Australia - Yaralla Sports Club, the home ground of entertainment in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia is a venue that is highly regarded for its fantastic facilities. The Club includes bars, function rooms and poker machine areas, and adding to their reputation for innovative approaches is a forty meter long video wall which has been installed into their gaming lounge.

Club AV Pty Ltd, a well respected installation and design company for over twenty years, installed the giant video wall - a task that both consultants and others said could not be done.

"The requirement was very difficult to work with," explained Andrew Wood, Queensland operations manager for Club AV. "The Client wanted a full forty metre digital video system that would handle the requirements of a

UK - Birmingham Hippodrome has recently purchased much-needed items of stage equipment to ensure that the 'show must go on', thanks to the generosity of its members and donors who have supported the theatre in recent months.

A new state-of-the-art scissorlift, extending to a dizzying 7.9 metres, has been a welcome addition to the Hippodrome's technical crew who will use the lift onstage for tasks such as focusing lighting and building scenery whenever a new production arrives in town.

Stars of the ballet, opera and musicals will shine even more brightly with the arrival of 24 Source 4 lanterns containing revolutionary lens tube technology for the main stage, making the Hippodrome one of the first UK venues to install this latest version of a lighting industry benchmark.

Being an independent, not-for-profit charity, the money raised by Birmingham Hippodrome Friends and throug

USA - Meyer Sound has announced the release of version 1.7.0 software for the Galileo loudspeaker management system and version 1.7.0 software for the SIM 3 audio analyzer. The primary focus of the updates is to provide greater integration between the Galileo system and the SIM 3 analyzer, adding new interoperability capabilities. The releases are the first step in a strategy to make all of Meyer Sound's digital audio products highly communicative with each other and work together as a tightly integrated system.

The Galileo system update comes in the form of an update to the system's Compass control software, which then also updates the firmware of the Galileo 616 processor.

The Galileo 616 processor is able to provide data to a SIM 3 analyzer from a selection of probe points in the signal path, eliminating the need for a switcher when using the Galileo system for system drive

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB had the honour of celebrating Benedictus XVI on his first voyage as Pope back to his home country of Germany. He began his journey in the capital of Munich before heading to his birthplace of Marktl am Inn, in Germany's South- Eastern corner near the Austrian border, the pilgrimage town of Altötting and Regensburg.

In Altötting, a town of 13,000, he held a grand open air mass in the town's Kapellplatz Square with approximately 70,000 visitors. The lighting during the ceremony was done by the German production company Neumann & Muller.

The team used one W-DMX S-1 Transmitter and two W-DMX R-512 Receivers (one on each stage) and one Booster from Wireless Solution to control 12 HighEnd PC Beams and several daylight fresnels with dowsers at each stage. Lighting was programmed with a GrandMA Light console with backup. The distance was 250 mete

UK - Slingco has supplied and installed CableNet using 10 modular tensioned wire grids into the 1066 capacity Grand Hall at the hub of the newly refurbished Glasgow City Halls complex.

The £16 million project included the reopening and re-branding of the City Halls and the old Fruitmarket, two historic live music venues dating back to the 1840s at the epicentre of Glasgow's Merchant City. The City Halls have now become the permanent home of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Music Centre and will host regular concerts by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

CableNet was originally specified by the project's theatre consultants Arup Acoustics, as the safest and most effective way of providing high-level access across the entire roof void.

Arup's Ray Carter first approached Slingco back in 2001. It was interesting from a structural viewpoint explains Slingco

USA - With Acclaim Lighting's new Color Ray LED luminaire, it's easy to cast a palette of changing colors on any area. A robust color-changing effect, the Color Ray features three high-power 1-watt LEDs - red, green and blue - that can produce an extremely bright flood of colour whether used outdoors or inside a building. The fixture features a high ingress protection rating of IP 65, meaning it can withstand dust and rain for safe, reliable outdoor use.

"The Color Ray is a rugged LED color-changing fixture that works as well outdoors as inside," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Acclaim Lighting. "In fact, the '6' in its IP is the very highest rating given for protection against solid objects, which means it can't be penetrated by any type of particle, even very fine dust. The second digit '5' signifies that it can stand up to water coming at it from all di

UK - CP Sound continues on the installation trail of top gastronomies, with the design, specification and installation of a new sound system at Benares, the UK's only Michelin starred Indian restaurant.

Benares is the first independent venture by acclaimed chef Atul Kochhar. Interior designer Ou Baholyodhin has transposed the beauty and vibrancy of the Northern India city of Benares into a contemporary setting in the prime central London location of Berkley Square.

Having been open for three years, it was time to upgrade the sound system to one offering the same standards of excellence and quality as the food and ambience. CP Sound has engaged in several other high profile restaurant/bar projects including various Zinc bars around the UK, Cocoon on Regent Street, Eclipse Bars in London and the Terraces in Brighton.

Pattenden initially visited and assessed the situation. Some

UK - Bandit Lites has announced the appointment of Lester Cobrin as chief executive for all UK & European operations. In his new role, Cobrin will oversee one of the largest lighting supply companies in the UK & Europe.

Cobrin began his career in the entertainment industry in 1991 working at SamuelsonConcert Productions & Theatre Projects. While there, Cobrin acquired experience in alldepartments. Starting on the shop floor, he moved into company purchasing and sales, andlater into client management. Cobrin covered a variety of projects while acting as clientmanager, including touring shows to corporate events and everything in between.

In 1997, Cobrin joined Light & Sound Design and began to build a substantial client basewithin the concert touring, special events, corporate and theatre market sectors. Whilethere, he also had the opportunity to get hands-on experience as ligh

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UK - Dance4Life is an international initiative to inspire and engage young people in the global fight against AIDS. The aim is for over 1 million young people from 24 countries to be united within their countries and internationally via live satellite links on World AIDS Day 2012.

In the UK Dance4Life is looking for support in two areas. They are hoping to secure a PA system for the Dance4Life UK School Tour, which starts on 23 October for four weeks. The Tour will visit 30 schools with the interactive Dance4Life performance, and would be looking to loan the equipment.

They are also looking for technical support to help make the Dance4Life BIG Event on 25 November a real success. This will bring together 500 young people from across the UK in a unique event with high profile A list DJs and performers attending. The event will be linked visually to other Dance4Life events happe

UK - According to a recent survey by America's Forbes magazine, Gardaland is Italy's top amusement park and the fifth in the world's top ten.

A perfect example of its technical 'superiority' can be seen in the Sequoia Adventure attraction: a roller coaster set in a late 19th century American sawmill, which has client's adrenalin pumping, thanks to the feeling of being suspended in mid-air as they turn upside-down repeatedly, almost as if in slow motion, during the ride. Designed by an American firm that is one of the world's major high-impact attraction builders, Sequoia Adventure is the first installation in the world of this type.

Another important example is Escape from Atlantis, the largest (15,000sq.m) water attraction in Europe, which was also used as the set for an eye-catching publicity spot aired by major Italian and foreign television broadcaster

UK - RF specialist Trantec was recently appointed to provide its TS22 head-worn mics for The Rich Pickings Theatre Company's sensational adaptation of the legendary rock musical - Godspell- at the internationally acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Musical director, Erica Tugwell collaborated with Trantec's sales manager, Gary Waywell, from the early planning stages and it was clear that the TS22's would provide the perfect solution.

Tugwell says: "We accessed the venue at seven: a cast of nine, a choir of nine, a four-piece amplified band, a brilliant, but inexperienced sound man, and we were on at 7.45 each night. The Fringe puts special demands on a new touring company and yet each night the sound was clear and balanced, enabling the show to communicate powerfully."

The Trantec TS 22's are manufactured to the highest specifications and combines a minute microph

UK - Drapes specialist J&C Joel was commissioned by historical theatre consultants Theatre Search to create and supply a completely bespoke set of drapes for the newly refurbished Redditch Palace Theatre.

The theatre - designed by renowned architect Bertie Crewe and completed in 1913 - has re-opened as a major receiving house following a £4 million facelift, with many of its original features restored to their 1913 splendour.

The project was managed for J&C Joel by contracts director Mark Taylor, who worked closely with Theatre Search's David Wilmore, main contractors Sapcote and architects Samsome Hall.

A major aim of the project was to restore the building to its original form. However, there were precious few illustrations or visual references available showing how the theatre draping and interior would have initially looked. By researching other similar period buil

Germany - Bosch Security Systems' Digital Congress Network (DCN) Next Generation congress system has already gained an enviable reputation thanks to its powerful features and exceptional ease-of-use, says the company. Now Bosch introduces an advanced yet intuitive Congress Control Software to further enhance the versatility and ease-of-use of the DCN systems.

The company's new Synoptic Microphone and Voting Software provides a range of new functions including automatic seat assignment, synoptic microphone monitoring and control, synoptic voting management, easy control of the system, monitoring and adjustments of all settings, and automatic link to PowerPoint to show real time voting results in graphs etc.

The new software also departs from the traditional control panel and buttons, which are replaced with a highly intuitive user interface based on a graphical representation o

UK - Sugarloaf United Methodist Church in Duluth, Georgia recently debuted new audio, projection, and video distribution systems installed by dB Audio & Video in Gainesville, Georgia in its new Community Life Building. Sugarloaf's Minister of Worship Arts, Larry Parker, worked with Ronnie Stanford, systems advisor for dB, to create an AV system thatwould serve the multi-purpose nature of the space.

The Community Life Building is the epicentre, to its 1,600-member congregation serving as the worship space, the gymnasium for church sporting events, as well as the meeting place for fellowship meals. From an AV standpoint, the building was both a technical and creative challenge for dB.

"Sugarloaf's staff and volunteers are highly competent in media ministry and knew their functionality requirements," says Stanford. "They wanted high-fidelity audio and complete cove

UK/Europe - Bandit has once again been contracted to supply lighting services for The Moody Blues' current UK & European tour. The tour marks 14 years that Bandit Lites has serviced the lighting and visual needs of the rock legends, with the account being managed by Bandit's recently appointed chief executive, Lester Cobrin.

