Installation

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14 March 2016

Specifying the light but powerful DVA T12 line array was not a difficult decision for Mambo Sound's Steve McNeil. "Our friends at Broadcast Support already have a DVA T4 rig, so we knew it was reliable. It also needed to be light weight to keep the freight costs down," he explains. "We flew the whole sound system to Hawaii, took it to Pearl Harbour and craned it on the USS John C Stennis active aircraft carrier, then craned it off again in San Diego seven days later."

The main PA comprised six dBTechnologies DVA T12 active three

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14 March 2016

The Phantom of the Opera is the first international musical production Jakarta has seen in a long time. Produced by the Joyce Agency Of New York City and promoted by Big Daddy Entertainment, the show was staged at the intimate Nusa Indah Theatre Hall and was reinforced by a Turbosound Flex Array sound system supplied by Indonesia's biggest audio rental company, Sumber Ria.

Turbosound's Flex Array met all of the production needs, including sound quality, efficiency and multiple configuration capability, necessary to qualify for the project. The TFA-600H three-way mid-high provides high SPL with moderate amplification, and has a small visual footprint which worked well for t

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14 March 2016

Newly designed for the show's 25th anniversary, the tour will visit 10 cities over the next 13 months, having opened at Plymouth's Theatre Royal in March to rave reviews.

"Phantom is an extremely heavy show, weighing in at more than 25 tonnes," explains Unusual Rigging's senior project manager Simon Stone. "There's one piece of scenery downstage that weighs eight tonnes and has to be supported by a separate mini grid secured to the building. The famous Phantom chandelier, which has to swing in a treacherous fashion over the audience, weighs 500kg alone! Plus there are a couple of huge automated trucks on stage with a combined weight o

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14 March 2016

When it came to choosing moving lights for the students to train with, Philips Vari*Lite was the fixture of choice.

"We wanted to give the students experience of moving lights but they had to be good ones," commented Marcus Kelson, technical manager at NIDA. "Consequently we purchased four Vari*Lite VLX Wash Luminaires. These are used for student productions and also as a training tool within the lighting classroom. Plus, as they are a popular fixture we can also hire them out to users of our venues and thus generate an income.

"The VLX is very punchy, easily con

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14 March 2016

The stunning Georgian Revival-style building on Washington Street that the church calls home was built around two decades ago. It's an architectural gem that boasts high glass ceilings, soaring columns, and a U-shaped wrap-around balcony. The room's acoustics provide a wonderful complement for the piano, pipe organ, and choir that typically accompany most services. But that same architecture has represented a long-standing challenge for spoken-word intelligibility. As Greg Dieckhaus, President and CEO of Bolingbrook, IL-based Practical AV Solutions explains, the church has been through more than one attempt at addressing the issue.

"It's a gorgeous building, but problems with intelligibility and consistency of coverage have

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14 March 2016

The festival takes place on the island of Zanzibar, with the main stage at the historic Old Fort in Stone Town. Four consecutive nights of non-stop, eight hour live performances meant that using a digital console made a lot of sense. Purchased for last year's festival, the DiGiCo SD8 and MadiRack had been stored in a container for a year, but had coped very well with the tropical climate and monsoon rains.

"After been cleaned and tested at the end of last year's festival, the co

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14 March 2016

Although the construction cost was set at £2.4m, it was a tight budget for a project of this scale. Set within London's green belt, the new building required the demolition of the previous school hall theatre. Theatreplan devised an unusual compact polygonal auditorium for a capacity of up to 400. The geometry reflects the galleried space of an Elizabethan playhouse where the actor or singer is paramount, and also adapts for an end stage presentation when required

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14 March 2016

The Theatre of Nations was established in 1987 under the name of Theatre of Friendship of Nations and in 1991 was renamed the State Theatre of Nations.

Its intensive production activities include developing and producing a variety of theatre projects, organising international and national festivals, presenting the best Russian and international productions, representing many different genres and styles. The theatre also stages its own productions, with the ultimate goal of becoming the centre for nurturing a new generation of theatre practitioners.

The State Theatre of Nations' historical building had been occupied since 1885 by

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14 March 2016

The annual event was staged in the main auditorium of the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. S+H were contacted by Lee Batty, head of production for event organisers, the Society of London Theatre.

He was looking for a striking backdrop and a full leg and border dressing solution for the stage, and had previously used S+H's products, most recently their LED Animation Cloth, on a show for Rolf Harris that he production managed.

Batty also assisted in the visual design and look of the Oliviers, and says, "We wanted something different from last year that would bring a dynamic and special feel. I knew the quality and reliability of the

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14 March 2016

The spec was for a future-proof digital system that could easily be used by sound engineers of guest productions. It also needed to be portable to service not just the hall but other areas in the venue, and flexible and simple to configure, with the option to have wireless control for smaller events.

The iLive system comprises a Dante-enabled iDR-32 MixRack with iLive-T80 Control Surface, plus a PL-10 rotary panel for remote control. iLive's competitive price, built in compressor and EQ, as well as the possibility of the live recording of events via a laptop through the Dante interface, were the main reasons it was selected.

Dirk Förster from inst

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14 March 2016

"The MSL-3s had served us well since the mid-80s," says Larry Bryan, TPAC's chief audio engineer. "But we were ready to step into the 21st century with the latest Meyer Sound line array technology."

As typically deployed, the system comprises left and right flown arrays of 16 M'elodie loudspeakers each, plus six deck-stacked 700-HP subwoofers, eight MINA line array loudspeakers spaced across the stage lip as front-fill, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with a Galileo 616 processor for drive processing. The system was provided by Blackhawk Audio of nearby White House, Ten

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14 March 2016

The Glasgow based theatre received a grant from the Wolfson Foundation to replace their existing cyc lights with energy-efficient LED versions. They wanted a high quality, powerful and easy to set up LED lighting solution.

Head of lighting, Paul Claydon and technical manager, Niall Black conducted extensive research before inviting four leading LED brands to do a shootout at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Also attending the shootout were a number of LDs with whom NTS work.

"As soon as the Color Force battens were switched on, to us they absolutely blew all the other products away, especially in terms of

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14 March 2016

Maurice Salloum, sound engineer and co-owner of Life, chose the sound system as well as the right company to complete the installation. Having a long-term relation with Beirut-based Hi Fi Service, Salloum knew he is in safe hands: "I wanted an unparalleled system for our venue," he says, "a system that can generate high SPLs and at the same time produce an excellent sound. Additionally, I needed a system that could be used as an indoor system during the winter season and that could be moved outside during summer, when the club shifts to the open air area."

Oussama Mansour Abou Faraj, manager of Hi Fi Service reports, "I proposed using a Dynacord VariLine system. We have

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14 March 2016

The first Academy of its kind to open in Leeds, DYCA has pioneered the development of new, innovative and engaging methods of teaching and learning. The Moyes Centre is a £3.35m new build created as part of the Government's (DCSF) £200m investment in creative co-location projects.

The programme is an initiative that has re-located various key community services to work as a cohesive team in one central location, addressing and improving local circumstances from within the heart of the community.

The project was managed for ACSP by Lance Bromhead, who co-ordinated closely with DYCA's operations manager, Graham Thornton.

ACSP's brief was to provide technology t

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14 March 2016

Tasked with equipping the new Dry Live, experienced local specialists Masons, and their system design engineer Jack Jennings, chose a Martin Audio Blackline H3H+ horn-loaded solution as best fit for the purpose.

The basement space had previously been split into several small rooms but the floor had opened out into one large venue with the intention of using the downstairs space for both live music and club events - served by a single sound system.

The venue operators had stipulated th

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14 March 2016

Energy Trust offers cash incentives to commercial, municipal and institutional businesses throughout that state that upgrade dated equipment to energy-efficient technology. To qualify for the incentives, one requirement is that a new lighting installation must result in at least a 25% energy saving.

The Concert Hall's aging battens were demanding an increasingly high level of maintenance. Appropriate light bulbs are no longer being manufactured, and the cost of upkeep kept mounting, so they were replaced w

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14 March 2016

"The main problem of the venue in reference to the acoustics is related to the length of the balconies," said the National Theatre's technical manager. He has a point, the auditorium seats 600 people and is relatively shallow; the balconies are deep and steep. "This make

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14 March 2016

Lighting consoles from High End Systems, a Barco company, were in command of one of Helsinki's most visible landmarks - the Olympic Stadium Tower - which was transformed into a light installation called the Variant Spectrum.

Lighting designer Jukka Huitila of Sun Effects created the spectrum of colour using LED lighting fixtures and a 12W laser positioned on 22 balconies of the tower. Programmer Sami Rautaneva chose a Wholehog 3 console and a DP8000 to programme and run the LED fixtures, set up in two universes. A Road Hog Full Boar helped with the first day's focusing and setup procedures, and also

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14 March 2016

The Bacon Theatre sits in the grounds of Dean Close School in Cheltenham. Built in 1991 it owes its name to Mr Christopher Bacon, former headmaster of the independent School. Mr Bacon fundraised tirelessly to build the Bacon Theatre which is used as a resource by Dean Close School pupils as well as hosting the best of professional touring theatre, live music, dance, film and accommodating local talented youth, community groups and charities.

The GDS engineering team visited the site with CTS in the summer of 2011 and designed the 566-seat theatre a retrofit house lighting solution, incorporating its ArcSystem LED auditorium lighting fixtures. The theatre had in place an ageing track light system which was proving increasingly dif

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14 March 2016

Officially opened on 31March 2012, the building was designed around many maritime themes including the ship's hull.

With large numbers of the public expected, and their safety a priority (as well as that of the staff), it was decided that a reliable voice evacuation system must be installed.

In addition to the voice evacuation, a disabled refuge and toilet alarm system was also needed for the site. This type of system provides two way communication between building management and areas of refuge for those that would need

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14 March 2016

The successful Newcastle Theatre Royal restoration project was honoured with both 'Project of the Year' and 'Building Conservation' Award.

The award showcases outstanding work in the conservation of a single building or a group of buildings or structures and covers renovation or conservation to a new or original use.

Newcastle's Theatre Royal reopened its doors to the public on Monday 12September 2011 following an extensive £5m restoration project that had drawn on the theatrical expertise of UK theatre consultants, Charcoalblue.

Managing Director of the company Andy Hayles explains, "The scope of the restoration for this Grade I listed theatre was particularly ambitious, and included complete internal redecora

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14 March 2016

With 12,500 fans barely seeming to notice that Turner and his backing band, The Sleeping Souls, weren't in one of their more usual theatre-sized venues, the one-off show required a large Sennheiser presence.

Regular sound and lighting supplier Nitelites provided most of the audio system at the show, just asking Adlib Audio to supply an L-Acoustics V-DOSC system. Nitelites supplied a large amount of Sennheiser equipment, including e 840 vocal microphones and e 901, 902, 904s, 905 and MK4s on the drum kit.

"I like the robustness of the 840s," says FOH engineer and tour ma

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14 March 2016

SAMA CEO and Idols judge Randall Abrahams enthused that the "sound quality was outstanding" and was quick to note that the "sound management of the various performances was handled extremely professionally which led to a final product that was of a very high standard."

It was a large scale event that was watched live and broadcast to millions of South African's around the country. Randall reminded us that the "sound qual

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14 March 2016

"What is different about the RGK is that they don't have a home arena, all 26 matches in their season are played on tour," explained Osamu Koki from Staging Okinawa. "They came to see us for ideas on how to liven up the excitement at each game; they wanted lighting and sound but with one critical proviso: everything had to fit in a two ton truck."

The fact is Okinawa