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UK - Four winners of ETC's new Source Four Enhanced Definition Lens Tube (EDLT) were presented with their prizes at ETC's Christmas Party in the crypt of St Martin in the Fields Church off London's Trafalgar Square earlier in December. The winners entered a competition on ETC's stand at PLASA 2005, and were drawn at random from the hundreds who entered.

Chris Hook, of StageRats Ltd, Ron Hill of Sutton Theatres and Becky Daley at Rose Bruford College were all presented with Source Four 19º luminaires with the new enhanced-definition lens tubes, by ETC's sales manager for UK and Ireland, Mark White. Nathaniel Keiller of Theatre Royal Windsor was unable to attend and his prize was shipped to him.

The party offered one of the first demonstrations of the EDLT, projecting ETC logos onto the wall behind the presentation stage. The standard Source Four was placed side by side with a

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USA - XL Touring Video provided equipment and support for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006 show, to air on ABC-TV 31December 2005. Talent for the show included Hillary Duff, The Bangles, Chris Brown, Sean Paul, The Pussycast Dolls, Sugarland, 3 Doors Down and 311. XL provided two MiPix screens, Barco I-10 LED, two hi res soft LED and six plasma screens.

Lighting design was by Lee Rose of Design Partners, Bruce Ryan was Production Designer, and XL Project Manager was Matt Pearson. Pearson says: "Working with Lee and Bruce was a perfect end to 2005. They executed the perfect design that complimented the diversity of the show."

(Chris Henry)

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USA - Brevard County's Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts reopened following major renovations totaling $1.3 m to improve the sight lines and concert sound system at the main theatre, and included the installation of four Lake Contour digital speaker processors and two Lake Mesa Quad EQ digital matrix processors. The six Lake Technology processors, which were supplied along with a wireless touch pad and access point, control multiple zones of loudspeakers at the 2,000-seat performing arts hall.

"Because of the wireless tablet, the Lake Contour system is great because it allows us to 'walk the room' and make adjustments in real time for any location in the house," said Tim Freese, technical director. "It is a perfect match to our JBL VerTec speaker system, which is a perfect match for our facility."

One Lake Mesa Quad EQ provides individual contr

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UK - Shure Distribution UK, the London-based professional audio equipment manufacturer and distributor, reports that Shure's new top-end UHF-R system, fitted with Beta 87A heads, has been sounding out the musical tones of showbiz hopefuls on The X Factor talent show, the winner of which was announced at the end of December to over 10 million viewers.

Since Shure launched its new professional UHF-R system at the PLASA Show in September 2005, its features have hit the right chords with leading sound professionals such as Gearhouse Broadcasting, the company rumoured to have supplied audio equipment to The X Factor TV show. Dennis Harburn, managing director of Shure UK states: "The use of our pro audio products at special live televised events is always a source of great pride for us. The new UHF-R wireless system and the Beta microphone series were designed with

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UK - PRG Europe has been busy working on the lighting for The Night of the Iguana at London's Lyric Theatre. Written by Tennessee Williams and produced by Bill Kenwright, the play follows a group of American tourists in the Mexican jungle.

"The main backbone of the rig," says Peter Marshall, project director at PRG Europe, "are VL5Bs and the new VL3000Q spots, chosen specifically because the lights had to be silent." In addition to this was an array of over 100 conventional fixtures including ETC Source Fours and Par 64s, all programmed from a Strand 520i desk by Stuart Cross.

"We used the VL5s with the colour changing system to achieve a range of light conditions, from bright sunshine, through sunset and moonlight," explains lighting director Mark Henderson. "We even used the strobe facility on a couple of VL3000s to recreate lightnin

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USA - The sheer physical size and scope of the modern athletic venue, combined with the demand to accommodate high-end, simultaneously distributed, on-demand audio and video needs of multiple user groups, can test the installation skills of the most seasoned AV systems integrators.

Delta Systems Integration was selected to implement a new AV system at Reser Stadium. Though Delta's integration expertise and experience working in the stadium market was essential to installing the facility's new sound system, one tool, a networked digital sound management system from Symetrix Audio, made the task far simpler.

The Dallas consulting firm, WJHW, specified the DSP-based SymNet networkable, modular audio mixing, routing and processing system in their initial design. As the entire AV concept for the stadium hinged on flexibility, pinpoint control and sound quality reliability, a tradit

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UK - Digital nightclub, located in Newcastle's Times Square, open its doors in July 2005. Heralded as an embodiment of a clubbing ideal, reactions to the venue have since been overwhelming. "Welcome to the Fabric of the north," proclaimed DJ Magazine, as scores of upbeat music connoisseurs paid homage to the venture. Owners Rob Cameron and Aaron Mellor, who have successfully raised the bar of clubbing in the north east of England. The club includes a state-of-the-art sound systems powered by Pioneer and Funktion One.

Hallmark features in the main room include a huge LED display that towers over the dancefloor from behind the DJ booth and screens for viewing visuals, whilst a series of well-placed mirrors and a wall of steel bars surround the area designed for dancing.

Aiming to offer DJs and clubbers the best sound possible, Digital was one of the first clubs in the

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USA - Held for the first time in New York City, Country Music's 'Biggest Night' Audio-Technica has supported the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards for 12 years. This year's Awards, held at New York's Madison Square Garden featured over 200 Audio-Technica hard-wired and wireless systems, including backline, vocal and instrument mics, and frontline wireless systems for leading country artists such as Kenny Chesney.

Hosted by the multi-platinum duo Brooks & Dunn, who took home top honours as Vocal Duo of the Year, the Annual CMA Awards presentation is recognized as Country Music's Biggest Night, and represents the pinnacle of achievement for anyone involved in country music. Audio-Technica microphones were featured for their accurate and reliable sound reproduction - characteristics that have dictated A-T's long-standing presence with country music artists and leading venues s

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UK - Britannia Row alongside Creative Technology, PRG Europe and Blackout Ltd held a Christmas Party at Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square on Tuesday, 13 December. Over 600 friends and clients of the four companies during the course of the evening were treated to a flamboyant Burlesque-themed venue. Hailed as 'The Christmas party of the year', the black tie event featured cabaret-style live-artists and musicians.

Bryan Grant at Britannia Row commented: "This was a relaxed and informal party for all four companies to thank our friends and clients for their ongoing help and support. I couldn't wish for a better way to end a really successful year."

(Lee Baldock)

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Qatar - Summit Steel, working for show producers The Bank, co-ordinated all production rigging for the massive opening ceremony of Aspire, the Academy for Sports Excellence in Doha.

Working with show technical director Adam Wildi, creative director Simon Garrett, and executive producer Moira Hunter-Ross, the Summit team of 12 riggers was led by Jon Bray and Chris Walker.

They arrived on site three weeks before the event, and began creating a rigging infrastructure in the enormous 290,000sq.m Aspire Dome. This houses a wide range of sports facilities including a 200m running track where the opening ceremony was staged.

The Aspire Dome was completely bare in terms of rigging facilities, apart from the structural roof trusses, which Summit took as their starting point. Over 1100m of trussing and 130 Lodestar hoists later, they had a flexible grid system to enable lighting, soun

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Australia - Hemisphere Conference Centre & Hotel, located on the Moorabbin Campus of Holmesglen TAFE, recently upgraded their audio-visual system courtesy of solutions company, Lightmoves.

With their business focussed on corporate conferences and retreats, Hemisphere demands first class performance from their audio-visual systems. Their existing system was not capable of meeting these standards, suffering from poor sound quality that was often muffled and uneven. In addition, many of their clients were now demanding access to a projector and screen, facilities not readily available in-house.

After their installation of an audio-visual system in the conference rooms of Holmesglen TAFE's Chadstone campus, Lightmoves were approached by Hemisphere to provide a solution that would enhance their overall audio-visual quality, but also fall within budget.

Lightmoves' Peter Gray, in

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Turkey - In November 2005, the highly successful distribution agreement between EVI Audio and Atempo Sound and Lighting Systems in the pro audio sector, which has been in force now for several years and covers the brands Electro-Voice, Midas, Dynacord and Klark Teknik throughout Turkey, was extended to the broadcast and intercom sector with the addition of RTS Telex - the manufacturer of world-beating broadcast and intercom systems such as the Zeus and Adam digital matrices and the BTR-700 wireless intercom - to the Atempo portfolio.

EVI Audio is pleased to have found a suitable distributor for these lines since, as Manuel Brico, product manager Telex/RTS EAME, explains: "The Turkish media market is enjoying a tremendous boom at the moment and it was important to find a well-established and competent distribution partner. I'm sure that with Atempo now in our corner, we are

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UK - Hawthorn were contracted by Worcestershire-based DRP to supply all technical requirements for a 14-day event for 2000 delegates in Antalya Turkey for Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook is celebrating its 150th year in overseas travel, so this event had to be memorable. With trucking taking over 12 days and the venue being on the third floor with limited lift space, the project provided a real logistical challenge for Hawthorn's technical manager and LD Matt Oscroft.

