The Wembley studio building that used to house CTS Studios is back in business as a recording facility after industry veteran Pete Fielder secured a lease on the premises, which he has re-opened under the name of Phoenix Sound.
The studio building is located close to Wembley Stadium and was due to be redeveloped as part of the overall stadium rebuild. However, when plans for a new stadium fell through, Fielder acquired the lease from Wembley plc with a view to securing the site’s future as a recording studio.
Fielder, a respected engineer and APRS board member who has extensive experience of the studio industry, told L&SI: "This is a large site that is already very popular with musicians and has plenty of potential as a studio complex. Although we are re-equipping from scratch, the actual studios and control rooms are already in place and will simply be re-decorated and acoustically treated. We have now opened Studio One and by the end of 2002, we aim to have the rest of the complex in use as a recording, rehearsal and post production facility."
Included in the equipment on Fielder’s shopping list is an AMS Neve Capricorn, which will be installed in Studio Two once it has been remodelled by Recording Architecture. Fielder is hoping to transform Studio Three into a post-production room for ADR and Foley work, while the other 12 rooms could be let for smaller projects.
Phoenix Sound is already generating interest within the recording world. The BBC Concert Orchestra is currently using Studio One as a temporary home following the collapse of a ce
The first major European installation by Los Angeles-based artist Hiro Yamagata. Photon 999 opened at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, at the end of last year. Yamagata worked with a team of over 30 specialists to realise the installation. 15 laser systems (from Tarm Showlaser, Times of Change and Dymax Special Effects), including four of Coherent’s new Viper lasers, are placed around the edge of a pool. These are projected to over 200 mirrors installed on 20m high JTE truss towers and Mylar holographic panels applied to the surface of the central walkway. The system is controlled by a custom software package designed by Laser Animation.
Quadrant Visual Solutions (QVS), the specialist AV designer and installer and conference specialist, has specified and equipped ‘Host’ - the new media centre in Leeds, recently opened by Melanie B, with a comprehensive range of state-of-the-art multi-media equipment. The centre, funded by Leeds City Council, is situated in Chapeltown and was built as part of the Council's drive towards regenerating Leeds' inner city. Providing office space for small new media companies to rent, QVS equipped the centre with sound, radio and TV studios, conference rooms, multi-media training rooms and video edit suites.
The work was put out to European tender, and QVS account manager Andrew Hogben is delighted to have been awarded the contract. "We worked in partnership with Sony Broadcast and Total Audio Solutions to produce the original specification. For the sound studios, we supplied a Sony DMX-R100 Digital Audio Mixer, a Digidesign ProTools System, a Cuebase VST software, PMC Audio Speakers, a Tascam DA98, multi-track recorders and Akai samplers. A Sony PX31 data projector, and an AMX meeting room control system was supplied for the conference room, and 18 PCs with midi-keyboards for the multi-media training room. We provided the Centre's TV studio/video with a 36 Channel TV lighting system, a Sony DSR500 widescreen digital camera and accessories, Vinten tripods and dollies and an Avid XpressDV video edit suite on IBM PC with a Pioneer DVR-AO3 DVD Burner and DVD Authoring Software."
The contract commenced in March 2001 and phases 1 and 2 have just been completed
Three BSS 9088ii Soundwebs have been specified to handle the networking at the important new Media Centre which opened recently in Shanghai. The Centre is based around a single fan-shaped room, measuring 6.4m high and 36m in length. The shortest width is 22m and the longest, 44m. Owned by the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Company, the contract to fit out this new-build site was won by ACE Shanghai.
The company wrote an audio specification to include mixing consoles (Amek/Soundcraft), amplification (Crown), loudspeakers (JBL Vs Series), control components (including dbx equalization), various sound sources, patch facilities and other ancillaries. They recommended to the owners that Soundweb be employed to route the signal sources generated from CD player, cassette recorder, hard disk recorder and microphone - with a local 9010 Jellyfish remote panel. According to ACE Shanghai’s Zhou Ji, the company has preset into Soundweb delay characteristics, gain settings, crossovers, matrixing, limiting, filter, compression, gate, meter point and networking features.
(Ruth Rossington)
Cast Lighting, a subsidiary of Cast Group, will set up and oversee the complex lighting requirements for CBC’s English and French Home Base coverage of the Winter Games in Salt Lake City during January and February 2002. The events will be broadcast live on CBC for approximately 16 hours a day for the duration of the Games. This is the second time the Canadian company has been invited to participate in the Olympics: Cast also supported the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, by providing full WYSIWYG pre-planning and visualization tools.
Cast will be represented at the Games by Allyn Terry, lighting director/designer and Russ Widdall as board operator/assistant. Preplanning of the studios will take place in Toronto. Terry and Widdall will spend some two months on site in Salt Lake City with the set-up and managing of the studios. These studios will have numerous configurations in order to accommodate the various broadcasting needs.
For the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Cast created a Super-WYSIWYG system that allowed the lighting designer to pre-cue the opening and closing ceremonies off-site. Some of these cues were used directly via WYSIWYG’s computer-generated format and, once executed on stage, did not require additional adjustments. The custom-made, 17,000-channel WYSIWYG system simulated 32 universes of DMX. It also allowed the eight board operators to see more than just the performance of their own lights - they were also able to see what the other operators were doing as well.
(Ruth Rossington)
Adjacent to the City Walls and near the famous Minster in the historic city of York, York St John College offers a range of opportunities for post-graduate and post-experience study, alongside an extensive programme of MA and PhD research degrees. The main 9.87 acre site with a history dating back to 1841 is located on Lord Mayor’s Walk, just a few minutes from city centre shops, restaurants, theatres, galleries and museums.
The College has recently embarked on a major programme of investment in infrastructure facilities to develop a state-of-the-art learning centre including a new library and IT facilities. The programme has also included a significant installation of lighting and audio equipment to enhance the college’s Communication Arts Studies in Media and Performance (CASMAP) facilities.
This part of the installation has been carried out by AC Lighting Ltd, creating two drama studios, a dance studio, a recording studio and facilities for music production and pre-production work. The drama and dance studios have been fitted with a high density of ceiling-mounted internally wired lighting bars and an extensive range of Selecon and Vision lanterns. A number of Strand lanterns from a former college location have also been integrated into the facilities. Control is provided by a mixture of Strand and Zero 88 dimmers in conjunction with ETC and Zero 88 consoles. Extensive patching facilities have been incorporated as part of the dimmer installations. Each studio has also been extensively equipped with tracking and drapes to enable simple and rapid reconfigu
It's a shame that all the great work that goes on in the run-up to Christmas fades so quickly into the past. The lights might be up until January 5th, but the party ended New Year’s Eve, such is the ephemeral nature of the season and the entertainment that accompanies it. Looking forwards is the resolute option, and this January LSD Fourth Phase has much to look forward to, not least with a re-scheduled tour by Destiny's Child out there in the middle distance.
S Club 7 is the biggy of the month; the group is at Elstree studios for rehearsals as we speak, with the tour commencing at the end of this month. This is a major production, set design by Charlie Kail (built by Total Fabrications Ltd) with Pete Barnes designing the lighting rig which will contain Icons, PC Beams, Super Cycs, Studio Colors and 64 trusty Par cans. Out in the audience a huge flown catwalk (flown by Summit Steel, who rig the whole show) also holds Studio Colors along its length.
Status Quo have re-scheduled shows to do this month: Pat Mark’s lighting rig of Pars and Mac 500s will be visiting Oxford and Guildford before month’s end, with further shows in Grimsby, Carlisle, Plymouth, Leicester, Hereford and Port Talbot in February.
Travis commence their long awaited arena tour in February with LD Matt Jensen totally beefing up the show for this shift from the theatre circuit to arenas. I spoke to him on the ski slopes at the foot of the Matterhorn yesterday. "The rig will be similar to that seen before Christmas, only bigger. Willie Williams and video director Adam Buxton are j
For the second year running Capital Sound Hire dug deep into their inventory of Martin Audio Wavefront 8C enclosures to provide sound reinforcement for the Ministry of Sound’s massive 14-hour New Year’s Eve Dance Party at the Millennium Dome. Unlike last year, this time the celebrations took place under the Dome itself.
Due to simultaneous W8 commitments in St Georges Square, Glasgow - and the necessity to match each mid/high box with a low-end enclosure at the Dome - Cap Sound were required to sub-hire an additional 14 WSX subwoofers from the new Martin Wavefront inventory of London-based FX Music to fulfil their remit to the Ministry of Sound. Four separate arenas - ‘Smoove’, ‘World Dance’, ‘Rulin’ and ‘Ministry Of Sound’ - were set up, and among the world-class DJs involved were Judge Jules, Dave Pearce, Alex P and Brandon Block.
Capital Sound Hire were contracted to kit out Smoove and World Dance - filling the two massive, 9,000-capacity eight-pole Khyam tents with powerful Martin Wavefront stacks. Given the vagaries of noise containment within the overall Dome’s geosphere, the council brought in Jim Griffiths of acoustics consultants Symonds to take sound measurements on the sensitive sites around the peninsular at Tower Hamlets. The company followed a similar formula to last year, but in view of the restricted space within the 90m structures they preferred a straightforward front-projection approach, utilizing four stacks of Martin W8C/WSX left and right of the stage, with a similarly-configured tim
Soda in Derby is the latest club to choose a Nexo Alpha E system, installed by Ivor Green Associates. According to Green, Nexo was "the only choice" for his clients who were committed from the very beginning to the highest quality system they could afford. "I was impressed by their enthusiasm and professional approach," he said. "Although it's not the sort of job we would normally undertake, having seen the venue and met the clients and realised that we were of like minds, I agreed to take on the contract."
The club operates on three levels with the Soda bar on the ground floor, a quiet chill-out area with no music at all on the second floor, and the dancefloor itself, home to the new system, on the third floor. Green specified two stacks of Alpha E comprising four Alpha B1-18 bass bins and four Alpha E-M mid-top cabinets each. Crown MA Series amplifiers provide the power and a Nexo NX241 digital controller handles system processing. "It's not a huge system, but it sounds impeccable," commented Green. "The clients wanted a sound system that would deliver high power with extreme clarity, but they also wanted something that would have credibility in this market, and Nexo delivers on all fronts. To my mind the Alpha system represents an excellent technical achievement, and Nexo are to be complimented.
(Lee Baldock)
Inter-M, the Korean based manufacturer of professional and public address audio products, began 2002 with the announcement of their move to new purpose-built premises in Seoul. "While manufacturing resources remain at the newly extended plant in Kyungki, Inter-M’s new offices in Seoul have been designed to develop our marketing department and increase productivity in the company’s extensive research and development division," said Mr Y J Yoo, Inter-M’s senior managing director.
Inter-M, whose products are sold in over 80 countries, have significantly increased output facilities to develop their latest range of pro sound and digital audio products, together with a new CCTV range to be launched later in 2002 at the ISC Show in Las Vegas and IFSec in Birmingham. The new Seoul offices also include a purpose-built 180sq.m three part showroom divided to exhibit Inter-M’s PA, pro audio and CCTV ranges, as well as a new 100sq.m anechoic facility which will be used to test their advanced digital audio processing range to be launched later in 2002.
(Ruth Rossington)
The Clapham Grand, which re-opened three years ago under the management of Howard Spooner's Leopard Clubs has changed its Crown-powered Nexo Alpha system for a new Crown-powered Nexo Alpha system . . .
So what prompted the change? Howard Spooner explained: "The original system we put in three years ago was perfect for the requirements at the time, but since then our music policy has changed to include a more house and dance night as well as our traditional 70s and 80s nights. Also, the dispersion of people through the club has changed. As a result we needed more sub-bass to beef up the low-end, as well some infills for the upper levels. Basically I just felt that our customers deserved an upgrade."
Spooner approached Peter Dyer at Tarsin who enlisted the help of Fuzion's technical director, Gary Ashton, to specify a new Nexo system. Dyer pointed out that although it's only been three years since the original installation, technology has changed. "System control is now digital rather than analogue, and there were several other changes we felt we could make to improve the system, so on balance we felt that it would be more efficient to start again from scratch rather than try to upgrade the existing equipment."
The 1500-capacity club retains its original theatre format with a T-shaped stage at the front for the performers and cabaret which extends out into the main dancefloor. Two tiers of seating overlook the dancefloor with boxes extending down each side of the auditorium. The DJ is situated on his own balcony towards the rear of the stage so he ca
Barry Manilow is once again venturing out on a world tour with lighting designer Seth Jackson, and Bandit Lites. This year’s tour began on 3 December and is expected to be out for nine months playing theatres and arenas across America and Europe. This year’s lighting system is again based around a moving light package from Martin Professional. Jackson is using 31 MAC 300s and eight MAC 600s for his washes and utilizing 17 MAC 250 and 15 500 for some striking beam looks and effects. Production manager for the tour is Joe Clayton, stage manager is Steve Ernaut and crew chief is Tom Fulscher.
(Lee Baldock)
Interest-free credit on the design, production and hosting of websites is being offered to audio companies under a new initiative. Backed by Leeds-based marketing agency FL42, the scheme is designed to help companies working in the pro-audio and MI sectors reap the benefits of promoting and selling through the Internet, without a large initial outlay.
Ross Brown, managing director of FL42, says: "Everybody recognises the power of the Internet, with everybody from pro and amateur musicians to hire companies using it to promote services and research products, yet many companies have yet to take their first steps online. For some this is because of the techno-babble from so-called experts and for others it is the initial outlay required that is off-putting. This scheme aims to remove these barriers, dealing in plain English, providing clients with exactly what they need and using a variety of payment schemes to spread the cost, making an effective website affordable for every business in the UK."
A full-service marketing agency with experience of working in pro-audio and MI, FL42 was founded last year by Ross Brown and Nick Powell, former European marketing manager of Audio-Technica. FL42 is dedicated to delivering tangible results to clients and its staff have considerable expertise in marketing, design, copywriting and the Internet, ensuring clients receive a high quality website suited to its target audience.
(Lee Baldock)
Trius, the official L- Acoustics Distributor for Germany, has just completed an installation at one of the country’s most popular multi-functional arenas - the Olympia Hall in Munich - together with a local installation company called IES.
The 13,000 capacity Olympia Hall was built in 1972 for the Olympic Games and hosts a range of events such as rock concerts, musicals, sport events and corporate functions. Due to the variety of formats, the main audio installation requirement for the hall was to have uniform and coherent coverage of both the stands and the infield. Furthermore, a modern system was required which would be acceptable to visiting production companies.
The installation includes 76 L- Acoustics dV-Dosc cabinets, divided into eight arrays (two of 12 cabinets for the north stand, two of 10 cabinets for the south stand, two of eight cabinets for both the west and east tribunes, and two of eight cabinets for the infield), with L-Acoustics LA 24 amplifiers. The signal processing consists of four BSS FDS-366 and two new Symnet Digital Matrix units from Symetrix, with customs settings created by Trius to complement the various system applications and configurations. Initial results and reactions from both the technical staff and the visitors have been very positive.
(Lee Baldock)
London-based Blink TV, the big screen entertainment company, has announced the opening of a business development unit in the USA, headed by Van Jarvis and based in San Francisco. Jarvis has been in the professional live video production business for over 20 years, having worked for two of the leading US video rental companies, and produced high profile music shows such as the Tibetian Freedom Concert in Washington in 1999 and the United Nations sponsored Groundwork 2001 in Seattle.
Blink specializes in the provision of integrated video packages for rock and pop concerts and festivals around the world. The concept has proved very successful in the UK, Europe and Australasia, and the US office has been established to promote their services to the huge live entertainment market in America. The operation in the States will be structured along similar lines to its other territories around the world. Blink subsidizes the costs of bands touring with video equipment in return for the rights to use the screens during walk-in and intervals. Blink then produces entertainment to run on the screens during those periods of downtime.
Jarvis feels the climate is ripe for the Blink concept to take off in the US, in spite of the current difficult economic climate. "Production values are still high, and acts can benefit from keeping their costs down and simultaneously adding value to their shows," he states. He confirms that there’s already been interest, and expects to announce the first Blink TV US tours early in the New Year.
Blink has also recently expanded its UK sa
During an intensely busy year Britannia Row has managed the complete upgrade of its stock of Turbosound Flashlight PA, road tested, proved and embraced the latest X-Line system from EV and joined the V-dosc Network.
"We were the biggest UK user of V-dosc in 2001," commented Brit Row director Mike Lowe."Dave Bracey got stunning results for the Robbie Williams tour, ranging from the Swing While You’re Winning concert at the Royal Albert Hall to the summer stadium shows Oasis and Offspring also toured with large systems. Becoming a Network member was a natural progression. The fact that Brit Row now offers what we consider the two best Line Array systems available should not be seen as a conflict of interest. Their own manufacturers will be the first to say that the two systems are distinctly different, something we saw very early on. Several sound engineers with whom we have long established relationships were asking for different PAs for different applications. We believe it good business to offer equally well developed solutions to those requirements." Britannia Row’s V-dosc/dV-dosc inventory is now the largest in the UK network.
Back at the beginning of 2001, Brit Row, the largest stockholder of Flashlight in Europe, made the conversion from Mk1 to Mk II. "As soon as we heard the new Mk II we knew we’d have to upgrade our entire system," said Grant. During last year the upgrades were beta tested by various engineers including Gary Bradshaw with Depeche Mode and Rick Pope with Jamiroquai and based on their recommendations
Music Control and Technical Services, the sales, installation and technical support divisions of the FX Group, has recently completed the creation of a recording studio and edit suite at the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, the only free performing arts school in the UK.
The Brit School were keen to ensure that the entire studio project was taken on by one organisation as opposed to a variety of contractors, which led Declan Cunningham, Music Technology Teacher at the Brit School, to contact Music Control, part of the FX group of companies. The Studio project involved a specialist team made up of members of the two relevant divisions of the FX group of companies, namely Music Control and Technical Services. The studio equipment was supplied and fitted by Music Control with additional re-wiring and cabling of patch bays and outboard undertaken by Technical Services.
Equipment for the studio included a Digidesign Pro Tools Mix Cubed system running through an Apple Mac G4 system with two built-in Digidesign 888 24 audio interfaces. The studio will operate using a Digidesign Control 24 desk. The editing suite also benefits from a Digidesign 001 system, which will complement the main studios pro-tools system and a substantial amount of outboard.
The studio facility is aimed at providing music students with a working knowledge of Pro-Tools and associated 'industry standard' kit. The new equipment will be used along with the school’s existing 36-track analogue studio to record among others, the annual BRIT CD which contains highlights of the best BRIT stu
Sennheiser UK is to take on sole distribution of Lab.Gruppen’s market leading range of power amplifiers and loudspeaker processors, with effect from 16 January. The Swedish manufacturer enjoys an enviable reputation for the quality and performance of its range of power amplifiers; and particularly for its revolutionary high efficiency switch mode technology models, first introduced in 1987. These provide exemplary sound quality and long term reliability, as well as exceptional power-to-weight ratios, offering significant cost savings and operational advantage in both touring and fixed installation applications.
Commenting, Sennheiser director of sales Alan Johnson stated. "Sennheiser has grown its sound installation and live sound reinforcement business significantly over the last four or five years, particularly expanding the market for the range of DAS speaker products. The addition of a premium amplifier brand like Lab.Gruppen to our product portfolio offers the opportunity to market integrated systems solutions far more extensively than in the past. Lab.Gruppen will enable us to compete across a wider range of applications."
(Lee Baldock)
With two distinct divisions, Liverpool-based Adlib Audio are equally at home in the installation arena as they are on tour with some of the world’s leading bands. Their own-branded equipment keeps company with some of the top commercial names in pro audio, and running kit in their rental fleet enables them to evaluate its suitability for fixed install.
Which is how the company became familiar with the BSS FDS-334 and FDS-336 Minidrives. Adlib have long been devotees of BSS’ famous Omnidrive family and so when they won the contract to fit out a series of Living Room bar/restaurants for fast-expanding Living Ventures Ltd, the proprietary digital loudspeaker management system went straight into the specification.
As the latest Living Room opened on Birmingham’s burgeoning Broad Street leisure strip this month, Adlib managing director, Andy Dockerty, told us that their first Living Ventures project had been on their own doorstep at the up tempo Mosquito Bar and The Vampire Suite, a private members bar in Liverpool six months ago. "We’d previously done a lot of hires for the owners," said Dockerty. "But this was the first place we used an FDS-334 and FDS-336 - and it was on the strength of this that we won the contract to fit out the Living Rooms."
The 10 outputs afforded by the combination of a 334 and 336 fits the model perfectly for a multiple sourced system offering, sequentially, hard-disk delivered background music system, a blues pianist and a full-on DJ session. In Birmingham this services three zones - conservatory, rest
MC2 Audio’s distributor in Latvia, GaCo Skanu Un Gaismu Serviss, has now completed the installation of a conference system for the Latvian Council of Ministers, the contract for which they won last summer. In their bid for the contract, GaCo included only top-end equipment by well known manufacturers. The company had previously purchased MC1250 amplifiers for their rental department, and so felt confident about the performance of MC2 Audio amps for this project.
The sound system in the Council of Ministers installation is driven by the MC450 amplifier and consists of four TCS-20 Turbosound speakers, with the main signal coming from 10 beyerdynamic MCS series digital conference system microphones, mixed by the MIX 10 beyerdynamic mixer.
(Lee Baldock)
JBL’s new VerTec system was used on New Year’s Eve at the highly successful SchoolDisco.com event at London Docklands Arena. The sold-out event was attended by 11,000 revellers in school uniforms. JBL audio was specified by SchoolDisco.com founder and guru Bobby Sanchez, who has used the brand for years. He loves the ‘classic’ JBL sound which is perfect for SchoolDisco.com’s musical style and ambience.
Sanchez insists on using JBL at all SchoolDisco.com events. He says it brings out the best of their musical policy which is based on the pop and rock anthems of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The fast forwarding SchoolDisco.com phenomena currently includes a weekly Friday detention slot at the Hanover Grand in central London and regular extra curricular events at Hammersmith Palais (Po Na Na) - utilising their own 4-stack JBL sound system - plus weekly club nights at Manchester Academy and every Saturday at HQ in Dublin.
However, this was the first time that Sanchez had used JBL’s new VerTec line array. It was supplied by Liverpool-based Ad Lib Audio, the 12-a side system kicked arse, and Sanchez was very impressed. He says: "The VerTec sounded absolutely brilliant. It’s a perfect sound for SchoolDisco.com - warm and musical - and we will definitely be using it for our Schoolfields event in the summer."
The system was mixed by Ad Lib Audio’s Dave Kay and Marc Peers. The evening featured numerous DJs, one live slot by an Abba tribute band. The New Year’s Eve SchoolDisco.com event was promoted by SJM Concerts.
(Lee
UK exhibitors at the 11th TiLE (Trends in Leisure and Entertainment) exhibition and conference will receive financial support from the Department of Trade and Industry'’ Trade Partners UK, through its SESA scheme. SESA (Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad) provides funds to help British companies exhibit their products and services at trade shows that have a proven record of attracting the right buyers.
TiLE‘s broad base covers visitor attractions, theme parks and themed environments, retail and shopping malls and exhibitions and product launches, attracting exhibitors from the A/V, multimedia, architectural, lighting, sound and special effects fields. The show takes place at the Estrel Congress Center, Berlin, from Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th June 2002.
(Ruth Rossington)
Trantec’s award-winning UHF radio mics have been supplied to a new studio facility in Kennington - set up to produce the latest Richard & Judy series. Six channels of Trantec S5000 beltpacks, with a pair of auxiliary S4000s, were recommended by Nigel Gates, along with Trantec S5000IEM personal in-ear monitors to Cactus TV, the production company for Richard & Judy, which is now being produced at the studio in South London for Channel 4 transmission. Four receiver racks were supplied with the order.
Sound supervisor Oliver France installed the equipment at the Cactus TV studio in conjunction with facility providers, Roll To Record, following a fast-track contract to develop the brownfield site (a former polystyrene depot). Oliver confirmed that Nigel Gates had long been an advocate of Trantec radio mics. "And on occasions when I have used them I have found them to give a good performance at a good price - which is an unbeatable combination. Certainly they have never let us down."
The system has been supplied with both passive and active antenna distribution units and two ground plane antenna, with the aerials positioned at the back of the set. Oliver reports that while there are no range problems within the facility, the system had to be robust, citing shows such as Big Brother where radio systems come in for rough handling. "They are also subjected to fast turnarounds, so they have to be able to stand up to manhandling and dropping."
With Trantec that attribute is a given - but there are other features that Oliver France was quick to latch on
ARX has recently completed shipping one of its largest individual orders received in 2001 for the new multi-million dollar Crowne Plaza Hotel project in Beirut, Lebanon. ARX's Lebanese distributor Doummar Freres Sarl has the contract to design, supply and install the fully-integrated audio-video system for the new hotel's banqueting and conference facilities which also includes stage lighting, conferencing and simultaneous translation systems, lighting and dimmers, and mobile band equipment. The projects Audio systems include over 40 PowerMax Series loudspeakers and various quantities of UltraSubs, Micro Max 1s, Ambience 5s and AmbiSubs powered by 15 ZR 850 and 350 Power Amplifiers and SX 1500s, ZA 600s PowerDrives and AmbiDrive Power Amplifiers.
Signal Processing comprises 12 EQ 60 equalisers, 11 AFW 1 anti feedback workstations and quantities of Maxisplit line splitters, Mixxmaster mic mixers, e-Pre mic pre-amps, Mixx Mic Mixers, Afterburner comp/limiters and EC 2 crossovers. The System's design and sale was facilitated by V.I Marketing Ltd's Richard Maunder, ARX’s UK-based special projects consultant.
Doummar Frères are highly active in the contracting and installation markets of security and audio-video with projects such as the world-renowned Casino du Liban (CCTV),The Central Bank of Lebanonas well as numerous other banks, hotels, hospitals and other government buildings.
(Lee Baldock)