Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Former Martin Professional employee Simon Allan has rejoined the company as product manager for the stage, studio and event segment, which includes Martin's popular MAC range of moving heads. Allan's responsibilities will also cover Martin's growing range of lighting controllers, including the newly-released Maxxyz lighting console.

Simon has 10 years of experience in the lighting industry and returns to Martin UK after three years as technical manager at moving light rental company Set Lighting & Sound. Prior to that he was employed at Martin UK as a technical support engineer, working on various on-site projects, as well as conducting training courses and helping to run the Martin University.

(Ruth Rossington)

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UK - Allen & Heath mixers were used during the fourth annual Wakestock festival, which took place last month in North Wales. With an increased capacity of 10,000 visitors and three arenas of top DJs and bands, Wakestock has become Europe's largest wakeboard music event.

VME Ltd supplied all the technical requirements, including Kling & Freitag speakers, lab.gruppen amplifiers, Martin Professional lighting and a cross-section of Allen & Heath's top-end consoles and DJ mixers. The event hosted live band acts such as Wheatus, Inme, Athlete and Mint Royale, and DJs including Norman Jay, John 00 Fleming, Judge Jules and Eddie Halliwell.

Allen & Heath's ML5000 and ML4000 live sound VCA consoles were used for FOH and monitors, while the Xone:62 and Xone:V6 club mixers were supplied for DJ events over the weekend.

(Ruth Rossington)

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UK - The Renkus-Heinz PNX102 line array system, launched at Frankfurt ProLight+Sound 2003, made its European debut this month with shows in Hertfordshire and London. The first UK show was a classical concert in aid of charity at Great Nast Hyde House near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, mixed by renowned classical engineer Ian Barfoot.

The concert featured the 50-piece London Sinfonia orchestra and leading European soloist Tasmin Little, and was performed on a 10m by 8m Star Hire demountable stage with audio production by Pearce Hire. The audience area measured some 80m by 80m and the weather was very warm and calm, perfect for this type of show. In control were a Spirit 328 with two expansion modules, Lexicon PCM80 and Yamaha S-REV1 effects and BSS Varicurve EQ. Microphones were a mixture of AKG 451, Oktava 012 and a pair of Schoeps for Tasmin Little, along with a selection of AKG and

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - When David Azouri opened his first restaurant in Willesden Green specializing in Middle Eastern cuisine, Shish became an immediate and resounding success. The concept is to serve fresh, authentic Middle Eastern dishes in a modern environment, or if drinking rather than eating is the order of the day, there is also a classy cocktail bar where customers can choose from a vast array of original cocktails, accompanied by a selection of mezze dishes. The concept has proved so successful that Azouri has recently opened a second unit in the increasingly trendy area of Hoxton in London, and turned to installation specialist Sound Division to specify and supply the audio system.

Sound Division's audio design team, David Graham and Elliot Patterson, opted for a Crown-powered JBL system based primarily on JBL Control 25AV loudspeakers. "As is the case with so many of our restaura

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UK - Theatre sound specialist Orbital has further underlined its commitment to digital solutions, deploying one of its DiGiCo D5 mixing consoles on the UK tour of Richard Temple's rock and roll musical - Summer Holiday. Directed by Michael Gyngell, with choreography by Tony Award-winning Gillian Gregory, this much-loved British classic is destined for the West End following its Spring/Summer UK tour.

The system, designed by Orbital's Simon Whitehorn specifically to cater for the fast turnaround of provincial touring productions, centred on DiGiCo's mixing console at FOH position. Operated by Gareth Owen, the desk proved to be a highly flexible and robust design tool. Gareth explained: "Digico have really pushed boundaries with the D5 - it's been a pleasure to work with, courtesy of Orbital. There were some challenging moments, but overall the desk provides an extreme

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UK - The Leicester Haymarket and Raymond Gubbay production of Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes previewed at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this week. Directed by Paul Kerryson, it stars and is choreographed by ballet dancer Adam Cooper. The other cast principals are Sarah Wildor, Kathryn Evans and Irek Mukhamedov.

Having previously worked with production manager Graham Lister on Copacabana and the Leicester Haymarket production of On Your Toes, Stage Technologies was again asked to provide the control solution. This time round, the London production required additional scenic effects and with The Royal Festival Hall, most frequently used for music concerts, having no grid, the venue had the potential for a challenging fit up.

