UK - A Victorian indoor market in the UK's rural West Country has been converted into a vibrant rock venue as part of a multipurpose remit, with the aid of QSC ModularDesign loudspeakers, process control and amplification.

The Cheese & Grain in Frome, Somerset dates back to 1874 when the building housed a busy market. The produce sold at the market was loaded onto railway wagons at the rear and transported to other parts of the country.

Before local dealers, Sounds of Frome moved in to bring the venue's sound reinforcement into the new millennium the venue had experienced a chequered recent history. Although several semi-permanent extensions had been added, the building deteriorated, and until 1997 was used as a temporary storage area. In the 1990's it was purchased by Mendip District Council and leased to Frome Town Council who undertook a programme of repairs and refurbishme

Canada - With seating for over 3000 congregants, the recently completed First Alliance Church is one of Calgary's largest and most modern houses of worship. Despite the venue's enormity, its state of the art audio and video systems bring a close and personal experience to all.

The systems were designed and installed by leading Canadian providers White Radio, with audio based around loudspeakers from Chester, Pennsylvania-based Community Loudspeakers. A centre cluster of three IFR77B three-way cabinets and two ISS118B subwoofers is augmented by left and right clusters of IFR34SB and IFR64SB three-way systems. Rear delay is covered by five more IFR64SB systems, with additional front-fill provided by six Community STS26B two-way boxes. A pair of ILF218B subs is installed under the stairs for extra bottom end.

"The sanctuary is a very wide room, and a traditional centre clust

UK - The Dutch branch of pan-European dry rental company AED has purchased two Midas Heritage 4000 consoles from Midas Consoles Holland. The consoles were purchased primarily to supply its clients that specialise in large-scale musical productions.

Hannover-based Racks and Stacks is one of AED's major customers, and the H4000s were purchased with their typical musical configuration in mind. This setup sees both consoles being used at front of house, with a double multicore cable delivering 96 channels to FOH. Monitoring is typically in ear and relayed to the musicians from the FOH position.

"With the H4000 we could provide stereo monitoring, which was an extra motivation for the customer to choose Midas," says AED proprietor Eddy van Nuffel. "It's also very straightforward for us to change this setup from two FOH desks to a standard FOH and monitor configuration

Russia - Staged at the Olimpiysky Sports Center in the Russian capital, the National Television Awards in Popular Music was attended by more than 20,000 people, and saw G-LEC provide 157 PhantomFrames to display the video images that served as a visual backdrop to the circular set.

Having designed the set to move up and down, the production company looked for the lightest and brightest LED system available, and chose G-LEC's lightweight, flexible and easily assembled PhantomFrame. The modular PhantomFrame system is capable of providing pixel by pixel rendering of full-speed video display signals, ensuring that the images, from a Catalyst media server and fed to the bank of LED frames via seven PC racks, were fast and smooth. In addition to the Awards, the audience was treated to performances from a host of Russian pop stars, including the once-controversial duo Tatu.

This was

Argentina - The city of Mendoza in Argentina offers a complete agenda of cultural events, including folk festivals, theatre, art expositions and the Grape Harvest festival, Mendoza's most historic event of the year. One of the biggest events of its kind, the Autumn for Life Marathon produced by Mendoza's Channel 9 TV, was recently held in the city.

For more than four hours, over 35,000 spectators enjoyed the numerous performances of this open-air event. The sound reinforcement company Merino Producciones of Mendoza was responsible for the event's technical production. For the main PA, the company used 24 D.A.S. Aero 28 line array systems flown 12 per side form a height of 10m. A down-fill system of four Aero 28s was used to provide coverage for the first six rows.

Delay towers comprised of four Aero 28A were located 50m from the main stage. According to Carlos Merino, t

America / Europe - Touring in support of her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dancefloor, Madonna's 2006 tour is an all out disco spectacular that sees the Material Girl dancing her way across North America and Europe through the summer.

Perhaps this summer's hottest concert ticket, this is Madonna's second tour in a row in which lighting designer Roy Bennett has turned to a Martin lighting package. PRG's Las Vegas office has supplied 47 MAC 700 Profiles, 31 MAC 2000 Washes, 82 Atomic strobes with Atomic Colors and other automateds for the tour.

"Some of what we did this year was based on what was done on the previous tour but we expanded on that," Roy explains. "We have a combination of MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 2000 Washes and other automated lights both in the rig and on the floor, all over really, doing a lot such as the soft good washes over and around the

UK - Creative sound design and installation specialists CP Sound, continues its reputation for installing the highest quality sound systems with a JBL sound system design and installation at Volstead. The club is the latest highly discreet A-List haunt in London.

