UK - Plus 4 Audio used its new L-Acoustics Kiva system for the main front of house arrays at the recent National Television Awards ceremony held at the Royal Albert Hall. Broadcast live on National TV, the annual event commemorated the most prestigious annual awards for both the stars and programmes alike.

Plus 4 used a total of 32 Kiva split into two arrays of 16 cabinets each, while 24 dV-Dosc in two arrays of 12 took care of the left and right out-fills. A further 4 SB118 subs were utilised for low end reinforcement All the amplification was derived from a mixture of the new L-Aacoustics LA4 and LA8 Controllers.

Stew Chaney, MD of Plus 4 comments: "Sight lines were very tight on this show so we needed the smallest possible system to cover the Royal Albert Hall. I used Soundvision to appraise the system coverage and was really surprised to find that the SPL and coverage

Singapore - Spektra Electronics has recently completed a number of audio system upgrades at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, using a variety of Community loudspeaker solutions. Situated next to the historic Singapore River and close to the Central Business District and Orchard Road, the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel is one of Asia's premier choices for 5-star accommodation with 550 lavish rooms and award-winning restaurants.

The original audio systems had been installed by Spektra Electronics when the hotel was built and the company was again appointed to handle the upgrade by the hotel's chief engineer, Mr. Leo Hee Swee. The systems for upgrading covered the piano bar/lobby, coffee house and outdoor dining areas. The brief specified a significant improvement in music quality throughout, with and a particular emphasis on system power and speech intelligibili

Denmark - No stranger to the principles of Source Oriented Reinforcement (SOR), Karsten Wolstad, one of Det Kongelige Teater's principal sound designers, has employed Out Board's TiMax delay matrix and showcontrol software at the heart of the theatre's new playhouse sound system. The main design objective was to maximise dramatic impact by optimising localisation of amplified voices and effects throughout even the largest performances on the vast main stage.

Wolstad and sound design colleague Jonas Vest worked closely with Out Board's Robin Whittaker to create an SOR-based sound system design to supply unobtrusive and subtle amplification with accurate audio image localisation and hence good intelligibility for all audience members.

Two rows of five d&b horn-loaded full-range cabinets provide the main reinforcement to the circular auditorium, supported by Tannoy NXT flat panel

Ireland - Paddy Dunning's popular Temple Bar Music Centre, situated in Dublin's stylish downtown area, has re-emerged as The Button Factory following a major renovation that cost in excess of €1 million.

With its grand reopening last month, the venue now boasts a new layout, expanded capacity (to 750), and a state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes a Digidesign VENUE D-Show Profile console supplied by local distributors Big Bear Sound.

Although the four-storey Curved Street facility was purpose-built as a live music venue around 12 years ago, the building was traditionally surrounded by button factories (hence the name). Today it houses a myriad of recording facilities. Dunning's original Temple Lane Studios is joined by The Sound Training Centre, which offers sound engineering courses on the third floor, while a rehearsal studio is housed down in the basement.

Tradi

USA - Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan, is well known for its competitive athletics teams, and the private, liberal arts college's sprawling athletic grounds have continued to expand with the recent opening of the Arrington Ice Arena. The venue boasts a regulation size hockey rink with spectator seating and standing capacity for more than 1000, and will host the school's men's and women's Bulldogs hockey teams, as well as synchronized skating and open public skating for the local Adrian community.

As with most ice arenas, acoustics are not among the venue's strongerfeatures, and with the 28-foot ceiling exacerbating reflectivity issues, intelligibility for the announcements was a significant challenge at the outset. "Particularly for synchronized skating events, the sound needed to be distributed evenly and without a delay pattern," observes Joe Jenkins of Adrian-bas

Singapore - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang completed its final night at the Esplanade theatre in Singapore last weekend. Following 24 successful months touring the UK, the production was loaded into a container and shipped out to Singapore in October. With just seven days to installation and commissioning the entire show, Stage Technologies' rental engineers worked hard to get the show's automation system up and running.

The first containers arrived at the loading doors of the Esplanade on Sunday 21 October. With two full days of hard graft, all the equipment was unloaded and put into position backstage; the show deck was laid down with the floor-track winches already installed inside and the Performer Flying sliders were motored up into the air by Chain Hoists on lengths of truss.

