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UK - Screenco have enjoyed a whirlwind winter, providing image magnification for three major televised awards presentations, as part of a workload that also embraced the Royal Variety Performance at the Hammersmith Apollo and the BBC televised final of Great Britons.

The most imaginative display was at BBC Television Centre, where for the third year running Screenco were equal to Christopher George's design for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, sending video constantly streaming around the studio in a liquid pelmet. Screenco provided three screens in widescreen format to take the long camera shots, hiring in Barco i8 and i10 high-brightness modules from sister company Creative Technology, which they configured respectively into a single 7.2m x 4m, and two 4.9m x 2.7m walls.

Screenco then supplied four long 1.2m deep panel strips - two in 13.8m lengths, one at 9.7m and th

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UK - A.C. Lighting Ltd has reported it has sustained its 6% growth as of its interim figures of May 2002. A.C. Lighting's considerable investment in facilities, systems, and infrastructure has resulted in a more streamlined organisation, improved customer experience, and international business development. The recently formed A.C. Limited (Canada) Ltd is clearly indicative of plans to gain a more international presence and market share.

Managing Director and co-founder of A.C. Lighting, David Leggett, commented, "2002 was a tough year in the entertainment technology industry. Despite these troubled times, our company's growth is proof of our staff's diligence coupled with the loyalty and support received from manufacturers and customers alike. It is this combination which has led to our strengthened position."

Based 30 miles to the west of London, UK, A.C. Lighting w

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USA - The Super Bowl is not just the Big Game with a Big Halftime. It spawns hundreds of corporate parties needing lights, sound and a stage full of entertainers before, during and after the Jan. 26 show in San Diego. Prior to the game, Delicate Productions of Camarillo, Calif., is taking care of the VIP Tailgate Party. Goo Goo Dolls, Bonnie Raitt and various rap artists will take the stage under 12 Studio Spot 575s and 12 Studio Beam automated luminaires, with 12 bars of PARS. LD Gus Conger is controlling the show with a Hog 1000.

California's San Diego Stage & Lighting say they have "everything we own" involved with the Superbowl including the NFL Experience. SDSL's Renie Colwell says, "The NFL Experience is almost entirely High End Systems (equipment) and is also the largest contract that was awarded." A whole range of HES fixtures and consoles have moved

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USA - Mach Speakers and the Pro Audio Group of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc have formed a strategic alliance aimed at increasing brand awareness for both companies' products. The agreement joins together the Mach speaker brand with a leader in digital entertainment technology in a group sales and marketing effort that will give greater visibility to the Mach and Pioneer product lines while strengthening Martin's Total Club Supplier concept in the US market.

For Mach, the alliance allows the company to co-market Pioneer products alongside its own range of speakers, adding another established, professional brand to the Total Club Supplier, one-stop shop concept. The Total Club Supplier concept enables clients to procure Mach audio, Martin lighting, and Jem smoke in one convenient package. Mach will now be able to add a vast line of Pioneer digital entertainment products to its au

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UK - Lightpower, one of Germany's leading lighting distributors, has announced that it has cancelled its participation in this year's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (5-8 March). The reason given for the withdrawal is the bad timing of the show. Lighpower's statement says: "We regret this decision, however . . . when a trade show is planned concurrent with a national holiday and preparations for the Cebit trade show overlap, then we, as well as other exhibitors, come across some serious coordination problems. This simply means that over 40% of our clientele shall not show up because they will be tied up at the same time with their own service activities during the Cebit show projects and Carneval activities. More than 1000 event technicians will be working at the Cebit."

At a press conference at ProLight+Sound last year, Lightpower - a long-standing ProLight+Sou

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UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) were approached by the BBC Homefront programme (broadcast on 22 January 2003 on BBC2) to specify lighting equipment and provide solutions for the designs of the show's interior design expert - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

A schematic design was created from basic concept sketches, and LTP operatives attended site during filming to install and program the lighting fixtures used to create the stunning visual effects Using products from Color Kinetics, Terry Reeves, Project Manager for the scheme specified a series of 'C75' fixtures for highlighting the walls and down lighting the 'DJ' area. A row of 'I-Cove' fittings were fixed behind a bulkhead above the seating area to provide a linear, even wash of colour changing light. The culmination of the scheme was to illuminate a commissioned piece of art, located behind the seating area, a 'C200' fitt

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UK - North London recording and mixing complex Angel Studios, which specializes in classical recordings and film soundtrack work, has installed a Meyer Sound X-10 5.1 system into its newly-refurbished studio one.

Angel is the second London studio to install Meyer X-10s following the installation of a stereo system at Abbey Road's mastering room 7. Allen Stagg, recording engineer and former manager of Abbey Road Studios, was instrumental in introducing the Angel staff to the X-10. The sale was conducted through acoustic analysis expert Bob Hodas, a Meyer studio products dealer who is well-versed in X-10 technology. Meyer's UK distributor Autograph Sales handled the sale and also provided a SIM System II FFT Analyser for Hodas to install and tune the system.

Angel Studio's senior engineer Gary Thomas requested that Hodas help them to configure a 5.1 system for the new room. They

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Denmark - Switchcraft Inc, the US manufacturer of connectors, audio and video patchbays and cable assemblies, has strengthened its international distributor base by appointing Professional Sound Systems to distribute its products in the Danish broadcast and professional audio markets.

Stephen Waldron, Switchcraft's director of international sales, said: "PSS is a very capable and well established distributor in the Danish market and we are very pleased to enter this partnership that will provide our audio and broadcast customers with improved product availability, service and support."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Marquee Audio has assisted in the upgrade of Dust Bar Café on London's trendy Clerkenwell Road. The independent bar had been running as a ground-floor DJ bar on a 2am licence for the past five years - but recently decided to expand the operation onto the first floor. According to project director, Alan Burrows, the sound system upgrade coincided with a new interior design (by owner and co-director, Raymond Brown) and the launch of a new restaurant and cocktail list.

"Dust has developed a reputation on the back of breaking out new DJ talent, and so with the addition of a second floor, good sound reinforcement became a top priority," he said. He had been referred to Marquee by another satisfied client from a Shoreditch bar/restaurant, but the decision to use Marquee was only made after a competitive tender. "We found the company to have the necessary tec

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Northern Division has recently completed a project installation for The University of Leeds Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences Department (ULISES). The department of sport and exercise sciences approached the company to develop a solution to rig and manually adjust the position of high speed motion tracking cameras in their Sports Biomechanics Laboratory.

The Infra Red cameras are used to assess the movement and performance of athletes under controlled laboratory conditions in both research and teaching. Activities routinely investigated include: rock climbing (the laboratory features an adjustable indoor climbing wall); running, and various throwing and kicking exercises, with a heavy duty net designed to catch missiles.

A moving camera grid, constructed from a series of 48mm aluminium tubes was assembled, featuring adjustable and fixed drop arms,

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UK - ARRI celebrated the inauguration of its new 75,000sq.ft Highbridge facility recently, with a glittering party for 400 guests. Leading location lighting directors and DOPs - as well as directors from ARRI's parent company in Munich - arrived at the four acre site, situated alongside the Grand Union Canal at Uxbridge, where they were treated to a champagne reception and a festival of entertainment which went on well into the night.

Event manager Damian Clarkson had spent six months putting together a crack production team, which included lighting specialists Invisible Blue and caterers Taylor Made. The former were able to integrate moving lights, gobo projections and skytrackers with ARRI's generic tungsten and high-brightness HMI film and location luminaires. Invisible Blue project manager Richard Smart commented: "Amalgamating the two disciplines proved an interesting

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UK - Lively south coast nightspot TJ's in Eastbourne is the first UK venue to receive JBL's powerful, new, low-profile AE series installation speakers. Arbiter Pro Audio, JBL's UK distributor, supplied the speakers to installers Accord Audio, based in Horam, East Sussex, who fitted out the system as part of the club's latest technical upgrade.

The dancefloor in TJ's main room now features four JBL AM6212/95 bi-amped speakers, complete with high-powered ASB6128 subs. The AM6212 is the most powerful of three types of speakers in the AE range. A major feature, and one of the enclosure's many innovative points, is its very low profile - a slim and elegant physical shape and size which make it an ideal solution for fitting into small spaces unobtrusively.

The sizing has been made possible because the enclosures have rotatable waveguides, enabling them to be just as easily be mounte

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USA - The redesigned Shure Incorporated website made its online debut recently with a showing of smart new graphics and an enhanced architecture. Including full product information, endorsing artist pages with exclusive backstage info, detailed product specifications, and an intuitive, easy-to-use Wireless Frequency Reference Guide, the site is a useful tool for everyone from seasoned touring pros and contractors to young musicians just starting out.

