Belgium/Dubai - Barco reports that it has signed its largest contract ever for a fully integrated, creative LED solution. The contract with Emaar, developer of the world's biggest shopping mall in Dubai, is worth over 24 million euro. The LED displays will be used both to inform and entertain visitors of the Dubai Mall. The Mall will officially be opened in September 2007. Deliveries for the installation will take place in 2007.

The contract for Dubai Mall includes a total of 571 square metres of LED. The Mall will host over 1200 outlets, spanning in excess of 336,000 square metres of retail space, and will also include an array of leisure pursuits, including an aquarium, fashion show arena, gold souk and Olympic size ice ring.

Emaar executive director Rashid Doleh comments, "We have selected Barco as we are convinced that the quality and creativity of their solutions is

Germany - The Index in Schüttorf is one of the ten largest discotheques in Germany. With around 4,000 square metres of floor space, it attracts around 7,000 punters every weekend. It reopened recently after seven months of refurbishment, including the installation of the world's largest ice bar which extends over 850 square metres and composed of 320 tonnes of ice. In addition to the Ice Bar, there are three other sections, named Main, Tender and Goldfish, each with its own ambience.

"We see this as a disco of superlatives," says Index managing director, Holger Bösch. His plan is for the Index to function as a disco at the weekends, whilst remaining available during the week for corporate functions, wedding parties and other events. "We aim to offer guests the optimum experience, so nothing less than the finest equipment will suffice,"

Denmark - Noerrebro Micro Brewery was the first micro brewery to open its doors in Copenhagen. With a combination of a restaurant, bar and lounge, the venue attracts customers who appreciate gourmet food and a range of beers in a cool and rustic atmosphere.

With background music during the day, lounge levels at night and DJ sessions during weekends, the lounge required a sound system that delivers well at background level, but still provides convincing dynamics and involvement when pushed by the DJ's.

A lot of work went in to the visual design and ambience of the venue and the sound system. In order not to compromise the clean visual impression, four aluminium finished Cornered C6TRM boxes were discreetly installed horizontally in the corner between ceiling and walls. Crossed at 80 Hz, the top-boxes only call for a minimum of sub bass support and a customised 8" active su

Sweden - BSS Audio is at the centre of an ambitious new media and music production complex in the centre of Gothenburg. The 70-year-old four-storey Brew House, which at various times functioned as the Apotekarnes brewery and Ethnographic Museum, began its conversion to a creative centre specialising in film and music production back in 2002 - the result of an initiative floated by the Business Region Göteborg.

Designed to encourage collaboration and networking, the facility also incorporates a restaurant, conference room, and the large 600 sq. metre Stena Arena. The complex has been developed at a cost of 50 million Swedish kronor (£4 million) and operated by HIGAB (Hantverks-och Industrihus I Göteborg AB). It already boasts full occupancy, the 60 resident companies from the fields of music, movies, media, entertainment and education all able to interact.

However, it w

UK - When, in December 2005 Utopian Leisure purchased two Newcastle bars, Sam Jacks adjacent to The Gate Leisure Centre and Bar 55, which is in a predominant position at the end of Mosley Street in the 55° North complex, they knew that both venues would need considerable refurbishment.

Sam Jacks was upgraded to include a dance area complete with a new lighting system, enhancements and additions to the visuals, with the installation of three new projectors, and upgrades to the Plasma and LCD displays. Utopian's operations manager Carl Hornsby commented "We must have the greatest number of display units in any Newcastle Venue with a total of 37 displays providing a visual impact to the customer of breathtaking proportions"The sound system needed reinforcing particularly for the dance area and Utopian together with Blaydon Communications chose the KV2 Audio ES system.

UK -Though it is still over ten months away, PLASA07 has got off to an amazing start with applications for space beating all previous records. To date, just six weeks after the 2006 event closed on a massive high, over 60% of the show space has been applied for and further applications for space are coming in daily.

On the back of the success of PLASA06, many companies have increased their stand size and several have literally doubled their space, setting PLASA07 on course to be the major event of next year.

Further new developments for PLASA07 will also bolster its appeal: the full management of the show has been taken on by PLASA - who recently launched an Events Division to support this move - making it one of the few shows actually owned and run by the industry.

Along with the change of management comes a change of look as the show is moving onto one level and expanding

UK - A chic late night style bar has been added to Harlow's hospitality circuit, with the aid of a high-powered Martin Audio sound system. The conversion of the former CM20 music bar in Post Office Walk to Twenty One - a late night venue with a 4am license on two levels - was the brainchild of leisure entrepreneur/owner Paul Mapp (of Greedy Boys Ltd).

Locally-based company, Clarity in Sound, Light & Vision recommended a new Martin AQ system to be distributed throughout the venue, run in conjunction with some of the existing equipment.

Says Mapp, "Everything here revolves around quality. We like to invest in quality equipment and the Martin Audio system is highly versatile, sounding superb whatever we put through it."

The ground floor is divided into split zones, the sound routed via a Cloud zoner. Clarity's Stuart Graham, who also worked closely with interior desig

Russia - The RUK university in Mytischi just outside Moscow has recently taken delivery of an InnovaSON Sy48 digital mixing console for its new multipurpose venue.

The console was supplied and installed by StudiTech, InnovaSON's Russian distributor which, as well as its distribution wing, also has a thriving contracting department that offers engineering and acoustic design, installation, servicing, training and consultancy services.

The university venue is designed to be a truly multipurpose space that will stage concerts, conferences, and AV presentations as well as acting as a TV bridge for video conferencing with other university facilities in Russia. The keyword was flexibility, and that was what dictated the choice of console, explained StudiTech's Nikita Stepanov. It also explained the slightly unusual configuration of the Sy48 where StudiTech opted to house all the I/O

Sweden - When Cengiz 'Jimmy' Savran bought the 540-capacity Kompaniet Club on Gothenburg's pedestrianised Kungsgatan a year ago it was a dance venue with big problems. And Cengiz would know, since he owned the Vice Versa restaurant right opposite. So he installed security cameras and quickly restored both its reputation and its interior under the new name of Wish Club.

The DJ booth features the Denon DN-S3500. "The main reason for this decision was that this CD/MP3 player contained more functions than anything else on the market, allowing the DJs to be more re creative with their mix," says Savran. "We have tried many other brands of equipment but Denon always lives up to our expectations and I have had nothing but good experiences with Denon equipment in the past."

Distributed in Sweden by EM Nordic, the pair of Denon's flagship players were supplied to Wi

UK - The young Vic has been heralded as one of the most exciting new performance spaces to open this year. Charcoalblue Theatre Consultancy, subcontracted by Theatre Projects, is responsible for the design, specification and integration of the entire technical infrastructure of this exciting new space.

One of the most important producing theatres in the UK, the Young Vic was originally founded in 1970 by Sir Laurence Olivier for the younger members of his newly formed National Theatre Company. Built as a temporary space, it had an intended life span of a mere five years. However it wasn't until 2000 - when the building reached a dangerous state of disrepair - that 'the powers that be' sanctioned its rebuild. The theatre reopened six years later to press on 11 October - on time and on budget.

Designed with total flexibility of space utilization and configuration in mind, Charco

UK - Adlib Audio has completed the design, specification and installation of a new sound system at Liverpool Royal Philharmonic Hall. The prestigious 1700 capacity concert hall venue is one of the city's landmarks, and Its music programme encompasses a wide variety of events.

Adlib's Andy Dockerty and Roger Kirby designed the system, and the installation project was co-ordinated by Mark Burnley. The system is based around a 9-a-side Nexo GeoD line array, with two Adlib AA 218 HL subs a side. The Nexo was chosen by the venue for its neat, tailored appearance that would cause minimal intrusion in the room and provide sufficient SPL for the various events held within the hall.

Across the front of the stage, the old Nexo PS10 speakers have been reutilised for centre stalls infills and onstage there are eight AA1214w floor monitors, Adlib's latest 650W/12" wedges. To the rear

USA - "We've had great success integrating the LSC maXim series of lighting consoles in small and large spaces, houses of worship in particular," says Bill Manning of All Pro Sound. "While they have some very sophisticated features, they still maintain a simplicity that's attractive to clients working with limited resources through volunteers.

Pro Sound Installations of the console include Village Baptist Church in Destin, Florida, and the Mendham Hills Chapel in Mendham, NJ. Chad Edwardson.

All Pro Sound's lighting guru, reports that when training customers on the operation of the maXim he has found that the learning curve is rapid. "The layout is very well designed and the graphical display is very intuitive," he said. "Controlling intelligent lights is a breeze and the scene setup is much quicker with the use of the filter function."

(Ji

Russia - Bossman Ltd, D.A.S. Audio distributor for Russia has supplied D.A.S. powered systems for installation in the Cinema Art Hall theatre in Norilsk and in the Mir Kino movie theatre and auditorium located in Moscow's Tsvetnoy Square.

The 1,000-capacity Mir Kino can be used for both movie screenings and theatre performances. When the stage is used for conferences, theatre plays or concerts the main PA designed by Bossman consists of four CA-28A powered line array systems flown at the centre of the stage as well as eight powered Compact 2 systems built into the flanks of the stage.

PA Mixing is through a Yamaha PM5D , while Bossman installed six SM-15A powered stage monitors. The microphones for theatre and music performances are Audix and the lightning by Robe.

For film screenings, screenings, Bossman opted for Dynamics, with 24 DS-12 boxes distributed throughout the aud

UK - Rigging Specialists Nippy Industries has supplied London's National Theatre with a 14-way Kinesys automation system featuring Liftket vari-speed motors. The system will be primarily based in the popular Lyttelton Theatre, but will also be available for use in the National's other venues.

Nippy has been a rigging supplier at the National since 2001 and works closely with the National's rigging department including rigging resources technician, Matthew Wheeler and his colleague Rob Barnard, head of stage facilities.

Wheeler and Barnard first saw the Kinesys system on the Nippy Industries stand at the 2005 ABTT show, and were immediately struck by its potential flexibility for the National. The theatre has an action-packed production and repertory schedule across all its theatre spaces. "The demands of the theatre are really quite considerable," says Wheeler, and w

UK - The Engine Shed, the University of Lincoln's brand new £6 million multi-purpose venue, opened to great acclaim thanks to the entertainment install carried out by Stage Electrics. Stage Electrics worked with the University back in 2004 when carrying out the installation of the Drama Studio and were the obvious choice for this most recent project.

The Engine Shed, now the largest music venue is the East Midlands, has been built on the site of old railway buildings by Brayford Pool and retains much of the old brick architecture. The interior walls are decorated with posters illustrating the site's historic background as a major railway junction.

A comprehensive lighting and sound system was installed throughout the venue which consists of four main areas, the main room with a capacity of 1500, the Mezzanine Bar, the Tower Bar and the Sports Bar.

The main EAW loudspea

Eire - The Abbey Theatre in Dublin has two auditoriums, the Abbey being the main theatre seating 628 and a smaller studio space called the Peacock Theatre seating 157. Recently the theatre management took the opportunity to install a d&b audiotechnik system that could be used in either auditorium.

"When the prospect arose to acquire a new sound system I consulted my technical staff for their views," said director of technical services, Tony Wakefield. "They were very enthusiastic about the quality of d&b systems."

The system, designed by sound engineers Cormac Caroll and Eddie Breslin with input from MOSCO's Kevin McGing, comprises Q7s, Q-SUBs, E3s and E12 SUBs all driven by d&b's E-PAC amplifiers and was supplied by Dublin based dealer, Big Bear Sound.

The installation is semi-permanent and can be used in either auditorium as well as other areas of the b

Australia - Family Nightclub in Brisbane, Australia, recently overhauled its sound system, installing Allen & Heath mixers in all rooms, including the audiophile Xone:V6, MIDI-enabled Xone:92, and industry-standard Xone:62.

Winner of 'Best Club in Australia' for three consecutive years, Family boasts line-ups with top international artists, and superior technical equipment.

Family installed the full V6 package - including additional EQ Isolator and Crossfader units - in their main dance arena, along with a Xone:92 for DJs requiring sliding channel faders and MIDI capability, and four Allen & Heath VF-1 filter units, one for each turntable and CD audio source. The Xone:V6 is a luxury rotary mixer, with valves on every input channel, discrete circuitry, precise filters, and oil-damped, ultra-smooth rotary faders.

"It's the first time I've heard a million dollars worth of

Germany - One of the leading companies in the German events industry, Düsseldorf Congress GmbH, has taken delivery of a new Soundcraft Vi6 digital audio console for one of its primary city locations, the 7,500-capacity PhilipsHalle in Düsseldorf.

Although the Soundcraft Vi6 will mainly be used in the PhilipsHalle, it will be mobile, enabling it to be used in any of the seven other Düsseldorf Congress venues, such as the massive 61,000-capacity LTU-Arena and the 13,400-seat ISS Dome, home of the Düsseldorf ice-hockey team, where the console made its debut on an outdoor show.

Markus Grotheer, event engineer for Düsseldorf Congress GmbH, was assigned the task of selecting a digital console to replace the ageing analogue desk in the PhilipsHalle. He and his colleagues had already decided on a popular mid-range model when they came across the Soundcraft Vi6 at the ProLight+Sou

UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) has completed the installation, programming and commissioning of a large eye-catching light-wall containing 380 ColorKinetics iColor Cove MX fixtures, at 111 Buckingham Place Road, Victoria, London.

The wall graces the impressive atrium entrance to a shared office block, housing several high profile companies and organisations. LTP was recommended for the project to the site's main contractors Simpson York by Nick Tolkein of Architainment, CK's UK distributor.

Each of the 380 sections of Cove MX - the highest intensity member of the iColor Cove family - measures 320 mm and utilises the latest in CK's Powercore technology. This simplifies the installation by integrating power and data management directly within the fixture, eliminating the need for external low voltage power or data supplies. Inbuilt power factor correction also significa

UK - One of the UK's most historic stately homes - Hatfield House in Hertfordshire - has opened the Riding School Conference Centre in its magnificent grounds, complete with a QSC sound reinforcement system. The Old Palace at Hatfield dates back to 1485 and the Jacobean Hatfield House to 1607, celebrating its 400th anniversary next year.

The Riding School itself is an early Victorian building - but the new facilities show high quality refurbishment at its best, as designed by architects Brooks Murray. Today its use will be multipurpose - hosting a wide range of events from conferences to fashion shows and wedding receptions. The main atrium can accommodate up to 200 comfortably, with adjoining breakout/meeting rooms.

The contract for the audio visual installation was awarded to Hammonds AVS Ltd, who imaginatively deployed QSC AcousticDesign AD-S282 and AD-S52T loudspeakers, bo

The Netherlands - In Holland, the club Paard van Troje in Den Haag has just taken delivery of two new Soundcraft analogue mixing consoles for the smaller of its two venues. Although nominally a pop venue, the club's sound engineer Peter Kerkvliet explains that "our productions vary from hardcore, punk, metal, reggae, hiphop, singer-songwriter, americana to multimedia, presentations, debates, standup-comedy, theatre, lectures and so on. About 50 per cent of our activities are dance events."

With such a variety of presentation, one of the main reasons for his choice of Soundcraft MH3 and MH2 consoles was their versatility. "Often we do monitor-mixing from the front of house position, or FOH-mixing from the monitor position. Because of the dual-purpose set-up possible with both the MH2 and MH3, we have the option to swap desks. In most cases, the MH3 is used out fron

UK - One of the UK's leading media agencies WWAV Rapp Collins recently sensed that they had not upgraded their multimedia infrastructure since moving into their impressive Riverside Building in Hammersmith eight and a half years ago.

"The whole experience is contained in our four showcase rooms, where our pitch work and presentations take place," said Group IT manager, Darren Watts. "The need for a new infrastructure was driven by our senior management." At the same time, he said, in order to impress clients, ease of use of any new system was of paramount importance."

A Plus Services were awarded the contract largely on the strength of work their project manager Martin Cowling had undertaken previously on the third floor of the building for one of the incumbent companies. "I decided that if the engineering and services side measured up, then A Plu

UK - J&C Joel has supplied and installed two new perimeter track systems and a selection of chromakey curtains, blacks and white cyclorama material to the brand new stv studios at Pacific Quay, Glasgow.

The studios are located facing the famous Clydebank Cranes, that have been preserved as a proud and lasting testament to Glasgow's industrial and shipping heritage, and is the new base of stv, the largest independent television franchise in Scotland.

One of the tracking systems is in Studio 1, which is used to record and broadcast the flagship daily news programme Scotland Today, the weekly Scotsport, plus a number of special programmes. A similar system has also been installed within studio 2.

J&C Joel has supplied curtains and tracking systems for other stv studios and locations for several years, so studio manager Tony McIlmurray and designer Annette Whitelaw once again tu

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