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USA - When it was ready to upgrade its Meyer Sound MSL-3 loudspeakers of more than two decades at its 2,472-seat Andrew Jackson Hall, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Nashville chose Meyer Sound again, this time a system based on the M'elodie line array loudspeaker.

"The MSL-3s had served us well since the mid-80s," says Larry Bryan, TPAC's chief audio engineer. "But we were ready to step into the 21st century with the latest Meyer Sound line array technology."

As typically deployed, the system comprises left and right flown arrays of 16 M'elodie loudspeakers each, plus six deck-stacked 700-HP subwoofers, eight MINA line array loudspeakers spaced across the stage lip as front-fill, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with a Galileo 616 processor for drive processing. The system was provided by Blackhawk Audio of nearby White House, Ten

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UK - The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) have recently invested in seven Chroma-Q Color Force 48" / 1.2m LED battens to provide wash lighting effects for their various stage productions, including Knives in Hens and An Appointment with the Wicker Man.

The Glasgow based theatre received a grant from the Wolfson Foundation to replace their existing cyc lights with energy-efficient LED versions. They wanted a high quality, powerful and easy to set up LED lighting solution.

Head of lighting, Paul Claydon and technical manager, Niall Black conducted extensive research before inviting four leading LED brands to do a shootout at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Also attending the shootout were a number of LDs with whom NTS work.

"As soon as the Color Force battens were switched on, to us they absolutely blew all the other products away, especially in terms of

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Lebanon - New venue Life is one of the largest in Beirut, hosting 1,500 people in its indoor area with a large motorised, retractable roof, and double that number in its open-air area.

Maurice Salloum, sound engineer and co-owner of Life, chose the sound system as well as the right company to complete the installation. Having a long-term relation with Beirut-based Hi Fi Service, Salloum knew he is in safe hands: "I wanted an unparalleled system for our venue," he says, "a system that can generate high SPLs and at the same time produce an excellent sound. Additionally, I needed a system that could be used as an indoor system during the winter season and that could be moved outside during summer, when the club shifts to the open air area."

Oussama Mansour Abou Faraj, manager of Hi Fi Service reports, "I proposed using a Dynacord VariLine system. We have

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UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) have recently completed the design, supply and installation of a sound, AV and lighting system at the new Moyes Centre @ DYCA (the David Young Community Academy) in Leeds.

The first Academy of its kind to open in Leeds, DYCA has pioneered the development of new, innovative and engaging methods of teaching and learning. The Moyes Centre is a £3.35m new build created as part of the Government's (DCSF) £200m investment in creative co-location projects.

The programme is an initiative that has re-located various key community services to work as a cohesive team in one central location, addressing and improving local circumstances from within the heart of the community.

The project was managed for ACSP by Lance Bromhead, who co-ordinated closely with DYCA's operations manager, Graham Thornton.

ACSP's brief was to provide technology t

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UK - Manchester's Dry Bar, a landmark of the city's trendy Northern Quarter since 1989 has carried out an interior upgrade in both the bar and its newly refurbished basement music venue 'Dry Live'. Situated below the bar, the venue was completely refurbished in 2010 with black and grey interior giving it an underground venue feel and now a brand new Martin Audio sound system has been installed.

Tasked with equipping the new Dry Live, experienced local specialists Masons, and their system design engineer Jack Jennings, chose a Martin Audio Blackline H3H+ horn-loaded solution as best fit for the purpose.

The basement space had previously been split into several small rooms but the floor had opened out into one large venue with the intention of using the downstairs space for both live music and club events - served by a single sound system.

The venue operators had stipulated th

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USA - Oregon's Portland Centre for the Performing Arts (PCPA) has upgraded the lighting system in its Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall with 36 ETC Selador Classic Vivid-R LED luminaires. And by installing the fixtures, the venue expanded its colour capabilities, reduced its energy usage and earned cash incentives from Energy Trust of Oregon to put toward the fixtures' purchase.

Energy Trust offers cash incentives to commercial, municipal and institutional businesses throughout that state that upgrade dated equipment to energy-efficient technology. To qualify for the incentives, one requirement is that a new lighting installation must result in at least a 25% energy saving.

