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

Sound

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UK - Now that Blur has played a final encore in a field in the north of England, it is possible to look back on the remarkable first season for Nexo's GEO T Tangent Array System, which, within its first six months of production, has played its part in front of over 700,000 music fans in Europe alone.

This is an impressive debut for a new stadium sound system and a reflection of the confidence of 'early adopters' like SSE Hire (UK), Melpommen (France), DPA SoundCo (Denmark) and Show Company (Singapore) that they have put GEO T directly into high-profile live situations such as the Glastonbury Festival.

In the UK, the season of large summer festivals has been dominated by SSE Hire and the GEO T system. Over two consecutive weekends in August, the SSE team services four music events, the Virgin-sponsored V2003 held in Weston Park (north England) and Chelmsford (south-east England

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UK - Bosch Security Systems has announced the availability of Intellivox PA loudspeakers, which incorporate Digital Directivity Control (DDC), which allows the loudspeaker's sound output to be 'shaped' under PC software control to match the requirements of any venue. This makes them ideal for both general public address and emergency voice evacuation systems in venues such as large halls and exhibition centres, public buildings and entertainment venues, railway stations, airports, churches and cathedrals. The extensive integrated remote monitoring also makes Intellivox loudspeakers extremely reliable and suitable for use in emergency evacuation or voice alarm systems to IEC 60849 and BS5839 part 8 standards.

Each individual loudspeaker in the line-array has its own Class-D amplifier and can be driven independently under the control of a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), resulting

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

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UK - CP Sound has completed a new sound and LED lighting installation at the Terraces Bar & Grill in Brighton for Glendola Leisure. The circular building, on the site of the old Seaworld, was originally erected four years ago as part of the Aquarium Terraces project.

Essex-based Pembroke Design was appointed to create the interiors. As a totally separate element to the sound design of the project, CP's Colin Pattenden decided to show their new side-lit, etched substrate LED panel to the designers, who sought an eye-catching form of bar illumination and were suitably impressed to order 10 to go at the rear of the bars.

The CP Sound LED panels are all etched with an attractive montage of pebbles. Four sit behind the upstairs bar and six at the rear of the downstairs bar. They are made from a special 10mm thick white, clear glass with polished edges to allow the passage of light

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UK - Adlib Audio supplied sound systems for all five stages at Liverpool's famous Mathew Street Festival, now the UK's largest free annual outdoor music festival and celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. 300,000 people crowded into Liverpool city centre for the August Bank Holiday Monday.

The festival also merged with the conclusion of the week-long International Beatles Convention, which saw presentations, talks, seminars and markets dedicated to every possible aspect of Liverpool's best known export. Adlib were also responsible for servicing all the sound needs of the Adelphi Hotel, the Royal Court Theatre and the Barcelona Club where hundreds of the Best of Beatles bands from all over the world performed. Adlib employed over 40 crew, working around-the-clock in shifts at the various sites used by the two events.

Run by Liverpool City Council's Cultural Events Departm

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UK - PLASA is emphasizing the importance of training development via the PLASA Professional Development Programme (PDP).The format for this year's education programme at the PLASA Show has changed to offer a wider choice with sessions ranging from technical workshops for technicians through to business seminars for freelancers and company start-ups.

The industry seminars have been expanded to cover a wide range of topics on current debates including 'Theatrical Fog - Knowing when Enough is Enough' and 'White Lighting versus Colour in Architectural Application'. Conversely the masterclasses will provide a forum for industry experts to share their knowledge. Speakers will include Brough Skingley from English Heritage on 'Lighting Up The Past - the Conflict Between Historical Accuracy and Modern Technology' and Bruce Jackson of Lake Technology on 'Sydney Olympics' Audio Design.'

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UK - Ray Balcombe has joined the ever-expanding Stagetec team as education consultant. He comes onboard just in time for PLASA and just ahead of the Slough-based lighting and audio sales and installation specialists' major move to Bracknell.

Balcombe was previously working at Redbridge Drama Centre in East London. As a specialist in theatre and educational markets, his role at Stagetec will encompass education, theatre and drama sectors, focusing on development and cross-fertilisation within these vertical markets. He has an excellent track record, having trained at LAMDA and worked on tour and in the West End with major theatrical productions including Billy, A Chorus Line, A Little Night Music, Hair and Godspell.

Balcombe has also worked around the world as a theatre lighting designer and as an LD and technical director for major corporat

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USA - Crown International recently announced that it has received ISO 9001:2000 certification of its Quality Management System. Crown president Blake Augsburger commented: "Our Quality Management System was designed to keep us on track as we develop and market products and services that are of the highest quality, and that exceed our customer's expectations. We have made it a priority to put this system in place, and to manage our business with a focus on quality."

