Business

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Switzerland / Europe - The First Final Farewell Tour, which has just finished rehearsals in Neuchatel, Switzerland and started on 1 June in Milan, will be travelling throughout Europe and the USA this summer and the rest of the globe by the end of the year (with potentially more dates in 2005).

L-Acoustics was proud to announce that its sound reinforcement systems have been exclusively chosen for this prestigious tour - especially since Phil Collins has not toured in seven years. A wide variety of L-Acoustics products including 112XT, V-Dosc, dV-Dosc, dV-SUB and SB218 enclosures have been specified and the newly-launched 115XT HiQ premieres as the stage monitor of choice.

L-Acoustics' recently-released 3D modelling software - SoundVision - was employed to perform 3D simulations for the majority of stadia and arenas where the tour will play. It proved to be invaluable in

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Germany - HK Audio has just hosted the first of an ongoing series of training seminars for its Cohedra Coherent Dynamic Response Array system. A total of 14 students from Germany, Switzerland and Austria attended the three-day operator seminar held in May at the company's premises in St. Wendel, Germany. The students then sat a two-hour examination in order to qualify for a Cohedra operator's certificate. Twelve of the students were successful and are now fully-qualified Cohedra operators. Top of the class was Udo Treimetten from Evented-Triacs in Föhren, Germany, who scored 27 of a possible 30 points in the test.

"I'm really proud of the success of the COHEDRA operators," says HK Audio's musicologist Thomas Adt, who ran the seminars. "They worked very hard during the three days, and were still asking lots of very intelligent questions late into the night. I enj

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USA / The Netherlands - Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) has announced the acquisition of Dutch dimming manufacturer IES - a leading pioneer of silent dimming. The purchase was completed on 26 May, 2004 and announced publicly at the debut of ETC's new corporate headquarters on Friday 11 June. With the IES agreement, ETC further broadens the scope of its European product offerings, which already includes products under the transtechnik Lichtsysteme and Avab brands.

According to Steve Terry, ETC's vice-president of R&D: "IES has developed unique products that complement our current product offerings and provide silent dimming for concert halls and theatres. IES has been a pioneer in sine wave dimming technologies. IES dimming will be an integral component in ETC's total lighting systems."

ETC plans to dramatically increase sales of IES products through ETC's comprehen

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UK - The perennially popular DJ Sunday returns to the PLASA Show on 12 September and, for the fourth year running, International DJ magazine will be hosting the show's unofficial 'open day' for the UK's army of bedroom DJs. The day is a chance for DJs of all levels to check out the latest DJ kit at Earls Court, test their skills in the now legendary Gemini 'Extreme V' DJ competition, and learn more about the art and the business of DJ'ing at the special workshops. This year the Talk Zone workshops include Scratch Masterclasses, MP3s and DJ'ing and Case Studies on how to make your mark in the dance industry. Pivotal to DJ Sunday is the 'Extreme V' DJ Competition, presented by Gemini.

The competition is open to all amateurs and attracts hundreds of entries from all over Europe. This year up to six of the finalists will be selected by postal audition (full entry details below). &qu

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UK/Europe - Bandit Lites UK is supplying the UK and European legs of George Benson's current Irreplaceable arena tour. Bandit was chosen by tour manager and lighting designer Billy Heaslip, who has been Benson's LD since 1978. Heaslip, a great believer in the culture of multi-tasking is also tour managing.

The lighting rig includes Martin Professional MAC moving lights, a Catalyst digital media server and two DL1 fixtures. Heaslip explains that he likes to imprint his own distinctive signature on the stage 'look' each time, and enjoys researching for the latest "technical bells and whistles" to use before the tour commences each time.

Bandit is supplying a large PAR rig with colour changers, supplemented by a package of colour changers, Martin MAC 2000s, a fibre optic star cloth, 8-lite Moles and four Lycian FOH follow spots. Heaslip is a great believer in no

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UK - The PLASA Show, with its reputation as the foremost professional technology event for the entertainment and installation industries, takes place at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London from 12-15 September 2004. Evolving over 27 years, the Show focuses on innovation and application for the lighting and sound industries, presenting product launches, displays and demonstrations, as well as professional development opportunities and dedicated features. Kick-starting the autumn business season, the PLASA Show attracts visitors from all over the world and is the most important European showcase for leading brands and manufacturers.

Research at last year's show revealed that both visitors and exhibitors consider new products as the main draw for the PLASA Show. In response to this, the PLASA Awards for Product Excellence are being relaunched as the PLASA Awards for Innovation

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UK - White Light will supply and install stand lighting for others before displaying new products on its own stand, stand 91! White Light will be supplying and/or installing lighting equipment for exhibitors including Rosco, Selecon, Hall Stage, ETC, Triple E, Doughty, Apollo, Zero88, Stage Technologies and the Association of Lighting Designers.

On a number of stands, White Light will be beta-testing samples of the new 240V CE version of the BakPak from Entertainment Technology: this is a new single DMX controlled dimmer unit designed to be attached to a lantern to give it 'on-board' dimming. "The 110V version has already attracted a great deal of attention in the USA since its launch at LDI last year," comments White Light's Bryan Raven. "We are delighted that Entertainment Technology has chosen us to road-test the 240V version for them."

With those stands

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UK - According to the latest industry analysis from Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, 26 of the UK sound equipment industry's leading 236 companies are losing the battle against rising costs and stagnant sales.Plimsoll's findings suggest that for the right buyers, these companies represent highly attractive acquisition prospects. The Plimsoll Portfolio Analysis - Sound Equipment also identifies 20 companies as aggressively chasing market share. Each has the cash resources and the motive to capitalize on the failures of the 26 exposed companies.

David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll Publishing Ltd, says: "Any company that is not increasing sales is always going to struggle as rising costs restrict margins. For these 26 companies, 'selling up' would represent a viable solution to their problems. By absorbing costs and eliminating inefficiencies, new owners could turn these strugg

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UK - All expectations of visitor attendance were surpassed at a recent Lighting Logic Open Day, when almost 120 people passed through the portals of the Maidstone-based lighting and sound supply and installation company. The Lighting Product Awareness Day was held in conjunction with the STLD (Society of Television Lighting Directors) in Studio 1 at the Maidstone Studios, where Lighting Logic has it's office.

20 exhibitors were also present showcasing their products - all of which are available through Lighting Logic. This filled the studio and beyond, featuring a wide range of technology that was made available for demo and examination. This included hardware, grip and filter equipment, innovative LED fixtures and studio fluorescents, right through to generic and moving light heads.

Lighting control and dimming from Compulite and LSC Lighting Systems was highlighted, as both

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Australia - In the shadow of the iconic Sydney Opera House, the Opera Bar is situated on the forecourt with views of the City and the Harbour Bridge. Open 15 hours a day, with live music or DJs virtually every night, the outdoor Opera Bar is a popular spot. Regardless of the occasion, the Opera Bar is now serenading patrons with an Allen & Heath PA12 stereo live mixer and FBT powered speakers.

Entertainment manager, David Milton, comments: "The audio system is in use every night, so we require a tough, portable mixer that also doesn't occupy a vast sightline space. Simplicity of use and operational flexibility were the key parameters in our choice of console and overriding all that is the absolute demand for audio quality - considering our location that's a given - there's no room for compromise!"

The FBT speaker system includes a pair of 10" 2-way 200W MaxX2

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Germany / Hungary - Camco Gmbh has appointed Budapest-based Lisys Lighting Systems as their new distributor in Hungary, and has supplied amplifiers from both the Vortex and the Tecton range to meet Lisys's opening order. Lisys has been specifying Crest amplifiers for some years, but has identified increasing demand from the top end of the Hungarian market for lightweight, European-made amplifiers. "Our customers are mostly in the live entertainment sector," explains managing director of Lisys, Sándor Böröcz. "Although this is the first commitment we are making to Camco, we are confident that these amplifiers will deliver what our high-end customers are asking for; first-class reliability and sound quality. Not only that, but Camco also has a valuable strategic partnership with Nexo, which has a rising profile in Hungary."

Lisys now has 40 full-time employe

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The Netherlands - Rotterdam's Ahoy arena has witnessed a 'virtual' LED stage set for the first time, created by conceptualiser Philip Pelgrom for the recent Fox Kids Planet Live event. Pelgrom juxtaposed the different screen resolutions of a conventional centre 32sq.m (8 x 4) 25mm Unitek display, flanked by a recessed Element Labs Versa TILE wall, and 'book-ended' by a 5.4m x 1.8m Barco MiPix display (provided by CT Germany), incorporating around 3,000 of the tiny pixelblocs. All the equipment was supplied by JVR Audiovisual.

Promoted by Palm Plus Events, the event featured an Anglo-Dutch cast of boy and girl bands, including Girls Aloud, Big Brovaz, Liz McClarnon and a host of Dutch artists. Mindful of the fact that the stage design had to resonate with an audience of 6-12-year-olds, Philip Pelgrom's team sent block slabs of colour to the Versa TILE flats, with recognizable, ra

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USA - Clay Paky America Inc, the exclusive US distributor for the Clay Paky range of intelligent lighting fixtures, has announced the launch of its new website (address below). With news on the latest Clay Paky products, Clay Paky America contacts, directions, and links to the extensive Clay Paky network of websites, the website is the online portal for all things Clay Paky, say the company. "The website is an essential tool for our business," says Clay Paky America's CEO, P.J. Turpin. "Whether you are a dealer, a technician in the field, or just someone who is interested in our great new products, our website is for you."

Based in Valencia, California, Clay Paky America is a subsidiary of the Italian moving light giant Clay Paky SpA. It was created to increase Clay Paky's US market share and raise the brand profile internationally. With a number of successfu

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South Africa / Denmark - Four members of the South African Roadies Association (SARA) will spend two weeks engaged in on-the-job training in Denmark as technical and production on-the-job trainees. The famous Roskilde Festival will host the four SARA technicians as part of a skills exchange project between SARA and Roskilde Festival. For Relebogile Thapayo (23) from Mofolo (Soweto), Weziwe Mpande (22) from Ngqamakhwe (Eastern Cape), Vincent Mahlalela (24) from Chaiwelo (Soweto) and Johnie Tsotetsi (24) from Frankfort (Freestate) this will be their first chance of international travel.

The highlight of the visit is the Roskilde Festival, arguably one of the biggest festivals in Northern Europe with seven stages and more than 160 bands performing with an expected attendance of more than 70,000 people. The four will enhance their technical and production skills with some of the bes

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UK - Will Young is using EV's Xlc compact line array, supplied by Britannia Row, on his sell-out solo UK tour. For front-of-house engineer Charlie Bradley, EV's compact line array has given him the flexibility and performance he needs on a UK tour encompassing so many different venues. "It is a small box but it doesn't sound small," he explains. "It has more throw than many other line arrays I have used and the system still has plenty of bite when you want it."

He continues: "For a typically single balcony venue of around 1,500 seats, we fly just eight Xlc127 boxes a side, and for larger venues, or more balconies, we hang 10 deep. With six ground stacked Xlc118 subs per side, there's plenty of bottom end, and a pair of Xi1152s for front fills ensures we've got everything covered."

System design has been simplified by the use of software tools tha

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UK - The ILMC Safety Focus Group is well on its way to raising the €40,000 euros it needs to secure a €160,000 grant from the European Community. To date, the total amount of money either donated or pledged to the ILMC Safety Focus Group (SFG)'s European project stands at €44,628 euros. The core of this support has come from live music agents, promoters and support services.

In addition, the ILMC Safety Focus Group is hoping to raise further funds to help secure the future of the group and to start work on other industry-led safety projects, in particular a crowd safety project. It is planning a second fundraising campaign for Autumn 2004, with a target of €20,000.

Meanwhile SFG member Bert van Horck of ICMS urged live music professionals: "Please continue to donate. Any funds raised for the ILMC Safety Focus Group above the original target will allow us to research f

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UK - Vertigo Rigging were called in to action at The Odeon, Leicester Square for the launch of the new Harry Potter blockbuster, Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. Vertigo's brief included the rigging of a giant 5m wide by 9m high Dementor's claw, made by Brighton-based Phil Donoghue, at the top of the cinema's tower - strategically placed to curl round the tower, appearing to grip onto it.

Working in conjunction with Service Graphics, Vertigo covered the entire front fascia of the Odeon with adhesive vinyl panels, creating a massive Harry Potter picturescape and branding. The suspension of another 10m wide by 4m high sign weighting over half a tonne required the installation of a substantial rigging infrastructure over the building's balcony. The initial stages of the vinyl cladding detail of the project started the Monday before the Bank Holiday Sunday of the Premi

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UK - Opus Audio Developments, designer and manufacturer of high-end PA systems, is exhibiting for the first time at ABTT 2004 (16-17 June). Analogue throughout and using a complete system approach, including loudspeakers, controllers and amplification, Opus systems achieve a highly accurate sound quality combined with absolute reliability, say the company, which is crucial for theatre systems.

On show at ABTT will be a selection of loudspeakers from the large Opus range, designed to cover every main system application including FOH, in-fill/under balcony and foldback, for fixed installation in any size of venue or for touring theatre. Opus will also be showing its high definition amplifiers and system controllers and technical and sales staff will be on hand to discuss how these are configured to provide complete systems.

With all design and production in-house at their facto

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UK - PA and hearing loop experts Millbank (Ampekko) were appointed by Exeter-based Faber Maunsell Consulting Engineers to design and supply a host of hearing induction loop systems at the new Royal National Lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) training Lifeboat College based in Poole, Dorset. Looking forward, the RNLI wanted the new college built in line with the impending DDA legislation, which enforces that all public spaces are equipped to cater for sensory disabled patrons by October 2004. Millbank's induction loops offered a discrete and effective solution for the hard of hearing.

The new £10.9 million purpose-built college was designed by architects Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole and offers a dedicated education and training facility for its volunteer lifeboat crews. The five-storey building includes seminar and training rooms, a 120-seat auditorium, restaurant, kitchen, bar and f

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USA - ETC has unveiled its new corporate headquarters building in Middleton, Wisconsin. Described as being "Like an old-time movie set waiting for its gangster extras, or a Broadway musical stage before the dancers appear", the $21m building has a unique character.

ETC CEO Fred Foster, who dreamed up the building's theatrical concept, believes it is not only the hub of his global company's productivity but an homage to its business - a building about theatre, about the sheer joy in the art of illusion and light. When the lights are bright in ETC's Town Square, towering expanded-metal mesh scrims create a virtual cityscape: when the lights are dimmed, the real office world of ETC appears magically 'behind the scenes.'

Based on the paintings of Edward Hopper, each 'storefront' and façade here has a story to tell, says Foster, who mocked up early models and has persona

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USA - Apogee Sound International, manufacturer of state-of-the-art sound reinforcement products, has appointed five new sales representative organizations. "We're excited by the enthusiasm and knowledge our new sales reps bring to Apogee Sound," said Dominick Buonantuono, national sales manager for Apogee. "We're confident that our new partners can not only meet but exceed our growth projections for Apogee Sound."

The new appointments are as follows:

Action Sales & Marketing will represent Apogee in southern California, southern Nevada and Hawaii. Contact Gabriella Chambers, Action Sales & Marketing, 15722 Condon Circle, Westminister, CA 92683, USA. Tel: +1 714-839-9991. Fax: +1 14-839-9992, E-mail: asmg@socal.rr.com.

Audio Pros will represent Apogee in metro New York and Long Island, northern New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,

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UK - Snifferdog is a new company which aims to provide intelligent and relevant research material for theatre designers, directors, production managers - indeed, anyone who ever wished they had a research assistant! Snifferdog was founded by Ros Morgan-Jones, a stage manager of ten years' experience who has worked on shows ranging from the fringe to the West End to the Royal Shakespeare Company. She left stage management to complete a two-year university course studying Furniture and Design History. "During that time, designers I knew started asking me to research projects," she explains. "That proved so successful that it has now grown into this new business."

Amongst the first to use Snifferdog's services was set designer Tom Pye, then designing the new Broadway production of Fiddler On The Roof. Snifferdog gathered together hundreds of images of Ea

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The Netherlands - Midas Consoles Holland continues to prove its success as the new distribution model for Midas and KT in Holland, with the sale of a 36-channel Legend 3000 and a 40-channel Verona to Amsterdam rental company, Peak Audio. Peak Audio required the additional consoles to handle their workload of festival and theatre commitments over the summer. The new desks will be added to existing inventory which already includes a Midas Heritage 1000 and three Venices.

Peak Audio's Martin During explained that while he already owned a number of Midas boards, he nevertheless had his engineers trial several different consoles from a variety of manufacturers before making his choice. "It basically came down to the fact that competitive desks simply couldn't match Midas in terms of headroom or sound quality, nor indeed features and outputs in relation to the price, so I'm delig

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UK - The Corn Exchange theatre in Newbury has invested in a 40-channel Midas Verona mixing console as part of a complete audio system upgrade, which includes L-Acoustics loudspeakers and amplification, all supplied by Glen Smith of GSA.

Technical and operations manager Guy Dickens was attracted to the Verona for a number of reasons. "At the time I was looking for a new desk, the Verona was brought to my attention by Glen Smith, and as he rightly pointed out, it turned out to be the perfect choice for us," commented Dickens. "As a Theatre Arts Centre, we do not have a large budget to spend on our sound system upgrade, but I was keen to get the best I could afford and in particular wanted to fit out the venue with equipment that was easily recognizable; the distinctive Midas purple colour and the all-important logo do just that. Furthermore, the Verona fitted into m

  1. ESL brings light to Round Table
  2. Out Board's world sales for CM hoist controllers
  3. Coemar sets Mood for Bakersfield
  4. PLASA relaunches Awards for Innovation
  5. Clay Paky with Artists in sand
  6. VLPS lights its way to Athens
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