Business

Details
UK - Lighting Technology Projects, a member of the PAI Group of companies, has recently secured UK authorized dealership of Advanced Fiber Optics' range of products. Members of the LTP team have been to AFO's Barcelona training facility to learn about design concepts, product knowledge and installation.

The AFO range offers Dry Fusion Termination which provides a stable and optically perfect common end. High quality end fittings, using a patented termination and coupling system, mean that the products can be quickly installed. Additionally, diverse ranges of illuminators, including Halogen and Discharge, and full animation for use with harnesses in 'kit-form' for achieving effects, are available.

Terry Reeves, director of LTP, commented: "The AFO range of products will enable us to offer novel, cost-effective, low maintenance solutions in many applications where fibre opt

Details
Switzerland - Situated in idyllic surroundings at the edge of Lake Geneva and with breathtaking views of the Alps, the town of Montreux in Switzerland is a destination guaranteed to draw visitors in their masses. But while its offerings of vineyards and skiing are crowd-pullers in themselves, the famous jazz festival, held in the Montreux Centre de Congrès for two weeks each July, is one of the most popular events on the town's calendar.

While the festival features predominantly in its annual schedule, the Montreux Centre also hosts a diverse range of other events, from conferences and exhibitions, to product launches and various other concerts and festivals. Consisting of two main buildings, the older of the two recently underwent an extensive refurbishment with ETC brought on board to provide the lighting and dimming control systems.

ETC Europe's David Gray met with Didier

Details
UK - Allen & Heath has developed the PL Designer and PL Client software for the company's new DSP iDR system, enabling the user to design and operate virtual 'wall plates'. The software runs on Windows operating systems and provides the user with PC remote control of the iDR system over an Ethernet link, which can be used in place of, or in combination with, the hardware PL range of wall plates.

The PL Designer application allows the installer to configure virtual wall plates to control all the functions of the iDR system, including input and output levels, zoning facilities and paging systems, as well as triggering external systems interfacing with the iDR such as curtains, lighting, alarms, a jukebox or CD player. The installer can set the functions to be controlled by the end user and also limit certain functions that may harm the system.

The saved configuration can be ope

Details
USA - Celine Dion's spectacular new show has opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Designed by Franco Dragone, creator of some of Cirque du Soleil's most critically-acclaimed shows, A New Day is the showcase production of The Colosseum, a newly-built 4,000-seat theatre attached to Caesars Palace, which took two years to build and cost $95 million.The new show will run five days a week, 40 weeks a year, for three years.

Dion is performing on a 36 x 24 metre stage, along with her 12-piece band, 48 dancers, a mega LED screen and an impressive lighting system masterminded by Yves Aucoin, Dion's lighting designer for 14 years. Aucoin has specified 60 Stage Profile Plus SVs, the new moving body beam shapers from Clay Paky.

From the start, Aucoin saw this show as a new challenge: "We needed a more theatrical approach - one distinct from the other lighting designs used fo

Details
UK - The Stage Management Association, founded in 1954 to support and represent professional stage management in the UK, has announced that His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, formerly a production assistant at the Really Useful Group, has agreed to become patron of the organization.

"It is marvellous to have a Royal Patron who has a real knowledge of what goes on backstage," commented Sue Banner, director of the Stage Management Association and former stage manager on Starlight Express where she met His Royal Highness. "We are particularly honoured to receive this very public seal of recognition in the form of a Royal Patronage, added John Lonergan, chairman of the Association. "This should help raise public awareness of the part we play in bringing live performances to the public."

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
France - For the first time in its 110-year history, the Eiffel Tower has become a permanently illuminated landmark on the Paris skyline, following the success of the New Year's Eve Millennium celebrations in 2000.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë was guest of honour at the inaugural event on the 21 June, timed to coincide with a popular music festival in the Champs de Mars gardens surrounding the tower. At the stroke of midnight, the 500,000-strong local festival audience, together with viewers of the live broadcast from television station France 2, watched as the 1000s of light bulbs that make up the installation were turned on. The Eiffel Tower shimmered in blues and golds behind the festival stage, where the new Vari*Lite Series 3000 luminaires, mounted on a circular truss, were focused to shine on the tower, adding dynamic colour for the impressive ceremony.

The innovative z

Details
Europe - On June 28, Robbie Williams started one of this summer's most anticipated European tours. In one of the most unusual and creative set-ups seen to date, Williams will wow audiences throughout Europe's major cities.

Renowned for his quirky approach to his performances, the true Williams fan will not be disappointed by the artist's spectacular stage set this year, which was designed by Mark Fisher and built by Brilliant Stages. It features a futuristic stage backed by columns of Barco's DLite 10 LED displays, as well as a scissor-lift, supplied by Star Hire (Event Services), which raises Williams and his team of dancers into the air as part of the performance.

The show-stopping columns of Barco LED were supplied by XL Video via Blink TV. Each column is seven metres high and although hung from a railing that surrounds the stage, moves up and down, as well as coming toget

Details
Spain - Denon UK has supplied UK house aficionados MYNC Project with two Denon S-5000 single CD players for their summer party season at Cream Balearica, Ibiza. This kicked off spectacularly last week with a MYNC Project's eclectic mix utilizing their trademark 4 decks, 2 mixers, 2 FX units and the two S5000 CD players.

Whilst in Ibiza this summer, Mark Younghead and Nick Corelli (MYNC) are also organizing DJ workshops to run at the venue each afternoon before their party. Here they'll highlight the features and advantages of the Denon S-5000 in sessions that are open to the island's myriad of visiting DJs over the summer.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
USA - Entertainment Design magazine presented its annual EDDY Awards for outstanding contributions in the field of entertainment design and technology at a special 'Salute to New York Theatre' ceremony held on Friday 27 June at the John Jay College Theatre in New York. The Awards were presented in conjunction with the Broadway Lighting Master classes and the first Broadway Sound Master Classes.

The 2003 winners were set designer John Lee Beatty, projection designer Elaine McCarthy, sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, production electrician Mike LoBue, noted director Mary Zimmerman's design team (Dan Ostling, Mara Blumenfeld, T.J. Gerckens), and Theatre Projects Consultants.

Winning lighting products included City Theatrical's WDS Wireless Dimming System, Entertainment Technology's IPS Intelligent Raceway, Electronic Theatre Controls' Emphasis control system, Martin Professional

Details
UK - Last year £50 million was spent converting a former steelworks near Sheffield into the Magna science and exhibition space. In September, Tidy Events is intending to carve this huge space into seven zones, load in full colour lasers, sound and lighting, then add the world's top-name DJs to create a huge dance event catering for 5,000 clubbers.

Tidy has delivered its fair share of groundbreaking and unique events - from a 72-hour dance party in the depths of Wales to filling London's biggest dance club to capacity - and Magna 7 is set to be one of their most impressive yet.

The seven arenas will boast a myriad of sounds and styles and are divided into the Main Arena, the Face of Steel, Funky Bubble, Hardcore Bubble, Digital Entertainment Zone, Retail World, Chill-Out Zone, and the VIP Space Pod. This exclusive zone floats several storeys in the air and is accessed by a hig

Details
UK - Liverpool-based Adlib Audio supplied 21 crew and masses of sound equipment for five stages at Glastonbury 2003. Their largest system was on the Cabaret Stage, but the company also serviced the Theatre, Circus, Outside Circus and Dance and Fire Stages. Collectively, these stages embraced a range of performance genres, from conventional band set ups to comedy acts, aerial artists, fire performers, live arts and everything in between.

Immediately prior to the Glastonbury get-in, Adlib had shows with the Fun Lovin' Criminals and supplied two stages at Warwick University's summer ball, so the gear and crew from these was routed on to Glastonbury, where it was joined by more from the warehouse.

The Cabaret Tent featured a Nexo Alpha system with 6 high, 3 bass and 2 sub enclosures per side, with a Soundcraft Series 4 console FOH and a Soundcraft SM20 for monitors. This stage was

Details
Czech Republic - The 10th Prague Quadrennial - the international showcase for scenography and theatre architecture - came to a close at the Výstavišt? Exhibition Grounds in Prague on June 29. The exhibition, which first took place in 1967 and now runs every four years, represents the best ideas in the fields of scenography and theatre architecture. This year, a record-breaking 50 countries participated in the exhibition, which, over its 16 day-run, attracted nearly 20,000 visitors.

Running alongside were a series of professional conferences and meetings, including the FIRT International Theatre Conference, Transteatral international meeting of students of theatre studies, and that of the OISTAT International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians.

The exhibition itself showcased two unique projects - 'The Heart of PQ - a Cardiac Arrest to the Conve

Details
UK - Arbiter Pro Audio supplied Over Audio with JBL speaker enclosures for the main areas of Luminar Leisure's new 1,600-capacity 'Liquid' venue in Aberdeen. Over Audio has used JBL and DBX on many previous installations of all types and the Liverpool-based installer's team of engineers and technicians chose them again for this project.

Liquid Aberdeen's main room and dancing area holds approximately 1,100 people and has a huge architectural 'bulkhead' over the dancefloor containing sound and lighting equipment (the latter supplied by Design Intervention). Within the same building, the smaller upstairs room is one of Luminar's popular 'Envy' brand, aimed at the over 25s, which was also kitted out with JBL by Over Audio.

Liquid itself demanded a large volume of sound concentrated onto the main dancefloor area, so six JBL SP215-6s from the Sound Power series were specified, cont

Details
UK - Trying to match the energy and impact of Robbie Williams on-stage was never going to be easy. The creative team behind his latest 'Weekends of Mass Distraction' tour came as close as possible however with a massive automated video show to complement the set-list perfectly.

Kinesys were happy to provide the expertise and equipment necessary to control this huge undertaking. Eight columns of LED video screen had to travel around a 360° oval track, perfectly synchronized with each other. In order to ensure a high quality picture when all the screens were brought together, millimetre-precise movement was essential. The reverse sides of the screens were lined with lights and so a rotate mechanism had to be included to allow either video or lights to face the audience at any location around the track. Finally the geography of the stage dictated that the columns must be almost to

Details
UK - SARAS Technology is a new company specializing in the delivery of custom-made RF solutions to the professional audio and entertainment technology markets.

Based in Leeds and set up by brothers Dr. Ashwain and Raj Rayit, the new company has already secured orders from a number of established pro audio suppliers. As one of the first companies approached, broadcast solutions supplier Gearhouse Broadcast quickly recognized the potential of the SARAS Technology service and took full advantage, ordering a custom-designed RF distribution system for a recent episode of the BBC's 'House Call'. This system is now available for rental for other projects from Gearhouse Broadcast's Wembley office.

Gearhouse Broadcast also included a number of SARAS signal booster amplifiers in its channel list for Granada's recent 'I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!' giving SARAS an opportunity

Details
UK - Stanton has introduced the SA-3 2-channel scratch mixer and the SA-5 Professional Turntablist Mixer. Both mixers are now available from UK distributors Lamba plc and bring a host of features not normally found in their class, as well as the reliability and sound that have become Stanton hallmarks.

The SA-3's intuitive interface starts with two phono, two line and one mic input with volume and mute control, allowing for simultaneous connection of multiple turntables, CD players and a microphone. For smooth, fast mixing, each channel sports independent gain, 3-band EQ and pan controls. A full-featured cue section includes cue pan, cue select, and two headphone outputs. And DJs can further customise their mix with Reverse and Curve adjustments on all three faders.

Optimum sound quality is ensured through the SA-3 contributing to the most durable and smooth cross fader design

Details
UK - Shure Distribution UK (previously HW International) has been appointed the exclusive distributor of Sound Devices products in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Founded in 1998, US-based Sound Devices produces a range of specialized audio products for field-production, including portable audio mixers, microphone preamplifiers, computer interfaces and recorders. Designed and assembled in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, Sound Devices audio products are designed specifically for audio applications in documentary film and video production, feature film production, sports broadcasting, news-style video production, sound effects gathering, acoustical test and measurement and live music recording.

The Sound Devices range of audio products joins an impressive array of brands on offer from Shure Distribution UK, which includes Shure, QSC Audio, Phonic, PreSonus and Aviom. All these brands

Details
UK - Duran Audio UK has recently supplied four AXYS Intellivox 2b loudspeaker arrays to Surrey-based installation company Sysco for their installation at the Saga Pavilion, located in the grounds of Saga's headquarters in Folkestone. The pavilion is used for a wide range of events and will be one of the venues for the Folkestone Literary Festival later this year.

Steve Jones of the sound division of the consultancy firm, Symonds Group, recommended the AXYS Intellivox after their survey of the building back in 1999. The pavilion, in contrast to the neighbouring HQ Building, is an architectural statement built of glass and steel with a fabric tent-like roof covering. The result is a reverberant space that poses acoustic problems for its secondary use as a performing arts and corporate presentation space. The choice of Intellivox was based on their ability to control the dispersion

Details
UK - Arbiter Pro Audio and Maverick Presentation Products have recently held three separate Academy training seminars across the country to fall in line with the new department created at Maverick to provide pro audio solutions for its AV customer base. The seminars were designed to offer basic audio training, aimed at demystifying audio products to Maverick's AV customers.

Peter Morrison, audio specialist at Maverick said: "These academies are to help get audio across to a greater number of resellers in the AV market place. All too often resellers shy away from quoting audio under the impression it's too difficult to sell. This is simply not the case and we hope that the majority of people at these events will go away with a far greater understanding of how audio systems are put together. We wanted to show them that they could provide the complete package and be confident

Details
UK - Bosch Security Systems has announced what it calls a breakthrough in line array loudspeakers with the new XLA 3200 (extended Listening Area) range designed especially to create a clear, fuller sound, evenly spread over a wider area. Greater directivity means more sound is beamed towards the listening area and much less is directed towards the floor, ceiling and walls, minimizing sound reflections and thus optimizing intelligibility.

The XLA 3200 range provides a choice of three models, all fully voice-evacuation compliant (EVAC) for emergency evacuation applications. They also feature a simple new mounting procedure. In re-thinking the technology used in conventional column loudspeakers, Bosch has used advanced filtering and positioning of the loudspeaker drivers (patent pending) to give the XLA 3200 speakers greatly improved audio directivity. The state-of-the-art drivers

Details
Switzerland - For the ninth consecutive year, US-based manufacturer Shure has been chosen as the official supplier of microphones and wireless systems for the Montreux Jazz Festival. Providing nearly 50 U2 premium wireless systems and over 1,000 additional pieces of audio equipment, such as the company's venerable SM58 and KSM studio condenser mics, Shure will take the stage at numerous festival stages including the celebrated Auditorium Stravinski, Miles Davis Hall, and Casino Barriere. In addition, Shure will also be providing 24-hour, behind-the-scenes technical support for the duration of the festival.

Faced with the challenge of accurately capturing the variety of onstage performances at Montreux, Shure Europe marketing director Ron Marchant said: "With almost a decade of experience to our credit, we've carefully tailored each venue's microphone offerings to the expres

Details
China - Dynacord Hong Kong is installing a new sound system in the Ningbo Exhibition Centre, in eastern China. Ningbo is the largest commercial seaport in Zhejiang Province, and its new venue will host trade fairs as well as a new tourist attraction. With four main exhibition halls, plus one slightly smaller hall, a conference centre and six diversely equipped business centres, this is one of the largest multi-function complexes in the country.

At the heart of the sophisticated audio system is a Dynacord Promatrix System, which provides safe and precise control over 84 loudspeaker zones, 28 fire alarm inputs, four digital DPC 4520 paging stations for the main exhibition hall and the control room, a CD multiplayer controlled by the DPC 4550, four different sources of background music (selectable via a DCS 409 interface control card) and 32 amplifiers, controlled by the system and

Details
UK - The traditionally sedate world of ocean cruises is undergoing a revolution. In a move intended to attract a more youthful clientele P&O has just refitted the Arcadia, now re-named the Ocean Village, as an eclectic and vigorous entertainment centre. Central to this reorientation is an entirely new presentation concept by film director and choreographer Micha Bergese (of MBP), the man responsible for the aerial spectacular that proved the most successful and well-regarded element at the Millennium Dome. "What I've done is create a series of four events," said Bergese. "A themed narrative, like Inspector Morse, episodes of discovery, which take place over the course of a one-week cruise. Three are staged within the ship's theatre, the fourth, and arguably the most spectacular, is presented up on the main deck."

There is a strong aerial content to all four e

Details
Malaysia - D.A.S. Audio's Factor 5 loudspeakers have been installed in no less than 120 McDonalds restaurants throughout Malaysia. The compact two-way systems have been installed in 75 restaurants in the Klang Valley, with the rest located in Penang, Ipoh, Malaca and Johor.

D.A.S. Audio's distributor in Malaysia, Syarikat Instraco, was in charge of the design and installation project and found the Factors to be ideal for the requirements of the McDonalds installation. The installation of the products lasted almost three months. The Factor 5 systems handle background music and paging in the restaurants.

(Lee Baldock)

  1. E//T//C UK in The Big Read
  2. Clay Paky opens Emirates office
  3. EVO Systems motoring ahead
  4. Denon in the mix with the world's DJs
  5. L-Acoustics US appoints second wave of reps
  6. Bandit Lites at Bonnaroo
Page 599 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .