Business

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UK - As part of its Professional Development Programme (PDP), PLASA, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association, has organized two half-day sales workshops, to take place in London on 5 August. Presented by Mike Southon, author of the best-selling business book The Beermat Entrepreneur, the focus of the sessions will be on the technical aspects of selling, with opportunities to discuss issues faced by those attending. Due to the popularity of the event, there are now only four places available in the afternoon. The cost to PLASA Members is £40.00. To register email Nicky Greet at the e-mail address below, or call on 01323 410335.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Summit Steel's SmarTmasts have been in action at a variety of events and festivals around the country this summer. Highlights include Major Sir Michael Parker's Music on Fire son et lumière spectacular at Sandhurst Military Academy, where four SmarTmast IIs were in action flanking the main stage, flying Delta Sound's V-Dosc PA system, together with a pair of SmarTmast 1s at the edges of the area. Summit also installed 12 9m masts at the back of the seating tribunes for audience lighting.

Six 12m SmarTmasts were in Jersey, providing PA and lighting positions at a medieval jousting event for Delta Conference Systems, while in London, 12 single Masts were spread along a mile of The Mall for the Olympic Torch event, supplying sound delay points for Britannia Row's PA.

Four masts were supplied to Britannia Row Productions for PA rigging points at the opening of the Pri

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Australia - Haycom Staging, the Australia-based audio-visual and multimedia event production company, has recently invested in 10 units of ARX's new EQ260 dual channel graphic equalizer to add to its already extensive ARX inventory of over 60 EQ60s. Established for over 28 years, Haycom specializes in providing presentation solutions to Australia's top 100 blue chip companies, including Telstra and the National Australia Bank. Supplied by Roger Clapton at ARX Dealer CC's Light & Sound Pty Ltd the EQ 260s have been put into service at Haycom's Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane Offices.

The new EQ 260 comprises two ultra low noise 1/3rd Octave EQ channels featuring 30 new extended resolution long-throw, centre-grounding faders, switchable to either ±15dB or ±6dB, for the ideal combination of high fader resolution and maximum cut and boost. A protective dust and moisture cover is als

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UK - White Light Events recently continued its long-standing relationship with event producer The European Group, providing lighting and electrical services for the summer season of events at the Honourable Artillery Company in the City of London.

Designed along the theme of 'Latin Quarter', the events took place in and around a series of marquee structures spanning over 100m x 50m and capable of housing up to 1,500 seated guests. White Light Events' lighting designer Jason Larcombe specified a dynamic system that lit both the exterior and interior of the marquees. A sophisticated nightclub lighting installation formed the central focus of the venue, designed to support both live bands and DJs and work alongside a complex audio-visual system. Larcombe dressed the rest of the venue with projections across the floor and ceilings, achieving a hot and vibrant atmosphere.

To achie

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UK - Substantial number of ElectroVoice X-Line and XLC loudspeaker systems were provided by Britannia Row for the 80,000 people who attended the huge open-air concert, staged in the centre of The mall in London, to mark the passage of the Olympic flame through the city on its way to Athens. Britain's five-time gold medal winner Sir Steve Redgrave carried the Olympic Torch down its final stretch, the highlight of a major television broadcast which also featured concert performances from Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, James Brown, Will Young and Ozzie Osborne amongst others.

Sound designer Derrick Zieba found himself back in The Mall, where he scored memorable success with the Queen's Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace. "The X-Line arrays were suspended from 10m smart masts, erected in terrible weather with high gusting winds as the guys tried to hang half a ton of PA,"

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Germany - The Kölnarena, Germany's largest multifunctional events forum, has installed a state-of-the-art digital announcement system manufactured by Interalia, the leading manufacturer of digital voice announcement solutions. Specified and installed by Germany-based electronic-acoustic company, Laauser & Vohl, the Trouncer system is one of a number of Interalia's products being installed by Laauser & Vohl at locations throughout Germany.

Located in Cologne, the impressive Kölnarena is surrounded on all sides by a glass façade. The 83,700 square meter building has a capacity for over 18,000 visitors and offers a full programme of entertainment throughout the year including concerts, shows, sports spectaculars and television productions in addition to providing a venue for meetings, congresses and conferences. Interalia's Trouncer system is used within the Kölnarena centre as

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Germany - Hundertwasser - The Musical is a theatrical homage to Viennese painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, from the pen of librettist Rolf Rettberg, with music by Konstantin Wecker. Working on many levels, the episodic drama traces the life story of the painter, architect and artist activist, who died in 2000. Hundertwasser's sailing ship, the Regentag, is both the pivot and central point of the musical. An ocean crossing serves as a metaphor for the life journey of the cosmopolitan artist.

