Business

Details
USA - Sound Media, a sound and lighting production company located in Hollywood, Florida, having purchased the Turbosound Flex Array (TFA-600H) system a year ago, has experienced a growing presence in the south Florida market, necessitating further investment.

"Working directly with Turbosound and our area rep, Mainline Marketing, has been great. Both did a tremendous job in supporting our deployment of Turbosound products to our customers; this was a critical component of the success we have experienced," reports Lennox Foster, Sound Media's president and founder. "We bought 16 of the 75-degree boxes last year, and it took our business to another level. The TFA-600 is one of the best sounding boxes I've heard in a long time. Now we're expanding again, so it was natural to stay with the sound signature that has helped us get so many new and repeat customers. Now w

Details
UK - Ambersphere Solutions has had a busy year, serving the needs of their regular customers whilst getting involved in many of the high profile 2012 summer events that took place across the UK. And with Christmas just round the corner, they are pleased to announce their Christmas Open Day!

The company has recently extended their premises to meet the increasing product and training demands of their customers, and have some exciting expansion plans for 2013. There is an expanded show room, and increased training facilities, a larger warehouse, and bookable programming suites.

There will be a sneak preview of the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash, the Clay Paky A.LEDA range and the new MA onPC fader wing.

There will be plenty of Christmas snacks and drinks to get the party going. New and existing customers are invited to join the Ambersphere team from 2pm-8pm on Wednesday 19 December.

Details
USA - Established in 1776, Royal Oak Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest congregations in the United States. Its rich history and the traditions associated with it are an integral part of their worship, says Pastor Alan Gray, but, he adds: "We're trying to merge our traditional services with new expressions of worship that are meaningful for the intergenerational nature of our congregation."

To meet that requirement, audio designer/installer K.D. Forsha specified a system comprised of Tannoy's new VLS passive column speaker arrays and Tannoy VS 10BP subs, thereby addressing the sonic challenges of the highly reverberant, roughly 450-capacity sanctuary, without detracting in any way from the aesthetics of the church treasured by its congregation.

Given the existing church was built in 1923, the acoustic challenges of the space were substantial. But, even with the

Details
UK - Rental company Entec Sound & Light supplied lighting and audio production for award-winning Taiwanese Mandropop superstar Jam Hsaio's show at Wembley Arena.

Entec offered a flexible, cost-effective, quality technical package and illustrated how thorough planning can enable a high profile and ambitious one-off to be delivered to the best standards in a single day.

The show was the latest in a series of Asian megastars visiting the UK and Europe that have used Entec. Sound

Entec's sound department was crew chiefed by Ed Hammond, They drew on their vast experience of producing similar shows in Wembley combined with the spec from Jam Hsaio's engineers David Wang (FOH) and Alvin Kuo (Monitors).

A d&b J-Series was supplied comprising 10 x J8 speakers with two J12 down-fills per side for the main hangs plus side hangs of six V8s and two V12s, the latter being at the top of t

Details
UK - Turbosound's Flashline line array loudspeaker system has garnered a chorus of approval at Alanis Morrissette's London O2 concert. The gig marked the first time Turbosound's Flashline system was rigged in a venue as huge as the O2.

"When I spoke to Bryan Grant and Lez Dwight at Britannia Row about the Turbosound Flashline system they said 'you have to try it - you will definitely like it' and I do," says Alanis's FOH engineer Maurizio Gennari. "Having used practically every system on the market on this tour, in a variety of venues from clubs to arenas, I have found this one to be extremely clean, clear and crisp. There's plenty of headroom and it has a natural sounding midrange. It's definitely powerful and precise, I am really looking forward to using the system again."

Supplied by long time Turbosound partners Britannia Row, freelance system engineer

Details
Future Sounds - Fifteen of the most promising new music acts have been named on the BBC's Sound of 2013 longlist. Aimed at showcasing talent for the year ahead, the list was compiled using tips from 213 tastemakers, who each named their favourite three new acts.

Soul singer Michael Kiwanuka came out on top last year, with Adele, Jessie J and Ellie Goulding among past winners. The 2013 line-up includes boy-girl pop duo AlunaGeorge, Birmingham indie group Peace and Californian sisters Haim. Other acts tipped for success include all-girl post-punk band Savages, Glasgow electro-pop three-piece Chvrches and London rock quartet Palma Violets, whose debut single Best Of Friends was recently named track of the year by the NME.

The Sound of 2013 winner will be announced online and by DJ Huw Stephens on the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show on 4 January.

