UK - When a seriously professional company like Edwin Shirley Staging needs to get advice on heavy duty label and identification, they called in Le Mark. An interesting meeting between Kevin Wollage of ESS and Linda Gibbons of Le Mark earlier this year led to the request: "Not only do we need labels for road cases - we need labels for our trailers!"

As it had to be visible and remain usable in all conditions, this product needed to be something special, so Le Mark produced a re-designed and uprated version of their renowned PAL Label product - this time with a double-layed background that allowed the PAL Plate to be riveted directly to the ESS trailer units!

Linda Gibbons - Le Mark sales director said: "It was an exceptionally unusual application that showed ESS h

UK - Highfield Church in Southampton has installed Allen & Heath's recently-released iDR system to manage its live sound reinforcement. The system has enabled the church to establish automated sound settings for the many and varied events that take place in the building.

iDR is a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) audio system for fixed installation into any type of venue. It comprises a range of hardware units, wall plates and remote controllers which build into integrated systems, all set up using iDR System Manager software. Control parameters are saved to patches, which may then be recalled by the operator using front panel keys, remote wall plates or virtual wall plates using PL Designer software.

Highfield Church's original installation was constructed around a DR66, which provided the core signal routing, room EQ and delay processing. The Church tailored its new system to

UK - The award winning TV duo Ant & Dec arrived back on our screens recently with their live fun-filled prime time show Saturday Night Takeaway. With the same set as last year, lighting designer Tom Kinane was keen to create a very different look with his chosen lighting rig, which consisted of 12 Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200s, 12 Vari-Lite VL2416s, 32 Martin Pro MAC 500s and six MAC 600s, all supplied by Richard Martin Lighting.

Working closely with the moving light operator Svend Pedersen, Tom comments on his choice of lighting: "The Stage Zoom 1200s are always a trusty lamp to use. The gobos dressed the set, which worked out great for the music numbers. The VL2416s were positioned to wash the set from behind, with the intention of punching colour into the twin wall, which is notoriously hard to light! I chose the MAC 500s because they are good ‘workhorse’ lamps

USA - Seventeen leading professional audio manufacturers have signed on to become Charter Members of the Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA), according to PAMA executive director Paul Gallo, who has called the alliance’s first membership initiative "a complete success".

"PAMA has received a very strong vote of confidence from a number of leading companies who have agreed to become Charter Members of this vitally important alliance," said Gallo. "These companies will form the nucleus that will chart the future course of the professional audio industry."

PAMA’s Charter Members include AKG Acoustics, Altec-Lansing, Audio Technica, Calpine, DigiCo, Dolby Labs, Group One, Harman Pro Group, Klotz Digital, Meyer Sound, Neutrik, Sennheiser, Shure, Sony, Tascam, Telex and Yamaha. Other companies have indicated their intent to join

UK - In an atmosphere of razzmatazz and glitz, Ulrika Johnsson christened P&O's newest cruise liner, Ocean Village, at a high profile, show-biz event on board the ship at Southampton on 28 April. As a completely new brand, the declared mission of Ocean Village is to rip up the traditional cruising rule book, introducing a casual cruising concept and a sense of fun, which is why the naming ceremony ditched the stereotypical black tie event in favour of a dress-to-party atmosphere.

Among the celebrities on board - who included Top Gear's Louise Brady, Coronation Street's Tracie Bennett and Casualty's Sarah Manners - was Alan Thomson, managing director of Fourth Phase London. Working for Unusual Services, Fourth Phase supplied lighting design, equipment and crew for a 25-minute dance show, which took place on the covered swimming pool on board the 63,524-ton liner. Lighting designe

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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

UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout recently worked for London-based production house Pci:Live to help realize the stage set for a national press conference announcing a one-year sponsorship deal between GlaxoSmithKline and the BMW Williams F1 team. Staged at London’s Riverside Studios, it’s the first time Formula One has turned to the nicotine patch to help motor sports kick it’s £225 million a year tobacco habit!

The pharmaceutical giant’s NiQuitin brand will be displayed on the front and sides of their cars as well as on the sleeves of their drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. The new livery was on display at the recent San Marino Grand Prix in Imola - and the estimated value of the sponsorship is £9 million a year.

Blackout’s Chris Brain collaborated with PCI’s Richard Jarman to achieve a stunning effect in a tight

UK - XTA’s latest C2 digital compressor was at the heart of front-of-house engineer Chris Pyne’s PA system for the first ever tour by 2003 BRIT Award winners Liberty X. The vocal five-piece, signed to Richard Branson’s V2 label after their appearances on ITV’s PopstarsTV series, played a six-week sold-out tour of UK theatres which finished at the end of March, with Australian engineer Chris Pyne at the controls for the band’s début concert performances. The gigs were deemed so successful that a UK arena tour has been scheduled for February 2004. In a unique twist, the tour culminated in a headline appearance at a gala dinner for the Sony group at their Brooklands, Surrey HQ, with a full-scale recreation of the tour production.

