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Spain - Denon has danced its way onto a famous international salsa contest in Spain - the third Simposium Internacional de Salsa de Madrid. This major event featured four days and nights of pure salsa, and every piece of music mixed by the specialist DJs was done so using Denon equipment.

The convention was split into two distinct areas: the morning and afternoon dance workshops - held in the huge Moscardó Polideportivo gymnasium - were presided over by the best teachers in the world, while by night, the venue La Riviera featured some of the world's best dancers - and a host of international DJs.

This is where Denon came into its own. Spanish dealer, DBM Pro ES, was one of the sponsors and took advantage of demonstrating the scope and capacity of Denon products at both the workshops and the La Riviera show. For the latter they set up a rig comprising four DN-S5000 tabletop C

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The Netherlands - d&b audiotechnik's partner in The Netherlands, Audio Pro Nederland, will be exhibiting at the ISE exhibition and demonstrating its own integration skills alongside the integrated tools offered by d&b. Featured on the stand will be the latest d&b audiotechnik Remote network, ROPE C Version 1 software, the D12 amplifier and seen for the very first time d&b's latest installation range of loudspeaker products.

ROPE C is a PC based graphical drag and drop user interface enabling total control of d&b systems through a screen based virtual surface. It allows the D12 amplifier through its CAN-Bus interfaces to be remotely controlled and monitored and gives central access to its user definable four band parametric equalizer and delay functions. The D12 dual channel amplifier is specifically designed for use with d&b loudspeakers, it has both analog and digital signal

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UK - The first few months of 2004 saw Stage Technologies engineers' busy commissioning the stage automation systems on board three Princess cruise ships. The year ended with an order for yet another Princess cruise ship.

The Crown Princess is the fifth 'grand class' cruise ship to be built by Fincantieri in its Monfalcone shipyard in Italy. Just days before the end of the year Stage Technologies was awarded a contract, by HMS Italia SA, for the supply of the stage automation control and the power flying system for this ship which will go into service in spring 2006. The system will comprise twenty-one fixed speed and forty-two variable speed axes.

All eight of the grand class cruise ships currently in service have Stage Technologies Acrobat control systems in the main theatre, and several also feature the Juggler control system in the aft lounges. All but the original Grand Pr

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UK - Bandit Lites is supplying equipment and a crew of five for R.E.M.'s European and UK tour, which kicked off in Lisbon last weekend, continuing the company's long working relationship with the band. Lighting designer Susanne Sasic, one of the most innovative and original contemporary LDs, started working with R.E.M. four years ago. As with all Sasic's shows, the core of the design features several one-off 'specials', created to give the show a series of unique visual elements.

Her imaginative starting point for this tour was 82 panels of 6ft x 2 ft polycarbonate 'Polygal' greenhouse/conservatory glazing material, manufactured by Pentaglass. This is double-walled and has a honeycomb cell structure which both reflects and refracts the light. The panels are lit from front, rear and the floor, creating an upstage wall of textured lighting. The panels are extremely lightweight an

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Japan - Cats, one of the most successful musicals to be staged in Japan, has returned with the Shiki theatre company to Tokyo after an eight-year absence. Shiki's Masakazu Kanamori explains: "This is an open-ended production; we are looking for it to run for approximately three years. Current ticket sales run up to November 2005."

The 1,900 capacity theatre, known as the Cats Theatre, was purpose-built, with construction beginning in July 2004. Interestingly, the central stage area is circular and not only the stage, but the first four rows of seating (360 seats) rotate as the performance commences.

Sound design for the production, managed by Masakazu Kanamori, took a year to complete and incorporates a large L-Acoustics sound reinforcement system. Kanamori explained: "We had successfully used the L-Acoustics ARCS speakers on the Cats tour of Japan and really l

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The Netherlands - Avesco company JVR supplied one of the largest LED screens ever fielded for three 28,000 capacity Christmas shows at the Arnhem Gelredome by Dutch superstar Frans Bauer.

The video screen formed the 'set': similar in proportions to the system used on U2's legendary Popmart tour, this consisted of 500sq.m of Barco's D7 outdoor product assembled into arguably the largest and highest resolution display ever built in Europe and even worldwide, discounting fixed installs, say JVR.

Sales director Jeroen Jongenelen commented. "The Barco D7 is the only system that offered the resolution required and was available in sufficient quantities to enable us to pull of a project of this scale."

Even so, the screen modules were sourced from numerous different suppliers, and the two weeks leading up to the show saw a steady stream of sea and air shipments from aroun

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UK - Tower Productions' Oxford office received a late call to provide temporary power, heating and lighting to a series of marquees (from Field & Lawn) built within the Millennium Dome to house London's homeless over Christmas. With a site meeting on Wednesday in the week before Christmas, the job confirmed on the Thursday and the load-in starting on the Friday, this was something of a challenge at a very busy time of year, say the company.

As no fuel was allowed within the Dome, heating was provided by 36 18kW electric heaters (each requiring a 32A three-phase supply) from Tower's own stock and supplemented by others hired from Aggreko. Generation was by two 500kVA sets with 3900-gallon tanks, which powered four 400A three-phase distros from which approximately 3500m of mains cable of varying sizes supplied heating, lighting, site power and show power. Approximately 140 house

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UK - A curious amalgam, MPH '04 is The Motor Show with Top Gear attitude; but then with presenters Tiff Needell, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond it would be (sharp intake of breath, adopt voice of God) 'like a B52 parking in your driveway'.

This was just the second year of the show at Earls Court, and already it's growing; PMI and Simon Aldridge appear to have brought a new and burgeoning marriage of live and static presentation into the exhibition world, a marriage that will surely have others looking frantically for an eligible partner.

Steve Sinclair has been part of the presentation team for the past two events and describes the differences between this and conventional car expo: "Some content elements appear familiar, there's a gallery of 90 or so vehicles, sponsored by HR Owens, but these aren't ordinary cars; we're talking testosterone motoring Ferraris and Mas

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Japan - Cats, one of the most successful musicals to be staged in Japan, has returned with the Shiki theatre company to Tokyo after an eight-year absence. Shiki's Masakazu Kanamori explains: "This is an open-ended production; we are looking for it to run for approximately three years. Current ticket sales run up to November 2005."

The 1,900 capacity theatre, known as the Cats Theatre, was purpose-built, with construction beginning in July 2004. Interestingly, the central stage area is circular and not only the stage, but the first four rows of seating (360 seats) rotate as the performance commences.

Sound design for the production, managed by Masakazu Kanamori, took a year to complete and incorporates a large L-Acoustics sound reinforcement system. Kanamori explained: "We had successfully used theL-Acoustics ARCS speakers on the Cats tour of Japan and really lik

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UK - Deep Purple recently completed the UK leg of their world tour with support from guitar legend Peter Frampton and UK metal band, Thunder. ML Executives supplied audio equipment for the UK tour, while PRG supplied the lighting.

Engineering for Deep Purple was Doug Hall, long-time FOH engineer for Iron Maiden: "I first used this system on Iron Maiden's Brave New World tour about four years ago. I'd tried out different options, but the KF760 gave me everything I needed in terms of pressure, headroom and sonic quality. Being horn-loaded, it's more sensitive than competitive systems, and the slightly narrower dispersion means you can fly the boxes closer to each other without interference. Above all, I love the potency and clarity of the sound from such a small box. It has all the throw you need and I've never run out of headroom or felt I was overdriving the system. With De

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USA - Many readers in the UK will have seen a traditional Christmas show this year: a local church or school's Nativity perhaps, or a traditional pantomime: if you did, compare that production with this: a Christmas tale, told Texas-style . . .

Produced by Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, The Dallas Christmas Festival redefines Christmas Spectacular: with 13 performances over two weeks in December, more than 70,000 people attend this three-hour pageant each year. The 7,000-seat worship centre is transformed into a theatre, complete with lavish proscenium; a 15,000sq.ft, 150ft wide stage, multiple flying, travelling and automated drops and over 1,000 lighting fixtures. The show includes a live 70-piece orchestra, a cast of 500 and a 100-strong crew, plus seven angels (probably real ones) that fly 70ft over the crowd, pyro, horse-drawn sleighs, chariots, live animals, S

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UK - New Year's Eve 2004 saw the British Airways London Eye become the focal point for a spectacular light and fireworks display for 150,000 Londoners on Westminster Bridge and the Embankment - plus a nationwide television audience.

Although tempered by news of the Asian Tsunami - a two-minute silence was held before the display and certain elements of the projection and light show were removed - the overall reaction from audience and press was that London had got this New Year's Eve event absolutely right. Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW) designed and produced the entertainment and managed the logistics for the event. JMW project director Jeremy Garbett and his team worked for months in advance to co-ordinate and accommodate the various council and public safety concerns.

Fireworks were obviously the major element of the show and French designer Christophe Berthonneau and his team from

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UK - Midway through fitting out a series of five nationwide Chicago Rock Cafés for Luminar Leisure in readiness for the busy Christmas season, it was the call from London that Lynx Lighting project manager Joules Newell was most interested in.

For 'London' is the name of the new super-flexible BSS Soundweb device, with improved DSP and CobraNet compatibility; having seen it previewed at PLASA back in September, Newell couldn't wait to get hold of the first delivery off the production line.

As soon as he had received confirmation that the BLU-80 was on its way, it immediately formed a key part of the new multimedia solution he had devised for Chicago Rock Café in Fareham. The advantages became immediately apparent. "In fact with so many Chicago Rocks to fit out before Christmas I wish I'd had it before," he lamented. "Not only does it sound great but it brings

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UK - "The festival has really changed focus in the last three years with the arrival of the new artistic director Susanna Eastburn," said Tim Garbutt of TG Events. "Different composers - in essence, the festival now concentrates on music composers; before, it was more on musical theatre."Huddersfield Contemporary Music festival (HCMF) is "the ninth largest festival of its type in the world," says Garbutt, "and it attracts people from all over the world." As you might imagine, this is neither the most popular nor accessible form of music, but it does attract musicians and composers of the highest calibre.

From a presentation point of view, this is challenging stuff, and while lighting demands tend to the minimal, audio is a complex matter, to say the least. TG Events looks after all aspects of production for the festival, contracting local

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UK - The Brighton Centre is not the ideal venue to see a solo artist's performance! Despite this and the fact that Gabs' voice was showing obvious signs of strain towards the end of the gig (it was the final date on a long tour) she was enthusiastically received and her performance was confident and polished.

However, Gabrielle's vocal range is very dynamic, as FOH engineer Chris 'Privet' Hedge explained while he talked me through the system design for the PA: "New for me are the two units of KT Helix - the 9340 digital EQ and 9344 digital slave EQ. The 9340 is on Gabs' vocal - her style sometimes means her voice can be soft and difficult to get out: once I knew what I was dealing with I put a few things in line. This includes a DBX162s compressor putting a really soft squeeze on her voice, and a feedback buster - the Sabine FBX 1200. I then use the Helix to tidy up beyond

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Belgium - Barco has announced the acquisition of System Technologies, based in Torhout, Belgium. Started by Frederic Opsomer in 1995, System Technologies specializes in innovative designs for special projects in the rental and staging markets. The company counts designs for special projects such as the Olympics 2004 opening and closing ceremonies as well as the design of specialized elements in the upcoming worldwide U2 tour, amongst its most recent projects. The company has annual sales of approximately 5m euros and the total cost for the transaction is less than half of sales, say Barco.

The transaction will see one of Barco's fastest growing divisions, Barco Media & Entertainment, incorporate System Technologies' expertise into its own total solution offering toward the important rental and staging and fixed installation markets. The transaction underpins Barco's belief that

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Denmark - Harlequin has supplied flooring to the new Opera House in Copenhagen, equipping a large ballet studio of 362sq.m, a smaller studio of 190sq.m and a shared opera/ballet studio of 166sq.m. All are furnished with Harlequin Studio flooring in grey. The first ballet performance on the new stage scheduled for April 2005 will be a Neumeier production of The Little Mermaid. Danish shipping magnate Mærsk McKinney Møller personally handed over the new Opera House, his gift to the Danish state, on October 1, 2004.

The Opera House, used by Det Kongelige Teater (the Royal Theatre), will host large-scale opera and ballet productions. The main auditorium seats approximately 1,500 people and also benefits from a 200-seat studio theatre and a full-sized orchestral rehearsal room. The Danish Royal Orchestra's rehearsal room is located five floors below the auditorium, 14m belo

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UK - FX Cimple Solutions, the service and repair arm of the FX Group, has been appointed the official warranty and non-warranty service centre for Akai by the Japanese manufacturer's new UK distributor, Numark Alesis Europe. Under the terms of the new agreement, FX Cimple Solutions will also operate as the Akai spare parts and logistics warehouse.

"Cimple Solutions is delighted to confirm this new appointment," says director Cliff Whitehead. "We can now get on with the task of servicing the equipment which has been building up while Akai's new UK sales and distribution company was confirmed."

Although the appointment of FX Cimple Solutions by Numark Alesis Europe is new, the company has been servicing Akai equipment for over a decade. Since Akai stopped being represented by Arbiter a few months ago, all warranty work had been suspended, and Whitehead is ple

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UK - Scotty Moore - guitar player and manager for Elvis Presley performed with some of the World's most prestigious musicians at the Abbey Road studios, including Bill Wyman, Dave Gilmour and Eric Clapton. Utopium Lighting lit the televised show using 14 x X-Spot Extremes, 12 x Studio PC Beam, 6 x Lycian Follow Spots, 84 x Par 64, 140m of truss and 28 x hoists.

At the Deutsche Bank Christmas Event on the South Bank with Bjorn Again performing was lit by Lestyn Thomas. Utopium utilized 24 of its brand new Chroma Spheres, which are part of the company's continued investment in LED lighting.

Tommy Hillfiger launch its new clothing range at the Bentley Garage in Berkley Square. Lit by Chris Bushell and Utopium for Outer Sanctum, part of the brief was not to mark the £145k cars in the two hours the technicians had to get in and fit up!

Other TV work included a Christmas special

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USA - Theatrical Lighting Systems one of the largest entertainment lighting and service providers in the United States, announced a new, exclusive financing arrangement with Austin, Texas-based FX Financial. The arrangement will provide monthly payment financing for a wide variety of TLS customers, from theatres and arenas to churches and production companies. Both companies will jointly market the new program.

The leading provider of equipment financing for the entertainment and house-of-worship industries, FX Financial recently became a part of the Commercial and Industrial division of USXL, an independent leasing company based in Parsippany, New Jersey. With world-class financial backing, USXL originates leasing transactions through its select network of dealers and vendors in all 50 states.

"Through our new relationship with FX Financial and USXL, we can now leverage

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UK - LSI Sales & Distribution has announced the formation of a UK national distributor network for its ADB range of controls, dimming and luminaires. "This is a major step forward for both LSI and ADB in the UK," says LSI's UK sales manager Andy Trevett. "We now have a consolidated network of distributors throughout the UK, from Scotland to the West Country, all of whom are industry professionals and who will operate as a team to promote and support our products. It will give fresh impetus to our current sales strategy as well as providing local technical support for our customers. This is just the beginning," added Trevett, "To date our distributor network comprises nine companies with further agreements to be concluded over the coming months, including companies based in Ireland."

Those Industry professionals which are part of the LSI-ADB Distrib

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UK / USA - Software provider Stardraw.com announced its most significant US expansion to date, with the establishment of a West Coast office in partnership with US distribution specialists, North American Pro Audio (NAPA). The move follows an extraordinary year for Stardraw, which has necessitated the provision of additional resources to serve and develop the US market. The partnership with NAPA, operating as Stardraw.com USA, will look after all Stardraw's customers within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, and manage resellers and reps in the territory with effect from 1 January 2005.

In addition to handling all sales and front-line technical support, Stardraw.com USA will offer a comprehensive schedule of user training seminars across the US for 2005. Furthermore, support through Stardraw's toll-free number has now been expanded to operate between the hours of 9am Eastern to 6pm

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Italy - Allen & Heath's iDR DSP system has been installed in a new top fashion retail outlet opened by Spinazzè, in Noventa di Piave in the north-east of Italy. The owners requested a modern, cutting-edge system that would also be easy to manage by store staff. Salgareda-based Elettrostudio, was entrusted with the management of the audio installation, selecting Allen & Heath's iDR system and accompanying PL Series of remote controllers through the manufacturer's Italian distributor, Grisby Music srl.

There are six zones in the venue where the audio must be distributed - men's, women's, and children's departments, the admin offices, the dressing rooms, and the concourse outside the shop. Elettrostudio programmed the iDR system using the iDR System Manager and PL Designer software.

During opening hours, a music source is selected from CD, radio, or MP3 (via a PC). The iDR is pr

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UK - On 31 March 2004, the identification colours of electrical cables changed in order to harmonize with Europe and other countries. The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), in association with Lighting&Sound International magazine, has now produced a guidance document and aide memoir card (included with the January issue of the magazine) on how to work safely during the two year transition from the old wiring colours to the new.

The document has been produced with a view to being established as a Best Practice Guide for the industry and has been created by a team of industry representatives. Please click here to view the document.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

  1. Education opportunities at ISE
  2. Loud announces deal with Egosys
  3. PSP supports Jasper Carrott
  4. ABTT announces Technical Theatre Training
  5. Harlequin for French dance centre
  6. Ibsen Goes Kabuki with Nexera
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