Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Business

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Turkey - Midas' Turkish distributor Atempo has sold 25 Siena consoles across the country since it was launched in January this year. The Sienas have mainly been purchased by PA rental and touring companies, with a smaller amount going into multi-purpose venues. "Our market needed a console with 16 auxilaries that provided high quality at a cost-effective price," says Atempo's Mudat Konuralp. "Siena has filled this gap, not only by being a monitor console with an adequate amount of auxiliaries, but also with its supreme quality at an affordable price. This has led the Siena console to become the best seller in Turkey and the most preferred console by audio professionals."

Most of the country's larger touring companies have now purchased at least one Siena console, and Atempo has been receiving very good feedback from all of these companies as they had a very g

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UK - White Light has been the equipment supplier of choice for two opera festivals this summer - or, in the case of one of the festivals, for the second half of each evening, since the theatrical lighting only really took over as the long summer evenings finally faded to dusk!

In Hampshire, Nothington Grange provides the home to Grange Park Opera, performed in a 540-seat horseshoe auditorium built within the listed out-house of the Grange. Lighting designer Chris Davey returned for his fourth season as resident LD, this year designing Maria Stuarda, Don Giovanni and South Pacific. As he notes: "each season the designs get bigger, pushing the stage and its possibilities to the limit. The operas rotate performances so virtually every day there is a complete set and lighting turnaround; my task was to light each piece on its own terms yet provide a design and rig

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

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UK - Pearce Hire has been supplying lighting and power services to the Cambridge Folk Festival for 18 years this year. In 2005 artists included Mercury Award nominees KT Tunstall and Seth Lakeman as well as long established favourites The Proclaimers and Idlewild.

The festival has stayed on its original site at the Cherry Hinton Hall Grounds, since it's inception by Ken Woollard in 1964. Whilst the organizers have striven to maintain the relaxed atmosphere for festival goers, behind the scenes of the festival site has changed beyond all recognition.

Pearce Hire supplied all the power requirements for the festival, which has increased immensely over the years, catering for this unusual site where most of the electricity comes from a mains substation, which was upgraded from a 300A to 500A in 1995 to cope with the growing demands in all areas.

This year Pearce Hire supplied a

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UK - DJ Magazine is again running its annual T-Scan Technology Awards alongside the PLASA Show this year, and is inviting readers to download a .pdf form for voting purposes (www.djmag.com/djtech007.php). Following the success of last year's format, they are offering another split reader/judge vote this year, with two sets of 10 different categories.

Alongside a public vote for gear that a bedroom or mobile DJ might use most, the magazine's panel of industry professionals, musicians and DJs will decide what club install equipment ranks highest. The public will vote on: 1. Dual CD Player; 2. MP3 Controller; 3. Entry-level Mixer; 4. Effects Mixer; 5. Lighting Product; 6. DJ Effects; 7. Sampler/Workstation; 8. Studio Software; 9. Best DJ/Producer Schooll; 10. Retailer Of The Year.

The judges will vote on: 1. Innovative New Product; 2. Turntable; 3. New Single CD Player; 4. DJ Car

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UK - Midas and Klark Teknik recently co-hosted its first training seminar in July in Riga, Latvia, for 60 sound designers, engineers and technicians from theatres, rental companies and TV stations eager to get to grips with the latest products from both brands.

Under the banner of Managing Performing Arts Across Europe, the seminar was held by local distributor GaCo in conjunction with The New Theatre Institute of Latvia. Midas and Klark Teknik's brand development manager Richard Ferriday gave a presentation focusing on the brands' latest products developments including the Siena STS package (which allows the solo'd outputs from Siena to be shown on the KT Helix digital EQ system) the Verona console, the KT DN370 graphic equalizer and wireless remote control of the Helix system, via a tablet PC. All products were available for hands-on demonstrations.

GaCo was only rece

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Russia - Nearly 100 Robe Show Lighting fixture of various types have been installed in the Crystal Casino in Moscow as part of a massive technology upgrade. Crystal's owners emphasize a high quality guest 'experience' and presenting a visually stimulating environment is key to this.

Crystal, one of the largest gambling establishments in Eastern Europe with three restaurants, several bars, a nightclub and dancefloor, needed a boost to its lighting system. The new installation was designed by Sasha "Eagle" Vasilyev - the club's chief LD - and Slava Savin, LD and desk programmer/operator, and undertaken by Moscow-based Light Sound. Contractor (LSC), one of Russia's leading installers.

Nightly onstage entertainment includes a variety of singers and bands. The club also has its own permanent cabaret/musical show once or twice a week, and the dancefloor is in use five days

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UK - This year's Audio Industry Regatta (AIR) will take place on the weekend of 24-25th September 2005 in Portsmouth. The aim of AIR is to raise money and awareness for The Elizabeth Foundation - a voluntary organisation offering support nationwide for deaf children from 0-5 years and their parents.

So far, 13 major audio companies have signed up to sponsor a boat and there is still a chance that your company could do the same. You don't need to have any experience, just a keen crew of six or seven people. SunSail will supply everything, including the boat, expert instruction, the skipper and all the kit you'll need. The evening fundraiser at Tiger Tiger begins with the now famous 'Pop Quiz', followed by dinner in the restaurant with wonderful views over the harbour. Even for those nor participating in the sailing, there is an option to sponsor a table for the Saturday evening e

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USA - Harrah's Lake Tahoe Casino and Hotel, part of Harrah's Entertainment Inc - the largest gaming company in the world - has outfitted its South Shore Room with a new speaker system and new Lake Contour digital loudspeaker processors. Accommodating up to 1,000 people, the room has hosted some of the biggest names in entertainment throughout its 50-year history, and concerts by Steve Winwood, Wayne Newton, Tony Orlando, Rick Springfield, and the Wallflowers are on the entertainment schedule for this summer.

Wayne Carlson, Harrah's sound supervisor for 17 years, is using two all-digital Lake Contour processors to control the entire main Meyer Sound speaker system, which he put together with the help of Glenn Hatch of Audio West, a system design and supply company. The Lake Contours are integrated with a wireless access point for remote control from a wireless tablet using Lake C

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UK - Harman Pro UK has supplied a quantity of sound equipment for the Architectural Association's Can Buildings Curate exhibition. The show opened at the AA Gallery in Bedford Square, London in May and is now touring. in September it travels to New York's Storefront, and then on to Leipzig's Centre of Contemporary Art.

Can Buildings Curate is a completely flexible exhibition curated by Shumon Basar, Joshua Bolchover and Parag Sharma. It contains an average of fifteen exhibits including four sound pieces. This element of the show emphasises the importance of design techniques including audio. One of the original works at the AA Gallery was David Cunningham's Exterior, an exterior context-based installation in the front basement of the building, utilising JBL Control Series enclosures.

Harman communications manager Su Planta comments, "It has been reall

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China - The City of Tianjin recently commissioned Beijing-based Teon Scenik to produce a light and laser display in the city's Galaxy Park as a permanent tourist attraction. LED was chosen as the lighting technology and TIR systems was commissioned as the provider, while Hong Kong-based Ptarmigan Consulting was appointed to design, install and commission the control system.

Ptarmigan contracted Artistic Licence to provide a Colour-Tramp control system along with a range of DMX512 and Art-Net distribution products. Simon Fraser of Ptarmigan comments: "I selected Colour-Tramp because of its graphics based LED control interface and its ease of programming and automated operation. The main control room is remote from the tower, so the use of Art-Net ethernet significantly reduced the length of expensive DMX512 cabling. The Art-Net ethernet was converted back to DMX512 locally a

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World - Avril Lavigne is continuing her Bonez Tour across Europe and the USA and FOH engineer John Kerns, has been making the most of the DiGiCo D5 Live to give the mix lavigne's trademark edgy raw feel.

Kerns, who has only been with the band for a few weeks, has taken over from Jim Yakabuski who has retired from touring. "I had a week with Jim before I took over and did a few shows with him. This is my first tour actually taking a D5 and using it on a daily basis, but it is extremely flexible and it sounds great," he said. "Once you have it laid out and configured the way you want it everything becomes incredibly flexible."

As well as mixing the show, Kerns also records every performance directly out of the desk and into a Pro Tools HD system. "We utilise the MADI outputs from the desk to track directly into a Pro Tools session, which the band members

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UK - Award-winning LD Michael Lingard is using PixelPAR 90 fixtures on the current long-running Ministry of Mayhem series, produced by Foundation Productions, recorded at Maidstone Studios in Kent and broadcast live on ITV1 on Saturday mornings.

The original set design was by Patrick Docherty who suggested using high brushed metal walls. Lingard then came up with the idea of lit panels to break up the walls; their basic visual aim was to make it bright, colourful and exciting with a high tech feel.

Pixels were not originally on the job, but the steely greyness of the set was proving a bit stark, so some textural treatment was needed to brighten it up and Lingard says he also wanted to be able to change the look and feel of the space for different sections of the show. "The PixelPAR 90s bring a new dimension to the space," he says. "They have really brough

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UK - For Velvet Revolver's Belfast Odyssey Arena concert, Concert Sound supplied a system built around MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.

The main system utilised left and right arrays, each consisting of 13 MILO cabinets and one MILO 120 high-power expanded coverage loudspeaker underhung for downfill. Eight 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers were groundstacked on each side to provide added firepower.

A centre array of MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeakers completed the set-up. "The MSL-4s on the ground were for extra side coverage and a little bit of front fill," comments system technician Tony Szabo. "We used eleven MSL-4s in total, just to fill the spaces. Instead of putting a side hang up in the air, we threw a few more fills in there at ground level. Two LD-3s (compensating line drivers) are used to drive the MILOs."

"The Meyer S

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UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout was recently appointed by London-based events and communications agency Sixth Sense UK to design and supply the production rigging for a multi-media presentation for Unilever UK Foods. Sixth Sense's producer, Sarah Donegan and production manager, Cliff Zenker, along with their appointed set designer, Steve Hicks of Parallel Notion, interpreted Unilever's brief to design a one-day event that would reiterate the vision for the business and generate a feeling of passion and inspiration.

Staged in The Brighton Centre, the Sixth Sense team adhered to Unilever UK Foods corporate guidelines and conveyed Unilever's messages in a celebratory, informative and entertaining way to 650 members of staff from Crawley and factory sites across the UK. The presentation environment was set in the round, which promoted audience interaction and afforded cl

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USA - Two draft standards are available for public review on the ESTA website at the address provided below. BSR E1.20, Entertainment Technology - Remote Device Management over USITT DMX512, is available for public review until 11 October 2005, while BSR E1.24, Entertainment Technology - Dimensional Requirements for Stage Pin Connectors, is available for review until 18 October 2005.

The ending dates noted on the website are when the reviews end; on those dates the links to the review documents will disappear. BSR E1.20 describes a method of bi-directional communications over a USITT DMX512/1990 data link between an entertainment lighting controller and one or more remotely controlled lighting devices. The protocol also is intended to work with the ANSI E1.11-2004 control protocol. It allows discovery of devices on a DMX512/E1.11 network and the remote setting of D

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UK - Blitz Communications, part of the Blitz Charter Group, has been appointed as a preferred AV equipment and services supplier for corporate and private events at the Science Museum in London. The selection was made following a competitive tender, based on Blitz's flexibility, industry knowledge and range of equipment, say the company.

As a listed building with strict health and safety regulations, the Science Museum has rigorous controls regarding the use of external suppliers. Only companies on the preferred suppliers list can work in the building. Paul Hutton, managing director of Blitz, explains: "Achieving 'preferred supplier' status at venues as prestigious and popular as the Science Museum should be a business objective for any AV rental and staging company. It speaks volumes about the reputation and capability of Blitz that we have won this tender. It opens up a n

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UK - World famous percussionist Evelyn Glennie OBE will highlight the dangers of workplace noise to human health during a keynote speech at the 'Sound Off' conference at Earls Court on 12 October. Organized as part of the European Week for Safety and Health at Work, Sound Off will see speakers from sectors including entertainment, local government, construction, manufacturing and food and drink explain what they are doing to control noise in their workplaces, and the business benefits of doing so.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the minister responsible for health and safety at the Department for Work and Pensions will be on hand to open Sound Off, while the Health and Safety Executive will be launching their guidance on the new Noise Regulations, due to come into effect in February 2006.

Other speakers include senior audiology specialist at RNID, Angela King, chair of the safety co

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UK - LA Audio will give the UK launch of two diverse new products at the PLASA Show, to add to its broad range of pro audio equipment - Can-D and the PC90. Can-D is a headphone delay unit and amplifier for any live application. With delay times of up to 678ms, users can be 226m from the stage and still enjoy the sound of 'time-coherent cans', say the company, who add that a substantial headphone amplifier provides levels up to and including 'painfully loud' - "for all your listening needs".

The PC90 absolute phase checking system incorporates a separate emitter and receiver module, which can be used with its internal speaker and microphone or can connect via XLR to test phase accuracy throughout any audio system. The PC90's unique broadband pulse can detect polarity inversion regardless of time delay or distance. Seconds later, when the job's done, the two modules coup

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UK - Allen & Heath's range of industry-standard Xone mixers were installed on all of the main stages at the recent Glade festival, which took place near Newbury in July, hosting performances from dance music's leading artists across nine arenas.

A spin-off of the popular Glastonbury Glade Stage, this second Glade Festival attracted 10,000 visitors over the three days, covering all genres from techno, house, breaks, psy trance, dub, to ambient. Allen & Heath's MIDI-enabled Xone:92 was installed as standard on all the main stages,including the Main Dance Tent, Breaksday Tent, Origin Stage, and the Liquid Stage.

The Main Dance Tent boasted a line-up of the biggest names in the industry, including Sasha, AFX (aka Aphex Twin), Squarepusher, Speedy J, Carl Craig and Richie Hawtin. Allen & Heath's audiophile valve Xone:V6 mixer was also available on the Arena as a rotary option, and

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New Zealand - In an effort to help students and teachers get the most out of their theatrical endeavours and assist in the development of their abilities to understand and produce great stage lighting, Selecon is producing a series of six wall posters on Lighting the Stage under the project name Switched On.

The first two posters - The Light Fantastic and Getting an Angle on Lighting - have been distributed throughout the UK, New Zealand and Australia this year by participating Selecon dealers. The theme of each Switched On poster is fully supported with an on-line resource containing in-depth explanations and a series of exercises designed to help understand exactly what theatre lighting is, what it does and how you can achieve different looks and moods.

With an emphasis on approach and technique rather than product, the posters and web support con

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USA - XL Touring Video was fortunate enough to be a part of this project from the very early stages. Vince, Nikki, Mick and Tommy went through numerous incarnations of what they wanted on stage with production designer, Justin of Art Fag LLC. The resulting Carnival of Sins Tour was a great representation of the band and the fact that is one of the top five grossing tours speaks for itself. The collaboration of Motley Crue and Justin delivered the goods as evidence by fan reaction, say XL.

The tour consists of custom content by Brian Dressel of OVT, two Barco R18 Projectors and two Barco R5s provided by XL Touring Video. Band management is Alan Zulo, Chris Kasey and Jack Carson and touring on behalf of XL is Rob McShane as video director and Mike Casillas as projectionist.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - An Avolites Diamond 4 console was the control hub for a lighting and visual extravaganza in the Godskitchen Arena at Global Gathering 2005. Avolites consoles - mainly Pearl 2004s - were also in action on the other five arenas and in the Comedy Tent, all lit by Leeds-based Zig Zag Lighting.

This was the first time Zig Zag boss Neil Hunt has used a Diamond 4. "It was an ideal opportunity to put it properly though its paces and to get first hand feedback from my top programmers and operators," he comments. "We needed a desk with large capacity that was reliable, versatile and had Ethernet capability for the PixelDrive. The D4 was the solution - it has all the power and precision to do exactly what we needed."

The Godskitchen Arena rig was designed by Hunt and the D4 Vision was programmed and operated by Matt Holden-Jones, who ran lighting for most of the

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UK - Leading cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is using a variety of AKG microphones for his new Bossa Nova band, an invigorating project that's breathing new life and energies into classic Latin Melodies and sultry sambas.

Lloyd Webber has long been an AKG advocate, which has been his microphone of choice for his cello both live and in the studio for some years. Currently, Bossa Nova's gigs utilize an all-AKG mic set-up, explains Lloyd Webber's long-term sound engineer, Ben Fitzgerald. These are all supplied via AKG's UK distributor, Harman Pro UK. His favourite for the cello is the classic AKG C414, a superlative quality microphone specially designed for accurate and finely detailed pickup of acoustic instruments.

The band tours their own mics everywhere, so they're a vital element of the show, and then utilise the venue's sound system. "One of the many beauties of using AKG,

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Italy - Global Display Solutions (GDS), the leading designer and manufacturer of industrial displays, has opened an outdoor test facility in Cornedo, Italy, to provide the capacity to rigorously test its outdoor displays in real environmental conditions, offering its customers total quality assurance that its displays can endure all weather conditions.

This new facility allows GDS to track the actual behaviour of the monitor once it has been installed in the field. The displays tested in the new facility are all connected through an intranet system, which allows GDS to collect and compare their data: all temperature, humidity and sun power radiation values are recorded into a server computer. A complicated evaluation of this data allows GDS to map the most reliable thermal cooling system for each display and application. This test also enables GDS to verify the laboratory simula

  1. ETC sponsors UK student for LDI 2005
  2. Lighting Partners sales success
  3. PALME's Install focus
  4. PSL Exhibitions picks up contracts
  5. Avolites on The South Bank
  6. TASC provides Nexo/Camco combo
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