Australia - Located in an old pie factory from the early 1900's, The Grounds of Alexandria is the flagship venue for its specialty coffee. The site hosts a coffee research and testing facility alongside a café, opening onto a luscious garden of heirloom vegetables and fragrant herbs.

The integrity of the former warehouse has been retained by embracing its rustic and industrial aesthetic. Black and steel frames, bespoke wooden cabinetry and polished white and green subway tiles are contrasted against vintage wooden tables and refitted shipping containers.

With a holistic approach to food and design; The Grounds offers a wholesome and rustic menu. The kitchen uses sustainable practices including; picking fresh herbs every morning and working with full time horticulturalist to grow seasonal produce for the menu.

York Antoniou of York Entertainment was asked by his client

South Korea - The Global Mission (Jiguchon) Church is an evangelical 'megachurch' with a total of over 20,000 people attending its 14 Sunday services. A feature of the church is a DiGiCo SD7 console with EX-007 expander, installed to help ensure that its gospel is spread as widely as possible.

The church has four buildings - the main Bundang church and the GMN Chapel in Bundang-gu, the Suji church in nearby Suji-gu and the Gyeonggi University Chapel in Suwon-si.

In addition to the Sunday services - which include gatherings for children, youth, university groups, young adults, foreign language services in English, Chinese, Japanese and a specific service for foreign workers - the Bundang church holds prayer meetings every day except Sunday and additional Wednesday services.

The SD7 and EX-007 have been installed to take care of two discrete mixes. The first - mixed from the S

Australia / USA - Lighting designer Theo Cox's visual scheme for the current Seal world tour brings a fresh innovative approach, mixing the mediums of lighting, video and automation into a stunning asymmetric swirl of drama, suggestion and energy.

The design has proved extremely popular, and won much industry acclaim as the tour completed its first Australian and US legs, and is ready to hit Europe later in the autumn.

UK based Cox first worked with the multi-award winning musician/singer/songwriter Seal in summer 2011, and was then approached to create a design concept for the upcoming 'Soul 2' tour.

Given a largely open brief for the design, it had to be adaptable to a variety of different venue sizes, ultimately tourable and use kit that could be sourced worldwide as well as fitting into an expedient truck pack!

Evoking a clean, elegant and dynamically different look on

USA - The Owner's Box Sports Bar and Grill at the new Omni Dallas Hotel has become the hot-spot for both intense game-watching and socializing in this sports-centric city. As the name implies, the concept here is to give fans a privileged seat and then pull them into the game-a technological feat accomplished by a total of 72 HDTV screens and powerful surround sound systems incorporating 40 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.

Walker Engineering of Irving, Tex. provided design assistance and installation for the audio, video, and lighting (AVL) systems, with Kip Kendrick, the company's business development manager for AVL, spearheading conceptual design.

"I'm not a huge sports fan myself," admits Kendrick, "but I love the feeling I get watching a game on my big screen at home with good surround sound. I knew that if we wanted to bring the fans downtown, we had

UK - The awe-inspiring - and completely distinctive - Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which spectacularly book-ended the London 2012 Olympics, were a triumph for the respective artistic directors, Danny Boyle and Kim Gavin.

Described as the most creative yet, to ensure the realisation of these ambitious concepts, the sound and lighting designers were also faced with enormous technical challenges.

Specialising in this scale of event production for more than a decade, Australian company Norwest Productions again teamed up with their UK partners Delta Sound to provide the necessary Optocore fibre signal transport, custom RF solutions and LAN networking. This sophisticated connectivity realised the sound design conceived by fellow Australian Scott Willsallen (of Auditoria) - another with a string of Games Opening/Closing events on his CV - in conjunction with theatre sound designe

UK - Several years ago, Rosco innovated the concept of "a colour that keeps on giving" and Rick Fisher created Supergel 313, Light Relief Yellow. Rosco committed to make a donation to Light Relief from the income generated by the sales of the colour. This year's cheque presented by Mark Engel, Rosco's CEO brought Rosco's contribution to Light Relief to $28,076.

In presenting the cheque to Matthew Griffiths, Engel said: "Every year, I have the opportunity to stand here with you and present Light Relief with a cheque for the proceeds from global sales of Rosco Supergel 313 Light Relief Yellow. It is one of the most fulfilling moments of the show for me and for Rosco. As you know we work hard to offer real solutions and tools for designers through our products, and working with you to develop this colour that continues year after year to provide much-needed, tangible

UK - Robe lighting enjoyed "a fabulous and highly eventful PLASA 2012 exhibition at Earl's Court".

In addition to a super-busy four-day expo, the Czech moving light manufacturer launched seven new products; won a 2012 PLASA Innovation Award; raised £6,200 for industry charity Light Relief with the auction of a genuine Olympic Torch and hosted a popular party on the Sunday night.

Robe's 'Working With Winners' campaign launched earlier this summer embraced new levels of excitement, with Robe CEO Josef Valchar commenting, "It was an incredible PLASA all round for us - carrying on what's been an amazing year". Robe also celebrated its tenth PLASA.

Back in 2002 the company burst on the scene with its first PLASA as an 'own brand' entity, up to that point having been a quality OEM manufacturer of some experience.

In this short time, Robe has rocketed fr

Canada - Audio companies are justifiably pleased with every new installation of their products, but US-based Community Professional Loudspeakers is especially proud when its products go beyond long-term anniversaries.

The Community installation at the Duke Point Ferry Terminal at Nanaimo on Vancouver Island has been facing the full force of coastal weather 365 days a year for 15 years. The cluster system, which utilises Community's legendary M4 compression driver on five PC1542M and three PC1564M long-throw, pattern-control horns, was designed by Barry McKinnon of MC Squared System Design Group of Vancouver and installed by Don Crocker and the team at Victoria, BC-based Sound Source & Lightrix.

BC Ferries built the Duke Point Ferry Terminal in 1997. The Duke Point main audio system was designed to broadcast from a single point to avoid signal delays and echoes across its wide

UK - A nexus of performance art, Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) provides a sustaining alternative to the relentless humour of the Fringe. Dance, drama, music, musical drama, and yes, even a little humour, is the breadth of what's available. With such variety, and a furious turnover where shows move in and out on an almost daily basis, it's an exhausting month for the stage crews and technicians.

Yet Tom Zwitserlood, head of sound for the EIF, was heard to say, "For me, if anything, introducing V-Series at the festival has made life easier for us." He's talking about the premier appearance of the d&b audiotechnik V-Series medium size line array in Scotland, in particular its use at the Playhouse theatre, where it has sustained every show that has passed through in the hectic 24 days of the EIF.

"First of all, the reaction from visiting companies to the fe

The Netherlands - Kerkrade in the Netherlands is the home of ADJ Group's European headquarters and has now become a 'Center of Communication and Technology Exchange' for the company. Elation and AD Systems, as part of the ADJ Group portfolio, now benefits from the opening of a completely new-built facility. The Customer Care Center offers hands-on fixture tests, comprehensive fixture comparison possibilities and personal and competent Support Personnel accompanied with individual design and programming options. The Customer Care Center is open daily on weekdays and ADJ personnel will to do their outmost to turn your individual requests into reality, says the Group.

In addition to the new Customer Care Centre, the company has launched a set of themed seminar days. The PRO(theme)days are intended for those customers looking for the direct contact with the manufacturer, searching f

UK - 5 Star Cases reports yet another successful PLASA exhibition in London.

5 Star highlighted samples of its most popular product ranges for the entertainment industry, concert touring, television and theatre markets. Over the four days of the show these all attracted plenty of interest, with some deals also completed on the stand. 5 Star's MD Keith Sykes comments that visitor quality was "Generally very good".

5 Star's latest Drawered Racks attracted plenty of interest and were a prominent element of the stand display.

Three types of Drawered Racks are offered as 'standard' - two hinged versions and one with removable doors.

There's a choice of two dynamic styles for the hinged option - one with a fixed top and one with a hinged top, complete with very cool gas strut supports to prevent accidental closure.

The hinged top version also features a workstation a

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light has been involved with what The Guardian newspaper has described as an 'innovative art project' - NVA's Speed of Light, running in Edinburgh for the duration of this year's Festival.

An outdoor lighting project, NVA's Speed of Light created shapes and patterns of light across the giant volcanic hill, Arthur's Seat, which sits on the edge of the city of Edinburgh. The lighting was a living, moving, dynamic thing created by living, moving, dynamic performers - who wore suits of wirelessly controlled, battery powered LEDs and so were also the show's lighting rig!

The performers' movements across the vast expanse of Arthur's Seat, which rises to 251m at its peak, were precisely choreographed, while their lighting was equally precisely cued from a grandMA console. The lighting data was transmitted from the cont

UK - Hundreds of lighting professionals donned their finest outfits and put on their dancing shoes for the fifth Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI), held in London on 10 September.

The popular awards, organised by The Society of Television & Lighting Design (STLD), The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and Clay Paky, celebrate the work of lighting designers working in the UK.

The aim: to provide public recognition for outstanding achievements in touring, television and theatre lighting design, and forge closer ties between designers and the industry as a whole.

Hosted by Andy Collins, this year KOI was held at London's Battersea Evolution. The celebrations attracted a strong turn-out with over 450 lighting professionals from the worlds of TV, theatre and rock. Guests included lighting designers from all disciplines, production companies, trade associations and members

UK - Maintaining a cutting-edge technical inventory can be an expensive business when you run a turnkey live events production company.

But for Wetherby-based AV-Matrix it is certainly paying off - and the demand to service increasingly bigger functions has now led to them purchasing an RCF TT+ (Touring & Theatre) TTL33-A II, as the premier line array system in their hire fleet.

Managing director Mark Parker confirmed the order for 12 elements of the powered loudspeakers with RCF's northern sales manager (and TT+ touring specialist), Mick Butler. The order also included four TTS36-A subs - and the AV-Matrix MD stated that this was just the beginning.

Parker has been buying from RCF since setting up the company back in 2003. His company specialises in providing event solutions for functions ranging from conferences to exhibitions, product launches, fashion shows, corporate ev

Switzerland - The St Galler Festspiele, now in its seventh year, is hailed as one of the most important cultural events in the Swiss calendar. A three-week open-air festival dedicated to classical music and dance performances, the highlight of the event is an open-air opera performance against the stunning backdrop of the St Gallen cathedral, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. This year's opera was La Damnation de Faust from flamboyant French composer, Hector Berlioz.

Swiss AV consultancy company Tingo GmbH were responsible for the sound design of the main stage outside the cathedral, for which they specified a Stagetracker FX realtime performer tracking system from TTA. Sound engineer and audio consultant Dani Niedermann who works with Tingo takes up the story:

"I have been working on this festival since it was first inaugurated in 2006," he said. "

Vietnam - ARX Systems, the Australian based designer and manufacturer of digital and analogue interface and signal processing products has confirmed the appointment of Hanoi based Stage Professional Co Ltd as their new distributor for Vietnam.

ARX managing director Colin Park said, "We're excited to be working with Dinh Viet Hung and the Stage Professional team in Vietnam, they're enthusiastic about the possibilities for ARX and our products amongst their extensive client base."

Stage Professional adds ARX to a distribution product portfolio that includes Digico, Outline, Funktion One, Martin and Avolites.

Recent clients of Stage Professional's very active rental division include Westlife, the Back Street Boys, Miss Vietnam 2012 and Vietnam Idol.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Rachel Bottomley of Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) has won this year's Michael Northen Bursary (MNB), picking up a £500 cash award.

The Bursary is awarded annually to a student or recent graduate who has demonstrated strong, imaginative and creative lighting designs. It is organised by the Association of Lighting Designers, a professional body representing lighting designers in the live performance industry.

Northen was both a former chairman and president of the ALD and the first credited lighting designer in the UK.

Each year an award of £500 is presented to a young lighting designer who has shown excellence in the field of lighting design. The project must be a performance based lighting design in or out of the college environment. Two runner-up prizes of £250 each are also presented: an ETC sponsored award, and the ALD-sponsored Fran

UK - 2012 has seen the highest profile series of concerts yet in London's Hyde Park, with regular events like Wireless and Hard Rock Calling festivals joined by a stop on Madonna's MDNA tour and the BT-sponsored London Live series of concerts celebrating a summer of sporting excellence. Sennheiser UK has become a regular fixture at the event. This year, they once again manned an on-site office to provide technical support, RF advice, spares and repairs.

Britannia Row was, as usual, the audio contractor for the Hyde Park shows, providing a large amount of Sennheiser microphones and in-ear monitors, with the standard stage set comprising SKM 2000 with 935 capsules and EM 2050 dual receivers along with 2000 series IEMs. Incoming regular Sennheiser users included Rita Ora, Madonna, Snow Patrol, Two Door Cinema, The Feeling, Alexandra Burke, The Temper Trap and The Wanted.

With thi

UK - ETC's new Source Four LED luminaire has won the prestigious PLASA Award for Sustainability at this year's PLASA 2012 show in London, against some strong competition.

Performing at 30 to over 40 lumens per watt, the Source Four LED spotlight excels in efficacy. This powerful yet energy-saving light creates beauty and artistry in stage, studio and architectural applications. It combines the popular features of ETC's conventional Source Four profile spotlight with the intelligence and seven colours of ETC's Selador Desire LED luminaires. And it comes in three different models - the Lustr+, Tungsten, and Daylight - each using just a fraction of the electricity of its incandescent counterpart. As the PLASA judges also commented: "[The Source Four LED] has a highly efficient optical system, and you can reuse existing lens stock."

ETC's CEO Fred Foster responded to the

UK - With international sales of ETC's iRFR application for Apple's iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and the new aRFR application for Android devices now approaching4,500, the company this year presented Light Relief with a cheque for an amazing £16,855 as the UK charity's share of the profits.

When the app was first introduced in 2009, Luke Delwiche from ETC Tech Services in London suggested that the profits be shared between Light Relief and its US equivalent, Behind the Scenes. Since then, the sales of the app have raised over $200,000 for the two charities.

Thanks must go to the apps' developers, Chris Mizerak and Anders Ekvall, for designing such a popular app, which enables users to turn any mobile device into a touchscreen-based remote controller for Eos- and Congo-family control desks, Eos and Ion Remote Processor Units (RPUs) and the Congo Light Server. And, of cours

RSC Record - The Royal Shakespeare Company has reported its financial results for 2011/12 - the first year in its new Stratford-upon-Avon home. Its annual report reveals that the company has recorded a turnover of more than £50m for the first time ever.

Box office takings have more than doubled to £18.1m from £8.3m in 2010/11, when the company had reduced operations due to the refurbishment of the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres. Its audience almost doubled between the two seasons - up to 708,022 people in 2011/12. Percentage capacity remained static at 89%.

The results were reported at the RSC's annual general meeting in Stratford, which saw artistic director Michael Boyd and executive director Vikki Heywood hand over to Gregory Doran and Catherine Mallyon respectively.

NT in NYC - The National Theatre has announced that it is opening a New York

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) has designed, supplied and installed complete technical facilities for the Sidney Stringer Academy's (SSA) new theatre in Coventry.

The SSA has gained a reputation as an innovator that encourages experimental teaching practices, and offers a range of BTEC vocational courses including Performing Arts and Music, for students aged 11-19.

The new multi-purpose theatre stages full productions by SSA and can be hired by local community groups and organisations.

The project was led for ACSP by Dave Cowan, who worked closely with SSA's head of drama, Michael Collins. ACSP were chosen for their extensive experience providing industry-standard technical facilities to the educational and performance markets.

It follows a very successful prior installation by ACSP in a temporary space to facilitate SSA students during the new theatre's construction -

Sweden - DM Audio's Martin Audio MLA Compact was quickly in action within two days of being derigged from an RPSO concert - across Stockholm at the Maritime Museum. This time a similarly-configured 12 elements per side rig was fielded at the Vitabergsparken (White Mountains) for the annual Parkteatern Festival (staged by Stockholm City Theatre). This consists of four weeks of entertainment in the open air amphitheater.

DM Audio have been servicing the event for many years, and working with show designer Mårten Ihre, they took the opportunity to swap out their conventional line array with MLA Compact, as soon as it became available.

Hosted by the Stockholm's Stadsteater subsidiary, Parkteatern (Park Theatre), the varied programme ranged from soft ballads to high-octane hip hop to modern Danish dance and opera. DM Audio responded by beefing up the LF end, running six DSX subs p

Australia - Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific is the first Lincoln Center Theatre production to ever tour Australia and it also marks the coming together of Australia's largest performing arts company, Opera Australia, with Australia's largest commercial theatre producer, John Frost.

With a cast of 40 and an orchestra twice the size of most musicals, this international hit and landmark production dominated the 2008 Tony Awards picking up seven of the coveted awards.

One award recipient was sound designer Scott Lehrer and so the pressure was on for Norwest Productions to deliver a sound solution to ensure the Australian production lived up to its heritage!

Norwest's Adrian Riddell was appointed associate sound designer and it was his task to translate Lehrer's design to the Australian production. Lehrer has made no secret of wanting a quieter, more intimate s

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