The Concert Hall's aging battens were demanding an increasingly high level of maintenance. Appropriate light bulbs are no longer being manufactured, and the cost of upkeep kept mounting, so they were replaced w

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Romania - The impressive Timisoara National Theatre in Romania stands within the Palace of Culture, an arts centre conceived in the Viennese style by architects Hellmerand Felmer, and was opened in 1875 at the height of the Belle Époque. The horseshoe auditorium conforms to the traditional three balcony format, and the stage these days welcomes classical theatre, musical drama, childrens' theatre, and some challenging contemporary works. It has most recently welcomed a small German intrusion, not that this was challenging, but was apparently one that has been on its wish list for some time.

"The main problem of the venue in reference to the acoustics is related to the length of the balconies," said the National Theatre's technical manager. He has a point, the auditorium seats 600 people and is relatively shallow; the balconies are deep and steep. "This make

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Finland - During the darkest days of winter, Helsinki brightens the nights in an event called Lux Helsinki. This year's event featured a series of architectural lighting installations and fine art performances around town designed to enchant the eye and illuminate the soul.

Lighting consoles from High End Systems, a Barco company, were in command of one of Helsinki's most visible landmarks - the Olympic Stadium Tower - which was transformed into a light installation called the Variant Spectrum.

Lighting designer Jukka Huitila of Sun Effects created the spectrum of colour using LED lighting fixtures and a 12W laser positioned on 22 balconies of the tower. Programmer Sami Rautaneva chose a Wholehog 3 console and a DP8000 to programme and run the LED fixtures, set up in two universes. A Road Hog Full Boar helped with the first day's focusing and setup procedures, and also

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UK - GDS and Gloucestershire-based Chinnick Theatre Services (CTS) recently commissioned a complete re-fit of the Bacon Theatre's house light system.

The Bacon Theatre sits in the grounds of Dean Close School in Cheltenham. Built in 1991 it owes its name to Mr Christopher Bacon, former headmaster of the independent School. Mr Bacon fundraised tirelessly to build the Bacon Theatre which is used as a resource by Dean Close School pupils as well as hosting the best of professional touring theatre, live music, dance, film and accommodating local talented youth, community groups and charities.

The GDS engineering team visited the site with CTS in the summer of 2011 and designed the 566-seat theatre a retrofit house lighting solution, incorporating its ArcSystem LED auditorium lighting fixtures. The theatre had in place an ageing track light system which was proving increasingly dif

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UK - Sitting at the heart of Belfast's historic shipyard stands the UK's latest tourist attraction, the iconic Titanic Belfast building. This is an interactive insight into the history of The RMS Titanic. There are nine galleries which take you through the life of the Titanic from its concept to the sinking 100 years ago and its influence up to modern times.

Officially opened on 31March 2012, the building was designed around many maritime themes including the ship's hull.

With large numbers of the public expected, and their safety a priority (as well as that of the staff), it was decided that a reliable voice evacuation system must be installed.

In addition to the voice evacuation, a disabled refuge and toilet alarm system was also needed for the site. This type of system provides two way communication between building management and areas of refuge for those that would need

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UK - One of theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue's biggest projects of 2011 has won a prestigious Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Award.

The successful Newcastle Theatre Royal restoration project was honoured with both 'Project of the Year' and 'Building Conservation' Award.

The award showcases outstanding work in the conservation of a single building or a group of buildings or structures and covers renovation or conservation to a new or original use.

Newcastle's Theatre Royal reopened its doors to the public on Monday 12September 2011 following an extensive £5m restoration project that had drawn on the theatrical expertise of UK theatre consultants, Charcoalblue.

Managing Director of the company Andy Hayles explains, "The scope of the restoration for this Grade I listed theatre was particularly ambitious, and included complete internal redecora

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UK - In the seven years since the split of post-hardcore band Million Dead, the band's lead vocalist Frank Turner has built a large following for his brand of folk/punk. April saw him reach a career high with a sold-out show at London's Wembley Arena, where Sennheiser equipment was much in evidence.

With 12,500 fans barely seeming to notice that Turner and his backing band, The Sleeping Souls, weren't in one of their more usual theatre-sized venues, the one-off show required a large Sennheiser presence.

Regular sound and lighting supplier Nitelites provided most of the audio system at the show, just asking Adlib Audio to supply an L-Acoustics V-DOSC system. Nitelites supplied a large amount of Sennheiser equipment, including e 840 vocal microphones and e 901, 902, 904s, 905 and MK4s on the drum kit.

"I like the robustness of the 840s," says FOH engineer and tour ma

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South Africa - A new d&b Audiotechnik system was installed into the Sun City Superbowl in 2010, and this year it was given legs during the 18th South African Music Awards to the praise and admiration of various important figures in South Africa's ever-burgeoning music scene. Various South African Music celebrities present at the recent ceremony were blown away by the d&b Audiotechnik J-Series and Q-Series installed in the venue.

SAMA CEO and Idols judge Randall Abrahams enthused that the "sound quality was outstanding" and was quick to note that the "sound management of the various performances was handled extremely professionally which led to a final product that was of a very high standard."

It was a large scale event that was watched live and broadcast to millions of South African's around the country. Randall reminded us that the "sound qual

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Japan - Okinawa, the most southerly isle of the Japanese archipelago, is home to the Ryukyu Golden Kings (RGK) one of the leading basketball teams on the island and a member of the of Basketball Japan. While they might not yet be the LA Lakers, their aspirations are high. In a Western Conference effort to increase income that has already born fruit, the team sought to expand its audience by upping the excitement level at matches with the application of some 21st century sporting show business.

"What is different about the RGK is that they don't have a home arena, all 26 matches in their season are played on tour," explained Osamu Koki from Staging Okinawa. "They came to see us for ideas on how to liven up the excitement at each game; they wanted lighting and sound but with one critical proviso: everything had to fit in a two ton truck."

The fact is Okinawa

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UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) will use the opportunity of its forthcoming Theatre Show (13-14 June), to present a seminar discussion on the future of industry training, at London's Old Truman Brewery, on Wednesday 13 June, 12:45pm-2pm, in the venue's Seminar Room. Speakers include: Robin Auld, operations director, National Skills Academy Creative & Cultural; Chris Parry-Jones, head of Gallowglass Training; and, Bryan Raven, managing director, White Light.

Throughout the last year, the Association has continued to develop and promote its Technical Access Passport (TAP) - launched at the ABTT 2011 Theatre Show - a scheme that creates an online repository for verified training, skills, insurance and other professional information.

Now, with TAP gaining weight within the industry, the second phase of the scheme is ready to start. Industry trainers will

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At The Cinema - The farewell concert by Irish pop band Westlife is to be screened live to cinemas in the UK and Ireland and across Europe. The group, who announced last October they were splitting after 14 years, are set to bow out with a final concert at Dublin's Croke Park on 23 June. The event will be screened at more than 200 cinemas in nine countries including Belgium, Denmark, Estonia and Norway. There are also plans to screen the gig in Australia and South Africa. The band, whose 14 UK number ones include 1999 hit Flying Without Wings, have sold more than 44 million records worldwide. Organisers said tickets for the 23 June concert sold out in minutes, leading them to schedule another date at the Dublin venue on 22 June.

No Show - Lady Gaga has cancelled a concert in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, citing security concerns after protests by religious groups. The s

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Italy - Scala has announced the installation of two large LED walls at Naples International Airport, executed by Scala certified partner Konvergence. Capodichino Airport in Naples welcomes 5.7m travellers annually.

In order to enhance the customer experience at the airport, the airport management company Gesac decided recently to install two LED walls, of 3m by 4m each, for marketing purposes. These impressive screens run on Scala software and now serve as the core element for the communication and advertising strategy at the airport.

"Konvergence has created an eye-catching digital installation that immediately draws the attention of everyone in the departure hall of Naples Airport," states Damon Crowhurst, senior director, Scala EMEA. "An airport is open and operational 24/7 and365 days a year. That means that the proven stability and perfect playback quality

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Japan - The idea of providing even audio coverage for Tokyo Dome's massive 55,000 seats - without the need for delays - has always been the holy grail of incoming production teams.

Finally this dream became a reality - when the Martin Audio MLA Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array made its debut there recently, supporting one of Asia's most successful acts, TVXQ (an abbreviation of their Chinese name, Tong Vfang Xien Qi).

Major rental company, MSI Japan had chosen this venue for the début of its new MLA system - supporting the Korean electronica pop star sensations (now a duo featuring U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin). As a result, they put one of their senior FOH engineers, Takashi 'Shiro' Murata, in charge of the mix.

Traditionally, with all large concerts at the Tokyo Dome, delay towers have needed to be set to provide even coverage throughout the venue. These have been

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Switzerland - Over 300 Robe Robin 600 LEDWash and PureWhite moving lights were specified by lighting designer Peter Heilig of SfS Project Aschaffenburg to light a special pavilion area showcasing the new BMW 6 series Gran Coupe on the BMW stand at the 2012 International Geneva Motor show.

The high profile event was staged at the Palexpo Centre in Geneva, and BMW's special launch concept was originated by Mutabor Design GmbH from Hamburg, Germany.

A steel superstructure was designed in collaboration with architects Puchner & Schum from Munich, together with engineers Structure GmbH from Frankfurt.

This was then clad with fibre glass to create two curved three dimensional latticed set piece walls surrounding the two Gran Coupe vehicles, one of which was on a revolve. There was a circular ceiling above the area with three rings of trussing for lighting positions, and at the bac

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South Africa -The newly built Soweto Theatre, designed by Afritects, is the first professional performing arts venue developed in a former township. Since opening it has been grabbing headlines worldwide for its eye-catching, colourful exterior. Nevertheless for project theatre consultant Denis Hutchinson it's the innovation inside, including Philips Strand Lighting dimming and Selecon luminaires, that he hopes will have an equally dramatic impact on artists, theatre staff, audiences and community residents.

After the inevitable tender process with city funds, Hutchinson recommended Philips Selecon luminaires and Philips Strand WallRack for all three of the groundbreaking Soweto Theatre's venues. The theatre, which will be used by professional and amateur companies, national and international alike, called out to be technically equipped with kit that can be commonly found in pro

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Denmark - There's a price to pay in always being first, as head of sound at Aarhus Musikhuset Per Adel explained. "Sometimes you have to wait a long time to be first." Adel has a reputation for the enigmatic but for once he was not being ironic. "For the Musikhuset the V-Series is exactly what we wanted to have; size, weight, performance; dispersion, character and quality."

The Musikhuset is the premier concert venue in Denmark's second city, Aarhus; what Adel had idealised in his mind's ear for the venue was, for want of any other description, the V-Series line array from d&b audiotechnik, a system only recently launched at prolight+sound in Frankfurt 2012. "We have been using d&b systems in this venue for more than 25 years. We were one of the first houses to purchase an F2/B1 system and have the legendaryF1220 loudspeakers which we used for near-fill.

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Poland - The Karol Szymanowski University in Katowice not only boasts one of the most famous music faculties in Poland but is also among the oldest and most highly respected educational institutions in the entire country. Since 1929, the university has been able to offer excellent learning and training conditions for its 850 students - not least because the governing body has evinced a determination to ensure they are provided with the finest possible equipment with which to work.

The sound systems in particular have been chosen with a view to ensuring the closest possible correspondence between the studying environment afforded the university's aspiring musicians and sound engineers and the environment they will encounter in their day-to-day work after graduating. Aside from the technical education, the declared objective of the new Sound Engineering degree of the Department of

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USA - The submission deadline for the fifth annual Rock Our World Awards is only weeks away, all nominations must be submitted by 1 July 2012. The awards, which recognise ground-breaking achievement by PLASA Members, were designed to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designers or integrators who apply it. The awards were originated by ESTA and are now expanded as a worldwide program under PLASA.

Submissions can range from the simplest problem-solving product to unusual or complex uses of technology to projects that highlight the collaborative nature of our industry. If you've seen something that's impressed you in the last year, now is your chance to tell the world. It could be a piece of equipment you worked with, something you saw at a trade show, read about in an industry magazine, or an event you experienced. It could also be something your com

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UK - The development of SA1 waterfront in Swansea aims to reconnect the Prince of Wales Dock to the rest of the city. The vision for SA1 is for it to be a "lively, attractive waterside destination, fostering a high standard of urban design and architecture with an emphasis on innovation, modernity and flexibility". The Ice House Square forms a key public realm space in the development as well as a landing point for the Wilkinson Eyre architects bridge.

The design of the square is based on a formal rectangular grid seamlessly connecting with the riverfront promenade and the surrounding developments. The abstract place making quality of the square is accentuated by 16 boxed trees and a lighting installation by artist Peter Fink. The art work creates an informal overlay over the paving grid using embedded LED programmable strip lighting. The presence of people in the squa

  1. Soundweb upgrade for largest mosque
  2. Oklahoma City Church switches to Iconyx
  3. AXYS reinforces Richard Burton Theatre
  4. Theatres Trust reports 49 UK theatres at risk
  5. Major upgrade for Sydney Opera House
  6. Mega MediaMatrix installation in Doha
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