and finally LA's Hollywood Bowl.

With 10 first violins, 10 second violins, eight violas, eight cellos and four basses comprising the string section alone, the channel count was inevitably high.

"All the strings had Schoep

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USA - The largest annual Christian music tour in the United States - Winter Jam - toured the country from January until late March with acts like Third Day, Newsboys, Newsong, and Sidewalk Prophets.

One of the main visual elements of the set was a flown wall of upgraded LC Series LED panels supplied by Axxis of Louisville, KY. The enhanced panels were upgraded with many features of Martin's LC Plus LED panels including compatibility with Martin's advanced video signal processor, the P3-100 System Controller.

Production manager and set design duties for the tour were handled by Jerry Holcomb (along with his usual audio duties) with bands performing on a 360o set with views from all angles.

"Sometimes we'd get no one behind us and sometimes there would be a lot of people behind us, you just never knew. That's one of the reasons we used the LC panels - you can see t

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UK - Orbital Sound reports two recently completed installations with an ecclesiastical overtone.

The Emmanuel Centre, part of Westminster's Emmanuel Evangelical Church, commissioned Orbital to install a new d&b audiotechnik Q-Series loudspeaker system for one of its mainstream conference rooms, used regularly by political parties and large corporates.

At St George's Cathedral, Southwark, Orbital was brought in by the cathedral architect Jonathan Louth Architects to install a new Tannoy D-i5 system as part of a refurbishment programme of the Archbishop Amigo Jubilee Hall, in a joint project with CAFOD. In both cases, Orbital Sound was responsible for the system supply, installation and commissioning.

Located within a Grade 2 listed building, the conference centre at the Emmanuel Evangelical Church comprises the principal Auditorium that seats 1000, plus two smaller rooms with

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India - Robe lighting has appointed Mumbai-based Integrated Entertainment Solutions (IES) as its new Indian distributor.

The deal was concluded by Robe's sales director Harry von den Stemmen and IES's Rasesh Parekh at PALME Dubai, and IES will offer the full range of Robe products and comprehensive technical support across India.

Says von den Stemmen, "We took our time and researched carefully to find the right partner in India. It is a country with massive potential, and it was important to find a company that shares our visions and ideals for the future and has a real dedication to providing the superlative long-term customer service and support for which Robe is renowned."

Rasesh Parekh adds, "We are delighted to become part of the Robe Family. The quality of the brand and the commitment of the Robe team towards their products, future technologies and custo

  1. PRG appointed technical supplier for Eurovision
  2. Rosco Laboratories forms Rosco Architectural
  3. Surge in pro-audio companies for PLASA 2010
  4. Outline at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge
  5. Acclaim LEDs light Lindsay's trees
  6. Chroma-Q LEDs shine in Eurovision Song Contest
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