UK - Bob Geldof recently completed his second UK tour of 2002, with a three-week stint playing theatre and sports hall venues around the country with a new Opus PA system, using XTA processing, from the West Country's Fearless Audio. Fans were entertained with a mixture of hits from Bob's Boomtown Rats days, along with tracks from his new album and a 'special request' section where the audience were invited to ask for their old favourites to get another airing. The band line-up included Pete Briquette (the original Boomtown Rats bass player) on bass, Nile Power on drums, Alan Dunn on keys and accordion, Johnny Turnbull from the Blockheads on guitar and Vince Lovepump on violin.
Sean Busby-Little was once again FOH engineer with Duncan Wild on monitors, and the Fearless crew comprised Martin Shaw as FOH babysitter and James Clarke who was system technician and monitor babysitter.
UK - Lighting designer Durham Marenghi has been invited to undertake the lighting design of We Will Rock You, the hit West End musical at the Dominion Theatre produced by Queen and written by Ben Elton. Marenghi will be building on the original design by renowned LD Willie Williams and the lighting will be updated during early 2003. He is also currently working with Mark Fisher on a new design for We Will Rock You in Australia, and subsequent productions worldwide.
Meanwhile, Marenghi has also been employed by the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai as live show director for a multimedia event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the hotel. Working with lighting, lasers, waterscreens, live performance, fireworks, video and large format projection the show aspires to "a scale and magnitude not seen in India before" and takes place on 17 January.
USA - Apogee Sound International, manufacturer of state-of-the-art sound reinforcement products for the professional audio industry, announced today the completion of an Apogee ALA Series loudspeaker system in the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The Arena seats 19,600 when fully utilized for Miami HEAT NBA basketball, and can be configured in five separate ways for concerts and other events. In addition to the Miami HEAT, the arena has also hosted boxing, religious, corporate, and Monster Trucks events. The arena's sound system is also offered to traveling music acts as an alternative to touring systems.
The AmericanAirlines Arena's new Apogee line array loudspeaker system features 24 Apogee ALA-9s in six clusters of four, plus six Apogee AE-12 subwoofers. The processor-based Apogee ALA-9 a tri-amped, electronically-coupled system with two 15" cone type drivers, t
Canary Islands - Gravesend Sound & Light have carried out a large-scale nightclub installation on the holiday island of Lanzarote, majoring on Martin Audio components. Having already carried out work for British ex-pat Martin Lyons at nearby Cesar's, the company's Simon Middleton was delighted to return - this time to fit out the 1,300-capacity Dreams in central Puerto del Carmen.
Gravesend Sound & Light totally relpaced the sound system using multiples of Martin Audio Blackline F15s around the dancefloor, underpinned with S218 subs. Said Middleton: "We had originally planned to fly the F15s in pairs, but the roof wasn't structurally substantial enough, so instead we created two ground stacks either side of the stage, inverting the F15s on the S218s to produce a horn-coupled solution. It provided a much crisper, punchier sound with a vibrant top end."
Turkey - Turkish pop superstar Tarkan wowed Istanbul in October with two sold-out arena concerts. In all, around 30,000 fans saw the show. At the age of 30, Tarkan is a superstar in Turkey, and further proof of this was provided by these two huge arena shows in Istanbul. The equipment chosen for these mega concerts in the Abdi Ipekci sports hall came in large measure from Telex/EVI Audio. As with the current Rolling Stones world tour, the centrepiece of the sound reinforcement system was provided by an Electro-Voice X-Line PA. No wonder the music critics of several Istanbul newspapers made a point of mentioning the 'excellent sound' in their reviews.
The PA set-up for Tarkan's October 2002 shows in the Abdi Ipekci sports hall included 40 Electro-Voice P3000 power amps, 16 Electro-Voice X Line XVLS boxes, 8 X Line XVLT boxes, 4 X-Fills and 4 X-Subs. Front-of-house was a Midas XL4
UK / Ireland - Rigging and lifting specialist PCM, based in Prenton, Wirral, kicked off 2003 by announcing that Dublin-based Stage Lighting Centre has been appointed sole agents for all PCM equipment for the Irish Republic.
All service, back-up, spares and orders for PCM equipment in Ireland will now be processed by Stage Lighting Centre under the contract, which was finalised during a recent PCM Lodestar Motor School in Dublin. The Stage Lighting Centre was founded in 1987 by Pat Walsh and Pat Farrell. The company is one of the most respected sales, hire and installation operations in Ireland, and works in all areas of the professional entertainment industry. PCM and the Stage Lighting Centre have steadily engaged in more business in recent years, particularly in the last 12 months, so the distribution deal was a logical progression.
UK - West Sussex-based beyerdynamic has recently supplied Altered Images with a number of Cue control systems (for which beyerdynamic is the UK distributor) for installation into four lecture halls and a classroom lecture hall at Brunel University. This represents the first phase of a five-year modernization programme that will include a further 18 lecture halls fitted to similar facilities.
All of the theatres have identical ceiling-mounted projectors and the classrooms will use an interactive whiteboard with media management via Cue control systems. One of the first rooms to be transformed - lecture theatre E, a listed 1970s structure - was used as a location for Stanley Kubrick's controversial film A Clockwork Orange, shot in the early 1970s. The equipment installed provides a highly flexible presentation system, which will be employed for university lectures as well a
Spain - D.A.S. Audio products have been recently installed by the Madrid-based Mediacom 95 S.A. at the Nassica Entertainment Center. The sprawling 72,000sq.m complex on the outskirts of Madrid is home to 57 stores, a 24-screen multiplex cinema, a 20-lane bowling alley and 25 themed restaurants and cafés. The complex also provides a 'green area' as well as free parking facilities for over 4,000 vehicles.
A total of 84 Factor-8 two-way systems, powered by QSC CX-602V amps, have been distributed around the impressive outdoor venue providing even coverage throughout. The injection-moulded polypropylene enclosures provide resistance to the elements and the wide dispersion characteristics of the Factor-8 offer a broad coverage area.
The famous Rubik's Cube inspired the Nassica Center's modern design and functional layout. Integrating the speakers systems into the aesthetics o
Australia - 2003 marks a milestone for ARX Systems, the well-known Australian based designers and manufacturers of Professional Audio Equipment, as they celebrate their 20th anniversary. ARX Systems was formed in Melbourne in 1983 by brothers Colin and David Park, and longtime friend Duncan Fry.
Several products introduced in the 80s have over the years become industry standards and are still in manufacture today, albeit in an updated form, taking advantage of improved manufacturing processes and, most importantly, higher quality componentry. These include the Sixgate 6-channel noise gate, Quadcomp 4-channel compressor/limiter and the venerable EQ 60 Dual 1/3rd Octave equaliser, sales of which have now exceeded 10,000 units.
ARX has always striven to ensure that the company is represented by high quality distributors. This was further reinforced last year with the appointment
UK - Lightfactor has launched a new division - the Cut Colour Company. The new operation will act as a one-stop colour-call shop - for anything involving a colour call for the entertainment industry.
Filter from all the leading manufacturers - Lee, Rosco, GAM and Chris James are available from stock in both roll and sheet formats, alongside a range of gobos from DHA. Additionally, there's a full colour cutting service available for filter, which can either be cut to size or made up into scrolls as required.
Mandy Bullock-Williams who ran the filter room of Lighting Technology Group (LTG) will head up the new division. Her appointment coincides with two other ex-LTG people joining the Lightfactor team - Jeff Harwood and Bob Peach, consolidating the company's current period of expansion.
Lightfactor has been progressively moving into new products and services, and the formatio
USA - Currently on tour with fellow songwriters Buddy Mondlock and Maia Sharp in support of the trio's new collaborative album, Everything Waits to be Noticed, Art Garfunkel and his band are now exclusively using Crown microphones out on the road. 10 Crown CM-200A cardioid condenser micrs are being used for all vocals onstage in addition to sax, electric and acoustic guitar, kick drum and snare top. Half a dozen CM-700 cardioid condensers are employed on high hat, toms, snare bottom and chimes, while four miniature hypercardioid GLM-200s mic the congas and bongos as well as serve as overheads for the drum kit. The list also includes a pair of PZM-6Ds for piano and a single CM-150 omnidirectional condenser mic for RTA use.
Stuart Breed, Garfunkel's FOH and studio engineer for 18 years, is pleased with the Crown selection, particularly the Pressure Zone Microphones. "I love t
UK - Marking the opening of an exhibition of photography at Lincoln's Usher Gallery, a series of large format projections by Fourth Phase London created enormous interest in the city centre over the weekend of November 30.
Using Lincoln Cathedral and the Usher Gallery as the 'canvas', Fourth Phase was commissioned by photographer Phil Crow to manage the entire project, from researching suitable projection sites to the sourcing of the projection slides. Eight images from the exhibition were turned into slides by DHA Lighting, four colour and four mono, and brought to life using two Pani BP6 projectors. Lincoln Cathedral was the first venue and the nearby castle walls proved an ideal site for the BP6s, but with one minor drawback - a crane was necessary to get the projectors in place. Unperturbed, the Fourth Phase team of James Hall, Dominic Ayres and Steve Russell organized both
UK - In a move designed to update and improve its technical infrastructure, Stirling Audio Systems has relocated its entire operation to a brand new building in West London. The pro audio equipment supplier, which distributes a range of high-end equipment from manufacturers such as Audient, Lexicon, M&K, iZ Radar, Sanken and Aphex, now offers much-improved loading and warehouse facilities from its new premises close to the A40. Stirling Audio's managing director, Andrew Stirling, told us: "We considered staying where we were, but we felt our staff and customers would be better served if we could improve our operating efficiency. A building needs to operate as efficiently as any business system, but sadly our old premises simply weren't designed for the demands of doing business in today's high-tech world. We have now moved to a far more suitable building that gives us everyth
UK - The Institute of Export for Northern Ireland has chosen Belfast-based data compression specialist, APT (Audio Processing Technology), as the recipient of its prestigious Exporter of the Year Award for 2002.
APT's managing director, Noel McKenna, received the award from Jim Stewart, chairman of the Institute of Export in Northern Ireland at its annual awards dinner, which took place on December 4th at the Dunadry Hotel, Belfast. Commenting on the award, McKenna told us: "We are delighted to receive this award from the Institute. We have been supplying high quality audio products to countries as far apart as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, USA, Canada, Middle East, South Africa and Europe for the last 10 years and we are constantly trying to open up new countries and market sectors to our technology. APT has contributed in excess of £20 million in electronic products exports
UK - It has been a hectic start to 2003 for leading lighting rental company White Light - with five new shows arriving in the West End and some old favourites going back out on the road in the first three weeks of the year.
The West End arrivals cover a wide range of styles: at the Arts Theatre is a new comedy from America, Triple Espresso, whilst at the Whitehall Theatre, the musical fun of Sing-along-a-ABBA has replaced the long-running Art, which used White Light equipment throughout its run. At the Old Vic, White Light is supplying the rig for Hartley TA Kemp's design for The Tempest - as with its initial run in Sheffield, the show is using automated lighting from The Moving Light Company.
Also combining conventional equipment from White Light and automated equipment from The Moving Light Company are Midnight's Children, the new RSC adaptation of the novel by Salman Rushdi
UK - A regular and long-standing supplier to the UK's leading electronic retailer QVC, Triple E was back there towards the end of 2002 installing its lightweight, but strong Unicyc track in Studio One of the channel's London headquarters.
Prior to this installation, Studio One had a make-shift rig on which a cyclorama and lights were hung, but as it was outdated and inflexible, Mike O'Brien, QVC's backstage manager, approached Triple E to come up with a solution. Unicyc was created especially for TV studio applications and allows for a vast degree of versatility as it can be curved and assembled on site. Replacing Studio One's original track, the new U-shaped Unicyc system also incorporates ladder-frame lighting crossbeams, a points system and storage areas. "The system provides the opportunity to hang two cyclorama curtains from it, whilst the crossbeams allow better light
UK - Aztec, the live console from Audient, has recently completed a three-date tour with Heather Small, the voice of M People, and the Snake Davis Band. The tour kicked off on December 5th at the Tunbridge Wells Assembly Theatre and went on to visit the Newcastle Opera House on the 7th, and finally the Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London on the 15th December. Sound for the tour came courtesy of the SRD (Sound Reinforcement and Distribution) Group, who were introduced to Aztec by GPA's Chris Hinds, who had previously used it with Groove Armada. Aztec has also been used by the SRD Group on projects for the James Taylor Quartet and Courtney Pine.
SRD's Dave Gledhill, FOH Engineer for the tour says of the Aztec: "It sounds great. Dave Dearden and Gareth Davies are known for designing and making great consoles and this one lives up to that reputation. The EQ is very musical
UK - The APRS starts its 2003 programme with a seminar co-hosted by the DTI for all manufacturers and service providers who are interested in exporting goods or attracting overseas clients to UK facilities.
The event, postponed last year because of the Tube strikes, has been re-scheduled and re-designed to provide a broader exploration of exporting in general with a special focus on the fast-expanding Indian and Chinese markets. India has the largest film industry in the world and a significant proportion of domestic producers are now looking to enhance their production values in the hope that more Indian-made films are viewed by western cinema audiences. In the past, India has proved to be a challenging market beset with tariff and other bureaucratic barriers, however the World Trade Organisation rules mean that tariffs will be removed by 2005 and so now is the time to establis
UAE - The first installation of ETC's Obsession II lighting control console in the United Arab Emirates was completed in Emirates Media's Abu Dhabi TV when the studio upgraded its lighting equipment to prepare for the new game show Win Your Weight In Gold. An alternative take on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the programme's top prize is determined by the individual contestant's weight!
The television station's technical team, supervised by Mohammad Refaie, head of Abu Dhabi TV's Lighting Unit, specified the technical requirements for the upgrade. "We needed a new console, capable of handling both conventional and moving lights," said Refaie. Oasis Enterprises, officially appointed ETC's regional distributor in October 2002, came up with the perfect solution to meet the brief, supplying and installing the 3000 channel Obsession II, together with ten Source Fours.
UK - Turbosound reports that its diminutive Impact 50 loudspeakers have been installed on Cardiff's Millennium Riverwalk, to provide audio replay facilities as part of an innovative arts project for the city's Chapter Arts Centre. Surviving gale force winds and driving rain, the 32 Impact 50 loudspeakers, which utilize injection-moulded enclosures, are mounted on the Riverwalk's suspension cables, and relay the sound of 5000 Calls - a large-scale sound performance by David Chesworth and Sonia Leber - to passers by.
The Impact 50 loudspeakers were installed by Cardiff-based Cynhyrchu Illicit Production, with the company's Giles Parbery providing overall project management, and were supplied through Dimension Audio of west London. The project represents the European première of 5000 Calls, with the work being replayed along the length of the Millennium Riverwalk, alongside Cardif
UK - Following the success of Pop Idol and the Johnny Vaughan show, engineer Fred Jackson, of Jackson Post Ltd, was contracted by LWT to work on its latest musical success story, Pop Stars - the Rivals. Working in conjunction with TV sound suppliers Plus 4 Audio, Jackson invested in the latest technology from Klark Teknik, this time in the form of two Helix DN9340 digital equalizers.
Jackson explained that he needed more outboard equalization in addition to the qraphic equalizers on board the Yamaha DM2000, which is where the Helix devices came in. "I used two units on the primary mixes for the show," he said, "and was very pleased with them. Although Helix is a digital unit, the sound is consistent with all of the analogue units that KT has developed over the years.
"In the Pop Stars application I found the notch filters to be especially useful. Because Ri
UK - Funtime Installations has been sold in a management buy-out headed up by Mark Parker, former installations manager of the company. After six years at the helm of the company, Jonathan Reece--Farren has taken the difficult decision to step down. "It has been a very exciting time," says Reece-Farren, "with our company experiencing amazing growth and development over the last six years, as well as industry recognition with the usual BEDA Awards nominations, and accolades for our various club and bar installations.
"Recent months have been busy - we were commissioned to supply all the sound and lighting for the PLASA 25th anniversary celebrations, which was a real honour, as well as full production for the 2002/2003 Theme Awards." Other recent credits include sound and lighting for the BEDA Awards party, and the BEDA Chairman's lunch, supplied on behalf
UK - Following the membership vote at the end of 2002, PLASA has welcomed three new members to its executive committee - Andrew Bishop of Carlsbro Electronics, Steve Cole of Navica and Matthew Tonks of Stage Technologies. The subsequent internal election for the officer posts saw David Hopkins OBE, managing director of Audio Design Services, elected as PLASA chairman, while Sammy DeHavilland of Dare Pro Audio takes on the role of vice-chairman, and Tim Brown of Apple Sound replaces DeHavilland as PLASA treasurer.
The new places were made available by the departures of Paul de Ville of Lightfactor Sales, Nikki Scott of Stage Technologies and Tracey Patterson of Artistic Licence, all of whom decided not to stand for re-election. Mick Hannaford, who stepped down as PLASA chairman at the close of 2002 after three years in the chair, acknowledged the valuable contributions that all h
UK - The Sound Division Group has recently supplied and installed a comprehensive sound and lighting system to the American Community School in Egham in Surrey based on a Crown-driven Nexo audio system complete with Martin projectors and a Selecon lighting rig.
The school, which educates over 550 students between the ages of 3-18 who come from all over the world took the decision to move drama production into the main sports hall and invest in a proper theatre-style sound and lighting system. Once the decision was made and the specification agreed, the whole installation was turned around in just two weeks.
Sound Division supplied and installed a total of four Nexo PS-15 loudspeakers which were flown from the lighting truss, and two PS-10 stage monitors plus the requisite TD controllers. The system was driven by a Crown MA3600VZ and a Crown MT2400 power amplifier. In addition