UK - Wigwam Acoustics has recently acquired four BTR 700 radiocom wireless intercoms systems from London-based UK distributor Orbital Sound. Adding the systems into their hire stock, Wigwam has increased their potential to offer seamless on-site communications. Wigwam was a major supplier to the Golden Jubilee Celebrations where they gained their first experience of the BTR 700 system. Since then the systems have been deployed extensively on a wide variety of large-scale events across Europe and Internationally.

Geoff Muir commented: “The BTR 700 is a very powerful and versatile tool and is ideal for any type of production from theatre, to festivals, corporate and broadcast applications, it allows the production team to communicate in real time and quite simply promotes seamless operations on- site. Since we took the product on-board it’s been continually out on hire

UK - Cafeteria, one of London’s new eateries, has turned to Sound Division, to specify, supply and install its audio equipment. Sound Division’s audio design team, David Graham and Elliot Patterson, opted for a Crown-powered JBL system based primarily on JBL Control 29AV loudspeakers.

“Although it’s not a massive system, the keyword here was quality,” explained Graham. “The client wanted a high quality system that would cruise from background to foreground levels with the minimum of effort, and the flexibility to zone the system as required with remote, independent level control.”

To that end Sound Division supplied a total of six JBL Control 29AVs for the restaurant area downstairs with four more gracing the cocktail lounge upstairs. These are supplemented by four JBL Control 23s in the entrance area and four Control 24C ceiling speak

France - The city of Angers in the Loire Valley of France is famous for its 12th century cathedral, 13th century castle and the Tapestry of the Apocalypse. Now, Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC), working with Architecture Studio, has won the contract to design a new theatre for the city, which it's hoped will attract just as much attention.

Working for the City of Angers with a budget of 24,000,000 Euros, it's not the first time TPC has joined forces with the Paris-based architects: the company was appointed last year to design an arts facility in Athens and a new theatre in Bahrain.

Work started in March on the new building, which will cover an area of 8000sq.m. TPC's Mark Stroomer and Gavin Green have designed two auditoriums - a 900-seat proscenium theatre, which will adapt to a 600 seater for drama and music events and a smaller studio theatre with a capacity of 300 - 40

Hong Kong - Stage Technologies has announced that it has been awarded the contract to refurbish the flying system at the Grand Theatre in Hong Kong Cultural Centre. A servo motor powered counterweight assist installation will be controlled using the company’s Nomad consoles.

The inauguration of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 1989 marked a new era in the development of performing arts in Hong Kong. Still highly relevant today, the centre attracts an array of world-class performances, from concerts and operas to experimental theatre and musicals.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

Germany - Sennheiser is sponsoring aviator Polly Vacher MBE’s latest trans-global charity flight. The company has contributed financially and by supplying the Sennheiser Aviation headsets worn by Vacher on this flight. Her penultimate stop is Hanover, home of Sennheiser, where a warm welcome awaits in early 2004.

Polly Vacher MBE has trained as a music teacher, physiotherapist, sky diver and more, this is her second flight round the world. Sennheiser has supplied the HMEC 25KA flight communications headset, a compact lightweight design that is fully adjustable and ideal for extended use. Vacher commented: "The HMEC 25KA is the only headset I have tried that is female friendly, and it is worth noting that over 25 percent of all pilots are women."

HRH Prince Charles attended the departure ceremonies where he was introduced to Vacher, the team and some of her spo

USA - The International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) has accepted a permanent seat on Entertainment Services and Technology Association’s (ESTA) new Certification Council - the governing body that will manage the development and implementation of a new industry-wide certification program for entertainment technology technicians.

IAAM president Joe Floreano, CFE, has appointed Don Hancock, Ph.D., CAE, IAAM’s director of education, research and development, as their representative to the Council.

The ESTA Certification Council will represent the diversity of the industry. Members will include key leaders in entertainment business, labor, facilities, associations, and academia. ESTA is in the process of extending invitations for Certification Council membership. IATSE, (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), and USITT, (the United States In

UK - Pro audio distribution company Autograph Sales has been appointed as an executive agent for Midas, as part of the manufacturer's reshuffle of its UK distribution. Autograph has also rejoined the Klark Teknik fold by becoming a dealer for its product range once again.

Midas' new executive agent principle applies to its large format consoles, excluding Venice. The company believes that its new network of agents will add value to the sale in terms of part exchange, payment plans, by attracting a new market sector or from the benefit of having an established relationship with the client. "UK rental companies and installers now have access to consoles at 'commercial user' rate," explains Midas sales manager for the UK, Richard Ferriday. "Factory-approved executive agents are authorized to negotiate sales on behalf of Midas, but there is no stocking commitment, and

Germany - Skan PA Hire was recently appointed by production company Exposure Ltd to design, install and operate all the audio systems for Levi's massive 150th year celebration which took place at the Postbahnhof, a former train maintenance depot in Berlin. Skan director Chris Fitch worked closely with production manager Matt Ringer to agree a system design for all areas of the event including the exhibition, fashion show, dance and performance areas.

The unusual dimensions of the venue presented a particular challenge for Skan when designing the sound system - the building is 160m by 20m, curved and very reverberant. The system design was further complicated by the limited strength of the roof structure. Added to the challenges presented by the building, Exposure's specification called for the system to provide flexibility and zoning as the Postbahnhof needed dedicated systems f

UK - Big screen video entertainment specialists Blink TV kicked off another busy summer season - their fourth year - of Party In The Park-style festivals, with events in Southampton (with Power FM) and Reading (with 2-Ten FM) at the weekend.

These are the first of a dozen such events, where Blink is supplying full video production and collaborating with various local radio stations owned by the UK's two biggest radio groups - Capital and GWR. The Southampton event was headlined by boyband-of-the-moment Busted, and featured Blazin' Squad, Mel C, Girls Aloud, Cheeky Girls, DJ Sammy, Mis-teeq and Billy Crawford. The back-to-back performances were punctuated by presentation slots, featuring DJs from the hosting radio station and advertising breaks, during which Blink ran its specially tailored footage.

Blink is responsible for sourcing video screens, cameras and a PPU for all the

Australia - Two of Australia's major audio companies, Johnston Audio and McLean Audiohave announced the formation of a new audio company, Johnston McLean Audio creating a new force in the Australian audio industry, which will have an inventory including Nexo, EAW and Martin speakers and Midas and Yamaha consoles.

Johnston Audio has grown steadily since 1985 and has become a major supplier of audio production, especially in the band touring, festival and dance markets. Bruce Johnston, himself an internationally known sound engineer with world tours for Oasis and more recently Silverchair under his belt, has steered Johnston Audio to providing services that would more than satisfy any local or visiting international act. "As an engineer, I know how important it is to have things just right and I have always tried to apply that philosophy to Johnston Audio. Merging with McLean

UK - Back with a bang from the 1980s, Erasure's The Other Tour started in the US in March to rave reviews and continued in the UK through May and June. FOH engineer Martin Hildred is mixing front-of-house using a Yamaha DM2000 digital console and a d&b C4 PA system provided by Encore. The band played a variety of venues with stars Andy Bell and Vince Clarke fronting this revival of their glory years. The impressive set is pure bedsit-land, with the exception of some outrageous costumes for Andy Bell.

Bell's distinctive voice has graced numerous top-ten hits with Erasure, but according to Hildred, it can be a bit of a handful live. "Andy's voice has real dynamics to it, but it is so vital to the Erasure sound I needed to keep it manageable in the mix without losing any presence." Hildred specified four channels of XTA's SiDD DP324 (Seriously Intelligent Digital Dynamics

UK - LAMDA, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, has sold its base on Cromwell Road, near Earls Court, to move to the old Royal Ballet School venue just up the road on Talgarth Road, near Hammersmith.

As an ex-ballet school, the five rehearsal studios in LAMDA's new building have dancers' mirrors around the walls, which are not ideal for acting classes. However, Luke Rittner, chairman of the board at LAMDA, recognised that the mirrors were not something to simply rip out, they render the rehearsal spaces multi-functional and add to the potential opportunities for renting/selling-on of the building.

To conceal the mirrors, Rittner called in Triple E to design and install a track system to enable the curtains to be drawn or opened easily. The tracks had to be unobtrusive yet strong enough to withstand being swung on! The solution was 180m of Triple E's E66 track throug

UK - London-based Orbital has recently expanded and refurbished its Brixton based HQ and announced the launch of a distinct but complementary division - Fixit. Fixit offers a 24/7 maintenance service contract for out-of-house installations and productions as well as a comprehensive repairs facility for all audio and comms equipment. The repair facility benefits from new technical workshops and a huge investment in the latest test equipment.

Fixit offers a new concept in maintenance and back up for venues as diverse as theatres, live entertainment venues, places of worship, bars and clubs, council chambers and leisure parks. As a brand new service division, Fixit aims to remove the inconvenience of in-house repairs and the need to stock spare parts, and is aimed at AV and audio rental companies.

Over the past decade Orbital's in-house technical support team, headed jointly by D

Greece - Between Acropolis and Lycabetus Hill in the historical center of Athens, the first QSC AcousticDesign AD-S82H surface-mount loudspeakers have been installed in the Acai club/restaurant. QSC's AD-S82H speakers employ a 2-way design that incorporates an 8" weatherproof, LF transducer coupled with a 1" exit compression HF driver.

Although the AcousticDesign Series may be new, the well-known name and reputation of QSC convinced the owners of Acai - one of the oldest and finest venues in the area - to upgrade the loudspeaker system they purchased just last year to the AD-S82H enclosures. For power amplification, Acai's owners elected to stay within the QSC product line and chose the company's popular PLX 2402.

Thus, eight AD-S82Hs, mounted on QSC's revolutionary IntelliDock AD-ID8 intelligent mounting system, were installed in a semi-open terrace, powered by a pa

Monaco - The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the highlights of the Formula 1 season, and this year's race witnessed Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya clinch only the second win of his career in what was also an end to the Williams team's 20-year barren spell at the track. Adding to the race goers' experience, the action was relayed on a number of Lighthouse LED screens.

French audio-visual company Lumison, under the direction of their chief technician, Pierre Heyligen, supplied a total of four Lighthouse screens to Automobile Club de Monaco. The largest screen, 120 panels of LVP2056 in a 12 x 10 configuration, measuring a total of 150sq.m, was situated at the treacherous right hand bend of St Devote supported by a custom-built scaffold structure.

Two screens, each16 panels of LVP2056, were placed in front of the new seating area at the rear of the pit lane and a further 13 panels in f

UK - Shoppers in London's King's Road are experiencing the UK's first on-street 'Whispering Windows'. People walking by the Sloane Square window of the Peter Jones store, are stepping into a virtual 'tube of sound'. The store, known as the Corner Shop of Chelsea, has been selected for the first public demonstration of the new technology.

FeONIC Whispering Windows have been developed by Newlands Scientific plc and enables sound from the in-store display, on this occasion state-of-the-art TV and Plasma screens, to be transmitted via the window glass to the street. FeONIC Whispering Windows has already been successfully launched in America, Korea and Japan.

Newlands Scientific is an innovation and design company specializing in the design of products using smart materials. The company has transformed the Peter Jones' window into a giant loudspeaker transmitting high quality soun

UK - The Morrison Irish pub on the King's Road in London is one of the latest venues to benefit from a complete AV system designed and installed by contract specialists, Sound Division. Like most Irish pubs, The Morrison is a lively venue where music, including the ability to host live bands, is a key element of the venue's character.

Sound Division's audio design team along with The Morrison's Stephen Breen, specified a Martin Audio system, powered by Crown amplification. The pub is split into two areas, the bar and the lounge, each of which has it's own system comprising of four Martin Audio EM26 compact loudspeakers and an EM150 sub powered by Crown amplification. Control comes courtesy of an Allen and Heath DR66 digital mix processor.

Music playback is handled by a Rolec LHD3 music management system that delivers continuous automatic playback of CD quality audio, which ca

China - Asian dealers and distributors of some of Europe's leading pro audio and lighting brands have signed up to participate in the debut Prolight+Sound Shanghai exhibition (15-18 October 2003). For Chinese pro audio and lighting retailers, rental companies, sound system engineers, DJs, broadcasters, event organizers and venue operators, Prolight+Sound Shanghai will offer an alternative sourcing venue right at the heart of China's entertainment capital, and a demonstration of the premium foreign-made equipment that is available for export to China.

Hong Kong-based Eastern Acoustic Development Ltd (EAD) distributes more than 16 European and US brands, including EAW and LabGruppen. "We decided to join Prolight + Sound Shanghai primarily because of the show's location," explains EAD representative, Grace Ng. "We are planning to open a branch in Shanghai later this

South Africa - In May this year, The National Ports Authority of South Africa (NPA) hosted the 23rd International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) World Conference in Durban, South Africa - Gearhouse SA was engaged by Global Conferences to supply the audio-visual and other equipment necessary for this event.

This is the first time in the IAPH's 46-year history that this prestigious biennial Maritime conference was held on African soil. More than 14 countries confirmed their participation in the conference, which was held from 24 - 30 May at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Durban. The theme was: 'Ports - The Catalytic Impact: Uniting World Economies through Ports and Harbours', the conference aims to facilitate discussion and debate among the world's port community.

Belinda Loockx, branch manager of Gearhouse SA Durban branch, says she and her team were &qu

UK - The Royal Opera House (ROH), London has recently expanded its automated lighting rig, making White Light Sales its supplier of choice. The Royal Opera House's purchasing has seen it add nine Martin MAC 2000 performance spotlights and seven Vari-Lite VL1000AS spotlights to its equipment stock. This adds to the comprehensive stock of automated lighting, including City Theatrical Auto-Yokes and custom fixtures created by installing Arri 4kW HMI fresnels in Licht Technik Yokes, which White Light Sales and The Moving Light Company have supplied to the ROH in recent years.

David Harvey, a lighting manager at the ROH commented: "When we started specifying automated equipment for the House during the refurbishment, we knew that we would need a unit offering shuttering facilities in our overhead rig. At the time nothing was really available, however, lighting designers had inc

UK - The McKenzie Group Ltd (MKG) announced yesterday the acquisition of its seventh live concert venue, and third site in London. The Group has successfully concluded negotiations and agreed terms with Administrators BDO Stoy Haywood and landlords Delancey on the North London venue, formerly trading as the Marquee Club in the N1 Centre, Islington, for an undisclosed sum.

MKG currently owns and operates London's award-winning Shepherd's Bush Empire and five other Carling Academy live music/club venues in Brixton (London), Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Liverpool. The group also owns Bar Academy in Birmingham City Centre.

Commenting on the purchase, MKG managing director John Northcote told PLASA Media: "The first venue I opened was The Borderline back in 1988 and it's great to be opening a small venue again. The Empire has a capacity of 2,000 and Brixton's is 4,700; s

UK - July 2003 sees the opening of Laser Quest, Trafford Centre, Manchester. Destined to be one of the world's best Laser Quest centres, the venue boasts many new interactive features and a Wharfedale EVPS sound system. The new Laser Quest attraction will be operated by an independent company, Blue Maze. Keith Finnegan, company director, has been overseeing the build and theming process, including the installation of the sound reinforcement system.

"Although the venue is fairly well sound-proofed," he explains, "we do have to give consideration to the neighbouring units in the Centre, one of which is the multiplex cinema. Although we wanted a quality sound system, with a decent output level, we needed loudspeakers with fairly tight focus and dispersion so that our soundtrack didn't spill over into other venues."

Blue Maze sought advice at Sound Control in M

Russia - When Sir Paul McCartney gave his memorable concert in Moscow's Red Square on 24 May, ESS were right there with him, providing the staging, roof and towers. "It took seven days to rig the stage and peripherals, but only two to de-rig," said John Hetherton, ESS crew chief. "As well as our own team, we worked with a large local crew who operated cranes and fork lifts," continued Hetherton, "and we had a team of five interpreters, although many of the Russian crew spoke English."

Besides the stage and roof, ESS built two towers joined together, each with eight crow's nests, and two 25m high delay towers, 60m distance from the stage. Working in Russia was no more difficult than working in other countries, says Hetherton: "I've worked there before and there's no doubt it's getting better." The heat was the crew's biggest problem. "

Canada - Matt Stoody has joined Fourth Phase, PRG's Toronto subsidiary, as account executive. Working out of PRG's Fourth Phase Toronto location, Stoody will sell and manage all Group services - including lighting, audio, projection and scenery - to new and existing accounts throughout the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada.

Prior to joining PRG, Stoody played key sales and operations roles in projects as diverse as last year's Papal visit to Toronto (World Youth Day 2002), Disney's The Lion King and concert tours by Alabama and Styx.

Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of PRG, commented: "Matt's background and experience with a broad range of clients and markets will help PRG and its affiliates to further expand their presence in vitally important markets such as automotive shows, corporate events and trade shows."

(Ruth Rossington)

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