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France - Nexo has released the NX242 Digital Tdcontroller, an advanced proprietary processor that provides crossover, driver protection and system alignment for the whole range of Nexo cabinets, as well as enabling high-quality audio networking using the EtherSound protocol, through the NXtension Expander Board.

The new NX242 offers all the generic functions of a digital loudspeaker controller, but its real value is its precision interface with Nexo loudspeakers. Acoustically matched to each Nexo component, the NX242 uses complex software algorithms and precision circuits to provide flexible loudspeaker management and enable increased sound pressure and operational reliability.

For the first time, a Nexo digital controller is able to offer flexible networking options. Through us

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UK / Germany - The Praesideo digital public address and emergency sound/evacuation system from Bosch was recently awarded SOLAS approval by Germanischer Lloyd. This follows on from the TÜV IEC 60849 certification gained earlier in 2003, as well as the existing BS 5839 approval. This new recognition means that the Praesideo now conforms to the most stringent industry standards.

SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships. By gaining SOLAS approval from Germanischer Lloyd - specifically in the C, EMC1 and EMC2 environmental categories - the Praesideo is certified suitable for use on cruise ships, other merchant vessels and offshore gas and oil drilling platforms. It meets the strict safety and reliability criteria demanded by the treaty, which deal with issues such as monitoring of

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USA - Autograph A2D, US distributor for the DiGiCo D5T digital sound console, has confirmed its first sale to Masque Sound, the well-known New York rental company. The console will be used for the US premiere of We Will Rock You, which opens at the 1,450-seater Paris Theatre Des Arts in Las Vegas, this coming September.

Scott Kalata from Masque Sound says: "We are very enthusiastic about the use of the DiGiCo D5T on We Will Rock You, this console has definitely initiated a new era in theatrical sound design. It's a highly refined product that even Broadway's most particular designers are keeping a very close eye on. Let the revolution begin!"

The D5T is the result of an 18-month collaboration between DiGiCo and Autograph's Andrew Bruce, which has transformed the D5Live into its theatre counterpart, the D5T. The first fully featured console was installed

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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 / France - The grand finale to the Cannes Film Festival - a concert promoting the new movie De-Lovely - made the most of its stunning beach-side location, with a stage in the middle of the sea. De-Lovely, a drama based on the legendary American composer Cole Porter, is the latest musical to come out of the studios of MGM. To create a stage set which was in keeping with the theme of the movie and also elegant enough for the performers, including Robbie Williams, Alannis Morrisette and Sheryl Crow, MGM turned to scenic artists Hangman to come up with a concept for the design. Hangman in turn called upon LiteStructures to help them realize their ideas.

"MGM asked us to come up with a concept for the stage set, sending us to a top secret preview screening of the film to give us the opportunity to sketch out some ideas", explained Hangman's Sam Booker. &qu

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UK - White Light Events recently supplied lighting design services to King's College in central London for an evening's entertainment which told the story of the college's history - marking its 175th Anniversary. Inspired by son-et-lumiere-style presentations on other historic buildings in London, King's College created a light show and theatrical performance complete with marching bands, a re-enactment of the famous Duke of Wellington Duel, dramatic musical presentations and a huge firework display as the evening's finale. This all took place in the college's historic quadrangle, hidden behind its 1970s facade.

"Our brief was to transform the look of the building, bringing it to life" comments Jason Larcombe, lighting designer for White Light Events, "and at the same time to use lighting to support and enhance the drama of the show. Up until one week before the l

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Spain - Hotel Omm in Barcelona, designed by Juli Capella, a young architect is at the forefront of modern architecture in Barcelona. Inside the hotel, the Moo restaurant, managed by the Roca brothers, offers a gastronomic experience second to none. After putting on the calories in the Moo restaurant, patrons can dance them off at the Hotel's Ommsession Club, Barcelona's newest nightclub which also boasts live music. This new venue demanded a high quality and flexible sound system. Netso PTB was called in to design and install a system capable of delivering sound quality for live concerts and a variety of other events. "It was important that the sound system fitted in with the hotel's carefully chosen design standards," said Reni Mititieri of Netso PTB.

With support from d&b audiotechnik's local office, Mititieri chose a minimalist system powerful enough to be used in b

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Japan - High in Tokyo sky, on the 52nd (top) floor of the Mori Tower building in Roppongi Hills an all night event Roppongi Hills Cultural Festival 'till Sunrise was held for the release of the new Japanese movie Innocence.

Tokyo based rental company Sound Service MMU, in co-operation with Sound Projects representative STK, provided the sound equipment for this special event, with main FOH systems based around the Sound Projects 4 (SP-4).

Sound engineer Asada split the area into two zones (two stages). For the main stage he specified double SP4 Diamond stacks for FOH, two SP2-FM floor monitors on stage and two personal monitors as side fills. The second (smaller) stage was reinforced by a SP-3 systems and again personal monitors as side fills. All around the top floor several X-act full range monitors and XM studio monitors were used.

The event took place on V

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Japan - Staged on and around the outdoor ice rink of the Sapporo 1972 Winter Olympics, Toyota Big Air was a snowboard ski-jump event with a real difference. Dangerous sports like snowboard jumping are closely associated with youth culture, so it was no surprise the event was augmented by an outdoor festival stage where top Japanese punk skater band Shaka Labit performed to the many fans who came to watch the jump-offs. Throughout the event the ever-swelling crowd were kept entertained by leading Japanese DJs, some lively commentary, and the occasional piece of advertising.

Despite the crowd's huge size, a PA system comprising just 12 of d&b audiotechnik's new Q1 loudspeakers (six per side) and eight Q-SUBs (four per side) was used to cover the crowd (80m deep). Stefan Goertz from d&b's Application Support (who supported Hokkaido Kyoriz Co Ltd on this, their first trial event wit

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UK - The 2004 Classical Brit Awards is one of the first events in the UK to benefit from the new version of ElectroVoice's powerful IRIS control software, driving EV's Precision Series remote-controlled amplifiers and an X-Line array system for the British classical music industry's big night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Derrick Zieba is the sound designer for the event, coordinating Britannia Row's team and the freelance engineers that regularly work with him on these televised spectaculars. The Classical Brits includes eight live acts - Vanessa Mae, Bryn Terfel, Nigel Kennedy, the Kings Choir and Hayley Westenra are amongst those on stage - and the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Simon Wright; the show is being broadcast by ITV.

For Zieba, this show is relatively relaxed. Thanks to the success of the EV X-Line system at last year's event, Zieba is using essent

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USA - VLPS Lighting Services recently provided a lighting package on renowned Video Artist Bill Viola's latest project, The Raft. Commissioned by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture's Cultural Olympiad as part of the "Transcultures" exhibition, The Raft features water shot at high velocity from two sides onto a group of 19 people. Representing the various ages, religions and cultures of humanity, each of the 19 actors will react a different way to the water's impact and the aftermath.

"We'll shoot the scene on 35mm film in super fast speed, about 225 frames per second from a Wilcam," explained veteran director of photography Harry Dawson. "We're extending time out to get the full effects of the water and the actors' emotions, translating about 75 seconds of real time footage to 15 minutes screen time which will loop all day long at the Nationa

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UK - The new Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre has opened in Peebles, following an audio installation by Sound Acoustics - which includes the first use of t&m loudspeakers in the UK. Tommy Gorman's Glasgow-based company won a competitive tender to fit a complete audio package into the converted church in the Scottish Borders - all of which was sourced from Fuzion plc (including the t&m range, which has just joined the product portfolio).

The auditorium seats 244 in an 'in the round' style presentation, with banked seating in the stalls, gallery centre, left and right. The main system comprises six t&m 122 loudspeakers, suspended from the grid, which overhangs the stage area (four servicing the front of stage area, and the other two outfills). These passive two-way trapezoidal enclosures are equipped with a single 12" LF driver and 1.75" HF compression driver.

For the

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UK - Allen & Heath provided the PA for up and coming band, 13 Senses, at the start of the bands first solo tour. The band, which has always used Allen & Heath mixers for live gigs and recording, was signed to Mercury Records imprint, Vertigo, in January 2004 and has since supported Longview on tour and recorded their forthcoming debut album, produced by Danton Supple (Elbow, Starsailor, Coldplay).

The tour started in the band's home county of Cornwall, followed by dates across the country. Allen & Heath coordinated the whole PA system with local hire company 'Freq AV', and supplied the control system, including an ML3000 24-channel VCA live sound console, which was controlled both FOH and monitor mixes. The band's tour sound engineer, Rob Heilig, was very impressed with the ML's VCA grouping functionality. An iDR-8 digital mixer provided time aligned in-fills around the venue,

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division has specified and supplied the lighting system for the Fotheringay Centre - a new multi-purpose performance and teaching venue in Glasgow. Formerly Pollokshields United Reformed Church, the centre is adjacent to Hutchesons' Grammar School and has been re-developed for use by both the School and the original Church congregation.

As well as excavating the basement and adding a major extension to accommodate new teaching facilities for the School's Music and ICT departments, the original church hall has been completely refurbished so that it can function as a multi-purpose venue. The hall now serves as a high-tech lecture theatre for school assemblies and conferences, a performance and rehearsals venue for school music and drama productions, and a place for the church congregation's weekly services and functions.

The main requirement

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UK - Audio-visual contracting and entertainment service specialists Sound Division recently installed a distributed JBL sound system with accompanying zone control from Cloud into City-based stockbroking firm, Arjent Ltd.

The audio system provided by Sound Division formed part of the final development phase for Arjent's new dealer room. Arjent already had in place a large plasma screen linked to a Sky Digital box. Sound Division was asked to supply a distributed audio system to link the Sky Digital box so that the audio could be heard across the entire trading floor. To this end the company installed twelve JBL Control 24C ceiling speakers in grid format across the trading floor and a control rack housed in a locking steel cabinet containing a Cloud CX-A66 power amplifier and a Cloud CX133 dual zone pre-amplifier/mixer, as well as the Sky Digital box and a multi-CD player, which

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UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians' annual showcase - The ABTT Theatre Show, staged in London's Royal Horticultural Halls on 16-17 June announced that it is 15% larger than last year's event - filling three halls to capacity for the first time.

With over 127 companies exhibiting a broad cross section of products and services, this year's show has expanded into three halls underlining its position as a technical showcase for professionals involved in theatre and auditoria. A host of new companies are exhibiting for the first time from the UK and mainland Europe, including theatrical video experts, XL Video, PA/VA specialists Millbank Electronics, Harman, Duran Audio, Ben-Ri Electronica, Alcons Audio and Turbosound. New lighting companies include Enlightenment and Associated Lighting. New exhibitors from the rigging side of the industry include: Metalworx, Tomcat

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UK - David Carr has today announced that he has fulfilled his plans in the role of managing director at broadcast television equipment rental company Charter and is ready to pass the reins on to a successor. He will remain with the company as caretaker managing director until July this year.

David joined Charter as managing director in 2001 with thirty five years experience of the film and television industry, and over the last three years he has worked to develop Charter's presence both in the UK and abroad. David Carr said: "I feel that I have now reached a point where I can hand the company over to someone new who will be able to drive it forward over the coming years. I hope to enjoy a continuing relationship with Charter and its sister company Blitz."

Michael Breen, CEO of Blitz Charter Group commented: "I would like to thank David for his dedication to the

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Slovak Republic - Rock Centrum, the Slovak distributor for Martin Audio, have supplied a W8LC system to rental company Elektronik Plus - in time for the celebrations in the city of Martin to mark the Slovak Republic's membership to the European Union. The 12-enclosure system is believed to be the first line array in the country.

Immediately after delivery, a full training and demonstration session supervised by Martin Audio's Martin Kelly and Rock Centrum's Peter Foldvari, who showed how different box configurations, might be implemented. "The system sounded excellent - right from the word go," exclaimed Foldvari, adding that a week later it was making its official debut during four days of celebrations. "The result was amazing, confirming everything that had been spoken and written about this system."

"The W8LC proves that we no longer need to transpo

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UK - This industry - and in particular PLASA members and exhibitors at the PLASA Show - are being consistently targeted by online trade directories which approach companies about free online listings, but are actually being somewhat economic with the facts.

The companies send out a highly misleading mailshot to exhibitors asking them to update their free listing, but in reality, simply by updating and returning the form, exhibitors are actually signing a contract binding them to a three-year agreement, costing a significant amount per year. All the legal essentials and prices are hidden away in the small print - and the contract is then self-perpetuating unless cancelled in writing.

The companies will then refuse to cancel the 'order' and will aggressively pursue payment and threaten legal action. They apparently operate on the '10% Rule' - based on the fact that when threaten

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USA - The recent installation of 19 self-powered loudspeakers from Meyer Sound into the auditorium of the Scottish Rite Cathedral gave Indianapolis a distinctive performance venue. Built in the late 1920s, in earlier decades, admission to the cathedral had been largely restricted to members and special guests, but in recent years, the facility has been opened to a wider range of community arts, business and social events.

Unfortunately, poor sound reproduction inside the 1,150-seat auditorium precluded the room's use for events focusing on musical quality, as the cathedral's building services manager, Kent Watts, explains: "A major foundation had been holding a fundraiser here every year in our ballroom, with an orchestra and operatic soloists, but they had to erect a temporary stage and bring in sound and lighting systems, all at significant cost. The auditorium was bette

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UK - Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club has commissioned a new high-spec sound system for its main spectator stands and pavilion at Trent Bridge, Nottingham - which features ElectroVoice's compact EVID loudspeakers...in cricket whites, of course.

Brighton-based installation company Navica has translated its extensive experience in fitting sound systems in football clubs to the cricket ground, designing the EV system to deliver similar coverage patterns and frequency responses to those recommended for soccer stadia.

The Notts CCC ground at Trent Bridge has several spectator stands, all built at different times from the 1880s to the 1990s and varying in architectural design and build construction. Navica's installation takes in four of the largest stands, including the Pavilion, "which is where the money is", says Dave Read, technical director at Navica. "We've d

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UK - At the forthcoming ABTT show (16-17 June, London), Dutch pro audio manufacturer Alcons Audio will make its first appearance with a complete line of theatre loudspeakers and controller-amplifiers. Alcons' loudspeaker products feature the company's proprietary pro-ribbon technology - a radically different, but proven way of reproducing mid and high frequencies, resulting in hi-fi sound quality with truly unsurpassed clarity and intelligibility at high sound pressure levels.

Products on show will include the VR8 (8" + RBN401 ribbon), the VR12 (12" with RBN601 ribbon), the ALC2 controller-amplifier and the TS-series of compact in-fill speakers. Special attention is paid to the LR14 - the ultra-compact ribbon-loaded line-array, featuring the patented RBN401 pro-ribbon driver. Designed as either an ultra-compact line-array system, or as an under-fill cabinet for the LR

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