London-based Blink TV, the big screen entertainment company, has announced the opening of a business development unit in the USA, headed by Van Jarvis and based in San Francisco. Jarvis has been in the professional live video production business for over 20 years, having worked for two of the leading US video rental companies, and produced high profile music shows such as the Tibetian Freedom Concert in Washington in 1999 and the United Nations sponsored Groundwork 2001 in Seattle.

Blink specializes in the provision of integrated video packages for rock and pop concerts and festivals around the world. The concept has proved very successful in the UK, Europe and Australasia, and the US office has been established to promote their services to the huge live entertainment market in America. The operation in the States will be structured along similar lines to its other territories around t

Trius, the official L- Acoustics Distributor for Germany, has just completed an installation at one of the country’s most popular multi-functional arenas - the Olympia Hall in Munich - together with a local installation company called IES.

The 13,000 capacity Olympia Hall was built in 1972 for the Olympic Games and hosts a range of events such as rock concerts, musicals, sport events and corporate functions. Due to the variety of formats, the main audio installation requirement for the hall was to have uniform and coherent coverage of both the stands and the infield. Furthermore, a modern system was required which would be acceptable to visiting production companies.

The installation includes 76 L- Acoustics dV-Dosc cabinets, divided into eight arrays (two of 12 cabinets for the north stand, two of 10 cabinets for the south stand, two of eight cabinets for both the west and eas

Interest-free credit on the design, production and hosting of websites is being offered to audio companies under a new initiative. Backed by Leeds-based marketing agency FL42, the scheme is designed to help companies working in the pro-audio and MI sectors reap the benefits of promoting and selling through the Internet, without a large initial outlay.

Ross Brown, managing director of FL42, says: "Everybody recognises the power of the Internet, with everybody from pro and amateur musicians to hire companies using it to promote services and research products, yet many companies have yet to take their first steps online. For some this is because of the techno-babble from so-called experts and for others it is the initial outlay required that is off-putting. This scheme aims to remove these barriers, dealing in plain English, providing clients with exactly what they need and using a v

Barry Manilow is once again venturing out on a world tour with lighting designer Seth Jackson, and Bandit Lites. This year’s tour began on 3 December and is expected to be out for nine months playing theatres and arenas across America and Europe. This year’s lighting system is again based around a moving light package from Martin Professional. Jackson is using 31 MAC 300s and eight MAC 600s for his washes and utilizing 17 MAC 250 and 15 500 for some striking beam looks and effects. Production manager for the tour is Joe Clayton, stage manager is Steve Ernaut and crew chief is Tom Fulscher.

(Lee Baldock)

The Clapham Grand, which re-opened three years ago under the management of Howard Spooner's Leopard Clubs has changed its Crown-powered Nexo Alpha system for a new Crown-powered Nexo Alpha system . . .

So what prompted the change? Howard Spooner explained: "The original system we put in three years ago was perfect for the requirements at the time, but since then our music policy has changed to include a more house and dance night as well as our traditional 70s and 80s nights. Also, the dispersion of people through the club has changed. As a result we needed more sub-bass to beef up the low-end, as well some infills for the upper levels. Basically I just felt that our customers deserved an upgrade."

Spooner approached Peter Dyer at Tarsin who enlisted the help of Fuzion's technical director, Gary Ashton, to specify a new Nexo system. Dyer pointed out that although it's only

Inter-M, the Korean based manufacturer of professional and public address audio products, began 2002 with the announcement of their move to new purpose-built premises in Seoul. "While manufacturing resources remain at the newly extended plant in Kyungki, Inter-M’s new offices in Seoul have been designed to develop our marketing department and increase productivity in the company’s extensive research and development division," said Mr Y J Yoo, Inter-M’s senior managing director.

Inter-M, whose products are sold in over 80 countries, have significantly increased output facilities to develop their latest range of pro sound and digital audio products, together with a new CCTV range to be launched later in 2002 at the ISC Show in Las Vegas and IFSec in Birmingham. The new Seoul offices also include a purpose-built 180sq.m three part showroom divided to exhibit In

Soda in Derby is the latest club to choose a Nexo Alpha E system, installed by Ivor Green Associates. According to Green, Nexo was "the only choice" for his clients who were committed from the very beginning to the highest quality system they could afford. "I was impressed by their enthusiasm and professional approach," he said. "Although it's not the sort of job we would normally undertake, having seen the venue and met the clients and realised that we were of like minds, I agreed to take on the contract."

The club operates on three levels with the Soda bar on the ground floor, a quiet chill-out area with no music at all on the second floor, and the dancefloor itself, home to the new system, on the third floor. Green specified two stacks of Alpha E comprising four Alpha B1-18 bass bins and four Alpha E-M mid-top cabinets each. Crown MA Series amplifiers p

For the second year running Capital Sound Hire dug deep into their inventory of Martin Audio Wavefront 8C enclosures to provide sound reinforcement for the Ministry of Sound’s massive 14-hour New Year’s Eve Dance Party at the Millennium Dome. Unlike last year, this time the celebrations took place under the Dome itself.

Due to simultaneous W8 commitments in St Georges Square, Glasgow - and the necessity to match each mid/high box with a low-end enclosure at the Dome - Cap Sound were required to sub-hire an additional 14 WSX subwoofers from the new Martin Wavefront inventory of London-based FX Music to fulfil their remit to the Ministry of Sound. Four separate arenas - ‘Smoove’, ‘World Dance’, ‘Rulin’ and ‘Ministry Of Sound’ - were set up, and among the world-class DJs involved were Judge Jules, Dave Pearce, Alex P and Brandon

It's a shame that all the great work that goes on in the run-up to Christmas fades so quickly into the past. The lights might be up until January 5th, but the party ended New Year’s Eve, such is the ephemeral nature of the season and the entertainment that accompanies it. Looking forwards is the resolute option, and this January LSD Fourth Phase has much to look forward to, not least with a re-scheduled tour by Destiny's Child out there in the middle distance.

S Club 7 is the biggy of the month; the group is at Elstree studios for rehearsals as we speak, with the tour commencing at the end of this month. This is a major production, set design by Charlie Kail (built by Total Fabrications Ltd) with Pete Barnes designing the lighting rig which will contain Icons, PC Beams, Super Cycs, Studio Colors and 64 trusty Par cans. Out in the audience a huge flown catwalk (flown by Summit Ste

Adjacent to the City Walls and near the famous Minster in the historic city of York, York St John College offers a range of opportunities for post-graduate and post-experience study, alongside an extensive programme of MA and PhD research degrees. The main 9.87 acre site with a history dating back to 1841 is located on Lord Mayor’s Walk, just a few minutes from city centre shops, restaurants, theatres, galleries and museums.

The College has recently embarked on a major programme of investment in infrastructure facilities to develop a state-of-the-art learning centre including a new library and IT facilities. The programme has also included a significant installation of lighting and audio equipment to enhance the college’s Communication Arts Studies in Media and Performance (CASMAP) facilities.

This part of the installation has been carried out by AC Lighting Ltd, creatin

Cast Lighting, a subsidiary of Cast Group, will set up and oversee the complex lighting requirements for CBC’s English and French Home Base coverage of the Winter Games in Salt Lake City during January and February 2002. The events will be broadcast live on CBC for approximately 16 hours a day for the duration of the Games. This is the second time the Canadian company has been invited to participate in the Olympics: Cast also supported the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, by providing full WYSIWYG pre-planning and visualization tools.

Cast will be represented at the Games by Allyn Terry, lighting director/designer and Russ Widdall as board operator/assistant. Preplanning of the studios will take place in Toronto. Terry and Widdall will spend some two months on site in Salt Lake City with the set-up and managing of the studios. These studios will have nu

Three BSS 9088ii Soundwebs have been specified to handle the networking at the important new Media Centre which opened recently in Shanghai. The Centre is based around a single fan-shaped room, measuring 6.4m high and 36m in length. The shortest width is 22m and the longest, 44m. Owned by the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Company, the contract to fit out this new-build site was won by ACE Shanghai.

The company wrote an audio specification to include mixing consoles (Amek/Soundcraft), amplification (Crown), loudspeakers (JBL Vs Series), control components (including dbx equalization), various sound sources, patch facilities and other ancillaries. They recommended to the owners that Soundweb be employed to route the signal sources generated from CD player, cassette recorder, hard disk recorder and microphone - with a local 9010 Jellyfish remote panel. According to ACE Shanghai’s Zhou Ji

Quadrant Visual Solutions (QVS), the specialist AV designer and installer and conference specialist, has specified and equipped ‘Host’ - the new media centre in Leeds, recently opened by Melanie B, with a comprehensive range of state-of-the-art multi-media equipment. The centre, funded by Leeds City Council, is situated in Chapeltown and was built as part of the Council's drive towards regenerating Leeds' inner city. Providing office space for small new media companies to rent, QVS equipped the centre with sound, radio and TV studios, conference rooms, multi-media training rooms and video edit suites.

The work was put out to European tender, and QVS account manager Andrew Hogben is delighted to have been awarded the contract. "We worked in partnership with Sony Broadcast and Total Audio Solutions to produce the original specification. For the sound studios, we supplied

The first major European installation by Los Angeles-based artist Hiro Yamagata. Photon 999 opened at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, at the end of last year. Yamagata worked with a team of over 30 specialists to realise the installation. 15 laser systems (from Tarm Showlaser, Times of Change and Dymax Special Effects), including four of Coherent’s new Viper lasers, are placed around the edge of a pool. These are projected to over 200 mirrors installed on 20m high JTE truss towers and Mylar holographic panels applied to the surface of the central walkway. The system is controlled by a custom software package designed by Laser Animation.

The Wembley studio building that used to house CTS Studios is back in business as a recording facility after industry veteran Pete Fielder secured a lease on the premises, which he has re-opened under the name of Phoenix Sound.

The studio building is located close to Wembley Stadium and was due to be redeveloped as part of the overall stadium rebuild. However, when plans for a new stadium fell through, Fielder acquired the lease from Wembley plc with a view to securing the site’s future as a recording studio.

Fielder, a respected engineer and APRS board member who has extensive experience of the studio industry, told L&SI: "This is a large site that is already very popular with musicians and has plenty of potential as a studio complex. Although we are re-equipping from scratch, the actual studios and control rooms are already in place and will simply be re-decorated and ac

James Eade has taken on the daunting task of being L&SI’s new technical editor, and so we thought you’d like to know a little more about him.

James is a qualified mechanical and electrical engineer who has been involved with lighting and sound systems since his schooldays. With various roles under his belt, including hire manager of a busy London AV rental house, and as project manager and systems designer for various large AV projects such as the Eagle Class cruise ships for Royal Caribbean and preliminary design work on High End Systems’ Catalyst, he has built an extensive knowledge of the industry.

He also lives near the PLASA office, which is why he really got the job, and has a big black labrador called Baz, who fetches the biscuits.

There’s one further change to report for L&SI as we enter 2002 - fans of Ian Herbert’s regular Asleep in the Stalls column will be disappointed to learn that the column has come to the end of its 8-year run, although its author, Ian Herbert, will continue to contribute to the magazine on a regular basis.

We would like to thank Ian for providing his amusing, incisive and - above all - punctual Asleep in the Stalls columns over the years, and we look forward to his future contributions . . .

Ken Achard, managing director of Peavey Electronics’ European subsidiary, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science at a graduation ceremony which took place in London’s Barbican Centre at the end of last year.

Conferred on him by the University of Westminster, the award was presented by the chairman of the Court of Governors, Sir Alan Thomas. The degree was in recognition of Ken’s lifetime achievements in the music industry.A veteran of 38 years in the music business, he became an acknowledged authority on vintage guitars in the early seventies, publishing one of the first works of reference on the subject - The History and Development of the American Guitar - in 1978. A long-standing business and personal relationship with Hartley Peavey started in 1973 when Achard became one of the initial export distributors for American music and sound equipment manufactur

The collaboration between the US theatrical equipment consultant, JR Clancy, and UK manufacturer of stage automation systems, Stage Technologies, has moved on another step with the signing of a formal agreement between the two companies.

This agreement, which covers land-based stage engineering installations in North America, was signed at the LDI 2001 exhibition in Orlando earlier this month, and cements a relationship that has been strengthening over a number of years. The companies first worked together in 1995 providing a complete 95-axis power flying system for the Teatre Nacional in Barcelona, Spain. More recently, JR Clancy provided the Conference Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City with an automated rigging system complete with a 45-axis Nomad control system.

Tom Young, vice-president of sales and marketing of JR Clancy, explained:

PLASA Member SigNET AC has been named North East regional winner in the Trade Partners UK National Languages for Export Awards 2001, in the category for small business, sponsored by NCM credit Insurance. The company, which specializes in the design and manufacture of voice alarm, paging and background music systems, won the award for changing its approach to doing business in a number of export markets.

Richard Sice, marketing manager told L&SI: "In order to be more competitive in international markets we have taken a strategic approach to the use of our human resources and policies. We have taken steps to hire people with native language skills and also to employ UK graduates who have studied a foreign language. In addition, we are taking a fresh look at our marketing documents and have translated key brochures and leaflets."

Lawrence Heron, until recently a motor control specialist with Out Board Electronics, has established his own company - Promanent Automation (International). The company, which will have offices in both the UK and South Africa, will act as consultant for, and supplier of, automation to the entertainment industry. Heron has recently completed his first project for Tell Tale Productions - the automation of a Christmas tree for the Tweenies Christmas show - and has a number of other projects in the pipeline.

This month sees the first of a regular ‘Technical Focus’ section within the pages of Lighting&Sound International. The aim is to increase the technical content of the magazine, and introduce more equipment reviews and guides, discuss current engineering issues, standards and relevant health and safety topics.

With the entertainment industry becoming, by its very nature, increasingly more technology-based, as well as technologically innovative, L&SI is increasing its coverage to reflect these changes.

In this new section we aim to cover a product review each month, kicking off with an overview of the principal DSP products currently on the market today and aimed at distributed audio installations. Often, our reviews will be condensed for magazine production reasons, and so all the reviews will be obtainable in their entirety from the L&SI website at www.plasa.org/media. Th

Avolites is continuing its commitment to product training with three days of hands-on seminar style events at White Light North in Halifax. The dates are 13, 14 and 15 February. The Valentine’s offering - for all lovers of the popular Avolites Pearl console - will be led by Avo’s training manager Chris West and Chris Clarke from the sales team. Avolites is expecting to see a wide range of Northern-based customers attending the event.

Chris West comments: "It’s important to get out and about to see people, and open days are an ideal method of reaching a focused public, giving them an opportunity of hands-on experimentation with the consoles."

Avolites also see these events as an ideal chance for socialising, networking and catching up with friends and colleagues from all over the country who are involved in live production and performance.

(Lee Baldock)

PLASA members Central Theatre Supplies, in conjunction with Solihull Arts Complex, is holding a Lighting & Sound Workshop on 2 February 2002 at Solihull Arts Complex, Homer Road, Solihull. This training day is open to schools and amateur theatres, providing an insight into stage lighting and sound, including demonstrations and advice on how to achieve certain effects. The cost for the day is £5, and tickets can be ordered from the Box Office at the Arts Complex, telephone 0121 704 6962.

Following the morning session there will be an exhibition where those attending will be encouraged to meet the manufacturers and view the latest products and equipment. People who do not wish to attend the workshops are welcome to attend the exhibition between 12.30 - 2.00pm. Manufacturers attending will include Zero 88, Selecon, HW International (UK distributor for Shure, QSC Audio and Phonic), Dought

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