Business

Details
Turkey - After a very successful 2011 with Hippotizers attending a host of events and projects in Turkey, Green Hippo has decided to appoint a new distributor for the region.

Phantom Engineering has so far purchased nine HDs for various projects, plus two demonstration HDs for their role as Green Hippo distributor.

Phantom Engineering first contacted Green Hippo at the end of 2010 with a view to buying six HDs for the 25th Winter Universiade in Erzurum earlier this year.

Since then Phantom has not stopped. They have worked continuously on one event after the other and their projects include The World Children's Games Opening in Turkey with seven Hippotizer HDs using a total of 13 outputs for 12 Christie HD18K and one Curved LED display running content of 5Kx3K.

By this year's PLASA it was decided that with the hard work Phantom had put in, their knowledge and experience of

Details
Korea - International hit musical Mamma Mia! has opened at the D-Cube Art Center, Seoul, which has been equipped by L-Acoustics Korea distributor Dream Sound with a K1 WST line source and XTi coaxial system. This is the first permanent K1 theatre system to be installed worldwide.

Located within Seoul's futuristic D-Cube City, the 1,242 seat venue has been installed with two hangs of eight K1s and two K1-SB subs left and right of the stage, six KARAs as down-fill, and two stacks of four SB28 subs in cardioid mode positioned on stage below the K1 hangs. Additionally there are four under balcony hangs of two KIVA WST enclosures, while 32 8XTi coaxial speakers relay musical surround effects throughout the venue. The system is driven by L-Acoustics LA4 and LA8 amplified controllers.

(Jim Evans)

Details
Germany - JoeCo has appointed Mega Audio GmbH as its new distributor for Germany and Austria. The Bingen-based distribution company adds the BlackBox Recorder/Player range to an established portfolio of pro audio and live sound products.

This latest addition to JoeCo's international distributor network follows the recent launches of the BlackBox BBR64-MADI and BBR-DANTE Recorder versions, which have increased the product's live multi-channel audio capturing capabilities from 24 channels to up to 64 channels in the compact 1 rack unit format.

"We are delighted to welcome Mega Audio on board," said JoeCo managing director Joe Bull. "Burkhard Elsner and his team have many years of experience in our key market sectors and we are looking forward to building a strong working relationship that will enable us to take the brand forward in Germany and Austria."

&qu

Details
Singapore - Wireless Solution Sweden is now part of Sentosa, the popular island resort in Singapore which attracts millions of local and foreign visitors every year. Its most famous resident and visitor attraction - The Merlion - a 37m statue formed in the image of the fabled half-lion and half-fish guardian of Singapore recently got a makeover using W-DMX technology.

Sentosa Development Group, which manages the Sentosa Merlion Park had decided to look into enhancing the Merlion Park's environment with the use of creative outdoor lighting. Synergy AVL Pte, a Singapore based audio-visual and lighting system solutions company, was invited to propose a lighting solution for the island's statuesque icon. Synergy's project team, led by senior project engineer Chip Chong earnestly conducted a series of site surveys before deciding on which types of indoor and outdoor luminaires were b

Details
South Africa - Lira's The Captured Tour is midway, performing to sold out audiences across South Africa.

Kurt du Preez, co-director of Pan Tilt, was honoured when approached to be the touring lighting designer for South African's Afro-jazz star Miss Lira, as she is affectionately known. "It's the work we live for," said du Preez, who operates the show using the Avolites Tiger Touch.

"The Tiger Touch is incredibly fast for its size and mobility. It's user friendly and if you make a mistake, forgiving. Avolites have come a long way in regards to moving lights software and the user interface."

Insane Sound supplement the in-house equipment at each venue with various fixtures including Robe and two Le Maitre units. "We use a lot of haze which makes a huge difference," he added.

(Jim Evans)

Details
Q Awards - Adele has won best female artist and best track at Q magazine's music awards in London. Other prizes went to rapper Tinie Tempah, who was named best male artist and Coldplay, who picked up best act in the world today. Readers voted U2 the best band of the publication's lifetime. Speaking on the red carpet, frontman Bono said Q had been crucial to his career. "It's a truly great thing," he said. "They're so important for anyone that wants to take all their music all the way."

Adele's Rolling in the Deep was picked out as the best track of 2011 ahead of her ubiquitous hit Someone Like You, which was also nominated. The singer's victory comes just a fortnight after she was forced to shelve a US tour due to problems with her throat. The ceremony also saw Queen entered into Q's Hall Of Fame and Siouxsie Sioux awarded for her outstanding contribution to

Details
USA - Stage Technologies has confirmed its major sponsorship of the North American Theatre Engineering & Architecture Conference (NATEAC). The next two day conference will be held in New York on 22-23 July 2012 and Stage Technologies is once again the first company to commit its support as Platinum Sponsor of this key industry event, having been one of the main sponsors of the inaugural event in 2008.

The NATEAC conference provides a forum for consultants, architects, engineers, technicians and technical managers to discuss planning, design, construction, installation and commissioning entertainment venues, conference and international sporting event spaces, and houses of worship.

Mark Ager, CEO of the global Stage Technologies group said, "We are pleased to once again offer our support to the 2012 NATEAC conference. This industry thrives on the opportunity to exchange id

Details
UK - PA/VA specialist Ateis has supplied a sophisticated PA/VA system to The American Express Community Football Stadium - the new home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC - aka The Seagulls.

The 22,5000 capacity stadium is nestled in the rolling hills of the South Downs, situated just outside Brighton's busy city centre. The club has been without an official home since the sale of its original stadium in 1997. And the launch of this new stadium coincided with Brighton & Hove Albion being promoted to the championship league for the 2010-2011 season.

Working with specialist installer, VCP Services and electrical contractors, NG Bailey, Ateis UK supplied an Ateis IDA VA networked public address - voice alarm system, which drives 38 zones via Ateis SPA series amplifiers. LAP G2 network audio processors are used for control and DSP. The racks were assembled by Ateis at the Devon based HQ

Details
Malawi - The new Midas PRO2C live audio system has passed its first real world challenge with flying colours, handling front of house at the Lake of Stars Festival on the sandy shores of Lake Malawi. The PRO2 faced extreme temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius, an abundance of sand and grit plus a severe fuel crisis, which meant power was only available 30 minutes before the festival opened.

"I really love the PRO2C; it was very easy to get to grips with, and after just 30 minutes I could start the show confidently," says FOH engineer Craig Williams. "I'm more accustomed to the Midas Heritage series and the classic XL3, which I will always love, but the tiny footprint and low weight for a festival like Lake of Stars is perfect. Not needing a rack of outboard saves a huge amount in shipping costs to somewhere like Africa, and even more in sweat when you have to

Details
USA - The PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 floor plan is now live. From today, participating companies and a full programme of events can be found alongside visitor registration facilities and exhibitor application information at www.plasafocus.com/austin.

The two-day event, to be held 22-23 February 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas, is the first of a new style of regional event for North America. Based on the successful PLASA Focus events in Europe, the new regional model seeks to bring world class professional knowledge and high-profile exhibitors to the heart of beautiful Texas hill country.

Confirmed exhibitors include ETC, Arri, GDS, Robe, Rosco, CommuniLux Productions, GLP German Light Products, Daktronics Rigging, Clay Paky, Total Structures, High End Systems, Chauvet, Philips Color Kinetics, A.C.T Lighting, Doug Fleenor Design, Strong Entertainment Lighting, and Secoa, wi

Details
UK - More than 61,000 people turned up to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium recently to watch the free live streaming of Wales v France in the Rugby World Cup 2011 Semi Final from New Zealand.

This required a hasty sound reinforcement infrastructure to be constructed inside the Stadium for the commentary and live performances, including an EAW KF740 line array speaker system and three big screens.

For Huw 'Buz' Evans and Rob Ashton from Welsh sound rental company ABacoustics, it might have seemed something of a poisoned chalice as they accepted the challenge from local production company Orchard Media & Events Group to rig their EAW PA - and deliver the same outstanding performance from the KF740 system as they had achieved when the two companies last worked together on Ponty's Big Weekend in Pontypridd.

For whilst this would be the biggest production the company had ever

Details
Mexico - PRG, one of the largest rental providers worldwide, has expanded its stock of RockNet digital audio network devices from Riedel Communications. Riedel, delivered 60 RockNet devices that will be directly used at the opening and closing ceremonies of the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

One of the main challenges at the ceremonies of the Pan American Games 2011 is the long distance between the individual positions in the stadium, where up to 300m need to be bridged. Furthermore, the distant master control room, which is located on the first level of box suites in the stadium, also needs to be integrated.

The RockNet installation at the ceremonies consists of 56 various RockNet devices. The audio system that is designed by Pat Baltzell, uses 158 channels of RockNet's 160 channels. The system combines the PA drive system, inputs and monitor sends located at

Details
UK - London- based lighting rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) continues to build its contract rental business, designing and supplying lighting and rigging for the newly opened Electric live music venue in Brixton, south London - a place with an illustrious history, arguably best known as the legendary Fridge, and before then, The Roxy.

CSE's contract rental packages are proving a highly cost effective and flexible option for busy venue operators, and come complete with quick and excellent technical support and backup.

Electric is only one of a number of current projects for CSE, which also includes The Box in Soho, four venues in Brighton and the Ice Bar in London.

The installation was project managed for CSE by Fletch who designed the rig in conjunction with Cy Kelly from Electric. The creative and practical concept maximises the available space, offering a syst

Details
UK - The Sound Division Group (Sound Division) has confirmed its appointment as a Bose PRO-Partner this summer.

A significant proportion of Sound Division's business is in the high-end retail market and has established relationships with many well known high street brands, retail stores, hotels and restaurants.

David Graham MD for Sound Division comments: "Bose is synonymous with quality and we are very pleased to have them on-board. We will now be able to offer the Bose brand particularly to the multiple retailers, five star hotels and high class restaurants and bars where Bose are often the preferred choice of speaker system."

This could not come at a better time for Sound Division with the high level of building and refurbishments taking place in London due to the Olympics next year- Quickly out of the starting block the first Bose system has just been installed

Details
New Zealand - The IRB Rugby World Cup was the biggest sporting event ever to be staged on New Zealand shores. It kicked-off on 9 September 2011 with the Opening Ceremony at Auckland's Eden Park, broadcast to a global television audience estimated at over 50m. An estimated 200,000 people crowded the Auckland waterfront precinct to take in the visual spectacle aptly named All Lit Up. Lighting designer David Eversfield relied on a grandMA2 system for control.

While the show's lighting design in the stadium was created by Paul Collison, who worked with a grandMA2 system as well, Eversfield and the Opticshock team used one grandMA2 light, one grandMA2 onPC and three grandMA 3D for the lights spread across the city.

Eversfield reports, "The waterfront show was pre-programmed using grandMA 3D where extensive use was made of the ability to have complete 3D models of buildi

Details
UK - Following several years of increased presence in the UK market, Coemar and White Light have announced that a Coemar Care service centre will be available at the White Light London headquarters starting from October 2011. This will offer a wide range of spare parts and service support, enabling White Light to offer a higher degree of support to the growing number of Coemar users.

White Light expects that this initiative will strengthen the relationship with existing and future customers, enabling them to obtain immediate local support, not only at the time of purchase, but throughout the life of the products.

This initiative is part of the Coemar project to support the excellence and innovation of its products, a recent example of which is the Reflection range, with increasing attention to the needs of lighting designers, engineers and planners.

(Jim Evans)

Details
France - Having lacked a multi-purpose live entertainment venue for many years, the patience of the 176,000 residents of Besançon, eastern France, was rewarded this year with the opening of La Rodia. Featuring two concert halls, a lobby bar, two studios and information / multimedia resources, a Yamaha digital audio system ensures that all of the new facility's users - whether local amateurs or international stars - get a universally high standard of sound.

Covering 2000m2, the project was initiated several years ago by the mayor of Besançon. Designed by architect Claude Denu, the audio system was designed by ATES Thise, based in the eastern suburbs of the town.

La Rodia's management team was already an ATES client, having worked with the company on a previous project. "Despite the initial discussions about La Rodia's audio system taking place three years ago, we advised

Details
Russia - With the Russian advertising market being one of the fastest growing in the world, there is great potential revenue from the effective use of large format LED screens. Central Moscow is a prime location and a second outdoor Lighthouse screen is now bringing the benefits of its clear, uniform images to a range of advertisers.

Positioned at the major intersection of Kutuzovskiy Prospekt and Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya, the screen is located in front of the Parliament building and is seen by many thousands of Muscovites each day. It was installed by Newform International, one of the country's most successful advertising companies and is powered by an IMTV system.

