Business

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USA - VLPS Lighting Services is providing the lighting and production services for singer Josh Groban's first international tour. Since his debut in 2001, Groban has successfully crossed over to the pop charts from the opera and classical markets. The 40-plus-date tour, promoting his second studio album, "Closer," begins today at Boise, Idaho, and is already sold-out.

Lighting designer Anne Militello worked closely with director Daniel Ezralow, set designer Bruce Rodgers, and projection designer Amy Shock to create a show concept and concert style for a new artist who has never toured before. "This was definitely a more formal presentation than a loosely-based concept," commented Militello. "The look is clean, precise, and all the lights and truss are in straight lines producing a very simple and formal look. The scenery is very basic, employing mainly

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UK - ShowCAD's Artist has recently been installed as the architectural lighting controller for the gymnasium in the latest Amida Health Club in Hampton, near Twickenham, by Atmospheric Ltd, a leading entertainment, media and lighting solutions provider for the health and fitness leisure industry.

Artist has been commissioned to control the Atmospheric installation of the Brown Box AV product, Colorflow - a 1.5m long three-channel DMX-controlled RGB cold-cathode uplighter. Over 150 Colorflow units were utilized in this latest installation, enabling the projection of both full colour washes and more intricate multi-coloured effects over the roof of the venue.

Artist was employed for this task because of its built-in matrix functions not found on many other controllers, making programming such large matrices extremely easy. Lines, chases, cascades, washes, rainbows and many other

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UK - Creative Laser Services purchased 130 Alkalite Octopod 30 LED colour changers from distributors Lighting Effects Distribution - and built them into the stage set at London Weekend Television (LWT) for Graham Norton's recent Channel 4 series, V Graham Norton. Richard Jarvis says the production team at So Television wanted to incorporate some visual excitement into the walkway down which the guests are escorted - and so he suggested Octopod: "We demoed the product for them on set and they liked the fact that Octopod could change colour and run chases. There are a lot of LED products now on the market but we like Octopod for its price and reliability."

His company is also starting to use Octopod 30s in its club installation work - recently fitting 64 pieces into Mercy in Norwich. Octopod 30 is an eight-head distributed intelligent LED colour-chasing system and

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UK - Mute Records' in-house recording studio, The Instrument, has teamed up with FX Rentals to provide flexible location recording packages for commercial hire. The package comes complete with highly experienced engineers to operate and oversee the equipment and carry out the project through to a professional stereo or 5.1 live mix in the studio.

"We've always recorded our own artists live, with 5.1 mixes, live albums, downloads and extra tracks in mind," says MJ, who heads up The Instrument. "Once we started achieving quality results we realized that if it worked for us, it would work for other record companies. One of the key reasons we teamed up with FX is because they are so adaptable and reliable, meaning we can tailor the set-up to each gig, and know the equipment will always be of the highest quality."

FX Rentals and Mute have enjoyed a close relatio

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The Netherlands - DPA Microphone's Dutch distributor TransTec provided long-term client Vanderlinden Geluid with a small but crucial order of components from the Danish manufacturer's range recently. Vanderlinden, which specializes in specifying and hiring music PA systems, was contracted for nine sold-out performances of the opera 'Amadeiro', staged to celebrate the 121st anniversary of the annual Oeteldonk carnival in 's-Hertogenbosch. As the opera was being produced on a budget, a twin mic solution using one beltpack was agreed upon, creating the need for a flexible mounting solution.

Vanderlinden constructed eight specially designed mounting devices capable of holding two microphones instead of the standard single one. This enabled each of eight choir members to be mounted with two DPA 4061 miniature microphones in a PZM configuration, one chest-worn and the other positioned

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USA - Between 29 January and 1 February 2004, the new Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles will host an exciting collaboration between the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the internationally acclaimed Théàtre de Complicité. Entitled Strange Poetry: Berlioz and the Chemistry of Dreams, the piece has been created as a collaboration between Complicité and the orchestra following an invitation to Complicité from the orchestra's music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen. The show is based around the orchestra's performance of two of Berlioz's works, Lélio and the Symphonie Fantastique.

As in their acclaimed show The Elephant Vanishes, the Complicité team have opted to incorporate video projection into the new show, working with Canadian video designer Francis Laporte, perhaps best known for his work with Cirque du Soleil on their show

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UK - Stagetec Distribution has supplied the recently released Compulite Vector lighting console to lighting operator Bill Peachment for the BBC's new Top of the Pops. Vector, say Compulite, is the first Lighting Workstation that lets the operator work the way they want to work. It has a dual processor system which provides the operator with a user-friendly windows environment to work in, while ensuring optimum stability and speed.

Lighting director Dave Davey says: "Returning to TOTP, I was keen to ask Bill Peachment to work as my assistant on the show and to take control of the automated lighting operation. Bill and I had a discussion about the best way of controlling and programming large rigs of lights of all types and as always my main concern was to achieve good results quickly and efficiently. Bill suggested we try the Vector. Having used Compulite Sparks, Microns and

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UK - Now a popular venue for product launches and functions, Hangar One, part of the Aviator Hotel, is a converted World War II aircraft hangar overlooking the busy grass runways of Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire, one of the finest airfields in the country. The refashioning of the hangar into a conference venue included the installation of a Martin Audio sound system, designed and fitted by Middlesex Sound & Lighting.

Originally, the building consisted of three smaller hangars, built in 1941 to house planes used to train RAF pilots. Soon after, it was demolished and reconstructed as a single large blister hangar, with an all-metal frame.

"Acoustically, the hangar presents some difficulties," explains Lance Bromhead of Middlesex Sound & Lighting. The main hall is 110ft x 70ft with a ceiling height of 19ft in the centre and 8ft at the sides. "Together with

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UK/USA - In a co-production with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, directed by Neil Armstrong, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd made his debut on the stage of the Royal Opera House in December last year. Finishing its run last week, it has had mixed fortunes, with the critics having given it a bashing on both sides of the Atlantic, firstly questioning whether Sweeney Todd is in fact an opera at all, and secondly whether it is appropriate for it to be gracing the stages of two of the mostly highly-revered opera houses in the world.

Critics aside, audiences were not deterred and the production played to packed houses for the majority of its run, with Brian Thompson's set design appearing to receive praise from all quarters. The play opens to a large cage, whose interior swiftly adapts to be a town square, a barber shop, a Victorian parlour or a lunatic asylum

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Italy / China - Italian manufacturer Proel Sound Reinforcement has appointed Dah Chong Hong Ltd, based in Hong Kong, as its exclusive distributor for the territories of Hong Kong, China and Macao. The agreement was reached by Proel's export manager Roberto Mataloni and DCH sales manager Patrick Lau. Proel's chairman, Fabrizio Sorbi and Dah Chong Hong's general manager Kelvin Hui, have now signed the official contract of distribution.

"We are pleased to welcome Dah Chong Hong in our distribution network," said Mataloni, "their professional reputation in the industry is highly recognized, as well as their image and presence in the Chinese market. We feel Proel Sound Reinforcement will gain a greater impact in the territories where DCH will operate".

The two companies have also agreed on the participation at the next Beijing Calm Show 2004, with a dedicated Pr

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UK - PA Installations (PAI) and i-Vision have collaborated to design, specify and install a dynamic LED lighting scheme for Cardiff's 'Tower of Light' at the new Millennium Plaza entertainment complex. The Tower of Light is a six-storey, glass block stairwell, designed by architects The Burgess Partnership, and built by Taylor Woodrow Construction, and the illumination is part of a brief to ensure that Millennium Plaza becomes a modern 'destination' venue, and a local landmark.

The idea was to create an illuminated beacon to act like a magical, 21st century lighthouse, radiating interest and drawing people into the building - in addition to making a dramatic visual statement. Building owners Delancey approached PAI with the brief to make the tower come alive with an exciting lighting scheme. PAI's Paul Adams invited i-Vision's Geoff Jones to help realize the illumination of this

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UK / France - In the past 10 years the retail and leisure industries have discovered the power of smell to evoke emotion, create an experience or trigger a purchasing decision. For example, some travel shops use the scent of coconut oil or an infusion of pina colada to induce holiday spirit.

Many of these scents are supplied by Lancashire-based company Dale Air, which for over 25 years has re-created the smells of melted chocolate, roast chicken, coffee, home-baking and sun-cream to the more pungent stenches of dragon's breath, flatulence, an Egyptian Mummy and New York tenement housing. The company is known worldwide for its provision of themed aromas to a wide portfolio of clients from museums and public displays / attractions, to hotels, zoos and retailers.

Dale Air's managing director, Frank Knight said: "Our sense of smell is unbelievably powerful, it triggers emotio

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UK / USA - Direct marketing company Smart Sound Direct has acquired sole UK distribution rights to the Pro Co line of instrument and speaker cables, multicores and patchbays. Pro Co has been manufacturing cables for the last 25 years and says that the use of the finest quality materials with revolutionary production techniques has resulted in a robust, durable and indestructible cable that will never break - hence the lifetime warranty.

The copany's Guardian range includes the Kevlar-reinforced Defender instrument cable, which employs the company's AmeriQuad biwire geometry (reducing noise by up to 20dB) and has a specially formulated, flexible PVC covering for high protection. A copper braided shield and 24 carat gold-plated, machined brass jack connector with oxygen-free copper conductor complete the spec.

The similarly constructed Sir Tweed and Black Jack guitar and instrum

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Germany - Hamburg-based Procon MultiMedia AG has decided to make available a large number of Martin Professional's new Maxxyz lighting consoles to its customers. Procon, one of Germany's - and indeed the world's - largest service providers to the media and event management industries, offers innovative and complete solutions for a wide range of events that require both qualified staff and state-of-the-art technological equipment. Extensive investment in the latest market technology is a key element to Procon's success and leading position in the entertainment rental market, say the company.

Procon managing director Jürg Stalder commented: "We can achieve long-lasting customer relations only by keeping our equipment technically up-to-date. Quality and product innovations are requirements of the market we have to fulfill. Only by the continuous extension of our equipment poo

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UK - Green-I has recently completed fit-outs for Fox Bars & Restaurants on two separate sites at the ExCeL Exhibition & Conference Centre in London's Docklands. Having installed an ingenious portable bar, doubling as a media centre on the main boulevard linking ExCeL East and West (Fox@Boulevard), the company set to work on a more conventional audio infrastructure at the stand-alone, glass-fronted Fox@ExCeL bar/restaurant, adjacent to the complex.

Needing to replace an under-equipped system in a 1,100-capacity, open plan venue - split on three levels - Green-I turned to a Martin Audio/Soundweb solution. When they arrived on site, just six tiny speakers had served the vast downstairs space at Fox's ExCeL site from a DJ feed. While Fox operations director, John D'ell-Ross, instigated some screening, to separate the general bar area from the restaurant, the installers set to work w

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UK - The Stylistics recently completed a six-week British tour using a Dynacord Cobra system, supplied by Farnborough-based sound rental company Eurohire, and featuring Dynacord's new long-throw PWH sub-bass units. As well as keeping busy its own Cobra inventory, Eurohire has sold a Cobra system to Gary Milton of MM Audio, incorporating ElectroVoice amplifiers and DSP.

Eurohire has been involved with the Dynacord Cobra system since it was launched onto the market. Owner Mervin George is delighted with its performance and versatility, pointing to six weeks on the road with the Stylistics, a full quota of fireworks displays and concerts in November, several dates in the theatre with the Black Heroes musical production, and a variety of corporate and charity events all over the south-east.

"If it fits the job, it does the job," says George. "The quality of the Cobr

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UK - More news on the launch of Cunard Line's spectacular new $800 million cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2 - the largest passenger vessel ever built. At the launch ceremony earlier this month, a radio microphone suspended from the ship, specially designed for the event by Brit Row's Jock Bain, cunningly amplified the sound of the smashing bottle as HM Queen Elizabeth II named the vessel.

The invited audience was housed in a portable venue, provided by ESS, enjoying entertainment from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra accompanying a 200-voice choir, with soloists Lesley Garrett and Heather Small. The show was mixed by Richard Sharratt (both FOH and monitors) on Britannia Row's Electro-Voice X-Line system, using eight Xls cabinets left and right of the stage, and a centre cluster of four EV XLC compact line array boxes, powered by EV's Precision Series remote-controlled amplifiers.

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UK - Leeds-based Sound Control has completed the installation of the 100-capacity One Eleven Club, a new jazz venue in Sheffield. Owned by saxophonist Simon Peat, the One Eleven Club boasts a chic bar/restaurant and a highly specified sound reinforcement infrastructure.

Responsible for the installation was Sound Control's Tudor, who specified four Nexo PS10s, suspended from a roof girder, with a pair of ground-stacked LS500 bass bins on Speakon extenders to enable them to be moved nearer to the audience if required. Tudor explained: "Simon was a customer of mine when I worked at the Sheffield branch of Sound Control. He told me he had taken over this derelict building and the speakers had to be both black and compact to fit in with the discrete nature of the venue and the décor. The Nexo PS10s were the obvious choice."

The owner requested the same standard when it

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UK - Cambridge-based Out Board has been appointed as exclusive UK and Eire distributor for the ground-breaking Lake Contour sound system controllers. Featuring advanced FIR "brick wall", zero-phase crossover filters plus exclusive graphic and Mesa EQ functions all under wireless ethernet control, Contour represents a totally new generation of audio control resources, say Out Board.

Out Board has embarked on a nationwide program of demonstrations and evaluation sessions, with interested parties from a variety of pro audio disciplines, and the company reports an overwhelmingly positive response to what Contour offers in terms of sonic quality and control efficiency.

Contour Controller software downloads are available from the Lake Contour website (see below), which can also been reached directly from a link on Out Board's site.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Allen & Heath's Xone mixers were used during the filming of the ITV series, Joy of Decks, a national contest to seek out the UK's emerging DJ talent. Short listed from over 300 nominations by record shops and industry professionals across the UK, the series began with eight hopefuls, who were invited to showcase their DJ skills and personas in an effort to impress the judges. Four finalists were selected and assigned mentors from the cream of the DJ trade - Mr C, Roni Size, Tom Middleton and Sister Bliss.

During the series, the mentors helped their apprentices hone technical, remixing and production skills and the mixer chosen as a practice model was the industry standard Xone:62: "My first time to ever use an Allen & Heath mixer was on the first programme of The Joy of Decks," said finalist Clodagh McCann. "It looked very complicated at first, but once I st

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UK - Lighting designer Tom Lesh specified Pixelline LED battens for the current Primal Scream UK tour - to add an extra layer of excitement to his high-energy lightshow. With just eight Pixellines, Lesh proves once again that less is more, with the fixtures forming a powerful and bright back 'wall' to the stage.

Lesh also specified PixelDrive, the new software control platform for Pixelline, which is a co-development project between James Thomas and IRAD, manufacturers of the RADlite digital media server. Pixelline allows the very quick and easy programming of complex 'liquid' effects via a PC. The software pixel-maps the 18 pixels in each batten for easy on-screen pattern creation.

Using PixelDrive's latest enhancements, Lesh was also able to access and utilize the Pixelline battens' internal strobing effects which - at up to 28 flashes per second. The Pixellines were positio

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USA - Lighthouse high-resolution LED screens have been selected by Urban Display Network LLC (UDN) for a huge project to install wirelessly networked electronic billboards at the street-level entrances to Manhattan's subway stations. UDN, a Las Vegas-based company, is partnering with US media giant Clear Channel Outdoor on the project. The system rollout has already begun, with 20 sites operational by 1 December. Clear Channel, which holds a street-level advertising contract with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), plans to extend its new screen network throughout the island's subway system to around 80 screens during the first quarter of 2004.

MTA and Clear Channel had originally experimented with plasma screens for the sites, which are at eye-level on top of the railings surrounding the steps leading down to platform level. But the wide variations in ambi

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UK - The BBC's Top of the Pops is now imported and broadcast by television channels in Italy, Germany, Australia, France, Japan and Holland. Italians can watch the program on Italia 1, presented by Daniele Bossari. With links between London's Top of the Pops studios and Italy, the program is able to show both Italian and international artists, plus exclusive star interviews.

Italia 1's most recent edition of Top of the Pops drew from the immense BBC archive to mark the initial successes of megastars such as Michael Jackson, David Bowie and U2. The Italian set design and studio environment have to be similar to the original program: a white stage and modular walls, wide black edges and the 'Top of the Pops' logo all over the studio. However, local production has complete freedom within this format, including in lighting design. Riccardo Barbaglio, the program's photography direct

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UK - David Ward, founder of Gateway Studio and The Gateway School of Recording, has announced a new training initiative designed to promote professional development and lifelong learning within the music and sound industries.

The initiative, known as Gateway Professional Development Training (GPDT), is a unique collaboration between GPDT, Phoenix Sound Studios and The Integrated Systems Organization. Based at Phoenix Sound in Wembley, GPDT aims to create a pioneering model of industry training that will be an example worldwide.

The organizations and the personalities involved all have close links with manufacturers, record companies, industry organizations and the media, ensuring an unprecedented level of industry support for the project. All three organizations are recognized as groundbreaking institutions in the recording industry and are part of the history of this industry

  1. Meyer & DiGiCo to share Nashville office
  2. PLASA announces new American publication
  3. PreSonus names Hand in Hand UK distributor
  4. Mission Pro appoints True Colours
  5. CT Screenco's complex delivery for Dream Theater
  6. L-Acoustics appoints Czech distributor
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