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The new LiSA (Line-Source Array System) is the first Italian-manufactured line array system. Since it was designed for one of the country’s leading rental firms, Laboratorio Musica, Mike Clark talks to owner Vanis Dondi about the system.

Designed by a workgroup of three Italian acoustic researchers (Mario Di Cola, Davide Doldi and Davide Saronni), the system consists of three-way full-range high directivity line array elements for long-throw applications. Laboratorio Musicale’s Vanis Dondi, explains: "Two direct radiation 18" woofers reproduce the full bandwidth down to 32Hz, virtually eliminating the need for additional sub-woofers in many applications but, if necessary, there are also optional sub-woofers with three long excursion 18" for extra VLF power.&quo

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The small Midwestern town of Carthage, Missouri, in the US, is home to a unique amphitheatre that draws tens of thousands of visitors annually.

When Samuel Butcher, the creator of the American figurines and greeting cards featuring Precious Moments and his sons Jonathan and Don decided to develop an attraction in their home base, they turned to a creative team that included the lighting designers of Nautilus Entertainment Design for their inspiration.

The ‘Fountain of Angels’ is an open-air music and water production featuring a plaza of large programmable fountains centred around 252 bronze sculptures - some weighing as much as 1,000 pounds each. The action centres on a fountain containing a water jet that shoots 75 feet into the air, surrounded by a cathedral arch and two foam jets that are smaller versions of the main water jet. The water is held in a 100,000-gallon un

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Chainsaws, angle-grinders, axes and flame-throwers - just some of the impressive weaponry being demonstrated by participants in this summer’s Robot Wars tour.

Thousands of eager fans were treated to over two hours of destruction and mayhem, all carefully choreographed by director Hugh Wooldridge. "It’s an amazing mix of old and new cultures," he explained. "We’re acting out the ancient idea of gladiatorial combat, but with cutting-edge robot technology. In fact, almost the entire show is controlled - our job is to make the audience think that it’s not.

Even under controlled conditions, the sheer power of the robotic stars of the show (some of which weigh in excess of 150kgs) meant that humans were excluded from the combat area. "Not only do we have to keep our distance from the action, but we’re also shooting through thick Macrolon sc

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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

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RCF/Mackie has been responsible for the design and supply of a sound system for the new Terminal A at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport at Fiumicino, based around the company’sRX-3000 programmable matrix system.

The new Terminal, built at a cost of ITL 125 billion, is 170m long, 80-100m wide and 20m high, with a covered surface area of 55,000sq.m. It replaces the temporary building constructed in 1997, with the aim of comfortably accommodating more than 12 million passengers a year who use Fiumicino for domestic flights and who, according to recent estimates, are due to grow to 17 million by 2005.

RCF’s association with Rome’s airports stretches back around 25 years, to when the company first started supplying sound equipment to both of Rome’s airports - Fiumicino and Ciampino. One figure that the audio team from Reggio Emilia (home of RCF and now Mackie

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Capitalising on recent installations such as the Core in Yeovil, The CC Club in Piccadilly, London and Toxic8 in Cambridge, custom neon specialists Simply Neon are expanding in several directions. Within the space of a month, the company has appointed a new general manager, moved into a new, expanded UK base in Staines, Middlesex, and is opening a European branch based in Portugal. Simply Neon’s so-far buoyant 2001 continues with the appointment of Phil Kendrick as the new UK-based general manager while managing director Tony Newman opens a Portuguese office, aimed at developing new market opportunities in Europe. Originally trained by Hoover as a toolmaker, Kendrick has enjoyed a varied international sales and marketing career spanning many areas including garden building and the surveillance/security industry. Kendrick comments: "It’s great to be onboard with Simply Ne

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Lighting distributor Fourth Phase in London was chosen to provide additional projection equipment for what was the culmination of U2's Elevation Tour, which played to fans at the specially constructed 80,000 capacity arena at Slane Castle, County Meath, Ireland, on August 24 and September 1.

U2's regular show designer Willie Williams and lighting director Bruce Ramus worked with the band to create a simple background to complement the mega group’s performances. Working closely with head of projection Anne Johnston, Williams chose Fourth Phase in the USA to supply products for the duration of the world tour: initially the design used four projectors but, due to the greatly increased size of the audience at Slane Castle, Fourth Phase London was asked to supply an additional four projectors.

Integral to the production, the E/T/C Audiovisuel PIGI projectors were used to project abs

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Four days of events will mark the public opening of the world's first rotating bridge. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge links Newcastle Quayside with the new arts and leisure developments on Gateshead Quays - including BALTIC the Centre for Contemporary Art, which opens next year, and the Music Centre Gateshead, where work has already started on the new international centre for music performance and education. The £9.7 million lottery-funded project will be officially opened on Friday September 14, the date for the first public showing of its high-tech lighting system. This will be followed by a weekend of unique live musical performances - staged by music north, the producing and presenting arm of Music Centre, Gateshead.

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Metro Broadcast led the UK by providing state-of-the-art High-Definition multicamera equipment into Europe, on Saturday 11th August 2001. Produced by Done and Dusted and staged at the Mungersdorf stadium in Cologne, Germany, the Robbie Williams concert was captured using 15 Sony High-Definition cameras following Metro’s success in supplying the UK’s first ever multi-camera High-Definition shoot to an S Club 7 concert earlier this summer. Metro sourced six of the camcorders from the Continent using its global agency, Eurocrew Worldwide, whilst obtaining the other nine from various hire companies in the UK. Having managed the first multicamera High-Definition shoot, the main challenges were logistical. "10 camcorders from one country was exciting in itself, but 15 spread over four was certainly a challenge," reveals Mark Cox, facilities director at Metro. "There

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Announcing a UK exclusive distribution agreement, AC Lighting will use its presence at the PLASA exhibition to display the product range of leading German manufacturer, MA Lighting Technology Gmbh. MA Lighting will also be present at the show (J12) and in addition a private suite has been booked to provide facilities for in-depth product demonstrations away from the noise of the show floor.

Taking pride of place at PLASA will be the grandMA lighting console and the release of Version 3.00 software. This release facilitates advanced networking capabilities, including the ability for multiple operators to programme complex shows on the console and for full tracking back-up between consoles and replay units. The grandMA is the largest console in the range and harnesses the benefits of the latest technologies: a distinguishing feature is the three colour TFT touch displays with brilliant c

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In what is claimed to be a UK first, high-end touring and installation manufacturer Chameleon Audio is exhibiting its Mac- and PC-compatible digital audio control system at PLASA. Developed over the last 18 months, it utilizes Apple Computers FireWire and Yamaha’s mLAN technologies.

Chameleon Audio managing director, Paul Houlden, decided to develop the system for several reasons. "Firstly, I feel remote control of audio equipment is the way forward and, secondly, there is an increasing demand from live sound companies for this type of technology. When substantial numbers of amplifiers and speakers are operated or flown in remote locations in large concert venues and stadia, should a fault occur, immediate detection of what piece of equipment has malfunctioned is virtually impossible without a sophisticated control system. Chameleon’s digital audio control system addre

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For the first time PLASA is running an on-site clinic at the PLASA Show to lend useful business support and advice to member companies exhibiting at the event. This new initiative, which will also see the launch of a new health-related service, is aimed not only at existing PLASA members, but also at prospective members who can learn for themselves the advantages to be gained from using PLASA services. During the course of the Show, representatives from the Association's range of service providers will be on hand in the PLASA Clinic to answer questions and assist members. Services available include the following:

Telephone Interpreting Service provided by Comunicado: interpreters specializing in over 100 languages. Cost is charged per minute, less than half price to PLASA members.

Legal Advice Service provided by Sherman Phillips: advice on intellectual property, contract, leasehold

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An alliance has been established between ultraviolet lighting manufacturer and scenic production firms Wildfire and UV/FX. The agreement, which commences immediately, calls for UV/FX to handle all of Wildfire’s scenic design and production, while UV/FX will exclusively utilize Wildfire’s ultraviolet lighting fixtures, lamps and other creative materials on all of its projects.

"Over the years, Wildfire has helped create some of the most dramatic ultraviolet scenic productions at destinations and events all around the world. Working with UV/FX, we will be able to expand our scope of services while continuing to create the innovative ultraviolet lighting systems that the industry has come to expect from us," said Wildfire vice president John Berardi. This new alliance also reunites UV/FX president Richard Green and creative director Kent Mathieu with Wildfire, the co

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New from Selecon at PLASA this year is the mechanical dowser accessory, which completes the Pacific MSR light system. The dowser continues the modular design philosophy of the Pacific: it is a separate accessory that simply drops into the Pacific lamphouse, onto which can be mounted any of the Pacific lens systems. Using graduated optical filters, the dowser provides a visually even fade from full output to blackout. Control is via DMX. The daylight colour temperature (5600K) and high efficiency of the 575W MSR lamp combine to deliver a high output, high impact beam. The Pacific heat management system ensures even energy distribution at the gate allowing for the use of dichroic glass patterns. Hot restrike, standard MSR and MSD lamps can be used with the Pacific. Power supplies include a universal electronic power supply and 220 - 240v magnetic ballasts for architectural applications. Th

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Dugald (Doog) Mackenzie of HW International has been killed in a tragic motorcycle accident. Doog had worked for HW for just over four years as area sales manager for the Midlands and South Wales. He died on Sunday 2 September at just 34 years of age. He leaves behind him a wife and two young children. A book of condolence will be on the HW stand at PLASA which after the show will be presented to his family. Funeral details are yet to be confirmed.

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In its West End debut, Selecon's unique 80volt Pacific is being used to show Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins in the best possible light in Cameron Mackintosh's new production of My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. After an initial run at the National Theatre, the show, lit by top lighting designer, David Hersey, has transferred to the much larger stage at Drury Lane. With an output equivalent to a 2.5kW light, the Pacific provides the effect of sunlight streaming through the four large windows of the professor's study.

Bryan Raven, general manager of White Light who supplied all the lighting for the show, explains. "The phone call came half way through the focus period of the West End transfer of the acclaimed National Theatre production of My Fair Lady. It was lighting designer David Hersey: did White Light have anything brighter tha

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Blackburn-based Romers Electronics has specified and installed a custom-designed sound system for the new and existing stands at West Bromwich Albion Football Club. With safety issues and life-safety systems in football grounds and sports arenas top of the agenda, the need for high-level quality, reliable sound has never been greater. Audio systems are also being utilized for the increasingly popular phenomenon of pre and mid-match entertainments.

The requirement for a high quality entertainment system in addition to the safety requirements resulted in the design and construction of two new customised speakers by Arbiter - the AF1 and AF2 JBL-loaded boxes - which were built for Arbiter by Ad Lib Audio in Liverpool. Romers’ MD John Caton told PLASA Media: "We chose JBL components because Arbiter guaranteed the delivery in what turned into a very tight schedule - in time for t

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One of the community highlights for visitors to the recent Edinburgh Festival was the opportunity to attend a free festival in the beautifully-raked 2,000-seat bowl in Princes Street Gardens. The event, which ran daily through to 9pm, gave appearing Festival fringe acts the chance to preview their work in a series of short showcase ‘tasters’ on the main stage. This was interspersed with Worldart Media’s own productions and concerts. The 22-day event was manned by volunteer students looking to learn all aspects of staging a show, under the auspices of event producer, Richard Hamer, and event stage manager, Claire Palmer.

In the case of Screenco, who lent its support for the fourth consecutive year with a 4 x 4 Saco 15mm pixel pitch display, it gave its screen and camera engineer, Jon Baverstock, the chance to give hands-on experience to would-be technicians - many of t

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PLASA 2001 will see the official release of LightJockey 2.0, an upgraded version of Martin’s popular Windows- based lighting controller. LightJockey 2 incorporates a host of useful upgrades including a new PCI card for increased PC interface capabilities (also USB and PCMCIA interface options.

Windows 2000 compatible, other new features include a Solid Beam Virtual Visualizer, a high quality visualization simulator capable of creating realistic, solid, 3D beams. Visually accurate and easy to understand, the simulator allows you to create virtual visualizations off-site. For more flexible music capabilities, LightJockey 2.0 interfaces with Winamp to play a multitude of digital audio files including MP3. LightJockey 2.0 includes audio CD ROM capability as well. It also supports SMPTE and MIDI timecode with suitable interface. And a new show-saver backup feature ensures that shows w

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After over two years protracted legal action, and at a cost in legal fees alone of over £250,000, Chris Kenyon, founder of Delta Sound, has succeeded in his claim against Bob Long and Federal Signal for breach of contract and misrepresentation in the agreement for the sale of Delta's business in 1999. Damages of over £300,000 with interest, plus costs, were awarded against Federal. In addition, the judge awarded punitive indemnity costs against Federal. The case arose as a result of the terms of the sale which valued Delta at £500,000, to be paid for on the basis of commission payments over three years. Federal denied that such an arrangement had ever been agreed.

Full story in the October issue of L&SI.

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Renkus-Heinz, worldwide distributor of EASE software for ADA, has announced the release of EASE 4.0, a generational change from EASE 3.0 to a more intuitive, easier-to-use format with more accurate calculations and more realistic presentations.

Originated and owned by Dr. Wolfgang Ahnert of ADA (Acoustical Design Ahnert), Berlin, EASE has developed since its introduction in 1990 into a standard for sound system simulation software. EASE 4.0 has an improved look that features icons and better menus, making its use much simpler and more intuitive. Easy-to-use wizards help to create new projects and simplify mapping functions and ray tracing. A new ‘Objects Function’ allows users to select any items in the drawing, including vertices, faces, edges, seats, lights or speakers, group them together and then save them into a separate file as an object. The object can then be import

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JBL Professional President Michael MacDonald has announced the appointment of two vice-presidents of sales for the company's worldwide sales efforts and a new vice president of manufacturing operations. Doug Daniel and Tom Weeber have been promoted to VP of international sales and VP of US sales respectively, whilst Jeffery Groenke has been named VP of operations at the company's Northridge, CA headquarters.

Doug Daniel has been with JBL Professional since 1992 in the position of director of European sales and is a seasoned industry veteran. Weeber has been with the JBL sales department since 1993, where he started as regional manager and was later promoted to senior director of US sales. Prior to JBL, Groenke was general manager and engineering manager of Axiohm Transaction solutions and has also been an engineer for Hewlett Packard.

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