Stage Technologies' supply consisted of eight sliding tracks (including back wall sliders), two flown ballet bars, Stage Technologie

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Japan - Japanese sound company Tokyo Onkyo Tsushin Kenkyusho Ltd (a.k.a. Onken) has taken delivery of a large number of power amplifiers from Lab.gruppen - no less than 132 units of Lab.gruppen's flagship model fP 6400. Each fP 6400 can supply up to 6,400W at a weight of only 10kg (22lbs) per unit, the complete package could produce a total output power of close to 850,000W!

Onken, one of the leading sound providers in Japan, will divide the order between its warehouses in Tokyo and Osaka. The Lab.gruppen fP 6400s will be driving the McCauley Monarc MLA5 line array system that was purchased at the same time. The equipment will be used in varying set-ups, mainly on tours and at large-scale events.

Kiyoshi Yamaki, sales manager of Lab.gruppen's local distributor MTC Japan, said that Onken had always been impressed with the sonic performance of Lab.gruppen amplifiers, adding that

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USA - The legendary heavy metal group Metallica is currently making their way through this years' Summer Sanitarium Tour, with support from Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones and Mudvayne. Metallica also teamed up with Upstaging and Tomcat USA to tour in style. The two companies came together to provide top notch equipment for the mother of all metal bands. Besides the 26 sections of medium duty, 1 section of heavy duty pre-rig truss, and various corner blocks, Tomcat provided 27 10ft sections and 17 8ft sections of the EDDY Award-winning Swing Wing Truss.

Metallica kicked off the tour in San Francisco on 18 May and will continue across the world. Heavily promoting their new album 'St. Anger', the tour covers Europe, America, South America and Japan, before ending on 1 February 2004 in Australia.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - XL Video just experienced one of its busiest weekends yet, supplying over 500sq.m of LED screens to five very diverse events.

For Robbie Williams at Knebworth, XL Video UK supplied four extra delay screens - a mix of Barco and Saco - allowing over 125,000 people per night to at least get to see some of Williams' impressive show. This was in addition to supplying the Williams' 'Escapology' European tour with the spectacular 448-tile Barco D10 LED moving screen. This measures 13.4m x 7.7m, when configured as a 16:9 ratio solid block, and splits into eight columns and tracks downstage to upstage. Each column also rotates 360° and rises and falls in the vertical plane. Side screens for the event were two 45sq.m Saco 15mm flown in portrait. The live video director for the event was Ruary MacPhie, who utilized six of XL's new Sony E10 broadcast cameras, mixing from XL's OB truck

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UK - DPL Production Lighting is supplying lighting, trussing and drapes to Cranborn House Productions for a series of summer classical/jazz events, taking place across several weekends and various heritage sites around the country.

The most recent event took place at Audley End in Cambridgeshire, one of the finest Jacobean houses in England, which provided an impressive backdrop to the 60ft Orbit stage and drew over 5,000 people each night. The 17th century mansion was lit by DPL's Darren Parker and his team using six Studio Due City Color architectural wash luminaires. They also highlighted the trees either side of stage with blue and green metal halide fixtures.

For the event at which Jools Holland's appeared - undoubtedly the highest profile show of the run - DPL, sound contractor RG Jones and other production departments (including Aggreko generators), battled with the mo

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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

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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

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USA - Several people have been in touch to draw our attention to a story that was posted on the online news site of the Atlantic City County News, which reports on a major collapse of the rig for a concert planned to take place at the city's Boardwalk Hall venue, featuring Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

According to the news report, the large steel grid, on which a substantial amount of technical equipment was rigged, collapsed in the early afternoon during set-up. It also mentions that whilst most people escaped unhurt, three sustained minor injuries. The truss was apparently attached to the Boardwalk's false ceiling which was installed in the venue as part of a recent $90 million upgrade. An investigation is now underway. You can read the full report at the website below.

(Ruth Rossington)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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USA - Martin Professional Inc has hired Matthias Hinrichs as control product specialist. Working out of Martin's West Coast office, Hinrichs will provide sales and technical support for the growing Martin line of control products, which includes the newly released Maxxyz professional lighting console.

"By providing excellent customer service, as well as supporting the sales department with all questions regarding control products, Matthias will help provide the right product for the right application," commented Michael Nevitt, control product manager at Martin US. "He was an integral part of the Maxxyz Beta Test Group for the past year, which makes for a seamless transition into the Martin team. It's a great benefit to have another control expert on the staff."

Henrichs, a German native who originally hails from Berlin, moved to Los Angeles in 2002. Prior

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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

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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)

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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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