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UK - The penetration of Martin Audio Blackline systems into the UK's dance venues continues. The latest company to turn to the high-powered, low-cost solution is Gravesend Sound & Light, with two new installations in their native Kent for Luminar Leisure. "Blackline is a great product, and we can't seem to go wrong with it," said Gravesend installation manager Simon Middleton. "It just doesn't produce that harshness of sound we have experienced with other systems."

Club Indigo/The Beach has been a popular venue on the Folkestone coastline since its original incarnation as La Parisienne. When the sound system began to repeatedly break down the Gravesend company recommended a system comprising eight Martin Blackline F15s, flown in pairs and angled around the danc

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Europe - Lego has recently opened three new retail stores in Cologne, Milton Keynes and Moscow. These stores all make extensive use of effect lighting to add atmosphere and excitement to the specialist display areas in the stores. Designed and maintained in house by Lego AudioVisuals, the architectural and effect lighting in all stores is controlled by a Medialon system.

The objective of the new Lego stores is to bring excitement to users. Leif Andresen, AV project manager says: "We think it is important that there should be something to stimulate the interest of both children and adults. For example, the lighting will change colour throughout the day. The large video screens will constantly show new images, and as soon as a new Lego product is announced, it will be marketed in a special way in our brand stores."

Ethernet is used as the backbone for transmitting the

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UK - A.C. Lighting Ltd has recently completed an exclusive six-week training programme for new trainee sales executives to join its UK and Export sales teams. Trainees have been given a comprehensive induction to the entertainment technology industry, from cables and connectors to state-of the-art lighting control consoles.

The intensive training programme was designed to provide considerable insight to all aspects of A.C. Lighting's business, from individual products through to hands-on exposure to the entire sales cycle. By drawing on specific product range expertise within A.C. Lighting, key employees imparted their valuable knowledge from years in the industry to create customized training modules. In addition, many of A.C. Lighting's suppliers were able to provide representatives for the programme, offering informative demonstration of the features and benefits that their c

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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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The Netherlands - Alcons Audio is a new Dutch company set up to develop and manufacture professional sound systems for quality-conscious clients in the cinema, installation and touring industry. The company was set up by former Stage Accompany sales and marketing director Tom Back in October. Back comments: "Not satisfied with the products available on the market and the opportunities we had in our previous positions, we left as a team and decided to establish our own company."

Alcons Audio is backed by a group of private investors with Tom Back and senior R&D engineer Philip de Haan owning the majority of shares. The company employs seven people in total, each with 15+ years experience in the different aspects of development, manufacturing and marketing of professional sound systems. "The investors are willing to allow us the time necessary to achieve a good posi

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UK - The Newcastle Regional Art Gallery in the Hunter region of NSW, Australia, rivals all other public collections in Australia with its quality and breadth. Some 3,000 works of art present an encyclopedic view of Australian art from colonial times, and many major artists are represented in the exhibition. A recent change of curator at the Gallery has led to some key changes, one being a proposal for a new look for the front of the building. Newcastle-based company Custom Audio Installations was approached by the Gallery to develop some ideas on how to enhance the rather plain, concrete wall that greets the visitor.

Colin Rothapfel owner of Custom Audio met with gallery staff to decide what could be used to brighten the façade and attract more people to the Gallery. Custom Audio had, on previous occasions, supplied the Gallery with Martin MACs to light a number of launches and

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UK - Heaven, described as the most famous gay nightclub in the world, has taken delivery of a new high-powered 4-way sound system. Inspired by its new owners, David Inches (who has been involved with the club since its beginning), Jeremy Millins and Paul Savory - who recently bought out Virgin Clubs' interest in the venue - the contract was entrusted to experienced installation contractors, Blue Box Company.

Headed by Mark Metcalf - who has a long association with Millins - Blue Box specified a QSC PowerLight system to drive the component parts of a carefully thought-out Funktion One system design. Resident production manager, Rob Barton said that the venue, situated under vaulted arches at London's Charing Cross, had recently benefited from £50,000 of sound screening and acoustic treatment, which had prevented sound leakage and enabled Heaven to raise the power rating fro

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UK - The optical precision of Christie digital projection has helped Immedia (the newly-formed AV division of Northern Light) to provide a lecture theatre solution for the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey. Operating in partnership with the Royal Marsden NHS Trust, The Institute of Cancer Research is one of the world's leading cancer research organizations.

The new Brookes Lawley Building is designed to implement several exciting new scientific initiatives, particularly relating to the Cancer Genome Project. It was in the new 197-seat tiered lecture theatre on the facility's first floor that Immedia installed a projection system - as part of a complete AV fit-out - based around Christie's digital Vista X3, front-projected onto a roll-down screen.

Immedia project manager, Dave Pritchard, says: "The origins of this project go back four years. We urged the Insti

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Germany - During this year's Telex EVI Audio in-house exhibition (Hausmesse), from the 24 to 26 January, the Dynacord Cobra celebrated its first birthday. Despite its acoustic merits and handling advantages, with larger applications the Cobra came up against its natural power limits. That is when customers began asking for more projection and sound pressure, and in response Dynacord have come up with the Cobra-4. Employing active 4-way technology, the latest member of the Cobra family is capable of generating twice the projection of the active 2-way system, according to Hans Bürger, Dynacord's product manager.

Responsible for the increase in power is on the one hand the Cobra-4 PWH, a horn-loaded enclosure generating higher sound pressure levels than the conventional Cobra sub-bass enclosure. To complement it, Dynacord's research and development team devised the Cobra-4 Far, wh

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USA - When the latest production of the smash-hit ABBA musical Mamma Mia opened in Las Vegas on 3 February, it became the eighth full-scale production of the show running concurrently in the world - and saw the show taking delivery of a further 17 DHA Digital Light Curtains, bringing the total used by the musical to 136.

Mamma Mia first appeared in April 1999 at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, the production directed by Phyllida Law and designed by Mark Thompson with lighting by Howard Harrison. Harrison made use of a wide selection of automated lighting equipment, but central to the rig were eleven eight-lamp Digital Light Curtains "absolutely fantastic for creating a strong backlight, the clean, clear look of Greek sunlight," said Harrison.

The show immediately became a smash hit, with Harrison nominated for an Olivier Award for his lighting. Mor

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Canada - Following record sales growth in 2002, Pathway Connectivity has made another significant investment to further increase its ability to service the needs of its customers. Two new staff members have joined the company, each with a unique set of skills that will be visible to customers both in the near term and further down the road. Jon-Paul (JP) Bussoli will bolster technical support and Virginia Massey joins customer service.

JP is a graduate of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology with a shiny new Diploma in Electronics Engineering. He will complete intensive in-house training and industry orientation over the next two months, after which he will begin to handle entry-level support calls.

Virginia Massey met Kerri Parsons, Pathway's Customer Service Manager at a CITT conference last summer. They both hit it off and Kerri recommended her as an addition to the

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UK - Channel 4 and E4's latest reality TV show, The Salon, is using Audio-Technica microphones to ensure the audience misses none of the drama. The ES933 microphone, with its combination of broadcast quality sound and diminutive on-screen presence, has proved itself well suited to the requirements of the show's unique AV system, with a total of 33 units discretely suspended throughout the studio.

Also on duty is an AT871WR boundary layer microphone. Originally developed for water sports broadcasts, the waterproof 871WR has been charged with the task of handling the high-humidity environment of the Sauna. Freelance sound supervisor, Oliver France, is responsible for specifying and running the audio system on behalf production company Endemol. Having enjoyed great successes working with Audio-Technica on the last two series of Big Bother, France had no hesitation in once again tur

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UK - The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) has warned its members in the past about scams in which companies are approached by organizations claiming to be 'collectors' for Data Protection Act registration. The approaches are often in the form of a letter, and carry demands for a registration fee (often £95 +VAT) along with erroneous 'reminders' that failure to register could result in a fine of up to £5,000. Other 'collectors' have even visited companies in person, and displayed convincing-looking ID tags.

It seems that the practice is still continuing, with up to 18 bogus agencies known to be engaged in the scam - for a full list, visit the web address below. Anyone being approached with a similar request is asked not to make any payments, and to contact their local police.

(Lee Baldock)

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UAE - The Middle East's sound and lighting industry is expected to be worth $1 billion a year in three-to five years time, according to Matthew Griffiths, CEO of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), the leading international association for the industry. He was speaking in Dubai at the first Pro Audio Light Middle East (PALME) trade show, an event officially endorsed by the organisation.

PLASA's own research into the global market indicates that the sound and lighting sector generates $20 billion a year worldwide. "With so much construction and so many major events in the Middle East, we anticipate that the Middle East will grow to be worth $1 billion a year. The sector is already worth that a year in the UK and the Middle East can certainly match this given the level of activity here.

"This is a dynamic part of the world. It isn't afraid to be lo

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UK - Since Fuzion took on the Australian Monitor brand some 18 months ago, the partnership has exceeded all expectations. Specialising in public address equipment exclusively for the contracting market, the brand has more than lived up to its promise of delivering useful, reliable, well-built product at prices that are almost too good to be true. Indeed, the last twelve months have seen a staggering 1500% growth in sales for Fuzion with the trend set to continue.

Sales director Paul Ward is understandably pleased. "Obviously going from a standing start, any sales are going to be represented as fairly substantial percentage increases on paper, but the growth we've achieved since we started with Australian Monitor has been truly phenomenal. Our product specialist, Linton Smeeton, has been doing a great job, and we have excellent support from Australian Monitor themselves. But

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UK - Architectural lighting specialists I-vision supplied Tim Matthews of Fentura Production Services with Studio Due City Colors and assorted other lighting fixtures to highlight three buildings in the new Paddington Basin development - which is largely still under construction. Matthews managed the four-week project for event production company Light Bitz. He also created the eye-catching lighting scheme for the buildings - The Point, and the new Marks & Spencer HQ, Waterside 1 and 2. The Point is scheduled to be handed over to mobile phone company Orange at the end of the month, and Waterside was finished by the end of 2002.

The aim of the lighting project was to raise the profile of the buildings and supply some eye-candy to attract the attention of passing motorists, crawling their way into and out of London on the A40 in evening rush hour. Shows ran from 3pm to midnight ea

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UK - When Graham Norton and Angellica Bell hit the big red button to launch this year's Comic Relief fund-raising event on 7 February, the Fourth Phase crew were behind the scenes ensuring that London's BT Tower turned into a fiery red pillar. Then, with all the lighting equipment in place, later that same evening the second phase of the project kicked off with material for a series of 13 upcoming BT advertisements being projected down the side of the tower, from the new directory enquiries number to the Comic Relief donation number.

PR agency Sinclair Mason came up with the idea of turning the tower red back in September 2002 as part of a documentary on Comic Relief for Children's BBC and got in touch with lighting and large format projection specialist Fourth Phase London. To create the radiant tower, Fourth Phase employed lighting designer Paul Cook, who, in turn, opted for s

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USA - For the third year running, TiMax audio imaging and surround sound animation systems have featured on multiple car launches, press conferences, and charity events at the landmark NAIAS show in Detroit's Cobo Centre.

NAIAS and TiMax veterans On Stage Audio deployed TiMax ImageMaker16s in both the Jeep and Chrysler booth arenas to provide speech image localization for the several 'edu-tainment' presenters delivering rapid-fire market messages from various locations around the booth to a wide-spread audience. In addition, each brand utilized TiMax for mood-enhancing surround sound effects and playback in their respective spaces. Sound designers were OSA's Jim Risgin and Kelly Epperson, with on-site programming support by Robin Whittaker from UK-based TiMax developers, Out Board.

On the Ford booth, New York's Rock City Sound supplied a 16x32 TiMax Rack System specified by UK

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UK - The latest addition to the Chroma-Q range of colour changers is the Cascade, which utilises two internal gel-strings and the latest technology to provide over 300 useable colours from a single unit. Offering the same level of reliability and affordable technology, the new compact and lightweight Cascade offers many new features and enhancements creating the most versatile Chroma-Q to date.

A Universal Mounting System (UMS) eliminates the need for individual mounting plates, and by simple adjustment makes this unit instantly compatible with a range of lanterns with up to a 175mm lens, suitable for up to 50º beam angle (without light loss). The Cascade is supplied complete with gel-strings, and further benefits from an integrated heat shield, which increases gel-string longevity, particularly beneficial for higher wattage lanterns. The unit additionally features two operatio

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Germany / UK - Columbus McKinnon has announced a change to the distribution of its entertainment products within Europe. With immediate effect, Pfaff Stage Technology, based in Augsburg, Germany, will concentrate on industrial lifting solutions only, while their UK-based subsidiary, PCM, will now be servicing all of Europe for Columbus McKinnon's entertainment products, including the market-leading Lodestar chain hoist. PCM will now also be manufacturing specialist Lodestar hoists in the UK. These specials include models to meet the German BGV C1 standard and were previously produced by Pfaff in Germany.

In order to maintain a mainland Europe stock of product, CM has also announced the addition of Sonoss of Lille, France to its Master Distribution network. "Sonoss has sold the Lodestar and our other products for some time, but they are now investing in stocks of our most po

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USA - QSC's revamped website is now making its online debut with new, easy-to-navigate pages sporting sleek graphics and a number of other enhancements. A useful and entertaining tool for everyone from seasoned touring pros and contractors to consultants and even garage bands on their way up, the site has been completely overhauled with refinements including an ability to conduct searches for any product from any page using either the navigation bar, search engine, or drop-down menus.

Products are listed by market category, and all relevant information on each of those products ranging from detailed specs to user manuals can be viewed from a single location. One of the most other noticeable elements within the site's broadened scope is its expanded image base. In relevant cases, product photos reveal front and rear panel views on the same page at the simple movement of the curso

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UK - Avesco plc has announced that it plans to converge Screenco with its Creative Technology London business. Explaining the move, Graham Andrews, chief executive of the Creative Technology Group, stated: "We really started this process nearly a year ago. Our plans will be to provide an integrated CT and Screenco service from a single site and we are currently looking for a new building, since none of our existing premises are large enough."

He added: "Screenco remains extremely successful - largely as a specialist screen operation - and in our changing market, we think it makes better sense to consolidate it with CT. Until we are able to centralize our workforce and equipment within a single building, we intend to establish a combined CT and Screenco structure, with single sales, project management and operations teams - and one combined group of technicians. Th

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