Business

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UK - Bandit Lites UK is supplying lighting - including all trussing and rigging - for Westlife's current arena tour. It's the sixth consecutive year that Bandit has worked with Westlife, and once again the production company is Production North.

Westlife's remarkable career is still breaking new markets as record sales of the latest 'Face To Face' album and the tour deliver the band's dynamic, slickly choreographed and highly entertaining show to both new and traditional audiences.

Lighting designer is Peter Barnes, who worked closely with lighting director, programmer and operator Dave Lee - the two have collaborated on the last three Westlife tours. Bandit's account handler is Mark Powell who says: "Working with Peter is always a pleasure, and Westlife go from strength to strength every year."

Creative directors for the 2006 show are Ian MacDonald and Will Baker

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UK - The ABTT reports that Barnet Artsdepot in North London has been hosting a series of technical training courses recently. 12 technicians have attended the courses, as well as technicians from the Artsdepot itself. The courses form the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) Award for theatre technicians, with subjects including Electrical Fundamentals, Knots, Counterweight flying, and Manual Handling.

Two technicians attending the course were the recipients of the Nicholas Van Wijk Bursary. These bursaries are the kind gift of Heather, widow of Nicholas van Wijk who spent most of his working life in the West End Theatres. He was Master Carpenter at the Aldwych Theatre in London from 1994 until his death in October 2003. Nicholas always laid great store in passing on his stage technical knowledge to the next generation. The recipients of the bursaries were Christoph

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USA - L-Acoustics took advantage of the recent NSCA Expo in Las Vegas to formally recognize a number of its independent manufacturers' representative firms for their service. The most significant of these awards - the coveted 2005 Rep Of The Year plaque - was presented to Warman Marketing by L-Acoustics vice president of sales and marketing Paul Freudenberg.

Spearheading sales and support for the loudspeaker manufacturer's Rocky Mountain region, Warman Marketing is centrally headquartered in Broomfield, CO, with offices in both Provo, UT, and Phoenix, AZ. Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the firm is under the direction of founder and principal Harry Warman.

"Harry and his team really put on the miles and did a fantastic job last year of representing L-Acoustics throughout gargantuan territory, all the way from Montana to New Mexico," says

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France - Gérald de Palmas has been a chart-topping recording artist and stellar concert draw in his native France ever since his debut single, Sur la Route, rocketed to number one in 1993. Though not yet as well-known in North America, de Palmas' name nonetheless has come to public's attention through a 2003 duet with Sheryl Crow (The First Cut Is the Deepest) and his songwriting contributions to Celine Dion's Gallic repertoire.

In 2005, de Palmas proved his staying power with a tour that pulled capacity crowds in nearly every French city that could offer at least a mid-sized arena. The tour came to a triumphant close in late November, with the last 20 shows, mostly staged in venues with seating capacities of 6,000 to 8,000, being supported by a system built around 24 Meyer Sound Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.

The Meyer Sound package was i

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Germany - Frankfurt's ProLight&Sound 2006 (29 March - 1 April) was a comprehensive success for EVI Audio, says the company, with a great many visitors to the booth, lively interest in the lectures in the Telex Academy, and a great atmosphere at the musical performances, whether at the booth ("Liquid Blue") or the Agora Stage ("The Real Groove Band" with their many special guests).

Sharing centre stage among the numerous new products on display were the four new amplifier series from Dynacord and Midas' first digital console, the XL8, which was making its world debut. The new flagship of the live console range, which had long been awaited with keen anticipation, caught the eye of all visitors and was the subject of a detailed presentation to representatives of the music trade.

Following the maxim "Never change a winning team", EVI Audio and the Mus

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Europe - Tommy Hilfiger Europe (THE) selected Alcons systems for its European Hilfiger Sessions - a new jam-session concept where top and upcoming artists join for an "in the round" concert. Top audio quality has been recognized by THE as essential for the experience, which underlines the fashion company's strong connection with music.

THE's At van Barneveld said: "The idea of the Sessions arose from the wish to couple music to the brand Tommy Hilfiger. In the USA, combinations with music have been developed, literally from the beginning of the brand (as Tommy Hilfiger is a musician himself). This can be sponsoring of concerts, the close-cooperation with young artists or the development of own TH formats. The Sessions is one of those concepts."

