UK - EAW Engineering has designed the new Element Series to combine the highest levels of audio performance with the most robust environmental protection: IEC 60529 and MilSpec 810 ratings.

Key to this breakthrough is a new acoustically inert yet waterproof enclosure material: high-impact polypropylene with 40% calcium carbonate. Shaped into sophisticated enclosures with few or no parallel surfaces, this new material makes the Element Series sonically indistinguishable from EAW's world-famous laminated Baltic birch enclosures say the company.

To prove the point, EAW will introduce four new Element Series compact two-way loudspeakers at PLASA. The LM60 includes a soft-dome tweeter on a Waveguide Plate and a 6.5" woofer. The LM80 pairs a Waveguide Plate-loaded compression dri

UK - Audio Visual Consultants (AVC) of Edinburgh and Electrosonic has announced that AVC has become a member of the Electrosonic Group. AVC was founded in 1981 by Sandy Bolton in Edinburgh, and recently has operated as a partnership with the active partners being Douglas Bolton, Mike Buchan and Les Bushby. Over the years, AVC has gained a strong reputation as Scotland's leading AV systems integrator in the heritage market, and as an important supplier and integrator in the corporate and educational markets. AVC also has a significant service business.

Recently the partners in AVC decided that they could serve the needs of their market better as part of a larger group - at the same time Electrosonic Ltd was looking for ways in which it could expand its geographical coverage. Because the companies know each other well, having traded together since AVC's founding, their coming tog

UK - Bandit Lites UK supplied full stage and audience lighting equipment to the recent massive Miller Strat Pack show at Wembley Arena. This momentous event celebrated 50 years of the legendary Fender Stratocaster guitar. Event proceeds were donated to the Nordoff Robbins music charity.

The line up saw a role call of the great-and-the-good in the world of guitar heroes from past and present - starring Dave Gilmour, Gary Moore, Amy Winehouse, Phil Manzenera, Brian May, Joe Walsh and many, many more. Bandit worked with producers, Field Services (production manager Pete Edmonds), and lighting designer Baz Halpin collaborated with set designer Mark Fisher to produce a look that comprised a primary scenic truss overstage - in the shape of the reversed Fender "F", constructed from A-type trussing sections plus and a selection of custom-built pieces. Measuring approxim

UK - As part of Watford Palace Theatre's £8.7million refurbishment scheme, sound expert Orbital has supplied a d&b audiotechnik system - significantly augmenting the venue's potential as a contemporary facility. With generous funding from the Arts Council of England Lottery Board, Watford Borough Council and hundreds of individual donors, Watford Palace Theatre is set to re-open this Autumn and will be at the centre of cultural life in Hertfordshire. The inaugural production is a modern interpretation of William Wycherley's The Country Wife .

Under the direction of Architects - Burrell, Foley, Fischer, the Edwardian theatre has been expanded and completely re-designed to offer a state-of-the-art facility. As a repertory theatre, it will produce up to 10 productions a year and will work with local schools and amateur theatre groups to truly represent the community.

Or

USA - Color Kinetics Inc, the US manufacturer of LED lighting systems, has been awarded another US patent that extends the coverage of its core methods for controlling LED-based illumination. This latest US patent extends coverage of core methods for controlling LED-based illumination, including use of standard DMX512 protocol.

Patent number 6,788,011 relates in part to an LED-based lighting system comprising a user interface and an addressable controller that receives a network signal: it attempts to include any and all such protocols, among them DMX512. This allows control of colour, intensity, and the creation of dynamic effects in both standalone and networked environments. The patent extends Color Kinetics' coverage of techniques for controlling the output of LEDs beyond pulse width modulation, for which it received a controversial earlier patent.

"This is a partic

UK - At the risk of casting clouds this autumn, the latest Plimsoll financial analysis has some unwelcome news for those involved in the UK sound equipment industry. Overtrading appears to be affecting the industry as 68 significant players chase sales at the expense of profitability. Whilst the behaviour of these overtrading companies has yet to impact on all of the 236 companies involved in the analysis, almost half have seen their profitability decline.

There analysis identifies three distinct types of company behaviour now prevalent in the industry. According to Plimsoll, 68 of the companies featured in the report are losing money. Typically they are delivering -3.8% margins, yet their average sales growth is healthy. The report questions whether their strategy of capturing market share at the expense of profit sustainable. A further 84 companies hardly break even, typicall

UK - Anthony Newton has succeeded Katharine Williams as technical director of NSDF; The National Student Drama Festival. The Festival, held over the Easter period each year, will be celebrating its fiftieth birthday this March and Anthony welcomes the challenge this unique event will bring.

Anthony, now an Edinburgh based lighting designer, has attended the festival as a member of the technical crew since 1999. He was then at school in Scarborough; his home town and home of the Festival for 16 years now. Aged 21 Anthony is one of the youngest technical directors to date and comes to the position fresh from graduating from Queen Margaret's University College, Edinburgh.

Katharine has stepped down from the role she has held for over three years in order to further develop her career as a freelance lighting designer. From her base in London, Katharine has worked throughout the UK

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Wordwide - Affirming its commitment to the ongoing development of the EAW Commercial brand throughout the world, Loud Technologies has announced the appointment of two professional audio veterans to the EAW Commercial team. Bob Harrison assumes the position of EAW Commercial sales manager for the EMEA region, and John Bosaw has been appointed to the position of market liaison, EAW Commercial.

As LOUD Technologies' EAW Commercial sales manager for the EMEA region, Bob Harrison will act as the primary contact for all EAW Commercial distributors throughout Europe and will therefore be responsible for spearheading EAW Commercial sales throughout the EMEA region.

Bob Harrison has more than 20 years of experience in the professional audio industry including a total of 17 years with Beyerdynamic UK, the distribution company of the German microphone and headphone manufacturer. The fir

UK - The popularity and reputation of The Wells Summer School, where dancers from The Royal Ballet instruct children from 8 to 17 years, has expanded and this year embraced three major dance areas - all converted to professional dance floor standards courtesy of British Harlequin plc.

Francesca Filpi has been organizing The Wells Summer School for three years now, based at the Beechwood Sacred Heart School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and held this year over a period of ten days in August. Here a relationship has been forged between The Wells teaching faculty from The Royal Ballet and Harlequin providing roll out dance floor solutions. In the main hall of the school, Harlequin covered the hard parquet wood floor with Harlequin Studio flooring, which was also the choice to cover the wooden flooring in a large marquee erected in the school grounds. The solution for the Auditorium wood

UK - Scotland's Lighting Show 2004 has been hailed a major success by organizers, exhibitors and visitors alike. Taking place from 24-25 September, the event was held at black light's Edinburgh headquarters. Although only in its second year, the show had grown considerably from the 2003 event. A clear demonstration of how seriously the show is already being taken by the industry was the fact that, although just eight days after the end of London's PLASA trade show, a range of heavyweight industry suppliers had made the journey north to exhibit their products and services.

"Even we were surprised at how the show has taken off in just its second year," said black light managing director and show organizer Gavin Stewart. "It was a fantastically successful event and the feedback from all round has been extremely positive. Scotland and the north of England are hotbeds

Germany - B & K Braun of Karlsbad has strengthened its export department with the appointment of new recruit Mirjam Sojka, reporting to export manager Ralph Zoller. Sojka's responsibilities include the export activities of German Light Products (GLP). For 10 years, GLP has been developing and producing lighting equipment including moving lights, dimmers and lighting controllers. Already around 40% of its production is exported and this share is rising, say the company. Important markets for GLP products include not only Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Korea but also continental and eastern Europe.

(Lee Baldock)

USA / Latin America - Production Resource Group (PRG) provided a complete lighting package for the live broadcast of Univision's Premios Juventud, the first annual award show on Spanish-language television honouring popular Latin stars. Broadcast throughout Latin America, the show was seen by over 23 million viewers in the US alone. It was the second highest-rated awards show in history on Hispanic television.

Entertainers featured in the show included Mexican superstar Thalía, Colombian heartthrob Juanes, and pop music sensation Paulina Rubio. The stars gave performances and received awards on an expansive stage that was decorated as a dance club, complete with a DJ booth and V.I.P. lounge area. The show's production crew included lighting director/programmer Felix Peralta, lighting director John Daniels, Catalyst programmer Jason Rudolph, head electrician Angus Sinex, and mov

USA - Technical specs may change from tour to tour but the one constant for any itinerant sound engineer is their laptop computer. Freelance engineer Sean Sullivan's laptop, combined with Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882, has become an essential piece of gear on the road. It provides critical signal analysis and metering tools via Metric Halo's SpectraFoo software, while the MIO gives him signal routing that is frequently unavailable in touring sound systems. As Sullivan observes: "Here I am with my laptop and my Mobile I/O and I'm pretty much carrying all the tools that you could ever ask for. Whether it be analyzing a PA or mixing an album, it's got everything built into it."

SpectraFoo incorporates standards-based level metering, high-speed, high-resolution spectral analysis, the unique Phase Torch, correlation metering, triggerable waveform display, power balancing, a

UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout was recently appointed by MTV Networks Europe to realize an elaborate Gothic set at the recent MTV Icon event. This was an exclusive live tribute to rock legends The Cure, staged at Old Billingsgate in London.

Featuring performances and testimonials from artists and celebrities influenced by the band - including Marilyn Manson, Razorlight Blink 182, AFI and the Deftones the event will be beamed across MTV Europe's Networks of 120 million homes from October 2004.

Blackout's project manager, Kevin Monks, headed the team and collaborated closely with the MTV Networks Europe production management team. Blackout rose to the challenge of designing and supplying a trussing structure in line with the building restrictions imposed by Old Billingsgate's Grade II listed status.

The atmospheric Gothic set designed by Simon Beresford required o

Sweden / Norway - Visual act, the Swedish stage automation specialist, has recently completed the installation of a new control system for the Norwegian Theatre in Oslo, involving the replacement of drive electronics for 119 fly bars and point hoists. The system installed is capable of operating all the drives simultaneously, as was ably demonstrated during the testing period, when the company's technicians made the most of the empty stage by programming continuous movements and effects involving all 119 drives.

The latest version of Visual act's operator desk was selected as it is especially designed for permanent installations, providing an ergonomic work area suitable for many hours of use on an everyday basis. Three operator desks were installed - one of which is wireless and can be moved to the house for rehearsals.

The control system has fully redundant servers and po

UK - Following the success French company Ayrton has enjoyed with EasyColor 1 via UK distributors, Lighting Effects Distribution, Ian Kirby has announced that the twice-as-powerful EasyColor 2 is now in stock in the company's Kent warehouse.

In addition to greater power, the new LED moving head luminaire offers more LEDs and more features than its precursor, enabling designers to be more creative. EasyColor 2 is equipped with 36 high-power Luxeon LEDs, with lamp-life duration exceeding 100,000 hours.

The product's new features include a totally new software programme, which allows variation of the colour balance. And in order to fulfil the increasing demand for installation in new vertical markets, EasyColor 2 is now available in a variety of finishes - Carbon (black), Snow (white) and Platinum (grey). An entirely new construction and higher-grade motors widen its application

UK - ESL Ltd of Southend supplied the sound and lighting at this year's Daily Mirror Labour Party Conference Party, held on the Wednesday night of the convention at the Grand Hotel, Brighton. Their brief was to supply a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system for a live band and disco for the 1000 delegates who attended.

ESL's Mike Glover took the company's brand new KV2 Audio sound system to the event, which had been purchased just a week before following a demonstration at this year's PLASA show. The System was made up of ES1.8 subs, ES2.5 bass and the ES1.0 mid/high cabinets - all driven by KV2's EPAK amplifier/processing package. Glover says: "Even though we had not used the system in a large venue or in a live situation I had complete faith in what the equipment was capable of producing. We have had long discussions with Andy Austin-Brown from KV2 and this gave me

Denmark - The new plug and play MC Switch from Martin lets you power up and down six fixtures such as lights, fog machines or mirror balls, with the option of daisy-chaining up to 24 units through four power boxes. The MC Switch controls lights such as the Martin Manias, Egos, T-Rex and Raptor, as well as other equipment including mirror balls and fog machines. Sturdy and robust, MC Switch may be placed on a table, rack-mounted or truss-mounted, say Martin.

Designed for easy use, installation and set-up, the MC Switch control box connects to a power box with six IEC channels out via RJ 45 cable - allowing a maximum of 300W output for each (US version maximum output 250W per output/fixture). Control is a mains power on/off digital switch, which is controlled via a remote control with on/off buttons.

(Lee Baldock)

USA - Super Vision International Inc has announced the appointment by its board of directors of Anthony T. Castor III as a director of the company, with effect from 4 October. Castor currently serves as president, CEO and a director of Chromalox Inc - a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer of precision heating and control devices, currently a key portfolio company for JP Morgan Partners. Prior to his position at Chromalox, Castor served as President and CEO at the Morgan Group, Inc of Baltimore, Maryland, a company engaged in transportation and specialty outsourcing services.

From 1997 to 1999 Castor served as president and CEO of Precision Industrial Corporation of Montvale, New Jersey - a $200 million manufacturer of capital equipment for the metal processing industry, prior to which he was president and CEO of Hayward Industries of Elizabeth, New Jersey - one of the world's largest

UK - As the exclusive UK dealer for Telex Radiocom's BTR 700 and BTR 800 intercom systems, Orbital Sound has announced eight new sales of both systems, which have been used on a variety of applications across the live broadcast and production industries. Deployed on projects as diverse as Edinburgh's International Festival, Glastonbury Festival, a host of West End Musicals including Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest production The Woman in White and, most recently, on location filming the new Sahara Productions' blockbuster movie - Sahara - starring Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey.

The systems have proved their versatility and simple operation straight out of the box, providing the perfect solution in any environment where real time 2-way communications are required. Orbital's sales and installation manager Tom Byrne collaborated with Joe Buxton of MR Technical S

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