UK - The Cunard Building is one of the landmark buildings in Liverpool, being sited on the waterfront of the River Mersey right next to that classic symbol of Liverpool heritage, the Liver Building.

Originally the headquarters of the Cunard Steamship Company, the architecturally dramatic building was completed in 1917, and also served as the main passenger terminal for both Cunard and White Star Line liners.

Now the classic interior has been sympathetically enhanced and reconfigured to become one of the most upmarket office buildings in Liverpool.

LED lighting manufacturer Tryka LED of Royston, worked hand in hand with main contractor on the project, Jennor UK Ltd of St Helen's, to specify and supply its Flexistrip linear strip to illuminate all the public areas of the building. The six refurbished floors were installed with more than 1000m of Warm White Flexistrip 30 IP67 l

Lebanon - Brothers Rami and Joe Keyrouz opened the Bar National in Beirut early 2012, yet within a few months were having to look at replacing their installed audio system. "This is a roof top bar with live DJ and music playback," said Youssef Aoun from sound specialists Seebeck Audio. "In the winter the bar keeps the glass walls to the balcony closed, but as soon as the warm weather arrived and they opened up the neighbours began complaining about the noise."

Music manager for Bar National, Gunther Sabbagh asked Aoun to take a cold hard look at the bar's physical orientation and surrounding neighbourhood. "He came up with a tricky but effective solution," said Sabbagh. "Beyond removing the existing system I could see two immediate problems," said Aoun. "The only way to contain low end at moderate levels to the surrounding buildings w

South Africa - Randburg, Johannesburg- based technical solutions agency TechRig supplied technical production - including nearly 200 Robe lighting fixtures - to the 2012 annual DFC Conference & Gala Dinner for medical aid and insurance giants, Discovery.

The event was staged at Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) in Johannesburg over two days, and included two evenings of entertainment spectacular and Award presentations starring Lindiwe Bungane of Dream Girls, among other vocalists plus a full dance troupe.

Lighting was designed by TechRig's Robert Grobler, and the very stylish set created by Michael Gill. The two separate evening's programmes were enjoyed by over 1000 people.

A large trussing system was installed over the 30m wide stage, based on three concentric circles with a series of trussing spines coming off the largest circle on the outside of the two smaller one

Colombia - A DiGiCo SD8 is the latest mixing console purchased by Colombian company Grupo Hangar, which provides technical production services to events in and around the city of Medellín. Already used successfully on the city's highest profile festival, the SD8 has made many friends.

Grupo Hangar provides its services for live music, cultural festivals, sport, exhibitions, trade and fashion shows. The company needed a mixing console that could handle all of them and satisfy their policy of providing a bespoke solution for each one.

"We purchased the SD8 for a number of reasons," says Grupo Hangar producer Santiago Vélez. "First of all it has a wonderful sound - not only in terms of the features to shape the sound, but just by bringing the faders up it sounds amazing. It's also a very versatile desk; each session can be configured to each event's needs,

Norway - The Hålogaland Theatre in Troms°, Norway, is putting its new DPA d:fine Headset Microphones through their paces on a production of Les Misérables, which opened on 6 September 2012.

The theatre has replaced its old stock of DPA 4060 omnidirectional miniature microphones with 40 directional d:fine Headset Microphones and 40 d:fine omni microphone booms, which are being used with a new 32 channel Shure Axient wireless system. The microphones were supplied by sound company Lydproduksjon Troms° AS, in conjunction with DPA's Norwegian distributor Lydsystemer.

Jim Oddvar Hansen, head of sound at the theatre, says, "The new d:fine Headset Microphones replace a selection of DPA 4060 miniature microphones that we had had for some time. As our previous experience with DPA technology had always been good, it made sense to upgrade using the same manufac

South Africa - Johannesburg rental company, Blackmotion, is rebranding itself to become a full lighting service and audio visual company focusing on stage, concerts, architectural and system integration.

Over the last few months they have purchased 16 Robin 600 fixtures comprising of four Robin 600 Washes, four Robin 600 Spots, four Robin 600 LEDs and four Robin 600 Beams.

"The purchasing of new sound equipment has been put on hold while we focus all our energy and resources on lighting and audio visual," commented Kagiso 'Daystar' Moima, owner of Blackmotion. "Over the years we split our resources way to thin and growth was limited. Now we will head towards modular screens and mapping integrated with lighting."

Blackmotion provides all the necessary services from visual rendering to lighting design. While the company has sound in their warehouse, their l

UK - With widespread success across the UK market in TV studio installations, Northern Light has put in place plans to apply this success within the international arena.

Andy Booth, senior contracts manager with Northern Light, said, "Whilst Northern Light has extensive experience of delivering the design and installation of technical systems in theatres and concert halls worldwide, we feel the time is now right to promote our expertise in the design and project management of TV studio systems to an international audience."

Working as a specialist sub-contractor to the construction industry, Northern Light has been responsible for the design and installation of technical systems for TV studios within a multitude of venues right across the UK. Recent projects that the company has been involved in include the Theatre, Film and Television building at the University of Y

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd's Video division has supplied Green Hippo's latest and most powerful Hippotizer HD media server to the University of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, UK.

Specified by Huddersfield University's senior technician and manager of resources for drama, theatre & performance - David Wainwright, the new Hippotizer HD will be used by students on the BA Honours courses in Technical Theatre and Drama.

As an experienced provider of industry-standard technical facilities to leading educational institutions and markets, AC-ET were approached by the University when deciding to replace their original Hippotizer media servers with the very latest and most powerful HD video playback technology currently available on the market.

"Our research confirmed that the Hippotizer HD is arguably the most popular and appropriate media server for the t

UK - Clay Paky Sharpys provided spectacular impact at Welsh rock band Lostprophets' homecoming gig to support of the band's fifth studio album, Weapons - released in April 2012.

Award winning lighting designer Ian Tomlinson of Adlib Design, the design department of Adlib Solutions, used Clay Paky Sharpys to deliver an extra special 'homecoming' show for the bands loyal fanbase at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena - the largest venue in the group's 2012 UK tour.

Promising a 'full-scale performance', Lostprophets were out to impress. Tomlinson used the Sharpy's unprecedented brightness and pure, laser-like beam to create an array of spectacular mid-air effects and fast moving, atmospheric backlight.

"I used the Sharpys as an effect - a bit like a laser", explains Tomlinson. "In particular they were used to create big effects into the audience. Weirdly I really l

UK / USA - London and New York based lighting designer, Ed Warren of Next Level Lights is using Robe moving lights for Mumford & Sons' Babel tour.

The band which has become hugely popular in the last two years, has just finished another very successful US tour playing venues with a capacity of between 5,000 and 20,000, and will release their second studio album shortly.

The lighting - effectively also the stage set for the current design - is described by Warren as "Vintage barn dance with an epic edge" and the idea is that it looks interesting even before the rig is fired up.

Warren was first introduced to Robe products, and the creative potential they offer, by Ian Turner of Southampton, UK, based rental company GLS. Turner, a busy lighting designer in his own right, is also a big fan of the Robe brand. GLS owns a large stock of Robe fixtures and supplied

UK - Now signed to the Ministry of Sound label, electronic heavyweights Hadouken! performed a headline show at the Ministry of Sound Club itself. The London gig not only showcased the band's new single Bad Signal, but also the club's ability to stage pulsating live shows with the help of a JBL VT4886/VT4883 sub-compact Vertec line array.

The system consisted of two hangs of five JBL VT4886 sub-compact line array elements with three ground-stacked VT4883 subs per side. The system was powered by Crown iTech 12000HD power amplifiers, housed in three tour-ready Crown V-Racks. The JBL VT4886 is a true three-way high directivity line array element which with its companion VT4883 cardioid-arrayable subwoofer provide a very high degree of output and predictable coverage capabilities in an extremely compact package.

Darius Kedros, (FoH engineer for Hadouken!), commented, "A

Sold Out - Glastonbury tickets have sold out in a record time of just one hour and 40 minutes after thousands of fans flooded the website and phone lines. The festival's Twitter feed apologised to the "thousands" who missed out, adding that there had been some problems with getting through "due to the sheer volume of people". Fans could reserve up to eight tickets - each costing £205 plus booking fee. Any returned tickets will be put on sale in April 2013.

When tickets sold out, Michael and Emily Eavis posted a joint statement on Twitter saying: "We're genuinely humbled by the sheer number of people who would like to come to the festival and we dearly wish we could have you all along. Sadly, that just isn't possible, which means a significant number of people have missed out. Demand simply outstripped supply."

Live Advice - The Musici

UK - Trade AV specialist PSCo Rental has invested over £1m extending its Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham office that serves the Midlands and North of England. The investment includes a new stock profile that gives the Sutton Coldfield location the UK's largest fleet of large format displays and video wall products for the live event market.

Martin Price has been appointed as business development manager - Midlands and North, heading up an expanded team focused on building business for PSCo Rental and stamping its mark as the video wall and large format experts in the region. Price will concentrate on driving awareness of PSCo Rental's latest and most innovative displays, specialist service offerings, 24/7 technical support and complementary rental packages.

Commenting on the appointment, Stuart Holmes, CEO of PSCo Group said, "We are looking to develop PSCo Rental's of

South Africa - Robe Robin moving lights including the new LEDBeam 100s and 600 Washes, Spots and Beams were used by technical services provider Hirezone Audio Visual for the Durban leg of the Super M Live event, headlined by South Africa's favourite rockers, The Parlotones.

The event - an experiential to promote Clover's Super M milk drink - was staged at Durban's Wavehouse, with Hirezone's Richard Gild the project manager.

For the lighting rig, the company worked to the specification of Parlotones' LD Travis Yeatman, and also provided the most appropriate fixtures for the venue, with which they are very familiar and features a relatively low ceiling height.

Lights were hung above the stage on a ground support system - optimised to gain every last millimetre of headroom - and also on the deck.

The Robe elements included six Robin 600E Spots and six 600E Washes on th

UK - Black Light has played a small but important part in the success of one of the most popular concerts in the Scottish classical musical calendar. After a last-minute request, the firm loaned the BBC its new Source 4 Lustr+ LED units for use on the BBC Proms Last Night Celebrations in Scotland.

"We were delighted to step in and do our bit to help with this world-famous concert," says Black Light's head of hires Calder Sibbald. "It was quite something to think that our gear was helping to add to the colour and excitement of this iconic event."

The Proms Last Night Celebrations, which took place in September at the City Halls in Glasgow, featured Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith, Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the dazzling Joanna MacGregor on piano.

"I decided to use the lamps to backlight the audience, as

Finland - Scandinavian cruise company Viking Line has announced that their new flagship cruise liner M/S Viking Grace, due to set sail in January 2013, will be amplified by Swedish brand Lab.gruppen. The announcement continues a successful relationship between the two companies, with seven of Viking Line's current fleet now being kitted out with Lab.gruppen amplifiers.

Lab.gruppen's Finnish distributor Noretron Audio Ltd. finalised the deal with Viking Line Abp, which will see the delivery of a total of 27 Lab.gruppen amplifiers to the new M/S Viking Grace cruise ship. Amplification is for a massive 344 units of Turbosound loudspeakers which will be installed in the night club, several restaurants, tax free shop and conference rooms.

Noretron is also supplying all other entertainment audio including digital and analogue consoles, wireless microphone- and IEM-systems.

Accordi

Serbia - Lighting director Viktor Trifu - aka Kiki - has completed the lighting of the Emir Kusturica theatre show Time of the Gypsies at Belgrade's Sava Centre - with lighting controlled entirely by an ETC Ion control desk.

Trifu says, "Kusturica is known for flying both actors and scenery, creating a significant challenge in lighting - this was far from a typical theatre show. The moving lights which I specified were easy to control from the Ion. It is a small but very powerful desk - I have used Ions before, and am always impressed by how much fine control I have of intelligent fixtures."

The show is described as 'punk opera'; the theatre's stage can have a large number of actors on it at any one time; and scenery changes frequently. The stage show is from a 1988 Yugoslav film by the Serbian director, and tells the story of a young Romany man with magical p

Poland - Home to the oldest sports club operating in Poland, Cracovia Rink has benefitted from a complete programme of reconstruction and refurbishment in recent years, and has now had a state-of-the-art sound system designed and installed by Wroc?aw-based Tommex ?ebrowscy Sp. J.

Sound Skating Cracovia is a multi-functional PA/VA system. The commentator's room houses a Dynacord CMS 1000-2 mixer and the system's Dynacord DSP244 digital processor. This feeds to the amplification room which houses the heart of the system, the Swiss g+m elektronik APROSYS APS modular system. In addition to the priority task of efficient evacuation during an emergency, the sound system is also used for commercial purposes at sporting events.

"Due to the difficult acoustics and harsh climatic conditions in the ice hall, the choice of loudspeakers was fundamental to the system's performance and

USA - Now in its second year, Identity Festival has emerged as the world's largest all-electronic dance music tour, growing to rock concert-sized proportions. This year's cross-country trek hit 15 cities from Toronto to San Diego, filling huge outdoor amphitheaters with EDM fans, who turned out to see performances by world-renowned EDM luminaries like Paul Van Dyk, Eric Prydz and Wolfgang Gartner among others.

The tour's star-studded line-up and non-stop action required hard-hitting lighting and video effects that could keep pace with its frenzied intensity. Yet as with any national concert tour, the gear also had to perform reliably night after night, stand up to rugged travel conditions, and be able to be assembled and torn down quickly.

To set a visual backdrop that would enhance Identity Festival's pulsating excitement, while meeting the tour's rigorous challenges, Charley

Australia - Light artists, lighting and projection designers, companies and manufacturers, architects, students, graduates, creative industry companies and practitioners from around the world are eligible to submit innovative lighting and projection designs and installations for inclusion in Vivid Light 2013 - a centerpiece of Vivid Sydney (24 May - 10 June, 2013).

"Vivid Light is where Sydney becomes a playground to showcase the latest lighting technology. It is where your immersive interactive experience creates the next new trend. It is where artist's lighting expressions of art grace the city's CBD and harbour and it is a time where wonderful new ways to play with light touch hundreds of thousands of people," say organisers.

The event transforms Sydney into a wonderland of colourful lights, and surprising adventures, with interactive lighting art sculptures, inno

Europe - Lighting designer Richard Locklin has over 30 years of experience lighting the likes of Little Feat, Sting, Bob Dylan and many other top music industry names. Most recently he designed the lighting for Paul Simon's Graceland 25th Anniversary tour and was one of the first LDs worldwide to use Martin Professional's MAC Viper Profile. Lighting vendor Neg Earth supplied 20 of the new 1000-watt profile fixtures along with Martin MAC Auras for a European leg in July.

"I chose to use the Viper because it was a new fixture with the best light output available," he said of the fixture's 26,000 lumens of power, an output greater than that of 1200-watt fixtures. Locklin also emphasized the Vipers "performance" as well as its "even field of light".

Locklin bottom-hung the 20 fixtures on the truss with one fixture top-hung with pan/tilt disconn

Turkey - Date Restaurant & Designers' Corner recently celebrated its opening, gathering together Istanbul's dining, entertainment and fashion and design communities.

Date Restaurant & Designers' Corner is a new multi-functional venue in Istanbul offering entertainment around cuisine and fashion. On the first floor, Date Restaurant & Designers' Corner serves as a bar and restaurant. On the second floor, the Date Restaurant & Designers' Corner hosts events around fashion and design. Fashion collections designed especially for Date were exhibited for the opening celebration, followed by a fashion show choreographed by the Turkish fashion designer U?urkan Erez.

Aside from providing a multiple activities under one roof, Date Restaurant and Designers' Corner put a lot of thought into choosing the sound system and sound design appropriate for their space. The building dates from 1873

UK - Nick Gray from London-based creative visual design practice Renegade designed lighting for several London Fashion Week SS13 shows and events, including the main British Fashion Council (BFC) Courtyard space at Somerset House, Rocksander at the Savoy Ballroom and the high profile Future Young Contemporaries party at the Serpentine Gallery - a major highlight of the whole event.

Curated by high profile Club Silencio from Paris, the Future Young Contemporaries party featured a set by art rock band The Kills and was staged around the uber elegant water roofed 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Herzog du Meuron and Ai Wei Wei (who also designed the Beijing National stadium).

Working for production company Bacchus, Gray proposed an all-LED rig to be as power-friendly and eco-conscious as possible, but without compromising on any creativity.

He produced a concept and

USA - A premier horse racing facility, Gulfstream Park's recent massive renovations include the construction of the racing and casino building, at the core of the park. Featuring sleek, classical architecture, the facility is now more captivating, coloured by more than 70 Iluminarc exterior lighting solutions that wash the white exterior façade in intense colours.

Cinderbugz Tek-One installed 40 Ilumipanel 48 IP and 34 Ilumipod 48 IP lights, which were provided by Stage Equipment and Lighting. Used as cove lighting, Ilumipanel 48 IP fixtures spread bright even fields of light from inside the second floor's walkway and light the south and north towers on either side of the building. Ilumipod 48 IP lights uplight the façade from the base of 18 columns and highlight the corners of the building.

"We chose RGBW fixtures because we wanted to enhance the architecture and could

Latest Issue. . .