For the next three days, Stage Technologies' engineers set about commissioning the automation sy

UK - A joint venture between QSoft Consulting and Vince Power Music Group (VPMG) has led to the opening of the new Lo-Profile gay bar in Soho's Wardour Street. This becomes a sister club to the operators' nearby flagship, Profile.

Opening seven nights a week, Lo-Profile aims to inject new life into the current gay London nightclub environment and represents part of a total £1.6 million total investment.

The SSE Group were contracted to provide the new audio infrastructure for this 450-capacity basement venue. Emma Barwell, who runs SSE's London operation, says that the company worked seamlessly alongside VPMG's regular venue designers, Shaun Clarkson ID, choosing a Martin Audio AQ system for its ability to meet both the aesthetic and dimensional requirements.

Industrial in design and intimate in feel, Lo-Profile is approached via an infinity tunnel which is lit with a

UK - Following its £1.3 million revamp the Wyvern Theatre Swindon is opening its doors on 4 February 2008 for a special Venue Technology Day. Coordinated by Stage Electrics the day promises the opportunity to explore some of the latest in venue technology in an operational setting.

On 25 September 2007 the Wyvern, a busy receiving venue, reopened after nearly a year in the dark following the discovery of asbestos in the auditorium roof (see Lighting&Sound International magazine November 2007). Stage Electrics was contracted by Swindon Borough Council to design, install and supply technical infrastructure and equipment to the venue.

The Wyvern Theatre is a truly multifunctional venue hosting everything from Shakespeare to ballet, live music to comedy and conferences to cinema. With a reasonably small team of staf

USA - Tony Forman has joined Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC) as a project manager in the group's US office. Forman has over 25 years of experience working in international, regional, and collegiate theatre. His responsibilities at TPC include project management, programming, theatre planning, and advice on both facility management and operations.

"I am excited to apply my accumulated experience in production, administration and community cultural organizing to the work of TPC." says Forman. "Building or renovating a performance space has always been a keen interest of mine, and I now feel well suited to this unique endeavour. I am thrilled to be part of the team."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Built in 1884, Northampton's Royal Theatre was designed by the renowned Victorian theatre architect C J Phipps, who also designed such prestigious venues as the Theatre Royal Bath, Theatre Royal Glasgow and Edinburgh's Lyceum.

99 years later a second, adjacent, venue was added - the Derngate. Designed as a multi-purpose space, it complemented the Royal's status as a 'producing' house by being a versatile venue in which a wide range of touring productions could take place - theatre, opera, live music, dance, sports, live music and more.

Despite sharing a foyer and other facilities since the Derngate was built, it was only in 1999 that the two theatres merged in terms of organisation and artistic strategies. Then, between 2005 and 2006, both closed for a £15m redevelopment, including restoration of the Grade II listed Royal to its original Victorian splendour, but wit

UK - Located in Great Queen Street, London, Freemason's Hall is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England - the governing body of Freemasonry in England. Built between 1927 and 1933, the hall is the third to be located in Great Queen Street and was constructed as a memorial to the 3225 Freemasons who died on active service in the First World War.

The centrepiece of the building is the Grand Temple which has recently had an Ampetronic induction loop fitted by Surrey-based contractor Scanaudio.

As well as the main 'floor', the Grand Temple features a balcony on three sides and the Ampetronic system, powered by a pair of ILD1000G loop amplifiers via an SP5 phaser, was required to cover the whole chamber and to meet new British Standard requirements for induction loop installations.

However, discreetness was imperative because of the sensitivity of the fine architect

UK - Live production specialist Event Concept provided staging, interior build, lighting, sound and video for the recent House of Fraser Spring/Summer press event which included a fashion show.

House of Fraser wanted to create a Spring/Summer 2008 press event to establish their recently enhanced image in the minds of the media and provide an appropriate setting for the 2008 collections. Burlington Gardens at London's Royal Academy was chosen as the venue and Event Concept was appointed to work with the store's visual marketing team to create the setting for the event.

Working closely with the House of Fraser team, Event Concept created an engaging route through eight adjoining rooms which previewed the Womenswear, Menswear, Homeware, Childrenswear and Beauty collections before guests took their seats by the catwalk for a first glimpse of House of Fraser's new Spring collection

Norway - Climb aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's vessel Norwegian Gem and you can't help but notice a unique artwork hanging from the atrium's ceiling. Designed and custom made by the Cristallux company of Waldachtal, Germany, and created to emulate a gem stone - a sliced amethyst - this eye-catching ceiling light is the centerpiece of the ship's all important welcoming public space.

The handmade art piece is made of a special synthetic material and is made even more dynamic by ten Martin FiberSource QFX150 fiber optic illuminators. "The Martin FiberSource illuminators suited our needs for this project and we had good experience with this projector on previous projects," states Thomas Schindler of Cristallux of his decision to install the fixtures.

The FiberSource QFX150 is an automated 150 W colour-changing luminaire for illuminating fibre optic cables in permanent ins

Russia - Moscow-based installers Light Sound Contractor (LSC) specified Robe moving lights for a project at the Tropicana Restaurant in the Arbat Entertainment Centre (AEC), Moscow which has undergone a complete refurbishment.

The AEC venue contains a club, restaurant and casino and is also used to stage boxing contests and other sporting events. It is located on Arbat Street, one of the best known thoroughfares of the city.

LSC has engaged in many design, supply and installation projects in the casino world, and have also completed several other schemes within Arbat, which is why they won the contract to kit out the restaurant.

In addition to tables, the Tropicana also features a stage for live music and cabaret performances and a dancefloor area for discos, so the new lighting rig needed to have an additional degree of flexibility explains LSC's Andrey Zhukov.

With guest

Denmark - With a café, lounge, restaurant and micro brewery under one roof, La Tasca in Vejle, Denmark has become the city's most popular day and night venue for quality foods and drinks.

The exclusive interior called for a discrete speaker and 28 Cornered C6s in white were chosen to deliver the sound throughout the venue. The installer chose the version with rear mounted recessed cable terminals so that all speaker cables are hidden.

Music is distributed in zones so that the sound pressure in each area of the venue can be controlled precisely.

(Jim Evans)

UK - PRG Europe helped Liverpool celebrate its launch as European Capital of Culture for 2008, with large format projection onto the brand new Arena and Convention Centre (ACC) and the Jury's Inn hotel, in frontof the building.

Deputy technical manager Alan Igbon says: "ACC Liverpool is sponsored by the Liverpool Echo and the Convention Centre by BT, so we arranged for PRG Europe to project the logos onto the side of the buildings.One of the projectors was sited on the top of a multi-storey car park, while the other was on top of a yet-to-be-completed hotel."

On the same weekend, PRG Europe was asked by SLS Group to project a giant Liverpool '08 logo onto the front of the scaffold wrapper covering the hotel.

Project manager for PRG Europe Loz Wilcox says, "We used a Pani BP6 projector to project the Echo Arena logo, and then the larger Pani BP12 project

Germany - The 580-seat Apollo Theatre in the heart of the town of Siegen is regarded as one of North-Rhine Westphalia's most important new theatres. It has taken two years to build at a cost of around €12.8 million, after nearly 50 years of struggle. The tireless efforts of local theatre lovers have finally been rewarded with a theatre with exceptional acoustics.

The original specification had included a sound system that sadly fell far short of the standard required for musical performances and concerts. But, thanks to an anonymous €50,000 donation, the theatre team was able to commission a new audio installation better suited to the venue.

A PA system was hired in for the theatre's inaugural event, Midnight Specials with Dieter Falk and his band giving the audience an opportunity to audition the exceptional performance of the new system. Before the final decision co

Syria - The FBT Modus line array was chosen by the owners of the 1001 Nights restaurant located in Damascus. Having a seating capacity of more than 1000 people in its big outdoor gardens this restaurant is rated among the best in the Middle East. Decorated both inside and outside with real scale reproductions including the leaning tower of Pisa, the 1001 Nights features an automated stage suitable for the most demanding theatre events, as well as for musical performances calling a large audience.

The installation was executed by the local contractor SADA. Al-Zayat was the chief engineer for the project, overseeing the installation of the equipment.

All the technical aspects and system designs were carried on while the restaurant was under construction; FBT provided all the sound products for this installation.

(Jim Evans)

Italy - The organisers of Show-Way, the new, international trade fair for professional show technology and services which takes place in Bergamo later this month, have announced details of a three-day programme of Workshops and Forums.

During the three-day exhibition, from 24 to 26 February 2008, internationally renowned speakers and associations will talk on a variety of topical subjects, say the organisers.

24 February 2008
11:30 a.m.
LIGHT & SHADE IN CARAVAGGIO
The winner of three Best Photography Oscars, Vittorio Storaro, shares his reflections on an extraordinary career.
2:00 p.m.

LIGHT & CULTURAL HERITAGE
Reflections on the relationship between the use of light and Italy's artistic heritage.
Speakers (ACCADEMIA DELLA LUCE): Marina Vio and Francesca Storaro.

2:00 p.m.
ASSOMUSICA
A discussion on the problems of "live" shows

USA - After completely gutting its Conference Theatre Room, the Crystal City Hyatt at Reagan National Airport approached AV/Com Integrators to give the room an audio system that provided "a truly interactive experience for presentations and collaborative conferencing". What John Bangs, owner, AV/Com Integrators and his team developed is a completely transparent sound system that allows for uninterrupted two-way conferencing, both audio and video, that some of the nation's top governmental agencies can use to exchange information.

Three Biamp AudiaFLEX with TrueSound AEC - 48 channels of AEC across 24 AEC-2HD cards - power the system that makes this all possible. Anyone seated in the room can participate in a conference taking place, regardless of where they are sitting. The audio coverage in the room is such that everyone can hear each other clearly.

"The Crysta

UK - An elegant Anolis LED lighting installation is now in place highlighting the newly renovated tower of St Stephen's Church in Bath.

The scheme was designed and specified by Kieran Sturrock of locally based Enlightened Lighting, who also managed and installed the project for the vicar, the Reverend Jonathan Lloyd.

The old tower had previously been lit somewhat prosaically with white floodlights, so when the 18-month tower restoration scheme got underway, Lloyd took the radical step of applying to Bath & North East Somerset City Council to fund a new and contemporary lighting design.

The picturesque church was designed and built by local architect James Wilson in 1845, and the tower - always a controversial structural feature - was completed in 1847. St Stephen's is located on Lansdown Hill, one of the highest points around Bath, with a commanding view of the city and the

Russia - Blueberry Rain Sound (BBRS) and its Moscow counterpart, LiveSound, have carried out a QSC systems installation at the Children's Performing Arts Theatre of Moscow, based around a WideLine 8 line array system.

The theatre officially began in 1989, commencing with Children's World, a group who developed a unique sound for that era, thanks to complex arrangements and skilled vocal technique. With financial and administrative assistance from several foundations, the theatre was able to stage its first musical, which premiered in January 1990.

Alongside its stage productions, over the years the theatre also developed its own recording label, putting out many albums of young, up-and-coming performers -some of which enjoyed both critical acclaim and mainstream success.

Formerly housed in an outdated facility, with the assistance of the Government of Moscow, construction of

UK - London's Arcola Theatre, one of the UK's leading independent venues, has installed a hydrogen fuel cell to power its café/bar and selected main house shows. The fuel cell operates almost silently, producing nothing but electricity and clean water.

The 5kW fuel cell system takes pride of place in the foyer of the theatre accompanied by displays describing the benefits and challenges posed by this ground breaking technology. The prominent location of the fuel cell and the challenge of relying entirely upon it provide both a powerful educational tool and a source of motivation for reducing energy use.

The first show to be powered by the fuel cell, Simple8's The Living Unknown Soldier, produced by Strawberry Vale, may well be London's premier ecologically sustainable show - the environmental impact of all aspects of the production have been minimised, including

Australia - Robe moving lights and Anolis architectural LED fixtures have been installed into Cocktails & Dreams, an iconic club/pub venue in Surfer's Paradise, Queensland, Australia.

The installation - carried out by JVG Sound, Lighting & Visual - is part of a lighting upgrade being undertaken at the popular nightclub. The fixtures were all supplied to JVG by Robe's Australian distributor ULA, whose HQ is nearby on the Gold Coast.

The Cocktails & Dreams dancefloor has been completely revamped lighting wise, and now features 17 Robe ColorSpot 250E ATs, two ColorWash 250E ATs and six ColorSpot 170 ATs.

The venue was challenged for ceiling height, particularly over the raised dancefloor area explains JVG's general manager Jade Golar, so he was looking for compact and neatly sized fixtures that would not take up much space or intrude. In terms of aesthetics, he also wanted to o

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline