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UK - London-based hire, sales and installation specialist RG Jones, which has a well-established classical music reinforcement division, has made its first purchase of DPA microphones. The company has bought 52 DPA 4061 Miniature mics with violin/cello mounts from DPA's UK distributor, Sound Network. The mics immediately embarked on the company's busy classical events programme. These include Classical Spectacular, Space Spectacular, Jose Carreras in the UK and Far East, Queen/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tribute A Kind of Magic, Nigel Kennedy, Henley Arts Festival and concerts at Leeds Castle.

"We chose the DPA 4061s because we found them to be the only ones of their kind that sound good," says RG Jones' classical engineer Simon Honywill. &qu

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USA - Sound engineer Jim Ebdon has embarked on the North American leg of the Aerosmith and Kiss tour with the DiGiCo D5 Live console which he co-owns with Delta Sound. The Aerosmith tour began in August and runs through to early November, taking in a number of amphitheatres and stadiums across the US with capacities ranging from 18,000-30,000 people."This tour has three bands on the bill - Aerosmith, Kiss and Saliva," says Ebdon. "It would have been impossible to do the tour with conventional analogue consoles so the D5 has proved very versatile for this application, being so much more flexible than anything else available."

Ebdon first used the 64-channel D5 Live on Annie Lennox's tours of Europe and the US earlier this year. The 24-bit audio board interfaces with the stage inputs through a proprietary fibre-optic network that allows for cable runs of up to

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UK - The eagerly-awaited final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, will be released in the UK on 17 December. Rumoured to be even greater than its two predecessors, The Return of the King features a dramatic soundtrack to accompany all the tension and drama the film delivers.

Once again FX Rentals has played a large part in the scoring process. The West London-based hire specialist supplied transportable recording packages based around a Pro Tools Mix system and numerous Pro Tools edit systems, Prism ADA8 A/D converters, a Studio Network Solutions Storage Area Network (SAN), MADI routers and converters and a host of ancillary equipment to capture the orchestrations of composer Howard Shore. The soundtrack was recorded direct to hard disc with a Sony PCM3348HR as back-up by scoring engineer John Kurlander, who was based at Abbey Roa

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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 - Stagetec (UK) Ltd managing director Andy Stone has informed PLASA Media that the company has gone into voluntary liquidation. He said: "We have been working since the beginning of this year with business advisors to develop and grow the business and at the end of September prospects were good, with the company looking profitable and a good order book. The company had grown considerably over the past few years and had a good reputation in the industry, but during the past few months the company was hit by a number of bad debts, delayed orders and delayed payments, so on 2 December, the directors consulted BDO Stoy Hayward business recovery and came to the conclusion that the business of Stagetec (UK) Ltd should go into voluntary liquidation."

Stone added that Stagetec Distribution Ltd, the UK distributor for Compulite and LSC is not affected by the liquidation of S

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USA - Symetrix, provider of signal processing for the professional audio and installed sound markets, is shipping new upgrades to the SymNet Audio Matrix family of products including version 4.0 of the SymNet Designer software application and new hardware.

SymNet Designer 4.0 adds a new level of flexibility and capability to the successful SymNet platform. New features include a revamped system architecture with 1,000 presets, dynamic feedback control with Feedback Fighter and notch filter modules, additional levels off security, power failure indicator, and nine more matrix mixer modules, which further expand the already comprehensive feature set of the system. Improvements in navigation, labelling, communication, graphics, and firmware management contribute to easier and more straightforward system design and layout.

SymNet now has digital I/O functionality thanks to the int

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UK - Adlib Audio emerged victorious in the WGAF Championship Cup five-a-side football last weekend. They also found time amidst their busy winter schedule to organize the event, which saw teams fielded by rival UK audio rental companies, SSE from Birmingham and Wigwam from Heywood in Lancashire, competing for the coveted trophy.

Adlib - based in Liverpool, where football is religion - emulated their home turf by fielding two teams - FC Adlib, captained by Dave Jones, and Adlib FC, led by Jean Luc Picard. A team from Lite Alternative had to pull out at the last minute - vicious rumours were circulating that this was to save themselves the embarrassment of the token lampies near certain collection of the Plastic Spoon fifth place prize!

The competition was run, league style, with the top point earners playing each other in the Championship Final, and teams 3 and 4 playing off to

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UK - James Thomas Engineering has supplied 40 of its new PixelPAR 90 (A) architectural luminaires to Westminster City Council, to illuminate the trees in Leicester Square for the Festive season. Ian Kirby of Lighting Effects Distribution and Steve Owen designed the scheme. The Square is lit every year for the Christmas period, but they wanted to do something dramatically different for 2003/04. Utilizing an energy efficient light source was also very much the conceptual essence of this year's project!

