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Large format projection specialists E/T/C UK projected the images of the BBC’s 10 Greatest Britons onto three different city centre landmarks. Contracted by the BBC, E/T/C UK did this over the three evening’s leading up to the broadcast of the final programme in this high profile series.

As the final winner was announced, the face of Winston Churchill, voted the all-time greatest Briton by the public, was then projected onto all three buildings - in London, Liverpool and Bristol - in a simultaneous live broadcast.

The project followed on from E/T/C’s work with the BBC for the first programme in the series - on Viscount Horatio Nelson. They projected the face of Nelson onto the Shell Building on London’s South Bank. This projection was such a success, that the BBC decided to publicise the finale using the same hi-impact promotional techniques of large format p

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Star Hire (Event Services) Limited joined the cream of the pop world once again when it installed the staging for the 2002 Top of the Pops Awards in Manchester.

The Awards, hosted by Ronan Keating, attracted a veritable A-List of pop stars, from Best Newcomer Will Young, to double- winner Kylie and Lifetime Hall of Fame winner Sir Elton John. They also performed live sets alongside Miss Dynamite, Blue and the Manic Street Preachers.

The set, designed by Miranda Jones of Mermaid Design, was in keeping with the look of the televised weekly programme, but expanded to fit the dimensions of the enormous Manchester Evening News Arena. Star Hire was contracted to supplement the Arena’s own staging system to house the huge production. This included building the awards platform sited to one side of the stage and a temporary ‘bridge’ and red carpet walkway connecting the plat

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The World Rally Championships were recently staged in Cardiff, and Stage Electrics was on hand to provide significant resources over a number of key sites for this major sporting event.

The Network Q Rally started on the 14 November and was timed to coincide with the switching on of Cardiff’s Christmas Lights. The main high street in Cardiff was closed to traffic from 10am, and there then followed a race against time to ensure all of the production was in place by 5pm. Stage Electrics provided main stage lighting on a Star Hire Mk1 Stage, as well as lighting to other areas.

The biggest focus of the Rally for spectators was the Super Special Stage, hosted in a purpose- built arena in Cardiff’s Docks. Stage Electrics powered the majority of all site services, as well as all spectator and emergency lighting. A total of 24 generators supplied through Power Electrics of Bristo

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In mid October, CISCO Systems officially opened its new European headquarters in. Spreading over 40,000sq.m, the futuristic premises are designed to accommodate 800 employees. The opening was attended by several hundred invited guests and featured an full line-up of entertainment. The music was provided by the Dutch musical star Linda Wagenmakers, and the sound by an Electro-Voice X-Array system. "For the sound crew," remembers Axel Nagtegaal of Electric Audio, "the need was to cover the full spectrum - the speeches, the gala, the recorded music and, of course, the live music as well - and the results proved yet again how versatile and flexible EV’s X-Array system really is." The system specification included 2 x Xds, 2 Xcns, 6 Xbs, 4 Xfs and 4 Xcbs, together with several EV P-3000 amps.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Creative Technology (CT) produced some unusual television effects for the BBC Children In Need fund-raising marathon hosted by Terry Wogan and Gaby Roslin recently.

The company was contracted by BBC Resources to build on the Totaliser screen reinforcement they provided last year, as well as adding a spectacularly ‘retro’ LED dancefloor. The dancefloor dominated the stage and was in use for much of the evening. CT’s project manager Paul Holden commented: "Last year we provided a flown screen over the Totaliser using Barco i6 high-brightness panels. This year we used 80 of the Barco i8 panels, in a 16 x 5 configuration."

The display - measuring 7.16m wide by 2.24m - was run in 16:5 format, receiving 16:9 aspect ratio feeds, to create a letterbox effect. The content mostly comprised of Totaliser-specific graphics. But the more challenging aspect of the set wa

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A virtual winter wonderland has been created at New York’s Grand Central Station, thanks to High End’s Catalyst system.

Scharff Weisberg Pro Audio and Staging in New York is supplying production for the event, using two Catalyst systems with orbital heads on two projectors, controlled by the Flying Pig Systems Wholehog II lighting console. The Catalyst system blends moving light technology with graphics projection technology: when fitted with the optional orbital head, images can be projected anywhere in three-dimensional space. The system can be run on most programmable lighting consoles.

The show started 19 November and runs through to the 31 December, with showings every 15 minutes from 11am to 9pm on the ceiling of the Grand Central concourse in the historic Manhattan landmark. The six, three-minute video projection shows reflect artists' interpretations of the meani

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If confirmation were needed that the era of digital mixing had arrived, then mid November was the time. In a period of frenzied activity Britannia Row Productions had a remarkable eight Yamaha PM1Ds working simultaneously.

"We’re used to being busy," said Brit Row’s logistics planner Roly Oliver, "but even by our standards to have eight PM1Ds out at the same time was a significant event. The applications were a real mix, from events like MTV and TOTP Awards to tours by artists as varied as Richard Ashcroft, Robbie Williams, Jamiroquai and Cliff Richard. Craig David took two boards for a series of TV promotional appearances all over Europe.

"This is a prime example of our commitment to new technology," said Brit Row’s director Bryan Grant. "As a company we actively seek out what equipment best supports our client needs, and both the up

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A big thank you to Le Mark and Roscolab as this Christmas both companies have decided to send their Christmas greetings via e-mail and advertising respectively, instead of traditional Christmas cards, with the money saved being donated to the Light Relief charity.

Stuart Gibbons, managing director at Le Mark explained: "A Christmas card has a life of one or two weeks before it's disposed of, so my suggestion was an e-card to send either via e-mail or to create something along the lines of a virtual Christmas tree to use on an industry news site."

Duncan Smith at Roscolab added: "Light Relief has enjoyed a high profile recently, especially at PLASA 2002, and I wanted to add to that. As we usually buy charity Christmas cards anyway, as well as taking every opportunity to give something back to the industry, I thought this year instead of cards we should make a donation t

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Lightfactor Sales has supplied lighting designer David Hurst of Full-On, and installers Entserv Ltd, with a variety of bespoke lighting, audio and show control equipment for the £1.2 million ‘Bond, James Bond’ exhibition at the Science Museum. It’s the biggest ever official James Bond exhibition, and arrived in London following a six-month installation at the Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford. The run at the Science Museum was designed to tie in with the recent launch of the new Bond film ‘Die Another Day’ (a full report on this appears in the December issue of L&SI).

The exhibition's main contractor, Themetech, was appointed by project manager Jacqui Wicks, in December 2001; they, in turn, approached David Hurst and Steve Richley of Entserv to assist in the huge project’s realization. Entserv have worked on numerous international

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Alfie have become the latest high profile act to join the Audio-Technica family, signing an endorsement deal following a series of successful product evaluations. According to bass player Sam Morris, "the initial contact with A-T came about through our management company. As well as looking after us, they also represent The Charlatans, who have used and trusted A-T mics for ages. We thought it was a great idea in principle, but we wanted to make sure the mics were right for us." After talking to Audio-Technica’s market development manager, Paul Mason, and checking out a range of Audio-Technica mics in rehearsals, the band were keen to extend the association and become fully fledged members of the Audio-Technica endorsee family.

"For the gigs we now have 20 channels of A-T mics", explains Morris, "covering all of the kit, vocals and the bass and guitar rig

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Stage Electrics is extending its reach into the TV arena, following a series of successful projects during 2002, including BBC Songs of Praise in Blackburn, where the company supplied a full rig of tungsten heads, MSR Fresnels, dimming distro and twin set generation; the Good Food Show at the NEC (with two satellite OBs running in parallel in Manchester and London); and Children in Need for the BBC in Cardiff, where the outside of Broadcasting House was lit up for the week prior to the event and an outdoor stage was constructed for Radio Wales OB.

The Welsh connection is particularly strong, with Stage Electrics Wales, which is based in Cardiff, picking up two televised outside broadcast programmes recorded in Amlych (Da De Dil Di) and in Machynlleth (Dafyd Iwan Concert) in the past few weeks alone. Over their 22-year history, the company has supplied technical equipment and skills for

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Marquee Audio supplied a new L'Acoustic dV-DOSC system to Belfast's Production House, just in time for the city's biggest-ever Children in Need charity event, staged at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Production House flew 12 dV-DOSC, with four dV-Subs, each side of the stage for a line-up that included Ronan Keating, Lulu, Daniel Bedingfield and local star John Daly performing for 9,000 people.

The show was mixed by Harry McLean from BBC Northern Ireland, who was as impressed by the dV-DOSC rig as its new owner, John Willis of Production House. "The coverage was even, and the output and sound quality was impressive for such a physically small box. Once Harry had done a walk round the venue, he was completely confident that everybody in the arena would be hearing the same thing and that let him concentrate on mixing the show which, in true Children in Need style, was hectic from sta

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Rental company Centre Stage have made a strategic move into high-end PA, with the purchase of 20 Martin Audio Wavefront W8C/WSX stacks. Centre Stage proprietor, Graham Baker - who shares his Staples Corner warehouse facility in north west London with another W8C-based company, FX Music - placed the order through Steve ‘Bunty’ King at LMC Audio in London. This will give the combined companies a joint stockholding of 50 W8C stacks - providing ample power to undertake large stadium and arena shows.

In the past Centre Stage have specialised in one-off arts events shows and local authority events - and this summer provided coverage for Miss Dynamite at West Ham’s Upton Park stadium. Graham told us: "I was introduced to Martin Audio and have always felt confident about their systems. The day FX Music went out and bought 30 stacks the writing was on the wall."

He

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Midas has announced the launch of Midas DIRECT, a web-based service designed for the sale of pre-owned Midas consoles. As part of the Approved Pre-owned Console Programme, Midas engineers inspect each console - mechanical and electrical components, chassis, all modules, case and power supplies. The console is then music-tested before being offered for sale on the website. For further peace of mind, all consoles, regardless of age will be sold with a comprehensive six-month ‘unlimited hours’ warranty from the factory. Alternatively, if the console is less than three years old, the balance of the existing warranty will be transferred to the new owner.

Midas’ head of sales, David Cooper, says the new initiative has two key benefits: "Firstly it allows us to offer an upgrade service for our existing client base - say from an XL200 to a Heritage 2000," he said. &

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PCM’s Projects division has supplied the main theatre space in Dublin’s Liberty Hall Centre for the Performing Arts with specialist lighting bar winches. The new venue has been completely refurbished - along with the rest of this historically significant building. It was re-opened as the Performing Arts Centre by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, TD.

Installation of the new lighting and technical infrastructure was undertaken by Dublin lighting supplier Stage Lighting Centre, who also supplied a full set of stage curtains, complete dimming system and stage lanterns. They worked very closely with Brian Tracey, Liberty Hall’s head of technical, throughout the installation period. When it came to custom engineering and installing the specialist lighting bars required at the FOH and forestage positions, Stage Lighting Centre’s Paddy Farrell approached PCM.

Working to the s

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Martin Audio Blackline speakers have made their second appearance at a West Midlands football stadium - courtesy of Birmingham-based Argus Services Ltd. The contractors had already fitted Blackline F10s at Birmingham City’s St Andrews ground when the PA/VA specialists were asked to put a distributed system into Walsall FC’s Bescot Stadium.

Argus director, Jerry Matthews, said that a 30-year-old system had to be removed to accommodate the new Martin enclosures - which are used for music reproduction on match days. After the construction of the new Purple stand (formerly Gilbert Alsop stand), Argus were called in to bring the public address and sound reinforcement in the remainder of the stadium up to the same level. The solution was provided by 27 of Martin Audio’s Blackline F10s, assigned to five QSC 100V line amplifiers. These are all mounted individually under the s

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Arbiter Pro Audio has supplied Reading-based sound installers, Reflex Ltd, with JBL Evo intelligent speakers and AKG microphones for an impressive installation at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The vast Churchill Hall auditorium is the largest MoD briefing facility in the South of England, providing lecture facilities for every officer candidate in the British Army in addition to hosting major conferences for high profile UK businesses and organizations.

The auditorium - seating 1,202 with a ceiling height of 50ft - was opened in 1970 and has been in constant use ever since. Matt Horwood of Reflex Limited was approached by Margaret Young, head of media support at RMA Sandhurst to improve the ageing facilities in the auditorium. With the help of specialist audio distributor Leisuretec, Horwood came up with the specifications for the project. In turn, he approached Arbiter to sup

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Artistic Licence has recently supplied Protocol-Converters for two large TV studio complexes, allowing the integration of DMX512 products with other control protocols. The ITN studios in Gray’s Inn Road have a mixture of Strand lighting consoles including 530, 300, and Galaxy units. A variety of dimmers, some using D54 and others DMX512, were connected to these consoles. The addition of four Artistic Licence Protocol-Converters has allowed equipment to be used in any combination. Protocol-Converters offer conversion of a variety of lighting protocols to or from DMX512. A Cue-Patch unit was also used, allowing the various studios to be combined in the most flexible manner.

