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UK - Manchester-based DBN Lighting has once again supplied production, plus equipment and crew for the The Warehouse Project (WHP) club night.

Running every Friday and Saturday nights from September to New Year's Eve each year, the WHP unites DJs and live artists in an energetic, vibrant dance party environment, all staged in a former air raid bunker underneath Piccadilly station, which is part of the Store Street Car Park by day.

DBN's Pete Robinson created the production design which had to be flexible and offer plenty of variety for the 14-week season. Since WHP has been at the Store Street site, they have created over 70 rigging points, chemically fixed to the concrete shell of the venue, to accommodate decor and scaff bars as well as lighting and sound. Some are rated at 50kg and some at 500kg.

This year, there are three overstage trusses to light the bands and the DJ p

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USA - Opened in 1895, the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field has been designated by the NCAA as the oldest stadium still operating for football games. The stadium boasts a long list of history-making events, including the site of the nation's first scoreboard (1895), the nation's first two-tiered stadium (1922), the first football radio broadcast (WIP, 1922), the first football telecast (PhilCo, 1939) and Vince Lombardi's only NFL playoff loss (1960).

The University recently upgraded Franklin Field's ageing sound system with a new system based around R-Series weather-resistant loudspeakers from Community Professional Loudspeakers. Chris Dietze of Yeadon, PA-based Clear Sound comments, "We've seen Community R-Series in sporting facilities, amusement parks and cruise ships all over the world, in some of the most brutal climates, and we have total confidence in their

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UK - Viewfax Multimedia has installed a Bose sound system in the new TGI Friday's themed diner in Meadowhall, Sheffield.

The Bose system is designed to provide even sound coverage throughout this particularly challenging venue. As well as differing ceiling heights, there is a mix of large open seating areas right next to smaller enclosed spaces, and music volume is programmed to rise and fall at set times throughout the day and evening.

The Bose ControlSpace ESP-88 audio management system with a CC64 control centre gives a flexible means of selecting input, controlling output and modifying the performance of the system to suit the venue's requirements.

Discreet Bose FreeSpace 3 satellite speakers with bass support in the main dining areas, plus Bose 151s at the edge of the venue and Bose FreeSpace DS16F flushmount speakers in the toilets, give an even sound coverage through

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UK - DB Systems has won an intense pitch to secure a high-profile contract with design group, Rapiergroup to supply IT and AV solutions for BAE Systems.

The contract, which begins in February 2011, at Aero India, will see DB partnering with Rapiergroup to design innovative and bespoke IT and AV solutions for BAE Systems' exhibits around the world throughout 2011.

David Bulley, DB's managing director, commented: "BAE Systems is one of the largest defence companies in the world so I am delighted that Rapiergroup has awarded DB this contract.

"It was a tough tender process but I believe our experience working in the aerospace industry, ability to develop creative solutions, and track record of providing first class IT and AV support on a global basis, were the key factors to our successful pitch."

Chris Whittaker, from Rapiergroup, said, "We signed followi

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UK - Boulevard is a newly opened club in Newcastle upon Tyne and is home to Betty Legs Diamond, and DJ, Miss Rory. It's also home to 23 Chauvet fixtures specified, fitted and programmed by Nik Cook of Innovation Power from Sunderland.

The club boasts Broadway-style productions combining female impersonation with a chorus of show boys and girls performing everything from slapstick comedy to choreographed dance routines. And every show is performed in a dazzling array of costumes.

Cook learned of the Chauvet products while attending PLASA in September 2010. "He was blown away with the quality of the fixtures and amazed at the value," said Mark Oliver, Northern UK territory sales for Chauvet.

COLORado Batten 72 Tour linear wash lights are installed above the stage, while COLORado 1-Tri Tour wash lights are found in the wings. Above the audience are both COLORado 1-Tri

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Qatar - Stageco supplied an impressive temporary building, called The Drum, for the production of one of the largest events in Qatar's Oil and Gas Industry, organised by WRG Qatar LLC in Ras Laffan Industrial City.

Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas and RasGas held this prestigious event on 13 December, in honour of the three companies' achievements, when they joined forces to break Middle East records for producing 77 Million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG). To organise this celebration His Excellency Al-Attiyah established a multiple-discipline 77 Mta Task Force, compromising of representatives from Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas, RasGas, Ras Laffan Industrial City and a higher committee that oversaw all event planning.

