Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Business

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UK - APR Audio made a successful debut at Glastonbury this year, using some of its large inventory of Electro-Voice X-Line to provide audio production services for the Jazz World stage, which this year hosted Roy Ayers, Roots Manuva, The Wailers, Taj Mahal, Femi Kuti, and the Levellers amongst others, attracting crowds of up to 30,000 for the biggest shows.

Under the supervision of Pete Russell, APR Audio provided left and right Electro-Voice X-Line hangs, each featuring 14 Xvls and two Xvlt cabinets, and using 32 matched X-subs, with eight XI 1152s for fill. Control was provided by way of Midas Heritage 3000 consoles on stage and at front-of-house, with KT Helix EQ with DN370s. All power was delivered by Precision Series P3000RL amplifiers, managed by the latest v2. IRIS control software which allows up to 250 amplifiers to be remotely controlled and supervised.

APR is partic

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UK - FX Rentals provided the PA system for an important new fixture in the arts calendar - the New Music Award, presented by the PRS Foundation for New Music, held in July before an invited audience at London's Living Room. FX, one of the major sponsors of the event alongside the PRS (Performing Right Society), provided four Mackie SRM 450 self-powered speakers with two HZ PB400 sub bass units, Pioneer CDJ1000 mk2 CD turntables and a Pioneer DJM600 DJ mixer, mics and a video distribution box for the evening's speeches, music and visuals.

"The PRS Foundation has worked with FX Rentals on several occasions, and their ongoing support is hugely significant," says PRS Foundation manager David Francis. "They are extremely helpful in working with us to ensure that our events run smoothly and successfully, and their technical knowledge and experience is second to none.&qu

Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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USA - Bonnaroo has been the top-grossing festival in the US since it began in 2002 and Bandit Lites has been lighting the two principal stages every year. Set in the fields of Manchester, Tennessee, some 60 miles south of Nashville nearly 80,000 music lovers descended for the annual three-day festival. The New York Times noted, "Bonnaroo, in just its third year, has already revolutionized the modern rock festival." In a special issue of Rolling Stone, Bonnaroo was named one of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock'n'roll.

Produced by Superfly Productions of New Orleans and Ashley Capps of Knoxville, Tennessee, the show celebrated its fourth year in 2005 with a line up of such notables as Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band, Trey Anastasio, Jack Johnson, The Black Crowes, Allman Brothers, Modest Mouse, Joss Stone, The Mars Volta, Kings of Leon and over 60 oth

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The Netherlands - Luxeon LEDs from Lumileds have been used to light Stevenage Borough Council's new Customer Service Centre in a project that turns the entire ceiling into a bespoke luminaire that simulates the sky.

In the first project of its kind in the UK, Future Group Lighting Design and Light Projects, a certified member of the LUXEON Lighting Network, were briefed to create a welcoming environment for both members of the public and call centre staff, through the creative use of light.

To achieve this the architect Brian Martin designed a feature ceiling, consisting of a series of coffered arcs that conceal a specially developed light solution. Using white and blue Luxeon LEDs a colour changing effect that runs over the course of the day has been created, simulating the sky and creating a feeling of light and space.

Key to the lighting solution is the light source, spec

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USA - After a devastating fire, the Hilton Garden Inn/Thelma Keller Convention Center complex in Effingham, Illinois, has re-opened with a renewed emphasis on attracting event-related business.

AVI Systems, St Louis, Missouri, handled the extensive audio-visual work for the complex and selected the Symetrix SymNet modular audio mixing, routing and digital processing system as a core technology for managing the complexities of its design.

Michael McNeil, who helped design and install the system, says: "SymNet was virtually the only product on the market with the ability to discretely and intelligently perform multiple tasks," McNeil says. "It's the core of the whole system design."

Four 8x8 SymNet units, two Break-In 12 boxes and two CobraNet units handle the mixing, processing and routing of audio to the convention center ballroom area, which can be parti

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UK - Leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light has recently completed the supply and installation of a new lighting rig to Patidar House in London, the headquarters of the Federation of Patidar Associations, a Gujarati Hindu Patel community organization. Having completed demolition of their existing building in December 2003, the Association has been working since to complete a new headquarters incorporating a custom-designed performance space for their performing arts programme. The new space is of a proscenium arch design with a balcony on three sides of the auditorium, and with a retractable main seating bank to allow the creation of a flat floor area when required. With its seating in place, the auditorium can accommodate around 250 people.

White Light's Projects team, led by Roger Hennigan, became involved with the project through White Light's regular collaborato

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UK - Superstar DJ Pete Tong recently selected two Allen & Heath Xone VF-1 analogue stereo filter units for use in his London studio, and performing live at his numerous global tour dates. Tong has also installed two VF-1 units in the Pacha club in Ibiza for him to use during his summer residency at the venue. "I'm always looking for ways of enhancing my live performance," comments Tong. "I got into Allen & Heath's filters when using the Xone:92 mixer, so, as a dedicated unit for the job the VF-1 is the next level in sophisticated filtering. It offers an impressive and dynamic range for me to experiment with."

The Xone VF-1's circuitry is an enhanced version of the filters built into the industry-standard Xone mixers, offering three basic filter types, which can be combined to create further filter types. The VF-1 can interface with any mixer, has MIDI capabil

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UK - Slingco has installed an 8.6m wide by 18m long CABLEnet tensioned wire grid at 6.4m above the main stage and auditorium of the new Junction 2 Theatre in Cambridge.

With no intermediate members below the grid - it's completely clear to the venue floor - and capable of supporting 250 Kg vertical loads. It's believed to be the largest grid of this type to date in the UK.

Junction 2 is a brand new flexible 220 capacity arts, theatre and education space, with a new technology laboratory aimed at inspiring the next generation of artists, musicians and audiences.

Designed as both a receiving and producing house, it's the first purpose built theatre to open in Cambridge since the 1930s and is operated by Junction CDC. Robin Townley, development director of Junction 2 knew that full flying facilities would not be required for the type of productions they would be staging, so he

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UK - The Diffusion Group have launched a new website to auction professional lighting, sound, staging and video equipment. Gearsales.com aims to become the industry site to buy and sell new and used equipment. "There is not an auction website specializing in production equipment. I believe that gearsales.com will enable sellers to connect easily and directly with buyers, creating quicker and hassle-free sales," said Diffusion Group managing director Darren Wain.

"Sometimes hire companies' list ex-hire equipment on their own websites - this can mean hours of searching individual websites to no avail," said Tom Nicholson, Diffusion Group director. "

The site benefits sellers due to the auction format, allowing items to reach higher prices than if they were sold with a fixed price," adds Wain.

To celebrate the launch of the site, Gearsales.com is c

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UK - Riding the success of the recent DJ Telegraph competition, where she finished runner-up, DJ Fyrbeat (Amber Angell) is theatening to "hit the London scene with force" with her new DJ partner, pirate radio specialist Manda Dex. The two met by chance after a gig at the university where Amber is entering her final year (Royal Holloway, Union of London); as a result the newly-formed Angels of Dex will serve up a cocktail of house, trance and breaks - starting with the VIP Room at Turnmills on 9 September, where they will be playing funky house with guest DJ's Kid Lopez and Honest Jon.

Manda Dex says: "When we started talking we realized we were heading in the same direction, embracing a wide range of styles - from soulful, funky-chunky house, including tech and tribal beats to trance and nu-skool breaks."

Dex says that as a female DJ it is hard to get taken

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The Netherlands - Now with two years of operational experience under their belts using IES sine wave dimmers, Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam can reflect on the technology's performance and economic benefits - benefits demonstrated in terms of silent operation and, thanks to no harmonic distortion, savings in electrical charges and lamp replacement costs too.

When Het Muziektheater commenced a major refurbishment programme in summer 2003, IES B.V. - pioneers of the advanced dimming offered by sine wave technology - designed and built special distributed dimming PowerBars for them, together with custom IES Matrix dimmer cabinets, all connected with an integrated state-of-the-art Ethernet communication system.Commenting on the choice of IES sine wave dimmers, Bert Pronk, theatre project leader and Hugo van Uum, head of lighting, said: "We were particularly impressed, not only

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USA - Lighthouse Technologies reported record sales during the InfoComm International Exposition 2005 (8-10 June, Las Vegas). The company attributes the success to its debut of LED video screens, which it says break new ground in digital signage, entertainment and special events. This includes PopVision, the industry's first portable and self-sustaining LED screen, and two new fanless 10 mm pixel pitch indoor LED screens.

"The unveiling of these advanced products coincides with an upswing in the LED video technology industry, providing us with tremendous market momentum," said Tony Turiello, vice-president sales, marketing and operations in the Americas for Lighthouse. "InfoComm has always been a profitable event, even so, this year we registered more sales in the opening hours than the overall total of any past show."

Taking centre stage at the InfoComm wa

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UK - Architectural and feature lighting specialist i-Vision has designed and installed a stylish lighting scheme at Bollicini in Chester - blazing a trail as the town's trendiest modern Italian restaurant. i-Vision's Dave Mackay was approached by Bollicini's owners Les Owens and Gianni Poletti to discuss the project. The new venue is located in a beautiful old listed Georgian building - previously a bar - which has been completely gutted and restyled into the ultra-contemporary Bollicini, a thoroughly 21st century take on Italian cuisine and ambience.

Bollicini means 'little bubbles' - and 'Fizziness and Fun' were exactly the atmospheric conditions the owners wanted to convey, explains Mackay. i-Vision created a lighting design and specification to match the owner's self-styled interior visions which feature tasteful blending of wood, metalwork, exposed brickwork and glass, plus

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UK - Cable specialist VDC Trading has supplied a large variety of reeled stock to Saville Audio Visual, which is handling the AV and power installation within the Ricoh Arena, the brand new home of Coventry City FC.

Over 600m of five-way Mini Red Video Coax cable is being installed, along with Cat 5 data cable and a range of specialist audio cables.

"We chose VDC cables for a variety of reasons, not least the reliability, quality and price point," says Jim Millar, presentation systems manager for Saville. "We have used the company's products in the past, particularly for larger projects. In this case VDC were also able to deliver cable in different reel sizes, which was an important consideration."

Saville is UK's largest specialist supplier of audio visual, video and presentation technology and the Official Audio Visual Partner for the £113 million stad

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UK - Projected Image Digital, digital media and control solutions specialists - has supplied, installed and commissioned a customized version of PixelMAD software to playback low resolution video imagery across a massive LED surface at the Wynn Resort development in Las Vegas.

The LED fixtures are embedded in a three acre artificial lake. The PixelMAD system is controlling 24 universes of DMX and 4012 Color Kinetics' C-Splash 2 LED fixtures spread across the base of the 'Lake of Dreams'. The system gives eight layers of digital media playback and 1:1 pixel mapping.

The PixelMAD is running on a 2.5 GHz dual processor Apple Mac and all system hardware and software is specified by PID. The software is triggered via a GrandMA console. The GrandMA also controls other fixtures in and around the Lake including over 100 Martin MAC 2Ks, EC2s, Syncrolite 7Ks, Atomic Strobes, over 3000 D

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UK - When Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed the nation from the recent G8 summit, it was VDC microphone cable that ensured the world heard him speak.

Over 200 microphone cables were used during the G8 summit and UK-based cable specialists VDC Trading supplied them all.

VDC Cat 5 cable was also used to link the various buildings that comprised the Media Village, which was set up in the grounds of Gleneagles to house over 1,000 journalists who were covering the event for the international media.

Audio specialists Delta Sound Inc was given the task of linking all of the buildings so that when a call for a press conference was made, every journalist would hear the announcement regardless of where in the Village they were.

"We installed a BSS Soundweb network system, which was linked to 140 small distribution speakers throughout the Media Village," says Delta Sound'

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Italy - Prism Sound's Italian distributor, Paolo Orizio, of Funky Junk Italy, has notched up significant sales success since he was appointed to handle the company's range of AD/DA converters earlier this year.

"Paolo has sold more Prism Sound ADA-8 converters in the last six months than we had previously sold in Italy in the last three years," says Jody Thorne, sales manager of the Cambridge-based company. "His contacts within the Italian pro audio industry are extremely valuable and we are delighted that he has put his faith and expertise into promoting our products to this important market."

Prism Sound's ADA-8 converter is widely regarded as an industry standard when it comes to analogue and digital processing and is already in use at many of the world's top recording facilities including Metropolis, Air and Abbey Road in London; Sterling Sound in New Y

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UK - Liverpool's third HUB Festival - a mix of art, music and extreme sports staged at the Pier Head - expanded and featured several new elements this year.

The event is the brainchild of the Council's Liverpool Culture Company and included music, skateboarding and BMX competitions, graffiti art exhibitions and music performed by many excellent local bands

Kirstie Blakeman, event manager, explained that they had created a new look main stage under the cover of a single king pole, purple membrane tent supplied by Wangos, which was chosen for its aesthetics. She added: "With the event being held at Liverpool's waterfront World Heritage Site we wanted something unique and different looking, something really special and dynamic for the music zone this year - not just another standard stage or marquee."

The same was true for the DJ tent, compared by Spykatcha - which sa

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Indonesia - Jakarta's new Sands International Executive Club is a luxurious multi-entertainment 'mega club' comprising a restaurant, live theatre, discotheque, wine bar, chill-out bar, and spa centre, all fitted with Allen and Heath mixing products. Encompassing three floors - with plans for expansion - Sands is classically designed with high ceilings, gilded walls, marble floors, plush carpeting, and crystal chandeliers. The owners appointed Singapore's Electro-Systems Industries to design and install the sound reinforcement systems, in partnership with project co-ordinator, Peter Loh Productions, catering for the complex AV requirements of the venue.

The Grand Ballroom and Dining Theatre make up the largest live performance area in the club, divided by a partition wall to enable the venue to host independent functions or combine and expand the rooms for bigger functions. The s

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USA - In June, Tomcat USA completed a custom project for the San Francisco Opera, designing and building a tetrahedral barrier for their production of La Forza del Destino, which is scheduled to run in November. The components of this special barrier are three 37ft legs of custom medium duty spigoted truss (each leg consisting of three sections of custom spigoted MD). These legs are connected with slew rings in the centre of each section, including spring-loaded pins that lock each section into place when they twist. The chords of the truss were constructed with box tube, making it easier to connect the cladding set pieces to be created in house at the Opera.

Custom stage sockets were another part of the project: these allow the barrier's legs to lock into the stage floor, after it is lowered from the grid. The design allows the legs to rotate as it is lowered, revealing

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Denmark - The Xhibition Bar is the new casino floor bar at the Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City.

Opened on President's Day weekend the 360 degree bar features the customary slot machines and table games, but it's a color coordinated lighting and video system that gives the bar its character.

Surrounding more than 300 towering bottles on the interior of the bar are sixteen 50" plasma screens that reveal sensual video content set to pulsating Top 40 metro music. Further in are two rows of Martin Alien 05 color changers - an outer row of 24 plus an inner row of 24 - illuminating liquor bottles on vertical liquor racks. Added to this are four circles of colour changing Color Kinetics LED fixtures surrounding the bar. In a touch that gives the bar its stylish feel, the LED and Aliens are colour coordinated with the video on the plasma screens.

The Alien 05 lighting was desig

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UK - Washington D.C.-based Presentation Services is an outside lighting vendor for the largest hotel in the city - the Marriott Wardman Park hotel, and the Zero 88 Fat Frog is their console of choice. Presentation Services won the contract for lighting events at the hotel in January 2004. In their first year competing against outside vendors, Presentation Services won almost $3 million in lighting and video equipment contracts alone. "We go after every group that comes into the hotel," says technical director and lead technician Aaron Kramer. "A lot of the groups that come in here, however, have national contracts, but we've still handled events for the Big Brother Big Sister program - where Laura Bush spoke in support, corporate Marriot events and others."

In 2004, Presentation Services invested $176,000 in new lighting equipment and purchased a Zero 88 Fat

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Ireland - Bandit Lites supplied Production North with full lighting production for the first Cork Festival of Music, titled Live at the Marquee, and staged by Aiken Promotions in a near-5,000 capacity big top at the Monster Showground, Cork. The event, part of the City's year as European Capital of Culture, has been so successful that moves are afoot for it to become a regular fixture on Cork's annual entertainment calendar. The two weeks of live music featured a diverse line up of national and international artists, ranging from Christie Moore to the Gypsy Kings, Ronan Keating to Nick Cave.

Production North came onboard to supply the entire technical infrastructure, with the unflappable Steve Levitt at the helm, production and site managing. With some fast back-to-back changes needed, he wanted to ensure that all bands received their own required standards of lighting, a

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China - China's National Broadcaster CCTV has selected HK Audio's Cohedra Coherent Dynamic Response Array system for its Studio 1, from where the prestigious CCTV New Year Gala TV show is broadcast to over one billion Chinese people at home and abroad. Studio 1 was constructed on the site of a circular garden alongside the main CCTV building in 1997. The 1600 square metre building, which can seat 800, was purpose-built for the New Year Gala show and other large-scale live broadcast programs. As the studio was constrained by the shape of the garden, it is also circular in shape, meaning that improving the sound quality has become a constant challenge to the CCTV audio department, and this is why CCTV chose to install the Cohedra system. Sixteen CDR 208 T/S mid-high cabinets have been installed into the room where they have already been used for shows such as Joyride in China - Seve
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