UK - Justin Hawkins has purchased a Pro Tools / ICON Console system from HHB. Comprising a 32-fader ICOND-Control console, Pro Tools HD3, extensive storage and a full suite of plug-ins,the system forms the heart of the former Darkness frontman's new recording facility in North West London.

"The HHB team has been great to deal with right from the start," reports Hawkins. Commenting for HHB, Greg Wheeler says "Everyone at HHB particularly enjoyed working on this project. The new studio looks and sounds great, and we wish Justin every success."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - The German contemporary restaurant franchise Café 7 has opened its latest franchise featuring fully integrated lighting control from Zero 88. Style and branding are core to Café 7's philosophy and part of their franchise agreements is to maintain their distinctive ambience and style. During the day they operate as cosy café's but as evening approaches Café 7's evolve into relaxed bars offering a range of international wines and cuisines.

For its fourth franchise, which opened in Münster during February 2007, Cafe 7 chose Zero 88 for the lighting

UK - Dolly Parton, one of the most honoured female country performers of all time, has unveiled a plaque of her handprints, which will be on permanent display in Wembley, London's Square of Fame. The ceremony took place as Parton prepared to go on stage for a sold-out performance at Wembley Arena, part of the singer's 17-city, 10-country European tour.

The legendary singer, songwriter and actress joins other iconic artists including Madonna, Cliff Richard, Status Quo, George Michael, Kylie Minogue and snooker champion Stephen Hendry in having a permanent cast of her hands in the Squar

Singapore - Only once every three years is the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting hosted outside Washington, D.C. In 2006, Singapore was chosen as the venue with about 16,000 delegates attending the meeting.

To accommodate them, 35 meeting rooms were equipped with audio visual equipment and conference microphones - with 14 of these rooms being exclusively equipped with Bosch DCN Next Generation simultaneous interpretation systems for up to nine languages.

The Danish company Teletech was selected as the sub-contractor for supplying the DCN Next Generation

USA - The Duderstadt Center on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor boasts a recently overhauled, state-of-the-art audio recording studio.

At the heart of the Walters-Storyk Design Group renovation is a new API Vision console that allows its users to intelligently mix in both stereo and surround formats simultaneously.

David Greenspan, audio resources coordinator at the Center, comments, "We're effectively calibrating our students' ears and brains so that their baseline standard is pristine analogue sound. When they hear other technologies or manipulations, the

UK - Academy Music Group Holdings have confirmed Live Nation, Inc. (Live Nation) and Gaiety Investments (Gaiety) have together completed the acquisition of a 56% interest in Academy Music Holdings Group (AMG) from RJD Partners.

Bob Angus (Metropolis Music) and Simon Moran (SJM Concerts), leading promoters in the UK music industry, have also considerably increased their shareholding in Academy Music Group to forty four percent (44%), under the terms of the deal.

Academy Music Group owns and operates 12 live music venues across the UK. Its venue capacities range from 250 to 5,000 and

Australia - GUZ BOX design + audio has provided an acoustic opinion to determine the suitability of the venue for speech and special events for the MPOWERdome in Fadden. The structure is a large aluminium and fabric structure covering eight indoor tennis courts and a centrally located two-storey building containing reception, pro shop, amenities and a mezzanine café with viewing areas.

The building is approximately 156m long, 38m wide and 13m high and is the largest structure of its type in Australia. It is constructed of large extruded aluminium portal frames with tensioned PV

Mexico - From its first season, reality show La Academia (The Academy) has captivated the Latin American public with its star-in-the-making concept, and regularly dominates its time slot. For the show's fifth season, TV Azteca installed a new in-studio sound system based around Meyer Sound M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.

The format of the show bears some resemblance to the US's American Idol, in that judges select a small group out of thousands of hopefuls to compete in a series of contests and rehearsals, and in the final rounds of compe

USA - Production Resource Group, LLC, has named Paul Morrill account executive for the company's corporate and special events group. He will work out of PRG's offices in New York City.

Morrill will provide lighting, video, scenic and audio solutions for PRG clients in the northeast. His 20 years of entertainment design and production management experience covers a wide range of applications, including corporate and special events, concert tours, television and film productions, sports entertainment, and permanent installations.

A graduate of the School of the Arts at SUNY Purchase,

Germany - As a direct result of the trend toward simplification in public address installations Klotz Digital has developed substantial innovations to its Varizone digital Public Address and Voice Evacuation system. The Munich based company introduced its new VAB-Line at the ProLight & Sound 2007 in Frankfurt.

VAB-Line is based on the new components VAB1 Controller (Voice Evacuation, Announcement, Background Music Controller) and I-PAM (Integrated Programmable Amplifier Module). The VAB-Line has been particularly developed for small and mid-sized applications, such as hotels, schools,

UK - AV Matrix reports its continuing association with Martin Professional with a major investment in Martin effect lighting for its installation business. These lights will be used for the installation of various high profile nightclubs in the UK. Also, AV Matrix has expanded its stock of Martin lights in its rapidly expanding events department which caters for corporate events throughout the country, with further investment planned for 2007.

AV Matrix managing director Mark Parker comments, "Martin Professional offers a true partnership approach to business. Their product range

UK - Marlborough School in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, has commissioned an Electro-Voice sound reinforcement system for its new performance centre. The new building is a self-contained conference, business, and performance centre for school and community use. The hall has a sprung wooden floor for dance activities, and theatre audio, lighting and projection facilities for drama, sound and conference presentation.

The School called on London-based sound and lighting installation company 10 Out Of 10 to recommend a sound reinforcement design for this high-ceilinged modern building with two

USA - Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc (TPC) has announced that Scott Crossfield has joined its US office. Crossfield has been a theatre consultant for 11 years and is a former principal of the theatre consulting firm Davis Crossfield Associates. At TPC he will specialise in auditorium design and theatre planning, working as a senior consultant in TPC's design department with John Coyne, director of design, and Brian Hall, principal theatre designer.

"I have been a long-time fan of TPC's work, which I believe is reflected in many of the theatres that I have designed, and thus my

Dubai - Following hot on the heels of the Dubai Desert Rock Festival, Shakira's sell-out concert at Dubai Autodrome has provided the curtain raiser for this year's Event 360 expo at PALME Middle East. Event 360 Exhibition Manager Jonathan Gadalla says that when the recent Dubai Philharmonic Orchestra concerts and Dubai Jazz Festival are added in, it illustrates just how far the industry in the region has developed.

"The Philharmonic Orchestra shows at the new Festival City recorded a huge turnout, indicating a real interest in the classical music market," he said. "On t

UK - A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division has provided the complete supply and installation of lighting technical facilities for the Northern Stage theatre in Newcastle as part of a two year, £9m refurbishment programme.

Formerly known as the Newcastle Playhouse, Northern Stage is the largest producing theatre company in the North East of England and regarded as one of the top-ten UK producing theatres. The venue has been completely redesigned, doubling in size to accommodate three very different performance spaces.

Northern Stage's activities include performing their own

USA - Elation Professional has launched a new control solution for LEDs and DMX systems used in permanent architectural and entertainment installations. Designed to mount unobtrusively on the wall, the trim, compact AR-32 Architectural DMX Recorder/Playback System can produce professional-quality light shows downloaded from any standard DMX 512 controller, says Elation.

Using the AR-32, operators can now run all of their DMX-compatible lights from one easy-to-operate unit. The system comes factory-programmed for LED fixtures operating in 3-channel or RGB mode, and it can also control

UK - A huge success story in Spain, street-wear retailer Desigual is now raising its ambitions to a more global level. And to entice shoppers in to sample its ranges of garments, Lighthouse 10mm LED screens are providing an eye-catching entrance in Desigual's most high profile stores, starting with the recently opened store in Las Ramblas in the very heart of Barcelona, Spain.

The company currently has 38 Spanish outlets, in locations from Barcelona to Zaragoza, while new outlets have recently opened in Italy and Singapore with one in London to follow in the spring.

The Desigual sto

The Netherlands - A design team led by the Dutch architects Mecanoo has won the international competition to design the National Kaohsiung Performing Arts Centre in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

A key team member of the design team, Louis Janssen, from Dutch theatre consulting office, theateradvies bv, was responsible for the design of the up-to-date theatre installations and logistics. The jury was particularly pleased with the interpretation of the programme and design of stage equipment.

The plans includes a concert hall with 2.300 seats, equipped with a flexible stage and all necessary hoi

China - Opposite the famous workers stadium in Beijing, two new locations The Bank Club & Lounge and Jasmine Restaurant & Lounge have been equipped with extensive K.M.E. installations.

The Jasmine, designed in Art-Deco style features a QS 1082, driven by K.M.E. SPA 450 S amplifiers. The digital controller was programmed to customer requirements with different presets while mixing is via a Midas Venice 160.

The Bank boasts a 120sq.m dance floor. On both the right and the left side of the DJ pulpit six PANO QL 906s on TB 500 are flown. QLB 118 subwoofers are set in blocks. The DJ uses

USA - The Alfred Lerner Hall at Columbia University has a newly installed sound reinforcement system based around Turbosound Aspect loudspeakers.

"I started the relationship with Columbia University's Lerner Hall by providing rental gear," said Lou Mannarino of L&M Sound in Staten Island, New York. "They would rent our equipment for events and activities in Lerner Hall - for everything from culture shows to meetings, concerts and other activities."

The Hall's previous system included a centre cluster that was not covering the room properly, making for unintelligi

UK - Clifton Suspension Bridge spans some 214m across the River Avon linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in Somerset, England. Designed by Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this Grade I listed structure is a landmark of the city of Bristol and has attracted visitors from all over the world for almost 150 years.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust wanted to update the existing lighting of the bridge with a new solution that would display the immense achievement of the structure. Illumination has long been part of the bridge's appeal, but previously it had focused more o

USA - High up on the sixth floor of the Time Warner Center in New York glows the stunning logo of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The white, teal and red sign is visible from halfway back to Fifth Avenue.

Says Jazz at Lincoln Center lighting director Zakaria Al-Alami, "The upstage wall of the Allen Room is all glass, looking down at the circle and straight down 59th Street - the perfect visibility for our brand. Displaying a sign of any sort in the window was a tad challenging for a number of reasons. Thenext best thing: use the back wall of the Allen Room. But we still nee

UK - Academy Music Group (AMG) has announced its plans for a major redevelopment of The Zodiac, Oxford from mid-May 2007. The company is investing £2m into the refurbishment to create a new multi-site venue that will re-launch in September 2007.

The four-month redevelopment programme will see the total building capacity increase to 1,150 (from the former 750) following the purchase of the adjacent retail outlet.

AMG will create three separate performance spaces for live music and club nights, with state-of-the-art facilities both front of house and backstage and full in-house

USA - Designer John Lyons has specified Crown XTi Series for his new Martini Park chain of concept cocktail lounges offering live bands and DJs six nights a week. The first Martini Park, co-partnered by Lyons and Chris Barish, opened recently in Plano, Texas, close to the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, with other locations scheduled to come online in Chicago and Houston during the summer.

The Avalon Sound division of the Las Vegas-based entrepreneurs' design/build firm, John Lyons Systems, is responsible for the custom PA and lighting systems being used at the new Martini Park v

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