UK - The new Infinite bezel-less plasma wall proved a popular choice at the hairdressing and design exhibition Salon International, held at Excel this October, incorporated into both the Wella and Toni & Guy exhibition stands.

Salon International brought together hairdressers and hair brands for the three day event, with live shows and hair design taking place across the day with celebrity hairdressers and leading professionals in the industry demonstrating their work.

Wella designed and built its own 'village' at the show, and used the Infinite bezel-less plasma as the focal point for the Wella show stage. AV production company Mindset built a plasma wall using 16 Infinite plasmas which allowed images from the show to be displayed to the seated audience in the arena.

A second

USA - Martin Professional will use LDI in Orlando to give a world premiere to three new products - a prototype version of the MAC TW1, an advanced tungsten wash fixture; Maxxyz PC, a computer based version of the popular Maxxyz console; and BigLite Xenon fixtures, high powered single arm moving heads.

Other new lighting, sound and fog effects on display will be the MAC 700 Profile; Stage Cyclo; MAC 250 Wash; updated versions of Maxxyz and the Maxedia Digital Media Composer; new Mania series lights; a new fan and multi-headed fog system from Jem smoke, plus a new subwoofer from Mach speakers.

The new MAC TW1 is a 1200W tungsten wash fixture that "brings to the stage features and patent pending technology to equip the lighting designer with the broadest possibility of effects, colours and design". A twin lens zoom system, full CMY colour mixing and choice of internal o

Czech Republic - The LEDBlinder 196 LT (launched at Frankfurt this year) and the 4-lite version LEDBlinder148 which debuted at PLASA 2005, will be Robe's main new product focus at LDI. The 196 and 148 units are the brand's first entertainment based LED products. Both of these high-impact units are fitted into the industry-standard 8-lite and 4-lite casings.

LEDBlinder 196 is an LED version of the poplar 8-lite Molefey, a staple of the rock 'n' roll world, featuring 8 LED modules, each with 12 high power Luxeon RGB LEDs. Each two or four pairs of the 4 or 8-lite modules are separately controllable for additional effects and flexibility. This product is aimed at all stage lighting markets and television productions as well as arenas and venue installations of all sizes. Robe says that they are also particularly relevant for environments were space is tight, as the units emit virtu

The Netherlands - The latest theatre production from Joop van den Ende Productions, Beauty & the Beast is reinforced through an Alcons ribbon sound system. Ticket sales of this touring musical have now exceeded those of the previous record holder, The Sound of Music.

The show requires 14 trailers to transport and will take in the thirteen largest Dutch theatres until June 2006. Sound design is by Jeroen ten Brinke, who has worked on many top musicals including 42nd Street, Rent, Saturday Night Fever, Cabaret and Miss Saigon.

For Beauty & the Beast, a co-production between Joop van den Ende Theatre Productions and Disney Theatrical Productions, ten Brinke used an Alcons ribbon sound system for the first time. The system consists of 28 Alcons LR14 ultra-compact ribbon line-array, four LR14B compact line-array bass, four BF3

USA - A.C. Lighting is set to stage several major new product launches at LDI, alongside displays of its extensive inventory of entertainment technology brands. Chroma-Q will launch its Color Web - a modular, transparent LED matrix. The low cost 3' 3" square (1sq.m) panels provide 16 individually addressable colour mixing LED cells with a pitch of 10" (250mm), clip together easily on all four sides and can also be joined over distances for complete control of the display area shape and size.

Chroma-Q will also unveil its new Plus colour changer - the successor to the Original which combines its core features with new electronic features, increased capacity and other enhancements to provide greater flexibility and usability from the same low cost unit. The manufacturer's Color Block multipurpose LED fixture will also be on display with its full range of mounting options

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

The Netherlands - This November, Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Russian leader to visit Holland in more than 300 years, and Mojo Barriers were contracted to provide the security barriers.

The two day official visit involved the Russian President visiting Amsterdam's Dam Square to lay flowers on a national monument and Zaandam's City Square, before moving on to the Royal Palace in The Hague. The following day, he remained in The Hague for meetings with the Dutch Prime Minister.

Mojo Barriers worked with (Amsterdam and Zaandam) City officials and police officers to create safe areas within the cities so that President Putin's safety during the visit was ensured.

Across the two cities, more than 1300 metres of barriers were used to seal off areas of the Cities to the public and there were twenty road closures achieved using vehicle gates. Mojo Barriers was re

UK - Alton Towers has once again celebrated the end of season with three evenings of spectacular fireworks, lasers and special effects, and for the second year running Stage One built the huge supporting structure for the event's giant video screens.

The structure consisted of two 10 metre high scaffolding towers, positioned 18 metres apart and connected by a run of truss and track. Running along the track were six screen columns, each 1.2 metres wide by 6 metres high. The screen columns were directed by Stage One's Q-Motion control system, enabling them to move to the left and right in a pre-programmed set of sequences and groupings.

Marcus Exelby, Stage One's project manager for the job, said, "We can provide expertise and professionalism in abundance and linking that in with our unique Q-Motion control system really is a winning combination."Chris Foster, producti

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

UK - Blackburn-based HSL supplied full lighting production and all lighting and video rigging for the recent Happy Mondays tour. This culminated in a massive sold-out late night show in Manchester Evening News Arena, taking the Madchester dance gurus back to their clubbing roots.

Lighting designer was Andy Liddle, who last designed for the Mondays back in the mid-eighties when they were supporting New Order. He was asked onboard to do these shows by tour manager Neil Mather. The tour was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates.

Liddle designed an adaptable rig based on four upstage/downstage 'fingers' of truss which were assembled in 10ft modules. This was for easy break down and installation into the smaller venues, whist still retaining the look and aesthetics of the stage. The fingers were raked with the upstage ends lower and the downstage ends higher points. At Manchester t

USA - Founded in 1998, Jubilee Fellowship Church (JFC) has opened of a brand new sanctuary in Lone Tree, a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Set on a five-acre plot, the complex features a 6,730-square-foot main sanctuary that seats up to 700. Integral to the set-up is a self-powered Meyer Sound line array system designed and installed by Audio Analysts of Colorado Springs.

Audio Analyst's Robert Langlois says his main requirement for the system was that it be "flexible enough for the spoken word, yet have the impact required to handle the demands of a strong praise and worship team." He adds that the client also needed "a system that he could turn on and forget it is even there. The nature of Meyer's self-powered systems is such that an engineer, sound mixer, or volunteer doesn't have to have a working knowledge of power amplifiers and crossovers to run it. You just tu

UK - JTE's new PixelEights are rocking the streets of London as part of an exciting new window display at the Levi's Flagship Store in Regent Street. The rock & roll set is being used to promote the Levi's Ones to Watch 2005 Tour campaign that supports a number of new bands on a tour across the UK in December.

In conjunction with Levi's, communications agency Logistik created and installed a window concept, recreating the atmosphere and excitement of the Barfly venue in Camden using brick walls, backline, sound system and lighting rig.

Logistik's project director, Attila Keskin explains, "I wanted to add some pizzazz to the generic par rig - something that would really wow the people in the street! The PixelEights were recommended by PRG and as I had used PixelLine 1044s in the windows last year I was confident the fixtures would provide another dimension to the di

USA - This year marks dual milestones in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the 175th anniversary of the church's founding and the 200th birthday of its founder, Joseph Smith. Two of the most ambitious celebratory events were hosted in Utah, home to the church's headquarters, at the 11,000-seat Dee Events Center basketball arena at Weber State University in Ogden.

With a cast of over 2,200 performing in the round on the arena floor, the challenge for sound system provider Webb Audio Visual was to mount a system that could provide full, high-fidelity coverage to every seat without spilling onto the stage area and causing feedback issues. Webb AV's Scott Webb opted for a self-powered Meyer Sound system and cross-rented a MILO high-power curvilinear array system from Audio West of Yorba Linda, California.

From a technical standpoint, the show was distinctly diff

UK - Bosch Security Systems has enhanced its popular Praesideo Public Address and Emergency sound system with a new remote call station and call station interface that uses standard CAT-5 (Category 5) network cabling.

The new technology extends the reach and allows remote call stations to be located up to one kilometre away from the call station controller, making it suitable for voice evacuation in medium and large buildings including airports, hotels, conference and exhibition centres, passenger terminals, factories and offices. It also allows simplifies installation and provides greater flexibility in system design.

The use of CAT-5 cabling, the industry standard for data communications in computer and IP networks, has many other advantages - it does not add to the Praesideo's system bus length and it makes call station installation much simpler and easier, says Bosch.

Th

UK - Sir Steve Redgrave is to flick the switch at 6pm on Sunday, November 20 - triggering a spectacular pyrotechnic display and more than four miles of lights across the city of Liverpool.

The five-time Olympic Gold Medallist will be joined at St George's Plateau with Everton FC's Australian ace Tim Cahill and Liverpool FC's Norwegian star John Arne Risse. Ex-Atomic Kitten singer Liz McLarnon, who tops a live music bill including X-Factor finalist Tabby, will also join them at the hour long show.

Professor Drummond Bone, Chairman of the Liverpool Culture Company, said: ''This year's switch-on will be a stunning show and is a celebration of the many successes for the city this year - not least by our two football clubs. It's fantastic that we are also ending our culture themed year Sea Liverpool, with one of the greatest watersports legends - Sir Steve Redgrave.''

The Liverpo

UK - The Riverside Studios has installed a new 16-zone digital paging matrix system from Australian Monitor in its multi-arts facility in Hammersmith, London.

Funded by The Arts Council, the new expandable DigiPage architecture was engineered by consultant Matt How's, to a conceptual design by Richard Noxell Sound Services, and replaces the previous system described by Theatre Studios Manager, Barbara Egervary, as "totally inadequate".

The Riverside is an expanding facility which today embraces two main performance studios, a cinema,TV studio and production galleries,rehearsal/workshop space,numerous offices and a large contemporary cafe/bar and terrace.

The complex has been divided into 16 zones on DigiPage, each of which has a dedicated local mic/line input, with six global inputs routable to any of the zones; these are currently used for show relay and COMs from

USA - Midas consoles are playing a lead role on Sir Paul McCartney's US tour. McCartney's long-time FOH engineer Pab Boothroyd has one of his XL4s at FOH, having been using the desk almost exclusively since its launch ten years ago; monitor engineer John Roden is using two Midas Heritage 3000s on stage.

"I've always favoured the XL4 for many reasons - sound, touring reliability and familiarity when mixing a multitude of tasks in a hectic live environment instantly," says Boothroyd.

Roden is also a long-time champion of Midas consoles and has been using the Heritage since its launch. "It sounds great and is reliable too," he says. "Money and space requirements are not an issue with McCartney, I can have whatever I need to do my job and the temptation to change to a digital format was strong, but we have done several tours very successfully using the two

UK - ACC Productions of Belfast has become the first company in Northern Ireland to purchase HK Audio's Cheddar Compact Coherent Dynamic Response Array system.

"We are trying to expand the market to which our sound systems are pitched," says ACC owner Alsatian Kerri. "We do a lot of theatre and corporate events that our existing HK systems are great for, but we want to start looking at systems for bands and small outdoor festivals for which the Cheddar is ideal."

ACC has purchased 16 CDR 108 mid/high units, eight CDR 210 C sub woofers and two PRO amp racks with additional controllers to enable two smaller systems to go out on hire at the same time. The company already has a substantial inventory of HK AUDIO systems.

Access introduction to Cheddar Compact came about when UK distributor John Horny Skews brought over a demo system for the Indian Community Me

Italy - Author SpA has signed an agreement with DAL, Advantage Distribution Limited, to become a new authorised Author distribution partner for the UK. DAL is now supplying the full range of Author products which includes videophones, desktop video conferencing systems, set-tops, large group conferencing products and solutions, and the new Vega X Line products.

"Considering the importance of the UK video conferencing market, we want to approach the UK with the best partners and the right tools", declared Marco Viezzoli, Author CEO. "For this reason we opened a new office in London last Spring and now we are selecting carefully high level partners to work with us in order to set up strong business relationships."

Dave Travers, business development manager of DAL, said "We are extremely pleased that Author, a producer of high quality, cost effective comm

USA - During LDI in Orlando, Capture Sweden will be showing the latest developments of Capture 2005. On show will not only be the latest changes to the Basic Edition, but also some of the new features in the upcoming Extended Edition which is to be released shortly after the trade show.

The new Capture 2005 product family features a large number of major changes from the previous Capture 3.0 version. Says Capture, "Most of the software has been reconstructed in order to make it faster and easier to work with and the large number of console connectivity options which are now plug-and-play makes Capture 2005 the most efficient visualisation and design tool on the market."

(Jim Evans)

UK - To the delight of older guitarists and wannabe rock stars throughout the UK, the Music Industries Association (MIA) has announced the nation-wide launch of its Weekend Warriors campaign.

The campaign targets 35-60 year old rock fans - who either used to play in a band or are simply keen to try - and places them into groups, organising a number of rehearsal sessions before getting them up on stage to perform live in a local rock concert.

The project which works in partnership with the UK's MIA musical instrument retailers, has been brought to the UK from the US. Following two hugely successful pilots in Stockton-on-Tees and Reading, additional Weekend Warrior programmes are now up and ready to run in Warrington, Stockport, Nottingham, Leicester, Portsmouth, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Southampton, Bristol, Harlow and Darlington with many more expected to laun

UK - Stage Electrics is now supplying ice rinks as well as more traditional lighting and sound kit they are known for providing. The company has become the sole UK distributor for the Dutch company Ice World, providing rinks and boots throughout the UK.

Stage Electrics is providing the ice and infrastructure, including lighting and PA equipment for venues ranging from shopping malls to parks across the UK. A more unusual location for one of the rinks is on the first floor of a shopping centre in London's Victoria.

Stage Electrics' production manager Andy Loveday last week led the team which tested the first rink to be delivered from Holland. Working in partnership with Aggreko who provide the chilling equipment, a 30m x 10m rink was constructed in an empty warehouse close to the company's branch in Avonmouth, Bristol. "It's been a new experience for us," he said, &qu

In case anyone had forgotten what happens to the audio at the end of all these systems, Renkus-Heinz exhibited some good old-fashioned loudspeakers. The Iconyx column speakers are very discreet, but have sonic performance specifications that will attract reverberant applications such as houses of worship. "We tackle the acoustics by having a tall array of very compact drivers, so we're able to achieve tight pattern control in the vertical plane," explained VP Ralph Heinz. "Plus, by applying DSP, we're able to do some beam steerage as well."Beam steerage in a church . . . now there's a revelation.

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