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Total Structures has announced the addition of Peter Hind to its team in Ventura CA. Hind is a professional structural engineer of some note and has 20 years experience in the entertainment industry. His early experience came with M A Richards and partners of London, and included the engineering of roof systems for the likes of Genesis, Bowie, McCartney and Clapton amongst others. For the past six years he’s been employed by sister company, Total Fabrications, in the UK and has been a significant contributor to the ESTA Technical Standards Committee responsible for writing ANSI standard E1.2 2000 Entertainment Technology Design, Manufacture and Use of Aluminum Truss and Towers Entertainment, as well as contributing to the development of a number of British standards. Last year saw th

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On Sunday 17 March, the World Wrestling Federation held its annual extravaganza, Wrestlemania X8. This year’s event was held at Toronto’s SkyDome in front of nearly 69,000 people live and millions via Pay-Per-View, setting several attendance records. The four-hour production featured title matches and live performances by Saliva and Drowning Pool.

As long-time lighting suppliers to the WWF, Bandit Lites and production designer Jason Robinson were called upon to make this year’s event bigger than anything the WWF had ever done before, and judging by the numbers involved, they succeeded: 12 semis full of lighting gear, 4,000,000W of power at 11,000 amps per leg, 450 moving lights, 700 Par 64s, three Flying Pig Whole Hog 2s with four Overdrives, an ETC Expression 3x, 216 motors, 204 pieces of 10ft A-type truss, five custom A-type circles ranging from 42ft in diameter to

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Halo Live is a new company, launched by Yann Guenancia and Steve Marley, set up to handle all aspects of visual production and lighting for live tours and events. Halo Live will work with its sister company, the successful London-based operation Halo Lighting, which has been trading for 12 years as a lighting sales, rental and installation house.

The new company will focus on the specific creative needs and demanding requirements of the live industry - from music tours to corporate presentation and everything in between. The move is also designed to enable Halo Lighting to concentrate fully on its traditional core businesses. Halo Live’s production manager is Steve Marley: "We’d reached the stage where we needed to separate the production projects from the straight hire and sales ones. With Halo Live, we offer more than just lighting - it’s a fully integrated vis

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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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Universal Events, specialists in corporate event production and presentation technology, supplied sound, lighting and AV design, equipment and crew for the recent Miss Movie pageant - a major event on the Bollywood calendar.

Now in its 10th year, the event was staged at London’s famous Hammersmith Apollo and featured not only the contest itself, but a myriad of top international Asian singing and dancing acts. Universal’s Steve Butcher created the set design, opting for a white-floored stage featuring a simple, clean look. Two symmetrical podiums flanked the stage, whilst the presenters stood centre-stage on a raised upstage platform. Universal supplied a large, flown, central screen and a 5000 lumen projector, used to rear-project the sponsors’ logos. The screen was also used for live camera IMAG (the show was also recorded for broadcast). Butcher also designed two s

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Edwin Shirley Staging is once again working with ACS and the BBC to provide broadcast facilities at this year’s Aintree horse race meeting, which includes the Grand National. ESS’ John Wilson is spearheading the project to locate two 30m high towers within the course for the event. A kevlar wire, held under tension between the towers, will support part of the host broadcaster’s camera equipment throughout the race meeting. This method has been successfully used by the team at Aintree and other courses around the UK in previous years allowing for exceptional camera positions to record the sporting action.

Wilson explained: "The two towers are installed over two days and struck in one day. Approximately 60 tonnes of ballast secure the base plates to the ground and allow for the wire to be held under tension for distances up to 800 metres. ESS’ standard tower

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For Verdi's larger-than-life opera Attila, staged at the Royal Opera House recently, it was necessary to add to the number of staging modules that make up the raked stage. Maltbury was approached to supply units of its strongest demountable staging system, Steeldeck 7.5, and these now form part of the repertory stage sets stored at the Royal Opera House on stage trucks.

When the Royal Opera House underwent its refurbishment one radical change was to the way the sets are constructed. Instead of repeatedly building, dismantling and re-building each show in the repertoire, sets are now built just once directly onto massive stage trucks, where they remain. At the touch of a button the automated trucks can be moved on stage, into storage or into a rehearsal room backstage making turnarounds between repertory production quicker and easier.

Head of the technical department at the Roy

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Bill Jones has joined Stage Electrics as business development manager based at the company’s Birmingham Branch. Jones has a wealth of industry knowledge and experience spanning some 15 years. His career began at lantern manufacturers CCT, following which he took on the role of pro-sales manager at Harman UK. He then moved on to the position of sales manager with Lightfactor, before moving to Cloud One in Birmingham.

(Ruth Rossington)

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The International Audio Group (IAG) has created a new German operation - IAG (Deutschland) GmbH. IAG, which currently has subsidiaries in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and America, opened the German facility in order to be able to serve the German pro audio market more efficiently. The office - based in Korschenbroich near Dusseldorf - serves as the headquarters for Wharfedale Professional, Wharfedale Systems, Soundtracs Topaz and Solo brands, as well as hi-fi brands also owned by IAG.

Spearheading the development is sales and marketing director Johnny Kluten, who until last year was in charge of the Professional Division at Taiyo (Ramsa by Panasonic). Kluten commented: "With our newly developed Wharfedale-Pro range, it's great to be able to inject something fresh into the deadlocked pro audio market. We are sure that our value/performance ratio will set new standards over the comi

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Marantz Professional has launched the CDR300 - the world’s first CD recording system designed for stand-alone portable recording. The table-top design combines ease of use, typical of traditional analogue recording machines, with the sonic quality, convenience and flexibility of CD-RW multi-session recordings. The CDR300 is ideal for recording live onto blank CD-R (write once) or CDR-RW (rewriteable) discs, using either the internal microphone or external XLR (with 48V phantom power) and 1/4" mic/line inputs for stereo recording. Universal SP/DIF digital inputs and outputs allow direct connection between digital devices (such as DAT, MiniDisc and other CD recorders), while internal speaker and headphone output provide for easy monitoring of input and playback signals.

Switchable automatic record level and limiter features on the CDR300 easily accommodate use in unpredictable

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The Art-Net Alliance is a key industry group made up of major lighting control manufacturers, intended to promote the widespread adoption of the Art-Net Ethernet Standard. Artistic Licence reports that the Art-Net Alliance continues to expand and now includes AC Lighting Ltd, AC Lighting Inc, ADB, MA Lighting, Doug Fleenor Design, ELC Lighting, Electronics Diversified, Enttec, Goddard Design Co, I-Light Group, IES, Medalion, Media Motion, SandNet, Touchlight Systems Ltd, Zero 88 and Artistic Licence.

"Art-Net is the only public domain Ethernet Standard in the marketplace - that’s the reason the Art-Net Alliance is growing at such a rate. We regularly receive emails congratulating us for the decision to put Art-Net into the public domain," said Wayne Howell of Artistic Licence. "The aspect I find most pleasing is that we see both large and small companies supporting

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Allen & Heath has introduced a package of new products and options for its flagship ML series of live sound VCA consoles. These include a 24-channel version of the ML4000, the option to order ML5000 consoles with eight dual stereo channels and a Syslink kit for the ML3000, allowing two mixers to be linked in a master/slave system.

Visitors to the Musikmesse were the first to see the new ML4000-24, a 24-channel version of the ML4000. This latest addition to the series was developed in response to frequent requests from customers who needed extensive control and output facilities for conferencing and installation work, but who did not want a large footprint console with lots of inputs. The ML4000-24 can be connected to up to two 24 channel sidecar units, a prospect which has been warmly greeted by PA rental companies looking for maximum flexibility in their hire stock.

Prospective cust

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Danish manufacturer Martin Professional has announced positive year-end sales and pre-tax profit figures for 2001. Sales in 2001 amounted to DKK 878 million (over $100 million), an increase of 14% over the previous year, while pre-tax profit jumped to DKK 73 million ($8.5 million), a considerable improvement over 2000.

President and CEO of Martin Professional, Kristian Kolding, commented: "We are very satisfied with these results. Despite the difficulties in the industry following the tragic events of 11 September, especially in the United States and United Kingdom, as well as the general downturn in the economy, we managed to create the best results in the history of the company in 2001. This is really a testament to the quality of the product that we offer, as well as the people who back it up. The entire range of Martin, Mach and Jem products saw significant developments in 200

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Architects, lighting designers and other specifiers of lighting products interested in incorporating LED technology in their projects and designs will be interested to learn of a seminar, run by Color Kinetics, addressing the use of LED technology in architectural applications. The seminar, which will cover LED Basics, Color Kinetics’ technologies and case studies profiling the latest in LED applications, takes place on Tuesday April 9 at the Business Design Centre, Executive Centre 3, 52 Upper Street, Islington Green, London. Attendees can choose between two course times: 2:00 - 3:00pm (1:30pm registration) and 7:30 -8:30pm (7:00pm registration). To register, e-mail seminarlondon@colorkinetics.com.

(Ruth Rossington)

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The Oxford Street Virgin Megastore has installed a D.A.S. PA system for use on its high profile in-store live stage. Arizona-based Jimmy Eat World was the first band to use the full system, appearing there recently, in the middle of a sell-out UK tour promoting their ‘Self Titled’ studio album and new single ‘The Middle’.

The D.A.S. system, comprising four Compact 1 bi-amplified,1000W, 133dB three-way system cabs and four SUB-118 self-powered 500W 131dB cabinets, was specified by Virgin Megastore events manager Simon Dornan who was impressed by a hired D.A.S. system during an in-store set by UK band Elbow. The Megastore provides a launchpad for UK promotional campaigns for many up and coming and established artists and Dornan is well aware of the quality required: "The Megastore is a major date for a wide range of artists and the success of the events relie

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At the close of last year, history was made in Moscow as Nord-Ost, the first permanent musical production in Russia to be staged on such a vast scale, opened to the public. A story about love, hatred, heroism and betrayal, the musical is based on the novel Two Captains by Russian author Veniamin Kaverin. Nord-Ost is unusual not just for its scale; it is the first musical theatre performance in Russia to use a wide range of sophisticated western technology, supplied by London's Lighting Technology and Doka Media of Russia.

The novel is set in a number of contrasting locations, which means that its musical adaptation has to recreate dramatic changes of scenery, including the Northern Lights over the Arctic Ocean, a military plane landing on the tundra, the ghostly appearance of a wrecked ship and a train leaving a Moscow railway station. To bring these images to life

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UV/FX scenic productions of Los Angeles have recently completed the set design and painting for Shaggy's current tour. The Grammy nominated artist wanted a muslin backdrop (28ft x 40ft) and two side legs (28ft x 12ft) which would portray a traditional Jamaican beach scene under normal light and transform to a magical night scene of the beach under UV illumination.

UV/FX president Richard Green told us: "We had been speaking with Shaggy's people for a while and we finally decided to do a mixed Day to Night and Dual Image style." With the addition of the side legs and some smaller scrims designed to work in the front of the stage, the set had many lighting options and the multiple scenic elements gave incredible depth to the stage. The scenery was designed to work well under any lighting conditions and to simulate different times of the day based on the type of colored light us

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Online Learning 2002 Europe - an event addressing the issues of online learning - was held recently at London’s ExCel. CT London was commissioned by GMA Events, the exhibition and conference organizers for Online Learning, to provide a total of seven bespoke areas split by their respective technology and conference requirements. CT had also been asked to service the needs of those who were to exhibit during the event, which covered visitors and delegates from some 38 different countries.

CT provided audio visual hardware including projection, lighting and audio, with feeds for use with translation booths for international delegates attending the numerous Q & A sessions. The company also covered two separate break-out rooms in the ExCel conference centre and one area in the main exhibition hall, again utilizing vast stocks of projection, audio, VT and data hardware. CT also provid

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Audio-Technica has appointed Stuart Russell as area sales manager for central UK. Russell joins the company following a five-year spell with Soundcraft and takes on responsibility for sales and customer support in the midlands and Wales. Managing director Paul Maher officially welcomed Russell to the company during the recent Musikmesse exhibition: "I am extremely pleased to have Stuart on board. His appointment means that we now have one of the strongest field sales teams in this industry and his friendly and efficient style fits in perfectly with the philosophy of the company."

Audio-Technica has also promoted Tony Cooper to the role of market manager, UK, with responsibly for overseeing the UK sales team. Tony will combine his new duties with his previous role and will continue to work in the field servicing A-T’s customers across the north of the UK and Ireland.

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Allen & Heath used the recent Musikmesse trade show to showcase an esoteric rotary mixer concept, which goes by the working title of Xone:V6. Although the exact specification of the final design is still not complete, the company has set out a clear mission statement for the product: to provide the best audio quality of any club mixer, past or present.

Xone series designer Andy Rigby-Jones has been researching and testing the very best components available for this project, including thermionic valves and VU meters based on an original 1950s design. The emphasis on quality means that a single rotary fader for the Xone:V6 will cost as much as some complete entry-level mixers. Rigby-Jones commented: "I wanted to give visitors to the Musikmesse a chance to see where the company is going on this project and to tell me what changes they would like to see between the prototype and the f

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The past year has seen a close working relationship develop between two leaders in the field of theatre sound design. Aura Sound Design Ltd and Orbital Sound have collaborated on a number of high-profile west-end shows, including Mahler’s Conversion, Private Lives and most recently the highly acclaimed revival of George and Ira Gershwin’s My One And Only, which recently premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre and is now playing to packed houses at The Piccadilly Theatre in London.

Fergus O’Hare, one of Aura’s directors, wanted to incorporate a number of new products into his sound design for the show, and turned to Orbital to provide the solutions. Fergus commented: "By championing new technology, we’re able to offer producers, directors and cast technically advanced solutions which improve a production on several levels. From enhancing sound

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QSC Audio has introduced the new DSP-4 digital signal processor, which offers two channels of independent DSP and attaches to the back of most 2-channel DataPort-equipped QSC amplifiers - without occupying any additional rack space. Capitalizing on the success of the DSP-3, the second-generation DSP-4 provides a number of enhancements as well as incorporating balanced XLR connectors. These improvements include enhanced A/D and D/A converters for superior signal-to-noise performance and upgraded software that significantly increases the unit’s operational characteristics.

With its new A/D and D/A converters, the DSP-4’s boasts an improved noise floor. These new converters provide an unweighted dynamic range of >106dB (20Hz - 20kHz) for a 4V input sensitivity. Software refinements to the DSP-4 (which will also retrofit the DSP-3 and DSP-30) include the addition of a true powe

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