UK - Designer Paul Daly has opened Underbelly, a new nightclub designed for DJ's and live performance in Hoxton, London. The venue is located underground, downstairs from another Daly-designed venue, Zigfrid's. "It's an amazing venue," remarks Peter Kellet, owner of Viba*Optics, the company that designed and installed both clubs. "It's all a brand new build, but it's pretty compact, and there were a few challenges in integrating such a relatively complex system into the space."

The versatile sound system, purpose-built for the room, can support live performance in traditional stereo mode, or be reconfigured into a full-on surround system for DJ nights. QSC's RMX amplifiers, including three RMX 1850HDs, two RMX 2450s and a single RMX 1450 unit, drive all of the room's loudspeakers.

The amps are fed from a single BSS SoundWeb unit, with a 24-channel Soundcraf

UK - Stagecraft Theatre Services has completed its four-year project at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth, part of a series of upgrades following a fire backstage at the Victorian venue in 1972.

A company specialising in theatre design, Stagecraft was responsible for the complete refurbishment of all lighting and sound systems, including internal and external lighting design. "We have been working with the New Theatre Royal for many years on a refurbishment programme, and it is great to see all our hard work finally come together," comments Martin Palmer, Stagecraft director.

A team of ten engineers from Stagecraft Theatre Services worked with the theatre Manager to relocate the infrastructure of all sound and lighting systems. The lighting and sound control room was moved to the gods of the Theatre to enable the restoration of the upper and lower circles to

USA - Fresno, California-based Michael Garrison Associates (MGA), a design-build systems contracting firm that has served the church market for nearly 30 years, installed its first L-Acoustics system at the new 110,000-square-foot Calvary Church (formerly Calvary Temple) in Irving, Texas.

Under the direction of senior systems designer Brian Roggow, twin arrays, each comprised of ten L- Acoustics dV-Dosc cabinets plus three dV-SUBs, were flown above the left and right sides of the stage in the 1,500-seat main sanctuary. For low-frequency reinforcement, four SB218 subwoofers are positioned up in the room's centre cavity while two SB118s are located under the stage. Four additional coaxial MTD108a systems are further called upon to deliver front-fill, and all loudspeaker systems are powered by L- Acoustics' own LA Series amplifiers.

"Our initial system design for Calvary Tem

Germany - In December 2003, the Central Stadium in Leipzig, which had taken three years to build at a cost of 88.5 million euros, was opened - one of the 12 venues selected to host the world's most watched sporting event - football's World Cup. Its first game, Match 6 of the competition, will kick off at 15:00 on the 11 June 2006.

One of the most important, if not the most important, area covered by the FIFA regulations is stadium safety, in which the quality of the alarm and public address systems is of crucial importance. Like many of the top football stadiums in Europe, the Central Stadium is equipped with a sound system from EVI Audio; in this case, a Dynacord ProAnnounce, comprising DPM 4000 digital system controllers, DCS 420 monitor units and DPA 4140 power amplifiers, installed with support from Sigma TBL of Chemnitz.

The most striking visual aspect of the 45,000-seate

Switzerland - The Hallenstadion in Zurich reopened on 31 July, with a new sound system from Bose, which the company says is "defining a new benchmark for sound in modern multipurpose arenas". Project 'Hallenstadion 2000 plus', which undertook the complete renovation of the historic multi-purpose arena, was first introduced to the public in 1999. The objective of the extensive redevelopment was the reconstruction of the Hallenstadion to create a new kind of event arena for 13,000 visitors, which would offer even better multifunctional purposes, optimum security, modern conveniences, and excellent acoustics.

The Bose Sound System in the new arena utilizes the broad and versatile product portfolio of the Bose Professional Systems Division. In the Event Arena itself, Bose engineers installed a high quality Bose Panaray LT speaker system including 50 mid/high cabinets and 1

USA - The government of San Luis Obispo County, California recently moved into its new administration building. The move was the culmination of more than five years of designing and building a facility tailored to its specific and varying needs.

The slow pace of design and construction was a reflection of the desire to get everything correct. This was particularly evident in the increasingly vital area of audio/visual and information technology, according to Joey D'Angelo, principal consultant with Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc., the San Francisco-based consulting firm who designed the facility's A/V system.

The design specification went through several incarnations, but one element recommended by D'Angelo at the outset remained on the list: SymNet Audio Matrix from Symetrix. "Much of the project's architecture and A/V system design changed over the years, but the rec

UK - Following the success of his first two restaurants in Willesden Green and Hoxton, David Azouri has taken his concept into west London and recently opened a third Shish in Bayswater.

For the sound system, Shish has once again called in the services of installation specialists, the Sound Division Group. Sound Division's David Graham described the brief: "Given that there was already an existing sound system in the premises when Shish took it over, we weren't required to start from scratch. However, a fair amount of work was needed to bring the installation in to line with the rest of the venue. We completely serviced the existing WORK loudspeakers and Cloud mixer amplifier, and added two DBX 215 dual graphics and a Pioneer PDM603 6-disc multiplay CD player. The restaurant space has been reconfigured into three separate zoned areas so we've provided three Cloud RSL6 devic

UK - Shortly before the official UK launch of the ADB Warp/M at PLASA 2005, Glyndebourne Opera House in East Sussex, England became the first British venue to acquire the new luminaire. An advance consignment of the Motorised Warp was built and installed in time for the legendary opera house's summer season.

Glyndebourne's lighting manager, Keith 'KB' Benson, organized a head-to-head 'luminaire shootout' when the venue's management decided to make its first long-term investment in automated lighting. He explains: "We've used generics for years because I never felt that the moving light for opera was there, although we have tried a few - we used a couple of 2K PCs for a few years and they performed pretty well. But we have never really gone for anything else; I am not so keen, personally, on colour mixing, as it can be difficult to get a really pure specific colour. But usin

UK - The Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London, has commissioned a new sound and projection infrastructure from Marquee Audio. Used for a variety of events, the Hall is now fully equipped for concert reinforcement.

In the Great Hall itself, Marquee has installed a central cluster of Meyer M1D self-powered loudspeakers. Marquee offered two alternative PA designs, explaining the pros and cons of each. "We took a view based on the inadequacies of the old system, which had been systematically adapted over a number of years," says venue manager Michael Sharp. "Particularly poor had been the facilities for the hard-of-hearing. The induction loop was subject to a lot of interference - and we were recommended a Sennheiser infra-red system."

Marquee's project manager, Scott Wakelin, needed to provide evenly-distributed coverage for a hall with a ground floor

UK - In order to make full use of your days at the PLASA show, the show's organizers are encouraging visitors to 'check in' early. The doors to the exhibition will be open from 9am every morning and you will be invited to go up to the Top Deck to collect your show catalogue, and have a cup of coffee at one of the outlets around the PLASA stand while planning you day, prior to the show's official opening at 10am.

Please note: due to the current security situation, there will be full bag checks as you enter the show and all visitors are being asked for their co-operation. In the meantime, to help you plan, don't forget to check out the show website - see address below - for all the up-to-date news in the final run-up to the show.

UK - CBS News recently decided to move its London studio from Knightsbridge out west to leafy Chiswick and upgrade the studio's lighting rig in the process. CBS called on the services of consultant Alan Bermingham to assist with the specification. His brief was to design the lighting system - including the suspension system, the control system and the luminaire package. he also oversaw the installation, set up the lighting and trained the staff to operate the system.

Bermingham, who spent over 20 years providing training in television lighting at the BBC and is the author of several books on technical TV production, worked closely with David J. Fairweather, CBS' director of operations for Europe to ensure the new studio was capable of meeting all the needs of a live 24-hour television news service. After initial discussions, Bermingham specified an ETC SmartFade compact lighting

Russia - Nearly 100 Robe Show Lighting fixtures of various types have been installed in Moscow's Crystal Casino - one of the largest casinos in Eastern Europe - as part of a major technology upgrade aimed at providing a visually stimulating environment as part of a high quality guest 'experience'.

Crystal has three restaurants, several bars, a nightclub and dancefloor, and offers nightly onstage entertainment including a variety of singers and bands. The club also has its own permanent cabaret/musical show once or twice a week, and the dancefloor is in use five days a week. The new installation was designed by Sasha 'Eagle' Vasilyev - the club's chief LD - and Slava Savin, LD and desk programmer/operator, and undertaken by Moscow-based Light Sound Contractor (LSC), one of Russia's leading installers.

Robe fixtures were chosen for the primary moving light elements of the upgrad

UK - The 2005 PLASA Show opened its doors at 10 o'clock this morning, and the crowds streamed in to the show floor, which looks better and brighter than ever. Sunday at PLASA is DJ day, of course, and the annual Gemini DJ competition will once again prove a big draw for budding mix artists, with the contest taking place in the DJ lounge at the rear of the hall, and the final taking place at 4.30pm. There's plenty more going on as part of DJ Sunday, supported by iDJ magazine, offering all kinds of opportunities to learn about the art and practice of DJing.

Appropriately for DJ Sunday, seminars today include a session on Digital Turntablism and Mixing, chaired by David Eserin, editor of the Technoscan section of DJ Magazine, the session features world-renowned DJs Chris Liebing and Jonathan Lisle, and Eitan Zilkha of Sapphires. Following the session, Jonathan Lisle will be perform

UK - The winners of the PLASA Awards for Innovation were announced last night during a well-attended awards ceremony hosted by PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths on the main show floor at Earls Court. The Awards, which focus on the best design and development work going on across the industry, came at the end of a day that reaffirmed PLASA's reputation as a forging ground for future innovations.

The Awards, which are judged by a panel of professionals, attracted 66 nominations, leading to eight technical awards and an additional award for environmental impact.

The winning products were:

  • Artistic Licence's Visual Patch is going to prove the ultimate time saver for converged lighting and video applications. It creates an on-screen geographic map of two or three-dimensional pixel array, whilst automatically also assigning DMX512 start addresses. Described by the judges as anot

UK - There have been significant changes to the technical infrastructure at the Ministry of Sound, where the famous London club has recently replaced its sound set up with a premium Martin Audio system. The criteria for an undertaking of such magnitude had to be based on preserving the Ministry's reputation as the number one club in the world, and head of production, Dave Bradshaw knew from the beginning that his criteria needed to be based on sound quality, reliability and back-up service.

Dave has used Martin Audio for DJ monitoring in the Ministry of Sound's main room (The Box) for some years, and had received many plaudits from top DJs, who had remarked on how clean and powerful the system was. The club's resident DJs, Marc Hughes and Nick Bridges, used the same system in Singapore recently and said: "The Martin Audio sound gives us just what we want, really phat and pu

UK - The PLASA Show has again proved itself one of the most influential events in the industry calendar. Around 13,000 (subject to ABC audit) key industry people visited London in early September to participate in what is now the major international gathering-point for the entertainment, event and installation industries. The emphasis was very much on business, with exhibitors not only generating significant leads, but also reporting an unprecedented number of orders being placed.

As in previous years, the Show had a strong international profile with a third of exhibitors based outside the UK, and an increasing international visitor attendance, which is now nudging the 30% mark.

One of the key reasons for the Show's continued momentum is its focus on new developments and its ongoing investment in interactive feature areas, awards that recognize the best design work in the indu

Malaysia - Ten Lake Contour Pro 26 Digital speaker processors have been integrated into the installed and mobile sound reinforcement systems at the newly opened Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Six Lake Contour processors are integrated into the audio system in the main Plenary Hall, a two-level, tiered seating venue that accommodates 3,000 people and is intended for concerts, opening ceremonies, conferences, and product launches. The processor system, controlled by a wireless touch-screen tablet, is being used to optimize a Left-Center-Right (LCR) speaker system. In addition to advanced sound, lighting, and audio-visual systems, the hall incorporates state-of-the-art conference facilities, including an interactive microphone system and built-in multilingual interpretation systems.

The smaller Plenary Theatre on the convention centre's third floor is outfitted with three Lake C

UK - The new Revolution series of user control panels from Dynalite incorporate an innovative clip-on cover fastening system, providing "the ultimate in aesthetic design flexibility".

Incorporating a button depth adjustment facility, the panels can accommodate covers of practically any flat architectural surface medium from 1.2mm to 6.5mm in depth. "The possibilities are endless," says Dynalite.

To complement the panel face, button caps are available in silver and charcoal grey, providing a wide range of décor matching possibilities. Designed both for commercial and residential settings, the Revolution series panels are available in a range of configurations from single column, catering for one to eight buttons, through to double or triple column designs featuring up to 24 buttons.

Smooth action buttons with LED indicators provide tactile and visua

UK - Both Dromore Cathedral and Portglenone Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland have installed discreetly placed and precision-tuned Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeaker systems.

The Cathedral Church at Dromore, serving a parish of the Anglican-connected Church of Ireland, was built in stages over several centuries. Major portions of the existing structure date back to 1661. "It was a nightmare, really," explains Robert Andrews of Andrews Audio (Portglenone), who designed and installed both systems. "They rebuilt and added on to (the building) to the point where there is absolutely nothing symmetrical about the church. The seating goes off all different ways, so there was no way to use a main cluster with delays in such a reverberant space."

Andrews' solution for Dromore's architectural mélange employs five UPM-1P compact wide coverage loudspeake

Europe - The Tyco Fire group of companies are joining forces under the new brand, Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions. The goal is to simplify customer access to the companies' comprehensive range of fire and safety solutions.

Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions' European MD, Ardy Azhir commented: "Our integrated fire and safety businesses in Europe have long been market leaders. Our position today is built on the credibility of these legacy brands - including Mather & Platt in France, Total Walther in Germany, Wormald and Tyco Integrated Systems in the UK and the rest of Europe.

"We chose to rename ourselves because our customers wanted to deal with one name but trade through the same local contacts. This change represents an excellent opportunity to strengthen the image of our business and take us into the future with far greater visibility."He continued, "We a

UK - London's new Absolut Icebar - a joint venture between Absolut, Icehotel and Below Zero London - is a unique environment at -5°C, where everything, from the walls, bar, and bar stools, to the artwork and the 'glass' that holds the Absolut cocktail is made from crystal-clear Nordic ice.

Finding a loudspeaker system that would blend seamlessly into the glacial interior of the Swedish concept provided a challenge that was met by Martin Audio. The UK manufacturer had already produced 'invisible' customized perspex floor monitors for the Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia several years ago, and now they turned their attention to their classic EM26 - which formed the centrepiece of a complete audio fit-out of the four-zone, £1.5m development.

Icehotel partners, Below Zero London, had originally been looking at two loudspeaker options for the overall sound reinforcement via

UK - One of the big successes of the Home Counties is the Vanilla Bar in Windsor, where owner Mark Sansom, formerly of Bagley's Nightclub in Kings Cross, has created a stylish and accessible lounge bar and dance venue, complete with restaurant facilities. Paul Knight of Ascot Audio has designed a sound system for the 400-capacity venue which is critical to its clubby ambience. Since he's been installing Electro-Voice sound reinforcement gear for over 20 years, there was always a good chance he'd choose products from the EV catalogue for this project, especially given the system requirements of the venue. But the all-white EViD full-range loudspeaker models that he's specified are an uncommonly good match for the light interior of the Vanilla Bar, he says.

"These little speakers have a great design, they're trendy and they look good, but they also sound fantastic; they're am

UK - One of London's flagship cultural venues Riverside Studios has undergone a major technical refurbishment program facilitated by a UK Arts Council grant. Featuring as a key element, a new Logic Systems sound rig has been supplied and commissioned by theatre sound specialist Orbital Sound.

Orbital's head of sales collaborated with Riverside's technical manager, Barbara Egervary, to supply a system that met her specifications to augment the theatres capacity to host a variety of advanced productions, including an expanding repertoire of international work. The system supplied by Orbital comprises four Logic System LS15 Tops and two Logic System B1Subs, which is run through a 24-channel Allen & Heath FOH mixing console with BSS EQ and speaker management.

The Logic LS range is designed and built from the ground up for installation use and delivers a large sound from a small bo

UK - Baldwin Boxall Communications is well-known for being at the forefront of the emergency voice communication market. As such the company acted quickly upon learning about the new Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) by providing disabled refuge systems from September 2001 - some three years prior to the DDA coming into effect in October 2004.Listening to input from leading outside sources and from their own research, Baldwin Boxall developed Vigil CommuniCare and then, more recently, Vigil CommuniCare Advance.

Vigil CommuniCare Advance is a disabled refuge system which is easy to install and use, says the manufacturer. The special features of the CommuniCare Advance include raised luminescent script, Braille and a built-in induction loop - making it suitable for the majority of applications. Upon occupation of the specified area, a single button press on the unit is all that

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