Lighting designer Frank M. Kasch attaches importance to the fact that the lighting design does not develop any direct momentum, but instead acts to support scenes and images and reflects the internal attitude of the participants. As structuring elements, Kasch employs side and backlighting, deep cross-lighting and only a small amount of front lighting.

In total, Kasch deploys jus

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UK - Pro audio distributor Autograph Sales has supplied a wide range of equipment to some of the UK's leading education centres, including Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire, which specializes in music and drama performance. The company first supplied and installed an extensive sound and communications system three years ago, including various Meyer loudspeakers, AKG radio mics, a Clear-Com comms system and an HSA Rolltop desk, which houses an Allen & Heath GL3300 mixing console. A further quantity of AKG radio mics was added in the summer of 2001.

Director of music, Chris Thompson, returned to Autograph Sales in June 2004 in order to extend his radio mic system. Autograph Sales' Graham Paddon came up with a solution - a custom-built rack unit, to include a Yamaha 01V96 digital mixer, a Tascam CD and cassette recorder and eight Sennheiser 300 G2 radio mics, as well as additional mul

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UK - As the UK's only free performing arts and technology school, The BRIT School is dedicated to education and vocational training for the performing arts, media, art and design and the technologies that make performance possible. The school caters for students in the 14 - 19 year age range who are specifically seeking a career in the performing arts. Funded by the British Record Industry Trust and the Department for Education and Skills, the school also has a number of major industry sponsors and prides itself on producing top quality graduates, many of whom go on to become key players in the industry.

When the need for a new sound system arose, well-known sound designer Derrick Zieba was asked to make an assessment. "We were really fortunate to have the input of a leading professional like Derrick," said Andrew Smith, the School's technical manager. "He was so

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UK - Welsh contractor AB Acoustics recently carried out a complete multimedia fit-out at The Banc, just outside Newport, South Wales, with the essential audio power tools supplied by Fuzion plc. Confronted with a tight budget, AB Acoustics' Rob Ashton needed to achieve the best result for the 350-capacity all-day venue. The sound system was configured for dual operation as a background music system during the daylight hours, giving way to a more punchy sound after dark - particularly on the weekend nights when a DJ takes over.

Ashton distributed 12 Work Studio 5 two-way full-range loudspeakers, around the venue - finished in white and powered by Work SV series amplifiers. All were supplied by Fuzion plc, and Rob Ashton confirms that he used a similar combination recently to drive the Taff Bar at Cardiff University.

"I have been using Work products for the past three years

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UK - Entec Lighting has supplied LD Tony Austin with production for PJ Harvey, who rounded off her recent festival tour with her own show at London's Brixton Academy. It was Austin's first tour with PJ Harvey, the latest in a string of top notch artists on his CV, and he came highly recommended by one of the musicians playing on her album.

Austin's relationship with Entec as an equipment supplier goes back several years: "I really like the independence and great atmosphere at Entec. Your project gets the best service and attention at all times, you can speak directly to the people who are handling the account and nothing's too much trouble," he says, adding that Entec also offers good value. His lighting brief for PJ was challenging - almost the antithesis of what you'd expect from a rock 'n' roll artist - no flashing lights, no smoke, no visible moving lights, no foll

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Korea - The popularity of Solid State Logic's C100 digital production console continues to grow in the Far East with news that Korean broadcasters MBC and KBS have both placed orders for the console. State broadcaster KBS (Korean Broadcast Systems) is installing its C100 in its prestigious concert hall in Seoul, which regularly hosts classical, folk, pop and Korean traditional music concerts. The hall already features an SSL XL 9000 K Series console, which is used to provide live, high quality recordings of concert hall events for both stereo and surround productions. These are being released on CD and DVD Audio and/or SACD.

The 32-frame C100 console will primarily be used in conjunction with the XL 9000 K Series console. It is equipped with 128 channels of DSP and 48 microphone inputs, analogue, AES/EBU and MADI I/O. KBS is also planning to add a C-SB Remote Microphone Stagebox

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UK - The Corn Exchange in Cambridge has just upgraded its Front-of-House sound to an Opus AT1000 Array Technology system, supplied by Real Time Audio. When Colin Farrell first joined The Corn Exchange as head of sound he upgraded from the existing Bose loudspeakers to a small Martin theatre system, which covered the theatre's basic needs. Then, about five years ago, Real Time Audio, who were doing the sound for Joe Longthorne playing at the theatre, brought in their Opus system.

"That was when I first heard how a system could really sound", recalls Farrell. "At first I took no notice of these large blue boxes being wheeled in but as soon as Richard from Real Time fired up the system I instantly knew this was something really special."

Farrell continues, "That started my determination that one day we'd have Opus at The Corn Exchange. At this venue we c

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USA - Evanescence, currently touring in support of their best-selling debut album Fallen, have switched to Audio-Technica microphones and wireless systems, say A-T. "We switched mid-tour to Audio-Technica, and we're glad we did," says Josh Swart, who mixes monitors for Evanescence, teamed with FOH mixer Eddie Mapp. "These are all beautiful-sounding microphones," Swart says, singling out the AE2500 as "one of the few microphones in the world that you can just put up there with virtually no EQ and it sounds phenomenal as is."

On tour Evanescence are using the highly acclaimed AEW-5255 Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System, with AEW-T5400 transmitter, for vocalist Amy Lee. Drums are mic'ed employing an AE2500 on the kick, an AE5100 for the ride cymbals, a pair of AT4050s on overheads, an ATM23HE on the snare, and ATM35s for the toms. The guitar

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UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has launched a new online service. Stardraw Forums offer a freely accessible platform on which to exchange ideas, ask questions and share experiences. Forums have been established for all Stardraw products, and each forum is continuously monitored by Stardraw experts to ensure that replies to postings will be timely and accurate.

Stardraw's marketing director Rob Robinson says that Stardraw Forums represent yet another way in which Stardraw users can make their feelings known about the applications they are using, as well as sharing hints and tips with other users. "The web is by far the most important way in which we, as a software company, communicate. We therefore go to great lengths to ensure that our own website is always up-to-date and contains everything the Stardraw community could possibly wish for to make their lives easier, an

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France - Digigram, the innovative developer of digital audio network solutions, has achieved ISO 9001: 2000 certification delivered by BVQI, France, underlining the company's commitment to customer satisfaction. The certification, for Digigram's headquarters in Montbonnot, France, recognizes that the definition, design, production, and distribution of Digigram's products, as well as after-sales service, technical support, and customer training conform to the requirements of the ISO 9001: 2000 standard.

This standard specifies the necessary components of a quality management system, and the audit process ensures that organizations have the necessary systems in place to continuously improve the level of quality offered by the organization. A growing number of business and government organizations conduct business only with companies that attain this certification.

Digigram manag

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UK - The BBC's The Nation's Favourite Prom at the Royal Albert Hall was screened on BBC1 on Sunday 25 July. Le Maitre provided the specal effects for the finale of the event, the Halle Orchestra's performance of Tschaikovsky's 1812 Overture, conducted by Mark Elder. Le Maitre's Tim Haddon used 16 Giant Theatrical Flashes and 16 Medium Concussions to simulate the firing of the cannons. This was followed by a row of 19 10x12 Stage Gerbs for the final 10 seconds of the piece.

The Halle Orchestra's performance was hugely powerful and the effects thrilled a packed Royal Albert Hall. Haddon used the Pyrodigital system for the absolutely precise timing necessary, and Mark Elder was reported to be exceptionally pleased with the combination of the pyro with the music, and its accuracy.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is a 90,000sq.ft air museum which also incorporates a couple of full-sized carnival rides, advanced flight simulators, a Space Shuttle simulator and a 60-seat, sense-surround 3D theatre which recreates a World War II bombing mission, and the world's largest indoor mural, at 32ft high and more than 1,000 feet long.

Because Air Zoo is a 'living' museum, lighting the hybrid facility was a challenge for lighting designer Bill Hunter of Hunter-Leet & Associates, a Kalamazoo- based lighting design, consulting and contracting firm. With displays that were often moving - only the carnival rides have permanent homes in the museum - Hunter needed a lighting system that was flexible and moveable as well. He couldn't be tied down with a traditional rack-mounted dimming system. Instead, he used 48 six-pack IPS dimmer boxes from Entertainment Technolo

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UK - Event Sound & Light was formed in July 2003 from a merger of two companies, Concept Sound Services and Galiath Entertainment. In selecting a new sound system for its hire operations, the company turned to KV2 Audio, for its flexibility and audio quality. Paul Galley of Event S&L explains: "We had to take into account the wide variety of shows and corporate events that we do."

Galley's friend Gareth Jones of Villa Audio suggested that they hear a new sound system that had just been presented to him. "To say that he was excited would be a vast understatement," said Galley. "Anyway, when we got there we were not disappointed. We immediately took into account its size, efficiency and versatility. To obtain such an acutely high definition of sound with such impact, authority and power was a really enjoyable experience." Added to this, the system al

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UK / USA - Audio Network and SoundStorm have announced the launch of an enhanced on-line service to grant producers of film, television programmes and other audio-visual productions instant licenses to use their award-winning music and sound. The transatlantic partnership allows professional users as well as home users instant access to the same high quality sound resources used by many of the world's largest production companies and broadcasters from just £2 ($3) per sound.

The team has spent the last two years categorizing and digitizing over 50,000 SoundStorm sound effects from the vaults of the seven-times Oscar-nominated Hollywood sound design team. At the same time, 100 leading composers have written and recorded over 6,000 new music tracks for the Audio Network music library covering almost every conceivable style and genre. Sounds and music from Hippo to Hip-Hop can no

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UK - Manchester based rental-company Audile took on the challenge of the Dance tent at this year's Glastonbury 2004. With a capacity of 8,000 the tent (more like a hanger) attracted some of Glastonbury's favorite artists including the Scissor Sisters, Kosheen and Sister Sledge.

Audile's MD, Rob Ashworth stated: "We'd heard great things about the Aztec from other users, and wanted to try it for ourselves in a testing situation. We found the sound quality and functionality to be impeccable - the combination of Aztec, Funktion-One Resolution-5 speakers and XTA drive really is exceptional. More importantly, though, we were able to gauge the reaction of a stream of engineers to the board - we had some concerns about its rider friendliness, but I'm pleased to say that these were laid to rest by our guest's reactions. I think we'll be seeing Aztec taking its place on riders alongs

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France - Software provider Stardraw.com and Digigram, a world leader in innovative digital audio network solutions recently announced the formation of a strategic partnership around EtherSound, Digigram's patent-pending technology for audio distribution over standard Ethernet.

The EtherSound protocol provides fully deterministic, real-time transmission of synchronized audio channels over standard Ethernet. Up to 64 channels of 24-bit digital audio at 48 kHz, plus bi-directional status and control data, may be transported among more than 60,000 connected devices. Its ultra low latency of only 125 microseconds makes it suitable even for demanding applications such as live sound or broadcast. The technology has already been licensed to a number of different manufacturers across the globe, all of which are developing EtherSound products for their market.

But what of control? Would

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Switzerland - Swiss distributor and system integrator Decibel has installed an EtherSound network in the Convention Center Montreux (CCM), main venue of the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival. Using Digigram's ES8in, ES8out, and ES220 EtherSound devices and the CCM's existing Ethernet infrastructure, the system has completely eliminated noise problems in the audio transmission between the two main convention/concert halls and the public address system of this twice enlarged building on the Lake Geneva shore. The network has already proven its flexibility by reducing the system reconfiguration time for the needs of this year's Montreux Jazz Festival by about 90% without any additional investment.

Pierre-Yves Nussbaum, the CCM's head audio-visual technician, commented: "We were looking for a digital audio distribution solution because the big distances in the building and ma

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USA - As a way to more quickly bring the latest energy-saving light emitting diode (LED) lighting concepts to consumers and businesses, OptiLED Inc announced recently it will partner with the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) on a number of development and demonstration projects. OptiLED has signed a memorandum of understanding with CLTC - a newly-formed lighting innovation centre based at the University of California, Davis, involving the California Energy Commission, the state's utility companies, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, and various other lighting companies.

OptiLED, which combines high-precision optics with advanced LED electronics, will work with the CLTC to identify emerging applications for LEDs and develop them to be utilized in residential and commercial settings. "Our objective at the CLTC is to help accelerate the development

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  4. Symetrix Ships Symnet Express
  5. New drive for Production Services
  6. PRG lights Democratic Convention
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