Crown originally achieved certification to the ISO 9002:1994 standard in 1999. This new version of the ISO quality standard places a greater emphasis on top management involvement in the Quality System, as well as a focus on continual improvement. The company's Quality Management System will be re-examined every six months to ensure on-going compliance with the standard.

(Ruth Rossington)

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UK - A.C. Lighting has announced a new staff appointment at the company's headquarters in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Philip Norfolk joins as product manager for the rapidly expanding portfolio of products for which A.C. Lighting holds exclusive UK or worldwide distribution. In this new role, Norfolk will be dividing his time between the road and the company's headquarters in High Wycombe.

Norfolk has spent his entire working life in the entertainment lighting industry and joins the company from Martin Professional, where he held the role of UK stage studio and events segment manager. Prior to this, Norfolk worked in Chicago for Tech Lighting as sales training manager and specification sales manager, having also spent 13 years at the Lighting Technology Group where he moved from equipment sales up to the role of key account manager.

Phill Capstick, sales director at A.C. Li

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UK - Lightfactor Sales launches its distributorship of EKS' revolutionary XP10 audio pad at PLASA 2003. The XP10 is one of the first real 'plug and play' system for playing digital audio streams - making it a reality for DJs to carry all their playing equipment - including music - around in the average sized briefcase.

When connected to a PC, the XP10 provides direct control over file playback and has the ability to 'scratch' the digital audio stream via its 4.5" touch-sensitive vinyl emulation wheel. Just like vinyl and the very latest CD players, tracks can be stopped with the fingers and the wheel can be used for cueing.

The XP10's device controller is near-pocket sized and weights under 400g, but boasts features found in larger, heavier DJ equipment. Audio quality is 'hi-fi' in texture, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 105 dB or more, say EKS.

XP10 connects to a PC

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Switzerland - The 37th Montreux Jazz Festival closed its doors at the end of July with a suitably rousing ZZ Top concert in the Stravinski Hall, the main auditorium in the Congress Centre perched on the Lake Geneva waterfront. It was the culmination of 17 days of music and performance that featured acts from across the musical spectrum performing on a variety of stages, both inside and out.

The Festival drew some top names with 2003 headliners including Radiohead, Yes, Bonnie Raitt, Jethro Tull, Cypress Hill, Morcheeba, Craig David, Herbert Gronemeyer, Stereophonics, George Benson and The Pretenders - plus just about every musical genre you might care to mention.

The production elements of this ambitious schedule were managed by technical co-ordinator Andre Vouilloz, while audio aspects were in the hands of Patrick Vogelsang, MD of Meyer's Swiss distributor Niveau2 and the fes

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UK - Mach is launching a passive version of its M-Flex series of professional, moulded loudspeakers, at PLASA this year. The company is also launching an active version of the M-Flex Sub. This gives the company a complete line of high-powered performance speakers. Features include excellent voice clarity, DSP control with digital limiters for optimal protection, on board mixing facilities, two Line input plus microphone, ultra simple plug and play for fast setup, punchy low end, uniformed, wide dispersion and active linking for wide coverage. The cabinets are compact and lightweight in design with intelligent bracketing for easy cluster arrangements.The new SP12 stage monitor is a unique, low profile monitor. Already finding its way into stage applications this summer, the SP12 is also ideal for TV and theatre environments. Featuring high SPL and power handling, it provides high g

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USA - Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Starlight Express first opened at the Apollo Victoria, London, in 1984, enjoying nearly 18 years of success there. Now it has a new incarnation as an American touring production, with dates scheduled until the end of the year.

Designed by John Napier for Troika Entertainment, it features an updated score and instead of the race track that was an integral part of the original show, it now has stunning stereoscopic 3D race sequences projected using a custom-built rig, from London-based 3D specialist, Inition.

Stuart Cupit, James Gant, Chris Sutton and Andy Millns formed Inition in 2001. The team has a passion for 3D graphics, creating a range of virtual reality (a.k.a. VizSim) graphics products and services, including the recently-launched Duality range of stereoscopic projection rigs. Although 3D projection has featured in themed entertainment instal

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UK - Ocean Frontier is a new visitor experience located in the remote and beautiful environs of Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland. Berkshire-based CGA undertook the lighting, sound and AV installation, working closely with Lightfactor Sales who supplied the LDR lighting fixtures, LightProcessor control, Denon amplifiers and playback machines, and over 70 Apogee Near speakers - the UK's first theme park installation of these enclosures. To this, CGA added Hantarex video monitors, NEC projectors, a DVD player, custom multimedia PCs and a Peavey MediaMatrix system.

The attraction's centrepiece is a 5m deep themed Atlantic reef, contained in a massive seawater tank, and complete with a 10m-long wreck of the 'Kaye Louise' which also provides habitats for indigenous creatures such as conger eels and lobsters.

Areas inside the venue include the Ocean Theatre, a presentat

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UK - Proel will field an impressive line-up of new products at this year's PLASA. Brand new for this year is the latest development of Proel's touring system speaker range - the Edge Series. Firmly aimed at the top end of the professional market, the Edge series contains some key products, epitomized by the mighty EDGE121SP 21" subwoofer. A single direct radiation bass-reflex design, this model uses a 21" speaker with a 4" voicecoil with ISV (Interleaved Sandwich Voice Coil Technology) for maximum heat dispersal and reliability, also assisted by the double-ventilated die-cast aluminium basket design. Capable of handling 800W AES continuous (1600W peak), the 121SP has a sensitivity of 98dB and a frequency response from 25Hz. Also making its debut is another subwoofer, the Edge series 218SP (1600W continuous AES) which features twin 18" speakers fitted with 4&quo

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Europe - Arbiter Pro Audio has supplied Liverpool-based Adlib Audio with a large quantity of JBL VerTec line array elements for David Bowie's upcoming 'A Reality' tour. The tour kicks off in Copenhagen in October for a three-month, 14-country European stint.

Adlib won the contract after working with Bowie's FOH engineer Pete Keppler on the Eels this summer. Keppler specified a VerTec system for the tour after using it for the first time at last year's inaugural 'Move' festival in Manchester, which was headlined by Bowie.

Adlib was the first UK hire company to invest in JBL's renowned line array system back in 2001 soon after its launch. Since then, it's been in constant use on a myriad of tours and events around the world. The latest deal, co-ordinated by Arbiter's Karl Bates, sees Adlib supplying 32 VT4889 full-size enclosures, 32 VT4880 subs, 32 4888 medium-sized VerTecs an

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UK - On June 28, Robbie Williams started one of this summer's most anticipated European tours. After skimming round Europe, as part of an 18-date, 10-country tour, he rounded it all off with three headline dates at Knebworth in the UK.

Most of the press surrounding the event focused on the awful travel experiences of many of the thousands of fans who travelled to Knebworth - 375,000 in total across the three shows - ourselves included. And let's face it travel chaos made for good headlines, as did the sheer number of people who were packed into Knebworth Park: this was not an event for anyone with a fear of crowds - 120,000 plus each night - although a large proportion of these stood no chance of actually seeing the star of the show directly.

However, it was the show itself that made the delays, travel headaches, expensive 'pints' of beer and enormous viewing distances worth i

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UK - In recent years, Orbital has become an increasingly familiar name to readers of L&SI. During that time the company has carved itself a healthy slice of the West End theatre sound rental market (credits include Chicago, Bombay Dreams and the new Rod Stewart Musical Tonight's The Night), championed the introduction of digital mixing technology to that market, committed resources to training and education initiatives and, most recently, introduced a contract maintenance operation which is already doing rather well.

But that's not all. If you work in broadcasting, you might know of Orbital as a specialist provider of broadcast communications systems and expertise. If you're involved with museums, heritage and cultural sites, you may know of the company as a proponent of Sennheiser's guidePORT personal tour guide system: during September Orbital will complete a major guidePORT p

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UK - Here, as promised last month, we round-up some of the main highlights of our industry's contribution to this year's Glastonbury Festival.

- Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage has traditionally been equipped with Turbosound Flashlight systems, but this year, in a major departure for the organizers, SSE Hire provided one of the world's largest Nexo GEO T Tangent Array systems. Nearly 100 GEO T4805 cabinets were used, configured with two far-field arrays of 24 cabinets each (25m offstage each side) and two near-field arrays of 11 cabs flown from SSE's Teepee structures, each about 7m offstage. There was also a centre array of six T4805s for centre image/near-field, and two field delays (eight cabinets each) 130m down-range from the system. Camco Vortex amplifiers powered the whole system. SSE's Chris Beale says they used 12 CD-18 subs per side, plus nine S2 subs under the near-field

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Switzerland - The 37th Montreux Jazz Festival closed its doors at the end of July with a suitably rousing ZZ Top concert in the Stravinski Hall, the main auditorium in the Congress Centre perched on the Lake Geneva waterfront. It was the culmination of 17 days of music and performance that featured acts from across the musical spectrum performing on a variety of stages, both inside and out.

The Festival drew some top names with 2003 headliners including Radiohead, Yes, Bonnie Raitt, Jethro Tull, Cypress Hill, Morcheeba, Craig David, Herbert Gronemeyer, Stereophonics, George Benson and The Pretenders - plus just about every musical genre you might care to mention.

The production elements of this ambitious schedule were managed by technical co-ordinator Andre Vouilloz, while audio aspects were in the hands of Patrick Vogelsang, MD of Meyer's Swiss distributor Niveau2 and the fes

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France - Following their show-stopping appearance at the Glastonbury Festival this summer, Radiohead went on to complete the European festival leg of their 'All Hail To The Thief' world tour.

Lighting designer Andi Watson had been keen to develop a concept that was practical to tour for festivals as a 'special', but which could also be incorporated into the lighting rig and visual elements as the tour developed. Originally, he thought in terms of a video-based solution, but this transmuted into the idea of having a row of colour-changing LED battens upstage, capable of producing a variety of spectacular effects, as well as introducing a layer of texturing and depth to the stage.

Watson researched the LED products currently on the market before deciding on the James Thomas Pixelline 1044 batten, of which 48 were rigged vertically, end-to-end on 24 Manfrotto stands. Watson reali

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A brand new line of digital accessories - the 'DigiBox' range - has been unveiled by LA Audio. The new range, which includes versatile digital toolboxes, housed in compact aluminium cases, comprises an AES channel divider, AES/SPDIF converter, AES three-way splitter, SPDIF four-way splitter, word clock/super clock generator, word clock/super clock converter and four-way word clock distributor. LA Audio also has its new G400 four-channel frequency-conscious noise gate on display, and the GC400 - a two-channel auto compressor and frequency-conscious noise gate.

Audient is displaying one of the first production units of its brand new eight-channel mic pre-amp, the ASP008. This compact, 1U rack-mount unit features eight mic preamplifiers, developed from the mic-pre design used in the company's ASP8024 recording console and the Aztec Live Performance console. All channels include XLR input

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DiGiCo has introduced the DiGiTRACS at PLASA 2003. This is a dedicated 56-track hard disk multitrack recorder that allows a soundcheck or live performance to be recorded and recalled. It also provides the benefit of an extremely compact show or tour recorder. At the heart of DiGiTRACS is Merging Technologies' Pyramix software and its powerful Mykerinos DSP card.

Designed with simplicity in mind, the DiGiTRACS is built into a rugged 4U 19" rackmount casing with internal cooling, and connects to the FOH D5 Live using two BNC MADI cables. The unit is rackmounted on rails, with a lockable front panel, and slides out for easy access.

400Gb of media storage is provided by a high reliability RAID multiple hard disk array for maximum data security. It also features an 80Gb removable 'caddy' drive for archiving, back-up and post-production data exchange. The front panel provides USBII

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To celebrate the world launch of Meyer Sound's long-awaited UPJ-1P - the compact and cost-effective sister to the world-famous UPA - Autograph Sales has announced a very special PLASA show offer for the first 100 units purchased in the UK.

The UPJ-1P is the first Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeaker system to incorporate VariO technology - a unique system that allows the 80x50 HF horn to be rotated through 90° without compromising the loudspeaker's awesome performance. This allows the UPJ to be a true workhorse - equally suited to main FOH duty, as a front fill, under balconies or even as a monitor wedge.

The UPJ-1P represents a major milestone for Meyer Sound's UK customers; based on the concepts that have made the UPA-1P the most successful self-powered loudspeaker ever, the new addition to the family opens up a world of audio possibilities for rental companies in every market.

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German manufacturer HK Audio has launched its new Cohedra line array system at PLASA. The development phase for Cohedra alone has taken more than two years, during which the focus has been on phase linearity, ease of use and above all, natural dynamics, hence the name Cohedra - Coherent Dynamic Response Array. In terms of unit size and weight, Cohedra falls into the category of compact line array systems, so will offer significant handling advantages. The company has chosen not to integrate bass speakers into the flown array, instead going with a new external bass solution (although no specific details on this were available at time of going to press). Since March, prototype systems have been used at several major music festivals and events, including recent testing in concert with Deep Purple and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

HK Audio - Stand G110

  1. Martin Audio on show with W8LM
  2. New CM Series from Logic System
  3. Allen & Heath adds to iDR range
  4. Audio Element: electrostatic transducers
  5. Britannia Row signs up for DiGiCo D5 trio at PLASA
  6. ConferenceONE from Shure - world debut at PLASA
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Astera - June 2025
GLP - MPU - Feb, Apr 2025

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