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14 March 2016

The new Cronus matrix system replaces the venue's former simple loop system and walkie talkies with a communications system which integrates the existing public address system with a building-wide wired and wireless communications system, allowing the stage manager to communicate with anyone in the building.

Working to a brief provided by Paul Kohlmann, chief engineer at the concert hall, Alan Murphy of Sound Communications, Telex's Irish theatre and live sound distributor and Adrian Richmond, sales engineer at Telex Communic

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14 March 2016

Built over two floors, the Volt Club is owned by Volt Productions, a company which already runs a successful nightclub operation in Uganda. Taking over two former club venues, Volt has fully refurbished and soundproofed the space, addressing the problems of noise leakage that were causing complaints from residential neighbours. Walls, ceiling and floors have been acoustically treated; even the fire exits are now connected to the club's sound system, so that if anyone opens a door, the music immediately shuts off.

For the Volt Club's main dancefloor, a powerful Electro-Voice Rx system has been specified and installed by club sound engineer Muh

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14 March 2016

Amongst the many innovations on display will be the new power hoist from Unusual Rigging - The Revolution which is a flexible and efficient winch solution presented within a standard 52cm x 52 cm truss and travels in conventional roadboxes. It has single or multiple use within truss runs with either single or double wires on each winch.

Mayr Transmissions is exhibiting two new designs and three additions to existing designs within the ROBA stop range of fail-safe brakes for theatre and stage equipment /winches.

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Roger Williams set out to differentiate this year's live broadcast from past shows by moving away from a studio feel and creating a much bigger 'arena experience'. Set in larger studios with weaving catwalks and an impressive but concealed lighting rig of over 90 Martin moving lamps, he achieved just this.

Joining at the concept stage, Williams was also able to integrate lighting directly into the set design and worked with Essential to include over 60

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14 March 2016

The ever-popular Pet Shop Boys are touring the UK and Europe, playing selected venues and the plum festival dates. Show designer Es Devlin's versatile screens, which allow dancers to perform inside them, act as the building blocks of a projection system which moves around, stretching from 4m to the full width of the stage. PSL has put its latest-model highly portable Barco projectors onto this show.

New indie band sensation The Fratellis are touring the UK with PSL projectors and screens, which can also be seen at this summer's big festivals, such as WOMAD, Rock Ness and Glastonbury.

For the second year running, PSL has su

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14 March 2016

Starting in 2005, the Peter Pan On Ice tour first travelled through Europe and South America before doing a second season in Spain. This show, aimed mainly at a younger market, was a relatively straightforward theatre show.

Flashlight/APR then moved on to Bugs Bunny On Ice - a new spectacle for kids, created around a number of Warner Brothers comic personalities, and receiving its world premiére in France. Because of the complexity of the show Flashlight/APR opted for a Digidesign Venue digital mixing environment (with D-Show console) as it would interface directly with Pro Tools and was easy to use. Another important factor was the ease of console set-up and the repeatability of a show which is still touring today.

At the sam

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14 March 2016

The HiQnet system, featuring 14 JBL Professional Vertec VT4888DP-CN, six Vertec VT4882DP-CN and four VP Series VP7315DP-CN loudspeakers powered by six JBL DP Series DrivePacks and 19 Crown Cts Series amplifiers, is controlled by five BSS Soundweb London DSP processors and connected by Harman Pro Group HiQnet on one cohesive network.

Microphone requirements for the 1850-seat concert hall are handled by HiQnet-compatible AKG WMS 4000 Series wireless system with 18 wireless handheld and lavalier microphones. Orchestra monitoring is provided by stage-level JBL Professional Control 300 and Control Contractor

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14 March 2016

Vecronia are specialists in garden architecture. Their philosophy is that a garden is an extension of the house - effectively another room - and should contain a fusion of natural elements and high technology.Each year, in conjunction with the NBO group of companies (Nova Bivalna Okolja - New Living Spaces), they present many innovative and exciting ideas in the field of garden architecture.

Vecronia has worked with MK Light Sound (Anolis's Slovenian distributor) on several previous lighting projects. When MK recently showed them the Anolis range, the Vecronia design team realis

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14 March 2016

Buckley has worked for the band for the last 18 years. They hit the road again after a substantial break, with a new album due out later in the year. These initial gigs were to test the water and interest in their loyal fan-base, which has very much proved to be still bubbling for them even after this substantial break.

Buckley has owned Avolites desks for some years and has always been a fan of the brand, and particularly a Pearl fan, right from the outset. When this came up, and he was asked onboard, he seized it as a great opportunity to test out the new Pearl Expert console. "It was the perfec

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14 March 2016

"When the show closed at the Shaftesbury, there was talk about the whole rig moving to Berlin," notes White Light's hire director, Dave Isherwood. "Ultimately that didn't happen because the rig design was changed to suit the much larger venue. However, Rob was keen to continue to keep some core elements of the rig from London, particularly the VL3000 and VL3500 spotlights, the DHA Digital Light Curtains and th

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14 March 2016

"Advanced Lighting Systems is an excellent strategic fit with Nexxus Lighting, not only in terms of LED lighting/fibre optic products, but also with respect to technology and market coverage," stated Mike Bauer, president and CEO of Nexxus Lighting. "They have an excellent team of people and our strategy is to provide ALS the infrastructure and resources to help them flourish as a brand and accelerate new product development.

"Paul Streitz, the President of Advanced Lighting Systems, brings over 15 years of experience

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14 March 2016

The aesthetic idea behind these were that they would create a monolithic tower block feel to the stage - reflecting the slightly perturbed and harsher urban ambience of the new album A Weekend In The City. He also intended this architecture to physically enclose the band within their performance area onstage.

Smith specified the RADlite because he wanted a video element to the show and he thought the towers should come to life, and play a multiple role in the

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14 March 2016

Inaugurated last year as PALA India, this year's exhibition (4-6 October, Bombay Exhibition Centre) will be spread over 3,000sq.m of exhibition space and is expected to feature around 200 brands distributed across 115 stands.

This is the target for exhibition manager James Raffoul, who has been taken on by IIR Exhibitions to maximise PALME India's potential. Having previously worked on high-profile exhibitions for Brintex and Emap, Raffoul says he couldn't resist the challenge to consolidate an incipient event in such a fast-emerging market.

"The fact that last year the show attracted 120 exhibiting companies spread over 75 stands, with 2,500 visitors attending, indi

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14 March 2016

The Old Fire Station in Coventry's new Millennium Quarter was purchased by local entrepreneur Brian Mills of Phoenix Bars, and turned into Escape. To carry out the transfiguration he enlisted MA Design to build the interior character. LSS's Ian Potter saw the opportunity to work within the design and divide the single-floor venue into three separate sound zones, covering the live and dance area, the bar and the reception/front of house.

Potter specified four flown AQ12's and a pair of ground-stacked AQ212's for the main dancefloor, with six AQ10's and a pair of AQ112's covering the peripheral areas - all processed using two of the dedicate

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14 March 2016

This project once again saw close collaboration between the PID team, Paula Reason and Desmond Harte of London-based designers Cadmium Design and Grosvenor Casino's Senior Project Manager, Paul Taylor.

It follows a similar installation in Manchester last year. Here, Cadmium's first LED ceiling above the main bar area proved so popular with clients and staff and to be such a great atmosphere enhancer, that the concept has now become a design feature of operator Grosvenor's new 'G' brand. G Casinos present a stylishly designed modern environment, aimed at attracting a younger demographic.

Cadmium's Paula Reason explains that their brief was

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14 March 2016

Show designer Mikki Kunttu's visual design featured more than 200 sq.m of Barco's new MiTRIX LED screen, 125sq.m of ultra bright OLite 510 LED modules and three SLM R12+ digital projectors. Barco rental partner Massteknik (Sweden) was the general video supplier to the show.

Fully integrated into the stage set was a gigantic curved screen 'the cobra'. This not only towered 9.5m up and behind the stage, but also stretched out in to the audience, creating an animated catwalk. In addition to that, extending around almost the entire stage was a massive LED backdrop made up fro

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14 March 2016

SPS's Steve Yelland and Lucy Gaskell from CQ Lighting - who work regularly on lighting design and supply of equipment for the Eden Project's busy event schedule - were asked to specify a new lighting scheme for the Visitor Centre. This covers the plant sales, retail and ticketing areas and is part of a whole new look to the Visitor Centre conceived by Eugene Sellors.

The idea was that the lighting should be "bright and sparkly", and combine both an "industrial" and a "theatrical" look and feel to the space.

The proposal was to install the lighting onto a series of ceiling mounted trusses, which were quite low bec

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14 March 2016

Fronted by Irish singer Rae Garvin, Reamonn first found fame in 2000 with the hit Supergirl. For the Satis&Fy sound crew, led by sound engineer Sven Bonse and system technician Stefan Holtz, the disparities in size between the different locations made theirs a far from easy task. However, as Stefan Holtz pointed out, "with preparation and the right material, we succeeded in mastering it completely."

He continued, "In this way we were able to prepare at least a rough sketch of the configuration with which we would be working in each hall several days before we got there. In addition to the X-Line as the main PA, we

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14 March 2016

Mikki Kunttu utilised a wide range of Robe fixtures - the new all-powerful ColorSpot 2500E AT, the workhorse ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E ATs, the new ColorSpot 700E ATs and ColorWash 250E ATs.

The deal with Robe was instigated by Eurovision 2007's technical production manager Ola Melzig, working for lighting and video suppliers/technical co-ordinators Spectra Stage & Event Technologies from Stockholm.

Melzig also used Robe moving lights for the 2005 event in Kiev, Ukraine. This proved such a positive success, that he was keen to repeat the experience when he and Spectra won the contract to technically produce the 2007 ESC.

"Robe lights are just so reliable that we had to have them again," states Melzig, who cut the deal with Robe's internatio

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14 March 2016

For FOH, Britannia Row Productions used a system comprising 48 Butterfly Hi-Pack and 16 Subtech 218 (plus six dV-Dosc on front-fill duty), all powered by Outline T series amplifiers, processed by two Dolby Lake units and mixed with a Yamaha PM5D console.

The set-up changed according to the venue, but, generally two main hangs (16+16) of Hi-Pack systems were used, plus 8+8 for 'side' seating.

In charge of PA was Richard Trow, who was already familiar with a lot of the arenas, as he'd worked in them on the last Depeche Mode tour. He was supported by FOH assistant Davide Lombardi of Brit Row, who also assisted sound engineer Michael "Bunny" Warren (Simply Red

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14 March 2016

On an initial idea of a Fibre Optic Curtain, HFM on subsequent meetings with Phil and Nakheel moved it forward to the four 6M diameter circles of Stealth LED, manufactured by Element Labs in USA.

HFM project manager Simon Husband put a team together consisting of LED video guru Ian Henderson and Miami-based video director Jason Randolph.

Husband comments, "Ian and Jason worked brilliantly with me to bring the content and technical issues together. They had us so well set up that even on the night before first show day when it was confirmed that HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum was making a spe

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14 March 2016

PRG Europe have supplied supplied kit for the show, Medvitz says : "We're using a great deal of LED fixtures as well as Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12, PixelLine battens, MAC 2ks, Vari-Lite luminaires and a handful of Syncrolite searchlights. A lot of the three or four thousand LEDs are built into the scenery, primarily so that we can do a lot of cool close up lighting with Lionel and the band. They allow us to have a lot of colour changing effects on them while performing, and we can put them in spaces wher

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14 March 2016

Lostprophets and their front-of-house engineer Alan 'Doof' McCann specified an Alpha system worldwide for two tours in 2006. Following the success of last autumn's theatre tour, the band is back to play their first arena headlining shows. For these dates, SSE Audio Group has upgraded them to a Nexo Geo T Series system plus Nexo NX242 second-generation digital controller, fitted with NXtension (expander) memory cards, and carrying the NXstream software operating system.

"It's the best I've ever heard it sound," says Jason 'Baboon' Hattams, SSE's senior systems tech. "The syst

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14 March 2016

Visitors to the stand will have the opportunity of seeing the effects that lighting can provide. The Martin team will be on hand to demonstrate the latest products and innovations of its growing range, including the new LED Videowall LC2140.

Stand C24, in Earls Court 2.

(Chris Henry)