Business

Details
USA - Peavey is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its legendary 6505 Series guitar amplifier line, the amps that have "defined the sound of aggression in music for two decades".

"The Peavey 6505 Series has earned its place in rock history as the guitar amplifiers of choice for a wide range of top rock and metal artists," said Hartley Peavey, founder and CEO of Peavey Electronics.

The Peavey 6505 has helped define the down-tuned sound of modern metal in the arsenals of artists like Machine Head and producers such as Colin Richardson, Andy Sneap and Jason Suecof, who have produced the most enduring metal and hard rock albums of the past two decades.

"The 6505 was the first amp you could plug into for that heavier, thrashier tone," said Sneap.

One of the keys to bringing metal's new lows to the masses was Peavey's patented Resonance circuit, wh

Details
Spain - American diner chain Tommy Mel's has arrived in Spain. Music is an essential ingredient and to this end Digiline-8 from Equipson has been chosen, allowing easy control of the eight zones that divide the audio in all its restaurants via TCP/IP control.

The audio distribution comprises RCS 003 ceiling speakers, which have a wide frequency response, with very low-frequency body, designed for ambient sound at a moderate volume.

The volume of the zones is controlled from the POS terminal of the box, thanks to an application specifically designed for these restaurants.

To date, systems have been installed in restaurants in Madrid, León, Jaén and Seville. More installations are scheduled.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Backstage Academy enjoyed one of the busiest stands at the PLASA Focus exhibition in Leeds last week, where it led a well-attended debate on the future of training with a panel of industry experts and education professionals, and took over 100 enquiries for courses.

The Academy shared an exhibition space with specialist live events insurance broker Doodsons at The Royal Armouries Museum Centre, where the team spoke to students and those working in the entertainment industry about its roster of short courses in backstage skills and its Live Events Production Foundation Degree.

"We had an overwhelmingly positive response from students keen to hear more about our Foundation Degree in Live Events Production," said COO Robin Watkinson. "Many of them could see the benefits of studying in such close proximity to a real working environment as offered by the LS-Live

Details
UK - EM Acoustics has recently supplied three pairs of EMS-51 compact full range speakers, a pair of EMS-61 small format full range speakers and an i-8 compact subwoofer to another well-known British company, console manufacturer, Midas, for their training room at their factory in Kidderminster. Midas had taken the decision last year to upgrade the systems in their training room, but hadn't found any loudspeakers that met their stringent requirements, until they took a closer look at the EM Acoustics range.

Midas's technical support manager, Jason Kelly, who oversaw the upgrade, explained that he had a fairly comprehensive list of criteria that needed to be met by the new systems. "The first point was that they had to be small," he stated, "partly because space is at a premium in the room, and also because with five sets of loudspeakers on at once during a trainin

Details
USA - When it was ready to upgrade its Meyer Sound MSL-3 loudspeakers of more than two decades at its 2,472-seat Andrew Jackson Hall, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Nashville chose Meyer Sound again, this time a system based on the M'elodie line array loudspeaker.

"The MSL-3s had served us well since the mid-80s," says Larry Bryan, TPAC's chief audio engineer. "But we were ready to step into the 21st century with the latest Meyer Sound line array technology."

As typically deployed, the system comprises left and right flown arrays of 16 M'elodie loudspeakers each, plus six deck-stacked 700-HP subwoofers, eight MINA line array loudspeakers spaced across the stage lip as front-fill, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with a Galileo 616 processor for drive processing. The system was provided by Blackhawk Audio of nearby White House, Ten

Details
UK - The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) have recently invested in seven Chroma-Q Color Force 48" / 1.2m LED battens to provide wash lighting effects for their various stage productions, including Knives in Hens and An Appointment with the Wicker Man.

The Glasgow based theatre received a grant from the Wolfson Foundation to replace their existing cyc lights with energy-efficient LED versions. They wanted a high quality, powerful and easy to set up LED lighting solution.

Head of lighting, Paul Claydon and technical manager, Niall Black conducted extensive research before inviting four leading LED brands to do a shootout at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Also attending the shootout were a number of LDs with whom NTS work.

"As soon as the Color Force battens were switched on, to us they absolutely blew all the other products away, especially in terms of

Details
Lebanon - New venue Life is one of the largest in Beirut, hosting 1,500 people in its indoor area with a large motorised, retractable roof, and double that number in its open-air area.