Theatre Awards - Danny Boyle's

Details
Norway - The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Concert will take place tonight - 11 December - at the 9,700-capacity Oslo Spektrum arena. An annual musical spectacular, broadcast to more than 100 countries worldwide, this year's concert will feature Meyer Sound's new LEO linear large-scale sound reinforcement system.

Performing to an audience of national leaders and Nobel laureates will be artists including British soul singer Seal, Portuguese trio OqueStrada, Romanian Gypsy brass legends Fanfare Cioc?rlia, as well as Ne-Yo, Kylie Minogue and Milow. The show's diverse musical requirements certainly played a part in sound supplier AVAB CAC AS's audio selection, but above all, the call was for superlative audio quality and rock-solid reliability.

"The Nobel Peace Prize Concert is a very high-profile gig and is televised worldwide, so it is absolutely essential that we work with the hi

Details
Germany - SGM Lighting has boosted its penetration in key territories with the formation of SGM Germany.

Spearheading operations for the Danish lighting company will be the experienced Michael Herweg and Thorsten Sattler, who were previously managing director and sales manager respectively of SGM's German distribution company, dB Technologies Germany.

The formation of SGM Germany is a joint venture between the two partners and the parent company. Explaining the rationale, SGM CEO Peter Johansen described the move as an important strategic development. "We have already enjoyed a good deal of success in Germany, and having the experience of Michael and Thorsten on board will leverage sales of our wide portfolio of unique LED solutions into even wider market applications."

Michael Herweg agreed. "This development will speed up the already impressive market growth

Details
China - It's rare that a complex evolution leads to an effective solution, yet the China Broadcasting Performing Arts Group (CBPAG) has forged a laudable reputation, both at home and further afield. CBPAG did much to further the value of Chinese live arts to a worldwide audience in the years when relations were more contentious than they are today. Established in 1953, by 1988 it had already visited fifty countries. CBPAG is the amalgam of five elements: CB Chinese Orchestra, China Film Symphony Orchestra, CB Chorus, CB Talking-Singing Arts Group and CB Electronic Orchestra.

Run by a fully professional management team funded through a special dispensation from the State Council of the People's Republic of China, CBPAG is charged with a noble task; to apply a national level performance group to the construction of Socialist civilisation. This has seen it present regional small sc

Details
Sweden - Respected lighting designer Per Sundin of Sundin Designers has used 170 Clay Paky Sharpys to light a star-studded, concert that celebrates the launch of the newly built, 67,500-capacity Friends Arena, Stockholm.

Shown live on Swedish TV channel SVT, and on the net via SVT play, experienced lighting designer Sundin knew the show lighting would have to make a dramatic impact both on the live and TV audiences as he explains: "Since the arena is the focus of the celebrations and because the show was performed in the round in the centre of the football pitch I chose to make my rig design as focused and efficient as possible," explains Sundin.

Using 10 hanging towers, each with four levels of truss pods, plus three truss rings Sundin had limited lighting positions available. The dynamic, 90-minute, music-driven, fast paced event, featured revered Swedish performin

Details
South Africa - Opened in 1997 by Nelson Mandela, the award winning Durban ICC celebrated its 15th birthday anniversary with a Grand Banquet.

With 33000m2 of space available to clients, the Exhibition Centre is the largest flat floor, column-free exhibition/conference space in Africa.

This year the Durban ICC was named 'Africa's Number 1 meeting and conference centre' by the prestigious World travel Awards, for the 11th time in 12 years. The ICC has welcomed Kings, Queens, presidents, actors, icons and entertainers and has hosted some of the biggest, most high profile conferences in the world.

The project's objective required the event organiser to showcase the capacity, versatility and flexibility of the ICC to stage major international events.

Makulu Events was awarded the tender to organise the event and with the ICC, invited a number of companies to propose designs and

Details
Iceland - Made from rough-hewn basalt, the split-circle exterior of the new Hof Menningarhús cultural and conference centre in Akureyri, Iceland, is reminiscent of an ancient druid temple. The technology inside is anything but ancient: both the main auditorium and a smaller multi-use venue are equipped with highly adaptable Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeaker systems.

The 510-seat Hamraborg hall is the larger auditorium in the complex. This space serves as home to the Northern Symphony Orchestra and hosts theatrical performances, conferences, film screenings, and concerts ranging from acoustic ensembles to heavy metal.

To accommodate Hamraborg's range of performances, Reykjavik-based rental and installation company Exton installed a Meyer Sound system based around dual-flown arrays each with nine M1D line array loudspeakers and two M1D-Sub subwoofers. The configuration also

Details
USA - An architectural staple and great example of greenhouse design, the Jewel Box in Forest Park, St Louis, turned into a giant gem for a surprise birthday party, lit by 58 Chauvet Professional fixtures. Listed on the National Historic Register, the art deco-style building has a glass structure and is a popular choice for various events.

"With all the glass, steel and plants that make up this greenhouse, we simply wanted to let the building glow like a jewel," said Stace Napper, lighting designer for Ironman Sound Industries, a full-service production company that provided the fixtures. "It was all about highlighting what was already there and making the structure stand out."

Napper used 32 COLORado 1 Tour fixtures within the planting beds to discreetly uplight the ferns and trees. Taking into consideration the limited walking space around the tables, Nap

Details
UK - Electrosonic has confirmed its acquisition of Global Immersion which will continue to serve the planetarium, institutional theatreand giant screen markets. The acquisition was completed on 10 December 2012.

"This is a significant strategic move for both companies, and I am excited by the prospects presented by the acquisition," says Jim Bowie, president of Electrosonic Group. "As a single operation, we will service an even broader range of markets, bringing further innovation and an expanded offering to our customers. Our goal to attract and develop the best industry talent has been one of the drivers of the acquisition. Together we will lead by consolidating our strengths and delivering the best visual systems in the world."

Founded in 2007, Global Immersion is known for its work with highly specialised and technically-complex digital immersive theatr

Details
Germany - The historic Deutsches National Teater in Weimar has complemented its purchase of a new Studer Vista8 console with a TiMax2 SoundHub-R32 system matrix and playback server, replacing an old analogue Studer and legacy TiMax Classic matrix which had been in daily use for the past ten years. The new TiMax SoundHub system was purchased from distributor Pro Audio Technik following on-site demos by the company's TiMax technical sales specialist Matthias Ziegenberger.

TiMax SoundHub was chosen by the theatre's experienced and distinguished sound crew of tonmeister Moritz Kobel, tonmeisterin Sarah Hölscher and tontechniker Uwe Kohlhaas, for its dynamic delay-matrix SOR localisation capabilities combined with comprehensive general housekeeping functions of linkable 8-band parametric system eq, routing and multi-zone level grouping.

Audio is transported between TiMax and the S

Details
South America - The Award for the Best PA or Stage Management System 2012 has been awarded to the V-Series line array system manufactured by d&b audiotechnik. This was one of 10 categories in the Innovation International Prizes presented by the prestigious Produção Áudio Magazine Group whose publications are the professionals' choice in the Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American and Brazilian market.

The rigorous judging procedure began with nominations from the editorial teams from across the Produção Áudio catchment. Five entries for each category were then reduced to three through a readership poll. Once the magazine and the readers made their choices the finalists were judged by specialist panels for either pro audio or visual arts categories. The pro audio panel included Professor Homero Sette from Studio R, whose CV covers over 40 years in the industry; Armando Baldassa

Details
China - In a country renowned for the grand scope and lofty ambition of its performing arts centres, the new Grand Theatre in Tianjin adds yet another architectural gem to the country's cultural landscape. It is also another major location for which ADB Lighting systems have been chosen, including fanless, silent WARP luminaires and the company's latest control desks and dimmers.

Tianjin Grand Theatre is the hub of the Tianjin Cultural Centre, located in the landmark district of the city - just 29 minutes from Beijing by high speed train - and close to the city hall of Tianjin Municipal Government. The Centre covers a total area of about 90 hectares and is comprises the Tianjin Grand Theatre, Tianjin Museum, Tianjin Natural History Museum, Tianjin Library, Tianjin Art Gallery, the Youth Activity Centre, shopping centre and the city's underground traffic hub.

The Grand Theatre

Details
UK - Wigwam Acoustics has recently completed a comprehensive audio and video installation at Danbury Mission Church in Essex, specifying a full Roland Systems Group REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) system including consoles, stage boxes and personal monitors for the job.

The church, which has a packed events calendar, as well as the Sunday services, requested a high quality, fully encompassing system that would be flexible enough to cater for speech, live bands, vision and playback but simple enough to be used by a number of people with varying technical knowledge.

The Roland M-480 48 Channel Live Digital Mixing Console was chosen for FOH together with the S-4000 REAC Merge Unit, one S-0816 in the rack and one S-4000D REAC Splitter to supply audio and embedded power to the two S-1608 stage boxes with seven M-48 personal monitors for the stage. Roland V-Drums were als

Details
UK - Acclaimed British drummer and percussionist Gavin Harrison, best known for playing with the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, has invested in a large set of AKG recording microphones - including a pair of C12VRs, seven C414s and the new D12VR kick drum microphone. C391s take care of the hi hat and ride cymbal.

Gavin won Modern Drummer magazine readers' poll for "best progressive drummer of the year" for four consecutive years. In 2011 he was voted best progressive drummer by the US DRUM! magazine and won the 2012 prog drummer award in Classic Rock magazine. In 2008, he joined King Crimson as part of a dual-drummer lineup with Pat Mastelotto. Last year Gavin was a featured performer on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' as part of their "Drum Solo Week", along with such players as Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, and Sheila E.

"I used C414s on t

Details
UK - West Midlands-based video and production specialist Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) will be the main supplier of specialist broadcast and AV equipment to the re-launched Giltbrook Studios in Nottingham.

Giltbrook offers a cutting edge facility in the heart of the Midlands for all types of productions from drama and commercials to business television, infomercials and green-screen shooting.

The project to rejuvenate and bring the space right up to date - originally opened as a purpose-built, sound-proofed TV studio in the 1970s - is the brainchild of TV professional Andy Swain and other key individuals with extensive broadcast industry experience, who have teamed up with studio owners, Finishing Post.

Says Swain, "Many people have fond memories of working at Giltbrook over the years and the 'new' Giltbrook will be a vibrant and exciting space with great functionalit

Details
UK - Visualization expert Barco proudly reports that the British Museum, one of the world's most prestigious museums, has recently purchased a Barco RLM-W8, RLM-W12 and a cutting-edge HDX-W18 projector. The projectors will ensure eye-catching picture quality at the Museum's Clore Education Centre. "By purchasing three different projector types, we can offer our diverse audiences the image quality to meet their needs," said Chris Power, head of AV at the British Museum.

Barco and the British Museum have successfully worked together on various projects over the past few years. The Museum installed its first SLM-10 projectors back in 2005, they were originally set up at the Museum's Clore Education Centre, which houses two theatres used for lectures, conferences, concerts and other performances. Barco was also the Museum's visualization partner for the First Emperor exhib

Details
UK - A challenging gig at Wells Cathedral turned out to be the most successful yet for Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends - with a little help from the Roland M-480 Live Digital Mixing Console!

The Fisherman's Friends are shanty singers from Port Isaac on the Cornwall coast, who have been performing their set of shanties and Cornish Folk Songs for over 15 years. The 10-man group also travels around the UK playing at a variety of venues including theatres, festivals and portside concerts, so long serving sound technician for the Fisherman's Friends, Sam Littlechild, regularly works with the 'in house' equipment and engineer to achieve the desired final mix and monitor.

For the Wells Cathedral gig, Paul Nicholson from Midas ProSound supplied the M-480 (as well as a S-4000S-3208 Digital Snake 32 x 8 Modular Unit) convincing Littlechild - who usually prefers an analogue desk - to gi

Details
UK - Clothes Show Live returned to the NEC, Birmingham in December for another season. Once again the centrepiece of this annual expo was a spectacular 45 minute catwalk performance featuring the latest fashion collections.

There was certainly a lot to pack in in 45 minutes - 350 outfits, eight scene changes, and dozens of models and dancers. And all this took place seven times per day for five days.

Lighting designer Nigel Catmur, now in his fifth year of lighting the show commented, "This has been the smoothest and best executed production to date. It's always a very intense schedule but this time we managed to pre-programme on Wysiwyg and therefore arrived on site with a lot of the show already in the desk. We used my Wysiwyg studio for two-three days before arriving on site and that made a wealth of difference.

"The show is a multimedia production with LED wall

Details
USA - Chauvet Professional Nexus 4x4 wash lights performed next to top singers such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber during the two-day Jingle Ball concert produced by KIIS-FM radio station at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. As preeminent fixtures in the show, 16 Nexus 4x4 bold, eye-candy wash lights accompanied artists like OneRepublic, Ne-Yo, Ellie Goulding, Jonas Brothers, Ke$ha, Sammy Adams, Flo Rida and more.

"It was a turntable stage, which rotated back and forth," said Todd Roberts, owner of Visions Lighting, a premier lighting, staging, video and production company that provided the fixtures. "Normally we would have turntable walls, but instead we built a truss arch over the centre of the turntable and we mounted eight Nexus 4x4 fixtures on each side, thus becoming predominant lights."

Every time the table rotated, there was a Nexus 4x4 light beh

  1. UCO and Oldham Coliseum launch Teaching Theatre Partnership
  2. LumenRadio and ProPlex in Kuwait celebrations
  3. XL Events at EE Live superfast launch
  4. Stage Technologies automates The BodyGuard
  5. Clay Paky Alpha 1500s dance on ice
  6. Vertical array premiere at Menschen in Europa
Page 1449 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .