UK - Community distributor HSL has just completed two one-day product seminars at its extensive new showroom and demonstration facilities in Blackburn. Following HSL's engagement of Alan Lochhead and Steve Coxon to handle Community sales the number of appointed dealers and installers has grown substantially and Simon Stuart, MD of HSL, decided on in-house seminars to provide comprehensive product and application training. As he explained: "The Community range is now very comprehensive following the introduction of many new products this year. To cover such a massive range in detail required dedicated seminars in a large demonstration facility."
Stuart Thomson, EMEA regional manager for Community, assisted HSL with the presentations, which were attended by around 40 dealers and installers from across the UK. Lochhead was very pleased with the attendance commenting: &quo
UK - Pictured right is a lighting installation on the wall of Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf in London, created by lighting designer Simon Corder. Based on a brief from Coin Street Community Builders, 'Bough 1' is inspired by the tradition of bringing evergreens into the home during midwinter, says Corder.
The project was completed in time for the Lord mayor's Parade firework display which took place on 13 November, attracting thousands of visitors to the South Bank. Louise King of CSCB said: "The brief was to create a dramatic, contemporary installation that reflected the ethos of Oxo Tower Wharf with its restaurants, design shops and gallery spaces. The installation had to be visible from the riverside walkway, Waterloo Bridge and beyond. Simon's Bough 1 satisfied the brief completely and we are delighted with it."
Corder employed fluorescent fittings made and supplied by
UK - Avolites has supplied a new Diamond 4 Elite console and an eDMX radio DMX system to the National Theatre's LX department. These went into immediate use on the NT's new exterior architectural lighting scheme, and will also be utilized for its busy events schedule and other lighting projects happening in and around the building.
The console and the eDMX was specified by the National's Chief LX Huw Llewellyn and is an integral part of the National's architectural installation, phase one of which is currently underway.
"Avolites eDMX is brilliant! It's given us the flexibility we needed to place lighting fixtures anywhere" says Llewellyn, adding that the National's vast complex yields a plethora of roofs, balconies, walkways and other vantage points on which to place lights. Using eDMX also means they can position the desk wherever they like.
UK - White Light is supplying equipment to pantomimes of all scales, from complete lighting rigs going in to West End theatres to additional effects or moving lights for smaller venues expanding their house rigs to provide the extra sparkle and magic that these shows demand. The list includes twelve different versions of Snow White!
Among the shows using equipment from White Light in London are a number productions by Qdos Entertainment, one of the leading national pantomime producers: these include Beauty and the Beast in Hayes, Dick Whittington in Richmond, Peter Pan in Southampton and Southend, Aladdin in Tunbridge Wells and Wimbledon, Snow White in Woking, Cinderella in Wolverhampton as well as the West End pantomime Snow White at the Victoria Palace Theatre. White Light's equipment will also be found lighting Mother
World - Ladysmith Black Mambazo are currently on their "Wenyukela" (or "Raise your Spirit") world tour that commemorates the 10th anniversary of the end of Apartheid in their native South Africa. Their intense touring schedule took in 26 dates in just four weeks.
On his second tour with the African vocal group, lighting designer Tim Speechley, invited Pearce Hire to tender and subsequently supply the lighting for the UK tour. Having had to change the plan to use projection due to lack of images, Tim amended his initial ideas and created a painted cyclorama for the stage set and commissioned custom gobos of African images, such as a Zulu shield which were projected using Source 4 profiles. Standing behind (Pearce Hire's) Pearl 2004 console Tim commented: "Pearce Hire has done us proud with new top notch equipment and friendly efficient crew."
UK - Hospitality guests at this year's Investec Challenge matches at Twickenham were greeted by a new reception area, which led the way into the stadium's River Suites. Detail Management Services Ltd holds the management, design and build contracts and Jim Mason, managing director of Detail explained: "We needed to create a reception walk-through area to ensure that guests immediately feel special from the point of arrival. It is a key area in the complex as all of the hospitality guests pass through it on the way to their suites."
Detail brought in technical event management company Next Step Forward Ltd to design and install a sophisticated multimedia system, which would transform the walk-through area into a functional yet stylish space.
