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14 March 2016

With a UK base in Hemel Hempstead, and sales office throughout Europe and the United States, the XL Video Group maintain a multi-million pound, state-of-the-art equipment inventory. Following impressive year-on-year growth the UK operation is shortly to relocate from its 9,000sq.ft premises to a massive 42,000sq.ft facility in order to accommodate its expanding hire fleet and marketing reach.

Sensing it had a shortage of dependable high-brightness projectors, took delivery of its first consignment of Christie DLP projection in the form of ten flagship S+20K SXGA+ Roadsters. Before the order wa

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14 March 2016

"Shidco ticks all the right boxes - existing distribution lines with respected brand names, impressive in-store representation, and proven sales and after-service records - offering a very attractive partnership agreement, and excellent prospects for Allen & Heath in this territory," says Allen & Heath's sales director, Bob Goleniowski.

With over 30 years' experience, Shidco is recognised as a leading importer and distributor of pro audio, visual and lighting systems in Iran. Moreover, the company owns some stores in Tehran and other cities of Iran, manned by highly qualified staff who are dedicated to providing prompt sales and immediate after sales services as well as training programmes to customers.

Sh

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14 March 2016

"With GS3, we've grown up a whole lot, and you'll see it shows," says Marcel Fairbairn, president of Gear-Source, Inc. "Not only are we expanding our offerings, and giving the user even more options to search, post listings, purchase, etc - we're making the entire process easier."

GS3 has streamlined the online selling process, and brought the important information to the forefront."It's always been our goal to offer a host of selling methods, options, etc. Until now, we haven't had the tools. The new page designs, and backend software will allow us to start adding features to the listing process enabling the seller who needs his money fast to take advantage of additional tools available."

GearSource.com empl

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14 March 2016

For the Peppers' most recent album, Stadium Arcadium, Rat Sound chose to augment its L-Acoustics amplifier arsenal with the addition of two dozen more LA48s to drive the tour's V-Dosc and dV-Dosc rig.

"After the June 2004 European stadium tour with the Peppers, where we used nine local vendors for shows in a dozen countries, I was able to get a good idea of the similarities and differences between the three amp types used in Europe," says Rat. "Though the differences in audio were relatively subtle, our decision to use the LA48 amplifiers was ultimately based on the fact that they greatly reduced our overall touring weight without any sonic sacrifice whatsoever."

For the current Stadium Arcadium outing, t

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14 March 2016

In his fourth tour with Toby Keith, Jackson says that he and Keith are very in sync when itcomes to lighting needs and expectations. "Toby Keith is a rock show. It is big, bright, and anything but subtle, "explains Jackson. "We try to interact with the set design yet still give ourselves a lot of layers and positions so we can create as much depth as possible, while still accommodating the necessities of a rock show: heavy backlight, lots of floor angles, audience lighting, and a lot of pyrotechnics."

Jackson and lighting director, Eddie Connell, are using the VL3000 spot as thebase of the system. In addition, Jack

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14 March 2016

At the end of August, the Z Room at the old Truman Brewery was designed to look like a garden while assembled journalists and camera crews took photographs of England cricket captain Michael Vaughan with groups of children. Then a larger event on the same afternoon, including performances by Mr Woo - widely acknowledged as the world's greatest football entertainer - and the Gandini Jugglin' Project launched the Be My Coach programme for children and families. Produced by event management company So Just Add Water, PRG Europe supplied leaf gobos to add to the back garden effect. Craig Bennett, project manager for PRG Europe, explains: &

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14 March 2016

While Clear-Com products are recognised throughout the live performance and broadcast industry for their construction and reliability, with the increasing complexity of systems, Clear-Com has decided to enhance their after sales service with a choice of service contracts and extended warranties. These new services ensure complete customer confidence through a dedicated global support team, says the company.

The Clear-Com Service Contract can now run for three or five years and is available as an optional service, to all customers. Key features include: technical customer on site training; a maintenance visit; an annual site visit and system service check; global 24 x 7 technical, multi-lingual customer support desk;

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14 March 2016

Stage Technologies has supplied 27 moving axes to automate this new stage show created from Gregory Maguire's book of the same name. Scenery is flown using counterweight assist winches and also slides from the wings on floor tracks, while automated lighting ladders are lifted up to let them pass. A performer lift enables dramatic entrances and exits and a large bridge is flown down just in front of the proscenium. This heavy scenic bridge is controlled by two BigTow390 winches which were built in situ in the venue's organ loft due to their size.<

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14 March 2016

"We started in business seventeen years ago", said Stage Audio Works founder Will Deysel. "Back then there was no one providing a repair service for loudspeaker systems, spares from overseas were just not available, so I started the country's first domestic re-cone and repair company, making everything ourselves."

Deysel, a sound engineer, soon found a ready demand for his business, "It grew and grew, I now have good, well established partners in the three main cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape town; the downside is I no longer get much chance to engineer, but I still do bits and pieces to keep my ear in." Keeping his ear in is what led Deysel to d&b audiotechnik, "I'd noticed more and more technical riders coming

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer João Guedes explains: "I have known grandMA from the beginning. The evolution it's had over the last few years makes it the best console on the market today! It convinced me, not only because of its many possibilities for every kind of lighting, but also because you get free and regular software updates. MA Lighting's doing a great job and we have a console that we can use for any kind of show."

The grandMA full-size offers real-time control for up to 64 DMX universes (Expansion Mode), extensive networ

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14 March 2016

The Swinging Johnsons will take the stage from 10pm - midnight. Band members include: Bruce Jordahl of Total Production US, Tommy Hall of Vari Lite, Robert Mokry of Light Parts and Scott Church of Selecon.

Visit booth #271 at LDI for more details.

