UK - Sennheiser endorsees, Super Furry Animals, continue to tour with the company's evolution microphones and in-ear monitoring. Promoting their new Phantom Power album, the Furries completed a full US tour in February and March, followed by 11 dates across the UK during April, taking in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales and ending with the London Hammersmith Apollo. This summer will also see them playing at the Reading and Leeds festivals.

The band's monitor engineer, Craig Donaldson, comments: "I would say that establishing the relationship with Sennheiser is one of the best moves I ever made. The IEM systems are fantastic and the back-up from Mark Saunders at Sennheiser is even better."

Donaldson says of the microphones: "The e604 and e609 are familiar to any engineer and continue to do a great job for us. The real bonus for me is the e845 vocal mic

UK - Only 18 months after its management buy-out, Hall Stage picked up the Rigging and Engineering Product of the Year Award from the Association of British Theatre Technicians tradeshow, for the second year running.

Following on from the Widget of the Year success of the 'HoldOn' clip, launched in 2003, the company unveiled the DGS Counterweight Drive system, designed in conjunction with the company's German partner, ASM Steuerungstechnik.

The DGS is the first genuine drive hoist that means an end to counterweight loading, with all of its inherent Health and Safety, cost and time implications, say Hall Stage. Fitting directly onto an existing counterweight frame, the DGS uses twin steel bands with a combined safety factor of 20:1 to raise and lower the weight cradle at speeds of up to 1.5m/second - in virtual silence.

Hall Stage are also offering full financial support pack

UK - Rental and production company Skan PA Hire is once again supplying a complete audio system to The Other Stage at this years Glastonbury festival. 15 years on from the company's debut, Skan is as excited as ever to be involved in arguably the world's most famous annual outdoor musical event.

A major change to the equipment list this year sees the arrival of Skan's L'Acoustics V-Dosc system. According to Skan's Chris Fitch, the decision over which speaker system to use is not a reflection on either L'Acoustics or the Turbosound system used in previous years but came down to availability. He commented: "We have achieved some stunning results with the Turbosound in previous years and are confident in our ability to get the best out of the L'Acoustics." The reinforcement will be used in conjunction with two Midas Heritage 2000 mixing consoles and monitoring via a pair

USA - Production Resource Group (PRG) provided a record number of lighting solutions to exhibitors at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Exhibition (E3) which took place in Los Angeles in May. "We saw a strong increase in the number of support requests from both exhibit houses and independent lighting designers," said company president Michael Tomkin. "We believe this is the result of greater awareness within the tradeshow community of the extensive equipment, ideas, and expertise offered by PRG."

PRG provided lighting solutions for a total of 13 exhibits at the show, compared with just four exhibits at the 2003 event. "We expect our presence at the 2005 show to be even greater as a result of new technologies we've recently introduced," said Carl Davidson, vice-president of corporate business development for PRG. The company's new technologies inclu

UK - RF specialist and manufacturer Trantec has recently supplied its award winning S6000 miniature radio mic system to OB specialist Roll 2 Record (RTR). Deployed on location for Endemol UK Production's fifth series of Big Brother, it enabled the live broadcast of one of Channel 4's most successful and highest rating series in its 20-year history.

RTR's experienced team, headed by MD Pete Webber, has worked with Endemol's production team since its first series, supplying all the technical television facilities for the show's live broadcast across nine platforms. Using Trantec's S6000 for the first time, it proved invaluable as an intuitive wideband system, says Webber. Webber collaborated with the Trantec team to specify the 16-channel S6000 system, which was used in conjunction with numerous channels of Trantec IEM's and other radio systems.

The S6000's miniature transmitter

South Africa - Four Roadies from South Africa will spend two weeks engaged in on-the-job training in Norway this July. The famous Quart Festival, in Norway, will host the four SARA (South African Roadies Association) technicians as part of a technical exchange program (now in it's fourth year) between SARA and the Quart Festival.

SARA raised the necessary sponsorship from MMINO, a South Africa-Norwegian education and music program, to enable young South Africans to spend the 29 June to 13 July 2004 period in Norway. There they will spend an intense 15 days gaining technical training from some of the best in the world, learning the latest methods and techniques in sound, staging, power, lighting and related live music/entertainment industries.

Every year the Board and organizers of the Quart Festival choose one deserving socially responsible role player on a global basis, and d

UK - A.C. Lighting has been appointed as a dealer for Vari*Lite products in the UK. The US manufacturer has been at the forefront of automated moving lights since developing the technology in the early 80s, and produces an innovative line-up of intelligent spot and wash models.

Under the agreement, Vari*Lite will benefit from A.C. Lighting's position as a leading 'one-stop-shop' for entertainment technology products and services. The deal sees A.C. act as reseller for Vari*Lite's full range of luminaires, including Series 1000 Arc ERS and Tungsten ERS models, Series 2000 spot and wash models and Series 3000 Q models.

Philip Norfolk, regional sales manager for Vari*Lite European distributor VLPS, commented: "VLPS are delighted to have A.C. Lighting as an approved dealer for the Vari*Lite range of moving lights. Their unique client base and excellent service levels make the

UK / World - East Anglia-based sound rental specialist, AudioLease, has just completed three major arena dates with Sean Paul, supported by Big Brovaz. For each of the concerts, at G-Mex Manchester, Wembley Arena and the NEC Birmingham, AudioLease used its Lab.gruppen-powered Adamson Y-Axis Y10 line array system.

The three UK dates form part of an international tour for the infectious young hip-hop-flavoured dancehall reggae star, Sean Paul. Over a three-month period, from May to July, he will have taken the tour from the Middle East to the US and 11 European countries, ending in Montreux on 10 July.

The Adamson Y-10 system, supplied by Sennheiser UK, is a full-range, medium-format three-way line array featuring a single patented Adamson mid/high drive module. The system uses XTA DP226 and DP224 digital loudspeaker processors and is powered by Lab.gruppen 6400 amplification.

UK - John Hornby Skewes & Co Ltd recently staged its annual JHS Event, a firm and popular fixture on the MI calendar held each June at the company's four-acre head office in Leeds. The event provides an opportunity for exclusive UK and Eire HK Audio distributor, JHS Ltd, to demonstrate the full HK Audio range to the UK and Eire trade visitors attending the show, held over a four-day period this year.

Offering a selection of the latest additions to the JHS product catalogue, the event presented a number of special offers plus the chance to mix business and fun with shuttle helicopter flights around the local countryside. For those seeking more terrain-based thrills, an onsite simulator offered a variety of high-speed virtual experiences, plus the chance to unwind with some good food and drink.

HK Audio's fully-rigged Cohedra (Coherent Dynamic Response Array) system was certainl

The Netherlands - Lagotronics, the Dutch manufacturer of LED lighting effects and fixtures has announced its move to a new address, with effect from 5 July 2004. The company will have new opening hours: Monday - Friday 8:00-12:30 - 13:00-17:00. Phone, fax and e-mail, meanwhile, remain unchanged, as will the address for postal deliveries (P.O. Box 171, 5900 AD, Venlo).

The company's new home is at Noorderpoort 28, 5916 PJ Venlo, The Netherlands. Due to the move, the company will not be contactable on Friday 2 July.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - Following the announcement of its forthcoming initial public offering in April, Color Kinetics Inc (CKI), the US manufacturer of LED lighting systems, has confirmed the pricing of its IPO of 4,000,000 shares of its common stock at $10 per share. All of the shares are being offered by CKI. The common stock was expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq National Market from 22 June under the symbol 'CLRK'.

The managing underwriters of the offering are CIBC World Markets Corp, and Needham & Company Inc, acting as joint lead managers, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co Inc and ThinkEquity Partners LLC. CKI has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Amid the celebrations of the annual ABTT dinner on Wednesday 16 June, the Source Four Revolution - ETC's first moving light - won the prestigious Lighting Product of the Year award. The awards are staged to bring exceptional products to the attention of a wider audience, and the judges felt the Revolution was a worthy recipient primarily because it is the first moving light developed and designed specifically for theatrical use. They added that ETC had listened to lighting people around the world to create a luminaire that truly met the lighting designer's ideal.

For 20 years, the ABTT has provided industry-wide recognition for exceptional products that serve the entertainment industry. The committee of judges, whose identities are a closely guarded secret, consists of a mixture of end users chosen from across the industry to achieve a well-rounded and balanced decision.

Spain - LT Light, the Spanish manufacturer of lighting consoles and dimmers, has recently appointed Tongsuh Technologies & Trading Co as its sole distributor for South Korea. The well-known Korean company will provide servicing, consulting and technical assistance for all LT Light products.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

UK - MC2 Audio has appointed Melody Development Co Ltd as its exclusive distributor in China. Melody is based in Shanghai and operates within the digital conference system, touring and fixed installation markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao.

Chen Ziqian, Melody's technical director, commented: "After more than 10 years of healthy growth, our company had established a strong sales network covering major parts of the market in China. As well as our headquarters in Shanghai, we now have branches in Beijing, Shenzhen, Changsha, Wuhan, Nanjing, Xian and Shenyang. We have a good customer bas, which includes the Beijing Show Company, CCTV touring group, Henan Sports centre (50,000 audience capacity) and Wuhan Sports centre (60,000 audience capacity).

Ziqian continued: "We didn't have a high quality power amplifier in our product range and we felt that MC2's ampli

UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout has recently worked with Endemol UK Productions, providing a variety of set design solutions for the live sets of 'Big Brother' and 'Shattered'. Blackout's managing director Steve Tuck collaborated with one of the artistic directors Paul Drake and production manager, Janine Terry, on both productions.

Drake commissioned Blackout to design and supply a host of acoustic black-serge drapes, which were deployed on the new series of Channel 4's blockbuster, 'Big Brother'. Paul Drake says: "The time-scale to supply the acoustic drapes was extremely tight. Blackout were great to work with and provided the perfect practical solution, softening the acoustics of a highly reverberant set into a functional live broadcast environment."

'Shattered' was the show investigating the effects of sleep deprivation on contestants living in a pur

UK - The annual Clotheshow Live at Birmingham's NEC, organized by Haymarket Exhibitions, is billed as 'The Style Event of the Year'. This year's show featured an impressive fashion show, staged in a 5,500-seat theatre, and for which Pulsar's LED ChromaRange was utilized to answer many of the shows design criteria.

The initial creative idea was sparked from the production team's lighting director Ben Fox, who suggested the need for light from within the stage and catwalk runway. The Light inside the runway would follow the models as they made their way down the catwalk and the light inside the stage area would be used to fill a space imaginatively.

Freelance lighting designer Paul Devine, who has worked with the lighting and set design on the Clothes Show for the past 12 years, was called in, and his wealth of experience contributed greatly to the practical side of the design c

UK - SEOS will be demonstrating images with the help of JVC D-ILA (Direct Drive Light Amplifier) projection technology on its booth at the International Planetarium Society (IPS) conference and exhibition in Valencia, Spain, from 4-8 July 2004.

The booth has been built specifically for IPS and features four of JVC's DLA SX21 projectors displaying images onto an 24ft (3.6m diameter) tilted dome. When used in combination with SEOS' ScorpionRT system, multiple real-time sources can be presented across the dome. In addition SEOS' Chameleon provides the distortion correction and edge blending required to achieve a 180ºH x 160ºV field of view. The booth design gives visitors the experience of feeling like they are looking up into the night sky when walking on to the booth.

The JVC DLA-SX21 incorporates three high performance SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) 0.7" D-ILA devices (1.5M pixels

UK - Corporate sound rental company Audio Alliance's extensive range of stock has been further expanded by recent purchases of new equipment. The company became the first UK recipient of Sennheiser's Evolution G2 radio microphone system and, following the success of these first 20 units, has confirmed an order for a further 10 systems.

Other recent acquisitions include a selection of mixing consoles from Midas, Soundcraft and Yamaha, a range of Meyer loudspeakers, XTA compressors and graphic equalizers, Telex BTR radio talkback systems and a Yamaha DME32 digital processor.

Some of this new equipment was put to good use at the recent Marketing Manchester promotion in Manchester Square, London. The aim of the three-day event was to highlight all that the rejuvenated city has to offer. Chris Wright, production manager from Constellation Worldwide, praised Audio Alliance for their

UK - Furman Sound has moved its UK distribution arrangements to Kelsey Acoustics, having approached the Surrey-based cable and accessories company earlier this year. As a result, all the 240V models in the American company's extensive range will be stocked by Kelsey Acoustics.

Kelsey sales manager, Tony Torlini, says the company was initially attracted by the new lightweight products in the power distribution range. "Furman have vastly improved their new range of products, with LED lights and better power conditioning," said Torlini. "For example, their new power distro units come with non-sacrificable surge protection - which operates by absorbing the energy and dissipating as heat."

He also pointed to the compatibility between the Furman and Kelsey range of accessories, making the two brands an ideal fit. The new products will be on public view for the f

UK - AuviTran - Audio Video Transcoding - the technology company formed in March 2003 by former Digigram employees, has appointed Marquee Audio as its distributor in the UK. AuviTran designs and develops innovative audio and video networking and computer-based solutions and products. As a full EtherSound licensee, AuviTran is exploiting this technology with its own EtherSound-based products, as well as offering services to other companies in the professional audio industry.

Marquee Audio will be focussing mostly on the AuviTran products that provide audio distribution and networking using the EtherSound protocol. In particular, Marquee's Andy Huffer expects success with Auvitran's AVY16-ES cards, which bring EtherSound compatibility to Yamaha digital mixers and other professional audio products featuring the 'mini-YGDAI' interface.

"The Auvitran card effectively brings Ya

Germany - MTV's Rock im Park, held each year in Nuremberg in conjunction with Rock am Ring, is one of the biggest open-air events in Germany, with three separate stages. At this year's event in early June (2004), German rental company Pave Veranstaltungstechnik from Nuremberg, one of the newest members of HK Audio's Cohedra User Network, provided the sound at the Suzuki Alternastage.

Among the international bands appearing on this stage were Moloko, Black Eyed Peas, Seeed, N.E.R.D., Bad Religion, Ben Harper, Turbonegro and Starsailor, together with German bands Wir sind Helden, Sportfreunde Stiller, Beatsteaks, 5 Sterne Deluxe and Max Herre. The acts played to crowds of up to 20,000 covering an area of over 100m by 75m.

Earlier in the year Pave had invested in a 'double-12' Cohedra system consisting of 12 CDR208T and 12 CDR208S mid/high units, plus 24 CDR210 subw

UK - White Light is to host James Thomas Engineering's Pixel Roadshow, following its appointment as distributor. Celebrating the announcement at ABTT 2004 that White Light is now a distributor for its revolutionary Pixel range of solid-state LED fixtures, James Thomas Engineering's Pixel Roadshow is organizing a special event.

This takes place at White Light's Wimbledon premises on Tuesday 29 June. The James Thomas Pixel Range team is in town during June with its roadshow, highlighting the capabilities of the Pixel product range. Pixel Range's Tony Cameron heads the roadshow, alongside Andy Sugars and Emma Long from IRAD, who demonstrates the PixelDrive software control system. Cameron says: "We're all very excited to be working alongside White Light, one of the most respected entertainment lighting companies in the UK with a wide range of interesting and challenging lighti

Germany - In May, a delegation of Canadian pro audio specialists and dealers visited the Telex Communications Academy in Straubing. Although Telex academies have been held in almost all corners of the globe, the company's European headquarters in Straubing remains one of the most popular venues for this trade seminar formats. Franck Fabry, director of export sales for America, who played host along with Gilles Elhadad, Greg Hansen, Mark Kulas (Canadian sales representatives) and Telex Communications Inc. president, Mathias von Heydekampf, drew the following conclusions from the four-day trip: "This academy was highly successful. The participants were committed and interested. We all had a great time as well."

The centrepiece of the series of seminars was the detailed presentation of new highlights of the EVI Audio range such as the EV SxA360, the EV Plasma, the new EV

Denmark - Kupé is a trendy new lounge recently opened in Aarhus and attached to Train, the live/event discotheque located next door. It is a place to warm up before a concert or cool down afterwards, with a style rather more London or New York than Aarhus, guests can venture back and forth between Train's upbeat atmosphere and Kupé's more intimate setting.

The 350 capacity lounge maintains a sociable, comfortable atmosphere - the architectural design and lighting scheme is by Henrik Bønnelycke, who has been visibly inspired by contemporary big city club trends, including the venue's bar, chairs and tables.

However, the lighting is what makes the venue unique, with large ceiling and wall-mounted projection canopies awash in rich colors, courtesy of Martin color changing luminaires. Conventional tubes and halogen downlights provide additional lighting.

Behind six wall-mo

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