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Two live sound engineers, Jon Burton and Mark Jones, have joined forces to launch BSA Live, a ground-breaking training forum for young people interested in a professional career in live sound engineering. Burton and Jones have a combined touring experience of over 30 years and have engineered for a diverse array of top-level artists including Pulp, James, Radiohead, Suede, Bryan Ferry and Morcheeba. The decision to launch BSA Live grew out of the general countrywide lack of interactive live oriented courses. Burton said: "We’ve identified a gap in the market. There are studio courses available but virtually nothing specifically addressing live sound in a hands-on manner. We want to provide an opportunity for young people interested in sound and wanting to make a career out of live audio to get started."

The ‘Foundation in Live Sound Engineering’ course is de

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The UK’s first ever grouping of crowd management companies took place recently, at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC The 13th) in London.

The UKCMA aims to raise standards within the industry and promote awareness of crowd safety issues among legislative bodies in the UK, as well as to foster co-ordination of training and operational standards. The lead is being taken by the inaugural members of the UKCMA, which represents the major players in crowd management. The need for recognised industry standards and a responsible approach to training has been a subject of much discussion within the security and crowd management industry. Whereas currently companies can provide personnel not trained in crowd management, whether it be pit work, minimum force, or response work, the recognition and call from the industry for nationally-accredited standards is one that can no longe

Doughty - Banner - from 4 July 2025

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A two-day, technically-groundbreaking CIO Summit was recently staged by a major internet networks and applications multinational at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

Situated within the Prince Pierre Theatre, the event provided the opportunity to introduce enabling technologies and methodology in a unique fashion. The organisation briefed production company Project Worldwide to design an adventurous set on a grand scale. They conceived a massive, rear-projected 17-metre screen as the entire backdrop, with the aim of turning the theatre into a giant internet site.

To help them, they asked Creative Technology to devise a projection system based on the new Dataton Watchout soft-edge system. The keynote room and stage thus became the website page, with the proscenium arch as the web page header, enabling them to present streaming video alongside flash animation and basic Powerpoint and video

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Coe-tech has supplied Harpenden-based installation and AV company Promedia Systems, with 1200m of Poly Optic ‘Polybright’ side-emitting fibre as phase one of an architectural lighting scheme for the exciting Millennium Point project in Birmingham. This will be one of the largest fibre-optic installations in Europe. Opening in September 2001, the £114 million development will house an important new Technology Innovation Centre, where the main attraction will be the Discovery Centre, an interactive science centre dealing with past, present and future technologies. Part government-, part privately-funded, Millennium Point is being driven by Birmingham City Council, the University of Central England and, for the private sector, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Promedia is designing, project managing and commissioning the installation of the fibre optic system and by

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Music Marketing Services (MMS) has been selected by the SFI Group to design, supply and install the advanced sound and lighting systems for new gentleman’s nightclub, ‘For Your Eyes Only’, in London’s Mayfair. The newly-opened Mayfair club is the fourth ‘For Your Eyes Only’ in the UK, the others being situated in Bournemouth, Southampton and Park Royal in North West London. The new venue has three stages all providing tableside-dancing and high-quality erotic entertainment. All FYEO venues are furnished to the highest specification, and the creative use of sound and lighting both contribute to creating the ideal atmosphere of opulent sophistication. "SFI gave us a very free hand," explains Paul Evans, project manager at Music Marketing Services: "We decided to go for a system that would really do justice to the FYEO concept. The audio co

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London’s Mermaid Theatre, at Blackfriars, is appealing for support after being threatened with demolition by the site’s owners, Blackfriars Development Limited. The current owners plan to raze the building and replace it with an office block which will include a “conference-style” theatre, which will be barely a quarter of the present venue’s size, with minimal backstage facilities. The Theatre Trust and the organisers of the Mermaid Theatre Appeal are asking for support to prevent the Corporation of the City of London from accepting the application. More information is available from campaign coordinator Maggie Sutton at the ‘Save The Mermaid Theatre’ Appeal.

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Power Gems Sales & Marketing Division has moved to new, larger premises in Park Royal, London. The company’s new facility provides it with an extensive warehouse and new product demonstration area. The move has been partly necessitated by the company’s acquisition of Quartermaster in July 2000, which expanded both the products and services offered in Europe to include a wide range of ‘daylight’ lighting systems. The company can now be reached at Daylight House, Unit 4, Oliver Business Park, Oliver Road, Park Royal, London, NW10 7JB, UK. Tel: +44 20 8965 0000.

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No less than three of Northern Light's Touchscreen Programmable Stage Management desks are bound for the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Situated in an award-winning complex centrally located on the Wanchai waterfront, the Academy has a range of flexible performance venues equipped to international standards. Three members of the Northern Light team who developed and manufactured the desks will travel to Hong Kong to install and programme them and provide operational training. Throughout the project, Northern Light's design team worked closely in liason with the Academy's associate director, Philip Soden, customising the desks to meet their specific requirements. Pictured left to right are Steve Courtney, Alan Paris and Dave Webster - three members of the Northern Light team bound for Hong Kong.

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Stagetec has been awarded the contract to design, supply and install a feature architectural lighting scheme for St Johns Beacon in Liverpool. The project, in association with Lee Forde from Liverpool Vision, consists of 10 Studio Due City Beams mounted on the roof tops of surrounding buildings focused on to the Beacon, a 400ft high tower housing the local radio station. DMX distribution will be achieved between buildings using the Interactive Technologies radio DMX units. The system will be controlled from a Compulite SP-4D rackmount replay unit linked to a CompuCall telephone to DMX interface allowing the whole system to be controlled from the building's telephone system. A Compulite SparkTOP system and CompuCAD software is part of the package, enabling the lighting to be programmed off-site and then loaded into the SP-4D. The project is due to be completed by the end of March.

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Barco has signed major contract agreements with eight leading cinema dealers. Abbott Theatre Equipment Co, Bell Theatre Services, Bright Star Systems, Cinema Equipment Sales, Media Technology Source, National Cinema Supply Corporation, Omnex Pro Film and Universal Cinema Services have all signed rental agreements with Barco Digital Cinema.

Barco Digital Cinema is one of only three licensees of Texas Instruments’ DLP Cinema technology. TI developed DLP Cinema technology in close co-operation with key players in the film industry, and will continue to work closely with Barco to develop commercial products based on this technology. "One of the most frequently asked questions about digital cinema is: Where are the engineers and technicians going to come from, to install and service equipment in this new technology?" said Harry Mathias, Barco’s director of Digital Cine

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Trantec’s award-winning S5000 microphone system is currently being used on a touring revival of the popular Thirties musical by Cole Porter, Anything Goes. The system was supplied through Wigwam Acoustics Ltd. The four-month UK tour kicked off in Blackpool and will complete its run in St Helier, Jersey, where it will be for the whole of the summer. The 14-channel belt-pack system is being used by all the lead performers and key members of the chorus. The positioning of a live band in the middle of the set means that radio mics for the cast are crucial. Sound designer Glen Beckley is also using an S5000 system on the current UK tour of the seventies disco musical, Oh What A Night.

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Edwin Shirley Staging, the international concert staging company, will be providing all the staging and general contracting services for the Backstreet Boys as part of their forthcoming South American tour. This part of the tour will last two months and visit four different countries and will end with a concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 20 May. Staging for the tour will involve a provision to hang an 8 tonne video screen suspended from a 25 metre high roof with 12 metre PA wings. ESS will be acting as project manager, hiring local subcontractors to provide equipment and labour.

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Fast-expanding installation contractors, Promedia Systems have just completed an audio fit-out of City Bars & Restaurants plc’s flagship venue, 10 Covent Garden - a transfiguration of the New Connaught Rooms banqueting facility. Promedia have deployed 10 C Audio Pulse 2x1100s and a single 2x650 amplifier to drive the sound systems installed throughout the five rooms, and director Ian Woodall says that the flexibility this affords has provided a winning combination. "We have an ISDN line in the amplifier room, with one of the channels hooked up to Soundweb and the other to the C Audio’s proprietary Connect network to allow remote amplifier diagnostic and reprogramming of the EQ and/or matrix parameters. This means that the network can be dialled up from home and any problems solved remotely." But he adds that since 95% of problems end to be user error, it makes a gr

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Destiny's Child, the Houston, Texas-based group, has been out touring the USA during March to celebrate their successful album, ‘The Writing's on the Wall’ and to promote their new CD, ‘Survivor,’ released this spring. For this short stint, lighting contractor Theatrical Media Services (TMS) from Omaha, Nebraska, has provided LD Shane Preston with a rig of High End Systems products including 25 Studio Spot 575s, 13 Studio Color 575s, eight Dataflash AF1000s and one F-100 fog machine, along with some conventional gear. Lighting crew chief Raymond Werthmann says the show is "constantly moving" with a moving backdrop, kabuki drops, and lots of "extra surprises." The High End gear is on every truss, Werthmann says, with eight of the 24 Studio Spot 575s on the floor and all Cyberlights in the air. Werthmann comments: "The equipment is working w

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In order to continue supplying customers in London and the South East, Playlight will be moving into new premises in North West London following the auction being held in its existing warehouse on Friday 18th May. Dan McMullan is setting up the new base with Jim Ewart who will head the new operation. Ian Duff and Andrew ‘Chunk’ Charters will be providing logistical and technical back-up. The new office will be concentrating on the dry hire of lighting, sound, drapes and starcloths to the conference and theatre markets, as well as the dry hire of film gear to the industry. It will be up and running by July and operations will carry on as normal out of the existing warehouse up until that point. The northern end of the company has also come under the spotlight and will be concentrating on the above areas, but in addition, will have a division handling OBs, festivals and studio

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SJM Consultants has for the last four years been awarded the contract to provide technical and production management of Kensington & Chelsea Colleges' (London) fashion shows, which have been held at the college and at Chelsea Old Town Hall. For 2001, the show is to be held at Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street London W8, on 22 May. Steve McNeil of SJM Consultants will be providing production management along with Svend Johanson of DSA Production Services, who are supplying the technical backup, set, catwalk and crew.

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Avolites has recently supplied the UK‘s two major film, video and television lighting rental houses - AFM Lighting and Lee Lighting – with ART dimming systems, which will run at a guaranteed 100 % duty cycle with very low levels of filament and choke noise. When AFM Lighting approached Avolites about their need to selectively disable the RCB functions for individual dimmer modules, the Avolites design team was happy to accommodate.The resulting facility is now offered as an option to all Avo customers, whereby the RCB function of each dimmer module may be individually disabled via a push-button key-switch. This is a common requirement during live TV recording and film shoots, where lights must be guaranteed working, without the risk of a minor earth fault (e.g. dampness on lamps) tripping the RCB protection devices.

For maximum flexibility, the Avolites ART-2000 dimmers can

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With Legoland California now open and the fourth park under construction in Germany, Lego are ready to take their theatrical productions to the next level. By asking Edwards Technologies Inc to install matching AV and show-control systems at similar theatres in all its sites, it is now proving economically favourable for Lego to produce shows with far higher production values, and stage them at all locations simultaneously. In Billund, Denmark, ETI is installing a complete bespoke AV and show-control system to the brand new 450-seat XTREME Theatre, in the original Legoland. This will be the park’s first purpose-built theatre (and the largest in Jutland). The theatre opens in April with a hybrid live/multimedia show ‘Life On Mars’. In California, ETI is expanding its existing AV and show-control system in the Imagination Theatre. This was part of the park-wide installati

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Stagetec (UK) Ltd has been awarded the contract to supply a sound and lighting system for the 'Pride of Rotterdam' - the first of P&O North Sea Ferries' two new cruise ferries. The new vessels will have accommodation including luxury suites and all cabins will have their own private facilities. They will also offer an à la carte restaurant, a two-tiered show lounge, wine bar, business centre and even a cyber zone, where passengers can surf the web. The system, being supplied through Ellie Jay Cruising Entertainment, consists of a Compulite Spark 4D lighting control desk, Allen & Heath GL3300 32-channel mixer, Sennheiser Evolution radio mic systems and a complement of signal processing and effects equipment. The ship sails on 12th April and will sail daily from Hull to Rotterdam.

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The 42nd edition of the Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar, Latin America’s longest-running music festival, was staged in February next to the botanical garden and ‘Palacio de Bellas Artes’. Joaquín Cortés opened the festival, which also included performances by the Vengaboys, Ricardo Arjona, Lucero, La Ley and Miguel Bosé. Pat Henry, owner of the Mexico City-based lighting hire company of the same name, supplied and installed the entire lighting rig for Viña del Mar for the eighth consecutive year, and designed the lighting set together with lighting director of broadcaster Canal 13, Jaime Sato. Pat Henry supplied a large amount of Italian-made SGM scanners and moving heads for the event - 50 Galileo IV 1200s, 64 Giotto Spot 1200s and 24 Giotto Wash 1200s. Scanners were mostly installed in backlighting to liven up the stage and to illuminate the

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If you’re planning to be in Shanghai next week for PLASA 2001 at the Intex Exhibition Centre, take some time out from the show to attend the DTI-funded seminar by DHA Lighting on the use of theatrical lighting effects in architectural environments on Wednesday 4th April. As a DTI-sponsored activity, the seminar will deal with only UK-manufactured products, and PLASA stipulates that it is a seminar rather than a product briefing. DHA Lighting will be represented by Julie Harper, sales manager for Asia, who will address a wide audience through a translator. She will be using DHA products and a number of recent Asian projects - the installation of a silver DHA Gecko Image Projector in a high-tech show apartment and number of white DHA animation effects in a Hong Kong shopping mall - to illustrate how theatrical lighting effects can be translated seamlessly into an architectural contex

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The Gilbert Collection is an outstanding collection of decorative art bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Arthur Gilbert and currently on display in the new Museum of Decorative Art in central London’s Somerset House. A major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has financed the museum as part of the restoration of Somerset House, an 18th century architectural masterpiece by Sir William Chambers. Asked by the director of the Gilbert Collection to resolve the design problems faced with the lighting in the main galleries Rupert Little, technical director of LVS took on the job and specified the new Aureol Beam Shaper from Selecon. Poor positioning of tracks in the original installation were overcome by the flexibility and adaptability of the Aureols, allowing often difficult ‘shots’ to be achieved. From a design point of view, the performance of the fixtures, coupled

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Italian loudspeaker manufacturer B&C has appointed London-based Proel as its official UK distributor. B&C speakers can be found inside many ‘big name’ manufacturers’ enclosures, but this is the first time the company will have had an active distributor and stockist in the UK. The appointment of Proel coincides with two new high-power woofers being added to B&C’s main speaker series, plus the launch of a completely new range of lightweight drivers. The two newcomers are the 18 TBX 46 and 15 TBX 40. The 18" driver will handle 1,000W AES and features a ventilated magnet assembly for higher power handling and lower power compression. The 15" TBX 40 will also handle 1000W AES and shares a similar design approach. The new B&C range is the company’s HPL (High Power Lightweight) series, which features neodymium magnets and high pressure aluminium chassis w

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PLASA Media has learned that Home nightclub in Leicester Square, London, has been closed after an undercover police investigation showed there was open and serious Class A drug dealing and usage at the venue. Westminster Council made the decision to revoke the club’s entertainment licence with immediate effect, at an emergency meeting following police advice. Chief Inspector Chris Bradford, of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit, said: "We felt it was necessary to take the unusual course of action in a bid to try and eradicate this serious and open problem from the premises.

"A full investigation has been carried out by my officers and we have explored many other courses of action to avoid having to make this application. Our actions in this case should act as a warning to other premises where there is a serious drug problem that we are prepared to take every st

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  2. Nocturne Europe to XL Video
  3. Laser Magic Opens Bahrain Office
  4. St Saviours Turns to Turbosound
  5. ISCE Seminars
  6. Five Star Service for Four Seasons
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