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Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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AMS Neve has recently signed an initial one-year sponsorship deal with the Music Producers Guild (MPG). The aim of the sponsorship deal is to help further the profile and work carried out by the MPG and to maintain AMS Neve's awareness amongst the producer community. AMS Neve supplies analogue and digital mixing consoles and hard disk recorder/editors to facilities worldwide.

The MPG is an association made up of over 300 record producers, recording engineers and programmers. Andy East, MPG chairman says: "AMS Neve's sponsorship package is another significant development for the continued growth and future of the MPG. It underlines our commitment to the membership in aligning ourselves with an established and highly respected manufacturer that recognizes our members' contribution t

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The recent Pop Idol and the current Johnny Vaughan show have been two of the UK's top music entertainment shows over the past months, and just part of the client roster of newly-formed TV sound suppliers, Plus 4 Audio. In order to continue to service its clients’ needs, the company has recently invested in three Klark Teknik DN1248 Plus microphone splitters supplied by Marquee Audio, with a fourth to come at the end of the month.

Plus 4's Stewart Chaney explains why he decided to create the company. "Quite simply I was frustrated at the lack of high quality audio facilities for TV, particularly in the music and entertainment sector where the need is particularly pressing. Having come from a rock and roll/corporate environment, both of which are extremely well provided for, I wanted to create the same service for the market I now work in, which is TV broadcasting, and so Plus

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Blackout Triple E recently supplied two striking theatrical backdrops for the St. James’s Place Group’s one day annual company meeting held at The Royal Albert Hall. Attended by nearly 2,500 employees, the event successfully fused the annual meeting with St. James’s Place’ tenth anniversary celebrations.

Blackout Triple E’s creative team worked closely with the show producers Creating Sunshine, to realize the creative effect of the complex stage design. A stunning 16 x 6 metre fine grey gauze drape was custom designed, manufactured and hand painted at Blackout’s South London facility, to work as a semi-opaque screen in the foreground. This also provided a canvas onto which a light show, designed by Quentin Jarman, was projected from both sides. In addition Blackout supplied 30 metres of starcloth as the backdrop to achieve a galaxy-like effect.

(R

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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From the opening ceremonies until the last medal is awarded, Vari-Lite Inc will play a prominent role in lighting the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. More than 1,200 Vari*Lite luminaires are being used to light events within and surrounding the Olympic Games, including the nightly concerts following the medals presentations at the medals plaza.

Rusty Brutsché, chairman and CEO of Vari-Lite, said: "Just as the athletes have spent years training for the competition, organizers have shown the same dedication in preparing for the way the games and events are presented. We were up here exactly a year ago for a trial run on the opening ceremonies, so it has been a painstaking process to make sure the proper equipment is in place and being used. Vari-Lite is extremely proud to be an integral part in the way these events are presented worldwide."

A lighting package th

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Entering a high-profile competition to win a superb HK Audio Projector PA system as recently run by Music Mart magazine certainly paid off big time for one lucky reader. Trying not to look too stunned as he collected his sound reinforcement haul was Farnborough-based winner, Richard Payne. Richard, 21, who works in customer services in an energy management company, is a big fan of the south of England’s techno scene, and had been saving hard for a deposit for a decent PA system when he received the good news.

Richard collected an £8999 3.6kW self-powered active Projector system from the head office of exclusive HK Audio UK & Eire distributors, John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. Richard is already making plans for his new system, including getting it out working on the South’s techno circuit, and setting it up on a pitch at Glastonbury 2002.

(Ruth Rossington)

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

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PSL is the first video projection rental company in the UK and US to invest in High End Systems' new Catalyst image manipulation system, which turns ordinary video projectors into artistic tools. Winner of five technical awards in 2001-2002, Catalyst offers users a unique new tool that integrates the video and lighting industries.

At the heart of the system is the Catalyst Media Server (video processing computer and video/DMX interface). This provides an unlimited range of real-time image processing capabilities. Designers can load their own still or moving images or select from an extensive library of stock files. They can then scale, rotate, zoom, edit, morph, colour mix or overlay to create the desired effect. Images can be projected anywhere in three-dimensional space using Catalyst's unique orbital movement system. The head provides 250 degrees by 360 degrees of movement and can b

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Following the demise of Out Board Electronics Ltd, which entered into voluntary liquidation in November 2001, the ‘assets, name and goodwill’ of the company have been purchased from the liquidators by the company’s original founder and inventor of TiMax, Robin Whittaker, and former commercial director, Dave Haydon.

Whittaker and Haydon have incorporated a new company called Sheriff Technology Ltd, which will trade under the ‘Out Board’ name. The new company will focus its core business on TiMax and its applications, as well as future peripheral and related audio and media technology development and marketing. The company is establishing manufacturing and marketing joint-ventures in chain-hoist motor control, PAT testing and AC distro in order to maintain and develop market support and growth in these technology sectors.

For its core audio control produc

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

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Many of the top names in the lighting industry watched as the new Vari-Lite VL1000 ellipsoidal reflector spotlight was put through its paces in collaboration with the Vari-Lite Series 2000 products at a recent open day hosted by Vari-Lite. The demonstration took place on Thursday, 7 February at The Manhattan Center Studios Grand Ballroom in New York. "The VL1000 continues the Vari-Lite tradition of providing the most reliable and innovative lighting systems available on the market," Bob Schacherl, Vari-Lite vice president of sales and marketing, told those in attendance.

Attendees, which included some of the top lighting professionals on Broadway, were treated to an exhibition showcasing the VL1000 ERS. Also on display, were the VL2202 spot luminaire, the VL2402 wash luminaire and the VL2416 wash luminaire.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Northamptonshire County Council is the first Council in Britain to have a Virtual Audio Network. The system, CDS-VAN, has come from Brähler ICS UK Ltd, as has a microphone and voting system, CDS-200. The latter was chosen to improve both the overall management of meetings and the audibility of the proceedings. The Council Chamber is now equipped with 74 councillors’ units. Each of these has removable directional microphones with in-built speakers to enhance audio reproduction. And the chairman’s unit has a priority button which gives it an override facility.

The system, supplied through Willow Communications of Northampton, was selected after an extensive evaluation process that involved other manufacturers, its unobtrusiveness and user friendly operation securing it the contract. The CDS-200 includes an integrated digital voting system. To signal a vote, delegates simply

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Britannia Row Productions (BRP) has added Jim Alexander to its ranks. Alexander is that classic of the industry, a former ENTS man from his time at college, who now specializes in the corporate event market.

"Although my first steps in audio were with live bands, it’s always been my ambition to service the corporate sector and do it properly," said Alexander. "I left college and immediately worked with a local PA company in Crawley who had an F2 system. A little hairy for a first system, I soon learned the fundamentals of sound control." A few years later Alexander established Forefront Audio with Jim Mills from Blue Box, determined to make the jump to corporate presentation. "Unfortunately, as with so many fledgling companies, we couldn’t service the jobs and provide the infrastructure and support they required simultaneously. We were either mixing

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Show Presentation Services has appointed Mike Fisher as its head of lighting, following Stephen Prince's return to lighting design on a freelance basis.

Mike Fisher joined SPS in 1999 as Prince's right-hand man and over the last two years the duo have established SPS as a major player in the conference lighting market. He told us: "Everyone at SPS was unhappy to see Stephen Prince leave, but his ideas, drive and vision have given us a great platform. Now it’s my job to let our established clients know how the SPS lighting department can help them whilst maintaining the highest standards."

Mike Fisher was previously sales and marketing director of Cerebrum Lighting and was part of the team that established the brands of Celco and Powerdrive in the eighties and nineties. More recently he had returned to freelance lighting design whilst continuing marketing strategy with

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One of the most enduring effects in the club scene is the Strobeflower from Luton-based lighting specialists, OPTI. When it was first launched, it proved an instant hit with promoters because it combined laser-like effects without the cost and complexity associated with true lasers. As a result, it has become one of the all-time classic effects for concerts, clubs and events all over the world.

Now it’s received an important updating which puts it right back into the forefront of dance music theatre. OPTI has introduced a DMX to Analogue converter box that can be used with its Club Strobeflower, Terrastrobe or the Shutter/Dimming option of the K Range projectors to allow easier control from a central lighting desk. Taking advantage of this development, UK lighting hire company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) based in Park Royal, London, have converted their entire hire stock of OP

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The film and TV equipment hire business of VFG Plc has been bought from administrative receivers KPMG by a management team backed by HBoS and ING Barings. In a deal worth £15million, the new company - VFG Hire Ltd - comprises the operational business of VFG Plc, together with its principal assets and liabilities.

VFG Plc went into administrative receivership on 20 December 2001, having found itself over invested in new equipment. The new operation will operate as a private company, and is headed by executive chairman Bill Gore who has been advising the company for some time on the restructuring process. By mutual agreement Richard Dunkley steps down as managing director. Bob Sutcliffe will be joining the board as a non-executive director and Keith Long will be its new finance director. Graham Hawkins and Bill Summers remain as heads of the camera and lighting operations respectively.

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Incubus are currently enjoying a sold out world tour, coinciding with the runaway success of third album, Morning View.

The lighting designer for the tour is Joe Paradise, who took the bold step of choosing an all-Martin MAC moving light rig - there’s not a generic light in sight! So far, 16 MAC 600s, four 500s, eight 300s, ten 250s and four 2000s have been Paradise’s tools, arranged between two trusses and the floor, operated by Paradise using a WholeHog II console.

In the supply seat are the US and UK operations of Bandit Lites, who are providing lighting for the whole tour, which kicked off on September 14th and also takes in Japan and Australia before returning to play three months’ worth of arenas in the US. Paradise is a hands-on LD and currently it’s just him and Bandit US crew-member Geddy Kordyjaka in the lighting department, although the system was

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Shure unveiled its new Performance Gear Microphones at this year's Winter NAMM. The line, which is due to ship in the first quarter of 2002, is ideal for both the first-time buyer and the musician looking for reasonably-priced, application-specific microphones. Comprising six models designed for vocals and various instruments, all Performance Gear microphones come packaged with cables and mounting accessories to provide plug-and-play simplicity, as well as rugged reliability for onstage performance. As a complement to its individual models, the Performance Gear line additionally includes a pair of drum mic kits, both of which come in their own carrying cases.

Vocal models include the PG48 and PG58. The PG48, created for speech and karaoke, has a cardioid pick-up pattern and a smooth frequency response. For more demanding vocal applications such as lead and back-up vocals, the PG58 offe

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I half expected there to be fleets of Parka clad spotty youths on spangled scooters outside the venue. The billing alone was enough to evoke a mid sixties revival - the Who? Watford Town Hall? Surely not?

L&SI does not take lightly the privilege to exclusively witness this unique event, many thanks to Bill Curbishley (manager), Mick Double (production manager) and Tom Kenny (lighting designer) for their kindness.

In essence this was one of two warm-up venues for the Who’s brief residency at the Albert Hall - but of course, it was also so much more than that. How often do less than a thousand punters get the chance to see a band of this stature in such intimate surroundings? Feeling like the David Attenborough of R’n’R, I recognised instantly the natural habitat of this wildest of beasts, a seminal rock band in a provincial shoebox.

Mick Double joined the band as

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Cologne-based audio rental company, Toneheads, has bought a pair of Allen & Heath ML4000 mixing consoles for use on the hit comedy television show TV Total. The programme is produced by Brainpool for the ProsiebenSat.1 network and stars cult German TV personality and former Eurovision contestant, Stefan Raab. A 48-channel ML4000 console provides the house mix and broadcast feed, whilst a 32-channel version fulfills monitoring duties.

Their experience of using the consoles for TV Total has given Toneheads the confidence to invest in another two ML4000s. These additional mixers will be used in the production of two more successful ProsiebenSat.1 programmes, Wochenshow and Elton TV. The consoles were supplied by Expotus, the exclusive Allen & Heath distributor in Germany. ML4000 is a 23-buss live sound console with eight VCA groups, eight audio groups, 12 aux sends and an 11 x 4 matrix.

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The international conference on Theatre Engineering and Architecture 2002 will take place between 16th and 18th June 2002, in London.

Focusing on stage technology in its widest sense, and covering all types of performance venue, this is the first international conference structured to attract theatre technicians, architects, consultants, designers, engineers and acousticians, as well as administrators, building owners and project managers. The conference includes discussion on the current trends in stage machinery and other stage technologies, alongside debate about the types of, and need for, new buildings. The implications of new and existing regulations are to be examined, as well as the process of designing and constructing one of the most complex types of building. The conference, which is being presented by the Association of British Theatre Technicians in conjunction with its In

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MA Lighting’s grandMA control system made a big impact with lighting designer Chris Jaeger at the PLASA Show last September. Jaeger, a lighting designer with 20 years’ experience, was impressed enough by what he saw to follow up the demo with a more extensive evaluation of the desk at UK distributor AC Lighting Ltd’s new demonstration suite in High Wycombe.

From there, AC offered to loan a desk to Jaeger for a forthcoming production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Queens Theatre in Hornchurch, Essex. The production, directed by Matt Devitt, with set design by Dinah England, was set to run through seven weeks in December and January. Jaeger, along with the Queens Theatre’s house technician Dave Starmer, who handled the programming of the show, were full of praise for the system, with particular emphasis on the system’s programming facilities. "It&rsqu

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The news that some of the biggest names in the UK theatre industry are to launch a new venture which, if successful, will do much to boost the UK theatre market, can only be welcome news to those working in the sector.

Theatreshare will operate as a theatrical investment and production company, its main remit to develop and produce a range of new productions for London’s West End. To fund the venture, the company has gone for the rare approach, in West End terms at least, of inviting large numbers of small investors to buy in to the venture for a minimum stake of £2,500. The target is £2million.

The high-profile hook is the promise of a share in potential profits from ticket sales, theatre transfers and film and TV adaptations. The less appetising downside is made clear in smallprint on the company’s website - "this carries a high degree of risk and may result in t

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The Arcimboldi Theatre - temporary home to the La Scala Opera company whilst its famous home is being renovated - has found itself in the news again just weeks after opening.

A glass panel, one of 100 designed to improve acoustics at the venue, fell onto seating during a recent performance of the ballet Excelsior. Fortunately, the seats beneath were empty, cleared because technicians felt uneasy about cracks that had started to appear in some of the panels. Inevitably, this has led commentators to speculate on the safety of the theatre, which was constructed in just over two years in order to be ready for the start of the 2002 season. The theatre is currently closed whilst further investigations takes place.

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