USA - Calvary Church Santa Ana, in Santa Ana, California, has opted for a digital audio processing and control system in the form of SymNet Audio Matrix. Like many churches, it increasingly incorporates live music into services and stages drama skits. In addition, the facility is used for other non-church purposes, such as school graduations, which demand extensive mic capabilities.

The new system enabled the church to replace its old analogue equipment with a system easily configurable and controllable via computer. Doug Gates, owner of Gates Sound, a Buena Park, California, sound systems installation company that installed SymNet for the church, said the system has vastly simplified audio management and given the church the confidence to make future changes as needed. "This was the first major upgrade to the church's sound system since the early 1990s and it replaced abo

USA - When Rochester Assembly of God church built its new addition in 1997 it included a rudimentary lighting system, with 'theatrical' lighting consisting of a few coloured lights and a couple of basic 'can' spotlights near the ceiling, all controlled by infrared dimmers purchased from a national electronics chain store. The only control the church had over the fixtures was to turn them on or off.

As the church grew, so did the need for a more extensive lighting system. Church officials wanted to create more professional looking and appealing productions and more emotional traditional weekly services. With its annual Christmas program on the horizon, Rochester Assembly of God decided to upgrade to a new system that would be both cost-effective and expandable.

"We were going to be presenting The Gospel According to Scrooge, so we decided to install a lighting syst

Australia - A fresh insight to PA system specification for stadiums was promised by audio consultant Olaf De Ceuster on being asked by Australia's Major Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) to set standards for a full range PA system to be installed at the Cowboys Stadium (capacity 35,000 seated, 12,500 standing) in Townsville, Queensland. "The 105 dBA standard was borrowed from the standards set at ANZ Stadium," he explained, "where I looked after all the production facets and operated sound for eight years with The Broncos, another National Rugby League club." That's 105dBA over 95% of the audience.

"On this consultancy I took a different approach: since this was a stadium for people, not engineers, I decided to let a cross-section of normal people liking this particular rugby football code (NLR) to decide what they liked best. We played them music and h

UK - Visitors to London's famous Somerset House have been soaking up the winter atmosphere and the grandeur of the Victorian era with Calor, the UK's leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas, lighting the way. The open-air Winter Ice Rink located in the venue's main courtyard has attracted thousands of visitors for a fifth consecutive year. An added attraction this year is the use of real Victorian-style gas flame lamp standards, installed by specialist events company EMF Technology. The chosen fuel for the authentic lighting is Calor LPG.

Stuart Roberts of EMF Technology, which provides bespoke special effects and audio and video displays for major events and local authorities, commented that, to provide the right flame effect for the facility, LPG was the only answer. "We wanted to have the right ambience and an authentic look for the Victorian scene. We also had to en

UK - Audio Network Plc, the media music and sound specialist, has announced an investment by Leisure & Media VCT plc to accelerate its worldwide growth. Leisure & Media has invested £250,000 in return for a 7% equity stake in Audio Network, which says it has a revolutionary model, "supplying music for use in film, television and multi media production without the usual restrictions, cost and complications".

During the three years since its formation Audio Network has signed up over 100 composers and sound designers and has become established as a leading supplier of music to the UK production community; its music and sound library, comprising over 50,000 sounds, can be previewed on-line at www.audiolicense.net.

Robert Hurst, managing director of Audio Network, said: "We are delighted to welcome Leisure & Media VCT as shareholders in the company and welcome the

UK - Star Events Group has teamed up again with the Arena Group to create an infrastructure for the spectacular watersports pool at the Schroder's Boatshow at ExCeL in London's Docklands. The team designed and built the support for the 70m x 25m pool that held over 2,100 tonnes of water. Windsurfing, wakeboarding and sailing pros demonstrated their skills, using wind generated by the huge fans that flanked one entire length of the pool. 24 of these fans, each weighing 1 tonne, were supported on a raised structure also supplied by Star Events Group.

For the second year running, working closely with the National Boat Show (NBS), Star Events Group was brought in by the Arena Group to supply ExCeL with a complete temporary facility that was fully available from the first day of the exhibition tenancy. This enabled NBS to concentrate fully on the production requirements. This year's

UK - Britannia Row Productions provided audio for the giant concert at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium in aid of the Asian tsunami relief fund, covering the enormous crowd of 61,000 Brit Row used their L'Acoustics system, with Yamaha for control in the shape of both a PM1D and PM5D at either end of the snake.

