Russia - MC2 Audio recently made its Russian debut with distributor Pro Audio & Light at Music Moscow 2005 held at the Cultural Exhibition Center 'Sokolniki' in Moscow. "We are now in our 21st year of business," says Pro Audio & Light's Sergei Korovin. "We've been exhibiting at Music Moscow since it started 11 years ago, but this is the first time we've shown MC2 amplifiers there, although we have exhibited monitor loudspeakers from MC2 sister company Quested for many years."

"We had 12 MC2 amplifiers in our system rack, plus racks that were powering Turbosound's Aspect system on another booth in the 'Loud Hall'. The Russian market hadn't seen such a top class product before and they were very well received. Conversely, Quested is a very well known product in Russia and the CIS countries and there is an increasing trend for people to use these monitors i

Europe - GearSource Europe Ltd, the web-based company marketing used and ex-demo equipment to the entertainment industry in conjunction with USA-based GearSource Inc, has announced that its website has gone live.

The site - at www.gearsourceeurope.com - is aimed at anyone looking for a bargain or interested in turning their excess stock into cash, and more than 1,500 lighting, audio, staging, and audio-visual items already listed, say the company.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - What is very likely the performance lighting industry's first market development research has just been completed at LDI in Orlando, by US manufacturer Wybron. With a successful first phase accomplished at PLASA 2005 in London two months ago, this USA-focused research sought to add further understanding and richness to the uncovered hidden dimensions of product design requirements, product performance characteristics, and customer satisfaction.

"We desperately need a more comprehensive way of understanding our industry," says Keny Whitright, founder and president of Wybron. "Technology is impacting our business in ways that were almost unthinkable a decade ago. To some, technology provides for easier ways of doing what we could only accomplish with long, costly hours in the past. But today's and tomorrow's technologies are also providing opportunities to fur

UK - Metropolis AV has supplied its Met3 LED lighting for an installation at the Darli Bar in Warrington to illuminate two glass walls in the newly opened art-house bar. The town centre operation is independently owned by local entrepreneur Paul Bond, who has four other Darli Bars in the area, and contacted Metropolis's David Linger to supply LED lighting.

Bond, who created the look and feel of the café/bar's contemporary interior, already knew that he wanted LED lighting. He'd wanted to do an LED design for some time, seeing the great potential of lighting and colour as a mood enhancer, but was waiting for the fixtures to become cost effective and bright enough to do it properly.

Bond had experimented with a few LED brands before Metropolis was recommended to him. Once he'd tried their Met3 LED product that was it - his mind was set on this brand because of its brightn

UK - The Association of Britiush Theatre Technicians (ABTT) has announced the dates of forthcoming technical training opportunities in early 2006, to be held in Stockport.

.On Saturday 7 January, 'Knots & Splicing' will cover the handling of different ropes and tying knots proficiently and safely. Knots that are useful in a theatre situation will be taught by practical demonstration. Attendees will learn knots including bowline, clove hitch, reef knot, wagon hitch, rolling hitch and sheet bend, and also the tools for splicing ropes, and to differentiate between the different natural fibre ropes. The tutor will be Spike Thorrington and the course will cost: £100 + VAT.

On Saturday 14 January, 'Counterweight Flying' will teach the safe handling of counterweight sets and will cover: terminology, parts of a counterweight set, loading and unloading, operating, first line main

Germany - The Colour Line Arena, Hamburg, and the Congress Centre in Essen have recently taken delivery of new chain hoists from ChainMaster. The Saxon company equipped the two major events centres with BGV-D8plus systems. These versatile chain hoists have a load capacity of 500 kilograms and are equipped with a manual controller with an integrated load display.

ChainMaster also reports that it has expanded the lifting gear in the Weser-Ems Hall in Oldenburg. The BGV-C1 chain hoist system from ChainMaster already in use in the hall has been retro-fitted with 12 drives for loads ranging from 500 to 1,000 kilograms and a controller.

Finally, the Dutch theatre Harmonie Leeuwarden is also relying on lifting gear from ChainMaster. The theatre recently took delivery of 28 BGV-C1 chain hoists with a load capacity of 1,250kg. The installation was performed by BEO of the Netherlands.

UAE - Regional media technology provider, MultiSell Technology Middle East FZCO and niche digital motion specialists Xische Digital have teamed up to form a new joint venture - 'MX2' - which will implement a unique range of interactive presentation and media display solutions from offices in the USA, Europe and the Middle East. MultiSell's CEO, David Holm-Glad, said: "This venture is a win-win situation for all parties involved, first and foremost for our joint blue-chip clientele and I am very excited about pioneering this unique fusion together into the future."

Danish Farhan, CEO of award winning digital innovation agency Xische Digital - is enthusiastic about the prospects and growth of MX2, offering a new, unique and engaging digital experience solution to an increasingly demanding market. "MX2 will strategically focus on Xische's digital innovative competenc

UK - Music Live, now firmly established as the UK's premier annual public music show, once again chose HK Audio to be the PA system of choice throughout the event at the NEC in Birmingham. Handling sound reinforcement duties from the main live stage to individual on-stand demo performances, this is the fifth year in succession that the HK brand has been associated with Music Live.

The show setting proved ideal for the UK launch of HK Audio's innovative COHEDRA Compact line array PA system last year, with HK's flagship COHEDRA line array system taking pride of place for 2005, specified by Q Audio due to the increased scale of this years main stage. Arrays consisted of 12 flown CDR208 mid/high units per side plus 24 ground-stacked CDR210S subwoofers, with 28.8kW of power courtesy of two of each of HK's PR8 and PR16 amp/controller racks. Eight of the new ConTour Series CT115 multi-

UK - Pro Audio Systems, the Bradford-based audio and AV rental, sales, installation, conference, and events production company, has been appointed a Midas and Klark Teknik dealer for the north west of England by the manufacturer. The deal saw Pro Audio Systems purchase three consoles for hire and demo stock: Midas Siena 480 and Verona 320 touring packages, and with a Venice 160.

Established in 1988, the fast-growing company is already a major dealer for Audio-Technica, Meyer Sound, and Sennheiser, among others. The company is experiencing particular growth in sales - both on-line and contact - while its hire and installation business also continues to expand. The requirement for a high quality audio console brand was key to the expansion of the company's product portfolio.

Operations, sales and marketing director Andy Turner is clear as to the positive effect that the addition

UK - Stage One clients - including Jack Morton Worldwide, PCI Fitch and TRO - have been winning awards in abundance this year and the team at Stage One says it is "delighted to have played a part in that success", having worked on several of the high profile, award-winning events for companies such as Toyota, General Motors and Mini UK.

"We feel great pride when our clients win awards for projects we've contributed to," said Mark Johnson, managing director of Stage One. He added: "It is of vital importance to Stage One's team of dedicated professionals that excellent working partnerships are forged with our clients and the direct result of this can be seen in the quality of the work we then produce."

Event Magazine's annual awards were announced recently, with Stage One being a key supplier to four Gold Award winners and the two winners of the spe

Canada / Australia - Canadian loudspeaker system manufacturer Adamson has expanded its distributor network to include Australia. ATT Audio Controls is based in Melbourne, and is distributor for such companies as Lake, Cadac and Kling & Freitag.

The company's founder, Frank Hinton, explained the new partnership: "In Adamson we discovered a similar corporate culture to our own. We encountered a company whose business activity is relationship based, rather than opportunistic, with a 'tell it how it is', no nonsense persona, which is exactly how we like it. Their higher than normal investment in, and allocation of resources to, client/product support, impressed us greatly. When considering the product the company produces, we looked at issues such as relativity in our particular market place along with product performance worldwide. They are clearly at the elite level."

UK - The Sage Gateshead has successfully delivered The North East's biggest music congress of 2005 - the globe's largest World Music Expo, WOMEX. Over 2,000 delegates from across 90 countries and more than 1,000 members of the public visiting WOMEX Showcases, enjoyed a rousing mix of international music including over 50 Showcase performances, numerous conference sessions, film screenings and a Trade Fair with over 200 exhibitors. WOMEX 2005 is one of the year's two biggest congresses in Gateshead generating an estimated £2.5m for the region's economy; the other was the Labour Party Spring Conference, again hosted at The Sage Gateshead.

Stage Electrics' Ed Gamble worked closely with Dan Adams, production manager for the event to provide a host of showcase equipment to complement the event including Mac 700 fixtures and Atomic strobes from Martin Professional, an ETC AVAB C

Portugal - The success of Novembers annual MTV Europe Awards, held in Lisbon, has demonstrated Stage One's reliability and professionalism, as once again the company has constructed key sets and props for this major live event.

