UK - Earlier this year, six famous landmarks around the UK were given a spectacular colour makeover courtesy of White Light and Crown Paints to mark Crown Colour Week - a nationwide celebration of colour.
In each of six cities, residents were asked to vote for their favourite colour via a survey in a local paper. The winning colour was then used to light the buildings, orchestrated by a White Light team and led by production manager Simon Jones.
The buildings chosen were Bristol Cathedral, St Martin's Church in Birmingham, Cardiff Town Hall, the Urbis in Manchester, the Theatre Royal Newcastle and Glasgow University. Each landmark was lit for six hours after sunset. The touring lighting rig included twenty StudioDue CityColor colour-changing floodlights and seven Mac2000 moving spotlights as well as sixty Source Four Pars, and four Philips ArenaVisions. The rig also included over 3.5km of mains and control cable as well as 30m of cable ramp and 50m of safety fencing.
The week-long project which was months in planning, involved Simon Jones and a team of lighting electricians (Ben Cash, Steve Sherriff, Duncan Holmes, Richard Gorr and Mark Newel), and two generator technicians from Powerline, plus back-up crew.
Rozina Ali, communications manager at Crown Paints observed, "We needed the lighting to be spectacular and have real impact for both passers-by and the local media. The fact that the six buildings had to be lit one after another added another significant challenge. White Light did a great job."
(Jim Evans)
Germany - ChainMaster, one of the world's most successful manufacturers of chain hoists and chain-hoist controllers, has been supplying equipment for a number of major projects and productions, including the Spain Summer Tour, which is using 13 500kg VarioLifts and a computer controller furnished by the manufacturer's Spanish distributor.
Meanwhile, ChainMaster has added two more prestige German venues to its reference list, having installed a chain-hoist system for the video cube in the SAP Arena in Mannheim in collaboration with Sauernheimer (due to the enormous weight of the load, four 6000kg computer-controlled VarioLifts with a backup system were needed here) as well as producing the three 500kg BGV-C1 chain hoists delivered recently by Focon Showtechnic to the Mercedez-Benz museum.
Chainmaster has also announced that two more event service providers have recently expanded their stocks of ChainMaster chain hoists: Mash France added five 0-40m/min VarioTrolleys and 22 VarioLifts ( 250kg and 500kg) to its hire catalogue, whilst the Denmark-based lighting and rental production company Seelite has converted its existing BGV-C1 chain hoists to VarioLifts, investing at the same time in a variety of VarioLifts and VarioTrolleys.
(Lee Baldock)
The Netherlands - HOF audio - lighting - vision has invested in a complete sound package from Alcons Audio. The system consists of 18 units LR16 ribbon line array modules with ALC4 controller-amplifiers and extensive rigging. An AIM (Alcons InclinoMeter) digital incline levelling system has been added to enable accurate bumper positioning.
The decision to opt for the LR16s was made after extensive testing of the system during a number of high profile concerts with the Dutch Horn Ensemble, North Netherlands Orchestra and the Marines band in such venues as Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Rotterdam's De Doelen theatre.
HOF owner Bart Hof comments: "The projection of the system is impressive, it gives an honest reproduction, perfect imaging, crystal clear response and speech intelligibility is unsurpassed as a result of the ribbon technology. With the LR16 we can now offer a mid-sized solution for theatres, concert halls and corporate events. In the past, on a number of locations we found that we either had too much weight or not enough power and coverage."
(Jim Evans)
UK - The HSL Group is to exhibit at ABTT for the first time. HSL is currently supplying lighting to some major UK theatre tours including Blood Brothers, Joseph & His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy, as well as servicing other major arts events like the Holland Park Opera Festival and providing equipment to TV studios across the UK. HSL is also sponsoring the Bar in the mezzanine level of the Lawrence Hall throughout the show."
HSL is now streamlined into three divisions. HSL Rental is "fully committed to ongoing investment in the latest technology to offer lighting designers and specifiers all the cutting-edge creative tools". HSL Rigging provides bespoke rigging solutions to corporate, theatre and live music events and HSL Sales & Distributions is the sole UK and Irish distributor for Community Loudspeakers plus over 200 other product lines.
(Jim Evans)
Spain - This year's European AES exhibition in Barcelona benefited not just from the great location and excellent weather, but also from the introduction this year of seminars aimed at the live sound sector - one of which was Sunday's Loudspeaker Line Arrays session that was presented by John Taylor and Ralf Zuleeg from d&b audiotechnik.
This was a three-part seminar that took place over four hours and began with a presentation from John Taylor titled Demystifying audio techniques, which embraced visual images, experiments and practical demonstrations that included the assistance of Daisy the duck*. This part of the session was aimed at expanding the participant's knowledge in order to obtain the maximum benefit from sound systems, concluding with what constitutes a well-behaved loudspeaker and how it affects what we hear. Ralf Zuleeg then took the stage to look at the history of dispersion pattern control in loudspeaker systems, why you need it, and how linearrays extend the boundaries of pattern control. The section was supported by practical demonstrations looking and listening to d&b's Q-Series loudspeakers in several different configurations. As a conclusion, Zuleeg explored the area of steering low frequencies, the effects of array size on directivity, Cardioid Subwoofer Arrays and finally distributed bass arrays.
"I am really pleased as the session was very well attended," said David Rosello from d&b's Spanish office, who also provided translations for the proceedings. Ralf Zuleeg commented: "We like to try and present these su
UK - Strand Lighting is to supply the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) with five racks of the EC21 dimmer for the Courtyard Theatre development in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Courtyard Theatre will be the Company's main performance space while the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is redeveloped from 2007. Installation will start at the end of 2005 with The Courtyard Theatre opening in mid 2006 as part of The Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival.
EC21 is the latest high density modular dimming system from Strand that allows the user to mix and match Truesine sinewave, thyristor, fluorescent and non-dim dimmer modules, with no loss of density. Up to 96 x 5kW sinewave dimmers may be contained in each rack. The rack and dimmers are fully web browsable using Strand's ShowNet Ethernet network and support Strand Outlook and SWC architectural controls. They also support DMX512 and come ready to support ACN (Advanced Control Network) as soon as the standard is formally adopted.
Comments Geoff Locker, RSC technical director: "The RSC has enjoyed a long association with Strand Lighting and we are delighted that our work in the new Courtyard Theatre will again be supported by the installation of the innovative Strand EC21 Dimmer Racks."
David Catterall , Strand Lighting European sales director adds: "Intensive professional users like the RSC always place heavy performance demands upon their equipment. EC21 brings new levels of dimmer rack flexibility to the RSC."
(Jim Evans)
USA - Coldplay's newest video, Speed of Sound, features the innovative use of LED lights and a novel approach to control: the video's backdrop - and its major source of light - is a wall of 640 Versa TUBEs. The Versa TUBE, from Element Labs, looks like a fluorescent tube but contains a row of pixels composed of red, green and blue LEDs. Designers can map pixels from a video signal directly to the pixels in the tube.
What sets Speed of Sound apart, however, is that production designer Michael Keeling used PRG's Mbox media server to provide the video to the LED lights. Mbox allows designers to manipulate source material - including video, still images and effects - directly from a DMX lighting console. Programmers instantly can change colour, scale, 3-D rotation, rate of playback, degree of transparency and other elements, all without waiting for rendering time, say PRG.
"The Mbox is a phenomenal unit - it allowed the Wholehog control console to send media files to the LED light sources and gave us an unlimited variety of end results," says Keeling. "In recent years, I've been bored with doing the same thing with lighting. Tools like this have rejuvenated my soul about what lighting can be." He adds: "I'm really impressed with PRG's attention to the video market and what they are doing to cross between lighting and video."
"Using Mbox to provide video to the LED lights allowed the designers to make adjustments on the fly," explains John Lee, account executive, concert touring for PRG. "Because Mbox create
USA - A technological tour de force has been installed in Chicago's Millennium Park. The Crown Fountain - thought to be one of the most expensive pieces of public art ever undertaken - is made up of two 15m glass towers, displays the faces of hundreds of people videotaped by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa. Each digitized face is projected via a Barco video server, which supplies added information to the ETC Emphasis control system which switches colour mixing LED fixtures on or off in each light tower in sync with the video images.
Each face appears for five minutes at a time, smiling and grimacing until it purses its lips like a playful modern-day gargoyle and spits out water. A signal is sent back from the Emphasis system to a Barco show controller to control the intensity and colour saturation of the towers' video.
At night, the towers' faces are supplemented by nature images and vivid walls of colour. ETC's Sensor+ dimming system, with its new CEM+ control modules, allows the Emphasis system to speak directly to the dimmer racks via Ethernet to feed data to the 140 ColorBlast LED fixtures, supplied by Color Kinetics, which also greatly reduced wiring requirements during installation. Meanwhile, the Emphasis system controls a series of spotlights at the foot of the towers that illuminate cascades of water flowing down the tower sides. ETC Sensor RCD modules in racks, engineered for wet-use locations, handle the dimming of the spotlights.
The Millennium Park - the largest project carried out by any city in the world to commemorate the new millennium - was open
UK - The Church of Christ The King in Brighton has undergone a refurbishment of its audio facilities, including the installation of a new 32-channel Midas Legend console that also operates as a foldback mixer.
Live music plays a prominent role in the Church's services, and a number of touring Christian music bands perform there, so technical expectations are high. After extensive discussions with Shuttlesound, the Midas distributor in the UK, the Church selected the Legend with 32 mono plus 4 stereo channels, supplied to Modern AV by Autograph Sound.
The Church is based in a large modern building that was previously a warehouse but is now home to one of the New Frontiers group of churches. Its services are held in a large meeting hall on the upper floor with regular congregations of around 900 worshippers.
"The layout of the building didn't provide space for a permanent monitor position," explains Peter Roe of Modern AV. "The Legend was the only desk we could find that offered really good control of front-of-house and foldback sound. With both functions controlled by one engineer, this makes life easier in an environment that does rely on volunteers to operate the equipment."
(Jim Evans)
UK - While small warm-up dates in anticipation of a major stadium tour can often prove a nice appetizer for a band, it can cause havoc for sound crews, forced with shoe-horning the stadium-size wall of sound coming off the stage into small-capacity clubs and theatres bearing a wide range of different room characteristics.
Previewing songs from their new album, Oasis played such unlikely London venues as The Coronet, as well as the Astoria, Clapham Grand and Hammersmith Apollo, with PA provided by top rental house SSE Hire, with Britannia Row supplying monitors and FOH sound engineer Bruce Johnston (Bruce Johnston Audio Services) the FOH control. It was a blessing for system tech Dan Lewis, therefore, when SSE Hire's Richie Rowley announced that he could make the new BSS Soundweb London BLU-80 available to afford him greater control options.
Lewis, who has been working with the band for eight months, said: "I did the last UK and European tour as well as dates in the US, using the Soundweb 9088 Mk2. Although the production was to SSE festival standard, when I learnt that there was a Soundweb London available I jumped at the chance to use it."
He says that while it is tasked with carrying out identical functions to the 9088, "it's running a lot more comfortably." Using a variety of FOH PA configurations, depending on venue, the improved DA/AD converters have made an immeasurable difference to achieving consistency. "I'm running a Left and Right into it and doing time alignment, EQing the top systems and delaying things differently dependin
UK - David Ambrose has been appointed managing director of Electrosonic Ltd, effective immediately. Reporting to the Electrosonic Group CEO, Kyle Carpenter, Ambrose will has responsibility for all Electrosonic's operations in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region.
Ambrose has been with Electrosonic for 15 years and during that time he has worked within the systems, products and service businesses of the company, including a short period in Hong Kong. He says: "Electrosonic has a strong history of understanding and adapting to the needs of our customers. This is an exciting time for the organisation with a significant investment in new products, growth within our service business and some great opportunities for systems integration projects."
(Jim Evans)
USA - TMB PowerPAR lighting instruments are being used to highlight two rotating automobiles from a trim height of 85ft, while conserving fixture count, in a recently installed display in the lobby of the Renaissance Center General Motors HQ in Detroit. Tom Bagnasco, president of Lighting Design Services Inc, located in Harrison Township, Michigan, accomplished the job using only eight TMB PowerPAR luminaires in the 40ft x 100ft atrium at the Renaissance Center. The main entry lighting was designed by Bagnasco, utilizing TMB PowerPARs and other equipment purchased from Light Source Inc of Milford, Michigan.
"After much research, we found the TMB PowerPAR to be the perfect choice for this application. The entire room is stainless steel and glass so overcoming the glare problems required a versatile unit to control beam patterns and spread," says Bagnasco. "Furthermore, color temperature is important to maintain an integrated look with the architectural lighting."The TMB PowerPAR is available in hot- or auto-restrike versions, and is designed for illuminating high profile products in the most challenging lighting situations. Light Source, Inc. is a full service entertainment dealer, and has specialized in display and exhibit lighting for the special events industry for over 25 years. Jeff Mateer of Light Source, comments: "We have had a long-standing relationship with TMB and have lit all the major auto shows in the US so it was natural that General Motors came to Lighting Design Services and for us to illuminate and showcase their main headq
UK - Graham Paddon has fulfilled a life-long ambition and formed his own sales company - Amber Sound. Paddon has spent his entire career in audio; after 18 years at Micron's Audio Engineering he went on to guide Autograph Sales through nearly two decades of trading. Amber Sound offers a wide range of high end products, and aims to make customer support and after care sales its main concern.
Jamie Gosney has joined Paddon at Amber Sound, bringing with him over 20 years of technical sales and end-user experience across all sectors of pro audio. Mike Charman is on board to focus on communication systems and the broadcast market, while Claire Paddon joins the team, bringing with her experience in sales, PR and marketing.
"Amber Sound is something I've wanted to do for many many years," says Paddon, "I've teamed up with some great manufacturers to offer high-end products, matched with a commitment to honesty and reliability, not just price."
Amber Sound has already been appointed exclusive distributor for Aviom Inc, manufacturers of personal mixer and digital snake systems. Aviom's director of international sales Joel Brazy says: "We are excited about continuing the relationship with Graham and his team at his new venture. We feel that the experience they have is perfect for our target market. Together we will create solutions for clients in the best possible way. The new partnership of Aviom and Amber will benefit both companies, but most of all the end users, who will get high quality products and an unparalleled support network."
A
UK - As part of Hawthorn's continuing expansion they have just launched a new design studio based around 'WYSIWYG' the lighting design and visualization software. "WYSWYG was the logical next step in our continuing expansion, giving us the focus to develop our 'brand new' state of the art design studio" said Hawthorn's general manager, Simon Wood.
Based in the East Midlands, with easy road access to all parts of the UK, the new facility is part of Hawthorn's ongoing expansion programme, which has seen its warehouse and office facility expand from 50,000sq.ft to just under 100,000sq.ft, with a continued commitment to new technology and equipment. "Clients can now see visuals of their sets with full lighting and AV, be more involved in the design stages and we can better tailor packages for clients' events," continued Wood.
As well as 'in-house' use it is expected that the new facility will be used by visiting lighting designers and will be available for hire with or with-out a design technician, say the company.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Roland Hemming has announced his departure from system integrators Live Business International to become an independent project manager and consultant for the entertainment technology industry.
"In four successful years since setting up Live Business International," says Hemming, "we built a very strong team and an excellent client list. Having founded the business and established the team, it was time for me to move on to meet new challenges. The industry continues to evolve and embrace new technologies and I'm excited to be out there at the sharp end of it."
Hemming's 18-year career has included working as a sound engineer and designer at Theatre Projects where he set up the UK's first show control division renting out computer control of sound and lighting in the technology's infancy. In 1998 he was appointed head of sound for the Millennium Dome project in London. His current activities include presenting papers to the Audio Engineering Society, acting as an advisor to ICIA, and judging the PLASA Innovation Awards.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Lake Technology has received a 2005 Technical Excellence and Creativity (TEC) Award nomination for its Lake Mesa Quad EQ digital matrix processor in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement, Signal Processing Technology/Hardware. This is the second TEC Award nomination in three years for Lake Technology, which was nominated in 2003 for its very first digital loudspeaker processing hardware product, the Lake Contour.
Introduced less than a year ago, the Lake Mesa Quad EQ is a 4x4 digital matrix processor designed for use in stand-alone or networked concert sound, recording, mastering, and broadcast studio applications.
Justin Baird, director of production management, Lake Technology, commented, "To receive a second TEC Award nomination is a great honour, and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of our supporters out there! The Mesa EQ is being installed in mastering studios and live performance venues, and has also been enthusiastically received by touring performance sound companies worldwide."
(Jim Evans)
UK - Ground-breaking technology devised by audience interaction specialist AnswerBack Interactive has enabled Celador International's Who Want To Be A Millionaire? Live to hit the road this summer. Growing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire's 'fastest finger first' from 10 players in a television studio to thousands in live venues across Britain is a challenge AnswerBack MD Paul Krisman has been delighted to meet. He explains: "This is an absolute first and there are a number of vital factors we have to ensure just can't go wrong - from the players' point of view 'fastest finger first' is absolutely essential. We've managed to build technology that can identify the fastest response to within a thousandth of a second. There can be no room for doubt or error. It was quite a technical challenge."
Discussing the scales of the challenge he continues: "In our largest shows we anticipate processing more than 10,000,000 messages during the course of the show, with a peak greater than 7,000 per second - this is more than 10 times that achieved by the London Stock Exchange."
Secondly, the handsets have to be able to be installed and uninstalled quickly and efficiently, even in the largest venues. The Millionaire handsets are supplied in sets of four in easily identifiable colours, which connect to small, hidden hubs which link together to form the unique AnswerBack network.
When 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Live' starts its British tour in Eastbourne on June 13, 1,500 people will be able to play simultaneously. On the morning of the show a
The Netherlands - The newly launched X-Line Very Compact sound reinforcement system from Electro-Voice is proving a hit in the Dutch pro audio sector: in three weeks, EVI Audio's Dutch partner Electric Audio BV has sold three complete systems with the 2 x 8" XLD configuration. The three purchasers are HVB AV Rental & Staging (Almere), Kersjes PA Service (Beuningen) and MJ Sound (Breda).
Along with an X-Line Very Compact system, Arjen Kijk in de Vegte, managing director of HVB AV Rental, invested in a range of other gear from EVI Audio, including RE-1 and RE-2 wireless microphone systems, one Verona and ten Venice 160 consoles from MIDAS, and a variety of CP amps from Electro-Voice and processors from Klark Teknik. Among his reasons for this major investment, de Vegte cited "outstanding dynamic performance, international reputation and service".
(Jim Evans)
Germany - Music & Sales GmbH, the company behind renowned brands HK Audio, Hughes & Kettner and Mindprint, has employed Ralf Schluenzen as its new product and marketing director. "Ralf's appointment illustrates that our company is entering the next phase of growth," explains Hans Stamer, the group's managing director. "Stefan Fischer, our former marketing director, will now focus on brand and strategic development as brand director, with Ralf focusing on the product and marketing processes. This will allow us to act even faster in this quickly evolving market."
"I am thrilled about this new assignment," says Schluenzen. "This company has an excellent working environment and huge potential within all three brands. It's great to join the company in this exciting time and be able to help Hans' vision become a reality."
Schluenzen has been working in the MI and pro audio industry for most of his career. His former positions have included the marketing director post at Steinberg and managing director position at TC Works, a division of TC Electronic.
(Lee Baldock)
France - L-Acoustics has announced the appointment of David Brooks to the technical support department. Reporting to technical support director Paul Bauman, Brooks' arrival coincides with L-Acoustics' goal to develop the customer support on its 3D simulation software, Soundvision.
An experienced monitor engineer, Brooks brings 18 years of experience to his new post. He has worked with many high profile acts, including *NSYNC, Will Smith and George Benson, and his credits include numerous broadcast and festival events in the US and Europe. He has also worked as a system design engineer for SPL Integrated Solutions, a permanent installation contractor, where his projects included audio system designs for stadium, theatre and mall projects.
Brooks' duties will encompass system design modelling, providing support for DSP unit preset revisions, study of installation schemes, customer technical training, and being in touch with users, consultants and contractors on their specific needs, say the company.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Community Professional Loudspeakers has chosen this month's ABTT for the UK introduction of the first of its new iBOX range of installation loudspeakers, offering "a straightforward approach to implementing arrays, clusters and distributed systems with just two sizes of discrete enclosures".
Says Community: "iBOX are particularly suitable for regional theatre, offering the transparent, natural audio needed for high-end productions but with the power and dynamics to provide for the range of variety acts and bands that are commonly hosted."
The iBOX 1200 Series combines a 12" mid/bass driver with a 2" HF (1.4" exit) on a large format horn, providing uniform pattern control. Six rotatable horn patterns offer precise coverage and arrayability. Each full-range cabinet operates from 45Hz to 18kHz with power handling of 500W continuous. For systems requiring greater LF extension, Community provides 1x12" and 2x12" subs in the same 1200 Series dimensions.
The six models in the iBOX 1500 Series offer the same HF horn options while incorporating a larger enclosure and using a high-power 15" mid/bass driver, which effectively extends the LF response to 38Hz. Again, greater LF extension is attained in the same enclosure dimensions with the S115 1x15" and S215 2x15" subs.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Lighting control manufacturer Avolites shows its most popular theatre and performance consoles, its ART 2000i installation dimmer and its eDMX wireless control system at ABTT 2005 later this month.
The eDMX has been used in a variety of recent high profile events, including the production of Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre in London's West End.
The ART2000i dimmer is aimed at theatrical, architectural, leisure and retail applications. It is currently available in modules of 24 x 16 Amp units or 12 x 32 Amp.
The Pearl 2004 is Avo's most popular 'live' lighting console, and is used in all types of applications. The D4 Elite console is streamlined to offer "the maximum power and functionality in the minimum physical space".
The Azure Shadow 2000 console is a variation on the Azure 2000 which has enjoyed success in a variety of applications. For theatre users, the Shadow incorporates a new suite of theatrical programming and playback functions.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Sennheiser UK and DV2 France have agreed "to end their cooperation on distribution of Adamson Systems Engineering loudspeakers". Sennheiser UK was appointed as the exclusive distributor in 2003. DV2, the European support arm for Adamson products will now support and sell to the UK market direct from France.
A statement announcing the split says: "Due to recent changes in the Sennheiser worldwide product portfolio it was decided that the Adamson brand of products is now in direct conflict with Sennheiser owned products."
"We have been very happy with the efforts of Sennheiser UK in promoting, selling and supporting the Adamson brand in the UK and it is disappointing for Adamson that this situation has occurred," says Andy Weingärtner, DV2 European sales manager. "There is a synergy between Adamson and Lab.gruppen, which is a Sennheiser UK distributed brand, that will remain and we look forward to continued communication with Sennheiser UK for our amplification requirements."
Simon Curtis, Sennheiser director of sales adds: "Adamson Systems and DV2 have been very professional companies to deal with and the product quality is second to none. We wish the Adamson brand every success and will endeavour to maintain the relationship between Lab.gruppen and Adamson products in the UK."
(Jim Evans)
UK - Strand Lighting has chosen ShowTech in Berlin and ABTT in London for the introduction of its EC21 series dimmer racks. These have been developed in response to feedback from customers and consultants.
A first for EC21 is the ability to have up to 96 Sinewave dimmers in a single rack, simplifying the implementation of full or partial Sinewave dimming solutions.
The new racks allow users to freely mix and match dimmers of any type (both Sinewave and conventional dimmers) within a rack to meet the needs of different installations. Also new with this system is a Quad standard dimmer module allowing racks to have a density of up to 144 dimmers. EC21 Dimmers are available with a wide range of circuit breaker and filter choke options. Status reporting is also available for most dimmers and is standard on Sinewave modules.
Continuing the implementation of Strand ShowNet networking solutions, the racks feature a high performance processor with integrated Ethernet control input with a Web Browser based configuration and monitoring system.
(Jim Evans)