UK - Toby Alington's Richmond Studios team took on one of the biggest challenges in its history last night when it recorded the BRIT Awards' largest-ever lineup of live bands - 12 bands in a two-hour, non-stop live show at Earl's Court. Alington and an audio team of 10 recorded the complete 25th anniversary live show in an array of recording mobiles parked in a secure area next to Earl's Court 2, which was transformed into a spectacular 5,500-seat arena for the BRITs by event producers MJK Productions.
The bands' performances, awards presentations and speeches were recorded onto digital multitracks. An overnight post-production at London Studios will see the show trimmed to its broadcast length, ready for broadcast on ITV this evening. Finally, Alington will create an 'international' version of the edited show, with the English commentary and voiceovers removed.He comments: &qu
China - HK Audio's Chinese distributor, Melody Development Company, has supplied a speaker system to the Born In 70s bar in Nanjing. Located in the city's 1912 Leisure Street, the exterior of the bar, with its red brick, white walls and black-tiled roof, is just like the other 40-odd bars and night clubs along the street, and competition is fierce as each one strives to establish its own style. Born In 70s has chosen a gentle, mellow atmosphere in which to present live performances of classic songs. Melody Development's Nanjing office was happy to supply an HK Audio system and help to establish the unique musical experience the bar was looking for.
"We are not a noisy disco pub which just needs high volume and lots of booming sound," says bar owner Lu Dong. " HK Audio loudspeakers, with its clean and dynamic response, truly fulfill our requirements. We made the de
USA - OptiLED's Linear Optical Array LED lamps were chosen by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority's (JTA) Board to illuminate the Main Street Bridge as part of a city-wide beautification effort in anticipation of this year's Super Bowl championship played at the Alltell Stadium in Jacksonville. Based on its successful track record working with linear LED product, award-winning lighting design firm Stone Mountain Lighting Group was subcontracted by Miller Electric to integrate, install and program the lights on the bridge with almost 1,200ft of OptiLED's Linear Optical Array LED lights, which have been assembled together to form an impressive LED matrix to create various graphics and designs.
The project is a joint effort between the JTA, the City of Jacksonville, the Florida Department of Transportation and the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization. Spanning 1,680
USA - ESTA has announced that five draft standards are now in public review until 26 April. The standards deal with wire rope ladders, theatrical boom and base assemblies (lighting trees), the ACN protocol, pin connectors, and flat-wall photometry. The documents are accessible on the ESTA website.
BSR E1.1, Entertainment Technology - Construction and Use of Wire Rope Ladders, is a revised version of ANSI E1.1-1999, Entertainment Technology - Construction and Use of Wire Rope Ladders. E1.1-1999 was offered for public review to reaffirm it last year, since it was at the five-year anniversary at which an American National Standard must be reaffirmed, revised, or withdrawn. No one offered any public review comments, but close examination of the document by Rigging Working Group members s
UK - Autograph Sales, has continued to introduce new customers to Meyer Sound, specifically to its celebrated Ultra Series range. Among the new customers is Stage Sound Services, based in Cardiff, which has become the first rental company in Wales to invest in Meyer Sound. The four UPJ-1Ps and two UMS-1P subs will immediately be put to work on the UK theatre tour of Dracula. The production will run for twenty weeks with Christopher Cazenove staring as Van Helsing. Dracula's sound designer Fergus O'Hare specified the Meyer Sound cabinets.
Phil Hurley, Stage Sound Services' MD, is an existing Autograph Sales customer and is thrilled to join the Meyer Sound fold; "I feel this is just the beginning of our commitment to the product range," he says, "enhancing the choice of products available to our growing client base."
USA - Manhattan-based television and film composer Daniel Antonio Srebnick adopted Metric Halo's mobile I/O 2882+DSP production interface 18 months ago. Now no longer tethered to the recording studio, Srebnick is enjoying a newfound creative freedom resulting from his transition from a full-blown DAW system.
His contributions to the soundtrack of The Squid and the Whale, a new independent film by writer-director Noah Baumbach, which stars Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline, and was co-produced by Wes Anderson and Peter Newman, will debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. "I used all Metric Halo's products for that project," notes Srebnick.
Although having invested very heavily in an industry standard DAW, Srebnick, an avid Mac user, realized that the power of the new G5 would allow him to run Logic - which he uses for scoring, audio a
China - China's largest on-site museum, the Emperor Qin's Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, marked its 25th anniversary with the opening of a new 530-seat auditorium. The museum is located in the Shaanxi provincial city of Xi'an, one of the six ancient capitals of China, and is home to one of the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century.
It is also home to one of the country's most modern audio installations, featuring a fully digital networked system based around QSC's Rave/CM16a audio transport and monitoring components. The Rave system and QSControl.net system were chosen for their simple setup and expandability.
Comprising of a RAVE 188s-24 unit in the auditorium's control room routed to a second 188s-24 unit in the equipment room via a single Ethernet CAT-5 cable, two of QSC's CM16a Amplifier Network Monitors control 15 two-channel QSC CX-series
UK - A customized Martin Audio stadium system has been installed at Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park facility by locally-based contractors, Romers. Six enclosures - based on the Blackline H3 system - have been fitted under the roof of the 8,158-capacity Blackburn End stand, which is populated by the home supporters.
Specialists in stadia fit-outs, Romers wanted to create maximum vertical coverage - via a 40° x 70° horn pattern (rather than the customary 70° x 40°); thus a bespoke solution was favoured, with the loudspeakers mounted on their sides.
Martin Audio's Peter Child said: "We based the customization of the H3's on our AM3 Stadium enclosure and were able to offer the solution they required. The enclosures were sprayed with a high density polyurethane plastic coating both internally and externally, while the drivers were weather-proofed behind a heavy galvanized and
Ireland - Healey Music Warehousing, who manage Outline Ireland (sales and rental), supplied all the live stages at this year's opening celebrations for Cork City of Culture 2005, when over 80,000 people visited Ireland's second city to be entertained by a wide variety of performances. Tony Healy of Healey Music said: "We have had Outline for the last couple of years and in fact have just significantly increased our inventory, which enabled us to supply all the main performance areas around Patrick St."
The Doppia from Outline is an ultra compact high/mid loudspeaker which stands only 19" high and 14" wide, yet boasts 2 x 12", 1 x10" and a compression driver with 3" diaphragm. Doppia's were utilized with Outlin's Victor Live sub basses which astonishingly perform down to 28Hz. All systems were powered by Outline's TP range of digital amplifiers
USA - Show Distribution Group Inc of Canada, ChainMaster's exclusive distributors in the USA, Mexico and Canada, has moved to larger premises so as to be able to extend still further its range of activities. The new 2,000sqm facility in Quebec offers considerably more space for the Service department plus greater storage capacity to meet increasing demand.
Show Distribution has more than 300 rigging lifts, 100 VarioLifts and 25 VarioTrolleys at its disposal at all times; this is material that Show Distribution has purchased and uses to support customers in the hire business who, in 2004, accompanied tours by Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Shania Twain and Tim Graw with lifting gear and controllers from ChainMaster. Show Distribution also furnished chain hoist systems from ChainMaster for live shows and marketing events staged by Everlast Productions of Florida and
UK - XL Video supplied video production including the massive 16 x 7m Unitek V9 central LED screen and two 30msq 16:9 ratio Barco S10 LED side screens for The 25th Brit Awards, staged at London's Earls Court 2.
The screen was integrated into Mark Fisher's scenic design. It split apart vertically into two sides and both sides tracked off-stage utilizing a Kinesys movement system for millimeter perfect accuracy. It was the third year running that XL has been the supplier of video screens for the show to MJK Productions and production manager Mick Kluczynski. It was the second year running that automation specialists Kinesys were called in by show production riggers Outback, to co-ordinate the moving of the screens.
The project was managed for XL by Paul Wood and for Kinesys by Dave Weatherhead. Kinesys attached two variable speed winches to staging company StageCo's 46m wide gro
USA - Tomcat celebrated 13 years of in depth industry training courses with another successful Hoist and Rigging Workshop in Midland, Texas. Top-notch instructors and 62 industry professional participants from all over the United States, and even Mexico attended the workshop as well as the all new Advanced Workshop.
Don Dimitroff of Columbus McKinnon, as well as TOMCAT's own Dave Sowa, coached participants through the Lodestar electric chain hoist. Rocky Paulson of Stage Rigging, a Freeman Company and Morgan Neff of Mine Safety Appliances stressed safety in rigging techniques and fall protection equipment while Keith Bohn, Tomcat design manager, and Will Todd, Tomcat project manager, offered a course in truss theory and design. Not only did participants receive four days of power-packed, informative classes, but also four nights of fun filled entertainment, including the traditi
UK - Audio system design and installation specialist Blue Box has completed a compact and versatile audio system for the newly-opened Broadway Theatre in Barking, East London. The theatre, designed by Tim Foster Architects, occupies a former municipal assembly hall, completely redesigned and rebuilt to provide high quality performing arts facilities to the community and accommodation to Barking College School of Performing Arts. Its core is the Dudley Moore Auditorium - a new performance space with galleries and seating for 341. With the retractable stalls bleacher seating removed, there's space for 650 standing.
The venue is designed for a mixed programme encompassing music, theatre, concerts, family friendly performances, contemporary dance and live arts installations. New facilities include an expanded backstage, scenery production storage and rehearsal rooms and technical s
UK - Hawthorn Theatrical hosted their 18th birthday in style when they transformed their Leicester premises into a party venue. Around 300 invited clients and Hawthorn's staff moved between the main bar (complete with table football and giant Jenga), a nightclub with live band stage, karaoke room, second live band room, and a chill-out room as they partied the night away to the early hours.
After 18 years providing technical and creative solutions for events of all shapes and sizes, Hawthorne's general manager Simon Wood, working with MD Martin Hawthorne, applied their experience to produce a stunning party. This included supplying everything from their own décor, lighting, screens, sound and power, having considered all of the health and safety issues.
Martin Hawthorn, founder commented: "It seemed an ideal opportunity to thank our customers and 60 full-time staff for
UK - UK company LM Productions LLP has been contracted to supply a StratoFantasia show for a two-week event in March called Planet Coke. The company will be supplying its StratoSphere projection globe, complete with new fire safety doors, and 360° seamless video projection on the sphere utilizing five high-powered video projectors. The brand awareness show for Coca Cola will include live performances in the sphere that the public can attend by collecting tokens from promotional bottles of Coca Cola. The video content will include a three-minute promotional video and 30 minutes of abstract visuals.
LM Productions' laser show designers have pre-programmed a laser beam show using three of the company's new full-colour DPSS whitelight lasers, three DPSS green lasers and a new DomeScan 360° laser projector. The six lasers will be positioned at 60° intervals around the per
UK - Business analyst Plimsoll Publishing has claimed that acquisition activity is likely to increase in the UK's sound equipment industry in 2005. A new study highlights 54 cash rich companies that are ideally placed to enhance their earnings by acquiring a competitor: 51 companies have been identified as their acquisition prospects. Ranging from some of the smallest to some of the largest in the industry, each is displaying symptoms of financial stress, with low pre-tax margins and high levels of debt. The average level of debt for these companies is 11% of turnover. However, the analysis also demonstrates that each of these businesses could be turned around in a short period of time.
David Pattison, Senior Analyst at Plimsoll, says: "These under pressure companies are running out of options. As the average industry profit margin is only 1.4%, and over half of companies
Denmark - Copenhagen Opera House, Denmark's new opera house, opened with a royal performance in front of Her Majesty Queen Margarethe of Denmark on Saturday 15 January. Located in the harbour, on the small island of Holmen, the Opera House was a gift to the city from Danish shipping magnate Maersk McKinney Møller.
The 337m ($442m) building has already been the subject of controversy, the architect complaining about "architectural compromises" he had to make when McKinney Møller demanded that the building be changed to incorporate his ideas. Despite that, the public seems to have taken the building to their hearts, with all opera and dance performances for the coming season completely sold out.
At the heart of the venue is the main stage, with seating for an audience of nearly 1,500. Alongside this are five adjacent stages constructed in a modular design enabling
UK - White Light has been selected as lighting supplier for the stage production of the smash-hit British film, Billy Elliot. The story of a boy from the north of England who discovers the joy of dance, Billy Elliot became one of the most successful British films ever made upon its release in 2000. The film was nominated for three Oscars and thirteen Bafta awards, breaking box office records around the world.
The film is now being turned into a stage musical by its original creators, director Stephen Daldry, choreographer Peter Darling and writer Lee Hall; the music for the show is being written by Elton John. To create the stage production, Daldry is working once again with the team behind his acclaimed, long-running stage production of An Inspector Calls, designer Ian MacNeil and lighting designer Rick Fisher.
To light the show, Fisher has specified a rig featuring eleven Va
Germany - Organized by KTV, the Asian equivalent of MTV, the Daechon Lux Festa 2004, which ran from the 17 July to the 21 August, introduced Asia to a new dimension in musical entertainment, uniting almost the entire galaxy of Asia's top stars and including a fringe programme packed with highlights. Several million viewers followed the event on TV and hundreds of thousands travelled from all over Asia to the Korean city of Daechon to sample the atmosphere first hand.
Sound equipment obviously has a key role to play. To eliminate unnecessary risks and problems of incompatibility, the organizers of the Daechon Lux Festa 2004 opted for a complete solution composed of systems from EVI Audio. The central element in the entire sound reinforcement strategy was a Dynacord Cobra system (including 16 Cobra-4 PWHs, 24 Cobra TOPs and 21 Cobra-2 SUBs). A further 56 enclosures from the Dynaco
Germany - In early December, TV station Kabel 1 presented a major evening show, running through the '100 best films of all time', including classic blockbusters like Alien, Das Boot, E.T., Platoon, Schindlers List, Spider Man and Lord of the Rings. More than 350 Pulsar ChromaPanels were used in the set design, supplied by Procon and installed by Schall & Shein Design, Münich. They were used to create the matching atmosphere for the show in Bavaria Studios, Unterföhring. The set and design for the ChromaPanels was originally designed by Florian Wieder for the Pro7 production Geniale Erfinder-der Wissenspreis.
Daniel from Schall & Schein commented: "LED lights have high efficiency, their effects are produced through RGB colour mixing, they radiate homogeneous light and are absolutely lightweight. The whole design of the set was designed so the LEDs could be controlled in c
UK - Green-I used all the attributes of the new Soundweb London DSP matrix device to fulfil a unique request at the recent Schroders London Boat Show at the ExCeL in Docklands.
ExCeL-based Fox Bars and Restaurants, who use Green-I as its preferred systems integrator, decided (as one of the Show's major sponsors) to create its own bar - Fox@Waterside - down on the exhibition floor. While Green-I's sister company Canegreen Commercial was invited to provide a conventional PA system for the feature, Fox had something more creative in mind when a pub quiz was scheduled midway through the show.
"We were asked to design Quiz Buzzers for each of the six tables," reports Green-I's Ian Woodall. "Although pressing a button is straightforward they wanted a scenario whereby the first finger on the buzzer disabled everything else."
The Netherlands - Lumileds Lighting has announced that it will issue an advisory to the solid-state lighting industry later this month regarding its intellectual property (IP) that pertains to the manufacture and assembly of mirror substrate LEDs. The action comes in response to reports that certain die manufacturers and LED packagers are violating Lumileds' patents. Users and manufacturers of LEDs have a responsibility to avoid infringement of Lumileds' patents. All LED package manufacturers and resellers should investigate whether their mirror substrate LEDs use Lumileds' patented technology and whether the source of their mirror substrate LEDs is authorized under Lumileds' patents.
Lumileds recently announced the upcoming expansion of its Luxeon high-power LED family with new emitters that the company claims set industry-wide performance standards for light output, temperatu
Italy - In Venice, leading Italian PA rental company Audio Uno has flown Nexo GEO S speaker arrays in one of the most exquisite architectural settings in the world. The historic Gran Teatro La Fenice de Venezia, which dates back to 1792, has been completely restored to its original glory following a devastating fire in 1996. Audio Uno was called upon to provide a premier-quality sound reinforcement system for the first major event to take place in the Gran Teatro since its renovation and re-opening. The Premio Campiello is Italy's top competition for writers, and this was the first occasion the prestigious awards ceremony had been held in the Fenice.
For the 2500-capacity theatre, Audio Uno supplied a GEO S tangent-array system which was configured in left and right arrays of eight GEO S830 cabinets each side. Two CD12 sub-bass bins were included on each side of the stage, and
UK - A.C. Lighting supplied Neg Earth Lights with the Thomas Broadway Truss back wall lighting and much of the other lighting rig equipment used on the recent 14-date UK arena tour for rock band The Darkness. The spectacular show took four days of pre-production and a further two days of rehearsals to create, and visited Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Cardiff and Birmingham, finishing off with three nights at Wembley.
For the ambitious stage lighting rig, LD Rod Clay required a dramatic backdrop to complement the band's very theatrical performance style and provide effects for the more 'epic' songs in the band's set list. Clay specified a Thomas Broadway Truss system originally racked with seven rows of 10 High End Studio Beam PCs to create a dramatic wall of light. Neg Earth Lights used custom clamps to join the truss structure, which was flown on three two-tonne C