Following the launch of its new sales department earlier in the year, Birmingham's SSE Hire has recently completed a major overhaul of the audio system at Sheffield University. The brief given by the University's technical manager Pete Brenchley was to provide separate systems for the three venues at the University. The Octagon, the largest of the three venues, was to have a new main PA system capable of handling touring acts. The Foundry, which runs seven nights a week with a variety of events and music styles needed new main PA, foldback and control equipment and Fusion, the Union bar, was to benefit from an installation capable of running in the background all day and coming forward to power the DJs at night. On top of this, the systems needed to be completely compatible with each other

VDC has supplied Taunton-based rental company APR Audio with custom-built cable looms for its new Electro-Voice X-Line PA system, enabling the remote operation of its Electro-Voice P3000RL DSP amplifiers. This is the first application of its type in the UK, and the first in the world to be configured for a stadium-sized X-Line system.

Andy Reed of APR Audio has been a customer of VDC since he started out in the audio rental business, so it is no surprise that every length of cable for his new X-Line rig has been sourced from the London company. A variety of Van Damme products, including Black Series, Blue Series, Socapex-based speaker multicores and breakouts, and associated panel work, is in place, but the innovation lies in the custom link looms that combine armoured Cat 5 data cable with audio lines. These looms connect stage systems to the front-of-house control, and enable the amp

Istanbul-based Focus has been appointed the new distributor for L-Acoustics in Turkey. Formed in 1997, the company is an exclusive distributor for more than 20 product lines in Turkey, including sound, lighting and staging products. Since its establishment, the company has forged strong partnerships with some of the leading installation companies within the market and benefits from a high level of recognition in Turkey as a whole. Cenk Yildiz, sales manager of Focus, comments: "We have 20 years experience in this field, and Focus has always been respected for carrying the best products and offering the highest levels of service, so it’s appropriate we should now have L-Acoustics in our portfolio."

(Ruth Rossington)

Marquee Audio has masterminded a multifunctional/multimedia design and installation in the 1000-seat auditorium of a greenfield development in Tonbridge, Kent. The company was awarded the contract by Harvester Conferences, a subsidiary of Harvester Trust, to equip their new development at The River Centre.

This will enable Harvester - a community-motivated, Christian charitable organization - to operate as a conference and community facility, as well as a church centre. Harvester had already made the decision not to extend to the 9m high ceiling which would have enabled them to have presented unamplified speech projection (instead opting for a 6m floor-to-ceiling pitch). They also opted for an amplified state-of-the-art PA system with full conference facility audio-visual, and put the work out to tender.

With seven-day utilization in prospect, Marquee recommended a Nexo system as bei

When the headquarters of the Mayor of London's Greater London Authority on the south bank of the Thames opened to the public in September this year, they set a mandate that they wanted to be accessible to the public via television, radio and the internet.

One of the key technical requirements was to create a backbone - with various plug-in points throughout the building - that would allow information in the form of data and text, video and audio to flow from its source to any desk or display screen, the GLA website or for national broadcast. IVC, the company awarded the £2.1 million contract, were also asked to provide a high-grade portable presentation unit, that would be able to operate in both the first floor assembly chamber and way up on the ninth floor.

IVC devised a solution based around an 80" dnp Black Bead screen and Christie Roadster X4 DLP projector, also designing

Following Vertigo Rigging’s mammoth undertaking at this time last year at the Odeon Leicester Square, for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the company returned to the same location for the launch of the latest Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Paddy Burnside was again Vertigo’s project manager for the event. This year the company rigged two ‘goalpost’ screen supports, constructed from James Thomas SuperTruss, in front of the Odeon’s two side billboards, onto which were flown LED screens supplied by Light Media Displays. The trussing supports were braced back to the building using chemical fixings, and the base of each leg was encased in a three-quarter tonne concrete block, clad in plywood - these latter, cast at Vertigo’s workshop in Bermondsey, to comply with Westminster Council requ

Audio Projects have supplied and installed a Martin Audio sound reinforcement system to the Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone, having won a competitive tender. Sound engineers had been unhappy for a while about the sound in the theatre, particularly the dead spots. The theatre’s production and operations manager, Eric Lund, realized that an upgrade was essential, so with Audio Projects’ Stephen Hall set about investigating several alternatives before being invited to a demo of the EM series at Martin Audio’s High Wycombe HQ.

"It was a question of finding a product that would provide the right coverage, because there are 300 seats in the stalls and a further 56 in the balcony," said Stephen. "I knew the Martin range would provide the coverage and versatility for the wide band of shows the theatre receives - and because several of their management live locall

Not only a new landmark, but a watermark on the south-western English coast, the National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC) in Falmouth will open its doors to the public for the first time in December 2002.

Designed by award-winning architects Long & Kentish, the magnificent harbourside blends with and enhances its surroundings. The exhibitions within were designed by Land Design Studio with Kevin Theobald of London-based Maurice Brill Lighting Design onboard as lighting designer. Although an unconventional-looking building, the museum is fitted for the most part with conventional exhibition lighting equipment, but for two of the galleries, the Dark Gallery and the Daylit Gallery, more sophisticated lighting systems were needed.

The Dark Gallery required a control system capable of co-ordinating the lighting with an AV system, so Theobald specified an ETC Express 250 Lighting Playback

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Shure Inc has announced the shipment of its latest personal monitoring system, the affordable PSM 200. As the least expensive in-ear monitor system offering both Shure’s renowned quality and innovative new features, the PSM 200 makes the benefits of in-ear monitoring accessible to a wide array of cost-conscious musicians, houses of worship, and installations requiring assistive listening devices, say Shure. Aside from cost, the PSM 200 components boast new features including the built-in ability to upgrade the receiver from wired to wireless, a transmitter that is also a mixer, and a high fidelity earphone.

For those users that can’t initially afford wireless, the P2R Hybrid Receiver protects their investment by allowing them to upgrade at a later date. The hybrid receiver starts as a wired bodypack and with the addition of the TransMixer component, operates fully as a wire

The Winterthur Theatre in Switzerland, which hosts around 250 theatrical events every year, has recently undergone a lighting upgrade, overseen by lighting director Wilfried Potthoff, who had the theatre outfitted with 50 Clay Paky CP Color 150-E colour changers. Products were supplied by Claudio Merlo’s ECM, distributor of Clay Paky products in Switzerland.

The majority of the products was installed overhead in the large hall adjacent to the main auditorium. The theatre frequently hosts conventions, parties, meetings or other gatherings in this area, often accompanied by background music. The CP Color colour-changers can provide synchronized colour-washes and cross-fades to create a variety of moods and effects to augment these occasions.

More CP Colors were placed behind a white canvas inside the theatre to create very effective colour scenes, boldly standing out among the th

London-based Premier League football club Charlton Athletic has met its growing post-match media requirements by constructing a press interview/communication theatre. ML Executives, who have been servicing the club’s audio needs for a number of years, were asked to outfit the new suite, designing an eight-zone system. The firm selected QSC’s multi-channel CX168 power amplifier to provide the solution.

To achieve DSP control, ML Executives used the Shure P4800 Precise Digital Control software - interfaced via a PC within the unit - with a DRS10 scene controller for digital remote switching. Via the newly-provided Shure ceiling and desktop mics, combined with RCF/Mackie PL80A ceiling speakers, managers can hold their post-match briefings, while ISDN lines allow the press to file their reports and photographs digitally. A link with the Charlton Athletic website allows the post

Tourtech, the Northampton-based rental company, has joined the L-Acoustics V-Dosc network, alongside the existing UK Partners of Autograph Sound Recording, Britannia Row Productions, Delta Sound, EFX Audio and Wigwam Hire.

Tourtech’s current inventory consists of 40 ARCS cabinets, 20 SB218 and four SB115 subwoofers, 24 115FM floor monitors, four MTD108a and four MTD115a speakers. Additionally, they have just taken delivery of an initial 16-cabinet turnkey V-Dosc system, including six dV-Doscs. The new V-Doc system was pressed into service just a few days after delivery for the current Coldplay European Arena tour.

Tourtech’s managing director, Dick Rabel, comments: "Clearly, this was a natural development for TourTech having used L-Acoustics ARCS to such tremendous effect in the past. I continue to be a working sound engineer and consequently have had extensive exper

Building on their success as video supplier for Madonna’s ‘Up For Grabs’ this summer, XL Video UK is back in the West End working for cinematographer and projection designer Jon Driscoll, and production company Tiger Aspect on the new musical Our House, featuring the music of Madness.

Driscoll and film editor Richard Overall have again teamed up with video scientist Richard Turner to produce the visuals, working in close collaboration with lighting designer Mark Henderson and Tiger Aspect’s production manager Steve Rebbeck. The production’s principal projection sequence takes place during the seminal Madness hit Driving In My Car. The Morris Minor car comes onstage, and the minimal set turns into a giant three-sided screen surface, in old-fashioned Cinema 180 film projection style. The footage propels car and cast on a journey which starts on the st

Michael J. McGinn has joined Shure Incorporated as the company's executive vice-president of global marketing and sales. With over 25 years of international experience in both consumer and business-to-business marketing and sales at Ecolab and Eastman Kodak, McGinn has held a number of executive-level positions around the world. As part of his new responsibilities at Shure, McGinn will lend direction to product marketing, marketing communications, artist relations, market development, and sales around the world. He will additionally oversee customer service, credit, product distribution, and service operations, all on a global level as well.

McGinn's goals in coming months include continuing to build sustainable and profitable growth for Shure and giving unified structure to sales and marketing efforts around the world. "This position is exactly what I was looking for," he pr

In celebration of her Golden Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth visited Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on 10 October, where she addressed a crowd of 17,000 at Copps Coliseum. Because quality, trouble-free audio was essential, Toronto's PA Plus Production used their JBL Vertec system flown in four arrays of four VT4889 cabinets.

With PA Plus senior engineer John Lacina at the FOH controls, pre-show entertainment included several live bands, live vocal-to-track artists and various other acts. The welcome celebration featured a military ceremony, involving pipe and drum corps and marching bands. Even though musical acts performed, the main focus of the sound system was to provide intelligible speech reproduction, according to Mark Radu, systems engineer for PA Plus. The Golden Jubilee event proved a challenge in system design: inventive thinking was required to achieve articulate speech reproduction fo

ACDC Lighting Systems of Barrowford, Lancashire has been awarded the cold cathode lighting contract for The Gate in Newcastle. The company will manufacture over 700m of cold cathode lighting for the new retail complex located in the heart of the city. The design incorporates ACDC’s Covelite, Contour Interior, as well as their new ‘Colorise DMX’ colour changing cold cathode lighting.

Working closely with lighting designers BDP to develop the ideal scheme, ACDC were chosen for their DMX and 1-10 volt dimming systems - a first in the cold cathode lighting industry. The company’s cold cathode was chosen for its long life and low maintenance characteristics, as the installation is in very high, difficult to reach areas. The project uses high frequency control gears resulting in higher efficiency when compared to traditional control systems and their Covelite ‘P

Leading theatre sound specialist, Autograph Sound Recording, has announced the purchase of its first ever digital audio console - a new D5 Live from DiGiCo.

Autograph Sound Recording has taken digital technology very seriously for many years, working closely with many audio manufacturers, especially mixing console developers. Because of the prestigious and highly specialized theatre productions the company is renowned for, the Autograph team had opted to wait for the right digital console to be developed before committing to embracing digital mixing.

Autograph Sound Recording’s managing director Terry Jardine commented: "It was only at the PLASA show in September that we were presented with the innovative DiGiCo D5 Live console. It now makes us feel confident to enter the multi-channel digital desk market, as it is undoubtedly the direction modern theatre productions are

The Music Managers Forum (MMF) has appointed John Glover as its new chairman. He replaces outgoing chairman Keith Harris and will be assisted during his tenure by Phil Nelson, who has been re-appointed vice-chairman. The announcement comes after a successful AGM, which was held in early November at the offices of Willott Kingston Smith in London's Regent Street.

As a well-known and respected music industry manager, John Glover brings a wealth of experience to the role of MMF chairman - a position he last held four years ago. A manager for over 30 years, Glover has been involved in the careers of Free, Mott The Hoople, Jim Capaldi, Joe Brown, Paul Kossoff and, more recently, Victoria Beckham. His company, Blueprint Management currently represents Tony Hadley, Go West, Beverley Craven, Alison Limerick and Outbreak. He is also a board member of the British Music Centre and sits on the boa

West Sussex-based pro audio distributor beyerdynamic was recently approached by Simian - a psychedelic and experimental band signed to Source records - to supply M88 and Opus microphones as well as dB Technologies in-ear monitoring for the band’s second UK tour.

Simian have produced a second album (‘We are your friends’), which was released on 22 October. Coinciding with this release, the band is heading off on their first European tour as support artists to Supergrass.

The band members take their music very seriously, and turned to beyerdynamic when looking for a good live sound. Sound engineer Jon Underhay specified a combination of microphones - the Opus 39, and the M88 for lead vocals plus the Opus 87 clip microphones for the drum kit and the classic revolving-horn Leslie cabinets. The Opus 39 is a dynamic microphone boasting a stylish, yet rugged design which,

One of the best-known names in European sound rentals, Audiolease, has been relaunched following the purchase of Electrotec Productions Ltd from its owners Aura Systems Inc by Steve Sunderland. "I’d been keen for a long time to get back into sound rental," commented Sunderland, "and this seemed a logical route to go down." Operations manager is Dave Chamberlain, while Steve’s brother Tim, a partner in the original AudioLease, is assisting with the relaunch in a consultancy role.

The company’s first work came immediately after the deal with a full European tour headlined by Motorhead, concurrent with a string of UK dates with comedy rock duo Tenacious D. Audiolease’s rental equipment is centred on Midas and Yamaha control systems, the JBL-based Audiolease A2 PA system and its well renowned JBL powered monitor systems. The company is also curre

Our House, the new Madness musical, opened on 28 October at the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End to rave reviews. With a fictional Sliding Doors-style storyline, and featuring songs by 80s chart-toppers Madness, the musical comedy is set in London's diverse and vibrant Camden Town.

Selected to provide the stage automation for the new production, AVW Controls designed and manufactured the control systems, carried out the automation fit-up, technical rehearsals and provided training for the theatre's technicians. AVW's award-winning Impressario automation system controls a total of 22 moving pieces, including six rotating doors, flying and tracking house portals, a motorized bridge, a travelator and a sliding door at the rear of the stage. Stephen Rebbeck, Our House production manager, said: "Impressario is central to the show and, as there are so many moving elements,

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