Installation

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UK - Glasgow is the latest location for the development of McKenzie Group's Academy venue roll-out. Having taken over the 1920's art deco New Bedford Cinema just outside the city centre, they immediately committed £3 million to a conversion, which will see it fully operational by 26 March 2003 for the opening night with Deacon Blue.

To supply and implement the audio infrastructure, MKG's managing director, John Northcote, has again enlisted Shepperton Studios-based Marquee Audio, who first worked with the company on the conversion of Birmingham's Hummingbird to the Academy in Britain's second city two and a half years ago. The 2,500-capacity venue in Glasgow - purchased from Edinburgh-based development company EDI - will operate in three formats: as a full concert venue, a short hall arrangement and a full-on night club.

Marquee project managers, Spencer Brooks and Scott

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Australia - Sydney Opera House recently celebrated the opening of its sixth venue, the Forecourt - one of the city's most spectacular outdoor venues, situated on and around the Opera House steps. Throughout the summer, the Forecourt will host a diverse range of free and ticketed events - from the Sydney Symphony, jazz and rock concerts, folk and country music to unique large-scale participatory performances, all set against Sydney's impressive harbourside backdrop.

As the Forecourt will stage a diversity of productions, each with differing requirements, it was decided to initially hire the staging, starting with a domed stage supplied by Edwin Shirley Staging.

When it came to the lighting and audio equipment, the choice of equipment was driven by the fact that a versatile and modular production package could easily be utilized in other venues within the Opera House. "It's

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UK - FX Technical Services, part of the FX Group, has recently completed an exclusive install of a Linn Knekt Multiroom system at Butlers Wharf - a private penthouse complex overlooking London's River Thames. One of its properties has recently undergone an extensive rebuild and FX Technical Services was called upon by the project's architect to install a sound system that would complement the flat's exclusivity.

The system comprises a Linn Kivor multi-output hard disc audio player, a Linn FM/AM tuner, a Sky plasma screen and Linn and BW speakers, both free-standing and ceiling-mounted. The system allows the hi-fi to be controlled from any room in the house with the minimum amount of equipment in each room. The team were also able to lay down the necessary cables before the flat was decorated and thus the install was completely unobtrusive to the overall design of the property.

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Australia - MC2 Audio has announced the first major theatre installation via its Australian distributor, Funktion One Australia. Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, located very close to Melbourne, is a beautiful old theatre, built in the mid-1800s at the height of the gold rush. Today it's an historically important and heavily over-worked regional theatre. The auditorium is constructed in traditional style with stalls at ground level and the circle and dress circle above.

T Series amplifiers have been selected to drive the Funktion One speaker system, which is located throughout the auditorium. John O'Donnell of Funktion One Australia says: "MC2 amplifiers were chosen to drive the entire system based on their high quality, transparent sound, high reliability and their compatibility with the Funktion One range of products."

The system has been configured to use one chan

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Finland - The Nexo GEO S compact tangent array system has been installed in three prestigious cultural venues across Finland, an impressive hat-trick for distribution and installation company Oy Hedcom Ab.

In Helsinki, the small arthouse Theatre Studio Pasila became the first GEO site in the country. In a relatively small auditorium, with capacity for approximately 350 people, two GEO S arrays have been installed left and right of the stage, each with four S-805s, one S-830 and a single CD12 sub. In addition, there is an S-830 cluster above the centre of the stage. In the theatre, six PS8s have been installed as surround speakers - these are powered by Camco Vortex.

At the House of Culture in Espoo, the Tapiola Hall has a capacity of 800. Every year, the House of Culture hosts a well-known festival called the April Jazz, which attracts names like Joe Zawinul, Chick Korea, Jan

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UK - The British Board of Film Classification - located in the British Film Industry’s Soho heartland - is the industry body charged with ensuring fair and effective regulation of the film industry. The Board has to classify every film and video that goes on sale. Thus its 45-seat Preview Theatre, which is also available commercially, undergoes a high degree of usage.

Cinema installation specialists Sound Associates have a relationship with the Board extending back to 1986, and have periodically updated the replay systems as new sound platforms have been established. When they were recently called in to fit an AMX remote touch-screen system, they took the opportunity to recommend that the Board simultaneously upgrade its loudspeaker system. "While their screen frame was coming out it seemed to make a lot of sense," said Sound Associates’ Graham Lodge. "

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UK - Working together, sound design and installation specialists CP Sound and professional audio distributors Arbiter Pro Audio have brokered a finance deal to enable the Shoosh Bar in Thames Ditton, Surrey, to benefit from some of the best sound, lighting and AV equipment.