(Chris Henry)

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14 March 2016

After winning the tender to provide their expertise in ensuring that the technical aspects of the production lighting and sound were installed to the highest standards possible, Northern Light went on site in January 2006.

In addition to the efforts of Northern Light's drawing office, project management and technical staff, the company's manufacturing division had a tough challenge to face on this project. Due to the performance space and very nature of the Young Vic's artistic direction, Northern Light was called upon to custom make various aspects of the technical requirements.

Simon Cooper, head of projects at Northern Light, said: &q

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14 March 2016

"The DMA's are all about celebrating and acknowledging Australia's achievement in the dance music industry. The artists who perform will be reflecting the industry and where it is at today," commented Hayley Conn, producer of this year's Dance Music Awards. "3D World Publishing is really excited to be once again presenting this year's event."

The event will be hosted at Sydney's superclub, Home, and the club's 2500 capacity gives the DMA's the opportunity to open the event to the public for the first time. Home will open its doors at 7:30pm for the 2006 awards ceremony, where fans and industry VIP's will witnessperformances from the co

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14 March 2016

Steff Langley, the Barbican's head of sound, ordered the desk from Richard Nowell Sound Services with a brief, "to keep us as mobile as possible. All our outboard is also flightcased, as we move systems not only between the various venues here at the Barbican, but also outside the theatre, to other locations. There's no point in spending £50K on a console, but not spending £1K on a flightcase."

The Barbican's 2006 progra

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14 March 2016

Situated in Warwick Street, the venue comprises an informal bar and dining room with 80 covers on the ground floor, and a downstairs cocktail lounge bar, with seating available for 100 people.

The operation is a joint venture between successful Soho operator Brenhan Magee, and entrepreneur and Crystal Palace FC chairman Simon Jordan. Magee has worked with The Breakfast Group over the past 11 years and was instrumental in setting up bars and restaurants including Jerusalem and recently Salvador & Amanda.

Having been heavily involved with the Breakfast Group over the years, and worked on the sound system installation at Salvador & Amanda, Marquee Audio tendered succe

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14 March 2016

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are selling out concerts and breaking house records across the country. The band has sold more than 50 million records since its formation, received 16 Grammy nominations and was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year of its eligibility.

The tour's production designer, Jim Lenahan's approach to lighting and video is "very much a combination of super new, and old school," reports programmer Stan Green. "There's no video director: everything is programmed into the lighting cues and controlled by the grandMA. The grandMA's ver

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14 March 2016

Holland heard about a new company called Danley Sound Labs, founded by audio pioneer Tom Danley. "I read about Danley Sound Labs in the ProSoundWeb forums," he said. "I had always been interested in Tom Danley's ideas. Reputable people in the industry were writing positive things about the products, so I checked them out."

Danley Sound La

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14 March 2016

The provocatively visual, adrenalised, energy-pumping show is currently taking the UK and Europe by storm, with video an integral element of the production design created by Baz Halpin and Mark Fisher, which is also linked closely to the lighting.

The live performance is every inch a contemporary mixed media fusion of technology and human emotion, ending with Pink treating fans to a stunning high level aerial display of silk acrobatics.

Video is divided into a two components - playback and IMAG. The playback sources are all run from a customised Catalyst digital media server triggered by a WholeHog II console (operated by Craig Allnutt), and the 3-ca

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14 March 2016

According to EAW systems application specialist Steve Badham, the key criterion for the audio installation was flexibility. Comprising three bars and two performance spaces of 750 capacity (1500 capacity when combined) as well as shops an

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14 March 2016

Macon-based Total Systems Audio, Video, and Consulting have supplied vast amounts of technical equipment to the Church; no coincidence as their managing director is also the Church's technical director.

Recently the Church took delivery of a LSC Lighting Systems maXim LP console and are getting ready to purchase a maXim XXLP through LSC's USA dist

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Stevie Marr has worked with the band for two years, and uses Adlib as his lighting supplier because, he says: "The service is excellent, they have the right attitude and the crew are always great - it's crew that really make a tour at the end of the day!"

For this stretch of the tour, he wanted all lighting sources to be at a low level, to give an edgy look that reflected the band's increasingly raw and harsh style of playing and their relentless energy. He also wanted them to be seen at all times, and so opted for an 'almost-floor' based rig, with a front truss used solely to provide key lighting positions.

The visually dom

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14 March 2016

Each of these seminars lasted one day. Both were opened by Lothar Weimann the head of D.A.S. Audio Deutschland, who gave a presentation of the firm via the corporate video. Joan La Roda, D.A.S. audio engineer provided the attendees with the presentation "How line array work" which explains the line array theory and expands into the technical characteristics and applications of such systems. This was followed by a presenta

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer/director Jason Cain (who also handled video operation duties) specified 20 Alpha Spot HPE 1200 luminaries for his lighting rig. "I chose the Alpha Line because of their light weight and bright output," Cain explains. "It was also nice to have two rotating gobo wheels, and the fixed wheel as well. I was able to achieve multi-layering of the gobos to produce different lighting effects."

The Clay Paky Alpha Spots were put into a moving light pre-rig that was built by Xtreme Structures. Any concerns Cain had about the lights' magnetic wheels holding

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14 March 2016

HSL's production manager Mike Oates comments: "We've been looking at serious high powered search lights for some time now, and both myself and Howard Dean have watched the A&O Lighting brand develop in Europe with interest. When Nick first mentioned he wanted to use them on the tour I was straight on to Marco Niedermeier [MD of A&O] to see if the units where available, which luckily they were! It was a pleasure to work with Nick, Phil and Neil from Electric Fly on this tour - from a suppliers point of view, they makes things very simple."

The influential Glasgow "post rock" band have been on a world tour since the start of