Business

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USA - What a difference three years makes. Back at the beginning of 2003, only the most hardcore of hip-hop fans knew who Kanye West was. West had been working for years on ideas and songs for what would eventually become 2004's Multi-Platinum breakout album, The College Dropout, but had encountered difficulty getting the project fully realized. He had already cemented a solid reputation as a producer with a Midas touch for making hits, which he first established at Roc-A-Fella records in 2001 with the hit singles Izzo (Hova) and Takeover off of Jay-Z's smash album The Blueprint, and he has since produced major hits from Ludacris, Talib Kweli, Dilated Peoples, Alicia Keys, and far too many others to list. But his own music was not known.

However, by the time the 2005 Grammy awards rolled around, West had broken through and was on top of the pile with 10 nominations and th

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Canada - Early April saw Winnipeg's Pantages Playhouse Theatre taken over by CBC's Comedy Festival. The proscenium theatre, built by Alexander Pantages, was originally opened in 1914 as a vaudeville house. The Pantages seats 922 in the orchestra, 467 in the balcony and another 86 in balcony boxes. The original house sound installations made up of mostly Bose Acousticmass speakers, which were replaced with Adamson Y-Axis line speakers for the duration of the event.

The week-long installation was provided by Audio Works Productions based in Winnipeg. The set up and rehearsals took three days during which FOH sound engineer Lyle Dick was looking for "clarity and off axis rejection" - important qualities for the spoken word. Lyle Dick added: "The Adamson Y-Axis system is perfect for it and that is why I used it for years for all the film premieres in Hollywood."<

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UK / France - On 2 June 2006 at around 4.00pm, approximately 25 cyclists will depart from Leatherhead in Surrey with a target of reaching Le Mans in 24 hours - a distance of about 170 miles. One of the cyclists will be Jonathan Cooper, managing director of Barco Limited, and he is still seeking sponsorship support for the challenge.

The ride is organised by SeeAbility, an Epsom-based charity which provides accommodation, training and support for the visually impaired (www.seeability.org). In agreement with SeeAbility, Jonathan has also committed to raising sponsorship for Vision - a charity which provides support to visually-impaired children and also work with SeeAbility on some projects. Vision is well supported by organisations operating in the Broadcast, Media and Audio-Visual markets (www.visioncharity.co.uk).

Jonathan says: "This is a challenging event, especially a

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USA - The JFK School of Government at Harvard University has seen a recent audio system upgrade at one of its primary lecture halls. Adtech Systems, an AV systems integrator, installed a new zoned, mix-minus microphone/loudspeaker system that improves the ability of everyone in the classroom to both speak and be clearly heard. The project was headed by Adtech's design engineer, Michael Merrill.

While a similar system had been in use since the hall was last upgraded in 1990, it was not sophisticated and often malfunctioned. The school's directors decided a new sound system was a high priority, to allow students to focus on the dialogue and discussion processes, rather than constantly dealing with the mechanics of audio technology.

The focal point of the hall's new audio system architecture is a SymNet DSP Audio Matrix from Symetrix. The digital signal processing, mixing and rou

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Italy - For the 2006 Sanremo Song Festival, RAI broadcasted some special episodes of Domenica In and Affari Tuoi from the Casino Theatre in Sanremo. The director of photography Fausto Carboni opted for a Clay Paky lighting system to light the purpose-built set, that included eight Alpha Spot HPE 1200, 12 Alpha Spot HPE 575, 12 Alpha Wash Halo, four Stage Profile Plus SV and 30 CP Color MH.

"I had to realize a lighting effect that could be adapted to both programmes, which both required completely different lighting setups," explains Carboni. "The choice of the motorised projectors and the layout of the same was carefully studied before installation, because we were aware that, once installed, they would not be touched again for the whole week, which did not apply to the scenography, which changed each time."

Carboni has been using Clay Paky pr

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UK - PAI and sister company Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) have completed the design, specification and commissioning of an integrated sound and AV solution and specification of interior and exterior architectural lighting at the Opera House Casino, Scarborough.

The venue is one of the most successful independently owned casinos in the country, and is a complete new build on the footprint of the former old Royal Opera House Theatre, which had a colourful history dating back to the 19th century.

After many years of dereliction, the old building was demolished in 2004 and replaced with a new construction designed by architects Frame International. Frame also created the interior design and asked PAI onboard to work closely alongside them on the specification of a complete technical infrastructure.

