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UK - Harman Pro UK has announced a new deal to make it easier for tour sound companies to finance the direct purchase of two of their most popular equipment lines: Soundcraft's Vi-series digital consoles and JBL's VerTec-series line array systems for stadium-scale sound reinforcement.

A company statement says: "Harman Pro UK recognise that financing the purchase of such high-value equipment can be a challenge for tour sound companies, so they've arranged the new 0% package to help spread the impact of re-equipping."

Various types of agreements are possible under Harman Pro UK Finance, depending on the requirements of the company applying. 0% finance is available over two years, but "exceptionally low rates" are offered over longer periods. Deferred payment sc

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UK - We were saddened to hear of the recent death of John Roden. One of the world's leading live sound monitoring engineers and a much-loved and respected figure in the touring industry, John passed away on 1 July, just a few weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 53.

With his partner Noreen O'Riordan, director of the lighting department at Entec Sound & Light, John was father to two young sons - Kieran, aged 9, and Thomas, aged 6.

Among his many clients as a freelance engineer were George Michael, David Gilmour, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Macy Gray, Annie Lennox, Christina Aguilera, The Pretenders, Phil Collins, Ozzy Osbourne, Luther Vandross, Sting, Sinead O'Connor, Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

In his early career, working mainly with Entec and Tasco, he laid the foundations of his skills working with bands including The Stranglers, Thomas Do

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UK - As the Glastonbury Festival continues to grow, so does the contribution to the sound made by XTA processors, which this year were a feature of many of the audio systems on site. The dance music side of the festival is also expanding and the main dance arena (the East Dance Stage) was one of the focal points, with high profile artists including Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox and Mark Ronson.

Audile of Manchester provided a Funktion-One PA system, comprising Resolution 5s and F221 subs, with a range of XTA units including two DP448s at front-of-house, with a DP324 SiDD inserted over the left and right channels being utilised for system EQ. A GQ600 graphic was also inserted at FOH for guest engineers to get their hands on. To keep the DJs under control, a D2 was set to work which helped to get levels consistent across the whole audio spectrum with the varying material being supplied by

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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 - Twenty-four of i-Pix' new energy-saving BB wash-lights were in action for the Live Earth Wembley concert, mounted on the front truss header and used instead of normal 8 light blinders.

The BB's were selected by the London event's lighting designers Patrick Woodroffe (responsible for the stage/show lighting) and Mark Kenyon (responsible for the TV and BBC's lighting requirements), and supplied by lighting contractor PRG London - along with all the other equipment.

Lighting for the Live Earth concerts challenged its designers to make the rig as energy-efficient as possible, so they used as many high output, low-energy lighting fixtures as possible - including LED and HMI sources. (Tungsten elements were reduced to an absolute minimum).

Ahead of the event, PRG's project director Carol Croft, approached a series of LED lighting manufacturers including i-Pix and asked them t

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UK / Hong Kong - UK mixer manufacturer Allen & Heath has appointed Sanecore Limited as its new distributor in China including Hong Kong and Macau. The company will manage the sales, distribution and service of the complete Allen & Heath product line from their HQ in Hong Kong, and regional offices in Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xi'an.

"For our new distribution arrangement in China we were looking for a company that was solidly established on the mainland, with young, motivated sales, marketing and technical staff, plus an organisation with the financial resources to bring A&H to prominence in the growing Hong Kong and Macau region," comments Allen & Heath's Asia regional sales manager, Bardy Hayes. "In Sanecore, these criteria were not just met but exceeded, and we are very proud to be in partnership with the Chang brothers, Michael and Bernard, and t

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USA - Part of the San Diego Zoo's Nighttime Zoo summer programme, Talamasca - Jungle Myths and Legends is new jungle-themed acrobatic show at the zoo's Hunte Amphitheatre. The show runs nightly until September. CBC Technical provided sound reinforcement for the show, including Electro-Voice XLD line arrays.

"The input end of the show is relatively simple - a DVD player providing four channels of audio along with timecode," says Scott Chester of CBC. "The steep and deep shape of the venue and noise restrictions outside means a balance of complete, controlled vertical and horizontal coverage and intelligibility is essential - something the zoo felt the programme was lacking last year. The XLD is proving the ideal solution."

Arrays of seven XLD are flown each side, each over two ground-stacked X-subs for low-end support. EV CP4000S amplifiers han

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Spain / Singapore - D.A.S. Audio has announced the opening of its new sales and distribution centre for Asia located in Singapore. "D.A.S. has decided to establish a direct presence in Asia with one objective - increasing our support for distributors, dealers and professional sound rental and installation companies in the region," says a company statement issued on the first day of PALME Asia.

Leading the team of professionals in Singapore will be Juan Luis Garcia who has been responsible for sales in Asia and the Middle East over the last six years. His association with D.A.S. spans more than a decade and his experience includes the successful set-up of the D.A.S. Audio of America sales and distribution centre in Miami, Florida.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - The new EAW UX8800 is a 4-input by 8-output digital signal processor that brings the company's Gunness Focusing technology to an ever-increasing number of conventional EAW loudspeakers, with true dual-mode capability making it equally adept as a loudspeaker processor or an overall system processor, says the company.

Gunness Focusing involves the application of sophisticated, custom DSP algorithms designed specifically to correct loudspeaker response anomalies. The result is the elimination of the time smear, horn "honk" and low-frequency cone resonances that plague conventional reinforcement system designs.

In addition, the UX8800 is intimately linked to both EAW Smaart and EAW FChart acoustic measurement and analysis platforms.

In the UX8800's loudspeaker processor mode, the user can establish up to four individual loudspeaker specific processing units, each

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UK - Following a request from a Scandinavian shipping line for a giant mirror ball to be installed permanently on a cruise liner, Light Engineering's range of British-made heavy duty rotators has been further improved, the company says.

Still retaining the 'stepped' shaft design and extra efficient steel ball, thrust bearing, they now include the addition of an "Iglidur" flange bearing, secured by a specially machined aluminium block. With the extra lateral support this new additional bearing provides for the output shaft and gearbox, they can now be used in almost any orientation, even allowing for the possible extremes of pitch and roll experienced on a passenger liner.

All are still designed to incorporate a factor of safety (FOS) of at least 10:1 and use only tested and certificated shackles and couplings. Including a jaw-to-jaw swivel on each that acts as a clut

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UK / Korea - Tongsuh Technologies & Trading has joined ChamSys as its exclusive distributor for Korea.

"The Far East is a market that ChamSys is keen to expand and with the appointment of Tongsuh Technologies & Trading, ChamSys is proving itself as it has in Europe," says a company statement.

Tongsuh Technologies & Trading was established in 1995 and since that time, Tongsuh has taken a leading role in the lighting control equipment market. Not only servicing the stage and studio market, but also to the entertainment and rental lighting market.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Bandit Lites has announced the appointment of Sharon Draper as financial reporting manager. Draper will be responsible for assisting the business manager with development and maintenance of accounting policies and procedures as well as managing revenues recognition, cost analysis, and profitability analysis among other duties.

"I have been following Bandit Lites for a number of years, and am thrilled with the opportunity to work for such an impressive company," says Draper.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - In 1980, Innovation Power's Rob Hutchinson undertook his first live event, providing generators for Harvey Goldsmith at Newcastle City Hall to power lasers for The Who. This June things came full circle, when 27 years on, Harvey Goldsmith once again enlisted Innovation to supply power for The Who, this time at Southampton's Rose Bowl.

"What people forget is in the 80s we didn't have today's electronic technology, no mobile phones, faxes, laptops, or computers in the production office," reflects Hutchinson. "We had a couple of phones in a Portakabin that we'd all be fighting over and if we wanted signage we had to bring in a sign writer.

"On the scale of what we have now the electronic era has really got a grip. We used to check the oil and water in the generators every morning before we started. Now, through telemetry, our generators talk back to a cen

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UK - Inaugurated in 1978, the Vishwa Hindu Kendra temple in Southall, west London, has recently seen the completion of a project to erect a two storey community centre, which has included a new function room complete with a Turbosound audio system.

Designed and installed by Electracoustic, the system features the TCS Compact series, with a pair of TCS-121Cs as main stage loudspeakers, plus four TCS-081Cs as delayed pairs down the length of the room.

"The TCS Compact series offers high audio quality at a very good price, but the colour option was also crucial as it was important that they were visually unobtrusive," says Electracoustic's Jon Trotter. "I also wanted a product I could use with and without bass cabinets, depending on the type of event.">P>Driven by MC2 series amplifiers and controlled by a Biamp Nexia digital audio controller, the system is req

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UK - DiGiCo's management buyout has reached completion, with the new management team comprising chief executive Bob Doyle, managing director James Gordon, marketing director David Webster, technical director John Stadius and company secretary Helen Culleton.

"We've always been a reactive and proactive company that understands the market place we're in," says Gordon. "However, when you have external investors, there is a need to explain the ins and outs of decision making processes and that can slow things down.

"The management buyout removes that requirement and means we can focus more of our time on doing what we do best, making us an even more agile and focussed company."

Along with a number of plans yet to be revealed, DiGiCo will be putting a share incentive scheme in place for its employees. "It's nice that as a modern company we're able to

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UK - Sun, Sea & Sound 2007, scheduled for 5-9 December, is billed as the official music industry event for Bournemouth and Poole. It will feature seminars, workshops and live shows across local venues, celebrating the music business in Bournemouth, Poole and the South West.

Chris Jenkins, BIC's entertainment and events manager and chair of the Bournemouth and Poole Music Industry Forum says, "Sun, Sea and Sound is all about encouraging people interested in pursuing careers in the most creative industry on the planet. There is no time like the present for our local industry to come together and hopefully inspire the future of the music business. This is great event for Bournemouth and Poole."

The Bournemouth and Poole Music Industry Forum was set up to provide a catalyst for projects like this and to provide a mouthpiece for the music industry in the are

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France - Analog Way has launched its latest controller, the Axion. This new high end controller, says the company, is the synthesis of 18 years of experience in the Pro AV market and intensive research among major players in the rental and staging industries.

The Axion has been designed to meet the growing demand for easy-to-use, yet powerful controllers used for high-end large vents with multi-room and large screens, using soft edge blending technology. The Axion can control several iX Hi res seamless switchers, the Di Ventix, Eventix, Natix or the Centrix, either as stand alone boxes or in any kind of combination.

"Axion offers an unprecedented quality and performance in delivering a comprehensive level of hands-on control over the most complex projects," says marketing and communications manager Ludovic Vossovic. "This state-of-the-art live environment contro

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UK - XL Video UK - working for show producers Sledge via Live Nation - supplied 70sq.m (350 tiles) of centre stage Barco I-12 hi res LED screen, two 15.5sq.m Hibino Chromatek 6mm Black Face LED flanking screens and a full camera/PPU package for The O2's staff opening party.

The event kicked off the high profile venue's new life as a major UK concert venue in grand style - with performances by Basement Jaxx, the Kaiser Chiefs and Tom Jones. The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary.

Packed close to its 23,000 capacity, guests were treated to a five-camera IMAG show directed by Kevin Watts. The four manned Sony D50 cameras were positioned one at FOH, two left and right high up in the bleachers either side and one hand-held onstage. The fifth camera was a hot-head rigged to a circular truss hung over the front of the stage.

IMAG was fed to the side screens, while the onstage scr

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Czech Republic - ADB Lighting supported the Prague Quadrennial (PQ)'s second Scenofest in June, providing the main lighting elements for two of the central performance spaces.

The Scenofest attracted over 7,000 theatre students to a giant international festival of theatre technique. Its aim is to encourage students of lighting, staging, scenography, sound design, costume, makeup and more to expand their artistic and technical horizons through mutual collaboration during over 300 performances, events and workshops.

A non-profit event, Scenofest 07's numerous venues and stages were built and equipped on a voluntary basis.

ADB Lighting's contribution was to equip two main stages with its latest luminaires, including the motorised WARP/M automated zoom profile spotlight. ADB rigs featured in both the iconic Paper Box Theatre and the central Scenofest Stage.

Michael Ramsaur, pr

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Greece - The Badminton Theatre in Athens has become the first Greek venue to install a Midas XL8 Live Performance System. The system was supplied by Midas and Klark Teknik's Greek distributor, Omikron Control.

The Badminton is now a 2,500-capacity theatre, but a clue to the venue's original function is in the name: it was created from a badminton arena built for the 2004 Olympic Games. After the games, the building was used to stage a four-month run of Cats, proving it could function as a successful theatre. It has been rented by the Athens-based A.B.C.D company for a 20-year term, and a major six-month renovation project took place which included digging down 7.5m to create an amphitheatre-style auditorium.

A.B.C.D. opted for the Midas XL8 when it came to choosing a mixing system. "We wanted to create a high quality theatre experience for our audiences by providin

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Germany - Meyer Sound has announced the appointment of Chris Wiedenbeck to the position of installation sales manager at Meyer Sound Germany. He is responsible for sales in the German and Scandinavian installation markets.

Wiedenbeck's 30-plus years in professional audio started at Harman Deutschland in the mid-seventies, and have included high-level positions at Studiosound + Music GmbH, Plus Audio, Lawo and Klein + Hummel. Wiedenbeck spent the last four years as an independent audio consultant with a particular focus on studio monitoring, stage control systems, and digital mixing consoles.

"Chris has experience in sales, marketing, customer support, engineering, and communications, all of which have built him a great reputation and earned him a lot of respect within the industry," says Meyer Sound Germany managing director Jim Sides. "We could not have found s

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UK - Adlib Audio has been busy supplying sound for two maverick US-based heavy rock bands - Velvet Revolver and Motley Crue - for their recent UK concerts.

Velvet Revolver's sound system consisted of a JBL VerTec 4889 system, designed for the theatre & arena venues, with 10 elements a side for the main hangs and four for the side-drops. This was run in conjunction with JBL VT 4880 subs.

Adlib supplied one of its Dolby Lake control racks at FOH, and Camco Vortex 6 amplification for the main system with Crown T-Tech 8000s for the subs. The FOH console was a Digidesign Venue and on monitors it was a Yamaha PM5D, both supplied by the band and run by their own engineers.

For monitors, Adlib supplied their MP3 low profile wedges plus three stacks of Nexo Alpha for side-fills. A pair of Yamaha M7CL desks were used for the support band, and the crew were Kenny Perrin and Hassane Es

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