WRG was appointed by the 77 Mta Task Force to be responsible for the entire event management; from the initial creative concept to production, including branding, ca

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UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK), distributors of Roland Systems Group (RSG) in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates has recently supplied Evolution Rentals with their first digital snake system from Roland Systems Group. The system includes the S-1608 Stage Unit, the S-0816 Front of House Unit and a 100m reel of Cat 5e cable.

"A quick demonstration of how compact and effective the digital snake system is made the sale to Evolution Rentals," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing manager. "Some of the key selling points of the system include cross compatibility, scalability, reliability and of course high quality audio."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Yamaha's DME series of digital mixing engines is proving a major success in venues where multi-functional use is required. One of the latest examples is at Pavilion Dance in the English resort of Bournemouth.

Intended primarily as a development and performance space for dance, the £3.3m Bournemouth Borough Council and Arts Council England project had to be able to host an array of events, including interactive workshops, film showings, conferences, theatre and live music. This is a not-uncommon demand nowadays, to maximise a venue's incoming revenue and make the most of the investment. A Yamaha DME64N was chosen to allow Pavilion Dance's audio system to be used for a range of purposes, yet keeping it very simple to operate.

The venue is located in a formerly-disused part of the town's Pavilion Theatre. Because

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UK - Thames Audio has purchased an L-Acoustics Kara modular WST line source system for its hire stock.

"The addition of Kara to our stock was led very much by customer demand," says Thames Audio's project manager James Tebb. "We had a number of clients who were specifying line array systems for their events. Having worked with a number of different systems, our preference stood very much with L-Acoustics, and we used dV-DOSC systems on a number of UK events, tours and festivals."

Following the success of these events, Thames Audio arranged a visit to L-Acoustics to listen to the new Kara system. "We were immediately impressed with the system as a whole," continues Tebb. "The Kara is an obvious progression of the dV-DOSC system. Sonically it has the 'L-Acoustics Sound', which has made earlier systems such as dv-DOSC a preferred choice for many

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Australia - The Cairns Civic Theatre, owned and operated by the Cairns Regional Council, has been presenting some of the best arts and entertainment available in Australia, since it was opened in 1974. More than 230 performances are presented at the theatre each year, ranging from local amateur shows to national and international touring extravaganzas.

For many years the theatre has been home to ETC lighting consoles, with the latest acquisition being an ETC Ion 1500.

"In fact we purchased two ETC Ion 1500 consoles so I can have one as a back up" says Jon Driver, technical manager for the Cairns Civic Theatre. "I also purchased two 2x20 fader wings and two 19" ELO touch screen panels. I've configured the system so that it runs ArtNet. I have a wireless network which runs the ETC Ion via an iPad.

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UK - A.C. Special Projects has provided a multi-zone audio solution for the Da Mario Italian restaurant. Located a short walk from Kensington Palace in London, the 120 year old building's architecture merges Venetian and Gothic styles and was commissioned by Queen Victoria. In addition to the main ground floor restaurant, the venue features a basement level separated into a bar, a DJ dancefloor used for disco music nights and private parties, and a further smaller dining area.

When Da Mario wanted to centralise control of separate sound systems in each zone, they approached A.C. Special Projects to provide a multi-zone audio distribution system enabling independent control of the music volume level and multiple sources in each room via a remote panel.

A.C. Special Projects specified, supplied and installed a Cloud Z4 multi-zone venue mixer system, CX-A4 four channel amplifier

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Germany - The supervisory board of Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co has announced the company's new global organisational structure. Three responsive 'Business Divisions' designed for the target markets of Consumer Electronics, Professional Systems and Installed Sound will be supported by a strong corporate group with three divisions.

"With this structure, we are implementing clear customer orientation as part of our corporate strategy and will be able to act in a more decisive and target-oriented manner in the future," said Prof. Dr. Jörg Sennheiser, chairman of the supervisory board.

The new structure of the company consists of the following seven units:

Business Division Consumer Electronics, managed by Peter Callan

Business Division Professional Systems, managed by Dr. Heinrich Esser

Business Division Installed Sound, ad interim managed by Dr. Heinrich Esse

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Malaysia - ChasWood Resources, one of Malaysia's largest multi-concept operators in the restaurant industry, uses D.A.S. Audio loudspeaker systems.

Felix Paul is ChasWood's sound engineer. Throughout the company's various properties, his responsibilities include consultation, design, and installation of all sound systems as well as system maintenance and mixing for live and special events. Paul recently completed the installation of new loudspeaker systems at several properties, including Laundry, Italiannies, Malones, and T.G.I. Fridays. He discussed each system.

