Details
UK - DHA Lighting may be best known for its gobos, however it's the company's fibre optic effects which are in use on the new smash-hit musical Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre.

DHA supplied six harnesses, with 405 fibre tails and six DHA Lightsource Mark 2 light sources, which were specified by set designer Julian Crouch in collaboration with lighting designer Rick Fisher and the Lyttelton Theatre's chief lighting technician Paul McLeish.

"DHA have been providing fibre optic effects to theatres for a long time - it was one of the earliest product ranges the company offered," comments DHA's UK & Eire sales manager Louise Tester. For a new production of Pinocchio at the Teatro Della Luna in Milan, lighting designer Chris Ellis will be us

Details
Japan - Audio post-production specialist Office Terra has become the first facility in the world to place an order for Solid State Logic's new C200 digital production console. The facility, which is affiliated to key Japanese broadcaster NTV (Nippon Television Network Corporation), handles video sound sweetening for a range of television programmes including news and documentaries.

At present, Office Terra engineers work on a Solid State Logic SL4000 G Series console, but have decided to upgrade to the new digital desk because it offers greater flexibility and versatility. Office Terra's engineers say they chose the C200 because it is ergonomically very similar to the SL4000 G they were used to, and therefore immediately felt familiar to them. Once installed, it will be used in conjunction with hard disk audio systems and digital VTRs.

The C200 provides the latest adaptation o

Details
USA - Jamie Engen, president and CEO of Mackie Designs Inc has announced the appointment of Tim O'Neil as chief financial officer for the company. O'Neil brings nearly 20 years of financial management experience to Mackie: he most recently served as CFO of Washington-based Trendwest Resorts, where he was a key member of the executive group responsible for a 30% 5-year compound annual growth rate of revenue and net income.

From 1988 to 1998, O'Neil worked for Bank One Corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. There he served as vice-president of corporate banking and later, director of loan syndications, Bank One Capital Markets. O'Neil will work out of Mackie's headquarters in Woodinville, Washington.

(Ruth Rossington)

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
UK - Autograph Sound Recording's Chris Full was recently called in by Bill Kenwright to redesign the sound system for his new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the New London Theatre. The show had been open a number of weeks when Kenwright went to see the Autograph-designed production of Ragtime at the Piccadilly. He was impressed with the quality of the sound on that production and commissioned Chris Full to recreate the same quality on Joseph.

Kenwright's revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical features gold lamé sweeping staircases, huge cut-out pharaohs and pop-up inflatable sheep and stars ex-Boyzone Stephen Gately in the leading role.It retains the exuberance of Lloyd Webber's original musical score, which borrows musical styles from Elvis and calypso. "The system is designed to deliver an exciting audio

Details
UK - Audace Ltd, manufacturers of the Intelliplate programmable control system for audio-visual installations, has appointed Audio Telex Communications Pty Ltd of Sydney to distribute its products exclusively in Australia and New Zealand. The deal, which was brokered by Audace's global distribution partner Comsec International, will see Audace benefit from Audio Telex's profile as an established distributor in the professional audio field, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland.

Following the appointment, Audace's managing director, Bryan Waters, recently visited the distributors' Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane facilities. The visit provided Audio Telex staff and key dealers with an opportunity to view the system first-hand, receive technical training and gain an glimpse into the future of the Intelliplate product range.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
UK - Lighting Technology Projects, a member of the PAI Group of companies, has recently secured UK authorized dealership of Advanced Fiber Optics' range of products. Members of the LTP team have been to AFO's Barcelona training facility to learn about design concepts, product knowledge and installation.

The AFO range offers Dry Fusion Termination which provides a stable and optically perfect common end. High quality end fittings, using a patented termination and coupling system, mean that the products can be quickly installed. Additionally, diverse ranges of illuminators, including Halogen and Discharge, and full animation for use with harnesses in 'kit-form' for achieving effects, are available.

Terry Reeves, director of LTP, commented: "The AFO range of products will enable us to offer novel, cost-effective, low maintenance solutions in many applications where fibre opt

Details
Switzerland - Situated in idyllic surroundings at the edge of Lake Geneva and with breathtaking views of the Alps, the town of Montreux in Switzerland is a destination guaranteed to draw visitors in their masses. But while its offerings of vineyards and skiing are crowd-pullers in themselves, the famous jazz festival, held in the Montreux Centre de Congrès for two weeks each July, is one of the most popular events on the town's calendar.

While the festival features predominantly in its annual schedule, the Montreux Centre also hosts a diverse range of other events, from conferences and exhibitions, to product launches and various other concerts and festivals. Consisting of two main buildings, the older of the two recently underwent an extensive refurbishment with ETC brought on board to provide the lighting and dimming control systems.

ETC Europe's David Gray met with Didier

Details
UK - Allen & Heath has developed the PL Designer and PL Client software for the company's new DSP iDR system, enabling the user to design and operate virtual 'wall plates'. The software runs on Windows operating systems and provides the user with PC remote control of the iDR system over an Ethernet link, which can be used in place of, or in combination with, the hardware PL range of wall plates.

The PL Designer application allows the installer to configure virtual wall plates to control all the functions of the iDR system, including input and output levels, zoning facilities and paging systems, as well as triggering external systems interfacing with the iDR such as curtains, lighting, alarms, a jukebox or CD player. The installer can set the functions to be controlled by the end user and also limit certain functions that may harm the system.

The saved configuration can be ope

Details
USA - Celine Dion's spectacular new show has opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Designed by Franco Dragone, creator of some of Cirque du Soleil's most critically-acclaimed shows, A New Day is the showcase production of The Colosseum, a newly-built 4,000-seat theatre attached to Caesars Palace, which took two years to build and cost $95 million.The new show will run five days a week, 40 weeks a year, for three years.

Dion is performing on a 36 x 24 metre stage, along with her 12-piece band, 48 dancers, a mega LED screen and an impressive lighting system masterminded by Yves Aucoin, Dion's lighting designer for 14 years. Aucoin has specified 60 Stage Profile Plus SVs, the new moving body beam shapers from Clay Paky.

From the start, Aucoin saw this show as a new challenge: "We needed a more theatrical approach - one distinct from the other lighting designs used fo

Details
UK - The Stage Management Association, founded in 1954 to support and represent professional stage management in the UK, has announced that His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, formerly a production assistant at the Really Useful Group, has agreed to become patron of the organization.

"It is marvellous to have a Royal Patron who has a real knowledge of what goes on backstage," commented Sue Banner, director of the Stage Management Association and former stage manager on Starlight Express where she met His Royal Highness. "We are particularly honoured to receive this very public seal of recognition in the form of a Royal Patronage, added John Lonergan, chairman of the Association. "This should help raise public awareness of the part we play in bringing live performances to the public."

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
France - For the first time in its 110-year history, the Eiffel Tower has become a permanently illuminated landmark on the Paris skyline, following the success of the New Year's Eve Millennium celebrations in 2000.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë was guest of honour at the inaugural event on the 21 June, timed to coincide with a popular music festival in the Champs de Mars gardens surrounding the tower. At the stroke of midnight, the 500,000-strong local festival audience, together with viewers of the live broadcast from television station France 2, watched as the 1000s of light bulbs that make up the installation were turned on. The Eiffel Tower shimmered in blues and golds behind the festival stage, where the new Vari*Lite Series 3000 luminaires, mounted on a circular truss, were focused to shine on the tower, adding dynamic colour for the impressive ceremony.

The innovative z

Details
China - In an announcement timed to coincide with the launch of a dedicated website, Intelliway has revealed an ambitious product development programme for its new Alkalite range of LED products.

"Solid-state fixtures already account for the major part of our production, and now we're looking to Alkalite to accelerate product and information flow," explained Jason Echols, director of Alkalite sales and marketing at Intelliway. "Selling through a distribution network will allow our distributors to get onboard and share their market insights with the confidence that an exclusive commercial arrangement brings."

In addition to three new LED series aimed at architectural LED applications, integrated LED club systems and compact sound-active LED effects, Alkalite will also be offering a range of metal halide source intelligent lighting, DMX controllers and fog

Details
Europe - On June 28, Robbie Williams started one of this summer's most anticipated European tours. In one of the most unusual and creative set-ups seen to date, Williams will wow audiences throughout Europe's major cities.

Renowned for his quirky approach to his performances, the true Williams fan will not be disappointed by the artist's spectacular stage set this year, which was designed by Mark Fisher and built by Brilliant Stages. It features a futuristic stage backed by columns of Barco's DLite 10 LED displays, as well as a scissor-lift, supplied by Star Hire (Event Services), which raises Williams and his team of dancers into the air as part of the performance.

The show-stopping columns of Barco LED were supplied by XL Video via Blink TV. Each column is seven metres high and although hung from a railing that surrounds the stage, moves up and down, as well as coming toget

Details
Spain - Denon UK has supplied UK house aficionados MYNC Project with two Denon S-5000 single CD players for their summer party season at Cream Balearica, Ibiza. This kicked off spectacularly last week with a MYNC Project's eclectic mix utilizing their trademark 4 decks, 2 mixers, 2 FX units and the two S5000 CD players.

Whilst in Ibiza this summer, Mark Younghead and Nick Corelli (MYNC) are also organizing DJ workshops to run at the venue each afternoon before their party. Here they'll highlight the features and advantages of the Denon S-5000 in sessions that are open to the island's myriad of visiting DJs over the summer.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
Denmark - Martin Professional's head office in Denmark has added Henrik Holm to its area sales management team. After a brief introductory period, Holm will be responsible for Martin's business in a number of countries, including Eastern Europe, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Iceland.

Holm joins Martin from Dentact, a Danish dental products firm, where he was responsible for development, sales and marketing of new dental products internationally. Educated in international sales and marketing, his experience includes two years of distribution network development in the US, as well as development and implementation of new sales and marketing strategies.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
USA - Entertainment Design magazine presented its annual EDDY Awards for outstanding contributions in the field of entertainment design and technology at a special 'Salute to New York Theatre' ceremony held on Friday 27 June at the John Jay College Theatre in New York. The Awards were presented in conjunction with the Broadway Lighting Master classes and the first Broadway Sound Master Classes.

The 2003 winners were set designer John Lee Beatty, projection designer Elaine McCarthy, sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, production electrician Mike LoBue, noted director Mary Zimmerman's design team (Dan Ostling, Mara Blumenfeld, T.J. Gerckens), and Theatre Projects Consultants.

Winning lighting products included City Theatrical's WDS Wireless Dimming System, Entertainment Technology's IPS Intelligent Raceway, Electronic Theatre Controls' Emphasis control system, Martin Professional

Details
UK - Last year £50 million was spent converting a former steelworks near Sheffield into the Magna science and exhibition space. In September, Tidy Events is intending to carve this huge space into seven zones, load in full colour lasers, sound and lighting, then add the world's top-name DJs to create a huge dance event catering for 5,000 clubbers.

Tidy has delivered its fair share of groundbreaking and unique events - from a 72-hour dance party in the depths of Wales to filling London's biggest dance club to capacity - and Magna 7 is set to be one of their most impressive yet.

The seven arenas will boast a myriad of sounds and styles and are divided into the Main Arena, the Face of Steel, Funky Bubble, Hardcore Bubble, Digital Entertainment Zone, Retail World, Chill-Out Zone, and the VIP Space Pod. This exclusive zone floats several storeys in the air and is accessed by a hig

Details
UK - Liverpool-based Adlib Audio supplied 21 crew and masses of sound equipment for five stages at Glastonbury 2003. Their largest system was on the Cabaret Stage, but the company also serviced the Theatre, Circus, Outside Circus and Dance and Fire Stages. Collectively, these stages embraced a range of performance genres, from conventional band set ups to comedy acts, aerial artists, fire performers, live arts and everything in between.

Immediately prior to the Glastonbury get-in, Adlib had shows with the Fun Lovin' Criminals and supplied two stages at Warwick University's summer ball, so the gear and crew from these was routed on to Glastonbury, where it was joined by more from the warehouse.

The Cabaret Tent featured a Nexo Alpha system with 6 high, 3 bass and 2 sub enclosures per side, with a Soundcraft Series 4 console FOH and a Soundcraft SM20 for monitors. This stage was

Details
USA - Total Structures has been honoured with another award for new wave truss to add to the Buyers Choice Award for Innovation it collected at the Exhibitor 2003 trade show and the 'Debuting Product of the Year' award it won at LDI 2002. This time the judges at the recent Rental and Staging Systems Awards held during the InfoComm 2003 in Orlando, Florida awarded new wave the accolade of 'Best Truss Product'.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
UK - Brown Box AV has now launched its ZR8 Professional - a 6x8 audio routing processor. Otherwise known as 'Total Control', the unit is a development of the company's already successful system developed in 1995. It features up to eight stereo source inputs with six mono balanced zone outputs (although there is a stereo out version available), mute input for alarm interfacing, fire alarm failsafe option and RS422 data interface for remote control hardware, such as control panels.

It also has the ability to accept various modules to increase flexibility and suit different applications. The ZP6 paging module gives a broad range of paging permutations with two mic inputs and volume restoration; the DZ6 module gives the option to have 'local to zone' stereo line-level inputs, ideal for allowing TVs or juke boxes to be broadcast on the main sound system, and the VC6 gain control modu

Details
Czech Republic - The 10th Prague Quadrennial - the international showcase for scenography and theatre architecture - came to a close at the Výstavišt? Exhibition Grounds in Prague on June 29. The exhibition, which first took place in 1967 and now runs every four years, represents the best ideas in the fields of scenography and theatre architecture. This year, a record-breaking 50 countries participated in the exhibition, which, over its 16 day-run, attracted nearly 20,000 visitors.

Running alongside were a series of professional conferences and meetings, including the FIRT International Theatre Conference, Transteatral international meeting of students of theatre studies, and that of the OISTAT International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians.

The exhibition itself showcased two unique projects - 'The Heart of PQ - a Cardiac Arrest to the Conve

Page 1547 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .