Australia - Channel 9 productions Today Show, Mornings and A Current Affair have recently moved into their larger Studio 22 at the Sydney Channel 9 premises to share the studio with Wide World of Sport, Sunday Footy Show, Australia's Funniest Home Video, The Footy Show plus other shows. This studio can produce between up to nine hours of live television seven days a week so with this in mind, the decision was made to upgrade of the studio control room.
As well as a new vision switcher, production area and studio floor upgrade, the studio control room now houses a new MA Lighting system comprising of two grandMA2 light consoles, a MA NPU (Network Processing Unit), a MA onPC command wing and a grandMA2 fader wing. The installation was completed in only a few weeks and training was given for those in the lighting department who had n
UK - Chroma-Q Color Force 72 RGBA LED battens were specified by award winning lighting designer Paule Constable for the new Cameron Mackintosh UK and Ireland touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of The Opera.
Paule's prolific design portfolio includes creating lit environments for the highest profile international theatre and opera productions, and her work is renowned worldwide for its experimentation, invention and creativity.
She had not used Color Force products before, but sought a powerful, well sized lightsource that could be utilised as an even spread 'soft light' tool to illuminate the numerous cloths and drapes that give Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic musical its period flavour and ambience.
Paule was impressed with the information available about the Chroma-Q Color Force range, so initially contacted Chroma-Q's exclu
USA - In order to keep the ETCP examinations fresh and current, the Subject Matter Experts have written new questions for the Theatre Rigging examination. ETCP is set to launch these questions 1 September, 2012.
To gather the statistical data necessary to properly score the exam, it is essential that as many theatre riggers as possible are tested during the month of September. To further this initiative, the test administration fee of $675 for groups of 10 or more will be waived for the month of September. Candidate application fees will still apply and score reports will be delayed during this time.
A new test form was also created for Arena Rigging and will be launched 1 July. Registered candidates and those interested in applying can assist in gathering data for these exams by testing at one of the 190 computer-based testing centres during that month.
USA - Lighting professionals and retailers can get a firsthand look at Elation's latest products in the company's new 'real life settings' showroom during a special open house and 'road show' stop on Wednesday 18 July. The open house, which runs from 11 am to 4 pm for dealers and 4 pm to 8 pm for end users, features hands on demonstrations, programmed light shows, free swag and give-away raffles for some of Elation's leading products.
Since the open house will be held in Elation's new showroom, visitors will have the opportunity to see the company's lighting and video products in realistic settings that mirror real world applications. The recently completed showroom has a full stage setting as well as a simulated broadcast studio and architectural display featuring our sister company Acclaim lighting products.
"Our new showroom has been designed to allow visitors to see h
France - Hire company Concept Audio has joined the growing list of Adamson's Energia beta partners. In addition to their new acquisition, the long-time Adamson partner also carries Y18s, Y10s, T21 Subs, SpekTrix and M15 monitors in their inventory.
Pierrick Burgin and Hugues Mongrand are founders and the managing directors of Concept Audio. "The Y18 did not disappoint, our techs and customers were in heaven", comments Burgin recalling the early days of line arrays. As Adamson started to make the new Energia system's details public, Concept Audio kept in close contact with Adamson's French distributors DV2, about becoming a member of the Energia Network. Recently Concept Audio had the opportunity to join Project Energia and jumped at the chance.
The first Concept gig with the E15 system was Spring Fest promoted by FM Radio Allouette, taking place outdoors for a
Australia - Brisbane's Family Nightclub is one of Australia's largest and most enduring nightclubs spread out over four floors and five bars, including one made completely of ice. It has been host to some of the biggest names and best DJs from DJ Tiesto to Paul Van Dyk and Deepdish.
The venue regularly reinvents itself in order to keep on top of the city's club scene and the latest transformation saw a new Martin lighting system installed courtesy of Josh Frey Productions, the club's preferred lighting installer.
Production manager David Fairless received an all Martin lighting package consisting of eight MAC 700 Profiles, eight MAC 101 LED moving head wash lights and four MAC Aura compact LED moving head wash lights with zoom.
Every three months or so, Fairless changes the lighting set up but currently there are two circular trusses above the dance floor; the outside ring h
USA - General Scenery has officially opened its doors in Orlando, Florida at 1701 Directors Row. Specialising in custom built scenery, rentals and graphics for large corporate productions, theme parks, studios and special events, General Scenery is housed in a 34,000sq.ft facility. The company is able to ship and work anywhere in the world, but is conveniently located near all Orlando convention hotels, theme parks and the Orange County Convention Centre.
Selby Sullivan, owner and president, has re-assembled an experienced staff capable of meeting the demands of deadlines with the greatest attention to detail. Selby opened his first scenery company in 1994 which grew from a small garage workshop to its current size. "General Scenery is the next evolution of that company and the culmination of many years of experience," says Sullivan.
France - Wireless Solution Sweden was recently a quiet and unobtrusive contributor to an exclusive private event at the Opera Garnier in Paris, a historical monument built in the 19th century.
Audioscène supplied the lighting and the W-DMX for this event and managed by Paris-based W-DMX distributor CSI-France.
The client wished not to impinge on and distort the scene but highlight each relief and ornament of the palace and Audioscène co-manager Vincent Cognard was asked to provide discreet and quiet products. Two Wireless Solution W-DMX BlackBox F-1 transmitters were used to send signal to a subtle assembly of EventKolor Starway and Vari*Lite VL3500 fixtures. The result was a stunning reveal of the architectural aspects of the interior of the building.
"CSI is a very strong team," says Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution, "Our products fit in very nat
Hong Kong - Fohhn Audio Linea LX-100 line source loudspeakers have been installed at the Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong. Located in the New Territories, Sha Tin is the larger of Hong Kong's two racecourses, with a capacity of 85,000 including two grandstands and stabling for around 1260 horses.
The new loudspeaker systems are required to cover main spectator areas. Used for transmitting commentaries and announcements during race meetings, speech intelligibility is high on the agenda, as is the demand for the systems to appear relatively unobtrusive.
Twenty-nine Fohhn Linea Series LX-100 loudspeakers have been installed in the spectator areas, supplied in a special colour to blend with the surroundings. The lightweight speaker systems are based on Fohhn's hybrid line array principle, combining eight 4" neodymium high performance low-mid speakers and a 1" compression
Germany - Pro audio and MI manufacturer Music Group has announced an agreement with Neutrik to incorporate REAN components into all Behringer and Bugera products. This agreement comes on the heels of several initiatives undertaken by Music Group over the past year and the surprise announcement of a three-year warranty launched at NAMM in January and covering all Behringer and Bugera products.
"We have been using Neutrik components on all of our Midas and Klark Teknik products for decades and started to use Neutrik products on the X32 digital mixer; we have come to respect both the company and their products in the process," states Music Group founder and CEO, Uli Behringer. "In our relentless drive to build the world's best pro audio products we are switching over to REAN components on all Behringer and Bugera products."
UK - Devon- based drapes, starcloth, LED and visual effects specialists S+H Technical Support again supplied its innovative LED Video Floor to the latest series of high profile television games show, The Cube - via producers Objective Television.
The series is recorded at Fountain TV Studios in Wembley, London, and broadcast on ITV 1.
Presented by Philip Schofield, contestants can win up to £250,000 of prize money by completing straightforward tasks within a 4 x 4m perspex cube, which becomes extremely challenging with the addition of disorientating visuals and sonic effects plus the pressure of being in front of a live audience. As such, the video floor has an integral role in the show's overall concept.
S+H's product was specified by set designer Julian Healey as a versatile, robust and cost-effective solution to run their floor based immersive visual effects.
Italy - A powerful audio system based around Community R-Series loudspeakers has been installed as part of a flood warning system for the city of Venice. The system, supplied by Prase Engineering, was specified by audio consultant Ing. Umberto Nicolao and installed by Verona-based S.T.A.S.
The canals, which form much of its transport infrastructure and carry thousands of gondolas, launches, barges and water buses, are tidal and therefore constantly changing. High tide levels mean reduced headroom under bridges and the city's transportation may need to re-route. When pavements and other pedestrian areas disappear under water, raised walkways may need to be erected. The city's population and its large number of commuters are used to this, but accurate, timely information about the tides is important so that changes are made to keep daily life on track.
Australia - The recent Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, La Traviata, was Opera Australia's most ambitious project to date held on a purpose-built stage on the waters of Sydney Harbour.
Set designer Brian Thomson's minimal but striking stage design was dominated by a giant chandelier, measuring 9m x 9m, which sparkled with thousands of Swarovski crystals symbolising the world of Verdi's much-loved opera with its glittering Parisian salons. The chandelier was suspended from a 26m crane, blackened out so that it is invisible against the night sky.
The La Traviata chandelier took 720 man hours to manufacture and 240 man hours to assemble. Along with the beautiful 10,000 Swarovski Elements crystals, the chandelier contained 1,025 crystal shapes, 23,104 facets, 3,000 LED lights and 12 Vari*Lite VLX LED wash lights. The VLX were chromium plated especially for this product
Music Masters - Peter Hook, a member Joy Division and New Order, is launching a music industry degree. The University of Central Lancashire is partnering the bass guitarist and other music industry figures in a degree in management and promotion. The university says this will be the first such masters degree in the UK.
"What I've learned is that life is a balance between idealism and realism," says Hook. "One of the great things about education is that it should stop you making mistakes - and I have made a lot of mistakes."
As a mentor to students, he wants them to benefit from his own experience of how not to manage the business - with record labels and night clubs, such as Factory and the Hacienda. "The way that Factory worked, it was full of very creative people who never looked after business - and that's why all those businesses crashed. They were
UK - Roland UK has relocated its London showroom and offices to Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, in a move that sees both Roland Systems Group (RSG) and Roland Music set firmly in the heart of the live music and production industry.
Now in its 21st year, the iconic Metropolis Group is the most successful independent recording and production facility in Europe, offering a range of mastering, creative and production services for the music film and TV industries.
"The decision to move to Metropolis Studios is part of our long-term strategy to increase our visibility as a total solutions provider to audio and video professionals," says Peter Heath, business development director at Roland UK. "The obvious synergy between both RSG and Music products are demonstrated clearly in an environment such as Metropolis - and being in such an environment allows us to gain a bett
UK - Hot on the heels of Australian indie rockers Temper Trap being the first band to tour with a Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console on monitors, mid-May saw the first shows to use a CL5 at front of house. The three sold-out events at London's Royal Albert Hall were all very different and Reading-based SFL Group found that the CL5 delivered everything expected of it - and more.
SFL is the Albert Hall's AV partner and one of the first UK rental companies to invest in the CL series. The three back-to-back events - a schools choir concert, church leadership conference and ballet on ice - provided the opportunity to give the company's new CL5 a real test.
The first event was the annual Hertfordshire Music Service gala, which saw over 2500 children from schools all over Hertfordshire perform in two separate shows on the same day. The second - the following day - was the leadership c
Czech Republic - Anolis LED fixtures have been specified and installed to illuminate both interior and exterior of the impressive central feature at the Nová Karolina shopping centre in Ostrava.
The new 100 million euro development in the Czech Republic's third largest city is one of the largest inner-city development projects in the country and part of one of central Europe's largest urban revitalisations .
The spacious multi-level environment was designed by architect Har Hollands from Dutch company T+T Design, working with Czech architects K4 from Brno.
It includes hundreds of high profile premium brand and designer stores, quality food and drink outlets, a multi-screen cinema complex and sports and leisure facilities.
The frustum (truncated triangle) shaped centrepiece ('Komol? Jehlan' in Czech) creates a sense of drama and spectacle right at the heart of the busy spa
UK- Situated in Mayfair's exclusive Berkeley Street, Novikov Restaurant & Bar is the first restaurant to be opened outside his native Russia by successful multiple operator, Arkady Novikov.
Set on a massive 17,500sq.ft footprint covering three floors (with a combined capacity of 565 people), the multi-million pound venue combines top class pan-Asian and classic Italian cuisine, wrapped around theatre kitchens, with a basement Lounge Bar which metamorphoses into a nightclub. This is set against a background of super cool, customer profiled music - played through carefully selected sound reinforcement systems, which have been designed and installed by the Sound Division Group (SDG).
The interior was designed by Russian company Geometry Design Moscow in partnership with London-based project managers, Keir Townsend - who introduced Sound Division to work alongside Geometry's lead
UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL supplied a substantial 'specials' package - including 170 moving lights, custom metal ribs inset with LEDs and a Kinesys automation system - for The Prodigy's hell-raising headliner performance at the 2012 Download festival, staged at Donnington Race Track near Derby.
The band's show visuals were designed by Andy Hurst. As it was also the band's only UK festival appearance this summer Hurst wanted to do something on an epic and grand scale.
HSL's Mike Oates project managed with HSL's Tim Fawkes working as system and console tech on-site, and also assisting Hurst with the WYSIWYG pre-programming, completed in HSL's dedicated visualisation facility at their new warehouse in Blackburn.
The backbone of the rig was 16 custom 8m high curved 'ribs' which were all individually outlined with LEDs, flown across the full stage width on three
UAE - Roland Professional distributors in the region, Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises have recently supplied Abacus Rentals based in Dubai with a complete Roland Professional Audio system solution.
The solution includes the M-400 audio mixing console, the digital snake modules - S1608, S0816, S0808 and other components.
"With the solution in place, they now can provide a standalone digital snake solution which can be used with any analog or digital console," commented Moswain Antao, Roland product specialist. "However, together with the M-380 they now also have a digital snake that can communicate directly with the digital snake components to provide complete routing flexibility."
UK - The Hampton Court Palace Festival returned to celebrate its 20th Anniversary this June with another line up of world-class acts including Liza Minnelli, Van Morrison and Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. PRG supplied a comprehensive lighting and rigging package for the summer concerts.
In conjunction with PWR Events, PRG's senior account manager Dominic Sheerman worked with lighting designer Jonny Gaskell to provide architectural lighting around Clock Court, Fountain Court, The East Front and many public walk ways of the Palace as well as illuminating the main stage.
The outdoor concerts take place on an open stage in Base Court, allowing the public to appreciate the spectacular Palace setting, which is in view around the stage.
PRG's Crew Chief, Paul Makin and his crew loaded in the equipment throughout long periods of wet weather.
UK - Unusual Rigging has announced that Garsington Opera Pavilion has won a RIBA Award for architectural excellence.
This puts Garsington Opera Pavilion among the RIBA Award winners from which the shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for Building of the Year will be drawn, but it is not the only RIBA prize the project has received. Other Awards include RIBA Regional Building of the Year Award, sponsored by Ibstock Brick, and - happily for Garsington Opera themselves - RIBA Regional Client of the Year.
RIBA President Angela Brady said: "For nearly fifty years the RIBA Awards have reflected the changing state of British architecture and revealed emerging design trends. What really stands out is that even in times of austerity, we can still deliver amazingly clever, high quality buildings that reflect the needs of today and enhance our daily lives. The judges were delighted
UAE - Melody House, distributors of HK Audio speaker systems have recently supplied the Dubai Ladies Club with a HK Audio Elements system. The system includes two of the EA600 self-powered sub woofers, two EP1 extendable poles and four E435 Mid-Hi Tops which can be easily dismantled for transportation or storage.
"In terms of flexibility, the Elements provide a unique combination of portability, scalability and most importantly sound quality without compromise," commented Richard Woida, HK Audio product specialist at Melody House.
The Netherlands - The Concertgebouw Amsterdam is one of the world's most renowned concert venues, acclaimed for its excellent acoustics. The impressive building has been the centre of classical music in the Netherlands for well over a century and with the assistance of Genelec speakers, the Concertgebouw Café's sound is now equal to the grand auditorium itself.
With annual attendance hitting more than 800,000, the Concertgebouw is one of the world's best attended concert venues. Having drawn artists such as Paul McCartney and The Who over the years and home to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, it is imperative the sound quality across the venue is pristine. These standards extend across the site to its hospitality zones and a recent installation of Genelec 4030As has elevated the aural aspect of the Concertgebouw Café to the levels expected by guest visiting the c