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USA - Due to "overwhelming interest", the ETCP (Entertainment Technician Certified Program) Council has voted to extend the application deadline for the first ETCP rigging examinations (arena and theatre) to 1 September, 2005. Both exams will be held on Saturday, 12 November, in conjunction with the ETS-LDI tradeshow in Orlando, Florida.

Candidates who pass the examinations in November 2005 will be acknowledged as the only members of the 'Class of 2005' on the ETCP website and will be the first ETCP Certified Riggers in North America. The rigging certifications are designed for highly experienced riggers (rigging supervisors, high steel riggers, flypersons, etc). Qualified riggers can apply for either one or both exams, and individuals must meet eligibility requirements to apply.

Under the auspices of the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA), ETCP

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UK - Serious Stages have constructed performance platforms and roofs in some interesting and challenging places in their time - including the Sahara Desert, snow-capped Alpine mountains, on floating barges in Belfast Harbour (for BBC Live) and most recently, in the middle of a 5ft deep lake for Birmingham's World War 2 Commemoration Victory Fireworks event at Canon's Hill Park.

The event and entertainment were staged by Birmingham City Council, ending in spectacular style with a massive firework finale. They wanted the stage in this specific position so when fireworks went up at the rear of the structure, the effects would have an ethereal and magical quality as they shimmered in the dark, reflecting back on the lake's glassy surface, giving the audience a visual double-take.

The Serious crew was led by Leo Barcala, and liaised closely with the Council's project manager

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UK - PixelDrive - Radical Lighting and James Thomas's innovative software for controlling LED devices - made a creative leap forward at Godskitchen Global Gathering last weekend, where it was used for the first time to take control of the colour mix function of 100 moving lights in the Godskitchen arena. This, say James Thomas, is the next step in the increasingly converging worlds of lighting and video visuals.

The system - two PixelDrive computers - was installed and programmed by Simon Carter of Radical Lighting. One was running on a laptop and one on a desktop, with both triggered by the Avolites Diamond 4 lighting console operated by Matt Holden-Jones and Paddy Sollitt. One PixelDrive was used to run video sources into the moving lights and one to run them into the 34 James Thomas PixelLine fixtures - a mix of the 1044 and the new PixelLine 110 ec - used in the show.

Ligh

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Norway - Dutch loudspeaker system manufacturer Sound Projects reports that Norwegian hire company PA Produksjoner (PAP), with two Norwegian departments (Stavanger and Bergen) has invested in 24 of its Linex line array systems. Researching suitable systems, PAP invited six different brands to bring their line-array systems to the Kongeparken Amfi theatre in Stavanger for a final test. Jan Olav Sandsmark, managing director of PAP, says: "We rigged up five different systems in one whole day and tested the next day. We were not extremely happy with any of the systems, until the Sound Projects team came along and rigged the Linex system up in nine minutes and blew our mind! Not only the easy rigging, but the light weight made us decide for Sound Projects. The clear, good sound settled the matter. We didn't have a second doubt about which sound system was the best. Ever since we ha

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UAE - Following a successful event in April this year, IIR, organizer of the PALME exhibition in Dubai, reports another surge in growth for the show, with PALME 2006 now looking set to occupy three full halls of the Dubai International Exhibition Centre (DIEC) with many of the 2005 participants having already confirmed their attendance. Still with over eight months to go before the doors open, IIR reports that PALME 2006 is now 65% sold.

The main objective of PALME, say IIR, is to allow for manufacturers, suppliers and installers to meet face to face with buyers and specifiers from a wide range of industries who have a need for professional sound, light, music, audio-visual and systems integration equipment and solutions.

PALME 2006 is scheduled to take place in Dubai from 23-25 April 2006.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Hocken AV has recently installed audio-visual presentation equipment including the JVC DLA-SX21E video projector in the principal meeting room at St Bede's Conference Centre, the training facility of St Anthony's Hospital in North Cheam, Surrey, UK.

St Anthony's is an independent charitable hospital in the private sector and is a major provider of cardiac surgery. Its sister organization, St Raphael's Hospice, provides a free service to local residents. "When we are not using the centre for our own purposes, we rent it to outside users, which include local NHS organizations, councils and commercial and voluntary organisations. All of these users expect the equipment to be easy to operate and produce the best in image quality," says Philip Cook, head of marketing at St Anthony's Hospital. Cook adds, it is our intention in the future, to extend the use of the confer

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UK - The Saville Group, the UK's largest audio-visual and conference equipment supplier, recently took delivery of two KV2 Audio ES loudspeaker systems. Targeting the growing corporate presentation and larger events market, they found a need for a more upfront Audio solution that would provide high levels of playback and throw over medium to long distances, but with the quality demanded by increasingly discerning audiences.

The first test for the system was at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, where 1,000 enthusiastic members of the Going Places travel firm descended for their two-day management conference.Saville Gold's Gareth Lloyd says: "At this type of event the ambient noise levels are extremely high, and to find a system that can project with such intelligibility, all the way to the back of the room is rare. The ease of use, and plug-and-play nature of the KV2 system is

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USA - New York-based lighting rental and production company, Pegasus Productions, has made a major investment in the new Alpha range of automated fixtures from Clay Paky.Pegasus Productions purchased Clay Paky's Alpha Spot HPE and immediately put 12 of them to work. A New Jersey Fourth of July wedding reception held in a tent for over 1,000 people, was the site of the Alpha Spots' début for Pegasus. Lighting designer Faith Yildiz ran the event, using a Wholehog II for control of the lighting and video elements. "It was really a pleasure to work with the Alphas," remarks Yildiz. "We really didn't have any time to play with the fixtures prior to this gig, so we had some questions at the back of our minds as to how they would perform. But the Alphas are very bright and lit up whole tent nicely. I was very happy with how they performed."

As well as dealing with

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Australia - The Rock Eisteddfod Challenge has once again hit the roads of Australia with Paul Collison using his tried and tested formula of Martin MACs and Pulsar ChromaBanks. Control was from an MA Lighting GrandMA.

Paul came up with the idea of five curved snake like trusses hung under a mother truss along with a split front truss to allow the followspots a clear shot at the stage, all running off four data streams from the GrandMA with 3D visualization.

Along with 11 MAC 2000 Wash, four MAC 2000 Performance, 16 MAC 600 washlights and 16 Pulsar ChromaBanks, Paul used 15 MAC 2000 Profiles each housing the new Patrick Woodroffe Gobo Collection.

"I knew the gobos were on their way so I asked Vince Haddad from Show Technology to rush me through a set so we could use them for the Canberra show," said Paul. "The gobos are awesome! It's like using a completely dif

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UK - Activity Floors have been installed in the Scottish Youth Theatre's new home in Glasgow.

The floors - one with a maple surface and five with black Harlequin Cascade surfaces - are in the redevelopment and conversion of the Old Sheriff Court located at the heart of Glasgow's Merchant City.

The Scottish Youth Theatre is Scotland's national theatre company 'for and by' young people. The Old Sheriff Court has been designed to provide the Scottish Youth Theatre with a wide range of facilities including five large rehearsal spaces, a fully equipped studio theatre and dance studio.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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USA - Lectrosonics introduced the IS400 Digital Hybrid Wireless Instrument System only a few months ago and it's already a hit with Steve Stevens. The renowned guitarist, who has been performing and writing with Billy Idol for all but a few of the last 23 years, is currently mid-tour promoting the singer's new album, Devil's Playground, the first album of new material from Idol and Stevens together in over 12 years.

Designed for use with both electric and acoustic instruments, the Lectrosonics IS400, consisting of the IM transmitter and R400A receiver, utilizes a proprietary digital algorithm to encode the audio signal into an analog format for transmission over an FM wireless carrier, which is then converted back into digital audio via DSP at the receiver. According to Stevens' guitar tech, Tim Kennedy, it was about time. "We've been waiting for years for something

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UK - For a record twelfth consecutive year, Holland's Ampco Pro Rent (APR) has supplied the complete audio production for the WOMAD Festival at the Rivermead in Reading, where nine stages present an eclectic blend of tunes, poetry, dance and arts workshops, all featuring performers from around the globe. APR's primary console brand of choice for WOMAD is Midas, with around 80% of the Reading event's 25 desks being Midas Heritage Series or XL3 consoles.

"We rarely have time for sound-checks and of course there are a lot of visiting engineers around all the stages who need to be able to jump on a desk and be ready to mix instantly," says APR production manager Dieter van Denzel. "Midas gives us the familiarity, the reliability and of course the essential audio quality."

All in all, APR oversaw the action at the main (Open Air) stage, the ever-popular Siam Ten

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The Netherlands - Recently commissioned and based in Amsterdam, the Pure Liner is a floating presentation venue capable of accommodating up to 650 guests for a daylong product launch. Equipped with state of the art lighting, sound and audio facilities, the boat is aimed at companies in Holland, Belgium and Germany who want to make product presentations in a novel environment and is fully equipped to sail to any of those countries.

Among the facilities is a d&b audiotechnik sound system that was chosen for its intelligible and clear speech reproduction, essential for corporate and company events. The system consists of d&b's compact E3 and E0 loudspeakers with Q subwoofers all colour co-ordinated to match the black and white theme of the surroundings.

In the main presentation area, a giant screen is surrounded by E3s to provide a T0 point for the sound with E0s front and back i

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UK - Arena Structures has supplied the temporary structures accommodating the media at this summers G8 Summit. Whilst the most Worlds powerful politicians tried to agree on future global policies in Perth's luxurious Gleneagles Hotel in July, the summits producers, Jack Morton Worldwide, created considerable additional amenities for the event.

Jack Morton Worldwide contracted Arena Structures to supply the temporary media facilities to house the 2,500 reporters covering the event within the secure 'ring of steel' protecting the G8 from protesters. The wide range of structures included Arena's proprietary TFS structure incorporating a mezzanine that bristled with screens and I.T. technology, whilst a separate two storey media restaurant and separate briefing rooms for each country, from where broadcasters communicated the conferences proceedings to TV companies worldwide.

Jack

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Europe - A pair of Christie's flagship 25K Roadie projectors have been integrated into the dynamic stage backdrop created by Siyan show director Bryan Leitch and lighting designer Nick Whitehouse for Coldplay's Twisted Logic World tour.

While this is Coldplay's second world tour with lighting company, Siyan, it is their first with the next-generation three-chip DLP Roadies. They were dry hired to the production by Robin Wealleans' company The Picture Works as part of a package that included sophisticated camera and control equipment.

According to the band's video director, Alan Yates, the Roadies were selected for their high brightness and high-resolution output. They continue to function superbly as an alternative video reference to the IMAG LED sidescreens. In the shows to date, the projectors have been positioned on a tower at FOH so set up and alignment was straightforward

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India - Avolites' sales director Steve Warren and business development manager Koy Neminathan recently staged a two-day open workshop in Mumbai, India, alongside their distributor Jagmag Electric, run by the charismatic Atul Sonpal. The workshop featured advanced training on existing Avolites products, including the Pearl 2004 - the most popular and widely used professional lighting console in India. The Avolites sales team also took the opportunity of introducing the latest products to the Indian market - the Diamond 4 console range and the eDMX wireless data transmission system.

The workshop follows on from a similar, more basic training event staged four years ago by Avolites and Jagmag, also in Mumbai. "The take up was phenomenal," says Steve Warren - with over 110 people attending over the two days: "They all wanted to learn more. Many were Avo owners and use

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UK - On Tuesday, 29 November 2005 at The IEE, Savoy Place, London, UK the IEE Engineering for a Sustainable Future Professional Network will present the seminar Beyond WEEE: Unsustainable Product Design, and how to avoid it.

The EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive begins to roll out across the member states of the European Union from August 2005. This directive requires the collection and recycling of WEEE, and passes the responsibility for this back onto the producers. Manufacturers and designers of EEE now have a vested interest in sustainable product design, as by employing suitable design techniques, companies have a chance to minimize these costs, maybe even reducing overall product cost.

The event has two threads running through it. The "Practical" thread will seek to explore the state of the art in Sustainable Product Design an

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UK - Showsec reports some impressive landmarks in its ongoing educational programmes this month. Two of the company's senior managers became the first to receive foundation degree qualifications in Crowd Management, the 1000th Showsec employee has achieved their Level 2 NCFE event stewarding qualification, and the 500th member of staff has been SIA accredited - all in addition to the recently qualified IOSH staff.

Leading by example, managing director Mark Harding and southern regional manager Simon Battersby are amongst the first intake of students to successfully graduate from the newly established foundation degree in Crowd and Safety Management at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, with two other managers expected to complete the course within the coming months.

In September 2004, the company embarked on a policy to train all staff to the NCFE Event stewarding l

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Turkey - Midas' Turkish distributor Atempo has sold 25 Siena consoles across the country since it was launched in January this year. The Sienas have mainly been purchased by PA rental and touring companies, with a smaller amount going into multi-purpose venues. "Our market needed a console with 16 auxilaries that provided high quality at a cost-effective price," says Atempo's Mudat Konuralp. "Siena has filled this gap, not only by being a monitor console with an adequate amount of auxiliaries, but also with its supreme quality at an affordable price. This has led the Siena console to become the best seller in Turkey and the most preferred console by audio professionals."

Most of the country's larger touring companies have now purchased at least one Siena console, and Atempo has been receiving very good feedback from all of these companies as they had a very g

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UK - White Light has been the equipment supplier of choice for two opera festivals this summer - or, in the case of one of the festivals, for the second half of each evening, since the theatrical lighting only really took over as the long summer evenings finally faded to dusk!

In Hampshire, Nothington Grange provides the home to Grange Park Opera, performed in a 540-seat horseshoe auditorium built within the listed out-house of the Grange. Lighting designer Chris Davey returned for his fourth season as resident LD, this year designing Maria Stuarda, Don Giovanni and South Pacific. As he notes: "each season the designs get bigger, pushing the stage and its possibilities to the limit. The operas rotate performances so virtually every day there is a complete set and lighting turnaround; my task was to light each piece on its own terms yet provide a design and rig

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UK - Pearce Hire has been supplying lighting and power services to the Cambridge Folk Festival for 18 years this year. In 2005 artists included Mercury Award nominees KT Tunstall and Seth Lakeman as well as long established favourites The Proclaimers and Idlewild.

The festival has stayed on its original site at the Cherry Hinton Hall Grounds, since it's inception by Ken Woollard in 1964. Whilst the organizers have striven to maintain the relaxed atmosphere for festival goers, behind the scenes of the festival site has changed beyond all recognition.

Pearce Hire supplied all the power requirements for the festival, which has increased immensely over the years, catering for this unusual site where most of the electricity comes from a mains substation, which was upgraded from a 300A to 500A in 1995 to cope with the growing demands in all areas.

This year Pearce Hire supplied a

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UK - DJ Magazine is again running its annual T-Scan Technology Awards alongside the PLASA Show this year, and is inviting readers to download a .pdf form for voting purposes (www.djmag.com/djtech007.php). Following the success of last year's format, they are offering another split reader/judge vote this year, with two sets of 10 different categories.

Alongside a public vote for gear that a bedroom or mobile DJ might use most, the magazine's panel of industry professionals, musicians and DJs will decide what club install equipment ranks highest. The public will vote on: 1. Dual CD Player; 2. MP3 Controller; 3. Entry-level Mixer; 4. Effects Mixer; 5. Lighting Product; 6. DJ Effects; 7. Sampler/Workstation; 8. Studio Software; 9. Best DJ/Producer Schooll; 10. Retailer Of The Year.

The judges will vote on: 1. Innovative New Product; 2. Turntable; 3. New Single CD Player; 4. DJ Car

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UK - Midas and Klark Teknik recently co-hosted its first training seminar in July in Riga, Latvia, for 60 sound designers, engineers and technicians from theatres, rental companies and TV stations eager to get to grips with the latest products from both brands.

Under the banner of Managing Performing Arts Across Europe, the seminar was held by local distributor GaCo in conjunction with The New Theatre Institute of Latvia. Midas and Klark Teknik's brand development manager Richard Ferriday gave a presentation focusing on the brands' latest products developments including the Siena STS package (which allows the solo'd outputs from Siena to be shown on the KT Helix digital EQ system) the Verona console, the KT DN370 graphic equalizer and wireless remote control of the Helix system, via a tablet PC. All products were available for hands-on demonstrations.

GaCo was only rece

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Russia - Nearly 100 Robe Show Lighting fixture of various types have been installed in the Crystal Casino in Moscow as part of a massive technology upgrade. Crystal's owners emphasize a high quality guest 'experience' and presenting a visually stimulating environment is key to this.

Crystal, one of the largest gambling establishments in Eastern Europe with three restaurants, several bars, a nightclub and dancefloor, needed a boost to its lighting system. The new installation was designed by Sasha "Eagle" Vasilyev - the club's chief LD - and Slava Savin, LD and desk programmer/operator, and undertaken by Moscow-based Light Sound. Contractor (LSC), one of Russia's leading installers.

Nightly onstage entertainment includes a variety of singers and bands. The club also has its own permanent cabaret/musical show once or twice a week, and the dancefloor is in use five days

  1. Audio Industry Regatta - calling all sailors
  2. Harrah's Lake Tahoe with Lake Contour
  3. Harman Pro assists AA exhibition
  4. Artistic Licence creates a Galaxy of Colour
  5. D5 Live tours with Avril
  6. PixelPARs at Ministry of Mayhem
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