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USA - Martin Professional Inc has appointed Brad Haynes as the regional sales manager for the Central region of the US. An experienced industry professional with a strong electronics background and a wealth of knowledge in sales, design, technical applications, installation and programming, Haynes founded Bright Ideas LLC in 2002, a successful professional lighting and sound company based in Missouri that specializes in sales, design and installation for theatre, theme parks and architectural installations. He has also worked as an on-staff lighting designer and programmer at Chameleon Productions since 2004.

Haynes starts his new position at Martin on 5 July. His responsibilities as RSM primarily cover Martin's Show, TV and Theatre segments in the central US region although he wi

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UK - Charter Broadcast has built on its successful start to 2006, working on a range of sporting and television projects for some of the biggest names in the industry. Charter has been involved with a number of prestigious motor sports events, including the Monaco Grand Prix and French Grand Prix, where it provided digital radio camera systems, giving armchair viewers the best possible view of the action. Similarly, Charter provided two complete digital radio camera systems for the British Touring Car series and one digital radio camera system for British Superbikes, both of which involve live, prime-time transmission.

Aside from motor sports, Charter has continued its involvement in other sporting fields, providing the HD Link for the ACS Tethered Blimp System used in the Sky coverage of England's Test Cricket throughout the summer, and supplying two complete digital radio came

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UK - Slingco has built and installed a modular CableNet tensioned wire grid system over the auditorium and stage of the brand new Seckford Theatre at Woodbridge School in Suffolk. A major reason for specifying the 8-frame modular CableNet is - for the first time ever - to provide completely safe roof access for students and working personnel including wheelchair users up in the grid.

The £4.5 million project, designed by architects the MEB Partnership from Oxford, has seen the creation of a 343 seat flexible space - which can also be configured in thrust and in-the-round formats - to service the school's own busy Performing Arts Centre department's productions as well as those of visiting companies, assorted local 'am dram' shows plus conferences and events.

Funded by the Seckford Foundation, which is dedicated to the young and the old of Woodbridge, it's a professional

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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 - Metro has appointed Danny Whybrow as managing director of its Broadcast Facilities Division, reporting to Peter Wright, Group CEO. Danny will join Metro from Blue Post Production where he was also managing director. In addition, Metro announced the investment of £200,000 of new technology and the appointment of two new bookings staff as part of a major expansion of the Soho-based facility.

Whybrow will be responsible for the broadcast facilities division that works on many projects from shoot to post, including Channel 4's fully HD show Totally Frank and the recent Isle of Wight Music Festival. Joining his current team of 56, will be Karen Hake from Dubbs and Alex Finch from TSI in bookings. The new equipment installed at Metro as part of this expansion will include major HD upgrades for the company's Avid systems, a Sony HD cam SR and Sony lenses.

"I brought D

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UK - For the past ten years, Hyde Park has been a second home during the summer months for Star Events Group whilst the company provide staging requirements for the park's live music events.

This year saw Tez Sheals-Barrett make her debut as Star Events Group project manager for the event. The first show in the series featured the Foo Fighters, who played to an 85,000-strong crowd on 17June. "We arrived in Hyde Park on 10 June to start the main stage build, allowing just five days in advance of production arriving on site!" says Sheals-Barrett.

"We had a lot of involvement with the band's production team due to the specific nature of the numerous structures they required. These included a specially designed thrust to allow Dave Grohl to run from the stage to the front of house towers and we had crew on hand throughout to make sure they got exactly what they want

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USA - In 1997, country music star Daron Norwood began speaking to students at afew schools in Texas, using his own experiences to help steer them away from drugs and alcohol abuse and violence. Nearly a decade later, he's still at it.

Norwood's programme, Keep It Straight, has seen the Giant Records artist sharing his story with over 650,000 kids across the US and overseas. Norwood opens each date with a musical performance, warming up to his audience and creating a bond that enables him to share his own experiences, from his roots as the son of a preacher to his success as a performer, including his own struggles with drugs and alcohol.

Helping Norwood's message reach the students is a state-of-the-art sound system donated by Community Professional Loudspeakers. The Chester, Pennsylvania-based company outfitted Norwood with four XLT46E three-way bass reflex cabinets an

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UK - Hebden Sound recently provided The Prodigy's front-of-house engineer, Jon Burton, with a custom capsule version HS3000 for use on the band's festival shows this year. A side-firing version of the company's popular condenser range, it was developed specifically for snare drums.

Burton was already using a pair of HS3000s for overheads but was looking for a new microphone for the snare. After a couple of meetings on the last tour a side-facing pencil microphone was designed, able to be placed close to the drum without presenting such a large target for the drummer and, when placed on a stand, less likely to move. The pick-up pattern and handling is ideal for loud sources such as drums, say the company, and so far it has seen action not only on Prodigy shows but was used in its first outing in Serbia for a show with Balkan superstar Ceca in front of 150,000 people.

On the fir

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USA - A new sound reinforcement system recently implemented at the Stadium Theatre in downtown Woonsocket, Rhode Island is headed by a Mackie Onyx 4880 house mixing console.

The historic theatre, built in 1926 and eventually falling into disrepair, re-opened in 2001 as a performing arts centre following years of renovation work by the all-volunteer Stadium Theatre Foundation. Since re-opening, however, sound quality within the theatre's Grand Hall was not up to expectations, leading the foundation to seek a professional solution.

The shoebox-shaped Grand Hall offers approximately 1,100 seats split between the main floor, balcony and side boxes. Its ample stage now hosts more than 90 events a year, including concerts, theatrical productions and lectures.

The new system was implemented by ATR/Treehouse of nearby Providence, Rhode Island, with input and support from Stadium The

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UK - Rigging, drape and starcloth specialist Blackout have recently completed a rigging infrastructure and provision of Starcloth to an Annual Celebration Dinner for 2,000 people hosted by a major Global Banking firm.

The aim of the event was to recognise staff achievements and successes over the past year. The theme was based on the musical Grease and featured cheerleaders, a Greased Lightnin' Band, and an American style convertible car.

Five halls at the ExCel Conference and Exhibition Centre were completely wrapped in Starcloth from Blackout creating an environment that was transformed into a tribute to the 1950s. 75 motors and 460 metres of lighting, AV and sound trusses were provided along with an 8m diameter truss circle. Four giant projection screens dressed to look like Drive-In Movie theatres were rigged by Blackout along with giant iconographic images from the

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UK - Adlib Audio continued their exhausting Summer 06 schedule by supplying a JBL VerTec sound system for the highly original and hotly tipped Seattle based indie rockers Death Cab For Cutie's (DCFC) recent UK gigs in Leeds and London.

The band's FOH sound engineer Will Markwell says: " Adlib have supplied a great system and really looked after us. Everything has gone extremely smoothly and above all they are really nice people." The short DCFC tour was overseen by Adlib's own Steve Cole and James Neale.

It ended at Brixton Academy in London, where the system was configured as 10 VT 4889 elements per side with six Adlib DF4 subs, a favourite Adlib cabinet combination yields.

The top four cabinets in the flown VT array were arranged to maximise coverage across the Academy's cavernous stalls and balcony.

The VerTec was powered by Camco Vortex 6 amps and the subs by

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UK - The Titan 12 is the latest innovation from Wharfedale Pro. This ergonomically designed 12in, 2-way loudspeaker (250W continuous/500W Music/1000W Peak) offers flexibility for use in a wide range of professional applications with the high output, punchy low end and extended HF response equally at home with music and speech.

The ultra lightweight (12KG) and compact enclosure is made from tough polypropylene and is designed to be stand-mounted, arrayed or even used as a floor monitor. The enclosure also features multiple M8 rigging points for ease of installation.

The Titan 12 is designed using the Wharfedale Pro proprietary 90 x 60 Elliptical Waveguide Horn and Titanium HF compression driver, reducing HF distortion and diffraction. The custom heavy-duty moisture proof 12in LF driver is unique to the Titan 12. Built to last, the Titan 12 features a rugged protective grille wi

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UK - Cable specialists VDC Trading has been working closely with guitar technician Guy Cowen to design and build a custom loom for Razorlight's lead singer and guitarist, Johnny Borrell.

Cowen was given a solution to support Jonny's pedalboard. This consisted of two cable runs, each 12.5m in length. The first cable featured Van Damme Instrument Cable / Mains in a pliosil loom, while the second featured Van Damme Instrument Cable / Speaker Cable in a pliosil loom. VDC also supplied various loose connectors, blank panels and speaker reels.

The new loom is already being put through its paces in various European venues and television studios as the band undertakes promotion for their second album, Razorlight, launched this month.

"VDC has done a fantastic job and the loom is working perfectly," Cowen says. "The design is straightforward but the quality of the cabl

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UK - Leeds based Lighting rental company Zig Zag lighting has been supplying lighting to Pink Floyd Tribute band - Off The Wall. The band have been touring round the UK and Europe since February and now have an array of Showtec lighting products in their lighting rig.

The Showtec products used on the show are; 16 Showtec Explorer 250 Pro, 10 Showtec Explorer 250 Wash, two Showtec Shogun Green Laser moving heads, and an assortment of ShowtecLED Par 36 fittings.

Off The Wall are Performing over two hours of classic Pink Floyd, including a complete rendition of the album Wish You Were Here, and their aim is to recreate the spectacle of the biggest rock concerts ever staged with lighting and video effects to match the music.

All the Showtec Explorer Pros and Washes are supplied in pairs ready loaded into flight cases, Neil from Zig Zag lighting has been highly impressed w

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UK - A new £7m boutique hotel development in Edinburgh's fashionable West End has been equipped from the ground up with audio products from the Fuzion plc catalogue.

The Hudson Hotel, the latest addition to the 21-strong Festival Inns portfolio, is the result of merging a former post office, night club and office block into a complete leisure operation, including 31 technology-led bedrooms, The Hudson Bar and Hudson Club. To fulfil the brief of providing cutting-edge technology the company turned to Edinburgh-based Dynamic Productions.

Dynamic's project manager Graeme Anderson has brought all his expertise to bear over the three hotel room floors, ground floor bar/reception and basement nightclub, where he has worked magnificently to convert a space with restricted ceiling height into a vibrant, atmospheric dance venue.

Working within the confines of a Grade-B restrict

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Italy - Osimo-based company SISME is now the exclusive distribution partner for HK Audio Portable Sound, Install Sound and PowerWorks products in Italy. For 40 years, SISME has been well-known as a distributor of music instruments, sound reinforcement systems and also hi-fi products and has gained an excellent reputation as a competent and reliable partner for music dealers and rental companies.

"With HK Audio, we succeeded in taking probably the most innovative German manufacturer of sound reinforcement systems into our distribution range. Especially with the Lucas systems, HK Audio has an extremely attractive offer for the Italian market. With the help of the Lucas display, we will establish the brand in many Italian music stores and thus, expose the consumer to the products of HK Audio and their excellent sound quality," says Claudio Bugari, owner and managing direc

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UK - Now in its 15th year, the Rhythms of the World Festival takes place over two days in the beautiful old town centre of Hitchin in Herts.

Promoted by Bob Mardon, the event has grown so quickly that 160 performances now take place over 10 stages, making it the largest free festival of world music in the UK. Last year it was estimated that more than 40,000 people thronged into the town. All of which puts increasing pressure on local PA/rental company Rossco (and their Martin Audio PA fleet), who have been involved with the event for the past six years.

Run by Ross Sharples and Mark Donovan, Rossco were again responsible for equipping the six main stages with no fewer than 72 Martin Audio enclosures - including the premier stages in the Town Square and Portmill Lane. These witnessed classic performances by Osibisa and the huge kodo drums of Dulsori, a dynamic traditiona

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USA - HME have announced the appointment of AVA Audio Video Associates, Inc., of St. Louis, Missouri; and First Choice Marketing, of Seattle, Washington to represent HME's DX Series and PRO850 wireless intercom systems.

AVA Audio is the latest manufacturing representative for the mid-west region; including Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Southern Illinois. First Choice Marketing will represent Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Northern Idaho and Western Montana.

AVA Audio Video Associates, Inc., offers large corporate and hotel customers "state of the art" equipment and responsive technical support, says the company. AVA Audio Video is a full service, audio visual provider, and has been an independent manufacturer's representative agency since 1988.

First Choice Marketing continually demonstrates excellence with its contract A/V integration, broadcast, touring/renta

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UK - Over the years sound design and post production company Art4Noise have found the Marantz PMD670 an indispensable component in their inventory. The solid state recorder features non-stop record with seven hours of battery life, a menu-driven remote operation, and an EDL marking system for creating new files on-the-fly during the recording for easy file selection during playback.

"The PMD 671 has proven itself as an invaluable tool to us, especially for immediate recordings. It's very useful, we could be FX editing one minute then down a tube station the next shooting trains, as on Creep where we used the PMD670 to record a lot of additonal train FX including doors, engines etc."

Art4Noise have used the PMD671 alongside their other studio gear to record in-house Foley spots - kettle boils, pot noodle slurps, plastic scrapes, door knocks and so on.

Sound e

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UK - Sound Division Group report that demand for plasma displays was stretched to the limits during the recent FIFA World Cup. While all their existing hire stock of media displays was out on duty the company also made some notable sales to high profile venues.

"It proved to be a breathtaking three weeks," reports managing director, David Graham, "so much so that we immediately augmented our existing stock with a further 12 NEC 42in and 50in models."

Among the notable London venues that either hired or purchased displays were Charles and Adam Breeden's All Star Lanes and The Lonsdale. While the former ordered a 50in display, three 42in plasma screens were distributed around the exclusive Notting Hill bar restaurant.

1 Lombard Street brasserie in the City purchased three 42in plasmas, while the upmarket restaurants Beach Blanket Babylon and Nozomi also lai

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UK - The British Bridal Exhibition, which takes place in the picturesque spa town of Harrogate, has since 1987 grown into the world's largest trade bridal exhibition, attracting key bridal buyers from the UK and overseas.

Rick Lawson of Funtime AV was the LD for the show and his brief was to design a series of distinctly different lighting states to enhance a catwalk show by a number of different designers. He explains: "We used a combination of Mac 250 Kryptons, Mac 250 Washes and Mac 550s. Among the benefits were high light output, sharpness of image and the speed and quietness of the motors. Also due to an extremely low ceiling all the units have to be situated on the floor, so the fact that all the units were part of the same range, gave a visual uniformity when it was rigged, which looked a lot tidier than using several manufacturers."

He added: "I chose th

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USA - In the past several months, Minneapolis has added two state-of-the-art dance clubs with incredible sound systems powered by amplifiers: the MC2 Audio E25 and E45 power amps. The sound systems for both the new Karma and Visage clubs were designed and installed by Minneapolis-based Light N Trax, and the MC2 amplifier sale was made by John Bormann of Bormann Marketing.

Karma enjoyed a warm reception to its opening in the heart of Minneapolis's club district. There, a sound system based on the EAW Avalon speaker system is propelled by 55,000 Watts from a combination of MC2 E25 and E45 amplifiers powering the mains, subs and fills. The two-story club features a separate VIP suite and several private cabana areas.

Visage, which opened in April, has a fashion theme - a video display behind the bar presents the French fashion channel FTV and non-stop runway action, while every F

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