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Professional audio systems specialist Shermann UK is reporting excellent orders for two powerful PA products launched in November last year. Shermann's MRL-3, a compact multi-role loudspeaker and the powerful R118-B single 18" VLF system, have already seen success on busy tour schedules by Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior. More orders are now being received from across Wales and the UK. The sound system for the recent Maddy Prior tour was provided by Woking-based Kinetic, one of the network of rental companies who use Shermann equipment. The Shermann R118-B and MRL-3 were also used by Kinetic for Premier Radio's Christmas Party at Westminster Hall where Sir Cliff Richard played a major part in the celebrations.

Kinetic auditioned the prototype R118-B single 18" VLF system on sever

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Audio Sound Advice of Blackpool have supplied a complete audio system for the new production of Funny Girls, which re-opened recently at its new home in the old Odeon Cinema in Blackpool. The Funny Girls concept is to entertain the audience with famous show songs and arrangements, all performed by men in drag.

The refurbishment of the art deco theatre - complete with gilt adornments and deep carpets - included work in the private members club, nightclub, restaurant, main bar and feeder bars.

Audio Sound Advice’s Peter Bawden designed the theatre audio system and he and business partner Kevin Jones spent three months working closely with Phillip Holmes, project manager for venue owners In The Pink Leisure to ensure that it met all the venue’s needs. (ITPL was founded over 20 years ago by Basil Newby and now operates many of Blackpool’s most colourful venues.)

The

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Complex, competing and constantly upgraded software packages to drive DSP engines are providing a scourge to installers, according to Ivor Green & Associates. "We have tried most of the proprietary devices in our time - but we desperately need to reduce the time it’s taking our technical staff to get their heads around so many software versions, which they then have to carry to site because they are often not retro-compatible."

Green believes this to be the inherent weakness of the new generation digital processing. But now he thinks he has found the solution in TOA’s DP-0206 modular digital signal processor. And if the first flurry of installations proves successful, he aims to standardise on it. Ivor Green & Associates have already installed a DP-0206 in the new Life in Leeds for Luminar Leisure, and will shortly be fitting out half a dozen Midlands-based Litton

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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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BarcoEvents receives orders for over 5000 square feet (450 square meters) of its award-winning LED displays during the first quarter of 2002, posting a growth of over 50% over the same period last year. The division, one of the fastest growing within the Barco group, boasts several substantial orders this year, including orders by US-based wholesale rental giant VER (Video Equipment Rentals), multi-national event engineering companies PSL Group (USA & UK), the Avesco Group’s Screenco & Creative Technology (USA & UK), as well as VPS (France), Imag -Video (USA) and AV Teknik (Sweden). BarcoEvents has already received LED orders in excess of US$25 million during the first quarter of this year.

According to industry market research data, BarcoEvents counted over 60% market share (by value) of the total global LED rental market during 2001. The recently-released growth figures indicat

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The enclosed photos are from the Caracas Pop Festival where UV/FX designed and painted 2 large scenic pieces that fit on the 30' x 50' main speakers. The promoters wanted the logo of the festival to become visible at opportune times and have control over when the logo appeared and disappeared. The art was created to match the rainforest like setting of this festival and painted on sound transmitting linofilled scrim. The much-anticipated musical extravaganza started on 13 March and ran until 17 March, just outside of Caracas, Venezuela. The five-day concert features many favorite artists on one stage and was attended over 30,000 people. UV/FX has also recently completed custom designed and painted scenic projects for Shaggy, The City Of Science Museum in Paris and many more projects worldwide.

(Lee Baldock)

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Drawmer has announced the launch of a new product range, incorporating the Tube Station 1 stereo mic pre/tube compressor (TS1) and the Tube Station 2 Dual Tube Compressor (TS2). The TS1 offers a wide dynamic range Class A mic/instrument pre-amp with high-pass filter and HF contour control followed by a stereo soft-knee compressor with independent variable ‘Tube Drive’ control. An optional digital output module (DC1) with SPDIF, Word Clock and AES/EBU connections enables high quality 24 bit/96K digital conversion. The TS2 is a dual mono or stereo linkable soft knee compressor with each channel equipped with a variable ‘Tube Drive’ control which can be switched out of the signal path for instant A/B comparison. An optional digital output module (DC1) with SPDIF, Word Clock and AES/EBU connections enables high quality 24 bit/96K digital conversion.

Marketing direct

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A new multi-storey themed café bar in London’s chic Mayfair area, Café Grand Prix has been developed by a consortium of Monaco-based financiers at a cost of nearly £10million. Now London’s largest bar and restaurant, it takes its style and name from the famous venue located on the legendary Rascasse bend at the Monaco Grand Prix race circuit in Monte Carlo.

Onyx Projects were asked by architects Smith Caradoc-Hodgkins (SCH) to design an integrated AV solution after the two companies had worked together on developing the Rainforest Café concept. There are three individually styled restaurants contained within the vast 22,000sq.ft footprint on the site for the former Thomas Cook head office - occupying the ground floor and two basement levels. The feature area - La Rascasse Restaurant - is a large, 170-cover banqueting room, which is also available for corporate functions

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Since its debut in 1999, when it won both the PLASA Award for Product Excellence and the EDDY Award - City Theatrical’s AutoYoke continues to find more favour as designers and production managers see how its versatility and reliability make their work easier.

AutoYokes play a starring role in a planetarium show at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, CT, where a 150ft-wide planetarium dome rises about three stories into the air. Each AutoYoke is fitted with a mirror system and paired with a Vicom Wega 1200 slide projector. Images of clouds, stars and moons are projected onto the mirrors, and the mirrors move as the AutoYokes pan and tilt - making the clouds drift, the stars shoot, and the moons rise and fall.

"We installed 17 AutoYokes in August, and they are working very well," says Hank Forrest, senior associate principal at Fisher Marantz Stone, the show’s m

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Grandmaster Flash, founder of modern hip hop, is touring Europe using a specially customised Rane TTM 54i mixer. Flash’s set is a combination of retrospective sounds from his block party roots in the 1970s, presented in a contemporary style and atmosphere using the latest technology from Rane. His set sounds every bit as fresh and original as ever, creating positive energies and vibes plus a distinctive 21 century sound via the art of scratch mixing.

Flash has always customised his gear, right from the start. Originally, he explained, this was because the equipment simply wasn’t designed for the creative style of mixing he pioneered. He has now used Rane equipment for a couple of years: the first time he heard a Rane mixer - whilst playing at the New York club Life - he fell in love with it’s clear sound. "Rane is simply the cleanest mixer I’ve found,"

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Show Presentation Services (SPS) has just completed a number of events for children's charities, including the Microsoft NSPCC Ball, Scene and Heard's fundraising event, the Rhys Daniels' Trust Valentines Ball and the Children of Achievement awards, all of which took place in London.

Microsoft corporate social responsibility manager Sarah Foxall commented: "SPS was able to proactively think through the difficult issues presented by the event, and come up with solutions that allowed us to put on a great evening for our guests. With the generous support of our suppliers like SPS the Microsoft Charity Ball has been able to raise over £360,000 for the NSPCC over the last eight years." Ray Lowton, SPS's head of sound, said: "We try to make these events as painless for charities as possible. Working with charities is always rewarding and we like to feel that we can find time

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QVC has purchase 10 Vari*Lite VL1000 ellipsoidal reflector spotlights in another step toward its goal of fully automating the studio from which its programs are broadcast 24 hours a day. The new lights will allow QVC to make set changes without having to refocus, move or re-hang light fixtures. "Because we have such a strange format, we may be lighting a musical act for one program and lighting a kitchen set with Emeril Lagasse the next," said QVC lighting supervisor Doug Rae. "With the VL1000 fixtures, it doesn't matter, we can do it all with the same light. The wide angle of the beam is quite impressive. When we aren't using it with the shutters, we can pull back and use it as a washlight."

Four of the luminaires will be used on QVC's fashion set, primarily to project the logo or trademark of each particular designer onto a different area of the set. Because the f

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Trantec has launched the PT1 ‘Personal trainer’ system, in conjunction with major UK fitness centre specialist, Unique Systems, who will market the system under the Active Audio banner. The system provides each fitness centre member with a choice of multiple audio channels on the move. Up to 14 channels of digital audio can be transmitted from a bank of Trantec PT1 transmitters: any number of users can switch at will between any of the channels within a range of 100m, using their low-profile, personal beltpack receivers. Apart from the obvious benefits to the membership, the system also offers advantages to the club’s owners, as no ceilings have to be pulled down, no walls have to be channelled out and no floors need to be lifted to accomodate the Active Audio system. In fact, Unique Systems are quoting a fourhour installation with no down-time

"For many years no

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Proel’s new Extreme PA package offers a plug-and-play solution for bands, artists and DJs looking for an easy to use, reliable and affordable PA. The Extreme EXKIT1210 is a self-powered 250W RMS twin enclosure system comprising a 12" subwoofer with 2" voice coil, 10" woofer with 1.4" voice coil, plus tweeter unit with spherical horn. The system is simple to set-up and operate, coming with all necessary components for a plug and play operation. The Extreme system features carpet-covered, 18mm wood cabinets fitted with kick-proof steel grilles, yet is easily transportable. The subwoofer weighs just 47lbs (21.5Kg), the full-range enclosure just 20lbs (9kg).

(Lee Baldock)

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With song-based music currently poised to make a major comeback, the recent growth of London’s Bayswater showcase venue, Tall Poppy Presents, has seen the venue become one of the hottest spots in town for A&R people and unsigned artists. Faced with a demanding, critical audience and international performers whose potential careers depend on the best possible sound quality, Tall Poppy has chosen FBT MaxX4a active PA speakers, supplied by UK distributor Proel (International).

The venue, situated at Henry’s Bar/Restaurant in the Henry VIIIth Hotel, Bayswater, is hosted each week by Canadian singer-songwriter Lee Lindsey, who performs her own material as well as introducing performances from a string of artists. The music is often demanding and the audience is fussy. Responsible for getting the sound right is guest engineer, record producer, Jack Guy. Jack (whose recording cred

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A strategic contingent of 27 South African roadies has embarked on a 20-city US tour which will cover coast-to-coast principal venues, in an initiative engineered with UniverSoul Circus, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The seven-month outing with Platinum Soul 2002 carves out the global collaborative stage that enhances technical exchange projects between the Republic of South Africa and the USA.

This initiative extends the five-year European projects, which cover Ireland, Holland, Denmark, France and Norway. In July 2001, while on a world tour through South Africa, Cedric Walker met with the president of SARA (South African Roadies Association), Freddie Nyathela, in Johannesburg and discussed ways and means of establishing joint-projects that could foster technical transfer initiatives. Within a year of that historic meeting, the scheme has come to fruition, falling in line with the ob

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The new Fairmont Hotel in Dubai has installed 160 Exterior 600 outdoor color changers from Martin Professional to add an eye-catching wash of color to the hotel’s four concave facades and rooftop turrets. As it is located on the Sheikh Zayed road - with more than 40 high-rise buildings - the client understandably wanted the Fairmont to stand out from the rest. Apart from gently washing the building, automated lighting is used to give the hotel greater flexibility in the lighting scheme - for example, the possibility to paint various color schemes for festivals and other occasions. The installation has created a special atmosphere in which dynamic lighting is used as an extension of more functional illumination.

Nouran Trading, the chief supplier of lighting for the project, brought in lighting design consultancy DHA Lighting Design Services to co-ordinate a proposal for the facad

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Mach’s new M-Flex series offers a unique solution to high quality audio reproduction, whether the application is smaller musical productions, AV work, stage monitoring or spoken word performances. Comprehensive rigging and mounting options combine with intelligent digital bi-amplification technology to create what Mach say is a truly flexible system.

The drive units in the M-Flex series have been custom designed to address key issues such as ultra-wide dispersion, linear frequency response, ultimate speech intelligibility and all fitted in a compact, lightweight and easy to handle cabinet. A unique customized 12" full-range coaxial drive unit has been designed for the M-Flex 12, which offers unsurpassed speech intelligibility, wide dispersion and impressive sound pressure. The 12" unit features a strong die-cast chassis and a 3" edge-wound voice coil. The 1" c

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ARX Systems, the Australian manufacturer of professional audio products, has appointed KEM Electronics Ltd as the company’s new exclusive distributor for Greece. ARX managing director Colin Park told PLASA Media: "ARX is delighted to have Thimios Koliokotsis and his experienced team at KEM on board as our new exclusive distributor. KEM were established in 1983 and are viewed as a pioneer in the Greek professional audio and video market."

(Lee Baldock)

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D.A.S. Audio created its Autopol directivity measurement and post-processing platform in 1994 to provide high resolution polar measurements. A key element of the system was a large group of in-house developed algorithms that took care of the numerous computations. This included the PolArray module for performing array simulations with an accuracy unknown to commercial software. Due to the ‘in-house’ nature and the cryptic user interface of PolArray, the challenge became turning the overwhelming amount of information generated into a meaningful tool for the end-user when designing arrays.

Joe Brusi, Autopol director, explains: "People frequently ask us about what the coverage of such and such array would be for a given speaker model. Really, there is no quick answer, since it involves calculating the interference between the different boxes in the array. Even though, th

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Beverley Knight, the UK’s premier soul/R&B solo artist, is currently touring Europe and recently appeared as a special guest to Jamiroquai on his UK arena tour. Beverley is enjoying high chart positions with her two recent hit singles ‘Get Up!’ and ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’ and after a break of two years the multi award-winning artist returns with a long awaited new album, which has just gone Gold.

A gospel singer since the tender age of three, Beverley has a voice which will send a tingle down the spine of the most cynical sound professionals. Beverley is an avid Shure user and her front-of-house engineer Matt Napier commented: "Shure mics were used exclusively for Beverley’s band and included Shure Beta 52s on kick drums and bass with a Beta 56 on snare drum, an SM81 on hi-hat plus two Beta 98s on the toms. The three backing singers used Beta 58

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At the recent NSCA exhibition in Denver, Colorado, Mackie Designs introduced a high performance, flush-mounted ceiling speaker for the fixed installation market. The new SP400C achieves superior dispersion and pattern control over conventional coaxial designs thanks to a unique high-frequency, exponential wave-guide originally developed for Mackie’s award winning studio monitors. The wave-guide combines with a 6.5-inch driver that has been optimized for smooth frequency response and seamless transition through the crossover point to redefine the price/performance ratio for commercial ceiling speakers.

"This is a very exciting new product for Mackie," stated Costa Lakoumentas, corporate director for global installed product and market development for Mackie Designs Inc. "The SP400C has been designed to be extremely contractor-friendly and easy to install while benef

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