ESTA has announced that two draft standards are up for public review: BSR E1.5, Entertainment Technology - Theatrical Fog Made With Aqueous Solutions Of Di- And Trihydric Alcohols, is available for a second public review. These theatrical fogs and mists are often used as visual effects or to enhance lighting effects in live performances such as dramatic productions, musicals, and popular music concerts, and are commonly called "glycol fogs." This draft American National Standard describes the composition of glycol and glycerin fogs that are not likely to be harmful to otherwise healthy performers, technicians, or audience members of normal working age.
Copies of the draft BSR E1.5 standard may be obtained from the ESTA website or by requesting a copy from ESTA's Technical Standards Manager via mail, fax, or e-mail (see below). Comments on the document should be received at the ESTA office before 17:00 Eastern Time on 10 December 2002. Comments received after that time may not be accepted in this public review. The BSR E1.5 project is an undertaking of the Fog & Smoke Working Group, part of the ANSI-accredited standards committee E1, Safety and Compatibility of Entertainment Technical Equipment and Practices. The Entertainment Services and Technology Association is the secretariat for Accredited Standards Committee E1 and provides administrative support to the committee. Membership in the working group is open to all who are affected by its work. Membership in ESTA is not a requirement.
BSR E1.8, Entertainment Technology - Loudspeaker Enclosures Inten
Robe Showlighting - the Czech moving light manufacturer - announced the appointment of LMP Lichttechnik as its new German distributor at PLASA last week. Based in Ibbenbüren, North Germany, LMP is one of the largest lighting sales operations in Europe, and is ideally placed to service Robe's active expansion as a direct sales operation. This follows Robe's recent appointment of Coe-tech as its UK distributor, and a very successful PLASA show, where it launched its new AT Series of intelligent fixtures, with six featured products and more to come.Until recently, Robe Showlighting was well known as an OEM manufacturer and supplier of many of Europe's leading moving light brands.
Robe's Josef Valchar comments: "We chose LMP because it's a very well established company with much experience and familiarity with the moving light market. Their after-sales support and back-up is also renowned, and we are looking forward to LMP expanding Robe's presence in the all-important German market."
Robe's extensive range of moving light products are suitable for a wide spectrum of applications - from architectural to live performance, from installations to retail and clubs. LMP's Uli Petzold says: "Robe was an obvious choice. We are already familiar with Robe's products, and know that the build and engineering quality is excellent. We also feel these fixtures are priced exactly right in terms of value for money, and that Robe's decision to go to the market 'direct' is very timely."
(Lee Baldock)
The Alien 51S from Mach is a recessed speaker system designed for demanding background installations where wide dispersion and high quality audio reproduction is needed. Designed around a 5" co-axial drive unit with a 3/4" neodymium tweeter, the Alien 51S offers high levels of clarity and a wide and well-controlled dispersion.
The compact design integrates a passive crossover and a 100/70V transformer into the housing and allows the user to operate the speaker from either traditional or 100V amplifiers. Because it is based on the same cabinet as the Alien 05 colour changer, installing multiple Alien products - both colour changers and speakers - is straightforward. Useful in a wide variety of applications, the 110-degree acoustic coverage pattern ensures even sound pressure and tonal balance throughout the coverage area. As a special feature, the Alien S51 comes with a software program that calculates the number of speakers needed in a given venue.
(Ruth Rossington)
With a capacity of 3,000, Ireland’s largest dance club opened its doors this month in the town of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan. Owners Kevin McKenna and PJ Woods have invested nearly 5 million in developing what is arguably Ireland’s first superclub, around a Martin Audio Wavefront 8 Compact system. Woods had known Rea Sound from previous leisure ventures but the Cookstown-based company still had to win a tender to develop the dancefloor and balcony (with a small, 200-capacity chill-out room in the next stage of development). "When they gave us a chance to quote we thought we’d show them just what the Martin Wavefront system was capable of, as we were under serious pressure from other leading brands," says Sean. "So we took them on a tour, and they were quickly convinced."
This sounded the signal for Martin’s product manager, Richie Rowley, to carry out a site survey, optimising the system for the vast space. Rich Rowley explained: "The basis of my design was to give high intensity sound to the entire dance space. This was no mean feat considering the dance floor was of irregular shape on one level and could accommodate 3000 hungry clubbers. The answer was to use a distributed Wavefront 8C system in six pairs with the addition of two single units providing plenty of ‘ego’ energy directly in front of the DJ box. "The 14 W8Cs were then supported by 12 WSX (2.1m horn-loaded sub bass units) to provide biblical amounts of low frequency energy."
The overall system drive was fashioned around Rowley&rsq
The Music Managers Forum’s (MMF) British Music Roll of Honour took place on 18 September at The Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London. The event marks the achievements of music industry managers and luminaries and attracts a myriad of industry stars and top brass. This year they also gathered to mark the Music Managers Forum’s 10th Anniversary. Live entertainment came courtesy of Travis and Craig David in honour of their managers Ian McAndrew and Colin Lester. McAndrew and Lester, from management company Wildlife, were presented with the much-coveted Peter Grant Award for their outstanding contribution to the music industry.
The ceremony was hosted by DJ and BBC radio presenter Paul Gambaccini, who was surprised to find himself inducted onto the Roll of Honour in recognition of over 30 years in the industry. Other inductees included Willie Robertson and Bob Taylor from Robertson Taylor Insurance. The audience was also treated to a personally recorded message from Kylie Minogue in honour of her manager, Terry Blamey. Blamey, who was instrumental to the successful re-launch of the Aussie diva’s singing career in 2001, was presented with the BDO/MMF Manager of the Year Award.
James Fisher, executive director of the MMF was honoured with a special presentation, which included a personal recorded thank you from the legendary Sir Elton John. The accolade, which was presented by Noel Edmonds, is in celebration of Fisher’s work on behalf of the industry and his role within the MMF over the past decade. The Euphonix Producer of the Year Award, presented this
The new edition of ‘The Source’ product catalogue is now available from Canford Audio. This latest edition contains more new products than any previous Canford catalogue and there are hints that an on-line version will follow shortly. Coinciding with the launch of the new catalogue is the company’s decision to introduce free deliveries across the UK.
The result of a year-long study to match customers’ needs with both stock availability and product depth, Canford’s sales director Barry Revels is suitably confident about the value of the new catalogue. "People have been used to a new edition of The Source arriving every 6 months or so with new products and new prices. This catalogue has taken us almost 18 months to produce and reflects that hard work and thought. The changes we have made to our processes in terms of ordering and stock holding will enable all our customers to benefit from a streamlined and more efficient system.
"This has enabled us to pass on some of these savings to our customers and, as a result, we have decided to offer a free delivery service to the UK for all orders over £25.00 and, as usual with The Source, all prices printed in it remain valid for the entire life of the catalogue."
Revels also went on to say that Canford have also set all the foundations in place for an electronic version of the catalogue. "We now have all the infrastructure in place to enable an e-catalogue to be created. We are still some way from actually producing it, but everything is now ready."
(Ruth Rossington)
Lighting designer Bryan Hartley has specified the High End Systems' Catalyst system to add another dimension to the recent Slayer tour. MCSi supplied the Catalyst and the video projection equipment, while Bandit Lites provided all the lighting, the Wholehog II console - which also ran the Catalyst - and the remainder of the production gear.
"The Catalyst was a lot of fun," comments Hartley, "and it was great to run the video edits through the Hog." The lighting veteran, whose design credits include Kiss, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Meat Loaf and many others, plans to use Catalyst an another upcoming project near the end of this year.
(Ruth Rossington)
In the wake of one of their busiest PLASA's ever, Stagetec has made two new appointments - Jonathan Adkins as project manager and Phil Cottle as sales and marketing executive. Jonathan Adkins comes to the company from Lighting Technology Projects where, for the past three years, he has gained extensive experience working on a diverse range of projects. He'll join the existing Stagetec Projects team headed by Matt Miles, and will be an active part of the collective effort to ensure the highest levels of service are maintained throughout the company's continued expansion.
Phil Cottle, meanwhile, will be responsible for co-ordinating Stagetec's regular newsletters and mailshots, keeping customers informed about promotions and special offers, maintaining the customer database and internal communications.
(Ruth Rossington)
Shure Europe GmbH has named Ron Marchant as its new director of marketing for the European region. In his new capacity with Shure Europe, Marchant will oversee market development activities for 38 European countries.
"During the 10 months he has been working with us, Ron has done an outstanding job, and the results of his work are already beginning to be seen in the European markets," notes Markus Winkler, managing director of Shure Europe. "I’m convinced that the consolidation within the marketing department will help to continue our successful market development efforts throughout Europe, and we are fortunate to have a dedicated colleague like Ron to lead the way."
Other duties that come with Marchant’s new title include the development of a broad marketing plan for Europe, the definition of product positioning in the region, and the provision of information on competitive products, new product needs and new applications to the marketing division. Reporting to Marchant are marketing, marketing communications and applications, which have all recently been consolidated under one umbrella.
A graduate of the University of Utah with a B.S. in Finance, Marchant began his career with Shure in 2000 as international project manager for all regions outside the US, Asia and Europe. Only one year later, in August 2001, Marchant moved to Heilbronn, Germany, where he joined Shure Europe as marketing manager, a title he held until his recent promotion.
(Ruth Rossington)
Pathway Connectivity, the leading data communications company in the entertainment lighting industry, is pleased to announce the addition of a new partner to its industry partnership, the Pathport Alliance. Leviton Lighting Control, the US’s largest supplier of wiring devices, will add Pathport compatibility to further strengthen its theatrical, stage and studio lighting systems portfolio, while backing this with its reputation for quality, reliability and service.
The Pathport Alliance is made up of major lighting control manufacturers that have undertaken to implement the Pathport Protocol in their products. Pathport Ethernet devices provide users with a powerful, yet economical arrangement for patching, merging, prioritizing and distributing up to 64 universes of DMX. The Pathport Alliance is currently comprised of Entertainment Technology, Leviton Lighting Control, Flying Pig Systems, Interactive Technologies, High End Systems, MA Lighting and Pathway Connectivity. Additional manufacturers have expressed interest and are expected to join in the near future.
David Cavalli, director of product management at Leviton’s Lighting Control Division, comments: "Our participation in the Pathport Alliance further brings an important addition to our Ethernet networking solutions. We are very excited about the possibilities it presents."
Pathport is a revolutionary Ethernet-based device that facilitates the distribution of up to 64 universes of DMX lighting data. Launched at LDI 2000 in Las Vegas, Pathport earned a coveted LDI Product of the Year award (l
On the evening of 4 September, the curtain was raised on Phantom of the Opera at Madrid's Teatro Lope de Vega, with creator Lord Lloyd Webber himself amid the opening night audience. Fourth Phase was successful following a competitive tender process in supplying a replica of the lighting rig that appears in the original London West End production - all at very short notice! Contracted to supply the entire lighting spec, Fourth Phase was given two weeks in which to send substantial quantities of equipment to Spain, from dimmers to lanterns, followspots and cables.
Re-creating Andy Bridge's West End design was the show's associate lighting designer Michael Odam, who had to work around the limitations of the Spanish theatre: "We lost 1.5m of electric flying space on the grid as a result of the depth of the stage. In the original Phantom production Digital Light Curtains play a huge role, but in view of the space limitations they weren't practical for Madrid." Instead, the rig was made up predominantly of moving lights used as re-focusable specials which could also create a DLC-effect without taking up valuable space.
And from centre stage in Madrid to London's West End, Fourth Phase London officially took over responsibility for lighting The Lion King on September 1. Following its acquisition of Westsun in August, Fourth Phase purchased contracts for existing shows, all of which they will be servicing from now on.
(Ruth Rossington)
Show Presentation Services (SPS) has successfully completed its fourth consecutive year providing equipment and technical expertise at the Royal Albert Hall’s prestigious back-to-back award week. The events also mark more than a decade of partnership with Philip Talbot Productions (PTP) producing some of Britain’s highest profile awards ceremonies.
This year SPS and PTP teamed up with Qudos Productions to provide staging and production expertise for the Investment Week awards, the British Insurance awards, and the Motor Transport awards over a three-day period. The tight schedule was dictated by the limited time period when a false floor can be fitted in the hall to accommodate the 1,400 capacity audiences at these kinds of events. Following the success of previous years, it was decided to run the events consecutively to maximize the hall availability and ensure the smooth running of the events. SPS supplied video projection, camera systems, video playback and video record, to supplement the graphic systems provided by PTP and Qudos for the events which, due to the set up of the Albert Hall, were a challenge for all involved.
The next projects for PTP and SPS include the Q Magazine Awards, the Media Week Awards and the Mother & Baby Awards - all coming up in October 2002.
(Ruth Rossington)
Architectural lighting specialists i-vision were approached by international property consultants KingSturge, to design a lighting scheme for the Eastgate Centre in Cardiff. The newly refurbished Centre is a large office complex in the heart of vibrant, downtown Cardiff. It's off-beat 1970's styling comes from four, different sized flat-fronted, conjoined blocks, bordered by roads on all four sides, giving the Eastgate Centre a high profile.
The main façade of the building is constructed of brick with long runs of windows along each floor. However KingSturge has been progressive in the re-fit of the building, adding a glass stairwell to the exterior and a new entrance canopy. These new features, together with the overall re-fit, have greatly improved both the architecture and the working environment. The lighting scheme of i-vision's Geoff Jones is intended to transform Eastgate House from being just an ordinary office block into a glowing beacon of light.
The east elevation is lit with two blue Colour-rite asymmetric HQI floods (complete with large footprint alloy bases used to fix to the felt roof areas) and a soft edged 1000W profile. These are controlled by a light sensor unit. For the west elevation, Jones chose to use another two blue 400W Colour-rite asymmetric HQI floods (with i-vision customised large footprint alloy bases) and a soft edged 400W profile. i-vision manufactured custom fixings for the profile, allowing it to be fitted to the thirteenth floor parapet, which proved the optimum position during tests. Control for the west face is also via a light sen
A clear sign of the international expansion of D.A.S. Audio was seen recently in Cartagena, Colombia, where presidents from a number of American states were gathered. Included in the roster of important American leaders was ex-president of Colombia Andres Pastrana, president of Colombia Uribe Velez and special guest, former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.
A special ceremony in honour of Clinton was held in the fabulous San Felipe fortress, which overlooks the port city of Cartagena. Invitees as well as the leaders from the American states were entertained with a spectacular concert themed around Colombian folk music. D.A.S. systems were on hand, with factory technical support provided by Ramon Franco, D.A.S. sales engineer in Colombia.
Sound reinforcement for this important event was handled by Sonido y Accesorios SIA, based in Bogota. Samuel Puentes, company director, installed eight D.A.S. ST-2000 systems flown from each side of the stage, while four ST-215 systems were used for delay, due to the length of the seating area. Stage monitoring was from ST-15 for floor wedges, two R-215 bi-amped side fills and two self-powered Compact 1s for rear fill.
The diverse musical events were made up mostly of traditional Colombia folk groups with the exception of a special jazz ensemble brought in for Clinton. As a token of appreciation, former President Pastrana awarded Bill Clinton with a saxophone which Clinton quickly tuned, before spontaneously joining in with the jazz ensemble, playing two songs for the totally unexpecting crowd.
(Lee Baldock)
Along with a veritable who's who of high profile club DJs, TiMax virtual surround sound and audio animation environment has been something of a feature of the summer 2002 club dance festival circuit. Corporate-sponsored arenas such as the Strongbow Loafing Lounge at Homelands and Gatecrashers Ball, plus the Smirnoff Experience at Glastonbury, have all specified TiMax audio animation for their sound systems this year.
Keen to enhance elaborately branded arena designs with advanced and integrated multimedia, production designers were quick to realise that immersive multichannel sound was essential to complement the abundance of intelligent lighting effects and multi-screen abstract video content. DJs were provided with an Octopad drum pad to trigger pre-programmed virtual surround sound spins, figure-of-eights and zigzag moves in TiMax via MIDI, along with a few samples of helicopters and Harleys for spot effects. The TiMax DSP level/delay matrix then applied continually sliding level and delay values to create immersive dynamic pans for all revellers wherever they were on the dance floor, eliminating the central sweetspot usually created by conventional level-only panning devices.
The TiMax systems were supplied to Britannia Row Productions for each event under Out Board's rental programme, at the request of corporate sales manager Jim Alexander.
(Ruth Rossington)
Barbizon Lighting Company, the worldwide distributor of professional lighting systems and supplies for entertainment and architecture, has established a new European-based operation. Barbizon Europe will focus on fulfilling the requests of its international customers as well as establishing new business from its new London area stocking location.
CEO Jonathan Resnick told us: "This is a very exciting venture for the entire Barbizon family. Having a European-based shipping location will help to expand our already significant global business. We are also fortunate to have a very experienced team who will operate our London office."
That team includes Phil Bullock, formerly export manager of MGC Lamps, as general manager and Wendy Pearson, formerly MGC Lamps and AC Lighting export coordinator, as operations manager. Garry Nelsson, formerly of Lighting Technology Group, comes to the equation in a consultancy role and will be representing Barbizon Europe in the worldwide entertainment lighting market and also assisting in the expansion of Barbizon Europe's supplier group. International sales director Mike Lieberman will continue to oversee Barbizon’s international sales effort.
Barbizon Europe plans to be fully operational for shipping in the next six weeks.
(Ruth Rossington)
Euro Hire Sound & Light, a full service production company based in Farnborough in Hampshire, has become the first UK customer to invest in the recently launched compact line array system from Dynacord, Cobra.
Euro Hire was specifically looking for a system to cope with smaller events and theatre tours. Operations manager Jools Warren explained that although their current systems (EAW and Renkus Heinz) were more than adequate, it was sometimes rather a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. "We decided that it would be a good idea to be able to offer our customers the option of a more compact system, so when Shuttlesound proposed Cobra, we were very interested. And then once we'd heard the demo at the Anvil theatre in Basingstoke, it was really just a question of crunching the numbers and sorting out a delivery date!"
Euro Hire invested in a total of six Cobra Top enclosures and six Cobra Subs. The system comprises four of each plus the DSP rack, but Euro Hire decided to go for an extra two of each for increased versatility. Euro Hire's Mervin George said that Cobra was the perfect complement to their existing inventory. "It's a great concept," he said. "It's lightweight, versatile and space saving. Plus it's extremely easily transported and set up so it also saves us time and labour, yet it can cover a 2000-seat theatre with ease. And of course it goes without saying that it sounds fantastic. As a company we are now far more flexible. We don't have to break into our bigger systems for the smaller jobs, and we can save the customer money b
Stage Technologies is currently in the process of equipping two new ships with complete rigging and control systems for Princess Cruises. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is building two giant 113,000gt ships in Nagasaki, Japan, for the cruise line, which will be the largest ever ships ordered by P&O Princess. Matthew Tonks is the project manager for Stage Technologies and believes that the new systems "will enable Princess Cruises to provide their passengers with shows to rival any equivalent on land."
One of the central elements of the Stage Technology system will be its new TanJent system. This prevents scenery from moving around with the pitching and rolling of the boat by guiding the scenery flybars throughout the full travel of the bar.
(Ruth Rossington)
Marquee Audio has fulfilled a request from the UCL Bloomsbury to supply and install a new Martin Audio front-of-house sound system in their auditorium, along with BSS Soundweb control blocks which will allow the expandability the venue requires in the future.
The UCL Bloomsbury is a two-level auditorium (accommodating 400 in the stalls and 150 in the circle), owned by University College London and built in the 1960s. Though housed in a concrete edifice its vertical wooden-slatted baffle ensures the sound is not overly reflective and can be heard with clarity at the rear of the wide auditorium.For three-quarters of the year the theatre is a receiving house and for the remainder of the time they run productions for student societies.
Venue chief electrician Adam Leigh contacted Marquee for the first time - on the strength of receiving their promotional literature, and the recommendation of sound engineer, Paul Johnson. By then he had whittled down the speaker brands to two, and Marquee’s Scott Wakelin duly recommended Martin, specifying a left/right reinforcement system based on Wavefront W3’s pole-mounted onto W2 bass bins, with a further pair of W3s bracket-mounted on the balcony.
"These were replacing an old Bose system," comments Leigh, "and because of the narrow dispersion of the W3 we opted for some full-range Martin EM56s for stalls front-fill." The multi-purpose Martin system - powered by the existing Yamaha P2500 amplifiers - will have all its faculties tested by a wide range of shows, from comedy to acoustic to musicals and stag
Leading lighting supplier LCA (Lights, Camera, Action Ltd) has announced the addition of a new member to the team. Dave Short has taken the role of sales office manager at the Greenford office. Short has worked in the lighting industry for 15 years and was most recently at Lighting Technology Sales in London. Short commented: "I am very happy and excited to take this challenging role and am looking forward to working with a good team of people who are all dedicated to making LCA a success."
Nick Shapley, managing director of LCA, told us: "Dave has a vast wealth of knowledge and a lot of respect with colleagues in the industry. We are all very pleased to welcome him to the team."
(Lee Baldock)
During the recent PLASA Show came the announcement that Midas has appointed LMC Audio Systems as Executive Agent for its mixing console range. The announcement, made by Midas UK sales manager Richard Ferriday, follows the successful commercial relationship forged between the two companies over the past five years, which has seen LMC implement a very successful market diversification programme to further increase the rentability of the growing Midas range for all users.
Ferriday confirmed that the new agreement signalled a close, full working partnership between the factory and LMC, offering Midas customers for the first time, factory contact, whilst increasing the package of commercial tools on offer through LMC.
LMC Audio managing director Paul Hinkly was delighted with the new appointment. "The Midas brand has been and continues to be the most stable console brand to buy, own and rent. Now UK owners can benefit from additional factory involvement, with a person employed specifically to further their needs, and still enjoy the full LMC service. The timing is perfect: with the recent introduction of the Legend 3000, we see the range expanding, and the range of services on offer to our customers is even better for their business than ever."
(Ruth Rossington)
Nexo SA has responded to growing worldwide demand for its advanced loudspeaker system technology by creating three international sales regions. Denis Baudier, international sales director, will have primary responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and Africa: he will be based at the Nexo SA factory in Roissy, France. Meanwhile, James Yeung of Nexo Far East Pte Ltd will supervise the company’s distribution in the Pacific Rim from Nexo’s headquarters in Singapore whilst David Solari, CEO of Nexo USA, will direct Nexo operations in North and South America from the company’s offices in San Rafael, CA.
"As the worldwide customer base for Nexo technology expands, we are responding to a need for increased support and training," explains Nexo managing director Michael Johnson. "These three areas of the world have unique characteristics and opportunities, and this organization allows us to respond to customers in each region with an appropriate mix of products, service and support."
(Ruth Rossington)
Martin Audio has launched ViewPoint - a Windows-based programme developed to enable W8L line array users to quickly configure their system to suit a particular venue. Straight line arrays are highly directional in the vertical plane - a long, straight array will produce an extremely narrow angle at high frequencies - in some cases 1° or less. Consequently, line arrays need to be physically curved in the vertical plane to cover the audience. In a typical array, the top boxes usually have a flat or shallow curvature and the lower boxes are increasingly splayed.
Up to now, arriving at the optimum curvature to achieve the most even coverage for a particular venue has been a largely hit-and-miss process. The problem is too complex to be solved by simple reasoning alone, and analytical tools that simulate the acoustic properties of each element in the array are required to determine the overall directional characteristics of the entire array. With each acoustic element in the model driven by a ‘virtual’ crossover and EQ, the frequency response of the entire array at any point in the audience vertical plane can then be predicted.
At the start of the summer Martin Audio derived such an analytical model for the elements of the W8L and confirmed its validity in practical trials in many different venues. While very time consuming - taking about a day to calculate each venue - this analytical process has provided the company with the ground rules for curving a W8L line array, and established that a progressively-curved array gives much more even coverage than a J-shape
Hillsong Church in Sydney incorporates two major worship centres, a city-wide network of cell groups and contributing ministries and outreach services. It was set up in the early 1980s by New Zealanders Brian and Bobbie Houston, who saw the need to provide people in Sydney’s North West with an active, contemporary church. Today it is possibly the largest church in Australian history, operating from a 21-acre site in a modern business park in the Hills district, and from a contemporary facility near the heart of Sydney’s CBD. With a congregation of over 12,000, the reputation of the church continues to expand and has a dynamic influence both domestically and internationally.
Hillsong Church had been planning to build a larger auditorium since moving into its current building four years ago. With only two worship centres - one holding 1,500 at Baulkham Hills in Sydney's north west, and the other holding about 1,200 in Waterloo near the heart of the city - they had already exceeded capacity before they moved in. With between 10 and 12 services held across the two worship centres on a weekend alone, the need for a bigger auditorium was overdue.
The audio tender for the new building took around 18 months to write and involved a team of five engineers. Production manager Dave Watson was pleased to keep the faith with Soundcraft mixing consoles, having used Delta and Venue series boards (for FOH and monitors) over a seven-year period. "We have always found the preamps to be good quality and the EQs to be responsive," he says. "The brightness and spar