"I'm sure there isn't an audio provider in the country that wouldn't have been willing to do this show," commented Brit Row director Bryan Grant, "and I'm honoured that Claire Sampson, show producer, asked us. We were able to assemble a really outstanding team of people: crew chief John Gibbon, Dave Bracey and Gary Bradshaw at front of house, Tristan Farrow and Kursten Smith on monitors, Pete McGlynn, Steph' Thompson, Dorus Hummels and Nahuel Gutierrez onstage and Richard Trow, Chris Peters and James Bowyer on system."

The bands all went through the P

Estonia - Arup Lighting, in collaboration with MVRDV, has created a spectacular lighting display that will be suspended 35m high over the Old Town quarter of Tallinn in Estonia. The semi-permanent art installation will be lit over the city, making the dark and wintry Tallinn awash with light every evening for three hours, between 3 - 6 February. The ambitious project was conceived at an Estonian designers' workshop for young architects with the aim of creating a lighting installation to enhance the city and inspire its residents during the winter gloom.

Invited by the Tallinn City Government, MVRDV architects and Arup Lighting were asked to find solutions to realise the winning idea - a 'light cupola' above the city. The Light Dome is the precursor to more anticipated installations of a similar nature in Europe, and the design team hopes to install a larger one in London in 200

Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi's newly-built Heritage Theatre boasts, as well as breathtaking décor, a state-of-the-art audio infrastructure that will allow it to be monitored from several thousand miles away in the United Kingdom, using QSC's QSControl.net technology. Perched atop a hill overlooking the Persian Gulf, the 550-seat theatre was designed as a multi-purpose venue, hosting historical and folkloric events, lectures, and conventions, as well as doubling as a cinema with surround sound. UK-based audio company LSI Projects specified QSC amplification and processing and performed the full system integration, including sound, video, lighting, engineering and project management, for Abu Dhabi's Ministry of Heritage.

QSC PowerLight PL4.0, PL236 and PL218 amplifiers drive the main PA, and are fitted with DSP-4 signal processing modules, which add high-pow

UK - A 40-channel Allen & Heath GL3300 multi-purpose live console has been installed in one of the largest concert and conference venues in the west of England. The Forum, located in Bath's city centre, features a 1700-seater auditorium, which was in need of an audio upgrade. The venue is a converted 1930's super-cinema, which has been extensively renovated in its original art deco style by current owners, Bath City Church. Its0 main function is as the home of Bath City Church, a vibrant Christian group with a growing membership of around 500 people. The auditorium's sound system, installed in the early 1990s, is operated by a team of 15 volunteers from within the church, comprising four teams of three sound engineers working on a rota basis, plus two riggers and a team leader.

"Selection of a suitable replacement desk was a project in itself," commented team leader Ch

UK - Serious Stages supplied a 12 metre Orbit stage and roof system for the final of TV series Celebrity Big Brother at Elstree Studios. The latest Big Brother winner was ex-Happy Mondays dancer Bez - initially considered an outsider - who attracted huge public support along the way and squeezed Blazin' Squad rapper Kenzie and actress Brigitte Neilson into second and third places respectively.

Serious Stages was contacted just five days before the final by producers Endemol, after deciding they wanted the stage for the final evictions live on the Sunday. Eight Serious crew, led by Shaun Dixon, erected a standard one-bay Orbit roof system, 12 metres wide by 12 metres deep. The stage was completed and ready for lighting, audio, set and other production elements to commence their get-in on the Saturday morning. At the end of the show itself, the house guests were inte

UK - London's glamorous Thai-theme restaurant and club, the Sugar Hut, has opened a large sister venue in Brentwood, Essex. Housed in a lavishly renovated Grade I listed building, the Sugar Hut Village features a high-quality but completely invisible dancefloor and club room sound system from ElectroVoice. Visually, its interior owes much of its success to the inspired use of LED effects. Cosmic Electronics, which was responsible for designing and installing the sound and lighting infrastructure, approached Lighting Effects Distribution, and 40 Solar L80 PCB LED effects (with DMX drivers) and a set of Alkalite Octopod 80s were used to colour wash the multi-zone venue.

Following the huge success of the original Sugar Hut in Fulham, London, owners Chris George, Gary Smith and Frazer Donaldson have taken on a 15th century coaching inn in the heart of Brentwood village. With its un

UK - Cadac's S-Type console has had two high profile deployments in the Far East recently, involving Japan's prestigious Shiki Theatre Company and one of Indonesia's leading rental companies, Sumber Ria. Shiki Theatre Company added two S-Types to its complement of Cadac consoles for the opening of two new productions in January - Phantom of the Opera at the Dentsu Shiki Theatre SEA in Shiodome, Tokyo, as well as Evita which opened on 27th January at the Shiki Theatre AKI, also in Tokyo. In Indonesia, Sumber Ria recently chose an S-Type to tour artist Krisdayanti (KD) in late 2004, as a high quality analogue alternative to their usual analogue and digital console hire stock.

Shiki Theatre Company currently stages an average of seven performances every day of the year, with seven theatres of its own and eleven productions running simultaneously throughout Japan at an

UK - Twelve James Thomas PixelPAR 90 LED fixtures are at the core of a new high-impact exterior architectural lighting scheme at the Royal & SunAlliance building in Bristol. The Grade II listed West Gate building was designed by renowned British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott - who's work included national landmarks like Battersea & Bankside Power Stations, Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral and the classic red British Telephone Box.

Royal & SunAlliance was keen to stamp its own modern - and lasting - identity on the building for the 21st century. It also wanted an innovative and high quality scheme to reinforce West Gate as a prominent city centre landmark. An additional challenge was that the 'Listed' status meant no signage could be attached to the exterior. Keen to embrace new technology, Royal & SunAlliance decided that lighting was an inventive solution that would also crea

The Netherlands - Luxeon LED luminaires have been installed by Germany's Bocom as the sole light source in the bar of the Hotel Anna in Munich, Lumileds' LEDs creating a key attraction through the use of dynamic colour-changing light. In total over 1800 LEDs from Lumileds, housed in 12 luminaires throughout the bar area, are used to create the control and imagery needed for this designer hotel.

Harald Spilker, sales and marketing manager of Bocom GmbH, said: "The success and on-going high performance of the Hotel Anna solution underlines the benefits of Luxeon LEDs. Creatively we were able to achieve far greater control and dynamism over the lighting solution, while the minimal maintenance and on-going cost savings provide the hotel with a high-performance, cost-effective installation." Bocom is also responsible for the 35,000 Euro lighting refurbishment of the Rhein T

UK - Brighton Film Studios, the facilities subsidiary of The Brighton Film School, has just taken delivery of the new JVC DLA-HD2K high definition projector. Franz von Habsburg, director at Brighton Film School, first saw the projector at VMI's new High Definition and Broadcast facility in Soho. Brighton Film Studios use the HD2K's special video processor unit, which accepts a wide range of HD and SD signals. It up-converts and rescales all signals to output 1920 x 1080 progressively scanned images which are transmitted via DVI signal to the HD2K projector.

"What I liked about the HD2K was the scaler," commented Franz who, as a BAFTA judge, has been using it to screen BAFTA award entries prior to casting his votes. "It ramps up any input of a lower standard to HD and produces an image that's outstanding and virtually pixel-free to the naked eye." The HD2K has

UK - The Wales Millennium Centre (WMC), nestling at the water's edge of Cardiff Bay, which describes itself as 'the most exciting cultural initiative happening in Europe today', officially opened at the end of 2004, and attention to detail throughout the build was meticulous. Sound and lighting contractor Stage Electrics called upon the expertise and equipment of Ampetronic for an induction loop system to allow those with hearing disability to access audio through a substantial portion of the facility. The building contains 5,000 tonnes of structural steel which can absorb most of the energy from an induction loop system, while the floor of one of the main areas to be covered rests on steel sheets.

"Ampetronic performed a site survey at Easter of 2003," says Stage Electrics' Jonathan Porter Goff. "We'd worked with them before and we were very pleased to be workin

UK - London based production house GSP Ltd appointed Drapes specialist Blackout and sound specialists Canegreen Commercial to help realise the setting for the film premiere of The Phantom Of The Opera, staged at the National Hall, Olympia. The movie is an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's romantic stage musical.

Blackout's project manager Chris Brain collaborated with GSP's managing director Emma Gold and GSP's appointed set designer to dress the venue to their specifications. The set recreated in minute detail an opulent theatrical environment in the film's signatory red and black colours. To set the scene an eclectic mix of props was sourced both from the movie and GSP's creative team. The stage was crowned by a 5 x 8m 25,000-crystal chandelier supplied by Swarovski. As a finishing touch 1,000 black-edged red roses, supplied by Jayne Copperwaite, were suspended on fish

USA - Hummingbird Nest Ranch, a new world-class equestrian facility located 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, has become the site of the world's first Soundweb London installation. Installed in November, two new CobraNet-equipped BSS BLU-80 units are now being utilised by the 140-acre ranch to provide digital signal processing and routing for up to a dozen different speaker zones. One of the DSP units is located in the 17,000sq.ft clubhouse's main audio rack, while the other is housed in a rack on castors designed to roll out to the judge's stand for events held in the Spotted Elk Ring, a 600ft x 300ft International Grand Prix field.

The BSS processor pair collectively interfaces with nine Crown CTs 600 amplifiers, all outfitted with IQ-PIP-USP3/CN cards, which drive approximately 30 JBL Control 30 loudspeakers in the primary and secondary arenas, clubhouse,

UK - Autograph Sales Ltd, the UK's leading professional audio distributor, has supplied and installed a range of loudspeakers cabinets from EM Acoustics for England's groundbreaking Eden Project, Cornwall. The system was initially supplied for A Time of Gifts, a season of events that celebrated Christmas and other global festivals, all of which share many common themes. The events take place in the Warm Temperate Biome, and include the long awaited official Eden Project soundtrack First Breath. The soundtrack, which utilises the newly installed EM Acoustics system, is accompanied by a live performance three times a week - alongside a projected film journey.

Due to the size of the Biome, Mike Mann, Autograph Sales' project consultant, together with Lucy Gaskell, Eden Project's consulting technical manager, selected the 13 cabinets from EM Acoustics. EMS-81s, an EMS-

UK - London's glamorous Thai-theme restaurant and club, the Sugar Hut, has opened a large sister venue in Brentwood, Essex. Housed in a lavishly renovated Grade I listed building, the Sugar Hut Village features a high-quality but completely invisible dancefloor and clubroom sound system from ElectroVoice.

Following the success of the original Sugar Hut in Fulham, London, owners Chris George, Gary Smith and Frazer Donaldson have taken on a 15th century coaching inn in the heart of Brentwood village. With its unique galleried courtyard playing an important role at the heart of the venue, the old hotel is now home to six different themed clubrooms, bars and restaurants. As a whole, the Sugar Hut Village holds nearly 900 people, dispersed through the Karma Bar, the Krug Suite, the Gallery Bar, the main restaurant, and other areas.

Having worked on the Sugar Hut in London and its s

Germany - In early December, TV station Kabel 1 presented a major evening show, running through the '100 best films of all time', including classic blockbusters like Alien, Das Boot, E.T., Platoon, Schindlers List, Spider Man and Lord of the Rings. More than 350 Pulsar ChromaPanels were used in the set design, supplied by Procon and installed by Schall & Shein Design, Münich. They were used to create the matching atmosphere for the show in Bavaria Studios, Unterföhring. The set and design for the ChromaPanels was originally designed by Florian Wieder for the Pro7 production Geniale Erfinder-der Wissenspreis.

Daniel from Schall & Schein commented: "LED lights have high efficiency, their effects are produced through RGB colour mixing, they radiate homogeneous light and are absolutely lightweight. The whole design of the set was designed so the LEDs could be controlled in c

UK - For the past three years, those in the north east of England have witnessed a giant concrete, metal and glass construction rising in Gateshead, on the south bank of the River Tyne. Now The Sage Gateshead - a brand new £70m home for musical education and entertainment - is open for business.

Gateshead Council is extraordinarily keen for the arts to be inclusive, encouraging as many people as possible to be involved. The purpose behind The Sage is to mix education and inspiration, combining state-of-the-art facilities for hands-on learning and performance spaces.

Beneath the metal and glass outer shell there are six separate buildings, which contain four main performance venues, a 26-room music education centre, ExploreMusic (a high-tech hands-on education facility run by Gateshead Libraries), a shop/box office, five front of house bars, a café and brasserie.

Interestin

Italy - In Venice, leading Italian PA rental company Audio Uno has flown Nexo GEO S speaker arrays in one of the most exquisite architectural settings in the world. The historic Gran Teatro La Fenice de Venezia, which dates back to 1792, has been completely restored to its original glory following a devastating fire in 1996. Audio Uno was called upon to provide a premier-quality sound reinforcement system for the first major event to take place in the Gran Teatro since its renovation and re-opening. The Premio Campiello is Italy's top competition for writers, and this was the first occasion the prestigious awards ceremony had been held in the Fenice.

For the 2500-capacity theatre, Audio Uno supplied a GEO S tangent-array system which was configured in left and right arrays of eight GEO S830 cabinets each side. Two CD12 sub-bass bins were included on each side of the stage, and

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