UK - Take That have long been Sennheiser users and the recent Circus tour was no different. The four members of the band all used SKM 5200 mics with MD 5235 heads while they and their backing band were all fitted out with ew 300 G2 IEMs. In addition, ew 500 series radio guitar systems were used for all the member of the backing band with moving instruments.
"On the two previous Take That Tours we've used the SKM 5200 with Neumann KK 104 cardioid heads," explains front of house engineer Gary Bradshaw. "We've had great results with that set up. But this tour posed some different problems, as we wouldn't have a roof everywhere we played, so weatherproofing everything was a major consideration. With this in mind we decided to try the 5235 heads. The results have
Italy - The opening whistle has been blown at Viareggio Beach Stadium, inaugurated at the beginning of June: a rich event calendar with musical and sporting events has been scheduled for the summer season and will be covered by several TV networks.
Apart from the champions who will compete in the most popular beach sports, the spotlights will be focused on Proel equipment, chosen by Happy Sound Service to amplify the running commentary, to reinforce the sound of the numerous scheduled shows and to light up the field during the night tournaments.
The sound reinforcement set up for the Beach Stadium activities includes, four Proel NEOS218SP subs, four Proel NEOS152P speakers, racks of four Proel HPD3400PFC power amplifiers and AS025 processor.
When the Stadium becomes the stage for bigger events, its sound reinforcement turns to Axiom with six Proel AX3210P speakers, eight Pro
Lebanon - A Midas PRO6 live audio system has been installed into the Casino du Liban, Lebanon, where it is being used at front of house in the 1,200-capacity venue for a wide range of live music performances, from rock and pop through to jazz, classical, Arabic, dance shows and musicals. The PRO6, the first to be sold in the country, was supplied by Midas' Lebanese distributor, Eltek.
"We consider the Casino du Liban as an extremely important first customer for the Midas PRO6," says Dr Fouad Bechwati, senior acoustics consultant, Eltek. "The console will gain excellent exposure being used on international shows by one of the most competent sound engineers in the country, Tony Khoury. We are very pleased that our first ever sale of the PRO6 has been to a very high profile client, and are happy to confirm that the Casino du Liban intends to purchase further PRO6s to
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Strictly FX, Pushing Boundaries
Strictly FX was founded in 1996 by industry veterans Mark Grega and Ted Maccabee. Our expertise and knowledge of the world’s leading pyrotechnic, laser, and flame manufacturers allows us to curate astonishing live events. With over 500+ shows performed a year, there’s good chance you’ve seen some of our work!
UK - Some of crickets biggest names are tucking into food supplied by Eat To The Beat (ETTB) throughout the npower Ashes Series this summer. The likes of Sir Ian Botham, David Gower and Shane Warne are enjoying meals provided by the tour and location caterer who are supplying the Sky Sports cricket production team throughout the series.
A five strong ETTB team were on-site both in Cardiff and Lords, setting up the day prior to the first innings and remaining in situ until the final wicket falls. Tony Laurenson, Managing Director, ETTB, said "We are once again proud to be involved with this great event. We have fed over 140 people on some days, including some familiar faces that have been part of the Sky Sports teams for many years."
The ETTB team and the company's fleet of mobile kitchen trucks are now on the road as the busy Ashes season continues.
USA/UK - TMB has confirmed its appointment as worldwide exclusive distributor for the amBIENT XC control system from amBX of Redhill, UK. Launched at InfoComm 09, the amBIENT XC uses amBX proprietary patented technology to provide a full 'sensory surround' entertainment experience. It boasts "completely new concepts in the control of lighting and effects", allowing "the creation of unique immersive experiences in professional productions and architectural installations of all kinds".
The amBIENT XC can be pre-programmed or will respond in real-time to visual and/or aural stimuli, such as video or audio signals. Sophisticated control of interpretation and output parameters offers dynamic control of mood and atmosphere in spaces of all kinds. The amBIENT XC control system also provides a low-cost yet impressive upgrade solution for venues or productions
UK - A new, bespoke VVIP seating balcony installed at the Brit Oval in time for this summer's Ashes series was one of the season's best performances for Arena Seating at British cricket grounds this summer, as the players prepared to overcome their own challenges on the fields of play.
Arena also installed temporary grandstand seating at the other grounds visited by the touring Australian national team, namely 4,638 seats at Old Trafford, 3,645 at Edinburgh, 10,766 at the Rosebowl, 8,427 at Durham, 336 seats at Lords, 793 seats at Edgbaston, and a further 218 seats at The Brit Oval.
The Brit Oval's balcony, with its specially upholstered luxury seating, was designed to provide additional comfort in a spectacular environment for the club's VVIP guests. Arena Seating designed the facility in brushed aluminium and glass, using 70 seats based on Arena's Congress seat with weatherp
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The Many Looks of Zeo
Delivering ultimate brightness and unique looks, Zeo’s distinct face design is defined by a central LED monolith and four reflectors, backed by four RGBW engines. As a blinder or strobe, Zeo promises powerful impact with 30,000+ lumens. With its sheer brilliance and playful effects, Zeo is ready to amplify the energy on any stage.
Germany - Once again, this year's Jazz an der Donau (Jazz on the Danube) festival offered a classy lineup of acts, including Santana and Lee Ritenour, as well as German jazz greats Till Brönner und Klaus Doldinger's Passport. The performers drew some 10,000 music lovers to Straubing in Lower Bavaria between 16 and 19 July. A team led by Ingo Haasch was responsible for the sound at the festival, and they relied once again on equipment from Electro-Voice.
The centrepiece of the production comprised a combination of XLC and XLE line-array systems from Electro-Voice, driven by TG7 power amplifiers equipped with RCM-26 modules. Xi-2123A/106F loudspeakers accompanied by Xsubs. Xi-1122 loudspeakers driven by CP3000S amplifiers saw action as side- and front-fills.
"The sound quality was singled out for praise by numerous visitors as well as many of the musicians,&q
UK - Following the success of its new sales brochure at Showlight in May, French lighting manufacturer, Robert Juliat, will be distributing it more widely at PLASA 09 in London. With 70 pages of information, illustrations and technical specifications it "give you everything you need to know" about the full range of Robert Juliat products.
Celebrating its 90th Anniversary this year, Robert Juliat is a three-generation family business which has specialised in the manufacture of lighting equipment since 1919.
With sections on profile lanterns, single lens luminaires, dimmers and a range of specialist products - in addition to its followspots - the new brochure gives insights into why Robert Juliat products are so popular and is the most comprehensive brochure to date.
The Netherlands/UK - ASL, a supplier of advanced digital and analogue intercom systems, has announced the addition of four new tabletop-format speaker stations to its expanding Digital Intercom line.
The DS 830 Speaker Station, an eight-channel unit mounted in a smartly styled 3U cabinet, will debut at ASL Digital's stand at IBC and at ASL's UK distributor Polar Audio's stand F4 at PLASA09. Three more companion tabletop units - offering 16, 24 and 32 channel capacities - will also be available in the near future/in early 2010.
"Many theatres and concert halls have expressed a strong preference for the groundbreaking technologies in our new digital system," notes Susan McLohon, ASL Intercom's director of sales and marketing. "They are pleased that they can specify either tabletop enclosures or 1U rackmount units, or even select optional 19" rack mounting of
UK - The 50th Robe DigitalSpot DT Series fixture has been sold by Robe UK, indicating that lighting rental companies in particular are embracing the potential of these digital lighting fixtures - even amidst economically challenging times.
The 50 mark was passed when Graeme Sewell of Vortex Lighting from County Durham in the north east of England purchased two DigitalSpot 3000 DTs.
It was his first investment in the Robe brand. His primary motivation for the sale is that in addition to servicing its own shows, Vortex undertakes a lot of dry hires to other north-east based companies who are busy with various corporate events - generally a mix of presentations, product launches and exhibitions of all types. "DigitalSpot is a special product and I think it will be very popular in this market, especially after people see its capabilities first hand."
Switzerland - Technical services company, DS DreamSound, took delivery of a DiGiCo SD8 in May 2009. As well as the planning and production of small to medium sized events for up to 2,500 people, the company also operates a PA rental service, produces CDs, CDRs and DVDs and has its own recording studio which is amongst the most up-to-date recording studios in Switzerland.
The team plans to increase its live sound activities with the help of SD8, taking advantage of the fact that Switzerland holds claim to having the most open-air events in the world.
Markus Zehnder, DreamSound business manager, is very happy with the new acquisition. "We have had a Soundtracs DPC2 in our studio for almost 10 years," he says. "The application software is consistent to a greater or lesser extent and that's half the battle. Our old MADI 19" I/O racks are still compatible with t
UK - Maltbury's new Backdrape is a versatile curtain and support system that features adjustable height aluminium uprights on steel baseplates, extendable aluminium cross-bars which simply hook onto the uprights, and black serge drapes which thread smoothly onto the cross-bars and join together with Velcro.
Packages are all tailored to precise customer requirements. The result is a kit that is as flexible as Maltbury's staging systems. With backdrape you can construct a line of curtains to the height of your choosing which will follow the rear of your Maltbury stage - or do something quite different. As always, those decisions are left up to you, says the company.
UK - The annual Wakestock festival turned 10 this year, with Kling & Freitag playing a key role at the festival. Three stages hosted an eclectic line-up - the Open Air stage, XFM Misadventures stage and sponsors Relentless Live stage. Headliners included Moby, N*E*R*D, Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris, Mr Scruff, Chase and Status and Zane Lowe.
For the last nine years VME have been responsible for all technical requirements for the festival that took place in Abersoch, Wales. "To deliver everything from fuel for the generators, to speakers, lighting, LED screens and trussing is a good challenge every year," states Dion Davie, director of VME. The festival has grown from small beginnings to a respectful 30.000 visitor site.
"We use only Kling & Freitag speakers for all stages. They are reliable and the performance is unrivalled," André Davie, brother and
UK - Following last year's innovative stage branding for Lovebox London Weekender, Sunbaba once again delivered for the 2009 event.
The vibrant London festival was held in Victoria Park on the 18 and 19 July and was headlined by founders Groove Armada alongside Doves, Florence and the Machine and Duran Duran, whose set featured a special guest appearance from Mark Ronson.
Sunbaba produced 125 lightbox panels made from backlit PVC for the Relentless Dance Area. The company worked alongside Lovebox set designers and Spacial, the set builders, to create the panels which spanned from the stage to five surrounding tower blocks. This illuminated the area and created a 'rave environment' at dusk.
To keep costs low and waste to a minimum Sunbaba produced each of the 125 panels separately, instead of covering the whole of each structure. Each of the panels was coded so that th
UK - PLASA 2009 marks Allen & Heath's 40th year designing and manufacturing innovative pro audio products for the live, recording and DJ spheres. The British mixer manufacturer will commemorate the milestone with an exclusive party in a top London landmark, and display a cross section of its current digital, analogue and DJ mixers on the stand. These include the flagship iLive digital systems ZED analogue range, and Xone DJ series.
The iLive digital family will be central to the display. Following the recent launch of RAB2, iLive's latest remote audio card, it is now possible to 'mix 'n match' the flagship modular iLive hardware with the iLive-T fixed I/O MixRacks and Control Surfaces, increasing hire inventory flexibility and system integration.
RAB2 enables iLive digital mixing systems to work with a variety of common audio interface and networking standards. The new module
Denmark - Martin Professional's new FlexDOT S1, LED video displays are fully customisable and DMX512 controllable. These bright and lightweight strings of LED pixels allow for the creation of customised video solutions with maximum artistic flexibility and a minimum of effort, says the company.
The FlexDOT concept is simple - individually controlled, intelligent, full colour pixels mounted on a flexible cable that allows designers/architects to create unique and customized LED video displays. Each pixel (dot) consists of a bright RGB LED driven by its own processor and individually addressable for independent control of colour, special effects, and animation. Pixels can be arranged as needed and later mapped to the image using pixel mapping software. FlexDOT can be controlled from any DMX512 source such as Martin's Maxedia media server.
South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa, via its various companies, supplied design services and full technical production and crew for two recent high profile Nelson Mandela events in Johannesburg.
A 91st Birthday celebration party was staged in Mary Fitzgerald Square, with an eclectic line up of performers, attended by 16,000 people.
The previous week, Gearhouse SA supplied staging, lighting, sound and AV for the Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture in Johannesburg City Hall. Professor Muhammed Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank addressed this annual landmark.
A strong party atmosphere pervaded Mary Fitzgerald Square, where the Gearhouse team was co-ordinated by project manager Bonni Meyer, working closely with show producers Out of The Box for the South African Music Promoters Association (SAMPA).
UK - For the second summer in a row, the Mayhem Tour is featuring the ribbon-loaded Versarray 212 line-array sound system from Peavey Electronics. As the exclusive sound system of the Jägermeister Mobile Stage - a custom-built, travelling foldout stage housed in a 44ft trailer - the Peavey Versarray 212 will provide sound reinforcement for metal heavyweights Trivium, All That Remains, God Forbid and more, as the festival criss-crosses the nation from July through August.
"The Peavey Versarray 212 is a big leap forward for sound reinforcement technology," said Dave Summers, road and production manager for the Jägermeister Mobile Stage. "With this system, Peavey developed a line array that positions 16 loudspeaker components in a compact enclosure while delivering the highest levels of performance. It's the ideal system for modern touring situations, where
Canada - Cast Software has announced the third and final instalment in the latest wysiwyg trilogy. wysiwyg R24. What users will see in Shaded View visualization is exactly what they can get on the set, in the venue or on the exterior of a building, says the company.
R24 delivers the actual results as visualized for the project - as opposed to a mock-up image not based on industry technology. With wysiwyg's proprietary library of over 20,000 lights, gobos and trusses, there is no "cheating" needed so Shaded View and Renderings are replicable on stage, in the venue, on the set or wherever.
R24 is built on the significant advances made in R22 + R23. Its new visualization raises the standard for the industry. In addition to the new features and visualization, its developmental accomplishments have not sacrificed wysiwyg's robustness or performance. Indeed, a lot of work
USA - Audio-Technica has recognised Westchester, Pennsylvania-based Lienau AV Associates as its Rep of the Year for the 2009 fiscal year. Marc Lee Shannon, Audio-Technica vice president, sales, and Glenn Roop, Audio-Technica director, professional product sales, presented the award to Lienau Principals Eric Schwartz, Tom Macri and Chris Hutnick.
Lienau AV sells Audio-Technica's complete line of professional audio products to sound contractors and retailers in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Southern New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
Audio-Technica held the awards ceremony during this year's InfoComm expo in Orlando, to honour its dedicated force of manufacturer's representatives. The A-T Rep of the Year recipient was congratulated for outstanding sales performance and bestowed with Audio-Technica's Samurai doll award. Lienau AV Associates was acknowled
Norway - The Norwegian parliament in Oslo is using a large number of BSS Audio Soundweb devices for different applications, covering meeting rooms, hearing rooms and the main parliament assembly auditorium.
The plenary chamber recently saw a major upgrade to a Soundweb London system, relieving the older Soundweb Original system from its duties, which it has been performing since 2002.
The new system, installed during the Easter recess by Norwegian BSS Audio distributor, LydRommet AS, includes four BLU-320 break-in / out devices in an 8 x 8 configuration, and eight BLU-160 devices, all configured with four analogue inputs, four digital outputs and eight analogue outputs. Two BLU-10 touch screen remotes control the system locally, and the package includes a BLU-80 device located in the offices of the technical department for surveillance and monitoring of the entire system.