Details
UK - For the first time, PLASA 07 is offering attendees the chance to register for both wysiwyg and Vivien workshops from Cast.

"Vivien is a most powerful, comprehensive software design tool available to meeting and event professionals, enabling users to produce a picture today of tomorrow's event," says a spokesman for Cast. "In this workshop at PLASA, you will learn how to create 2D room layouts, amazing virtual views, and spectacular, 3D photorealistic renderings for use in your eye-popping presentations." Using Vivien's Wizards and tools, attendees will quickly and easily design seating and table arrangements, pipe and drape, and video projection."

In the more advanced intermediate workshop, attendees will get a comprehensive look at inserting librar

Details
Germany - The renowned Konzerthaus Dortmund has installed a new public address system, specifying a Soundcraft Vi4 digital console as part of an integrated Harman Pro solution over a HiQnet protocol backbone. The design includes JBL VRX loudspeakers and Crown i-Tech amplifiers. The acoustic architecture was carefully considered by system designer, Sebastian Müller-Eckhardfrom Dortmund-based B&B Veranstaltungstechnik.

The Konzerthaus originally opened in 2002 with an installed sound system designed for voice transmission only, since the primary intention was to have classical concerts only in this acoustically-optimised concert-hall. However, the number of shows where dedicated sound reinforcement was needed started to grow steadily and for the past two years B&B rented a Harman Pro rig for special events at the Konzerthaus.

When it came to fitting a new infrastructure, the ve

Details
UK - The act of releasing drapes and props onto a stage, called the Kabuki drop, which is used extensively in the theatre and events markets can now be undertaken remotely following the launch of the Electro Kabuki by Magnet Schultz, a market leader in the manufacturer of specialist solenoid actuators and mechanisms.

Superseding previous methods, which are unable to meet the requirements of load capacity, functionality and reliability, the Electro Kabuki has been developed following extensive consultation with the theatre and events industries, says the company.

The Electro Kabuki has been designed to reliably release weights of up to 50kg and is suitable for applications where the requirement is to discharge or drop drapes, dummies or cables on cue as a straight drop or at any angle. Also suitable for very light loads, the Electro Kabuki is supplied off-the-shelf with all ele

featured content

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

Details
USA - The Genlyte Group Incorporated has announced that the company's board of directors has authorised the repurchase of up to 5% or approximately 1,450,000 shares of the company's outstanding common stock. Under the share repurchase programme, the company expects to acquire shares primarily through open market transactions, subject to market conditions and other factors.

The company may enter into Rule 10b5-1 plans to facilitate open market repurchases under the programme at times when it might otherwise be prevented from doing so under certain securities laws, provided the plan is adopted when the company is not in possession of material non-public information.

Larry Powers, chairman, president, and CEO of Genlyte Group, said: "The share repurchase programme reflects our confidence in Genlyte's financial and operating performance strength. We completed four acquisition

Details
USA - With the heat index nearing 100 degrees each day, this year's Lollapalooza festival was another scorching three-day event with artists, bands and music fans from across the world converging on Chicago's Grant Park. Shure's SM58s, Beta 58As and other performance microphones were a mainstay on all of the festival stages, large and small, throughout the festival.

"With as many as five people singing at any one time, our vocals are really important, so naturally, Shure microphones are our top choice for vocals and we always insist on a Beta 58A whenever possible," said Mike Jasinski, guitarist/keyboardist for The 1900s. "We had a really good time at Lollapalooza and everybody said the sound was great."

Some of the acts using Shure gear included The 1900s, The Black Keys, G. Love & Special Sauce, M.I.A., My Morning Jacket, Patti Smith, Peter Bjorn and John

Details
UK - Goboland will be releasing another 100 steel gobo designs at PLASA 07, bringing the total of catalogue designs to more than 1350 designs, including 1100 Steel Collection designs. Catalogues with the new designs will be available on the stand along with the newly revised price list.

This price list includes a lower price on full colour CMYK glass gobos. Already known for the high resolution of their images, Goboland glass gobos will soon be produced using a "unique organic dot process" which will give finer tonal representation to photographic images, both black and white and colour, says the company.

Goboland will be presenting their new gobo rotators for the first time. Offering counter- rotating gobos with an onboard manual control of speed and direction, the double gobo rotators can also be set to carry out pre-programmed effects using a simple system of dip-

Details
UK - Two of the UK's highest profile live events of 2007 took place at London's new Wembley Stadium at the beginning of July - and a Yamaha DME64N digital mix engine was a fundamental part of both events.

Both The Concert for Diana and the UK Live Earth gig seven days later featured a diverse array of high profile acts playing short sets. The requirements for each of the many acts were very different and, with extremely short turnaround times, the audio production was always going to be a major logistical challenge for sound company Britannia Row.

For monitoring, the company's solution was to employ three different monitor consoles, with a Yamaha DME64N digital mix engine to act as a switching matrix between them. Using a DME in this way had already been tried by Brit Row at June's Wireless festival in London's Hyde Park and the success of the system meant that the company had

Details
Switzerland - The fifth annual Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition concluded during this year's Montreux Jazz Festival on 12 July. Over 60 aspiring artists representing 29 countries entered the competition. From them, eight candidates were invited to perform at the competition's semi-finals at the Petit Palais.

The event concluded with Cyrill-Aimée Daudel being awarded first prize and the public prize. Laura Brunner was awarded the second prize, followed by Jennifer Ledesna receiving third prize (all USA).

The competition jury was headed by jazz legend Al Jarreau for the second consecutive year who commented to all finalists: "All of you have already won. You found something which fills your lives with pride and joy - your heart for music."

Festival founder Claude Nobs hosted the award ceremony where the three finalists each received a Shure ULX/Beta 87 Wi

Details
UK - ChamSys will be showing its MagicQ consoles and MagicQ PC Wings at PLASA 07. MagicQ consoles have been field proven with leading lighting designers around the World for rock'n'roll, theatre, TV and corporate shows. ChamSys will demonstrate the range of both MagicQ consoles and MagicQ PC Wings, together with powerful MagicQ networking software, enabling wired and wireless remote control of consoles.

ChamSys will be meeting with distributors at the show to "ensure that integration of the new products to the MagicQ range is as smooth as always". Visitors will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the new ChamSys products.

Following PLASA07, ChamSys is offering a free training course on 13 and 14 September at a venue in Old Brompton Road. The course covers the use of all MagicQ products, including the range of PC Wings and MagicQ consoles. This inclu

Details
USA - A combination of compact Electro-Voice line arrays kept sound focused and sightlines open at the recent Oregon Jamboree country music festival.

Taking place over the first weekend in August, this year's Oregon Jamboree featured headliners Dierks Bentley, Trisha Yearwood and Jo Dee Messina. For the past five years, Horne Audio (Portland, Oregon) have used EV line array systems to great effect at the festival, and, in the spirit of continuous improvement, this year they tried something different with their sub deployment.

"Our client asked that we try an alternative to ground-stacked subs, to keep the low-end from overwhelming the seating areas directly in front of the stage," says J. Peter Horne, "so we decided to fly two side-by-side arrays of six XLC215 subs per side, keeping the low-end off the ground alongside our main hangs of twelve XLC-DVX per side a

Details
USA - With the release of the Èlan, Chauvet reaffirms its commitment to take LED technology to new levels, says the company. The élan features 224 LEDs that create beams which rotate and crisscross, and with a 70° beam angle, provides wide room/floor coverage, and mid-air effects.

The fixture offers four channels of DMX control (red, green, blue and strobe), with a plethora of preprogrammed colour changes and patterns. Separate knobs control sound sensitivity for movement and colour independently, allowing for a variety of show options.

By manipulating the dipswitches located on the unit, users can control colour strobing and movement. The fixture also features master/slave settings and an additional power output which enables daisy-chaining of up to 20 fixtures.

(Jim Evans)

Details
USA - Theatrical engineer John Charles "Jack" Suesse died on 17 August following a brief illness. He was 64. For more than 30 years, Jack was associated with J. R. Clancy Inc, the oldest theatrical rigging company in the US, serving as president from 1986-2005. He then formed his own consulting firm, J. Suesse & Associates, and also served as a special projects advisor to Stage Technologies in London and Las Vegas. He was a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and was selected as a Fellow of the United States Institute for Technical Theater in 1993.

Jack worked on theatrical projects of all sizes across the world including the Peace Center in Greenville, SC, the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Chicago Opera House, and the United States Naval Academy. He had a long-standing concern for safety and served on the Ente

Details
UK - Christie Digital has strengthened its UK sales team in order to consolidate the rapid development in its five core markets. Key to the new initiative is the introduction of a UK channel sales manager focused on supporting sales growth for Christie and Christie Partners offering systems from Christie's Business Products Portfolio.

Joe Graziana joins the company having previously worked for a Southern-based solution provider for four years and is now directly responsible for all UK channel sales activities in the installation market.

Darren Banks has spent eight and half years in the AV industry and takes on the role of Business Development Manager, but will also have responsibility for developing sales in the North of England and Scotland, across all five key markets.

Adding further weight to the team is the appointment of Pam MacDonald as UK customer service co-ordinato

Details
USA - Tour sound company Sound Image is on the road with Gwen Stefani and a rig that includes Harman Pro Group HiQnet-enabled components from Crown International, dbx, and AKG. With System Architect as the main control application, all the Harman products integrate seamlessly to enable a network that allows the sound engineer to access the system from a variety of positions in a venue.

The Gwen Stefani tour HiQnet system comprises 86 Crown I-Tech 8000 amplifiers, four dbx DriveRack 4800s, and the new AKG HUB 4000 Q, providing HiQnet control over the WMS 4000 wireless microphone network. 60 JBL Professional Vertec VT4889 line array loudspeakers, 24 JBL Vertec 4880 arrayable subwoofers and AKG IVM 4 personal monitors are also in use.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Artistic Licence will introduce Dali-Scope at PLASA07. It is a hand-held tool for testing, programming and configuring DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) devices. Dali-Scope is the first hand-held tool specifically designed for DALI, says the company.

The product can be used to: set the fixture address including group assignments; auto-patch fixture addresses; test the fixture; transmit single levels, group levels and scene selects; walk test; automatically cycle though channels groups and scenes; read all current DALI levels for channels, groups and scenes, and read latest DALI levels for channels, groups and scenes.

The product display uses high brightness LEDs making it easy to use in low light conditions. The moisture proof keypad uses single function keys for ease of operation. Dali-Scope is powered by two AA batteries and offers over 12 hours continuous o

Details
UK - Blackout has developed a new variation of gabled truss, designed to allow users to make the most use of space inside temporary structures. The new product was used for the first time this year at Grant & Anthea's Summer Ball in a marquee at their home in Surrey in mid-July, and Blackout says it is confident there will be many more applications in the months and years to come.

"The ground support truss system followed the sloping roof line of the temporary structure as well as sufficiently supporting lighting and sound loads while not intruding on the space below. It can go right up into the apex of any interior space, such as marquees or converted barns and warehouses," explains Blackout managing director Steve Tuck. "This in turn gives event designers many more options in terms of where they position lighting, loudspeakers and other fittings."

In buil

Details
Slovakia - Circus World is a Slovak touring non-traditional music and dance show reflecting modern music, dances and interpretations of folklore. One grandMA full-size, one grandMA video media server and twelve MA Digital Touring Dimmer racks were used to light the show.

"The project is really sophisticated so we had to utilise devices able to work with 'any other device'. Also high reliability of the components was necessary. Based upon these criteria, the MA equipment was chosen," said Martin Kubánka, director of Q99. "The comfortable programming and playback functions as well as the 'clone-function' make the grandMA our favourite console."

The lighting rig features 16 x Martin MAC 600, 8 x Martin MAC 500, 2 x Robert Juliat Cyrano and 16 x Arri Studio 1kW. The show was created in co-production of SLUK (Slovak Folk Artistic Ensemble) and Q-99 which delive

Details
UK - With the industry's leading players rolling out major new products and services, it's a dead cert that PLASA 07 will be the place where decisions shaping the high profile projects, events and tours of the coming year will be made. Both Earls Court 1 and 2 will be packed with new ideas in audio, lighting, AV, rigging, system integration, engineering and effects - and specialists looking to identify the best solutions for their projects, or even to witness the next generation of ideas, will get a chance to see them all in one place and talk to the people who make them tick.

The best of the new technologies will be showcased in the PLASA Awards for Innovation - an awards scheme which puts design and development work at its centre. And for the first time this year, there'll be a new award focusing on the people behind the products - the Gottelier Award - intended to recognise t

Details
Spain - Barco's MiStrip, its new creative LED element, has been chosen by world-renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito and Fira 2000 for use in the Fira Barcelona Gran Via exhibition centre in Barcelona, Spain.

Toyo Ito, one of the world's most innovative and influential architects, is known for creating extreme concept buildings, in which he fuses the physical and virtual worlds. His latest design of the Fira Barcelona Gran Via in Barcelona runs true to form being based on recurring organic forms where water, natural light and well-conceived interior illumination all dominate the design.

One of these organic forms can be clearly seen in the design of the Vestibule (main entrance), where the façade itself is of curved glass, with organic walls protecting it and a flat upper deck with an architectonic projection jutting from its edges. In keeping to the organic form, Toyo Ito al

Details
UK - Bristol City Football Club (BCFC) has marked its promotion to the Championship by installing a new sound system at its Ashton Gate stadium.

Following a competitive tender process against a specification by Steve Jones, Venue Technology expert for the Acoustics Division of Capital Symonds, the contact was awarded to Bristol-based systems integration company Sounds Commercial. UK cable specialist VDC Trading supplied much of the Low Smoke Zero Halogen, steel wire armoured and fire tough cable for the project.

Damian Orritt, installation contracts manager of Sounds Commercials says: "We use VDC for our cabling requirements because it manufactures and stocks the breadth of products that we need, particularly for complex installations. In this case it was important that we specified rugged and reliable cable that couldn't be tampered with - and that it complied with the v

Details
USA - After several days of intense educational sessions, hands-on demos, and field trips to local venues, the successful Music Retail Academy held at Bosch Communications Systems HQ culminated in the presentation of Electro-Voice with the '#1 Supplier' award from Sam Ash Music stores.

The award recognised the company for "all the outstanding service that Sam Ash Music has received over the past 40 years. Your continued service to our company and our people is why you have become our most valuable supplier."

Bosch Communications Systems' VP of sales, Thomas Hansen, says: "It's a unique honour to be recognised by an organisation as well-respected and professional as the Sam Ash Music Stores chain. Our goal with Sam Ash and the rest of our partners is to provide the utmost in delivery, service and customer support. This award validates the improvements that we've

Page 2104 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .