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Known as much for his elaborate outdoor shows as his music, Jean Michel Jarre recently added to his reputation for groundbreaking outdoor performances with an extraordinary show in northern Denmark.

On 7 September, he held an out-of-the-ordinary event at Gammel Vrå Enge windmill park near the Aalborg in Denmark. Titled ‘Aero’, the show’s central theme was ‘energy and environment’ and bizarrely, the wind played the lead part, not only as energy, but also as a carrier of sounds, images and messages.

The concert consisted of 16 Jean Michel Jarre numbers, both classics and new material, with a scenography that was radically different from his previous concerts. The show featured a number of visual treats such as the windmills ablaze in light, and pyro exploding in sync with the music. Lighting designer Lars Nissen (Eurovision 2001), of lighting rental compa

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Swedish Radio (SR) has announced that it will begin 'extensive bench testing', utilizing DTS’ Coherent Acoustics compression/decompression algorithm, aimed at providing live surround sound radio broadcasting.

While SR is examining all potential surround sound platforms, research has established a popular demand for the higher quality signal of DTS Digital Surround. A download on the company’s website (see link below) offering material in the alternative formats has been on-line since June and of the 300,000 downloads of this material, approximately 70% have been of the DTS encoded version.

SR has formed a 5.1 working group which has been allocated funds for the production of more 5.1 programming and has established contacts with potential distributors among satellite, terrestrial, cable and broadband-based transmission companies. DTS’ Coherent Acoustics compression/

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Our photo shows industry consultant Peter Ed, part-way through his three-day journey to scale Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, located in the Atlas Mountain Range. Peter and his wife Lynne undertook the trek (which involved mules, freezing temperatures, cascading boulders, 6am starts and vertigo) to raise money for ARK - Absolute Return for Kids - a charity established to transform the lives of children who are victims of abuse, disability, illness and poverty.

Anyone who’d like to add to the money that’s already been raised, can contact Peter on p.ed@btclick.com or 07887 713 215.

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Marquee Audio has supplied a Soundcraft MH4 audio mixing console to Tour Tech, which immediately went out with Idlewild, initially to support Coldplay on their European tour. "Idlewild was the perfect opportunity for Tour Tech to confirm the purchase of the MH4, which Dick Rabell had been considering for some time," said Glen Smith of Marquee.

In a separate sale, ML Executives have purchased two Yamaha DM2000 digital mixing desks from Marquee Audio, which are currently in China with The Planets. The DM2000s were first specified for front-of-house and monitor mixing of The Planets' European shows supporting Deep Purple. "As the opening act, we needed consoles that were compact," explained Gary Marks of ML Executives. "The whole band uses in-ear monitoring and all their instruments are on radio systems so the mix is quite intricate. We were looking for a digital

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Imagination has created a new space for young people to learn about technology at the science centre, @Bristol. The Orange Imaginarium is aimed at 4-16 year olds and seeks to explain wirefree technology (developed by @Bristol sponsor Orange) from a child’s point of view.

The Imagination team, led by designer Caroline Wilson and lighting consultant Tony Rimmer, worked in collaboration with researchers and futurologists from Orange to create the interactive learning environment. The experience begins with a series of animated stories, linking everyday needs to technology. Three more zones follow a pattern of ‘Search and Find’, letting visitors experience and be creative with technology. The space is built around three key technologies - voice activation/recognition, personalized information and Orange Home services. In ‘Tell Me A Joke’, voice recognition sof

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The first week of December saw ETC using the newly finished demo room at its Acton offices for a full week of hands-on, technical product training for new and existing Authorised Service Centres (ASCs). Companies can only become Authorised Service Centres once they have received full training in relevant products. The week's course gives ETC a further six ASCs across Europe and the Middle East.

The three new Middle Eastern ASCs are Oasis in the UAE, Niletec of Egypt and Al Diwan of Kuwait. The newly appointed European companies are Helsinki Lighting, Finland, Stockholm Lighting in Sweden and Decima of Italy.

The training covered ETC's Sensor and Unison dimming, Express and Expression consoles, Emphasis and ETCNet2, ETC's Ethernet system, plus Irideon fixtures and associated software and enables the ASCs to offer their customers full technical and service back-up for these ETC product

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The MTV Staying Alive concert, in Association with YouthAids, and staged at Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium in late November, proved a major success with over 20.000 people witnessing the event live and millions more watching an edited version on television channels the world over.

Three of the world’s most successful music stars headlined the event, which was held to create awareness of HIV/Aids, as well as encourage tolerance of those affected by the disease. Alicia Keys, Usher and P. Diddy were joined by homegrown stars Mandoza, Zola, 101, Danny K, Bianca Le Grange and DJ Ready D.

Gearhouse South Africa was contracted to provide lighting, sound, structures, audio-visual, rigging and power. The SABC (South African Broadcast Corporation) filmed the show on behalf of MTV, for its MTV Presents Levi’s Jeans Staying Alive Concert In Association With YouthAids 90-minute

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Architectural and feature lighting specialists i-vision continue their proliferation of Irish projects, with an installation at the 700 capacity Ennis pub and bar in Balbriggan, County Dublin.

Owner Gary Brown, together with Pete Williams of AVL, gave i-vision’s Geoff Jones the brief to design and realise an exterior lighting scheme. The stone constructed building posed several challenges - with dark grey stone proving a less than ideal lighting canvas!

Jones has lit the front façade with seven Superlight CDM 150 up/downlighters. Each fixture is fitted with a blue dichroic for the downlight and a magenta dichroic for the uplight. This method was employed to break up the architectural lines of the frontage, producing a dynamic blue wash over the lower half, and an eye-catching magenta sweep across the first floor. MA250 blue asymmetric floods were used to complete the picture

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For the first time in the UK retail industry, an LVP1010 (10mm pixel pitch) LED screen has been installed in HMV’s Oxford Street store, to act as both an entertainment and advertising medium.

The screen, measuring 3.84m x 2.4m, is part of a complete audio visual installation undertaken by London-based Interactive View and forms the backdrop to a 6 x 5m stage area constructed by Rode Island. The area is designed to host an array of live events, including DJs, solo artists and bands and was heralded by a week of live events, including appearances by Grand Master Flash, Craig David, Blue and The Libertines promoted on Capital Radio throughout.

Interactive View managing director, Lee Edwards, commented: "This is the largest audio-visual installation in a retail outlet in the UK to date, and is part of HMV’s nationwide refurbishment. We’ve designed and managed this

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For the second year running, White Light is supporting the Crisis Open Christmas by supplying lighting equipment to the entertainment events which take place in the East London shelter which the charity Crisis runs during the Christmas period.

Crisis has been running their Open Christmas since 1972, with five shelters staffed by volunteers open from 23 - 30 December offering not only accommodation, warmth and food but much more, including medical services and resettlement advice. Last year, lighting designer Jenny Kagan volunteered, responding to the Crisis form's request for information about 'specialist skills' with the quip "lighting and stage management, though I don't suppose you have much call for either." A few days later she found herself organizing the backstage side of the Open Christmas' Entertainments!

"Entertainment has always been part of the Crisis Open

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The newly launched DiGiCo D5 Live digital mixing system recently embarked on its first US tour, a two-month North American odyssey with Beck, in support of the band’s acclaimed new album, Sea Change, which reached number 8 in the Billboard Hot 200.

The tour’s audio was provided by Showco of Dallas, with Jon Lemon at the front of house controls and John Shearman on monitors. A Showco Prism PA system, with a Clair Brothers IO wireless loudspeaker controller and Amcron amplification, delivered the wattage to audiences of up to 5,000. Jon also used a hard disk recording system, linked directly to the D5 Live, to record the show and perform pre-soundcheck system set-up. Showco’s Jim Ragus was FOH system technician, with Justin Hoffman as monitor tech.

Beck - supported by The Flaming Lips on the tour - comprises a five-piece band, plus Beck himself, with drums, keyboard/g

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Leading Milan production facility, Cinevideostudio, has purchased 20 Coemar iWash and iSpot 575s, to be located in two of its five studios. Run by Paolo Baraldi, the studio conducts 90% of its work for MTV Italy, who share the complex in Milan - although they also enjoy close co-operation with RAI, the state-owned broadcaster.

Cinevideostudio was established in Mantua, near Verona, back in 1983, and moved to Milan in 1997 where the collaboration with MTV Italy began. Today it employs around 80 people, and boasts a complete post-production suite - with editing and transfer facilities dedicated to Quantel and Avid - as well as transmission studios among its facilities.

Cinevideostudio’s E studio, featuring the lighting of Coemar, was used recently for a concert with international artists Robbie Williams, Alanis Morissette, REM and Oasis, for the Italian MTV Live, which is shot i

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Reading-based rental company Skan PA Hire has provided a sound system for the recent Supergrass tour of the UK. The tour played venues including Newcastle University, Glasgow Barrowlands, Cardiff University and the Academy in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol respectively, terminating with three nights at London's Shepherds Bush Empire.

