Business

Details
UK - Boasting such a strong historic connection with London's Roundhouse - dating back to the late 1960s - it was fitting that more than 40 years after Martin Audio's pioneering installation at the venue, it should find itself hosting the UK debut of the manufacturer's next generation MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array for the duration of the iTunes Festival.

Although the MLA has been designed to take on venues up to stadium level, the Roundhouse has a capacity of just 1,800 (seated) and 3,300 standing - and being circular the throw distance is fairly minimal.

The design was set accordingly. With the newly created balcony also requiring coverage, eight MLA elements were flown at either side of the stage, with eight MLX subs in a broadside array, hidden under the stage apron. A further two flown four-element W8LC Compact arrays provided side-fills and four W8LM Mini arr

Details
India - October 2010 sees the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. ESG Arena JV (comprising ES Group and Arena Group), together with local partner d-artindia (Spaceworkz Group), has been contracted to provide Games overlay for three competition venues and 18 training venues.

The team is responsible for providing the temporary overlay for these facilities including more than 130 temporary structures, a temporary stadium to host the Rugby Sevens, power, grandstands, media facilities and lighting. The scope of the contract also includes maintenance during the Games and removal of the temporary overlay afterwards.

The local partnership has been set up specifically to deliver this £20m project, but the intention is to develop the partnership and to deliver future projects together in India as the desire to deliver bigger and better world class events in India is very a

Details
Brazil - Renkus-Heinz has announced the appointment of AMI Music International as the company's new Brazilian distributor.

Based in Sao Paulo, AMI is one of the leading professional audio distributors and project design groups in Brazil, with an impressive distribution network of audio and live sound professionals covering the entire region. The company offers regular training seminars and technical assistance to its user base, and also boasts an award-winning resume of high-profile installations that spans houses of worship, museums, convention centres, and the Brazilian headquarters of Fiat and Renault.

"Brazil is a vibrant country and a powerful, influential force, both in the South American region and beyond," says Rik Kirby, Renkus-Heinz vice president of operations. "We're excited to welcome AMI International into the Renkus-Heinz family, and we're confide

Details
India - Responding to the increased demand for its lighting products and technical expertise in the growing Indian market, lighting, control and dimming manufacturer ETC has chosen long time US dealer Barbizon Lighting Company as its official distributor in India.

With its newly established office in the city of Bangalore, Barbizon Lighting is a sales, service and educational centre for ETC products. Barbizon is also working with dealers across India to inform customers on the benefits of ETC's lighting technologies.

Barbizon brings its deep expertise in project management with professional grade equipment to the market. Says ETC CEO Fred Foster, "For more than 20 years, Barbizon and ETC have been working together to serve the lighting industry around the world. It is a natural step to work with Barbizon to provide the same excellent level of service and technology to the

Details
France - Opened earlier this year, La Source is a multi-function arts venue in Fontaine, south east France. As a new facility, the technical infrastructure was designed to be as high quality as possible. Three DiGiCo SD8s were specified for its two biggest spaces.

Comprising three spaces, the 'Big Room' with a capacity of 400-600, the Ampli (240 standing) and the Auditorium (119 seated), La Source has a tricéphale (or three-headed) function. The first is educational, with the teaching facilities of the city's Municipal Music School having moved into the new building. The second function is cultural - involving the local population in a range of events, both as audience and participants, while the third is artistic - providing high quality facilities for a wide range of live music and theatrical performances.

"Being a new building, the technical specification was de

Details
Love Parade Tragedy - Survivors of a stampede at a free dance music festival in Germany in which 19 people were killed have blamed organisers for the deaths. Witnesses criticised the decision to have just one entrance through a tunnel to the Love Parade, and said they had warned police about overcrowding. German prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the disaster.

The mayor of Duisburg told a press conference that it was too early to blame anyone for the incident. The organiser of the festival said that there would be no more Love Parades. "The Love Parade has always been a joyful and peaceful party, but in future would always be overshadowed by yesterday's events," , Rainer Schaller said. "Out of respect for the victims, their families and friends, we are going to discontinue the event in the future, and that means the end of

Details
UK - Paul Duffy's Pacific Sound & Light have purchased six PR Lighting XL250 moving heads from distributors MilTec (UK) - which have gone straight out on the Drifters' theatre tour.

It was when Pacific found themselves contracted to provide sound and lighting production on The Drifters theatre tour - where they were expected to turn the venue into an authentic 70s disco environment, using mirrorballs, that they realised their stock of premium grade moving lights didn't contain the one feature they needed.

Paul Duffy comments, "We needed something specific because our existing 250W fixtures didn't contain an iris, and in certain applications (with raked seating) we were blinding the audience sweeping downstage off the rear truss once they hit the mirrorballs."

Tony Bailey from MilTec visited Pacific last year and showed Paul the unit at the time. Subsequently, MilTe

Details
South Africa - Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E ATs and REDWash 3-192s were a major feature of the spectacular lighting design by Tim Dunn and Hugh Turner that caught the eye of a global TV audience and the 95,000 vuvuzela blowing football fans who packed into Soccer City Stadium, Soweto, Johannesburg ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.

Dunn and Turner collaborated closely on the design and specification of the equipment, all of which was provided by Gearhouse South Africa, the main technical suppliers for the Closing Ceremony event produced by The VWV Group.

The lighting had to be big, bold and memorable to fill the stadium with awesome effects and WOW factors for the 30 action-packed minute show, which has been acclaimed as among the best and most visual World Cup ceremonies to date, a challenge to which Dunn and Turner rose with characteristic zeal!

They needed the

Details
UK - Sennheiser equipment has been a major component of Glastonbury's audio set up for a number of years and the Festival's 40th Anniversary, held in late June at Pilton, Somerset, once again saw the company's products play an important part in proceedings.

When South West Audio approached Sennheiser UK for support in supplementing some of their own microphones and radio equipment for the Park area's main stage and the BBC Introducing stage at this year's event, Sennheiser's long-term relationship with the production and sound company was further cemented through the assistance it was able to give them.

Most of the microphones Sennheiser provided matched South West's own evolution wired microphones and included e 904s (toms), e 935s and e 840s (lead vocals), e 914 and e 614s (overheads), e 906s for guitar cabs and e 902s for kick drum and bass cabs. On top of this, South West

Details
UK - London's Clapham Grand is in the process of a technical upgrade which has seen the installation of a Martin Audio W8LC Compact Line Array, reinforced with multiple Martin Audio AQ architectural loudspeakers.

Designed to reposition the 1250-capacity, 100-year-old listed Victorian theatre from a pure party/dance venue to a leading-edge live circuit venue, live music and promotions manager Richard Beck called in Matt Bate, of F1:Sound Company Limited, to carry out the refit.

With the venue spread across three floors, with the aid of Martin Audio's Display predictive software, Bate has succeeded in getting the sound, from just four elements per side, firing evenly across the ground floor and to the rear of the first floor balcony (the two usable spaces). Low extension is provided off the stage by six WS218X (2 x 18) subs, groundstacked in threes stage left and right.

"

Details
USA - The Ritz Theatre in Hinton, WV, first opened its doors in 1929 as an opera house. Listed in the Theatre Historical Society of America, the Ritz has reopened to celebrate its 80th anniversary after an extensive renovation that included a new performance art stage, upgraded screen, central heating and air conditioning, and a powerful new sound system featuring Community Professional Loudspeakers.

The new system features a pair of Community SLS920 loudspeakers covering the main seating area, with the low frequency component provided by an SBS45 subwoofer in front of the stage. Two Community iBOX Series i2W8 loudspeakers provide front-fill coverage.

"The sound pressure levels we can achieve with the Solutions Series are absolutely incredible," says Charles Hatcher of Lewisburg, WV-based Alpha Music. "The voicing of the drivers provides seamless coverage throug

Details
Germany - Hundreds of thousands of fans followed the World Cup 2010 matches on giant screens in stadiums and city centres across Germany. As in South Africa, the Electro-Voice logo featured prominently in the festivities.

Wittelsbacher Platz in Munich was a case in point. Up to 2,200 spectators at a time watched all the matches played between 16 June and 11 July, enjoying high definition images on a 37sq.m LED screen - equivalent in size to two soccer goals - placed in front of the Siemens headquarters. The company created its own 'Soccer City' to celebrate the competition, and to make sure the party atmosphere stayed strong, commissioned DJs to serve up a musical cocktail to suit all palates.

The sound was delivered by an XLD line-array system from Electro-Voice, comprising 24 array elements and a battery of EV CP4000S power amps. Sound designer Michael Prinke commented, &quo

Details
China - Running for 10 days from 28 May 28 through 6 June, the 2010 West Lake (Xihu) Music Festival treated Hangzhou residents to performances from an international artist roster. Featuring international performers, including Angie Hart (Australia), Antaraxia (Italy), Pitchtuner (Germany), Aloha Hula Calles (Japan), and These New Puritons (UK), the 10-day music extravaganza was a mix of rock, folk, electronic, and pop. Local and Chinese acts also participated.

Music performances took place at several venues throughout the city and concluded with a two-day outdoor concert series at the West Lake Tiandi, where the stage setup included an impressive sound reinforcement system comprised of loudspeakers from the Aero Series 2 catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.

Hangzhou Sound Culture Communication Co, the sound services company contracted to provide the SR system for the main stage, assembl

Details
South Korea - The official cheering club of South Korean soccer, The Red Devils, named Seoul's COEX Mall as its official 2010 FIFA World Cup cheer venue. To accommodate the 100,000-plus fans, Seoul officials closed off The COEX to automobile traffic and installed LED screens, stages and sound systems. Despite the inner-city venue's challenges, crowds enjoyed quality sound, through EAW's KF740 and KF760 loudspeakers systems.

Elan Korea and TFOS Plus, two leading touring companies in Korea, called upon Chung-Bo Sound Inc., EAW's Korean distributor, to provide sound for the event. "EAW was used on two of the three stages. We needed to provide an incredibly high-output system that could intelligibly broadcast play-by-play action to the sea of red-faced fans," stated Hyungjoon Jee, general manager for Chung-Bo Sound. "These EAW units delivered beautifully."

Details
China - Located in the Meijiang area in the province of Guangdong, Meizhou's Hakka World Park is a multifunction village stretching on a 2,000-hectare area. Authorised by the People's Municipal Government, it is devoted to several themes such as research, education, culture, leisure, vacations and tourism.

The park is an important element of the latest five-year plan for the creation of Hakka, world culture village in Meizhou where the aim is to increase the citizens' welfare through the tourist industry and introduce the new 'global' Meizhou.

This ambitious programme also involves Proel through Suremax, its distributor for China. Proel installed audio ystems in several facilities in the village.

The 3D movie theatre hosts 3 NEOS152P loudspeakers, a ring of 12 EDGE25PB loudspeakers; two EDGE121SP subwoofers driven by three HPD3000 amplifiers and by four HPD3400PFC amplifiers

Details
USA - Barco reports that NVIDIA will be utilising a wide range of Barco solutions to present its breakthrough graphics technologies at the world's largest show dedicated to the Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) industry, SIGGRAPH, which takes place in Los Angeles this week. This will be the first time NVIDIA has built a 100% digital booth, eliminating all printed signage.

NVIDIA will present its latest technology for visualization professionals in an expansive and dramatic booth, featuring its 'Quadro Digital Theatre that will showcase presentations from guest speakers as well as company officials.

The dynamic stage will employ four of Barco's LED-lit, rear-projection video walls, the OL-721, a 70" display cube in a 2x2 format. On either side of the stage, two LCD 56" displays will be mounted in a portrait configuration to create a unique and compelling backdrop for i

Details
USA - The city of Sturgis, South Dakota is known to motorcycle enthusiasts as home to one of the largest annual motorcycle rallies in the world. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people flood Main Street in Sturgis and ride the breathtaking roads that connect the many towns of the picturesque Black Hills region. This year, the faithful will celebrate the 70th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, taking place from 9-15 August.

The first Sturgis Rally, known as the Black Hills Classic, was held on 14 August, 1938 with a race of nine participants and a small audience. The Rally has since grown into an event that has drawn nearly 13m people since 1990, with another half-million expected to flood downtown Sturgis this year. The full schedule of activities and entertainment this year includes burnout drag competitions, extreme motorcycle stunts, half-mile races and live concerts from ba

Details
UK - Lancaster-based Low Fold Audio Visual has recently installed a complete Fohhn PA system in the Great Hall at Lancaster University. Six Linea LX-150 line array speakers have been fitted in the main body of the hall, with six Linea AL-50 speakers used as balcony-fills. Two XS-4 subwoofers have also been included for roll out at larger musical events.

Powered by three Fohhn D-4.750 Class D amplifiers, the entire system has been networked and can be remotely controlled from a laptop running Fohhn Audio Soft 3.0 control software.

Supplied by Fohhn's UK distributor Systems Workshop, the new system was installed just in time for the University's 2010 graduation ceremonies. Low Fold director Mark Burford commented, "The Great Hall is used for both speech applications and musical events, so we needed a system that can enhance speech intelligibility as well as providing even f

Details
UK - With a number of operations spread around the Home Counties and the Capital itself and a 28 year history in event production under their belts, AVC Productions is always eager to introduce the latest technology to their clients.

Specialising in the corporate sector, they have produced more than 200,000 events since starting out in 1981. The company has evolved with the demands of its clients, offering a complete portfolio of event services.

