Ireland - Midas and Klark Teknik's Irish distributor Sound Communications has supplied a 32-channel Midas Legend console, a Midas Venice 240 console and assorted Klark Teknik processing to Radio City, a new music venue in Dublin. The Legend is the 25th large format console that Sound Communications has sold in the two years it has distributed Midas.
"This venue has been in the pipeline for two years, and Midas products were specified from the outset," says Alan Murphy of Sound Communications. "The initial order was for the Venice, and then as the project grew to encompass two venues they also ordered the Legend."
The Legend has been installed into the venue's main 500-capacity room while the Venice keeps engineers and crowds happy in a smaller acoustic room. "I'd already been using Midas on various projects and tours, and it was the obvious choice for this installation," adds Radio City's FOH engineer Andy Colbert. "As we open our doors we are confident that all things audio have been given the highest priority, with our Midas and Klark Teknik purchases playing a starring roll."
(Lee Baldock)
UK - PixelPars, supplied by Manchester-based Flashlight, have been installed in the prestigious ITN building in London. Designed by Sir Norman Foster and completed in 1990, the impressive building is known to millions as the main broadcasting facility for ITN - the UK's largest independent news producer.
Nine luminaires have been installed, replacing the existing 100W narrow spot par 36 fixtures. Mounted under the floor and at the foot of each column around the atrium - they both highlight and emphasize the depth of the atrium which is in shot behind the Channel 4 news presenters. The PixelPars offer a creative and energy efficient solution providing alternative looks for the news broadcasts on the different channels.
ITN's Hugh French explains: "Our new More4 News show needed a different look which involved a colour change with more light output but without generating excess heat - so the PixelPars' compact size with excellent light output and low wattage compared to conventional lighting, made them a perfect choice."
He continues: "They have also provided a range of vibrant colours that can compete with the high levels of ambient light in the glass-roofed atrium. And they have also enabled us to precisely match the colours of graphics on the various shows - to the delight of the graphics people!"
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Vieta's DO-5 full-range loudspeakers have been chosen for installation in a unique visitor attraction, the newly-renovated Castle Jail in Lincoln Castle, which is the only surviving Victorian institution of its kind in Europe. Vieta earned its extended stay in prison at the hands of FT-AV, an established AV company based in Harrogate in north Yorkshire, which was asked to design and specify a complete audio system for the Jail prior to its opening as a site of historic interest for tourists, 127 years after the last inmate left the prison.
Castle Jail required an interactive audio-visual system, utilizing multiple projection, audio sources, all within definable as well as combinable zones, to be purpose-designed and built together with a specially programmed computer system for overall control. FT-AV's owner and MD Rick Lawson maintains that "the real challenge was the acoustic anomalies of the Victorian building, which is necessarily a very stark and austere environment. It was obvious that whatever loudspeaker enclosures we could use would have to be reasonably compact, aesthetically appealing, but, most important of all, they would have to provide exceptional speech intelligibility. Similarly, all mountings, fixings and bracketry would have to be extremely versatile, given the number of unusual fixing situations."
After several tests, Lawson chose to spec Vieta's DO-5 full-range cabinets for the simple reason that "they were significantly more intelligible and coherent in their dispersion than other branded boxes at a similar price point. I
Australia - In Victoria, Drama is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing subjects on the High School curriculum, particularly among VCE (year 11 and 12) students. Caulfield Grammar School recently addressed this trend by investing in two new, identical new Performing Arts Centres - one at its Caulfield Campus and one at its Wheelers Hill campus.
Architects John Gribble Pty Ltd designed a functional space with the assistance of theatre consultants Entertech and electrical engineers Adrian Newman & Associates. With 16 years' experience in the industry, Lightmoves was contracted to provide lighting and audio visual infrastructure throughout both venues. Before work commenced on site, Lightmoves created shop drawings showing cable routes and types for the electrical contractors. This included cables for DMX (consisting of three sets of two universes of input, and 20 DMX outlet locations), Ethernet (cable termination to 15 locations), paging, intercom, house lighting control, video and show relay.
As the theatrical lighting outlets onstage needed to be relocatable, 50mm circuit tubing was used. The 6m long pre-wired bars were fixed to the scenery batons allowing distributed power to any bar. The fan-out was then patched to LSC iPRO dimmers as required. Each of the theatres contained eight bars with an impressive total of 96 outlets.
Lightmoves also designed and built a stage manager's console featuring an all-steel frame, large lockable castors, a cable harness, a flip-up lid and double doors underneath. The customised console was also home to a Creative Audio
UK - Metropolis AV has supplied its Met3 LED lighting for an installation at the Darli Bar in Warrington to illuminate two glass walls in the newly opened art-house bar. The town centre operation is independently owned by local entrepreneur Paul Bond, who has four other Darli Bars in the area, and contacted Metropolis's David Linger to supply LED lighting.
Bond, who created the look and feel of the café/bar's contemporary interior, already knew that he wanted LED lighting. He'd wanted to do an LED design for some time, seeing the great potential of lighting and colour as a mood enhancer, but was waiting for the fixtures to become cost effective and bright enough to do it properly.
Bond had experimented with a few LED brands before Metropolis was recommended to him. Once he'd tried their Met3 LED product that was it - his mind was set on this brand because of its brightness, the quality of the light output and the fact that Metropolis can provide a bespoke service as well as off the shelf products. "The service from Metropolis was excellent - they paid great attention to detail, listened to what I wanted and then supplied exactly the right product," he says.
Linger demonstrated a whole range of Met3 LED products to Bond before they chose the ones that were most appropriate for the job. The glass block walls are both 7m long, ceiling to floor, running along the back of the venue's two bar serving areas. They are both lit with 10 strips of 600 mm 75mm pitch unlensed Met3 strips, complete with Met3 PSUs.
The strips are located at the top and bott
UK - Following the launch at the end of June of Belgacom TV, a digital TV package offering a range of channels including film and sports, Belgacom, the leading telecommunications company in Belgium, has recently installed a full digital I/O Sy80 mixing console from InnovaSON in a new control room dedicated to the European Soccer Championships at its Net Center in Brussels.
The move comes as a result of Belgacom Skynet's acquisition of the TV broadcasting rights to the Belgian Jupiler League and the Italian A Series, enabling Belgacom TV to offer viewers the nine Jupiler League matches every weekend, as well as the three best Calcio matches from the Italian A Series. Belgacom also broadcasts to other cable TV and pay-per-view channels.
The installation was handled by Unitecnic, a Spanish audio visual systems integrator specialising in broadcast applications who won the bid issued by Belgacom. The console was supplied to Unitecnic by InnovaSON's Spanish distributor, EarPro.
Project engineer, Israel Esteban, from Unitecnic explained their decision to specify an InnovaSON Sy80: "The main criteria for this application was the capacity to handle a large number of incoming signals simultaneously and broadcast up to twenty stereo channels. The InnovaSON Sy80 offered us everything we required in terms of number of inputs, outputs and faders for signal control, excellent routing facilities, and of course, high quality digital audio. Furthermore, the Sy80 offers excellent value for money for a console of this size and specification."
Audio engineer, Eric Assel
USA - The musical Rent has been running for ten years at Broadway's Nederlander theatre . Recently, Sound designer Brian Ronan was charged with replacing the sound system and opted for self-powered loudspeakers from Meyer Sound.
Achieving the required clarity is fairly straightforward on the orchestra level of the 1,200-seat house, but not as easy in the steeply-raked 500-seat balcony. "The Nederlander is a room with two very different sounds upstairs and down," Ronan explains. "It's fairly predictable and consistent on the orchestra floor, a nice combo of reflective and absorbent surfaces. But the balcony is a very reflective space, which is subject to drastic changes in response due to humidity."
Despite the differing needs of the upper and lower parts of the hall, Ronan had little time to experiment on the long-running show. "It's very unusual to replace the system on a running show," Ronan explains, "because producers face the expense of lost ticket sales, labour, and increased weekly rental. However, they had always felt they could improve the sound, so when the musical director brought up the subject they decided, to their credit, to take the hit." Ronan was allotted one week to strip the old system, install the new one, rehearse with the band and cast twice, and then reopen.
Having designed the new system sing Meyer's MAPP programme, Ronan settled on a set-up based around a centre cluster design with a main array of eight M2D compact curvilinear array loudspeakers. "I knew I wanted a single array in t
USA - Look Solutions' Unique hazers, Viper NT fog generators and a Power-Tiny battery-powered fog generator have reprised their role from the London production for the new Broadway version of The Woman in White.
Paul Pyant lit the original London production of The Woman in White, with associate lighting designer David Howe tasked with recreating Pyant's design for Broadway. "The lighting and atmosphere of the show has to be precisely controlled because of the projections," remarked Howe on why Look Solutions' machines were chosen for the production. "Previous experience told us the Look Solutions machines were quiet, compact and had no fluid compatibility issues."
The Woman in White features four Unique hazers, which are placed in the proscenium area of the Marquis Theatre. A Power-Tiny battery-powered fog generator is used for a spot effect on stage; however, it is the six Viper NT fog generators that have the most time on stage. These have been customised to have a smaller fluid reservoir. To give the Viper NTs a lower profile the units had their rubber feet and also their carrying handles removed.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Wrap & Roll is a new sandwich shop with a difference in Cardiff city centre. Owner Dylan Reardon-Smith wanted it to stand out from the crowd in other ways apart from its reputation for serving quality food, and so he asked Chepstow-based architectural and feature lighting specialists I-Vision to design an eye-catching lighting scheme.
I-Vision's Dave Mackay undertook the task enthusiastically, "It was a great concept in a great location" he says. The venue also features the work of local and international artists, notably some specially commissioned pieces by Robert David, currently famous for his distinctive 'bar code' style.
The seated area has a wall and floor finished in polished concrete which was "just asking" to be lit explains Mackay. To add atmosphere in here, he has employed seven Lumos 3 LED down-lighters complete with 6 degree lenses, ensconced in the ceiling. These create shafts of colour changing light. In the main shop and serving area, i-Vision has supplied recessed fluorescents fitted into three "troughs" in the ceiling, two at 6 metres and one at 3.5 metres in length. The entrance stairway is lit with seven blue Lumos 1 Light Jets, beaming horizontally across the stair treads.
Outside, Mackay specified four copper up/down lighters to sympathetically illuminate the brickwork and the fancy Victorian masonry features of the building, formerly a bank.
The installed colour changing LED fixtures all have their colour changing functions controlled via the new Lumos 36 driver's inbuilt programmes. The menu is fed f
UK - Living Ventures takes its music seriously. Despite using a hard drive delivery system to distribute music through their 13-strong Living Room bar/restaurant estate, the company's head of music, Steve Walter knows that the art of achieving the optimum mix is too complex to be entrusted to remote customer profilers and preset track categorisations.
"The music content and environmental management are a vital part of our offer, which is why we invest heavily in our sound systems and installation expertise," he says.
For the new flagship Living Room W1 in London's fashionable Heddon Street, Green-I has installed multiples of Martin Audio's new horn-loaded AQ6 and AQ8 architectural enclosures - liveried in white and brown custom colours to match interior designer's Shideh Shaygun's imaginative concept. These maintain the moods over the defined time cycles into which the trading day is divided.
Green-I's Ian Woodall and Paul McCauley, who headed up the 'in-house' installation team, have been fastidious in the detailing of the five-zoned interior, ensuring all the carefully-loomed cabling is concealed, the stage processing rack is chased into the wall (using durable right-angled connectors) and that the Martin Audio speaker bracketry could be customised to enable the enclosures to be run flat against the walls and ceiling. It thus becomes an intrinsic part of the design rather than looking like an afterthought.
It has enabled Green-I to mount the AQ's in either rotatable horizontal format - like bookshelf speakers around the open fires in the mi
UK - Avolites and dAFTdATA have supplied Huddersfield-based KD Decoratives with a bespoke wireless solution based on the Avolites eDMX system, to control the Festive Lights installation at Manchester's Trafford Centre.
