USA - LEDtronics recently celebrated its first 25 years of solid-state lighting design since the enterprise's founding by Pervaiz and Almas Lodhie. During the anniversary event at their Torrance, California, headquarters, LEDtronics executives thanked employees and customers for making possible the company's successes to date, and for providing advanced technological opportunities for future achievements.

"My wife and I began this as a cottage industry in a suburban garage in 1983, finding buyers among the local aerospace firms," Pervaiz Lodhie, the company's president, explained. "We've grown into a multimillion dollar manufacturer with over 300 employees, with a 63,000sq.ft facility in California and a second plant in Karachi, Pakistan. We're a world-leading suppl

World Since ETC introduced its compact new Ion lighting control desk a year ago, orders have come in from around the world. Nearly 1,000 new end users have invested in the system, ranging from traditional mid-sized theatres, to independent contractors who own their own Ions.

Lighting designer Tim Edwards of TS Lighting in west London uses an Ion for control on all of his shows. On a recent production of the musical Godspell , Edwards used the Ion to control conventionals, scrollers, Studio Colors and hazers. "ETC has really hit the nail on the head," says Edwards. "The Ion has been a joy to use. One of the major benefits for me is its effects generator. I can very quickly create and adapt existing effects to get stunning results. The offline editor is another extremely useful tool that enables me to programme shows while on the move, via my laptop. "

UK - Wax Jambu has opened on Islington's Upper Street hospitality circuit. Experienced on the Newcastle bar circuit, operators Jimi Pearce, Sara Nixon and Will Partridge began their quest for their own venue a year ago, reviewing sites in Manchester and Edinburgh before deciding on a former North London nightclub.

Setting a conversion budget of £100,000 (including internal structural work) they contacted Studio Output for their 2D graphic design work and the experienced Julian Taylor Design Associates (with whom they had previously worked in Newcastle) for the interior fit-out. The result is a 220-capacity late night music and cocktail bar.

Despite its bijou size, the owners wanted to achieve maximum flexibility, and based on recommendation, contacted CP Sound's Colin Pattenden to install a versatile DJ and live playback system based largely around Harman Pro components.

Canada - The Eastern Canadian City of Moncton, New Brunswick, which hosts the annual Magnetic Hill Music Festival, has purchased 90 metres of barrier from Mojo Barriers.

The outdoor Magnetic Hill site has welcomed major concerts by the Rolling Stones, who attracted 85,000 people in 2005, and this year's Long Road out of Eden Tour by the Eagles, attended by 55,000 visitors.

The sale of the refurbished steel barrier, from Mojo Barriers' US office, was driven by the venue's need to be able to provide the highest level production facilities to visiting acts. The relative remoteness of the Canadian site was a potential obstacle for touring artists but the venue's newfound ability to offer the best available in-house barrier facilities will considerably ease the logistical burden for visiting international tours.

"Magnetic Hill Music Festival is one of the largest events in E

Spain - The current global financial crisis failed to dampen enthusiasm for Digital Technology Expo 2008, recently held at the ExpoAthens Exhibition Centre in Greece, closing its doors with positive results. D.A.S. Audio distributor for Greece, IMA Audio, was "extremely satisfied" with the event since among the large number of visitors to the IMA Audio booth were existing clients as well as many business contacts from different areas of Greece.

A wide range of D.A.S. products were exhibited on the IMA Audio booth, including the Arco, Artec, Reference and DR series, as well as Variant 25, Variant 112 and Sub 18H systems. Despite its mainly national focus, the trade show continues to build on its position in Greece as a leading showcase for the professional sound and lighting, audio-visual, music and technology sectors. It is complemented by an educational programme, inc

featured content

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

Ireland - Litestructures has announced the appointment of Castle Stage Hire as its new hire partner covering both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Established in 1992, Castle Stage Hire has become one of Irelands leading suppliers of mobile stages. Part of its continued expansion relied on the acquisition of an industry standard demountable decking system, and LiteDeck was the choice. The deal was put together between Castle Stage hire MD Cormac McCormick, Litestructures and UK master stockholding distributor Impact Products.

Taking an extensive stock of over 60 LiteDeck, along with leg frames, handrails and step units gives Castle Stage Hire a complete decking system to allow them to provide a turnkey solution to any client requirement.

Cormac McCormick comments: "We researched the market and have invested in LiteDeck as we recognise it to be not only a to

USA - Twenty-five-year industry veteran - and admitted "gear-obsessed musician" - Tom Menrath has been appointed to the newly-created position of Behringer vice-president, Global Business Development.

