Business

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UK - After some 20 years of working together, the directors of DHA and Rosco have announced DHA has transferred all assets, staff and services to Roscolab Ltd. The alliance came about as a result of strategic development discussions during which it became apparent that both companies could benefit from being a stronger, united force.

The combined statement announcing the deal said: "Culturally, DHA and Rosco are a natural fit, bringing together the best of product innovation and customer service. They know that investment in processes, production and people is necessary in order to maintain their position as market leaders in the supply of gobos and projection solutions and they are determined to move the gobo business forward in the coming months and years. Together Rosco and DHA have the expertise, reputation and product range to explore new markets and develop new territ

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USA - Rigging expert Jay O. Glerum of Jay O. Glerum & Associates Inc will present a full-day Rigging Fundamentals Workshop on Thursday, November 10, 2005 in Orlando, Florida. The course is presented by the Seminars and Training committee of The ESTA Foundation, in association with Lighting Dimensions and Entertainment Design magazines. The course will take place from 8:30am to 5:30pm at the Rosen Plaza, ESTA's official hotel for The Entertainment Technology Show-LDI2005.

The course will cover the essentials of rigging, as follows: 1) The Physics and Metallurgy of Rigging - How loads exert a force on a rigging component; Types of forces; How the molecular structure of the component resists a force; Stress and strain of materials; and Allowable deflection.

2) Hardware Selection and Application - How hardware is load rated; Appropriate design factors for hardware selection; Sourc

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USA - IBM's PartnerWorld 2005 brought together 5,600 of the computer giant's business partners and executives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlimited Visibility Lighting Design's (UVLD) John Ingram was asked by executive producer Tom Spaulding of Drury Design Dynamics, to light the event which showcases IBM's on demand business strategy and sales execution plans to the largest annual global gathering of IBM Business Partners. Along with UVLD co-designer Paul Sharwell, Ingram created a spectacular visual landscape with hundreds of moving lights on a tight schedule and with automated set pieces.Held in the arena at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center, IBM's PartnerWorld had just three days of load in and rehearsal time before the first show day. With 81 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures, 88 MAC 2000 Profile fixtures, 36 MAC 2000 Performance fixtures and 22 High End Studio Spots, progra

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UK - British Harlequin plc will be again be at the ABTT Theatre Show 2005 (15-16 June, Royal Horticultural Halls, London), showing a wide range of examples from its extensive range on Stand 122. Visitors will able to compare dance floor coverings and systems, plus there will be expert support on hand to provide guidance and advice. Commenting on prospects for this year's show, marketing manager, Monica Arnott said: "We are always very encouraged by the quality of the people attending ABTT. Not only do we meet many of our existing customers here, but we always gain many interesting new enquiries."

Harlequin's worldwide operations serve the dance community at a number of levels with important recent projects including the new Copenhagen Opera House, the French National Dance Centre (CND) in Paris and Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York. Harlequin floors have also been

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UK - Ofcom has commissioned a comprehensive study into the RF spectrum requirements of the programme making and special events (PMSE) sector. The study aims to assess programme makers' demand for spectrum and the availability of spectrum to the sector, both today and in the future. There is particular emphasis on digital TV switchover and how this will impact the availability of spectrum for wireless microphones.

The study will also look at the economic and social value derived from all uses of spectrum by the programme making and special events community, explore how spectrum can be secured for these uses and consider future spectrum management arrangements. This will inform Ofcom as it prepares to move the programme making sector towards market-based methods of spectrum allocation and management in 2007. The study is to be undertaken by a joint team from Quotient Associates Lt

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UK - Hawthorn has taken exhibition space for the first time at this year's ABTT Theatre Show (15-16 June 2005, Royal Horticultural Halls, London). "The show will give us the opportunity of raising awareness of our Hire, Sales and Installation teams and also give our staff the opportunity to meet the people they talk to on the phone," said the company's Alan Jackson.

Hawthorn was started nearly 20 years ago by MD Martin Hawthorn, hiring equipment out of his garage, and has now grown into an international company with over 85,000sq.ft of warehouse space in Old Dalby, near to Melton Mowbray, at the heart of Britain. "Being dealers for many of the world's leading suppliers and with a team who have many years of professional theatre, events and entertainment experience, we feel we are very well placed to offer all our customers the best advice and product available&quo

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UAE - A Midas XL4 console has been installed into one of the world's first seven-star hotels - the Emirates Palace - situated on the beachfront of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The opulent establishment opened in February at a rumoured cost of over $3 billion. One of the many facilities the hotel offers is a conference centre, and the Midas XL4 was chosen as the centrepiece of the 1,200 capacity auditorium, where a programme of live entertainment runs alongside conferences and corporate events.

The sound, lighting and stage engineering systems were designed and specified by Theatre Projects Consultants, with Bond Communications winning the tender to engineer, supply and install the sound and communications systems.

"As analogue desks go, the XL4 is superb," says Mark Clay from Bond Communications. "It is normally situated in the control room, b

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UK - An observant reader of the May 2005 issue of Lighting&Sound International has alerted us to an errant piece of misinformation in the Technical Focus column, in particular the article on the implementation of the WEEE and RoHS directives (p.54, column 3).

The paragraph that read: "The WEEE directive has been put back from August this year through until January 2006. The RoHS directive though is due to come into force on 1 July this year . . ." Should actually have read: "The WEEE directive has been put back from August this year through until January 2006. The RoHS directive though is due to come into force on 1 July next year . . ."

While not wishing to alarm readers prematurely, depending on the size of one's manufacturing operation this timescale is still not long - but at least it's not in a couple of weeks' time! Apologies to those who were

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UK - An LED solution to an unusual interior design challenge has been devised by three experienced nightclub industry professionals - lighting specialist Ian Kirby (of Lighting Effects Distribution), project coordinator Shaun Doyle and interior designer Graham Taylor of Easy Design Solutions. Collectively they have devised a brash, stylised 1970s/80s interior for The Nightclub Company's new Bamboogie music venue concept, annexed to their Creation nightclub in Brighton.

Doyle invited both Taylor and Kirby, with whom he has worked many times in the past, onto the project - and the latter has delivered an intelligent LED solution, which was installed by Ken Morgan of K Morgan Electrical Ltd. "When the Nightclub Company were outlining their idea for the new concept, I told them the only guy they needed to talk to for the lighting was Ian Kirby," declared Doyle. "He wo

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USA - Westmoore Community Church in Oklahoma City use their Zero 88 Bull Frog lighting console to live up to the moniker 'The Flock that Rocks!'. Started in 1994, Westmoore Community Church is dedicated to an informal style of worship, providing a concert environment for its patrons. The rapidly expanding church currently runs three services for over 2,000 people on Sundays and is building a new 24,000sq.ft facility. When the sanctuary first opened its doors in 2001, youth leader Scott Blair had just a few conventional lights and scrollers running from a small conventional console. The current technical director, Kevin Gress, started helping with the lighting in 2002 and then undertook the project to expand and upgrade the lighting system.

"I first learned about the Frog range from Zero 88 at a seminar in Dallas," said Gress. "After I saw a demo, I knew it was a F

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UK - A near-capacity 15,000 crowd thronged Trafalgar Square for the recent A Party To Remember Live - a two-hour concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of VE Day. Presented by Eamonn Holmes and Natasha Kaplinsky, the event saw appearances by Will Young, Katie Melua, Katherine Jenkins, Sir Cliff Richard, Dame Vera Lynn and more. With a strong presence by the Royal British Legion, and the event televised live on BBC One, memories of victory in Europe 60 years ago were strongly rekindled.

Sound company System Sound had their own challenges to face as they rigged a powerful Martin Audio line array system for the occasion. Working for production company Mantaplan (with Martin Vanstone as site manager), System Sound director and event sound designer, Simon Biddulph, said that the Martin line array system was always in his mind when the classical event specialists were awarded

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USA - L-Acoustics US has formally recognized Western Audio Sales as its 2004 Rep of the Year. The announcement came from Paul Freudenberg, L-Acoustics US vice president of sales and marketing, who recently presented the firm with an award. Charged with the loudspeaker manufacturer's Southern California territory, Western Audio Sales is headquartered in Costa Mesa and under the direction of Mike Klickstein who founded the firm in 1978.

Freudenberg notes that it was outside sales employee Dave Weidenhoffer who really clinched the award for Klickstein's company. "Dave's dedication to both his customers and L-Acoustics is exemplary," he said. "He is constantly generating fresh ideas to promote our products and new ways in which to meet customer needs. Consequently, we are very pleased to be able to recognize him and the rest of the Western Audio crew for their outstan

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Ukraine - This year's Eurovision Song Contest, which too place in Kiev on Saturday, May 21st, showcased some of Barco's latest LED and projection technologies, including the brand-new OLite 510 display and the XLM H25 and R12+ projectors, underlining Barco's technology leadership in the international events industry.

An estimated 400 million viewers worldwide saw a spectacular stage featuring 86 tiles of Barco's brand new OLite 510 LED display technology, 280 ILite 8 LED modules, two Barco XLM H25 projectors, three Barco R18 projectors, two R12+ and three R10 projectors. Barco rental partner, Massteknik, delivered all visualization equipment used on the show.

The star of this year's show is surely Barco's OLite 510: the brand new indoor/outdoor SMD LED display technology, which combines the benefits of indoor and outdoor LED requirements in one reliable, robust LED tile built

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Norway - Norwegian fiddle player Andreas Ljones believes in pushing the boundaries when playing and recording with his two bands by combining the latest technology with traditional instruments. Some of the most recent additions to his armory include a DPA 4088 miniature cardioid headset microphone, which is being used in a somewhat unconventional manner.

Ljones has started using the 4088 traditionally used as a headset mic for vocal applications - for his fiddle when playing live with the Andreas Skeie Ljones band, but turning the microphone boom around so that it points towards the instrument. He has found its cardioid characteristics mean the mic is much less sensitive to feedback when sharing a stage with other amplified instruments, and it can be used with his wireless transmitter to allow free movement on stage.

"I achieved some great results during tests of the 4088

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Australia / Cyprus - ARX Systems, the Australian based manufacturer of Professional Audio Equipment is very pleased to announce the appointment of S&V Mega Sound as their new Distributor for Cyprus. Nicosia-based S&V Megasound was established by Stelios Petrids and Mr Vassos Mouzouras in 2000, and alongside ARX also represents manufacturers including Mackie, Renkus-Heinz, XTA and RCF.

ARX's managing director Colin Park said: "Stelios Petrides and I finalised our distribution agreement, at last month's Pro Light&Sound in Frankfurt. S&V are a very professional company; Stelios and Vassos are very well known in the Cyprus industry as men of integrity and they're both a pleasure to work with. The Cypriot audio industry is a vibrant and growing market, especially with the increased levels of tourism the island is experiencing and having one of the 'big five' Cypriot Distributors

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UK / Belgium - Audient plc has appointed A.S.C. as official distributor for both the Audient and LA Audio ranges of products in Belgium. A.S.C., located on the edge of Brussels, is active in every sector of the live, recording and broadcast markets. Luke Baldry, sales and marketing director for Audient says: "There are many points to consider with distribution in Belgium, not least to find a company who can offer a complete distribution solution for our varied range of products but also to cover both the French and Flemish speaking areas of the country. A.S.C. cover every aspect that we are seeking."

The Audient and LA Audio lines complement the other products distributed by A.S.C., providing high quality pro audio products for a range of applications, say Audient. Etienne Lambert, sales director at A.S.C., adds: "We are very excited about working with the Audient

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UK - Sound Foundation and Allen & Heath have announced that the first showing in the UK of Allen & Heath's new GL2400, GL2800 and GL3800 mixing consoles will take place on the 9th, 10th and 11th of July 2005 at the Sound Foundation in Reading. All sound engineers, musicians and representatives of venues, clubs, theatres and churches are invited to the showing, which will also include the Allen & Heath ML range.

The Sound Foundation can be found at Unit 23 Headley Park Area 10, Woodley, Reading, Berks, RG5 4SW. Further information is available from the Sound Foundation website. To register, please email the address below.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Sound Division used their conceptual experience of lighting and staging to help transform the Sky Bar at the London Coliseum into a 1950s style jazz cocktail bar for a star-studded Tribute To Leonard Bernstein. The party, hosted by Jerry Hall, followed the Sky and Artsworld presentation of the English National Opera's On The Town, and was dominated by a stunning New York skyline - designed by Ed Thorpe and design director Adrian Harrison from the Special Projects team in Creative Services at Sky Television (Sky are season sponsors of the English National Opera). This formed an exhilarating backdrop, which was subtlely brought to life by Sound Division, working through the event's public relations agency Premier PR.

With little space to operate behind the black drapes, the company chose to integrate LED lights into the set itself, providing a twinkling night sky via t

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UK - FX Rentals provided some of the sound equipment for London's first Encompass DJ festival which took place around the hip bars of Shoreditch and Hoxton. The three-day event featured around 100 international electronic music and visual performers including Goldie, DJ Food, Speedy J and Jazzanova. FX supplied DJ packages to venues including Cargo, The Spitz, 93 Feet East, and The Vibe Bar. Among the large amount of equipment supplied were Technics SL1210 record decks, Pioneer DJM600 DJ mixers and CDJ1000 scratch CD players, Shure radio mic kits, Shure and AKG dynamic and condenser mics, Mackie mixers and speakers, plus a range of backline and outboard equipment.

Festival organizer Jon Terry said of FX Rentals: "Their involvement meant we could relax knowing that our extensive equipment requirements were taken care of. In the end, despite last minute additions and the fact

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UK - Strand Lighting has announced that its three UK facilities in Kirkcaldy, Cambridge and London will be consolidated into a new, custom facility outside of London. This means that the Kirkcaldy factory will be closed down in a phased manner, over a period of up to 18 months. The move is being made, say Strand, "In order to remain competitive in today's increasingly global and increasingly competitive lighting market."

Strand says that between now and the end of this year, certain dimming products presently manufactured in Scotland for the European market will be replaced by exciting new products made in Strand manufacturing sites, which are presently undergoing extensive modernization, in the US and elsewhere. The first of these new products, EC21, which features full-density sinewave dimming, will be launched at Showtech in Berlin, following its pre-launch adoption

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UK - Lighting designer Nick Jevons used a Martin Maxxyz console, Mac 2000 Profile and Wash fixtures and Atomic strobes in his highly innovative visual show for BBC Radio One's 'One Big Weekend' event, held in Sunderland's Hetherington Park on 7-8 May. The console was one of two newly acquired by Bandit Lites UK, the main lighting equipment supplier to Jevons' company, Electric Fly Productions, who handled the lighting and visual co-ordination for the main stage. The desks will now be available from Bandit's hire stock.

Jevons has worked on every 'One Big Weekend' event since they started, this being the sixth. Jevons used 16 Mac 2000 Wash and 16 2000 Profile units across three trusses - six of each type on the back, six on the mid and four on the front truss, plus 12 Atomic strobes, four on each truss. Other fixtures included four bars of six Pars on the front truss, six ETC Sou

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Italy - One of Milan's most popular clubs is planning to expand its universe: this summer, the classic La Banque restaurant and nightclub will open a unique outdoor venue, La Banque Estiva, located just a few miles north of central Milan. This new venture by La Banque's owners, the Maiorana family company Progemir, is a contrast to the original venue, which inhabits wood panelled marbled premises in an old city bank: with the large restaurant and lounge bar on the first floor, the disco is downstairs in the old bank vault, and the whole venue is elegantly furnished with deep red curtains and fittings which attract a diverse crowd of all ages. Footballers, politicians, stars of TV and the nearby La Scala opera house can be found alongside fashion models and businessmen.

Franco Maiorana expects the same crowd to follow him to La Banque Estiva, or the 'summer bank', where the cuisi

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USA - Turbosound's Aspect series of loudspeakers recently completed its US festival debut at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. One of the USA's largest annual festivals, the two-day event featured five performance stages, with rental company Rat Sound Systems Inc deploying a 34-enclosure Aspect rig for the festival's Mojave Tent. The Aspect design's accurate, tightly-focused dispersion pattern helped to reduce reflections from the tent's sidewalls, while also limiting the spill into adjacent tents, say the company.

The Mojave Tent was filled to capacity during the festival, with some 5,000 people inside, and a further 1,000 or so listening in at the doorways. Rat Sound's Turbosound Aspect system utilized a total of 12 TA-890H mid/highs and 18 TA-890L (2 x 15") bass cabinets, plus a further four TA-890H units as fills, with their waveguides r

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UK - Lez Patterson, production manager and FOH engineer for the live stage at the London Guitar Show, held at the Wembley Exhibition Centre on 7-8 May, spec'd a stage full of Audio-Technica mics for the event. Patterson, whose sound company, Q Audio, has run the live performance stage for the Guitar Show for several years, spec'd the mics after positive experience and feedback from artists, when he used A-T at last year's event.

Patterson spec'd the AE5400 handheld vocal condenser for all vocal duties, and the AE3000 large diaphragm cardioid condenser instrument microphone, for guitar cabs, acoustic instruments, percussion, overheads, and "anything that requires a natural sound."

"The AE3000 has been a total revelation as a multi-tasking large condenser," says Patterson, "and the AE5400 performs fantastically on vocals for all types of acts, from the I

  1. AVR takes up Super Vision licence
  2. DPA at Walt Disney Concert Hall
  3. PSL with Sporting Heroes
  4. Sennheiser TourGuide for ISIS facility
  5. Absolute acquires M Corporation
  6. Sennheiser/Neumann for Manilow
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