The plan is to have a roll-out throughout Europe, with sessions in a number of European cities in a period of six

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Belgium / Morocco - Belgian signal processing specialist Apex has signed a deal with one of the leading PA companies in Morocco. Encom has placed an order for 15 units of Apex's GX230 (2 x 30 band) graphic equalisers, and has also been appointed to represent the full line of Apex products in Morocco.

Based in Casablanca, Encom fulfils three different roles - as a PA company, as an installer and AV integrator, and as an importer of pro audio equipment. The company owns the first L'Acoustic V-Dosc system in Africa, and is also the L'Acoustics distributor in Morocco.

According to Encom's general manager Rachid Mediouni, Encom has long enjoyed "a good history with Apex. We already have a substantial inventory of the GX Series EQs, which enjoy the Apex reputation of stability and excellent sound quality. We never have any after-sales problems with this equipment, another reaso

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UK - The people behind the Blue Room online discussion forums have announced the launch of a new service for the entertainment industry. The Blue Room Wiki, it is hoped, will provide the backstage community with an ever-growing knowledge-base of technical know-how. Building on the success of the Blue Room forums, the Wiki will enable forum members to contribute their knowledge in article form to an online encyclopaedia.

The Blue Room now boasts almost 4,000 members, with over 110,000 messages posted since its official launch in January 2003. With over 4.5 million hits each month, the Blue Room has proved very popular. "The introduction of a Wiki is something which we've been working on for a while. We saw that the Blue Room was becoming, in part, a repository for a vast assortment of technical knowledge and advice, and an online encyclopaedia seemed like the next logical st

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UK - The expertise of scenic contractor Stage One was brought into play for a special Channel 4 show, T4 On The Pitch, televised over the first weekend in April. The company, who have been producing sets and scenery for over 20 years, built all the sets and backdrops for the football-related games and 14 famous footballers captained teams of children (all competition winners), competing in a bid to be crowned Mourinho's Ultimate +10 Team.

Steve Dolan, senior project manager, said: "This project provided a very interesting graphics challenge, as from the basic visual artwork we needed to produce graphics that met the constraints of television advertising standards and that weren't blatantly advertising the programme's sponsor."

Advertising agency Stream commissioned Stage One to build the sets, which covered the space of one entire indoor football pitch, at the

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Israel - Idan Raichel catapulted onto the Israeli music scene two years ago with the hit album Idan Raichel's Project. The singer/songwriter's latest album Out of the Depths was followed by a successful tour that embarked last winter.

Lighting designer Amir Mickey Vilensky chose 12 MAC 700 Profiles to connect a simple set with Idan's unique musical style. "It was the best fixture to achieve the goal of intensifying the visuality of the show with the best colors and a wonderful movement," he stated.

Martin's local Israeli distributor, Lightone, provided the 700's to lighting and sound company Yeda Kol with a 'no problem' guarantee that turned out to be 100% accurate.

Co-designer and programmer for the show was Offer Brum who worked with Amir to create a distinctive and complementary set of colour and effects especially for The Idan Raichel Project

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Portugal/Morrocco - Due to the continuous worldwide demand for V-Dosc, further service providers have decided to invest in the genre.

In Portugal, Puro Audio have invested in a complete 32 V- Dosc box turnkey system. Antonio Monteiro, technical director and partner of Puro Audio says: "The demand for V- Dosc in Portugal is really high, and we need to offer to our customers a state of the art system. On the other hand, to be part of the famous V- Dosc Network Partnership is a real added value for us."

In Morocco Rachid Mediouni the managing director of Encom (already a dV- Dosc provider) has purchased a V- Dosc system comprising of 18 elements to go with their existing stock of 24 dV- Dosc. This will allow them to address many prestigious festivals & events planned for this summer. This will be the first V- Dosc system permanently based on the African continent.

(Ch

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Germany - From his early days as a young heartthrob to his more universal appeal in later years, Udo Jürgens has long been a legend among German music fans. With several generations of fans and decades of performing, Jürgens is still going strong. He's just released his 50th album, Jetzt oder nie (in English, Now or Never) and his current 38-city European tour has been so successful that a second tour of 40 more dates has been scheduled for autumn.

Emsdetten-based Westfalen Sound Schallwand is providing the tour with a full Meyer Sound system based around 24 Mica compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers. The main Mica array is augmented by 12 600-HP compact high-power subwoofers, as well as an assortment of additional Meyer Sound systems, including six UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers and four UPM-1P ultra-compact wide coverage loudspeakers for

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UK - PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - has announced a joint initiative with CMP Seatrade, the organisers of the Seatrade exhibitions, to host an afternoon presentation in London in early May introducing PLASA Members to business opportunities in the cruise sector.

Contracts won with cruise and ferry lines can be among the most lucrative in the world: there is currently $14.2 billion being invested in new-build activity and numbers in the cruise ship orderbook are at their highest since 2002. There is also renewed strength in the region's shipbuilding industry and the refurbishment and re-equipment sectors are also experiencing a growth surge.

The presentation, led by Seatrade MD Chris Hayman, will cover the opportunities that exist for PLASA Members in the cruise sector and the value of attending the Seatrade Med exhibition in Naples in October where f

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Australia - Martin Professional's Australian representative Show Technology were among the companies servicing the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne recently. The largest number of Martin MAC 2000 fixtures ever used on a single event graced the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games. Distributed through Show Technology, some 806 MAC 2000 series fixtures (868 MAC fixtures in total - also a single event record) were supplied for the quadrennial spectacular by local partners Bytecraft and Chameleon, with additional fixtures brought in from Procon of Germany.

"We are very excited to be associated with such a high profile event and to work with such talented people," said Emmanuel Ziino, MD of Show Technology. "Show Technology's vision statement is 'Lighting Solutions with Imagination' and it was a thrill to have had the o

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UK - Jack Morton Worldwide has always operated a vigorous Control of Contractors scheme to ensure that all of its chosen suppliers can demonstrate compliance with all current health and safety legislation. This year, however, Chris Richards, Jack Morton Worldwide UK technical director, decided that it was not sufficient to simply audit its suppliers' H&S documentation - but that a program of consultative Supplier Forums was needed to fully engage its suppliers in all of Jack Morton's H&S systems and procedures.

The first Supplier H&S Forum took place in March of this year and was extremely well received by the Jack Morton Event Production Team and its rigging services suppliers. Representatives from Vertigo Rigging, Summit Steel and Blackout were all invited to the forum to discuss in detail proposals to ensure compliance with the Work at Height Regulations and their impact on t

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UK / Belgium - Apex has assigned UK distribution of its range of signal processing products to KV2 Audio Europe Ltd. The appointment comes after the KV2 team's visit to Belgium, and rigorous tests of the Apex lines of digital and analogue signal processing products. "Our aim is to ensure that each part of the signal chain is of the highest integrity," explains Jonathan Reece, MD of KV2 Audio Europe. "We want to deliver the best-quality solution, from system design onwards, and Apex can provide the high-quality processing that we'd like to offer, either in its own right or in conjunction with other products that we manufacture and distribute."

The announcemetn comes shortly after the addition of two new products to Apex's entry-level dB-range of analogue signal processors: the dBC-8 and the dBG-8. The dBC-8 is an 8-channel compressor/limiter in a 19" 1U p

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UK - Lighting designer Pete Hosier (aka "Luton Pete") specified and used an Avolites Diamond 4 console to control lighting for the 2006 BBC 3 Planet World Music Awards, staged at London's Brixton Academy.

The D4 is always his desk of choice he explains. He has used Avolites' most powerful console extensively since a D4 was installed at Shepherds' Bush Empire 16 months ago, where he's one of the house programmer/designers. "It was ideal for a show like the Planets, with very limited programming and rehearsal time, multiple artists and a lot of lighting to control 'on the fly'."

This was the fifth Planet Awards (originally called the BBC 3 Awards World Music Poll Winners Concert) a show that's quickly become established as a premier event for world music.

This year's show gathered musicians from all corners of the planet and incl

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UK - Over the past 23 years, front-of-house sound engineer Kevin Pruce has worked with the biggest names in the business. His live engineering credentials are like a who's who from last three decades of pop, and includes Duran Duran, Adam Ant, The Human League, Tears For Fears, The Style Council, Sinead O'Connor, Björk, Lemon Jelly, Starsailor, Yoko Ono, Meat Loaf and Madonna.

Kevin says: "When it comes to FOH, spec the right equipment for the job, not what is flavour of the month." Pruce himself has an arsenal of Focusrite gear at his disposal. "I have used the ISA 110 [mic pre and EQ], the ISA 430 [Producer Pack], the Red 3 [dual compressor/limiter] and Liquid Channel. I use them all for vocal processing and they are all superb, just so well designed and functional."

But he particularly picks out the ISA428 [multichannel mic pre front end] for praise for

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USA - Cirque du Soleil has announced that review performances begin at The Mirage in Las Vegas on 2 June for The Beatles LOVE, the company's latest production, which celebrates the musical legacy of The Beatles. The Gala Premiere will be held Friday, 30 June, 2006. This joint artistic venture, born out of a personal friendship and mutual admiration between the late George Harrison and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, marks the first time that The Beatles company, Apple Corps Ltd, has agreed to a major theatrical partnership.

Sir George Martin, The Beatles original producer, and his son Giles Martin have been working with the entire archive of Beatles recordings to create the musical component for LOVE. The result is an unprecedented approach to the music for a stage production. "After spending more than 40 years of my life working with The Beatle

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UK - Light & Sound Creations has completed the installation of sound, lighting, plasma and LCD displays and security surveillance system at the Glass Spider, Sunderland's stylish new super-pub.

Located in Green terrace, the heart of Sunderland's 'nightlife quarter', the Glass Spider boasts the largest terrace in the North-East and is operated by Wylam Developments, who also own Ttonic and Vision in Sunderland. Opening night at the Glass Spider featured live music, Vegas-style showgirls, an ice sculpture on the terrace and VIPs arriving by stretched Hummer.

Community loudspeakers have been used throughout the venue, chosen by Light & Sound Creations. The main dance-floor uses four CPL42-94, ceiling-mounted in landscape format, with two TD215S compact dual 15" subs. Bar areas and infill around the dance-floor use Community CPL27s and a CPL23 provides foldback for the DJ boo

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UK - Production company West End Studios has upgraded its main lighting control console to a Jands Vista T2, as part of an ongoing investment in new equipment for its production facility, which provides a total event design service for clients in the broadcast, video, conferences and events sectors.

When the studio decided to replace their console due to the increasingly sophisticated lighting demands of productions, technical production manager Andy Cheshire contacted Jands Vista distributor A.C. Lighting to arrange a demo. He and the studios' in-house lighting technicians were so impressed by the Vista's flexibility, usability and speed that after the demo they saw no point in looking at any other consoles.

Cheshire commented: "I was looking for something which could handle a lot more fixtures, was smarter and faster and had ethernet outputs. The Vista was the obvious c

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UK - 5 Star Cases has designed and manufactured a special custom flightcase for leading DJ equipment manufacturer Pioneer Europe NV. The case houses a combination of its CDJ-200 CD decks and the new DJM-400 mixer units.

The main brief was to incorporate a cable shield or 'mini loom box' for ensuring that the cables can be kept neat and tidy along the rear of the case when in use and when packed away. Loom boxes are a standard feature on 5 Star's large audio mixing console cases, and so it was logical to incorporate this element of the design into the final layout. "Pioneer wanted a practical and good looking system case to compliment the small footprints of both the CDJ and DJM units," explains John Barsby, 5 Star's product development manager. "The loom box needed to be large enough to take the cables and compact enough to keep the case dimensions within the agre

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UK - Next week sees the return of the annual A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. The company says its entertainment technology showcase will include exclusive first UK showings of over 75 new lighting, staging, audio and visual prototypes/final production models, and representation by over 65 leading brands.

In addition to the exhibition, a busy programme of guest speakers will lighting designers Durham Marenghi and Peter Barnes, Roger Barrett of Star Events Group, structural engineer Peter Hind and general manager of the PSA, Andy Lenthall, who will be taking time out of their busy schedules to provide informal seminars on topics including Live 8, the 2006 Torino Olympic Games, new Noise at Work regulations and designing truss structures.

A.C. Lighting says that places for the seminars are limited so to avoid disappointment pre-register today

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Norway - BSS Audio's Norwegian distributor LydRommet has devised a highly cost-effective solution at the 400-capacity Aal Culture House, which allows a single set of amplifiers to drive two sets of JBL Professional loudspeakers, one for cinema and the other for general PA/conference purposes. According to the company's Espen Andersen, they have been able to implement this thanks to BSS Audio Soundweb London and now plan to establish this as a template for future implementations.

The company is using Soundweb London, which offers dual-redundant CobraNet audio networking, as the base in almost every installation they do, he explains. "In many cases it has been our ability to provide a total HiQnet solution that has enabled us to win the contract; in fact we have been able to show that it is actually possible to save money by implementing HiQnet in smaller applications."<

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