Capital Sound provided the sound production for the tour and full event production for the Sony show. For the latter, the M

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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

UK - Enlightenment has recently completed a further installation of ADB Eurorack 60 digital dimmers at the Coliseum Theatre in Oldham, Lancashire. The installation comprises of 192 3kW and 24 ways of 5kW all-digital dimmers, a comprehensive DMX Network and outlet facility panels. The production lighting is controlled by an ADB Phoenix 5 control desk, previously supplied by Enlightenment, with the remainder of the lighting systems (house lights, working lights and independents) being controlled by two ADB Netbuses.

In addition to providing control of the generic lighting the ADB Netbuses also provide real-time fault reporting, remote programming and system wide control of the entire dimmer installation. All dimmer functions including the recording and playback of 20 memories, patch, dimmer testing, and dimmer curve settings, etc, can all be accessed via the ADB Netbus.

The ADB

USA - The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has accepted a permanent seat on ESTA’s new Certification Council - the governing body which will manage the development and implementation of a new industry-wide certification program for entertainment technology technicians. The key areas of electrical skills and rigging skills have been identified for initial development in the ESTA Personnel Certification Program.

IATSE president Thomas C. Short has appointed Anthony DePaulo, eleventh vice-president of the General Executive Board and Business Agent of Local 1, and Brian Lawlor, co-director of the Stagecraft Division as their representatives to the Council. "Both Mr. DePaulo and Mr. Lawlor have first-hand experience and knowledge of those skills that will be certified in this program. Knowing that the IA will have a guiding impact on this certif

UK - Autograph Sales has sold the UK's first Symphotec OMS orchestral microphone system to classical music reinforcement specialist Sound By Design, which has purchased a touring system comprising 26 mics, 5-way and 1-way routers, stands, cables and self-contained flightcase.

Before purchasing the system, Sound By Design used it on a wide range of classical events including the Mountbatten Festival of Music featuring military bands, a UK tour by opera diva Lesley Garrett, Classic FM Live and Louis Hoover's Salute to Sinatra. As Symphotec OMS - introduced to the UK last October - has become more and more established, it is being increasingly specified by the classical sector, and looks likely to become a new standard for orchestral rental companies.

"When amplifying orchestral instruments, transparency, sonic quality and aesthetic appearance are of the utmost importance,&q

UK - Allen & Heath has launched version 3.1 of iDR System Manager, the Windows PC software which configures iDR hardware components into an integrated audio distribution system. Version 3.1 supports the forthcoming PL-7 (remote LCD) and PL-8 (4 in 4 GPIO) units from the PL series of remote control devices which supplement the iDR system, scheduled for release at the PLASA Show this September.

The new software has the additional features of 'draggable' curves for EQ and dynamics processing sections, cross over slopes in the output PEQ and a new cut and paste system whereby information appears on the toolbar, there is an undo paste feature and cut and paste functionality for PL devices.

New features also include password protection for the Ethernet and RS232 connections, centred windows, new front panel diagnostic options and a ‘plug and play’ ability if PL units ar

USA - The First United Methodist Church of Troy in Michigan has upgraded its front of house console to a 24 input, 12 buss Allen & Heath GL2200. The new console, chosen for its capabilities and competitive price, was supplied by Audio East in Dracut, Massachusetts.

Head of sound for the church, Jacob Lozier, installed the Allen & Heath live sound console as part of an upgrade that also saw the addition of Tascam CD recording and playback capabilities to the existing sound system, which features EAW speakers and Mackie amplifiers. The GL2200 offers dual-mode switching between FOH and monitor functionality, four subgroups, six auxiliary sends, and a four-band EQ section with switchable high pass filter.

Services at First Methodist range from the traditional, simply involving a pulpit microphone, to contemporary services with a full band, including drums and guitars. The console

UK - Ampekko Ltd has completed acquisition of the Millbank Voice Evacuation Systems business from Federal Signal Ltd, a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corporation, the US-based, NYSE-listed company, with turnover in excess of US$1 billion, in a move which will form the largest UK-based voice evacuation products manufacturer and one of the fastest growing global players specialized in voice evacuation technology.

The two ranges of equipment are highly complementary, with Millbank’s Class D amplifiers and parallel banking solutions contrasting against Ampekko’s VxLAN control network and digitally controlled MAX series matrices. Ampekko’s Neil Voce commented: "There are so many strong Millbank products and some of them deserve to reach a wider audience - we are extremely keen to re-establish these products’ leading position and satisfy increased market de

Worldwide - In the June issue of Lighting&Sound International, the Technical Focus section will be looking at Wireless Microphones.

The ever-increasing level of technology available has resulted in the increase in complexity of wireless systems. Simple VHF systems are being replaced with their, sometimes digital, microwave counterparts offering far superior audio and functionality. This article will go some way to giving the reader an insight into this new technology, explaining the methods and terminology. It will be followed by a brief profile of the main manufacturers and coverage of their key products.

If you would like your product to be featured in this report, please e-mail L&SI’s technical editor James Eade before Tuesday 27 May.

UK - With the significant changes taking place at this year’s PLASA Show - from the new floorplan layout to new features at the show and some creative new marketing initiatives - the show organizers are hosting and Exhibitor Open Day on Thursday 22 May to keep exhibitors up-to-date with developments and provide every opportunity to maximise their participation at the show.

The day is designed to highlight the marketing and PR for the PLASA Show and advise exhibitors on how they can dovetail their own promotional activity with the Show’s - including advertising placement and keeping the show’s PR company and trade press appraised of new product information. With this in mind, the format of the Open Day will be more marketing-focused than in previous years.

PLASA Show director Nicola Rowland comments: "This will be an opportunity for us to expand on our pl

Denmark - The new Xciter from Martin Professional is a hands-on lighting control tool for DJs and lighting operators, allowing fast manipulation of lightshows via easy-to-use buttons and faders and aimed at clubs, small touring applications, or even larger mobile DJs. Functions such as strobe, smoke and more can be assigned to each of four programmable customizable buttons for personalized control. The user can assign effects, scenes or dimmer to any of six faders and flash buttons and access them live during playback. Show speed can be increased or decreased by up to five times using the pitch fader.

The Xciter can control up to 20 fixtures, each up to 48 channels - max of 512 channels (soon to control up to 40 fixtures with a software upgrade). Up to 160 cues containing four sequences can run simultaneously. Sequences can be triggered via an internal clock, manually or via aud

UK - Scene Change, the new company that creates video content for the entertainment industry, has teamed up with The Foundation Design, one of the UK’s leading graphic and animation design companies. The Foundation Design specializes in the creation of digital content for the retail and leisure industries. Its client list includes Yates’s, Lloyds No1 Bar in Birmingham, The Gate (Land Securities’ £70million leisure development in Newcastle - see major feature in the June issue of L&SI) and many drinks brands.

The new creative alliance aims to build on the strengths of both companies in lighting design, video-effects generation and video editing for the performing arts and entertainment industry. The Foundation Design has already created a selection of royalty-free abstract video clips which can be previewed and bought from the Scene Change website.

"We a

Ireland - Dublin-based CAVS (Corporate Audio Visual Services) have debuted their L-Acoustics dV-DOSC system outdoors for the first time. The event was the inaugural Medieval Festival at Slane Castle, which ran from the 9-11 May. CAVS provided 24 flown dV-DOSC cabinets, with eight dV-SUB, and eight 115FM monitors on the main stage for, amongst others, The Mediaeval Babes. All the cabinets were powered by L-Acoustics LA48a and LA24a amplifiers with processing by XTA and L-Acoustics LLCa controllers. CAVS also provided four L-Acoustics 115XT for the main jousting arena, and 4 MTD108a for the banqueting marquee, again both fully packaged systems.

Despite the usual problems with the elements, from the technical perspective the show was a great success allowing CAVS the opportunity to demonstrate how they can provide different audio solutions quickly and easily under the most demandin

UK - Following last year’s success, the A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow will be returning this year to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, on 15 and 16 July. The event will provide a one-stop-shop of industry-leading lighting, audio and associated entertainment technology companies for buyers in the midlands and the north of England.

Visitors to this year’s show will be able to catch up on the latest product innovations, receive hands-on demonstrations and gain expert advice from over 50 of the industry’s leading equipment manufacturers. Running alongside the main exhibition will be a range of free product training workshops and seminars from guest speakers on key industry topics. Visitors will also be able to take advantage of some exclusive ‘show-only’ exhibitor prices on the day for selected product lines.

Jonathan Walters, A.C. Lighting’

UK - Atmospheric, the supplier of AV and entertainment solutions to the leisure industry, has appointed Peter L Davies as sales director. Formerly sales director at PowerSport, founder and managing director of Life Fitness' Operations in Europe and international vice-president at Tectrix, Davies has recently been working as a self-employed management consultant with leading fitness equipment suppliers such as Star Trac UK and Gym 80. He comes to this new role with over 25 years of experience within the health and fitness industry.

Davies commented: "I was attracted to Atmospheric by their innovative and high quality range of products, by the excellent morale of their team and, most importantly, by the high standard of business ethics instilled by the managing director, Simon Spragg. This role is also a new challenge for me, as, despite my many years of experience in the fit

UK - Autograph Sound Recording's busy hire department has undergone a major reshuffle, with Barry Channer joining as hire support engineer, Lee Dennison promoted to production sound engineer and Scott Arnold taking Dennison's place as hire department manager. Meanwhile David ffitch has moved out of the hire department to become Autograph's IT administrator.

Channer has been a familiar face at Autograph for some time, having worked as a freelance operator on many of Autograph's West End productions. His experience will prove invaluable. Dennison's new role will allow him the freedom to occasionally leave his day-to-day involvement in the every-busy hire operation to work on smaller engineering projects. Autograph has recently expanded its portfolio of West End plays and this new appointment is a timely response. Dennison has already overseen installations on My Brilliant Divor

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