Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Reading-based Skan PA Hire has acquired a third Midas XL4 console, which left directly for a two-month tour of European dates and festivals with US metal band Slayer.

Skan took the decision to buy a third XL4 following "overwhelming demand" for its existing boards, which are fully committed to the company's busy summer of events. This includes the Chemical Brothers tour, the Download festival, Keane's summer dates and a series of concerts for the National Trust.

"All three purchases have been driven by customer demand, as the XL4 is still the desk of choice for a lot of FOH and monitor engineers, who are adamant it is the best sounding board available," says Skan director Abby Llewellyn. "Despite the increasing acceptance of digital consoles a lot of our clients prefer the sound of an XL4."

The new console is being operated by Slayer's fron

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UK - Bandit Lites is supplying lighting production for System Of A Down's Mesmerise world tour which kicked off in Europe this month. System - among the loudest and most energetic exponents of the US nu-metal generation - is being LD'd by Joe Paradise. The account is being handled by Lester Cobrin from the Bandit UK office, who says, "One of the most anticipated tours has finally arrived. This is big, bold and mega bright... in fact, enough to make your eyes bleed!"

Paradise was initially approached after working with production manager Eddie Kercher on Incubus last year. He decided to create a 'Great wall of lights' effect for the show - which currently carries no video, so the main visual element, other than the band - is lighting. His primary objective is to match the intense, raw sonic impact of the band with lighting semantics.

Paradise also wanted to mak

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Germany - Klangschmiede, one of Germany's largest PA rental companies, has added a Cohedra Compact rig to its already extensive inventory of HK Audio products.

The rig comprises 32 CDR 108 C mid/high units and eight CDR 210 C Sub units and made its debut at a corporate birthday party, 60 Years WÜRTH, which took place over a week and featured performances from Jose Carreras plus an appearance by the President of Germany. It has since been used in the Cologne Arena for a traditional German folk music concert.

"The Cohedra Compact gives us a huge amount of flexibility since the system is perfectly suitable for small events due to its compact dimensions, but also offers good opportunities to scale up if sufficient cabinets are used," says Michael Frank, co-owner of Klangschmiede. "The sound characteristics and enormous power capability in relation to its size fully

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France -Swiss Acoustic design company Studio Equipment, run by industry veteran Terry Nelson, was recently contracted to provide the sound, staging and screen for the presentation of the new Sony 4K digital cinema projector. The launch was held at the Château de la Napoule during this year's Cannes Film Festival, and Nelson chose a Telex Communications setup based around a Midas Venice console, Klark Teknik Helix digital equalisers and Electro-Voice surround sound system for the event.

Studio Equipment, which was commissioned for the project by Anna Valley (UK), treated the room acoustically to give it the characteristics of a proper screening room before setting up an Electro-Voice Plasma surround speaker system. At the centre of this, Nelson used a Midas Venice 160 as his monitor controller plus a processing rack of three Klark Teknik Helix DN9340 equalisers run by V3.7 Elgar

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Audio division has sold a Mackie TT24 digital audio console to Nolan Sound, one of Ireland's top sound rental companies.

Nolan Sound's Alan Nolan and business partner Jim Fox had recently invested in a digital console from A.C. and decided digital was now the way to go since the latest generation combined built-in digital processing capabilities with the ability to transfer show data between like-for-like consoles, and were much easier to use live.

They opted for the Mackie TT24 desk because it was designed to be as user-friendly as possible for live sound engineers to operate - sharing its look and feel with the traditionally easier to use analogue console. At the same time it featured all the benefits of a digital console, including a built in effects library, which made set-up very quick and easy.

The Mackie TT24 is a 56 x 45, 24-bit, 96kHz capable di

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UK - Stage Electrics is promoting new products from Prolyte, Apollo, Teclumen plus its own brand Encore at this week's ABTT show.

In March 2005 Stage Electrics was appointed UK distributor for Prolyte trussing, Stage Dex Staging and Prolyft chain hoists. Both Prolyte H30 and X30 trusses are light to medium duty and offer strength flexibility and compactness.

"The relationship with Prolyte has been a natural development for Stage Electrics. We have made a large investment in inventory but the wide range of products they offer and the quality of their manufacturing meant that it was an easy choice to make." said Adam Blaxill, head of purchasing at Stage Electrics.

Ed Gamble Business development manager Ed Gamble adds, "Customers have been extremely receptive to the Prolyte range, both the durability and the design features of the products make them intuitive to

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UK - The coming months see Britannia Row Productions at its busiest, though resources are not quite in their usual deployment patterns, according to Britrow's Roly Oliver.

"We are providing an enormous amount of self contained control and monitor systems to our clients for the festival season; the list is huge, Foo Fighters, Robbie Williams, Will Young, Faithless, Jamiroquai, Oasis, Robert Plant, Marilyn Manson, and Simply Red."

He continues, "Our EV X-line systems are all out for the REM outdoor shows, the Wireless festival, Glastonbury, and now the Live8 event in Hyde Park. V-dosc is being used for a tour by The Kings of Leon, and for delays on several of the bigger festivals.

"With our paced acquisition of Yamaha and Digico digital desks over the past couple of years, and our extensive inventory of Midas and other analogue desks, we actually have enoug

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UK - Wigwam Hire were able to give a full run to their Martin Audio line array systems on the recent Girls Aloud theatre tour, the wide variation of venue capacities enabling the set-up to be easily reconfigurable between the Compact and Mini enclosures.

The W8LC had already proved its worth on sidehang duties with Westlife, and once again production duties were in the hands of Production North - owned by Steve Levitt and Iain Whitehead - with the latter taking production responsibility for this set of dates.

While 24 Martin W8LC Compact Line Arrays and 12 x WLX subs were provided as the core system, two dollies of six W8LM Mini Line Arrays gave the FOH team of Mark Littlewood (sound engineer) and Sid Rogerson (system tech) options of groundstacking or flying depending on available rigging points and weightload restrictions.

The largest show was at the 12,000-capacity Sheffi

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UK - Theatre Royal Newcastle has been awarded training partner status with Stage Electrics. The award, say Stage Electrics, is in recognition of the Theatre Royal hosting and promoting industry specific training days to entertainment workers from all over the country.

In February this year the Theatre Royal hosted two days of intensive training workshops on behalf of Stage Electrics, which included courses on electricity at work and pyrotechnics safety awareness. As Brian Cleary, business development manager for Stage Electrics explains, support from organisations like the Theatre Royal is key to raising awareness across the industry of important health and safety issues. "We think it is very important to raise the standards within our industry and recognise the skills people have achieved."

He continues: "We have a wide range of courses on offer and it's great

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Spain / The Netherlands - Vieta Pro, the Barcelona-based manufacturer of compact and portable sound reinforcement products, has announced that Ampco and TM Audio are to distribute all of Vieta Pro's loudspeaker and electronic processing products in Belgium and the Netherlands. As a bonus, Vieta also get a distribution presence in Romania, where Ampco's partner Paradigma Production will represent the line. Karel de Piere of Ampco Belgium has spent the past 6 months researching Vieta Pro's corporate credentials and product prospects, to ensure a perfect match with Ampco and TM Audio's extensive distribution portfolio.

"The package from Vieta is really well thought-out," says de Piere, "with all the qualities that you'd expect from a company that has a long and reputable history in the consumer market. The team at Vieta share our philosophy on critical issues such as

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UK - Production manager Steve Rebbeck needed an automation system for the many and complicated scene changes in Billy Elliot the Musical, he turned to AVW Controls. Back in 2002, Rebbeck had specified AVW Controls' Impressario system to provide the automation for the intricate flying manoeuvres on Our House and was sure the system would be right for Billy Elliot. Meanwhile, Patrick Molony was looking for set automation that he could rely on for The Far Pavilions. Having previously used the Impressario system on horoughly Modern Millie, he too turned to AVW.

For The Far Pavilions, award winning set designer Lez Brotherston had to create sets which took the action from the snow-capped Himalayas to the hot and dusty deserts of Rajasthan. A raked triple concentric revolve - the three sections of which can move simultaneously, in different direction

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Japan - Fresh from its part in making the Queen-inspired musical We Will Rock You such a success in Australia, the Formula Sound Que-18 units which have been supplying foldback mixes for the show's musicians are repeating their success now that the show has moved on to Japan. "We have 11 Que-18's on the show in Australia, and they have performed flawlessly right from the moment they were first commissioned," says Peter Grubb of Victoria-based System Sound Pty which supplies the show's audio equipment. "Like the various other Formula Sound Que series foldback mixers we have these have been absolutely invaluable and a real hit with the musicians."

The Que-18s have been part of the Queen production since it opened in Melbourne in August 2003, and have moved with the show as it played Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. They have now moved on to Japan where the sh

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UK - Cambridgeshire based 5 Star Cases Limited have recently invested in 3D modelling software by Solid Edge. The Wisbech company, purchased the software from Cutting Edge Solutions Limited of Witney - Oxfordshire, having evaluated various other systems on the market. 5 Star is one of Europe's leading specialist case manufacturers and supplies some of the biggest names in the Entertainment and Audio Visual sectors as well as many blue chip companies including Alstom Energy, Martin Audio, Lighthouse and Rolls Royce.

CES, UK's leading supplier of the renowned Solid Edge from UGS had previously demonstrated the system at a 'Customer Day' back in 2003. Although 5 Star Cases had been using 2D drafting for a number of years, the move to 3D modelling was considered just prior to the demo at UGS.

Works Director Keith Sykes explained "Although three packages were evaluated, Solid

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Greece - PRG Europe was at the heart of one of the highlights of the Greek entertainment calendar when the company supplied lighting design and management expertise to the opening ceremony of the Hellenic Festival in Athens. Running from 20 May to 9 October, this year's events are even higher profile than normal, because the festival is celebrating both its 50th year and the 50th anniversary of the first film to be produced in Greece. Celebrating twin golden jubilees meant that something extra special was required for this year's opening ceremony.

Lighting director Mike Odam's task was to give a spectacular look to the opening ceremony and first performance of the festival, which featured a 60-piece symphony orchestra, 40 piece choir and live 'electric' musicians. Overcoming a range of challenges, Mike and PRG Europe put on a show fit for the high-ranking dignitaries and extensi

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UAE - During the PALME exhibition in Dubai, L&SI was invited to visit the premises of Production Technology LLC - better known as Protec. Protec is a world class event production company and the region's largest supplier of sound, lighting, AV, hydraulic and motor control equipment.

The latter elements are a particular area of Protec's strength, as a tour around its facilities reveals. Everywhere are the remnants of large-scale motorized set pieces, waiting to be called upon. There are set pieces purchased from the selling off of the Millennium Dome's contents; there are large, customized, articulated truss sections, huge spheres and steel and aluminium forms of all kinds of construction; it's like a giant's Meccano kit, with lots of bits that you can't get from the shops. There's enormous potential for creativity here.

Protec is owned by Stephen Lakin, the industry veteran wh

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UK - The assets of Solid State Logic have been acquired by a joint venture established by musician and technologist, Peter Gabriel, and broadcast industry entrepreneur, David Engelke. The company, which will trade as Solid State Logic, will continue to design and manufacture mixing consoles and related audio technology at its Begbroke, Oxford headquarters. The principal investors bring considerable experience of both the company's main markets: music recording and broadcast.

Peter Gabriel's background as an artist is well known, but he has had a long involvement with technology. Syco Systems, which he co-founded, developed the 'Tablet', one of the world's first purpose-built digital audio workstations. Real World Multi Media, part of Peter's Real World Group, won awards for both technological and creative innovation. More recently, he has had success with OD2 (On Demand Distribu

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UK - Production company Flux Events, headed by John Farquhar-Smith, promoted and production managed the recent Cinemaphony performance of Shostakovitch's Seventh Symphony - at the Royal Albert Hall.Shostakovitch's 7th (Leningrad) Symphony in C major was written in 1942, during the terrible siege of Leningrad. The landmark Royal Albert Hall event was staged to commemorate VE Day 1945 and the loss of 26 million Russian Allies in the War. Performed by the 120-piece St Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer's son, Maxim Shostakovitch, and accompanied by the haunting images of Georgy Paradzhanov's film, it was the brainchild of designer Sergai Davitaya and the Russian Information Agency, Novosti.

Novosti had been impressed by last year's Battleship Potemkin event that Farquhar-Smith produced with the Pet Shop Boys in Trafalgar Square: Flux events was approa

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UK - ECT has been appointed by three separate installation companies to provide bespoke projection screens for installations into religious buildings. Each screen has to be large enough for all the audience to benefit, as well as fitting into the unique architecture of the older church. ECT had less than two weeks to technically advise on and manufacture a projection screen, which would fit snugly between two pillars. "Being given the chance to work on a screen suitable for such an atmospheric setting was an interesting challenge!" said Adam Flawn-Thomas, managing director.

One of the solutions used was to suspend the screen on hinges. The whole unit can then be swung into the wall when not required. Project Audio Visual installed another ECT screen into a church, making it the centre backdrop. A remote control unit allowed the screen to be slip quietly out of sight, r

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UK - One of the latest compact line array products to hit the market, the X-Line Very Compact (XLVC) from Electro-Voice, has found its first UK home at the historic Café de Paris venue near London's Leicester Square. Following trials of the XLVC (straight off the production line in the US) and other systems during February and March, the Café de Paris' technical manager George 'Blu' Deakin finally opted for the Electro-Voice system, which was supplied via UK distributor Shuttlesound.

The system joins X-Line and XLC (X-Line Compact) systems in EV's line array family, and comes in two sizes - the XLD281 and XLE181. The former is a full-bandwidth 3-way line array cabinet (2 x 8" + 2 x 2"), which measures 9.9" (251mm) high by 28.58" (726mm) wide by 14.52" (369mm) in depth. The latter is a full-bandwidth 2-way version (1 x 8" + 2 x 2") which measu

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Italy - Since February, veteran Italian artist Antonello Venditti has been touring Italy with the supergroup he assembled to record his latest album, 'Campus Live'. The show will visit indoor sports arenas on its first leg before moving outdoors for the summer. Rental firm RMS is supplying the production with Meyer Sound FOH and monitor loudspeaker systems.

From behind the show's Cadac R-type console, FOH engineer Piercarlo Penta explained that Venditti's recent tours have been just him on piano, and a sax player, but to tour with this 'supergroup', "we needed a system able to handle the group's energy, and the Meyer Sound set-up chosen [12 MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers per side and 12 M3D-Subs] has proved a winner. As well as being compact, the MILO enclosures have a really beautiful sound and are very efficient."

While the majority of the indoor ar

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USA - Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Florida - once the favourite hangout of local resident Ernest Hemingway - recently installed a new main PA and monitor system from Martin Audio, as well as additional Martin Audio loudspeakers in the Backroom saloon located behind the stage and the upstairs Speak Easy bar. The famous club still features the original Cuban tiles floors and hosts festivals throughout the year including the Hemingway look-a-like contest. Named after the original owner Joe Russell, Sloppy Joe's has a reputation for hosting the best bands in the Keys and having the best party in town.

Unfortunately, the club's audio system was outdated and had been pieced together over the course of several years. "The last system install happened about twelve years ago," said Kevin 'Spyder' Wright, entertainment manager for the club. "When we decided to update the a

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Australia - The popular Dreamland Karaoke Restaurant in Perth, Australia, recently upgraded both its lighting and audio equipment, which posed a problem; the venue is small and there was not enough room to install the extra power needed to spruce up the venue. The electrician looked at the cost and space required to install a new switchboard, which would also need dimmer circuits, and decided it was not a viable option. Fortunately, Andrew Newnham of Total Production Systems had recently seen the new EKO wall-mount installation dimmer from LSC Lighting and he suggested that this small, single-unit dimmer; with built-in RCD protection was all that would be required.

The EKO incorporates a cleverly designed installation frame that can be fixed in position without the dimmer being present. Load and control screw terminals on the frame allow for building wiring to be terminated in a

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UK - Stagecraft has raised £5,000 for The Mayor of Salisbury's Appeal in aid of The Trussell Trust. The Salisbury based live events, lighting and sound company organized two musical comedy shows, More Tea, Vicar? and Pass the Port, starring Sue Flannery and Michael Lunts, which were held in the function room at Salisbury's Guildhall. "We were absolutely delighted with the success of our events and thanks must go to all our supporters. The Trussell Trust is an invaluable resource to Salisbury and the surrounding area and we hope that with the help of the appeal its projects will continue to flourish," said managing director of Stagecraft, David Goodrich.

Money raised at the events will help raise awareness of The Trussell Trust Food Bank, a community-based project which provides emergency food to people in short term crisis. Food given to The Food Bank by

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UK - Entec Lighting continues its successful run of theatre productions, supplying lighting equipment for the national tour of Kim Gavin's Love Shack. The show stars Faye Tozer and Jon Lee (ex S-Club 7), Noel Sullivan (ex Hear'Say) and a lively collection of hits from the 1980s. Entec won the contract by offering an excellent package, and was also highly recommended by lighting designer Simon Tutchener to producer Tristan Baker. The show was programmed by Nigel Catmur, and Jeremy Duncan was asked onboard to operate on tour, and to oversee the re-lights.

Love Shack visits all the major receiving houses in the country. The schedule is tight, with a Monday morning get-in to be ready for a show that evening, followed by a full week of shows and a get out after curtain down on the Saturday. Entec's Noreen O'Riordan says: "Theatre is a relatively new discipline to u

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