Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025

Installation

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UK - Avolites' fully featured, dual wide screen Sapphire Touch console is controlling ceiling panels of LEDs in theatre company Paines Plough's portable Roundabout Theatre. Premiering at this summer's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the theatre has since popped up in towns across the UK.

Lighting programmer Peter Small specified the Sapphire Touch to programme, control, and pixel map the 627 LEDs in the complex panels built into the touring venue's roof.

"The Sapphire Touch is excellent for programming Roundabout because of its speed - a lot of the console's features and hardware come together to allow this but a few that stand out are the large, bright, responsive touch screens, the 45 motorised faders (all electronically labelled) as well as the very well laid out programming section," says Small. "It also has advantages for us such as being able to handle the 13 u

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Everyman A Winner - Liverpool's rebuilt Everyman Theatre has won the Riba Stirling Prize for best new building of the year. The venue beat five other buildings to win the honour - the Royal Institute of British Architects' highest accolade. Riba president Stephen Hodder called the Everyman an "exceptional new building". He added, "It is a ground-breaking example of how to build a daring bold and highly sustainable large public building in a historic city centre.

The theatre - famed for launching the careers of actors including Bill Nighy, Julie Walters and Pete Postlethwaite - first opened in 1964 in the shell of a 19th Century chapel on one of Liverpool's main streets. However, over the years it fell into a state of disrepair and architects Haworth Tompkins were tasked with designing a new theatre as part of a nine-year £27m rebuilding project, retaining i

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Indonesia - Distributor MTJ took on the challenge of installing a sound system into the very funky and aesthetic five star Japanese restaurant and bar Fukuro in Jakarta.

The restaurant wanted solid sound pressure at night without changing the aesthetics of the venue. Cornered was a natural choice with the speakers installed flush onto walls and in corners throughout the venue.

A total of 14 Cornered C5s in black blend in perfectly while delivering great sound to all seats.

Zandy Young from Installer MTJ comments: "With the impressive quality audio, you just don't need to look for more. The sound is evenly distributed throughout the venue and very soft on the ears."

(Jim Evans)

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Australia - When the SCG Trust recently rebuilt The MA Noble, Don Bradman and Dally Messenger Stands to meet the needs of the 21st century sporting community, Sydney's The P.A. People were brought in to not only install new front and back of house PA equipment, but also integrate the new stands with the existing facilities. After a 12-month build, the new stand's AV fit-out was completed in August 2014, with a huge range of new and innovative features throughout.

The new MA Noble, Don Bradman and Dally Messenger Stands host a huge range of multifunction and hospitality spaces including a micro-brewery, 14 bars, banquet hall, dining room and corporate entertainment suites. The operational side includes extensive new outside broadcast and media facilities as well as multimedia-enabled coaching and training rooms.

Designed and built by The P.A. People, the new stand's bowl sound

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China - ArKaos Pro has announced the appointment of ACE as its new distributor for China.

ACE will be responsible for promoting, distributing and servicing ArKaos Pro's Stage and Studio media servers as well as the ArKaos MediaMaster Pro and Express software across the whole of China.

Founded in 1982, ACE introduced a comprehensive catalogue of stage lighting into China and has provided top class distribution and service across the country ever since. The company prides itself on enabling companies of all sizes to have easy access to high performance products at the best possible prices. ArKaos PRO customers in China will now be able to benefit from ACE accessibility and dedication to customer service.

"We chose ACE because they understand the technology behind ArKaos products and, with offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong, have a strong presence in the

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Czech Republic - The O2 Arena in Prague is the latest large-format multipurpose venue to embrace Nexo's Geo S12-ST sound reinforcement systems, high-output long-throw loudspeakers developed specially for stadium and arena use.

Built for the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, the O2 Arena is home to the HC Slavia Praha and HC Lev Praha ice hockey teams and also hosts a range of other sporting and corporate events and concerts.

The venue needed to replace its existing PA system installed 10 years ago, a point source system that was, by the venue's own admission, under-specified and under-powered. The brief required a complete new PA/VA system to provide information and emergency announcements as well as music: also the new system needed to integrate easily into the Arena's existing systems, and to represent good value for money.

"We looked at the best technology a

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UK - The Theatres Trust has published its 37th Annual Report: Enabling theatres to thrive which highlights its work and achievements from April 2013 to March 2014.

As the National Advisory Body for Theatres, The Theatres Trust works to secure a sustainable future for theatre buildings. Its aim is to ensure that current and future generations have access to good quality theatres that reflect our cultural life and offer inspiring places to enjoy theatre.

Mhora Samuel, director of The Theatres Trust, said: "This year saw the Trust once again in the spotlight - alerting authorities to the impact of relaxation of planning policy on the viability of theatres, continuing to be a voice for theatres, raising awareness of their needs, and celebrating the resilience and creativity of those in charge of our theatre buildings."

In 2013/14 the Trust published its annual <

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The Netherlands - In September 2012, the Centre for the Arts, the Vinegar Factory (Azijnfabriek) and associated arthouse cinemas in Roermond, The Netherlands, merged to form the new ECI Culture Factory (ECI Cultuurfabriek). ECI Cultuurfabriek is housed in a renovated factory building that no longer produces industrial goods but instead hosts a variety of cultural events illuminated by an Elation lighting package of Platinum Series moving heads and LED PAR lights.

ECI Cultuurfabriek includes a theatre, stage, two cinemas, café and gallery space all under one roof and hosts a variety of cultural events from music, dance and theatre to workshops and special project days. Restoration of the former factory, actually a historically significant building, took two and a half years to complete.

"This was the perfect moment for the new location to start with a complete LED i

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Norway - Established in 1949, Riksteatret is Norway's national touring theatre. The organisation's headquarters is in Oslo's Nydalen district, where a Yamaha AFC3 system has recently been installed to help overcome the dry acoustic of its main performance space.

An offshoot of the Norwegian government's Ministry of Culture, Riksteatret stages shows in 70 venues around Norway, its mission being to ensure that nobody has to travel for more than an hour to one of its productions. Productions are developed and previewed in two venues at the Nydalen complex, the 300-seat Store Gull (Large Gold) and 120-seat Lille Gull (Little Gold).

Formerly a television studio, Store Gull had a very dry acoustic response, the reverb time being as little as 0.56s. This resulted in a rather uncomfortable experience for both actors and audiences - the actors feeling disconnected from the audience, wh

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UK - Liverpool based Adlib has designed and delivered an L-Acoustics Kara audio system with Midas control to Lincoln's premier live performance venue, the 1600 capacity Engine Shed.

The venue is on the campus of Lincoln University and is the city's busiest live entertainment space, featuring a lively mix of music, comedy, club nights and conferences. This latest Adlib installation is one of a series of highly successful projects delivered by the company to leading student managed venues around the country.

Engine Shed engineers first came into contact with Adlib through the various training programmes available at their Liverpool HQ. The company has also gained a good reputation for designing excellent sounding, rider-friendly systems for a number of high profile similar venues in the last two years including at Leeds and Leicester Universities and Manchester and Sheffield Aca

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Italy - American sound artist Bill Fontana has partnered with Meyer Sound in the creation of Sonic Mappings, a permanent sound art installation for Rome's MAXXI Museum. Fontana's musical landscape pays tribute to Rome's Acqua Vergine, the ancient waterway that is at the heart and soul of Roman civilization. Sonic Mappings is the centrepiece of Open Museum Open City, the museum's latest exhibition dedicated to sound, which MAXXI artistic director Hou Hanru describes as "the most radical and experimental aspect of contemporary art."

Undertaking an ambitious artistic journey, Fontana travelled the path of the Acqua Vergine from the source springs at Salone to the ancient tunnels still in existence under the streets of Rome. By using microphones, hydrophones, and accelerometers - some placed in the water flow and some imbedded into walls - Fontana captured th

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USA - Things are looking up for the lighting rig at the legendary Firestone Live!, the largest nightclub in Orlando. As part of a remodelling project, the club's stage was lowered three feet to make room to hang additional lighting fixtures. At the same time, a new trussing rig was installed over the dance floor, creating four extra feet of space for overhead lighting.

A design team from Complete Production Resources and Impulse Creative Group (both of Orlando) utilized this expanded area to inject a new level of dynamism and energy into the storied club with a beefed-up lighting rig that features an array of fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Located in the 86-year-old Firestone Tire and Auto Building, Firestone Live! cut its teeth as a nightspot and concert venue during the early EDM boom of the 1990s. Rolling Stone and Billboard ran flattering pieces on Fires

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Ukraine - 1+1 Media Group is one of the largest media conglomerates in Ukraine. It is comprised of eight Ukrainian TV channels and also includes a fully-fledged production company. 1+1 Media recently installed an ANDIAMO.XT AES/MADI converter and two powerful M.1k2 MADI routing systems from DirectOut as the audio core in their new eight-floor TV Centre, plus a number of ANDIAMO.XT AES/MADI converters in two of their OB vans which have been converted to full HD facilities.

"This is the first time we have worked with DirectOut, and they couldn't have been more helpful," affirmed Aleksey Marko, head of procurement for 1+1 Media. "It's rather a long story and of course our political situation has not helped matters, but the short version is, that having purchased an Evertz video router for the new TV centre, we needed a solution to be able to combine all of our audio

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South Africa - Midstream Ridge Primary, situated in Midstream Estate, between Centurion and Midrand, opened its doors on January 2014. Amongst a frenzy of excited children and enthusiastic teachers, the smell of fresh paint and cement still lingering in the air, the official inaugural ceremony took place in the newly kitted out school hall on 8 August.

Consultant Pieter-Jan Kapp - better known as Kappie - from PJK, created a technically sound and user-friendly venue that would do credit to any school in the country. For the lighting in the school hall he specified Philips Strand dimming, Philips Selecon Acclaim and Rama fixtures, a Philips Strand 250ML console, six Robe 250 AT Spots and a few faithful Longman LED Pars. DWR Distribution supplied this equipment, as well as a stage curtain track manufactured by Rob Young.

Kappie has had the opportunity of working on numerous inst

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USA - Marquee Nightclub is consistently one of the highest grossing nightclubs in Las Vegas and one of the hottest and most luxurious nightclubs around. Located in the heart of the Strip, Marquee underwent a major LED lighting system upgrade recently with LD Steve Lieberman, owner of SJ Lighting, using over 1,100 new Elation Pixel Bar 40 LED strip lights to create a 360-degree immersive experience.

SJ Lighting received praise as theatrical lighting design consultants for the original design at Marquee when the club debuted in 2010 and were called on again to give the club a fresh makeover. "Any venue in an A market needs to update technologies to stay competitive because they play such a strong supporting role in creating the atmosphere," Steve Lieberman states. "At Marquee, we wanted to create a new design that would carry them through the next several years, som

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USA - With this week's opening of the Dr. Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts, Orlando is now the home to a world-class performing arts centre that will attract patrons from across the region, serve as a home for community arts groups, provide a nexus for arts education, and contribute even further to the city's reputation as a tourist mecca.

The 330,000sq.ft building was a collaboration between Theatre Projects, Barton Myers (design architect), HKS Architects (executive architect) and Baker Barrios (associate architect). It was a project nearly three decades in the making.

Theatre Projects first began planning an arts centre for Orlando in 1985 when city officials hired them to determine whether the city could support such a facility. At the time, it was decided that the city could not accommodate the performing arts centre, but a re-evaluation 10 years later found the ci

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UK - With new exhibitors and new speakers being announced every week, there will be plenty for visitors to see at the Glasgow SECC for the inaugural PLASA Focus Glasgow event, which takes place on 2-3 December 2014.

New exhibitors announced this week include Adlib Audio and HDPro Audio, Orbital Sound and FBT Audio UK, who will join the all-star list of exhibitors already at the show - including Robe, Ambersphere, White Light, Avolites, Chauvet, AED, Sennheiser, Bosch, NL Productions, JHS ProAudio, Warehouse Sound, LMC Audio, Polar Audio, Black Light, Trusslite, Total Solutions Group, UK Rigging, TMB and many more.

PLASA's Professional Development Programme will deliver two days of presentations, technical demonstrations and panel discussions, all designed to help visitors build their industry knowledge and improve their skill set. This year's programme focusses on the hot topi

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UK - London's Imperial War Museum opened its new First World War Gallery in July. The vision was to give the visitor a more realistic representation of what life in a trench was like. A soundscape was clearly going to be vital and the noises should come from many different parts of the display. The mission was on to find a proven playback system that would respond to cues from a Medialon Show Controller and interface with video servers from 7th Sense and Dataton. The clear choice was the Merging Technologies Ovation.

Idee und Klang have an enviable track record of significant projects from the BMW Museum in Munich to the Stategrid Pavilion at the Expo Shanghai 2010 so sound designer, Ramon De Marco was able to understand the requirements very easily. The museum had organised an international competition to select the sound design company and the Idee und Klang proposal was the o

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China - London-based theatre consultancy practice, Theatreplan LLP has announced its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region with the opening of Theatreplan (HK) Ltd in Hong Kong. The new practice, which is already operational, is being managed by Theatreplan's senior consultant, Robin Auld. The move follows the company's success in securing the contract with the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) to provide theatre consultancy services to deliver the Freespace Black Box Theatre in the burgeoning West Kowloon area of Hong Kong.

According to Theatreplan partner, Dave Ludlam, the opportunity to expand into Hong Kong was not to be missed. "It was clear that in order to deliver the best possible service to the WKCDA, we needed a base in Hong Kong," he explained. "In addition to the enhanced service we can provide to the Black Box project, it also offers u

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USA - Following an extensive top-to-bottom renovation, the Altria Theatre in Richmond, Virginia reopened earlier this month, reintroducing the community to the elegant 1920's style and spirit that drew in millions of patrons over the course of its storied history. Now equipped with modern theatre systems, improved seating, refurbished décor, and greater amenities, the theatre is better equipped than ever to provide a bridge between the arts and the theatre-going public.

Working in collaboration with Wilson Butler Architects, Theatre Projects led the renovation of the 180,000sq.ft building's auditorium, theatre equipment, and support spaces. Nearly all of the renovations were conducted in phases, allowing the theatre to maintain its schedule of events.

Originally built as a Shriner Temple, the iconic venue opened in 1927 and became known as 'The Mosque' because of its tw

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Indonesia - It was back in 2013 that the Ismaya Group, owners of Jakarta's legendary Blowfish Nightclub, first decided to carry out a complete technology upgrade, integrated with a new AV system, in order to refresh the club's image.

PT Citra Intirama, Martin Audio's long term distributors, have also enjoyed a relationship with the operators, and first introduced them to the British loudspeaker brand at one of their other elite clubs, the Dragonfly, back in 2006.

Martin Audio was then installed in the Blowfish Bar & Nightclub - but with the recent overhaul came not only replacement drivers for the existing system but a complete new complement of AQ and Blackline series full range systems and subwoofers.

"It was a natural progression to continue with the same brand," said PT Citra Intirama's Eric Haslim. "Martin Audio has a well-established reputation as one of

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UK - Liverpool based technical solutions provider Adlib has supplied audio and lighting design, equipment and installation to three venues run by the Liverpool Guild of Students (LGoS) as part of a major £14m refurbishment and upgrade project spearheaded by the University of Liverpool.

This ambitious investment plan was executed over two years to improve the utilization of space, functionality and to enhance the overall student experience at the Guild & Reilly Building which is central to the university campus.

For Adlib, this has included design and installation of a comprehensive power & cabling infrastructure, provision of L-Acoustics and Coda audio systems, together with production lighting rigs featuring more premium brands like Robe, Martin by Harman and ETC and the development of a custom IGUS cable management solution with Lift-Turn-Move (LTM), also based locally

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UK - London-based theatre consultancy, Theatreplan LLP has announced the appointment of two new partners to the practice. With appointments that took effect from 1 October, Michael Atkinson and Paul Connolly join current partners, Roger Fox, Dave Ludlam, Clive Odom, Mathew Smethurst-Evan and John Whitaker.

Atkinson first joined Theatreplan as an associate in April 2014 where he designed the stage and working light control systems as well as dimmer engineering for the Copenhagen Opera and a range of other venues. A renowned lighting technology expert whose career has taken him from major West End shows to New York and then back to the UK where he enjoyed a long stint at the National Theatre as Head of Resources, Atkinson's proficiency in all things relating to lighting system design and energy management is nationally recognized.

As well as leading Theatreplan's lighting system

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UK - It was announced on Friday that the UK's first government-backed National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries is to be established at The Backstage Centre, High House Production Park, opening in September 2016.

Managed by Creative & Cultural Skills on behalf of a consortium of employers and industry organisations including Live Nation, Royal Opera House, White Light and the Association of British Theatre Technicians, the new National College will provide specialist training in the technical skills needed by the creative and cultural industries. This is in response to significant industry growth, with the creative economy growing at four times the rate of the national economy, and the value of the UK's creative industries exports standing at over £15 billion per year.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "The talent which brings plays, operas, and f

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