Silent Aircraft Initiative is a joint project between the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute to Technology (MIT). This was set up with the aim of developing a conceptual design for a new low noise aircraft - with sound almost imperceptible outside the perimeter of a daytime urban airport. This requires radically different aircraft and engine designs.
The resulting
The Guildhall is a popular venue on the live touring circuit and one with which the touring fraternity is well familiar. The use of the venue was negotiated between GLS's Ian Turner and the Guildhall's head technician, Simon Williams.
Turner explains, "Live Nation and GLS both had technicians, engineers and freelancers, who were interested in doing the Motor School, and it also provided a chance for some of the new people we know who are just getting into the business to get close-up to one of the basic industry standard pieces of kit." The Guildhall was in a similar position, with lots of hoists in their house rig a
Celebrities and VIP's painted the majority of the canvasses, however a few were painted by members of the public in Trafalgar Square on the morning of the event itself. Afterwards the canvasses were auctioned off to raise money for Red Nose Day 2007.
Hawthorn's specialist rigging team used a Prolyte ST self-climbing truss tower, complete with two one-ton double breaked Verlinde motors, and over 12 tons of ballast to secure the structure.
Hawthorn's senior rigger, Jono Toon commented, "it was a pleasure to be doing something to support such a worthwhile charity, and
Founded in 1984 by current director Jim Moore, Nitelites was born out of a touring system from the halcyon days of 'Rock n Roll.' After years of on the road with Lindisfarne, the system and the company evolved to encompass Moore's experience in the sound reinforcement industry, which over the years has seen him work with artists including Frank Zappa, Journey, Def Leppard, Chris Rea, Dr Hook, Van Halen and Led Zeppelin.
Nitelites has been stocking JBL Professional's Vertec series for six years and was one of the first tour
Bob Angus (Metropolis Music) and Simon Moran (SJM Concerts), leading promoters in the UK music industry, have also considerably increased their shareholding in Academy Music Group to forty four percent (44%), under the terms of the deal.
Academy Music Group owns and operates 12 live music venues across the UK. Its venue capacities range from 250 to 5,000 and include the multi-award winning Carling Academy Brixton (London), Shepherd's Bush Empire (London) and Carling Academy Islington (London), with further concert venues in Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford and Brighton.
Metropolis Music and SJM Concerts are responsible for pr
According to Craig Johnston and Giuliano Luvisotto, managing directors of Columbus McKinnon and Litec respectively, the collaboration between the two companies will have an important strategic meaning in the development of their own products.
The first concrete result of this cooperation is the realization of an electric chain hoist, which is entirely BGV-C1 compliant. The new product will carry the EXE-Lodestar logo and will be distributed by Litec sales net
"The Philharmonic Orchestra shows at the new Festival City recorded a huge turnout, indicating a real interest in the classical music market," he said. "On top of that, 25,000 people attended the Jazz Festival. It is evident from this that whether the music is classical, Latin American, heavy metal or jazz the level of appreciation is now unprecedented."
Some of the magic of show production will be introduced to the Dubai International Exhibition
Using the AR-32, operators can now run all of their DMX-compatible lights from one easy-to-operate unit. The system comes factory-programmed for LED fixtures operating in 3-channel or RGB mode, and it can also control automated moving lights and DMX-compatible dimmers and power packs.
Capable of recording and playback in real time, the AR-32 has the ability to record show fade and hold times directly from the DMX controller. Users can programme complex fades and specify multiple cue points in exacting detail us
Production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone said, "I would say that the Soft-LED visually brought the emblematic boxing ring and the Rocky series squarely into the 21st century."
(Jim Evans)
New sports facilities, clubs, hotels, airports, theme parks, broadcasting stations, and entertainment venues are springing up right across the country, creating strong demand for pro-sound, lighting and entertainment products. This is demonstrated by the fact that over 12,000 professional visitors - including retailers, dealers, distributors, technicians, engineering contractors and stage & lighting designers - attended the show in 2006.
China has allocated some US$17 billion in funds to build 42 new airports over the next five year
A key team member of the design team, Louis Janssen, from Dutch theatre consulting office, theateradvies bv, was responsible for the design of the up-to-date theatre installations and logistics. The jury was particularly pleased with the interpretation of the programme and design of stage equipment.
The plans includes a concert hall with 2.300 seats, equipped with a flexible stage and all necessary hoisting facilities. A 2,000-seat opera house has a stage floor made up of five double deck elevators that can be moved from -11m to + 2.5m. The surface of these elevators, making up the stage floor, can be tilted and all are equipped with traps.
A 1,000-seat playhouse, a black- box theatre with 200
"The Canobeam provides the same benefits offered by fibre, but without the physical restraints of cabling," said Gordon Tubbs, director of the Canon broadcast and communications division. "Like fibre, the system is protocol-independent and thus integrates easily with the Telecast SHED/HDX solution. Because it transmits uncompressed data, users can move media co
This year saw specialist equipment manufacturer Rosco provide sponsorship for the competition with the donation of a 10 x 12m black and white Dance Floor used to cover the stage in the theatre in the cloister of San Nicolo on which the competitors danced throughout the week.
"This is the ideal product for such an event," says Rosco's Southern European sales manager . "The Rosco Dance floor is a highly portable vinyl floor, so it's great for situations where a permanent dance floor can't be installed."
The week-long competition was divided into classical, modern and contemporary dance and chor
Behind the Scenes, an ESTA Foundation initiative, provides grants to seriously ill or injured industry members that may be used for medical care and living expenses. "We were thrilled by the level of support for Behind the Scenes at USITT this year," says Rick Rudolph, committee chair.
"I'm excited to put VectorWorks Spotlight 12.5 to use, as, having worked with earlier versions of VectorWorks in the past and SoftPlot, I find VectorWorks to be much more robust," says USITT raffle winner Jayson Adamsen, technical director, Rhino Staging.
Clancy has redesigned all its instructional signs and batten end caps. "Signs and batten end caps are at the opposite end of technology, but certainly no less useful or important," comments Tom Young, vice president of marketing for JR Clancy. "We've revamped all of our instructional signs to promote safe rigging operations. These are available free to anyone and we hope everyone takes advantage of them. You can get them as two-colour signs ordered directly from Clancy at no charge as well as downloadable files an end-user can print and use directly from our
Already sold out, this years show will play host over 100 exhibiting companies filling all three halls to capacity. With several new exhibitors, including ChamSys Consoles, Sunbaba Fabrics and Northern Stage Services, the event presents a comprehensive range of products and services for professionals and non technical users involved with equipping, refurbishing or up-grading their drama studio, theatre, auditorium or multi-purpose performance space.
One of the show's aims is to illustrate all aspects of performance technology and offer practical advice from leading suppliers about the enormous value that can be added by investing in technology.
Also illustrating the Show's commitment to education, drama schools from around t
The system works in the same way as Baldwin Boxall's market leading 'CARE' products. Remote units are wired in a loop configuration and it is possible to have a number of disabled refuge remotes, fire telephones or toilet alarms all on the same loop. Also in the range, Baldwin Boxall has developed a combined disabled refuge and fire telephone remote. Like all of Baldwin Boxall's 'CARE' products the system is compliant with BS5839 part 9
Manageable through a web interface, Christie ACT allows the user control and flexibility. It can be accessed from any web browser on a networked computer making it accessible from a portable handheld computer or laptop.
With an intuitive graphical user interface, even the novice can easily customise tasks and events to suit specific needs, says the company. Featuring pre-d
Fred Gallo of PRG Scenic Technologies, one of the organisers of the original Tony parties and the new Behind the Scenes benefit, says, "The combination of attending the long-standing Tony night shop party with the opportunity to contribute to the Behind the Scenes programme that helps industry professionals is a win / win outcome for everyone. Plus, there is an open bar - so as I said last year, there is no excuse not to come."
(Jim Evans)
Some 1,000sq.m, a quarter of the overall capacity at Singapore Expo, will be set aside for Event 360º Asia. Heartened by the initial response, Davin Er, who is responsible for developing this sector, believes that interest has not only been stimulated by the support from the Singapore Tourism Board, but the building of the S$3.85bn Marina Bay Sands complex, housing casino, hotel and convention centre.
Event 360º Asia will also be working closely alongside Singapore-based UnUsUal Productions, who are among an increasing number of local companies that have the capability of offering world-renowned ev
The main object of the exercise was to integrate a show PA system with Wembley's house PA to provide full audio coverage throughout the stadium. They also took the opportunity to ensure that Emergency announcements could be heard in all locations around the venue.
Summit's Jon Bray was contacted by Brit Row's Bryan Grant to supply the necessary support structures for the tests. Bray and a team of three riggers erected a total of five masts, which stayed up for a two-day peri
So much so in fact, that Rosco has now brought a dance floor specialist onto the sales team with the specific remit to provide product information and advice to customers and to take the range into markets and venues previously untapped.
Lee Payne joins Rosco straight from performing on the Riverdance tour. He is looking forward to hanging up his tap shoes and taking on the challenge of growing Rosco's floor business.
Says Payne: "It'
The Stonex group, founded in Madrid in 1980, specializes in engineering and turnkey stage equipment projects for theatres, auditoriums, congress centres, casinos and theme parks, encompassing stage engineering, show lighting, architectural lighting and audio-visual installations. The company has offices in Madrid and La Coruña, and boasts more than 300 reference projects in the Iberian market, such as WB Madrid theme park, Pamplona Auditorium and congress centre (Baluarte), Colon Theatre in La Coruña, Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, Expo 98's Lisboa Camoens Theatre and Gran Casino de A
