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UK - Swedish rock star Robert Wells was in concert at the Royal Albert Hall recently with his Rhapsody in Rock show. The show was a lavish affair with a full symphony orchestra, an a capella group, dance troupe and even a trapeze artist!

As a backdrop to this visual extravaganza, Massteknik UK staged a 45sq.m Unitek V9 LED screen system - one of the largest screens ever used in the Royal Albert Hall. Behind the scenes, an Electrosonic Vector image processor was in control, driving the mixture of live video, graphics and Catalyst images, which were created by Massteknik's Swedish division. The show was produced by Robert Wells AB of Sweden, and the technical production was jointly achieved by Massteknik's UK and Swedish operations.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - The Annual General Meeting of the Production Services Association (PSA) will be held on 9 February 2004 at the Hammersmith Novotel, and will followed by the PSA Conference and the Total Production Awards Dinner, and the PSA is encouraging all members to attend if possible.

The conference includes the detailed unveiling of the new IOSH / PSA Safety Passport Scheme. A Safety Passport works like any other passport, say the PSA; in this case it identifies the holder as having undertaken basic health and safety awareness training and allows access to "passport controlled" workplaces. Many industries insist that workers hold a Safety Passport before they can gain access to the workplace or even obtain work.

The AGM starts at 10am, and is followed by the Conference beginning at 11am. Lunch is served at 1pm and it is envisaged that the finishing time will be around 2.3

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USA - Pro audio manufacturer Audient's ASP231 has come out on top in a "GEQ Shootout". Hardened audio enthusiasts gathered together towards the end of last year to determine which was the best 1/3rd octave equalizer for use with monitor wedges, and a day of gruelling tests ensued . . .

A total of 32 graphic EQs were put through their paces but the ASP231 captured the attention of the entire panel, which described it as "very smooth and clean" and rated it as a top contender in a 'most gain before feedback with minimal EQ' test, performed with a mic and a wedge monitor.

The competition was the brainchild of Michael 'Bink' Knowles and Michael Allen, who were instrumental in coordinating the day, which drew the attention of the entire community of sound engineers and technicians that regularly visit the Live Audio Board (LAB) on the popular www.live-audio.com

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Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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Germany - The recent Musik Produktiv fair in Ibbenburen saw the official appointment of A audio as the new distributor for KV2 Audio products in Germany. Providing the main PA and monitors for Event Stage Number One, the KV2 system played host to a varied line-up Roland keyboard demonstrations, various live bands, percussion workshops, and a demonstration by Michael Angelo Batio, allegedly the fastest guitarist in the world, who thundered his way through many rock classics.

Representing A audio was Freddy Thalmann, who worked closely with George Krampera and Jonathan Reece-Farren of KV2 to ensure the whole event ran smoothly. Thalmann is no stranger to George Krampera's loudspeaker designs, having come from the stable of EAS, where prior to his appointment with A audio, he provided technical sales and support for RCF and Mackie industrial products.

With offices based in Emmsd

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Germany - As part of complete renovations, both Theatre Heilbronn and Theatre Duisburg in Germany have taken delivery of a DiGiCo D5 56EX. Having first seen the console at Tonmeister 2002, Theatre Heilbronn immediately scheduled an in-house demo, which also took advantage of DiGiCo's German distributor being in the theatre's hometown. One of the theatre's main requests was for a flexible and easy-to-use system, which still covered a comprehensive set of tasks. The analogue feel of the D5's touch-screens, with dedicated hardware built around them and the well-designed snapshot system, made an immediate impression, say the company.

Theatre Heilbronn's D5 configuration includes three racks with 104 inputs and 74 outputs and runs with 96 DSP mixing channels, plus internal effects and output processing channels. The theatre's head of sound, Frank Bürger, says: "Within a matter

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UK - Simple sound-wise, but intensely artistic, the recent performance by the Merce Cunningham dance ensemble in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern produced an inverted take on movement and music.

The three musicians up on the gallery, out of sight of the dancers, were required to respond to the dancer's movements, conveyed by CCTV, and play subsequently. This in turn was a live response to the Olafur Eliasson installation 'Weather' (see Lighting&Sound International magazine, November 2003). It's a thin line between cutting-edge art and plain conceit - some may find such a performance fanciful - but most visitors were intrigued.

The Turbine Hall is an unfriendly environment for the sound fraternity. Even before you put sound energy into the room there is a permanent 50Hz hum caused by the National Grid sub-station still resident in the building: added to this are the spacious

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UK / France - Le Maitre has announced the appointment of SFAT, of Chalon-sur-Saône, as its new distributor for France. SFAT, a well-established manufacturer of foam, snow, confetti and wind inflatables, has taken on the distribution of all of Le Maitre smoke products, including smoke machines, hazers, and bubble machines.

SFAT's Christophe de Lora commented: "We are very happy with this deal, we plan to launch the new Le Maitre machines at the SIEL show in Paris. We feel strongly that Le Maitre products fit perfectly well with our existing ranges."

Rick Wilson, Le Maitre's sales director added: "This is a positive move forward for us. I have always viewed the French market as a key constituent for the overall European marketplace. Our current pyro distributor, JP (Pyrofolies), will continue working with pyro, with both companies supplying each other. In all, a

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UK - The smash-hit musical from last Christmas, Trevor Nunn's Royal National Theatre production of Anything Goes, has now transferred to the West End - and DHA Lighting has again been involved with making lighting designer David Hersey's vision for the show a reality.

At the National, DHA's Wyatt Enever and Steve Larkins carried out the careful pre-distortion of the images projected onto the show's cyclorama. The projection - particularly the scrolling image of New York as the ship on which the show is set leaves dock - proved so successful that it was expanded for the West End production.

However, the changes required the DHA team to produce newly pre-distorted images to suit the different shape of cyclorama and projector positions at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - one of London's largest stages, but here filled with John Gunter's recreation of an Atlantic liner. Gunte

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Germany - This month sees the launch of a new show control systems specialist company, The Fun Company show control systems Ltd - which promises to "put the fun back into the entertainment controls industry". The Fun Company is a developer and manufacturer of professional show control systems that will "bring a new level of sophistication and integration to lighting, video and audio environments".

The company has been formed by industry veterans who are dedicated to show control products that will make a real difference for operators, designers, and the audience. The company's products will incorporate innovative solutions for hardware, software, and networking, as well as what it claims will be unique user interfaces.

The-Fun-Company is a multinational enterprise, with offices in Germany, Scandinavia, North America, and the UK, enabling it to provide re

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Australia - December saw Resolution X install a record nine separate Christmas lighting displays in various locations all over Melbourne. Since its beginnings in 1998, the company has developed a reputation for delivering innovative displays on-time and on-budget has seen the number of Christmas clients steadily grow, with many commissioning multiple installations in separate locations.

2003's installations ranged from the 1km-long Burke Road, Camberwell display to a single tree in Victoria Gardens, Prahran. Many of these shows were run from Enttec's DMXPlayback unit, a compact DMX show recorder, which can be configured to either start a particular show on power-up, and loop through until the power is turned off again, or trigger up to 26 different shows via RS232.

By far the largest installation, the Burke Road, Camberwell show featured giant custom-built panels depicting va

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Germany - Pro lighting manufacturer GLP, based in Karlsbad, will be presenting its latest range of products at the forthcoming international trade fairs in Rimini and Frankfurt this spring.

At the SIB exhibition in Rimini, Italy (13-16 March) GLP will be exhibiting on stand 075-086 in Hall A1, where the new Startube 4 will be having its world premiere. This will be followed by its introduction to the German market at the ProLight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt 31 March - 3 April) where the company can be found on stand B16A in Hall 9.0.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - This year's Olivier Awards nominations have been announced: three musicals lead the way in overall nominations, with Jerry Springer The Opera, Ragtime and Pacific Overtures each receiving eight nominations across a number of categories.

Best Lighting Design nominations are for PLASA member Simon Corder for his design for Hitchcock Blonde at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and the Lyric; Hugh Vanstone for Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse, and Howard Harrison for Ragtime at the Piccadilly.

For the first time in its 28-year history, the Olivier Awards panel has added a Best Sound Design category to its list of honours, with nominations going to Mike Walker for Jerry Springer - The Opera at the Lyttelton and Cambridge theatres; Nick Lidster for Pacific Overtures; Peter Hylenski for Ragtime and

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USA - Ray van Straten has been promoted to serve as QSC's new MI/Retail market manager following 15 months spent with the company giving guidance to retail market development. With over 20 years of experience in the retail sector to his credit, van Straten is a self-described "gear hound" who lives and breathes new technology.

"Ray has been out in the field for months, talking with sales people and listening to customers," says QSC global sales manager Greg McLagan. "As the technologies, end-users, and methodologies for doing business have rapidly evolved, he has been on top of things with his finger right on the pulse of what's happening. The wealth of experience he brings to this assignment is invaluable, plus he has solid plans for leading us into new channels not traditionally associated with retail."

An accomplished musician and published son

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UK - MTR's PS-4 passive 4-way splitter has receives an upgrade in the form of the PS-4V, which sees two volume controls added, operating on channels one and four. The PS-4 will be familiar to many hundreds of school pupils in the music keyboard classroom and the computer classroom, as well as in home and project studios for headphone monitoring, and this improvement means they no longer have to listen at their neighbour's volume. MTR say the PS-4V is available now, and the regular PS-4 continues in production.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - It was a royal extravaganza dampened by blustery, rainy weather as Queen Elizabeth II christened the world's largest ocean liner on Thursday 8 January in Southampton. In front of 2,000 invited guests, she launched the £500 million Queen Mary 2 - the first liner for transatlantic and worldwide routes to enter service since the QE2 in 1969.

Although the Queen was protected from the strong winds and downpours by a temporary structure, hundreds of Southampton residents, barred from the dockside by tight security around the Ship, braved the elements to watch the ceremony on large screens in the nearby park. Weather conditions were fierce and health and safety regulations prevented the rigging of the stage and other equipment until the eleventh hour when the winds finally calmed. Despite the weather, the afternoon was a colourful, lively spectacle thanks to an array of imaginat

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UK - White Light Events reports the completion of an extremely busy Christmas period, which has seen it providing lighting to some of London's most prestigious party venues.

For the third consecutive year, the company was invited to design and supply the lighting for the parties and events held at Coram's Fields in north London, managed by European Events. This year's parties were themed around the Winter Solstice: lighting designer Mike Robertson responded by creating a fantasy world using a mixture of lavenders and blues to embellish the themed environment.

European Events were also managing a new marquee structure in the grounds of London Zoo, themed as the Latin Quarter. Here White Light Events used image projection, haze and colour washes of vivid reds, pinks and ambers to create a highly charged atmosphere for the parties' guests. The lighting system was also flexible en

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USA - Loud Technologies Inc (formerly Mackie Designs) has appointed Mark Madison as group manager for the newly-created EAW Commercial division, with responsibility for defining and implementing sales and distribution programs for the new division. Madison will also serve as the primary link between field sales, marketing and the EAW Commercial product development team with full responsibility for sales strategy, policies and procedures, promotional activities, customer relationships, product applications, and presentation standards.

Madison has over 25 years of experience in the audio-visual world, having worked in broadcast, production, sound reinforcement, studio recording, video conferencing, and all forms of sound and video contracting and systems integration. He has designed and managed over 1,000 projects with ranging from tens of thousands to several million dollars for

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Norway - Visual act has been awarded the contract to modernize the flying system for the Norwegian Theatre in Oslo. The work involves replacing the drive electronics for 109 fly bars and point hoists. The Visual act Stage Control System to be installed will include three operator desks and redundant servers and positioning computers. One of the operator desks will be wireless for use on the stage during set-up and in the house during rehearsals.

In selecting a supplier, the theatre referred to Visual act's flexibility and forward-looking technical features. The system is open and can easily be expanded to control under stage machinery or other elements. The user inteface will be specially adapted to fit the theatre's working routines.

The current computer system, installed in 1985, is still effective even by modern standards. It allows for the simultaneous operation of any num

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Germany - With origins dating back to the early 17th century and almost 40,000 students, the University of Hamburg is Germany's fifth largest University, and prides itself as Germany's "gateway to the world of Science."

As part of the University's ongoing refurbishment programme, ShowService GmbH, the German distributor for Australian pro audio manufacturer ARX Systems, has now completed the supply and installation of two new audio systems for the University's ESA B and AS auditoriums.

The 5.1 audio system in the cavernous ESA B auditorium comprises five SPL 12 self-powered loudspeakers providing Left-Centre-Right and stereo surround program and a single SPL 18 self-powered subwoofer for low frequency reinforcement. A single SPL 8H compact self-powered loudspeaker was installed in the lecturer's desk as a listen monitor/foldback monitor.

In the not-so-cavernous AS

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UK - Rycote's new Modular Windshield brings some subtle developments to the classic, proven zeppelin shape and cavity structure of the microphone windshield. The redesigned bayonet cap is not only easy and quick to locate but also reassuringly tactile in locking, say Rycote, while in addition to the usual rear-cap loading, users can also twist off the front cap, either for access to the microphone or to add an extension section for longer shotguns. Everything rotates into position with perfect alignment and noise or ringing is avoided with the use of diamond netting and resilient Hytrel mouldings.

Rycote's wide range of Modular Suspensions fit onto a new asymmetric filler strip and these - or the Sennheiser MZS-20/1, which is also compatible - glide smoothly over strong self-aligning structural joints and onto locating rails that accurately position the microphone. The Modular W

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Spain - Reed Exhibitions Iberia, the Spanish and Portuguese division of the worldwide exhibition organizer Reed Exhibitions, has decided to postpone Scenotech, the international stage technology and entertainment exhibition, scheduled for 21-23 March 2004 in the Campo de las Naciones Convention Centre, Madrid.

The company says the decision has been taken because, with under three months to go before the event, the organization does not have sufficient critical mass and quality to ensure the fair would be on the same high-quality level as its many other shows. By postponing Scenotech, Reed Exhibitions claims it is also "responding to the demand of major business and institutional agents in the sector, who are complaining that there are too many international events organized for this year."

Reed Exhibitions had previously re-scheduled the event from the original dates

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