Comprising a 12 x 6 panel (15.36 x 5.76m) main screen, plus a 1 x 6 panel (1.28 x 5.76m) vertical strip, all of Lighthouse 10mm panels. The content is streamed using SCALA software with control via the inter

Details
UK - Blackout provided its new projection screen for Future Cinema, the creators of Secret Cinema which creates large-scale cinematic experiences. The event, California Classics, featured a themed live screening of The Lost Boys and Top Gun in London's Canary Wharf.

Blackout is well known for its truss and rigging services, skills which proved invaluable when it designed and installed a temporary 18m wide by 8m tall screen using the specialist Demopsec screen material, of which Blackout is a UK distributor.

The company provided further infrastructure for the event including the ground support for the screen, the entrance way banner structure, general outdoor waterproof stock drapes across the site and six 10m rigging masts to fly the sound system.

Kevin Monks, Blackout's installations director, said, "This was our second large-scale outside cinema e

Details
USA - Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures have featured on Paul McCartney's On The Run tour, a series of sell-out, stadium concerts across the USA and Canada. Lighting designer Roy Bennett selected over 80 Clay Paky Sharpy narrow-beam spotlights.

Bennett, whose association with McCartney dates back to 2001, decided to incorporate the Sharpys into his design after seeing them for the first time at the LDI industry show in 2010. "When I first saw the Sharpy, I was really impressed. It's totally new and fresh, yet it reminded me of some of the early classic stuff."

During preparations for the new tour, Bennett decided it was time to update the lighting rig: "We'd been using the same configuration for the last four years, and I wanted to do something cleaner. Everyone agreed that it was time to start changing stuff."

The initial concept sprang from an idea sugge

Details
USA - Widespread Panic has had a long, fun journey over the last 25 years and celebrated it this fall with a jaunt around the US with Bandit Lites supplying the lighting. Lighting designer Paul Hoffman's set featured arches of truss in a staggered waterfall, loaded with 100 GRNLite LED PARs

Hoffman also utilized Martin MAC III's, a new tool for him. He incorporated VL 3000 Spots, GLP Impressions, and Grand MA consoles and used the new, fully programmable Bandit 5x5 Blinders.

Widespread Panic is an iconic American band with a big following. As they wind down in 2011 they have just announced a limited number of acoustic dates for 2012, known as the Wood Tour.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - The Kooks' front of house engineer Russ Tite has chosen a Midas PRO6 live audio system from SSE Audio for the band's European tour.

Tite's re-acquaintance with Midas analogue during this summer's festival season was the reason he chose the PRO6 for this tour. "I'd been using another brand of digital desk, but this summer I was rocking up to festivals and using an H3000 or XL4, and found I loved it again, it sounded like a console should," he says. "We were almost going to take an XL4, but you can't really fit one on a tour like this, so I decided to try the PRO6, and it sounds incredible."

Having learned his trade as a PA tech working on Midas Heritages, Tite found that operating the PRO6 came naturally. "Once I'd got used to how the POPulation and VCA groups worked, I've been finding it a much quicker way of working," he says. "Now I do

Details
UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributor of Midas and Klark Teknik products have recently hosted a Midas Academy prior to the InfoComm exhibition held at the Dubai International Convention Centre.

Over 25 sound professionals attended the one-day event, which highlighted the digital console offering of Midas. The event was also used to unveil the new Midas PRO2 and PRO2C live audio systems.

"Our last academy took place in 2009 so it was time for a follow up event in the Middle East, especially with all the new consoles and other products from Klark Teknik," said Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at NMK. "Although it was a busy time of the year we still had a good turn out and more importantly great interest in the new consoles."

(Jim Evans)

Details
Italy - Last summer, a long-awaited jazz festival was staged in Castroreale, an historic Sicilian village in the Messina province. Many international artists performed during the four days of the festival.

The sound system, provided by Tintori della Provvidenza from Castroreale, featured 12 Proel Axiom AX3210P modules and eight EDGE SW121P Subwoofers plus EDGE 12CXP Monitoring, all driven by Powersoft amplifiers K10, Digam Q4004 and Proel HPD3400PFC.

(Jim Evans)

  1. Leeds University's Stylus installs KARAi
  2. Flying high with Riedel over Sion
  3. Litestructures makes a splash at Westfield
  4. Martin MAC IIIs light up Puy du Fou
  5. Schnick-Schnack dances with the stars
  6. Biggest SD7 rig tours with George Michael
Page 1320 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .