Business

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LAX Audio, the UK distributor for Wembley Loudspeaker, has announced its appointment as UK distributor for Rodec mixers, aimed at the "professional, quality-minded user". The deal was signed at the PLASA Show at Earls Court in September. Belgium-based Rodec began manufacturing valve amplifiers in the late 1960s, and later moved on to become a European pioneer of DJ mixers. The company’s latest products on show at PLASA were the BX14 and BX9 mixers.

(Lee Baldock)

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David Corrick of Stringwood Professional Services in Cardiff has recently completed a number of church installations using a full suite of Telex/EVI products, in particular from Electro-Voice and Dynacord, supplied by Shuttlesound. Among the most recent is the Thornhill Church Centre in Cardiff into which Stringwood has installed a full multimedia system. The Thornhill is far more than just a traditional church - the building was completed five years ago, and in addition to providing church services also acts as a community centre with activities going on seven days a week morning, noon and night. To that end, the budget to put in the multimedia AV system was quite generous.

In the main hall, where the majority of the church services take place, Corrick has installed two ElectroVoice Sx300 full range cabinets and a SUB 800 A active subwoofer from Dynacord, while foldback on stage is

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Martin Professional has announced that Claus Puggaard, managing director of Martin UK, is to step down from his position and return to Denmark to take over a new challenge within the Martin Group, following the completion of a three-year restructuring process in the UK. The company has also stated that chief financial officer, Johan Delfs, has stepped down "in order to assure a long-term management solution at Martin Professional Plc."

Henrik Soerensen, CEO of Martin Manufacturing UK Ltd (Jem) will assume the leadership position at Martin Professional Plc until a new management team is appointed. Martin’s president and CEO, Kristian Kolding, told us: "Day-to-day operations at Martin Professional Plc will continue unimpeded . . . Claus gathered a cohesive and competent staff at Martin UK who will continue to serve the UK market under the direction of Henrik Soerens

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The World Finals of the Vestax championship take place on November 21st at Fabric in London. 14 contestants from around the world will compete in the finals, including UK champion, DJ Woody. During the evening, clubbers will also get to see some of the world’s top DJs in action, including Carl Cox, Nick Warren, The Scratch Perverts, The X-ecutioners, The En4cers, Dynamo Productions’ Andy Smith and Scott Hendy, Dj Swerve, The Mixologists and 'RJ' Moby's tour DJ.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Edinburgh-based AVC was recently appointed by The Gleneagles Hotel to design and install a complex integrated audio system as part of a massive refurbishment program to restore its magnificent Ballroom and to make it suitable for use both as an entertainment venue and a multi-faceted conference facility.

As the sole distributor for Bi-Amp in the UK, beyerdynamic’s Jon Stanley and Simon Druce collaborated with Douglas Bolton, AVC’s System Designer to specify a very flexible, multi-purpose system, which centred around Bi-AMP’s digital audio platform - Audia. The Ballroom, complete with stage, proscenium arch and balcony, is ideal for theatre-style conferences, awards ceremonies, live performances and gala evenings. The Gleneagles Hotel required a system that could be used flexibly by its in-house technical team and easily operated by non-technical users if necessary.

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Selecon and Rosco held a hands-on open day at the end of October at RADA’s new premises in London. Members of the ALD, STLD and PLASA were invited to have a closer look at the newer products that were launched at this year’s PLASA Show.

Amongst these was the Finelite II projector which was used to project images in the theatre at RADA, thus demonstrating the potential for this product. Also on show was the new dowser for use with Selecon’s MSR Pacific - well received by those in attendance who see it as a key development in lighting control. Rosco demonstrated its award-winning ImagePro: attached to a Selecon Pacific, it provided food for thought for those wanting to use gobos but not wanting to have the high costs associated with glass gobos.

(Ruth Rossington)

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The Italian fashion show Moda in Villa took place in early September. The event, organized by Uniontessile and Unionorafi of Apindustria, Vicenza, was staged at the Villa Cordellina Lombardi in Montecchio Maggiore (one of the most prestigious Vicentine villas with frescoes by Tiepolo), and previewed not only this winter’s fashions, but jewellery that was to be later presented at Orogemma 2002.

In addition to a special satellite programme on the TV Moda channel broadcast by TELE + and Stream TV throughout almost the whole of Europe, the evening could also be watched live on the web via a link on www.modainvilla.com.

As planned by the organizers, the lighting system played a fundamental role at the event: as well as illuminating the catwalk, it also created a highly imaginative backdrop, colouring and delineating the villa’s façade and projecting the logos of designers pre

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Eurolites Productions, Ireland’s largest lighting and production rental company, is moving to a new 12,000sq.ft warehouse in Portlaoise, Co Laois. However, it’s going to go down as one of the shortest moves in the history of the industry as the company is literally moving from Unit 3 on John Keyes Business Park to Unit 5. The new unit will provide more space for the company and allow more room for manouevre in the pre-building of full rigs. It will also provide a second loading bay and a separate area for the programming and preparation of moving lights.

Eurolites’ existing 6,000sq.ft building will be retained by the company and will be occupied by Eurolites Sales, the lighting sales division of the company and Martin Professional distributor for Ireland. A full operational demonstration studio will also be constructed in the coming months. RoadBox, the flightcase man

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Barco has won a order worth $3 million from one of North America’s foremost AV rental and staging companies, AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions. Barco will deliver 30sq.m of its renowned ILite6 indoor display technology, as well as 20 SLM R8 Performer projectors to AVW-TELAV. The digital display and projection solutions will be used by the company at various high profile events throughout North America.

AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions, which is a new company formed by the merger of TELAV Audio Visual Services and AVW Audio Visual, is one of North America’s leading AV rental and staging companies. AVW was founded in 1971 and although headquartered in Dallas, had 15 locations throughout the US. TELAV was established in 1982, and from its base in Montreal, Quebec operated 18 locations across Canada. Today, AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions has 34 offices coast to coast and offe

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The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama has purchased an Allen & Heath ML3000 15 buss live sound VCA console as part of a major upgrade to its audio system. The 32-channel mixer was recommended and provided by the Cardiff branch of Stage Electrics, one of Europe's leading suppliers of technical equipment to the entertainment, leisure and presentation industries. Stage Electrics also supplied a Martin Audio Wavefront W2 and WS2A speaker system as part of the upgrade.

There are currently 530 students enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (the 'Royal' title was granted by Her Majesty The Queen during her recent Golden Jubilee visit to Wales), situated close to Cardiff city centre. Among the courses on offer are a BA and postgraduate diploma in Stage Management (the post-graduate course being sponsored by Stage Electrics), which both feature a Technical Studies module c

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No sooner had we got the news online that Le Mark had been nominated for the Huntingdonshire Business Spirit of Ingenuity Award than we got a message to say that the company had actually won it. Ruth Bagnal, from The East of England Development Agency, presented the award to the company on Friday 1 November in front of 200 top business people at the Marriott Hotel in Huntingdon.

The Judges selected Le Mark for the new ‘Ingenuity’ award following close scrutiny. The company had proven that following the commercial slow-down which had affected many businesses, Le Mark had "self-invested, innovated and diversified into new business sectors," showing a new level of performance and growth.

Le Mark’s core business is still very much the development of ‘self-adhesive solutions’ - skills which were applied to the development of new products, including

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Following the launch of its new sales department earlier in the year, Birmingham's SSE Hire has recently completed a major overhaul of the audio system at Sheffield University. The brief given by the University's technical manager Pete Brenchley was to provide separate systems for the three venues at the University. The Octagon, the largest of the three venues, was to have a new main PA system capable of handling touring acts. The Foundry, which runs seven nights a week with a variety of events and music styles needed new main PA, foldback and control equipment and Fusion, the Union bar, was to benefit from an installation capable of running in the background all day and coming forward to power the DJs at night. On top of this, the systems needed to be completely compatible with each other so that gear could be moved from venue to venue depending on the show to be supplied.

SSE designe

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Istanbul-based Focus has been appointed the new distributor for L-Acoustics in Turkey. Formed in 1997, the company is an exclusive distributor for more than 20 product lines in Turkey, including sound, lighting and staging products. Since its establishment, the company has forged strong partnerships with some of the leading installation companies within the market and benefits from a high level of recognition in Turkey as a whole. Cenk Yildiz, sales manager of Focus, comments: "We have 20 years experience in this field, and Focus has always been respected for carrying the best products and offering the highest levels of service, so it’s appropriate we should now have L-Acoustics in our portfolio."

(Ruth Rossington)

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Marquee Audio has masterminded a multifunctional/multimedia design and installation in the 1000-seat auditorium of a greenfield development in Tonbridge, Kent. The company was awarded the contract by Harvester Conferences, a subsidiary of Harvester Trust, to equip their new development at The River Centre.

This will enable Harvester - a community-motivated, Christian charitable organization - to operate as a conference and community facility, as well as a church centre. Harvester had already made the decision not to extend to the 9m high ceiling which would have enabled them to have presented unamplified speech projection (instead opting for a 6m floor-to-ceiling pitch). They also opted for an amplified state-of-the-art PA system with full conference facility audio-visual, and put the work out to tender.

With seven-day utilization in prospect, Marquee recommended a Nexo system as bei

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When the headquarters of the Mayor of London's Greater London Authority on the south bank of the Thames opened to the public in September this year, they set a mandate that they wanted to be accessible to the public via television, radio and the internet.

One of the key technical requirements was to create a backbone - with various plug-in points throughout the building - that would allow information in the form of data and text, video and audio to flow from its source to any desk or display screen, the GLA website or for national broadcast. IVC, the company awarded the £2.1 million contract, were also asked to provide a high-grade portable presentation unit, that would be able to operate in both the first floor assembly chamber and way up on the ninth floor.

IVC devised a solution based around an 80" dnp Black Bead screen and Christie Roadster X4 DLP projector, also designing

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Following Vertigo Rigging’s mammoth undertaking at this time last year at the Odeon Leicester Square, for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the company returned to the same location for the launch of the latest Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Paddy Burnside was again Vertigo’s project manager for the event. This year the company rigged two ‘goalpost’ screen supports, constructed from James Thomas SuperTruss, in front of the Odeon’s two side billboards, onto which were flown LED screens supplied by Light Media Displays. The trussing supports were braced back to the building using chemical fixings, and the base of each leg was encased in a three-quarter tonne concrete block, clad in plywood - these latter, cast at Vertigo’s workshop in Bermondsey, to comply with Westminster Council requ

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Audio Projects have supplied and installed a Martin Audio sound reinforcement system to the Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone, having won a competitive tender. Sound engineers had been unhappy for a while about the sound in the theatre, particularly the dead spots. The theatre’s production and operations manager, Eric Lund, realized that an upgrade was essential, so with Audio Projects’ Stephen Hall set about investigating several alternatives before being invited to a demo of the EM series at Martin Audio’s High Wycombe HQ.

"It was a question of finding a product that would provide the right coverage, because there are 300 seats in the stalls and a further 56 in the balcony," said Stephen. "I knew the Martin range would provide the coverage and versatility for the wide band of shows the theatre receives - and because several of their management live locall

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Not only a new landmark, but a watermark on the south-western English coast, the National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC) in Falmouth will open its doors to the public for the first time in December 2002.

Designed by award-winning architects Long & Kentish, the magnificent harbourside blends with and enhances its surroundings. The exhibitions within were designed by Land Design Studio with Kevin Theobald of London-based Maurice Brill Lighting Design onboard as lighting designer. Although an unconventional-looking building, the museum is fitted for the most part with conventional exhibition lighting equipment, but for two of the galleries, the Dark Gallery and the Daylit Gallery, more sophisticated lighting systems were needed.

The Dark Gallery required a control system capable of co-ordinating the lighting with an AV system, so Theobald specified an ETC Express 250 Lighting Playback

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The Winterthur Theatre in Switzerland, which hosts around 250 theatrical events every year, has recently undergone a lighting upgrade, overseen by lighting director Wilfried Potthoff, who had the theatre outfitted with 50 Clay Paky CP Color 150-E colour changers. Products were supplied by Claudio Merlo’s ECM, distributor of Clay Paky products in Switzerland.

The majority of the products was installed overhead in the large hall adjacent to the main auditorium. The theatre frequently hosts conventions, parties, meetings or other gatherings in this area, often accompanied by background music. The CP Color colour-changers can provide synchronized colour-washes and cross-fades to create a variety of moods and effects to augment these occasions.

More CP Colors were placed behind a white canvas inside the theatre to create very effective colour scenes, boldly standing out among the th

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London-based Premier League football club Charlton Athletic has met its growing post-match media requirements by constructing a press interview/communication theatre. ML Executives, who have been servicing the club’s audio needs for a number of years, were asked to outfit the new suite, designing an eight-zone system. The firm selected QSC’s multi-channel CX168 power amplifier to provide the solution.

To achieve DSP control, ML Executives used the Shure P4800 Precise Digital Control software - interfaced via a PC within the unit - with a DRS10 scene controller for digital remote switching. Via the newly-provided Shure ceiling and desktop mics, combined with RCF/Mackie PL80A ceiling speakers, managers can hold their post-match briefings, while ISDN lines allow the press to file their reports and photographs digitally. A link with the Charlton Athletic website allows the post

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Tourtech, the Northampton-based rental company, has joined the L-Acoustics V-Dosc network, alongside the existing UK Partners of Autograph Sound Recording, Britannia Row Productions, Delta Sound, EFX Audio and Wigwam Hire.

Tourtech’s current inventory consists of 40 ARCS cabinets, 20 SB218 and four SB115 subwoofers, 24 115FM floor monitors, four MTD108a and four MTD115a speakers. Additionally, they have just taken delivery of an initial 16-cabinet turnkey V-Dosc system, including six dV-Doscs. The new V-Doc system was pressed into service just a few days after delivery for the current Coldplay European Arena tour.

Tourtech’s managing director, Dick Rabel, comments: "Clearly, this was a natural development for TourTech having used L-Acoustics ARCS to such tremendous effect in the past. I continue to be a working sound engineer and consequently have had extensive exper

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Building on their success as video supplier for Madonna’s ‘Up For Grabs’ this summer, XL Video UK is back in the West End working for cinematographer and projection designer Jon Driscoll, and production company Tiger Aspect on the new musical Our House, featuring the music of Madness.

Driscoll and film editor Richard Overall have again teamed up with video scientist Richard Turner to produce the visuals, working in close collaboration with lighting designer Mark Henderson and Tiger Aspect’s production manager Steve Rebbeck. The production’s principal projection sequence takes place during the seminal Madness hit Driving In My Car. The Morris Minor car comes onstage, and the minimal set turns into a giant three-sided screen surface, in old-fashioned Cinema 180 film projection style. The footage propels car and cast on a journey which starts on the st

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In celebration of her Golden Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth visited Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on 10 October, where she addressed a crowd of 17,000 at Copps Coliseum. Because quality, trouble-free audio was essential, Toronto's PA Plus Production used their JBL Vertec system flown in four arrays of four VT4889 cabinets.

With PA Plus senior engineer John Lacina at the FOH controls, pre-show entertainment included several live bands, live vocal-to-track artists and various other acts. The welcome celebration featured a military ceremony, involving pipe and drum corps and marching bands. Even though musical acts performed, the main focus of the sound system was to provide intelligible speech reproduction, according to Mark Radu, systems engineer for PA Plus. The Golden Jubilee event proved a challenge in system design: inventive thinking was required to achieve articulate speech reproduction fo

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ACDC Lighting Systems of Barrowford, Lancashire has been awarded the cold cathode lighting contract for The Gate in Newcastle. The company will manufacture over 700m of cold cathode lighting for the new retail complex located in the heart of the city. The design incorporates ACDC’s Covelite, Contour Interior, as well as their new ‘Colorise DMX’ colour changing cold cathode lighting.

Working closely with lighting designers BDP to develop the ideal scheme, ACDC were chosen for their DMX and 1-10 volt dimming systems - a first in the cold cathode lighting industry. The company’s cold cathode was chosen for its long life and low maintenance characteristics, as the installation is in very high, difficult to reach areas. The project uses high frequency control gears resulting in higher efficiency when compared to traditional control systems and their Covelite ‘P

  1. Autograph moves to digital with DiGiCo D5 Live
  2. Beyerdynamic for psychedelic Simian
  3. Audiolease is reborn
  4. Our House with AVW Controls
  5. Skan provides sound for Q Awards
  6. Successful show for Leisure Industry Week
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