"We believe that Tom is the perfect person to spearhead increased worldwide sales and marketing initiatives for us," observed Behringer CEO Michael Deeb. "During Tom's tenure as Guitar Center's business development director, he grew outside sales tenfold in less than five years. His prior accomplishments as director of sales and marketing at Monster Cable and marketing/business development at Mesa/Boogie are equally impressive."

According to Deeb, Menrath's expertise in all aspects of channel management as well as long-term strategic planning will be integral to Behringer's ongoing aggressive market expansion plans.

(Lee Baldock)

featured content

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

Germany - W-DMX is once again gracing the stages of German musical theatre. Following a successful run with Wicked - The Witches of Oz, the system is being used on another popular musical, Ich Will Spaß ("I want to have fun!").

The 80s period will be revived in the Colosseum Theater Essen. The lighting rig will include 83 moving lights (amongst them 49 Vari*Lite VL3500 Spot and Wash units), plus 99 ETC Source Fours. To represent the colourful feel of the 80's, the stage is dominated by a giant Rubik's Cube equipped with 293 MR16s, custom created for the set design, with 197 LED/RGB-Modules built in. The 950sq.ft (88sq.m) large video wall is one of the largest moving screens in German staging. Furthermore, the edge of the stage is fitted with 54 B250 LED stripes from Schnick-Schnack-Systems. Power and data distribution for the lighting of the Rubik's Cube

USA - Philadelphia's University of the Sciences main athletic facility, the gymnasium at Rosenberger Alumni Hall, recently received a sonic renovation, courtesy of Philadelphia-based Clear Sound. As Clear Sound's Chris Dietze explains, the facility has long been in need of better sound. "The gym's PA system has always been underpowered and poorly placed," says Dietze. "For sporting events, people tend to overlook bad sound and blame it on the ambient crowd noise, but they use the gym for other events too, like convocations and student orientations, and it's then that the problem would become painfully apparent." Clear Sound designed a system utilising 12 Community R1-66 full-range two-way loudspeaker systems mounted strategically across the gym's peaked metal roof, with six loudspeakers covering the bleacher areas and six more covering the court area. "The

UK - After 10 successful years with L-Acoustics, industry veteran Paul Nicholson has been busy with two significant new projects: the first was to reinvigorate MIDAS ProSound, the audio company he founded some 20 years ago and the second was to set up a sister company, Red Square Audio, to handle distribution of high end audio products.

Nicholson comments, "Since my return at the beginning of July, MIDAS ProSound has been extremely successful in capturing some significant sales and securing several large scale installation projects through our ongoing consultancy work. Rentals are also increasing and some major production projects are under active development for next year. However, I really wanted to look at distribution rather than additional dealerships. With this in mind, I entered into discussions with several manufacturers and French console manufacturer Innovason bec

UK - The story of William Tell is given much credence in Switzerland as it is regarded as an important episode in the formation of the Swiss nation. When director Volker Hesse interpreted the original Schiller play as a dialogue-only rendition of the story - Tellspiele - he solicited the assistance of Out Board's TiMax Audio Imaging system and sound designer Tom Strebel to produce reliable, person-specific, voice-localisation effects, with real-time automation from the new TiMax Tracker actor tracking system.

The play was staged in the Uri Theatre in Altdorf - the Swiss province from whence Tell originally hailed. The 500+-capacity theatre is a standard proscenium build, but not much else about this production's staging could be described as standard. The theatre's interior was almost completely re-fashioned to create a 35m long stage platform stretching all the way from

UK - DB Systems (DB), the global audio-visual company, has been awarded a contract by Rapiergroup to provide AV solutions for defence and aerospace giant, BAE Systems.

The two-year contract, which begins in January 2009, will see DB working with Rapiergroup to design innovative and bespoke AV solutions for BAE Systems' exhibits at over 28 exhibitions and events around the world. These include Farnborough, Paris, Dubai and Singapore Airshows, DSEi London, IDEX in Abu Dhabi and LAAD in Rio de Janeiro.

Previously, DB worked with Rapiergroup for BAE Systems between 2006 and 2008. However, to win this new contract DB successfully came through a competitive five-way pitch, which was spearheaded by David Bulley, Managing Director, and Jay Goldson, Senior Account Manager, who will also oversee this contract. BAE Systems is the third largest global defence company in the world and has

Ireland - A pioneering installation at the new Wexford Opera House in Ireland marks a European first for auditorium sound - digitally steerable auditorium audio.

Acoustic consultant Peter Mapp and system integrators Northern Light specified six Renkus-Heinz Iconyx digitally steerable array loudspeakers, supplied by Renkus-Heinz's UK and Ireland distributor, Polar Audio. The project saw a completely new theatre complex built on the site of the previous theatre in this picturesque Irish coastal town.

Three pairs of Iconyx IC16 loudspeakers are installed, with one column of three concealed either side within the stage's proscenium arch. Each left and right pair covers, respectively, the stalls and first and second balconies. The Iconyx units' digital beam steering capabilities were used to precisely focus each loudspeaker on its allocated seating area during setup via the dedicat

UAE - With everything hurtling rapidly toward a digital destination it's as well to remember that the laws of physics are what govern our ability to stage concerts, not ones and zeros. Where can you hang your 30-tonne LED screen and how can you hang it, are two questions that make a case in point.

These are exactly the questions Rick Wade (project manager) from Production Technology in Dubai asked himself when he learned he was about to have his busiest run-up to Christmas ever. Shows by Queen and Paul Rogers, Kylie Minogue, and George Michael, in the space of three weeks; and all of them had committed to provide a full production show, not some scaled-down version for the Middle East.

"For a production manager like Albert Lawrence with Queen, taking a show like theirs around Europe is relatively straightforward," said Wade, "in that the resources of companies l

World - Wybron's Infogate feedback software plays a key role on Independence of the Seas, the newest and biggest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

As part of Wybron's Infotrace feedback system, Infogate enables lighting equipment on board Independence of the Seas to talk back to its operators using the industry-standard two-way communication protocol Remote Device Management, or RDM. It constantly monitors the equipment, keeping an eye on any problems or maintenance issues.

"We can track scroller wear and tear, what strings are in which scrollers, identify each fixture individually and basically track how the rig is holding up," says lighting technician Michael Calder, who's now headed to Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas - another Infogate ship.

Independence of the Seas launched in April 2008 as the world's biggest cruise ship. Wei

UK Eastern-themed cocktail bar, Orchid, in London's Leicester Square recently underwent an interior redesign using Tryka LED lighting modules.

Pembroke Design carried out the interior refurbishment, while the technical brief was interpreted by EM-Communications' Ed Manwaring, who says: "Tryka produces quality LED lighting units that are so robust and reliable you can 'install and forget', which is why I always specify them. Knowing that they're unlikely to encounter any problems frees me to focus on the next Tryka installation."

The original brief was to create a friendly and welcoming entrance lobby while softening some of the venue's more industrial features - the main smoke extractor for the Trocadero Centre, which is above the bar, forms a now-concealed element of Orchid's ceiling.

Mirror mosaics were used on the walls to brighten the entrance stairs, which fol

Russia - Rental company Live Sound Agency is enjoying an extremely busy autumn/winter season following its recent investment in 32 Lab.gruppen Powered Loudspeaker Management (PLM) systems earlier in the year. The PLM devices, which are used to power their L'Acoustics V-DOSC rig, were supplied by Lab.gruppen's Moscow-based Russian distributor, I.S.P.A.

Live Sound Agency's Yuriy Sokolov reports: "The combination of one of the world's greatest system processors, Dolby Lake, with the tried and tested amplifier technology from Lab.gruppen in one single device is a stroke of genius. There is no discomfort for the user in that everything is already familiar to him and there is a good preset library to work from initially. After that, it's easy to customise if necessary. The result is that you are efficient straight away because your time is spent tuning the system, and not having

UK - Lighting control and automation group, Dynalite, will showcase a wide range of control system elements and software that enable advanced levels of lighting control, and seamless integration at the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2009 exhibition.

According to Paul Wilmshurst, managing director Dynalite Europe, fully integrated control systems are becoming more prevalent across both residential and commercial sectors. "There is a real demand for integrated lighting control systems that can incorporate third-party control elements, such as audio-visual, curtains, blinds and temperature control systems," he said. "From a commercial building perspective, integration with systems incorporating Ethernet backbones, such as building management systems provides hotels, offices and residential complexes with installation and control flexibility. Dynalite is one of the f

UK - An issue that has cost electronics manufacturers worldwide a great deal of time, effort and money is the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive, which restricts the use of many materials, most noticeably leaded solder and cadmium plating on connector shells.

UK-based Bryant Broadcast has now introduced a fully RoHS compliant version of the MIL-C 26482, 26 and 41-pin connectors, which are historically the connector of choice for the outside broadcast industry in the UK and are used in conjunction with 8- and 12-way 'Star-Quad' cables in audio multicore systems.

These new connectors have zinc cobalt black plating finish and heavy duty arctic grade ribbed coupling rings. Both the standard convention of cable-end male connector with locking ring to panel female receptacle with bayonet posts; and cable-end receptacle to mating panel mount plug are available. Both male a

Latest Issue. . .