PAI's Paul Adams, LTP's Terry Reeves and Frame International collaborated to

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USA The 2005-2006 touring seasons have seen artists including Foo Fighters, Weezer, Maroon 5, Jack Johnson and Pearl Jam out on the road using Rat Sound Systems' legendary sound system components. All of those major tours had another thing in common: each system had speaker control and processing done using the rugged and reliable XTA DP428 Audio Management System. After years of comparison testing by Rat's technicians, their choice is clearly the DP428 digital speaker controller.

We use the DP428's on almost all the Rat tours," says systems and tours director Jon Monson. "In fact, we are presently planning on upgrading all of our XTA DP226 units for DP428's in our house systems, and we are adding DP428's for all of our wedge amp racks in our monitor systems. We use them almost exclusively for speaker control, and all of our house systems utilise a slight Rat modificat

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Germany - Nearly 3000 invited guests attended an evening gala extravaganza at the Festival Hall in Frankfurt, invited by the SEB Bank to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Organisers of this major corporate event were keen to provide a highly efficient, high-quality and yet discreet sound reinforcement system that would do justice to such a splendid occasion. The system had to meet a range of different demands, including the chairman's speech, a guest presenter and the Big Band and the Musical Show, as well as a Top 40 band and DJ. All signals had to be transmitted in the highest possible quality, and the client wanted a powerful dance-floor sound as well as even sound distribution throughout the entire hall, which was up to 90 metres long.

The job of drawing up the sound concept was given to Knut Winkler, one of the specialists at the Frankfurt branch of Ambion GmbH. His choice

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Budapest - ACF Budapest will open its doors in a few months' time. This Audio Visual Creative Fair is a first in the Central Europe region and takes place from 21 to 23 November 2006 at the Europa Congress Centre.

The number of exhibitors is growing each day. At present over 30 exhibitors have already reserved their spaces including American DJ/American Audio, ADB TTV, Chromatica, Sonoss, Verbiest, Show Solutions, Meyer Sound, Laser System Europe, ADC, Barco, ZAJ/Discotechnika, Balogh Studiolighting, Mikropo Systemhouse LTD, Panasonic Madyarorszag, Rexfilm, R-Digital, Whirlwind Digital Europe, Ampco - Flashlight, Luminis, Highlite International, Doremi, Audmax, etc.

The fully renovated Hunguest Europa Congress Centre site will host exhibitors and visitors on several floors and in different halls. The Congress centre is less than half an hour from Budapest international airport

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USA / Europe - XL Video continues to supply video production and equipment to the incredibly popular Il Divo tour, which kicked off the in the US and is now enjoying record audiences throughout Europe.

Video forms a simple but high impact visual component of the show, and was integrated into the overall live stage look by lighting designer Mark Cuniffe, who also shot some of the footage. The initial video aesthetics were devised by artistic director and choreographer Luca Tomassini, working closely with tour director Steve Martin and Cuniffe.

XL's crew for all sections of the tour are Richy Parkin and Mark Davies. Unusually, the four Barco R12 Plus video projectors are mounted in portrait format (i.e. on their sides) attached to specially made brackets fabricated at XL Video UK and attached to four Genie 25 Superlifts, positioned at the rear of the stage.

The lifts are wound

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UK - Lincoln City Football Club played host to the Lincoln Live Event held on Saturday 20 May. The 15,000 strong crowd were entertained by a line-up which included Westlife, Lee Ryan, Liberty X and X-factor finalists, Journey South.

Event sound was supplied by Nottingham-based Merlin Productions using the Ethos line array from Logic System Pro Audio. The rig comprised of 30 VA enclosures, 12 B2 bass cabinets with eight SB2 handling the sub-bass. The front-fill role was covered admirably by the new ML-8 enclosures and on-stage monitoring by the LM-20 series, say Logic System.

Organiser Liz Hobbs, of Liz Hobbs Event Group, commented: "We use Logic Systems Ethos rigs on all of our racecourse shows. We particularly like the consistent high quality sound. In fact, on the night we had another five shows confirmed, all based on the success of Lincoln Live, in which Ethos played

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The Netherlands - Prolyte has been awarded the Abel Tasman Medal for Best Entrepreneur of 2006. Prolyte's CEO Fokko Smeding and CFO Anne Smeding received the Award from the Royal Commissioner Mr. H. Alders at the end of a thrilling show, in which the three nominates were presented.

The jury eventually selected Prolyte on several grounds, recognising Prolyte's capacity for innovation, their continuous growth and their worldwide recognition as a manufacturer of high quality and reliable products. For both Anne and Fokko Smeding it was an unexpected surprise, as Fokko says: "We were flattered to have been nominated, but didn't really expect to win. We are very proud of all the people at Prolyte who are the heart and soul of our company, and who bear this success."

(Lee Baldock)

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Dubai - Xische Digital, Dubai Media City and New York-based digital studio together with MultiSell Technology announced its latest digital experience last week. In May, Harvey Nichols unveiled its latest in a series of eclectic window displays at the Mall of the Emirates, featuring a life-size puma strolling across the 6-metre window amidst cages and ruffled feathers.

"The experience of using the entire shop front as a canvas creates an extraordinary retail experience for an unassuming passerby," says Danish Farhan, chief executive of Xische Digital. "In line with Harvey Nichols' global initiative to showcase some of the most eclectic window dressing in the world, this is a first in many respects, merging the digital domain with the real world."

Designed by the award-winning team at Xische, and deployed together with Multisell Technology and AWEBCO, the ret

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uk - Summit Steel has installed a large trussing mother grid in the roof of the newly refurbished Roundhouse for Fuerzabruta - the first show staged at the legendary performing arts venue since it reopened last week.

Summit won a competitive tender for the work which is being project managed for them by Jay Call. Coincidentally, Fuerzabruta production manager Jonathan Bartlett, knew Call from Summit's work at the Royal Albert Hall and Call is also acquainted with The Roundhouse's technical director, John McKinnon.

Call and the Summit team worked closely with Fuerzabruta technical director Ale Garcia throughout. The show contains a myriad of aerial stunts, lots of water, and plenty of audience interaction.

The mother grid - measuring 22 metres at its longest point - is suspended on nineteen static points and tensioned off to the external ring of roof bea

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UK - At the end of April, the smash-hit musical Chicago left London's Adelphi Theatre, where it has played since 1997, and moved across town to a new home at the Cambridge Theatre - once again with a lighting rig from White Light.

Lighting designer Ken Billington won a Tony Award for his lighting design for the revival of the classic Kander & Ebb musical when it first opened on Broadway. When the show moved to London, White Light supplied a rig including over three hundred ETC Source Fours plus three Robert Juliat Aramis followspots, and Wybron ColorRam 4" scrollers and an ETC Obsession 2 console, both the scrollers and console making their UK debut on the show.

The show's move to the Cambridge Theatre was to make way for the new production of Evita, soon to open at the Adelphi also using a rig from White Light. But the move was very tightly scheduled, with

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USA - Shure endorser Brad Paisley, who walked into this year's Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand with nominations in six categories, went home the night's biggest winner with three wins. His latest album, Time Well Wasted was named Album of the Year, and When I Get Where I'm Going, a track that pairs the country superstar with the legendary Dolly Parton, scored dual honours as Vocal Event of the Year and Video Event of the Year.

Paisley, who opened the show with a grand entry from the rear of the hall performing with a UHF-R/SM58 wireless system from Shure, was but one of many Shure endorsers appearing at this year's 41st annual event, the third to be held in Vegas after departing LA. Among others present who maintain a place on Shure's roster of allied artists was Sara Evans, who picked up a very big win as Top Female Vocalist, and performed

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UK - Gavin Pearce is the FOH engineer for James Brown's live show and is currently touring the world with the Godfather of Soul. As well as having a stack of gear in his studio, Gavin uses the ultimate portable interface to record each show, the Focusrite Saffire.

With a musical upbringing Pearce was destined to end up with a career in sound but at the age of 18 when he took his first sound job he could have hardly dared to hope to be doing what he's doing now.

"I wasn't quite sure what to do with an insert at that point," he laughs, "but one day a week turned into two which turned into seven and here we are! I have toured with several Broadway shows and music acts. The most notable are James Brown, Three Mo' Tenors, Cook, Dixon and Young and John Legend."

Pearce is already a huge Focusrite fan. "I buy Focusrite gear because I like the way it sounds.

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UK - With wide-ranging changes in Safety and Fire Legislation coming into effect during autumn 2006 and spring 2007. Safety Solutions (UK) Ltd and Fairfield Halls are working together to assist employers in understanding the legislation and how to comply with both the existing and forthcoming requirements in a practical and realistic way.

The Fairfield Halls in Croydon offers excellent facilities with easy links from London, Brighton and Gatwick Airport. Safety Solutions (UK) Ltd are an accredited centre for City and Guilds, NEBOSH qualification programmes and provide short courses regulated by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

Summer Safety Week at Fairfield (7-11 August) will consist of a series of updates on legislation and stimulants for compliance and the application of best practice. Special events will also be held to assist small- and medium-sized comp

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Australia - Foxtel in Sydney have reconstructed a small studio at their Pyrmont premises as well as building a large studio at their Ryde complex. The larger studio, which measures 300sq.m has been in use since the beginning of May.

Coemar De Sisti Australia were contracted to supply a complete lighting installation including De Sisti hoists, wiring and dimmers resulting in a complete turn-key system. Peter Kemp, CDA's managing director, surveyed the market for a wall mount dimmer suitable for the application.

"We decided that the LSC Lighting EKO was suitable for the requirements we had for the studio. There were a number of features that we favoured; ease of installation including the facilities within the rack for logging and various functions you can set up with the EKO. They were the best dimmer for the job and fitted the need."

Ease of installation is one of

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UK - Cheshire-based rental, sales and installation company VME Ltd has purchased two Allen & Heath GL2800 dual-function live sound consoles, as part of an upgrade to its PA hire stock. VME already owns several Allen & Heath consoles from the ML, WZ, PA and Xone Series, and the 24-channel and 32-channel GL2800 mixers have been added to service the smaller gigs, festivals and events that the company regularly manages.

"The GL2800 is the perfect size for smaller venues, gigs and festivals, which make up a huge portion of our hire business. The mixer's 10 auxes provide plenty of capacity so we are easily able to manage FOH, monitors, and have room left over for effects," comments VME director,Dion Davie. "The GL2800 has a new mic preamp design, which offer great headroom and clean sound, and a brand new 4-band EQ, which is incredibly accurate and musical. All in all,

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UK - Headed by Peter Church, the recently formed JI Entertainments has pledged to develop its estate, heavily branded in favour of Idols and Blue.

Church enlisted the expertise of TMC - with whom he first worked during his days at First Leisure - and Paul Smith, a director of the Bradford-based technology specialists, was called in. As a result the former Julie's in Newcastle has now been converted to Blue, and The Square Bar in Swansea to Idols, alongside the technological upgrade of Idols in Newcastle.

TMC have evolved a winning formula when it comes to brand selection, and for their automated lighting they return time after time to Futurelight fixtures (distributed in the UK by DiFuzion, a subsidiary of Fuzion plc).

DiFuzion's Graham Barron has a long relationship with the installers, and aside from the product's inherent reliability, Paul Smith knows he is also guarantee

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UK - Dublin based Ballyfermot College of Further Education was in the news recently when the Irish Minister for education and science, Mary Hanafin T.D. opened their new media building. The building, designed to be multifunctional, will be home to the college'sdepartments of animation, television and film, multi-media and games, music performance, management and sound. "Prior to this, all these departments had been scattered around the college campus," said Larry O'Toole, the College's course co-ordinator for the Higher National Diploma in Music Technology. "It was a most unsatisfactory arrangement."

"This building has been on the cards for nearly ten years," said the College's John Moriarty, "and now, at last, we have a purpose built facility for our students." The building is the realisation of a long held dream for Moriarty who was inst

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UK - PLASA's AGM and Members Lunch is fast approaching but, if you haven't already done so, there's still time for members to reserve a place. With nearly 200 confirmed attendees, it promises to be a really good networking event as well as the ideal opportunity to find out more about the work PLASA has been doing over the last year and its plans for the future.

Guest speaker, Alasdair Jeffrey, has some strong views about business and anyone that has seen him in action in the BBC's The Ferocious Mr Fixit will know that he delivers as a business trouble-shooter.

If you would like to join us at the Hurlingham Club on Tuesday 6 June, get in touch with PLASA today on 01323 410335 or via the e-mail address below.

(Chris Henry)

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UK - Three DiGiCo D5 Live consoles are being used on the touring musical version of Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: two at front-of-house, routing audio to a full surround Meyer Sound loudspeaker system, with another at the monitor position.

Gary Langan, who has spent a great deal of time deep inside the recording aspect of The War of the Worlds, is in charge of the master FOH console, whilst experienced D5 operator Richard Sharratt controls the other. Robin Fox sits at monitors and Ali Viles is designated the challenging assignment of system technician.

"I think Jeff had been secretly planning this stage show for more than 20 years," says Langan. "But it's only now that technically there's the wherewithal for him to be able to bring some of his ideas to life.

"As a sound engineer, there's no way I would have attempted this without some

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