Site visitors will note that Shure.com is now organized into three primary content 'channels' - Products, Knowledge and Artists. One of the most noticeable elements within the site is its highlight of content dedicated to education and knowledge-sharing. The Solution Database found in the Knowledge channel provides in-depth answers to virtually any Shure-related question, and encourages users to add to that database by asking any qu

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India - With bases in Hong Kong and India, Light Sound Image Ltd has developed a wide portfolio of high profile pan-Asia contracts. The company is the largest international AV consultancy group in India, which creates a hectic schedule for its audio-visual consultant Ian D Harris.

However, his life has been made easier with the discovery of the BSS 9088 Soundweb networked digital matrix system, which he used for the first time recently on installations for the ITC Sheraton Hotel Group in India. LSI won a competitive tender to provide an AV solution for two Irish pubs, situated within the Sheratons in Delhi and Kolkata (Calcutta). With Irish theming, these act essentially as fun pubs, but with a dancefloor and potent sound systems.

Ian Harris was asked to support LSI's Delhi-based Systems Integration Division and programme Soundweb for the two installations. "Although I ha

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UK - Leading sound, lighting and AV designer and installer Metropolis AV and FX has completed the design, supply and install of an entire lighting, sound and AV system at the new Sports Café in Manchester.

The £1.2 million project sees the conversion of a utilitarian 1960's office block in Quay Street, central Manchester, into an 1600-capacity sports-themed environment on two levels. Facilities include bar/dining areas with a large dancefloor, a mezzanine chill-out/games area with 16 pool tables, a Team Room used for private functions and, behind a laminated glass wall but clearly visible from the street, a basketball practice area - for those wanting a bit of physical exertion mixed with their energy drinks.

The Sports Café's technical infrastructure was designed by Metropolis's Simon Harris, working directly for Sports Café. The client specifically

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UK - White Light has been appointed a UK dealer for Selecon, the New Zealand-based manufacturer of stage and architectural lighting equipment. The full range of Selecon's stage lighting products - including Pacific, Acclaim and Compact - are now available from White Light Sales. Enliten, the White Light Group's architectural lighting specialist, becomes a UK distributor for Selecon's Ardiis range of architectural lighting products.

White Light has been involved with Selecon's equipment for some years, supplying it when requested by lighting designers. Most notably, White Light supplied the first Pacific 80V system in the UK to David Hersey for a projected window effect in My Fair Lady, currently playing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

The addition of Selecon to White Light Sales' stock means that White Light can now offer customers lanterns from all of the major lighti

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UK - Popstars - The Rivals, the hit ITV1 show presented by Davina McCall and the latest musical success story following Pop Idol, appeared on the UK's TV screens for 10 weeks at the end of 2002. The show provided an exciting challenge for television lighting specialist RML, working with lighting designer Mike Sutcliffe, or 'Sooty', as he is otherwise known in the industry.

Sutcliffe's choice of lighting was largely determined by the set that was designed by Marcus Blee. His original thoughts were to use rope lighting in the actual set to provide lines of light, however Sutcliffe realized this to be a great opportunity to use a large number of Pulsar ChromaBanks - 65 in total. To complement the ChromaBanks, 36 ChromaPanels (which were also rope lights in the original plans) were built into the ceiling and catwalk area of the stage. Sutcliffe says these were "perfect for usin

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New Zealand - At the end of 2002, the eagerly anticipated second instalment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers, premiered in New Zealand, where the majority of the filming took place. XTA played its own part when Wellington-based Western Audio Engineering provided the sound along the red carpet at Courtenay Place in central Wellington, with an XTA SiDD at the heart of the system.

By day Courtenay Place is normally one of Wellington's busiest streets, and premier day saw over 15,000 Wellingtonians greeting the stars at this prestigious occasion. Western Audio is one of New Zealand's leading sound providers and, under the direction of Andy Craig, they provided both the people and technologies to stage this well-executed event, with two main Electro-Voice X-Array systems controlled by XTA DP226 processors, and the linking distributed system time-aligned with an additi

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UK - Live video exponent XL Video and large format projection specialist E//T//C UK worked together to create an exciting, fast-moving backdrop for the Live Arena at the 2003 Autosports Show at the NEC. They were working for event producers The PMi Partnership on this popular autosports show. Staged in the NEC's Hall 4, Autosports Live featured a breathtaking, action packed, auto stunts show highlighting the most technologically advanced racing machines in the world. Five hour-long shows a day were attended by approximately 22,500 visitors over four days.

With the arena in landscape format, and the audience placed along one of the long sides, the visual requirement was to create a dramatic 250ft wide backdrop that changed scenes and locations opposite the seating stands. Screens for XL's live video camera shoot also had to be located in optimum positions for public viewing.

PM

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UK - AV8 is a remarkable new venue situated adjacent to the mile-long runway at Kemble Airfield in Cirencester. Owner Ronan Harvey has just celebrated quite a month, having successfully negotiated for the classic Gnat jet, owned by Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour, achieved a CAA licence, enabling him to operate as a commercial airfield, and successfully converted the former fire station into his new luxury bar/restaurant.

Harvey contacted an old interior design friend, Simon Radclyffe of Radclyffe Associates, to combine an Indonesian theme with an Airfix kit leitmotif - using the fabric and large ribs to soften the vibrancy of the wonderful terracotta, yellow and dark blues, hand-painted by local artist/sculptress Joanne Walker.

Manic Street Preachers' LD, Ollie Metcalfe, provided clever theatrical dichroic trackspot lighting, controlled by Hans Beier's CAV (who also provided the Ma

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China - Music China, the international trade fair for musical instruments and services (15-18 October 2003, Shanghai) will this year be joined by ProLight+Sound Shanghai. At the same time, the organizers have announced that the show will include a British Pavilion, organized in conjunction with the UK's Music Industries Association (MIA) and Trade Partners UK.

The second Music China event is already generating great interest from manufacturers and so far over 120 companies have been confirmed as exhibitors or have made serious expressions of interest, say the organizers. The exhibition will be joined by a new international exhibition in China for the professional audio and entertainment lighting industry, ProLight+Sound Shanghai. ProLight+Sound Shanghai will be positioned as a professional marketing platform for manufacturers of sound production, broadcasting and recording equip

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UK - CSS Stellar Plc has successfully acquired the specialist audio-visual suppliers BackPorch Ltd. They have incorporated them into the event services division of the group, which also includes ARB. The CSS Stellar Group, Britain's largest independently owned sports and entertainment, events and management company, has made a few carefully targeted acquisitions as they expand their portfolio of companies. The addition of BackPorch into ARB will significantly strengthen its existing event services division; in particular, it will add both specialized equipment and staff to key areas as part of the restructuring of the company.

BackPorch, a specialist AV supplier, whose services included signal distribution, sound, and vision systems for an impressive client and event list, including Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship, Stella Artois Tennis, MTV European Music Awards and the Open

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UK - Last February, A.C. Lighting Projects Divison were awarded the contract to design, supply, and install state-of-the-art production facilities into a major new educational venue. The ultra-modern facilities include a 300-seat theatre, main hall, lecture theatre, sound studio, media centre and dance studio, fitted out with industry standard products.

The entire installation involved more than 200 product lines from industry leading manufacturers, including ETC, Strand, Aldo Ianiro, Manfrotto, Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, Soundcraft, Allen & Heath, Denon and Martin. The company provided not only the complete lighting, audio and AV systems but also bespoke solutions, by the design and installation of three multimedia control lecterns, tailored for each facility's specific requirements.

Each lectern has an integrated LCD touch-screen, offering the user access to a comprehensive

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UK - This week, the Total Production 2003 Awards were once again held in the Monarch Suite at the Hilton Metropole in London's Edgware Road. Among the evening's highlights was the appearance of Motorhead frontman Lemmy as guest presenter for the first three awards.

Over 1,200 voting forms from readers of Total Production determined the results of 16 of the 20 awards, which were variously sponsored by Rock-It Cargo, Midas, Klark Teknik, Star Hire, Martin Professional, Clay Paky, Barco, High End Systems, Shure, EFM and Chapman Freeborn.

Damon Albarn, the Blur and Gorillaz frontman made a special appearance at the lectern to pay a heartfelt tribute to tour manager Terry Coyle, who tragically died whilst on the road last November. "I'll always be looking for Terry for his support and guidance," said Albarn. "He was a good friend to me and to many people in this room

  1. Geoff Emerick & Shure win Technical Grammy
  2. New backstage forum online: The Blue Room
  3. Badly Drawn Boy draws crowds with Catalyst
  4. Stage Technologies nominated for Orange Business Awards
  5. AETTI Student Award Presentation
  6. Martin Architectural Seminar 2003
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