Skan sub-hired an EAW KF850 system from Villa Audio to fulfil the requirements of the band's front of house engineer Mike Hornby, which it combined with its own amplifiers and control system. The front of house system included a Midas Heritage 2000 console and EAW KF853 mid-high and KF852 low boxes with SB1000 subs powered by Lab Gruppen amplifiers, together with a Midas XL3 monitor console and Turbosound TFM-450 biamped 2-way wedges. Skan also supplied manpower in the shape of full-time employees Matt Vickers and Ant Carr.

This combination of equipm

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Northampton-based event and display lighting specialists Mushroom Event Services Limited has launched a new website, which includes the first downloadable PDF format of both their sales and hire catalogues. The new site has been designed to make selection of products and services both quick and easy, with the sales and hire catalogues downloadable in PDF format at the click of a mouse.

Mushroom spokesman Paul Butler explains: "For many years we've produced a paper-based hire and sales catalogue and although this has been extremely successful for us, we wanted to move our service forward and make sure that we are instantly accessible for our clients and potential clients. The new site has been designed in such a way that every product and service is instantly available to view for anyone with internet access."

Mushroom offer an extensive range of lighting sales and rental se

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Canegreen Commercial Presentations Ltd continued a busy 2002 winter season, making sure the sound matched the quality of the winners at the Woman of the Year Awards, held at the Hyde Park Hotel Inter-Continental in London.

The awards, sponsored by O2, celebrated women’s achievements in music and related industries, with Sharon Osbourne walking away with the coveted ‘Woman of the Year Award’. Women from all areas of the music industry picked up awards in categories including lifetime achievement and special achievement of the year given by guest award presenters, from Dr Fox of Capital Radio fame, to Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and Will Young.

Canegreen Commercial was presented with the challenge of achieving audio coverage to all of the 450 guests in the Grand Ballroom at the Inter-Continental, from a central stage. They achieved this by flying eight Meyer UPA-1P S

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Filipino install and live sound company, Stage Craft International, has been utilizing eight Chameleon 3700 DP/2 amplifiers at a variety of events in Manila, with venues spanning small nightclubs to major raves featuring top DJs. The first Chameleon benefactor was Decades, one of Manila’s most popular nightclubs, where a single 3700 DP/2 has been installed to power a Turbosound rig at the 300-capacity venue. "Because it plays rock to rave music, Decades was looking for a more heavy sound, so the 3700 DP/2 is currently driving the subs only. There has been a significant increase in dB level and a marked improvement in low end grunt," says Stage Craft’s Frankie Zabala.

The Gatecrasher, God’s Kitchen, Ministry of Sound and Cream raves - all staged in the 3,000 capacity NBC Tent at Fort Bonifaco - also benefited from Chameleon’s renowned power handling cap

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MC2 Audio has recently notched up its first sale of amplifiers to Malta. Light Sound Vision, a member of the ITC Group, contacted MC2 Audio via their website in early spring 2002 and a follow-up meeting was arranged for the PLASA Show. "We were very pleased to have the opportunity to meet Mario Camilleri, managing director of Light Sound Vision at PLASA in September," commented Ian McCarthy. "Their initial order for amplifiers from both the MC range and T Series followed in October and we now look forward to future collaboration with Light Sound Vision."

(Ruth Rossington)

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Fifteen months in the job, and already the Fairfield Hall’s new technical coordinator Ian Locke is beginning to make his presence felt; not least in the realms of safety. "Before I took the appointment I could already see this was a very, very busy venue; sometimes three performances a day, so I knew safe working practices would be paramount."

Consequently there has been, in his own words "huge changes", not least the recent installation of a new rigging grid above the famous Fairfield stage. "The existing grid was well past its sell-by date, so in September of 2001 I visited PLASA to see what was available. At the time I didn’t even know Total Fabrications’ T2 system existed (hardly surprising as it was barely a year since launch) so when I stopped by their stand I was more than impressed with the system."

Being a prudent shopper, Lock

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The Event Show 2003 (28-30 January, National Hall, Olympia) will see leading event professionals come together to provide a unique forum of workshops, advice clinics and seminars. Over 250 companies will be on hand to help, as well as leading professional organisations such as TESA, NOEA, BECA, and PSA.

The main programme involves a series of high profile speakers. On 28th January, Brian Blake, MBE presents a talk on ‘The do’s and don’ts of getting a licence.’ Blake has been responsible for the technical aspects of public entertainment licensing within Westminster for 27 years, and has covered a wide range of events, including outdoor concerts in Hyde Park, and the Queen’s Jubilee, where he was responsible for public safety and contingency planning.

On the 29th January, the focus is ‘Spotlight on Local Authorities.’ Sponsored by NOEA, the s

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Star Rigging joined a star line-up in December 2002, rigging the set and production for the Top of the Pops Awards, as they celebrated a successful year for the pop world. In a year that brought us Pop Idol and Fame Academy and more pop tours and radio roadshows than ever before, the Top of the Pops Awards gave its own accolades to the most successful acts of 2002. The show attracted the year’s hottest property, from Miss Dynamite, winner of the best R&B act, to Kylie and the Manic Street Preachers. Star Rigging was once again contracted to supply the rigging for the entire set, lighting, sound and screens for the awards, held in the Manchester Evening News Arena.

Phil Broad was head rigger for the show and worked with the organizers from the concept of the stage set to the practicalities of the rigging on the day. Phil worked with the client, BBC Worldwide, production manager St

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Emmy-award winning developer Rick Hutton has assembled a highly experienced team to launch a new company - InLight Gobos - which will be based in Dallas, Texas. The team has a combined 37 years invested in producing gobos for the entertainment production industry and will offer high quality glass gobos, both catalogue and custom artwork, in black and white/greyscale or full colour.

The technology to produce the gobos is licensed from Beacon AB in Sweden, which utilizes a photolithographic process on ultra-thin zero expansion glass. This glass is the thinnest stack available, producing a full colour image that is only 1.5mm thick, allowing the optical system to focus on all four layers simultaneously.

Backing the technology will be a highly experienced team. President Rick Hutton has spent more than 20 years in the entertainment lighting and laser industries: he has authored severa

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L-Acoustics has announced the addition of two new members to its global V-Dosc Network. Live Sound Agency is the first Eastern European V-Dosc Partner to join the Network. The Moscow-based company was founded in 1990 by Yuri Sokolov and now employs more than 50 people to take care of all national and international concerts, festivals and tours, corporate and governmental events, working with local partners to offer a high standard of service, ranging from sound and lighting systems, to stages, decorations and communication.

In only 12 years, the Russian service provider has become the largest sound company in Russia and on the territory of the former Soviet Union, and has already worked with artists as varied as Placido Domingo, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joe Cocker, Al Di Meola, Sting, Liza Minelli and Montserrat Caballe and many others.

Meanwhile, Gearhouse LLC in Dubai has acquired a

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Screenco provided three large displays to enhance performances by a diverse array of stars at this month’s Royal Variety Performance, London. Icons and celebrities from the worlds of music, film, television and theatre gathered for the prestigious annual Royal Variety Performance in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

The who’s who of the showbiz world included Anastacia, the cast of Bombay Dreams, Enrique Iglesias, Gareth Gates, Kylie Minogue, Liberty X, Ronan Keating, Shania Twain, Will Young and many others. Working for BBC Resources, Screenco supplied a giant 15mm display - measuring 4.8m x 5.04m and positioned upstage centre - rigged on a solid truss and flanked by a pair of Barco i8 displays, measuring 2.24m square. Screenco controlled the content on screen, including the graphic content - created by Artbeat and processed by Blitz. This provided on

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Raleigh, North Carolina, has a new top of the line events centre and nightspot ‘Oasis’. Previously a run down Steakhouse, it has been transformed into a corporate events center during the day and a top of the line Nightclub in the evening. Local movie theater owner and head of Ambassador Entertainment, Bill Peebles, who takes a direct and hands on approach to the facilities, specified a state of the art lighting & sound system for the main room of his new venture.

A grandMA ultra-light runs the lighting at Oasis and is controlling 10 Martin Wizards & 8 Martin Mini Mac Spots along with an assortment of dimmers and practicals. Bill programmed the bulk of the nightclub himself, over a 3 day period, under the supervision of A.C.T Lighting's Mike Falconer. Bill chose the grandMA after an extensive period of research, looking at a number of larger nightclubs and their control sys

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  4. Fourth Phase welcomes new Ernst & Young employees
  5. Nexo GEO for Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
  6. Triumph for LOBO in Orlando
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