With the appointment of Gareth Collyer and Gerry Frost as shareholding directors, Lamba plc chairman Frank Irish, has set out a strategic blueprint for the company's future. Collyer and Frost have been on the company's main board of directors for over 18 months, and will maintain their active roles as technical director and sales director, respectively. Irish commented: "With recent product acquisitions creating a new dynamic in the company, we believe the timing is right to devolve more responsibility to Gareth and Gerry, to ensure continued development over the next decade." Lamba has recently secured two new exclusive UK distribution accounts - for Nady Systems and Cerwin Vega! Hi-Fi, as well as consolidating the UK representation of an expanded Stanton Magnetics range. To acc

PLASA Publishing has learned that the directors of Ocean State Rigging Systems Ltd have decided to commence liquidation proceedings. The Hertfordshire-based company is a subsidiary of Ocean State Rigging Systems Inc, which was established in the United States in 1978 to service the film, corporate and touring industries, and has offices in Rhode Island and Florida.

Worcestershire-based rental company RMPA has just invested in ElectroVoice's latest microphone launch, PolarChoice, purchased from EV's UK distributor, Shuttlesound. PolarChoice podium microphones offer the option of four different pickup patterns, allowing the selection of the best pattern for the application. The ability to select from omnidirectional, cardioid, supercardioid or hypercardioid assures the maximum protection against system feedback and ambient background noise. RMPA's Rick Bailey commented: "They really are excellent microphones in every way . . . The gain they offer before feedback is impressive, and the sound quality is superb. And it's just as well because the very first event they went out on was the MOD's World Symposium on speech intelligibility and speech coding at the DERA headquarters in Farnborough! However, the client was as impressed with the mics' perf
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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

To help prepare them for a wide variety of careers in theatre, film, television, exhibition and coporate event markets, third-year students taking Lighting Design, Directing and Stage Management degrees at Rose Bruford College put together various productions of a non-theatre nature. This year, these have included 'Club Night', 'Audio-Visual', 'Sone et Lumiere' and 'Dance' productions. Performed at the College's Barn Theatre on the Sidcup campus, just outside London, these productions will enable students to show an audience of technical theatre professionals just what they can do. The College receives much help in this in the form of the loan of equipment from leading companies within the lighting industry, with around £200,000 worth of equipment being loaned this year for the duration of the productions. Help has been received from Martin Professional, Lightfactor, Avolites, Flying Pi

The Klark Teknik Group has appointed ART Studio to distribute Midas products in Belarus. This is the first time that Midas has been represented in White Russia and the company has already got off to a flying start with the sale of a Heritage 2000 to the Belarussian State Orchestra in Minsk. Finberg, the State Orchestra's own rental company, is one of the largest in Belarus and caters for many prestigious events throughout the country. One of the first events for the new console was a concert by the award-winning French singer, Patricia Kaas. Since the sale of the Heritage 2000, ART Studio has also purchased a Heritage 1000 for its own rental department. Its first outing will be for Deep Purple, playing the Sports Palace in Minsk in early November as part of a European tour.

Contestants on Carlton Television's 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' Will now talk to compere Chris Tarrant through Trantec's multi award-winning synthesised UHF S5000 radio mic system - thanks to the initiative of a consortium of six freelance sound engineers. The newly-formed Elstree Sound Associates was set up specifically to provide audio services to Celador Productions, makers of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' at Elstree Studios - giving them the opportunity to break free from some of the products generally used in TV production.One of the supervisors, Chris Thorpe - who sound mixes alongside fellow Elstree Sound Associates engineer, Kevin Duff - was happy to recommend Trantec, having used the system at the OB/derig facility Roll to Record and Fountain Studios in Wembley. Thorpe ordered 16 personals (fitted with Sony ECM 77 clip-on mics) and two hand-held systems, along with a cou

ARX Systems has introduced a series of multi-channel power amplifiers with built-in zoning features. Comprising three models, the ZA Series is designed for any multi-channel application including paging systems, foreground and background music, AV systems, loudspeaker multi-zoning, etc. The ZA Series features AutoLink function which automatically links channel inputs as required, eliminating the extra expense of an external zoner/splitter. The models are the ZA400 (4-channel, 250W pc into 4 ohms); ZA600 (6-channel, 125W pc into 4 ohms); ZA800 (8-channel, 125W pc into 4 ohms). Initial installations of the ZA Series include the CSIRO Science Centre in Canberra, Australia and the Ing-Ge Ceramics Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.

AV specialists Blitz Communications picked up two Silver Awards at the Marketing Event Awards 2000, held at the London Hilton recently. Nominated twice in the 'Best Supplier - On Site' category, Blitz won Silver for both. The first nomination was for its work with HP:ICM on the Opel Agila and Astra Coupe European Dealer launch - an event which itself won the Gold Award for 'Best Product Launch'. The second was for the launch of a new pharmaceutical firm, Aventis, for which Blitz's three divisions - Blitz Vision, Blitz Interactive and TP Sound Services - put together a highly complex system.

London-based theatre sound specialist Orbital Sound has acquired three Allen & Heath ML5000 mixing consoles from the London branch of LMC Audio Systems. Specified in advance by Orbital for their forthcoming Winter season, the console will be employed on Christmas Pantomime productions, as well as Bill Kenwright's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The nature of the Christmas shows means tight production deadlines and limited budgets. Orbital has a long association with Pantomime productions, and Orbital's hire department, headed by Jane Finlay and Dan Parton, who specified the desks, offers practical advice gained from years of experience in this most traditional of theatre.The addition of the cost-effective Allen & Heath ML5000 complements Orbital's extensive inventory of high-specification equipment. The ML5000 is ideal for any production working within limited

TMB's celebrated annual outing, which took place over the weekend of October 1st, drew a diverse industry group from the US and overseas. The weekend trip, to Ensenada, Mexico, drew attendees from companies as far afield as Mexico (Toma Cinco, Guadalajara) and Japan (Ken Production Services Inc, Yokohama). Also represented were: Acey Decy, Barbizon, Cinelease, Cinema Services, Delicate Productions, Hollywood Rentals, Location Lighting, Light & Sound Design, Oasis Stage Werks, San Diego Stage, Starlite Global, TM Motion Pictures and Versales. LSD's Chris 'Tiny' Ward entertained a visitor from even further afield. Much fun was had, fish were caught, and many hallowed traditions, including the exploding of Elvis, were upheld.

In a move which reflects their continuing commitment to providing the highest possible quality service to their customers, London-based rental company, Dobson Sound Productions Ltd. is pleased to welcome Nicholas Hughes to the role of technical manager. In addition to being a graduate of the prestigious Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey, Nick also comes with extensive experience in the service and repair of high end professional audio equipment, most recently with Boffin Island, the service company for Funky Junk. He is thus ideally suited to take on the mantle of building a full service department for Dobsons.

Mackie Designs has announced that PD (a.k.a 'Phy Deaux'), the company's corporate Chihuahua, passed away on 28th September. PD's image as Mackie's Corporate Chihuahua rose to prominence in Mackie collateral material, advertisements, websites, marketing videos and product manuals. So well-known was PD to Mackie employees, distributors, reps and customers, that in 1995 a bronze cast of PD was produced as the highest award that could be bestowed upon a Mackie Designs sales rep. Ron Koliha, Mackie's Marketing Deity and PD's owner, told us: "PD was the one who I could turn to for honest critiques of all of my marketing concepts. If she didn't like it, she would simply piddle on it . . . literally. PD will surely be missed."

Coco Jungle, a club/restaurant venue, is being billed as one of the first themed clubs in Egypt. Located just outside of Cairo on the shores of the Nile River, Coco Jungle is one of the country's most popular nightspots. Coco Jungle, and accompanying boat restaurant Le Pacha 1901, have installed a number of Martin Professional luminaires designed to create different moods and atmospheres. In keeping with the jungle theme, trees, bamboo and water play a major role in the interior design. Coco Jungle is equipped with four MAC 300 wash lights, four MAC 250 profile spots, two Voyagers, and a Jem TechnoFog for added effect, all controlled from a Martin LightJockey controller. Le Pacha 1901, meanwhile, features a glass-covered dance floor over a pool of water. Four RoboColor IIs and one RoboColor IIX, placed in protective glass casings in the water beneath the dance floor, provide colour chang

Next Two, manufacturer and supplier of public address and voice alarm loudspeakers to industry and commerce, has recently been acquired by MEDC Ltd, specialists in the design, manufacture and application of field devices for potentially explosive atmospheres. Managing Director, Chris Simms told PLASA Publishing: "The Next Two product range will complement and extend the existing MEDC range. It is our intention to develop the product line by improvement of existing products as well as the ongoing introduction of new products." Next Two will continue its sales operations from its base at Uckfield, East Sussex, with the same team.

Jai Auguste has joined the sales department at TMB's UK operation in Brentford. With his many years of experience as operations manager at The Spot Co and more recently as head of sales, design and installation at HFM Lighting, Auguste will become an integral part of TMB's sales operations in Europe and worldwide. TMB recently moved its European operations to a larger facility in Brentford's docklands and significantly increased the amount and variety of on-hand inventory, in addition to increasing the number of support and assembly personnel.

As we reported on 19 September, the police are in the throes of a major investigation into fraud allegations at the Millennium Dome. At the time it was made clear that these centred around 'irregularities' in connection with the procurement of contracts. As a result of these investigations, four people have now been arrested. A 30-year old man and 20-year old woman have been arrested in Liverpool and taken to a London police station, whilst a woman in her sixties has been arrested in West Yorkshire. The final arrest was of a man in his thirties at a business address in south-east London. All four have been bailed until February next year to allow for further enquiries to take place. PLASA Publishing has learnt that the police investigation involves the awarding of a lighting contract.

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CP Sound, creative audio, lighting and AV designer and installer, is moving to a newly-acquired, hugely expanded premises in central Staines. CP Sound's operation has expanded so rapidly in the last two years that it has outgrown the site in Chertsey that has contained it for the last three years. The new building, workshops, warehouse space and offices are part of a purpose-built industrial unit. The extra space and rationalisation of resources will allow CP Sound's hectic production schedules to be managed even faster and more efficiently. It will also enhance its already well-established quality of service.As from today the company's new contact, the new contact details are Unit 3 Tim's Boat Yard, Timsway, Staines, Middlesex, TW18 3JZ. Tel: +44 1784 461614.

Barbizon Lighting Company, which has 11 offices in the United States, has announce the formation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for the benefit of its employees, a plan unique in the entertainment lighting industry. Under the plan, Barbizon will become employee-owned, with employees acquiring shares of privately-held stock. Jonathan Resnick, president of Barbizon, says the ESOP recognizes the invaluable role Barbzion employees have played in the company's consistent annual growth. "It is our belief that our greatest asset has always been our employees. And it is their talent and dedication that will enable Barbizon to sustain its growth and innovation in this fast-changing business environment," he said. "The Board of Directors and I believe that they should be rewarded for their contributions."Founded in 1947, Barbizon, serving the domestic and export mar

Production Resource Group (PRG) has announced an expansion of its audio operations in the Las Vegas market. The West Coast Audio Group has relocated its concert touring inventory and assembly operations from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The Los Angeles-based audio sales staff remain at their current Cohasset Street location in Burbank. Sister company Fourth Phase Burbank (formerly Production Lighting Systems and Production Arts West) will join them in late October. Inventory to support the local corporate theatre, television and special event market, as well as technical service also remains in Los Angeles.As the expanded audio operations in Las Vegas required additional space, ProMix/Electrotec Las Vegas is in the process of relocating to the PRG facility at 6050 S. Valley View Blvd, already the home of Entolo Las Vegas (formerly Scenic Technologies) and Fourth Phase Las Vegas (formerly Ci

Strand Lighting's 300 Series console has recently been turning up in some unusual venues - including controlling the lighting in the middle of a road between France and Italy, and in an aircraft hanger in Germany! These were the locations at which singer Jessye Norman performed The Sacred Ellington, her concert of the sacred music of Duke Ellington, during September. As well as the legendary opera singer, the production features a pianist, a four-piece jazz combo and six-piece brass section drawn from England and America, a string quartet from Russia and a 12-strong gospel choir - plus a highly theatrical lighting design from British lighting designer Jenny Kagan. Kagan's involvement began with a production at the Barbican Concert Hall in London during the summer of 1999. There she used a Strand 530 console to control the Barbican's conventional rig and additional Martin MAC500s and High

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