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OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 2007 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES WITH L-ACOUSTICS SYSTEM

December 2007

The long awaited Special Olympic World Summer Games were declared open by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Opening Ceremony held in Shanghai on October 2, 2007. It was the first time that the Special Olympics Games were held in Asia. The organization Committee had put an exceptional emphasis on the selection of the technical and the quality of the lighting and sound equipment.

The sound design was handled by Patrick Baltzell who has previously served as Sound Designer for several Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies and Academy and Grammy Awards Ceremonies. On the occasion of the Special Olympics, the sound system was provided by LAB China Ltd, with Andy Leung acting as Technical Consultant, Kenny Xin as Speaker System Engineer and Don Lo as Sound System Manager.

No less than 326 L-ACOUSTICS enclosures were deployed for the event: 46 V-DOSC - 36 KUDO - 116 dV-DOSC - 24 SB218 - 24 115XTHiQ - 76 MTD108a and 4 108P
For the excellent job, LAB China Ltd earned high marks from the Organizing Committee. Sound Designer Patrick Baltzell declared, “I did not expect that there could be such a professional sound company in China. It’s a real pleasure to have collaborated with LAB China”.

Photo Credit: Lab China Ltd
http://www.lab-labour.com

L-ACOUSTICS KIVA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

December 2007

PLUS 4 AUDIO used their new L-ACOUSTICS KIVA system for the main front of house arrays at the recent National Television Awards ceremony held at the Royal Albert Hall. Broadcast live on National TV the annual event commemorated the most prestigious annual awards for both the stars and programmes alike.

PLUS 4 used a total of 32 KIVA split into 2 arrays of 16 cabinets each while 24 dV-DOSC in 2 arrays of 12 took care of the left and right outfills. A further 4 SB118 subs were utilised for low end reinforcement All the amplification was derived from a mixture of the new L-ACOUSTICS LA4 and LA8 Controllers.

The decision to use the ultra compact KIVA was taken by Stew Chaney the MD of PLUS 4 who explains his design concept:

“Site lines were very tight on this show so we needed the smallest possible system to cover the Albert Hal. I used SOUNDVISION to appraise the system coverage and was really surprised to find that the SPL and coverage figures looked exceptionally good with the KIVA system. When it came to the show the benefits were really apparent as we wanted to put as little weight as possible in the air (each array was only 220kg) fly the system well out of sight (we trimmed the bumpers at 18m) and have enough vertical coverage for the audience geometry (100 degrees). We already knew how good the system was in smaller venues but to cover the Albert Hall with two tiny arrays was unbelievable”.

Paul Nicholson from L-ACOUSTICS adds:

“The KIVA system has proved to be a great success for L-ACOUSTICS on a world wide scale, and has filled a crucial gap in our armoury. With 8 systems already sold in the UK since the official launch just 4 months ago KIVA looks likely to be a big hit for us. Companies such a PLUS4 will certainly benefit from the multi faceted appeal of the system which includes:

Stunning size and weight ratios
True WST® performance in common with V-DOSC®, dV-DOSC, KUDO™, and ARCS
Integrated “invisible” rigging system
Perfect audio coupling with the LA4 Controller
Complimentary KILO bass extension
Low cost system package

Designed for medium format music and speech reinforcement the NTA awards certainly showed what KIVA can do in a large and difficult acoustic environment by providing a high level of accuracy throughout the audience ”.

www.plus4audio.co.uk

L-ACOUSTICS SYSTEMS ROCK BABYLON ISTANBUL LIVE MUSIC CLUB

November 2007

Based in Istanbul, the famous Babylon live music club has chosen an L-ACOUSTICS sound system. Babylon is the premier live music club in Istanbul. With its acoustic and architectural design, Babylon has become the most prestigious club since its inception in 1999. Babylon introduces diverse cultures to town and brings various kinds of music from all over the world. It occupies an exclusive place in the hearts of music lovers. Without limiting its cultural agenda solely to concerts, Babylon serves as a multipurpose performance centre promoting other artistic disciplines, plays, modern dance, workshops and documentaries with a capacity of 400 spectators. Designed as a multi-purpose performance centre, Babylon can also be used as a theatre or cinema hall, performance space and gallery.

ELIT, L-ACOUSTICS Distributor in Turkey, has been in charge of the installation, and the
L-ACOUSTICS system consists of 4 x ARCS, 6 x SB118, 4 x 8XT, 4 x LA4 and 8 x 112P.

Emre Defne, Technical Director, ELIT - comments: “We are very pleased with this installation. When the club first re-opened its door with the Patti Smith Concert, everybody was impressed by the intelligibility and clarity of the system - the L-ACOUSTICS sound system in the Babylon Club is becoming a legend..”

The Advisor/House Engineer of BABYLON Kemal CANKAYA, – adds : “It was our dream to use L-ACOUSTICS sound systems in BABYLON, and when we heard it for the first time, we felt it never sounded so good since the opening of the BABYLON club in 1999”

Photo credit: Emre Defne
www.elit-tr.co

BEYONCE SHAKES MUMBAI WITH L-ACOUSTICS SYSTEMS

November 2007

V-DOSC PARTNER ELECTROCRAFT, Mumbai based sound company was signed on to provide the FOH sound system for an exceptional concert held in Mumbai on October 27, of the American superstar BEYONCE. Thousands of fans flocked to the event !

The L-ACOUSTICS equipment FOH kit consisted of 24 V-DOSC elements completed by 14 SB218 Subwoofers. 4 dV-DOSC elements were used as center fill for the FOH system while 4 V-DOSC additional elements were deployed for the VIP booth.

Photo credit: Electrocraft
www.electrocraft.net

ING RENAULT F1 ROADSHOW HITS SOUTH AFRICA
WITH L-ACOUSTICS SYSTEMS

November 2007

The Renault F1 Roadshow pulled into the city streets of Sandton recently and for the first time in 14 years the howl of F1 engines was heard in South Africa again!
The show has been making its way around the world in an attempt to bring F1 and Renault closer to the people. The show not only showcases the current Renault F1 cars, the ING Renault Team and their drivers, Nelson Piquet Jr and Giancarlo Fisichella, but the all new Renault Megane Sports R26, two Clio Toys, various other forms of entertainment and renowned international stunt driver, Terry Grant.

With a circuit of over 1.2km long and an estimated crowd of 60 000 fans, it was the job of SOUND HARMONICS - L-ACOUSTICS Distributor in South Africa - Joseph Mandy & Richard Smith to design a sound system capable of even coverage over the entire course, with no space to fly any clusters and enough power to compete with the cars.

Keeping the theme French, the distributed system was L-ACOUTICS and comprised of 24 KUDO, 24 dV-DOSC, 8 KIVA and 4 KILO. Each of the 8 KUDO stacks consisted of 3 enclosures and were used to cover West Street and the main VIP grand-stands on the top of Fredman Drive. The dV-DOSC was used in clusters of six enclosures and covered Fredman Drive, while two clusters of 4 KIVA and 2 KILO each, covered the main control area, consisting of the main turning circle in the course, powered by 2 amplified controllers LA4.

On the newly launched KIVA System, Richard Smith comments: “We used the KIVA system mainly for voice, but also recorded music. It sounded wonderful and had enough sound pressure to pull off the job. It was only the first or second job that they did and everybody was impressed”.

Photo credit: Joseph Mandy
www.soundharmonics.net

L-ACOUSTICS V-DOSC SYSTEM AT MAJOR CULTURAL FESTIVAL IN INDIA

October 2007

Karnataka, INDIA - Bangalore based V-DOSC Partner J DAVIS PROSOUND & LIGHTING provided a V-DOSC system on the occasion of the renowned Mysore Utsava Festival which took place end of July.

This unique cultural event in India featured over 300 performances from artists such as Kunal Ganjawalla, Shreya Goswal, Shaan to Udit Naraya, just to name a few. Each day saw a crowd averaging 10,000 spectators with an audience culminating at 15 000 on the closing day of the festival.

The sound system consisted of 10 x V-DOSC per side and 8 x ARCS.

Photo credit: J Davis Prosound & Lighting

National newspaper The Hindu reported: "Both sound and lighting systems were top notch and they brought a tremendous contribution to the general atmosphere of the festival and definitely enhanced the listening pleasure of the audience."

www.jdavisprosound.com

BEJART BALLET WITH KIVA SYSTEM

October 2007

International Izmir Festival 21st edition was held this summer at the Izmir Open Air Theatre from June 10th to July 14th, 2007.

The renowned Turkey event hosted a Bejart Ballet and the occasion marked the first appearance of the L-ACOUSTICS Utra-compact KIVA Line Source Array WST® (Wavefront Sculpture Technology) speaker system.

Emre Defne, Technical Director, ELIT - L-ACOUSTICS Distributor in Turkey - comments: "the electro-acoustic simulations we ran with the 3Dmodeling SOUNDVISION software demonstrated that KIVA would be the most suited L-ACOUSTICS system to ensure proper and even coverage the 3,500 audience. Besides, the compact size and elegance of this system was particularly suited for such an application which typically requires the most discreet sound system integration. The configuration consisted of 2 LR arrays of 6 KIVA elements and 2 KILO complimentary low frequency extension elements. Each array was driven by 1 x LA4 amplified controller, providing and advanced and precise system drive and protection."

Emre Defne adds: "During the rehearsal days, the sound pressure level was measured at 100db at the FOH position. The coverage stability in the horizontal plane of the system was simply amazing. One could tell the excitement among the sound team of the Bejart ballet to use KIVA for the first time".

They were quite astonished and bluffed to hear what was coming out of a system of this size and format. The sound was clear yet powerful. After the show, the whole team was ranting and raving about the quality of the sound, to the point where Bejart technical team -jokingly- considered taking a few KIVA elements back home after the show…

Photo credit: Emre Defne

www.elit-tr.com

THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS ON TOUR WITH L-ACOUSTICS

September 2007

In 2006, the American Rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers began an international world tour alternating between Europe, North America, and Oceania, in support of the Grammy Award-winning album Stadium Arcadium, which became the best-selling CD of 2006 with over seven million units sold.
As a continuation of the tour the band returned to Europe this year, taking in shows from late June to late August and making stops at various cities and summer festivals along the way. In July they performed 3 shows in 3 different cities (Paris, London, Copenhagen) in just 24 hours.
As for their previous world tours the sound specification revolved exclusively around L-ACOUSTICS equipment. Adopting a unique approach to the sound design, long time RHCP FOH Engineer Dave Rat founder and President of RAT SOUND SYSTEMS Inc relied on the European V-DOSC Network to provide V-DOSC systems for the majority of their run.

Dave Rat comments: "In my experience back in 2004 and for this tour, the worldwide availability combined with the extremely well-maintained vendor-to-vendor consistency made V-DOSC the only system capable of doing what I was trying to achieve: worldwide sonic consistency, even when I cannot carry a system. I must say that once again I was impressed by the level of positive cooperation I received and from partner to partner."

Freelance system engineer Thomas Genoud Prachet and Lee Vaught (Dave Rat FOH System Technician) were responsible for coordinating between Dave Rat, local production, European V-DOSC Network Partners, and the local CVEs for all the shows. In order to cover the predominantly stadium audiences the main FOH system consisted of 60 V-DOSC cabinets in a dual AB configuration with close coupled dual 2 x 15 arrays for both the left and right FOH hangs. This system was complemented by V-DOSC outer fills and additional delay lines. The subwoofer system design called for 80 x SB218 in total. Additional front fills consisted of 10 x ARCS and 12 x dV-DOSC.

The Paris show held at the Parc des Princes on July 6 saw one interesting variation of the sound system design:
In addition to the 60 x V-DOSC FOH system, 87 KUDO cabinets were provided by French V-DOSC partner POTAR HURLANT to cover side fills and delays.

CVE and POTAR HURLANT Technical Director Madge Malki comments on the Paris show: "The KUDO system consisted of 2 side hang arrays of 21 KUDO each. We also installed 3 additional delay lines of 15 KUDO each for the LCR arrays behind the mix position. Taking into account the difficulties of covering such a large audience, the long throw capability of KUDO (105 meters in this case) was really impressive. KUDO represents an excellent alternative to V-DOSC for such configurations. Besides, the well-established group of KUDO sound providers allowed us to rent in the necessary additional cabinets required for the show very easily."

For additional information, visit:
www.ratsound.com and www.potar-hurlant.com

AAA LEADS THE WAY !
FIRST SALE OF KIVA SYSTEM IN THE AUSTRALIAN RENTAL MARKET

September 2007

L-ACOUSTICS is pleased to announce that the Perth-based company AAA Production Services has purchased the first L-ACOUSTICS ultra-compact KIVA Line Source Array (WST) speaker system in Australia. Sourced from
L-ACOUSTICS Distributor in Australia Random Audio in Sydney, the KIVA is a revolutionary, speaker system that sets a new benchmark in ultra-compact