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USA - Beyerdynamic unveiled its new Opus series of vocal microphones at Winter NAMM., aimed at all levels of performance applications from clubs to stadia. The series, which includes the Opus 29S, Opus 39, Opus 59, Opus 69 and Opus 81, focuses on performance situations from gigging vocalists in clubs to critical, high end sound reinforcement in large concert venues.

The Opus 29S is a cost-effective dynamic vocal microphone for hand-held or stand-mounted use by gigging vocalists; the 29S is a supercardioid dynamic-type microphone and the Opus 39 is a dynamic vocal microphone offering more performance specs than the Opus 29S and featuring, says beyerdynamic, extremely high gain-before-feedback characteristics and the ability to withstand high sound pressure levels.

The Opus 59 is

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UK - Cadac's S-Type console has had two high profile deployments in the Far East recently, involving Japan's prestigious Shiki Theatre Company and one of Indonesia's leading rental companies, Sumber Ria. Shiki Theatre Company added two S-Types to its complement of Cadac consoles for the opening of two new productions in January - Phantom of the Opera at the Dentsu Shiki Theatre SEA in Shiodome, Tokyo, as well as Evita which opened on 27th January at the Shiki Theatre AKI, also in Tokyo. In Indonesia, Sumber Ria recently chose an S-Type to tour artist Krisdayanti (KD) in late 2004, as a high quality analogue alternative to their usual analogue and digital console hire stock.

Shiki Theatre Company currently stages an average of seven performances every day of the year, with seven theatres of its own and eleven productions running simultaneously throughout Japan at an

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UK - Twelve James Thomas PixelPAR 90 LED fixtures are at the core of a new high-impact exterior architectural lighting scheme at the Royal & SunAlliance building in Bristol. The Grade II listed West Gate building was designed by renowned British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott - who's work included national landmarks like Battersea & Bankside Power Stations, Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral and the classic red British Telephone Box.

Royal & SunAlliance was keen to stamp its own modern - and lasting - identity on the building for the 21st century. It also wanted an innovative and high quality scheme to reinforce West Gate as a prominent city centre landmark. An additional challenge was that the 'Listed' status meant no signage could be attached to the exterior. Keen to embrace new technology, Royal & SunAlliance decided that lighting was an inventive solution that would also crea

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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 - 19" racking is one of those not very glamorous but nevertheless essential products. RaxX from MTR is a new, British-made rackmounting system with a fresh twist, using uprights that fix directly to a wall, and side arms which attach to the upright and the front panel of the rack units - an infinitely expandable concept. Designed for fixed installations, the RaxX system 'starter pack' consists of two 6U upright sections that are fixed to the wall using the screws and cavity fixing plugs supplied. Six 1U side arms complete the pack, and are fitted to the uprights with the supplied M6 bolts.

The two key advantages of this system, says MTR, are its cost-effectiveness and flexibility. It can be expanded vertically and indeed horizontally, since each upright has two rows of holes, able to take the right side of the first row of products and the left side of the next row along

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UK - PLASA's professional development programme starts off this year on 4 March 2005 with 'Essential Steps to Effective Strategy Development' and will be held at the DTI Conference Centre in Victoria, London. Aimed at anyone who has responsibility for the development of strategic/business planning, the seminar will cover:
The components of strategic planning, key models/tools and the application to a case study.
Reviewing and exploring types of market information and cost effective methods of data collection for successful planning.
Starting work on identifying possible market resources and the development of individual business plans with support/review by a specialist consultant.
Lunch will be provided and there will be the chance to network throughout the day. Please note that places are limited due to the practical aspect of this workshop.
The cost of the semi

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The Netherlands - Luxeon LED luminaires have been installed by Germany's Bocom as the sole light source in the bar of the Hotel Anna in Munich, Lumileds' LEDs creating a key attraction through the use of dynamic colour-changing light. In total over 1800 LEDs from Lumileds, housed in 12 luminaires throughout the bar area, are used to create the control and imagery needed for this designer hotel.

Harald Spilker, sales and marketing manager of Bocom GmbH, said: "The success and on-going high performance of the Hotel Anna solution underlines the benefits of Luxeon LEDs. Creatively we were able to achieve far greater control and dynamism over the lighting solution, while the minimal maintenance and on-going cost savings provide the hotel with a high-performance, cost-effective installation." Bocom is also responsible for the 35,000 Euro lighting refurbishment of the Rhein T

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Luxembourg - With the whole of continental Europe, including Russia, served by Harlequin International, the Luxembourg-based operation can now offer information on its web site in six major languages. In order to assist customers with details of products and services, Harlequin recently completed a total translation of the web site into French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian, alongside the original English.

Linked to the expanded web site, Harlequin has launched an English language e-mail headline news service. Aimed at anyone involved in the dance community, dance education, stage and events productions and interested in keeping informed of new developments in dance floors, Harlequin's e-news allows readers to scan headlines and images and 'click through' to read the full story on the Harlequin web site.

(Mike Lethby)

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UK - Shure Distribution UK has announced it is now shipping QSC's AcousticDesign AD-S282H full range, surface mount loudspeaker. The unit's contemporary styling is designed to fit perfectly into multiple surroundings and applications including hotels, restaurants, convention facilities and multimedia environments. The speaker incorporates the Advanced Directivity rotatable waveguide and is available in black or white; these weather resistant enclosures can be painted to match any specific décor.

The AD-S282H is the most recent addition to QSC's AcousticDesign range of installed loudspeakers and is a 2-way system housed in a ported enclosure made from injection moulded, high-impact polystyrene. This enclosure incorporates two 8" weather-resistant, LF transducers with heavy-duty double roll cloth surrounds. These high output versions employ a 1" exit compression HF driv

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Germany - Messe Frankfurt has unveiled organisational and facility changes to this year's Musikmesse and Pro Light+Sound events on 6 to 9 April.

Among a series of new digital services for exhibitors and trade visitors are round-the-clock ticket sales with online registration, while a complete Wireless Local Area Network (W-LAN) will allow wireless internet and e-mail access from anywhere in the Exhibition Centre. PCs and handhelds must be equipped with a standard W-LAN card that supports the IEEE 802.11 b or g standard (Wi-Fi). Visitors can purchase W-LAN access cards with time credits of between 15 and 60 minutes for € 2.50 to €8.50. A special flat rate for exhibitors costs € 380 per terminal unit and includes W-LAN access for the duration of the fair, including the setting-up and dismantling phases.

Online trade visitor registration is now available from anywhere in the w

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Greece - A DiGiCo D1 Live has been specified by sound engineer Aris Koudouris for open air concerts, television shows and music club seasons in Greece. "Ypsilon Live, the rental company I usually work with, and I decided that time had come to switch from an analogue to a digital mixing console," says Koudouris. "We chose the DiGiCo D1 Live primarily because of the way it sounds. We'd tested other mixers, but they didn't completely satisfy us." At the moment, Koudouris is using his D1 for a 60-show season with Greek artist Yiannis Kotsiras at large clubs in Salonica and Athens.

"I'm using the D1 at Front of House with an SLS RLA-2 line array system, with a Lexicon 960 for reverb and a Focusrite compressor," continues Koudouris. "Just because this is the first time I've used the console, I have two D1s mirroring each other. Besides the safety iss

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USA - Aviom, manufacturer of the Personal Monitor Mixing System, introduced the A-Net Pro64 ASIC at Winter NAMM 2005. In addition to the introduction of the new technology, the company launched the Aviom Technologies Group division to support this new version of the A-Net protocol. A-Net Pro offers greatly increased data capacity and signal control, and addresses the performance requirements of sophisticated audio networking applications in studio applications as well as live performance.

"We looked at the needs of audio networking for live and studio situations and determined the only way to ensure optimal performance for audio transmission was to design a protocol specifically for audio," says Carl Bader, president and CEO of Aviom. "Since the introduction of A-Net, we have listened to feedback from the industry and have responded with the all new A-Net Pro syst

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USA - SLS Loudspeakers unveiled its P-LS8695 powered compact line array speaker system at Winter NAMM 2005, a powered version of the LS8695 Compact Line Source Array. The new system incorporates a 24-bit, 96 kHz DSP processing engine to combine flat response with excellent sonic fidelity. Two high performance, high power digital amplifiers independently power the low and high frequency drivers. At the heart of the P-LS8695 is a robust, high-voltage, high current power supply.

The integrated low frequency amplifier provides a thundering 1000 Watts of power to drive the ultra clean low and mid frequency ranges, while the integrated high frequency amp provides 500 Watts of power to deliver crisp and accurate high frequencies capable of meeting the enhanced bandwidth of today's 24-bit, 96 kHz digital format. The input to the amplifier section is fully balanced with adjustable sensit

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UK - Computers Unlimited recently teamed up with the Central School of Speech and Drama in London to hold its first ever VectorWorks Spotlight event. The 2D drafting and 3D modelling software was shown using advanced lighting design and production tools, together with the complementary products, SketchUp and Piranesi.

The well-attended day started with an opening talk and demonstration by Mark Stephens, director of The Design Division, followed by a more in-depth demonstration by Alex Wardle, lighting designer and technical manager. Both demonstrated how easy and flexible the software was to use even for someone with no previous training and confirmed that VectorWorks Spotlight was compatible with other existing software. They also offered a special student package available at a fraction of the cost of the more commercial product.

After an interesting question and answer sess

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UK - Brighton Film Studios, the facilities subsidiary of The Brighton Film School, has just taken delivery of the new JVC DLA-HD2K high definition projector. Franz von Habsburg, director at Brighton Film School, first saw the projector at VMI's new High Definition and Broadcast facility in Soho. Brighton Film Studios use the HD2K's special video processor unit, which accepts a wide range of HD and SD signals. It up-converts and rescales all signals to output 1920 x 1080 progressively scanned images which are transmitted via DVI signal to the HD2K projector.

"What I liked about the HD2K was the scaler," commented Franz who, as a BAFTA judge, has been using it to screen BAFTA award entries prior to casting his votes. "It ramps up any input of a lower standard to HD and produces an image that's outstanding and virtually pixel-free to the naked eye." The HD2K has

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The Netherlands - In the last weeks of 2004, Audio Electronics Mattijsen (AEM), Meyer Sound's distributor in the Netherlands, opted to hold the first-ever Dutch training seminar for the Meyer Sound SIM 3 audio analyzer system on Spain's Gran Canaria, one of the sub-tropical Canary Islands. 14 engineers, including two AEM staff, headed for the sun, but Meyer Sound Technical Training Instructor Mauricio "Magu" Ramirez's intense program left the attendees with only the off-hours to actually enjoy the swimming pool. The course's final day focused on practical application of the SIM 3 system, during which the local theatre's audio system was optimized. All the attendees arrived on Gran Canaria either as certified SIM II engineers or having taken an earlier week-long, comprehensive "Compact Seminar," and all 14 left with SIM 3 certificates received at the swimming po

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The Netherlands - A CyberHoist / InMotion 3D motion control system is adding a key creative ingredient to the current tour by arch metal band Rammstein, which is due to run around the globe throughout 2005, taking in the UK in February beginning this week. With sales of their current album Reise, Reise already topping one million Rammstein are Germany's leading international rock act. No small feat for a band that sings almost exclusively in its native tongue, part of their success is founded upon a reputation for spectacular stage shows overflowing with wild pyrotechnics and fantastical lighting. This tour calls upon the twin talents of production designer Roy Bennett and CyberHoist/InMotion 3D, the PLASA Award-winning motion control system from XLNT Advanced Technologies.