"Located at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara, Laundry is a popular gathering spot with an emphasis on music - both live and background / DJs. For this venue, we deployed two D.A.S. Audio RF-15.64 passive/active two-way loudspeakers atop two Compact 218 subwoofers per side for the mains and, for stage monitoring, t

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France - Breton rental company, Koroll Sonorisation, recently invested in a total of 24 DX15 multipurpose monitor speakers from loudspeaker manufacturer, APG. Their first outing was for the cult Breton music festival, Yaouank, which was held from 2-21 November in the region's capital of Rennes. Now in its twelfth year, Yaouank is a celebration of Brittany's Celtic heritage and welcomes artists and fans of Celtic music and traditions from all over the world.

Proprietor of Koroll and experienced sound engineer, Philippe Guillo comments, "I decided some time ago that I wanted to invest in some new stage monitors to replace my old d&b inventory - I just hadn't found what I was looking for. I wanted a high performance coaxial loudspeaker that was nevertheless lightweight and ergonomic for ease of handling and transport. I hadn't really considered APG until I got a call fr

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Spain - The BAM (Barcelona Acciò Musical) Festival, which runs concurrently with the Spanish city's traditional La Mercè celebrations, attracted 120,000 music fans last year to a jam-packed schedule of free, mostly open-air concerts throughout the downtown area. This year's 18th annual BAM Festival featured substantial Lab.gruppen-powered EAW PA systems on the MTV-BAM and Electro-BAM stages at the Parc del Fòrum.

For the MTV-BAM stage (larger of the two), production sound company Barcelona-based Focus supplied an EAW speaker system comprising 12 KF760 Long-Throw Line Array Modules, four KF730 Compact Line Array Modules and eight SB730 Compact Line Array Subwoofers per side, all under the control of UX8800 Digital Signal Processors.

Due to the large listening area that had to be covered, Focus designed the system to project the low frequencies, taking advantage of the omni-d

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Japan / USA - Yamaha Corporation has announced a strategic partnership with Rupert Neve Designs, based on both parties involvement with Virtual Circuitry Modelling (VCM) Technology.

VCM is an exclusive Yamaha digital technology, enabling engineers to achieve "remarkable sonic performance" by modelling the individual characteristics of many of the components which contribute to the final sound of original analogue circuitry.

VCM recreates the sound and characteristics of several classic compression and EQ units and tape machines from the 1970s, which are available on most current Yamaha digital mixers. It was developed by an engineering group led by Mr. Kunimoto, a senior engineer who developed the first physical modelling synthesisers, the VL1 and VP1.

Rupert Neve has embraced Yamaha VCM as the first digital technology that can accurately reproduce his renowned ana

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USA - XS nightclub at Wynn casino and resort in Las Vegas has upgraded its lighting control system with Martin's M1 lighting desk. The M1 was an appropriate choice for club lighting console operator Josh Packard and his style of operation, says Wynn lighting programmer and lead lighting technician, Brian Gysegem.

"It was obvious that he needed more playbacks at his fingertips and the M1 became the obvious choice. The board was ultimately chosen for its small footprint and abundance of playbacks on the control surface. Josh is equally adept at creating and mixing music as he is operating and programming lights; his timing shines because of it."

The M1 has been designed with a single philosophy in mind - simplicity - and features a clean and easy to navigate surface. Its fast dual-core processor ensures a fast and responsive user interface, even if hundreds of playback

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Mexico - Over 170 Clay Paky Alpha 1500s have been used to mark Mexico's bicentennial and centennial celebrations. This year Mexicans celebrated both 200 years of independence and 100 years since the Revolution, prompting a wave of celebrations throughout the country.

The festivities culminated in two separate events held in the main plaza of the capital, El Zocalo. The Bicentennial, a two-day fiesta of light and music, was enjoyed by thousands of Mexican revellers, and broadcast live to millions around the world.

Production and creative direction were placed in the hands of a multi-national team with vast experience of global sporting events and ceremonies. Ric Birch, producer of numerous Olympics ceremonies, teamed up with creative partner Marco Balich of Filmmaster Group. Mexican LD Victor Zapatero was engaged as lighting designer for the main live events, while lighting dir

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Norway - The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert took place at the Oslo Spektrum in December, with the live show and broadcast once again handled by a sophisticated network of Midas digital consoles. Norwegian audio company AVAB-CAC deployed two Midas XL8 live performance systems together with two PRO6s and one PRO9 live audio systems, extensively utilising the AES50 networking to maximum effect.

The setup was similar to the 2009 event, with three stages facilitating the rapid changeovers required for the live televised event.

FOH duties were handled by two XL8s, one taking care of the 72-piece Norwegian Radio Orchestra, leaving the second console free for visiting engineers to mix their own artists, and for MCs Denzel Washington and Anne Hathaway. This year's stellar lineup included Herbie Hancock, Barry Manilow, Florence and the Machine, Jamiroquai, AR Rahman, Robyn and violinist

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UK - Four powerful Christie Roadster HD18K 3-chip DLP projectors provided the icing on the cake for a viral marketing campaign that took place over three days in a tunnel in Shoreditch recently.

Curious passers-by were treated to a visual installation, entitled Get Your Energy Back, which used the latest 3D projection mapping techniques to dramatise the technology contained within the new Toyota Auris Hybrid car. The resulting film of the occasion has proved a massive hit on social sites.

Creative advertising agency glue Isobar created and produced the event, generating 90 seconds of visual animation for the projection. The sequence showed the body of the Auris transforming and peeling back to reveal a glowing blue energy, which then escaped and interacted with various objects within the tunnel where the car was situated. The energy then returned to the car, bringing to

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Israel - London-based automation specialists Kinesys has sold the first variable speed motion control system into Israel, to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv based Stage Design, one of the country's leading rental and staging companies.

The sale consists of a 24 way Kinesys Elevation 1+ variable speed motor control system, with 16 Liftket 500kg 20m/min hoists and eight 2 tonne Yale motorised Beam Trolleys (plus eight 'slave' beam trolleys) - all converted for use with Kinesys Elevation 1+ variable speed controllers. For control, the Stage Design team chose the latest Kinesys K2 3D graphical automation and motion control software.

Stage Design is part of The Design Group, whose Eyal Lavee comments, "The Israeli market is always keen on new effects".

As soon as it arrived in Israel, the system went straight out on the Festigal 2010 Show, an annual children's extravaganz

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USA - As part of an experiment for the Moonrise mission, NASA set out to simulate the moon's landscape. Four decades after the Apollo astronauts first brought samples from the Moon's surface back to Earth for study, NASA has selected Moonrise for a Phase A study under the New Frontiers Programme for solar system exploration.

The Moonrise mission would focus on the giant South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side, which lies between the Moon's South Pole and Aitken Crater, just 16° south of the Moon's equator. The SPA Basin is the oldest, deepest, observable impact basin on the Moon and ranks among the largest recognised impact structures in the solar system at nearly 2500km in diameter and 12km deep.

Since there is no atmosphere on the moon, there is also no light reflection. To create the same conditions indoors, they needed wall coverings that absorbed the maxi

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Singapore - Robert Juliat provided the big guns for two big occasions when its largest followspots were specified for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games this summer.The events were of truly Olympic proportions and demanded the giants of the Robert Juliat range, the Lancelot 4000W HTI and Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots.Lighting designer, Koert Vermeulen, principal designer at ACT Lighting Design, chose Robert Juliat followspots based on his previous experience with the fixtures. "I have recommended Robert Juliat on almost all of my big productions. I chose the Lancelot and Cyrano for the Youth Olympic Games based on a combination of past performance and on the photometrics data."No fewer than eight Lancelots and six Cyranos were supplied by Production Resource Group (PRG), with Showtec Communications Pte Ltd of Singapore coming to t

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UK - Blackburn-based lighting rental company HSL continues its busy autumn/winter season supplying lights, Kinesys automation, projection and LED to the Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark(OMD) UK and European tour.

It featured the band's original line up, a new album History of Modern and an energetic set comprising a lively mix of classic hits and new material.

It was lighting/visuals designer Andy Liddle's first full production tour with the band since he came onboard in 2009. He created an interesting mix of moving elements, LED and projection surfaces and lighting, to provide a contemporary scenic showcase for OMD - three decades of synth pop later.

All suppliers were invited to tender for the tour at the outset, from which HSL won the lighting and visuals package explains Liddle, who was also aware of some of the other work that HSL has been doing recently. "

  1. Bucks New University receives JAMES accreditation
  2. Lighting the UK's largest Christmas tree
  3. Warren Haynes shines with Bandit
  4. IVC installs full AV System at Senate House
  5. Eden Stadium gears up for 2011 Rugby World Cup
  6. Event LED Signs steal a march at the British Military Tournament
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