Hawthorn's brief was to provide four different stage looks for all the events that all had to be held in the same one room, ranging from a theatre show, conference and gala dinner through to their very own tribute to ITV's The X Factor called the TC Factor, which was the brain child of Dale Parmenter, MD of DRP.

To allow Oscroft to re-create similar lighting effects to those used in the TV show, Hawthorn shipped

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UK - Following an extremely busy year, freelance lighting designer Tim Routledge is beginning 2006 with the purchase of a GrandMA Light lighting console, which offers the full power of the full-size desk in a smaller, compact size. Routledge explains: "I have used the GrandMA console range pretty much exclusively for the past two years and there is no other desk on the market that has the power and flexibility of this system." He added: "Any purchase of this size for an independent LD is a massive investment and I had to be satisfied that it was the right choice, the last 12 months have proved to me I have made the right decision."

Routledge's work in 2005 included a range of shows from live music at Hammersmith Apollo, to timecoded musicals on board cruise liners. He finished off the year designing and programming Hot Stuff - The Christmas Edition at

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USA - PRG faced the challenge of installing a lighting system in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall that could produce sophisticated effects and be easily reconfigured and controlled.

Everything in Zankel Hall is adaptable. The floor is divided into nine sections that can be raised and lowered to create a variety of room configurations. The nearly 650 audience seats can be arranged easily to suit the different room setups (most of them rest on stepped wagons built on air casters). And for lighting, 21 self-climbing truss units cover most of the ceiling. Each can be raised to any height for performances and lowered to stage level for rigging and maintenance.

Working with consultants Auerbach Pollock Friedlander, and rigging contractor Pook Diemont & Ohl, PRG coordinated the lighting installation, including developing a custom solution to manage the system's intricate cabling.

Each t

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Thailand - South East Asia's most established exhibition in professional sound, lighting, broadcast, AV, installation and music - PALA Thailand 2006, is set to take place at the newly opened Royal Paragon Hall Exhibition & Convention Centre, in the heart of Bangkok, from 20-22 July 2006.

The Royal Paragon Hall is composed of a main hall which can be divided into two halls with respective sizes of 3,000 and 2,500sq.m, with five good-sized meeting spaces to accommodate seminars and conferences, say the organizers. The multipurpose venue will host events including exhibitions, trade fairs, high end consumer fairs, product launches, live performances, concerts and fashion shows.

"It had been a tough decision on our end to decide on the ultimate venue for PALA Thailand, for the simple reason that Bangkok has a good selection of world-class exhibition centres! Accessibility and

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USA - XL Video Atlanta, in support of design company Production Design Group (PDG), a Jack Morton Company, supplied and installed for the Turner Network Television's (TNT) Emmy Award-winning Inside the NBA. The weekly show made its debut on Thursday, 27 October, 2005 and features studio analysts Charles Barkey and Kenny Smith with host Ernie Johnson.

XL Video supplied a Barco SLM R9+ Performer, for a suspended 16:9 portrait style video screen. The frameless projection screen was mounted on motors to lift on and off the set for a variety of camera shots. Over 6,000 Barco MiPix were used in the floor, archways and the anchor desk, which were covered with diffused acrylic to soften the LED for camera. 27 LCDs and Plasmas ranging in size from 15" to 61" were used throughout the set and in NBA City to replicate cityscape billboards. This design supports a complete se

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Belgium - With five weeks to go before the start of Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2006 at the Brussels Expo (1-3 February) the organizers report that the show is now practically sold out, and will be more than twice the size of the 2005 event.

Mike Blackman, managing director of ISE 2006, says that ISE is more than just an exhibition: "AV and Electronic Systems integration is about stimulating the senses to reflect the growing use of digital signage in retail and corporate environments and custom residential systems. At ISE we will be breaking new ground in staging a series of spectacular visual displays and pavilions, which are strategically, placed throughout the exhibition halls."

Highlights of the exhibition will include the Lighting & Staging Pavilion, presented by PLASA and ISE, and the ISE Manufacturer's Forum, which will offer 45-minute sessions on topical

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Hungary - A Butterfly line array was recently sold to Arton Ltd by Zaj Discotechnika, Outline's exclusive Hungarian distributor. The system, which recently debuted at the Budapest Opera House, comprises 16 Butterfly CDH 483 hi-packs and eight Victor Live subwoofers, all powered and controlled by T series digital amplifiers and Genius 24 processors.

The owner of Arton, Tamàs Ditzmann, commented: "The first time we used the system - to learn how to install and use it - was a great experience. In just an hour, we achieved a sound that was more than reasonable, and that same day obtained very impressive results from the system. All the experienced sound engineers were satisfied with the new system."

Ditzmann continued: "The Butterfly system's real debut was on November 14th at a Dance Festival staged in the Hungarian State Opera House. The results were excellent an

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France - The first Salon de la Musique et du Son will take place at Paris Expo-Porte de Versailles from 9-12 September 2006. The show is a joint effort between Reed Expositions France and CSFI (Chambre Syndicale de la Facture Instrumentale), and aims to gather together in one place everyone who makes music, from instrument manufacturers and importers to music schools, from craftsmen to publishers. The show will focus on musical instrument manufacturing and technology, and will also include a section devoted to pro audio.

(Lee Baldock)

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Finland / Estonia - The Finnish distributor of Yamaha, F-Audio/F-Musiikki Oy, has delivered the first Yamaha M7CL-48 Digital Live Mixers to Estonia and Finland. In Estonia the mixer was delivered to Salme Culture Center, a 700-seat multipurpose auditorium in downtown Tallinn, Estonia. Salme Culture Center was going through a full renovation after its 40-year history, and the delivery of Yamaha M7CL-48 completed the technical upgrade including whole new lighting system and Meyer PA.

"We were looking for a console suitable for both theater production and live concerts and after consulting Kari Tiitinen of Finnish National Opera we desided to go with Yamaha digital console. After long discussions with F-Audio's Petri Mäntysalo, we found M7CL-48 to be the right choice for us. We have had a lot of requests for Yamaha console from our visiting engineers, now we can finally provi

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The Netherlands - Holland's flagship stadium, the Amsterdam Arena, home of soccer club Ajax Amsterdam, has announced a €1.4 million investment in dramatically improving its acoustics and sound quality for live events. The programme will include acoustic treatment and a new, digitally-distributed sound system, designed both as a stand-alone PA/safety system and to augment PA systems brought in by visiting concert and event productions.

The measures follow months of preparation and research by leading Dutch music promoter MOJO Concerts, TM Audio of Holland and acoustic engineers Peutz, and will result in a substantial improvement for speech and music intelligibility and quality.

To improve the quality of the acoustics, reverberation time in the stadium will be reduced by using thousands of square metres of special sound absorbent materials on the roof and on the walls. The mate

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UK - Re-booking for the 2006 PLASA Show is already strong, say organizers Clarion Events. PLASA 2006 takes place from Sunday 10 September to Wednesday 13 September 2006 at Earls Court, London. The show attracts professionals from all over the globe and is Europe's leading exhibition for new developments in the entertainment, event, corporate, architectural and installation industries.

Over 300 leading companies will exhibit at the show, which has become a forging ground for new ideas in audio, lighting, AV, rigging, system integration, engineering and effects. The show also features a full seminar programme, numerous events and competitions, the prestigious PLASA Awards for Innovation and the best opportunity of the year for networking.Online visitor registration will be available shortly - allowing visitors to benefit from half-price admission to the event.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - The Wroxham School in Potters Bar is a thriving primary establishment with an enviable performance record - and an ethos that states that "everyone should have a voice".Voted in the top 100 schools for value added performance, they are now putting their ethos literally to the test, having - with the aid of Soundcraft - set up a broadcast facility for the benefit of its 4-11-year-old pupils.

This unusual development was stimulated by a government initiative, promoting communication opportunities in primary schools. "The school is run as a democracy in which we try to give our children exciting learning opportunities," explained head teacher Alison Peacock. "When the government sent out their information packs, our deputy head Simon Putnam suggested we promote speaking and listening via a full broadcast facility."

The only problem was funding.

  1. Vieta complements Funktion One at Dukes
  2. Liverpool SEAS in 2006
  3. A.C. Lighting appointed as Soundcraft dealer
  4. Blondie rocks Europe with MILO
  5. Pro Ball Vikings install Community
  6. D-Mix Pro integrates Visuals for UB40
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