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UK - Marquee Audio has completed a complex and pioneering digitally-based public address/voice evacuation system at Derby County Football Club's Pride Park stadium, making it arguably the most technically advanced stadium system to date.

In seeking to develop a fully featured system with complete redundancy, the company approached Beyerdynamic, whose technical director, Jon Stanley came up with a design concept. This was duly adapted so that it could be delivered as a compliant system that would both integrate with the club's existing infrastructure and extend the scope into the corporate areas and ground control.

Working in conjunction with Stanley, Marquee Audio's Scott Wakelin project managed the installation of an IP-addressable, fully-monitored, A + B redundant system - bot

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Belgium - ADB has appointed Pascale Van Eycken as marketing communication officer. Van Eycken, who formerly worked as an e-business manager in the pharmaceutical industry, will provide the company's sales force with technical and promotional material, and work to widen the exposure and strengthen the company's image. She will also continue with improvements to the ADB website, and be responsible for designing and editing the company's monthly newsletter for its distributors, as well as the company's presence at exhibitions, including concept and booth design.

(Lee Baldock)

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Russia - The Eastern Europe Music Convention (EEMC), which staged its premiere event on 16-17 June in St. Petersburg, Russia, was a great success according to the organizers, with 365 companies from 42 countries attending. There was a strong presence from Eastern European countries like Russia and Ukraine, but also a great number of international professionals, they say.

In addition to the trade fair the organizers entertained visitors with 96 different artists at the 'EEMC Music Festival' next to the exhibition centre and at several parties in the leading clubs of St. Petersburg. The conference on Digital Distribution and Copyright in Eastern Europe was one of the highlights of the event, say the organizers. Representatives of leading collecting societies and distribution companies as well as specialized lawyers lectured about digital distribution and copyright within the EEMC.

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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 - It's all happening in the world of the DJ - the technology, the software, the formats - they're all changing dramatically, and there's one place where you can learn all about this digital revolution. This year's PLASA Show (11-14 September, Earls Court, London) will give DJs a chance to check out all the latest gear and mix with some of the best-known names in the business, say the organizers.

Events kick off with 'DJ Sunday', on 11 September. Sponsored by iDJ Magazine, the day showcases all the major manufacturers' new kit and includes various events, product launches, on-stand demos, giveaways and workshops. Central to it all is the Gemini 'Extreme V' DJ Competition - a major showcase of current and new talent that attracts entries from all over Europe.

Spurred on by the evolution of digital technology, the latest major DJ technology developments can be seen - many of t

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Belgium - ADB's Warp, the fully automated zoom profile spotlight, picked up the Showtech Product Award 2005 in the category Lighting & Projection Technology, at the recent Showtech exhibition in Berlin. The award is presented every two years by the Showtech organizers in conjunction with the German Association of Theatre Professionals (DTHG). It is intended to reward innovation, functionality and design, among other criteria. The Jury decision for Warp was unanimous, say the company.

Besides its silent operation and accurate repositioning, the sophisticated remote control capabilities of the fixture were particularly praised. After successful demonstrations and comparative tests by professional users, a number of prestigious venues have recently installed motorized Warp units, including Glyndebourne Opera House, UK; Munich Staats Oper, Germany; Paul Klee Cultural Centre, Switzer

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Switzerland - The 39th Montreux Jazz Festival marks the 19th year that Meyer Sound has been a sponsor of international music festivals. Meyer Sound loudspeaker systems in use at the festival's venues this year will feature 20 different models, including the new MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

The company's co-founder Helen Meyer, says: "We've been a festival sponsor for three-quarters of Meyer Sound's existence and, in addition to the challenge of providing high-quality sound for such a wide variety of artists and venues, it is very satisfying to feel that we can contribute to an outstanding experience for music fans at these festivals."

The largest sound system will be in the 3,500-seat Auditorium Stravinski and will feature 20 MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers, supported by four MICA cabinets, eight 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoof

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UK - The former head of lighting at the Millenium Dome defrauded its operator out of nearly £4m. Simon Brophy, 39, and David Gordon, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC).

It has been found that Brophy used his position as head of lighting to ensure that an extremely profitable contract went to a company he specifically set up for his own benefit - Pro Design - of which Gordon was also a director. Both are to be sentenced later this month.

The fraud was discovered when in September 2000 the NMEC had become suspicious and called in the Metropolitan police. This was followed by an investigation by the Public Sector Corruption Team and the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Directorate. Detectives discovered false information within the tender document submitted by Pro Design and Brophy, Gordon and several others were subsequen

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UK - Following on from this weekend's spectacular Live 8 gigs, London's Metropolis Studios is gearing up for the marathon task of mixing, mastering, compiling and authoring the audio from the concerts for subsequent DVD release.

To facilitate this process, Metropolis is utilizing ADA-8 multi-channel converter and processor units from Prism Sound, including its recently purchased ADA-8XR units. Building on the success of the ADA-8, the XR operates at sampling rates up to 192kHz and boasts even greater analogue performance. Metropolis Studios is well stocked with Prism Sound equipment, including A/D and D/A converters and Maselec Master Series EQs and compressors. The facility was the first in the UK to buy ADA-8XRs and according to John Goldstraw, head of technical development at Metropolis, they are ideally suited to mastering applications.

"We recently added to our compl

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USA - How does one go about putting a wireless microphone transmitter on a desperate housewife? "Quickly and accurately," says to Agamemnon Adrianos, the production sound mixer for the hit series Desperate Housewives. The wireless transmitter adopted by Adrianos for use on the show's lead characters is the recently introduced SM from Lectrosonics. The SM (for 'Super Mini') is a high-powered, cost-effective and compandor-free wireless transmitter in a tiny, splash-proof package, say Lectrosonics.

Adrianos, with 33 years' experience of sound mixing for TV and film, was intrigued with the SM from the first moment he saw the prototype at NAB 2004. "I got very excited about it because of potential production applications due to the very small size," he relates. "On a movie set or on location, speed is important . . . and anything to make our job go fas

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UK - HSL Productions has supplied a complete stage lighting and sound system to the high profile nine-week Opera Holland Park season, plus site-wide lighting and electrics, power distribution and full public address and announcement audio. The acclaimed season features a total of six full-scale productions, each running two at a time in repertory, and is promoted by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

HSL has been supplying Opera Holland Park for the last three seasons, project managed for them by James Ewart, and in four weeks, they built a complete 830 capacity theatre and site infrastructure, including all backstage facilities, dressing rooms, stage, auditorium, picnic and public areas and front of house. The stage is built under a custom canopy and has two structural points that are also used to fly the spine of the lighting rig mother grid - a carefully balanced netw

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UK - Midas consoles were out in force at this year's Glastonbury festival, triumphing over flood and storm to ensure the thousands of waterlogged music fans were guaranteed the best in sound quality and technical reliability. Once again the abundance of Midas consoles across the festival site confirmed them as the board of choice for large outdoor events.

The Pyramid Stage boasted a veritable moving feast of Midas consoles at FOH including two Heritage 3000s and two XL4s, courtesy of SSE. On stage, two XL3s handled monitor duties for a range of acts across the weekend including The Killers, Brian Wilson, the White Stripes and Coldplay as well as Basement Jaxx, whose show-stopping headline performance was not only a fantastic finale to the strong weekend lineup but also a fitting tribute to Kylie.

Sound for the Other Stage was as usual in the capable hands of Skan PA Hire, whic

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USA - Tomcat has announced the dates of its 2006 Hoist & Rigging Workshop. The annual school includes workshops pertaining to hoist, rigging, truss, and fall protection taught by leading industry experts. Workshops will run over four days, from 1-4 March 2006, in Midland, Texas.

Making its second appearance after becoming a huge success among participants in the 2005 Workshop will be the Advanced Workshop. This two-day workshop covers a variety of interesting topics on hoist motors and truss design and is meant for those who have already completed Tomcat's four-day workshop and/or those with extensive experience working with motors and truss in the field. The advanced workshop is scheduled to take place from 3-4 March, also in Midland, Texas. Further information is available from the e-mail address below.

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UK - Turbosound has announced the appointment of New Musik Sweden as its Swedish distributor. Based in Stockholm, New Musik Sweden is distributing Turbosound products to the sound reinforcement installation and rental markets, theatre and MI sector. The company reports rapid success with the brand, and has already supplied a Turbosound Aspect touring system to Swedish rental company Scenteknik.

New Musik Sweden was launched earlier this year and distributes a number of premium brands in Sweden, including the UK-built MC2 power amplifier range. Håkan Sjöö, sales manager of New Musik Sweden, says: "I have personal experience of Turbosound products for over eight years, and this is a particularly exciting time to be involved with the company. The product range is now extremely comprehensive, with much to offer all our market sectors. The QLight DP series of digitally-powere

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USA - With the help of Stage West Theatre Restaurant and All Suites Hotel in Ontario, Canada, and Horizon Control Inc, Entertainment Technology recently completed a one-year software beta-testing of the Marquee ILC lighting control console. The Marquee ILC began its journey under the supervision of a project team that included Gordon Pearlman, Robert Bell, Alan Martello, Rick King, and Jim Laird. Robert Bell explains: "I needed someone who would take the time to write out notes, instead of simply blowing by potential problems. I also looked for that real-world environment where the system could be operated by talented and knowledgeable technicians. I found all of this at Stage West."

Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Stage West is a Las Vegas style dinner theatre with around 500 performances each year - generally three musicals and two plays. The productions are changed

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USA - Former director of sales and marketing, Larry Howard, has been named director of strategic development for Community Professional Loudspeakers. Howard will direct Community's efforts, developing new business in the themed entertainment, cruise ship, casino, and hotel industries, as well as in the military, OEM, and business music markets.

Howard says: "I am excited to be able to take advantage of our new product groups, as well as our well-established R-Series and WET Series loudspeakers. The results of our product development strategies have put us in a position to be effective in any world market."

Howard's experience in the pro audio industry goes back to 1989 when he was show systems supervisor at Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida.

(Cheryl Constable)

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USA - The Wolf Trap Foundation's Filene Centre has completed a distribution infrastructure upgrade that included the installation of six Lake Mesa Quad EQ digital matrix processors, which are handling loudspeaker optimization for the 12-zone system at the Filene Centre, a 7,000-seat performing arts amphitheatre. "Our Mesas sound amazing and we love the interface," says audio department head, Jens McVoy. "I envision us eventually going to Contour, but we're taking incremental steps with the capital improvement of the sound system . . . It was amazing how easy it was to install the Lakes and it's been a very intuitive process."

The centre accommodates nearly 3,500 people inside an open-sided opera house-like structure, with the remainder of the audience seated on a sloping lawn outside. As part of the infrastructure overhaul, Henry Parks, the venue's master ele

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UK - Designing the lighting for the biggest ever gig in the UK, a design which will be copied at nine other huge gigs worldwide and seen by up to five billion viewers on TV and online, is no mean feat. But talk to Peter Barnes, lighting designer for the phenomenally successful Live 8 concerts, and it all seems like a walk in the park.

Originally scheduled to finish at 8pm, then 9.30pm, London's Hyde Park concert was widely expected to over run. "There's a massive difference between running a show that finishes at 8pm, when it's still light, and one scheduled to finish after dark," said Barnes. "So the day before, we got a team to go and rig six VL2416s on each of 16 delay towers in the park. Not only did they provide light on the crowd at night, but during the day they also gave a sparkle for the cameras when they filmed from the back of the stage.

Supplied by P

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UK - Stage Electrics supplied and built the staging, lighting, audio, video, power and provided full technical infrastructure for the Trafalgar Square announcement event for London's successful 2012 Olympic bid.

The announcement was beamed live from the IOC meeting in Singapore to Trafalgar Square, where the event was hosted by Margherita Taylor and Katy Hill. The event's format was 'open ended', reports Stage Electrics' project manager John Radford, with a number of scenarios possible depending on the result. The excitement was electric as the moment approached for the IOC to pronounce . . . with the momentous result followed by worldwide images on screen and jubilation on stage and the thousands who packed the square. Stage Electrics was asked to work on the event by GDF Diversivents which was the 2012 announcement event producers for London 2012.

The crew arrived on site on

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UK - Coldplay's lighting designer Nick Whitehouse and show designer Bryan Leitch specified a Diamond 4 Vision console to control all lighting, video and visual effects for the current Coldplay Twisted Logic world tour which is now in full swing on its summer UK and European outdoor leg.

Rental company Siyan in partnership with Dutch company Flashlight is supplying all lighting equipment and Siyan ordered the two brand new consoles for the occasion. Whitehouse, who is also operating, says: "The D4 is my console of choice now - I use it for all my work, it's a massive step forward for integrated lighting and video control but retains all Avo's trademark hands-on features."

The D4 is running eight universes of DMX to lighting and assorted video sources triggered via the new Radical Lighting NG1 high definition digital media server. Avolites worked closely with Wh

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UK - Mojo Barriers has supplied the crowd barriers for all of the dates of U2's sold-out Vertigo World tour.

Mojo Barriers MD Patrick Jordan liaised with U2's Jake Berry from its Netherlands head office, to ensure the barrier design integrated into the U2 stage set to create a safe environment for both the band and their audiences. The tour started in San Diego (USA) where the Mojo Barriers US office supplied them with 130m of black powder-coated aluminium Mojo Barriers to go around the 'egg'-shaped walkway and to create a pen inside the 'egg'.

In Europe, Mojo Barriers supplied a total of 300m of its proprietary aluminium stage barriers for the outdoor shows. The U2 Vertigo outdoor stage has two 'bull horn' like thrusts on stage left and stage right and the Mojo Barriers followed the contour of these with its front of stage barrier. The company also provided a large curved sec

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UK - Experienced sound engineer Robbie Barrow sees it as his mission to introduce the new generation of DJ's to the Urei 1620LE rotary sound mixer.

"Even before I heard it I knew of its reputation at Studio 54 in New York, and as part of the famous Richard Long system at Paradise Garage 25 years ago," he said. Barrow has been technician in residence at Shoreditch's Herbal dance venue - pretty much since Spencer Carroll and Chris Michaels first opened the place five years ago.

By the time Bobby & Steve's Zoo Groove arrived at the club with a Urei 1620LE, the engineer had already introduced his Watt.co dance system to the House/Drum and Bass emporium. The former Kiss FM DJ's told Barrow how they believed the 1620LE could enhance the sound system, believing it to be the ideal tool to create their classic House mix. "Since then I've been hooked," says Ba

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