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UK - Just days after they had purchased their Frog 2 consoles from Zero 88, HSL Productions wasted no time in making them earn their keep - throwing them in at the deep end at Creamfields 2005. Over 50,000 people attended the event at the Old Speke Airfield in Liverpool, the spiritual home of legendary superclub Cream. The event featured the very best of current and 'old skool' dance acts across the Galaxy main stage and nine supporting arenas. The line-up inlcuded Basement Jaxx, Faithless, Paul Van Dyk, Judge Jules, Fat Boy Slim, Scratch Perverts and MC Dynamite.

Launched earlier this year, the Frog 2s have found homes in theatres, churches and multi-purpose venues across the globe - but this was their first outing at a festival event. The two Frog 2 consoles were in action in th

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UK - Robe ColorWash and ColorSpot 1200E AT fixtures were specified and used by lighting designer Mirash Lekaj for the JUMP Broadway finale staged in the Manhattan Studio at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

This is the latest in a series of high profile theatrical productions for which Robe products are increasingly finding favour - chosen for their near-silent operation, fast movement and impressive brightness.

Break The Floor Productions' JUMP - is one of the youngest and most innovative dance teaching faculties in America. Led by Gil Stroming, it combines live rock and hip-hop music with the precise rhythms and techniques of tap, jazz, ballet and modern in a new and exciting mix of the two cultures, connecting with a new generation of dancers.

The JUMP Broadway finale was the culmination of a regional tour that encouraged and inspired thousands of aspiring performers

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UK - HSL's rigging team has designed a new strong and highly versatile tower capable of lifting loads up to 2 tonnes, complete with a small and neat footprint, say the company.

Developed with very speedy build times in mind, HSL say it is ideal for city centres, green field sites and any other location. With a mast height of 13m to fly point, it has a base size of 4.5 x 4.2m, a maximum payload of 2000kg in wind speeds of up to 44mph or 20m/s. Ballast weighs in at 2400kg and the average build time is around two-and-a-half hours when using a build crew comprising one HSL rigger and four local crew; de-rig is around an hour-and-a-half using the same crew, say the company. On-site machinery required is just one Telehandler for one hour on the in and out.

HSL Rigging supplies a full health and safety policy and structural report directly to the production or site manager. Once the

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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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Canada - The Blue Man Group has installed a Lake Contour digital speaker processor and a pair of Lake Mesa Quad EQ digital matrix processors in the audio system for its latest international production, which recently opened in Toronto, Canada. The sonic quality and performance of the Lake processors are well suited to the group's dynamic material, says Mark Radu, head systems engineer at Toronto-based PA Plus Inc, the company responsible for the engineering and supply of the entire sound system for the new show at the city's Panasonic Theatre.

Blue Man Group gained national recognition after establishing a production in Las Vegas in 1999, and currently maintains long-running shows in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Berlin. The Blue Man Group team, led by sound designer and supervisor Ross Humphrey, who has been responsible for the sound design of all of the group's productions si

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UK - Italian pro audio manufacturer Outline - recent winner of a PLASA Award for Innovation for its COMPASS system - has made its West End debut at London's famous Savoy Theatre, with The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas - the show that takes us through the cabaret capers of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. The Savoy - the first theatre in London to have electric light - sees another first this year, as Theatrelease, a new company formed to supply sound and technical support, employs Outline's Butterfly line array for the show.

Two hangs of eight CDH 483 mid/high packs have been flown left and right to cover 75% of the auditorium, with a further two CDH 483s per side to cater for the stalls area, and two Victor live sub basses for the low frequencies. In addition, 21 Outline IS6T cabinets have been employed as discreet delays.

On stage, 14 mixes are catered for by f

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UK - Theatre and special event audio specialists Out Board has introduced a powerful sound effects playback package in the all-new TiMax V2 software just released for the company's TiMax delay imaging DSP matrix processors. TiMax SoundTablet is aimed at anybody using a desktop, laptop or tablet PC in a live entertainment environment, with additional panning functions available for owners of TiMax delay matrix processors.

SoundTablet provides eight mono or stereo sample tracks per cue, all mixable onto eight PC sound card outputs. Any cue can be independently triggered manually or from MIDI, SMPTE, RS232 and internal Timeline, all managed from a Playlist which can effectively contain an indefinite number of cues.

Each Track within a cue can have independently edited Play Zones, Loop Zones and Track Slip positioning, as well as precise volume profiling and mixing. This helps red

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USA - Community has promoted Scott Deegan to the position of inside sales and operations manager. In addition to managing the inside sales force, he will be responsible for maintaining Community's high level of customer service as well as general communication, organization and customer interface for sales related issues. A graduate of North eastern University in Boston, Deegan has over three years of successful inside sales experience at Community and an outstanding track record in customer service and operations management.

"I'm glad to be a part of Community's growth and look forward to helping our customers in whatever way I can," said Deegan. "The relationships I have developed with our reps and dealers will be critical to my success in the new assignment."

"It's great to have Scott in this position," stated sales and marketing director Julia

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division has supplied over 400 Chroma-Q Color Blocks to up-light the stage set for the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang World Tour 2005/2006.

Following the North American leg of A Bigger Bang World Tour, which kicked off on 21 August in Boston, the band will then tour Mexico, South America, the Far East and finally Europe in the summer of 2006.

The Rolling Stones will once again showcase their diversity as musicians and performers by playing different venues from the grand scale excitement of a stadium to the thrill of an arena. This year's tour takes the concert experience to the next level by bringing together the advantages of an up-close club experience with their electric stadium show.

Setting a new standard for concert effects, The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang World Tour is the first major rock concert to include

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UK - Lift-Turn-Move has sold four Lodestar Direct Control chain hoists to Bright Lites UK, based in Colne, Lancashire.

Bright Lites' Neil Dolman says he bought the motors for his hire stock from LTM because of the "Service, detailed product knowledge, friendliness and helpfulness" of the team at the Wirral based company.

Bright Lites supplies lighting and rigging equipment to venues, councils and other professional entertainment industry areas and applications. Dolman wanted a leading industry standard product that was ultimately 'hirable', and since the purchase, the Lodestars have been in constant use, he reports.

"Dealing with LTM was excellent" he says, "Their team are consistently good on the phone, and really friendly. It was great to also meet them face-to-face when I collected the motors in person from the warehouse on Merseyside. I would rec

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UK - Carlsbro Electronics' revolutionary new Liberty Wireless WP100 system scooped a prestigious Award for Innovation at this year's PLASA Show, securing the judges' vote to become one of eight winners - against competition from 65 other entries including products by other leading manufacturers such as Sony, Soundcraft, Tannoy, Sennheiser and JBL Professional.

The Award marks Carlsbro's ongoing development as a thriving enterprise with 30 staff based at its design and engineering HQ in Mansfield, Nottingham. The company, which has "a number of exciting joint ventures with Far Eastern companies" says the Liberty WP100 is attracting great interest from the export market.

Carlsbro designed the Liberty WP100 wireless technology system especially to work with speakers built for PA applications - concerts, events and performances (indoor and outdoor) plus in many other com

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USA - XL Touring Video, in collaboration with video contractor, CW Productions, recently provided lighting designer Jim Lenahan, with the technical solutions to bring the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tour to life!

Jim Lenahan and CW Productions approached XL looking for a solution for a technically challenging concept. Chris Mitchell, XL's chief engineer, explains: "He wanted a wall of projection screens in geometric shapes, each functioning independently and framed with versa tubes. Based on our experiences with Destiny's Child and U2, we immediately suggested the Folsom Encore's Processors which could be controlled via DMX using proprietary software."

XL Touring Video put together a team, including Mitchell, CW Productions' video engineer, Shawn Reek, and independent programmer, Stuart White. "This was a very complex project and many, many hours of programm

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Australia - New from the Australian Monitor Installation Series, the Rapid Fit 4 is a low cost, yet discreet ceiling speaker say the company.

The Rapid Fit 4 is designed for the evacuation market or anywhere a low cost and efficient four-inch speaker is required. It Features a low cost plastic grill and a four inch 100V speaker with five, 2.5, 1, 0.5 & 0.33W tapings. Australian Monitor say, the Rapid fit 4 offers a cost effective and architecturally pleasing ceiling speaker package and also saves on installation cost as it is extremely quick and simple to install via its two pre-tensioned spring clip mounting system.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Ambassador Theatre Group's west London venue, Richmond Theatre, has upgraded its sound system to cater for the next decade of in-house and touring productions. The new state-of-the-art d&b audiotechnik Ci-Series system was supplied by theatre specialist Orbital Sound's sales division.

Technical manager Mark Warren commented: "Whilst d&b's range impresses me greatly, it also clearly represents the industry standard for international touring productions as over the years it has proved to be the preferred systems' choice of our incoming productions. As a very flexible system, it perfectly meets our requirements as it can be augmented according to any productions' specific needs. We're delighted with its performance and look forward to putting it through its paces through our busy Autumn schedule and beyond."

The system comprises d&b's Ci90 and Ci60 installation ser

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The Netherlands - Like most hire companies the Dutch company Atlantic Productions knew it was time to invest in a line-array system. But nowadays this is not such a simple choice, for there are so many suppliers. After extensive testing the company chooses Sound Projects and invested in 12 Linex systems.

One of Atlantic Productions' larger clients is the City of Amersfoort, where the company does most of its large events and festivals. There were important reasons why the company was looking for a line-array system. Chris Polhout (MD) says: "Because we often do events in the centre of the city, we have to deal with stringent rules and laws regarding the maximum allowable SPL at adjacent buildings and/or houses. A great benefit of line-arrays is that it is possible to beam the sound precisely where you want it. We have tried out the Linex system in many of these situations a

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Japan - Toyota City in Aichi prefecture in western Japan is known as 'Car Industry City', and is currently busy hosting World Expo 2005. The city's Toyota Stadium, which opened in June 2001, was designed by architect Kiyoshi Kurokawa to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the city's founding. The 45,000 capacity stadium consists of six stories - two underground and four above - and is packed full of amenities: natural turf football field with retractable roof, movable full-color screen, restaurant, party room, and an indoor sports space that includes a swimming pool. Surrounding the stadium is a large open area, Toyota City Central Park, with a magnificent view of the modern Toyota Bridge.

At each corner of the stadium are four large masts that point skyward to a height of 96m. The prominent pillars play more than an aesthetic role, however: the masts support the main and back r

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Spain - 15,000 people attended the first Metalway festival in Gernika, near Bilbao in Spain, a 3-day heavy metal party headlined by Korn and the band that claims to be the loudest in the world, Manowar. Juan Gonzalez and his team from Swing Electroshow were using their new Nexo GEO T tangent-array system, powered by Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers, the first time the system has been used on a metal festival in Spain.

With left and right arrays of 12 GEO T4805 full-range cabinets, plus three T2815 downfills, the system used 16 CD18 sub-bass units each side. Fills were all Nexo Alpha, and Nexo PS15s were used as floor wedges. Swing has been using Nexo systems for 12 years, but Gonzalez praises the GEO T system, which he purchased last year, as "without doubt, one of the best systems presently available". His systems are powered by Camco Vortex 6, and Swing uses NexoO NX241 pro

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Italy - Italian lighting manufacturer DTS Illuminazione srl premiered its new products at the recent PLASA Show. The Delta R, the first model in a range of new-generation LED moving heads, won the interest of the professionals and the media alike, as it represents a radical evolution in comparison to conventional LED colour changers. Its compact and elegant housing incorporates the new LED RGB Full Colour technology, which, the company claims "gives a level of control over colour synthesis and colour temperature that until now was impossible". Other features inlcude motorized pan and tilt, and an IP65 protection level that makes it suitable for a wide range of applications.

DTS, which has celebrated its first 25 years in business, says it now plans an aggressive programme of growth. The company says: "We are confident we can achieve this through a series of new pr

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USA - Lycian Stage Lighting introduces its newest followspot, the model 1292 3K-ST.The Lycian 1292 3K-ST Xenon goes on sale in mid-November.

The model name, Stubby, accurately describes one of its attributes, as the overall length of the unit is remarkably short for a Xenon followspot. Thanks to its short overall length the 1292 offers a remarkable to size to brightness ratio. As a short throw, optically the 1292 Stubby 3K-ST is designed for throws up to just beyond 100ft.

Within its recommended throw distance Stubby is capable of beam widths from head-shots to three person circles or greater. The 1292 incorporates features from the popular M2 line with the proven lamphouse and several components from the proven Lycian 1293 3K Long Throw. Controls are top mounted and include a six- color boomerang, two dichroic color changers, fader, nichrome iris, and separate horizontal and

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UK - There are still a few places left for Hawthorns latest @ Home event featuring pyrotechnics and radio mics being held on Friday 7 October 2005.

There will be pyro demonstration by Le Maitre; plus Sennheiser, Sony and Trantec will be demo'ing their latest radio mics and will be on hand to offer advice throughout the afternoon. To book a place contact Hawthorn direct on: 01664 821101.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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USA - After supporting performances from above with its stage rigging systems, Global Truss America can now elevate the show from below, thanks to its new Stage System 360. A lightweight, modular system, the Stage System 360 is as rugged and sturdy as the company trussing products, but provides users with the convenience of an easily portable, customized stage-on-the-go to suit the needs of touring entertainers, small venues and stage rental companies.

The Stage System 360 is comprised of rectangular stage platforms, stepladders and safety railings that can be used in any combination to meet the precise staging needs of a specific event. Each 3'3" x 6'6" (1m x 2m) platform can be linked to other units on all sides, allowing users to create a stage with the square-footage they need and the shape most suitable to their event. Plus, the height of the platform can be set t

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UK - Sound Foundation, provider of sound, lighting and video equipment and services, as well as a growing range of short training seminars for live audio production engineers, has added two new one-day seminars to its training programme, featuring the Yamaha PM5D or Yamaha M7CL digital live mixers. "We believe that 2005 is the year in which the scales have tipped in favour of live digital audio mixers in terms of price, performance, features and ease of use," says Sound Foundation's Mark Payne.

In order to allow our sales and hire customers and engineers extensive exposure to these new technologies we are keeping the digital seminars free of charge till the end of 2005. For more information, contact Mark Payne, tel: 0118 969 0900.

(Lee Baldock)

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