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Business

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USA - Lighthouse Technologies, the manufacturer and supplier of leading LED video screen systems for mobile and fixed applications, has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Sony Electronics Inc to utilize Sony's extensive resources to provide national on-site service programs to Lighthouse's existing and new professional grade LED large screen video customers in North America.

Lighthouse say: "Sony has a long history with large-scale display systems, making them uniquely qualified to provide contract maintenance services and remote system monitoring to professional-grade LED video systems, such as those being sold by Lighthouse Technologies."

Under the LOI, the two companies expect to develop contract maintenance programs and remote system monitoring services catered to Lighthouse's large screen LED display systems. Sony will staff and maintain a North American field

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UK - Lighting for seven of the eight arenas - plus the comedy tent - of the UK's largest clubber's festival, Godskitchen Global Gathering, was supplied by Leeds-based Zig Zag Lighting as the completely sold out event at Long Marston Airfield increased to two days for the first time.

When it came to the enormous Godskitchen tent, Zig Zag's Neil Hunt wanted to install the highest impact lighting possible and also to try out Robe's ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200 ATs for the first time.

The rig comprised seventy-six ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 24 ColorWashes hung all over the stage and tent on an intricate trussing network, secured into the tent by 70 points - the work of Harry Box from Concert Lights. The fixtures were used for both stage and dance floor lighting and were the main wow factor of the arena.

Lighting was programmed and operated by Matt Holden-Jones who ran lighting for

Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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UK - Stockport-based Audio Design Services, trading as ADSworldwide, has reported a string of successes in the Middle East and India. A specialist in the design and manufacture of commercial public address equipment, ADS has recently returned from a successful trip to Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Following an exhibition in Tel Aviv, the company has already obtained its first order for a full container of loudspeakers. In Jordan, an established company has selected ADS as its preferred supplier, whilst in Dubai an agreement with an international engineering company will ensure that the company's products will be distributed throughout the region. ADS's strong design and engineering base will also mean that the company will provide on-site training for installation and engineering staff in the Middle East.

Company chairman, David Hopkins OBE, who has been respons

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Germany / USA - Amplifier manufacturers Camco GmbH and Ashly Audio Inc have teamed up in the USA to offer a single comprehensive catalogue of amplification and signal processing products, backed up by what they call "an adventurous approach to technological innovation". From 1 August 2005, Ashly Audio will become North American importer and distributor of Camco amplifier products. The Camco range of power amplifiers and networkable DSP products dovetails comfortably with the Ashly Audio portfolio.

Ashly Audio Inc is a world leader in the design and manufacturing of quality signal processing equipment and power amplification for use in the commercial sound contracting and professional audio markets. In Germany, Camco GmbH has been making amplifiers since1983, and has become an influential player at the highest level of professional touring and installed sound, one of th

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UK - XL Video is again working with cinematographer Jon Driscoll on the acclaimed Anonymous Society (Andrew Wale and Perrin Manzer) production, Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, featuring the music of The Smiths. The show has just world premiered at the Hammersmith Lyric theatre and will transfer to the Dublin International Theatre Festival before commencing a UK tour in the autumn.

Driscoll created footage especially for the show which, taking the rhythms, words and thoughts of songwriters Morrissey and Johnny Marr as its starting point, is a musical with a difference. Paul Wood is project managing for XL, who supplied the video hardware including a Barco G5 projector, a Catalyst digital media server and a Hog 500 lighting desk to run all the video cues. The images were projected the full height and two thirds of the width of the backdrop, subtly asymmetric, erring to s

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UK / BelarusMidas and Klark Teknik have appointed Belcut Project as exclusive distributor for Belarus with immediate effect. Based in the city of Minsk, Belcut Project is an established distribution company, and Midas will join other Telex brands Electro-Voice and Dynacord in its portfolio.

The company has reportedly got off to a flying start, placing an initial order for a Midas Verona console and Klark Teknik signal processing equipment including DN514 Plus gates, DN504 Plus quad processors, classic DN360 graphic equalizers and DN1248 Plus mic splitters. The entire order is being supplied for installation in the Vitebsk Philharmonic Concert Hall. Meanwhile, several other large tenders and orders are now in the pipeline.

"I'm delighted to welcome Vitaly Kazakevich and his team at Belcult Project to our distribution family," says KT and Midas' Dave Wiggins. "In

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USA - Due to "overwhelming interest", the ETCP (Entertainment Technician Certified Program) Council has voted to extend the application deadline for the first ETCP rigging examinations (arena and theatre) to 1 September, 2005. Both exams will be held on Saturday, 12 November, in conjunction with the ETS-LDI tradeshow in Orlando, Florida.

Candidates who pass the examinations in November 2005 will be acknowledged as the only members of the 'Class of 2005' on the ETCP website and will be the first ETCP Certified Riggers in North America. The rigging certifications are designed for highly experienced riggers (rigging supervisors, high steel riggers, flypersons, etc). Qualified riggers can apply for either one or both exams, and individuals must meet eligibility requirements to apply.

Under the auspices of the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA), ETCP

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UK - Serious Stages have constructed performance platforms and roofs in some interesting and challenging places in their time - including the Sahara Desert, snow-capped Alpine mountains, on floating barges in Belfast Harbour (for BBC Live) and most recently, in the middle of a 5ft deep lake for Birmingham's World War 2 Commemoration Victory Fireworks event at Canon's Hill Park.

The event and entertainment were staged by Birmingham City Council, ending in spectacular style with a massive firework finale. They wanted the stage in this specific position so when fireworks went up at the rear of the structure, the effects would have an ethereal and magical quality as they shimmered in the dark, reflecting back on the lake's glassy surface, giving the audience a visual double-take.

The Serious crew was led by Leo Barcala, and liaised closely with the Council's project manager

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UK - PixelDrive - Radical Lighting and James Thomas's innovative software for controlling LED devices - made a creative leap forward at Godskitchen Global Gathering last weekend, where it was used for the first time to take control of the colour mix function of 100 moving lights in the Godskitchen arena. This, say James Thomas, is the next step in the increasingly converging worlds of lighting and video visuals.

The system - two PixelDrive computers - was installed and programmed by Simon Carter of Radical Lighting. One was running on a laptop and one on a desktop, with both triggered by the Avolites Diamond 4 lighting console operated by Matt Holden-Jones and Paddy Sollitt. One PixelDrive was used to run video sources into the moving lights and one to run them into the 34 James Thomas PixelLine fixtures - a mix of the 1044 and the new PixelLine 110 ec - used in the show.

Ligh

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Norway - Dutch loudspeaker system manufacturer Sound Projects reports that Norwegian hire company PA Produksjoner (PAP), with two Norwegian departments (Stavanger and Bergen) has invested in 24 of its Linex line array systems. Researching suitable systems, PAP invited six different brands to bring their line-array systems to the Kongeparken Amfi theatre in Stavanger for a final test. Jan Olav Sandsmark, managing director of PAP, says: "We rigged up five different systems in one whole day and tested the next day. We were not extremely happy with any of the systems, until the Sound Projects team came along and rigged the Linex system up in nine minutes and blew our mind! Not only the easy rigging, but the light weight made us decide for Sound Projects. The clear, good sound settled the matter. We didn't have a second doubt about which sound system was the best. Ever since we ha

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UAE - Following a successful event in April this year, IIR, organizer of the PALME exhibition in Dubai, reports another surge in growth for the show, with PALME 2006 now looking set to occupy three full halls of the Dubai International Exhibition Centre (DIEC) with many of the 2005 participants having already confirmed their attendance. Still with over eight months to go before the doors open, IIR reports that PALME 2006 is now 65% sold.

The main objective of PALME, say IIR, is to allow for manufacturers, suppliers and installers to meet face to face with buyers and specifiers from a wide range of industries who have a need for professional sound, light, music, audio-visual and systems integration equipment and solutions.

PALME 2006 is scheduled to take place in Dubai from 23-25 April 2006.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Hocken AV has recently installed audio-visual presentation equipment including the JVC DLA-SX21E video projector in the principal meeting room at St Bede's Conference Centre, the training facility of St Anthony's Hospital in North Cheam, Surrey, UK.

St Anthony's is an independent charitable hospital in the private sector and is a major provider of cardiac surgery. Its sister organization, St Raphael's Hospice, provides a free service to local residents. "When we are not using the centre for our own purposes, we rent it to outside users, which include local NHS organizations, councils and commercial and voluntary organisations. All of these users expect the equipment to be easy to operate and produce the best in image quality," says Philip Cook, head of marketing at St Anthony's Hospital. Cook adds, it is our intention in the future, to extend the use of the confer

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UK - The Saville Group, the UK's largest audio-visual and conference equipment supplier, recently took delivery of two KV2 Audio ES loudspeaker systems. Targeting the growing corporate presentation and larger events market, they found a need for a more upfront Audio solution that would provide high levels of playback and throw over medium to long distances, but with the quality demanded by increasingly discerning audiences.

The first test for the system was at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, where 1,000 enthusiastic members of the Going Places travel firm descended for their two-day management conference.Saville Gold's Gareth Lloyd says: "At this type of event the ambient noise levels are extremely high, and to find a system that can project with such intelligibility, all the way to the back of the room is rare. The ease of use, and plug-and-play nature of the KV2 system is

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USA - New York-based lighting rental and production company, Pegasus Productions, has made a major investment in the new Alpha range of automated fixtures from Clay Paky.Pegasus Productions purchased Clay Paky's Alpha Spot HPE and immediately put 12 of them to work. A New Jersey Fourth of July wedding reception held in a tent for over 1,000 people, was the site of the Alpha Spots' début for Pegasus. Lighting designer Faith Yildiz ran the event, using a Wholehog II for control of the lighting and video elements. "It was really a pleasure to work with the Alphas," remarks Yildiz. "We really didn't have any time to play with the fixtures prior to this gig, so we had some questions at the back of our minds as to how they would perform. But the Alphas are very bright and lit up whole tent nicely. I was very happy with how they performed."

As well as dealing with

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Australia - The Rock Eisteddfod Challenge has once again hit the roads of Australia with Paul Collison using his tried and tested formula of Martin MACs and Pulsar ChromaBanks. Control was from an MA Lighting GrandMA.

Paul came up with the idea of five curved snake like trusses hung under a mother truss along with a split front truss to allow the followspots a clear shot at the stage, all running off four data streams from the GrandMA with 3D visualization.

Along with 11 MAC 2000 Wash, four MAC 2000 Performance, 16 MAC 600 washlights and 16 Pulsar ChromaBanks, Paul used 15 MAC 2000 Profiles each housing the new Patrick Woodroffe Gobo Collection.

"I knew the gobos were on their way so I asked Vince Haddad from Show Technology to rush me through a set so we could use them for the Canberra show," said Paul. "The gobos are awesome! It's like using a completely dif

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UK - Activity Floors have been installed in the Scottish Youth Theatre's new home in Glasgow.

The floors - one with a maple surface and five with black Harlequin Cascade surfaces - are in the redevelopment and conversion of the Old Sheriff Court located at the heart of Glasgow's Merchant City.

The Scottish Youth Theatre is Scotland's national theatre company 'for and by' young people. The Old Sheriff Court has been designed to provide the Scottish Youth Theatre with a wide range of facilities including five large rehearsal spaces, a fully equipped studio theatre and dance studio.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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USA - Lectrosonics introduced the IS400 Digital Hybrid Wireless Instrument System only a few months ago and it's already a hit with Steve Stevens. The renowned guitarist, who has been performing and writing with Billy Idol for all but a few of the last 23 years, is currently mid-tour promoting the singer's new album, Devil's Playground, the first album of new material from Idol and Stevens together in over 12 years.

Designed for use with both electric and acoustic instruments, the Lectrosonics IS400, consisting of the IM transmitter and R400A receiver, utilizes a proprietary digital algorithm to encode the audio signal into an analog format for transmission over an FM wireless carrier, which is then converted back into digital audio via DSP at the receiver. According to Stevens' guitar tech, Tim Kennedy, it was about time. "We've been waiting for years for something

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UK - For a record twelfth consecutive year, Holland's Ampco Pro Rent (APR) has supplied the complete audio production for the WOMAD Festival at the Rivermead in Reading, where nine stages present an eclectic blend of tunes, poetry, dance and arts workshops, all featuring performers from around the globe. APR's primary console brand of choice for WOMAD is Midas, with around 80% of the Reading event's 25 desks being Midas Heritage Series or XL3 consoles.

"We rarely have time for sound-checks and of course there are a lot of visiting engineers around all the stages who need to be able to jump on a desk and be ready to mix instantly," says APR production manager Dieter van Denzel. "Midas gives us the familiarity, the reliability and of course the essential audio quality."

All in all, APR oversaw the action at the main (Open Air) stage, the ever-popular Siam Ten

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The Netherlands - Recently commissioned and based in Amsterdam, the Pure Liner is a floating presentation venue capable of accommodating up to 650 guests for a daylong product launch. Equipped with state of the art lighting, sound and audio facilities, the boat is aimed at companies in Holland, Belgium and Germany who want to make product presentations in a novel environment and is fully equipped to sail to any of those countries.

Among the facilities is a d&b audiotechnik sound system that was chosen for its intelligible and clear speech reproduction, essential for corporate and company events. The system consists of d&b's compact E3 and E0 loudspeakers with Q subwoofers all colour co-ordinated to match the black and white theme of the surroundings.

In the main presentation area, a giant screen is surrounded by E3s to provide a T0 point for the sound with E0s front and back i

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UK - Arena Structures has supplied the temporary structures accommodating the media at this summers G8 Summit. Whilst the most Worlds powerful politicians tried to agree on future global policies in Perth's luxurious Gleneagles Hotel in July, the summits producers, Jack Morton Worldwide, created considerable additional amenities for the event.

Jack Morton Worldwide contracted Arena Structures to supply the temporary media facilities to house the 2,500 reporters covering the event within the secure 'ring of steel' protecting the G8 from protesters. The wide range of structures included Arena's proprietary TFS structure incorporating a mezzanine that bristled with screens and I.T. technology, whilst a separate two storey media restaurant and separate briefing rooms for each country, from where broadcasters communicated the conferences proceedings to TV companies worldwide.

Jack

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Europe - A pair of Christie's flagship 25K Roadie projectors have been integrated into the dynamic stage backdrop created by Siyan show director Bryan Leitch and lighting designer Nick Whitehouse for Coldplay's Twisted Logic World tour.

While this is Coldplay's second world tour with lighting company, Siyan, it is their first with the next-generation three-chip DLP Roadies. They were dry hired to the production by Robin Wealleans' company The Picture Works as part of a package that included sophisticated camera and control equipment.

According to the band's video director, Alan Yates, the Roadies were selected for their high brightness and high-resolution output. They continue to function superbly as an alternative video reference to the IMAG LED sidescreens. In the shows to date, the projectors have been positioned on a tower at FOH so set up and alignment was straightforward

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India - Avolites' sales director Steve Warren and business development manager Koy Neminathan recently staged a two-day open workshop in Mumbai, India, alongside their distributor Jagmag Electric, run by the charismatic Atul Sonpal. The workshop featured advanced training on existing Avolites products, including the Pearl 2004 - the most popular and widely used professional lighting console in India. The Avolites sales team also took the opportunity of introducing the latest products to the Indian market - the Diamond 4 console range and the eDMX wireless data transmission system.

The workshop follows on from a similar, more basic training event staged four years ago by Avolites and Jagmag, also in Mumbai. "The take up was phenomenal," says Steve Warren - with over 110 people attending over the two days: "They all wanted to learn more. Many were Avo owners and use

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UK - On Tuesday, 29 November 2005 at The IEE, Savoy Place, London, UK the IEE Engineering for a Sustainable Future Professional Network will present the seminar Beyond WEEE: Unsustainable Product Design, and how to avoid it.

The EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive begins to roll out across the member states of the European Union from August 2005. This directive requires the collection and recycling of WEEE, and passes the responsibility for this back onto the producers. Manufacturers and designers of EEE now have a vested interest in sustainable product design, as by employing suitable design techniques, companies have a chance to minimize these costs, maybe even reducing overall product cost.

The event has two threads running through it. The "Practical" thread will seek to explore the state of the art in Sustainable Product Design an

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UK - Showsec reports some impressive landmarks in its ongoing educational programmes this month. Two of the company's senior managers became the first to receive foundation degree qualifications in Crowd Management, the 1000th Showsec employee has achieved their Level 2 NCFE event stewarding qualification, and the 500th member of staff has been SIA accredited - all in addition to the recently qualified IOSH staff.

Leading by example, managing director Mark Harding and southern regional manager Simon Battersby are amongst the first intake of students to successfully graduate from the newly established foundation degree in Crowd and Safety Management at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, with two other managers expected to complete the course within the coming months.

In September 2004, the company embarked on a policy to train all staff to the NCFE Event stewarding l

  1. Midas reports success in Turkey
  2. A summer of opera with White Light
  3. Pearce Hire at Cambridge Festival
  4. DJ magazine's T-Scan Awards
  5. Midas & KT host Latvian seminar
  6. Lucky Numbers for Robe at Crystal Casino
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