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Loudspeaker manufacturer Renkus-Heinz Inc has appointed beyerdynamic UK as its new distributor for the UK and Ireland with effect from 1 September 2002.

Renkus-Heinz products will join beyerdynamic’s other distribution brands on its stand (F34) at the forthcoming PLASA Show (September 8-11). On show will be the new ST/STX Series of professional powered and unpowered loudspeakers, the Reflex Series, including the new RFX101 and RFX151 cabinets and new Reference Point Array solutions. The ST/STX Series is the culmination of 20 years of R&D by Renkus-Heinz into high performance loudspeaker and array technology, with a built-in CobraNet input option, and third-generation Class D amplification in the ST Series.

John Midgley, MD of beyerdynamic UK, commented: "Renkus-Heinz is one of the most genuinely innovative loudspeaker manufacturers in the world, with a string of pioneering

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Formula 1 always draws the crowds, but the one-hour queues currently forming at the Orange-Arrow team stand indicate something even more exciting. "Essentially it’s a full-size F1 car simulator designed to emulate the real-time aural and visual sensations of actually racing, and some of the physical sensations as well, while the machine remains absolutely static," says Andrew Riley, managing director of The Oxford Sound Company, contracted by designers and builders Independent to Internet Ltd (i2i.net) to provide the exciting and effective audio environment for this machine.

The simulator is a replica of an existing Orange-Arrows three-seater racing car used to take a very privileged few around racing tracks for a real white-knuckle experience. Each seat in the simulator is fitted with multiple LF shakers, while the driver wears a full helmet with head-up display and st

Doughty - Banner - from 4 July 2025

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Set in the heart of Cheshire is Warrington's brand new performing arts venue, the Pyramid Centre. It is scheduled to bring the very best in dance, drama, music and comedy to the area and will host its official opening at the end of October this year.

The centre is aimed at all levels of performance from internationally acclaimed professionals to local school children. It reflects this versatility by offering an impressive array of facilities, including six performance spaces, an artist suite, three artist studios, a technology suite, four media studios plus hospitality suites, a restaurant, a reception and box office area. In addition to being a state-of-the-art entertainment venue, the Pyramid Centre will also host a range of corporate events and conferences.

With such a broad spectrum of potential uses for the venue, versatility was paramount for all equipment supplied for the proj

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Several members of the creative and technical teams involved in the recent Jubilee Celebrations have been recognized in a special honours list announced on Monday. All the honours, announced the day after the Queen Mother's birthday, are from the Royal Victorian Order, a decoration which is a personal award for services performed on behalf of the Sovereign. Amongst those honoured with an LVO (Lieutenant of the Victorian Order) were Alan Jacobi of Unusual - the main contractor for the central weekend events; Party in the Palace event producer Robbie Williams and Simon Brooks-Ward, director of the Royal Windsor Horse Show. Mark Fisher, creative director for the Queen’s concerts and Wilf Scott of Pyrovision, the company which handled the pyrotechnics, were awarded MVOs (Member of the Royal Victorian Order).

A comprehensive report covering the Jubilee events in central London runs in

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Sennheiser UK has announced the line-up of acts who have won through to the finals of its Unsigned Artists Competition 2002 and who will all be playing on the main stage at the Bristol Balloon Festival this week-end in front of a potential audience in excess of 10,000 people.

They are Fineline from Coventry, Austin from Watford, The Hazey Janes from Dundee, Eastertown from Bristol, Stonefish from Bradford and Dready and the Mighty Steppers from Birmingham. The final, run in association with Hype Party Planning, South West Audio and GWR 96.3FM, will see all six finalists perform live on the Festival stage. The final winners stand to walk away with £2,500 in cash and the same amount again in evolution microphones, plus an additional £500 worth of Sennheiser headphones. Each of the runners up will receive £500 in cash, £1000 worth of evolution microphones and Sennheiser headphones to

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Baltic, the major new international centre for contemporary art in Gateshead which opened just a few weeks ago, has been supplied with a significant Nexo Alpha E system from LMC Audio complete with custom cabling and metalwork from Kelsey Acoustics.

Situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, Baltic lies at the heart of the regeneration area of Gateshead Quays. Formerly the Baltic Flour Mills, a disused 1950's grain warehouse, its transformation into BALTIC, a leading international contemporary visual arts space, indeed one of the largest spaces for contemporary art in Europe, was a £46m project funded largely by the National Arts Lottery fund. Tom Cullen, Multi Media manager at Baltic, was clear on his choice of Nexo right from the start. "I've been a fan of Nexo since 1986 when they came out with their first wedge monitor," he explained. "The quality of the sound kn

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For their summer show ‘Eclipse’ at Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Globe Theatre, production company Stageworks chose to use a Yamaha DM2000 for the sound-mixing desk. The world-famous leisure complex decided to purchase the DM2000 because they needed a desk that offered multiple outputs and inputs, and gave the flexibility of choice for onboard and outboard effects. "We scouted around for a mixing desk that would meet our particular requirements," said Vinnie Holme of Stageworks: "We needed a desk that would give us playback with live vocal, and with a minimum of 8 outputs. With the DM2000 we can e-cue each track and the whole desk can, if necessary, be run by an operator. It gives significantly improved sound and is exactly what we wanted for the show."

In the event, the DM 2000, supplied by The Music Company of Bradford in conjunction with LMC Audio

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XL Video supplied live video production equipment for the recent Oasis shows at Finsbury Park, to a specification from Cheese Film & Video. The Oasis video show was a collage of two elements - onstage screens/pre-recorded footage, and side screens/live camera shoot. There was an occasional crossover of the live footage onto the onstage screens.

The onstage graphics material was conceptualised by Oasis’ lighting designer Mikey Howard, and designed and created by Richard Turner and Claire Oxley, working closely with Howard. As the band’s artistic director and lighting designer, Howard wanted to create an integrated visual scheme that mixed both lighting and video medias. The show’s camera design was undertaken by live video director Dick Carruthers and his company Cheese Film & Video. Carruthers employed Dave Wright as Cheese’s live producer, to deal generally wit

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Coe-tech will use PLASA 2002 to cement its exclusive UK distributorship of Robe Showlighting products from the Czech Republic, as well as taking an active part in the Studio Due stand - another quality brand for which it is the UK distributor. The spectacular Coe-tech stand lightshow is this year designed by top LD Vince Foster (Kylie, Jamiroquai, Basement Jaxx, et al.) and will demonstrate the Robe range in full creative flow.

Robe products are already well known to many moving light users and installers as they have been a prolific OEM supplier over the past five years. Robe has now decided to sell direct, and Coe-tech is an integral part of the direct dealership network. Robe is launching a complete new series at PLASA - the Advanced technology (AT) series. (For full details see our earlier news story on 30 July).

PLASA 2002 also sees the launch of Studio Due’s new XS (Exce

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PLASA 2002 sees James Thomas Engineering celebrate the world launch of a new series of solid state lighting fixtures using high brightness LEDs. The first three models of the extensive Pixel range are The Pixelpar 660 - a Par 64-sized fixture, The Pixelpar 87 - a Par 36-sized equivalent and the Pixeline 1044 batten - a solid state lighting batten. The Pixel range is designed for a wide range of entertainment and leisure industry applications including architectural, retail, installation, clubs, bars, restaurants, sports venues, and live shows and events and theatre.

The team at James Thomas has spent the last 12 months developing the new products, and conducting considerable market research into the advantages and uses of LED lighting. The Pixel range has an unsurpassed silent, non-mechanical, additive colour-mixing system and the fixtures can produce stunning and

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Glastonbury festival organizers are justly patting themselves on the back for what they claim has been the best Glastonbury in 10 years. Aided by the weather and increased security measures, Glastonbury 2002 was hailed as a resounding success after the crime and gatecrashing problems of previous years. Around 100,000 people attended, and host Michael Eavis said he was so delighted with the peaceful atmosphere and standard of organization that he was considering the possibility of increasing the capacity to 120,000 for 2003.

Things went equally well from an audio point of view. Rick Bailey of RMPA, who was responsible for sound on the acoustic stage, had a particularly successful festival. Headline acts included veteran rocker Robert Plant, the Waterboys and talented young Irish accordion player, Sharon Shannon. Bailey opted for his conventional Electro-Voice X-Array PA configuration wi

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Arbiter Pro Audio has supplied Liverpool-based sound installers Over Audio with a JBL VerTec line array system for Luminar Plc's latest Liquid venue - just open in Hanley, Stoke. Complete with ASB6128 subs from the JBL custom shop, this is the first ever JBL VerTec club installation in the UK. The VerTec system, originally designed for live concerts and touring applications, has previously been used at the Ministry of Sound in Bangkok - which also has a Luminar interest. Last year, VerTec was utilized on the Ministry's own UK college and university tour, where it was very well received.

"JBL products are always developing, and this was the perfect opportunity to put the latest technology into practice," states Over Audio's Mike Boylan, who has been dealing with both Arbiter and Luminar Plc for many years, and has used JBL products in six other Liquid venues. All the Liquids

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Leading design and documentation software specialist Stardraw.com has launched an Affiliate Program in a move that is designed to add value to the websites of all Affiliate members. The program, which is free to join and open to everyone, allows Affiliates to earn income from all online purchases at www.stardraw.com that result from a click-through from their site. The process is simple: having registered to become an Affiliate, Stardraw then supplies a link that is unique to each Affiliate to place on their website. Any customer that follows the link will be identified and logged, and any purchases they make will be attributed to the Affiliate's account. Commissions will then be paid on a quarterly basis.

According to Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson: "We're very excited about the Affiliate program because it is such a simp

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The Le Mark Group is organizing a select Lighting & Sound Industry Track Day at the Ron Haslam Race School, Donington Park. If you have a passion, or have always wanted to know what if feels like to ride a 900cc FireBlade motorcycle around Donington Park, now is your chance to find out. Everything is included in the price - bike, clothing and the instructor. Le Mark has pre-booked a number of discounted places for the Track Day. If you are interested in joining us, then visit the Le Mark stand at this year's PLASA Show for more information.

If the 'driving' is not your thing, you can always test your nerves by riding pillion behind Ron Haslam himself around Donington Park - highly recommended, but hold on tight. Le Mark is offering the chance for one lucky person to win a free place on the Track Day. To enter the competition, simply drop leave business card at the Le Mark stand at PLAS

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Alistage provided several of their ‘Alidome’ roof structures were used throughout the country during the Jubilee celebrations, by a variety of event organisers. Alidomes were used by local authority festivals in Newham, Wandsworth and Canterbury. BBC Wales also hired in an Alidome for their event, held in Cardiff Castle. Stratford-upon-Avon council also became the first user of their new Eclipse winch-controlled ground support system. Many other jobs had to be satisfied on a dry-hire only basis, because of the increased demand, which saw some 200 additional stage units being manufactured.

Alistage was also involved in some of the street visits which the Queen undertook in London, one in particular involving the construction of a ‘gold’ circular podium in the East-end. The stage came from standard equipment, but the police only allowed a 30-minute build time, whi

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Stagetec, exclusive UK distributor for Compulite products, has sold its first Rave moving light console into the UK rental market. The Rave was launched at last month's ABTT show, and the first one was snapped up by Terry Tew Lighting. The console - billed as 'the next generation of lighting control for the club and live market', is a new, compact lighting control desk from Compulite aimed specifically at the Club/DJ market, and for small venues wanting low-cost, versatile moving light control.

Terry Tew Lighting is a sound, lighting and AV rental house, specializing in all areas of corporate events, product launches, industrial shows and exhibitions. They also offer technical management for all types of projects. The Rave was chosen by lighting designer Kevin Cramner, who went to Stagetec for a demo and bought it on the spot for TTL. The desk went straight out on its first show where

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Tomcat’s second annual Las Vegas Motor School is sweeping through the Western Region this year hot on the heels of LDI 2002. The workshop, scheduled for 21 and 22 of October, will be held at 4 Wall Entertainment and consists of a full day of motor instruction taught by Don Dimitroff of Columbus McKinnon, a half-day of fall protection led by Morgan Neff of Mine Safety Appliances, and a half-day of truss design, use and theory taught by Keith Bohn from Tomcat USA. In other Tomcat training news, the annual Tomcat Hoist and Rigging Workshop will be hosted by Tomcat USA in Midland, Texas, from 5-8 February 2003. Recognized worldwide as one of the most comprehensive training courses of its kind, the Hoist and Rigging Workshop is a unique learning opportunity for those new to the entertainment industry, as well as veterans of the business.

For more information regarding either workshop

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Avesco plc has sold its broadcast television studio business, Fountain Studios, for £7 million to Medal Entertainment and Media plc, subject to the approval of both companies’ shareholders. The amount is made up by a combination of £5.5 million in cash and £1.5 million in securities.

The move fulfils Avesco’s intention to focus on providing its core services to the events market. David Nicholson, Avesco’s chief executive, told us: "Fountain has been a good solid business for us, but there are limited synergy benefits, with virtually no relationship with any other group company. The cash we have generated from this sale allows us to cut our debt still further. We have taken actions this past year to reduce our debt rapidly. Following completion of this transaction, the Group’s net debt figure will stand at less than £11 million, having been more than hal

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Wharfedale Pro loudspeakers are fast becoming the de facto standard for installation in Kuala Lumpur’s busy restaurant areas. Amizan Arrifin of CK Music, has just finished a string of installs in Malaysia culminating in Zino's Cafe & Pub (at Changkat Raja Chulan).

The outlet is located in an area popular among back-packers from other countries. Here they are welcomed by the sound of two pairs of Wharfedale Pro LA-15P which are used to playback both live performance, which the venue has now introduced, as well as piped-in music. Meanwhile, Sakura Cafe & Cuisine has been a popular restaurant since the 1970s, serving a mix of local and continental food. As part of the recent renovation works, the owners opted to include nine pairs of Wharfedale Pro Force 1, distributed around the two floors of the restaurant, to provide easy listening for the diners.

Across in Bukit Bintang - in t

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Miami-based MAVCO has been awarded contracts for two key South Florida construction projects.

At Wynmoor Theater, MAVCO is providing engineering, supply and installation of the lighting, sound and cinema systems for the refurbishment of the 900-seat theatre located at Coconut Creek, Florida. Working to a design by TSG Design Solutions, MAVCO’s enormous experience in all three disciplines was a crucial element in gaining the project, offering the main contractor, Dooley & Mack, the advantage of having one supplier handling all the technical systems.

The Wynmoor Theater serves a private gated community just off the Florida Turnpike and, as well as offering both drama and music productions, is also used for lectures and courses, as well as current events. The comprehensive refurbishment, under the project management of MAVCO’s Nick Gibson, is due for completion at the end of

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i-vision's Geoff Jones has been seen in action yet again at Late Night Bars in the Warrington and Manchester areas - designing architectural lighting schemes for this new brand concept. The Warrington venue - the brainchild of nightlife entrepreneur John Rennie - is located in a highly competitive area of town, with many operations competing directly for business from Warrington's night-owls. The Late Night Bar is one of the few venues offering outside seating and i-vision’s brief from the client was to design an attractive lighting scheme to draw people to the venue.

Apart from its aesthetic appeal, the company also wanted to introduce an element of 'entertainment' into the garden area, so Geoff Jones, the veteran of numerous architectural lighting schemes, from the illumination of Merseyside Police Station to the Tyne Bridge, set to work. As always, there was a budget, but Jone

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Thursday 4th July saw the first customer delivery, anywhere in the world, of the new Klark Teknik DN9340 ‘Helix’ digital equalizer. EFX Audio of Edinburgh took delivery of the first six units sporting serial numbers 001 to 006 from LMC Audio in Birmingham.

EFX had placed its order months before, solely on the basis of a description of Helix. According to EFX managing director John Ramsay: "From previous experience we knew that KT would produce a benchmark product which would be a much sought-after unit and a step forward for us, so we had no hesitation in being the very first customer."

Klark Teknik international sales manager David Wiggins was on hand to thank EFX personally for their early adoption of the new device. "EFX have beaten everyone out of the blocks this time in demonstrating their ongoing commitment to KT, which is a great affirmation for us

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Hayden Laboratories, UK distributor for Rane, has supplied HHB with three Rane NM84 CobraNET Mics for an installation at Trinity College of Music’s new facility in Greenwich, London.

The CobraNET system, developed by Peak Audio, runs full bandwidth audio through computer cables, removing the need for lots of heavy cabling. Rane has developed this system further by creating a device so the mics can be input at one end, the cables fed through, and then picked up again at the other end. Before the move to the new site, Trinity College’s recording technician Kit Venables knew that the facility would need a multi-track audio system, but was concerned about the restrictions of the listed building - the old Greenwich military hospital. Ian Downs of Hayden Labs and Martin O'Donnell of HHB (who had previously supplied the college with equipment) were approached by Venables, and coll

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"It's my fifth Falcon Club convention," notes lighting designer Tim Ball. "In the past, the shows have been in Bali, Jamaica and on a cruise liner bobbing about on the Med. This year it was Bermuda!" No stranger to dealing with challenges, for this show Tim had to overcome a tight budget, limited freight capacity on the charter aircraft used to ship equipment to the show, the 120V operating voltage at the venue, and the need for the rig to be adaptable enough to light both a business meeting and a gala dinner with cabaret in the same room. To help face these challenges, he turned to Colourhouse.

For the maximum punch from a small package, Ball opted to use the Martin MAC 300 washlight and MAC 250 spotlight, rounding the rig out with ETC Source Four profiles, which were fitted with Morpheus ColorFader colour changers and used to provide a precisely-focussed, colour-c

  1. Feel the noise 2002
  2. Siyan goes with SGM for Coldplay
  3. Unusual move the Tyne Bridge
  4. Chameleon Audio goes Down Under
  5. Creed is all Audio-Technica on Weathered Tour
  6. First pieces of Wharfedale for Legoland
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