The building has housed clubs of various descriptions for some years, before recently being acquired by the Ignite group, and transformed into a intimate, uniquely branded and highly atmospheric venue in their extremely select group.

CP Sound has completed several projects for Ignite over the last three years, and once again Colin Pattenden was approached for his technical input into Volstead in its prime Swallow Street, Soho, location.

Ignite wanted refined and classy audio to compliment Satmoko Ball's provocative neo art deco interior design which involves plenty of mirrored and reflective surfaces oozing glamour.

USA - Bandit continued their long relationship with the CMA Music Festival in 2006. Under the direction of noted designer Mike Swinford the Bandit team delivered another television show to be aired July 24th on ABC. Martina McBride, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brooks and Dunn, Keith Urban, Wynonna, Montgomery Gentry, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, Sugarland, Clint Black, Ronnie Milsap, Sarah Evans, Pat Green, Dierks Bentley and Trisha Yearwood are but a few of the many artists that will appear on the spectacular.

Swinford specified a tremendous variety of fixtures including VL 3000s, VL 500s, Martin MAC 2000s, MAC 600s, and a host of other equipment. The show was controlled by two Grand MA and two Grand MA Lite consoles. Board operators were Mark Butts and Ken Hutson and Monica Rose was the gaffer. The production manager for the CMA was Chuck Young, a veteran of many ye

UK - Liverpool based Adlib Audio has spent £250,000 on revamping and expanding its warehouse, including the addition of a new mezzanine floor which enlarges the current working space by 500sq.m.

"This has enabled us to make massive improvements to the layout, efficiency and functionality of the building," explains Adlib's managing director Andy Dockerty.

Business has been so robust for Adlib over the last two years, says the company, and there's now over 50 full time employees at the Speke premises.

It was either a case of buying a new building and going through all the associated disruption of moving, or seeing how they could practically maximise the existing space. They decided on development of the existing site - for less interruption to the workflow.

More office space has been created as a result for sales hire and administration and there's also room

UK - At a informal on 6 July, Sean Albuquerque (Chair, RIBA South East) awarded Nicolas Chisholm (headmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin School) and ABTT member Mark Foley (principal of architectural practice Burrell Foley Fischer LLP), a RIBA Award lead plaque for Foley's design of the The Menuhin Hall situated within the school at Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey - a winner in the RIBA Awards 2006 - South East category.

Described by the judges as "magic in maple", the full award citation reads: "This building has been delivered on an exceptionally tight budget but is none the poorer for that. Set in the green belt and within earshot of the M25, the hall is conspicuously located in a prominent position on a site that slopes gently away from the loose collection of school buildings strung along the skyline.

"The Hall is the building. Externally, it is simple, econo

UK - In the history of performing arts, Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's Show Boat ranks as something of a landmark, being one of the first ever musical theatre productions of its kind to hit Broadway.

A completely new production, staged in the round by Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall in London, has become one of the world's first productions to use a revolutionary new technology which tracks the positions of the actors to help create authentic audio localisation that matches their positions on stage.

At the heart of the system, supplied by Out Board, is a 16-input 32-output TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix driven by a Track The Actors (TTA) system. TTA comprises a Cordis Radio Eye mounted in the grid above stage which receives signals transmitted by small radio tags worn by each actor. These are fed via Ethernet to the TTA software which analyses them to der

UK - Set within the grounds of Balmoral Castle amongst the stunning scenery of the Scottish Highlands, a concert to celebrate the Queen's 80th Birthday took place on Friday 30 June 2006.

The concert, the brainchild and put together by George Walker Events to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust for Leukaemia, featured a north of the border flavour - Fiona Kennedy, The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, The Graham Geddes Scottish Dance Band, Mass Pipes and Drums, Celtic Scottish Dancers, the highlight of the evening being a stunning performance by renowned classical singer Katherine Jenkins. Presented by BBC2's Ken Bruce, the concert was attended by a crowd of over 5,500 people and lasted over a five hour period, including a spectacular fireworks display and an air display by the 2Excel Blades aviation team.

Harrogate based FT Audio Visual Ltd provided the sound and light production

USA - On June 24, 2006 The Phantom of the Opera - The Las Vegas Spectacular opened at the Venetian Hotel and Casino utilising custom-fabricated equipment from Tomcat USA.

