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China - The first HK Audio Cohedra Coherent Dynamic Response Array system in China has enjoyed its inaugural open air outing at the 2005 Beijing International Marathon Relay in April. The Beijing Zenith Show Company purchased their Cohedra system in February, just before Chinese New Year, from German manufacturer HK Audio's Chinese distributor, Melody Development Company. So far it has been used for indoor applications only, but the onset of spring has heralded a move into the open air, debuting at one of the world's most prestigious outdoor spaces - Beijing's Tian An Men Square.

The 20th anniversary of the Beijing Marathon Relay saw more than 3,000 long-distance runners competing in six different groups - the largest number of athletes to ever participate in the event. A large co

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UK - Mark Brown and Richard Wright have acquired the big screen interests of Unitek Displays Ltd and Unitek Holdings Ltd from previous owners, Richard and Graham Nye. The two men - both veterans of the display and entertainment technology industries - say that the switch will enable them to capitalize on £1.9m worth of new product investment carried out by the Nye brothers prior to their departure.

They add that Unitek Displays will continue to honour all existing maintenance contracts, while implementing a videowall and LED development programme of bespoke engineering, based on their new chip and processor technology. "We wanted to consolidate the distribution of video product - including LED and cube wall manufacture - into one entity, providing customers with a full range of product and expertise," said Mark Brown.

"We realize we may be fighting from behind

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The Netherlands - XLNT Advanced Technologies, developer of the award-winning CyberHoist/InMotion 3D motion control system, has announced the appointment of its first German and French rental operators. Lightcompany of Neuss, Germany and A.T.S. France of Reims, France have taken delivery of their CyberHoist/InMotion 3D systems, joining Flashlight of Holland, Flashlight/APR of Belgium, Vertigo Rigging of the UK and Italstage of Italy as European rental operators of fully compatible systems. Both are strong and growing companies with first rate client lists and applications for the system will include corporate events, presentations, TV and music touring.

The system, which was launched at PLASA last September and won a PLASA Innovation Award at the show, offers a powerful combination of user-friendly 3D object-oriented programming (InMotion 3D) and precision movement (CyberHoist in

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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 - Bosch Security Systems has appointed Jeremy Hockham as MD of its UK operations. Based at the main Bosch HQ facility in Denham, Hockham brings a successful track record of over 15 years in general management, and extensive experience in the security industry: he was previously international MD for Honeywell Security Group, responsible for all international operations outside the US including UK, Europe and Asia for several years.

His new role at Bosch is to build on the well-established values of the Bosch brand name for quality of products, services and technology and to accelerate Bosch's growth as one of the big four security companies in the UK. "Bosch Security Systems is renowned not only for the quality of its products and support but also for its long-term investment and commitment to the security market and its customers," said Jeremy Hockham.

Jeremy Hock

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UK - With the opening of Apt, late night entertainment specialists, Urbium plc has introduced a new lounge, bar and club concept to the City of London. Situated between Bank and Mansion House station, the new construction boasts a chic interior, and reflects the intention of Urbium to develop further in London's square mile, alongside its firmly-established West End units.

One of the venue's more creative features is the inspired use of Boolean logic, introduced to them by sound installation company Green-I, and featured in the new Soundweb London digital signal processing product range.

Faced with a 540-capacity venues, trading on two floors - with sound sources varying between a Rolec hard disk music manager and conventional DJ set-up - Green-I demonstrated how Soundweb London could either combine or separate the atmospheres in the two environments.

Ceiling speakers, reces

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Italy / Canada - Cast Software Inc and SGM of Italy have announced a two-year partnership agreement by which SGM will bundle their lighting boards (consoles) with a copy of the WYSIWYG Console edition (CE). Cast is the developer of the award-winning WYSIWYG suite, the industry standard in lighting design and pre-visualization software. "We are continuing to align ourselves with the best console manufacturers, and are very pleased that SGM has joined the family of manufacturers that offer WYSIWYG CE with their consoles", says Bob Mani, VP of sales and business development at Cast.

Previously, Cast announced similar agreements with progressive companies such as Strand, HES and ETC. These manufacturers have been providing their customers with a complete solution - top line consoles coupled with the best visualization software.

"The CAST-SGM partnership brings great

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UK - EM Acoustics distributor Autograph Sales reports that the British-designed loudspeaker is continuing to make its mark up and down the country. A relative newcomer to the pro audio scene, the EM Acoustics range is impressing installers, sound designers and consultants alike in the demanding installation market, say Autograph.

London-based system installation and music production company Electracoustic specified EM Acoustics loudspeakers and custom rigging from Autograph Sales as part of a complete sound system supplied and installed at Chak 89, a brand new multi-purpose venue opening in Mitcham this month. Chak 89 will cater for all occasions, especially serving the local Asian community. The venue's sound system design had to be versatile enough to accommodate DJs, parties, ceremonies, live bands, cinema and conference. Electracoustic's Jon Trotter chose EM Acoustics as a h

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UK - FX Rentals has once again played a major role in the annual Nokia Urban Music Festival with The Prince's Trust, a two-day event held at London¹s Earls Court in April. FX provided all equipment for the Nokia DJ Workshop, supplying a Soundcraft K3 40 channel console, 15 Vestax Mixers and 30 Technics SL1210 turntables. Here, wanna-be DJs as young as eight years old were able to try out their skills on the decks, assisted by DJs including Mr Thing, DJ Skully and Ritchie Rufftone.

All the audio channels from the 15 DJ systems were fed into the Soundcraft so individual stereo channels could be solo'd at any time and fed through the main PA system. This was also provided by FX and comprised four Mackie SRM 450 self powered speakers with four HZ PB400 sub bass units. FX also provided two Mackie SRM450 speakers, a Mackie 1202VLZ mixer, a Denon CD player and a Shure SM58 mic for the

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UK - One of the world's most famous cathedrals, St. Paul's in London, has recently completed a significant audio upgrade, which has included the replacing of all its existing amplification with QSC's ISA 300T amps. Noted architect Sir Christopher Wren designed the church on a six-acre site after the great fire of 1666 destroyed the original church.

The cathedral's long-time audio contractors, RG Jones Sound Engineering Ltd., proposed QSC amplification based on an extensive system survey by Arup Acoustics' consultant Sam Wise. Wise had recommended that the overall set up required increased headroom and greater sonic clarity to better reach the cathedral's congregations of up to 2,600 people. RG Jones, in turn, recommended the QSC solution, partly due to its familiarity with the products' reliability, but primarily because, "it has a true 100V line-isolated transformer output

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UK - The University of Portsmouth is responding to diversification in the music industry by developing a course in computational sound. The new MSc Creative and Computational Sound degree meets the growing demand for 'sound specialists' who may go on to produce sound for mobiles, computers, telephones, multimedia sound tracks and the entertainment industry.

Liz Dobson, senior lecturer in the Department of Creative Technologies said: "Students will develop skills for programming sound synthesis, creating interactive sound systems and devising sound and audio systems for a wide range of applications such as computing audio, installation sound, computer games and film. In addition they will be able to conduct their own research into sound by joining the University's new Son-X research group."

The launch of the course has led to significant investment in computing resour

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Belgium - Barco recently announced that it has been selected to supply LED display walls for the Tennis Masters Cup 2005-2007 in Shanghai, which will take place in mid November 2005.

The Tennis Masters Cup will be staged at the new, architecturally unique Qi Zhong (pronounced Chee-Jong) Tennis Centre. The Barco LED solution for Qi Zhong consists of multiple SLite 14 outdoor LED displays, supplied in a rental configuration, which will allow the customer to re-locate its LED displays to other venues within Shanghai. With its ultra-high light output, the SLite 14 displays offer unequalled brightness and contrast levels, making them ideal for use in very bright outdoor locations - even in direct sunlight, say the company.

Due for completion in August 2005, the Qi Zhong Centre will become the largest tennis facility in Asia. Covering over 80 acres and featuring a total of 40 indoor

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USA - QSC Audio Products Inc has appointed Joe Etrick to the position of Systems Specialist, Installed Sound. In his new role, Etrick's main focus will be to provide sales andtechnical support of QSC's loudspeaker and digital networking products as they relate to complete system packages. In addition, he will be on hand for EASE software data modelling for any dealers or installers requiring technical assistance for system installations.

Before joining QSC, Etrick was a Manufacturers' Representative with TroutFarm Technical Sales, QSC's Northern California rep firm. His position consisted of sales and technical support for the 15 lines of professional audio and video products TroutFarm represents. Etrick's resume spans nearly four decades, and includes radio and television broadcast engineering, retail audio and video sales, and commercial audio and video contracting. He is a me

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UK - Clarion Events Ltd (CEL) and the NEC Group's Centre Exhibitions are to form a dynamic new joint venture, to be called Clarion Events NEC Ltd (CENL). The two will come together in an innovative partnership to drive forward The NEC's exhibition organizing capability and maximize opportunities to stage and acquire new shows. The new partnership will combine the expertise of the two companies, bringing together CEL's creative approach with the NEC's formidable brand position.

CEL, which manages the PLASA Show on behalf of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), is the former in-house organizer of Earls Court and Olympia Group, and completed a management buyout last year. CEL will invest a two-thirds majority share in the joint venture which will acquire a portfolio of 10 shows including Antiques for Everyone and The Classic Motor Show. Simon Kimble, managing di

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UK - At a meeting held on 28 April at the HQ of London-based sound company Orbital, founder members of BEIRG - the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group - identified the need and confirmed the intention to appoint a consultant. His or her job will be to collate the RF requirements of the Production, Broadcast, Theatre and Film-making industries with a mind to presenting to Ofcom the industry's case for continued access to workable, clean RF spectrum. In addition to BEIRG members, Peter Roberts of SOLT - the Society Of London Theatres - was also present at the meeting.

The group has been formed as a non-profit making trade association to address the issues arising from the potential sell-off of RF spectrum currently used in the above-mentioned industries on a daily basis. Should the spectrum be sold off to other parties, the effect for these industries could be catastrophic,

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The Netherlands / Belgium - Switchcraft has strengthened its international representation by appointing Amsterdam based Audiopro Distribution to stock and supply its connectors, audio and video patchbays and cable assemblies to the broadcast and professional audio markets in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Stephen Waldron, Switchcraft's director of international sales, said: "Audiopro Distribution is a well established supplier within its market place and we are very pleased to enter this new relationship that will increase the availability of our products and introduce the Switchcraft range to new customers."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Rosco has introduced new colours to its Supergel range of lighting filters - the first colour addition in nearly five years. A total of 15 new colours and one new diffusion filter have been added, which Rosco say they "are confident will answer many of the requests for more saturated blues, blue-greens and the demand for a better range of lavenders".

Feedback on the new colours from lighting designers has been very positive, say Rosco. To receive a free swatch book and details of your local Supergel dealer, contact Rosco at the e-mail address below.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Leading RF manufacturer Trantec will launch its S6000HTX handheld transmitter at the ABTT Theatre Show (15-16 June, Royal Horticultural Halls, London). Designed for use exclusively with Trantec's international award-winning S6000 wireless radio microphone system and its sister products - the S6001 and S6002, it has been engineered to the highest specifications at Trantec's south London based HQ.

Perfectly complementing the S6000's unique advanced systems' design, the HTX is a high quality frequency agile handheld transmitter that boasts a brand new ergonomic design. Aimed at the professional user, the HTX will be offering a variety of inter-changeable capsules in the near future - dynamic, condenser, omni or cardioid. This will augment the systems' potential, as a very versatile tool across a variety of application environments, including live, theatre, broadcast and AV app

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USA - Rarely is absolute perfection a goal worthy of the effort required to achieve it. But in the case of San Francisco nightclub Ruby Skye, the quest for perfection has not only pushed the limits of club sound, but it has also fostered a more profitable business. A large, visually stunning nightclub converted from a Victorian-style theater in the heart of San Francisco, Ruby Skye routinely hosts world-class DJs, and has even received top venue honors from DanceStar magazine. Yet co-owner George Karpaty begrudgingly admits that audio has been the club's Achilles heel. "I shouldn't have scaled back on the original sound system," Karpaty laments, explaining how certain budgets were shuffled during the massive renovation project.

His pet peeves? Patrons were shouting over each other, and leaving with ears ringing after only a few hours, and DJs were commenting that the s

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UK - The UK 's dedicated technical showcase for contemporary solutions in theatre and auditoria, the ABTT Theatre Show 2005 (15-16 June, Royal Horticultural Halls) will present a variety of advanced automation and control systems for power flying, designed in line with the new industry standard - BS 7906-1 (Use of lifting equipment for performance, broadcast and similar applications. Part 1 Code of Practice for installation, use and removal of above stage equipment (excluding trusses and towers).

The ABTT has been closely involved in writing BS 7906-1, which complements the existing BS 7905-1. It draws heavily upon the existing ABTT published Code of Practice for Flying and contains additional advice on the use of power flying. The ABTT Code will be revised to reflect the new Standard, once the full impact of the Work at Height Regulations is assessed. Pressures from the Work at

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UK - White Light recently lit a charity dinner for the Rugby Football Union at their Twickenham headquarters, held to raise money for the RFU's two nominated charities - SPIRE, the official RFU charity that assists players who have suffered permanent total disability through rugby, which is currently supporting around 115 ex-players, and Show Racism The Red Card (SRTRC), which aims to combat racism through education and the use of professional sports players as role models.

The rig for the evening, overseen by White Light's Jon Coventry, included 24 of White Light's Exhibition Uplighters, 26 ChromaQ ColorBlock LED fixtures, eight Par cans, a Source Four followspot and a Zero 88 XLS lighting console along with associated rigging, cabling, colour and control. "We received lots of positive feedback from the guests," commented Sharon Moy-Taylor, the RFU's retail operations

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Uruguay - Teatro Solis in Montevideo, one of Uruguay's leading opera houses, recently re-opened following an extensive refurbishment programme and decades of closure, complete with a Robe moving light rig. The restoration project - led by architect Eneida De Léon - included the construction of a new and larger stage, and the installation of a complete new state-of-the-art technical infrastructure. This has made Teatro Solis a premier venue for hosting all types of 21st century productions.

The moving lights - consisting of 12 Robe Show Lighting ColorSpot 1200 AT fixtures were specified for the theatre by Hoffend Argentina via Nemiler, their- Uruguayan representative. Hoffend & Sons is the Robe distributor for both Argentina and Uruguay, and it was they who spec'd Robe fixtures onto the project after extensive discussions between Hoffend Argentina's Jorge Escudedro and Robe Show

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