Germany - London-based Park Avenue Productions collaborated with German sister company Citigate SEA to produce a spectacular live show for the launch of the newly-formed HSH-Nordbank in Hamburg. The event, staged at the city's Colour Line Arena, celebrated the merger of two of North Germany's main financial institutions - Hamburgische Landesbank and LB Kiel.

Whilst the event's logistics were handled by Citigate, it fell to Park Avenue to co-ordinate all the technical and creative aspects of the show, one of the highlights of which, was a dramatic 20-minute aerial display of colour and movement artistically directed by lighting designer Simon Tapping and choreographed by Micha Bergese- well known for his work on the Millennium Dome's Central show.

Park Avenue realized an ambitious immersive environment, which included the tasteful branding of all Colour Line's foyer, public an

USA - Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, on tour since August 2002, make their final stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 27 September. Audio Analysts, global tour sound suppliers for the Springsteen tour, recently expanded their JBL VerTec sound system for the stadium leg of the tour, making it the largest VerTec system assembled to date. "We wanted to have plenty of dynamic range, with seamless coverage everywhere," explained Albert Leccese, VP of engineering/touring for Audio Analysts. "We've been extremely happy with the performance of JBL's VerTec ystem."

The stadium-venue system consists of 120 VT4889 speakers and 56 VT4880 subwoofers configured in alternating rows. All are arrayed from the main stage position. No signal-delay towers have typically been required, as Audio Analysts' VerTec sound system design for the Springsteen world tour relies on lin

UK - Brighton's Komedia has become one of the most popular venues in the UK for the promotion of new talent in theatre, comedy, cabaret and music. It's also become a leading light on Edinburgh Festival's Fringe in recent years. Its theatre and smaller cabaret space pack in over 500 shows a year, a figure that's set to rise sharply with the completion this summer of a comprehensive re-fit.

The theatre's home for the past five years has been a none-too-elegant former Tesco supermarket building in Gardner Street, in the vibrantly bohemian North Laine district at the heart of Brighton. Inside is a different story, with the upper floor a traditional end-on 200-seat theatre complete with a small bar, and the downstairs room a smaller cabaret, music and comedy space.

Director Tim Hawkins explains: "The theatre's only used around three or four days a week, but that's still quite

UK - Skan PA Hire's attention to detail is immediately apparent on a visit to the FOH tower at Glastonbury, where the Reading-based company has provided PA and manpower for the second stage since 1991. Behind the two Midas Heritage consoles and equipment racks lurks a domestic scene equipped with sofa, coffee table stacked with audio magazines and a fully functioning kitchen built into 19" racks.

"We work with more than 60 sound engineers over the three days of the festival, and we only have a small window to make a good impression," says Skan director Chris Fitch. "Little details can make a big difference." Obviously this principle extends beyond domestic appliances to high standards of equipment, staff training and safety.

When Fitch and co-director Abby Llewellyn bought Skan from founder Peter Howard in 1996 (Fitch had worked for the company since

France - With the 'Midnight Sun' summer festival tour dates now confirmed, Jamiroquai got into the swing early by playing an unpublicized free concert to race-goers at the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race, on the evening of Saturday 14 June. An audience of 40,000 revelled as Jay Kay and the band gave an unbroken 135 minutes of seriously good entertainment.

The performance was the highlight of an Audi UK-sponsored mini-festival (which lasted considerably longer than their racing car!) with further performances being provided by French and Italian bands throughout the weekend. The event was managed by Indeprod, a live event, video and new media solutions provider, commissioned by Audi UK. The company was assisted by Le Mans-based companies Bebop and Acropolis.

Indeprod's Nigel Dean became France-based, taking on the onerous task of converting a tree-strewn, rubble-covered field in

UK / US - Sennheiser UK has announced a major distribution deal with US manufacturer, Rane Corporation. The Washington State-based company is a renowned innovator of affordable, problem solving, professional audio tools for the live touring, installation and DJ markets - an extensive range of which will be exhibited on Sennheiser's stand at PLASA 2003 (7-10 September), Earls Court, London.

Both companies view the agreement as a significant strategic move that will capitalize on complementary product lines. Sennheiser UK director of marketing, John Steven, comments: "Rane has an ideal product portfolio to fit with Sennheiser UK's existing brands, providing Sennheiser with an opportunity to offer extended systems integration solutions across a range of its customer markets.

"The RPM family of digital signal processors (DSP), coupled with Drag Net software, is a powerfu

UK - We're seated in a large sitting room with an impressive mantled fireplace at its centre. Built of massive stone blocks, the room contains small, familiar details. Framed paintings on the walls appear to be in motion; the gargoyles are both terrifying and friendly. Yes, it's the spooky, cosy world of Hogwarts and the 5,000 lucky children surrounding it are in a state of high excitement for the latest Harry Potter story, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, including an appearance by author JK Rowling.

Lighting & Video

Sponsored by Bloomsbury Publishing, and taking place at London's Royal Albert Hall, the event is driven by Clear Channel, as LD Mark Cunniffe explained. "Graham Pullen as executive producer and Katherine Allen from Initial were pivotal to making it work, while Phil Christianson in the production manager's seat did a fantastic job. There were

UK - The Orkney Islands, off the coast of Scotland, might be considered one of the least likely locations for a high-profile dance club and live music venue - but that is precisely what Neil Stevenson, who runs Groove Records and promotes bands on the island, has established in the capital of Kirkwall.

'Fusion', as he has called it, is literally that. And to serve bands' and DJs' technological interests, Stevenson has enlisted top-quality project management and leading pro audio brands. This, he believes, will give bands the comfort factor should they wish to play a secret gig prior to embarking on a major tour, and obviate the need to carry their own production, other than backline.

He thus turned to LMC Audio's Birmingham branch, whereupon the experienced Mark Bromfield set about putting together a sound and vision spec, based around Martin Audio Blackline loudspeakers and B

UK - Following a short spell away from the industry, Adrian Mulcahy has joined the sales team at Leisuretec Distribution Ltd. Mulcahy was formerly employed at Marshall Amplification in the role of Artist Liaison, where he was responsible for product endorsements. Prior to this he was worked for MI retailers Music Village, where he gained experience of the extremely competitive retail market.

Nick Spalding MD of Leisuretec Distribution commented on the appointment: "I am delighted that Adrian has joined our sales team as I believe he is very customer-focused, an element that is crucial in our aim to provide high levels of customer service through our 'Pure Distribution' policy'."

Leisuretec Distribution currently offers in excess of 5,000 products from more than 75 manufacturers to trade customers only.

(Ruth Rossington)

UK - PLASA Media has learned of the death of Arthur Lampkin, the founder of Wembley Loudspeaker. Paul MacCallum, who took the company over from Lampkin and is its current managing director, has provided us with the following obituary:

Arthur was from a large family of 10, and in his earlier years, life was a huge struggle for all of them. However, he managed a good Grammar School education and became interested with (then still relatively new) radio/wireless. During World War II, he was one of a secret team making concealed radios/transmitters for use by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the airforce.

Following the war, he was asked to set up a new loudspeaker factory in Wales (Truvoice - part of Phillips) and instigated the first flow-line assembly, along with various test procedures. In 1957 he moved back to London area and was the service manager for Goodmans L

UK - Vestax Europe has announced that it will be pulling together an all-star line up for DJ Sunday at PLASA 2003. The world famous Carl Cox will be launching his mixer, the PMC-CX, whilst Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown and Lisa Unique will launch the all-new PMC-500 club mixer, an industry standard of the future.

Meanwhile Andy Smith of Portishead and Dynamo Productions, will be performing his Document 2 album on the new Vestax scratch mixer and visitors will also be able to see DJ Pogo and Dj Biznizz (En4cers) perform on the Faderboard. Plus, the Vestax World Champion DJ Woody will be throwing open a challenge to all comers to show any innovative tricks on the PDX turntable with the opportunity to win a whole bunch of Vestax goodies. The company is also throwing a party on Sunday 7th with DJ Andy Smith and some very special guests lined up.

Vestax can be found on Stand H80.

(Ruth

UK - The Soundtracs DS-00 digital production console, launched at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas in April, has notched up its first 10 sales since it began shipping last month. The DS-00 breaks new ground in combining a wealth of high-end post-production and broadcast facilities in a compact, modular console at an unprecedented price point.

Among the first 10 customers is renowned songwriter/producer Peter Vettese, whose recent musical collaborations have included Mark Owen, Beverley Knight, Mel C and Annie Lenox's 'Bare' album. Peter is upgrading his Andy Munro-designed production room - Production Suite 2 - at Sphere Studios, south London, having used a Soundtracs Virtua console for several years.

Peter comments: "A lot of production rooms in London are focused around ProTools, which I use at Sphere, but I find that having an external mixing desk with plenty of headroo

The Netherlands - Rising Dutch singer/songwriter Tasha's World opted to use Trantec's award-winning S5000 wireless radio microphone system from the start of her professional tour 18 months ago. Her unique vocals have caused a stir in Europe, Japan and in the UK with her being awarded an Essent Award in June 2003. Numerous radio and television appearances, coupled with performances at major International Festivals, including The Lowlands Festival and Noorderslag Festival and more recently at the world famous North Sea Jazz in The Hague, have further propelled Tasha's World into a league of her own as one of Europe's most talented 'Hip Soul' artists.

Tasha's World performs live with a complement of eight musicians and two backing vocals. As a veritable 'jazz soul' set-up, Trantec's S5000 MC hand-held condenser microphone operates to maximum effect, providing an ideal complement fo

USA - UK console manufacturer Cadac is showing its S-Type compact live production console and the R-Type touring live production console on booth 743 at the 115th AES Convention, taking place in New York from 10-13 October 2003. Also on show will be the latest digital developments from the company's R&D team, with the production version of the D20 digital input mix matrix. Cadac will also be demonstrating its new M20 remote-controlled microphone amplifier, designed to operate with the D20 or as a stand-alone unit with the RM20 self-contained remote controller.

Cadac's S-Type console is building a strong international profile, with Cadac reporting orders across a wide range of applications - demonstrating the console's intrinsic flexibility. In the US, Masque Sound has recently deployed both S-Type and R-Type consoles for a variety of musical show and touring projects. The consol

UK - This year's PLASA exhibition will see the launch of several new products from Mackie Designs Inc brands EAW and SIA. PLASA will be the official UK launch of the new EAW KF730 SLAM (Small Array Module) and the European introduction of EAW's innovative new DSA (Digital Steerable Array) Series.

The KF730 SLAM packs a six-driver, horn-loaded KF Series design into an amazingly compact enclosure, setting a new standard for output per cubic metre. The full-sized mid/high horn fills the entire face of the enclosure, ensuring broadband 110° horizontal pattern control. The unique Phase Aligned LF design extends horizontal pattern control into the LF and a bi-amplified powering configuration (passive mid/high) reduces total system cost and complexity.

Users can quickly and easily construct vertical arrays ranging from 4-18 KF730 enclosures. As with the larger KF760 Series, the size

USA - Apogee Sound International has announced the installation of a custom-rigged Apogee ALA-3 line array loudspeaker system in the new Cherry Logan Emerson Concert Hall at the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University in Atlanta. The main centre-cluster Apogee loudspeaker system, as designed by Richard Laidman of Kirkegaard Associates, features custom rigging constructed by Apogee to be ultra-compact, to enable it to retract into a very tight space in the ceiling of the 825-seat concert hall. "Apogee was extremely helpful in creating the rigging system to fit the available space," said Laidman.

When needed, the cluster is lowered from the attic space by an electric hoist system. The loudspeaker cables are reeled and unreeled, eliminating the need for the typical large and unsightly cable-catching tub. For unamplified performances, the

Greece - Situated in Markopoulo, some 40km from the gates of Athens, the new Olympic Equestrian Center is setting new standards of excellence in the riding world in terms of modernity, amenities and spectator comfort. The centre in fact comprises four different stadiums: the three outdoor stadia for dressage, show jumping and horse racing and a fourth general purpose stadium indoors. This is one of a total of 26 venues that have been, or are being, built for the Olympic Games scheduled for Athens in 2004.

The vast dimensions of the equestrian arenas posed logical and technical problems, not least in terms of sound reinforcement. Omikron Control SA was entrusted with the task of installing a sound system capable of solving the problems, and chose to rely upon products from Electro-Voice. The new DSP-controlled Precision Series amplifiers of the RL series form the heart of the ins

UK - PLASA 2003 will see the UK launch of the E Series switchmode amplifiers. The first two models, E25 (1250W/channel into 4 ohms) and E15 (750W/channel into 4 ohms), both in 2U chassis, will be on display at PLASA 2003. With a stunning new-look front panel, these lightweight amps have been designed specifically for the touring market and to the same high standards of reliability and sound quality for which MC2 Audio products have gained a world-wide reputation.

The series will be expanded with a bigger amp (2000+W/channel into 4 ohms), also in a 2U chassis, later this year. All MC2 Audio products are covered by a five-year warranty.

