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The Event Lighting & Design Company added yet another high profile job to their portfolio recently by designing the lighting for one of the most talked about events of the year - the Lord of the Rings premiere party at Tobacco Dock. This spectacular party, organised by Lady Carolyn Townshend & Associates, aimed to recreate scenes from the film and bring Middle Earth to the Docklands. EL&D worked closely with the film's production designers (who have already won an American Movie Review Award for their work) to recreate the lighting effects seen on screen. Each area in the party had a distinct atmosphere reflecting particular scenes in the film.

Lothlorien, home of the elves, reflected the beautiful wooded landscape. The party also recreated the Prancing Pony, a warm, welcoming Pub with

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Hard Rock Café International has developed a new bar concept, which has been piloted in Birmingham's burgeoning Broad Street. The prime 7,500 sq.ft Hard Rock bar, licensed for 450, will continue to dispense its cocktail of classic rock and merchandise in an environment of encased rock memorabilia. It was a challenge which architects and interior designers, Lewis & Hickey took on, along with atmosphere and technology designers PA Installations (sound and vision) and LDPi (lighting fixtures).

PAI, who also specified the lighting control, had a difficult, reverberant environment with hard finishes, and needing to deaden reflections from the café bar surround and live stage loudspeakers in an inherently 'live' room, they chose the BSS 9088 Soundweb DSP networker as the solution provider. According to project manager Martin Draisey, while the choice of loudspeakers for Birmingham were lai

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Through their official sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, Ford has been able to reach a critical mass - not only inside the host sports stadia and on television, but also outside the grounds. With the aid of promotional company Prism and audio-visual specialists Creative Technology the company has been able to throw large-scale images onto the sides of buildings (and the stadia themselves) in the true spirit of guerilla projection.

At some grounds a Christie X10 Roadie 10,000 ANSI lumens DLP projector has been set up on the top of an adjacent building, whilst on other occasions it has been fired from the back of a Ford Galaxy in the car park, run from a generator. "This is a high profile site where we can run a Betacam tape, interspersed with Ford's 'Destination Football' ads and highlights of the last few matches as eye candy for spectators arriving at the match," sai

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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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Harman International Industries has announced a restructuring programme for Digital Audio Research (DAR), involving a relocation of the business to the new AMEK Manchester location. The DAR products will benefit from AMEK's state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, ensuring product consistency and reliability.

John Carpanini of Harman told us: "DAR and AMEK have many common distributors worldwide and all sales and marketing activity will be consolidated under head of sales, Craig Lovell. Craig has been closely involved with both brands over a number of years, and combining the sales activities under his control also makes excellent commercial sense."

"The decision to relocate DAR reinforces our commitment to the recently-launched Trigger Audio Replay System, for which we have high hopes in the market. At InterBee in November, where it was officially launched, Trigger

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Following its first public showing at the PLASA exhibition in September 2001, the new Diversitronics Mark 3000 Super High Intensity DMX Strobe is now being shipped by AC Lighting Ltd. The strobe features a long life high power quartz xenon lamp and delivers 24,000W peak flash intensity. Built into a streamlined housing with extensive aluminium heat sinking and automatic fan cooling, the unit is rated for continuous duty.

A major feature of the Mark 3000 is the ability of the strobe to accept both DMX and analogue remote control, as well as operating in stand-alone mode with integral speed control. To facilitate ease of connection, the strobe is fitted as standard with DMX input and through 5-pin XLR connectors and analogue (0 -10V) input and through 4-pin XLR connectors.

The Mark 3000 operates over a speed range from 15 flashes per minute to 15 flashes per second and features a Hyper

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Midas and Klark Teknik recently welcomed over 40 customers from Germany to their factory in Kidderminster to introduce them to the Midas Legend tri-purpose mixing console which has already won two awards for technological innovation. Customers were also treated to a Klark Teknik presentation on the DN9848 digital loudspeaker processor and a full factory tour as well as plenty of entertainment and sightseeing over the two days of their visit.

According to KTG marketing director, David Webster, the trip was a success for a very simple reason. "It's all about what we do best, which is to offer high quality professional equipment which offer solutions to customers' problems, and to do it in style! And we do our best to try and make it simple. Each distributor has their own DVD presentation on Legend in the language of their territory, as well as any other type of marketing back-up the

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PCM supplied leading rigging rental company Outback Rigging Ltd with special FX Star high-speed Lodestar motors to lift the central rear LED screen at the recent Smash Hits Poll Winners extravaganza at the London Arena. The screen - over 5 tonnes of Screenco 15 mm pixel pitch modules measuring 11.4 metres wide by 7.2 metres high - was a vital part of the stunning set designed by Bill Lazlett.

It showed video playback and live camera action, but also allowed for quick between-band changes by raising and lowering very rapidly. The hire to Outback is the first of PCM's new Motion Control division, which has been set up to serve all the rigging rental companies, and carries a stock of non-standard equipment, available for specialist requirements.

PCM's John Jones explains that the decision to launch the division was to "Explore other areas of the market, and also to help our clients

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Show Presentation Services (SPS), one of the largest AV rental companies in the UK, was chosen by Black Pig Productions to provide a Barco Dlite7 Screen for the recent Robbie Williams TV Spectacular, which was recorded live for BBC 1 at the Royal Albert Hall on 10th October 2001 and released on DVD in early December. Robin Coles, managing director of SPS, explained that his brief was to "supply 39sq.m Barco Dlite7 LED display to provide the 7168 mm x 5376 mm centre stage backdrop for Black Pig Productions to feed images on to. The show itself was spectacular, and we were very pleased with the effect when it was broadcast on BBC 1 on 17th November," said Coles.

Black Pig’s managing director, Chris Saunders, described the production as "unusual, as it was being filmed in high definition, causing any imperfections in the LED to stand out. This is especially important

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Brian Laurence from renowned Melbourne-based audio soundscape producers Brian Laurence Sound P/L has recently completed a major Soundscape project at Beechworth, in the heart of Australia's 'Bushranger Country' using a variety of ARX products. In the new Beechworth Historic Precinct, Laurence Sound created several 12-channel surround soundscapes, one for the Bourke Museum's 'Street Of Shops', and the Old Beechworth Courthouse, each of them 'bringing to life' the static displays by re-creating the sounds of the wild 1870s Gold Rush period.

Sound replay is from Fostex 16-channel D-160 hard disk players which only have unbalanced -10dB outputs. To level-match to the required +4dB to drive the power amplifiers, Laurence Sound used two of the new ARX Level 8s line balancers per Fostex D-160 machine.

The large-screen video show features 8-channel surround sound based on a Fostex D-160 time

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One of London's most famous dance venues has been fitted out with a Martin Audio system, courtesy of Bedford-based Creative Technologies. The former Legends - in Mayfair’s Old Burlington Street - has been acquired by Mark Fuller’s Embassy Restaurants Ltd, following the sale of his previous venues, Sugar Reef and Red Cube to Chorion plc. Fuller - with partner Garry Hollihead and operations director, Gina Campbell-Clough - has renamed the venue The Embassy - in deference to the famous venue that flourished in nearby Old Bond Street in the early 1980s, where he also worked.

Creative Technologies' relationship with Fuller extends back to his days when he ran Little Havana. The company also installed Sugar Reef, but according to managing director, Rob Ferguson, this is their most sophisticated fit-out yet, as the combination of Martin Audio components and Soundweb networking wil

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If you missed it don't worry, it will return. The World Wrestling Association presented by AAA is the latest wave to catch onto the growing craze for choreographed violence for the under 10s. The recent tour of rippling muscles with cartoon personas has swept through the UK, visiting major venues like Sheffield Arena and Wembley. "When you're presenting shows in venues of this size, and to audiences of 10,000 plus, the same rules apply as for the biggest rock shows," explained production manager Nick Levitt. "That's why we have three artics parked outside - there's a lot more to this than two men grappling in a ring."

One truck was almost totally filled with the ring itself and associated props, such as chipboard ringside tables for the commentators, which shatter harmlessly as these Cinderella Titans hurl each other from the ring in mock fury. In the air, 160ft of

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The famous stage at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam took on a number of different scenic guises when Dutch radio station Radio 538 presented its ninth anniversary party, Live38, recently. Thanks to the reconfigurable pair of 18sq.m 25mm LED Megascreens from Screenco/JVR, which could be split and moved across the stage with the help of a motion tracking device, acts such as The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Volumia, Blof, Di-rect and Crazy Pianos could be seen in bespoke scenic settings. The rigging and trolley system were provided by Frontline/Sightline.

Radio 538 undertook all the production themselves, and credit for the inventive screen concept goes to the station's Pieter Lubberts. "This flexibility enabled us to reinforce the stage images either as one giant screen behind the musicians, split into two 18sq.m side screens - or present them as six individual columns, each displaying

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London PA company FX Music has recently expanded its hire stock, taking delivery of 56 Martin W8C Wavefront cabinets. The rig was immediately pressed into service by Capital Sound for the Ministry of Sound's giant New Year event at the Millennium Dome. FX Music, who also run EAW systems, claim that increased diversity in tour specs and one-off show requirements mean a wide ranging inventory has become a necessity for hire operations.

(Lee Baldock)

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Federal Warning Systems has won a seven figure contract to design, supply, and install new emergency warning personnel alert systems for the US Air Force in Europe (USAFE). The company has been contracted to equip several US Air Force bases in the UK and Germany with its hard-wired version of its electronic outdoor warning system, which includes high powered speakers and amplifiers running on an ISDN communication backbone.

Security being a key concern for the new warning system, FWS will install a highly secure land line system, utilizing ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) technology and communications system protocol. Alert messages will be activated from multiple locations throughout the bases, such as barracks and personnel blocks. With a 95% efficiency rate and increased run time, the Modulator’s omnidirectional electronic speaker array system will allow for precise

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A coveted TEC (Technical Excellence & Creativity) Award, presented during the AES New York Convention in December, rounded off a record year for the Sony DMX-R100 digital console. With over 1200 worldwide sales and a hat-trick of major pro-audio awards, the console has carved out an enviable reputation for itself.

Notable for being voted for by a large number of magazine subscribers, the Mix Foundation TEC award for best product in the Small Console Format Technology category is regarded internationally as one of the key accolades for technical professionals. The 48 channel DMX-R100 also scooped both the Studio Sound Award in the UK and MIPA (MusikmesseInternational Press ‘High End Digital Mixing Desk’ Award) in Germany earlier in the year.Sony has recently launched a Version 2.0 software upgrade for the desk, and there are plans for a forthcoming MADI implementation and op

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ARX Systems, the Australian based manufacturer of professional audio products has appointed Tonart-Audiotechnik as its new exclusive distributor for Switzerland. ARX MD Colin Park told us: "ARX is delighted to have Rudolf Schenker and his team at Tonart-Audiotechnik on board as our new exclusive distributor. Tonart are well placed to introduce the new products ARX is bringing to market in 2002, as well as continuing the high level of support our Swiss client base has come to expect over the years.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Stagecraft has recently been involved in a major development at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. The company supplied lighting and sound equipment to the venue and is also planning a programme of disabled workshops at the theatre.

In 1972 a fire destroyed a large part of the backstage of the Victorian theatre and the refurbishment provided an opportunity to re-design the theatre to provide greater accessibility for all theatregoers. One of the key areas to be developed was the lighting and sound systems and thus Stagecraft supplied a range of technical equipment, including Martin intelligent lighting, Selecon Pacific luminaires, Compulite Luna moving yolks, Zero88 lighting control and dimming, and a range of audio equipment, including Tannoy speakers, Shure microphones, QSC amplification and Allen & Heath control.

Grant Bales-Smith of Stagecraft worked closely with the New Theat

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The Wembley studio building that used to house CTS Studios is back in business as a recording facility after industry veteran Pete Fielder secured a lease on the premises, which he has re-opened under the name of Phoenix Sound. The substantial studio building is located close to Wembley Stadium and was due to be redeveloped as part of the overall scheme to rebuild the stadium. However, when the plans fell through, Fielder approached Wembley plc with a view to acquiring the lease and securing the site's future as a recording studio.

Fielder, a respected engineer and APRS board member who has extensive knowledge and experience of the studio industry, told us: "This is a large site that is already very popular with musicians and has plenty of potential as a studio complex. Although we are re-equipping from scratch, the actual studios and control rooms are already in place and will si

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AC Lighting has announced that Nic Tolkien is to retire immediately from the position of export sales director. Tolkien had been instrumental in developing the export market for AC Lighting since 1984 and managed the export sales office on a daily basis. AC Lighting's managing director, David Leggett commented: "Nic is our longest serving employee and has been with AC Lighting since the early days. We would like to publicly thank him for all his hard work over the years."

Cally Bacchus, export sales manager, continues to lead the day-to-day export sales operation with the established team of directors retaining overall direction. There are no immediate plans to appoint a replacement.

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Paradigm was recently commissioned by audio visual specialists Integrated Circles, to supply three Ultra Contrast Screens for use at artist Liam Gillick's exhibit, 'Annlee You Proposes', at Tate Britain.

The 52" screens - together with specially adapted LCD projectors - have been hired by the gallery for the duration of the exhibit, which continues until 31 March this year. Footage on each screen comprises three minutes of looped video art - which together with sound clips - portrays 'Annlee', using Japanese-style cartoon images. The screens are positioned as window displays which face onto a newly landscaped garden and patio area within the Tate Britain grounds.

Paul Nolan of Integrated Circles told us: "Providing large, vivid video images in a sunlit, south facing outdoor environment, presented us with an unusual challenge that meant we needed exceptional contrast to achi

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All eyes were on Frankfurt this December where the 'For The Troops MTV-USO Show' was held, giving German-based American military personnel the opportunity to let their hair down in an evening of music and entertainment. Held in an aircraft hanger, the high profile event included acts such as J-Lo and Kid Rock.

Blackout Triple E was commissioned by Field Services to supply a three-dimensional American flag, two drapes painted with the MTV-USO logo and a white filled cloth Kabuki drop for this event, with project manager Tom Lambert working in conjunction with designer Mark Fisher to create the striking 3D flag. As the centrepiece for the event, the three-dimensional version of the Stars and Stripes was hung from a grid measuring 9.3m x 3.4m. An 8.4m white gauze drape created the background to the flag and was fronted by seven individual red cloth stripes, each of which was rigged on cur

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