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UK - The controversial reform of England and Wales' archaic licensing laws has now been given the go-ahead by Parliament. This paves the way for delivery of the Government's promise to provide for flexible pub licensing hours.

Having finally been approved by both Houses of Parliament, after much negotiation over the fine detail, the Licensing Bill will now go forward for Royal Assent, after which it will become law. The key elements of the bill include flexible opening hours; measures to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder (including new police powers to close licensed premises without notice for up to 24 hours); a greater say for the public (licences will be granted by electorally-accountable licensing authorities, instead of magistrates, with local residents able to make

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UK - For the fifth year running, Blackout was appointed as drapes and rigging contractors for Microsoft's annual Tech-Ed conference by London-based production house PCI:Live. Simultaneously, Blackout was also commissioned by production company Thomas Hannah Associates (THA) to provide the drapes and rigging for software giant Oracle's AppsWorld Conference in London's ExCell Centre.

Tech-Ed is one of the largest conferences in Europe, filling both halls of the enormous Fira de Barcelona 2 exhibition center. Over 6,000 Microsoft employees and IT professionals traveled to Barcelona for the five-day conference. The 6,000 capacity keynote room coupled with the delegates' dining area filled an entire hall; the second housed a further 10 breakout rooms, some seating 2,000.

Blackout director Chris Brain worked with PCI:Live's Matt Hearnden designing the system of room-dividers using c

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Portugal - O2 Lx is a highly-designed, new-build club in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, owned by South African, John Blummenfeld.

Blummenfeld committed a million euros to convert the former restaurant and discotheque, with Philippe Starck furnishing and decor forming the centrepiece of the predominantly blue interior design. Around 20% of the budget was allocated to the sound, lighting and video system, which was specified and installed as a fully-integrated system by Lisbon-based Audium, who had worked with Blummenfeld on a previous installation, Rock City, back in 1994.

The 1000-capacity club trades on two levels - the ground floor space and an upper level mezzanine around the dance floor. While the ground floor is open to the general public, the upper floor operates as a kind of private club for VIPs, special guests and private parties.

Serving up a fare of mainly Hous

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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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Greece - A massive AV installation on board the Thomson Spirit cruise liner, owned by Lewis Cruise Lines of Greece, has just been completed. With 1,400 passengers, and a crew of 520, it is one of the largest ships operating out of Palma offering cruises around the Mediterranean.

Now 18 years old, the ship has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment, which has seen major changes across the entire ship, from cabins to kitchens through to entertainment systems. Thomson's consultants provided the specifications and a list of equipment to Live Business International (LBI) who were brought in to provide system design and schematics, installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance. The LBI team, with Gerry Logue as technical project manager, thus either fitted from scratch, or refitted, 12 entertainment areas.

The Broadway (main show lounge) features a full theatre sound, l

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UK - The world's first installation of KV2 Audio equipment was unveiled in May at a nightclub in Livingston, Scotland. Robin Johnson went along to have a look.

Situated in prime commuter belt west of Edinburgh, Livingston is a classic New Town. A myriad of housing cul-de-sacs, roundabouts by the dozen and cut-through footpaths arranged around a central retail/leisure hub, its acres of concrete and tarmac sit between literally thousands of semi-mature trees, giving it that unique, slightly surreal New Town atmosphere of 'greenhouse' artificiality.

However, at the heart of this one is a very successful football team, based at an impressively modern stadium, providing a focus for the sprawling community. These days sitting pretty in the Scottish Premier league, the club was formerly Meadowbank Thistle, based in Edinburgh itself. Inevitably it sat in a shadow of the capital's high

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USA - Bandit Lites has introduced wireless computer capabilities to its world headquarters office in Knoxville, Tennessee. The size of the building (95,000sq.ft has necessitated wireless network capabilities to allow drawings, equipment lists and all other information to be accessed and updated from anywhere in the facility. This capability is due to the work of Bandit's computer resources department where director of that department, Jim Guinn, took less than one day to set up the service. "This allows our road crew to access the internet and the company network without us having to run network cables through out the warehouse," Guinn said.

Bandit Lites' vice-president, Richard Willis added: "This technology will help the road crew communicate more effectively when they are in the warehouse prepping a show." Bandit Lites believes the innovation will be an en

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UK - As we reported last issue, Ampekko acquired the business of Millbank Electronics, one of the UK's most respected names in public address and voice alarm. We talked to Ampekko CEO Neil Voce about the deal and what it means to both Millbank and its parent company, Ampekko Ltd.

What plans do you have for the future of the Millbank name'

There are very few global brands within our particular sector and this is an opportunity to re-position Millbank back at the top of the pile. Worldwide distribution channels take a long time to put in place and we now need to work with our partners to ensure that the placing of the brand is maintained. The product line will be enhanced - quickly and powerfully. Some of the products suffer from an image of being a bit tired, although I have been very pleasantly surprised with their functionality.

What investment will there be in t

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UK - While millions queued for their copies of J.K. Rowling's latest addition to the Hogwarts adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 5,000 lucky children already knew they were in for the treat of their lives. Bloomsbury Publishing (plc) called upon Clear Channel Entertainments to stage a special event at London's Royal Albert Hall, an event which gifted these avid fans an opportunity to quiz Rowling herself.

No simple question and answer session, the confines of the Albert Hall were converted into a magical rendition of Hogwarts school, replete with flying ghosts, for a spectacular simultaneous webcast on the MSN network. Naturally, this called for the specialist talents of the UK's presentation industry; amidst a burgeoning production team can be found the names of Britannia Row Productions, Light&Sound Design, Creative Technology, Hand Held Audio, Unusu

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UK - Cadac's S-Type will be on show at PLASA. The S-Type is proving a popular choice with the corporate events sector, with the first production consoles being supplied to European conference venues. Cadac also reports extensive interest in both the UK and US repertory theatre market, as well as in the industrials sector and recording applications.

As with all standard Cadac console designs, users can mix and match the S-Type's modules, moving them in the frame to suit a given requirement. Other standard facilities include full-size 100m Penny & Giles faders, plus the same high quality mic input as featured on the J-Type Live Production Console (providing 60dB of gain and a 20dB pad for line level inputs, phase reversal and 48V Phantom power), as well as the J-Type's full 4-band parametric EQ.

The S-Type is available as 17, 25 or 33-way frames, and can be expanded via optional

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UK / Latvia - Following talks at Frankfurt ProLight&Sound, Chameleon Audio has appointed pro audio design and install company, Amphion SIA, as its distributor in Latvia.

Formed earlier this year, Amphion has already established a wide customer base, including the Latvia National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Riga airport and railway station, Latvia National Theatre and Liepaja Drama Theatre. "Our brief is to design and install sound reinforcement systems for a wide variety of venues and businesses - from supermarkets and clubs, to theatres and concert halls," comments Amphion's general manager, Einars Jaunbralis. "When I visited Chameleon's stand at Frankfurt, I was impressed with the positive comments of other professional end-users and, particularly, their opinions on the amps' superb sound quality. I'm looking forward to working with Paul Houlden in establishing th

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UK - The hit musical theatre production Boogie Nights has just announced dates for its third national tour in the UK, and Arranpaul, the Blackpool-based sound rental company, will once again be providing PA systems for the show. With this production playing in 2,000-capacity theatres, a significant number of Arranpaul's Nexo Alpha E and PS Series cabinets will be on the road this autumn, so proprietor Arran Culpan has taken the decision to top up his inventory. The company has asked Fuzion to supply another pair of stacks of Alpha E, plus additional PS10 and PS15 speakers.

"We ran short of Alpha E earlier in the year," explains Culpan, "when we had Boogie Nights out at the same time as the incredibly successful karaoke musical SingalongwithAbba. Now that Boogie Nights has confirmed yet another tour, it's a good opportunity to stock up,

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UK - The architecture of SymNet, Symetrix's DSP audio matrix system has been increased with the addition of the Control I/O. This expands SymNet's ability to control, or be controlled from, external media devices. In addition to expanding control input and output capacity, Control I/O will also provide a MIDI gateway to SymNet.

It will line up on the Fuzion plc stand at PLASA 2003 with the DigiIO 12 x 12 DSP audio interface for the SymNet system. This is a core signal processing and input/output device which supports up to 12 channels of simultaneous digital input and output, all at 24-bit 48kHz sampling rate.

The DigIO 12 x 12 DSP is the first member of the SymNet family to use Symetrix's HomerLink technology. A HomerLink port transmits and receives four channels of 48kHz 24-bit digital audio, plus control data over standard CAT5 cable, of distances up to 100 metres. The Home

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UK - Ian Holmes from 11:59 Productions has undertaken many esoteric lighting requests in his career, but the challenge of lighting the underbelly of Charing Cross railway bridge in London was one to relish. Eight Studio Due CityColor architectural luminaires and 10 of the smaller MiniCity fixtures were used to up-light the underneath of the bridge for the official gala opening of the new Golden Jubilee Bridges footbridges (previously known as Hungerford Bridge), identical halves of which flank the railway bridge.

Although these spans, designed by Lifschulz Davidson, have been open since last year, they were officially inaugurated and named at last week's VIP ceremony. 11:59 Productions was approached by Murray Goth, promoter for the opening event, who was liasing with the two councils - Westminster City from the north bank of the river, and Lambeth from the south. The brief was

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Italy - Umbria-Jazz is one of the world's most famous annual international jazz festivals and is held every summer in the Umbrian region of central Italy. The audio systems to be used this year will feature Adamson speakers and Powersoft amplifiers as part of a system designed by Reference Laboratory which will be installed in the S. Giuliana Arena, the stage where some of the major international artists are performing.

The linear-array audio system will consist of 24 Adamson Y-Axis speakers, 12 per side, powered by six Digam D 4002 amplifiers. Supplementing the above will be 12 Sub Y10s (six per side) and individually powered by 12 Digam amplifiers. Front fill is provided by four Epsylon 2 12/P Reference speakers.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Hawthorn, the supplier of technical solutions in creative lighting and sound, has appointed Tony Rhodes to a business development position within the company. Rhodes joins from Stage Electrics where he fulfilled a similar role, bringing to Hawthorn a wealth of experience of the exhibition and events market.

Managing director Martin Hawthorn told PLASA Media: "The company has grown dramatically in recent years, to the point where we regularly complete a wide range of contracts from international conferences to parties, music tours, product launches and major permanent installations. Tony's appointment offers us the opportunity to take our services into the exhibition and allied markets, at a time when the true value of effective lighting is becoming appreciated in these areas."

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Reproduced Sound 19, organized by the Institute of Acoustics (IoA), has published a provisional programme for this year's conference, to be held at the Oxford Hotel in Wolvercote, Oxford, from Thursday 6 (main programme from Friday 7) to Saturday 8 November 2003.

The provisional programme, which can be found on the website below, promises another lively and informative weekend, in the long-standing tradition of Reproduced Sound conferences. This year, the theme is 'Exploring and Sharing Audio and Acoustics', and the topics covered include Speech Intelligibility; Perception; Room Acoustics; Audio Networks; Loudspeaker Arrays and Loudspeaker Measurements. The conference will also feature presentations from Dr DurandBergault of NASA, Floyd Toole of Harman International, Dr Wolfgang Ahnert of ADA (and EASE fame), Phil Nelson of the ISVR (Institute of Sound and Vibration Researc

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Austria - Organizers of the Wiener Festwochen selected Chameleon's German distributor, Alex Schloesser GmbH, to supply the sound system for this annual open-air event, staged in the city of Vienna. Attended by 25,000 people, the concert was broadcast live on ORF and 3SAT TV/satellite stations.

Utilizing the historic Vienna City Hall as a backdrop, performers are drawn from the worlds of classical, traditional and contemporary music, and span mainstream rock bands to opera singers, a brass ensemble and a philharmonic orchestra. "The organizers specified that the system must be able to handle all the different styles of music and, above all, deliver a combination of power and clarity," says Schloesser. "Following a brief from local sound designer, Adolf Togel, I supplied an Adamson Y-Axis 18 line array for the main PA and an Adamson RA system for the delay. The moni

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UK - London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall has recently purchased 10 Clay Paky Stage Profile Plus units to add to its existing Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 inventory for use in the famous auditorium. Supplied by Clay Paky and Pulsar reseller A.C. Lighting Ltd, these workhorse units will be used to complement all visiting showcase events.

RAH technical manager Mark Jones explains why he chose the Stage Profile Plus: "Due to the diverse nature of the shows in the hall, and the varying distance that the units are from the stage, we were looking for a zoom profile with high light output and overlapping shuttering. After a lengthy product comparison of 1200W shuttering moving head projectors on the market, we chose the SP+ because it is exceptionally bright with good colour mixing, the gobos can be changed easily, it's quiet and most importantly very reliable. The overlapping shut

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Italy - A total of 40 Outline Micra Reflex loudspeaker enclosures, powered by Series T power amplifiers, have been installed as the sound reinforcement system for 'Escape from Atlantis' - the latest attraction at Italy's huge Gardaland amusement park. One of Europe's largest water parks, it covers an area of 15,000sq.m, and has already been the setting for spectacular publicity footage transmitted by major Italian and international television broadcasters.

Outline's systems can also be found at Gardaland outside the 'Valley of Kings' - an attraction that's a faithful 1:2 scale reproduction of Egypt's' ancient Abu Simbel temple. Here, two Doppia enclosures, two Victor Live subwoofers powered by DSP Genius 6 and T power amps and two (delayed) Digita Plus N enclosures reproduce the soundtrack for the laser, accompanied by dancing fountains and water walls up to 45ft high.

Outline

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USA - Bandit Lites is currently on tour with lighting designer Eddie 'Bones' Connell and country music star Toby Keith, whose stage show includes a changing backdrop. Instead of employing the traditional 'Kabuki Stick' or the existing bulky Kabuki boxes to accomplish the curtain drop, Bandit Lites has improved on the design of the existing boxes to make them smaller, lighter and more maintenance friendly.

These newly styled Kabuki boxes were designed and manufactured by Bandit Lites' Technical Services Division. Each box has a load bearing potential of 15 pounds. The system is 'fired' from a custom-designed control centre, which is rack mountable and is contained in the PD racks. It holds the potential to fire up to 60 Kabuki boxes simultaneously. "This system is much more versatile than anything else on the market," said Richard Willis, Bandit Lites vice-president. Th

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UK / USA - UK exhibitors, facility owners and customers attending this year's 115th AES Convention in New York, are being invited to a special reception hosted by the British Consul General and the APRS. The event, which takes place on Thursday 9 October (6.30pm - 8.30pm), will be open to all UK companies attending at the Convention, not just APRS members.

The aim of the reception is to provide an opportunity for UK companies and their suppliers and customers in the US to meet and network before the show starts the following day. Companies who would like their US customers to sample British hospitality are invited to send names and contact details to APRS executive director, Peter Filleul, at the e-mail address below, so that personal invitations from the New York British Trade Consul can be issued. All customer contacts will be held in strictest confidence by the APRS.

The AP

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