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UK - Lift-Turn-Move last year celebrated the 50th Birthday of the production industry's favourite electric chain hoist - the CM Lodestar - with a special edition reprint of the original 1955 product brochure that was available at the PLASA show.

Demand far outstripped supply, so there's now a fully printable high resolution PDF of the same brochure available on LTM's website (www.liftturnmove.co.uk) in the 'publications' section.

LTM's John Jones says: "I could hardly believe the interest in the antique brochure, but it seems people genuinely want to learn about the product's history. The fact that it's changed very little in certain ways over time is testament to the true quality and practicality of its design, build and engineering."

He adds the fact that a piece of production industry technology is still in fashion after 50 years is an achievement in itself!

T

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UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied leading lighting and rigging rental company HSL from Blackburn with 100 new Tour Grade road cases to accommodate a variety of CM Lodestar motors.

HSL uses 5 Star exclusively to supply its flight cases. Rupert Reynolds, head of HSL rigging says: "The cases are extremely well built and 5 Star always turn them around quickly and efficiently - as they are frequently needed at short notice. They are also great at coming up with ideas of how to case the odder and more idiosyncratic pieces of kit!"

HSL's new hoist cases feature a customized removable and interchangeable inner cradle (a fixed one is found in all standard motor cases) to accommodate the three types of motors that they wanted to house in the trunks. 5 Star designed and built three variations of these special inner cradles to fit a choice of three different motor types.

The case

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UK - Based in Canary Wharf, AVT London specialises in producing live events for a wide range of corporate clients, including Reuters, various banks and The Canary Wharf Group. Much of the company's work takes place at the Cabot Hall and East Wintergarden on Canary Wharf (venues for which AVT is the preferred supplier), although the company has produced events throughout the UK and abroad.

AVT London uses Christie as its preferred projection supplier, and recently invested in its second RoadRunner LX100 four-lamp system, deciding that the optimised 10,000 ANSI lumens output was what was required to cut through the considerable daylight emissions in the 32m high glass palace dome of the East Wintergarden.

This is a difficult location at the best of times, says AVT's Dan Hall, and when Canary Wharf Management's Arts & Events team wanted to present a four-film season based around

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UK - Following their success in 2005, Hawthorn has organised a new series of events to take place at its base in Old Dalby in Leicestershire. The 'Hawthorn@Home 2006' events will give lighting, sound and AV users the opportunity to get 'hands-on' with the latest equipment and technology. The events also aim to give manufacturers, suppliers and users to discuss the products and to gain an insight not normally available outside large tradeshows, say Hawthorn.

The days will kick off with lunch and an informal get together, followed by the hands-on/demo of the equipment. The first three events are:

3 March: Moving Lights and Lighting Desks'
Companies participating include Avolites, Martin Professional, ETC, MA Lighting, Robe and Zero 88. Hawthorn will also have on show its range of Clay Paky Alpha Spots and Washes, as well as other moving lights in their rental and sales

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USA / Belgium - ETC's Networking Partner Program now includes Belgian software developer ArKaos, a world-leading provider of media server technology for live visual performances. The Networking Partner Program allows select vendors to implement ETC protocols, including ETCNet2, in their products. The program gives partners access to the proven power of ETC networking, while also increasing the value of ETC systems installed all over the world.

As a result, ArKaos will be showing the latest version of its popular ArKaos product, the ArKaos 3.5 ETC Edition, on the ATF stand L51 at the SIEL 2006 trade show in Paris next week. A software-based visual synthesizer that runs on a normal PC or Mac, ArKaos 3.5 ETC Edition is a tool for lighting designers or visual artists to create and control amazing visual projections. At SIEL the application will be connecting via ETCNet2 with ETC's n

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Italy - Turin is set for the Winter Olympic Games, which open today. The Games have generated a great deal of work for Italian Prolyte distributor Decima and its client Ital Stage. On Gold Medal Plaza, a silver Dome has been taking shape, looking impressive even in its unfinished state.

Ital Stage, partly based on consultancy from Prolyte, has developed the main construction for the silver Dome. The stage structure is a mix of steel and aluminium. Prolyte S52SV truss is used for the middle grid, B100RV truss for the main grid, combined with S36R truss which will act as supporting structure for an inflatable on top of the stage.

The inflatable structure provides a flow of heated air to prevent snow accumulation on top of the roof structure: the circular roof has an overall height of 22.8m and a clearance of 17m. The structure has a cantilever of 16m at the front, which is suppo

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Belgium - Barco have announced that organizers of the Berlin International Film Festival have selected D-Cine Premiere DP100 and D-Cine premiere DP90 projectors for all digital screenings.

The festival is taking place from 9 to 19 February 2006. In total, four Barco digital projectors will be used for a full agenda of digital screenings in theatres throughout Berlin, on this year's "Berlinale". "We are delighted to be cooperating with Barco, as they really have a long-term commitment to high quality leadership in digital cinema," says Dieter Kosslick, festival director. "We have worked with them during the Berlinale of last year. Audiences were thrilled with the system's performance."

Based on DLP CinemaTM technology of Texas Instruments, Barco's digital cinema projectors answer the demanding needs of the cinema industry. Barco today counts over 5

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Sweden - Gothenburg-based sound rental company Musiklagret has purchased a sizeable Nexo GEO T tangent array system, packaged with NX242 processors and Camco Vortex 6 amplification, which has been successfully used on its inaugural production, a corporate entertainment event for Ericsson.

Benny Werner, owner of Musiklagret, first auditioned the GEO T system in Paris last year. "With this system, Nexo has thought of everything in its design. Because we have used Nexo happily for many years - Alpha, Alpha E and PS Series - we felt that GEO T would fit in well with our portfolio. And for us, it feels right to buy Nexo, which has great representation from Intersonic here in Sweden."

Musiklagret has taken delivery of a 12-box per side system, comprising 20 T4805 full-range cabinets, and four T2815 down-fill units, with 12 CD18 sub-bass. Using NX242 processors, the system

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USA / Europe - Erick 'Otto' Celeiro, FOH mixer for US singer/songwriter Gavin DeGraw, has been touring using the A-T Artist Elite 5000 Series wireless system on the young star's vocals, he says: "The Audio-Technica AEW-T5400 vocal mic sounds better than any wired vocal mic I have ever used before."

DeGraw, has been touring extensively in the US and Europe in support of his hugely acclaimed debut album Chariot. Celeiro elected to use the A-T AEW-T5400 and Artist Elite 5000 Series wireless system on the tour because of its great sound and utter reliability. "Simply crystal clear and full of energy," is how Celeiro describes the AEW-T5400's performance. "The sound always starts with a brilliant microphone, and the AEW-T5400 is definitely that."

Celeiro has a great signal chain into which the AEW-T5400 feeds. "I've been touring with a Soun

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UK - "We put a lot of time and energy into training and supporting sound engineers transitioning to digital mixing in the live environment," said Mark Payne, managing director of aptly named Yamaha dealers, Sound Foundation. So much so that the company has a permanent classroom facility set up at its Reading headquarters where converts to digital mixing can be trained to use Yamaha products, including the latest addition to the Yamaha stable, the M7CL which since its launch at PLASA 2005 has generated huge interest in the industry, says the company.

"The classroom has the facility to use material tracked from live gigs so that the engineers get real experience in using the desk," explained Payne. "We bought two M7CLs and we've put them to a variety of uses . . .It's a very impressive piece of equipment."

Sound Foundation used one desk to run a mas

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Argentina - Allen & Heath's Argentinian distributor, Masteraudio, has acquired new office premises as part of an expansion programme to provide more warehouse space and training facilities for its customers.

The new offices are located in Palacio Azcuenaga, formerly an historic educational institute, which boasted one of the best reputations in Latin America during its prime in the late 19th Century. The rooms which once comprised a chapel, laboratory, museum, library, dining hall, and an ornate theatre, are now used by Masteraudio as warehouse storage, training rooms, and an office suite.

Masteraudio will be offering training and education courses on technologies for the entertainment industry from 2007. The company's offices now span 3000sq.m over three floors, with 2000-capacity in the theatre, which is used as the main lecture hall.

(Chris Henry)

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France - French Synco Europe Network partner RégieTek, based in Paris, staged its first shows late last year with its newly-acquired Synco by Martin Audio W8LC line array, at the legendary Olympia and Le Zenith theatres in Paris

The first show was a 3,000-ticket concert for a Société Générale convention, by Blankass, La Grande Sophie and Dahlia, at Le Zenith de Paris, staged in collaboration with production company Remote. The system was configured with 20 W8LC cabinets and 18 Sub 18RR subwoofers, supplemented by four Renkus-Heinz Synco Touring System (RH-STS) MH cabinets and six RH-STS Lows.

The bands themselves had their first experience of the Synco Network's proprietary low profile CW152 stage monitors. This two-way coaxial (15" and 2") active wedge, exclusive to Synco Network members, provides true point source performance, wit

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Sweden - Dave Skaff, monitor mixer on U2's current Vertigo global tour, has chosen Lab.gruppen fP Series 2400Q amplifiers for power. He's been with the band since 1985 and has a long and distinguished pedigree including work with Alicia Keys and Shania Twain, among many others. Skaff was having trouble with the amplifiers originally supplied for the in-ear monitors and switched to Lab.gruppen after consulting trusted associates for advice. "The Lab.gruppen amplifiers came top of the list," says Skaff.

The Lab.gruppen 2400Qs became the amplifiers of choice and are being used to power ear monitor mixes for the drum, keyboard, and cue mixes. According to Skaff they have been working flawlessly. "They sound very open and true, with no colouration," he says. "The reason I switched was that the amps I was using did not have enough front-end headroom and

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UK - Tribute band, Killer Queen, is perhaps Britain's most successful Queen tribute act. The band has toured the world, and performed at some of the most prestigious venues, from Bangkok to The Royal Albert Hall. So when it comes to staging, their needs are precise. In 2005, front man Patrick Myers had some very specific requests for Maltbury.

Their staging needed to be incredibly lightweight and versatile because of the range of venues the band play, and the fast turnaround that these venues often have. Maltbury's Metrodeck Ultra system was ideal. Its aluminium frame and poplar top makes it the lightest and easiest deck to handle. Perfect for a band with a tour schedule as busy as Killer Queen's.

Another advantage is Metrodeck Ultra's high-tech appearance, which is ideal for use as a drum riser in the main show (see photo). Myers was pleased with the products that Maltbury pr

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USA / France - In an effort to provide its systems integrators, consultants and customers in France with the most effective sales, service and support available, Biamp has appointed Audiopole as its exclusive distributor in France. According to Ian Hodgkinson, Western European Regional Sales Manager, Biamp Systems, the appointment of Audiopole reflects their solid performance record in the marketplace and their ability to consistently deliver high-quality customer service and support to the professional installed market.

"We feel very confident about selecting Audiopole as the exclusive distributor across France," Hodgkinson said. "The combination of an excellent sales and support team with their network of dealers covering all areas of the market convinced me that they would be a great partner. After meeting with Bruno Bertrand and his team, we were very impresse

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Belgium - The Ancienne Belgique, the legendary live music venue in the heart of Brussels, has become the first European rock and pop venue to add the motorised WARP/M from ADB Lighting.

The Ancienne Belgique's main hall and three smaller spaces have played host down the years to artists from Jacques Brel to Lou Reed and Herbie Hancock to U2. The popular venue had a major £13m rebuild and refit in 1997 to reinforce its reputation as one of the best loved venues on the midsize European tour circuit. Now its facilities are being upgraded once again and the motorised WARP/M automated zoom profile spotlight - winner of the 2005 Showtech Product Award - has been chosen as the centrepiece of its lighting rig.

The new lights are not the venue's first experience of ADB technology - ADB Eurodim digital dimmers are used throughout, and the existing lighting rig includes: an ADB Ten

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UK - To those unfamiliar with contemporary British pop culture, the magnitude of the touring version of hit TV comedy show Little Britain challenges credulity, having toured the country for more than a year, quickly selling out cavernous venues where even legendary rock bands sometimes fail to fill the seats. It's an over-the-top, runaway national phenomenon that punctuates rapid-fire verbal jousting with raucous sound effects and aggrandized incidental music.

The Little Britain tour also pushes the limits of sound reinforcement, as reverberant acoustics coupled with the audience's laughter often threaten to submerge the show's quirky banter. To ensure that no ticket holder misses a crucial syllable, the show relies on a system of Meyer Sound MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers as provided by a new UK sound hire company, Sonalyst. "MICA has been ab

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Thailand - The Ratchada Grand Theatre in Bangkok is one of the world's grandest stages. For its feature show, Siam Niramit, a theatrical spectacular of Thai art and cultural heritage, heavy fog was required for several scenes.

Held nightly in the luxurious 2,000 seat Ratchada Theatre, Siam Niramit stars 150 performers with over 100 stage crew and technicians on hand for support. It is in fact one of the largest stage productions in the world. With a stage area measuring 65m wide by 40m deep, the task of covering this immense space in fog posed a unique challenge.

Enter eight Jem Glaciator X-Stream Heavy Foggers. Incorporated into several of the elaborate scenes - Heaven, Mighty Capital Ayutthaya and Mystical Himapaan - the Glaciator has proven both efficient and easy to operate.

Supplied by Martin's Thailand representative, Mahajak of Bangkok, the Glaciator was chosen for it

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USA - Elation is launching its 2006 Training & Product Roadshow, a free-of-charge 2-day educational seminar that will be held in major cities across the country this spring. Presented by the company's newly appointed director of sales Eric Loader and theatrical sales specialist Ray Villasenor, the seminars will provide lighting dealers and users with hands-on experience and information on the latest product offerings, including intelligent lighting, lighting controllers and software, professional fog machines, LED lighting and more.

"Lighting technology is moving forward at a very fast pace," said Loader. "We want to ensure that our dealers have thorough knowledge of how to use and sell the newest high-tech products from Elation. As part of our strong commitment to supporting dealers, we are offering them the convenience of being able to attend product training se

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Brazil - Tiësto (for three consecutive years voted the World's Best DJ by DJ Magazine) had his recent show at the 7,000 capacity Marina Santa Aldeia venue in Sao Paolo lit with Robe moving lights. It was part of a Brasilian tour by the Dutch born artist. Absolute Lighting supplied the equipment to the show, for a design by Welder Rogers, which was programmed and operated by Absolute's Paulinho.

Absolute is one of Brazil's leading rental companies, based in Sao Paulo, and supplying lighting, crew and expertise to a whole range of different lighting genres including concerts and touring shows, live venues, television productions and architectural projects. With one of the largest moving light inventories in the area, they were asked to provide both the moving and generic light specification for the Tiësto show.

The layout was a massive dancefloor with a stage at one end. Roger

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UK - The PAI Group has designed and installed an eye-catching lighting scheme in the Roof top lounge at the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli. The hotel is privately run by Gryphon Leisure. Its new rooftop conservatory lounge gives the grand old Edwardian building a contrasting and contemporary twist.

Gryphon initially approached PAI to provide an audio solution for the new space. However, as soon as Paul Adams set eyes on the plans, he immediately saw the potential for lighting. He suggested this to the client, who was also convinced, and gave Adams the green light to create a scheme.

"The place was just crying out to be lit, " explains Adams, "It was a simple idea to basically edge light the glass panels of the roof, but one that I knew would have massive impact." Adams conceived the lighting design with Geoff Jones from i-Vision, utilising a total of twenty

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UK - Zero 88 reports further success with its lighting consoles and dimmers within large educational establishments. Melton Mowbray-based Hawthorn Theatrical has successfully equipped two of the new City Academy Programme projects with a range of Zero 88 products - and is about to undertake a third.

The City Academy Scheme is a relatively new Government backed programme, which provides inner city areas with new "flagship" schools. These completely new purpose built facilities allow students to expand and develop within a varied educational programme whilst offering the very latest high quality equipment.

So far Lambeth and Northampton Academies have been equipped with Chilli Dimmers and varied lighting consoles. Northampton Academy which opened on January 9th 2006, has been equipped with 96 channels of Chilli dimming along with an Illusion 500 console, whilst at the

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USA - The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre (CSFAC) has long been a cornerstone of all things artistic in the region. Housing a gallery, artistic and theatrical teaching facilities, and a multi-use performance hall, the centre truly provides a bit of everything to this rapidly growing metropolitan area.

However, as is often the case with grand historical buildings, the centre's performance space has started to show its age, prompting a much-needed remodel project last summer. For the required sound system work the centre looked no further than across town to audio firm Audio Analysts (AA), veterans of nationwide commercial, corporate, and worship installations, as well as the force behind the sound systems for such touring acts as Bruce Springsteen, No Doubt, and Norah Jones.

Tthe job presented a myriad of challenges and difficulties, the largest being the range of events pres

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USA - Madonna used a Sennheiser microphone for her appearance at the recent Grammys - the first of many Sennheiser microphone and personal monitor products to make an appearance on the telecast. The pop diva made use of her long-time favourite Sennheiser SKM 3072 vocal mic, as well as wearing Sennheiser's G2 personal monitor system.

The Grammys also saw a Sennheiser 5200 wireless with Neumann KK 104-S capsule in use by one of the evening's top award winners, John Legend, as he performed his chart-topping song he wrote in collaboration with Kanye West, Ordinary People.

A highlight of the show, which was once again held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was the much-anticipated appearance of influential psychedelic soul and funk icon Sly Stone, who famously retired from performing live in 1987. The all-star line-up for the Sly and the Family Stone tribute segment of t

  1. Blitz invests in curved LED wall
  2. Interalia & T.G. Baker join forces for CalMac
  3. Maltbury staging for St Michael's
  4. Meyer Sound Returns to Rolex Gala
  5. Palace dresses for the occasion in Martin Colour
  6. Orbital Moving Forward with guidePORT
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