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UK - Star Hire (Event Services) Ltd completed its third year as principal stage contractor for this year's tenth anniversary of T in the Park, held in Kinross, Scotland. Star Hire supplied staging and site structures as T in the Park celebrated its tenth birthday, selling out 55,000 tickets and receiving rave reviews from festival goers and press alike for it's relaxed atmosphere and excellent line-up of bands.

A VT 20-20 FPVL featured as the centrepiece to the event, the main stage. With the recognisable T in the Park scrims, the stage acted as the settings for bands including The Coral, The Darkness, Supergrass, the Cardigans and headliners, Coldplay and REM. The stage measured 47.5m wide and 17.5m high to the apex with a 2.5m stage height.

The NME stage was a newly enlarged Vertech design by Star Hire; the VT 15-15 FL was introduced at T in the Park this year, in place of

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Europe - EAW's new KF730 SLAM (Small Line Array Module) has made its touring debut, joining the Legends of rock, Deep Purple, on their summer tour of Europe. 16 KF730 boxes were supplied by ML Executives, sound contractor for the tour, alongside a 28 KF760 arena system and 24 SB1000 subwoofer cabinets.

Gary Marks of ML Executives says of the inaugural outing: "The new EAW KF730 line array system is the ideal compliment to the EAW KF760 line array, we have until now been using KF850 cabinets for the short-throw side hang applications in arenas but now we have the KF730 - it's the ideal solution. The KF730 is also a great compact stand-alone line array system, which sounds fantastic and ground stacks excellently."

The tour kicked off in Austria in June before playing a further 16 dates in five countries, up to and including the Nandrin festival in Belgium on 10 August.

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

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UK - Wigwam Sales has completed the installation of an L-Acoustics ARCS system at the Abundant Life Church in Bradford. The system comprises of 2 x 6 flown arrays of ARCS, with each hang delivering 135° coverage in the horizontal plane with 40° down and 20° up in the vertical domain. Each single ARCS cabinet is 22.5° horizontal by 60° vertical due to the asymmetrical Wavefront Sculpture Technology (WST) waveguide. The inverted arrays are complemented by two SB218 subwoofers per side, and the system is powered by a combination of both LA24a and LA48a amplifiers.

Mike Spratt, managing director of Wigwam Acoustics, comments: "The 1,500-capacity church is very wide and also has a long balcony at the back and down both sides, so it was important to be able to cover the entire auditorium from a L/R system without having to use standard delays and fills. The ARCS is the perfe

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UK - Audace Ltd, manufacturer of the Intelliplate programmable control system for audio-visual installations, has appointed Prase Engineering S.r.l. of Treviso - an established distributor of professional audio-visual equipment - to distribute its products exclusively in Italy. The deal was brokered by Audace's global distribution partner Comsec International.

Following the appointment, managing director of Audace Ltd, Bryan Waters, recently visited the distributors' facilities, which are situated close to Venice. The visit provided Prase Engineering staff with an opportunity to view the system first hand, receive technical training and see future plans for the Intelliplate product range.

Bryan Waters welcomed the appointment, commenting: "Prase is extremely well-placed, in terms of resources, complementary products within its portfolio and its status within the Italian m

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UK - A new range of Audio Lighting has been developed from leading-edge aerospace technology. The Light Wand Audio range of console and desk lights will be formally launched by Black Cat Music at PLASA 2003.

Evolving from the latest Aerospace LED technologies, the Light Wand Audio range provides even, glare-free light, with a hint of blue, aids concentration and highlights the screen-printing on even the most tired of desks, according to UK distributor, Black Cat Music. The quality of light is achieved by utilizing the patented Beadlight diffusion system, which scatters the light with little attenuation.

The lights, on goosenecks of 6", 12", and18", are available with a choice of connectors. The unique lamp head rotates through 360° which, when combined with the suppleness of the gooseneck, provides a flexibility not seen before in similar products. The units f

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UK - Studio design company, Munro Acoustics, has completed the monitor installation and acoustic refurbishment of a new audio dubbing theatre at BBC Post Production in Bristol. The project involved the installation of a 5.1 surround-sound monitoring system based on custom Dynaudio Acoustics C3F main monitors, BM6 surround speakers and custom T1000 amplifiers. This is identical to the system Munro Acoustics installed in October 2002, when it completed the acoustic refurbishment of a similar dubbing theatre.

The refurbishment is part of general expansion of the audio facilities at BBC Post Production in Bristol, where there are now two main dubbing theatres with Foley facilities and a third, smaller, dubbing theatre with a commentary booth. The complex also houses three track lay areas. Both the large dubbing theatres are equipped with AMS Neve MMC consoles, while the smaller thea

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UK - UK distributor Miltec is offering a line-up of new products from Ecler, Fal and Pearl River at PLASA 2003. Ecler will be showing two new speakers - the Philos 10" and Philos 15" - as well as the new APA, MPA and PAM range of amplifiers. Also on stand will be the company's complete range of mixers and the Ecler 100 volt line system - Enviro. On display from Italian lighting manufacturer Fal will be a new range of architectural outdoor IP65-rated lighting effects, along with a number of theatre lighting products including followspots and profiles.

Chinese lighting manufacturer Pearl River will be showing its full range of Pilot moving heads, plus architectural lighting for outdoor use, DJ lighting effects for mobile and bar/club use and a new range of LED lighting fixtures.

Miltec can be found on stand C103, and Pearl River on stand D110.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Tannoy has added three versatile subwoofers to complement its recently launched V Series range of Point Source, Dual Concentric sound reinforcement loudspeaker systems. The V series, currently comprising V8, V12, V15, and V300 dual-wedge shaped, high-performance loudspeakers, introduced last year at PLASA, now benefit from enhanced bass performance with the addition of the new sub woofers. All three models are capable of delivering high SPLs with low distortion and power compression while maintaining a uniform frequency response throughout the dynamic range.

The VS18 DR is a direct radiating subwoofer which extends the frequency response of V Series systems down to 27Hz, making it ideal for effects in club, theatre, and live concert applications. The VS18 DR utilizes a high-efficiency 457mm (18") drive unit with a 76mm (4") voice coil. Although primarily intended

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UK - Pioneer is planning a spectacular stand at this year's PLASA showcase, and the exhibition, held at Earls Court, London from 7-10 September 2003, promises to be better than ever. As well as showcasing the new CDJ-1000MkII, plus the range of professional DJ products, Pioneer is planning to unveil an exciting new product at the show aimed at promising DJs. In addition, Roger Sanchez and the Scratch Perverts will be performing in Pioneer's live DJ Booth - and will also be joined by the amazing Tom Stefan.

(Lee Baldock)

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Portugal - For performing arts lovers everywhere, Portugal is the place to be this summer, with an array of festivals and events taking place right through until September. The programme of dance, music and drama has become a must tour stop for some of the world's most prestigious performing arts companies.

The world heritage village of Sintra is considered to be one of the country's hottest tourists spots for those seeking culture, with much of this accolade owing to its annual festival, Festival de Sintra. Hosting a variety of performances from Opera through to Ballet, the two-month long celebrations take place in every conceivable venue from theatres right through to churches and parks.

The annual success of this festival has seen a number of new builds take place in the small village, the Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval (CCOC) being one of the more recent. Stage Technologies

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UK - Soundtracs has relaunched its website. The new site, which opens with the newly-launched DS-00 digital modular post-production and broadcast mixing system, features more detailed product information, greatly improved navigation and visual design, and full technical support contacts.

Also included are the complete range of Soundtracs digital consoles, worldwide distributor listings, downloadable technical PDFs and details of trade shows at which Soundtracs will be exhibiting. Marketing director Dave Webster commented: "The pace of product development at Soundtracs continues to accelerate and we have completely redesigned the website to reflect this. People can access a lot of information in a clear and easy-to-access format."

(Ruth Rossington)

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US / Europe - Annie Lennox's recent solo tour utilized two Mackie SDR24/96 hard disk recorders used to bring the haunting voice of the ex-Eurythmic to venues across the US and Europe. For programmer and keyboard technician Ozzie Henderson, the Mackie set-up performed even better than expected. He commented: "I used the two Mackie SDRs for the entire 10-week tour of the US and Europe and they performed faultlessly, easily standing up to the rigors of the road without breaking a sweat."

The decision to use the Mackie SDRs came after tour musical director Mike Stevens expressed a need for playing back programmed audio, the ability to cue songs instantly and most importantly, have machines that were reliable. For this reason, he decided to investigate hard disk recorders and subsequently contacted Mackie UK.

The need for a playback option is essential on a live tour due

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UK - Pearce Hire, specialist lighting and temporary power supplier, provided its services for the Forestry Commission tour this June. The tour, now in its third year, took in five forests (Sherwood Forest, Thetford Forest, Bedgebury Pinetum, Dalby Forest and Dellamere Forest) across the country, for a series of concerts involving Status Quo, Jools Holland, Level 42, the Beach Boys, the Wonder Stuff and Motorhead.

Pearce Hire have been involved with the tour since it began in 2001, supplying the lighting equipment, generators and power distribution systems. Shaun Pearce and the team from Pearce Hire worked closely with David Barrow, production manager for the Forestry Commission and event organizer Mike Taylor, to pull the project together. For this year's event, Pearce provided 20 generators allocated across the five sites, as well as a lighting rig for each stage and site-wid

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UK / Germany - Brown Box AV, one of the key wholesalers of quality AV and lighting solutions, has signed a dealership agreement for Germany with Soundcheck GmbH, one of Germany's leading AV providers to the health and fitness industry. Soundcheck has installed AV solutions into top name clubs across Germany, including Reebok, 24 Hour Fitness and Fitness First to name but a few.

Dave Goody, European business development manager, commented: "Soundcheck first saw Audeon [Brown Box's wireless entertainment system for health clubs and gyms] at FIBO and were impressed with the product. Their managing director, Denis Nessler, immediately identified that it was exactly what the German market has been waiting for. I am delighted that we have joined forces with Soundcheck GmbH and am sure that they are an ideal professional partner for our first foray into Germany. Soundcheck GmbH ha

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Belgium - Last Monday King Albert II of Belgium celebrated 10 years of reign with a big outdoor party in Brussels. The event was a huge success; according to the Brussels police more than 45,000 people attended the concerts. On the stage, which was situated in front of the monumental Palace of Justice, 100 Xilver Droplet moving LED luminaires lit the musicians.

The Droplets were placed everywhere on stage between the orchestra and on the catwalk. ETC Source Fours along with VL2Cs, VL5s and VL2200s from Vari-lite, lit the rest of the stage. With the unique Xilver color-combining system (16 million colors) the tiny Droplets could easily match every color from the other fixtures on stage.

On stage, Xilver also placed 12 red LED blinders, made up of 96 Luxeon LEDs, each saturated the stage with red light and strobed extremely fast during the final Dance event of the Kings celebrat

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Europe - Autograph Sound Recording has won the equipment supply contract for three new musical productions across Europe - Les Misérables at the Theater des Westens in Berlin and Mamma Mia! at Het Beatrix Theater in Utrecht, both of which open in September, and We Will Rock You, due to open at the Teatro Calderon in Madrid in November.

One of Autograph's longest-running success stories is its ongoing work on worldwide productions of Les Misérables. The show opened in the West End in December 1985 with a sound design by Autograph chairman Andrew Bruce, and since then the company has been involved in over 30 productions worldwide.Designing the Berlin production is Autograph sound designer Nick Lidster, who was part of the original sound department at The Palace Theatre. This is Lidster's first design of Les Misérables and his updated design no

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UK - The Victorian magnificence of Glasgow's City Chambers is one of nine important landmarks being spotlighted in the latest phase of the council's £2.6m lighting strategy. The three-year plan, launched in March last year, has already gone a long way towards achieving the council's aim of showcasing Glasgow to the world as a beautiful and vibrant 24-hour city.

A sophisticated combination of light fittings spectacularly illuminates the grand façade and sides of the City Chambers' original 1880s West Building which dominates George Square. Other newly illuminated structures include the George V Bridge over the Clyde, the main Killermont Street entrance of Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, St George's Tron Church in Nelson Mandela Place, the historic Tron Steeple in Trongate, and Drumchapel Water Tower.

The city's lighting strategy is being driven forward by council leader, Charles

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USA - Since taking the new Vari*Lite Series 3000 luminaires to the bottom of the ocean floor is not recommended, Broadway lighting designer Ken Billington did the next best thing - and used 17 of the VL3000 spot fixtures to create the illusion of aquatic acrobatics for 'Odyssea', which recently opened at Sea World in Orlando. The 25-minute show features aerial acts, contortionists, trampoline acts and a variety of other performers. All the movement is choreographed to give the impression that the performance is taking place underwater.

Billington needed an automated lighting package with a colour system to pull off the illusion. The VL3000 Spot luminaires allow him to create "water" to light the air and scenery. "Most of the activity is supposed to take place underwater," he explained. "So it was a challenge to be able to get water ripples that could cha

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UK - It's all go for Bristol-based Stage Electrics with two of their eight branches moving to bigger and better premises. The company's London branch will begin construction of its new bespoke warehouse this month. The new 10,000sq.ft location on Long Lane will replace the Waterloo Road unit. As one of the largest suppliers of technical equipment to the West End and Touring theatre market, the new site will include a demonstrations area, dedicated hire inventory and an impressive range of consumables.

Stage Electrics Exeter is moving too, but not so soon. Having outgrown its Marsh Barton site, it will be relocating, 'just around the corner' to new premises in March next year. The 11,000sq.ft building will, in addition to housing the company's hire and sales kit, contain a custom-built demonstration area equipped with the latest lighting, audio, projection and control equipment.

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UK - Saturday 19 July 2003 saw the Millennium Dome spring to life once again, hosting the capital's Respect festival, held in commemoration of Stephen Lawrence, the teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993. The venue was changed at the last moment due to the former venue being destroyed by a fire. However, the Dome proved to be the ideal replacement and London's Mayor Ken Livingston said that next year's event would be on an even larger scale, bringing this festival on a national level. The Dome saw over 30,000 people listening to music from Rap, Hip Hop, and pop over eight stages. Headlining the event was Hip Hop artist's Public Enemy and Gregory Isaacs.

The sound was handled by Will Power PA, with JBL VerTec VT4889s being flown eight aside of the main stage. Adlib Audio supplied their own 2 x 18" subs, stacked eight per side on the ground. Will Norton commente

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