MC2 Audio can be found on stand EE42.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Following its move to a new facility in the main Bosch HQ in Denham, Bosch Security Systems has just opened an enhanced new integrated demonstration centre for its CCTV, Fire and Intrusion, PA and Congress products. The demonstration centre allows the company's growing product and systems range to be demonstrated at a single location, either as separate products and linked together as integrated systems.

"For the first time, our installers, consultants and customers can see our full range of products and how they can be inter-linked to form complete integrated systems for alarms, announcements, evacuation and building management - all in a single well-equipped location," said MD Joe McCann at the official opening. ""More and more installers and customers are interested in integrating remote surveillance and fire/intrusion detection along with evacuation

France - Professional audio technologies developer and manufacturer, RCF (a Mackie Designs brand), has recently been involved in an extensive audio installation at the famous Charles De Gaulle International airport in Paris. The company supplied a range of equipment to fit a public address system in the airport's new Terminal two building and Terminal two car park.

700 RCF SP400s and 300 RCF SP300 speakers were installed in Terminal two's passenger lounge, whilst for the Terminal two car park, 360 RCF loudspeakers, mounted in metallic cases, were specified. Three racks of equipment were also installed in the technical room of Terminal two: the first rack consisted of an RCF CP3100 control unit, an RCF MB3200 mainframe, an RCF RD2008 digital cassette recorder/ player for announcements, an RCF DX810 digital audio mixer/ signal processor, three RCF PS3400 power suppliers plus a spa

UK - In July 2003, Essex-based Clarity in Sound Light & Vision Ltd became Leisuretec Distribution's 100,000th customer since the Company's inception in 1990. Clarity purchased a Trantec radio mic system, used as part of a complete sound system for a swimming gala event at a leisure centre in Hertfordshire.

Clarity specializes in supply and installation of audio, lighting and visual equipment to theatres, schools, churches and leisure centres. Stuart Graham, managing director of Clarity said: "We offer superb technical support and product knowledge to our customers, built upon knowledge gained from spending the last 25 years working in the leisure and entertainment industry, including a period spent working at Leisuretec Distribution as technical sales manager."

Leisuretec's managing director Nick Spalding commented: "It was pure coincidence that our 100,000th cu

UK - Sennheiser UK has announced a significant extension - to 10 years - of the warranty period on all wired models from its Evolution microphone series. The increase, from the industry standard one year guarantee, is applicable to microphones sold in the UK since March 1st, 2003 and underscores the reliability that the Evolution series has demonstrated since its introduction in 1998.

John Steven, director of marketing for Sennheiser UK, comments: "The Evolution wired mic series has proven more successful than ever we hoped. Given careful design, stringent manufacturing techniques and high standards of quality control, we seldom hear complaints and rarely see returns. It makes perfect sense to us to underpin the sales success of the series with a full 10-year warranty. With the quality of these products, we don't expect to be seeing many more returns within a 10-year perio

USA - Musical legend Bryan Ferry is taking an array of Audio-Technica microphones across the water for a short stateside tour with Roxy Music, with AT4054s on vocal duty, AT4050s on electric guitars and overheads and AT4047s covering the acoustic guitars.

Taking a short break before full production rehearsals begin, the tour's monitor engineer, Steve May, explained why the trademark characteristics of the A-T range appealed to the sound crew. "I know it sounds like a standard press release quote, but A-T's mics genuinely sound great and are very reliable. As a live act those are the two main things that you look for in your mics, so it's no surprise that there is a strong A-T presence on the channel list for this tour and for Bryan's solo gigs. The band also use a number of Audio-Technica mics in the studio, so having a similar line-up out on the road enables us to achieve

UK - Hawthorn Theatrical selected Allen & Heath mixers for use throughout the 5th annual Sprite Urban Games, held from 25-27 July 2003 on Clapham Common in South West London, UK. This increasingly popular free sports festival, revolving around BMX, skateboard, breakdancing and music, saw several improvements this year including a larger B-Boy arena and enhanced Freestyle Motorcross (FMX) jump, as well as an impressive line-up of underground London DJs from the likes of Botchit & Skarper, Catskills, Marine Parade, FAT and the Funkin'Pussy crew.

Hawthorn provided all the audio equipment for the event, selecting Allen & Heath mixers in all the arenas. A Xone:02 scratch mixer was installed on the main stage, running through a GL2200 live sound console at front-of-house. Two Xone:02 mixers were set up for battle mixing on the B-Boy arena, run through a GL2 console. There were also Xo

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