Maurice Salloum, sound engineer and co-owner of Life, chose the sound system as well as the right company to complete the installation. Having a long-term relation with Beirut-based Hi Fi Service, Salloum knew he is in safe hands: "I wanted an unparalleled system for our venue," he says, "a system that can generate high SPLs and at the same time produce an excellent sound. Additionally, I needed a system that could be used as an indoor system during the winter season and that could be moved outside during summer, when the club shifts to the open air area."

Oussama Mansour Abou Faraj, manager of Hi Fi Service reports, "I proposed using a Dynacord VariLine system. We have

Details
Cuba - When Pope Benedict XVI recently visited the Cuban capital of Havana, the government of Cuba chose RCF TT+ (Touring & Theatre) series to broadcast the Papal Mass.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans from the capital and neighbouring provinces filled Havana's José Martí Plaza de la Revolución - at 72,000sq.m, one of the biggest squares in the world.

The system specified comprised 64 x TTL55-A (16 elements left and right of main stage and two 16-hang out-fills) and 24 x TTS36-A subwoofers (12 per side). In addition, 27 x TT25-A's were deployed as delays - in 12 towers (each containing two cabinets), and three towers with one cabinet in each.

Finally, eight TT25-SMA and eight NX12-SMA wedges provided stage monitoring while system control was in the shape of two DX 4008 4-in/8-out digital loudspeaker management devices and RDNet Control8 control and monitoring network

Details
Slovenia - When the Playboy White Invasion dance event hit Ljubljana's Gospodarsko Razstavisce, 6000 dance enthusiasts raised the roof and appreciated Dutch mixmaster DJ Chuckie and others including Arty, Thomas Gold and R.I.O - all illuminated by a Robe moving light rig. This was supplied by locally based rental company Intralite and designed by their Primoz Kosir.

Kosir wanted to create a dynamic atmosphere lighting to match the vibe and pumping vibrancy of the music, he needed to produce plenty of variety and scope for 'rocking the house' in every shape and form of the expression.

Trussing was installed over the main stage which featured the DJ booth and all performers, with more over the audience, providing lighting positions for zapping beams and effects around the room and immersing the audience in the action.

The Robe moving lights consisted of 16 Robin 600 Beams,12 C

Details
USA - An impressive video wall of 40 Chauvet Professional MVP 12 panels took centre stage during the annual Women's Empowerment event at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

Specified by Jay Holem, president of Rock Quarry Productions, the modular video panels interlocked to form a 16ft long by 10ft tall rectangular wall projecting live video content and graphics. The all-day event featured Tyra Banks as keynote speaker, seminars, panel discussions and musical performances by Robin Thicke, Anthony Hamilton, and Wale among others. Since 1994, Women's Empowerment enhances the lives of African-American women by addressing issues that specifically affect their health, relationship and overall lifestyle.

"The Chauvet MVP modular video panels shined through as always," Holem said. "We actually had to dim them down not to overpower everything else, which is a wonderful problem to hav

Details
UK - Subfrantic, supplier of high-end sound, lighting, staging and video equipment to the events industry, recently purchased the Roland V-1600HD Multi format live video switcher in a move that will see them bring all of their video services in house. Until recently, video services had been subcontracted, but company owner Steve Davies was keen to find a way to bring video directly under his control so that he could guarantee the quality of the work matched that of the sound and lighting for which they had built up such a good reputation.

The product that they were looking for had to be suitable for use in a number of applications from festivals and tours, to house of worship and corporate events - and have the features to produce high quality results whilst coping with different video input formats. The V-1600HD ticked all of the boxes and after seeing the product at BVE and ha

Details
UAE - Informa Exhibitions, organisers of this year's PALME Middle East show in Dubai, had promised a complete refocus of its visitor profile for this year's event - and as the tenth edition of the show came to an end, the company said the strategy had paid dividends.

This was underpinned by Gordon Cooper, director of power generation suppliers SES (Entertainment Services). "How else could you meet people from Iraq, Nigeria and Afghanistan all in one room?"

A large Nigeria-based production company placed orders on a number of stands, including AED100,000 with SES - part of "at least AED 250,000 worth of business we will write directly from the show", according to Cooper. "We have had a fantastic three days and this has been the best PALME ever for us."

SES was exhibiting on the stand of distributor RFW Trading, run by Rick and Fragille Wade. Rick

Details
France / Russia - L-Acoustics has confirmed that Sonoruss has become a new certified provider distributor in Russia. The newly-formed company, headed up by local industry expert Igor Verkolat, has a network of 200 dealers in place to support and promote the L-Acoustics brand in the region.

