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UK - Robe UK is restructuring following exceptional growth over the last 12 months. Ian W Brown - who joined the company in September - becomes sales director, having helped boost the turnover dramatically since his arrival. His colleague Bill Jones becomes sales manager. Both will continue heading up the sales department, looking after their current clients, seeking new business and continuing their successful 'in person' sales strategy.

Robe UK is also looking for two new members to join the sales force reveals Ian W Brown, "To ensure we maintain the company's efficiency and thoroughness in processing the increased volume of orders." One will be based on the road to help Brown and Jones to cover the UK and maintain their high level of personal contact. The other will b

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USA - Water took centre stage at the Walt Disney Concert Hall recently for the Los Angeles premiere of Water Passion After Saint Matthew, an exotic piece conducted by Grant Gershon and composed by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun. The work was scored for bass, soprano, violin and cello soloists, in addition to a chorus and three water percussionists who performed on large bowls of water, splashing with their hands and using other devices to draw music from the water itself.

Sound designer Jody Elff turned to DPA's 4052 Compact Omni-directional microphones to capture the dizzying array of musical sounds created by the relentless motion of the water. "The obvious technical challenge is how to amplify a bowl of splashing water," Elff said. "At various points in the show, the water is extremely quiet‹no more than tiny drips‹and yet these sounds are essential to

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UK - The most recent in a series of Sporting Heroes Dinners - presented by Amanda Heathcote of Maiden Management at London's Grosvenor House Hotel - saw event staging specialists PSL build and dress the stage to enable sporting legends to pay tribute to rugby star, Jonathan Davies. With television sports commentator John Inverdale as MC, sporting legends such as Sir Steve Redgrave, Ian Botham OBE and Martin Johnson CBE in turn took their place at the lectern in The Great Room.

PSL has provided their screens and set building expertise at the famous gala venue on many occasions in the past, but this time their scope extended to animating the giant Welsh dragon, through which the guest speakers entered, with flashing lights, smoke and sound effects billowing from the 'mouth', which formed the door. Flanking the dragon were 16ft by 12ft projection screens. With a pair of Barco's awa

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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 - Pinnerton UK, the UK distributor for the Alcorn McBride range of show control products, has announced the availability of the Digital Video Machine - a rugged, compact MPEG-2 player offering flexible control capabilities and a wealth of interface options.

The Digital Video Machine allows clips to be copied from PC and stored on Compact Flash; clips can then be triggered using contact closures, playlists, real-time schedules or RS-232.

The Digital Video Machine offers a number of flexible options: a stereo amplifier provides two channels at 20W each; the pro audio module provides balanced, S/PDIF and Dolby 5.1; and an SMPTE-259M SDI module provides digital video out. With the optional Ethernet module users can update clips, schedules and GPS coordinates remotely - even using wireless networking.The Digital Video Machine fits almost anywhere and is vibration resistant, so i

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UK - Sound specialist Apple Sound has supplied a Sennheiser UHF evolution Tourguide system to the ISIS research facility of the CCLRC (Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils). The government-funded CCLRC operates three world-class research laboratories including the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). RAL consists of many leading facilities including research into microelectrics, micro- and nano-engineering, the Central Laser facility including the world's most intensely focused laser, space science and technology and ISIS.

Supporting an international community of around 1,600 scientists, ISIS is the world's most powerful neutron and muon source, used to study atomic structure for research in physics, chemistry, materials science, geology, engineering and biology. The materials research at ISIS takes place around the target station, a building of stadium p

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UK - Absolute Music Solutions, the audio retailer based in Poole, Dorset, has announced that they have acquired The M Corporation. The M Corporation was established 15 years ago to provide a high level of customer service to the professional audio industry. Over the intervening years, the dedication and technical ability of the staff established the company as a market leader. In 2003, four of the most experienced staff left The M Corporation setting up Absolute Music Solutions and concentrating on developing new areas. Absolute Music Solutions' acquisition of The M Corporation completes the circle, reuniting key members of The M Corporation team and is a sign of the group's growing strength and confidence.

Alan Barclay, managing director of Absolute Music Solutions commented: "We are very excited by this development. The M Corporation was originally set-up with a very simi

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USA - Neumann microphones and Sennheiser personal monitors figure prominently in Barry Manilow's new long-term engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton, which started at the end of February. Manilow, who has produced over 50 albums during 30 years of performing, is presenting Manilow: Music and Passion five times a week for 24 weeks throughout 2005 and into 2006 at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater.

Front-of-house engineer John Godenzi reports that both Neumann KK 104-S and KK 105-S microphone capsules on Sennheiser SKM5000N handheld transmitters are being used by Manilow and his four backing singers in the traditional Broadway-style show. "We're using four of the 105s on the backing singers/dancers," he says. "Barry uses four microphones in different places on the stage, but the main two are the cardioid KK 104-S."

