Details
Sarner and ESP have combined resources to provide a creative solution for Liverpool’s new multi-million pound International Astronomy and Space Centre (IASC).

Sarner, which has recently been bought-out by two of its directors, Michael Bennett and Ross Magri, will be responsible for the design and production of special effects for the new visitor attraction, while ESP will project-manage the fit-out of the centre, bringing life to the dramatic designs - from the spectacular hanging celestial sphere, through to the ‘Journey To The Stars’ space-time machine.

IASC, which is part of the continued regeneration of Liverpool’s Wirral district, is scheduled for completion in Easter 2003.

Visitors will be taken on an interactive journey through time and space using mul

Details
Barco Projection, a division of Barco n.v., Belgium, and High End Systems Inc of Austin, Texas, have announced a strategic alliance that will enable the two companies to cooperate in the marketing of their products to the entertainment and events markets.

Barco Events specializes in providing tailor-made visualization and show-control solutions and manufactures amongst others a range of professional large-event projectors, ranging in brightness from 5,000 to 17,000 ANSI lumens. High End Systems, a manufacturer of automated lighting products, has introduced Catalyst, a cross-cultural system that converts video projectors into automated lights. The Catalyst system (developed in conjunction with WWG), which incorporates a Media Server, can also be used in conjunction with Barco's range of Ilite and Dlite LED displays to create an extensive range of effects and imagery.

The newly formed

Details
Alessandro Safina - christened by the press as the ‘singing George Clooney’ - made his US television debut recently on Thirteen/WNET New York’s Great Performances: Only You, produced by David Horn.

An opera fan from his childhood days, the Tuscan tenor has already performed across Europe in Puccini’s La Bohème and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, but is also a confirmed U2 fan. With musician/composer Romano Musumarra, known for his work with Celine Dion, Safina has developed a new ‘pop-opera’ genre and the show, also featuring Mexico’s Patricia Manterola, captured the artist under the warm Sicilian stars in the breathtaking setting of Taormina’s ancient Greek amphitheatre.

The international team involved in the shoot before a live audience, included LD Patrick Woodroffe, production manager Robbie Williams and sound designer Daniele T

featured content

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

Details
Richard Pilbrow, chairman of Theatre Projects Consultants, has announced that Elissa O. Getto has been appointed general manager of Theatre Projects Consultants Inc. She succeeds Victor Gotesman as the chief executive in the TPC South Norwalk, Connecticut office. Gotesman will be joining Jaffe Holden Acoustics.

Getto, who has been a senior consultant with Theatre Projects Consultants, will continue as part of the TPC team performing arts feasibility studies, master planning and advising on a wide range of arts administration issues. She is currently active on studies for Dallas, Virginia Beach and Kansas City.

Richard Pilbrow told us: "We are very pleased to have someone with Elissa's impressive background and experience heading up the office leadership." She joins Brian Hall, director of design and David Taylor, director of project management for TPC.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
Coe-tech has provided all lighting and sound equipment for Aqua - a new independent club concept, the first of which has recently opened in Grays, Essex. The equipment was supplied through IFC and the installation company DIVAS. Owned by Lee Darcy, Aqua is water themed, fusing the oceanic sights, sounds and atmospheres of bubbles, mermaids, fish and fun.

The dancefloor lighting scheme - devised by Coe-tech’s design team headed by Nathan Wan - was crucial to the venue’s visual identity. The walls and columns are painted a pastel blue, complete with stencilled bubbles - and are ideal for gobos and projection effects. The lighting brief was to produce a liquid and flowing feel for the room, and low ceiling height also played a role in the choice of fixtures.

Wan chose 24 Coemar I-Spot 150s (which were launched at PLASA 2001), one of the Italian manufacturer’s new stabl

Details
The New England Patriots recently won their first Super Bowl over the St. Louis Rams at the Louisiana Superdome. As usual, a star-studded list of headlining acts was featured, including a half-time performance by Irish rockers, U2. The band delivered a moving tribute to the victims of the 11 September terrorist attacks, the names of which were scrolled on a 120' high x 60' wide soft screen, which was positioned behind the band as they played.

Fourth Phase Image Systems Group, the team that specializes in large-format projection, provided 12 7kW Xenon PIGI film projectors to execute the spectacular commemorative backdrop. This technology was used to project the names over the audience as well. Fourth Phase is the exclusive US distributor for these projectors, which are manufactured in Paris by E/T/C Audiovisuel. Other recent events utilizing the technology include the 2002 Winter Olympi

Details
ETC has expanded its presence in Europe with the appointment of Ingo Bernert as field project manager for the Northern Region. The position will be operative from 1 March 2002. With over 17 years’ experience in the lighting industry, Bernert has spent the past five working for ETC dealer Despar GmbH, where he was sales director for the project department and where, last autumn, he played an active role in the negotiations to appoint Despar an authorised dealer for ETC's dimming and control equipment in Germany. Before joining Despar, Bernert worked as a lighting designer and technical director, gaining extensive experience freelancing for various German theatres, rental houses and television companies.

"Having worked with ETC's products for many years, I am really looking forward to joining the company and being part of its development in the Northern region," said Ber

Details
Metool Products Ltd, one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of flexible cable handling systems, has purchased the Cable Reeling Division of Sturge Industries Ltd of Dudley, West Midlands.

Sturge winders and reels are designed for a wide range of critical electrical and power applications, including inflammable and other dangerous environments where EX certified products are mandatory. Typical applications include electrical hoists, overhead cranes and mobile control systems, inspection lighting and portable power tools. Sturge slip-ring cable reels are specified for low-current/standard cable requirements in non-hazardous environments and where space is limited or the payout length is shorter.

Malcolm Dade, managing director of Metool commented: "This is an important addition to our range of reeling technologies in the electrical engineering market and a further step in ou

Details
Federal Signal has appointed Profitek as its new distributor for Norway. Bergen-based Profitek AS, which has offices in Stavangar and Oslo, employs 50 people and specializes in supplying and installing industrial communication systems to the Norwegian offshore and processing industries. Customers include ABB, Siemens, StatOil, ARCO and Norske Hydro.

Federal Signal will be using Profitek’s experience to develop regional sales of its GL loudspeakers, which can provide remote interrogation and tapping facilities. The move provides a platform to build sales of the company’s life safety communication systems, notably the Echo digital intercom and party paging system and the Aucams duplicated PA/GA system, used wherever oil and drilling companies have a need to comply with the principle of dual redundancy.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
Martin Professional Plc has appointed Dave Jacobs as technical manager. Jacobs has a background in electronic and electrical servicing and comes to Martin from a position as Service Manager at Celco Ltd in London. He is also qualified in City & Guilds electronic servicing parts 1, 2, 3 and HNC (Higher National Certificate) up to HND (Higher National Diploma) standard.Dave began in the new position on 1 February and brings a distinct service-minded philosophy with him. "My philosophy," he states, "is to keep the customer happy by helping meet his or her needs while treating each customer as an individual."

"I am totally interested in all aspects of technology whether it be electrical, electronic or mechanical," he comments. "I also bring with me a valuable array of life and people skills that I have learned over the years, as well as a positive outlook

Details
Stereophonics, with special guests Feeder, have just successfully completed a tour of European arenas employing a vast array of Shure microphones, with support from long standing UK sole distributor HW International.

London Arena was the penultimate venue for the extended UK leg of the tour where Welsh wonder boys Stereophonics and Feeder played yet another sell-out gig. Shure microphones were extensively used to capture the performances: Shure Beta58As handled all the Stereophonics’ vocals, with Kelly Jones (lead vocals, guitar), Richard Jones (vocals, bass), Scott James (vocals, guitar) and Tony Kirkham (keyboards, vocals) choosing this particular microphone due to its tight response pattern and crisp sound. Meanwhile, Stuart Cable’s drum kit was no stranger to Shure product with a Shure Beta52 being employed on kick drum, a Shure Beta57A on snare top and Shure KSM32&rsqu

Details
Lightfactor Sales has supplied Hertfordshire-based Smart Light & Sound with eight High End Systems Studio Spot 250 and four HES Studio Color 250 wash fixtures for their hire/loan stock. Smart Light & Sound is an innovative, non-profit making organisation set up to help support schools, drama clubs, churches and societies in Hertfordshire - and beyond - with the loan of cutting-edge stage lighting and sound equipment for amateur use.

After in depth research and comparisons between all available intelligent fixtures, Smart Light & Sound’s Bill Parker decided to go with the High End fixtures and Lightfactor. The deciding issues for fixture choice included the benefit of the different lens options on the Spot 250 - ideal for dealing with the short throw distances of many school halls and theatres. Fixture weight was also crucial, together with reliability.

Lightfactor also supplied

Details
Frequently referred to as Boston Theatre District’s ‘Little Princess’, the 90-year-old, 1,600-seat Shubert Theatre recently capped off its house sound reinforcement system with the addition of a 32-channel Soundcraft Series FOUR mixing console. Local dealer Boston Light & Sound provided the sale.

The Shubert underwent a $6m restoration back in 1996, at which time an all-EAW/QSC system was installed. A 24-channel Soundcraft 800B desk that had previously been used next door at the Wang since the early 1980s was brought over at the tail end of the renovation to run the Shubert’s house system. Now, almost six years later, the theatre has finally retired its 800B, nearly 20 years old, in favor of a new Series FOUR, which is located ‘rear orchestra’ in typical Broadway fashion.

James R. McCartney, the Shubert’s union sound man for the past three ye

Details
Leading pro entertainment industry lighting sales specialist TMB Associates has changed its name to TMB. The decision to drop ‘Associates’ from the title was taken last month. "At first we were quite embarrassed about losing our Associates, we couldn’t figure out where they’d gone," stated California-based CEO Colin Waters, "but once we got used to it, we decided we really liked it. Everyone knows us as simply TMB, so now we’ve made it official."

With offices spanning three continents and over 100 full time employees, TMB felt that the term ‘Associates’ was no longer appropriate for its global commercial operations. The company has also launched a new logo, reflecting its growth as a worldwide, high-tech company. The name-change and new logo give TMB a more consolidated approach to international trading and marketing. It al

Details
The beautiful 325m long Millennium Bridge, which spans the Thames between St. Paul's Cathedral on the north bank and the Tate Modern on the south, opened on 10 June 2000 as London’s first new Thames crossing in more than 100 years. Unbelievably, it remained open for just two days before being closed to the public completely after the bridge started to sway alarmingly as large numbers of pedestrians made the crossing. Engineers to the Millennium Bridge, Arup, have since installed giant dampers to act as shock absorbers for the structure and are now in the final stages of testing the bridge prior to its long-awaited re-opening.

The biggest concern during any test is the safety of those involved. For this particular project the challenge was to devise a communications system which would allow engineers to communicate from one side of the bridge to the other in both directions as wel

Details
Fostex Corporation Japan has announced the launch of a website dedicated to their new family of DVD-RAM professional audio mastering products (www.fostexdvd.net). Beginning with the DV40 Master Recorder, the first product of their DVD-RAM family, Fostex is set to revolutionise audio mastering for sound mixers, post production, recording studios, broadcast professionals and more by putting their experience of timecode and portable timecode DAT to the DVD-RAM platform.

"Since DVD-RAM is going to be an important future category for Fostex, we felt that a dedicated website was a sensible communication solution," states Hiroaki Kawahata, international sales and marketing manager at Fostex Japan. "DV40 is certainly a field developed product with much input gained from our existing PD-4 and timecode DAT users in both America and Europe. The web is an ideal way for them to stay

Details
The third of White Light North's Let's Talk Arts meetings took place recently at the studios of Yorkshire Television in Leeds. Visitors were offered a guided tour of YTV's main and regional studios by Neil Salmon, YTV's resident head of lighting, and also received an insight into the complexities of switching the ITV network between main, regional and even sub-regional areas at YTV's principal transmission control area. More importantly, the visitors also enjoyed the buffet lunch with wine - and the chance to 'talk arts'.

Created by White Light North, Let's Talk Arts is a forum run to allow people working in the arts to get together on the first Thursday of every month for what White Light North's John Anderton describes as "lunch and a good gossip!" The forum is open to anyone influential in the arts in Yorkshire, including theatre managers, directors, technica

Details
Last week DHA Lighting treated members of the ABTT to a backstage tour of My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Organised by Louise Tester, DHA's UK sales manager, the event attracted over 70 guests, including David Chivers who had employed David Hersey as an electrician at Theatre Projects when he first arrived in the UK! "It's fascinating seeing what David has achieved," said Chivers. Another ABTT member, Dick Walsingham added: "It's always interesting to see what other people have done."

Howard Bird, executive director of the ABTT, opened the session and introduced a number of speakers, plus front of house demonstrations. Bryan Raven of White Light, Steve McAndrew, chief electrician at the Theatre Royal, and My Fair Lady's production electrician Alistair Grant together described the workings of the variety of equipment used on the show. The

Details
Clay Paky and its Mexican distributor Vector 10, in collaboration with Miller Mix, Grupo Communica and Ingenieria Electrodigital, recently organised a professional lighting seminar in Mexico City, held at the Flamingo Plasa Hotel from 31 January to 2 February and attended by almost 300 people. This, say Clay Paky, is the first meeting between the most important Lighting Designers and lighting operators ever to be held in Mexico.

Over the course of the three days, Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky sales manager for the Americas, and Jorge Aguirre, president of Vector 10, demonstrated Mexican market trends which are providing some very interesting indications: indeed all sectors are in constant growth, from discotheques, to touring, TV and the architectural sector.

One of the highlights of the seminar was the session conducted by Patrick Woodroffe. During his career, Woodroffe has designe

Details
City Theatrical has announced that technical salesperson Brian Byrne has left to join Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York, as a media technician. Byrne joined the company in 2000 and played a large part in enabling CTI to win the ESTA Dealers’ Choice Award for Customer Service for 2001. Gary Fails told us: "We’re sorry to see Brian go, but we wish him well as he moves along in his career." Phyllis Newsome and Lorlyn Sia will staff the CTI sales department while a search for Byrne’s replacement is underway.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
Proel S.p.A. has established the Proel Lighting division. The operation started with the merging of the lighting manufacturing company M&L s.r.l. of Bellusco (Milan) with Proel S.p.A. This new venture expands the commercial and strategic relations with existing Proel divisions, such as the Sound Reinforcement and the Installation divisions: increased integration with these divisions will allow the company to offer a more comprehensive range of products to the pro audio and lighting market. Product manager of the new Lighting division is Roberto Meggiolaro, major shareholder and founder of M&L.

The official launch of the new division will take place at the Frankfurt Prolight+Sound (13-17 March), Hall 4.1 Stand F31. Following this, the company will be further promoting its Lighting division at SIB International in Rimini (24-27 March). Proel Lighting will feature a Lighting Master Catalo

Page 1417 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .