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USA - This years' Christmas Celebration Tour by Mannheim Steamroller was mixed by Rande Ferguson, who added a Mackie Digital X Bus console to the show's audio arsenal. Ferguson has served as sound engineer for Mannheim Steamroller, during their traditional touring months of November and December, for the past 16 years. For the other 10 months of the year, Ferguson is a design/build contractor in Omaha, Nebraska with Audio Support Group.

He says: "In this job I'm able to stay well-versed in new audio products and technologies," said Ferguson. "In fact, this is how I first became aware of Mackie's new digital console. It was my good friend and sales rep, Tim Eakins of Eakins-Bernstein & Associates, that suggested that the new Digital X Bus might be just what I needed

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UK - 15 December saw the West End premiere of the stage production of Mary Poppins - incorporating a mixture of large format projection and video projection created as a collaborative effort between DHA Lighting, the expert in the fields of gobos and projected imagery, and sister company Scene Change, the digital media specialist.

A musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins is produced by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh. The show made its debut at the Bristol Hippodrome in September, playing a short season there before transferring to London. The DHA and Scene Change teams were led by Wyatt Enever, bringing his long experience in creating and pre-distorting projected artwork for stage productions into the world of projected video, together with Scene Change's Nigel Sadler. Enever, Sadler, DHA and Scene Change were selected to

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Australia - Nova Multimedia, Canberra's oldest and leading independent production house, and Specifics, a relatively young technical management and specialist audio equipment supplier, have merged. The merger, which took effect from Monday 10 January 2004 - sees Specifics cease trading and become part of Nova Multimedia - makes Nova Multimedia the largest supplier of event technical management, production and installation services in Canberra.

"We're thrilled and excited to be joining forces with Specifics," Nova director Nick Nonas says of the merger. "With Specifics joining us, we can offer our clients an even broader range of equipment and expertise."

"With the addition of Specifics' broadcast and boutique studio hire equipment, and our own recent upgrade to our Nexo Geo S and PS15 systems, we now have an inventory to be envied', says Nova directo

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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 - Total Fabrications announced that, as of the 1st of January 2005, Neil Darracott stepped down from his position as the company's technical director. Darracott has worked within TFL for over 5 years, during which time he's played a vital role in maintaining Total Fabrications reputation as one of the industry's most innovative and safety conscious truss manufacturer. In addition, his personal contributions to the PLASA committee and other industry forums serve as typical examples of his enduring commitment to the cause.

Darracott will be heading up a new business, called "Xolve", which is dedicated to providing manufacturing companies with specialist technical and management resources. Although it is not restricting itself to the entertainment market, Xolve is certain to provide our industry with valuable and much needed support.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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USA - Wicked, is the little-known "back story" of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glenda the Good Witch - characters from The Wizard of Oz. The show features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz from a book by Winnie Holzman. This Tony award-winning musical, based on the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, took Broadway by storm in 2003 and it is soon to go on its North American tour.

Wicked Tour Productions asked Tomcat USA to make some custom items for the tour. The company designed and manufactured a 132' span of electric truss - based on a custom version of the EDDY Award winning TOMCAT Swing Wing Truss. The span was designed to come in three sections, each measuring 36" x 30" X 44'.

In addition, Tomcat was also asked to build four sets of lighting towers, as well as a cyc boom and cyc trusses. Each tower is 25" x 30", with h

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Norway - An annual fixture each December in Norway's Oslo, the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. This is the climax of a series of celebratory events centred around the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize. 2004's recipient was Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. As in previous years, Norwegian audio company AVAB CAC provided the sound system for the event, which featured DiGiCo D5 Live and D1 Live digital mixing consoles.

The event, which is also produced for television and distributed to 48 nations world-wide, is hosted by Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey, saw a stellar cast perform at Oslo Spektrum including Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Cindy Lauper, Joss Stone and Patti LaBelle. With three stages set across the arena, the artists performed alternately on the left and right stages, whilst the Norweg

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Australia - Robe recessed ColorSpot 170 ATs have been installed at Melbas on the Park, a popular landmark restaurant, bar and nightclub in Surfer's Paradise on Australia's Gold Coast. Melbas recently extended and renovated its cocktail bar which is complete with Robe Recessed 170 AT fixtures illuminating the dancefloor.

Robe's Australian distributors ULA supplied these to installers Venue Technologies Australia. ULA has been supplying sound, lighting and AV technology to its clients at Melbas for 20 years. The lighting scheme for the new bar was designed by Mick James and programmed by Luke Hall, who explained that the Robe ColorSpot 170 ATs were chosen for the dancefloor because of the venue's low ceiling height. This needed an extremely neat, tidy and unobtrusive fixture - and they fitted the bill perfectly. The ceiling is painted with cloud effects, so it was vital that the l

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Canada - Adamson Systems Engineering has moved to a new head office in Port Perry, Ontario. The company advises that as of Monday 17 January there will no longer be support staff at the former Ajax location, and that all mailings, couriers and shipments should now be sent to the address below, and staff may be contacted at the new telephone and fax numbers. The company can now be contacted at 1401 Scugog Line 6, Port Perry, Ontario, Canada. L9L 1B2. Tel +1 (905) 982-0520, Fax +1 (905) 982-0609.

(Lee Baldock)

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Ireland - Waterford has finally got a club and live venue that any cosmopolitan city would envy. TEN at 10 John Street, owned by local entrepreneurs, Bob Tweedy and Willie Hanrahan, is designed by the John Duffy Design Group in Dublin and is married with sound, lighting and video specified and installed by Irish AV contractors, Dublin-based AVL Systems Ltd. At the heart of it all is an EAW sound system selected for its power and versatility.

TEN has rapidly become home to some of the biggest nights out in Waterford including Resistance, featuring names such as Steve Lawler, Mylo, French techno-wizard, Laurent Garnier and Resistance resident Phil Kieran; Ulysses, with an equally stellar line-up; and is soon to play host to MTV and Radio One superstar, Trevor Nelson and his Rhythm Nation tour. A number of live acts have also played the venue including Ian Brown, Ocean Colour Scene

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UK - In November, 30,000 runners took to the streets of London for the fourth annual Nike Run London event. This was the first time the 10km run had taken place at night. "We organized a night run as it's something new, a first for the UK," says Nike's Carolyn Small. "The idea also came from the fact that if you like to run, you are more than likely to encounter wet, rain, cold and dark if you are running in the UK. The idea was to replicate conditions like that and also to act as a motivator so people don't stay in and hibernate on their sofas during the winter - to get up and go nocturnal, so to speak."

Making sure all the runners knew exactly where they were was lighting specialist Airstar, which provided its distinctive lighting balloons at each kilometre mark and the finish line. Airstar deployed two of its Crystal lighting balloons at each stage. Sport

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UK - TPA 05 - the Graduate Exhibition and Trade Show of the Technical and Production Arts department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) will take place on 22-23 March 2005. Once again, Graduating students from the BA Technical and Production Arts course will be showing their work over the past three years in the Academy's Chandler Studio Theatre. Supporting this in the New Athenaeum, the RSAMD's main house, the industry supporters of the course will be showing a large range of production equipment.

Triple E and Black Light have joined the list of course sponsors this year and will exhibiting alongside PRG Europe, Le Mark, Rosco, Rope Assemblies, White Light, Zero 88, Autograph Sales and Hall Stage. Also new to the show will be Lift, Turn, Move and Learn 2B Safe, as well as several industry organizations such as the ABTT, SMA, PSA, PLASA and the ALD, many o

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UK - tsg, the Chesterfield-based media programming and systems company, has promoted Ian Light to the position of media programming manager for its renowned music and media brand; candyrock. Light, who was formerly responsible for looking after tsg's shops and stores customers, will now be responsible for the running of the candyrock programming department which is based at Kings Heath in Birmingham. An important part of his remit will be the development of new programming styles and schedules, as well as the day-to-day relationships with the world's leading record labels.

Joining Light in the enlarged programming team will be a new recruit, Paul Kimberley, who brings a wealth of experience to the candyrock team. tsg's recent experience in satisfying the needs of the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai has generated a whole raft of 'world music' categories, and Light and Kimberley

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USA - Texan root rockers, Los Lonely Boys, recently partnered up with Audio-Technica, to ensure the band's sound on tour lives up to the energy, flair and virtuosity of their performances. The group, which recorded its platinum selling debut album at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studios, by personal invitation, comprises brothers Henry Garza on guitar, Jojo Garza on bass and Ringo Garza on drums.

Bobby Filarowicz, currently monitor engineer on the road with Los Lonely Boys, discovered long ago that Audio-Technica mics make his job easier, and his bands sound better. A-T microphones are amazing and true," he says. "The A-T microphones sound great flat and give me an accurate picture of what the band on stage is hearing. The gain before feedback performance of all of the microphones is incredible, which also makes my job easier and the band's onstage sound better."

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China - Beijing's prestigious new Club Tango has been equipped with an elaborate Turbosound-based sound system. Predominantly featuring Turbosound QLight products, plus the company's TSW low-frequency enclosures, the installation utilizes 50 Turbosound loudspeakers in the club's dance-floor area, and a further 16 in the adjoining Mango Bar. Designed and installed by Hong Kong-based Phoenix Audio and Lighting Technology (Turbosound's exclusive distributor for the Chinese territories) the Club Tango project also includes TXD-121 units as DJ monitors, plus TCS-12M loudspeakers for stage monitoring.

Club Tango set out to be Beijing's leading nightclub, with a need for a best-quality sound system to match its up-market image. Already attracting top-name DJs and acts from around the world, including DJ Sasha as part of his Asian Tour, Club Tango offers its clientele up-to-the-minute

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UK - According to company valuation specialist Plimsoll, there is good news for the UK sound equipment industry as we begin 2005. According to Plimsolll, 47% of companies in the industry have seen their values increase in the last 12 months, some by as much as 50%. David Pattison, senior snalyst at Plimsoll, maintains: "Having valued many companies in the UK sound equipment industry in the last two years, I am amazed that despite poor margins and low growth being commonplace in the market, so many of them have managed to increase in value. While 11% of companies saw no change, only 42% of the industry suffered a fall in value."

Pattison believes that the key to improving the value of a company in a highly aggressive marketplace is to get the fundamentals right: "In 2004, many companies in the industry focused solely on increasing sales at all costs. Ironically, i

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UK - Lift-Turn-Move has added another member to its steadily growing team, with Jenny Hobday joining as sales administrator. She'll be working with John Jones, Paul Hadfield and Dave King, her appointment reflecting LTM's extremely healthy order book, the company says.

Hobday graduated from Stafford University with a Business degree and then joined industrial marine specialists Cosalt, where she worked in the lifting department, handling several major corporate clients. She brings her considerable knowledge in this specialist area to LTM as well as a new outlook and plenty of enthusiasm. "I'm really thrilled to be working with LTM," she says. "It's a different area with lots of new challenges and some excellent people."

LTM's John Jones is equally happy to be building his team this quickly after the company's launch at PLASA 2004. "Jenny is the ideal

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UK - International seating suppliers Arena Seating installed three grandstands into the Mauritius National Tennis Centre (MNTC). The centre is located at Phoenix on the island's central plateaux. Although it was already an excellent facility, the centre was not equipped to cater for major events. To accommodate such events, grandstands were needed around the central court, bringing it to a standard suitable to host world class tennis events.

Kamil Patel, one of the centre's founders and a member of the Africa Tennis Tour (ATT), has long felt that the global game needed events on the African continent that features top players from all over the world. Having attracted the first open tournament to Mauritius the need to increase spectator viewing facilities had to be addressed.

An internet search led Patel to Arena Seating, as the compnay's track record includes installing seatin

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Spain - Denon has danced its way onto a famous international salsa contest in Spain - the third Simposium Internacional de Salsa de Madrid. This major event featured four days and nights of pure salsa, and every piece of music mixed by the specialist DJs was done so using Denon equipment.

The convention was split into two distinct areas: the morning and afternoon dance workshops - held in the huge Moscardó Polideportivo gymnasium - were presided over by the best teachers in the world, while by night, the venue La Riviera featured some of the world's best dancers - and a host of international DJs.

This is where Denon came into its own. Spanish dealer, DBM Pro ES, was one of the sponsors and took advantage of demonstrating the scope and capacity of Denon products at both the workshops and the La Riviera show. For the latter they set up a rig comprising four DN-S5000 tabletop C

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The Netherlands - d&b audiotechnik's partner in The Netherlands, Audio Pro Nederland, will be exhibiting at the ISE exhibition and demonstrating its own integration skills alongside the integrated tools offered by d&b. Featured on the stand will be the latest d&b audiotechnik Remote network, ROPE C Version 1 software, the D12 amplifier and seen for the very first time d&b's latest installation range of loudspeaker products.

ROPE C is a PC based graphical drag and drop user interface enabling total control of d&b systems through a screen based virtual surface. It allows the D12 amplifier through its CAN-Bus interfaces to be remotely controlled and monitored and gives central access to its user definable four band parametric equalizer and delay functions. The D12 dual channel amplifier is specifically designed for use with d&b loudspeakers, it has both analog and digital signal

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UK - The first few months of 2004 saw Stage Technologies engineers' busy commissioning the stage automation systems on board three Princess cruise ships. The year ended with an order for yet another Princess cruise ship.

The Crown Princess is the fifth 'grand class' cruise ship to be built by Fincantieri in its Monfalcone shipyard in Italy. Just days before the end of the year Stage Technologies was awarded a contract, by HMS Italia SA, for the supply of the stage automation control and the power flying system for this ship which will go into service in spring 2006. The system will comprise twenty-one fixed speed and forty-two variable speed axes.

All eight of the grand class cruise ships currently in service have Stage Technologies Acrobat control systems in the main theatre, and several also feature the Juggler control system in the aft lounges. All but the original Grand Pr

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UK - Almost exactly one year after the shipping of the first batch of LR16's, Alcons is now shipping its LR14. The LR14 is a passive two-way ultra-compact line-array module, to be used in vertical arrays, either in stacked or flown configuration. The very compact design and a maximum SPL of 130dB per unit makes the LR14 the ideal system for small to medium-sized applications.

For HF reproduction, the LR14 is loaded with the patented Alcons RBN401 ribbon driver, the most powerful ribbon driver in its category. The all-natural cylindrical radiation of the RBN401 through the 'Morpher' wave-guide brings the active frontal radiation of the LR14 up to 94%, offering even and 'spike-less' dispersion with seamless wide coverage.

The 'Morpher' is mounted in a 120 x 15 degree HempHorn; Alcons' unique waveguide, made of hemp particles. The much higher internal damping of this new combinat

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