Finland - Barco once again played a key role in show visualisation at this year's 52nd Eurovision Song contest, staged in Helsinki and hosted by Finish broadcaster YLE. With an impressive combination of LED technology and digital projectors, the show was bigger and more visually entertaining than ever before.

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

UK - Lightfactor Sales has supplied SPS Audio with a selection of fixtures from Italian lighting manufacturer LDR's extensive theatrical range for a new installation at the UK's award winning Eden Project 'green' attraction in Cornwall.

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

Germany With 22 dates in 3,000 to 12,000-capacity halls, Reamonn's recent Wish tour reflects their status as one of the most successful rock bands in Germany. Satis&Fy deployed EV systems to ensure that the sound reinforcement matched up.

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

Finland - Over 500 Robe moving lights were used on the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest staged in Helsinki's Hartwall Arena.

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

Europe - After the Middle East & South East Asia Tour 2007, in March Sir Cliff Richard continued his tour in the largest European arenas, starting from Finland ( Helsinki ) and finishing in Germany ( Frankfurt ).

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

Dubai - Hugh Frazer-Mann's HFM Lighting & Sound installed 1,316 Stealth tiles on the Nakheel exhibition stand at this year's ATM 2007 show in Dubai. Nakheel is the largest land developer in Dubai and builder of the Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel, The World and Coral Resort islands.

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

UK - The Lionel Richie tour has just passed through the UK. Show designer, Chris Medvitz of Lightswitch, spoke of his concept for the tour, back in the rehearsal period, saying: "We tried to take the look from videos and album artwork to make the transition to live. We were keen to keep the focus on the performers, rather than have special effects and gimmicks."

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

UK - Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets is the first in the world to tour with a Nexo Geo T Series array system implementing the new NXstream system management software. Nexo claims that the new operating software offers significant improvements to system flexibility and audio quality.

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

UK - Martin Professional will be exhibiting at this year's BAR Show, held at Earls Court from the 5-6 June. Martin's aim is to show how it can provide solutions for external bar lighting in view of the new smoking ban legislation.

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)

UK - Fuzion plc will join forces with DiGiCo to stage a unique product demo showcase at London's Hippodrome in Leicester Square on Tuesday 22 May.

The event, which will run from 11am-5pm, provides an opportunity for sound engineers, theatre technicians and rental companies to gain hands-on experience and training on DiGiCo's D5 and D1 digital consoles, sending multitrack mixes to Nexo's new GEO D10 tangential array, which will be flown in the venue.

The fully integrated D5 front-of-house and monitor system, with multi track/plug-in unit and ubiquitous stage rack, will be linked by a fully redundant fibre optic system to the Nexo loudspeaker system. A DiGiCo D1 will be available to allow attendees to familiarise themselves with a real-life mixing situation.

Fuzion sales director Paul Ward says: "These two major brands will be combining in a way never seen before, at a le

India - One of India's leading sound production companies, V&P Sound Pvt. Ltd., has purchased a DriveRack 4800 system processor from dbx Professional Products, a division of Harman International.

The Bangalore-based company, who undertake live concert work and multi-city tours with well-known Indian bands, operate a highly-specified fleet including dbx and BSS Audio processing, Soundcraft mixing consoles, AKG microphones and JBL VerTec and VRX sound reinforcement systems.

It was principally to run JBL's portable compact VRX932LA 12-inch, two-way line array loudspeaker that the company has added dbx's flagship processor to its inventory.

V&P Sound's Director, Vishnu, confirmed that the company will be using the DriveRack 4800 to control this PA in smaller gigs and the VRX915M monitors in larger capacity venues.

"We have been using dbx products since 1999, and they are

UK - Visitors to this week's Harman Pro UK product roadshows in Dublin, Liverpool and Guildford can win a limited-edition AKG C414 microphone worth £1000.

Anyone visiting the PA School in the evening of each roadshow will have the chance to enter into a prize draw to win an anniversary-edition AKG C414 - only 2007 are being produced this year, to celebrate AKG's 60th year in business, and one of them can be won at each of the three roadshow locations.

Roadshow attendees will also receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on selected gear from Harman Group companies, including the AKG D5 and C5 on-stage microphones, any of Soundcraft's EPM- and MPM-series mixers, Lexicon's MX-series reverb processors, and dbx's 166XL dual compressor/limiter/gate.

(Jim Evans)

Finland - FogScreen projection screen stood centre stage with last year's winners Lordi when they opened the Eurovision 2007 Finals, broadcast live across Europe. The show opened to atmospheric effects projected onto the FogScreen projection screen, followed by a visual narrative of northern Finland before returning to the live broadcast with Lordi onstage, playing their winning song from Eurovision 2006, Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Lighting designer Mikki Kunttu says: "When we first began planning for Eurovision in Helsinki, one of the first products we brought into discussions was FogScreen projection screen. Production manager Ola Melzig had already earlier been interested to bring FogScreen projection screen in to the show. But this year we did, I mean, how can you do a Eurovision in Finland without a FogScreen projection screen? It is, after all, a Finnish product!&qu

USA - Appearances by more than 100 of the world's top rock bands made the 2007 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, 27-29 April, the hottest place to be in Southern California - out-sizzling even the 100 degree temperatures that cloaked the Empire Polo Field venue. PRG supplied the lighting equipment and crew for the main stage at the three-day show, as well as the site lighting for the grounds.

Working with event production manager Ron Doroba, PRG also provided lighting design coordination for the main stage, pulling together designs for headliners Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine as well as other popular US and international acts into one system.

Overall, PRG supplied more than 70 moving lights along with numerous ColorBlast LED fixtures for the main stage. To illuminate almost 200 acres of grounds, PRG fitted 24 PAR 64 fix

Norway - An expansive, multi-zone health and fitness centre in Oslo has entrusted all its sound protocols to ZonePRO 1261 digital zone controllers from dbx Professional Products. This solution accommodates all the Myrens Sportssenter's requirements, from the aerobic and spinning sessions to the reception priority overrides and fire alarm interface.

The ZonePRO 1261 digital zone processor forms the hub of an integrated Harman Pro system proposed by distributors, LydRommet. The company was approached by the landlord of the historic building, which has been converted from the famous old Myrens Verksted mechanical workshops that existed here during the last century. Sharing ownership of the large building are four companies who respectively manage indoor climbing, squash, general fitness and golf driving simulation.

Although fitness centres are familiar territory for LydRommet the

France - /ETC/ Paris has specified and installed a live interactive projection system featuring a combination of their OnlyView control system and Christie video projectors for a video artwork at the newly re-opened Chateau des Duc de Bretagne museum attraction in Nantes.

The renowned Chateau des Duc de Bretagne castle has just re-opened after 15 years of renovation work and 3 years of complete closure. It features an innovative new video artwork covering the entire southern frontage of the building, created by Sylvie Sieg and Pierre Negre from Grenoble based agency, Atelier Lumiere, specialists in urban illumination.

It was the first time Atelier Lumiere has used video projection. They approached /ETC/ Paris - initially in 2004 - to work alongside them on the collaboration because of the company's reputation and experience in the specialist field of monumental and building pr

UK - Britannia Row Productions' Outline Butterfly system was used on James Taylor's One Man Band UK tour, which took place from 6-30 April. 24 Hi-pack and four Subtech 218 cabinets were employed for the tour, with their relative Outline T series amplification. In addition, two compact DVS 8 monitors were used on front-fill duties.

Davide Lombardi served as head of audio on the tour on behalf of Brit Row, as well as assistant to David Morgan, James Taylor's FOH engineer. He commented: "It was a great challenge - I had 24 Butterfly and two DVS8s controlled by two Dolby Lake units, and had to change the rig's set-up 10 times in 12 different venues, but the system responded fantastically. As it was an acoustic concert, it was fundamental for the vocals and guitar to be clear and up-front everywhere in the theatre - from the front stalls to the last row in the circle.&quo

Greece - One of the best-known nightclubs in Greece, the 7,000 capacity Galea Club, in the seaside area of Voula Attikis, Athens, has just enjoyed a full renovation. This included a serious update of its primary sound systems, which now comprise EAW and RCF loudspeakers that are exclusively Lab.gruppen driven.

The Galea Club is unique in being both a mainstream, year-round venue catering to the local crowd, and one of the must popular summer places to where sun worshippers flock in their many thousands. This puts a lot of pressure on the venue, and especially the sound system that must operate faultlessly 24/7. The Galea combines vigorous dance floor action with a lounge esthetic. And the club mixes an ultra-modern atmosphere with gourmet dishes in the luxurious restaurant it incorporates. The principal of PAVD, the designers and installers of the sound and lighting systems, Mr.

USA - Wybron reports that it has secured three installations of its InfoTrace Control and Management System. These have been installed in Manhattan Theatre Club, Royal Caribbean's newest ship Liberty of the Seas and the permanent installation of Spamalot in Las Vegas.

"Wybron is committed to making great solutions that support our customers' art and allow them to better manage their lighting designs," said Larry Turner, CEO of Wybron. "We are pleased that Manhattan Theatre Club, Royal Caribbean and Spamalot chose our InfoTrace Control and Management System. Accepting the RDM platform places them at the forefront of the industry, and we appreciate their enthusiasm for our new products. We expect to see the number of InfoTrace instalments increase throughout the year as RDM catches on."

All three of these clients loaded in InfoTrace during the first qu

UK - The White House in Clapham, London SW, has installed a substantial Turbosound-based sound system as part of a major refit. The White House was originally opened in 2001 as a bar and restaurant, but the three-storey Georgian building has now been converted into a bar/nightclub hybrid. The ground floor features the nightclub and main restaurant area, the first floor a roof terrace and lounge area, with a private members bar on the top floor.

For the sound system, operations director Yann Roberts chose a combination of Turbosound QLight, TCS Compact and Impact loudspeakers . Two TQ-445DPs and two TSB-118 subs service the dance floor area; the restaurant is appointed with six tq-310s, augmented by six TSB-110 subs, while eight Impact 50s with four TSB-110 subs, six TCS-101C and a further TSB-118 provide audio for the first floor. Finally, on the third floor, six Impact 50Ts are

UK - Cambridge-based Audica Professional has announced a significant expansion of its distribution with the appointment of three new distributors - MOCOM Communications Systeme Handelsgesellschaft in Austria, QSC Audio Products Spain, S.L in Spain and Venuetech LLC in the UAE.

Audica Professional was launched at PLASA in 2006 with just two distributors, CUK Audio in the UK and M-Pro in the BeNeLux. This has expanded rapidly and the company now has established distribution throughout all major European markets as well as in Russia, parts of Asia and Australia.

Derek West, sales director of Audica Professional, comments, "The last eight months have shown amazing growth in our distribution and sales, and proved the importance of the main industry exhibitions, the pro audio media and distributor networking. Being with CUK from the start gave us a successful PLASA launch and w

Denmark - Martin Professional A/S has had a good start to 2007, maintaining the improvements that the company experienced in 2006. Martin increased revenue to DKK 274.5 million (approx. $49.9 million) in the first quarter of 2007, a Q1 record for the company, from DKK 227.5 million (approx. $41.4 million) in the first quarter of 2006, nearly a 21% increase.

Revenue increases were prevalent across all of Martin's key markets with strong demand for both established products such as MAC 2000s and newer products such as the MAC 700 and MAC TW1. Profit before tax for the first quarter of 2007 was DKK 9.1 million (approx. $1.6 million), also a Q1 record, compared to a loss of DKK 3.0 million (approx. $.5 million) in the first quarter of 2006, which was better than expected, says the company.

Continued improvements in quality standards and supply capacity coupled with expected strong

UK - With work on their fourth album currently in progress, in April Welsh metal band Lostprophets took a break from writing and recording to undertake a UK arena tour. The band's Front of House engineer Doof spec'ed 10 XTA processors for the tour.

The dates, at the Glasgow SECC, Manchester MEN Arena, Birmingham NIA and London's Wembley Arena, gave the band a chance to blow away the cobwebs, while giving their UK fan base a preview of one or two new songs.

Supplied by UK rental company SSE Audio, the audio system comprised the latest generation Nexo Geo_T NXStream line array, mixed on a Midas H3000 console. Also specified were six XTA C2 compressors and four G2 noise gates.

The G2s were used across the drums, while the C2s were used on the bass guitar (which was both mic'd and DI'd), clean guitar channels and keyboards.

"I've worked on a lot of things for SSE but I ca

UK - CGA Integration has completed enhancement of Great Fosters renowned Oak room restaurant with dining audio. Gracing an estate of more than fifty acres in what was once the heart of Royal Windsor Forest in Surrey, Great Fosters hotel is a Grade One listed building, combining 16th century grandeur and luxurious modern facilities.

The Oak room at Great Fosters is a prestige dining venue, which prides itself on personal service, quality of finish, attention to detail and inspired gourmet food, for which background classical and light jazz audio was required. A secondary but important function of the sound track was to achieve audio masking of occasional intrusive noises, preserving the exclusivity of the dining experience.

Coming to the project fresh from the Dorchester Crystal Bar installation and through contacts at Le Manoir, CGA Integration were ideally suited to respond t

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