For the fourth year in succession, Stage One was brought on board by MTV Networks International to build the house stage for this high-profile event and was also responsible for building specific sets and props for several of the artists, including Madonna, Black Eyed Peas, Akon and the Gorillaz.

"It's fantastic to be working with MTV Networks International again on such an exciting and vibrant live event," said Steve Dolan, project manager for Stage One. He continued: "Stage One offers a great deal of expertise for events like this and that's why our clients return year after year to use our services."

To ensure a greater degree o

UK - Show Presentation Services Ltd's Barco Dlite 7 LED screens are becoming a regular feature at London's Royal Albert Hall: the company provided over 90sq.m of screen in November. Firstly, the National Television Awards used an impressive 70sq.m as the backdrop to its set, while the Festival of Remembrance used 30sq.m for IMAG purposes.

The brief for the Festival of Remembrance was simple: the LED screen had to produce perfect images for both the viewing public and the BBC cameras. Each year, care has to be taken during the installation of the LED screen as it is positioned right against the Albert Hall's impressive organ, leaving very little room for error as the slightest mistake could be very costly, say SPS.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Trantec's S4000 UHF radio mic system has been specified by a host of regional theatres nationwide to augment their in-house audio capacity. Venues including the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, the Nottingham Playhouse, Rhyl Pavilion and the Wycombe Swan and Town Hall in High Wycombe have all embraced the S4000s potential to offer a compact, robust and cost effective solution for a variety of productions, say Trantec.

Manufactured at Trantec's south London HQ for theatre, live events and conferencing applications, the S4000 is based on its sister product - the award-winning Trantec S5000. The S4000 multi-functional receiver pack boasts Trantec's signatory full frequency agility (844-865Mhz) via 32 switchable channels.

The matching diversity receiver features a bright LCD display that clearly shows chosen frequency, RF level, VU, Mute Level, User ID and Antenna Diversity Selectio

Portugal - E//T//C UK supplied large format PIGI and video projection for the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005, staged on November 3rd at the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon, Portugal. Significantly, it was the first live outing for E//T//C's new OnlyView control software which was used to soft-edge together 10 Barco R18 projectors to create one spectacular seamless upstage image, 32m wide by 9m high.

The video projection surface was made up of five motorised roller blind style screens that could be arranged in different formats. Each screen was fed by an overlaid front-projecting pair of R18s. The video projection was transmitted in high-definition with various inserts (both recorded and live) to match any required size, position or shape.

OnlyView is a multi-screen software capable of managing multi-projection using any kind of media (video, still images, text, sound etc) and any k

Japan - This year, the CT Germany team again gave its audio-visual media technology services to the Motorshow 2005 in Tokyo, supplying equipment and service for the exhibits of Volkswagen, Saab and Bugatti.

Volkswagen's international press conference was equipped and supported with three camera systems, the corresponding switchers and a character generator as well as a teleprompter from the CT rental park. This year, a combination of MiPIX Roadmodules and high-resolution Barco ILite 6 XP LED modules was integrated into Volkswagen's stand concept. On the right and left side of the 9sq.m, high-resolution 6mm LED screen, a total of 24 individual MiPIX Roadmodules were installed. They were integrated over a width of 25m into the communication screen. The high definition (HD) video and graphic contents onto both LED products with different resolution resulted in a fascinating effect.

UK - Earlier this year ELP opened a Pinewood base office and stores dedicated to servicing film and drama productions. The company have since provided location lighting and power on a diverse range of productions including Green Green Grass (the BBC's Only Fools and Horses spin-off), Nighty Night with Angus Deayton and surreal comedy The Mighty Boosh.

Six months on, and ELP is now providing specialist rigging services at Pinewood. "We are delighted to be the first supplier based at Pinewood to bring the latest rigging technology to the studios," says MD Ronan Willson. We have just installed a complex hoist and tracking system for a feature being filmed here."

The structure uses two 40m tracks to automate the movement of lighting pods along the studio. A computerised winch system enables four 20kW heads each side to be tracked at vario

UK - The Red Bull Rail Storm, London's biggest ever urban snowboarding contest hit Trafalgar Square on 20 November, featuring over 1700sq.m of fabric from Sunbaba. Trafalgar Square was transformed into a mini-alpine scene for the event, with a 60ft ski slope, oversized staircase and handrails, and 66 tonnes of real snow, made on-site overnight.

Bliss Events, the company that managed the event for Red Bull, brought in Sunbaba to produce the specially designed branding including two huge Red Bull scaffold wraps, which were digitally printed on their UltraMesh fabric to match Red Bull's corporate colour scheme. The wraps were draped around the two-tiered seating structures where over 8,000 fans sat in freezing temperatures to watch the show.

Another 800sq.m of black Austronet 204FR fabric was used to cover the Star Events Group structure to the side of the ramp stage, where the a

UK / Korea - Prism Sound has appointed Seoul-based Echo Korea as exclusive distributor for the company's range of audio test and measurement equipment. The company, which was established in 2001, already sells Data Acquisition systems and distributes products for Fluke, Agilent and Tektronix.

Echo Korea's president, Young Hun Jeon, says the market for test and measurement equipment in Korea is growing, thanks to new applications such as broadcast digital equipment, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) and digital related products.

Prism Sound's compact and cost effective dScope Series III audio test and measurement tool is ideally suited to the needs of these developers because it allows for the high precision generation and analysis of analogue and digital audio and delivers the functionality and precision needed for testing the latest audio technology.

"Currently, Au

Denmark - On 22 October, over 80 million viewers tuned in for a show broadcast from the Forum events centre in Copenhagen called Congratulations! - a gala celebrating 50 years of the Eurovision Song Contest. Nordic Rental was commissioned to handle the sound, opting for line array systems from Electro-Voice.

Lasting over two and a half hours, Congratulations! looked back over the first half century of the contest, to which acts like ABBA, Cliff Richard, Johnny Logan and Nicole - all former winners - owed much of their success, and viewers were invited to phone in their choice for the best song in the Eurovision's 50 year history from a shortlist of 14, not all of which actually won the competition the year they were entered. The winner by a large margin was ABBA's Waterloo, written Benny Andersson (who admitted to having voted personally for the second place

UK - Motorhead return for their 30th anniversary tour of Europe and the UK, which kicked off in the UK at the end of October and runs for eight weeks until Christmas. As they have done for the last 27 years, Audiolease is supplying PA, and has invested in a brand-new Midas Heritage 3000 for the shows, purchased from Marquee Audio.

Like Motorhead, Audiolease's Steve Sunderland can look back to the '70s when it all started. "I've always liked Midas, and, as a general rule, over the years we've always stuck to it. Everybody knows where they are with Midas, quite literally, as the ergonomics are so well-known by today's engineers. The general consensus is that they're the best-sounding desks ever made."

The new Heritage 3000 console is being used by front-of-house engineer Dave Hillsden. There is another Midas desk on monitors, where engineer Ian Dobbie is using an XL3.

UK - Soundcraft found themselves up in court this month - and all for trying to help the BBC's Children in Need fundraiser. It came about when Michelle Brinkley from Hertfordshire Coroner's Office sent out a call for help and told Soundcraft that the local Coroner's unit were putting together a band - fittingly calling itself the Deathwatch Beetles - and needed auxiliary sound equipment.

Soundcraft quickly came to the rescue, supplying one of the company's popular GigRac 600 fully-featured 8-channel amp mixers, and six AKG D880 mics. Soundcraft supported the band through their rehearsals - which took place inside the Hatfield Coroner's Court - before the main fund-raising event, organised by Hertfordshire Police Officers at nearby Stanborough School.

Spurred on by a mention on Terry Wogan's radio show (which resulted in a Good Luck card from Mark Knopfler), and led by semi-pro

Portugal - Automation specialists Kinesys, working for main rigging contractors Blackout, stole the show at the MTV Europe Music Awards on 3 November 2005, live and direct from the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon.

Madonna wowed the crowd with the first live televised performance of her new single 'Hung Up', emerging from a 2m mirrorball wearing purple leather boots and matching leotard. The mirror ball was flown out on a Liftket high-speed motor controlled by Kinesys' Vector system, enabling it to travel the 17m very smoothly in seconds.

It was just one of a number of automation 'gags' run by operator Toby Rouse for the event. Other artists making use of Kinesys equipment included Gorillaz, Shakira and host Borat. Kinesys also arranged the movement cues for two upstage lifting video walls that were used as stage entrances and exits.

Gorillaz incorporated two Pepper's Ghost effe

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