Business

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UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) has supplied and installed a low resolution video media wall, designed and specified by Speirs & Major Associates (SaMA) for the atrium of IPC Media's new London HQ. This is in the Blue Fin Building, part of the Bankside 1,2,3 development in Southwark.

Referred to SaMA by Architainment, the Philips SSL value-added reseller, LTP applied its specialist installation and engineering knowledge to fit the 9500 nodes of Color Kinetics RGB 'Flex SL' which makes up the 40m long by 3m high media wall.

SaMA worked with the building's architects, Allies & Morrison, to create a lighting concept for the space to make it an animated, vibrant and contemporary environment for the reception area.

SaMA came up with the concept of a low resolution LED media wall to act as the main illuminated feature within the space, spanning the entire length of the atr

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Denmark Loudspeaker manufacturer Artcoustic will host a number of live jazz sessions during this year's Copenhagen Jazz Festival at their showroom.

This event will give audiences a chance to indulge their passion and ears to some of the best jazz music in the world and listen to the music they enjoy in a luxurious setting over Artcoustic's superior audio systems, says the company.

The concept behind these sessions is to give audiences a chance to listen to music that has influenced and inspired the festival's artists over a dynamic sound system as well as allow them to here a true representation of the artists' music. "It is very satisfying to feel that we can contribute to an outstanding experience for music fans at one of the world's best festivals", stated Sture Svensson, sales manager in Copenhagen.

Throughout Friday, the 4 July to Sunday 13 July, Artcoustic's

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UK - Central Sussex College's Phase 1 and 2 multi-million pound redevelopment of its Haywards Heath sixth form campus is now complete with an innovative new theatre space, The Hub.

The Hub is an exciting new venue incorporating the most up to date facilities and state of the art equipment and is a good example of the college's strong association with the performing arts. The space has been designed to effectively accentuate performances and students ability to perform at a professional level.

Stage Electrics was responsible for the installation, bringing to life the vision of a flexible and technologically advanced space for students and their performances. The brief was to install a technical system capable of supporting a new versatile 250-seat theatre dance studio, rehearsal studio and four rehearsal rooms.

The key objective throughout was to allow for flexibility within

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Japan - Yamaha Corporation has announced that its Board of Directors, at their meeting held on 19 June, has decided to make an offer to the founders of French loudspeaker manufacturer Nexo S.A. to acquire all of their shares of Nexo at 51.542 Euro per share - bringing Yamaha's share holding to 74.9% of the share capital.

Yamaha intends to seek to acquire 100% of the shares of Nexo through the launching of a tender offer process for the acquisition of the remaining shares.

In June 2005, Yamaha purchased a 10.22% interest in Nexo and entered into a strategic alliance with the company (which resulted in the development of the NXAMP Powered Digital TD controller) and joined forces to strengthen their capabilities for providing better system solutions for their clients. Yamaha says it came to the conclusion that its joint activities with Nexo would generate results at a substantial

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UK - With special half-price pre-registration now live on the PLASA08 website, organiser PLASA Events has revealed that the host of its first ever PLASA Masterclass will be Funktion One co-founder Tony Andrews - the winner of last year's inaugural Gottelier Award.

A highly regarded designer and manufacturer of high quality point source speaker systems, with numerous patents to his name, Andrews' landmark developments include the hugely successful Flashlight and Floodlight systems, and more recently the distinctive Funktion One Resolution Series.

Andrews headlines a growing programme of educational presentations at the show, which include a number of exciting new initiatives and partnerships. There will be a strong focus on industry technologies, with several sessions addressing existing and emerging audio, AV and lighting technologies and how to maximise their application in t

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The Netherlands - With 50.000 tickets sold in the first few days after the premiere, visited by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, Ciske de Rat - the Musical scored its first record. Now, over six months underway and running, with around 400.000 tickets sold, it is the most successful travelling Dutch musical ever.

This musical scored seven awards out of the 13 nominations at the recent Musical Awards Gala 2008 - another record.

The musical, based on three books written by Piet Bakker in the Fourties, tells about the Amsterdam street rascal Ciske, having difficulty in finding his way in life, in the Thirties. The head role is interpreted by Danny de Munk, who already played the renowned character in the successful movie from 1984.

The sound design was by Jeroen ten Brinke. After having already successfully deployed Alcons pro-ribbon systems in earlier music

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UK - Manchester-based AV hire company, Sound Support Services, recently used a KV2 Audio VHD system to reinforce the National Union of Teachers national conference at Manchester's GMEX centre.

Sound Support, who currently run KV2 Audio ES Systems, used just two VHD 2.0 cabinets flown in full range mode - driven and controlled via two VHD2000 controller amplifiers - to cover the venue with its 1700 delegate teachers. The four day event consisted largely of speeches with some background music - and of course, the obligatory singing of the Red Flag at the final point of the conference.

Sound Support's Dave Lowton, commented: "We had wanted to try out the VHD, and though our ES system would have been adequate, the conference gave us the perfect opportunity. The GMEX is an acoustically hostile environment and the VHD coped brilliantly and enabled us to use such a small

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UAE - An Allen & Heath iLive digital system was recently employed for Hewlett Packard's Design Your Personal Life event at Wafi City in Dubai. PA company, Udaya Sound, was appointed to manage the AV requirements for the event, and had recently acquired the iLive system - comprising iDR10 mix rack and iLive-144 control surface - from Allen & Heath's distributor, VV & Sons.

"iLive's proven technology will give Udaya an edge in terms of sound processing, and VV & Sons has provided full training and technical support in order to get the very best out of this sophisticated hardware," comments VV & Sons' touring sound specialist, J Ninel.

The Dubai event was part of a global campaign taking form as a battle of the bands competition designed to draw youths together from different countries with similar experiences and environments. Events were staged simultaneously i

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Saudi Arabia - Serious Stages, in association with Atlantic Enterprises, supplied three specialist 40m wide by 100m long buildings using customised Space Structures for an event celebrating the 75th Birthday of oil giant Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Covering 10,000sq.m - they were built in a row and all featured 7m cantilevered ends for their entrances. One was used as an exhibition hall (showcasing Saudi Aramco's story in historic images, detailed timelines and displays of the company's key operations), the second as a presentation area and the third was the King's Palace.

Under the patronage of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and the leaders of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Saudi Aramco kicked off its 75th Anniversary celebration with government officials, company executives, employees and invited guests gathering

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UK - Summit Steel specified and supplied production rigging and a Kinesys automation system to the Sinatra tour, which has just finished an extensive UK leg, following a London West End run.

Summit was initially contacted by tour co-ordinator Nick Levitt to provide the automation system and associated rigging - trusses and motors - needed to fly video screens and scenic pieces. The automation system and trussing was purchased by show producers 3A Entertainment due to the length of the tour.

Summit also supplied 40 rental motors for the tour - a mix of Lodestars and Prostars - plus all rigging and control. The trussing supplied consisted of 80m of ladder beam, 40m of Total Fabs Tracking Truss and 40m of JTE SuperTruss.

Summit's Chris Walker was project manager and rigging designer for the tour; this entailed fitting a large and complex show, with a flown weight of 16 t

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Austria - Over 8,000 spectators have been assembling almost daily in the Austrian city of Linz during the European football championships for a giant football party. The organisers engaged MTR-Production - using systems from Electro-Voice - to handle the sound.

MTR-Production is being supported for this event by EV distributor Signal Sound & Light Distribution of Fohnsdorf. Signal MX Matthias Reinthaler commented: "The sound reinforcement at public viewing events such as these invariably poses a challenge, since people want to be able to hear and understand every word of the commentary even when - as is often the case - their fellow supporters are making the most almighty din."

To resolve this, MTR-Production proprietor Thomas Millmann and his team opted for systems from Electro-Voice: 24 Electro-Voice XLC127 DVX line array elements driven by 16 Electro-Voice P3000 a

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Leisuretec Distribution Ltd has secured the first shipment of the newly launched Cloud DCM-1 eight channel digitally controlled mixer.

The DCM-1 is Cloud's first ever microprocessor controlled multi zoner, providing space-conscious sound installations with a high level of flexibility without the need of a PC. Leisuretec Distribution received the first shipment to leave the production line of the Sheffield-based manufacturer this month.

"As with all Cloud products initial demand for the DCM-1 is expected to be high," said Leisuretec CEO Mike Henden. "Leisuretec customers want innovative products on demand and we have taken action by further increasing our Cloud stock to ensure Leisuretec can continue to deliver Cloud products with speed and efficiency."

Leisuretec has a policy of in house training, with experienced Cloud products specialist Brian Payne placed to

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UK - Opened in 1899, the Blackpool Tower's ballroom was home to the BBC's Come Dancing and the finals of Strictly Come Dancing for many years. Now theteam behind Clash!, a brand new dance show from the choreographers of Strictly Come Dancing are bringing dance back to the venue this June.

Lighting designer Robert Stemson of Lightingised reveals that his task for the show is to add atmosphere to the historic venue and a "wow factor" to incorporate the new trends of Latin and Swing dance routines.

Stemson comments: "All my moving lights are Martin Macs - 3 Mac 550 and 2 Mac 600s all on vertical trusses, creating a backline to complement the star cloth, with the rest of the Mac 550s spread across the stage to create shape through the sky and across the dancefloor filled with low fog.

"The Mac 700s are providing my FOH cover, and w

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UK - Alan 'Doof' McCann has been piloting Lostprophets' FOH mix since soon after Welshmen, Ian Watkins and Mike Lewis, formed the band back in 1997. Eight years on, and Doof's biggest change has been his conversion from analogue mixing to the digital world of the Soundcraft Vi6, using the Studer-developed Vistonics II technology (and the SCore Live DSP core). "After so long, it was a highly significant decision to switch from analogue to digital," he says.

With the SSE Group supplying the Vi6 for the current Lostprophets tour, including the headline spot at the Download Festival this month, he acknowledges that "it now seems pointless bringing racks - it makes for a happy local crew when there are just two cases to take to FOH."

He adds: "What I didn't like about digital consoles initially was that sometimes it would take six or seven clicks to

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UK - The very first edition of the Knight of Illumination Awards was held on Wednesday 11 June 2008 in London. These awards are exclusively dedicated to lighting designers, as the result of an idea launched by Clay Paky and organised by the Italian company in collaboration with STLD and ALD.

The Awards were hosted by the ABTT Award Dinner 2008, the traditional gala of the ABTT show. Over 230 professionals attended the event at Church House, which was tastefully lit and coloured for the occasion by Clay Paky Alpha fixtures.

The awards were voted and assigned by a group of professionals, who also operate in the specific categories of the contest, selected and coordinated entirely by STLD and ALD, whose professional standards guaranteed the credibility and the reliability of the evaluations.

The evening was a success, as the head of ABTT, Simon Garrett confirms: " We were

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Brazil - Capital Inicial is a Brazilian post-punk band that has recorded seven highly successful albums and is one of the most popular bands in the country. During the celebration of the 48th birthday of Brazil's capital Brasilia, they played a special concert that was also recorded for a DVD release. Lighting design for the show was by Dave Hill. One grandMA full-size and one grandMA light as well as two MA NSPs provided the necessary performance for his design, that was seen live by nearly one million people.

Dave Hill also worked as programmer and operator whilst Cesio Lima was director of photography. Caio Berti provided the local coordination. The stage lighting equipment was provided by LPL from Sao Paulo. Marc Systems delivered the audience lights.

(Jim Evans)

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UK AP Security's services were enlisted for the University College London (UCL) annual summer shindig - this year dubbed The Circus.

Lesley Dempsey is AP's operational manager for the event, in charge of ensuring that both the client and her staff are looked after correctly. "It's the fourth year I've been overseeing things here," says Dembsey. "AP's main function for the evening is to make sure that everyone is safe."

This event sees the college Quad and surrounding buildings turned into the venue for a night of celebration featuring four large music arenas, a fairground with traditional sideshows, casino, chocolate fountains, chill-out zones and a Pimms Tent.

"UCL Summer Ball, in terms of the venue, is not an easy event run," says Mark Williams, UCLU events manager. "We have a very difficult site with plenty of potential hazards to avoid.

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UK - Cotswold Leisure Cirencester has provided an invaluable public sports facility in Cirencester for many years. But when faced with increased private competition and deteriorating conditions, Cotswold District Council took the decision to demolish its existing leisure centre and replace it with a new centre to meet the needs of its population for the next few decades. PEL Services Ltd was awarded the contract to supply, install and commission all the fire, security, safety and audio-visual systems for the new venue.

With a raft of new legislation in place to help protect the public and ensure all are treated equally, most notable of which is the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), special consideration has to be given to safety in a leisure centre. PEL Services installed a number of key assistance systems in Cotswold Leisure Cirencester including Personal Assistance buttons

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Italy - Aethra SpA has announced that it has signed a new agreement with Keysco Co for the distribution of its video conferencing product range throughout the Korean market using Keysco's well-established sales network.

Keysco will distribute the entire Aethra video communication range, with a particular emphasis on the Vega X Line series of set tops, X3, X5 and X7, the Maia XC videophone and the Aethra Director Suite, which are perfectly targeted at the Korean market.

Kwangyoung Seo, CEO of Keysco said: "I'm very proud to be Aethra's distributor and I believe that we can create good synergy for business improvement in Korea in this long-term and strong relationship. Keysco has been developing video streaming solution based on H.264, and we also have launched a Unified Management System which integrates internet broadcasting into video conferencing through our agreement.

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Russia - Robe moving lights have been installed into two separate areas of the Korston Hotel in Moscow - on the stage of Casino de Paris main gaming floor, and in the café Bonjour, the main private dining room in the complex.

The lighting concept for the Casino -previously a large concert hall - was completed by Sofitlight, who also supplied all the stage and effects lighting kit, architectural lighting, sound design and audio equipment.

On the main gaming floor stage, the biggest lighting challenge was to devise a special hanging system for the fixtures that didn't interrupt the sight lines of the spectacular roof - which is painted like a sky. The rigging was engineered by Sofitlight director Arkady Shahidzanov.

The 22 Robe fixtures in this massive room are 16 Robe ColorMix 250 ATs and six Scan 575 XTs. They are controlled by a Compulite Rave console, along with som

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UK - HSL supplied lighting production and crew to the Main and Clash Tent stages at the 2008 Rockness Festival, staged on the shores of Scotland's Loch Ness.

It was the second consecutive year that HSL has worked on the event, produced by Loudsound Events and production managed by Lee Charteris. HSL's crew chief Ian Stevens headed a strong team of Steven Abbiss (LD Main stage), Davey Sherwin (LD Clash stage), Rob Starksfield, Rick "Avo" Butler and Andy "Paris" Hilton. The production lighting design for both stages was created by HSL's Mike Oates, who also project managed.

The Main stage was a Serious Structures Solar Roof below which HSL sub-hung four trusses for lighting. This was headlined by Fatboy Slim on the Saturday and Razorlight on Sunday. All the moving lights on this stage were Robe ColorWash 700 and 1200E ATs and ColorSpot 700 and 1200E AT

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UK - PLASA Events Ltd, the organisers of the PLASA Show at Earls Court in London (7-10 Sept 2008) have announced the official launch of the 2008 PLASA Awards for Innovation, which this year will feature some significant enhancements - and also the 2008 Gottelier Award, which recognises the contribution of an outstanding individual to product development.

Innovation: PLASA goes for Gold
During consultation with the PLASA Awards for Innovation Judges after the 2007 PLASA Show, the judges expressed a desire to be able to more accurately reflect the levels of innovation seen in the products nominated for the Awards. Specifically, they were looking for a way to highlight those cases where a product truly delivered something strikingly new and innovative to the industry.

Roland Hemming, a highly-respected audio consultant and a regular on the PLASA Awards for Innovation j

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Germany - Dance act, Scooter, whose first album release in the UK since 2002 promptly knocked Madonna off the number one slot last month, has just completed a triumphant tour throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The most successful act of all time in their native Germany, Scooter has also enjoyed a huge international career with over 14 million record sales and in excess of 80 gold and platinum discs worldwide, plus countless music prizes and trophies.

Their latest tour, Jumping All Over The World was a high-energy techno extravaganza in true Scooter fashion. Czech rental company, RentalPro, supplied full audio, lighting, laser, video and staging equipment including two InnovaSon Sy48 digital mixing consoles equipped with an LX6464ES soundcard.

A Camco-driven Nexo GEO T system was selected for the main PA, all run from an Sy48 digital console. A second Sy48 was

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USA - The Joint Training Initiative of The ESTA Foundation and USITT has announced Lighting and Console Training Sessions to be held at Wharton Center for Performing Arts, Michigan State University, East Lansing Michigan. This event is being hosted by The Wharton Center and IATSE Local 274 in East Lansing, Michigan.

The four-day schedule of courses is designed for lighting programmers, technicians, and electricians at a basic to intermediate level. Sessions will be held 28 July 28 through 31 July. The courses will be taught by ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician and ETCP Recognized Trainer, Eric Rimes.

(Jim Evans)

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