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UK - Projected Image Digital provides a one-stop solutions service for Digital Media products. Digital technology is opening up new and exciting possibilities for anyone involved in designing and creating environments and spaces.

As the UK partner of award-winning manufacturer Element Labs, PID will be demonstrating the full range and diversity of their various innovative LED display devices, all of which are being specified for architectural installations worldwide. This will include Versa Tile, Versa Tube and the new Versa Pixel. Using digital media to control the Versa range, any built environment can be transformed into a visually mesmerising space.

Versa Tube is a linear LED effect tube that can produce fabulous moving colour patterns that glow with dynamism. By using live

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UK - Software provider Stardraw.com have announced that support for Mode Lighting (UK) Ltd's Evolution system of architectural lighting control products has been incorporated into their ground-breaking new application, Stardraw Control.

Mode Lighting Ltd is part of the Mode Group of companies dedicated to the design and manufacture of electronic products principally for the lighting industry, including architectural dimming systems, electronic transformers for low voltage lighting, electronic convertors for neon and cold cathode lighting, colour-changing lighting and control systems and LED lighting systems.

Stardraw Control is a software-based application designed expressly to control systems that contain diverse products. It generates stand-alone, customized control programs that can manage and monitor any type of addressable equipment from any manufacturer using any protoco

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UK - Summit Steel is once again supplying rigging and associated support services for the Cirque du Soleil production of Alegria at the Royal Albert Hall.

It's the sixth Cirque production that Summit has put into the venue, and Alegria was also the first Cirque production which Summit were involved with in the central London venue, back in 1998.

The 2006 project involved the preparation of 104 points of rigging, for which Summit has supplied 40 of their own Lodestar motors in addition to using the house hoists.

Summit also designed a completely new rigging infrastructure, involving the installation of nearly 400m of Summit's James Thomas Supertruss. This was needed for Cirque to produce their daring, highly acrobatic production - normally staged in their own purpose-built big top - into a completely new and different venue. The Albert Hall is a challenging venu

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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 - Sky (BSKYB) has specified SoundField microphone systems to capture crowd ambience in 5.1 surround for Sky Sports HD Premiership Football coverage which begins transmission in early 2006.

After a lengthy evaluation period involving tests at many football grounds around the UK, Sky decided to standardise on SoundField in view of the level of clarity and realism demanded by the HD format. Another main consideration was SoundField's ability to collapse any 5.1 surround mix to stereo or mono without introducing any phase problems, making it ideal for live broadcast applications where events will be transmitted in HD and SD (Standard Definition) simultaneously. SoundField systems will be permanently installed at Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal where more regular HD coverage will be broadcast.

Pieter Schillebeeckx, SoundField technical sales, says: "We wor

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UK - Surrey-based PA company Plus 4 Audio was once again asked to provide the live audio for the Royal Variety Performance. Coming from the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, the show had some interesting coverage problems to resolve and Plus 4 director Stewart Chaney chose an L-Acoustics KUDO system as his first line of attack.

"The KUDO is great for this type of venue," said Chaney, "not only did we get the usual advantages of a DOSC system in both throw and colouration control, we were also able to minimize wall reflections using a combination of the horizontal 'K-Louver' baffles and an accurate Soundvision 3D plot courtesy of L-Acoustics UK. With the addition of a small dV-DOSC front-fill system and some dV-SUB and SB118 subwoofers, the results were excellent."

In the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburg, the 77th Royal Variety Performance wa

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UK - Zero 88 has appointed Paul McEwan in the new project sales role, helping consultants, dealers and customers with specifying and installing Zero 88 products. He will also provide a link between the Zero 88 Sales and R&D teams to further improve external feedback regarding product design and manufacture, say the company.

UK market manager Grant Bales-Smith explains: "We are delighted to have Paul on-board. Paul has been specifying and installing Zero 88 products for a number of years and has direct experience of how they perform in the field. His knowledge of the installation sector and its specific requirements will help us enormously as we continue to develop our product range."

Paul fell into the theatre world whilst studying for his 'A' Levels at North Tyneside college in 1982 and has been involved in it ever since. He brings with him a wealth of project and i

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UK - Mercedes-Benz relied on laser specialist LOBO for the presentation of its new GL-Class SUVs on the occasion of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

With recent oil price rises, fuel efficiency is becoming an issue even in the USA, but still Americans hesitate to part from heavy off-road cars. Taking these two factors together, Dieter Zetsche, president of DaimlerChrysler and Mercedes-Benz, presented the audience with a new full-size SUV with what they call the most environmentally-friendly and economical diesel engine of all time.

To help present this new concept, a sophisticated laser production by LOBO was employed.The presentation of the new evhicle began with a video sequence photographed in California by Jaques Steyn, which then smoothly merged into the laser projection. Three-dimensional laser projections symbolized the route from vision to realiza

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UK - Specialist lighting students at Central School of Speech and Drama will benefit from sponsorship and equipment totalling in excess of £125,000. The equipment has been bought and gifted as part of the School's designation as the UK's Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre.

The equipment will be installed by the end of October, and will provide theatre and studio lighting, as well as furnishing the lighting playground where undergraduate and postgraduate students can work alongside practicing professionals to push the lighting equipment to its limits. It will be situated in newly refurbished buildings, which include a lighting playground, two-floor design studios, editing suites, as well as music practice rooms and brand-new rehearsal spaces.

Lighting tutor Nick Moran says: "Thanks to the award of Centre for Excellence, we have been able to spend over &pou

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UK - The first of Turbosound's TCS Compact series to be installed in the UK feature in two recently opened theme-bars - in London and Peterborough - forming the central element of the venues' new audio systems, designed and installed by Egham-based retail AV specialist, Marquee Installations.

Launched at PLASA 2005, the multi-model TCS Compact series is designed specifically for use by installation contractors, by offering the widest flexibility in mounting and rigging facilities, in the choice of colour finishes, and in the range of audio options available. At Reflex in the City of London, an 80s revival club-bar with a chrome and neon interior, Marquee's system is designed to be capable of generating a full-on party atmosphere. A city bar in the early evenings, the venue transforms into a lively club later at night, and can accommodate around 400 people. The main dance floor s

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Denmark / India - DPA Microphones has announced the appointment of a new Indian distributor, Delhi-based Visual Technologies India (VTI). Formed 10 years ago, VTI specialises in the marketing and distribution of leading pro audio equipment across the country and has built up strong bases in both the public and private sectors of broadcast and recording.

Ken Kimura, area manager of DPA Microphones, comments. "India is a very exciting marketplace for DPA Microphones. VTI has staff and offices strategically located in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hylderabad and Kolkata. I believe they are ideally placed to assist us in making great progress across the entire product range, from studio microphones such as the 4006-TL and 4011-TL through to the new 4090 Series, as well as miniatures and headband mics for live and broadcast use."

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Production Resource Group (PRG) have announced that Art Lavis has been promoted to sales and operations manager of PRG Video and Eric Seefranz has joined the fast-growing video division as technical support manager.

Lavis will oversee the operations of PRG Video and continue to expand its services in the Broadway, corporate industrial, concert touring, film/television and systems integration markets. Seefranz is tapped to provide technical support and assist in creating video solutions for PRG's clients.

"We are committed to steering PRG Video to a leadership position in this burgeoning market," says Darren DeVerna, PRG's senior vice-president of business development. "Art has been a driving force in our large format projection segment while Eric brings over fifteen years of video engineering and projection experience. We are confident that their combined

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Switzerland - In Autumn 2001, the old Wankdorf stadium in the Swiss capital of Berne was demolished to make way for a new multi-purpose stadium. The stadium where Germany won the FIFA World Cup for the first time against Hungary in 1954 (known as The Miracle of Berne), witnessed its last football match on August 3rd before the demolition team moved in.

The general contracting company, Marazzi AG, were awarded the contract for the planning and the realisation of the stadium, with a construction budget of 350m Swiss Francs. Over 32,000 comfortable seats make the Stade de Suisse one of the largest sporting stadiums ever built in Switzerland. Spectator comfort is at the forefront under the covered stands. There is an extensive range of catering services at over 20 locations in the ground; VIP and business lounges, 20 boxes, clear stewarding and sign-posting arrangements for visitors

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UK - Komedia is Brighton's leading live entertainment venue, weekly playing host to a huge variety of musicians, comedians and other performers. Because of the theatre's demanding and varied schedule, it is crucial that the interior of the venue be versatile and robust. The entire set up regularly needs a complete change around in a matter of hours.

In 2003, Maltbury supplied Komedia with an initial package of Metrodeck when the venue underwent a major overhaul. Because of the theatre's schedule, it truly puts Maltbury's popular staging system to the test. The system is regularly moved around to accommodate the widely differing performances taking place: bands such as Supergrass and The Tiger Lillies, theatre productions for all ages, poetry and stand-up. The Metrodeck system has made this task possible.

Komedia's technical manager Chris Williams says: "This is a very ver

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UK - Futurelight fixtures provide the heavy artillery in a remarkable Bournemouth nightclub conversion which has provided CanDu Entertainment with its flagship venue, 'Censo'. The former Berlins was given a near £1m makeover in preparation for a pre-Christmas opening. Various design themes were considered before architect/designers Carey Jones Interiors conceived a stunning first floor scheme with both mystical and North African overtones. Shisha pipe smoking areas adorn the tented Arabesque Lounge, while opposite they have borrowed inspiration from the Supper Club in Amsterdam with a series of giant beds.

Facing each other on the other two axes are very distinct areas - the bordello-chic red velvet bar staring down the room at 'The Gods' - a raised, bookable VIP booth holding ten people. And in this theatre of the absurd actors blend inconspicuously to spice up the social

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UK - The ABTT Training and Education Committee has announced two Technical Training Bursaries for 2006. These are made possible through the gift of Heather van Wijk, in memory of her late husband Nick, who was Master Carpenter at London's Aldwych Theatre from 1994 until his death in October 2003.

Well known throughout West End theatreland where he spent most of his working life, Nick van Wijk placed great emphasis on passing on his stage technical knowledge to the next generation of theatre technicians and these bursaries pay tribute to that enthusiasm.

The bursaries are available to sponsor two participants in the ABTT Bronze Award. To support the professional development of practitioners in technical theatre, each bursary of £550 covers the tuition fee for the certificated ABTT Bronze Award. This course includes: electrical fundamentals, portable appliance testing, kno

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UK - Isis, a 2000-capacity nightclub on the outskirts of Liverpool, features a retro lighting rig commissioned by Lightworks Technical Services whose Martin Harrison enlisted DiFuzion's Graham Baron to assist with the design.

"We wanted something completely different," said Harrison. "Thus the design became a joint venture, also involving Phil Parsons, who produced all the drawings for the lighting rig."

As a result, the £5 million conversion of the former two-level Smilin' Sams near Croxteth has, as its centrepiece, an aluminium-fabricated full mechanical rig bearing Futurelight scanning and moving effects (distributed in the UK by DiFuzion, the lighting division of Fuzion plc) alongside a DMX Starlite ceiling. These are augmented by various generics, strobes, neon and pinspots - while LED and fibre-optic lighting around the bar represents the

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UK/Nigeria - Marquee Audio has supplied a full, integrated concert touring package to a client in Nigeria. Via two of the manufacturers that it represents, the Shepperton-based dealers and distributors were approached by Senator Daniel Aluko of Associated Logistics, one of the African country's leading polticians. He explained the requirement for a full front-of-house and monitor system in the south of the country, where the Governor of Calabar, Donald Duke, was a real music buff.

Says Marquee Audio's Andy Huffer, "They had been promoting a lot of concerts and festivals in the region but it was costing them a fortune hiring the equipment in - and they realised it would be more economical to purchase their own rig."

Marquee's sales director designed a proprietary system based around a Turbosound Aspect rig and Yamaha PM5000 analogue mixer. VDC Trading produced the nec

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Iceland - Audio visual rental company Exton has purchased 23 sq m of Barco DLite7 and is the first rental company to buy LED panels in Iceland. The purchase was made via brokers displayLED.

It has taken no time for Exton to put the screen into action. Initially, it has been installed as a digital signage screen in a local mall while a permanent display is built. The screen will then be made available to the local rental market.

Exton's technical manager Kristjan Magnusson comments, "displayLED is the only company we know of that specialises in sales of new and used LED screens. Their wealth of readily available products and knowledge made them the right choice."

Long established, Exton's clients include government agencies, foreign and domestic corporations such as Ford Motor Corporation, Coca Cola and Pirelli, the NATO Ministerial Meeting, Airwaves Music Festival,

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UK - Stage Electrics supplied all moving and intelligent lights for two Celebrity Big Brother locations - in the studio and the outdoor set - plus additional kit for the finale, won last week by Chantelle Houghton.

Darryl Noad was the lighting director for the high profile Endemol-produced series recorded at Elstree Studios for Channel Four. Stage Electrics' project manager was Simon Baker.

The studio element of the rig consisted of 19 Martin Professional MAC 2K washes, used for the regular bi-weekly broadcasts. Sixteen PixelLine 110ec's were also supplied by Stage Electrics to the Little Brother chat show.

The weekly show's exterior rig included 15 MAC 600 NTs in inflatable domes, 8 MAC 2K profiles, 4 MAC 2K washes and 16 JTE PixelLine battens under-lighting the stairs. These were used extensively to light and project graphics and gobos onto the wall of the Big Brother hous

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UK - Sound recording college SAE London has completed the installation of its Digidesign ICON studio in a newly formed control and live room.

The Digidesign ICON is a control surface for Digidesign ProTools that provides "intuitive operation in line with other large format consoles... It provides an unprecedented level of control for ProTools allowing for intuitive mixing whilst giving access to the full power and flexibility of ProToolsHD".

SAE has installed a 32 Fader Icon console, which is based on the flagship D-Control tactile work surface. The studio features an HD2 ProTools system using an Apple PowerMac Dual G5 as well as Focusrite and SPL mic preamps and Bluesky monitors. Students will use the ICON for their music productions and are able to move their projects between four studios: ICON, SSL G+, Neve VR and SSL AWS.

(Jim Evans)

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