Having already made a lot of friends in the live music industry, XTA's versatile SiDD processor is proving itself an essential tool for sound engineers in the corporate market. Sound engineer Richard Waghorn is a regular SiDD user who has used the units on product launches and conferences for a range of high-profile clients, including Honda, TNT, DHL and One-2-One. He recently used the units at a management conference for global fast food retailer McDonalds, held at the Hilton Metropole hotel in London.

The conference hosted 1000 delegates and required 24 channels of audio, which comprised four lectern mics and a range of tieclip mics, plus VT stings and other playback elements. The sound was broadcast to the floor via Funktion One Resolution 2 loudspeakers. A major drawback of corporate

Visitors to the Serpentine Gallery might have wondered what was going on when LA-based artist Doug Aitken brought his New Ocean exhibition to Kensington Gardens, London Crowning the mixed media installation, which included 20 video projectors supplied by DVS, and audio throughout the building supplied by Total Audio, were two Coef Show 250 scanners (programmed on a Compulite Spark console) - supplied by i-Vision in conjunction with Fentura Productions.

Britannia Row Productions has recently signed the V-DOSC Network Agreement to join the worldwide network of L-Acoustics V-DOSC Partners since December 1st.

Since its foundation in 1975, Britannia Row Productions has developed a worldwide reputation, specializing in audio design, project management and the supply of sophisticated sound equipment with sound engineers and technicians for major events and concert tours. Britannia Row Productions has been using L-Acoustic systems for its tours and projects for several years. Britannia Row Productions will receive their first delivery by mid-December of a complete arena system.

Innovation - Turbosound’s official installer in Tyne and Wear - was recently commissioned to supply and install the sound system for a ‘wild west’ theme bar in Newcastle. Purpose-built on two floors, Buffalo Joe’s is the latest and now the largest theme bar to hit The Quayside, with a capacity of up to 1000 people.

Hosting a schedule of live entertainment six days a week - which includes a DJ throughout open hours, cabaret, live PA and bucking bronco - the owners considered the sound system to be a major priority. Innovation tendered successfully, and the company designed and installed the sound system, the main backbone of which is 12 Turbosound TCS-259 speakers positioned discreetly amongst the wild west props throughout the ground floor, six TCS-35 speakers set on the first floor, six TCS-118 subwoofers placed throughout the ground floor, along with one THL

In a relatively new application, XTA's DP324 dynamics controller, or SiDD (Seriously Intelligent Digital Dynamics), has been chosen for use with the in-ear monitoring system for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her band. A total of five channels were used under the control of monitor engineer Sean Busby-Little, who commented: "SiDD is a very versatile unit because it has so many functions, which are all easily accessible for a live gig situation. A lot of digital units tend to be a bit slow to access the parameters but I have not found that with these, everything is very user friendly . . . You would normally have to have at least three units chained together to achieve what you can do with one of these so the size of it is an added bonus, all the toys you need and it's only 1U."

SiDD (the DP324) is a powerful processing unit incorporating Brick-Wall limiting, input EQ, High and Low p

Musselburgh, a seaside town just outside Edinburgh, is home to the Cube, a brand new 1,200-capacity club over two floors built from the ground up by local entrepreneur Alfredo Alongi. This impressive venue has the distinction of being the UK's first EViD installation. This new range of elegant ellipsoid loudspeakers from Electro-Voice designed specifically for contractors made its UK debut at the PLASA show earlier this year.

Installers Starstruck Sound and Light were responsible for specifying the EViDs. Starstruck's Kenny Taylor admitted that he had in fact specified another brand until Shuttlesound's Andy Murray walked in with an EViD to show him. "It was definitely a case of the right product at the right time," said Taylor. "Visually the EViDs look stunning - a real departure from the usual black box scenario - and being EV, I was fairly convinced they'd sound good

Hardware Xenon's projection balloon is an innovative solution to the problem of high quality projection in lit areas, particularly suited to exhibitions, conferences, product launches and events. This projection balloon (registered model) which gives a very bright spherical image, can be placed at the top of a mast or hung in trussing.

The spherical balloon is inflated with air and classified M1 non-inflammable. The standard model is two metres in diameter and is placed at the top of a mast 3.4 metres high. This fits into the space normally available in exhibitions between the top of the stands and the authorized maximum height of five meters. At this height the balloon can be seen from afar, while the occupied ground space under the balloon is reduced to a minimum: the aluminium mast required is only 12cm square. For clients with particular needs, balloons of different diameters and m

Although a variety of daytime and late night talk shows have debuted since the mid-1980s, after nearly 50 years of TV broadcasting, The Tonight Show remains the gauge by which contemporary televised culture is measured.Taped from Studio 3 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California, a newly installed Martin lighting system, supplied by Production Lighting Systems (Fourth Phase), is adding even more colour to America’s classic late night show. NBC lighting designer Gary Thorns is using Martin MAC 2000, 300, 250 and MiniMAC automated lights on several aspects of the Studio 3 stage.

Placed behind host Jay Leno’s desk and guest seating area, a row of MAC 300 wash lights bathe a line of wooden columns in various shades and provide colour washes for the ceiling and beams above the set. Above the band area where Kevin Eubanks directs The Tonight Show band, MAC 300 wash lights add colour

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Shuttlesound has appointed Virgil Lund to its sales team. According to senior sales manager, Sean Maxwell, Lund's appointment completes "the strongest sales team we have ever had, with expertise across all areas of the professional audio market." Lund's particular speciality is in MI and the rental market, having come from almost a decade in MI and pro audio retail with the Academy of Sound where he held the position of assistant branch manager. "I'm extremely customer service-driven," explains Lund, "and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to develop my skills and passion for sound reinforcement across such a broad customer base with a wide range of products from prestigious brands. Having spent nearly 10 years on the other side of the counter, I think I'm in a good position to anticipate exactly what customers want from a supplier and make sure we deliver it!

Visual act, winner of both Awards for Product Excellence in Stage Engineering at PLASA 2001, will present their stage wagons at showcases in Oslo on 23 January, 2002 and in Amsterdam on 8 February, 2002. Anyone interested in attending either of these showcases should submit their interest to Jim Fainberg at jim@visualact.net before 17 January for Oslo and 30 January for Amsterdam.

For more details, including product information, technical specifications and pictures of the company’s award-winning products, visit the Visual act website at the address below.

Young Voices is an annual event featuring competing choirs from local schools. This year's shows have taken place in some of the UK's largest touring circuit arenas - Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham. The show is different to most in that the 'choir' consists of 7,000 schoolchildren! To fit this amount of people into an arena takes up most of the available space.

Canegreen were chosen to supply audio for this year's event because of their experience in this field. Faced with the task of providing a full performance system with total coverage for the attending audience, together with a comprehensive fold back system for 7,000 choristers (and band) and with the added complications of set up restraints because of rehearsals, they decided to use the new EAW 760/761 line array system.

Canegreen managing director and Yes fan Yan Stile said: "We'd previously used this ne

PLASA (the Professional Lighting and Sound Association), in conjunction with British Trade International (BTI), will be conducting an extensive programme of government-funded overseas trade missions and other events aimed at boosting UK export trade, during 2002. The programme is part of PLASA's ongoing aim to provide valuable export assistance to the UK entertainment technology industry.

PLASA is currently organizing exhibitor groups to some of the world's key international trade exhibitions, including the NSCA, USA (April), Pro Audio & Light Asia, Hong Kong (July), and Lighting Dimensions International, USA (October). This is the first time that PLASA has been successful in a bid for funding for the NSCA Show - an event aimed at the sound contracting/installation market which showcases the products and services of over 500 exhibitors. It's also the first time that PLASA has had an op

PCM, the company responsible for establishing the Columbus McKinnon Lodestar electric chain hoist at the forefront of the UK and European professional entertainment and touring industry, has formed a new division to handle the installation of set piece equipment on special projects. Heading up the division is Tony Griffiths, formerly with Harkness Hall, who joined the company in October.

Mackie Industrial, the contractor products division of Mackie Designs, has introduced the DX 10E Expansion Card for the Mackie Industrial DX8 digital audio mixer and signal processor. The DX 10E Hardware/Software expansion kit transforms the DX8 into a sophisticated programmable 8x10 matrix mixer with enhanced signal processing capabilities. The kit also includes upgraded control software and an improved user interface.

"We've said since the introduction of the DX8 late last year that we were creating a platform capable of supporting the needs of systems integrators into the future," comments Costa Lakoumentas, product director for Mackie Industrial. "The DX 10E turns the DX8 into an incredibly powerful matrix mixer and signal processor unrivalled in functionality and value. Whether you need a sophisticated matrix mixer, a speaker processor, a paging controller or any on

As tribute bands go, the Australian Pink Floyd are a touch different: for a start they imitate a band that, on stage at least, have virtually no physical presence, so they are relieved the task of attempting to look like them.

Lead guitarist Steve McElroy - the David Gilmour of the band - does make some small gestures towards his cipher, the mic stand arrangement is identical, with the tuner strapped just so off a separate stalk. He even manages those strange facial gestures during the guitar solos that I remember so well from my time working with Gilmour in the early eighties. But essentially this is all about the music, and they don’t make a bad fist of it - indeed The Times is quoted on the band’s flyer as saying: "Probably the greatest tribute band in the world," which, in the wider scheme of things, places them on a par with Carlsberg Lager, entirely appropri

CP Sound has just completed phase one in a major new club sound and lighting installation, in the Cellar Club at Reynolds nightclub in Stafford, West Midlands. The intimate 150-capacity space has vaulted ceilings, with arched passages snaking mysteriously below ground level. Above are two additional floors which are currently being developed and which will soon to become an integral part of what will be a much larger venue.

The sound system is all JBL, supplied by JBL's UK distributors Arbiter Pro Audio. The Cellar's dancefloor area features four JBL MS112 top speakers and two MS125S subs. The bar is serviced with four of the new JBL Control 29s, with Control 24 speakers also in the toilets. For the DJ booth, CP Sound supplied Technics SL1210 turntables and an Allen & Heath Xone:464 mixer, complete with a Denon DN-1800 twin CD player. The mixer was chosen to provide the facility of liv

Sarner and ESP have combined resources to provide a creative solution for Liverpool’s new multi-million pound International Astronomy and Space Centre (IASC). Sarner, which has recently been bought-out by two of its directors, Michael Bennett and Ross Magri, is thrilled to have such an innovative and important project under its creative direction. "This is a great win, not just for us but for the team at Sarner and for all our clients and colleagues," comments Bennett. "Sarner has been highly successful for over 30 years and we intend to build on that reputation and drive the company forward with new commitment to delivering innovative design solutions that have so often won clients’ belief in our skills, quality and service."

Sarner will be responsible for the design and production of special effects for the new visitor attraction, while ESP will projec

Autograph Sales Ltd, an authorized distributor for Digital Talkback, has reported an excellent response to the company’s new DTB-2001 system since its launch at the PLASA Show in September. One of the major advantages of the DTB-2001, say Autograph, is its total compatibility with all two- and four-wire communications systems, including Clear-Com, for which Autograph Sales is the UK distributor. In addition, the DTB-2001 is the first system of its kind to exploit DECT technology, widely used in the telecoms industry. This form of digital frequency agility saves set up time and is licence exempt in the EU and many other countries worldwide.

Autograph Sales has sold and shipped over 30 Digital Talkback units since the product was launched at September's PLASA show. These units went to a variety of users, including broadcast clients, theatre and concert service providers, such as Gr

South London-based exhibition and corporate creative lighting specialists Stage Light Design produced a simple but effective lighting design for Microsoft TV's stand at IBC, as well as supplying all lighting equipment and crew for the event. Lighting designer Alastair Crooks lit the double deck stand inventively, using Source Four profiles to project ripples, wind, sky and other effects onto a series of crescent-shaped canopies that curled round and descended from the top of the stand in a corkscrew effect.

Crooks also used Source Four profile lanterns generally around the stand to produce break-up and texturing effects. Par cans were then employed for a crisp daylight blue wash across the two decks and the various banners and graphic displays around the stand. The short set-up time meant Crook took full advantage of Stage Light Design's WYSIWYG facilities. The complex stand design dic

The new FiberSource CMY 150 from Martin Professional is a fibre illuminator for permanent outdoor and indoor installations. The fixture's full CMY colour mixing capability and unprecedented brightness for a fibre optic source open up new possibilities for fibre optic applications, say Martin. Intended for permanent installations, the FiberSource CMY 150 is designed around a robust IP44-rated housing. It is based on a very efficient 150W lamp giving 6000 hours of lamp life.

The FiberSource CMY 150 features an extremely broad color spectrum achievable from a full CMY color mixing system. Additionally, a full range dimmer gives the user an added effect dimension. The large fiber port accepts up to 800 pieces of 1mm fiber optic cable. The fixture features DMX control and a very comprehensive stand-alone operation including real-time clock activation.

Quadrant Visual Solutions (QVS), the specialist supplier, designer and installer of video and film production facilities, was called upon to design, theme, stage and manage the Birmingham Film and TV Festival awards dinner at Birmingham's Burlington Hotel in a sponsorship deal. The festival, one of the UK's most significant moving image festivals, was held from the 15-24 November 2001. As well as the latest international previews, the Festival also included a range of events, workshops and seminars - with advice from professionals like Meera Syal and Pawel Pawlikowski.

Quadrant actively strive to be at the forefront of video/film production services, particularly outside of London, and are soon to open their film, video and media services centre in Liverpool. Among their celebrity guests at the awards dinner will be their Liverpool-based customers, Alex Cox (director of Repo Man) and T

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