Manilow: Music and Passion features a

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UK - Klark Teknik's worldwide EQ Amnesty, which offers clients the chance to trade in a previously-owned EQ unit against a brand new DN370 analogue graphic equaliser on a part-exchange basis, has now been rolled out across Italy to great effect. During a one-month period, 178 EQs were traded in for DN370s.

"The operation was very successful and has given many customers the opportunity to replace their existing equalisers with a new, high quality Klark Teknik DN370," says Pierfranco Galeone, owner of Klark Teknik¹s Italian distributor Texim. "This elevates the quality of the services they can offer to rental clients by featuring Klark Teknik on their inventories."

And following a tradition launched by Midas Consoles Holland, Texim also called in some heavy machinery to dispose of the amnestied equalisers (see photo link for details). Features of the DN370 i

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UK - When the 16th century Royal Grammar School in Guildford hit a snag midway through converting the former gymnasium into a multi-purpose auditorium, the school's bursar, Ian Watson, contacted Scott Wakelin at Marquee Audio, who devised an audio-visual solution which would allow simple operation and switching of playback devices - sending both laptop VGA and composite video signals from either the control room or lectern positions. At the same time, the provision of a pair of flown Turbosound TQ-310 (10" + 1") full-range speakers and a TQ-115 (single 15" sub) - enabled them to optimise the building's already enhanced acoustic properties.

The principle playback sources are the Marantz DVD player (with RS232 port) and PC laptops. Thus Marquee Audio specified Kramer switching and scaling interfaces in a signal network with a Biamp Nexia system - which handled the f

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UK - In recognition of the changes taking place across the recording industry, APRS, the Professional Recording Association, has introduced a number of new membership categories designed to address the needs of the smaller professional and non-professional members, as well as the Association's existing established membership.

Musicians and engineers who have an interest in creating music but don't make a living from it are being encouraged to join the Music Maker Category D, which cost £75 per year. Benefits include technical advice via a dedicated e-group, quarterly bulletins, invitations to APRS social events, a copy of the APRS handbook and a listing in the handbook and on the Association's website.

Musicians and engineers who do earn their living from making music can now join the Professional Music Maker Category C, which costs £125 per year. This category is aimed at p

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Israel / Canada - Compulite Systems has teamed up with Cast Software, pairing their lighting control consoles with a copy of the WYSIWYG Console Edition (CE) software. Cast is the developer of the award-winning WYSIWYG suite, the industry standard in lighting design and pre-visualization software. Compulite is the manufacturer of the advanced Vector family of lighting boards as well as a variety of other popular lighting desks.

"We are thrilled that Compulite has come on board and decided to offer WYSIWYG CE with their professional grade consoles," says Bob Mani, VP of sales and business development at Cast. "Their customers will be receiving the best package available in the industry."

WYSIWYG CE will be packaged with Compulite's Vector-Red, and offered as an optional bundle with all other Compulite desks. All Vectors are capable of running WYSIWYG on-boar

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UK - Utopium Lighting Ltd recently used their force in staging the UK premiere of Revenge of the Sith - the latest and last of the Star Wars movies. AD Events contracted Utopium Lighting Ltd, who requested lighting designer Chris Bushell and project manager James Maillardet to produce the show. The film's director, George Lucas, was there on Monday 16 May in Leicester Square to appreciate the event, along with the stars and the crowds of fans.

Contained on the 15m Orbit Stage was the rig of PixelLine LED fixtures; X.Spot Extreme, Studio PC Beam and Cyberlight Turbo moving lights from high End Systems and Wholehog II. Ground support towers were used for the lights needed for the 'red carpet' entrance, and CO2 cannons were saved for the arrival of Darth Vader! In addition to lighting the show, Utopium rigged all the 1-ton LED video screens; one on the roof and six on the gr

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UK - PLASA's Professional Development programme continues its strong start with 'From Concept To Reality'; a new seminar that will be held in Newbury, 22 June 2005. Aimed at anyone who is either involved or interested in new product development the seminar will cover:

An overview of the Design process and how Rapid Prototyping fits in the R&D plan;
Reviews of the benefits and types of Rapid Prototyping as well as examples of functionality and the different types of Rapid Tooling methods available;
A review of the options for potentially winning funding for research and development projects;
An informative tour of a leading Rapid Prototyping companies premises;

The seminar is co-presented by Neil Darracott from design solution company Xolve, and representatives from 3T RPD - one of the leading prototyping companies in the UK. Lunch will be provided and there will be th

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UK - The latest version of James Thomas Engineering's PixelDrive software was in action at Radio One's One Big Weekend event recently, used by lighting and visual designers Nick and Joey Jevons to programme and control 240 Chroma-Q Color Block DB4 LED fixtures.

The Color Blocks were supplied by main lighting suppliers Bandit Lites UK to Jevons' company Electric Fly Productions, co-ordinators of all lighting and video production on the main stage of the event at Hetherington Park, Sunderland. The PixelDrive was triggered from an Avolites Pearl lighting console, dedicated specifically to LED control and operated by Joey Jevons. Utilizing the versatile selection of onboard effects in PixelDrive allowed them to quickly and easily create colour and movement sequences and chases across the Color Blocks.

The main stage video 'look' of the weekend became the fluid, organic blen

Details
UK - Carlsbro has developed the Liberty wireless system, a "unique" product, say the company, that allows any powered speaker to be linked to any mixer, without cables. The initial system is supplied with one transmitter and two receivers, although additional receivers are available singularly for larger speaker and installation configurations and will operate from the same transmitter.

The Liberty's uniqueness, say Carlsbro, come from the fact that it broadcasts a 2.4GHz uncompressed signal suitable for multi-speaker and multi-room environments, which means a high quality of output, almost without loss. The Liberty Wireless was developed primarily for the installation and professional PA markets, but is useful in any environments where cables are used, say Carlsbro.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
The Netherlands - XTA Electronics has supplied 12 of its DS800 mic/line distribution units to a new centre for live music in Amsterdam. Continuing the current vogue for building new concert halls on waterfront locations, the Muziekgebouw aan't IJ has risen from the industrial wasteland of Amsterdam's former docks area, a 10-minute walk from the city's central train station. Designed by the Danish architecture partnership 3XNielsen with interior devised by Christian Bouma, the building takes full advantage of its position, offering visitors spectacular views of Amsterdam from its public spaces.

The main hall of the Muziekgebouw, which is due to open on 15 June, is an 800-seat auditorium featuring an electrically movable ceiling and rear stage wall, removable ground-level seating, and colour-changing, LED lighting built into its interior walls. All this provides a suitably unpredi

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USA - Gefen has released the DVI-1000 ST - which is a new version of the DVI-1000 HD video extender, but is equipped with more durable fibre optics cable connectors to accommodate the rental and staging markets.

Though armed with cable connectors that are better able to endure frequent and repetitive setup and take-down procedures, the DVI-1000 ST uses the same methodology to extend high definition digital video up to 500m (1,640ft) from source to display. Small sender and receiver units link the source to the extended display with multimode fibre optic cables, available from Gefen in lengths ranging from 10m (33ft) to 100m (330ft). The DVI-1000 ST supports high resolutions up to and including 1080p or 1920x1200 for computers, and is equipped with DVI inputs and outputs to connect its sender and receiver units to the source and the extended display, say Gefen.

"This new v

Details
USA / Europe - When ETC bought the Avab brand three years ago, they promised to continue to support and develop it: now, the company has announced that it has kept its promise with the release of v3.5 in October 04 and now v3.6 of the popular Safari software.

In response to requests from users, the upgrade includes improved scroller handling, display of device addresses in patch and editing timegroups in blind (including extended drag-and-drop functionality). A history of status files now allows the user to go back to un-recorded play. A few issues experienced by a small number of users have also been resolved.

Safari v3.6 is available as a free upgrade for a limited time. Current v3.5 users can simply email the address below, indicating whether they want a download link (about 4MB) or a disk set. Other v3.x users can register at

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UK - JBL Professional's integrated line array loudspeaker system, VerTec, was specified by Concert Sound for Cream's recent reunion shows at the Royal Albert Hall. Performing together for the first time in nearly 40 years, apart from a brief re-emergence in 1993, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker received much critical and public acclaim.

The production was co-ordinated by Eric Clapton's touring team, led primarily by production manager Mick Double. Having also worked with Double on Eric Clapton's annual run of gigs at the Albert Hall for several years, sound contractor Concert Sound has honed the required audio design for the venue to a fine art, making them an obvious choice for perfecting the meticulous sound needed for the Cream's performances.

Since last year, JBL's VerTec line array system has been used regularly by Concert Sound for Clapton's live shows. Concert

Details
UK - O2 has joined forces with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), one of the world's leading providers of live entertainment, sport events and facilities, in order to transform London's Millennium Dome and the surrounding area into the UK's "most exciting and technically advanced music, sport and entertainment destination".

The venue, now renamed 'The O2', will form the centrepiece of the multi-billion pound development, set to open in early 2007. It will incldue an indoor arena with a capacity of up to 23,000, that will, according to the partnership's plans, host at least 120 world-class music, entertainment and sport events in its first year of opening. Within the facility there will be the O2 Music Club with a capacity of over 2,000, an ice rink called the O2 Ice Pad, and a "bubble" shaped exhibition space and a vibrant "entertainment district"

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USA - Vari-Lite has appointed John Adams as director of product development for all current and future Vari*Lite products. Adams will direct all engineering and project efforts through his engineering, software, and optical staff at Vari-Lite's Dallas headquarters.

"John's reputation and abilities fuelled our desire to bring him to Vari-Lite. His experience in developing products for other manufacturers convinced us that he would make a valuable member of our engineering development team," explains Steve Carson, vice-president and general manager of Genlyte Controls and Vari-Lite. "His extensive knowledge in entertainment lighting will contribute significantly to our success in developing the products that will carry us for many, many years to come."

British born, Adams is a lighting industry veteran and founder of UK lighting distributor, Lightfactor. For

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