Paul Flook, Head of Broadcast Engineering, told us: "The combination of the Protocol-Converters and the Cue-Patch has not only saved us money by allowing us to have a common control protocol but also allow

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Colin Park, managing director Australian-based pro audio manufacturer ARX Systems, has reported that following a general re-organization of ARX’s European distribution in early 2002, the company’s European sales have continued to increase through the latter half of the year.

ARX’s recently-appointed distributor for The Netherlands, Electric Audio, has supplied EQ-60 graphic equalizers to the Ogterop Theatre in Meppel; Maximix line mixers to Video Schaay in Rotterdam and EQ-60 and EQ-15 graphic equalizers to Super Sound, the Leiden -based rental company.

German distributor Show Service supplied DI-4 direct boxes and AFW 1 anti-feedback workstations to the Baptist Church of Waldbrol; EC 2 electronic crossovers and AFW 1s to the Detmold Gospel Church; Mixxmaster mic line mixers to Siro AV in Mainz and Maxisplit line splitters to AV Long in Lindlar, while Swiss distribu

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Two well-known names in the entertainment lighting industry have launched an "e-commerce website with a new concept" - Gearmarket UK - on 9 December. Keith Dale, ex-managing director of Celco and John Lethbridge, ex-managing director of Cerebrum Lighting, have been working with software developers for several months to come up with a concept that is possibly unique in the entertainment technology industry - a web-based customer loyalty scheme.

The Gearmarket site offers innovative new products and a selection of popular products from several key manufacturers from around the world. Buyers can shop and pay in Euros or Pounds Sterling. Most E-commerce sites present the potential buyer with a single price, invariably discounted - but one can never be sure how good the price is without comparing prices available elsewhere. On first sight, the Gearmarket website only appears to sh

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East London-based gobo and projection specialist, Projected Image, has taken on an additional new premises at its HQ in the Three Mills Island Studio complex, Bromley-by- Bow. This is part of an on-going expansion plan in line with recent company developments and the establishment of sister company Projected Image Digital.

In November, Projected Image announced an exclusive UK distribution deal with RADlite, the revolutionary new PC-based computer generated effects package. Expanding to the new, larger, 1100sq.ft premises will allow Projected Image to enlarge its gobo production facilities and move all administration into the new space, leaving the original area free to be set up and utilized as a permanent RADlite demonstration. "We’re very excited about the move," said director David March. "The intention is also to offer the facility to lighting designers and vi

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A new feature awaits some of the two million visitors who flock annually to Madame Tussaud’s in London. Guests can now stand on a podium between President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, and via a discreet camera have their image beamed onto a rear-projected screen above and behind them - thanks to a 120" New Wide Angle screen from dnp.

The installation is the work of systems integrators, Sysco, whose relationship with The Tussauds Group extends back nearly 10 years to when they first fit out sister attraction, Tussaud’s London Planetarium. Managing director Hugo Roche explained: "Over the years we have undertaken a lot of the Group’s AV work - sometimes winning competitive tenders, on other occasions being appointed during the design phase and working more on a design/build basis."

In terms of delivery, Sysco looked at a number of ways of achieving th

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Large screen specialist GL UK is supplying production company Endemol UK for the BBC’s latest pop phenomenon Fame Academy, with 55 panels of Barco I-lite 8 mm LED screen for the 12-week series. The screens were specified for the show by the original director Tony Gregory, who worked with GL UK on Big Brother earlier in the year.

Throughout the week, leading up to Friday, they are also filmed auditioning, working, performing and practising, etc. In the studios, the screen panels are configured in two very different-sized formats. One is a seven panel wide by four panel high widescreen, and the other is a three wide by nine high horizontal screen. The latter is split into three equal sections, allowing images of three different performers to be shown simultaneously. This effect is specifically used as they approach their ‘jeopardy moments’, after which the voting elimin

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QSC Audio has reported two major sales of its amplifiers via Dutch importer, Holland Audio Import (HAI) BV. The sales have been made to rental companies P&B Audio and Story Sound. P&B Audio purchased two racks, each containing a pair of QSC’s PowerLight PL4.0 and PL2.0HV models - as well as an additional PL6.0 rack to power the company’s Funktion One system.

At London’s PLASA Show, P&B discovered Funktion One’s Resolution 2 system and, noticing the demand for high-end larger scale FOH PA, they made the radical decision to do away with almost their entire previous inventory to invest in a larger system. "As a result, we switched to QSC’s PowerLight Series - and we wished since that we had done this years ago," says P&B’s Michel van de Beek. The new QSC system drives the company’s eight stacks of Funktion One Resolution 5/F218s. "W

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