Business

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Proel S.p.A. has announced an agreement reached between the company’s Sound Reinforcement Division and Laboratorio Musica Vanis Dondi, developers of the L.i.S.A. Linear Source Array system. The agreement between Proel S.p.A and Laboratorio Musica will bring about the development of a completely new line of pro audio products, developed jointly between Proel and Laboratorio Musica, and based on the technical success of the L.i.S.A system - the first high power line array system to be made in Italy.

Recent projects for the L.i.S.A. system include a tour of Italy with Franco Battiato and the recent MTV Independent Day in Imola.

(Lee Baldock)

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A limited number of ISCE (Institute of Sound & Communication Engineers) members is being invited to DNH's beautiful lake-side factory at Kragaro on Wednesday, 26 June. With an early start from Stansted, the full day will include tours of production, test, demonstration and design facilities, possibly resulting in a unique ISCE-branded loudspeaker unit. For further details of the visit, please contact Michael Leaver at the e-mail address below.

Booking details are availabale from the Secretariat on +44 (0)151 639 5211, or from Michael Leaver at the e-mail address below.

(Lee Baldock)

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Yamaha's Commercial Audio Division has announced the shipment of its first DM2000 digital mixing console to 2nd Sense Broadcast Ltd, based at Millennium Studios, Elstree. The console, bearing the serial number 0001, is the world's first professional installation and 2nd Sense managing director Andy Hewitt took the opportunity to host two open days for current and potential new clients to coincide with the DM2000's arrival. The open days also provided an opportunity for other engineers and members of the Institute of Broadcast Sound to see and hear the console at work in the newly completed video edit and production suite.

Hewitt, a former BBC sound engineer, was one of a number of sound engineers approached by Yamaha's R&D department two years ago to help specify the next generation of Yamaha digital audio mixing consoles. The result of those consultations, which took place simultaneou

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ShowCAD Artist show control systems have recently been installed in Luminar Leisure’s Chicago Rock Cafes in Basildon, Ilford, Redditch, Swansea, Tamworth, Trowbridge and Wrexham. The installations were carried out back-to-back by Lynx Lighting of Yeovil over a very busy two-week period.

ShowCAD is already installed in many Luminar venues including the Liquid chains and, like ShowCAD, Artist implements MIDI, MIDI Show Control, SMPTE, digital and analogue input/output protocols. Additionally, Artist software can control 5000+ DMX channels and, operating on a Windows platform, the software also utilises standard PC protocols and functions.

In the Chicago Rock venues, the systems are programmed to run on Artist’s Real Time Clock and therefore will run all day, every day completely automatically, with the scenes and cues programmed to change to suit the hour of the day or nigh

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The newly formed Stage Electrics Wales has reported a strong start to the year, especially in the live TV sector. St David’s Day 2002 saw the Welsh branch supplying lighting, rigging and mains distribution for the Welsh television broadcast of S4C’s annual talent competition - 'Can-i-Gymru' or 'A Song for Wales'.

Cardiff-based Apollo Television brought in lighting designer Martyn Rourke and designer Phil Williams to transform the Afan Lido leisure centre in Port Talbot into a TV studio for the two-hour live broadcast. Over 18 Lodestar motors were used to fly the entire rig in the venue that had a restricted weight loading. Stage Electrics’ project manager for the event Tim Routledge commented: "In conjunction with structural engineers and with the knowledge of our rigger, Gary Smith, we were able to monitor the deflections in the roof beams once the load was appl

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XL Video - specialists in touring and live event video production - supplied a full digital touring package to the successful Pop Idol tour - one of the fasting selling tours in the history of UK popular performance!

Video director and XL crew chief was Ruary MacPhie and the medium of video played an important role in the show’s look, a creative collusion between Peter Barnes’ lighting and set design and Kim Gavin’s overall artistic direction. XL supplied four Sony D35 cameras for live camera playback - two in the pit on a track-and-dolly system, one at FOH and the fourth, hand-held onstage. Realtime show action captured by these was primarily beamed onto two soft screens either side of stage. The main onstage screen consisted of 40sq.m of Unitek 25mm pixel pitch LED, located upstage centre, supplied direct to the production by GL UK. It split to form an entrance/exit

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West End theatre members of BECTU have voted to accept a pay rise worth 11.3% on average.

In a ballot of BECTU members throughout London’s commercial theatreland, 71% voted in favour of the offer. Members are now set for a further pay rise in October 2002, worth 4%, or inflation plus 1%, whichever is greater. The two-stage offer put to members was tabled by employers, the Society of West End Theatres, in response to an earlier ballot in which 96% of union members in the sector had voted in favour of industrial action. "This is a significant first step in the union’s campaign to end low pay among theatre workers," BECTU organizer Mark David-Gray told us. Originally, the employers had tabled a pay rise of only 1.6%, prompting a determined campaign by BECTU to fight low pay in the West End. Since then its membership in theatreland has increased by more than 30%.

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Specialist AV company, Blitz Communications has secured two theatrical firsts for the new Queen musical We Will Rock You, opening in London's West End on 14 May. The show marks the first time that Blitz's new HRS high-resolution videographics system will be used which will be linked to the biggest video screen ever installed in a theatre.

The HRS system will allow graphics, pre-recorded video sequences, live action shots and scenic backdrops for the show to be displayed on a giant LED screen measuring 10.2m x 4.8m. Blitz brokered the deal for production company Lighthouse to obtain the LED screen, which cost £1million and was shipped over from Hong Kong. It is made of LVP1010C Quarter Bin LED panels and divides into eight separate smaller screens. Four of these operate at floor level on individually powered, steerable trucks. Another four are flown using an automated motionsyst

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Vertigo Rigging has installed the Broadway hit musical version of The Full Monty into the Prince of Wales Theatre for its West End run. Vertigo are past masters in the art of rigging large West End musicals. Others having included Beauty & The Beast, The Lion King, Notre Dame de Paris, Mamma Mia and many more.

Vertigo’s Full Monty team was led by the unflappable Ken Mehmed. The team worked closely with master carpenter Micky Murray and production managers Stuart Crosbie and Simon Marlow for producers Sacha Brookes. Vertigo used 40 Lodestar motors to rig the flown elements of the set, designed by John Arnone. These were dead hung in the theatre’s roof once positioned correctly in a very precise operation. A substantial proportion of the stage scenery is flown, so the PoW grid is very tightly packed with flats and set pieces, and the rigging had to be spot on. One of the more

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Color Kinetics Incorporated, specialists in LED illumination technologies, and Targetti, a leading Italian designer and manufacturer of architectural lighting fixtures and systems, have announced an OEM partnership. Through this partnership, Targetti will incorporate Color Kinetics’ patented Chromacore LED technology into a new line of custom fixtures. The two companies also plan to co-develop new Chromacore-based ‘designer’ lighting fixtures.

The new product line, which is planned for launch in the second half of this year, will enable Color Kinetics’ full spectrum colour and lighting effects to be incorporated into any décor through an array of Targetti’s fixtures. Besides aesthetic benefits, LEDs offer a host of practical advantages over conventional light sources that make them an extremely energy efficient, long-lasting, low maintenance and versatile

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Delta Sound Inc has increased its rental stock of L'Acoustics product, to become one of the largest sources in the UK of the popular line array system. An L'Acoustics partner for nearly three years, Delta Sound now have more than 100 L'Acoustics cabinets available for hire, including the arena-sized V-DOSC line array and subs, the compact dV-DOSC system and the 115FM floor monitor.

This latest acquisition of stock occurred when L'Acoustics closed its own UK rental operation at the beginning of the year, offering the current UK partnerships first choice to buy their surplus systems. Delta Sound, a leading sound service provider for the corporate events market, leapt at the chance to expand their V-DOSC stock further, not only to support their own needs, but that of other rental companies too.

One such association is with SSE Hire Ltd, the Birmingham-based hire company, who recently ut

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Now in its 10th year, Big Day Out is an Australian touring festival that visits Auckland, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth every January. It is unique in its design, scale and complexity and attracts many headline acts - the 2002 event featured The Prodigy, Garbage, New Order and Basement Jaxx.

This year, security was tightened following the tragic death of 16-year-old Jessica Michalik last year: organizers West & Lees made changes to audience safety provisions and introduced volunteer safety teams, increased audience lighting and erected a new, alcohol-free, D barricade area (from Mojo Barriers) in front of the main stages. The audience was given free water bottles and sun-block, and crowd surfing was banned. "We also carefully considered the time certain bands take to the stage," explained Matt Dougherty, one of three production managers on the tour. &q

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L’Acoustics has announced the appointment of SISME Co as its new distributor for Italy. Established in 1967, Sisme is based in Osimo Scalo, near Ancona, on the East Coast of Italy, and is also the sole Italian distributor for brands such as Shure, Phonic, LA Audio, Crest Audio, and for many other brands.

Due to the wide variety of products that they have distributed, for more than 30 years now, SISME Co. have become specialists in managing permanent installation projects, alongside their more regular sales activities. Claudio Bugari, SISME’s president, says: "We can efficiently support all the technical demands of our customers; with two general support engineers, and a full-time technician we provide a fast and efficient in-house repairing service."

Outside the company, SISME has a sales force of 11 independent representatives covering the whole Italian territo

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The Cadac R-Type lightweight touring console has been enjoying a high UK profile, featuring on the recent Ian Brown tour - handled by UK sound hire company GPA Hire. Former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown is currently touring Ireland after four weeks and 19 venues in the UK during February and March. The 62-input, 16-out, 8 VCA R-Type was in the hands of Gary Young (pictured) on the Southampton leg of the tour, with a Cadac 72-input M-Type monitor board on stage.

The Cadac name has an unrivalled reputation for audio performance, reliability and engineering excellence. The company's comprehensive line-up of consoles highlights its specialist focus on sound reinforcement and location recording - the R-Type touring console and the M-Type monitor board are complemented by the J-Type and F-Type live production consoles. In additon, the 5.1 C-Type location recording console offers the pure pa

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John Hornby Skewes & Co Ltd, the exclusive UK and Eire HK Audio distributor, has commissioned leading visual systems company, MAD Manufacturing, to install a state-of-the-art lighting rig in the HK Audio pro audio demo theatre at JHS’ Garforth premises. The whole HK Audio ‘active family’ features in the JHS demo room, including the new Lucas 1000 1kW self-powered system, plus Lucas, Elias, Actor and Projector active systems, alongside T-Series, M-Series and Linear Pro systems. Additionally, a 12-box HK Audio R-Series rig is available for demonstration and rental - this includes the PR 324 power rack with HK’s Digital Field Controller system.

(Ruth Rossington)

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ETC has recently passed a major milestone having sold more than one million Source Fours. It now plans to share the celebration with some very lucky customers. Sometime between June 1 and August 1 2002, ETC will ship four winning Source Four luminaires, representing the millionth-unit made, to their UL/cUL, CE and 100V markets. Four lucky end-users will receive a prize-winning Source Four in their orders.

If you are one of those winners, you will find a rare etched gold-wrapped Source Four inside your box, along with a special Certificate of Authenticity signed by ETC’s entire Source Four luminaire assembly crew. Just return the luminaire to ETC and you will receive the real grand prize - a collection of ETC’s Source Fours including a 5° Source Four, a 10° Source Four, a classic Source Four with lens tubes for every angle, a Source Four PAR EA and PAR MCM, a Source Four P

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Over recent years, we’ve drawn readers’ attention to the worrying number of letters emanating from African countries, principally Nigeria, which are blatant attempts to rip companies off.

Previously the scam has involved close relatives meeting untimely deaths, but not before they’ve managed to siphon off large amounts of government money. However, useful as this formula has been in the past, it seems the tactics have now changed. In a recent letter to a PLASA member from Abba & Abba Trade Distribution Industry, the company’s Frederick Moore has asked to see price lists on the basis that he is looking to place an order for nine 40’ container loads of product. The financing, he claims, will come from money diverted from under the noses of the Nigerian government.

As so often in the past, PLASA members are being targeted heavily and we have taken numerous

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Bandit Lites is supplying equipment for the successful System of a Down ‘Toxicity’ world tour, which has just finished its first European leg. Lighting designer for the tour is Jesper Luth, who has created an asymmetrical look with four trusses surrounding the stage. The front truss is straight, while the two sides and the rear double-spanned V-shaped truss are all hung at jaunty angles.

Instruments on Luth's rig include Martin MAC 600s, MAC 2000s, Martin Atomic strobes, plus a bunch of Pars and 8-Lite blinders. He runs the show from a WholeHog II desk with an extender wing. Before it kicked off, he took full advantage of Bandit's pre-programming facilities, spending four days getting ahead of the game in the warehouse in Nashville. The initial System of a Down lighting rig came out of Nashville, with the European leg of the tour supplied by Bandit's UK office. It's the fir

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Renault’s return to Formula 1 - its first full-blooded assault on the F1 world championship since 1985 - was marked by a spectacular high-tech launch of its new car for the 2002 season.

The event, attended by over 1,200 VIPs, including the world’s press, sponsors, special guests and Renault employees, was staged in Renault’s massive Technocentre in Guyancourt, near Paris.

UK production agency Sprout turned to drapes and materials specialist Blackout Triple E’s Paris subsidiary to assist in the realisation of its design for the launch, with Blackout France’s Dominic Peissel in the role of technical manager for the launch and Fabrice Le Floch overseeing the rigging aspects of the installation.

Peissel’s first logistical challenge was to overcome the sheer size and construction of the Technocentre. As rigging had never been hung from the 30m high

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Readers of L&SI may recall a piece we ran last year on Rage, the West Midlands-based professional theatre company, which works with various groups in the community.

The company has recently supported the Radiation series of youth events at Christ Church, Lye, where it handled the lighting design, arranged the technical elements and managed the get-in and get-out. Equipment for the event included Martin MX 1s, NJD Datamoons, Rainbow Colour Scrollers, DHA Animation Units, Strand SLs, ETC Source 4 ParNels and an Arc Line Strobe. Conventional lighting was controlled by a Zero 88 Elara Lighting desk with the intelligent lights run through a ShowCAD system.

Each year, Rage offers an opportunity for young people to work alongside professionals on three productions. The company is looking for people in the industry to help develop its work by either donating equipment or expertise. To find

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Full Sail, the Florida-based education facility specializing in digital media, audio, film, video and live show production, has purchased a grandMA console and three grandMA ultra-light consoles for their Show Production & Touring Degree Program from North American distributor AC Lighting, Inc.

Dana Roun, the program director for show production at Full Sail, explains the decision making process: "We required a console representing the current and future industry standards. Out of the major players there were a few stand-outs . . . You have to try to predict future trends and what may happen in the next few years. Look at the life span of a piece of gear. Some equipment could be prevalent in the industry now, however perhaps it’s in the last stages of a long successful run . . . There’s another consideration to think of too. I always try to consider who you’re de

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PCM’s Special Projects division has just secured two high profile contracts - the first one at the Asian Games in South Korea and the second at the soon-to-be refurbished Garrick Theatre in Litchfield.

For the Asian Games project, PCM will supply eight special motorized Beta winches. These will be utilized to raise and lower the Games’ Flame and base unit into position during the forthcoming event at Pusan, South Korea. Each winch has been designed to VBG8 standard and IP54 standard and features overload protection and low voltage control. All winches will be synchronized for the Games, to run together at an operating speed of 12 metres per minute.

At the Garrick Theatre in Litchfield, PCM will supply and install a new 20-set, four line, manual counterweight system, plus associated stage equipment and motorized lighting bars. The whole contract is being managed by Interse

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That is the upbeat message from PLASA’s new Show Director, Sue Saint. Celebrating its 25th year, the PLASA Show is the world’s pre-eminent light, sound and audio-visual event, attracting major brands every year, and this year is no exception.

Stand bookings are currently at 82%, with top names such as Vari-Lite, Sennheiser, Martin Professional, Denon, BSS Audio and Total Fabrication already booked. The show pulls in over 13,000 visitors from the UK and abroad each year, having become the main marketplace for the £11billion entertainment technology industry.

"The show is evolving continually," commented Saint, "and one of the key trends emerging is the growing number of manufacturers choosing to exhibit in their own right, rather than rely solely on representation through distributors. In addition, many long-standing exhibitors, including Numark, Peavey, S

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Harris, Grant Associates (HGA), a leading consultant in acoustic and technical systems design, has announced the launch of their new website. Since 1983, HGA has been responsible for designing some of the world’s most auspicious commercial television, film, and recording facilities, as well as advanced audio, video and control networks in private homes and onboard superyachts. The online portfolio now details over 40 of these projects, from the most successful commercial recording studio in the world - the Hit Factory in New York, to Peter Gabriel’s visionary Realworld in Bath.

Over 20 Virtual Reality images allow you to walk around facilities like Sony Music’s premier European recording facility, the uniquely decorated Strongroom studios and the Cinerama Theatre in Seattle, designed by consultant Neil Grant to deliver "the richest motion-picture surround experie

  1. Vari-Lite announces flexible payment plans
  2. Puy du Fou theme park chooses L-Acoustics sound systems
  3. Boat Race is Screenco’s - by a canvas
  4. Storm at Mandalay Bay
  5. Alan Ayckbourn launches second Stephen Joseph Theatre School
  6. Bandit Lites purchases new facility in Bedford
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