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USA - Broadway's newest musical Wicked opens this month at The Gershwin Theatre, combining a 19th century tale of wizards with a high impact rock sound from sound designer Tony Meola. Wicked concerns the untold tale of the witches of Oz, and comes to Broadway after a successful debut in San Francisco.

Directed by Joe Mantello, the show features a cast of 34 performers, with a 24-piece band, plus a new 101-slot Cadac J-Type Live Production Console, supplied by ProMix-Electrotec. The console is specified with a combination of 35 programmable stereo and mono dual-input modules, 48 standard dual-input modules, 67 motor faders and 14 groups, housed in two frames and controlled with Cadac's Sound Automation Manager (SAM) software.

Meola's hallmark is subtlety, aiming to ensure that the sound appears to come from the performer on stage rather than visible loudspeaker st

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USA - Power Plus Sound & Lighting provided audio reinforcement for the San Diego Symphony recently. Searching for a specialized microphone for Ilmar Gavilan - the Cuban-born violinist in Doc Severinsen's Latin Band - audio engineer David Leyton auditioned several mics before choosing the DPA 4061. He characterizes the reaction musicians had to the miniature condenser in a typically straightforward way: "They play for a few seconds, look up and say, 'we want to use that one'."

Leyton explains: "We need a very high quality mic to use on the strings to get more gain with pop and rock acts, and because of the high SPL this microphone can handle, it can be used in virtually any application. What's beautiful about the string mounting system is its non-invasive rubber mount that hooks onto the strings behind the bridge. A lot of violinists are hesitant to hook anything r

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Canada - The international announcement of the premier of the World Stage Design 2005 received a positive response at the 2003 Prague Quadrennial, which was held in June. So far nearly 200 designers from 33 countries have indicated plans to have their work shown at the exhibition, which is to be held in Toronto during March 2005. The organizers hope to have many more designers exhibiting by the entry deadline of 30 June 2004.

Designers can complete the entry process on the WSD2005 website, where they will find information and details of the exhibition, entry documents, they can also obtain a unique ID number and upload digital images.

The WSD2005 is a joint project of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT), the Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology (CITT), and the International Organization of Scenographers, Technicians and Architects of Theatre (OISTAT

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UK - The London fashion world turned out in force at the end of last month for the launch of Matches' eighth store in the capital, this time in trendy Notting Hill. Top models and fashion designers including Alexander McQueen rubbed shoulders with 200 guests and fashion celebrities at the event, while Matches turned to entertainment specialist Sound Division to provide the necessary DJ control equipment and audio services, including a radio link to deliver the audio across three separate stores.

Sound Division's Chris Baxter, who was responsible for designing and specifying the system, commented: "As with all of these events, providing the control equipment was the easy bit. We supplied a pair of SL1210 MK III turntables, a Pioneer DJM500 mixer, and a Denon 1800 CD player with a JBL Eon10 powered monitor. The tricky bit was cabling around the store in a discreet and tidy ma

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UK - The ISCE (Institute of Sound & Communications Engineers) enjoyed another successful Institute Day recently. The event, held in Watford 17 October, included the 2003 Warren-Barnett Memorial Lecture, given by Dr. Paul Darlington on AFILS (Audio Frequency Induction Loop Systems). Later, the Institute held its AGM and Annual Dinner, during which Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Leon Pieters of Ampetronic and E. A. H. W. 'Bill' Preedy - considered to be the Father of Voice Alarm.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Elections for the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) executive committee are set to take place during November. Employees of Full UK member companies are currently being invited to put themselves forward to play a key role in the future direction of the Association.

This is a pivotal time for PLASA as it reviews its long-term goals, and with issues such as safety, training and legislation high on the agenda, those who stand will be able to directly influence the way these aims are met, and the way in which PLASA moves forward.

Letters have been sent to all eligible members, inviting representatives to stand for the three places available, which have arisen as a result of the stepping down of long-serving members Mick Hannaford (LightProcessor), Sammy de Havilland (Deco Leisure) and Neil Darracott (Total Fabrications). If you feel you can make a positive

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UK - Architectural lighting specialist i-Vision has developed a new LED solution to meet a challenging brief for the Coffee Bar at Topshop, one of the larger retail outlets in the high profile £540m new Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham. LED strip lighting was specified by Christopher Rowell to light a series of polyester fabric sails, designed and installed by tensile fabric specialists Architen Landrell. i-Vision's Luke Dodd worked in close collaboration with Rowell to achieve the desired result. Architen's client was Cube Music, concept designers of the Coffee Bar area - a chill out space where shoppers can re-energise or just have some space away from the fray for relaxation and socialising.

The brief was for the sails to be tinted red. The problem was that nothing could hang down below a very shallow series of rafts (housing cabling and control equipment) suspended in

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Colombia - Colombian artist Juanes, currently enjoying enormous popularity, recently staged two large concerts in the cities of Neiva and Villavicencio in his home country, prior to beginning a tour of Spain. His latest album 'Un Día Normal' (A Normal Day), has sold more than a million copies around the world and he has won three Latin Grammy Awards, including the recognition as Best New Artist of the year.

Sound for the events was provided by People Sound directed by Samuel Puentes. The FOH system consisted of 32 D.A.S. Audio ST-2000 systems and 20 ST-2000 systems for the delay towers. All speakers were powered by Crest amplifiers and processed by a Dynacord digital signal processor, while a Midas Legend console was sued to mix front-of-house, while an Allen & Heath ML5000 handled monitors.

At the Neiva concert, the main PA was complemented by a front-fill system comprised o

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Russia - Moscow's world famous Bolshoi Theatre has recently installed a number of Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 and CP Color 400 projectors, adding to its existing conventional lighting system. The theatre's lighting designer, Damir Ismagilov, explains how the new fixtures were integrated into the existing rig: "The Stage Zoom 1200s are often used with other theatre lights, in performances or scenes requiring up to 1,000 lights per scene. However, they are even more characteristic on their own, when creating contrasting lighting effects, for instance. These new professional moving body projectors offer a designer so much more creative freedom - I can change the direction of light far more quickly and precisely during a performance, but the most important thing is that Stage Zoom 1200 is also extremely powerful! For example, in the 'Patibolo' scene from the opera Khovanshchina<

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UK - Newmarket Nights - Friday evening meetings with live concerts featuring popular bands and entertainers - have become a leadin attaraction of the summer season at the UK's world-renowned racecourse, Newmarket. The concerts, which draw in sizeable audiences, are organized and managed by Liz Hobbs Events Management, which looks after entertainment events at racecourses up and down the country.

For this year's Newmarket Nights, Liz Hobbs approached LiteStructures to provide the stage, lighting and sound. Having taken LiteStructures on board to build a set for Status Quo's performance at Newmarket last year, Hobbs decided that it would be able to provide exactly the type of permanent stage she required for the five-week duration. Martin Featherstone, LiteStructures' sales executive for the Midlands explains: "Liz Hobbs came to us with the brief of providing her with a stage

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Brazil - One of Brazil's most successful bands, Chiclete com Banana (literally 'chewing gum and banana'), has recently a Midas Heritage 1000 mixing console as part of its powerful mobile PA set-up. The 'Trio Eletrico' in which the console is installed is a development unique to Brazil and a concept that Chiclete com Banana helped to formulate.

Midas's Brazilian distributor, Henry Spong of Libor (honoured with a lifetime achievement award from Klark Teknik at the recent distributor conference in Italy), explained: "Chiclete com Banana are legends in the Brazilian music scene. They've been going since 1980 and, many gold and platinum discs later, are just as popular now. The band were keen to find a way to bring their music to the people and so ended up being key elements in the development of the modern 'Trio Eletrico' which is essentially a large truck with a stage mounted

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UK - Entec Sound & Light has launched a visual/video division with the purchase of a RADlite digital media server from Projected Image Digital. This will go into immediate use on the forthcoming Jools Holland tour, specified by LD Simon Honnor.

Entec's Noreen O'Riordan says that apart from its immediate use on the Jools tour, they also picked RADlite to add another element to their expanding range of LED fixtures - which includes the - James Thomas Pixelline - as it runs their Pixeldrive control software. "All those associated with RADlite - David March at Projected Image Digital and Simon Carter and Emma Long from IRAD - were incredibly helpful, and took time answering all our questions at PLASA," she said.

At PLASA, LD Dave Byars (Blur) gave an impressive hands-on demo of Pixeldrive in action on the James Thomas Stand, and talked over his own show experiences of us

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UK - The Mirror Mirror Ball is one of the annual fund-raising events underwritten and primarily sponsored by high street retailer Next. This year's event was in aid of The Healing Foundation, and was held, as usual, at the Grosvenor House in London. Rick Bailey of RMPA was responsible for the Electro-Voice XLC PA system which carried the performances of Bryan Ferry, Liberty X and Robbie Williams' Swing Band to the furthest corners of the Great Room, and the 1000-plus dinner guests.

The event was notable for its comprehensive use of the latest Electro-Voice RE-1 microphones. FOH engineer Rick Bailey said: "We used the EV mics exclusively, the 767 heads are brilliant, offering far more separation and definition than other well-known models, also the RE-1s are very easy to set up; even with 20 channels of RF in the room, including eight IEM systems, the ClearScan softwa

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UK - Large format projection specialist E//T//C UK supplied two different corporate events at London's Billingsgate old fish market with widescreen projections. Both events, which were staged on concurrent evenings, were produced by GSP. The first, titled the Emerging Markets Ball featured a Brazilian theme, and the second, the Swaps Ball, was a fantasy theme involving Billingsgate, fish and 17th century London life. Scrolling artwork for both was created by E//T//C UK's Ross Ashton and Paul Chatfield.

The two PIGI 6kW projectors were positioned on 'the Bridge' of the venue, which partially separates the main hall into two halves. They were beaming onto a 25m wide by 7m high screen and soft-edged down the middle. Two video windows were incorporated in the artwork to allow logos and video images to be dropped into the panoramic montage.

Artwork for both shows was loaded into bo

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UK - Leading pro lighting and audio sales specialist Stagetec UK and its sister distribution company have moved into new, larger premises in Bracknell, Berkshire. The companies' new address and contact details are: Stagetec UK Ltd, 9 Bilton Industrial Estate, Lovelace Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 8YT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)870 224 7808, fax: +44 (0)870 224 7818. E-mail and web details are given below.

The move addresses the need for more space and the recent expansion of the team. The purpose-built unit is being customized for Stagetec to meet the growing demands of its business and workflow. The site includes a large, open prep area for equipment to be tested and set-up before being dispatched for installation or sale, and dedicated areas for both the audio and lighting elements of Stagetec's business, plus large demonstration and training areas. The offices are also designed and

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UK - The Cross Keys in Yarm, Cleveland, recently under new ownership, has emerged from a comprehensive refurbishment as one of the most stylish and contemporary pub/club venues in the north-east. The Grade II-listed public house has been given its technical make-over by Music Marketing Services, which has installed new lighting and Martin Audio sound systems throughout.

Pete Varey of Music Marketing Services, who installed a Martin Audio Blackline PA system upstairs in the Cross Keys' nightclub, explained: "It was entirely the client's choice; they'd heard a system at a club in Middlesborough and wanted one for themselves." Four F15 high-performance compact two-way cabinets are flown above the new flashing dancefloor, with two S218 sub-bass bins built into the walls below the mid/high cabinets. Eight ultra-compact EM26 boxes provide infill.

Downstairs in the Keys Bar

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Germany - The 'Deutsche Oper am Rhein' in Düsseldorf has modernized its lighting equipment with transtechnik Lichtsysteme. Düsseldorf Opera House used their summer break this year to realize phase two of their modernization process and expand the lighting control system in both the stage and front of house. With moving lights, colour changers and dry-ice machines now an established part of theatre life - no longer confined to the traditional realm of rock concerts - Düsseldorf's goal was to have as much flexibility as possible in their Ethernet/DMX control network. At the heart of the new lighting control system lie two transtechnik Lichtsysteme Prisma NT consoles and the intuitive Libra operating system controlling the moving lights and colour changers. The new solution also features a 24.3" TFT channel monitor and a Digiplus digital auxiliary console for the programmable

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UK - Major rental company Knight International has added Coemar Pro series 575 yokes to its hire fleet, as well as a batch of Hungaroflash strobes and Antari X series effects machines, all supplied by Kent-based distributor Coemar UK.

The Chelmsford-based company has a heavy and varied workload, with a busy wet hire programme and a burgeoning cross-hire arrangement with another Coemar-based house, Terry Tew Sound & Light. Aside from servicing a number of one-off spectaculars, Knight International is also prominent in the Asian market.

Proprietor Phil Knight told us: "Coemar are a good investment for us because of their competitive pricing and good optics. Scanning mirror technology has had its day and there are certain things we need out of moving yoke systems, mainly price and reliability. I have known the people at Coemar UK for many years, and once we had evaluated the

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UK - Following the successful launch in 2003 of the first ever Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence, created to celebrate best practice within museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions, plans are now well underway for the 2004 event. The organizer of the Awards, the Museums & Heritage Show Ltd, have announced support from Dulux and The Independent newspaper for 2004. The new partnership will ensure next year's winners receive both industry acclaim and wider public recognition.

Taking place from 12-13 May 2004 at Earls Court, to coincide with the opening of the Museums & Heritage Show, the 2004 Awards will also include two new categories to ensure all areas of the industry have the opportunity to contribute. With a host of UK-based contractors and suppliers working on exciting projects throughout the world, the new Award for Excellence Overseas, supported by UK Trad

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UK - Synelec UK has appointed London-based Net-Logix as a new trading partner. With headquarters in the city, Net-Logix offer 25 years combined experience in the IT industry, with particular emphasis on dealing room applications and command and control centres. They offer a range of professional IT services designed to increase the operational efficiency of financial and investment institutions.

Head of Synelec UK, Steve Murphy, said: "We have been very impressed with the company and the combined experience of the personnel in offering turnkey solutions for control room applications.

Net-Logix MD, Adam Clark said: "We look forward to a long and successful trading relationship with Synelec UK, it is important for them to have a strong partnership in the UK and we believe we can offer that. We have been designing command and dealing rooms for a number of years and with

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UK - Explosive 'skarcore' band, Capdown are a Milton Keynes-based foursome whose mix of ska, hardcore, reggae and punk tunes has gained the band a massive following. Their recent month-long, sold out UK tour featured support from XTA's Series 2 processors.

Front-of-house engineer Wayne Hyde commented: "We were playing small to medium-sized UK rock venues, mostly using the in-house PA systems, I was therefore at the mercy of whatever each venue gave us. For some shows there was a separate monitor desk, but on the smaller gigs I had to mix monitors from FOH."

Hyde needed a four-way monitor system on stage ("suitably loud", he says) and then the house PA and relevant FOH mixing desk with standard outboard racks. Hyde commented: "We carry all our own A-T microphones, live 'mastering' gear and the XTA dynamics. I have two of XTA's G2s [four channels of gate

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UK - The Observer newspaper celebrated the launch of its new glossy music magazine at Dave Stewart's recently opened and much-heralded multimedia music facility in Covent Garden, the Hospital. The launch of the Observer Music Monthly, attended by 800 music luminaries and members of the press, was the first event to be hosted by the Hospital Group, and was thus an inspired choice of venue for the Observer. The event's organizers turned to Sound Division, who have since become the Hospital's preferred audio supplier, to specify and provide all the necessary control, sound and staging equipment.

It was important to get everything absolutely right for an event of this nature. Sound Division's Chris Baxter, who designed the system, commented: "There was a huge amount riding on this launch for everyone concerned. Knowing how much money has been spent on this venue, all eyes were

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UK - Creative Technology was the sole technology provider for Sub Postmaster 2003 (the annual Post Office and Convenience Retailing Show) at Wembley Exhibition Centre this month. The lighting design, by CT's project manager Rob Merilees, made extensive use of LED lighting technology using the new Color Blast 12 fixture by Color Kinetics (CT is the first company in the UK to stock the units).

The Color Blast resembles a 12" x 6" flat panel and utilizes high output LEDs to project a 21° soft edged beam. Merilees said: "The RGB colour mixing enabled us to provide an exact colour match for the client's Pantone references."

The main feature of the stand was the walk-through tunnel, which ran the full width of the stand and was dominated by vibrant slowly fading colour changes from the Color Blasts, with graphic displays on the 10 plasma screens. The canopy feat

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UK - Pearce Hire promoted its three specialist divisions, united as a production package, to event organizers at this year's Showman's Show. The three divisions - audio, lighting and temporary power - have invariably worked independently, or in various combinations at events over the years. The new package will now combine the specialist skills and equipment of the three divisions.

The company believes that event organizers will experience improvements in efficiency if they deal with a single contractor supplying these three key areas of production, as it gives one point of contact for the client, maximising co-ordination between the services on site. Secondly, clients will experience reduced production costs through economies such as transport and crewing levels.

Pearce Hire's owner, Shaun Pearce commented: "We have been surprised at various shows this year by organizers

  1. Schuster Performing Arts Center opts for EAW
  2. Pulsar Chromabanks with Russell Crowe
  3. Trantec's PT1 offers broadcast sound on the move
  4. UK Trade & Investment - new identity for trade support
  5. XTA D2 exposes the dynamics of Mis-Teeq
  6. Stage Electrics at Pantene Pro-V Style Awards
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