The first items on the list are a series of Dance Towers - an item that has become a favourite with production electricians and has been used in productions like The Lion King, The Producers and Wicked. On stage left and stage right, three hanging towers plus one rolling tower provide an endless number of lighting positions. Unistrut installed in each tower allows the designer to position lighting instruments anywhere in the tower and an adjustable centre pick-up point on top of the towers ensure that the towers remain straight after the equipment has been loaded.

The second part of the order is the front-of-house catwalk truss. Six 10' sections of truss (custom built spans of 30" X

Belgium - AED Rent has not only been nominated as a new V-Dosc partner for Belgium but also as a dV-Dosc provider for France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Founded in 1987, AED Rent provides dry-rental support to production and rental companies. The AED Rent group has developed its presence in Belgium, Germany, Holland and France, currently employing 68 qualified sound and lighting customer care specialists. AED Rent's stock of rental equipment consists of more than 1700 speaker cabinets from compact systems such as L-Acoustics coaxial MTD and XT series cabinets to WST line sources Kudo, dV-Dosc, and V-Dosc.

"Today's dry-rental market demands instant-access to large inventories of state-of-the-art equipment, complex although 'plug-and-play' sound and lighting systems," explains Eddy Van Nuffel, co-managing director. "Sound systems and lighting configurations requ

UK - Pixi-Flex consists of individual pixels moulded onto a cable. Each pixel is individually controlled and can display over 16 million colours. Three standard versions are available: 16 pixels with a nominal pitch of 250mm, 16 pixels with a 500mm pitch and 32 pixels with a 125mm pitch. Special variants of these can be manufactured for custom projects.

The product can be surface mounted using the integral 3mm thread, or simply push fit into a suitable hole in the set, wall or fabric. Pixi-Flex is perfect for creating pixilated walls of light, similar to video walls. The big difference is that Pixi-Flex can flow around contours and make three-dimensional shapes.

Pixi-Flex uses a new "point-source" RGB LED that creates both a bright white light output and, with their consistent colour mixing ability, provides an enhanced colour palette with a superior range of pastel

Germany - Berlin's new railway station has been described as "looking like a giant glass spaceship that has landed in the middle of Berlin", 10 years in construction, the station is the largest single project since German reunification, with the opening timed to coincided with the start of the World Cup. As with all new urban developments, the inclusion of retail leisure areas are vital to the stations day-to-day life. With some 1100 train and 30,000 passengers passing through ever day, their every need has been catered for with a three level shopping plaza, where 82 stores, lounges and restaurants provide around the clock service.

One of the main anchors is a Virgin Megastore, operated by HDS-Retail. The AV installation for the new store was carried out by Raum plus Schall, working in partnership with RCF Germany.

RCF's Michael Herweg says: "We have previously

USA - Turbosound's US distributor, Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, is the official sponsor of the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, which celebrates the essential contributions made by generations of talented musicians in all genres of music. The company has outfitted the complex with a new Turbosound Aspect TA-500 loudspeaker system together with a broad selection of Neumann and Sennheiser microphones for the performance space. Turbosound TCS Contractor Series ceiling speakers and an Australian Monitor multi-zone paging system for the screening theatre and exhibit areas were included in the install.

The multi-million dollar Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum is the brainchild of Nashville songwriter Joe Chambers, who also owns a chain of guitar stores in the area. The 2,800sq.m complex, located in downtown Nashville close to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Gay

UK - LED lighting specialist and manufacturer i-Vision has expanded and moved to bigger premises in Cwmbran, South Wales. The new facility - the former Matsushita Corporation building - includes an automated assembly production line for i-Vision's Lumos range of interior and exterior LED luminaries plus 12,000sq.ft of warehousing and offices.

The building has been completely gutted, refurbished and customised by the i-Vision team to meet their growing needs, which had completely outstripped the capacity of the previous premises in Chepstow, particularly the manufacturing aspect. I-Vision can also now capitalise on keeping as much of the process as possible in house.

The new address is:
Lakeside House
Lakeside
Cwmbran
NP44 3XS
Telephone: 01633 482500.

All Emails and the web address remain the same.

As an energy conscious company, i-Vision has undertaken all i

UK - Luton-based TED AV has just completed the installation of a new Communitysound system in the Oasis Club - the main ballroom of the Entertainment Complex at Park Resorts' Cayton Bay holiday park near Scarborough in Yorkshire. With a strong line up of acts booked, including Bucks Fizz, Chas & Dave, Ray Lewis and the New Drifters, The Ivy League and The Real Thing, the ballroom hosts every type of event from bands, themed evenings and discos through to the children's entertainment and parties that run throughout the day.

Park Resorts operate 35 holiday parks at popular tourist destinations throughout the UK and has already spent more than £4M expanding and upgrading its facilities during 2006.

Park Resorts chose preferred-supplier TED AV for the refit at Cayton Bay. TED AV is the sound, lighting and stage equipment design, supply and installation division of TED UK (Th

USA - After the close of InfoComm 2006, hundreds of audio professionals left Orlando singing the praises of Meyer Sound's new M'elodie ultracompact curvilinear array loudspeaker, says the company. As the newest (and smallest) member of the Milo family, M'elodie captivated long-time Meyer Sound users and newcomers alike with a forceful voice housed in a svelte package. In the process, M'elodie also garnered a Sound & Video Contractor Pick Hit Award from the editors of the industry trade magazine.

M'elodie was the spotlight attraction for three demo sessions staged on 9 June in one of the Orange County Convention Center's exhibit halls. Total attendance for the afternoon topped 450, with corporate AV and installation professionals finding time in their hectic schedules to hear what the "show buzz" was all about.

"Even with such a small footprint the M'elodi

USA / Hong Kong / UK - Genlyte Group, parent company of a number of professional lighting brands including Vari-Lite, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the US and Hong Kong-based operations of Strand Lighting - and certain assets of Strand Lighting Ltd in the UK, as part of a restructuring being undertaken by Strand.

According to Genlyte's announcement, approximately 80 Strand US employees located in Los Angeles and 22 employees in Hong Kong will join the Genlyte organization. The UK operation is in the hands of administrators KPMG, under Jane Moriarty and Blair Nimmo. KPMG has confirmed to LSI Online that 60 reduncancies have been made in the UK, and it is not thought that anyone from the UK operation is being retained by Genlyte.

In 2005, the Strand business segments included in the transaction reported sales of approximately $31 million. The transact

Germany - A lot has changed since the first Mayday rave in Berlin's Weissensee 15 years ago. Now staged at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, the event has grown larger and more professional, without sacrificing any of its charm, as illustrated by this year's event, which was attended by just under 25,000 ravers.

Live shows from such stars of the scene as The Prodigy and cult DJ Westbam contributed to the atmosphere, as did the sound - provided by TSE AG Berlin. The importance attached to sound by the organizers of this world-famous event is clear from the Mayday website (www.mayday.de), where they outline their vision for the "greatest sound system ever assembled" - one in which "every sound calls forth a shudder from the heart".

They wanted the ground to shake, and they called in the celebrated Berlin soundsmiths TSE AG to make sure it did. TSE sent out its

Turkey / Sweden - Wybron dealer, Stockholm-based Spectra Stage & Event Technologies, completed a massive permanent lighting installation on the Garantibank Headquarters in Istanbul on 21June, bringing Wybron colour to the skies. The 400-foot-tall structure (120 meters) was the last of eight bank buildings in Turkey for which Istanbul-based The Partners commissioned Spectra to complete the lighting design.

Lighting Designer Per Sundin wanted the façade of the building to stand out, but had to keep Mother Nature in mind. The Spectra team fit 28 Wybron outdoor model Large Format Aquaram colour changers onto Philips ArenaVision MVF 403 1800W HID floodlighting luminaires to drench the front stone walls of the bank in beautiful shades of blue and aqua. In addition to the benefit of delivering exact gel colours, the Aquaram is built to withstand the elements. The control switch panels

UK - Foo Fighters fans at London's Hyde Park and the Father's Day gig in Manchester rocked on to Dave Grohl and his band's high-energy performance. The sun blazed and temperatures soared, but none of the action from the Foos or support bands Motorhead, Queens of the Stoneage, Angels & Airwaves and The Subways was lost on XL Video's Lighthouse R16 16mm LED video screens.

Three curved columns in a four x nine panel configuration graced centre stage, along with various other ground stacked curved screens - an impressive 160 panels of Lighthouse R16 in total. "The most complicated thing about this was that there was an overnight from Hyde Park up to Manchester," explains Phil Mercer, XL Video project manager for music and live events. "The screen needed to be quick and easy to set up and also lightweight because of limited weight loading on the stage. Lighthouse was t

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline