Business

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UK - From November 2004, ExCeL will become London's latest entertainment venue, with a capacity of up to 17,000 seated and 20,000 standing. The purpose-built venue offers fully flexible configurations for concerts, sports events and family shows, plus regularly available time-slots for rehearsals and sound checks.

Says Rob MacKenzie, ExCeL's London EventCo managing director: "Already London's premier venue for exhibitions, we are perfectly placed to host large-scale entertainment events. This has always been part of ExCeL's medium term strategy and is a logical extension of our existing client base. We are delighted to announce this move and with the assistance of our strategic consultant Andrew Zweck, who has 25 years' experience in the industry, we hope that ExCeL will become a popular venue for concerts and entertainment events."

The phenomenal success of the Schr

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UK - The concert hall at Nottingham's Royal Centre has been fitted out to a top touring spec by a company that understand the demands of live production work. Northampton-based TourTech have visited the venue many times as a rental/production company, and were thus seen as best equipped to design and install a system that would obviate the need for many of the incoming shows to carry their own production.

Both TourTech and the venue itself have a long history of operating Soundcraft desks, so it didn't take long for the hire company's Dick Rabel and concert hall technical manager, Pearse Ellis to agree on a 32-channel MH3 to mix the sound in the 2,300-capacity, three-tiered hall.

There is now continuity with the adjacent Theatre Royal, who have just taken delivery of an MH4 from Orbital Sound - flight cased so can be used for touring purposes. "Although it's a smaller ven

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USA - Mariners Church, located in Irvine, California, recently installed a new ATI Paragon PII production console. The analogue live sound console was purchased for front-of-house mixing duties in the 2,300-seat worship centre. Mariner's has four weekend worship services that regularly draw approximately 4,500 adults. Weekend youth programmes draw an average of 900 children and 800 students.

Audio coordinator and main house mix engineer Van Metschke specified a console with 48-channels and four stereo inputs. He explained: "We have a typical rhythm section, drums and bass, plus a couple of guitars, piano, keyboards, and an occasional string section or horn section. And we could have up to 16 vocalists on individual mics. We also have a 50-voice choir once a month."

As Metschke explains, the decision to purchase the Paragon PII was based on a long-standing desire to w

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UK - Tryka L.E.D. has appointed a new Canadian distributor, Chimera Electronics Corporation. Well established in the electronics industry for many years, Chimera Electronics Corporation successfully branched out into the architectural and entertainment market just over one year ago.

Mike Fraser, Chimera's president, says: "We believe Tryka to be one of the few LED lighting companies that has actually listened to the customer. They build user-friendly, plug-and-playable, innovative products that even take the fear out of most traditional lighting OEMs, looking to make the transition to solid state lighting. Tryka will now enable us to aggressively move into areas such as entertainment, architectural, landscape and retail spaces, tapping into L.E.D. illumination technology."

Chris Rolph, Tryka's managing director, adds: "We like Chimera's proactive approach and e

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UK - Mission Professional has announced the appointment of two new distributors - Sonatel in Croatia and Kinotechniki in Greece. Sonatel Ltd., based in Zagreb, distributes a number of audio and A-V brands within the consumer and professional markets in Croatia. The company's philosophy is based on 'not being the biggest, but the best'.

Athens based Kinotechniki Ltd., signed up with Mission Professional at Musikmesse 2004. They represent well-established brands like Denon, Cerwin Vega and Ortofon and are keen to move further into the studio, installation and corporate A-V markets with Mission Professional.

Mission Pro's director of sales and marketing, Steve Jordan commented: "We are very pleased with the appointments of Sonatel and Kinotechniki. Both are well established distributors who share our ideals of quality sound and customer service."

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Northern Ireland audio supplier DL Electrical has successfully completed the installation of a new sound system for St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral Armagh. After completing a previous installation in the St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral Armagh, the Lisburn-based company has installed Intellivox loudspeakers from Duran Audio UK in the refurbished building.

The nave is provided with two Intellivox 2C digital arrays and the rear altar with a single Intellivox 1B.Choir and military, plus ladies chapels, were equipped with DNH CAS30T column loudspeakers. The amplification equipment has been provided by Australian Monitor TX8000 mixers with AKG's Discreet Acoustics GN30ES gooseneck microphones complete with CK31 capsules being installed in the pulpit, Dean's stall and choir areas. One AKG C747 has been discreetly mounted on the brass eagle of the lectern. The compan

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USA - Entering its fourth month of operation, Prelite LA has established a firm foothold by providing its lighting pre-visualization services to a variety of different types of productions, the company reports. Lighting designer Eddy Brantley worked with Prelite to produce early renderings for the National Indian Gaming Foundation, while Dan Boland also worked with the company for the international tour of Grammy-award winning artist Missy Elliot. A Prelite system is currently at Fourth Phase Los Angeles, where lighting designer Merle McLain and programmer Jessmine Baker are pre-programming the forthcoming tour for Earth, Wind and Fire.

Lightswitch designer Norm Schwab used Prelite for an AmGen Pharmaceutical project in Los Angeles, while his partner John Featherstone had a Prelite On-Site system in San Diego for pharmaceutical leader Takeda's annual sales meeting is San Diego.

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UK - This year's A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow looks set to exceed all expectations for the event, say A.C. Lighting, with more exhibitors than ever before and a record number of visitor pre-registrations. If you haven't already registered for the event, there's still time to do so before the show takes place on 11-12 May at the Royal Armouries museum, Leeds.

Due to a significant increase in the level of interest from manufacturers to exhibit at this year's show, the event has been expanded to take in an additional Seminar Theatre - resulting in over 60 brands demonstrating hundreds of products. Highlights amongst the list of new products include important launches from Clay Paky, Martin Professional, Pulsar, Selecon, Zero 88, Avolites, Jands, Chroma-Q, Allen & Heath, beyerdynamic, Turbosound, Community, Sennheiser and Le Mark Group. Show visitors will be the first anywhere in t

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South Africa - HK Audio loudspeaker systems provided the sound for a special March concert in Harare, Zimbabwe, as the top three stars from South Africa's Pop Idols 2003 competition rocked the Harare Celebration Centre performing arts theatre. As a bonus the crowd also got to see local Zimbabwean musicians the Kwe Kwe Band.

Pop Idols winner, Anke Pietrangeli, together with runners-up Poseletso Sejosingoe and Jacques Terre Blanche, played to an enthusiastic crowd of over 3,500. The show was staged by digital broadcaster DStv and entertainment channel M-Net, which broadcast the Idols series.

Sound was provided by the PA hire division of HK Audio distributor Devan Audio Engineering, Devan Pro-Audio, which has been operating from Harare since 1984. Devan chose to use four HK Audio self-powered, long throw projector systems, with two full systems flanking the stage and two as side-

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UK - Sting will join forces with Northern Sinfonia in June 2005 to perform the traditional classic 'Waters of Tyne' - specially arranged by composer David Lang - when high wire artist Philippe Petit crosses the Tyne gorge to the upper façade of The Sage Gateshead in June 2005. Tony Award-winners Fisher Dachs Associates will design lighting for this event, which forms part of The Sage Gateshead's opening year of celebrations.

Sting comments: "It's really exciting for me to know that this spectacular building The Sage Gateshead will enable visiting musicians to experience this vibrant area. I know how important music is to young people and I am delighted that many more of them will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and interest in all kinds of music. It will be really extraordinary to perform at this event celebrating the opening of The Sage Gateshead.&

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UK - IBM showcased its latest developments in the IT sector recently, with the help of an 84" NeoDigm plasma screen supplied by PlasmaScreen Co. The IBM stand at the Linux User and Development Expo 2004 held in Olympia 2, was managed by IBM's worldwide event marketing agency The George P Johnson Company, which employed the latest in AV technology to reflect IBM's leading market position. To achieve this, it contacted PlasmaScreen Co and incorporated the world's largest plasma screen into the structure of the stand.

PlasmaScreen Co liaised with George P Johnson's project team and installed the screen on site at Olympia, along with a PA system and radio mics to create a small theatre area within the stand. IBM's exhibition team then ran demonstration videos and gave Powerpoint presentations, which reflected the branding used in IBM's current marketing campaign to the seated a

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UK - An unusual lighting scheme has recently been completed for Stevenage Borough Council by Future Group Lighting Design, using the new KlipLED system from Light Projects Group. The KlipLED, part of the new AuraLED collection, is an interior flexible colour strip system using 1W Luxeon LEDs in red, white, royal blue, green, cyan and amber.

For the Stevenage project, the ceiling incorporates a series of concentric arcs: since the section was too small to accommodate conventional light sources, a new system was designed by Peter Phillipson, in which 2,500 Light Projects KlipLEDs concealed in the arcs by a specially detailed system. A mix of white and blue has been used so that the ceiling colour changes over the course of the day to simulate a changing sky effect.

The Customer Service Centre space is purposefully influenced by the lighting to create a very pleasant working env

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USA - Color Kinetics Inc (CKI) and Main Light Industries Inc, an entertainment lighting specialist, have announced an agreement whereby Main Light will leverage Color Kinetics' intelligent solid-state lighting technology to develop Soft-LED - an LED-based drapery for entertainment applications.

Through the agreement, Main Light will apply Color Kinetics' patented LED control technology to offer Soft-LED - a drapery which allows precise control of individual LED sources, offering designers a flexible medium with which to create shapes, patterns and complex light shows that span thousands of individually controllable tri-color LED nodes. Soft-LED will be available in various sizes and form factors to accommodate diverse applications and installations.

"Our agreement with Main Light opens another exciting channel for Color Kinetics' intelligent LED technology," said Bil

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Serbia - Talk of the town in the heart of Belgrade at the Terazije "Palace Albania" is a new public information and advertising screen installed by the LEA Group, which is being hailed as a pioneering project in communications for Serbia and Montenegro. The screen carries public information and advertising for companies as diverse as finance and investment, food and drink suppliers, apparel and sports equipment providers together with cultural affairs information and government announcements.

The LVP1650 LED screen is a product of Lighthouse Technologies Limited, providing 16mm pixel pitch with 5,000 Nits brightness and is ideal for advertising and display applications because of its superior image quality and superb color rendition. The LVP1650 employs 13-bit processing and Lighthouse Technologies' M4 uniformity control. The product has recently been prominent install

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UK - Neutrik UK Ltd has announced the opening of its new, purpose-built, 1,800sq.m manufacturing and sales facility at Westridge, Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The new factory has been built and designed to Neutrik's bespoke requirements to meet the ever-increasing demands of its expanding sales operation. The company says its decision to remain on the Island demonstrates a firm commitment to their skilled and dedicated workforce, without whom such an expansion would not have been possible.

Neutrik UK Ltd started on the Island in August 1986 in an array of small manufacturing and office units at Cowes, followed by an expansion move to Binstead in 1991. Further extensions to the product range soon followed, together with Neutrik's global flagship product range of professional audio connectors. Continued success and product range growth meant that the company soon out-grew both its C

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Switzerland - In Switzerland, Pulsar's ChromaRange has recently played a major role in the renovation of a gentleman's club, The Brummel Cabaret, which is set beneath the five-star Palace Hotel in Lausanne. The club has been experiencing a complete refurbishment throughout the winter period by Yves Donati of Hybrid Concept in Geneva.

Giving the club a 'Roman-like' theme, Donati has employed an extensive use of Pulsar's LED ChromaRange products to enhance features and create ambience within the venue. Chromastrips are utilized to magnificently wash the stone walls, hall and entrance stairway, whilst ChromaScapes light the entrance from outside. An imaginative creation displayed in the lounges is of two bronze statuettes of beautiful goddesses holding ChromaSpheres on outstretched arms; one is holding a normal size 300mm sphere and the other is holding a smaller substitute.

All

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UK / Germany - FeONIC plc has received its first order from new German distribution partner, Adam Hall GmbH. The order, worth in excess of £150,000, is for Whispering Windows systems - a point-of-sale promotional technology used by retailers to turn glass in shop windows into loudspeakers'. The systems have been successfully installed in the UK by respected retailers such as John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, and Lunn Poly.

Adam Hall is to co-promote and install Whispering Windows in Germany, particularly within the retail sector. The company is renowned for supplying high-quality fixtures and fittings to the professional audio industry in European countries including Germany, France and Spain. According to Adam Hall, there has been considerable interest in Whispering Windows from the German market. The first monthly shipment of this order took place at the end of April.

Since la

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UK - Quadrant Visual Solutions has been named Audio Visual Hire Company of the Year by the Hire Association of Europe (HAE) at the Association's annual Ceremony and gala dinner at the Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel, Warwick in April 2004. "Quadrant's winning entry demonstrates an impressively high standard of professionalism," said the judges, adding: "They show a consistent record of delivery and high standards of service. In addition, they are able to demonstrate clear systems and procedures relating to safety, health and quality."

Quadrants' hire and events division employs 25 full-time staff from offices in Birmingham, Derby, and Nottingham. The service which has been built-up over the last 20 years now boasts 400 clients in the UK and £1.5 million of AV and professional video equipment for wet and dry hire including presentation kits for all budgets fro

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UK - Star Events Group has hired out its first Star Orbit stage since buying the range of stages earlier this year. The stage, hired to the Rockingham Racetrack over the May bank holiday, also marked the first of the venue's summer series 'Days of Thunder' shows. 20,000 visitors enjoyed an exciting day's racing before being entertained by Freefaller, D'Side and V, with Blue closing the evening.

Since opening the UK's first purpose-built motor racing circuit in May 2001, with grandstand seating and modern facilities for visitors' comfort, Rockingham has encouraged family audiences to visit the state-of-the art venue by adding funfairs and pop concerts to the racing days.

Rockingham's Jeff Carter commented: "Last year we hosted several successful concerts with Star Mobile and this year we have bought in Star Orbit with their dome-shaped stage, which looks great and the arti

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UK - Ten years ago, Milne's Cold Storage & Ice Factory in Perth, Scotland, was transformed into a nightclub featuring top-of-the-line Martin Professional equipment. Today, following a refurbishment including Martin lighting, Jem smoke and Mach audio gear, the venue is looking forward to another decade of success.

Michael Jordan, managing director of Nightclub Sound & Light (NSAL), a Martin preferred dealer located in Perth, provided the lighting, smoke and sound systems for all three rooms in the venue. Jordan explains: "I'm actually a DJ at the club and The Ice Factory is the reason I got involved with Martin years ago. I wanted to be able to service this venue," he states. "I kept the lighting going for 10 years and now I'm one of the biggest dealers in Scotland. This was a top Martin install when it opened . . . with 1220s, 218s and RoboColor IIs. Now with the

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UK - Spector Lumenex, a division of Tyco Fire & Security, has recently achieved accreditation to BS EN ISO 14001 Environmental Standard and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard. The company provides a wide range of life safety wired communication to the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical industries, both on and offshore, as well as public address and voice alarm systems for transport, commercial buildings, shopping centres, entertainment and industrial sectors. The company's systems have been installed in diverse situations in some of the most severe environments and most difficult acoustic environments worldwide. This has resulted in an extensive client list, which includes major oil companies and other prestigious organizations.

The company says the Environmental Standard will allow all members of the company, frommanagement to the shop floor, to demonstrate their commi

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UK / Australia - Leisuretec Distribution has been appointed as the official distributor in the UK for the Aeromic Systems range of products. The announcement follows a visit to the UK in April 2004 by the founders of the Melbourne, Australia-based company, John Penhallow and Peter Paisley. The product range includes the AM10 Aeromic, well known in the worldwide fitness market, and the innovative new CM10 Cyclemic, the AM12 Countryline Headmic and a selection of multi-sized body pouches (for body pack transmitters).

John Penhallow commented on the new partnership: "We are anticipating sales growth in the UK to develop on a par with the growth already achieved in Europe and the USA, and we see Leisuretec Distribution as the right vehicle to achieving this growth in the UK."

"Until now, our products have been very well represented in the UK by John Mear of Soundguy

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UK - Bandit Lites UK is supplying all lighting equipment and crew to the three-month sold-out Westlife UK and European tour. Westlife are one of the UK's most successful boybands, renowned for their entertaining stage shows and high-value, high-energy productions. The bands four tours - starting with 2001's Coast To Coast - have all been the biggest in Europe in their respective years.

The 2004 Turnaround tour sees a new level of presentational confidence with the band, whose streamlined 90 minute performance is divided into five sections.

Bandit is once again working with the Production North team led by Steve Levitt, Jason Danter and Karen Ringland, on this, the fourth Westlife tour. The Turnaround show was conceived by the band, (Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Shane Felan and Mark Feehily), lighting and set designer Peter Barnes and production manager Steve Le

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UK - The Elbow Room - a hybrid of bar, club and pool hall with five venues in the UK, has recently opted for a KV2 Audio sound system for its Islington site, after Elbow Room's operations manager John Power met Duncan Baines of Xtreme AV to discuss plans for the venue.

Since it opened in 2000, the venue had employed a house system for day-to-day work, hiring in something more substantial for special events. As the special events grew, so did the need for a permanent system that could handle the growing list of international DJs and the succession of live bands.

Due to the increase in live performances and to provide bands with a suitable working area, Xtreme AV devised a portable stage, constructed in front of the DJ booth before each gig. This meant that the sound system had to be portable, so that the stacks could be moved from either side of the DJ booth (behind the stage)

  1. New Vega Visions set in Concrete
  2. ML3000 manages a BBC Music Live event
  3. Tea With grandMA at White Light
  4. Linea Research makes industry debut
  5. Tidy clubbers feel the Quake
  6. On Stage with Sennheiser's unsigned artists
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