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UK - The Stage Electrics Plymouth production team rose to the challenge of lighting the historic Royal Albert Bridge which runs across the River Tamar near Saltash for a high profile photo shoot.

The structure was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) and designed to carry the Cornwall Railway at a height of 100 feet across the water. It was opened in May 1859 and measures 2,187ft in length.

The bridge was lit using 24 Arena Visions and 16 Opti Visions, the resulting picture will be used as a background shot in the new ITV1 West Country Regional Newsroom during the early evening broadcast.

Stage Electrics also supplied equipment to light the studio set including Pulsar Chromaflood Pars and Strand Bambinos. During the studio refurbishment works the company helped to keep

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Every day, month or year is an anniversary of something or other, and this month happens to be the 20th anniversary edition of L&SI magazine.

L&SI was launched for the Professional Lighting and Sound Association by publisher John Offord at a time when the Association had only recently changed its name to reflect its broadening scope: the British Association of Discotheque Equipment Manufacturers (BADEM), which emerged from the 70s disco boom, had become PLASA in 1983.

Looking back at that first issue, the first thing that strikes you is facial hair - particularly at the first ABTT North trade show, which the debut issue covered. As someone - let's call him 'John' (what the hell - let's call him 'John Hastie') remarked to me at the ABTT show this summer, this industry no longer has much to offer the committed trade show beard spotter. The November 1985 issue just underlines the

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UK - Just how tough are your flightcases?A good testimonial for 5 Star Cases' products has come to our attention, following an arson attack outside the New Victoria Theatre in Woking, Surrey.

Three standard 'tour grade' cases - owned by White Light, lighting supplier to a touring production of Annie Get Your Gun - were temporarily left outside, along with the theatre's large butane heater. Two youths (caught by CCTV) set light to the heater, and the flames quickly engulfed the flightcases before being brought under control. When the badly burned cases were opened, the contents - including cables, top hats and other accessories, were found undamaged!

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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 - Islington's Salmon & Compass independent dance clubs has undergone a major £500,000 refurbishment programme. The interior has been completely gutted and replaced by an industrial brushed stainless steel look and a Turbosound PA system from Sound Division. At the same time, club capacity has increased to 280.

"The owners, the Loizou family, wanted a sound system with full clubbing capabilities," explains Sound Division's installation manager Elliott Patterson, "and after consideration we recommended a Turbosound TCS-56/TCS-215 system, powered by Crown XS amplification, along with a new mixer."

(Jim Evans)

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USA- A recent US patent application by Color Kinetics (20050036300 - Methods and systems for illuminating household products) covers the incorporation of a processor-driven lighting apparatus for lighting, well, all kinds of household products. Or as many as they could think of, anyway.

According to Claim 6, the 'household product' might be a fluid, such as "water, ammonia, bleach, window cleaner, insect repellant, insect killer, lotion, soap, liquid soap, kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, shaving gel, cleaning fluid, lighter fluid, furniture polish, wood treatment, paint, primer, drain cleaner, disinfectant, room deodorizer, carpet deodorizer, room scent, perfume, cologne, shaving foam, toilet cleaner, aerosol, skin care fluid, suntan lotion, shampoo, surface cleaner, and liquid wax."

The household product might also be an object, says Claim 8, such as "

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UK - HRH Princess Alexandra officially opened the a new £1.75m Sports Hall and Performing Arts Centre at Coombe Girls School in New Malden last month, featuring separate dedicated spaces for sports, music technology, drama and recital.

Stuart Graham's fast-expanding company, Clarity in Sound, Light & Vision, has done much in the past year to bring high production values into the educational sector; their £70,000 sound, lighting and projection design and fit for Coombe Girls School was based on industry standard devices.

With a roll of 1,500 students (including 500 attending Sixth Form College) Coombe is one of the largest facilities of this kind in the country, with an excellent reputation for drama and music. Graham realized that the facilities would be heavily used, so durability and reliability were major considerations. Wherever possible, he turned to Denon's s

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UK- 'Guerilla projection' specialist PSL Music was behind two recent high profile events on the streets of London.

For Sony Music's launch of Jamiroquai's new video, (Don't) Give Hate a Chance, they chose three separate projection sites in central London. This was designed to give maximum profile to the launch - and extra column inches in the UK's tabloid papers (secured when parking wardens tried to ticket singer Jay Kay as he watched the show).

The PSL and Sony Music teams completed three separate projections in one evening, at the NCP Car Park in Brewer Street (Soho), at Chelsea Barracks and at the National Gallery. Projecting typically over a 75m throw, PSL used a pair of Barco R12 high-power projectors, generating the programme material drawn from the new video from Doremi hard drives, supported by a d&b sound system.

The following week, the team hit well-known L

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UK - The first installation of Electro-Voice's new ZX1 speakers has been completed at the K-Bar private members' club in London.

EV's new generation of small-format, high-output loudspeakers was chosen by installation company Cosmic Electronics, when the K-Bar asked them to upgrade their speaker system. "The club management insisted on having a system that did justice to their high-profile reputation as one of London's most talked-about nightclubs, but they didn't want to become a discotheque," explains Cosmic's Mark Damon. "Through their sister venue, the Sugar Hut, they thought highly of Electro-Voice, and the timing of the project was perfectly suited to using the latest EV ZX speaker line."

The K-Bar is a relatively compact space, with a main bar adjoining its dancefloor, and a VIP room. In all, 10x EV ZX1i 8" two-way cabinets have been used, four

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Furman Sound announced a new 20-amp regulator that delivers a stable 120V of AC power to protect equipment from problems caused by AC line voltage irregularities. The AR-20 II is said to be the only 20A voltage regulator that also filters and purifies AC power, optimizing electronic equipment performance while also providing protection from spikes and surges - using Furman's proprietary SMP+ technology.

"Voltage irregularities like sags, brownouts and overvoltages are commonplace in AC lines, and can cause sensitive electronic equipment to malfunction or sustain damage," said Dave Keller, executive VP of Furman Sound. "In addition, electrical noise on the line prevents equipment from achieving optimal performance. Our newAR-20 II is unique in that it not only protects electronics from damaging power, but also filters out the noise using the very best technology available

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UK - Expanding restaurant group, Giraffe has added two further London sites to its portfolio of outlets - on the promenade outside the Royal Festival Hall and in the regenerated Spitalfields market.

Sound Division had refurbished the existing equipment in newly-acquired operations in Muswell Hill and Wimbledon, before being offered the contract to install a full JBL system on the South Bank.

"The Giraffe concept is a global one - and music is a very important part of the overall experience," said Sound Division managing director David Graham. "The quality of the sound system needs to reflect this."

In fact music assumes such high priority that Giraffe markets its own CD compilations (via Putumayo World Music) as part of a vigorous merchandising operation. It also maintains a World Music Top Ten based around ethnic music from Brazil, Africa, Jamaica, The C

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Whirlwind's E Snake products now support EtherSound using Lab X Technologies' new ESX network I/O module. "Whirlwind's E Snake products are recognized as some of the most comprehensive and versatile designs in digital audio transport," said Lab X president Lee Minich. The move extends both Whirlwind's digital connectivity and EtherSound's base of digital audio protocol subscribers.

"Partnering with Lab X to leverage their ESX module was a natural choice," added Joe Barnes, Whirlwind's director of digital operations. "The module's form factor and functionality, coupled with Lab X's connectivity expertise with CobraNet and EtherSound, has quickly enabled our E Snake products to support EtherSound."As well as being experienced in both CobraNet and EtherSound systems, Lab X Technologies makes a range of hardware, firmware and GUI control applications.

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Adamson showed its T-21 Sub, a flyable and arrayable bass cabinet designed to provide sub-bass extension for Y-Axis line source systems. It is configurable into an arc that will not shadow the main line array. The T-21 Sub also incorporates the newly developed Adamson Symmetrical Drive SD-21 Kevlar driver, with its double spider design. This employs a balanced spider suspension with spiders at both ends of the 6" dual voice coil assembly, and a neodymium magnet for maximum stability under high excursions.

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UK - Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset, UK, have a history spanning 50,000 years and are home to many mysteries including the legendary Witch of Wookey, who is said to have lived during King Arthur's reign and to still haunt the caves to this day.

To add mystique to these suggestive surrounds, the in-house technical team decided to add atmospheric lighting in some of the underground chambers. This would have to withstand unique conditions, as the caves have a high humidity factor and are at a constant temperature of 11ºC. Gordon Smith, Wookey Hole Caves' head of technical operations, explains: "Previous lighting systems had perished in such an environment, so we needed to be certain we were installing something that lasted."

Smith decided Tryka L.E.D luminaires were the answer. A total of 14 Strip Modules IP68 in different lengths, 9 Module 36s IP68 with 25º optics and

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UK - PRG Europe was contracted by Michael Hurll TV (MHTV), part of the Unique Communications Group, to provide lighting and projection solutions for ITV's 50th birthday celebrations.

With four London sites to service over a three day period, which included an outside broadcast location on HMS President, ITV's South Bank Studio 1 and Covent Garden's Avenue of the Stars, MHTV felt it needed a one stop shop to successfully coordinate the large format projection, lighting and power distribution, plus rigging and staging the entire event. Croydon-based project manager Loz Wilcox took responsibility for the projection needs, while John McEvoy from PRG Europe's Greenford branch looked after lighting for each of the locations.

As part of the celebrations, ITV unveiled its spectacular Avenue of the Stars in London's Covent Garden. A host of press and celebrity guests looked on as 100 s

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France - Since commencing operations in September 2005, SA Europe, a new joint venture between Robert Juliat & SA Australia, has been actively expanding its distribution network and presence in Europe.

"We now have distributors in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands" said Bertrand Dauphant, managing director of SA Europe. "These distributors are the key to our success within the European market and we are excited to have the opportunities to be working with these high-profile players."

SA Europe made its trade show debut at PLASA 2005 and will be participating in the upcoming Broadcast trade show in Spain & ACF in Belgium where State Automation products will be presented by local distributor Spai and DCD Belgium. SA Europe will also be exhibiting at JTSE trade show at the end of this month.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Automation specialists Kinesys has designed and built a motion control system to truck the Rolling Stones' B Stage out into the middle of the auditorium for their current A Bigger Bang stadium shows. The tour plays North America this autumn and Kinesys is renewing its association with their production, having worked with the Stones on the Licks world tour, where they provided a complete, tourable 32 axis variable speed control system for all the tracking and flown elements of the show.

Kinesys was approached for this project by the tour's set constructors Brilliant Stages. The B Stage truck, a major element of the show, detaches itself from the main stage at the relevant point, and trundles 80 metres (260 feet) down a walkway out into the middle of the stadium with the band onboard. It then rises up in the middle of the arena, allowing the band to play a coupl

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UK - The Hilton Brighton Metropole has installed a new sound system in its conference suite, selecting Allen & Heath's iDR-8 DSP processor to manage the sound distribution. In addition to the 334 bedrooms,the hotel has 28 meeting and function rooms, and nine exhibition halls.

The increasing popularity of the Hilton for different types of events has meant that the risk of noise disturbing local and hotel residents has also increased. Loading and unloading of vehicles for exhibitions is strictly controlled to certain hours of the day, but evening functions, with either DJ's or live bands, have caused complaints.

Working with Brighton & Hove City Council, Acoustic specialists, 24Acoustics and Big Sky Audio, were appointed to manage the project. 24Acoustics's principal, Steve Gosling, points out the complexities of noise problems in a large building like the Hilton: "Immediat

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UK - Glyndebourne, one of Europe's most acclaimed operatic institutions, has recently introduced a Stage Research SFX workstation to its sound design department. Supplied by theatre sound specialists Orbital for Glyndebourne On Tour (GOT), the system has been deployed for sound and video effects delivery on the production of Tangier Tattoo.

As a vibrant contemporary production, Tangier Tattoo is an operatic thriller and represents a new departure for Glyndebourne as well as a revolutionary development in the opera world. Designed to attract a new younger audience, the production is created by the trio of composer John Lunn, librettist Stephen Plaice and director Stephen Langridge.

The SFX system has been deployed to store and playback a host of sound FX and video footage. Glyndebourne's AV Systems Operator, Simon Yapp, collaborated with Orbital's Tom Byrne

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USA - Look Solutions unveiled the prototype of its new Low Fogger on the Look Solutions Booth at this year's ETS-LDI trade show in Orlando.

The Low Fogger consists of a 2,000W fog machine and chilling chamber in a single, compact, roadworthy housing. The unit housing measures just 20 inches x 20 inches x 12 inches. An external dewar of liquid carbon dioxide is required to cool the fog from the Low Fogger.

"This is a great new addition to the Look Solutions range," remarked Nathan Kahn of Look Solutions USA. "Low fog is so much more convenient to use than dry ice - even after factoring in the dewar of CO2. This is an exciting new arena for us and we are looking forward to seeing what people think of the Low Fogger."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Hosted by Wigwam Acoustics, the next d&b audiotechnik Sound system design & set-up seminar will be held on Wednesday November 23 at the Huddersfield Christian Fellowship's Harvest House - a former Comet store Comet Store that has been converted into a state of the art high tech venue.

d&b's John Taylor will be presenting the day, with the focus on achieving intelligibility - if you're passionate about sound, then you want to get good quality, intelligible sound to every seat in the house.

"This seminar addresses the acoustic signal path between the loudspeaker and the listener's ears, just comprehensive electroacoustics with all the physics you'll need thrown in." said Emma Adamou of d&b. "The seminar content is conveyed in a format that encourages the participants to play an active role, for example exchanging experiences or using practical examples. The s

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UK - Event freight specialists EFM organised a cargo charter flight for Coldplay this month, ensuring the band were ready to perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Portugal.

The band who were playing in Norway on October 31 as part of their Twisted Logic world tour were scheduled to perform Talk at the prestigious awards ceremony, as well as being nominated in a number of categories. With the band's load-in scheduled for November 2, there was no way to guarantee getting the backline from Oslo to Lisbon in time for the planned rehearsal slot using regular commercial air freight methods. The solution was to charter an aircraft of a suitable size to carry the equipment. The aircraft in question was an AN (Antonov) 26.

Immediately after the Oslo show, Andy Lovell of EFM took the musical equipment to Oslo Gardemoen Airport, where it was put through extensive prepar

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