Mark Thomas, technical director of Next Step Forward explained: "Detail had expressed their desire to create an area which
UK - Computers Unlimited has teamed up with the Central School of Speech & Drama in London to stage the first ever UK VectorWorks Spotlight event.
VectorWorks Spotlight is an entertainment and lighting design software, which merges sophisticated 2D drafting and powerful 3D modelling with advanced lighting design and production tools. The organizer says the event will provide an opportunity to see some outstanding projects created using VectorWorks Spotlight.
Mark Stephens, director of The Design Division (a specialist VectorWorks reseller and producer of the new VectorWorks Spotlight Training CD), will start the event with an overview of VectorWorks. He will then demonstrate the specific Spotlight features, and will also show the new VectorWorks training CD which now includes specific movies on Spotlight. Alex Wardle, a lighting designer and technical manager, will cover setting up
UK - Creative Technology dipped heavily into its inventory of Barco DLite 7 LED daylight screens to meet the requirement of set designer Lisa Lillywhite for this year's Smash Hits T4 Pollwinners Party.
Immersed within the heavily arrowed stage theme at Wembley Arena, the focal point was the 44sqm of landscaped D7 wall, which could travel vertically from its flown position upstage centre. This was reinforced by a smaller tunnel screen, marking the stars' entrance at the top of the stairs, and a single 12 x 2 vertical column, situated upstage left.
The CT screens integrated well with Vince Foster's inspired lighting design, with all the graphic feeds relayed to the flanking screens from a Catalyst server, triggered from a G5 computer. The main central display featured live camera action (and nominee captions) - fed from a CTV scanner truck - while CT themselves took five close-u
UK - Blue Audio from Coalburn in Lanarkshire has just finished a complete audio installation for the new multi-function London venue in Dundee. London offers customers a choice of five separate areas, including a nightclub, funk room, lounge, piano bar and restaurant and all are digitally networked using NetCIRA.
The relationship between Blue Audio and London goes back some seven years and this was its largest fully networked installation to-date. Blue Audio's Nadar explained the brief: "High quality music is a main theme for this busy venue and the client wanted clarity, power and the flexibility to be able to switch any of the nine sources to any of the five rooms. There are several products I knew that would do the job but all had a host of unwanted functions and were unnecessarily expensive. I approached Dave Thomson of Avolution, a good friend who is always up on the l
USA - During LDI, L&SI was invited by DiGiCo to experience first-hand the sound mixing capabilities of its D5T console on the import of the British musical We Will Rock You, a recent arrival at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas. Pre-show, we met with associate sound designer David Patridge and head of sound John Trace, who discussed the D5T and the advantages they felt it had given them at the head of the show's PA system.
So why go digital? Patridge explained: "We liked the idea for ease of set-up and the smaller footprint. We were very happy to work with a company that was so enthusiastic about developing a digital desk for the theatre market. Sonically, the D5T sounds excellent whilst still retaining the warmth of an analogue desk. It's also intuitive to work with and simple to programme."
Trace said: "I particularly like the touch-screen function, it mimics the control su
UK - Wembley London Ltd and Quintain Estates & Development Plc have announced that work on the new Wembley Arena Pavilion has begun. The state-of-the-art temporary structure is being built to host all shows while the £29m refurbishment programme on Wembley Arena begins in early 2005. John Probyn - Clear Channel Entertainment's head of production - has been contracted by Wembley as project manager for the site.Probyn, who has built a successful reputation as one of the UK live music industry's leading production and site managers has been responsible for events such as Clear Channel shows in Hyde Park (see L&SI August 2004) and Donnington.
The Pavilion will take two months to build, with a team of 80 staff on site to oversee construction. The fully insulated and sound-proofed structure will be built with over 45,000m of scaffolding and will weigh over 250 tons. A special secondary mem
UK - A.C. Lighting has supplied theatre equipment to The Broadway and Artsdepot newly fitted theatres in London. The company won competitive tenders after being approached by Roger Fox of Theatreplan Consultants (The Broadway) and Chris Baldwin of ACT Consultants (Artsdepot).
The Broadway is Barking and Dagenham's newly re-developed live performance arts venue, presenting a mixed programme of high quality, professional music, dance, drama, comedy, children's and family shows. Tim Foster Architects were commissioned to re-design the original Broadway as part of a regeneration programme of the town's city centre. The new 950 capacity venue opens its doors this Christmas with Dick Whittington and his Kool Kat - an updated version of the London classic.
The Broadway's lighting rig, which includes several products from A.C.'s exclusive product range, comprises of Chroma-Q sc
Sweden - Located in a historic food market on the picturesque riverside of Uppsala, Saluhallen is a new venue which functions as a food market by day before reverting to a chic nightclub complex after dark. All the leisure hospitality areas are operated by Svenssons Krogar (responsible for a number of bars and restaurants in the city), with the signals digitally processed and routed using the BSS Soundweb DSP platform.
The system design was carried out by BSS' Swedish distributors, Septon Electronic AB, in collaboration with local contractor Scenteknik AB, who were responsible for the installation. Septon's solution was to specify two SW9088iis networked signal processing devices and an SW9026 audio switcher to cover a total of seven zones (two bars/dancefloors, two restaurants, two VIP rooms and an outdoor patio), with access to 12 sources via custom wall panels.
UK - Adlib Audio has serviced a plethora of its North American client base throughout 2004, after concluding the European section of David Bowie's "Reality" tour in 2003, including Jill Scott, N*E*R*D and The Calling.
US soul and blues diva Jill Scott (not to be confused with Gill Scott Heron) used a JBL VerTec PA system supplied by Adlib Audio for her UK tour. Gigs included two nights at Brixton Academy, Bristol Birmingham, Barrowlands in Glasgow and a grand finale at Manchester. Adlib supplied 20 JBL VT4888s and their own DF418 subs; the system was driven by ADLIB's new Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers. FOH engineer Chaz Clifton used a Soundcraft Series 5 desk, with BSS FDS-366 OmniDrive Compacts for system control and BSS FDS 360s for EQ. This offered the flexibility to zone the system as required. Monitors featured one of ADLIB's new Yamaha PM5D consoles. The console's
UK - When the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) opened on 26 November it became one of Europe's most vibrant arts developments to date. After 30 months of construction, the £104.2m venue will be home to seven leading Welsh cultural organizations, staging musicals, opera, ballet and dance day and night.
The 33,000sq.m building occupies a key site in Cardiff Bay's 'Inner Harbour'. Daylight floods the building, as 15cm thick glass open the foyers to views both outward and inward, and at night the lights of the foyer will be seen from afar. The striking building inscription is a poem composed by leading Welsh poet and writer Gwyneth Lewis and reads, 'Creating truth like glass from inspiration's furnace, in these stones horizons sing.'
ETC has been involved with WMC almost from the beginning of the project, having delivered a truckload of equipment as far back as the summer of 2003
USA - Intelix, the US manufacturer of audio and video equipment, will relocate all operations as of January 15, 2005. The new facility will be located at: 2222 Pleasant View Road, Suite #1, Middleton, WI 53562. All other contact information such as telephone, web and email details will remain the same.
"For some time now, Intelix has been searching for a larger, more suitable facility to accommodate our rapidly increasing staff and inventory needs," stated Steve Cohan, Intelix CEO: "The pleasant view location allows us to meet both goals, as well as remain in the general area."
UK - Harman Pro UK recently collaborated with Sound Division to provide a host of Harman products for the new sound system in the exclusive Zeta Bar at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel. Sound Division was approached by manager John Darling when the Zeta Bar replaced its old audio system as part of a refurb. A keen JBL user, Sound Division's David Graham states that this was his "obvious" choice for speakers, and also specified BSS control, Crown amplification and an AKG radio mic system to complete the installation.
Graham worked in close consultation with Harman Pro UK's Andy Duffield on the project, and the pair pooled their knowledge of sound design for high profile nightspots to produce the best and most appropriate audio for the Zeta Bar. The positive sonic results have been immediately noticed and commented on by clients, visitors and staff, the company reports.
Italy - In the first significant expansion since the purchase of Orbit, Star Events Group announced the immediate opening for business of Star Orbit Italia. Working from offices in central Milan and with a brand new warehouse situated near Milan Linate airport, this will be a full service operation.
Stocks of the unique Star Orbit stages are already in Milan, along with trained crews, transport and associated services such as front of stage barriers. The modular nature of the Star Orbit range enables the company to temporarily increase stock levels in Italy, from the UK, for large projects.
The Milan office will also be offering other Star Events Group products to the Southern and Eastern European markets. The first confirmed contracts for the new venture are to supply 15m Orbit stages for the pre Christmas and New Year's Eve concerts being organized by the City of Milan outsi
UK - Marquee Audio, in conjunction with Sound Directions, has carried out a sound system installation in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in support of conceptual visual artist, Bruce Nauman's mesmerizing Raw Materials exhibition.
For his fifth Unilever commission, the American artist has deployed a wide range of spoken texts in a way that orchestrates and measures the space of the Hall. Contracted to provide the audio, Sound Directions was tasked with taking 21 diverse audio tracks and samples from previous works, and playing out via a series of 28 directional electrostatic speaker elements, running 100V line, and distributed the length of the Turbine Hall.
Marquee Audio, meanwhile, has supplied all the additional hardware and designed an elaborate cabling infrastructure in which the complex routing protocols have been carefully created in BSS Soundweb architecture.
UK - As part of an enlarged company commitment to in-depth customer education, Meyer Sound will blanket the UK in January with a series of free, one-day seminars in five different cities. Following three consecutive sessions in London commencing on 10 January, the company's seminar tour continues on to the north of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
"The seminar program works to provide support to our UK dealer network and customers," says Roger Harpum, Meyer Sound's UK sales manager. "These sessions introduce audio professionals, at no charge, to fundamental aspects of modern sound systems, in the process making clear the benefits of Meyer Sound technologies."
The day-long introductory course, entitled System Design Principles, provides a broad overview of principles involved in the design and measurement of complex sound reinforcement systems. Par
UK - It's been a busy inaugural season for new lighting design company, timroutledge.co.uk. To finish the year before Christmas, LD Tim Routledge recently finished two very different design projects: starting in Battersea Park's famous party venue structure, Routledge created rigs for two music stages for the testimonial of the England Rugby team's illustrious captain, Martin Johnson. On the anniversary of the historic win in last year's Rugby World Cup, this major event was produced in association with Next with all proceeds going to Johnson's nominated charities. Routledge was contracted to produce the lighting for both stages by DW Associates. Two stages were required to cope with the large number of acts, headlined by Lionel Richie.
Hawthorn Theatrical supplied the equipment required to work alongside Routledge's regular lighting team headed up by Andy Hopkins. "I chos
UK - Customers of intelligent lighting controls group iLight are being assured that business remains very much as usual following the company's acquisition by Polaron plc in September. The company says that the new ownership means the group remains intact, while benefiting from the increased resources arising from being part of Polaron's control systems division. iLight group's products will continue to be marketed as before, while new products will benefit from the expanded R&D team. "Customers need have no worries about the future of the iLight brand," said John Thorne, UK sales manager at iLight. "We're still the same iLight that customers know and love, but with the advantage of greater financial and technical backing."
The focus of the enlarged group will be on developing the brands and the business, with the aim of becoming the largest lighting control
UK - This year the ever-popular Barco Showcase event was held at two locations North and South of the country. The first was at The Three Mills Studios in London and the second held at the Magna Science Museum in Rotherham, Yorkshire. LSI visited the Three Mills Studios, which proved to be an ideal location for showing the huge range of Barco products.
UK - Star Vertech is supplying 7,500sq.m of its proprietary Vertech platforms to support temporary ice-rinks through the 2004/2005 festive season. Star Vertech (part of the Star Events Group) is more commonly known for supplying staging at large concerts and festivals; but as the trend to install temporary ice-rinks has grown over recent years, the unique Vertech platforms have been called in to use to create strong, level bases for ice rinks.
Star Vertech crews have installed the large platforms in Newcastle, Dublin, Glasgow and Warwick, with another going into Leeds Millennium Square in January. Phil Addyman has managed the projects, commenting: "The Vertech staging system has proven popular for ice-rinks as it provides a very stable base and as it is designed to be installed quickly it saves time and money over other systems."