Business

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UK - When chart-topping band McFly needed quick access to an outdoor space for an impromptu sound check, it was UK cable specialist VDC Trading that was able to provide the solution.

The company offered the band the use of its yard in North London to conduct the sound check, enabling them to perform in Covent Garden where they subsequently launched their new album, Wonderland.

Chris Hill, managing director of Wigwam Hire, which is handling sound for the band's forthcoming tour, says: "We were rehearsing at John Henry's for the tour, but when it was decided that the band would play in Covent Garden to launch their new album, we realized we needed somewhere outdoors to test the levels. I called my friends at VDC and they offered to lend us their yard. It worked brilliantly. If it hadn't been for VDC we'd have been stuck."

Niall Holden, VDC's managing director,

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uk - Metropolis AV's new met 3 LED lighting products have been specified and installed at the new London clubs management Ltd's fifty London landmark venue at 50 St James Street.

The designed by fashionable architect of the day Benjamin Wyatt, was first opened as a casino in 1827 and in its latest incarnation, it is rated as one of the best and most popular private members clubs in London.

The venue has recently undergone complete refurbishment, with an interior design by Jeffrey Beers that has injected new vitality into the building. The look is of the sophisticated end of 1980s retro, offering a spectacular gaming room, private gambling facilities and five floors of upscale bars and restaurants plus the fifty below club lounge downstairs - all aimed at entertaining both gamblers and non-gamblers alike.

The sound and lighting installation was undertaken by touch media, whos

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UK - A.C. Lighting announced its status as an Official Sponsor of A1 Team Great Britain participating in the inaugural season of the A1 Grand Prix, the World Cup of Motor sport.

The unique concept, which is the brainchild of Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, will bring together the two worlds of business and motor sport and see the national pride of at least eighty per cent of the world's population represented on the grid during the 12 race series.

A.C. will be using the sponsorship association to increase its overseas business derived from new or existing markets represented by the 24 other participating countries. A1GP is the ideal platform for the company to promote its brand and services on a global level, and provides a dynamic environment for sponsors and countries to network at a business-to-business level.

Phill Capstick, the company's sales director, commen

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Hong Kong - Organized by Haymarket Publishing's AV Magazine and now in its fifth year, the AV Awards has become one of the AV industry's most important annual events. Lighthouse Technologies has been announced as one of the finalist in the Manufacturer of the Year category, the award for which will be presented to 'the manufacturer who has shown the most marketing, technological or application innovation'. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony held at London's Hilton Metropole on 10 October.

Lighthouse's cutting edge LED technology can be seen around the globe and has been used in prestigious installations such as the Coca Cola screen in London's Picadilly Circus, ClearChannel's NYC subway portal digital signage network, the set of the Queen's We Will Rock You show in Las Vegas, London, Cologne and Melbourne as well as hundreds of large scale events includin

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UK - RNID will be challenging employers to take hearing damage more seriously at the 'Sound Off - Noise Reduction at Work' conference. The conference will promote the introduction of tighter Noise at Work Regulations and is taking place at London's Earls Court on 11-12 October 2005. RNID, the largest charity representing the nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, will be highlighting the dangers of noise in the workplace through a series of talks from RNID specialists.

Noise is one of the most underestimated workplace risks. The 'Sound Off' conference comes at a key time, with new tighter Noise at Work Regulations coming into force in April 2006. The conference will highlight what these regulations mean for organizations and offer practical advice on controlling noise in the work place.

Brian Lamb, RNID's director of communications, and Angela King, RNID's sen

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UK - EFX Audio, one of Scotland's largest PA Hire companies, placed a major order for a 24 box Logic System Ethos Array at this year's PLASA show. EFX's John Ramsay and Steph Fleming placed the order via Logic System dealer The Warehouse during the busy show for Logic System, where many orders for product were taken from UK customers and export customers alike.

Ramsay commented: "Ethos is incredibly well built, and engineered to perfection; it's a great sounding system that does exactly what it's mean to. Chris Scott designs great boxes, he's a very straight talking guy, no bullshit and that's reflected in his products."

Logic's Chris Scott added: "EFX are using the Ethos system first at Glasgow's live venue The Garage and along with The ABC in Glasgow and Edinburgh's The Liquid Rooms all now with Ethos Arrays it means we've got a great presence up in Scotland.

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UK - Leading RF manufacturer Trantec announced that its exclusive Japanese Distributor Otaritec has supplied a 32-channel S6000 radio mic system on the Japanese tour of Tony award winning musical - Blast!

The tour commenced in Tokyo's Orchard Hall and was directed by James Mason and produced by William A Cook. As a hugely vibrant production, it delivers a feast of colour, sound and movement. Comprising 54 brass, percussion and 15 visual performers, Blast! is a unique explosion of music and theatre.

Featuring as part of a sophisticated sound system, the Trantec S6000 system was specified by sound designer Mark Wood. Trantec's Richard Ganley collaborated with Woods and Otaritec's Mr Fukatsu from the early planning stages to ensure that all aspects of the system integrated seamlessly.

The restricted 18 MHz (2 x 8 MHz of available RF bandwidth in Japan makes the su

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UK - Stage Electrics London is holding a Martin MAC700 demonstration afternoon on Thursday 6 October.

This will give users a chance to have a hands on demonstration of Martin's latest and quietest moving head say the company. A compact, light, quiet fixture with power and optical precision beyond its peers is what Martin set out to achieve in the MAC700 Profile.

Fully equipped with all the industry standard Martin features, the MAC700 Profile also combines a full CMY colour mixing system supplemented with an eight position colour wheel and a gobo animation system for dramatic projection effects.

Numbers are strictly limited so please call 020 7939 3000 to reserve your place, doors open from midday.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - For the second year running Tannoy drew additional attention to its stand at PLASA with a live band; this time featuring guitarist Graeme Duffin of Wet Wet Wet, Sandy Jones, who has produced for the band, and female vocalist Jake Cogan.

The main focus of the stand was Tannoy VNET - a fully active range of networkable sound reinforcement loudspeakers. By integrating its renowned Dual Concentric point source, constant directivity drive unit with leading edge digital signal processing (DSP), network control and class D amplifier technologies into the highly successful V-series line-up, Tannoy say it is providing a fully monitored active speaker system; a turn key solution for the most demanding sound reinforcement applications.

Two 800W power amps are fitted to each VNET cabinet and room EQ is simplified via user accessible signal processing based on the latest third generat

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UK - The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London has purchased a complete L Acoustics MTD coaxial system. Primarily for use in its Lindbury Theatre, the system will also be utilized in other main rooms within the Opera House.

The system consists of four MTD115b and 14 MTD108a, amplified by LA17a and LA48a power amplifiers. The decision by the Royal Opera House to invest in L-Acoustics was made after extensive listening tests, involving other high end market brands. The outcome was that the MTD range offered the best overall packaged solution particularly with regard to satisfying the requirement for seamless natural sounding loudspeakers.

Paul Nicholson from L-Acoustics UK commented: "when I first demonstrated the MTD108a to the Republic of Ireland, it was clear from its reaction to the initial test that it was to be its eventual first choice product. And when Soundvision

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Switzerland - Zurich's Flughafen Airport has come up with a novel idea in using one of its old terminal buildings. The terminal has been developed in to a multi purpose venue called 'Event Dock' which includes a Museum along with various other corporate event and exhibition facilities. In developing the terminal certain criteria had to be met with regards to equipment and software that was to be installed, especially as the majority of event managers at the site are not fully experienced lighting technicians or engineers.

Project manager Andreas Stahl from EBZ in Switzerland recommended and installed the Frog Box and Frog Touch Screen system from Zero 88 to control the 30 Clay Paky Points and 16 Clay Paky Colorwave 300's used throughout the terminal. The main reason for the Frog range being used was that it was the only product on the market capable of providing the number of pr

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UK - Lift-Turn-Move celebrated its first birthday at PLASA 2005. LTM was launched at PLASA 04 as a new, independently owned company with a fresh attitude to the lifting and rigging industry. The tightly focused eight-person operation is concentrating on making life simple, friendly, efficient and cost-effective for its clients - a 'small is beautiful' philosophy that's proved a success over the last 12 months.

Jones, a veteran of over a decade of PLASA shows, says that 2005 one was: "Absolutely the busiest exhibition since the show moved into Earls Court - the show was even too busy on Wednesday for us to get off the stand"

LTM demonstrated its ability to think on its feet when it arrived for the PLASA build! Realizing its single sided corporate sign needed in fact to have signage on both sides, John Jones thought laterally. He asked around site for any contacts in t

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UK - Spotlight PR has been awarded the public relations contract to promote The Event Show, now in its 16th year, which is staged over two days at Olympia in London on 25 and 26 January 2006. The industry's most comprehensive exhibition encompasses all aspects of organizing outdoor and indoor events, from small functions to international music festivals.

Karen Dodd, marketing manager for The Event Show said: "We appointed Spotlight as they have demonstrated considerable expertise in promoting large scale events and have a successful track record in generating awareness nationally both in print press and through broadcast media."

Spotlight PR's clients include Stowe Music Festival and Southport Flower Show, with both events attracting national publicity generated by the agency. Marina Efstathiou, director of Spotlight PR added: "The Event Show is an extremely pre

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Germany - Midas and Klark Teknik announced the appointment of Andreas Miele at EVI Audio in Straubing, as managing sales engineer, Midas/Klark Teknik Germany.

In his newly-created role, Miele will support EVI Audio in taking care of its pro audio customers in Germany, with special emphasis on the whole Midas and Klark Teknik product range. His main duty will be to work closely with the company's customers in the theatre, broadcast and contractor markets.

"I am very excited about the opportunities this challenge creates," says Miele. "For many years I have been convinced of the Midas/KT technology, excellent product quality and reputation, as well as the company's skills as a global player in the pro audio industry. I appreciate the enthusiasm and the invaluable local market knowledge of the EVI Audio Team and I really look forward to this mutually beneficial arr

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UK/Europe - Gear-Source, Inc announced the formation of a new office servicing the European Continent. GearSource Europe and the associated new website will be a close duplicate of the US based company, but the office will be based in the United Kingdom.

Marcel Fairbairn, president of Gear-Source, LLC says: "we have been searching for the ideal opportunity to expand our European business, and we have now found the ideal person to head it up. We are excited to move closer to our European clientele and also to locate new clients and vendors in this important market."

The MD for GearSource Europe is Garry Nelsson who has been involved in the entertainment industry since 1985. He began working in and around the television stations of the Middle East and most recently spent time with the Lighting Technology Group in west London. This is where Nelsson travelled extensivel

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Ireland - The Tinteán Theatre, a new 520 seat multipurpose venue with associated Exhibition centre located in Ballybunion, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, has just taken delivery of a comprehensive L-Acoustics installation system.

The Tinteán's mission is to operate a purpose-built performance venue with contemporary Irish Dance, Irish Music and literature as its core and tourism as its primary audience market. The theatre hopes to revitalize the North Kerry region through the operation of this premium venue offering entertainment in all art genres and disciplines with special emphasis upon traditional Irish dance and Music in a contemporary format, presented to both national and international audiences.

The L-Acoustics system supplied by Sound Communication Dublin and designed by L-Acoustics UK comprises nine 112XT and eight MTD108a coaxial speakers, two SB118 subwoofers

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UK - Electrosonic outsource sites are now all going on-line with a brand new web-based company intranet, developed especially for Electrosonic staff working on clients' sites. The primary use of the new intranet is to ensure uniform quality and control across all sites, say the company.

When a company has widely dispersed staff, working on a variety of sites and projects, it can be difficult to maintain both standards and the right information flow. Electrosonic has used internet technology for many years at its Hawley Mill HQ both to inform staff and to maintain standards.In addition to its public website. Electrosonic operates an intranet within the company, which it considers an essential component of its HR policy, ensuring that employees are properly informed. It's also the means by which all quality procedures are disseminated, and it underpins the company's ISO9001:2000 a

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Belgium - ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) 2006 has nearly doubled in size from the previous show with still over four months to go until the event itself in February 2006. At the Brussels Expo, more than 2000 sqm of extra space has been allocated to meet the increasing demand from new and existing companies. Key exhibitors who signed up over the summer were Eiki and Dataton.

These were astonishing figures for Mike Blackman, ISE 2006 managing director, he says: "We are delighted to see that the level of new business continues to grow each month. Even over the traditionally quiet summer months, we managed to sell over 200sqm of exhibition space. The interest levels and awareness of ISE 2006 is increasing all the time and, now that the website has gone live, we will be channelling our energies towards the visitor and press with a series of exciting roadshows, editorial and adv

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USA - Audio systems designer Kevin Hill was approached by Seven Cedars Casino in Sequim (Skwim), Washington to design and build a state-of-the-art sound system for its new 500-capacity nightclub, Club Seven. Senior partner and design engineer with Kent, Washington-based Triamp Group, Hill notes, "It's always a pleasure to work with clients who truly want to do it right the first time. With 7 Cedars, their goal to recreate a ' Vegas-style' club presented us with a unique opportunity to have some real fun with some of the most advanced equipment on the market today."

Since Club Seven would host both live acts as well as present recorded dance tracks, Hill set out to design a high-energy sound system that was versatile and easy enough for a single sound engineer to run and alter as needed. Hill also wanted to ensure that as much of the system's energy as possible remained

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Australia/Syria - ARX Systems, the Australian based manufacturer of professional audio equipment announced the appointment of Hamzeh Partners Co. as its new distributor for Syria.

ARX's managing director Colin Park says: "Hamzeh Partners are very well known throughout the Middle East Pro Audio Industry as a well established and very professional organization. Hamzeh Partners managing director Mr Khaled Hamzeh and I recently finalized our distribution agreement after an initial meeting at the Frankfurt Pro Light and Sound in Frankfurt earlier in the year. The Syrian Audio Industry is growing rapidly, we're looking forward to working with Hamzeh Partners, one of the largest Syrian distributors and to further developing the market for ARX's current and future products."

Along side ARX, Damascus based Hamzeh Partners also represents manufacturers including HHB,D & R, Tur

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Germany - When His Holiness the Pope addressed an audience of over one million young people during the World Youth Day event near Köln this summer, the audio systems were supplied by leading German rental companies Neumann & Muller, Crystal Sound and Sirius, working s a joint venture group: 104 towers of PA were used to relay the messages.

With some of the speaker towers almost 1.5km from the source point, a mean air temperature of 22°C and 50% relative humidity, the audio team were looking at a delay of 4.35 seconds to the most distant tower. Henning Kaltheuner, a senior production planning specialist from Yamaha, volunteered to solve some of the technical issues. "Neumann & Muller preferred to use Yamaha DMEs because of the level of reliability," says Kaltheuner. "We rarely have a chance to join a real world project of this size during its design and performan

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USA - ESTA has announced that BSR E1.26, Entertainment Technology - Recommended Testing Methods and Values for Shock Absorption of Floors Used in Live Performance Venues, is available for public review until 7 December 2005. There is currently no recognized standard for measuring the energy absorption of theatre stage and rehearsal room floors, which can lead to disagreements about whether floors are too stiff or too flexible and difficulties in resolving these disagreements. Floors that are either can lead to performer injuries or excessive effort in performing dance or gymnastic movements. This draft standard is intended to ameliorate this lack of a recognized standard, say ESTA.

The public is invited to comment on the draft document, which is available here.

Besides commenting on whether

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Hong Kong - Denmark-based Dansk Data Displays (DDD) has found an increasing demand in the Danish installation and rental markets for Lighthouse LED video screens in recent months, in particular the R10 and P10i/o 10mm pixel pitch screens, for both indoor and outdoor use.

In Odense, one of Denmark's largest newspapers, Fyens Stiftstidende, has recently moved its head office to the centre of the main city, situated opposite Hans Christian Anderson Square, in a new building, of which the façade is made almost entirely from glass.

Fyens wants to let its customers know what the company does, as it not only produces a newspaper, but is also a radio station and advertising bureau. For this the company turned to DDD who worked in conjunction with the architects to install a Lighthouse LED video screen on the side of the building. This displays news to the city as it's produced by the

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UK - The recent PLASA show in London saw the proliferation of new EtherSound-enabled products launched by EtherSound licensees Allen & Heath, AuviTran, Digigram, InnovaSON, Pinanson, and Stardraw.com. "The EtherSound audio networking standard was without a doubt one of the hottest topics at the show," said EtherSound business development manager Jimmy Kawalek. "The massive launch of new products and the impressive number of Licensees displaying the EtherSound logo at their booth, demonstrated very clearly the momentum EtherSound has gained in 2005. While new Licensees are always seen as a positive endorsement - and EtherSound has more than doubled the number of licensees since the beginning of the year - seeing new and varying products brought to market in a very timely manner is what makes the technology real."

Current EtherSound licensees include Allen & He

  1. Frog 2 at Creamfields 2005
  2. Robe for the High Jump
  3. Blue Man Group with Lake Technology
  4. Outline makes West End debut
  5. Chroma-Q Color Blocks for Rolling Stones Tour
  6. A Bright Deal for LTM
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