"Since I first saw the system I've wanted to try it out," said Bennett. "Rammstein h

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USA - The USA's Entertainment Technician Certification Program Council has announced the appointment of Rigging Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). These people, all highly respected in their field, have agreed to volunteer considerable time to the development of the industry's first rigging certifications. Selected for their breadth and depth of knowledge, the SMEs will work closely with the Council's selected psychometric services provider, Applied Measurement Professionals (AMP), to develop the examinations.

The SMEs are: Roy Bickel, John Bleich, Eddie Blue, David Boevers, Olan Cottrill, James Doherty, Harry Donovan, Kelly Green, Glenn Hufford, Edward Kish, Stephane Mayrand, Joseph McGeough, Brian Miller, Walter Murphy, Rocky Paulson, G. Anthony Phillips, Eddie Raymond, Michael Reed, Bill Sapsis, Peter Scheu, Karen Seifried, Scott Sloan, Sammy Stokes, and Jack Suesse.

The SMEs

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UK - The Wales Millennium Centre (WMC), nestling at the water's edge of Cardiff Bay, which describes itself as 'the most exciting cultural initiative happening in Europe today', officially opened at the end of 2004, and attention to detail throughout the build was meticulous. Sound and lighting contractor Stage Electrics called upon the expertise and equipment of Ampetronic for an induction loop system to allow those with hearing disability to access audio through a substantial portion of the facility. The building contains 5,000 tonnes of structural steel which can absorb most of the energy from an induction loop system, while the floor of one of the main areas to be covered rests on steel sheets.

"Ampetronic performed a site survey at Easter of 2003," says Stage Electrics' Jonathan Porter Goff. "We'd worked with them before and we were very pleased to be workin

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UK - XL Video recently supplied projection and control for video artist and photographer David Buckland's inventive installation work in Somerset House, which is part of his wider Cape Farewell Arctic exploration project. It drew together artists, scientists and educationalists to collectively address and raise awareness of global warming. The projections - one of the art elements of the project - were beamed onto the Seaman's Hall facade of the main courtyard at Somerset House, at the end of the venue's famous winter ice rink, enjoyed this season by nearly 120,000 members of the skating public.

The installation, which ran every night for 10 days, was primarily an experimental exercise, designed to illustrate how this type of building projection will potentially translate into a much larger integrated Cape Farewell Festival event, planned for Somerset House in 2006. The technica

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Italy - With the launch of the RCF Acustica Compact Series, RCF have introduced the first of a range that will, in time, cover all aspects of sound contracting installations, say the company. RCF Acustica Compact Series is the first in the line. This, say the company, is an advanced line-up of near-field, two-way direct radiating loudspeaker systems offering dedicated models with focused horn directivity for both portable and permanent installation applications.

The C3108 is a full-range two-way passive system, extremely compact and light. Its natural sound reproduction makes the C3108 an ideal speaker for permanent installations, AV presentations, portable system, under balcony applications. The wide coverage angle and the true constant directivity of the newly designed horn (featuring 'CMD' Coverage Matching Design plus 'LICC' Low Impedance Compensated Crossover) guarantees o

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UK - Phonic's new Powerpod 865 Plus is now shipping in the UK and is available from, Shure Distribution UK. The Powerpod 865 Plus is a plastic moulded powered mixer incorporating 8 mic and 10 line inputs, with each channel featuring 3-band EQ (2 channels with sweepable mids), as well as monitor and effect sends. This ergonomically designed cabinet can be used as a desktop or rack-mounted (optional rack mount kit available) mixer. Other notable features include +48V phantom power, vocal elimination, feedback detection, solid Phonic system (sPs) speaker enhancement and two 300W power amplifiers. An integrated 24-bit digital multi-effect processor, features 16 programs with parameter, tap delay and foot switch control. For increased versatility and durability whilst on the road or on stage, the Powerpod 865 Plus also features a dual 45° angular plastic moulded cabinet that can be po
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