At lighting designer, Mick Thornton's request, Bandit Lites Inc. crew member, Shawn Beaulieu has also been brought over to the UK to work on the European leg. The band completed a short tour earlier in the year and a one-off in California just before this leg, which is the first substantial touring work they have undertaken in 2006.

Given carte blanche to produce the show design, Thornton seized the opportunity to introduce Martin Professional's Maxedia digital Media server to the visual equation. This has helped enormously with the seamless integration of

Turkey - Altincizme, one of the main rental companies in Turkey, has chosen the L Acoustics 115XT HiQ coaxial speaker to upgrade its monitor system inventory. The investment was made with the help of Focus Reklam Produksiyon, L-Acoustics' distributor in Turkey. Cenk Yildiz, from Focus says: "The decision to go for 115XT HiQ was dictated by Altincizme's need for a high performance monitor. Everyone was surprised by the high degree of flexibility of this loudspeaker as it works also very well in FOH applications."

L-Acoustics 115XT HiQ, a 2-way bi-amplified coaxial loudspeaker, is the first system to combine the advantages of coaxial technology with high "Q" (50° axy-symmetrical) waveguide pattern control. Its ultra compact, low profile format allows for optimum sightlines and with the flexibility of dual angle configurations, the 115XT HiQ can be used as a

Belgium - Nowadays it is tough for small hire companies to survive. This was one of the reasons why a few Belgium hire companies decided to consolidate their know how and stock, to continue as the ASL-Group. Jointly the ASL-Group now operates 100 SP-10 line-array systems.

The new ASL-Group comprises the Belgium hire companies ASL Audio, Jacobs Elektro - Coruna, The System and Klinkers Electro. Peter Ellegeest (MD of ASL): "We have worked with Sound Projects products ever since the beginning. Because of the growing customer demand for line-arrays and moreover, since in certain circumstances an array simply is the best or easiest solution, we were in search of an array. A system that should match our present SP3 concert-systems.

"The first test we did with SP-10 was an outdoor festival where we used 24 boxes. Already at the first notes during the sound check the distin

USA - Meyer Sound has announced the launch of Constellation electroacoustic architecture, a complete package of equipment and services, provided exclusively by Meyer Sound and centered around the company's VRAS technology, that gives venues the flexibility to alter their acoustics instantly and accommodate a variety of events and source material while remaining virtually invisible to the eye.

Traditionally, venues have been designed to have acoustics optimised for specific uses: theatres are designed for plays, concert halls for music, lecture halls for speech, cinemas for film surround sound. To use one of these venues for an application with different acoustical needs meant either putting architectural solutions in place or compromising a performance with inappropriate acoustics. But variable architectural solutions can be very expensive and have a limited range of effectivene

UK - Avenue Q has taken the West End by storm with its cheeky mix of clever puppetry, social satire, adult comedy and catchy songs. Sound designer Mark Menard, from New York-based Acme Sound Partners, oversaw the transfer of the show from Broadway and, as always, chose to use DPA miniature microphones on his production.

"At Acme we have used DPA since the company first appeared, and the DPA 4061 miniature omni-directional microphones appear on all of our shows, simply because they are the best on the market," says Menard.

All 10 Avenue Q cast members - who appear operating a variety of puppets or simply as actors - are fitted with DPA 4061s. The two main actors are double-mic'ed because aside from operating the Princeton and Kate lead puppets, they also operate other characters from time to time. "There's no time to change - they literally have a few seconds to

USA - Kish Rigging, main rigging contractor to the MTV Video Music Awards, used a CyberHoist / InMotion 3D motion control system to animate a spectacular set for the event in New York's Radio City Music Hall on August 31.

MTV's flagship show has been treated to many ground-breaking visual designs in the past and this year's set was no exception.

Director Hamish Hamilton and designers Mark Fisher and Anne Brahic along with lighting designer Allen Branton based the design on a flown array of 16 LED video screens of various sizes, each mounted in a classical ornate gilt picture frame and flown from CyberHoist CH1000 one tonne motors and CH500 half-ton motors. The screens, nine of which were constantly in motion throughout the show, were used to show a combination of Imag footage, specially created graphics, captions and visual effects.

Kish Rigging's project manager JR Cassidy

USA - Boston is known for its passionate sports fans, and being heard over the roar of the enthusiastic crowds at Boston College's Alumni Stadium is no mean feat. The 44,500- seat stadium recently completed a major renovation project that included a powerful new distributed audio system to get the announcements everywhere they need to be, while maintaining sufficient directionality to keep the sound from spilling out into thesurrounding neighbourhoods.

The sound system utilises a combination of Community WET and R-Series weather-resistant loudspeakers throughout the park, including 60 WET 2W8 2-way systems and 28 WET 920H 3-way cabinets, as well as more than 100 R.25 and R.5 horn-loaded two-way systems covering the general seating areas.

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