Lighting&Sound International, PLASA Media’s leading entertainment technology journal, is sponsoring the New Technology Gallery at PLASA 2001. This is the showcase of all products nominated for the prestigious PLASA Awards for Product Excellence. Situated on the Top Deck of the PLASA Show, near to the main bar area, the showcase offers visitors a chance to check out the features and capabilities of all of the major product innovations at PLASA 2001, in one place.

L&SI will be based on the Lower Deck (stand K19), where we will be offering free readerships to qualifying UK industry personnel, plus special offers on international subscriptions only available at PLASA 2001 - plus PLASA Media freebies to all new subscribers!

L&SI can be found on stand K19.

Coleraine-based Light & Sound FX has installed a new PA system at Coleraine Football Club. The system, commissioned by Mackie Designs’ technical manager Mick Williams, is based around RCF’s new RX 3000, a programmable matrix for sound system management and control. Light & Sound FX’s Darren Gardener explains the background to the install: "Initially, we were dubious about using a 100V line system. We were concerned about both the quality and clarity of such a system. During consultations with Mackie/RCF in the early stages of the project, both Andy Austin Brown and myself spent a lot of time going over the pros and cons for a low impedance system or a 100V line system. In the end, we felt that Andy had a stronger case and we went with the HD 550/HFT horn speakers and the RX3000 matrix system. On the day that Mick Williams came to commission and test the system, I h

Few people understand the full complexities of health and safety regulations inherent in the design and installation of motion control systems, even less so when EU legislation is surpassed by a country’s own. The DIN standards, imposed by the TÜV, are known for being the toughest, most stringent safety regulations in the world and govern installations from railways and airlines to nuclear power stations. It was within such DIN regulations that AVW Controls designed, manufactured and installed the automation systems for the newly-built 1,450-seat Concert Hall in Thessalonika, Greece.

The facility is used for opera, theatre and as a convention centre, and as such needs to be totally flexible. The specification, one of the largest AVW has worked on, called for a fully computerised flying system for 34 scenery bars, 10 point hoists and four lighting bars, all with the capability o

Bookings are now being taken for this year's Theatrical London tour (12-14 September), which follows on directly from the PLASA Show. The event will feature visits to the world-renowned Royal Albert Hall for a night at the Proms; the Apollo Theatre to see the upgraded Starlight Express; Tussaud's Group Studios for an exclusive technical tour, and the Donmar Warehouse for a 'Divas at the Donmar' performance. The cost is just £250 per person for the whole programme! For full details and booking information, visit the website below.

Birmingham-based Central Theatre Supplies has just completed its third Performing Arts School installation in nine months. All three venues feature Zero 88 Dimming, and control along with Selecon lanterns. Two of the venues are using a Sirius desk for control, whilst the third has opted for the recently launched Fat Frog. CTS specified these particular desks as they will largely be operated by students, enabling them to learn about lighting on manual pre-set controls before moving into advanced environments.

Fat Frog was recommended for the one particular school as they are developing out of hours activities for community use. Andy Fidgeon, Electrical Supervisor at Birmingham Rep said "I was pleased Fat Frog was chosen for this venue as I light shows for a number of amateur companies and it will give me quick and easy control over moving lights."

Selecon Profiles were spec

Multitone Electronics has launched the On-Q theatre subtitling system which allows individual audience members to view translations of opera librettos or synopses, or the hard of hearing to follow scripts of plays. On-Q was originally developed for the prestigious Euskalduna Palace theatre in Bilbao, Spain, where it has been seen as a factor in the growth in audiences for opera and foreign language productions. The On-Q system is a real-time, wireless-based mobile text subtitling system specifically aimed at the theatre and opera market. It consists of small text terminals which receive data from a central PC. On-Q offers synchronised subtitling in a range of languages simultaneously, allowing audiences and the hard of hearing to enjoy productions which may not be in their native language. The terminals are small, silent and lightweight and require minimal interaction by users to select

One of the UK’s leading sound installation companies, Northern Light, has just completed "the first of many" installs with Celestion professional loudspeakers. In Grangemouth, the Town Hall has commissioned a new sound reinforcement system, featuring the new Celestion CXi Series cabinets, for its 1000-capacity venue.

Stephen Stewart, installations engineer for Northern Light, has wall-mounted Celestion CXi 1221s left and right of the stage, with another pair of CXi1221s as a delay 30 metres up the hall. Celestion KR1s provide the balcony infill, whilst Celestion’s digital management system, the DMS2065, controls all the parametrics and delays.

"We’re hoping to establish a firm alliance between Northern Light and Celestion," explains Stewart. "Celestion is a name that our clients associate with, and this is going to be the first of many CXi i

The Elbow Room chain of pool bars has commissioned a second audio installation from Essex-based Xtreme AV, for its newest venue, recently opened in Bristol. This latest contract follows on from the success of Xtreme’s design for the Elbow Room in Swiss Cottage, London, which opened in June. The three-floor bar in central London features a highly flexible Celestion CXi sound system, providing six zones of audio to the main bar, the gallery bar on the first floor and the club bar in the basement. The system is controlled by BSS Soundweb which allows the Elbow Room to route any sound source to any area - for example the DJ in the basement bar to a private party in the gallery bar. Private VIP areas, scattered throughout the club, are equipped with their own televisions and speaker system, allowing guests to choose their own programming. Each area has its own EQ setting on Soundweb.

A new specialist sound, lighting and video design and installation company, Live Business International, has opened its doors in London. The company is headed by technical director Roland Hemming, the former head of sound at the Millennium Dome, and is backed by Live Business, the UK’s largest provider of live entertainment. Live Business International specializes in design, installation and maintenance of sound, video and lighting systems in entertainment venues, including cruise ships, hotels, theatres, clubs, stadia and conference venues.

Hemming’s background spans 15 years in the entertainment technology business, beginning at the sound department of Theatre Projects where he pioneered MIDI-based show control in the late 1980s, going on to work as a sound engineer, event production manager, audio consultant and installation designer. In recent years Hemming has been res

Trafalgar Leisure, who already own several sites in Newcastle, including the impressive Powerhouse, have just celebrated the opening of their latest club, Sugar, in the heart of Newcastle’s city centre. Once again, Trafalgar turned to Sound Control's ‘Big Paul’ Yeats to specify all the audio equipment for this five-floor entertainment complex which includes bars, a cafe and a restaurant, as well as the club itself. As with Powerhouse, Paul opted for a full Electro-Voice/Dynacord audio solution to the venue's exacting demands.

The basement and fifth floors, which house the bathrooms and restaurant respectively, are the quietest parts of the building and both have been supplied with a 100V line system based around Dynacord DL70W ceiling speakers. The ground and first floors are home to the café and bar areas where Yeats has specified a system based around EV Sx80 cabin

Klotz Digital was recently awarded a contract to develop, design and install one of the most modern integrated PA installations at the new Munich Airport Terminal 2, scheduled to go in to operation in March 2003. In addition to providing flight information and other pertinent announcements to travelers, visitors and airport personnel, plus supplying background music, this system can either broadcast throughout the entire airport or can be localized, if necessary, to specific areas. Furthermore, the system allows personalized emergency bulletin broadcasts, with priority-driven repetition.

The PA system consists of 27 independently operating PA stations. All stations are connected to one another and to the central/main station via fibre optic cables. To ensure the necessary high safety standard, the entire system is fully redundant so that in case of an emergency or disaster, communicati

White Light Sales has provided The Castle Theatre in Wellingborough, Northampton with a new Strand 520i lighting control console. The Service Company completed the installation. "Last summer, The Service Company lent them a Strand 520 for an outdoor gig they were holding to celebrate the Millennium," recalls The Service Company’s Roger Hennigan. "They were so impressed that they wanted one!"

The theatre is a 500-seat theatre that can be used in proscenium format or converted to a flat floor space, and which hosts a wide range of productions and events during the course of a year. They were using a Galaxy Nova console, but chief electrician Lesley Gash felt that it was time to move to a newer console with more flexible control over DMX devices such as scrollers and moving lights. The 520i seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Hennigan says: "Following discussi

Bookings are now well underway for the seminar and workshop programme planned for the PLASA Show. This year the emphasis is very much on knowledge with those signing up gaining an insight into how new technology is creating new opportunities, how individuals have pulled together highly complex projects, why integration is so important and how they can achieve more by picking up tips and techniques from others.

In a programme of seminars sponsored by Installation Europe, audio installation and integration is the theme under which issues of networking, control and the benefits of converging technologies are explored. Tuesday sees a Theme and Leisure Masterclass, presented by Leisure Management, in association with the TEA and TiLE, which focuses on how the leisure industry exploits special effects, lighting and audio technology to create unique environments to enhance the visitor experie

David Atkinson Lighting Design has just completed an extensive design for the National Football Museum in Preston on behalf of Land Design Studio.

The museum was split into two areas, the first being ‘Finney’ - an area which covered the invention of the game, its development over the last 150 years, and what the future is likely to hold for both players and supporters.

Finney was designed with a high proportion of complex graphic panels which were either flat or multi-layered. Atkinson spec’d a light from Commercial Lighting Systems, which utilized twin 36W compact fluorescent lamps. To this he added barndoors and a filter holder to wash the various graphic panels. To add definition and depth to some of the multi-layered panels, he fitted T5 encapsulite tubes to the reverse of the panels. The exhibits were lit with low voltage profiles, floods and fibre optic source

Located on a wooded hillside overlooking the beautiful cathedral city of Winchester, King Alfred’s College was founded in 1840 and today is home to over 5,000 full and part-time students. The fastest growing area of work is in Performing Arts, and the college has made substantial investments in its core infrastructure in recent years. Seven years ago, land was bought to develop the West Downs Student village. To satisfy the need for extra teaching space for performing arts, the College restored the old West Downs Preparatory School, a Grade 2 listed building. This enabled the College to create three new performance areas and eleven seminar rooms, as well as a 300-seat theatre and arts centre. The project also involved the provision and installation of new lighting and audio systems that could be adapted to meet the diverse needs of the performing arts courses, student societies and

Logic System Pro Audio returned from Singapore in July having exhibited at the PALA show for the first time ever. A joint venture with Del Salado Entertainment Pte Ltd, the show proved a huge success and has already spawned several new orders and a great deal of interest in the brand which is new to the region. During his stay, sales manager Dean Davoile was taken to see ‘Bali Rock’ the first Logic System installation in Singapore. The venue features a dance area with a quieter ‘chill out’ zone on the upper floor. The sound system comprises IS8’s running full range supplemented by IS24 sub bass units. Lawrence Chee, owner of Bali Rock enthused "I have been impressed with the system since day one and it still amazes me the level and quality of sound I can get from such compact and discreet cabinets."

Baroque, a Scottish & Newcastle-owned bar situated in the centre of Derby, has recently undergone a complete refurbishment of the ground floor area. As part of the refurbishment the venue has had a new background music system installed by Derby-based Pro Technical Services. Richard Anderson, Pro Tech's service manager explains: "We were approached by Phil Meah, who manages Baroque. He told us that he was working on a concept for Scottish & Newcastle at Baroque and that he wanted a background music system for the bar."

Now, Baroque has a definite 'continental' feel about it and what Phil certainly wanted to avoid was an over-active sound system that would in his words "Blow his customers away". What Richard proposed was an RCF Monitor system comprising six Monitor 5s and two MSW 8 bass units. This gave just the right amount of sound during the day time and was capabl

The jewel in the British Film Industry’s crown, the National Film Theatre is generally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest cinemas, offering the biggest and best choice of films dating back to the origins of the industry (it is the only public cinema that can still show inflammable nitrate film).

With three screens showing over 2,000 films, head of technical services, Richard Boyd knows that while they face a critical audience of purists, technologically times also move forward. The principal auditorium already boasted digital sound and recently the NFT decided to review its projection equipment. The 450-seat NFT1 boasts a 12.5ft high screen, and when it came to researching the market for the new generation of DLP digital video projection Boyd scrutinized the market closely before opting for a fully-featured, three-chip DLP Christie Digital Roadster X4, fitted with

When this flagship vessel sets sail in late 2003, she will be the largest passenger vessel ever built - over 345m long, 45m wide and 72m tall - making her five times longer than Cunard’s first ship, Britannia. All 45 on-board entertainment systems will be designed by Nautilus Entertainment Design (NED), based in La Jolla, California. Since designing its first lighting systems for Carnival Destiny in 1996, NED has built its capabilities to not only include lighting systems, but audio, rigging, video, broadcast and large-format projection systems as well. NED’s QM2 project manager Bill Havens and the NED design team will be working closely with Harbor Marine Systems (HMS), the French-based entertainment contractor selected by the Shipyard to install the entertainment systems. HMS has previously installed entertainment systems for cruise ships constructed throughout Europe. Thi

The Lyric in Hammersmith - one of the few surviving Frank Matcham-designed theatres - has returned to Marquee Audio a year after making a major investment in sound mixing, playback, processing and sound reinforcement equipment, to have them configure a new hard disk recording studio. The theatre’s sound technician Nick Manning (pictured in the new recording studio) explained that the new studio equipment fell into the remit of the theatre’s IT upgrade, which is being funded by an Arts Council grant.

"While the theatre was working on replacing its business systems, I set about drawing up a scheme for a dedicated sound computer, which would enable us to produce sound effects for shows," explained Nick. "I then spoke to Andy Huffer at Marquee Audio about designing a hard disk recording system based around the industry-standard Logic Audio software package."

Firepower is the new Royal Artillery Experience, set in the historic buildings of the Royal Arsenal on the River Thames at Woolwich.

The attraction was designed by Event Communications, whose main challenge was to overcome people’s discomfort with the reality of war. They tackled this by highlighting the role in the fight for democracy and freedom played by the armed forces, especially the Royal Artillery, which has been present at all major theatres of war involving the British Army over the last 300 years.

The centrepiece of Firepower is the ‘ground-shaking’ Field of Fire - a spectacular multimedia presentation that recreates what it feels like to be in the middle of a real battle. On entering, visitors are surrounded by various pieces of artillery. Suspended above these are four 5m wide front projection screens. Projecting onto each screen is a Barco 6300 LCD Vid

RCF/Mackie has been responsible for the design and supply of a sound system for the new Terminal A at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport at Fiumicino, based around the company’sRX-3000 programmable matrix system.

The new Terminal, built at a cost of ITL 125 billion, is 170m long, 80-100m wide and 20m high, with a covered surface area of 55,000sq.m. It replaces the temporary building constructed in 1997, with the aim of comfortably accommodating more than 12 million passengers a year who use Fiumicino for domestic flights and who, according to recent estimates, are due to grow to 17 million by 2005.

RCF’s association with Rome’s airports stretches back around 25 years, to when the company first started supplying sound equipment to both of Rome’s airports - Fiumicino and Ciampino. One figure that the audio team from Reggio Emilia (home of RCF and now Mackie

Continuing their long relationship with the Mean Fiddler Group, sound specialists Encore were asked to specify an audio playback system for the leisure group’s latest Central London development, eponymously dedicated to the Irish celebrity chef, Conrad Gallagher. Owned by Vince Power’s company, the luxurious 170-seat Conrad Gallagher restaurant opened last month at 179 Shaftesbury Avenue in London’s West End, serving modern Irish food, with a bar/lounge situated above. It is open seven days a week. Some 30 Sound Advance CT10 recessed ceiling speakers, purchased from their exclusive UK distributors, Sound Department, have been fitted on each floor, including the toilets and the private dining room.

Encore’s Mick Martin explained: "We have worked extensively for the Mean Fiddler Group over the years - and we have also fitted CT10s into a number of other high

PLASA is now just two days away and it looks like this year’s event will be the best ever. PLASA is where you get to find out what over 400 of the industry’s leading players have been doing in the past few months. It’s got to be better than leafing through hundreds of product brochures or trawling the internet for information. Aside from the exhibition, there are plenty of things to catch the eye, including the DJ Competition on the Sunday, the newly-introduced iDJ Talk Zone offering advice to DJs, a comprehensive seminar and workshop programme, the PLASA Awards for Product Excellence, the various Feature Areas, and the many events, press launches and on-stand receptions organized by exhibitors. If you still haven’t registered for the event, don’t worry, you can register on the day. All you need to do is turn up at Earls Court 1 and register on the door. See

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