Details
Switzerland / Europe - The First Final Farewell Tour, which has just finished rehearsals in Neuchatel, Switzerland and started on 1 June in Milan, will be travelling throughout Europe and the USA this summer and the rest of the globe by the end of the year (with potentially more dates in 2005).

L-Acoustics was proud to announce that its sound reinforcement systems have been exclusively chosen for this prestigious tour - especially since Phil Collins has not toured in seven years. A wide variety of L-Acoustics products including 112XT, V-Dosc, dV-Dosc, dV-SUB and SB218 enclosures have been specified and the newly-launched 115XT HiQ premieres as the stage monitor of choice.

L-Acoustics' recently-released 3D modelling software - SoundVision - was employed to perform 3D simul

Details
Germany - HK Audio has just hosted the first of an ongoing series of training seminars for its Cohedra Coherent Dynamic Response Array system. A total of 14 students from Germany, Switzerland and Austria attended the three-day operator seminar held in May at the company's premises in St. Wendel, Germany. The students then sat a two-hour examination in order to qualify for a Cohedra operator's certificate. Twelve of the students were successful and are now fully-qualified Cohedra operators. Top of the class was Udo Treimetten from Evented-Triacs in Föhren, Germany, who scored 27 of a possible 30 points in the test.

"I'm really proud of the success of the COHEDRA operators," says HK Audio's musicologist Thomas Adt, who ran the seminars. "They worked very hard during the three days, and were still asking lots of very intelligent questions late into the night. I enj

Details
USA / The Netherlands - Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) has announced the acquisition of Dutch dimming manufacturer IES - a leading pioneer of silent dimming. The purchase was completed on 26 May, 2004 and announced publicly at the debut of ETC's new corporate headquarters on Friday 11 June. With the IES agreement, ETC further broadens the scope of its European product offerings, which already includes products under the transtechnik Lichtsysteme and Avab brands.

According to Steve Terry, ETC's vice-president of R&D: "IES has developed unique products that complement our current product offerings and provide silent dimming for concert halls and theatres. IES has been a pioneer in sine wave dimming technologies. IES dimming will be an integral component in ETC's total lighting systems."

ETC plans to dramatically increase sales of IES products through ETC's comprehen

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
USA - Robe America announced the appointment of Tim Edwards as Western US sales manager, to run the new West Coast office in Burbank. Edwards will take care of all territories east of the Mississippi, and will also be responsible for all West Coast office operations.

Tim Edwards spent 15 years as a working musician after leaving high school. He also has over 20 years experience in manufacturing sales to his credit, including 17 as an independent sales rep, with a special interest in lighting. This is where he first encountered Robe products, which were a great success for his business. Edwards says: "The Robe product is excellent, and I am looking forward to working with my friends and colleagues in Los Angeles and around the country!"

Michael Carattini commented: "We're very excited to have Tim Edwards aboard the Robe America team. His character, experience and

Details
UK - The perennially popular DJ Sunday returns to the PLASA Show on 12 September and, for the fourth year running, International DJ magazine will be hosting the show's unofficial 'open day' for the UK's army of bedroom DJs. The day is a chance for DJs of all levels to check out the latest DJ kit at Earls Court, test their skills in the now legendary Gemini 'Extreme V' DJ competition, and learn more about the art and the business of DJ'ing at the special workshops. This year the Talk Zone workshops include Scratch Masterclasses, MP3s and DJ'ing and Case Studies on how to make your mark in the dance industry. Pivotal to DJ Sunday is the 'Extreme V' DJ Competition, presented by Gemini.

The competition is open to all amateurs and attracts hundreds of entries from all over Europe. This year up to six of the finalists will be selected by postal audition (full entry details below). &qu

Details
UK/Europe - Bandit Lites UK is supplying the UK and European legs of George Benson's current Irreplaceable arena tour. Bandit was chosen by tour manager and lighting designer Billy Heaslip, who has been Benson's LD since 1978. Heaslip, a great believer in the culture of multi-tasking is also tour managing.

The lighting rig includes Martin Professional MAC moving lights, a Catalyst digital media server and two DL1 fixtures. Heaslip explains that he likes to imprint his own distinctive signature on the stage 'look' each time, and enjoys researching for the latest "technical bells and whistles" to use before the tour commences each time.

Bandit is supplying a large PAR rig with colour changers, supplemented by a package of colour changers, Martin MAC 2000s, a fibre optic star cloth, 8-lite Moles and four Lycian FOH follow spots. Heaslip is a great believer in no

Details
UK / Germany - After extensive periods working on loading galleries and seeing many colleagues suffering with lumber and associated body injuries, the Hall Stage design team decided to bite the bullet and solve the problem. Highly experienced stage rigging and flying crew with years of backbreaking toil behind them have designed the DGS system, using the patented ASM steel band suspension, which fits directly to an existing counterweight system. The system can be seen working live on the Hall Stage stand at the ABTT Trade Show in London from 16-17 June.

Hall say that as much thought and effort has been put into the pricing and purchasing options available to potential users as to the design of the hardware itself. A full range of finance is on offer to support the purchase, with leasing, hire purchase - and even rental - provided directly by Hall Stage and the Bank of Scotland -

Details
UK - The PLASA Show, with its reputation as the foremost professional technology event for the entertainment and installation industries, takes place at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London from 12-15 September 2004. Evolving over 27 years, the Show focuses on innovation and application for the lighting and sound industries, presenting product launches, displays and demonstrations, as well as professional development opportunities and dedicated features. Kick-starting the autumn business season, the PLASA Show attracts visitors from all over the world and is the most important European showcase for leading brands and manufacturers.

Research at last year's show revealed that both visitors and exhibitors consider new products as the main draw for the PLASA Show. In response to this, the PLASA Awards for Product Excellence are being relaunched as the PLASA Awards for Innovation

Details
UK - "It's all about putting a face behind the brand," said Mark Miller, Selecon UK's new man in London and the South of England. He was talking about his role with the company which, from 1 June, will be to develop relationships with clients and discuss their lighting requirements.

"Mark will visit end users such as lighting designers, dealers, architects and theatres to find out what they need from our products, what we're getting right, and, importantly, what we might be getting wrong," said Mike Goldberg, Selecon's European sales director. "The information will be fed back to our designers and salespeople. It's all part of our continuous drive to maintain the high quality of Selecon products and ensure we develop products people want."

Miller will also play a key part in the upcoming UK Workshops that Selecon is holding around the country, det

Details
UK/France - Ian Kirby has added French company Ayrton to the growing roster of LED products handled solely by his company, Lighting Effects Distribution, in the UK. Ayrton joins a portfolio that already includes Intelliway, Mood Lighting, Alkalite and James Thomas Engineering. The Lighting Effects Distribution MD was attracted by the EasyColor 1, the very first professional LED moving-head fixture in the lighting industry, which made its debut on the company's stand at the Bar.04 Show at Earls Court.

Its 18 high-power LEDs have a 10-year life span (equivalent to over 100,000 hours' continuous use) and offer users an infinite palette of rich saturated colours. Maintenance of EasyColor fixtures is simple, as they have no lamps or colour mixing systems. Their very low IR emission and non-existent UV radiation enables them to be used close to the objects they illuminate witho

Details
UK - Turbosound, the British-based manufacturer of live performance and installed-sound loudspeakers, announced with immediate effect the appointment of Rik Kirby as the company's new sales director. Kirby takes to Turbosound his lengthy experience of the sound reinforcement industry, including several commercial positions at executive level. He is responsible for the company's global sales, working closely with Turbosound's established network of international distributors, while targeting key accounts in selected territories.

Previously, Kirby spent two years in California as US national sales manager for Renkus-Heinz Inc, and five years at BSS Audio, latterly as sales manager. At BSS, Kirby worked alongside Turbosound's European sales manager, Dominic Harter, and UK and Asia sales manager, Tim McCall. This new position reunites the old team. Kirby's long-standing career in th

Details
UK - White Light will supply and install stand lighting for others before displaying new products on its own stand, stand 91! White Light will be supplying and/or installing lighting equipment for exhibitors including Rosco, Selecon, Hall Stage, ETC, Triple E, Doughty, Apollo, Zero88, Stage Technologies and the Association of Lighting Designers.

On a number of stands, White Light will be beta-testing samples of the new 240V CE version of the BakPak from Entertainment Technology: this is a new single DMX controlled dimmer unit designed to be attached to a lantern to give it 'on-board' dimming. "The 110V version has already attracted a great deal of attention in the USA since its launch at LDI last year," comments White Light's Bryan Raven. "We are delighted that Entertainment Technology has chosen us to road-test the 240V version for them."

With those stands

Details
UK - Kelsey Acoustics have taken on the experienced Jez Hunter as product specialist. He joins as a video/audio consultant, having previously worked with Gearhouse, and later Promedia in the UK. Hunter's pedigree as a complete systems installer in clubs, cinemas and commercial buildings will stand him in good stead for his new role. "I was looking for a new challenge at a time when Kelsey had just taken on distribution of the Furman range," he said.

Hunter's mission will not only be to boost Kelsey's video cabling offer but to look for synergies afforded by the large Furman range of devices, including voltage stabilizers and sequential switchers. He will also work with other Fuzion-distributed products, including SymNet.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
Germany - Behringer has launched a number of new products. First up is the first model from its new range of Europower powered mixers - the Europower PMX3000 - a compact and lightweight powered mixer that incorporates Coolaudio, a new amplification technology which the company says delivers high power and sonic performance at nearly half the depth and weight of conventional powered mixers. The table-top PMX3000 offers flexible I/O options suitable for most live applications and features studio-grade IMP 'Invisible' Mic Preamps on all or most mono channels. The powered mixer's 24-bit stereo FX processor with 99 Virtualizer presets features reverb, delay, chorus, flanger and more. Behringer's proprietary FBQ Feedback Detection System instantly reveals critical frequencies on the EQ's fader LEDs, making easy feedback removal possible without using external equipment. The unit also fe

Details
USA - High End Systems' DL1 digital light fixture now features an optional Sony camera accessory that forms the basis of its patented Digital Eye technology. The Digital Eye offers practical as well as special effect functions for event professionals. The company showed the system at InfoComm at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta (9-11 June 2004).

The DL1 equipped with the Digital Eye technology features an infrared illuminator on one side of the DL1's lens, while the Digital Eye is positioned on the other side - both inside the fixture's shell. When the infrared illuminator is activated, the Digital Eye reads the infrared waves and responds to it, operating in the dark and without emitting any visible light itself. The Digital Eye is outfitted with a serial interface that connects internally to DL1, allowing it to be controlled through DMX. It uses nine channels of D

Details
UK - According to the latest industry analysis from Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, 26 of the UK sound equipment industry's leading 236 companies are losing the battle against rising costs and stagnant sales.Plimsoll's findings suggest that for the right buyers, these companies represent highly attractive acquisition prospects. The Plimsoll Portfolio Analysis - Sound Equipment also identifies 20 companies as aggressively chasing market share. Each has the cash resources and the motive to capitalize on the failures of the 26 exposed companies.

David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, says: "Any company that is not increasing sales is always going to struggle as rising costs restrict margins. For these 26 companies, 'selling up' would represent a viable solution to their problems. By absorbing costs and eliminating inefficiencies, new owners could turn these strugg

Details
Italy - Designed specifically to complement RCF's Installed Sound Division's ranges of speaker systems, the new RCF HC Series provides leading edge audio quality with three compact models, say the company. The three models in the line are the HC3200 - which offers up to 1600W per channel into 2 ohms (700W per channel into 8 ohms); the HC2000, which provides 1000W per channel into 2 ohms (500W per channel into 8 ohms) and the HC 1600, which gives 800W per channel into 2 ohms (350W per channel into 8 ohms).

According to RCF, these professional stereo power amplifiers are designed using ultra-high efficiency class-H mode topology, providing from 2 x 800W up to 1 x 3200W, at an efficiency of around 85%. A powerful transformer-based power supply and hand-selected components make these power ratings possible with exceptional audio quality and absolute reliability, even in 2 ohm mode,

Details
UK - Fuzion plc has appointed Emma Houlden as its new marketing manager. Working closely with sales and marketing director, Paul Ward, she has been brought in specifically to help develop Fuzion's continued expansion.Houlden previously worked in the marketing department of event technology providers, Creative Technology. "Having been involved in one area of entertainment technology I am looking forward to the challenges and extra responsibility presented by this new position," she says.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - All expectations of visitor attendance were surpassed at a recent Lighting Logic Open Day, when almost 120 people passed through the portals of the Maidstone-based lighting and sound supply and installation company. The Lighting Product Awareness Day was held in conjunction with the STLD (Society of Television Lighting Directors) in Studio 1 at the Maidstone Studios, where Lighting Logic has it's office.

20 exhibitors were also present showcasing their products - all of which are available through Lighting Logic. This filled the studio and beyond, featuring a wide range of technology that was made available for demo and examination. This included hardware, grip and filter equipment, innovative LED fixtures and studio fluorescents, right through to generic and moving light heads.

Lighting control and dimming from Compulite and LSC Lighting Systems was highlighted, as both

Details
UK - The latest addition to the DiGiCo product line is the D5 RE (Redundant Engine), a stand-alone outboard engine system that provides total audio engine redundancy through a few simple connections to any DiGiCo D5 Live console. The RE is daisy-chained to the main console and stage racks via standard D5 optical fibre cables and additionally connected from MADI port 2 on the RE to the auxiliary MADI port on the D5 local rack with two 5m BNC MADI cables (supplied). A crossed Ethernet networking cable is then connected between the Cat 5 ports on console engine and RE, so sessions can be synced to enable the RE to mirror the D5 console.

This means that, in the very unlikely event of the master audio engine developing a problem, audio is automatically and transparently switched to the RE without any interruption in programme material. Audio processing can be switched back to the mai

Details
Australia - In the shadow of the iconic Sydney Opera House, the Opera Bar is situated on the forecourt with views of the City and the Harbour Bridge. Open 15 hours a day, with live music or DJs virtually every night, the outdoor Opera Bar is a popular spot. Regardless of the occasion, the Opera Bar is now serenading patrons with an Allen & Heath PA12 stereo live mixer and FBT powered speakers.

Entertainment manager, David Milton, comments: "The audio system is in use every night, so we require a tough, portable mixer that also doesn't occupy a vast sightline space. Simplicity of use and operational flexibility were the key parameters in our choice of console and overriding all that is the absolute demand for audio quality - considering our location that's a given - there's no room for compromise!"

The FBT speaker system includes a pair of 10" 2-way 200W MaxX2

Page 1658 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .