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UK - Lighting designer/director Martin Kubanka specified over 50 Robe Show Lighting moving fixtures in his design for the final of the Slovakian Miss Universe qualifier. The show, directed by top Czech Republic-based Ji?i Adamek, was broadcast live on Slovakia's largest private television channel, Joj TV (pronounced 'Yoy') in front of a live audience of 4,000 at the National Tennis Centre in Bratislava.

It is one of Slovakia's largest annual media events, and attracted a phenomenal domestic audience of four million people - 80 per cent of the country's population for its Thursday night prime time slot. The 12 finalists were chosen from over 1500 initial applicants.

Lighting and sound production was supplied by Slovakia's number one rental house, Q-99, co-ordinated by Marek Adamik. Kubanka is the country's highest profile TV lighting designer/director and works on some of the t

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UK - Internet-based recording and production studio, Tracks By Email.com, has installed a 40-channel Allen & Heath GL4000 multi-purpose console in its Lincolnshire facility. The company provides remote recording resources for musicians and songwriters who either do not have access, or the budget, to hire studios or sessions musicians. Clients submit partial tracks online with composition instructions, and Tracks By Email.com adds the missing elements - such as a live strings arrangement, drum track, or backing vocals - providing the results over the web.

The GL4000 is the front end of the studio's audio set up, connected to a Nuendo media production software suite via 4 RME ADI-8 audio converters. The desk manages all recording, and can sometimes be used for up to five different projects a day.

"We selected the GL4000 for the studio because we had previously used a GL2200

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UK - Essential Lighting was asked by Andy Ayres of Mantaplan to provide lighting for the 60th anniversary of VE day, in Trafalgar Square. Under the direction of Mark Kenyon, Essential's Tony Hall took on the challenge of installing two 40ft trailers worth of equipment into the Square.

The site was particularly difficult, given a very limited back stage area, and many hours were spent playing "flightcase Tetris". Over a three-day fit up period, 145 moving lights (mainly Martin MAC 2000 units of various types) were rigged in and around the Square, to Kenyon 's specifications. The spec included 16 City Colours to light the National Gallery, City Beams for the fountains, 60 MAC 2000 wash lights and 60 MAC 2000 profiles, with eight MAC 2000 Performances thrown into the mix. Additional effects were from 60 Chroma cans, and 24 Chroma banks.

Control was under the mighty fin

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USA - Peavey celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The company, still family-owned, today employs well over 1,100 people in the US, and occupies two million square feet of manufacturing, R&D, office space, warehousing and other facilities in and around Meridian, Mississippi.

Hartley Peavey began building amplifiers, in 1965; the first real boost came when in 1968 when he saw a gap in the market for a portable PA system, and introduced the PA-3. Success continued with the Peavey Classic and Peavey Vintage amplifiers between 1972-1973, followed by the Peavey Bandit, which became the world's top-selling amplifier. 1976 saw the CS-800 power amp, and the first mass-produced electric guitars. Then followed Peavey's own range of loudspeakers, beginning with the Black Widow.

In the 1980s, Peavey began the foundations of a digital programme that continues to this day, and in 1984

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USA - Following the letter in the last issue from Brett Kingstone, president and CEO of Super Vision Inc, L&SI put some further questions to Color Kinetics regarding its recent US patents and patent applications.

L&SI: Patent application (20050044617) for 'Methods and apparatus for illumination of liquids', was filed on 3 March 2005, and another, very similar Patent (6,869,204) was granted on 22 March 2005. The abstract of the granted Patent 6,869,204 'Light fixtures for illumination of liquids' appears to be very close to that of the latest application. What is the purpose of applying for the second, very similar patent?

George Mueller, Color Kinetics: "The patent applications referred to here (dated 2005) are actually continuations of previously filed, issued patents and pending applications, dating back as far as 1997. The specific details are c

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UK - Eat to the Beat fed the artists, BBC and production team at BBC Radio 1's One Big Weekend in Sunderland. Many of the artists on the bill, including the Foo Fighters, The Levellers, Kasabian and Basement Jaxx along with the Radio 1 DJ's Chris Moyles and Colin and Edith , left the sanctuary of their dressing rooms and joined the production team in the sociable atmosphere of the 'backstage restaurant' created by Eat to the Beat.

The hail was bouncing off the roof of Eat to the Beat's temporary kitchen in the backstage area of Radio 1's One Big weekend, as superb food was served at breakfast, lunch and dinner, cooked on site by Heather and Paul and their team of six. The menu choices had everyone spoilt for choice and the compliments were flowing.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Suffolk-based Synergy Audio is the first UK sound company to take delivery of Proel's new Axiom line array system. The choice of Axiom followed a tough demo at Synergy's headquarters, on the old RAF Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk.

In the course of a dank afternoon, against a tearing crosswind, the system was tested with a variety of program material, ranging from classical through to heavy rock and spoken word and, says Synergy Audio's Rob Quin, "The results were quite staggering. Even in the strong winds, the system produced a very even sound field, across a large area, with very little noticeable drop in level or quality.

"It's extraordinarily good. The people behind the design have worked with some of the "big names" in line array, so it has a good design pedigree. We've been inside the boxes and the components are very good quality. The build of th

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USA - Symetrix recently announced the appointment of M-PRO BeNeLux as exclusive distributor of Symetrix and SymNet products in Belgium and Luxembourg. Founded in August 2004 by Mario Clabots, M-PRO was set up to focus on the distribution of products for the fixed installation market, AV installations and pro audio applications.

Noted Jim Latimer, director of sales: "Symetrix is pleased to bring M-PRO on board. Mario Clabots brings a wealth of experience garnered while working with major AV distribution companies. His hands-on experience and knowledge of both the digital and analog world makes M-PRO a perfect match for us."

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Starlight Design, recently turned to VDC for a range of custom panels and Van Damme Black Series multicore cables for its new Front of House sound system. "The panels and cables we have chosen are being used to connect our equipment racks to each other and to the Front of House console," says Starlight's Charlie Jamieson, who is responsible for the company's sound department. "We've had an account with VDC for years. They have the biggest range, the sales guys are friendly and they understand exactly what we're trying to achieve. To be perfectly honest, there's no-one else we'd use."

Established 23 years ago, Starlight Design has a prestigious client list that includes royalty, the aristocracy and international celebrities. Much of its work is venue specific and over the next few months alone it will be ensuring the success of spectacular private parties

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UK - All budding lighting designers should be hard at work as the submission deadline looms for the annual Michael Northen Bursary, organized by the Association of Lighting Designers in conjunction with ETC and the Mousetrap Foundation. With the competition closing on 31 May, judging will take place in mid June at the ABTT theatre show.

Last year the judges were so impressed with the standard of entries that, in an unprecedented move, they agreed to present two runner-up prizes of £250 each, in addition to the first prize of £500. Judge Mark White, ETC's UK regional manager for UK and Ireland, said: "I had no hesitation in saying that ETC would augment the main prize with a further £250 for each of the two runners up and am pleased to confirm that ETC will be doing the same this year. The level of work we saw last year was of the highest calibre and it is only right that

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Italy - This year, an Outline Butterfly system was once again chosen as sound reinforcement for the 90,000sqm of Europe's largest square (Prato della Valle - Padua), for an annual event staged by radio/TV broadcaster Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana and Video Italia, one of the world's most widely distributed sat TV channels.

The event - now in its 6th year - is followed every year by an average of 120,000 people who pack the square. As well as catching the interest of Mediaset and RAI, the show was broadcast live on the terrestrial and sat frequencies of Radio Italia, Video Italia and Video Italia channel 712 (Sky), plus free sat channel 858.

The 2005 cast included Francesco Renga (winner of the 55th Sanremo Festival), Le Vibrazioni, Marco Masini, I Nomadi, Paola and Chiara, Ivana Spagna, Matia Bazar, Velvet, Paolo Meneguzzi, Toto Cutugno and Annalisa Minetti, Luca Dirisio,

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UK - West-London based Projected Image Digital, has supplied and installed a series of bespoke Element Labs VersaTUBE LED display systems for telecoms giant O2. PID was working to the specification of leading UK brand experience and production company Imagination.

The installations - involving nearly 300 TUBES - are now operational in the shop windows of selected flagship O2 retail outlets around the UK. Inbuilt into customized two-metre wide racking, the VersaTUBE linear LED fixtures are running a 15 minute loop of high-impact, low-resolution video visuals.

Imagination wanted a turn-key solution for the project. It also sought a supplier able not just to specify the right product, but to offer the requisite amount of technical expertise, support and back up, both during the installation and thereafter - in the specific area of digital media. This is why PID was chosen for the

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UK - Bar Local, recently opened in the heart of Fulham, is the second venue to be rolled out by entrepreneur Rob Stephenson. The first Bar Local opened in Clapham last year to great acclaim, and Stephenson is confident that the Fulham venue will enjoy similar success. While this area of south-west London is already home to several upmarket bars and restaurants, Bar Local offers something a little bit different, combining the class of a piano bar with the energy and ambience of an intimate club. Stephenson turned to audio visual specialists, Sound Division, to furnish a powerful yet discreet audio system including a DJ booth for his latest venture.

Sound Division's David Graham explained that the brief was to provide a high quality background and foreground audio system that would transition smoothly from the daytime background music CDs and early evening tinklings of the grand p

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UK - Siyan Lighting recently supplied 20 Chroma-Q Color Blocks for use on alternative rock band Athlete's three night residency at Brixton Academy in April. Athlete is currently touring the UK to promote the bands No.1 album, Tourist.

Siyan lighting designer Bryan Leitch and co-designer Dom Smith decided to add an extra visual backdrop during particular songs in the band's set. This involved using White canvas drops, just above stage height, washed with vibrant colours to provide a strong contrast to the stage backlighting.

Lighting the drops required an LED batten solution that could be floor-mounted directly below each of the four 0.75m wide canvas strips. The fixture needed to be very bright to effectively up-light the full height of the drops and produce the richness of colour required. Leitch required varying lengths of batten and having heard of the modular design

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UK - Already being hailed as the musical event of the year if not the decade, Cream's four appearances at the Royal Albert Hall have been captured for posterity by Sanctuary Mobiles.

The historic event, which saw the original supergroup of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce reunite on stage for the first time in 36 years, was being filmed by Done and Dusted for future DVD release. Sanctuary has a long history of working with the production company on groundbreaking musical events, and once again was the first choice for providing the soundtrack to the proceedings.

Inside the Sanctuary Manor One truck, recording engineer Alan Douglas - Clapton's studio engineer - was at the helm of the 48-channel E Series SSL desk, recording all four concerts in their entirety to ensure plenty of options would be available in post production. Sanctuary technical manager Mike Silverston l

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UK / UAE - The recent PALME 2005 show launched James Thomas Engineering's PixelRange officially into the Middle East lighting market with their newly appointed distributor - Avolites ME. Avolites had one of the largest stands at the PALME show and certainly the best entrance position to demonstrate the PixelLine and PixelDrive system to all visitors entering the show, say JTE.

This even included a royal seal of approval on the second day, when before the show opened Avolites received a royal visit to the stand by HH Sheikh Hassan Lottah with his entourage and Dubai TV crew. As a customer of Avolites, the Sheikh personally chatted with Avolites MD Tony Shembish regarding the show's activities and once the royal party had left - the show opened to trade professionals.

Avolites designed their impressive PALME stand around the LED PixelRange. The PixelDrive software running the Pi

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USA - James Thomas Engineering's new PixelLine 110ec batten is making its touring debut on Alicia Keys' The Diary US tour. Specified by LD Michael Trifillis and supplied by Nebraska based Theatrical Media Services.

PixelLine 110ec is a high brightness linear wash device comprising of five cells, each of which uses five blue and green 3W Luxeon emitters and six red and amber 1W Luxeons. These high intensity emitters can produce 42 million colour combinations. Trifillis is using 24 PixelLine 110ec's in total and it's also the first time he has used James Thomas's LED units.

Twelve are used primarily as 'toners', to light several upstage drapes including the main beige scenic drop, two beige swag drapes and white chiffon drapes in between the two swags. Drapes play a major scenic role in the stage, set designed by Paul Pape. The beige was chosen to give the drapes a differ

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UK - Mojo Barriers has acquired Pit Stop Barriers from Eve Trackway, which sees all of the stock of steel, aluminium front of stage barriers and the bar barriers moving to Mojo Barriers UK new premises. In addition to existing stock this means the company has over 7.5km of front of stage barriers available to hire.

In a move signalling a significant shift change, the original founders of Pit Stop Barriers (Jim Gaffney and Jon Slater) became partners in Mojo Barriers UK in March (2005). They have been working alongside Mojo Barriers UK's long standing manager Kevin Thorborn since then to establish a new head office and storage facility in Essex.

The new Pit Stop equipment will bolster the complete Mojo Barriers UK product range available from its two offices in Essex and the Midlands; already boosted in April this year when it completed the acquisition of indoor touring special

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USA - New Jersey-based Circuit Lighting has announced a number of changes as it continues to modernize its operation, including modernization of its offices, the introduction of a new logo and the launch of a new website. Company president Richard Tilley says he felt it was time to create a new logo to symbolize the many changes and his desire to create a fresh, sunny and bright company outlook.

Circuit Lighting's office modernization has seen the addition of a new warehouse distribution computer system that barcodes all inventory. New Robe Show Lighting fixtures will replace its existing moving light inventory, ensuring superiority and latest technology in the production field. Circuit Lighting's fleet of new trucks will deliver anywhere within the United States on time, say Tilley.

Finally, on the personnel front, Circuit Lighting has announced the addition of Mark Toth to i

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UK - Autograph Sales has announced its first ever grand auction, to take place this month at the company's warehouse in North West London. The company says it will be selling a large selection of its old and new stock, as they prepare to move to nearby and extended premises later this year. The auction will take place at 1pm on Thursday 26 May 2005. Going under the hammer will be equipment from Meyer Sound, ATM, Clear-Com, BSS, Lab Gruppen, K&M, Countryman and EMO. Some items are brand new, others are from ex-demo and rental stocks, say the company.

Autograph Sales has chosen to donate a percentage of the proceeds to PSA's Welfare and Benevolent Fund. To download a catalogue and find out more about the auction, go to the Autograph Sales website, address below.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Two draft standards - BSR E1.22 and BSR E1.23, dealing with fire safety curtain systems and theatrical fog, have joined the two draft rigging standards available for review on the ESTA website. These two new documents will be available for review until the end of 19 July, 2005.

BSR E1.22, Entertainment Technology - Fire Safety Curtain Systems, is one of the newly posted standards. It describes the materials, fabrication, installation, operation, testing, and maintenance of fire safety curtains and fire safety curtain systems used for theatre proscenium opening protection. This is the second public review of the document, and is a radical reworking of what had been offered before. It is a serious attempt to avoid offering a cook-book description of a fire safety curtain system and to instead specify what it is supposed to do. That is, it doesn't tell yo

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Australia / USA - Australian manufacturer Enttec, producer of popular DMX tools including the Datagate and the Open DMX USB Pro, has announced the opening of its US warehouse, distribution and repair centre, in Maryland, USA. The new site, opened to service the company's ever-growing client base in the US, carries stock of the full Enttec range and all US-based orders are now sent from there, thus minimizing transit time and offering overnight shipments for urgent orders, say the company. The staff at this centre can also perform repairs on all Enttec devices.

Enttec is now looking to expand its dealer network in the USA and Canada.

(Lee Baldock)

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Iceland - Iceland's premier TV production company, 365 Media, has been a Robe distributor since Robe's direct brand launch at PLASA 2002. The dealership was secured by Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson, head of the 365 Media's lighting department. Since then, the Czech moving light manufacturer's representation in Iceland has grown in line with Robe's international success; the company has imported over 70 fixtures to Iceland with just 280,000 inhabitants.

Recently 365 Media used nearly all its Robe stock to light the finals of the most popular TV show in the country's history - Icelandic Idol. Set and lighting were designed by Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson. The show's LED-lit truss half-dome, was supplied by Eurotruss in Holland and clad with LED starcloths from Universal Stars Ltd, as was the rear projection material, onto which Apollo Design Technology glass cloud gobos were project

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Spain / UK - Vieta Pro, the Barcelona-based manufacturer of professional sound reinforcement products, is pleased to announce the appointment of an exclusive distributor in the UK. Francisco Márquez, the President of Vieta, and Nacho Alberdi, managing director of Vieta Pro, were at the ProLight+Sound expo in Frankfurt to confirm the new deal with Jonathan Reece-Farren and Andy Austin-Brown of KV2 Audio Europe Ltd.

Vieta is one of Spain's most established and well-respected audio equipment manufacturers, with a leading share in consumer audio, in-car audio and home electronics in its home market. In 2004, the company entered the pro-audio sector for the first time, with the launch of four fully developed and integrated Series of loudspeakers, ranging from ceiling speakers to 15" 2-way enclosures, plastic as well as plywood cabinets, a full selection of sub-bass units and Vi

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