Three PixelPAR 90 (A) units are rigged in the branches of each of the Square's trees. JTE devised a low maintenance control system, featuring a custom-built box located in the last-minute-ticket booth, complete with in-built colour chases. The box is programmed to switch on at a predetermined time and step through a repeating sequence of colour changes until switch off time. The Pix

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USA - This year's recipient of Martin Professional Intelligent Lighting Technology Grant is the University of Connecticut's Department of Dramatic Arts, a division of the University's School of Fine Arts. The Grant was presented at a special ceremony at the recent LDI exhibition. On hand to accept the award on behalf of the University was James Franklin, head of the Design Program and professor of Lighting Design in the Department of Dramatic Arts. He was accompanied by a host of other University students and alumni.

The Grant is valued at $50,000 and consists of a variety of Martin fixtures and control products. Martin also provides technical training and support for the winning college or university, as well as quarterly seminar's on emerging technologies and application discussions.

Professor Franklin commented: "The Department of Dramatic Arts is a top quality program

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UK - As we announced last week, Roger Duncan sadly died on Monday 1 December after battling against cancer. He was undergoing further treatment when he died suddenly in hospital. Roger was known throughout the industry, having worked tirelessly for the STLD as sponsor liaison, and most members would have dealt with him directly at some time.

Roger's funeral will be at 11a.m. on Monday, 15 December 2003 at The Chiltern Crematorium, Whielden Lane, Amersham, HP7 0ND (the road is part of the A404 from Amersham - High Wycombe). Anyone wishing to attend should notify STLD chairman, Bernie Davis, at the e-mail address provided below.

Roger's wife has requested family flowers only, but if anyone would like to make a donation it should be sent to the funeral director, who will divide the sum between Cancer Research UK and Hearing Dogs for Deaf People; or if you want the donation to go

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UK - In 1976, the director of music at Port Regis School in Dorset wrote to the headmaster making the case for a proper music facility at the school: 27 years later in 2003, his dream has been realized with the opening of the New Farrington Music School. The building, located in a picturesque lakeside setting, is an unusual and attractive octagonal shape, lit internally with a variety of lights manufactured by leading New Zealand-based manufacturer, Selecon.

The challenge for local company Stagecraft, who carried out the installation, was to light the interior of the building to maximum effect. Martin Palmer, Stagecraft's project manager, called in MTX Engineering to construct a variety of curved lighting bars to form an elliptical grid, complete with two semi-circular bars of different radii. Onto this, Palmer mounted six Selecon Axial Profiles, two Pacific 18/36s, four 1k Comp

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USA - Martin Professional gave LightJockey users a chance to show their stuff in the recent LightJockey design contest. Winners of the competition were recently announced at a special ceremony at the LDI show in Orlando. Martin's panel of six judges was almost unanimous in their decision on the most creative designs. The Grand Prize winner was James Barclay, owner of Main Show Lighting in Dallas, Texas. James wins $5000 of Martin gear and a trip to Denmark to tour the new Martin factory.

Second place went to Sean Reilly of Effects Lights & Sound of Lake Worth, Florida. Sean also won a trip to Denmark to tour the Martin factory. Honorable mention went to Jose Luis Arana Aguilar of Luminica of Guadalajara, Mexico. Both James and Sean were on hand at LDI to accept their prizes.

Using the Windows based Martin LightJockey controller software, entrants were asked to design a creativ

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USA - Elation Professional has obtained exclusive US distribution rights for the EasyColor, a new lighting fixture that combines a Light Emitting Diode (LED) light source with a moving head. Developed and manufactured by France-based Ayrton, this LED moving head unit offers lighting users - colour intensity, full-coverage and multi-dimensional head movement.

The EasyColor uses 18 high-power LEDs - six red, six green and six blue, offering more than 16.7 million rich saturated colours, along with all the usual benefits of LED lighting. The LED light source will show up vividly on videotape and film, making the EasyColor well-suited for use with TV and movie cameras. Because LEDs emit no UV radiation and have very low IR emission, they can be positioned very close to the objects they illuminate, with no risk of damaging them.

John Lopez, national sales manager for Elation Profes

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USA - Furman Sound Inc has announced the appointment of James R. Bonfiglio as its president and CEO. Bonfiglio has over 30 years of experience with leading corporations, and previously held positions as president and CEO with Home America and Texscan Corp, as well as senior management positions with Rockwell International, Cenco Inc and The Gillette Company.

Bonfiglio's development and implementation of strategic plans has dramatically improved company and division efficiency in the past, leading to accelerated product development programs, record sales growth, and increased profitability, say Furman. Bonfiglio joins Furman as the company enters a new period of expansion: the company currently manufacturers over 100 high-quality professional products under the Furman brand name, as well as the value line of RackRider products. The company is also poised to introduce power condi

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UK - Sound engineers, sound technicians, DJs, musicians and all those involved in live sound production, may be interested in a sound engineers' training day, to be held on Saturday 21 February 2004 at The Globe in Reading, Berkshire. The training day, sponsored by Sound Foundation, d&b audiotechnik, Shure and Allen & Heath, is designed to be a highly informative, hands-on experience, with something for people of all experience levels.

The day will include a chance to hear from leading audio industry professionals and get to grips with some of the best high-end live audio production equipment on the market.

More information is available from the web address below.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Lighting designer Dom Smith recently specified an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite for the UK leg of The Cooper Temple Clause's 'Kick Out The Fire and Let The Flames Break Loose' tour. TCTC's acclaimed second album was released in September, and the band with their interesting blend of electronics and rock 'n' roll are causing a stir both as live performers and recording artists. Bandit UK supplied lighting equipment to this, their first 'real' production tour, although TCTC has been touring on-and-off for most of the year. The basics of Smith's design aesthetics have been evolving from their first shows back in April when they used a combination of house rigs and toured specials.

For the last seven years Smith has been an Avolites user, having developed his craft using Avo' Sapphires and Pearls. He wanted to use the D4 since he first saw the prototype models at PLASA 2002. This ye

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UK - XL Video has been working with Artangel, one of the UK's most innovative mixed media arts and performance organizations, on its recent Kranky Klaus/BB/Spook House film tour. This saw the screening of three short, compelling film works by US artist Cameron Jamie, complete with live soundtrack played by cult conceptual rock band, The Melvins. It's the first time that Jamie's work has been premièred in the UK, and Artangel produced the joint commission in association with the Centre Pompidou Paris.

Video was naturally central to the performance, and was designed, specified and co-ordinated by Sam Collins, who also production managed the tour for Artangel. Associates who had also worked with the UK's leading live music video rental house recommended Collins to XL Video. His account was project managed by XL's Arts and Theatre specialist, Malcolm Mellows.

The movies we

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UK - Total Production magazine has announced the nominees for the 2004 Total Production Awards, due to be held on 9 February 2004 at the Novotel London West hotel. Among the awards and the nominations include: for Front of-house Engineer of the Year - Robert Collins, Pete Keppler, Robbie McGrath, Lars Brogaard and Dave Bracey; for Monitor Engineer of the Year - Martin Wareing, Alan Bradshaw, Paul 'Grubby' Callis, Chris Trimby and John Roden; for Lighting Designer of the Year - Tom Kenny, Barry Halpin, Andi Watson, Liz Berry and Vince Foster; for Set Designer of the Year - Alan Macdonald, Mark Fisher, Jonathan Perry, Bill Laslett and Alan Chesters); Video Director of the Year - Blue Leach, Ian Walker, Ruary MacPhie, Paul Eggerton and Larn Poland.

Among the other awards to be presented are Rigger of the Year, Production Manager of the Year and Tour Manager of the Year, while favou

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UK - The Safety Focus Group, set up by the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), has won a grant of €160,000 from the European Union to produce a vital safety guide. The guide is intended for use by live music promoters and workers throughout Europe and beyond, and will reflect best practice in a number of European countries. As one of the conditions of this grant, the Safety Focus Group must now raise a further €40,000 funding from the live music industry to secure the project.

The ILMC says that the safety guide will provide a tool for concert and festival organizers to assess and manage risks, and will be useful to everyone from the new event organizer to the most established promoters. Scheduled to be ready by late autumn of 2004, it will primarily be accessible via a specially designed website, although a limited number of hard copies will be produced. With its Euro

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Germany - A PC or Mac can be transformed into a professional recording system with no need for an additional mixer with TerraTec's pro audio MIDI interface - the Producer Phase 88 Audio System. The interface provides eight analogue input and output converters, process audio signals with resolutions up to 24-bit and 96kHz. The converters are housed in a 5.25" module that can be installed inside or outside the computer.

The Producer Phase 88 features optimized conversion components and circuits, allowing the user to cut clear recordings on up to eight tracks simultaneously and even play back high-resolution 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. To make the most of the 24-bit converter's dynamic range, the Producer Phase 88 is equipped with an on-board 20-channel hardware mixer with 36-bit internal resolution and 20-in-4 routing. Every input port features a dedicated analogue stage that

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USA - Bandit Lites has, for the sixth year in a row, committed to help Dolly Parton's Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library with its annual Benefit Concert.The Dollywood Foundation was started in 1988 by Dolly Parton to develop and administer educational programs for children in her native Sevier County, Tennessee. The Imagination Library is a program that ensures all area children receive a book per month from the time they are born until they turn five. Although the program was originally started for Sevier County, it now operates in 260 communities in 35 states. The program also funds educational scholarships.

Bandit Lites is providing a number of Martin fixtures for the benefit concert, which is the primary fundraiser for the foundation. Lighting designer Chris Barbee says the show is a labour of love: "It's always nice to do something to give back to the childre

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UK - While British rockers Iron Maiden's days of being almost constantly on the road may be over, that doesn't mean the band is in any way scaling down the spectacular nature of its live shows. Much of the show's theatrical elements come from the set, designed since 1984's Powerslave tour by scenic specialist Hangman. With Maiden playing venues from 3,000-seat theatres up to vast outdoor arenas, the sets have to be both visually stunning and versatile. This year's Dance of Death tour is no exception, with Hangman's Alan Chesters bringing LiteStructures in to work on several elements of the set. Forming part of the main stage set, twin 'Grim Reaper' towers are custom-built, framing the main backdrop, which changes regularly.

"The backdrops are different for every tour," says Chesters. "The audience never sees anything that it's seen before. 'Eddie' is usuall

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