The million pound installation, which includes festive reindeers and lights, spans the entire 600 metre length of the Centre. The wireless control system allows individual control of over 200 DFX's LED fixtures.A series of 30 "drop poles" are suspended from the centre's glass roof void, each pole mounted with between 5 and 15 LED fixtures.
A dAFTdATA HILDA opencase card with external antenna is mounted at the top of each pole. This handles the network selection, monitoring and data processing wirelessly to over 200 LED controllers, so the complete LED system is thus controlled - wirelessly - from one central location.
Based on WiFi technology the customised eDMX system also works in harmony with the Trafford Centre's exciting wireless infrastructure. KD Decorative's Michael Gims says, "The ability to integrate the wireless DMX control element with the building's existing wired and wireless Ethernet systems has resulted in massive savings in installation cost and time."
The Trafford Centre's management team bought into the system from the outset because it delivered wireless data to exactly where it was needed, it wasn't a "specialist" transmission system, and because eDMX is based on established WiFi technology. This meant that they understood the technology from day one, which definitely encouraged them.
(Jim Ev
UK - Glyndebourne, one of Europe's most acclaimed operatic institutions, has recently introduced a Stage Research SFX workstation to its sound design department. Supplied by theatre sound specialists Orbital for Glyndebourne On Tour (GOT), the system has been deployed for sound and video effects delivery on the production of Tangier Tattoo.
As a vibrant contemporary production, Tangier Tattoo is an operatic thriller and represents a new departure for Glyndebourne as well as a revolutionary development in the opera world. Designed to attract a new younger audience, the production is created by the trio of composer John Lunn, librettist Stephen Plaice and director Stephen Langridge.
The SFX system has been deployed to store and playback a host of sound FX and video footage. Glyndebourne's AV Systems Operator, Simon Yapp, collaborated with Orbital's Tom Byrne to design and supply the workstation, which was tailored to his exact specifications at Orbital's HQ.
Simon Yapp comments, "Old style tools like a Revox tape deck, minidisk player, sound mixer and paper cue sheet are replicated with brilliant software, which is enormously powerful yet amazingly simple to use.I can now sit anywhere at the end of a CAT 5 with just monitor, keyboard and mouse, but importantly often close to the director sitting in the stalls. This helps the creative process enormously.
What previously might have taken me hours to change or adjust during a rehearsal, can be made live and is ready in minutes. By saving time, SFX also saves money, as there might be a 50-
UK - The Hilton Brighton Metropole has installed a new sound system in its conference suite, selecting Allen & Heath's iDR-8 DSP processor to manage the sound distribution. In addition to the 334 bedrooms,the hotel has 28 meeting and function rooms, and nine exhibition halls.
The increasing popularity of the Hilton for different types of events has meant that the risk of noise disturbing local and hotel residents has also increased. Loading and unloading of vehicles for exhibitions is strictly controlled to certain hours of the day, but evening functions, with either DJ's or live bands, have caused complaints.
Working with Brighton & Hove City Council, Acoustic specialists, 24Acoustics and Big Sky Audio, were appointed to manage the project. 24Acoustics's principal, Steve Gosling, points out the complexities of noise problems in a large building like the Hilton: "Immediate solutions can be found for the more obvious noise leakage points, such as poorly fitting doors or air conditioning ducts but much of the problem is structure-borne noise"
Following analysis and testing,it was concluded that the only way the hotel could ensure absolute control of the noise within the room was to install a house PA system. This would mean that future calculations for sound isolation within the structure could be based on a known and predictable system with built-in limiting to ensure maximum permissible levels would not be exceeded.
System installers, Xtreme AV, specified MC2 T-Series amplifiers, EV RXH212's loudspeakers, and an Allen & Heath iDR-8 to provide all sy
UK - Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset, UK, have a history spanning 50,000 years and are home to many mysteries including the legendary Witch of Wookey, who is said to have lived during King Arthur's reign and to still haunt the caves to this day.
To add mystique to these suggestive surrounds, the in-house technical team decided to add atmospheric lighting in some of the underground chambers. This would have to withstand unique conditions, as the caves have a high humidity factor and are at a constant temperature of 11ºC. Gordon Smith, Wookey Hole Caves' head of technical operations, explains: "Previous lighting systems had perished in such an environment, so we needed to be certain we were installing something that lasted."
Smith decided Tryka L.E.D luminaires were the answer. A total of 14 Strip Modules IP68 in different lengths, 9 Module 36s IP68 with 25º optics and 30 Module 6s MR16 with 25º and 6º optics were installed across four chambers, including the Witch's Parlour and Kitchen. Each one is lit according to the rock formation and water content, with units both above and below water.
Gordon Smith enthuses: "The lighting enhances the formation of the stalactites and stalagmites, enabling visitors to see the natural formation of the caves clearly. It is also cost effective and maintenance is simple when required." He continues: "The lighting design has been well received by the public. We are now fully licensed for civil weddings and the colour options for illuminating the chambers for these events, aside from daily tours, offer a
UK - Expanding restaurant group, Giraffe has added two further London sites to its portfolio of outlets - on the promenade outside the Royal Festival Hall and in the regenerated Spitalfields market.
Sound Division had refurbished the existing equipment in newly-acquired operations in Muswell Hill and Wimbledon, before being offered the contract to install a full JBL system on the South Bank.
"The Giraffe concept is a global one - and music is a very important part of the overall experience," said Sound Division managing director David Graham. "The quality of the sound system needs to reflect this."
In fact music assumes such high priority that Giraffe markets its own CD compilations (via Putumayo World Music) as part of a vigorous merchandising operation. It also maintains a World Music Top Ten based around ethnic music from Brazil, Africa, Jamaica, The Caribbean, Cuba and the Celtic countries.
Sound Division's brief for the South Bank was to provide a set-up giving high clarity and deliver a seamless mix of ever-changing music from 7.45am(when the venues open). The company responded by supplying a Pioneer 25-disc multi CD player, feeding music to four distinct zones via a Cloud Z4 mixer and a selection of JBL Control 25AV, Control 28 and Control 24C (ceiling speakers).
Recognising that the concept is constantly evolving, in both the South Bank and Spitalfields (where the latest Giraffe, opened last month) Sound Division has provided portable DJ systems based around Technics SL1210 turntables and Vestax PMC004 DJ mixers).
Meanwhile, th
UK - The first installation of Electro-Voice's new ZX1 speakers has been completed at the K-Bar private members' club in London.
EV's new generation of small-format, high-output loudspeakers was chosen by installation company Cosmic Electronics, when the K-Bar asked them to upgrade their speaker system. "The club management insisted on having a system that did justice to their high-profile reputation as one of London's most talked-about nightclubs, but they didn't want to become a discotheque," explains Cosmic's Mark Damon. "Through their sister venue, the Sugar Hut, they thought highly of Electro-Voice, and the timing of the project was perfectly suited to using the latest EV ZX speaker line."
The K-Bar is a relatively compact space, with a main bar adjoining its dancefloor, and a VIP room. In all, 10x EV ZX1i 8" two-way cabinets have been used, four in the main bar and six in the dancefloor, where they are supplemented with two EV Gladiator 18-inch G118 subwoofers.
Cosmic Electronics has also used ZX1 speakers to upgrade another venue, the Whispers nightclub in Gravesend, again pairing the ZX1s with Gladiator bass bins. "These cabinets are a very valuable addition to the Electro-Voice portfolio," says Damon.
(Jim Evans)
UK - HRH Princess Alexandra officially opened the a new £1.75m Sports Hall and Performing Arts Centre at Coombe Girls School in New Malden last month, featuring separate dedicated spaces for sports, music technology, drama and recital.
Stuart Graham's fast-expanding company, Clarity in Sound, Light & Vision, has done much in the past year to bring high production values into the educational sector; their £70,000 sound, lighting and projection design and fit for Coombe Girls School was based on industry standard devices.
With a roll of 1,500 students (including 500 attending Sixth Form College) Coombe is one of the largest facilities of this kind in the country, with an excellent reputation for drama and music. Graham realized that the facilities would be heavily used, so durability and reliability were major considerations. Wherever possible, he turned to Denon's source catalogue for playback devices.
Graham says: "I have been using Denon ever since I came into this industry. Their reliability is great and the back-up second to none. Denon has become our staple source for this kind of installation - it's brilliant for schools, and we fitted out seven during the summer break alone."
Using Denon Professional rack kits, Clarity installed multiples of DRM-595P single cassette decks, DRW-695P twin cassette players, DCD-685P variable-speed CD players, DCD-485P CD player, DNT625 combination CD/cassette player, matched with Denon amplifiers, including the PMA255P and PMA100P. Graham commented: "What we have given the school is a very flexib
UK - Islington's Salmon & Compass independent dance clubs has undergone a major £500,000 refurbishment programme. The interior has been completely gutted and replaced by an industrial brushed stainless steel look and a Turbosound PA system from Sound Division. At the same time, club capacity has increased to 280.
"The owners, the Loizou family, wanted a sound system with full clubbing capabilities," explains Sound Division's installation manager Elliott Patterson, "and after consideration we recommended a Turbosound TCS-56/TCS-215 system, powered by Crown XS amplification, along with a new mixer."
(Jim Evans)
UK - The newly-opened Alma De Cuba restaurant in Liverpool, owned by the Lyceum Group, is housed in a converted church. Dating back to the late Eighteenth century, the building has been vacant since 1976 but has now undergone a major refurbishment programme.
It has been sympathetically restored and many original features have been retained including stained glass windows and archaic artwork.
The sound system has been carefully designed and installed by B+S Sound & Light of Liverpool to overcome the inevitable difficulties of such a wide open reverberant space and to provide the required music level in each of the six designated zones.
Depending on the restaurant activity and time of day, volume can be adjusted via three simple controls positioned in the main bar area. The system uses a Cloud Z8 zoner, 4 x Tannoy TDX1 and Ecler amps to drive an array of Tannoy speakers in various parts of the building.
(Jim Evans)
UK - The Riverside Studios has installed a new 16-zone digital paging matrix system from Australian Monitor in its multi-arts facility in Hammersmith, London.
Funded by The Arts Council, the new expandable DigiPage architecture was engineered by consultant Matt How's, to a conceptual design by Richard Noxell Sound Services, and replaces the previous system described by Theatre Studios Manager, Barbara Egervary, as "totally inadequate".
The Riverside is an expanding facility which today embraces two main performance studios, a cinema,TV studio and production galleries,rehearsal/workshop space,numerous offices and a large contemporary cafe/bar and terrace.
The complex has been divided into 16 zones on DigiPage, each of which has a dedicated local mic/line input, with six global inputs routable to any of the zones; these are currently used for show relay and COMs from the studios. The system features Alert, Evacuation, Bell and PreAnnounce Chimes, and Priority Ducking Circuitry.
At the Riverside, DigiPage provides a network link between three studio spaces (including TV and theatre) as well as the cinema (on another floor). The main DigiPage Microphone Station (with Master and Slave units) is situated at front-of-house, with three other paging stations set in strategic locations, and supported by 16 remote six-input DigiPage Wall Panels.
Powered by four Australian Monitor AIMS 480P amplifiers, the signal feeds out to 32 Australian Monitor Install 10 loudspeakers, positioned in the key zones, including dressing rooms, restaurants and corridors,along w
UK - JTE's new PixelEights are rocking the streets of London as part of an exciting new window display at the Levi's Flagship Store in Regent Street. The rock & roll set is being used to promote the Levi's Ones to Watch 2005 Tour campaign that supports a number of new bands on a tour across the UK in December.
In conjunction with Levi's, communications agency Logistik created and installed a window concept, recreating the atmosphere and excitement of the Barfly venue in Camden using brick walls, backline, sound system and lighting rig.
Logistik's project director, Attila Keskin explains, "I wanted to add some pizzazz to the generic par rig - something that would really wow the people in the street! The PixelEights were recommended by PRG and as I had used PixelLine 1044s in the windows last year I was confident the fixtures would provide another dimension to the display. I am very happy with the result, loads of light is projected into the street and the effects really attract people to look in the window." All the lighting was supplied by PRG Europe London.
(Jim Evans)
USA - Founded in 1998, Jubilee Fellowship Church (JFC) has opened of a brand new sanctuary in Lone Tree, a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Set on a five-acre plot, the complex features a 6,730-square-foot main sanctuary that seats up to 700. Integral to the set-up is a self-powered Meyer Sound line array system designed and installed by Audio Analysts of Colorado Springs.
Audio Analyst's Robert Langlois says his main requirement for the system was that it be "flexible enough for the spoken word, yet have the impact required to handle the demands of a strong praise and worship team." He adds that the client also needed "a system that he could turn on and forget it is even there. The nature of Meyer's self-powered systems is such that an engineer, sound mixer, or volunteer doesn't have to have a working knowledge of power amplifiers and crossovers to run it. You just turn it on and it works. In this case, it rocks."
While the congregation is no doubt more focused on worship than on technical issues such as phase coherence, the benefits of the Meyer Sound system are readily apparent to members of the church. "There has been a tremendous outpouring of appreciation for the clarity and the balance," says JFC's Jeff Johnson. "Especially noticeable is the separation of the voices, and the presence of instruments that had been absent in our previous room. The M1Ds allow a precise presentation of harmonies and vocal ranges, while the USW-1Ps highlight the bass and drums in a way that was totally absent before. In many cases, the congregation
UK - Bristol nightspot Panache boasts a Harman Pro integrated audio system, that provides discrete dance floor, live performance, and ambient sound reinforcement. The 850 capacity night club comprises a restaurant, three bar areas, dance floor and live stage area, effectively in one open plan space.
Panache is locally-based installer CMP's largest audio project to date. CMP's Trevor Brooks collaborated with Harman Pro UK in designing a system that achieved its objectives through a process of zoning control, and careful placement and focusing of speaker coverage.
Separate speaker systems were configured for stage and dance floor, but with a control and amplification system common to both, while varying levels of background music were provided for distinct bar and seating areas.
For the dance floor there are four JBL AM4215/95 enclosures, plus two ASB6128 subs built into the base of the DJ platform. The separate live performance system consists of an additional four JBL AM4215/95s and four SRX718 subs.
As both speaker systems are never in use at the same time, signal processing and power to each is provided from the same control and amp rack. This comprises two dbx ZonePRO 1260s, cascaded to provide 12 inputs and 12 outputs, two Crown Xs700s amplifiers for the hi-mid enclosures, and a Crown Macro-Tech MA5002 VZ for the subs.
For the rest of the venue, including the stage left and stage right areas, the Guitar Cocktail Bar, and other bar areas, audio is distributed via JBL Control Series speakers; Control 25s, 28s and 30s. Power throughout is delivered by Crow
UK - The South Bank Centre's head of production, Andy Scorgie contracted Richard Nowell Sound Services to install a new paging system in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
"We badly needed to move with the times by finding a system sympathetic to the different requirements of the various art forms hosted at the Hall. Each event needs to have specific information relayed," explains Scorgie.
Needing to route messages over an increasing number of zones (which also incorporates the neighbouring Purcell Room), Scorgie wanted the new paging front end to be able to plug into the venue's existing infrastructure. He was also aware that the system needed to comply with Health & Safety audits, Lambeth Council inspections and LFB licensing requirements.
RNSS' operations manager, Andrew Cotton recommended the Australian Monitor DigiPage system (distributed in the UK by Fuzion plc), the system was also recommended by suppliers, Amber Sound, who pointed out that aside from DigiPage's clarity and flexibility, it does not depend on its own internal infrastructure, and can thus be used with other outboard equipment.
Andrew Cotton, whose company is HQ'd in the basement of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, adapted the system to allow twenty zones to function off the expanded 16 x 16 switchable matrix router, connected to the existing amplifiers and loudspeakers.
The QE Hall and Purcell Room share a common foyer, presenting problems when two shows are going up simultaneously. "One simple improvement that DigiPage has made is getting customers into the theatre on time," obser