For many years the company has turned to Christie as one of its principle suppliers of projection technology. Most recently, they took delivery of Christie multi award winning MicroTiles digital displays.

AVC's Head of Technical Services, Phill Pearce, ordered 55 of the modules after seeing them for the first time at February's ISE Show in Amsterdam.

"We have been a Christie partner for at least 15 years, but their major prese

Details
USA - Martin Professional's new M1 lighting console made its US debut in mid-May at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles at a concert event by Larry Hernandez and Roberto Tapia.

Sponsored by Spanish language radio station La Rockola 96.7 FM, the show was programmed on the Martin M1 in a matter of only three hours by lighting director and programmer Ed Motts, a 14-year industry veteran and one of the earliest users of Martin's Maxxyz series of consoles.

"The Maxxyz has always been good to me and the support has always been great," Motts commented. "I saw the M1 console early on and was initially interested because of the weight and the size, but it also has the same functionality as a big Maxxyz with a price point that is very appealing."

Motts used eight universes across a house rig of about 70 moving lights, dimmers and LEDs, and the event came off without a

Details
USA - DOE has announced plans for a new consumer education initiative that will be timed to the upcoming changes in light bulb regulation. The initiative will provide greater awareness of the overall benefits of the legislative changes and new, 'greener' technologies, such as LEDs and CFLs.

Joining DOE at the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Market Introduction Workshop in Philadelphia for yesterday's announcement were representatives from GE, Philips, Cree, and Osram Sylvania, as well as major retailers including The Home Depot, Costco Wholesale and Grainger. These partners are already on board to work with DOE in this effort, and its is anticipated that many more will follow their lead.

Millions of people will start paying a lot more attention to the common light bulb in the coming months, thanks to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). That's because the incand

Details
UK - A plethora of Midas digital systems were used across this year's three-day T in the Park festival held in Scotland earlier this month. Britannia Row deployed three XL8 live performance systems at FOH on the main stage, while Scottish rental company EFX Audio supplied two XL8s for FOH on the Radio One stage.

Midas digital systems were also very much in evidence as headlining acts brought their own to the festival. These included a PRO6 and XL8 for Dizzee Rascal; FOH PRO6 systems for Faithless and Florence and the Machine and PRO6s at FOH and on monitors for Paolo Nutini. Rap artist Jay Z also arrived with an XL8 system for his appearance on the main stage.

On the Radio One stage, it was in-at-the-deep-end for many of the engineers who were using an XL8 for the first time. EFX set up the two XL8s in tandem, using the 431 active splits to enable them to access all the mics a

Details
USA - Vulcan has been providing entertainers the ability to record while on the road with built-in recording studios as part of custom bus designs for their touring coaches. Clients of the Birmingham, Alabama area-based company range across all mainstream genres of music, from Willie Nelson and ZZ Top, to Garth Brooks and Timbaland. Most recently, Vulcan provided a coach for seminal hip-hop label Cash Money Records, home to best-selling artists including Birdman, Lil Wayne, and Drake.

The recent Cash Money Studio Coach conversion features Genelec monitoring - the Prevost H3-45 Luxury Coach employs a pair of Genelec 1038B Tri-amplified Monitors as the main monitoring system, augmented with a pair of 7070A Active Subwoofers. Cash Money's Studio Coach hit the road mid-June from its home base in Miami.

The new studio has a rear monitoring wall loaded with Genelec 1038B's, as well

Details
UK - Netherton lies a few miles south of Dudley, in the centre of the Black Country. It is bounded on three sides by canals, the first motorways of the industrial age and now one of the major tourist attractions of a revitalised area that has brushed off its blackened, sooty past and become unashamedly 21st Century.

This fits the new build that houses the Champions Church at Netherton to a tee. Designed by Level 7, the same team that produced the celebrated Waterfront at the nearby Merry Hill canal basin, their church is defiantly 'now' in design. The venue itself echoes the semi-circular shape of the building which, together with the raked nature of the eight hundred and fifty seats in the amphitheatre, presented the audio installation team with something of a challenge.

A d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system was chosen by Phil Goldsworthy and Tim Mortimer from Wigwam Acoustic

  1. Massive Attack hits Belgrade & Bucharest
  2. grandMA consoles control closing ceremony
  3. EV-innovation for Washington Houses of Worship
  4. Drumming for Jesus with Aviom mixers
  5. Tannoy QFlex at Kansas McPherson Opera House
  6. SOS responds to Minister's announcement on compensation
Page 1185 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .