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UK - Training classes for the High End Systems Catalyst Pro v3.0 Media Server and Software systems are now available in the UK and Europe by Projected Image Digital, based at Three Mills Studios in London's East End. The HES factory-approved course is a full-day session, which includes Catalyst set-up, programming and operator training, plus documentation and refreshments. Cost is £100 per person. The next available sessions are 26 May, 16 June and 30 June, with further dates due to be announced soon.

"With the growing convergence of lighting and video control comes the need to acquire new knowledge and skills," says David March, managing director of Projected Image Digital. "Our courses are designed and delivered by lighting and video professionals with an emphasi

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Belgium / Luxemburg - Brussels-based Prévost - distributor for Belgium and Luxemburg for brands including Beyerdynamic, Dynacord, Electro-Voice, Klark Teknik and Koenig & Meyer, has launched a new division - 'Pro Entertainment' - which will be exclusively dedicated to pro audio in the European concert sound and fixed install markets.

"The new division will fulfill the specific needs of the big rental companies," explains Walter Geerts, managing director, "as well as the contractors involved in projects such as theatres, arts centres and last but not least broadcast companies. We will supply products ... aimed at the mobile and fixed install concert sound systems market, offering high-end solutions to our clients requirements. Our main activities, on top of monitoring projects from the ground up to their realization, will include seminars and roadshows, as well as

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USA - Lighting designer Michael Franks used 11 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot luminaires, provided by Boston-based supplier High Output, as part of the complete television lighting and grip package for the two-day NFL Draft event, which was televised live on ESPN from Madison Square Garden on 24-25 April.

All 11 of the VL3000s were positioned front-of-house. Franks used the lights mostly for background colour and texture, using the Madison Square Garden Theatre walls as scenic backdrops for the ESPN draft analysts at the main set. From directly in front of the stage, Franks needed fixtures that could throw to the sides and back of the Theatre, a distance of about 150ft (46m). "He needed to cover a whole lot of area with a few units," High Output's Chris McMeen explained. "It takes a powerful light to throw that distance, but then when you zoom all the way out, how much li

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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 - The exciting new season planned at the English National Opera, the first in the restored Coliseum, left the ENO's technical and production department looking for a new solution to allow them to update their flying system. With a technically ambitious season ahead, the system needed to enable them to stage some of the company's largest shows to date, such as their current production of Phyllida Lloyd's Ring Cycle.

The ENO approached Stage Technologies for a solution with the view to purchasing a Nomad control console and renting 36 Big Tow winches. This would allow them to move very heavy loads quickly and safely, including a two-tonne suspension bridge, which is part of the set for Rhinegold, and allows them to stage some complicated and impressive effects for forth coming productions such as Valkyrie and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The well-pub

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Italy - The ELISA 2126from RCF is a multi-function unit combining a six-CD auto-changer with cartridge operation, FM tuner with station memory and a seven-input integrated amplifier with 120W RMS - available on four selectable speaker lines.

Suitable for bars, restaurants, retail stores and fast food chains, the EL 2126 offers four balanced mic/ line inputs and an external Line-Level input for an additional source (i.e. Satellite Receiver). The system can be connected to a priority source (i.e. PABX) and has a built-in chime and a double siren with adjustable volume for emergency. This versatile unit also has an integrated four-zone selection keyboard for individual activation of the sound to different rooms.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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Czech Republic - Robe's latest product release, the ColorSpot 250AT, builds on the ColorSpot 250 XT, one of its most popular moving head models. ColorSpot 250 'Advanced Technology' is the ColorSpot range luminaire for applications requiring smaller and more discreet lights. The ColorSpot 250 AT is aimed at TV studios, small- to medium-sized clubs and various other types of installation, including retail environments.

The fixture uses Robe's high-efficiency optics, designed and manufactured in-house, to ensure the fixture is exceptionally bright for its size, while its streamlined new shell design follows the same aesthetics and style as the larger ColorSpot 1200 AT.

ColorSpot 250 features include a new rotating gobo wheel with seven replaceable 'Slot and Lock' dichroic glass gobos and open, and a new colour wheel hosting 10 replaceable 'Slot and Lock' colours plus open. The th

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Switzerland - Martin Professional's Maxxyz lighting console has made its Swiss TV debut on a live Saturday evening show on Switzerland's Channel One, VIP Parade. The company Winkler Veranstaltungstechnik, in cooperation with TPC TV Production Center of Zurich, completed the project for producers B&B Endemol. Broadcast on 3 April, it was also the first use of the soon-to-be-launched Maxxyz Playback Wing.

Other Martin equipment used included 22 MAC 550 profile spots, two MAC 2000 Profiles, eight MAC 2000 Wash and 16 electronic ballast MAC 600 NT washlights, as well as 26 Martin Architectural Cyclo 04 DMX fluorescent colour mixers. Winkler supplied the Maxxyz and all Martin lighting to TPC TV Production Center, distributed for Switzerland by ASL Electronic AG/SA.

Ronald Huber, lighting designer and operator for Winkler, was the man behind the Maxxyz for the TV event. He co

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UK - The highly acclaimed Rolls product line is now available in the UK from Smart Sound Direct. Comprising an extensive range of commercial and music-related mixers and sub-mixers, signal processors, phantom power supplies, headphone monitor systems, interface devices and headphone amplifiers, all products are built to a high standard in the USA. The range offers something for most sound scenarios - from boardrooms, churches and restaurants, to schools, nightclubs, DJs, studios, sound engineers and musicians.

Also available from Smart Sound Direct are the PSS amplifiers (designed by French amp guru, Yuri Gutsatz) known for their build and sound quality, safety and reliability and all models carry a 10-year manufacturer's guarantee. Said to produce deep, full-bodied bass, clear and clean highs, and accurate mids, the latest trio of newcomers to the range are the PSS600, PSS1200

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Germany - HK Audio welcomed more than 50 international distributors to its premises in St Wendel, Germany, prior to the start of Frankfurt's ProLight&Sound exhibition. The loudspeaker manufacturer's distributors came from as far afield as Mexico, Korea, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Russia and China.

One of the highlights of the two-day event was an awards ceremony held to recognize the contributions of several of the company's distributors. The Award for Concert Sound Sales went to John Hornby Skewes of the UK and was accepted by Dennis Drumm and Neville Raine. SDS of Switzerland picked up the Award for Portable Sound Sales, and Stefano Pagani, Ilan Kriesi and Christian Kraska were on hand to collect. In the field of Install Sound Sales, the Award was won by Space Lights of Greece and collected by Klem Tokatlidis and Christos Asproulis. There was also an award for the Most Improved Dis

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USA - VTG Audio and Stardraw announced that Net CAD has won a Pick Hits award at NAB 2004. Net CAD is VTG Audio's new on-line custom panel design and ordering application, commissioned from software providers, Stardraw.com, which went live at the recent NSCA show in Las Vegas.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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France - The organizers of the European Laser Show Festival have announced that the second edition of the event will take place in the city of the Cap d'Agde, situated near to Monptellier in the South of France, from the 23 - 26 June 2004. Nine European professional of laser display companies will compete for a variety of prizes at the event. These are LM Productions (UK), Laserforum (Netherlands), HW Lasertechnik (Germany), Laser Entertainment (Italy), Global Laser Systeme (Austria), Laser System Europe (Belgium), LPI (France), Omicron (Poland), Art Screen Multimedia (Russia) will be present for the Festival.

In 2002, 15,000 spectators watched the shows in the Gulf of St Tropez. In 2005, the organizers plan to stage the 'World Cup Laser Show' with competing companies coming from all over the globe.

(Lee Baldock)

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Switzerland - When Hard Rock Café International selected Bristol to unveil their new Bar concept, they again commissioned Cadmium Design - their interior specialists - to conceive the new blueprint, working alongside audio-visual experts, Audiotek. Part of the brief from Cadmium was for a moving light ceiling to highlight the black and white artworks in the triangular building. Since the listed building boasts two giant window frontages and the backlit feature was to sit in the centre of the modern interior, Audiotek's Santi Arribas felt an LED approach offered a more dynamic solution to conventional Par cans.

After showing the colour-changing attributes of the James Thomas Pixel Par 87 LED Lanterns, he specified 16 of the fixtures from distributor Lighting Effects Distribution (L.E.D.). These highlight the photo montage (depicting rock legends), which overhangs the horseshoe-s

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UK - Oceanic, the London studio of Who guitarist Pete Townshend, has upgraded with a new Genelec 5.1 monitoring system based around the new 7071LSE subs, with bass management feature. The Genelecs were installed especially so that producer Bob Pridden could re-mix a live Who performance from Boston in 5.1. format.

Pridden has used his much-loved Lockwood monitors with Tannoy Red drivers since the 70s all over the world, but when he came to do The Who's and a number of other 5.1 projects, he knew they had to upgrade. He and the band tried out "dozens of speakers" but he wasn't impressed by any as he felt they sounded "too hi-fi". But, "the minute they tried the Genelecs I loved them," he said.

The live show was recorded in June 2002 and features Pino Paladino on bass after the untimely death of The Who's John Entwhistle. It was recorded on eight 8

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USA - When Bombay Dreams made its much-anticipated debut on 29 April at the Broadway Theatre, it also marked the debut of the Vari*Lite Series 3000 'Q' product line on Broadway. Lighting designer Hugh Vanstone specified 16 VL3000Q Spot luminaires as part of the automated lighting rig, which includes well over 100 Vari*Lite automated fixtures. With a few modifications to the original, the 1200W Series 3000 fixtures, Vari-Lite engineers were able to achieve a 50-percent reduction in audible noise output in the Q fixtures. "All of the VL3000Q Spots are hung over the stage," said associate LD Philip Rosenberg, "and the rig is virtually silent, which is great. It is a very, very quiet light."

The Q product line was specifically designed for noise-critical applications including theatre, television, houses of worship and corporate events. The Series 3000 Q f

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UK - The brief was to retain the original architectural vision of wood floors in the studio of London's Jerwood Space and yet provide a suitable dance surface for a range of dance disciplines. Housed in a converted Victorian school in London's Southwark district, the Jerwood Space was created to help dance and theatre professionals by providing the best rehearsal space at a price appropriate to their means.

As director Richard Lee explained: "Our four main studios were equipped with pine sprung floors but the differing demands of theatre and dance companies, as well as public events, meant these had to be protected with a practical roll-out floor - practical but unattractive and requiring frequent taping."

The solution proved to be Harlequin Fiesta, a floor originally developed to stand up to the rigours of percussive dance, while Fiesta's oak-strip patterned hard su

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The Netherlands - Midas Consoles Holland, the new distribution model for Midas and Klark Teknik products in the Netherlands, has enjoyed success since its launch in January. April saw a particularly busy month for the company, whose sales included a 32-channel Heritage 1000 console to the internationally-renowned concert hall and congress centre - De Doelen, as well as a Venice 320 and eight of Klark Teknik's industry standard DN360 EQ devices to another performance venue, 013 in Tilburg.

The Heritage 1000 has been installed into De Doelen's main concert hall, the 2,200-seater Grote Zaal, although it was supplied with a touring package, so in fact the desk can be moved into any room within the venue as required. Sander Zijlstra, head of sound at De Doelen, said. "We host over 600 concerts a year here, and that means a lot of visiting engineers," he said. "The adva

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Japan - Pioneers of AV sampling, Coldcut, used the new Allen & Heath Xone:92 mixer on their recent tour of Japan. The duo (Matt Black and Jon More) are renowned for creative use of audio-visual material and needed a mixer with a midi output facility, to control and synchronize both audio and visual material.

"The Xone:92 is the only DJ mixer with midi output in production, so we decided to test it on our Japanese tour," comments Coldcut's Black. "Jon already uses a Xone:62 for his audio mixing, so we knew that the sonic standard would be excellent and the build quality, superior. The Xone:92 performed very well and the sound quality delighted our sound engineer. We use a lot of material during our performances and we found that the mixer is very versatile and helps us manage different sources, giving us even more creative scope and freedom."

Black uses a la

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UK - The alarming truth about Britain's nightclubs has been revealed in new research published by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) - the largest charity representing the nine million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the UK. The report, A noise hangover?, is based on the findings of a covert survey of 15 nightclubs in five UK cities - London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast - and reveals noise in Britain's clubs has reached damaging levels.

RNID commissioned the survey, which measured noise levels in three different areas within each club - the dance floor, the bar and the chill-out area. It found that in some venues, the noise was so loud on the dance floor - sometimes as loud as an aircraft taking off (approx. 110dB(A)) - that for those clubbers regularly exposed to loud music, the cumulative effect could be very damaging. Someone who goes c

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Sweden - Wireless Solution AB is Swedish based company with wide experience of the wireless industry. A radio engineer and a real-time programmer - formerly from a worldwide manufacturer of mobile phones and GSM base stations - run the company's R&D Department.

Swelite W-DMX is based on the technology and philosophy of GSM, with the same security of transmission including Frequency Hopping (FHSS) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), which was originally developed by the US Army for safe and encrypted communication during wartime. With 128 different FHSS patterns plus TDMA it is more or less impossible to get interference from other equipment on the 2.4GHz band. To make it even safer the company has included an encryption on the signal from sender to receiver so that each receiver only listen to his master sender and ignores all other signals.

The system is used for both P

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USA - Interactive Technologies Inc, manufacturer of professional entertainment and architectural lighting controls, has introduced the Figment DMX version 5.1, which adds next-generation Bluetooth wireless connectivity features to the award-winning Figment DMX lighting console software package for Palm OS compatible PDAs.

Also new is a Sidewinder Bluetooth Module that easily adds Bluetooth wireless functionality to the company's Sidewinder family of DMX interfaces.

With Figment 5.1 running on a Bluetooth-enabled PDA, Figment can be used to focus fixtures, tech moving lights, run show files, perform diagnostics, view console channel levels and more, by wirelessly connecting to a Sidewinder DMX interface that has been outfitted with a Sidewinder Bluetooth Module.

Adding a Bluetooth module to the Sidewinder DMX interface allows a PDA running Figment DMX with built-in Bluetooth

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Italy - Soundcraft's Italian distributor, Audio Equipment, has reported strong sales of the company's MH3 and MH4 consoles following the SIB expo in Rimini - with a staggering 27 consoles requisitioned by the time of the Frankfurt ProLight&Sound exhibition three weeks later. Audio equipment's Marco Porro attributed this to the fact that many of his customers had wanted to suspend their buying decisions until they were in a position to make like-for-like comparisons - and SIB provided the opportunity.

"The season starts at the end of April and I knew SIB would be an important show for us," said Porro. "While I knew some orders had been promised, other rental companies decided to check out the features on competitive desks - but in every case they came back to us."

The positive feedback, Porro says, was based on the VCAs and improved EQ of the MH3 and MH4, a

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