Eire - Dublin-based lighting EQL has supplied a ChamSys MagicQMaxi Wing to LD Kris Berzins for Rodrigo y Gabriela's European festival tour. Berzins chose the console for a number of reasons, one being its compact size, as they are flying to most venues.

This is the second time Berzins has used a MagicQ Maxi Wing for Rodrigo yGabriela, as he also used it on a short American tour. One of the functions that Berzins is using the most is the built in pixel mapper which allows you to make visually stunning effects in seconds.

Mathew Killmurray is deputising for Berzins on some shows and as a new user of ChamSys was given full training at EQL Dublin. After the day's training he felt totally comfortable taking the desk out.

EQL stocks the ChamSys range of MagicQ products for hire and sale in Ireland and are available to demo or train anyone wishing to learn more about their products

Europe - Depeche Mode continue their busy live performance career, touring their 12th studio album Sounds of The Universe. Once again, XL Video is supplying video equipment - Custom built screen, cameras/PPU, Catalyst media servers - and crew to the production.

Jon Shrimpton is directing the live camera mix, lighting is designed by Paul Normandale and the stage, set and overall visual vibe has been created by the band's long time artistic director, Anton Corbijn. Filmmaker Corbijn also produced 10 bespoke films for the tour. The project is being co-ordinated from the XL Video UK office by Des Fallon.

It's Shrimpton's first DM tour as director. He says: "The chance of working with someone as imaginative and influential as Anton is truly inspiring. Initially, I was a bit like a teenager meeting my pop idol for the first time, but I soon relaxed because Anton's whole

USA - The planning and construction of Northwood Baptist Church's new worship centre in North Charleston, South Carolina, took nearly four years. "It took a little longer than we had originally hoped, but the patience paid off," admits worship pastor Michael Bell. "But by taking the time to get it right, we got way more than we ever thought we could have. Our new Allen &Heath iLive-T console is a perfect example."

Design-build integrator Signature Sight and Sound handled the audio, video and lighting for the new facility. "When the T Series was announced," says Mark Gladden, president and chief systems designer for Signature, "it had everything we had hoped for. It's got that Allen & Heath sound quality, with great EQ and mic preamps, plus virtually all the capabilities and ease of use of the full iLive, but at a very comfortable price point. W

Germany - Not so long ago OHM were linked with Ferrari to supply audio to their home town store in Milan, the company report that it has happened again, but this time for Maybach.

Maybach is a brand name that stands for elegance, luxury and the sense of prestige. They have been producing motor vehicles since 1909 but Wilhelm Maybach himself revolutionised the industry with the first combustion engine for a personal vehicle in 1885.

At the beginning of the year in the town of Neumarkt (near Nuremberg) Germany, the Maybach museum is home to some of the world's rarest models, cars which had limited product runs and lucky survivors of the Second World War. The museum houses the timeline of the Maybach developments dating back to works by Wilhelm and Karl, his son.

To keep Maybach's image of excellence, the museum was created in exactly the same manner. To go with the modern buil

The Netherlands - Mojo Barriers has made a rounded contribution to the 2009 U2 360º tour as the Dutch company underlines its international capabilities by supplying 700m of curved aluminium barrier system for the world tour.

Having been contracted to supply the touring crowd barrier system in late 2008, Mojo Barriers' project team was thorough in preparing the largest, most complex touring barrier system the company has ever designed. As the footprint of the gigantic stage spans the width of the stadium pitches, both the central stage and concentric 'B-stage' are closely surrounded by live audiences.

Safety was at the top of all concerned parties' priorities list in designing the barrier configuration, which used all elements of the Mojo Barriers system plus some custom-built elements. The challenge was managed using all Mojo Barriers' experience and flexibility.

Mojo's man

Australia - Australian Concert Productions Pty (ACP) is one of the largest suppliers of audio and lighting equipment in Australia. Their thriving rental division has just invested in a significant Turbosound FlexArray rig powered exclusively by Lab.gruppen's new PLM Powered Loudspeaker Management systems with on-board Lake Processing.

The new Turbo/Lab.gruppen system was put through its paces at a number of shows, and "ticked all the boxes" with the ACP team as well as receiving very favourable comments from several FoH engineers. "The guys were impressed by stunning audio quality as well as the coverage we achieved with the system," remarked ACP's director, Mick Privitera. "They also really appreciated how easy and straightforward it was to rig and configure." The first show was an outdoor festival for 6000 people featuring a number of top acts inc

UK - Catalyst distributor SNP Productions has supplied three top spec Catalyst v4 PRO media servers in custom SNP designed Catalyst system flightcases to the Mariinsky Theatre from St Petersburg for their production of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

The company - under the artistic direction of Valery Gergiev - performs all four operas in Das ring des Nibelungen on consecutive evenings at the Royal Opera House in London this week. In this latest staging of the production (first seen complete in 2003) projection has been added as a key visual element.

SNP's Simon Pugsley built and supplied the fully configured Catalyst system complete with a remote KVM (keyboard-video-mouse) monitoring solution which was a crucial requirement in projection designer Sven Ortel from Mesmer's specification. Ortel - who has used Catalyst on many previous projects, wanted a flexible 'plug & play

China - The Bird's Nest Summer Concert was held at the Beijing National Stadium last month, the first major event at the venue since the 2008 Summer Olympics. The visual spectacular featured performers from China, Taiwan and Spain and a massive stage set including six 80ft. columns wrapped in low-res LEDs, plus 19 large LED screens.

Production companies Kingsmark Enterprises of Hong Kong and ETG Staging Connections China installed the equipment, including eight Hippotizer HD media servers, routed through Barco Encore processors and controlled by two GrandMA full-size consoles.

"This was a very large production with many elements," says Loren Barton, TMB product specialist. "Hippotizer's control interface allows for easy live blind programming which made last minute changes easy to implement, even during the show. Hippotizer's Zookeeper software enabled th

UK - PLASA 2008 saw the successful launch of Litestructures LiteConsole. DJ, Paul Oakenfold, commissioned Litestructures, in association with partners Pioneer and Anolis, to design and manufacture a special touring console to highlight Oakenfold's stage presence.

The system (3m wide, 1.5m high and 1.2m deep) is lightweight, modular, easy to assemble, accommodates two 50' plasma screens at the front and has Oakenfold's name laser cut on the front fascia along with the Perfecto label branding on side panels.

Oakenfold's LiteConsole has toured the globe, supporting Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour and Lenny Kravitz.

The DJ comments: "I have been very impressed with the level of professional support and advice received from the Litestructures team, I am delighted with the beautiful piece of staging technology that has been produced. It made sense to custom design my o

Ireland - Dublin-based lighting firm EQL has supplied a ChamSys MagicQ Maxi Wing to LD Kris Berzins for Rodrigo y Gabriela's European festival tour. Kris choose the console for a number of reasons, one being its compact size, as they are flying to most venues. An essential feature was its powerful morphing and editing functions with different lighting equipment for each festival. This is thesecond time Kris has used a MagicQ Maxi Wing for Rodrigo y Gabriela, as he also used it on a short American tour. One of the functions that Kris is using the most is the built in pixel mapper which allows you to make visually stunning effects in seconds, says the company.

Mathew Killmurray is deputizing for Kris on some shows and as a new user of ChamSys was given full training at EQL Dublin. After the days training he felt very comfortable taking the desk out.

EQL stocks the ChamSys range

Jazz at The Palace - Buckingham Palace has been included on a shortlist of the UK's most important jazz venues. To mark the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' celebrated Kind of Blue album, Brecon Jazz Festival asked people to nominate unsung British live venues. The winning venue will receive a plaque as part of the scheme. Jazz legends Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet played at Buckingham Palace during royal command performances for George V between 1919 and 1932. The Queen's residence joined the likes of Ronnie Scott's and the infamous Club Eleven on the shortlist for the inaugural (Kind Of) blue plaque scheme.

Security Matters - A number of London's West End theatres are to boost their security to counter worsening audience behaviour, owners have said. It comes after reports of drunkenness and even fights during performances. The owners of several venues, includ

UK - For the eighth year running Hawthorns has supplied Walk the Walk's MoonWalk and SunWalk power walk challenges in aid of Breast Cancer charities.

As well as supplying the London MoonWalk held in Hyde Park, Hawthorns has also supplied the Edinburgh MoonWalk, and also the Bristol and Newcastle SunWalks.For the two MoonWalks and over 27,000 walkers, Hawthorns provided lighting, sound, staging, rigging and power distribution which was installed into De Boer's massive 'pink palace', a 150m x 60m Galaxy structure.

Three artics of lighting, sound, rigging, power distro and site services made their way to Hyde Park for the main structure and nine smaller ancillary marquees. Hawthorns used six main generators and over 10 miles of cable to supply the marquees, 280 toilets and numerous catering wagons with power.

Hawthorns also introduced t

UK - Northern Light has teamed up with key industry suppliers and manufacturers to showcase a range of audio and lighting products during the Edinburgh Festivals.

Running over two days - 19 and 20 August - the events will take place in Edinburgh University's Old College Quad, which lies in the heart of the city centre. Demonstrations of equipment from a host of industry suppliers will run on both days between 3 and 6pm.

Barclay Dakers, head of retail at Northern Light, said: "We've been working with festival productions in Edinburgh since the company was set up almost forty years ago and we're well aware of how busy everyone is. Nonetheless, we felt we could provide some value for industry professionals by offering product showcases on dates where most people are mid-run. We've also tried to choose a time of day where people will be free or between shows."

Products

Italy - An extensive Anolis architectural lighting scheme has been installed at the Millionaire Lounge Cafe, a new venue in the popular seaside town of Cattolica, Rimini.

The scheme was designed and specified by interior designer Pierpaolo Saioni who was working for independent owners, Magi, Gucciardi & Pipitone, and was supplied direct to the venue by Robe Multimedia, Anolis's Italian distributor.

The double-decked building stands right on the marina waterfront. It is styled with a contemporary deco twist and a distinct oceanic feel - almost like a liner - referencing a strong relationship to the Adriatic Sea. It features indoor dining and lounge rooms surrounded by airy outdoor terraces on both levels. It's open from 7 a.m. until late.

With many changing moods throughout the day Saioni wanted the environment to be able to shift along with the vibes, and good lighting is on

UK - Organisers praised Showsec following a successful Camp Bestival this July. In the event's second year, audience numbers increased by 50% from 10,000 to 15,000.

Loud Sound's event director Jim King commented: "We were very happy with the operation undertaken by Showsec at Camp Bestival. They had the right staff with the right attitude for the show and helped make it a pleasant and relaxed experience for all concerned."

Showsec supplied over 250 SIA licensed event security professionals to Camp Bestival, a new style of family oriented festival sited at Lulworth Castle on the Dorset coastline. The festival is the brainchild of promoter Rob da Bank, produced in collaboration with Loud Sound, and its standing results from it setting out from the start to cater for families, rather than adding feature areas for children as an afterthought. The sit

UK - Lighting and video designer for Maximo Park's latest sold-out UK tour is Stevie Marr who uses Martin MAC III Profiles, MAC 250 Washes and Atomic 3000 strobes in his design. Lighting supply is by Lite Alternative.

"I needed a quality laser effect without an actual laser because regulations prevent the crowd scanning effect that I really wanted," Marr says of his decision to eventually turn to the MAC III Profile for the look. Glen Johnson, who ran the show, recommended the MAC III for the job. They did that job and more."

Martin's 1500W MAC III Profile is being used extensively throughout the 2009 summer touring season (Elton John, Billy Joel, Beyonce, the Jonas Brothers to name a few).

"I have never used gobos with Maximo Park and have shied away from gobo looks for quite a few years now," explains Marr. "I'd never really seen a light that

UK - White Light supported HaHaHammersmith, a fund-raising evening of comedy and music held by the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in aid of the Lyric's creative learning department.

Those giving their time and talent to the evening included comedians Lee Mack, Jan Ravens, Shazia Mirza, Tom Basden and Ed Aczel, with music from the electric string quartet Stringfever and the BRIT-nominated band The Feeling.

To light the wide variety of performers, the Lyric's chief electrician Chris Harris turned to White Light for help. The company immediately offered support, supplying a rig of five Martin Mac250 Spots, five Martin Mac300 Wash, four ColorKinetics ColorBlaze 48 LED battens, and four GLP Impression moving LED washlights.

Harris was delighted by the performance of the lights, particularly when coupled with the theatre's recently-purchased ETC Eos console also supplied by Whi

USA - In a fixed installation where high performing sound systems are critical, North Shore Cinemas, a Marcus Theatres Cinema in Mequon, Wisconsin has chosen Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers to power its UltraScreen theatres. The theatre is the first to deploy I-Tech HD to power its audio systems.

Mark Collins, director of projection technology for Marcus Theatres comments: "I know that a lot of the technology in the amplifier was built with the tour sound market in mind. However, I think this type of application is even more demanding than having the equipment on the road because the amplifiers are constantly running. For cinemas you need power and reliability. These amps give us a ton of headroom and with Crown you know you are getting a great product,"

The move to I-Tech HD also proved to be cost-effective because the additional power means each theatre needs fewer ampl

UK - Cooper Controls has announced that MDG Fog Generators has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for the Zero 88 brand of performance theatrical dimmers and consoles in Canada. MDG is known within the entertainment industry as a leading manufacturer of fog and haze generators. MDG also has a distribution division that represents several well established performance lighting brands including Robert Juliat, Ayrton, and Rainbow.

"We are delighted to now have a brand of lighting consoles to offer to the Canadian market that complements our other brands, says Martin Michaud, president of MDG. "We approached Zero 88 a long time ago about becoming its distributor and are delighted that the product line has become available for us to represent. We are looking forward to presenting the range of exciting new consoles like the Orb and Jester TLXtra to Canada's lighting

UK - Richmond Theatre was built in 1899 as the Theatre Royal and Opera House. In June 2008 Maltbury were invited by Tim Foster architects to submit a proposal for the orchestra pit in-fill. This was part of a bigger project at the theatre and the deadline was very tight.

To simplify the changeover Maltbury strengthened the walls of the pit and created a load-bearing 'shelf' around the inside face. Decks were kept to a maximum of 2ft wide so they were easy to handle as they dropped into place on the ledge. No legs were needed. Maltbury also took on other specialist carpentry work on the site at short notice.

(Jim Evans)

France - The Stade de Roland Garros, the event grounds for the annual French Open tennis tournament, has recently implemented a major PA and digital audio network upgrade on its centre court. The world-famous arena has installed a Nexo Geo D line array system, complemented by compact full-range PS8 cabinets under the rafters, and powered by NXAMPs via an EtherSound digital audio network.

The stadium grounds are home to 20 courts that include the Court Philippe Chatrier and the Court Suzanne Lenglen, and the Tenniseum, a museum of tennis.

Court Philippe Chatrier is the main court. Built in 1928, it can hold 14,840 spectators. It is named after Philippe Chatrier, who was head of the French Tennis Federation and helped bring back tennis to the Summer Olympics in 1988. Today these grounds are known for hosting one of the four major grand slam titles of the APT tour and for being t

UK - i-Pix supplied a special package of BB4, BB7 and BB16 LED fixtures to Electric Fly Productions, show and lighting designers for the main stage, four arenas and two outdoor terrace areas at the 2009 Global Gathering dance event. This was staged at Long Marsden Airfield in Staffordshire, UK.

Electric Fly's Nick Jevons wanted to use specific fixtures for certain special effects. "I approached i-Pix because I could think of several areas that were ideal for their very high quality homogenised light output - which doesn't even resemble an LED fixture - and they came to the party with great enthusiasm," he says.

i-Pix Chris Ewington adds: " Nick is one of the most innovative lighting designers and his work is always interesting. Our products have all been developed after careful and considered end-user feedback, so events like this present great opportunit

UK - In the ten years since opening, London club fabric has been networking audio through its three dance rooms using the BSS Audio SW9088 Soundweb. During that time the venue's sound reinforcement has undergone constant revision to keep it at the cutting edge, but the DSP remained the same - until now.

"The old green boxes gave us great service but we had to own up to the fact that technology has moved on - processing speed has become a lot faster, and there is now greater capacity and more powerful capabilities," says head of technology Sanjeev (Sanj) Bhardwaj. This was something he became aware of last year when he was installing the audio at sister club, matter.

As a result he has just replaced the entire digital network with the new generation BSS Soundweb London BLU solution, using BSS Audio's BLU-Link network transport, endemic to the BLU-160 and BLU-120 devic

Germany - In July, XL Video equipped the two largest German motorsport events with video walls. The company was engaged as a full service provider for both the formula one racing from the 10-12 July at the Nürburgring and for the motorbike grand prix at the Sachsenring from 17-19 July. Due to the very short interval of time between the two races, most of XL Video's video trucks drove straight from the Nürburgring once the task of dismantling the installation was complete to the Sachsenring to begin setting up for the next event.

For the first event at the Nürburgring XL Video deployed almost 500sq.m of LED equipment. This included two 80-square-metre LED video trucks, five 50sq.m LED video trucks and two Mitsubishi DV 10 modular video walls that were mounted on the roof of the pit lane.

At the Sachsenring, 13 video walls with a combined LED video display area of 420sq.m pro

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