Shoosh is a stylish independently-owned, new-build bar/restaurant concept, and the finance deal enabled the design, specification and installation of an impressive technical infrastructure at the venue. Cutting a deal became necessary as cash was tight after the funding of interior building works, designed by Steve Howie of Howie Design. New ventures are traditionally the most challenging when it comes to raising additional finance. However, CP Sound’s Colin Pattenden undertook to help Shoosh owner Terry Ramsay raise the necessary, so he didn’t have to compromise on his sound and lighting installa

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UK - Stagetec Distribution started the year in style with a surge in Compulite Spark lighting console sales - orders were received for three SparkTOP systems from Richard Martin Lighting (RML) plus a Spark 4D/LX system for Alton Towers in the first month of the year.

RML specializes in the television lighting, and is already the largest Compulite rental house in the UK, with 19 systems in stock. However an increase in its workload necessitated the additional systems. Current RML TV shows with Compulite in control include Blue Peter, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Crimewatch, Midweek Lottery, Shooting Stars and the Saturday Show.

One of the latest productions for which RML has supplied a Spark console is ‘Smart’ for CBBC. The show demonstrates different techniques for drawing, painting and creating. Lighting designer Dave Davey had the challenge of designing a flexible,

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UK - Six months ago Northern Ireland-based installation company Light and Sound FX (LSFX) was commissioned to carry out a complete technical makeover of Lush nightclub in Portrush. The brief was simple: to design and install a new state-of-the-art sound system.

Darren Gardener of LSFX explains: "When we met with Col Hamilton, the resident DJ at Lush, he was adamant that the sound had to be on a par, if not better, than the big UK mainland and US clubs." To achieve this, Gardener looked at all the main audio players, in the end recommending an EAW Avalon system. The Avalon system is one of the most specified club systems in America, so Col Hamilton contacted an American DJ friend to ask if Lush should invest in an Avalon system. The answer came back loud and clear that it was the ‘system of choice’ for serious clubs stateside and that Lush was making the ri

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UK - Reflex Systems Ltd, specialists in the design, installation and maintenance of audio, CCTV video and access control solutions to the Hotel and Leisure industries, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. The company works with a growing number of UK and European customers, many of which are leading blue chip organizations, providing security and site management solutions.

Reflex is experienced across the whole leisure sector, and is responsible for meeting the requirements of a diverse range of clients. Its customers include Luminar, THI Leisure, Boots WellBeing, Ramada Jarvis, Thistle, Queens Moat Houses, Handpicked Hotels, World of Golf, Butlins, and countless other brands from the smallest independents to the largest players. Reflex's installations are located in many of the country's leading bars, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, sports and leisure facilities, and the compa

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UK - Turbosound has supplied multiple TCS and THL systems to sound and lighting contractor Innovation, for installation at the Blu Bam Bu - a new beach-theme club in the city of Newcastle. Boasting one of the liveliest nightlife scenes in Europe, Newcastle's Bigg Market area is home to many bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants, and Blu Bam Bu is the area's newest venue, with a sophisticated approach that is reflected across all its facets - interior design, lighting and sound.

Innovation, based in Sunderland, designed and installed the new club's sound and lighting systems, using Turbosound TCS and THL models throughout the venue. The club's impressive street-level entrance takes you into a ground floor bar area, leading to a VIP lounge, with eight TCS-59 units and four TCS-118 subs in the bar, plus a combination of TCS-10 enclosures and TCS-108 subs in the lounge. A large void on

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USA - This spring the M.I.N.D. Institute will open the doors to its new home on the UC Davis Medical Centre campus in Sacramento, California. M.I.N.D is a centre that takes a collaborative approach in its study and treatment of a number of challenging neurodevelopment disorders among children. The new 135,000sq.ft complex includes two buildings - a research facility and an outpatient clinic, library and resource centre.

To aid its research efforts, the Institute’s new buildings incorporate a number of observation and conference rooms - 20 in total. These rooms are used for a variety of purposes, including evaluating new students, the effectiveness of new procedures or new treatments and for family or patient conferences. Each room has a self-contained sound system, designed in such a way that it allows for future input and output expansion, and independent operation. Eac

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UK - A recent comprehensive install in the Soho Cafe Bar in Christchurch, Dorset, by the CPS Group is an impressive example of the often complex brief such installations require. "Our brief was to install a sound system which was truly multi-purpose," explains Richard Colegate of the CPS (Complete Production Solutions) Group.

"The venue is a fashionable wine bar/pizzeria which has three distinctly different clientele types. On weekday daytimes the system is required to provide a low-level background music source throughout the whole venue at an even level with even coverage. With things livening up considerably on weekday evenings, the system then provides dance floor music levels on the main dance area, and bar/club style programme material throughout the venue. This also has to cater for DJs doing personal appearances some nights. Friday and Saturday night are,

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Hong Kong - Hong Kong's famous Cathedral of Immaculate Conception has recently completed the installation of their new state-of-the-art audio system. Nestled in the foothills of Hong Kong Island overlooking Victoria Harbour the Cathedral has served as the religious and social centre for the Island's sizeable Catholic population since it was completed in 1888.

The lead contractor for the installation was Hong Kong's Pacific Audio Supplies who made extensive use of the Bose Modeler and Auditioner design programs in the design and consultative stages of the project. Featuring an innovative Loudspeaker System constructed from multiple Bose FS32SEs in a line array configuration the system is powered by a combination of Bose and Carver power amplifiers.

All Loudspeaker Feeds from the console output groups are equalized with ARX EQ60 1/3rd octave graphic equalizers. Bose ‘doubl

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Switzerland - Mirco Cibin has moved his famous Bypass operation to the Les Acacias development area of Geneva, and created a luxurious multi-million dollar club for the city’s chic and VIP clientele. The marble-interiored venue, which boasts a VIP champagne bar and an 80-cover fine dining restaurant on the mezzanine floor, has already hosted a number of ritzy parties - most recently during the Geneva Motor Show and the returning Americas Cup Team Alinghi - as well as many television crews. With this affluent target market in mind, the club demanded a high specification of lighting, sound and video.

The club favoured Coemar lighting, and Alessandro Caldarera (Coemar’s technical and marketing man) supported the architect, Marco Lucchi, by designing an inventive rig equal to the talents of lighting operator, Romain Toppano, and controllable from an MA GrandMA desk. The

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UK - Until now, Braehead Arena has been one of Glasgow’s undiscovered assets, according to its recently-appointed executive director Jim Francis. All that’s about to change as Braehead becomes a major player in the growing medium-sized arena circuit. So, what is the significance of this? Let’s look at recent history.

In the past decade the larger arenas such as Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Wembley and London Docklands have all invested considerable amounts of money to provide quick, easy mechanisms by which they can convert from ‘full house’ to smaller, 7,000, 5,000 and even 3,000 seat configurations.

Also, in the same decade, the traditional smaller venues - the city halls, theatres, and smaller sports halls - have all become busy, catering specifically for a different audience through the plethora of tribute bands and revival pa

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UK - The MacRobert Arts Centre is a multi-purpose arts venue based at the University of Stirling. A recent extensive refurbishment project has seen all its performance spaces completely upgraded.

The work has been carried out by Edinburgh-based black light, who installed the new technical facilities within the six performance and presentation spaces. Paul McGreal, the company’s project manager, took on the planning and management of the £650,000 project, whilst Jock Wallace, as the company’s site manager, spent most of last summer on site, supervising the practical elements of the installation.

The key elements of the project included the installation of new lighting control and dimming equipment, audio and PA systems, cinema projection and sound equipment, communication and stage management equipment and AV systems. black light also used its in-house resources (o

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The Netherlands - The Dutch town of Kerkrade has become something of a magnet for Dutch, Belgian and German ravers of late. The draw is the recently opened 5,000 capacity Vizion club - a massive, multi-layered venue, situated near the German and Belgian borders, which features no less than 15 bars, several restaurants, a VIP lounge and a studio for the local radio station.

Pierre Vijgen, who owns Vizion, has invested more than €10 million in the venue, which sits tucked beneath the stands of Kerkrade’s Parkstad Limburg stadium. And get this for luxury - visitors arriving by car can choose from one of 1,500 parking spaces, with entry to the club costing only 10 euros.

Despite the scale of the venue, its split-level layout ensures that even when the building is not entirely full, its feel remains intimate and busy. Numerous internal galleries, like stork’s nests, of

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Russia - Spanish manufacturer D.A.S. Audio reports that its systems have been fundamental in installations ranging from houses of worship to theatres in both Korea and Russia recently. Kusan,the company’s distributor in Korea has installed D.A.S. systems in a number of venues requiring precise and natural coverage. Reference series R-212s and Dynamics series DS-12s have been incorporated in the audio/video systems of the the Bu-Kwang Methodist Church, the San-sung Church and the Pyung-Tack City Youth Center.

Another example of the international scope of D.A.S. installations is the Norilsk Zapoliarny Theatre in Russia. BossMan, D.A.S.’s Russian distributor has installed a large number of different D.A.S. systems. The venue was built in 1941 and remodeled in 1985. In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the theatre, a series of upgrades were undertaken, including n

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UK - Silverdown Studio has installed a complete 5.1 Genelec monitoring system featuring 1034B, 1031 and the new LSE 7073 sub-woofers, to cope with the heavy demand it has been experiencing for 5.1 work. The Hertfordshire studio is owned by Jeff Calvert, who has had a string of hits over the years, starting with a massive number one hit Barbados which he wrote, followed quickly by Starship Trooper. Calvert, who started at Morgan Studios in the 70s, left to set up Silverdown, which was originally located in London. After many successful years, he decided get out of ‘the smoke’ and re-locate to the gently rolling countryside of Hertfordshire.

Calvert’s production partner Chaz (Dabat) Kkoshi says: "We have just completed the intro music for a new PlayStation game in 5.1 called Dance Flight, a new album by Mona for the record company TLC, and we are in negotiat

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USA - The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino on the Las Vegas Strip is currently undergoing a $250 million expansion project that will soon add over a thousand new suites and 150,000sq.ft of supplementary meeting space to the already palatial complex.

The new meeting facilities, in particular, are comprised of three large boardrooms, 19 meeting rooms and three 14,000sq.ft. ballrooms, each of which may be split into 14 individual meeting rooms. To accommodate the demanding audio DSP and routing requirements for a project of this magnitude, Michael Naylor, systems design engineer for The Venetian, created a system primarily based around BSS Audio's PS-8810C Prosys processor. "The CobraNet-equipped Prosys units are really the heart of our audio system," says Naylor. "By using The Venetian's Ethernet and fibre backbone, we're able to send audio from any of these new meeting

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UK - Scream Studios, the rehearsal and recording facility group, is taking an all-EV approach for its prime showcase studios in south-east England. Scream, which began in 1991, expanded from its original site in Carshalton to a second operation in Croydon, and its latest location is in Brighton.

The recently-opened Brighton complex, which houses seven rehearsal rooms, also has a 100-capacity showcase room, linked to a recording studio and video editing suite. This has been equipped with an Electro-Voice RX sound reinforcement system "that can take the loudest of the loud" according to owner Aide Aires.

The new room has already been used by a wide variety of artists, from the 40-piece Carnival Collective, to Status Quo and Gary Moore. Apart from a highly individual design scheme, which features an 8ft tank with floating droids and cyborgs, the room uses two EV RX112/7

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Japan - The 1,300-capacity Anzu Hall Cultural Centre in Koshoku City has undergone a dynamic sound system refurbishment based around a QSC network and monitoring system. The multi-purpose Anzu Hall - situated inside the City Hall complex - hosts a wide variety of cultural events. Ueda JRC carried out the installation, supported by ComodoMattina Inc, QSC’s Japanese distributor. The company’s Takafumi Asahina says: "Originally, the client didn’t have a clear idea of what they wanted, and so we recommended QSC’s QSControl (pronounced Q’s Control) network audio control solution as being the most progressive way forward."

The QSControl remote management system, a RAVE Ethernet-based signal transport design, and CX Series amplifiers form the hub of the project. With four of QSC’s new ISIS 102W loudspeakers also commissioned for the task of

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Russia - St Petersburg’s council chamber, situated within the city’s monumental Marrinsky Palace, has undergone a two-year renovation, including newly installed sound and video equipment. The ‘Grand Hall’, as the chamber is known, has the most problematic acoustics - a case in point being a reverberation time of around 3.5 seconds.

Ruton S, the Russian Electro-Voice distributor, was the firm entrusted with the responsibility of bringing the venerable 19th century hall into line with the high standards of modern communication, and one of the first tasks was to install a conference and voting system - of which the sound reinforcement system was a major part. After conducting simulations (using EV’s EAMS software), Ruton S decided on a set-up which not only offered excellent sound quality as well as compact dimensions and an elegant appearance. The sys

  1. Cueing up at Wentworth Golf Club
  2. Laban - a new cultural landmark for London
  3. Australian hotels choose D.A.S. Audio
  4. JBL speakers installed in Hong Kong City
  5. Blackout plays the King of Clubs with Budweiser
  6. Lightfactor at Pantiles, Camberley
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