"L-Acoustics is very a famous brand in Russian show business," says Verkolat. "Their systems feature on the technical riders of leading artists, and many Russian rental companies include L-Acoustics in their inventory for a variety of events. Thanks to the sound, features and ease of use, several Russian theatres and concert halls have also installed L-Acoustics systems, with more sales and installations in the pipeline."

"I am delighted to introduce Sonoruss as our CP distributor for Russia," says L-Acoustics sales manager Peter Owen. "Igor and his team ha

Details
Sweden / Russia - LumenRadio has announced that Moscow based Sofitlight will distribute the CRMX wireless DMX/RDM products in the rapidly growing Russian market. LumenRadio and Sofitlight will present the entire CRMX product portfolio to the Russian lighting industry at the upcoming trade show Prolight+Sound NAMM in Moscow on 16-19 May.

Sofitlight is a leading supplier of professional lighting and sound equipment, as well as design and consulting services, for applications ranging from theatres, concert facilities, and live events to indoor and outdoor architectural installations. The company, founded in 2001, already offers an extensive product portfolio including well-known brands such as Robe, MA Lighting, ETC, Avolites, Selecon, Pixelrange, Leaderlight and Robert Juliat.

"LumenRadio has a solid track record of technological innovation and achievement and the CRMX prod

Details
UK - Siyan, a long-term customer of Clay Paky, has recently increased its investment in Clay Paky products, alongside a brand new purchase of the grandMA2 light, all from Ambersphere Solutions.

Nick Valdez, MD of Siyan, is clear on the reasons for these new investments. "We want to be seen as an approachable rental company with premier equipment. The Clay Paky fixtures we are offering our customers are quality products that can really help provide the professional finish to any of our productions."

"Clay Paky consistently delivers on the quality of their optics. The Alpha 700 family offers a versatile range of fixtures that are bright, lightweight, modular and offer us a great return on investment. This makes them an excellent choice for rental packages, and we can offer the full 700 range, beam, spot and wash as well as the popular Sharpy."

Concludes Val

Details
Poland - Established in 1976 by the Wroclaw actor Andrzej Dziedziul, the Zdrojowy Teatr Animacji (or Spa Theatre) in Jelenia Góra, is housed in the classically designed Spa Theatre, which was built in 1836. Used mainly for children's productions, it also stages adult plays as well as outdoor performances.

With the prevailing demand for state-of-the-art technology in theatre, the plan for Zdrojowy Teatr Animacji's modernisation began in 2008. Enter Polish entertainment technology specialists M.Ostrowski, with a brief to supply and assemble a lighting, stage management and theatre audio system for an audience capacity of 200.

Recognising the need for a top-performance sound reinforcement system, M.Ostrowski deployed the newest CF Series solutions from Renkus-Heinz.

Using EASE 4.3 software to determine the optimum position of the loudspeakers, eight full-range Renkus-Heinz CF1

Details
Germany - The Nowruz celebrations mark the beginning of the New Year for Indo-Iranian cultures, which follow the solar calendar. Oberhausen arena hosted its 15th Nowruz celebrations this year - the largest of their kind in Europe - and the top-class line-up reflected the full spectrum of the Persian music world, from traditional folk music to pop and disco beats.

Soundart KG from Bochum has been responsible for the technical side of this festival for several years. Preparation is always highly complex in terms of meeting the artists' technical requirements: the final design involved a set-up in which the changeover time between bands - sometimes with dancers and an onstage pyrotechnics and laser show - could be carried out in just five minutes including reorganisation time.

The sometimes very elaborate instrumentation of the bands, some of whom had large numbers of acoustic st

Details
UK - Siyan, a long term customer of Clay Paky has recently increased their investment in Clay Paky products, alongside a brand new purchase of the grandMA2 light, all from Ambersphere Solutions.

Nick Valdez, MD of Siyan comments, "We want to be seen as an approachable rental company with premier equipment. The Clay Paky fixtures we are offering our customers are quality products that can really help provide the professional finish to any of our productions.

"Clay Paky consistently delivers on the quality of their optics. The Alpha 700 family offers a versatile range of fixtures that are bright, lightweight, modular and offer us a great return on investment. This makes them an excellent choice for rental packages, and we can offer the full 700 range, beam, spot and wash as well as the popular Sharpy."

Concludes Valdez, "Our recent addition of a grandMA2 li

Details
Germany - HK Audio's new website (www.hkaudio.com) promises "a hipper look and feel, no-nonsense navigation, even more information".

All portals are clearly marked Musicians, Entertainers & DJs, Rental, Install Sound, Line Array, Worship Audio, and Personal Pro Audio, so finding your gateway to audio bliss is simple, says the company. The new navigation system takes you straight to the systems that are likely to be of the greatest interest to you.

HK Audio's revamped corporate design figures prominently on the website. Finding the latest videos and news is simple now that they are featured right there on the homepage. State-of-the-art rendering technologies such as HTML 5 and CSS 3 are sure to delight all users, and the mobile crowd especially. Our website is now formatted perfectly for every device.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Boxing trainer Brendan Ingle whose gym produced the likes of Herol 'Bomber' Graham and current IBF light heavyweight titlist Clinton Woods is perhaps best known for being Prince Naseem Hamed's mentor from the age of seven to 25.

Ingle has now been given a new PA system for his gym at St Thomas' Club, Wincobank, so he can be heard above the noise of pounding punchbags. The TXA-800CD portable PA system has been donated by TSG Media and Monacor International. Ingle said. "I'm absolutely delighted with this fantastic system. It's very noisy when everyone is training but the system means I can be heard by all."

Neil Clayton, managing director of Monacor UK, said, "TSG Media have been working with the St Thomas' Club for several years and approached us for a possible solution for Brendan. The TXA-800CD meets his needs perfectly and we are more than happy to have

Details
Ukraine - Rental company Feyeria is using Showgun 2.5 automated luminaires and the Road Hog Full Boar on all areas of entertainment: concerts, conferences, TV shows, exhibitions, sports, corporate and political events.

Feyeria's Dmytro Andrushchenko, project manager/stage designer, comments, "The Showgun is the first powerful fixture with the LED ring. It combines the functions of spot, wash and an LED Tracking System. We like to use them in big open Air-shows and concert halls, but especially using the LED ring on TV concerts and TV shows where it is most identifiable."

The company owns 24 Showgun 2.5s, and used them for the first time in 2010 on Paul van Dyk's show in Kiev. "These powerful fixtures hadn't been seen in our country before that. It's great for a show at 12,000 people and in such big halls," says Andrushchenko.

Feyeria needed the power of S

Details
Australia - Channel Ten has reinvented Young Talent Time after a 24-year absence from TV screens, and there's no doubt it packs a visual punch.

The lighting is designed by Francesco Calvi and supplied by Chameleon Touring Systems with Paul Collison producing and replaying the screen content for the show. Collison also acts as lighting director when Francesco is unavailable.

Integral to the look of the show is a large panorama of LED which allows the creative team to create the show's environment on a 360 degree surface. Sometimes the LED surface is treated as one single surface but this is not always possible as the LED screens are used similar to legs in the theatre to mask entrances and this leads to overlaps with the images.

"This means that often the LED screens are treated as individual surfaces rather than part of the panorama," said Collison. "It

Details
Australia - The Florida Beach Bar at the Crowne Plaza Terrigal is an icon venue on the Central Coast of NSW. Positioned opposite Terrigal beach, it is a favourite place for locals and visitors on holiday. The venue was originally designed as a small sports bar to service the beer garden and food services. In a recent renovation the hotel decided to tear down a connecting bar wall into what was once a nightclub entertainment venue. The design objective was to open up and combine the spaces, transforming the interior into a modern, fresh inviting destination.

The new venue's interior design is now made up of eight zones that require different speaker types to suit each zones acoustic condition. The JBL Contractor speaker series was selected as the preferred speaker solution to suit the various interior design aspects and operational requirements of the now larger venue.

AVents S

Details
UK - Lighting students from across the UK got their first taste of working under pressure - as part of a competition to light a railway carriage in less than two hours.

Six teams were invited to take part in the National Railway Museum's annual Locos in a Different Light event - and ETC was on hand to provide equipment and support.

ETC's associate regional manager for UK and Ireland, Jeremy Roberts, brought a range of Selador Desire LED fixtures and six lighting control desks. He said, "I was really impressed with the imagination and technical ability of the teams. Many of the students had seen ETC SmartFade and Congo jr desks before, but fewer had seen ETC's recent Congo Kid and Element. The programming syntaxes would have been familiar to them, since they're part of the Eos or Congo families, so they were soon up to speed."

The Locos in a Different Ligh

  1. Prolight + Sound Shanghai adds more space
  2. Sennheiser UK confirms seminar dates
  3. Robe appoints Mexican distributor
  4. Coemar strengthens its presence in Korea
  5. 2012 Tony Awards Nominees announced
  6. The Week in Lighting & Sound
Page 1381 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .