Details
Europe - The all-arena European tour by Mick Hucknall's Simply Red is using an EV X-Line sound reinforcement system for its UK leg and forthcoming shows in continental Europe. Britannia Row is providing the X-Line system with IRIS-controlled Precision Series amplifiers.

Front-of-house engineer Gary Bradshaw, who is using X-Line for the first time, is delighted with the results, commenting: "The EV X-Line is more gutsy than some other line arrays, which suits Simply Red and what they are trying to achieve on the tour, namely to deliver a full-on sound, like being in a club. They don't want to sound like one of their CDs, rather they're trying to get across some of the excitement that they feel on stage. X-Line offers the best bass response of all the line arrays I've used, and

Details
Germany - Dynacord has extended the Madras system, introduced last year, with an active alternative - the M 212 two-way, mid-high/full-range enclosure. The Madras M 212 is equipped with two 12" Electro-Voice Neodymium ND12A transducers for the low mid-range and an Electro-Voice ND-6 neodymium driver with a 3" voice coil and an 80° x 55° constant directivity horn for the high frequencies. It delivers, say Dynacord, exactly the type of sound pressure levels in the low mid-range required for a large number of medium-sized venues.

With an output of 600W (450W LF and 140W HF) from the power amplifier, the M 212 is capable of achieving peak SPLs in excess of 131dB/1m with minimal distortion. The sound is therefore projected almost twice as far as from a conventional passive speaker. Just as much attention has been paid to safety, however, as to power, with the Voice Coil T

Details
In its inimitable style, the final edition of the AES Daily newspaper trumpeted: 'The Biz is Back', quoting a 'mobbed' show floor; 12,000 visitors over the first two days of the four; and exhibitors 'blown away' by the traffic. Despite the hyperbole, which has a habit of sounding very similar whatever the empirical circumstances of the show, it's hard to refute that the numbers seemed up in every department, and that most anecdotal comment was genuinely positive.

Quite a lot was made of a 'new generation' coming into the industry, and 'young blood' rejuvenating its financial muscle. The best example of this was Digidesign's tangential spree at the relocated School of Audio Engineering opposite Macy's, where every evening SAE itself hosted informal tours while Digi and other manufacturers put on seminars. Chief among these was the appearance of cult techno figure Richie Hawtin, revealin

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 - A PLASA member has informed us that a number of their customers have received orders that have subsequently turned out to be fraudulent. In one case the fraudsters emailed credit card details - that were either stolen or fake - to the company with an order, but fortunately the card number was picked up by the bank. Another company was not so lucky and the goods were dispatched before the fraud was discovered.

L&SI ran an article back in March 2003 about the rise of credit card fraud within the industry and you can find out more at the PLASA Website address given below. It is also worthwhile checking the guidance and advice on avoiding credit card fraud at the Cardwatch website address, also given below.

(Nicky Greet)

Details
UK - How people love to talk about the weather: as Kin Hubbard, the US journalist who created cartoon character Abe Martin, said: "Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation." Perhaps based on this predilection, this year's Unilever commission for the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall is 'The Weather Project' by artist Olafur Eliasson. This £250,000 installation is one of the largest ever seen in the UK, occupying the Gallery's entire Turbine Hall, which itself appears to have doubled in size due to the nature of the piece.

The space has been saturated with a fine mist that occasionally accumulates into faint, cloud-like formations along the walls, then disperses again. Overhead, the glass atrium of the Turbine Hall has disappeared and in its place is a reflection of the space below, created by a huge m

Details
Germany - Neumann & Müller is one of Germany's leading sound equipment rental companies, with 10 regional offices across the country, as well as bases in Prague and Brussels. Long-term users of Soundcraft mixing consoles, the company has just taken delivery of eight MH3 boards, four 24-channel desks (including console link kits) and four 40-channel desks (including console link kits).

Neumann & Müller have used Soundcraft Venue, Delta, K1 and K3 consoles for a wide variety of productions in the TV/Broadcast sector, corporate events and trade shows. With confidence in the brand, and a good relationship with Audio Pro, distributor of Soundcraft desks in Germany, the company is making a major investment in the MH3 model. "There's no better console in that price range which offers such a combination of feature set, build quality and sonic performance," explains Jörg ter

Details
Australia - Before the blood started to flow in the tournament proper, the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup on Friday 10 October was the latest stunning spectacle to grace Sydney's Olympic Stadium. The event ushered in the largest sporting event of 2003, and was broadcast live to an estimated one billion people worldwide.

Chameleon Touring Systems provided lighting designer Mark Hammer with a rig that included over 350 intelligent lighting fixtures. The rig, predominantly Martin Pro, included MAC 2000 washlights, MAC 2000 profiles, MAC 2000 Performances, MAC 600 washlights, MAC 300s and Atomic Strobes; this was also one of the first ever events for the new MAC 550. The 2000s did the main work on the stadium floor, from a height of up to 46m, while the 550s were used on the performance stage. Other fixtures included 56 VL2402 washlights from Vari-Lite, 24 Studio Due fixtur

Details
Lesa Kinney, once at Apogee, is now international sales manager at Furman Sound, the established audio and music technology manufacturer also located in Petaluma, California. Here was a genuine agenda, with the emphasis on the word 'international' in her title: "Furman Sound has placed a lot of its marketing and engineering resources lately in the home theatre industry, data communications and systems integration," she said, "while continuing to focus on the MI and contractor market. Until recently, most of this activity has been focused on the domestic North American market.

"We are now thinking globally. We now design 230V products as we are developing domestic products. We're doing market research internationally, and directing publicity and press releases to international publications. In order to make it easier for our distributors to get information from us in

Details
UK - Andy Reed's APR Audio is gearing up for expansion into the continental market, setting up to become Europe's largest dry-hire source of Electro-Voice branded sound reinforcement systems. Based in south-west England, APR Audio entered the pro audio rental sector in some style in 2002, purchasing a substantial inventory of EV X-Line, X-Array and XLC system hardware, complete with the latest remote controlled amplifiers and Midas consoles. Reed has been gradually consolidating his equipment stocks; APR now owns the largest dry-hire stock of Electro-Voice equipment in Europe.

With the addition of more staff at his Taunton HQ, Reed is ready to take his operation further afield. "With Electro-Voice systems being specified on so many shows these days, we wanted to take advantage of the opportunities in a larger market. The economics of modern touring, with fewer long tours on

Details
Denmark - Mach has added a range of highly aesthetic ceiling speakers to its installation series. Designed to blend, the new CS in-ceiling speakers are a range of attractive recess ceiling speakers for multi purpose applications.

The range consists of three coaxial speakers in 5", 6" and 8" sizes with a built-in 100/70V transformer with 8ohms option. With up to four individual power settings in 100/70 Volt mode, the CS5, CS6 and CS8 are extremely flexible, suiting a wide range of applications. With straightforward connections and attachment locks, Mach's in-ceiling speakers are easy to install. Featuring a true, natural sound in a lean cabinet, the CS series is aimed primarily at clubs, bars, restaurants and retail applications.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - Pioneer has introduced the DVJ-X1, which combines the proven Pioneer CD Jog Dial technology with the flexibility and capacity of DVD. With this new system, Pioneer says it is now leading the way towards the creation of a completely original leisure activity and the emergence of a new breed of performer - the DVJ - combining the skills of a DJ and VJ.

With the well-known Pioneer Jog Dial at its centre, the DVJ-X1 looks just like the company's CDJ-1000MK2 CD player, but with the added capacity to playback DVDs as well as CDs. Because it imitates the form and functionality of the CDJ-1000MK2, the DVJ-X1 will be familiar to digital DJs who have used this unit and will allow them to use Pioneer's new unit to manipulate DVD visuals in exactly the same way as they would with music: real-time digital video scratches, loops and instant cues are all possible with the DVJ-X1, while th

Details
Norway - R.E.M. recently wrapped up a 10-day tour of Europe to promote their new album In Time: The Best of R.E.M 1988-2003 with a special performance in Oslo, Norway, open only to fan club members, contest winners and media. The venue, known only to a selected few prior to the event, was an old factory called Uderholdningsfabrikke now dedicated to concert and event production. Midas's Norwegian distributor, AVAB-CAC provided staging, lights and sound for the show, including two Midas Heritage 3000 consoles to take care of both FOH and monitors.

According to AVAB-CAC's Asle Nilsen, the consoles were specifically requested by FOH engineer Joe Ravitch and his colleague on monitors who have both stated that they prefer to mix on an analogue board. "There isn't an engineer in the world who isn't familiar with a Heritage 3000, so if it's a top quality analogue console you

Details
UK - Lighting designer Durham Marenghi has been chosen to design the lighting for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Oympics in Turin, Italy, in 2006. The event will be designed by Mark Fisher and produced by the Italian group Filmmaster.

Marenghi has also revealed that he is to return to London's Royal Albert Hall in November with Classical Spectacular, the son-et-lumiere of favourite classical pieces featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and accompanied by a new lighting and laser design. The sell-out event, conducted by Anthony Inglis and produced by Raymond Gubbay, runs from the 20-23 November.

Marenghi's work can currently be seen illuminating the world tour of Diamonds for Holiday on Ice and the UK national tour of Saturday Night Fever.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - FX Cimple Solutions, the service and repair division of the FX Group, has been appointed the sole UK service centre for Harman Pro UK brands JBL Professional, AKG, dbxPro, Digitech and DOD with immediate effect. The announcement follows the closure of the Arbiter Group's pro audio division, which has led to the formation of the Harman Pro Group to handle UK distribution of JBL Professional, dbx and AKG. Digitech and DOD product lines are now being distributed in the UK by Fender.

The announcement was made following a meeting in October with FX Cimple Solutions' managing director Cliff Whitehead, and Harman Music Group's European sales manager Glen Harris and sales operations manager David Fata. "We're really happy to be working with Cimple Solutions, and they came highly recommended," says Harris. "These brands all have massive customer bases and it is great

Details
Canada - Centre in the Square in Kitchener, Ontario, has installed an InnovaSON Sy80 digital live mixing console in its prestigious Raffi Armenian Theatre, one of North America's most acoustically superior halls. The first of its type to be installed in Canada, the Sy80 console will be used to mix a wide variety of performances.

The Sy80 console was selected to replace a vintage analogue console for a combination of reasons, as Chief Engineer Bob Luffman explains: "The space occupied by the console is in the midst of the seating which is at a premium; the Sy80 has a much smaller footprint and for many events has freed up a number of seats for paying customers. The physical compactness is also important as I need access to console functions without a lot of physical movement that might distract patrons around me. We regularly put on shows with a rock band backed by an orches

Details
UK - d&b audiotechnik has announced the dates for its Sound System Design seminars in the Cotswolds. These increasingly popular seminars address the acoustic signal path between the loudspeaker and the listener's ears. d&b's John Taylor, an experienced presenter with his own distinctive style, believes that, if you are passionate about sound system design, then you need to make it sound good for every listener in the house.

The seminars exists solely for that purpose, there's no fluff, no puff; just comprehensive electro-acoustics with all the physics you'll need thrown in. The style is friendly and the demonstrations memorable! Up coming dates are January 14th, February 4th, March 10th, April 7th.To book a seat either e-mail details to the address below or apply via the website.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

Details
UK - Surrey based Peter Macuik Installations (PMI) has recently acquired Trantec's revolutionary S6000 radio mic system. Adding to their already expansive portfolio of Trantec's radio products with the S6000, it joins it's brother the S5000 which has proved to be a reliable and robust tool over quite a few years of service. This will allow PMI to further strengthen their ability to realize the more challenging audio projects, particularly across Europe, where frequency pre-planning can often be problematic.

PMI's managing director, Peter Macuik commented: "The S6000 represents a radical departure from traditional radio systems and further underlines Trantec's commitment to quality and innovation. Apart from its compact design and simple pre-programming capabilities, its in-built RF Frequency Scanning Analyser makes it invaluable to us on projects in Europe. It cleverly scan

Details
USA - Multi-Platinum selling post-grunge rockers Nickelback are currently on an extensive sold-out tour of the US to promote their new release "The Long Road". The Canadian band is touring with three Midas consoles provided by Las Vegas sound reinforcement specialists ProMix Electrotec. There is an XL4 on FOH, a Heritage 3000 on monitor duties plus an XL3 monitor sidecar. EQ is handled by Klark Teknik DN360s. FOH duties belong to Nickelback's longtime Road Manager Kevin "Chief" Zaruk, and the monitor consoles are manned by Mark "Sparky" McNeill. Chief discussed the tour and how Midas has made a difference in Nickelback's live show: "I've been working with Nickelback for almost seven years now. This is the biggest tour we've done to date and it's going extremely well. We've got forty crew, five trucks and seven buses out with us. We also have thre

Details
UK/USA - SEOS Limited has recently reported its financial results for the twelve months ending 30 June 2003. Despite the continuing general uncertainty in the global economy and continued turbulence in the airline industry, SEOS experienced an improvement in overall performance. Revenues were ahead of expectations at £23.4 million and gross margins improved by 2%. Retained earnings for the year were £0.5 million, after absorbing an exceptional exchange loss of £0.6 million.

Darren Cosshall, financial director, SEOS, said: "Continued emphasis was placed during the past year on improving gross margins, reducing operating costs and increasing profitability. Significant efforts were also made to improve liquidity and working capital. Considerable progress was made in the period and due to the actions already taken we feel well placed for another strong performance in fiscal

Details
UK/Europe - The award winning West End and Broadway musical Fosse celebrates the unique, pioneering choreography of Bob Fosse, whose unique style is stamped on numerous musicals including Chicago, Cabaret and Sweet Charity. Following a successful run at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London three years ago, Fosse, has taken to the road. Having kicked off the tour in Pasadena, California, the UK leg of the world wide tour opened in Liverpool on 29 October and will play at various venues around the country including Oxford, Manchester and Edinburgh before heading off to Europe in December and returning to the UK again in May 2004.

For this demanding schedule Fourth Phase London was selected to supply an extensive lighting rig as well as full technical support and backup for both UK and European legs of the tour.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

Details
UK - Pat Smith, Chief Executive of Business Link for Essex, recently visited Litetec, the Rochford-based optics and fibre optics company, to see the brand new showroom Business link for Essex advisers have helped make a reality. With their support, Litetec has recently achieved ISO 9001:2000 quality management standard, re-branded and launched a new website, with direct impact on the order book.

Litetec first contacted Business Link for Essex in search of advice on how to obtain ISO recognition. It became clear to Business Link adviser Angela Kimberley that they would need to look at other areas of business development in order to achieve this standard. Litetec needed to consider developing a new corporate identity and planning their sales strategy. An action plan was put together including a website development strategy, assisted by another adviser Colin Harvey. Specialists fro

Page 1597 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .