The Arena Club in Exeter has recently undergone a major refurbishment, which included the installation of completely new audio and lighting systems. Installation company PSD specified and installed two Mach M128 and eight M126 top box units, along with sub bass units from Martin Audio. Two BSS Omnidrives provide processing while amplification is provided by Ecler PAM 2600, PAM 2000 and PAM 560 with mixing from an Ecler Mac 901. On the lighting side, PSD specified a large amount of Martin Professional gear including MAC 500s and 600s, Pro 518 and 918 scanners, MX-4 scanners RoboColor IIIs and Destroyers. Two Martin Pro 2000 foggers provide atmospheric smoke effects. Control is from a Martin Windows-based LightJockey DMX controller.

White Light has launched a new website dedicated to the company’s popular Training Initiative education programme. Launched at the ABTT Trade Show in 1999, The Training Initiative aims to make the wealth of knowledge and experience held by the White Light Group available to the widest possible audience. The new website gathers information about all of The Training Initiatives projects together in one place. The site includes details of all of the courses offered, details of workshops that have been held, news about recent Training Initiative events, and information about the White Light Resource Pack. Talking to PLASA Media about the new website, White Light’s training co-ordinator, Jason Larcombe, said: "We are very excited about the new website, but it is also just the start. The site will shortly include information about other elements of training in the industry wit

Dobson Sound has been mixing with the stars at the recent London Fashion Week. Their first show was for former British Fashion Awards New Generation Designers Suzanne Clements and Brazilian-born Inacio Ribeiro, whose current Spring 2001 collection is for French label, Cacharel. Held in a specially-constructed marquee on the upper level of the Natural History Museum, it was a fairly informal show with guest DJ Rob da Bank providing the tunes on Dobson's two Technics 1210s through a d&b C7/E9 combination, and eight flown E3s.

Two days later, Dobsons was involved in the startling transformation of Asprey's and Garrard on New Bond Street to launch Jade Jagger’s new collection of jewellery. The private party was hosted by Ms Jagger herself who was reported to be delighted with the transformation wrought upon the premises in such a short space of time. Engineer Mark Smith, who also loo

Since the conception of The Big Sound Corporation (BigSound) at the beginning of this year, the company has come to own more Midas consoles than any other company in Wales. BigSound has invested in a total of four Midas consoles - two Heritage 1000s and two Heritage 3000s - from the Birmingham branch of LMC Audio Systems, in order to make Midas consoles available to local bands in Wales. Their Heritage 1000s make regular appearances at Sam’s Bar in Cardiff, a must-play venue whose walls have been shaken by Welsh idols such as the Manics and Catatonia. BigSound find the Heritage 1000 perfect for such a venue, as Duncan Wild from BigSound explains: "The Heritage 1000 has the headroom and sound of a Midas console but put in a compact frame. Delivering this kind of sound outside a 1500-plus venue is a dream."

Proprietor David Davies said: "Like most PA company owners,

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) booked Laser Grafix’ services for a series of important monumental screen projections all over the country. This work has been in celebration of the Race Relations Act passed 25 years ago - and the amended law on race equality, commencing 2 April 2001. To illustrate the year when the Act was launched, Laser Grafix sourced images of a range of seventies icons, including Charlie’s Angels. To create the effects, Laser Grafix used a self-contained 7000W xenon projector mobile unit with generator, to move around the country to each site. In each city, however, one main site was used followed by additional smaller sites, to spread the message. Thus, the first projections, on 27 February, were giant images with a football theme, projected across the Manchester skyline with sites including China Town, the CIS building, the Sunley Tower and the

Following a meeting at the Frankfurt Musikmesse in March, Formula Sound has appointed Network Pro Marketing as its distributor in the US. "We have been looking for the right company to represent us in the States for some time. We believe that we have found a company who appreciate our position in the market place and have the commitment to promote our products to our mutual advantage," says Sandra Cockell of Formula Sound.Marty Druckman, CEO of Network Pro Marketing adds: "We are very excited about working with Formula Sound. After 27 years in the business they have a great reputation and an interesting range of products that we are looking forward to introducing to our customers."

Harris, Grant Associates (HGA), the leading acoustical consultancy, has recently moved its UK headquarters from Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire to larger premises in Guildford, Surrey. This move, which necessitated the complete refurbishment of the 18th century headquarters, enables the company to expand in new directions as current and future projects demand. HGA now has three principals: Neil Grant (managing director), Carolyn Hayter (finance director) and Sheen Uchida (who runs the Tokyo office). In addition, the design group has expanded to include Gavin Sargent, an architect who has worked with the company for 15 years.

Since the company was established in 1984, HGA has been involved with the design of many of the world’s most successful TV, film and recording studios. The company has also diversified into areas such as home theatre/cinema projects varying enormously in

MTFX has just completed a series of large fire effects in Dubai. The company was asked to design and operate large columns of fire, varying in height from eight metres up to 14 metres. Each head had to be DMX-controlled and able to reignite itself should the pilot light be lost. The materials used for the effects were purchased locally whilst all other hardware equipment was transported from England and set up within two days, followed by three days of rehearsals and then eight show days. In that time, MTFX completed more than 1,000 ‘burns’ of various sizes, without incident and with the material igniting every time. Each head was also able to be operated at an angle, enabling eight metre jets of flame to be shot across the stage horizontally. The production was so successful that MTFX has been asked to tour with the show to other parts of the Middle East and the North Africa

Creating a thunder and lightning special effect was just one of the tasks facing D J Willrich Ltd (DJW), the AV and multi media specialist, at X-treme World in Doha, Qatar this month. Situated on the third floor of a large shopping mall in the centre of Doha, X-treme World incorporates a go-kart track, rock climbing, a real snow ski slope, fairground rides and other extreme sporting activities. DJWs 10-day remit included sound, video and the rumbling special effects. DJW’s 16-screen videowall placed at the entrance offers both film footage of professional and extreme sports as well as links with the complex’s eight CCTV cameras set up to capture all the action at the attractions. The wall, which features16 Pioneer 40" rear-projection video cubes, has a 4-channel MPEG2 server plus control and switching hardware.

DJW, through Simon Rice-Oxley, supplied four video films f

Following on from the success of the last three year’s events, Tomcat UK has announced that it is hosting its fourth annual Hoist & Rigging Workshop on May 30 to June 2, 2001. This year’s workshop has been extended from three days to four to enable extra tuition to be included, specifically in the area of fall arrest, and to allow the participants to have more ‘hands-on’ instruction. The tuition will be held at the Pacific Road Theatre, Birkenhead, UK. As well as the fall arrest tuition, performed by Steve Jervis of Protecta International, Wally Blount from Columbus McKinnon will again be providing instruction on the Lodestar range of electric chain hoists. Nick Brown and Pete Smith of Unusual Rigging will be giving their usual entertaining class on rigging practices and principles, whilst Mike Wells of Tomcat engineers Parkhill, Smith, & Cooper Inc, will be suppl

The 2001 PLASA AGM, along with the popular AGM Dinner, will take place on Thursday 14 June in the historic setting of Coombe Abbey, near Coventry. Set in 500 acres of parkland and dating back to 1150, this former Cistercian Abbey is now a thriving hotel and conference centre. In a slightly revised format for 2001, the day will include an opportunity for members to meet with key representatives of PLASA’s various operations in a number of small, hour-long ‘break-out sessions’. These will be organised as follows:

- PLASA Show - members of the Clarion Events show management team and members of the PLASA Exhibitor Forum will be on hand to discuss PLASA Show-related issues.
- Membership Services - PLASA’s head office staff dealing with membership services will be joined by consultants from certain of our service providers and members of the PLASA Executive Commi

The well-appointed showroom at Dial HQ was packed. No less than three PAs - Bose, Martin Audio and ASS - stood arrayed before us at the far end; above, hung from Tri-lite trussing, were the latest lamps from Abstract, Clay Paky and Opti. Was this to be a light and sound shoot-out?

Well, no - and the clue to why lay in the neat little Sanyo video projector (700 lumens yet barely bigger than a desk diary) tucked neatly in amongst the lighting gear. "This is to witness the birth of a new AV control," Andy Blackwell of Dial Sound and Lighting confided.

None-the-wiser, we settled in as the presentation began; music played and lights began to dance in harmony. We are informed that all the elements of light and sound were being controlled by a single piece of software. Nothing revolutionary there, but then the screen rolled sedately down from the trussing. It wasn’t so much

Lightfactor Sales, UK distributor for Apogee Sound products are holding an Open Day on Thursday 24 May in order to demonstrate the diversity of this range of quality pro audio products. The event will be held at Lightfactor’s new demo facilities located just inside the M25 in northwest London. The demo room has been relocated, rebuilt, expanded and remodelled - within the same building - to reflect the constantly evolving product portfolio represented by Lightfactor. The Apogee Open Day will feature hands-on and working demonstrations of the full product range, including the new ALA-9 line array concert series loudspeakers (launched spectacularly in the UK by Lightfactor earlier in the year at Bovingdon Airfield), F-series amplifiers, ACS Contractor speakers and the popular AE range of cabinets. The demo will also include the UK-debut of Apogee’s new APL series of self-powere

Manchester-based STS Touring Productions have used their recently-purchased Nexo PS10 loudspeakers for a sun-baked pantomime in a 4000-capacity outdoor arena in Dubai. Using their existing Turbosound Floodlight as main system, Paul Collis, who has developed the company’s reputation for sound design, had no hesitation in specifying the new Nexo’s to complement the Floodlight on this prestigious job. STS is a multi-faceted company, offering production and sound design/hire services, as well as holding possibly the biggest Backline Hire department outside London. Alongside STS, Paul Collis also runs ‘Beat The Street UK’ on behalf of ‘Beat The Street’ based in Austria. They are a major tour bus supplier, providing fleets of Nightliners for, among others, Deep Purple, Status Quo and most recently a 12-bus flotilla for Britney Spears.

Paul Collis said: &qu

A collaboration has begun between the Gateway School of Recording (GSR) and Munro Associates. Having been involved in many education projects over the years, Munro has realised that design and layout of studios for education purposes, although, different to mainstream commercial design, must provide operational expertise to the students as well as a learning environment. Gateway has pioneered the successful blending of sound education practice with real ‘hands-on’ experience for anyone studying sound recording, music technology and music business studies. Over its 25-year history, it has designed courses from one week entry level to Higher Education qualifications, with many of ex-students going on to successful careers in the sound and music industries. Combining these two areas of expertise will give clients, wanting to incorporate future training needs as part of their pla

Tannoy has opened a new Belgian office in Mechelen, from where it will distribute its portfolio of products to the studio, broadcast, and fixed installation sound reinforcement markets. Tannoy Belgium, a subsidiary of UK-based Tannoy Limited, has also been appointed as the Biamp/Advantage distributor and will offer Biamp system control products, Chevin amplifiers and Astatic microphones to provide complete solutions for AV dealers and audio contractors. Mario Clabots joins Tannoy Belgium as a sales engineer and brings a wealth of knowledge of the AV and corporate audio installation worlds to the company. He will be responsible for Belgian dealer sales and establishing an enhanced network of Tannoy resellers in Belgium. In addition to Tannoy’s established loudspeakers, customers will be able to specify and purchase the recently launched ranges of high quality installation microphone

The Farum Center, one of Denmark’s leading hotel and sports complexes, has undergone extensive refurbishment recently. As well as a modern design brief, the Farum Centre was also equipped with the latest technology with particular focus on the sound system. Ascon, the company in charge of the audio requirements, opted for a complete Dynacord Promatrix system in the various conference rooms, three restaurants, fitness and aerobic rooms and the public areas. Ib Sigismund of Ascon integrated a constant voltage system into the Promatrix paging consoles, providing the user with complete flexibility of audio distribution, be it throughout the centre as a whole or zoned into specific areas, including the 16-zone conference centre and hotel, the 32-zone Farum Arena (the biggest sports hall in Denmark). Electro-Voice loudspeakers are utilised for the central cluster and the cinema system in

Following the successful launch of the Frog range of desks earlier this year, Zero 88 recently held a competition, the prize for which was a brand new Fat Frog lighting console. The competition generated a great deal of interest, both online and at the tradeshows with people entering from across the world. The eventual winner was Dave Godin, technical manager for the Royal Opera House. In addition to his work at the ROH, Dave is heavily involved with activities in the education sector, providing training in lighting and staging. On 3 May, the Royal Opera House is relaying ‘Othello’ via an LCD screen to a free outdoor audience on the Piazza, Covent Garden, and Dave anticipates using the Fat Frog for curtain calls on the stage in front of the screen. Our photograph shows Dave Godin receiving the Fat Frog from Cheryl Ryan (Zero 88) at the recent ABTT show.

Midland Sound & Light has purchased a new Soundcraft Series FOUR front-of-house console for The League of Gentlemen, who have added a sell-out run at London’s Theatre Royal to their successful UK touring credentials. MSL has provided a Renkus-Heinz CE3 touring system for the show, adding the new Series FOUR console, supplied by Marquee Audio, to the production rig when it arrived in the West End. Working with MSL is sound designer Oliver Gross, who mixes the show, together with second engineer Dan Sepke, both graduates of LIPA.

The show is loud, delivered at levels more commonly found in touring rock ‘n’ roll, and it is also full of action. Gross has 53 cues, which are all manually triggered from his three CD players, one of which is routed to the effects speakers on stage. Gross comments: "The Series FOUR is a very flexible desk. Being able to route the aux send

Leicestershire-based Hawthorn Theatrical has acquired Allen & Heath's flagship product, the ML5000, in order to handle the varied demands of the corporate events environment. Nick Key, Hawthorn's project manager, was impressed by the flexibility of the dual function FOH/monitor mixer which features 16 auxes, eight audio groups and eight mute group matrix, with in-ear monitoring (IEM) facilities. The enhanced feature set includes LCRplus for more realistic aural editing and VCAs, both essential in theatrical environments. The innovative group/aux structure also proved to be a winner as it offers quick configuration and intuitive control. Combined with two 24-channel sidecars, this provides outstanding capabilities with the option of up to 96 channels, if needed.

Equally vital to Hawthorn's decision to choose the ML 5000 was the question of dimension. The lightweight design - described a

SeeLite A/S has taken over the Rental Division from Martin Group's Danish subsidiary Martin Denmark. The take-over is retroactively effective as of 1 April 2001. SeeLite states that the move is concordant with Martin Denmark's strategy to concentrate solely on its sales activities, and also with SeeLite's aim to unite the best resources for lighting design, production and product in Denmark. The company adds that the take-over is, moreover, a consolidation of the informal cooperation established between the two companies over the past months, an example of which is their collaboration for The European Song Contest which takes place in Copenhagen on 12 May. Under the terms of the agreement, Martin Group's President/CEO Kristian Kolding will join the board of directors in SeeLite.

The move means that SeeLite has cemented its leading market position in Denmark within lighting rental, desi

Following the arrival of Mike Falconer as technical sales and support consultant, AC Lighting Inc is embarking on significant programme of operator training for its wide range of lighting control consoles. MA Lighting's grandMA, the Event 4 from Jands and Zero 88's new Fat Frog are the main focus of the training programme with courses running on average once per month. Training is available is various formats and certification levels, depending on the needs of the user and is free of charge at the offices of AC Lighting Inc in Agoura Hills, just outside of Los Angeles.

Level One certification introduces the principles and basics of working with the console concerned and is ideal for people wanting to know what the console can offer the user or for the user who is not programming. Level Two certification is full-blown programmer training and is aimed at existing console programmers and

Managing director Robin van Meeuwen has revealed that following consecutive quarters of record-breaking sales and recruitment, Crestron UK has committed to a proactive programme that will not only include improved customer service but additional training and resources. At the same time, the company has expanded its operation in Kingston, Surrey with a new demonstration showroom with Crestron total control solutions. "What this basically means is that we are infusing more energy and dedication into our service with the new ‘True Blue’ initiative." Van Meeuwen explains that the ‘True Blue’ name symbolises Crestron's core principal - total focus and commitment to their partners and the industry as a whole. "For example, all Crestron products are now available for shipment from stock, since we've doubled the size of our facilities in California and Chic

Stanton Magnetics has announced the death of its founder, Walter O Stanton. A pioneer in the audio field, Stanton was responsible for many of the early patents in phono cartridge and styli design and electrostatic speakers, as well as other electromechanical items. He was one of the early leaders in the audio industry and served as president of both the Institute of Hi Fidelity and the Audio Engineering Society (AES). One of the original owners of Pickering & Company, started in 1947, he later established Stanton Magnetics Inc in 1961. He was the chairman and president of both Pickering & Co and Stanton Magnetics Inc until 1998. Under his leadership, the various companies developed leading products in the audio, aerospace, military and communications fields with factories in Plainview, New York and West Palm Beach, Florida. He leaves a wife, three daughters, six grandchildren and four gr

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