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UK - News came in last night that a stage collapse left up to 20 people injured prior to a sing-along performance of The Sound of Music at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre. The BBC news website reports that the temporary part of the stage covering the orchestra pit gave way when audience members were invited onto to the stage for a fancy dress competition. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the cause of the collapse has been launched today.

The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham is an Edwardian Theatre with a seating capacity of 1,347. The theatre presents a variety of productions from pre- and post-West End productions to touring shows, opera, ballet, musicals and concerts.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Expectations were high at the PLASA show that a detailed presentation concerning this vital set of Regulations would be delivered by representatives of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, policy makers from the HSE announced that the promised third draft of the Regulations, with its accompanying Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and guidance material, would be delayed further - with the consultation periodnow scheduled for December 2003 through to April 2004.

Those who attended the seminar on the last day of the show were hoping to get an opportunity to discuss the application of the new Regulations and how their impact would affect the entertainment industry, but all that was on offer was a run-through of the existing proposed Regulations published in the last draft, which may or may not have some bearing on the final set of Regulations.

The delayed consultat

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UK - Professional loudspeaker manufacturer, Mackie Designs, took its turn in the spotlight at this year's T-Scan Awards, organized by DJmag magazine, taking home the award for PA Manufacturer of the Year.

The awards, now in their 12th year and held this year at MoMos nightclub on Regent Street in early September, honour manufacturers whose equipment passes the rigorous testing of the panel of expert judges, which this year included FreQ Nasty, Mark Wilkinson, DJ Woody, Dom and Roland, and in some cases then put to the vote by the readers of DJmag magazine.

Martin Warr, who proudly accepted the award on behalf of the Mackie team thanked the company's dealers and end-users for helping to put Mackie PA products on the professional map. This is the first of several awards that Mackie and the other brands in the Loud Technologies group have been nominated for this year.

(Ruth Ros

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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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UK - High production values topped the agenda at Liverpool's 'City of Light 2003' son et lumière spectacular, organized by Liverpool City Council's Special Events Team, and staged in the middle of the lake in Sefton Park, at the heart of the City. The event, project managed by Kirstie Blakeman, production managed by Nick Handford and designed by Lee Forde, consisted of three 25-minute shows per night, enjoyed - free - by over 15,000 people.

At the technical and creative core of City of Light 2003 - an accessible, historical take on Liverpool to celebrate it winning the European Capital of Culture bid for 2008 - was a fabulous 40m wide by 20m high water screen which formed the projection surface for the show, featuring video, laser projections and lighting effects.

A three tiered production platform, designed by site manager Stu Stalker, was built on the concrete foundations

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UK - When the world-famous Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform in the Turbine Hall at London's Tate Modern this November, their programme will take place on Harlequin Liberty sprung floor panels - just the same as the dance company use in their own New York studios. As part of the 25th Anniversary of Dance Umbrella - London's annual international festival of contemporary dance - New York's Merce Cunningham Dance Company will also be celebrating their own 50th anniversary, with performances between the 4 and 8 November.

The choice of floor is naturally an important consideration and thanks to MCDC's successful experience with Harlequin in America, Liberty portable panels were the obvious choice for London too. Harlequin's marketing manager Monica Arnott and Simon Byford, technical director for Dance Umbrella, surveyed the Turbine Hall and quickly established the requirements

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Romania - When Chuck Drury, a lighting design professor from Wisconsin, took a sabbatical from his post at Beloit College in the USA to teach in Bucharest, Romania, he spent much of his time preparing his 16 students to get to grips with some state-of-the-art equipment donated by ETC. Drury already had a strong relationship with the company's HQ in Middleton, just 50 miles from Beloit College, and his students there take frequent tours of the factory and receive the occasional donated piece of equipment - a world away from the situation in Romania.

Drury took up the post in Bucharest as part of the Fullbright Programme - a scholarship which aims to encourage Americans to live in and understand other countries like Africa, Asia and parts of Europe. While the University of Bucharest is the first institution to teach lighting design in Romania, Drury says it was very difficult to t

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Germany - Behringer announces immediate availability of the B-5 professional true condenser type microphone that offers versatility in a road-proof design at a cost-effective price. The microphone's two interchangeable capsules for selecting cardioid and omni-directional pickup patterns, low-mass gold sputtered diaphragm for definitive sound reproduction and high quality components throughout, make it the musicians and recording engineers microphone of choice for a variety of studio and live applications.

An ultra low-noise transformerless FET input eliminates low-frequency distortion. Owing to its super-wide frequency response and musicality, the B-5 is ideal for recording acoustic instruments, cymbals, drum overheads and voice, say Behringer. Its switchable low-frequency roll-off and -10dB input attenuation make the B-5 highly versatile. While rugged construction, a satin nic

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USA - Gamproducts of Los Angeles introduce the new Gam SuperTube. SuperTubes are coloured sleeves for fluorescent lights that come with a two-year warranty. They are available in T5, T8, and T12 sizes. Steve Hoffman, sales manager of Gamproducts said: "SuperTubes are ideal for those lighting situations using high output Fluorescents which contain elevated levels of UV output."

SuperTubes use a double UV barrier system that gives twice the UV protection. Hoffman adds " With the two year non fade warranty, super tubes are the ideal economic solution to the problem of premature fading." SuperTubes pack flat for economical shipping and lengths may be cut with scissors to exact fit. They are available in any of the 138 Gam colours and are also reusable. The GamTube is the only flat folding sleeve for fluorescent lights. SuperTubes take over with their two-year non

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UK - AV rental specialist Blitz created a week-long son et lumière event in the atmospheric setting of Oxford's Oriel College. The show, entitled '1326 And All That', was a specially commissioned narrative of the college's history and featured a dramatic 100ft by 50ft projection onto the façade of Oriel's Front Quadrangle, combined with theatrical lighting effects, narrative voiceover and a cast of characters from the college's past.

Blitz project managed all technical aspects of the 45-minute show, using E//T//C UK to create scroll artwork with historical material from the college's archives. Projection onto the towers, turrets and arched windows of the 360-year old buildings was via two 6k PIGI projectors, each fitted with double rotating scrollers. To achieve the correct projection angle the projectors had to be manoeuvred into a room at the top of a narrow stone spiral sta

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USA - The Stanton Group has announced that audio industry veteran Dave Froker has become the company's new CEO. Froker's background in the audio industry and strong track record make him the natural choice for the CEO position at the Stanton Group, where he will oversee the company's four brands - Stanton Magnetics, KRK Systems, Cerwin-Vega and Coemar.

Recently general manager of Digidesign, he tripled its revenue while its flagship product, ProTools, became an industry standard audio workstation. "The opportunities at Stanton attract me," Froker remarked. "This is a company with a diverse product offering, innovative engineers and an aggressive attitude towards marketing. I look forward to being a part of the company's future, and see potential for rapid growth."

Froker will also become president of Stanton Magnetics, the company's DJ products brand. &qu

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UK - The eighth BBC Proms in The Park once again provided a festival of entertainment for nearly 40,000 people assembled in Hyde Park. CT Screenco have been providing image reinforcement for the crowds in the park since the very first Proms event, with the company's then proprietary Sony Jumbotron JTS17 CRT system.

Working through production companies, Mantaplan and Partnership Productions, this year CT Screenco supplied two 60sq.m LED screens, rigged stage left and right. The company also supplied a video delay channel via its Mini Mobile, for the benefit of those towards the rear, helping to alleviate the problems of audio synching. The live 'prom' simultaneously takes place at Donegal Square, Belfast, Pacific Quay, Glasgow and Singleton Park, Swansea before the traditional Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, which is relayed by satellite to the fou

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UK - MC2 Audio announce the appointment of SES, Monaco as the company's new distributor in Monaco. SES was established in 1976 by Gabriel Benaglia and operates out of a shop in Monaco and a nearby 400sq.m warehouse. Initially the business focussed on wiring venues for sound, TV and satellite installation. SES has been contracted to supply and fit wiring for sound at events such as the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, FIFA Supercup and Monaco Boat Show.

In 2002 Gilles Laguionie joined SES to develop the audio supply side of the business, having worked for 9 years with SCV Audio and more recently with the CAE Groupe in Paris. SES has moved into the audio rental market over the past year and developed its interest in direct sales and installation whilst also offering its customers a comprehensive after sales service. Currently 80% of SES business is done in Monaco but next year the company ho

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UK - Gobo specialist, Projected Image, has announced the release of its latest catalogue and a new range of metal gobos, now available in an extensive collection of 'standard designs'. The company has expanded its gobo manufacturing facilities to produce metal gobos in-house, in addition to the glass gobos the company already manufactures.

The new catalogue was well received during its preview at PLASA where PI shared a stand with sister company Projected Image Digital, illustrating how gobo projection and digital images can work in tandem. The new catalogue also carries additional helpful information-based sections, including an introduction to Projected Image gobos and information on the basic understanding of metal and glass gobos.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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USA - American Audio has introduced the HP-500 headphones - professional high-powered stereo headphones with replaceable earpads.

Scott Davies, general manager of American Audio said: "Because earpads take a lot of abuse, they typically wear out while the headphone itself is still in perfectly good condition. Now thanks to our new HP-500 Headphones, DJs and remixers no longer have to choose between living with uncomfortable, worn-out earpads or shelling out the cash for a new set of phones. They can simply replace the earpads whenever needed - at a much lower cost than buying new headphones."

The HP-500 Headphones come with one extra set of earpads as part of the package and include a headphone bag for storage and transport. Features include a flexible housing design that provides for either double or single ear monitoring and also allows the headphones to be folded

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South Africa - A full lighting rig and ground support front-of-house truss system was supplied by M.J. Lighting to Rapid Blue, for South Africa's first series of The Weakest Link, which was shot at the Gallagher Estate auditorium during August 2003. M.J. Lighting's brief was to recreate the distinct visual feel of the original BBC programme.

The company's Francois van der Merwe oversaw the installation and reprogramming of the show on a dummy rig set up in the M.J. Lighting premises a week before the load-in to the Gallagher studio. A variety of fixtures was used on set, including six High End Systems Studio Colors, 13 High End Studio Spots, 11 Martin MAC 2000s, 11 custom-made Zip Strips, 2k Fresnel units, 5k softlights and eight 1k spots or 'Pups'. ETC Source Fours were used as key lights on each contestant, as well as on the quizmaster, Fiona Coyne. M.J.'s back-up Wholehog 2 w

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UK - The 2003 V Festivals once again formed part of CT Screenco's busy summer season as they continue to service the event with video production. Sponsored by Virgin Mobile, the V Festivals started in 1996, and are now held simultaneously at 'north' and 'south' locations (Hylands Park, Chelmsford, and Weston Park, Staffordshire). CT Screenco provided their services through production companies Maztec in Chelmsford and Roseclaim in Shropshire. Bands this year included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, David Gray, PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stone Age, Ash, Underworld, Feeder, Super Furry Animals, Morcheeba and The Hives.

CT Screenco again supplied two 32sq.m (8 x 4) screens, either side of the stage, in both locations. They provided 25mm high brightness LED displays in Shropshire, while at Hylands Park they fielded a pair of 6 x 6 Lighthouse LVP1650 16mm screens, st

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Denmark - Atomic Colors is a specially designed head that fits onto the front of Martin Professional's Atomic 3000 DMX. It allows for projection of up to ten brightly coloured strobe and blinder effects. The Atomic Colors comes with one string containing 10 colours plus clear. There are three optional strings - each with 10 colours plus clear - and the possibility of customized colour strings.

Easily attached with quiet running operation, Atomic Colors is a plug and play fixture, directly controllable via DMX 512-USITT controllers and to be used in combination with The Detonator - the primary DMX controller to the Atomic 3000). It is cable-connected to the Atomic 3000 DMX with an external power supply: MPU 02 / MPU 08.

The Atomic 3000 DMX is a high-impact strobe with 3000W of energy and dimmable from 0-100%. Flash duration is controllable and for ultimate flexibility and varie

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South Africa - Melrose Arch, nestled in the north-eastern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa, is pretty much self-contained. You could quite conceivably live and work here without ever having to venture outside its walls.

Like most small towns, it has a town square around which are clustered restaurants and boulevard cafés. And like all self-respecting town squares, a tower presides benignly over the activities. Melrose Arch management wanted to make more of this key feature of the area. Ideally, something was needed that would be noticeable and memorable, but subtle. The solution was programmable automated colour-changing lighting to give the building 'life' and character.

While casting around for a company who could meet their needs, architect Graham Wilson of Osmond Lange, the company responsible for the entire Melrose Arch project, came across Bruce Schwartz and Electr

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UK / Canada - A.C. Lighting has been appointed as the exclusive distributor of MDG products in the UK. The Montreal-based company has been producing leading fog and haze generators for the entertainment market since 1980.

MDG will benefit from A.C. Lighting's profile as a key distributor of lighting, audio and associated products and be joining an already impressive array of brands stocked by the company. As well as carrying MDG's full range of fog, haze, low fog generators, accessories and spare parts, the deal will also see A.C. Lighting's team of experienced service professionals provide a full technical training and back-up service.

Jonathan Walters, northern sales director for A.C. Lighting, commented: "We are delighted that MDG have appointed A.C. Lighting as exclusive UK distributor. We have been working extremely hard to promote the MDG range of products over t

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Europe - ADlite Productions and sister company Adlib Audio from Liverpool have supplied the sound, lighting and set to the current Fun Lovin' Criminals European tour. LD Stuart Gray has been working with the band for the last 14 months, during which time they have used ADLite and Adlib to supply all their technical production requirements. Fun Lovin' Criminals have been gigging constantly since last summer, but for their own tour they approached Gray for lighting design. As their name suggests, the band are renowned for their enjoyment of life and music and came up with the idea of having a real onstage bar as a set piece.

Gray developed three onstage scenic bars with fully working optics and drink mixing facilities. He utilized existing set elements from the ADlite warehouse, and created others with the help of Scenex from the Midlands, who made the bar fronts and mirrors. Them

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UK / USA - Autograph Sound has incorporated a new company in London and New York to develop the sales of selected digital products specifically aimed at the theatre market. Named Autograph A2D, it aims to advance the acceptance of digital mixers and infrastructure in the predominantly analogue world of theatre.

In the UK, the company will draw on the combined experience of Andrew Bruce and Duncan Bell of Autograph and Nigel Olliff, co-founder of BSS Audio. The US company will be led by Lew Mead, former owner of ProMix, a New York-based rental company whose association with Bruce and Autograph spans 15 years.

The company has secured the exclusive distribution rights in the US for the DiGiCo D5T, the theatre version of the D5 Live, and will be working closely with DiGiCo to promote the D5T in the UK and the rest of the world. Autograph A2D has been working on the development of

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