Greece - The 2004 Olympics are being broadcast to thousands of fans and spectators at the event at numerous locations in and around the historic city of Athens, using state-of-the-art Barco equipment, the company reports. Other regions, such as ancient Olympia, Thessalonica, Volos, Heraklion and Patras, as well as municipalities around Greece, are also involved in the franchised Olympic Celebration sites program. With expected ticketed visitor numbers reaching well over 5.3 million, the Barco LED display and projection solutions used in the various sporting venues and entertainment locations around the country have their work cut out.

Over the last months of the preparation for the games, Telmaco, the main system designer and integrator, in cooperation with Barco, has installed two SLite 22 LED displays at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Faliro Piraeus and the Kaftatzoglio Stadium in

Russia - Exactly 53,212 spectators were in attendance on the 31 July, 2004, beneath the huge new canopy held aloft by 16 supports, as Berlin's Olympic Stadium - four years out of commission for rebuilding - re-opened with a magnificently staged spectacle.

Charged with the installation of a brand-new sound reinforcement system and supported by EVI Audio, the Berlin-based sound and events specialists TSE AG opted for a large Electro-Voice sound reinforcement system and a Dynacord PA. In addition to outstanding sound quality, the new equipment offers reliable and convenient system control and monitoring. In this, Electro-Voice's IRIS software and remote-controlled amplifiers play key roles. Explains Oliver Sahm, project and sales manager permanent installation Europe: "Having to install the loudspeaker enclosures in the roof is hardly conducive to easy maintenance. Thanks to E

Ireland - For about a year now, film equipment rental company Arri has been using a Telex BTR-700 intercom system - most recently on the set of the Touchstone/Bruckheimer production King Arthur. Most of the shooting for the film was done during a six-month period in Ireland, and the BTR-700 played a vital role.

Hans Lehner, one of the Arri technicians responsible for camera and stage equipment, said: "The system was used by key members of the crew - the director, the camera operators, the director of photography and the crane operator. At times, up to five of them were hooked up at the same time during a take, exchanging information and correcting or fine-tuning settings they had tried out earlier - such is the clarity of the system that they were able to communicate in whispers so as not to bleed into the production audio during passages of dialogue. The BTR-700 was

UK - Corporate and event lighting specialist Colourhouse is enjoying a summer of close collaboration with designers Bluey Design, working with them on projects for General Motors at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and for British Telecom's Exact Ball in Suffolk. At Goodwood, Bluey Design was continuing an association with General Motors stretching back to 2002, working for Jack Morton in Detroit. The General Motors Orangery is a space used by the executive officers of General Motors worldwide to relax and entertain their guests away from the bustle of the motor-racing outside. By day, the space contains a set creating an elegant and contemporary space; by night, the venue is transformed into a gala dining space.

Bluey Design was responsible for lighting both the exterior and the interior of the Orangery. The interior day set was enhanced with custom-made low-voltage stick lights

UK - Essex-based Xtreme Audio Visual has installed an audio package from Fuzion in The Elbow Room, Notting Hill, part of a highly successful chain of pool bars and club venues around the UK. The system comprises a pair of Nexo PS10 full-range cabinets, three pairs of Nexo PS8 compact cabinets and Crown CE1000 amplifiers. In addition to pool tables, The Elbow Room has a bar and dance floor area which has just been fitted with a portable DJ booth for use at weekends. The PS10s provide the dance floor with enough level, while the PS8s are used around the pool tables.

Commenting on the install, Xtreme's Duncan Baines said: "This bar is in a very densely populated neighbourhood, so potentially there are problems with the neighbours. The PS10s and PS8s provide good-quality sound without needing to be pumped."

Xtreme AV has just been awarded the contract to equip the Elb

UK - Charcoalblue, the UK's newest theatre consultancy, was formed in February of this year by three theatre professionals who had previously worked together at Theatre Projects Consultants - namely Andy Hayles, Jon Stevens and Jack Tilbury. Hayles explains: "We decided that the time was right to branch out on our own. It wasn't an easy decision, but we had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve."

Each member of the team has a strong background in the theatre. Hayles was previously chief electrician at Richmond Theatre Royal. Stevens has worked at the RSC in Stratford, toured with Opera North and was head of sound at Glyndebourne Opera. He still does lighting design when he gets a chance - most recently The Makropulos Case at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Tilbury began his career as a theatre production manager, and went on to project manage for Imagination at the Millenn

Greece - Bon Studio S.A. won the contract to install the audio infrastructure in three of the most contemporary stadia in Europe, used recently for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Drawing heavily on the product portfolio of Harman Pro group companies for whom they handle distribution, Bon Studio was able to meet the specifications laid down for the Pampeloponissiako and Panthessaliko Outdoor Stadia, and Nikaia Indoor Stadium. When some of the designs were later modified to achieve optimum sound quality, Bon Studio were able to comply with the revised requirement.

The new 24,000-seat Pampeloponissiako stadium in Patra was built in order to stage the Olympic football tournaments. Bon Studio installed the sound reinforcement system in the stadium's main arena plus sound reinforcement and public address systems in the internal peripheral areas. Using EASE predictive software, the

UK - Following an investment of £1.3m, Gloucestershire entrepreneur Terry Cole has given Stroud residents a highly-specified new nightclub on the site of the former Gaumont Cinema. The three-storey venue Warehouse adopts the same name as Mr. Cole's other venture, the Warehouse Wine Bar in Dursley, and is an industrial conversion of the Gaumont Cinema which opened in 1935, using varnished sleepers, brickwork and stone effect flooring. Above the large balcony bar on the first floor is an opulently-detailed VIP room, while the dancefloor itself incorporates a water feature.

Cole enlisted local company, Hans Beier's CAV - which he had worked with before on the Dursley venue - to design and install a sound and lighting infrastructure in the 850-capacity venue.

As the centrepiece, Beier chose the Martin Audio W8LM Mini Line Array system - after Martin Audio's Simon Bull successfull

Japan - "Acoustically it's perfect," said Ralf Zuleeg, an applications support specialist from d&b audiotechnik, "a typical modern, horseshoe-shaped concert hall; slightly dry for a small ensemble, but ideal for a full orchestra." Matsumoto City Hall in Japan was originally opened 40 years ago; the current refurbishment project began in 1999, completing in the spring of 2004. Its grand opening will comprise multiple events covering the full gamut of musical performance, with the debut concert having been staged on 29 August 2004.

Yamaha Sound Technologies Inc. was selected to be responsible for the sound installation, with Nagata Acoustics Inc. providing the acoustic sound design, Makoto Ino their senior consultant elected to specify d&b systems. "We have experience of this company's equipment through our partnership with the Otaritec Corporation, who

UK - PLASA 2004 opened its doors on Sunday 12th September to enthusiastic crowds, with a full show, hundreds of exciting products and a real buzz across the show floor. Both visitors and exhibitors are commenting that the excitement is back and the industry future looks bright.

The Product Excellence Awards at the PLASA show have been a popular feature of the event for many years, highlighting the significance of the show as a focus for new developments for the industry. To reinforce this role, the awards have undergone an important change for 2004 with the focus being much more on genuine innovation and have been relaunched as the PLASA Awards for Innovation. The previous assessment criteria, which segmented the nominations into sectors, has been removed so that products were not judged within category lines, but on the grounds of their innovation alone. The judges looked for

UK - tsg, the Chesterfield-based media programming and systems company, have recently completed the installation of an audio, lighting and vision system at one of the capital's best known watering holes. The Tattershall Castle, London's favourite floating pub and club, has recently been in dry dock in Great Yarmouth undergoing an eight-month, £4.75m refurbishment. On 19 May, she sailed home up the River Thames and returned to her berth at Victoria Embankment.

Originally a passenger ferry sailing across the Humber estuary from Hull to New Holland, the Tattershall Castle has taken on a modern, new look, with large, clear windows being fitted in the stylish main bar, offering both drinkers and diners stunning views of the nearby London Eye, Festival Hall and the Houses of Parliament.

On board there is also a nightclub, which plays host to the glamorous Kash Point alternative c

USA - An impossible-to-miss media event, the launch of - the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built - caused an international stir. Pathway Connectivity keeps the data flowing in the four of the most technically sophisticated facilities aboard the largest passenger ship ever built - Cunard's $800 million historic luxury liner, Queen Mary 2. The four areas are the Main Lounge, the Queen's Room, the disco and Illuminations, the first floating planetarium ever constructed.

The Main Lounge sports 45 Pathport DMX units, running eight universes driven by an MA Lighting GrandMA console in a full tracking backup configuration, using a GrandMA Relay unit. The control system outputs Pathport protocol directly, using DMX only at the output stage. The award-winning Pathport DMX management system is more than a tool to route DMX over Ethernet, say the company: with up to 64

Sweden / Norway - Visual act, the Swedish stage automation specialist, has recently completed the installation of a new control system for the Norwegian Theatre in Oslo, involving the replacement of drive electronics for 119 fly bars and point hoists. The system installed is capable of operating all the drives simultaneously, as was ably demonstrated during the testing period, when the company's technicians made the most of the empty stage by programming continuous movements and effects involving all 119 drives.

The latest version of Visual act's operator desk was selected as it is especially designed for permanent installations, providing an ergonomic work area suitable for many hours of use on an everyday basis. Three operator desks were installed - one of which is wireless and can be moved to the house for rehearsals.

The control system has fully redundant servers and po

UK - Marquee Audio has returned to the Derby Assembly Rooms,15 years after originally fitting a Court Black Box PA, replacing it with a Meyer M1D line array system. The Assembly Rooms was opened in 1977 as a rock and roll venue and is an integral part of the band touring circuit. "But then the big venues came along and the theatre circuit changed from 1,000-seat theatre venues to 21,000-seat arenas like the NEC, NIA, Sheffield Arena and of course Wembley," said the venue's technical manager, Nigel Palmer.

When a new general manager started a few years ago, the venue's 1000-seat Great Hall started to receive touring shows such as Boogie Nights with Shane Ritchie, which was a huge success. And when last year the venue put on its first ever pantomime - hosting 27,000 people to see Aladdin in just four weeks - the Assembly Rooms had firmly cemented its new revenue streams

UK - Installation company Clarity in Sound Light & Vision has completed a two-venue fit-out at the London School of Economics in the Aldwych. As a result, both the Three Tuns, a traditional ground floor bar, and Underground live music venue (in the basement) have extended their capacities (to 400 and 300 respectively). Combined with a third venue - the Quad - the LSE can now provide entertainment for 1300 people and route the signals from either of the live venues at any one time to the clientele in the bar.

Clarity director Stuart Graham again turned to Martin Audio, his first choice loudspeaker supplier, for the components in The Underground. (Martin Audio presented the company with an award for 'Best New UK installer' at the recent PLASA Show).

Four Blackline F12s are flown from the ceiling above the stage (on either side of the scanner lighting) while a pair of WS2As, gro

UK - Futurist Projects Ltd has completed the design, supply and installation of a complete technical infrastructure at the newly refurbished Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, London. The £24 million project has seen the elegant Grade I listed former Christian Scientist Church transformed into a cutting-edge modern concert hall, exhibition and arts venue. It's also become home to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, ending 60 years of itinerancy.

Michel Lister co-ordinated and managed the project for Futurist, having been referred to Cadogan Hall via Leeds College of Music, where the company recently designed and equipped a purpose-built, 350-seat concert hall. Keen to push the technical envelope, Futurist's associate consultant Richard Northwood wanted to take a lateral approach, and utilize technologies and techniques common to other areas of the entertainment industry - such as theme pa

UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) and sister company Vaughan Sound - both part of the PAI Group - collaborated to design, install and commission a complete new sound system and architectural and event lighting control at ExCeL, London's Exhibition and Conference Centre. The project involved the supply of new audio systems for ExCeL's Platinum suites and the reception areas on Levels 2 and 3 of the Centre.

The contract was managed by LTP's Jonathan Adkins: LTP handled the specification of lighting systems internally, utilizing PA Installations to assist with the signal processing and control infrastructure of the sound systems, plus all the AV, and IT / Control technologies. For sound reinforcement design, LTP called in VSI. Adkins comments: "It was a huge asset being able to offer the client a complete sound, visual and control solution. Having one company dealing wi

UK tsg, the national media programming and system design company recently announced the appointment of David Ridout as technical manager. Ridout previously worked for Middlesex Sound & Light and Tape Techniques; two well regarded installation companies, therefore Paul Kemp, tsg's operations manager had already witnessed first-hand Ridout's specifying, project management and installation skills, and moved quickly to secure his employment at tsg.

Ridout is equally thrilled to join tsg, and commented: "for a long time I have respected the entertainment environments that tsg provide for its many customers, and when I heard that there was an opening at tsg, I made sure that Paul Kemp knew I was interested". The move coincided with tsg securing the media supply and installation contract across 500 stores of the female fashion giant New Look, an account that was previously

UK - Centre Stage Engineering was recently awarded ISO 9001 certification as it commits to further improve customer satisfaction. The company also reports that it has been appointed as a recognized designer and installer by Gala Systems of Canada for its unique Spiralift drive transmission system used in stage elevators.

The recent doubling of the factory floor space to accommodate a stand-alone, in-house manufacturing and fabrication facility, means that the company can now tackle a wider range of projects, while the company also looked to the future with the recent appointment of a young design engineer to the team at the start of the year, along with the establishment of a contributory company pension plan and a mechanical engineering apprenticeship scheme.

Current projects include the supply and installation of all the stage machinery at the new prestigious Perth Concert

UK - The Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's south bank has been closed for much of this summer whilst undergoing a substantial refurbishment programme. The stage area in particular required a major overhaul and has undergone significant modernisation. ELP were brought in to strip out the old rigging structures and install a brand new, high spec rig.

"We were well placed to take the job on" explains ELP project manager Toby Dare "as we already provide all the rigging services for the Royal Festival Hall next door. We proposed and designed a new grid system for the QEH which would be flexible enough to accommodate the diverse range of productions the Hall now caters for. These now vary from orchestral performances, through to theatre, circus and modern dance."

Over a six-week period, (from the end of July to early September 2004) the ELP crew stripped out all

UK - Warrington Borough Council has built a new 24-hour security monitoring control room facility to improve its continued commitment to combat crime. A command wall system incorporating JVC's high resolution D-ILA DLA-SX21 projector and rear projection CinePro screens was specified by Industry Consultant Faber Maunsell.

Jason Todhunter, associate director at Faber Maunsell designed and planned the new facility, and has undertaken all technical project supervision. "Warrington Borough Council required a cutting edge control room facility. Previously CCTV monitoring was undertaken from an outdated control room within Warrington's police headquarters. The new development incorporates Warrington Borough Council's security monitoring as well as care call and emergency planning services," commented Todhunter.

Images displayed on the JVC command wall system are fed from ex

UK - The London School of Economics, one of the hotbeds of student radicalism in the 1960's, has recently revamped its three student entertainment spaces and QSC's AcousticDesign sound systems are prominently featured throughout the new venues.

Following a similar project at nearby Kings College, London's Clarity in Sound, Light and Vision has performed a major redesign on two of the three spaces: The Three Tuns, a 400-capacity traditional bar, and the 300-capacity Underground live music venue. Combined with a third venue, the Quad, the LSE can now provide entertainment for up to 1300 and route the signals from the live venues to patrons at the bar.

Clarity director Stuart Graham opted for a complete QSC-based system to meet the multi-purpose live and background music needs of the Three Tuns. Featuring a pair of AcousticDesign AD-S82 full-range enclosures, augmented by six AD-

UK - The Marquee Club is back up and running this autumn in a new venue, with Aztec, Audient's flagship live desk forming part of the new PA system, hand-picked and installed by Terminal Studios. Back again in its spiritual home in Soho, the Marquee Club is only a short walk from its famous Wardour Street location. With a capacity of 1000, the new venue at Number 1 Leicester Square needed professional help with the sound system.

Terminal Studios were chosen due to their wide experience of installing PA systems. Terminal's managing director Charlie Barrett says: "We knew that the sound system would be crucial to the success of the club. We wanted tried and tested equipment that engineers and bands would be familiar with. Turbosound Floodlight was the obvious choice of speaker as Terminal already had large stocks available. The Audient Aztec, however, was not originally on t

UK - The UK tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Starlight Express' is the country's first touring theatre production to feature 3D film, thanks to a stereoscopic video projection system supplied by London-based 3D specialists Inition.

The 'Duality' projection system - installed and maintained by Inition - recreates the high speed skate races that made the original London show one of the capital's most successful musicals of all time. The new tour builds on the achievements of the 2003/4 US Troika Tour - but, says Inition, "adds even more edge of the seat 3D sequences and jaw-dropping special effects".

Now the same projection system is heading to the UK for a new tour opening in Manchester on November 1st and stretching from Bristol to Edinburgh. Inition is again providing technical support and expert know-how to integrate the system into the UK production.

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