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PLASA exhibitor Kling & Freitag Sound Systems has appointed a new distributor in the UK - Cheshire-based VME Voice Music & Effects. Owned by brothers Dion and Andre Davie, VME is well known in the North West for its work on various sporting events and, more recently, festivals and dance parties. It has an impressive client list which includes the BBC, ITV and Sky Sports, Old Trafford Cricket Club and The Ministry of Sound.

The company hopes to establish Kling & Freitag in the UK market, as Dion Davie outlines: "The UK is one of the most competitive markets in the world for loudspeakers, with many UK and US brands being established standards. However, after our visit to the factory in Hannover, we were totally won over by the sound, build quality and value of the K&F range. We are convinced that K&F have a major part to play in UK touring, corporate events and fixed installations.&

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Music Marketing Services have completed their sixth - and most ambitious Tiger Tiger for Chorion plc, with the recent extension of the successful roll-out into Croydon. The company has largely standardized on Martin Audio sound reinforcement - and has been using the EM series extensively in Tiger Tiger since converting from another proprietary brand early on in the development.

MMS account manager Paul Woodward explained: "We have been on board with Chorion since the Tiger Tiger brand was inaugurated in London’s Haymarket. Croydon is immaculate and shows just how far the brand has evolved since the London site - every aspect of the installation has changed."

Chorion switched to Martin Audio after opening their other multi-bar unit, On Anon - just 400m away from Tiger Tiger in London’s Piccadilly - two years ago. "They were seeking a higher quality, crisper

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Light Relief, the industry charity that supports lighting designers with personal difficulties, has announced two major initiatives to raise awareness during the PLASA 2002 show this September - one aimed at exhibitors and the other for visitors.

The first - ‘Gobos for Light Relief’ - is encouraging as many PLASA exhibitors as possible to use Light Relief coloured glass gobos as part of their on-stand demonstrations. "Visitors will be confronted by a large projection of the logo at the front of the hall as they arrive", explained Tony Gottelier, co-founder of Light Relief. "The idea is that by encouraging exhibitors to participate, visitors will see the same image repeated all over the exhibition - we need to raise awareness of Light Relief and this is set to make a huge impact."

The idea is sponsored by Apollo Design Technology, the Indiana-based manu

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Avolites' products once again proved their great versatility and popularity in festival situations at Glastonbury 2002. With 13 Avo consoles specified for 11 different arenas at the world famous event, Avolites did its bit to ensure that 130,000 people and many leading performers from around the world had a fantastic festival. Avolites’ Steve Warren, Koy Neminathan, Nick Forro and Ben Miles were happy to spend five unwashed days providing technical support and having a good time! On the Pyramid (main) Stage, Neg Earth lights was the main lighting contractor, and the overall lighting was designed and overseen by Phil Freeman. He used two Avolites Diamond 3's to control the substantial production lighting rig, used to illuminate the likes of Coldplay, Faithless, the Stereophonics, The Charlatans, Rod Stewart and Roger Waters. Fixtures included Martin MAC 2000s, High End Studio Spots,

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XL Video’s recently-acquired Unitek MS17 LED video screen provided the backdrop for 15 days of exciting competition and entertainment at the NikePark Scorpion KO event, held at The Dome in Greenwich, London. Live video specialists XL Video supplied and operated the Unitek screen, which was used as a central feature of the main stage.

Themed on Nike Football’s hugely successful TV ad campaign, the Dome was transformed into a post industrial-styled football arena in which 16 different ‘Scorpion Tribes’ played off against each other for a place in the Scorpion Final held on the 15th June 2002. Over the course of the event, thousands of young footballers from all over the UK took part in the hotly-contested tournaments. The Dome event was just one of 13 NikePark competitions held simultaneously across the world, giving youngsters everywhere the chance to put their

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With a CV including The Pixies, Terrorvision, Echo and the Bunnymen, Del Amitri, The Foo Fighters and James, producer Gil Norton has been at the forefront of cutting-edge rock music for almost 20 years, and - with engineer Adrian Busby - he's been using a number of Audio-Technica mics to record Feeder's as-yet-untitled follow-up to the top five album Echo Park. Norton explains that as he was so impressed with the performance of the AT4040 and the Artist Elite AE3300, he is now eager to try out the rest of the Audio-Technica range. He said: "Grant [Nicholas, Feeder's lead singer] wanted to try out some different mics to record vocals, so we compared a few models side by side. We especially liked the AE3300 for backing vocals because of the big sound we got out of it, and the AT4040s worked really well for guitars."

"Following the results we got on this album, Adrian and I

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Turbosound Ltd, the British-based manufacturer of live performance and installed-sound loudspeaker systems, has announced the launch of several new products for PLASA 2002. The new developments include the compact, self-powered TQ-308SP, the latest addition to Turbosound's high performance Qlight series, plus a brand new range of passive loudspeaker systems, together with the LMS-D4, a new digital loudspeaker controller.

Expanding the range of options offered by Turbosound's QLight series still further, the TQ-308SP is an ultra-compact self-powered loudspeaker system, designed for sound reinforcement applications ranging from industrial and corporate events, to small and medium-sized fixed installs. Similar in concept to the established TQ-310 and TQ-315 systems, it features Turbosound's Converging Elliptical Waveguide, a rotatable high-frequency horn that provides smooth and even disp

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Stage Technologies, the pioneering scenic automation experts, are currently transferring two of the UK's most recent hit theatre productions to the southern hemisphere. Both Oliver! and Witches of Eastwick will be touring Australia by the end of this year, using sets transferred from the UK shows and automation equipment rented from the North London- based automation specialist.

Both Australian production companies have chosen similar automation systems, each of which include numerous award-winning Big Tow Winches and the Acrobat control console both ideal for touring applications. Oliver!, which opened in May in Sydney to critical acclaim, will shortly be joined by Witches of Eastwick, which starts previewing in Melbourne in August. The latter uses Stage Technologies' Pathway - a specially developed software application which allows objects (in this case the three witches) to move

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Tomcat USA and Fourth Phase Orlando supplied two concerts performed by the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. The Memorial Day concert, hosted by Ossie Davis, and the Independence Day concert, hosted by Barry Bostwick of Spin City fame, were held on the west lawn of the US Capitol and broadcast live on PBS.

Tomcat manufactured a 26ft custom curved white truss ladder for the tent structure that flew directly above the orchestra and supported six white Vari-Lite fixtures. For more lighting options, two 60ft light duty spans were manufactured with 10 custom vertical tubes in varying lengths to offer additional support. These spans were blasted and clear coated to provide a flat grey finish and were positioned either side of the stage.

A star-studded tribute on Memorial Day honoured the victims and heroes of September 11 and America's war against terrorism. The concert weave

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Showtime Lighting has announced the move to its new 20,000sq.ft facility in Vancouver, Canada. "It’s such a great building and with this new space, it will allow us to grow and keep pace with our increasing client base," says president Brian Konechny. "With the recent addition of partners Phil Bernard and Marc Raymond and the new opportunities in the market, we are moving ahead with great momentum, so stay tuned for more announcements."

(Lee Baldock)

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RMS will introduce no less then five new versions of its well-known Rental Management Systems software. All new versions share the RMS planning engine and the easy-to-use interface, which assures fully reliable data at extremely high speeds.

The first version is RMS Touring, a software package designed especially for handling rentals of touring-companies. This version is excellent for companies that have large quantities of equipment out for longer periods. Together with the crew- and transport-planner, it gives full control over all touring-rentals.

Next is RMS Conference, designed for renting AV-equipment to conferences, hotels, etc. This version focuses on aspects like keeping track of serial-numbers, short-term rentals (even on an hourly base is possible) and maintenance schedules. RMS Exhibition is a version, which deals with the specific problems of exhibition rentals. Easier p

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You are welcome to join us to support your favoured team in the fiercely competitive Hayden Laboratories Annual Industry Cricket Cup Challenge, taking place on Thursday 1 August and now in its 4th year.

Two highly-trained, athletic teams will be competing for the much-coveted championship cup, as PLASA & Clarion Events take on the might of the Sound & Lighting Industry. Come along and watch them battle it out as Clarion & PLASA fight to regain the cup after their defeat against the Hayden Labs Audio team last year.

The match will take place in the idyllic setting of Littlewick Green Cricket Club, Berkshire. The full 50-over match is scheduled to begin at 1.30pm, with tea at 4.15pm followed by the second innings before the BBQ and prize-giving kicks off at 7.30pm.

Tickets for the post-match barbecue are a bargain at £5.00 each. If you would like to attend the BBQ and for dir

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New Zealand based lighting manufacturer, Selecon, has become a victim of its own success. Increased demand for their products has forced the company to move from its original site in Auckland to bigger premises. With 78% company growth in the 16 years since it was founded and an increase in staff numbers from 35 to 82 in the last three years, it’s little wonder that a move was on the cards.

"With only 8,000 square feet of space, and our facility spread over two physically separate buildings, we were falling over each other and desperately needed new, larger premises, all under one roof," said Selecon’s managing director, Jeremy Collins. "We looked long and hard around the Auckland area and were fortunate to find an existing building of some 30,000 square feet on the North Shore. The single storey building fits our present needs and will accommodate our future

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VDC Trading has provided a cabling infrastructure for the new studio set-up at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Soho facility. Working with studio installers, Studio Acoustics, the company has also provided sufficient cable looms for the second phase of the studio’s development later in the year when they take delivery of new furniture.

Comprising a main control room, two edit rooms and a live room, the Sony facility has been equipped with an under-floor digital network by VDC, linking the edit and control rooms. This allows the music, sound effects and football commentary signals for Sony PlayStation games to be networked, with all the rooms able to communicate via the patchbay.

VDC specified their flagship Van Damme OFC pre-jacketed Blue Series multicore and splits in 2-pair, 4-pair, 8-pair, 16-pair, 24-pair, 32-pair and 40-pair cores, with multi-pin connectors. The

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Laser Magic Ltd has become part of LM Productions LLP. In recent years, Laser Magic has undertaken a much wider range of services such as event production utilizing lasers, lights, video, sound, fireworks and special effects and to this end has invested large sums of money in both infrastructure and equipment. In the light of this the company name has been changed to LM Productions LLP.

LM Productions LLP has also launched a new website dedicated to its StratoSphere product, which allows viewing of lasers, lighting and video from both inside and outside a giant translucent globe. The web site can be found at the web address below, and includes details on the company’s various StratoSphere venues, the different types of applications available and the equipment which can be used in and around the sphere to create a spectacular show.

There is also a ‘video download’ s

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The Spanish manufacturer D.A.S. supplied a large number of systems for the 2002 Groove Parade held in the Monegros desert on July 20th. The striking backdrop of this arid wasteland provided a contrast to the oasis of music and light which offered 15 hours of non-stop music. A total of 40 international DJ´s and live bands performed simultaneously on five stages drawing over 18,000 fans of the modern music genre to this spectacular event.

D.A.S. was the exclusive supplier of the fives stages. The companies Güell Sound, La Rulot and Green & Music got together to supply over 200,000 watts of D.A.S. sound reinforcement systems for the stages of the Groove Parade. Technical coordination for both sound and light was handled by Güell Sound of Lerida, Spain. Güell Sound installed the main ‘Open Air’ stage with 32 D.A.S. R-215s mid-high units, 24 D.A.S. ST-218 bass units, four R-

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Telford-base sound equipment hire company Soundsense has embarked on a major investment programme and has doubled its hire stocks in the past two months, and plans to double stocks again the next two months.

At the same time, the company has moved to improve the service it offers customers by extending the hire department's opening hours to 24 hours a day. Soundsense's Derek Tallent said: "After a sluggish start to the year, the past few months have seen our hire business grow at a rapid speed, and our advance bookings for August and September are the strongest we have ever seen. As fast as we can get equipment from suppliers, it's been out on hire to customers - we'll be glad to get some of the equipment back so that we can get it flightcased."

Recent purchases have included APT, CDQ Prima and Telos ISDN codecs, 360 Systems Short Cut Editors and Sadie digital audio worksta

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The A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow 2002, held at the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds on 23-24 July, was deemed a great success by both sponsors and visitors alike, with more than 400 people attending over the two days of the show.

Being the first opportunity for the A.C Audio division and its suppliers to meet the industry face to face, the tradeshow was also something of a milestone in the history of the company. As most UK entertainment technology shows are held in London or the south of England, the A.C Lighting tradeshow provided a rare opportunity for professionals in the North of England to see the latest technology from specialist lighting and audio manufacturers represented by A.C Lighting. Specialists from each participating manufacturer were on hand to give technical advice on products and applications, and a large number of the visitors took advantage of the hands-on demonstr

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Earl’s Court Ltd was yesterday fined £70,000 for health and safety failings discovered after the death of a lighting technician at Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre in December 1999 (see L&SI January 2000).

The company appeared before a Judge at Blackfriars Crown Court yesterday morning to plead guilty to two offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. In addition to the record breaking fine, Earl’s Court Ltd was also ordered to pay £70,000 to the Royal Borough in respect of its legal costs.

26-year-old Kevin O’Bryan fell 60 feet from the roof of the Exhibition Centre as he attempted to de-rig lighting equipment following a pop concert at the Centre. O’Bryan, who was employed as a lighting technician, had gained access without authorization to the highly dangerous roof void area that was under the control of Earl’s Court Ltd staff. He was

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From the 9th to the 12th July, Vsevoloszhask, a suburb of St Petersburg, was the focal point of the political economy of Russia, this being the scene of the opening by US automobile giant Ford of its first production facility on Russian soil - a historic event of global political significance - celebrated with a three-day gala including live music and other performance events.

The three-day gala attracted a multitude of major figures from the worlds of business and politics including the US ambassador, Alexander Vershbow, the Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs, Herman Gref, the Governor of the Region of Leningrad, Valery Serduvkov, and a delegation from Ford led by the President of Ford Russia, Henrick Nensen.

The magnitude of interest in this economic milestone is also indicated by the fact that, in addition to the 1,500 invited guests, it attracted 150 media representatives to

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The World of ResidenSea, the first resort community at sea continuously circumnavigating the globe, set sail on its maiden voyage from Oslo in March - equipped with a huge inventory of TOA PA/VA components, supplied by Norwegian-based distributors, Scandec Systemer AS. The luxury 43,500-ton craft comprises 88 guest suites available for the high-end vacation market and 110 luxury apartments (costing $2 million each), many of which are available for rental. It even includes a sea-faring golf course.

FMV sub-contracted the electrical installation work to the Norwegian firm Elpro, who in turn contacted Scandec Systemer to help with the onboard PA/VA, video and show lighting systems. Working side-by-side with the Elpro consultant responsible for the job, Jan Arve Monsen, was Scandec project manager Håkon Bjartveit.

For the public address/voice alarm requirements, the designers dipped dee

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Skan PA Hire, the Reading based rental company, has provided a system for one of the summer's most prestigious charity events, the Cantor Fitzgerald Silverstone Ball 2002. Held at the palatial Stowe School and headlined by the Stereophonics, the Silverstone Ball kicked off the 2002 British Grand Prix weekend, with all proceeds from a charity auction going to CLIC (Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood) and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

The sit-down dinner was attended by 1,500 guests who were entertained by a host of performers on the main stage as well as the London Community Gospel Choir which played on a separate stage. Skan provided two Midas Heritage desks for the main stage to facilitate changeover between bands, and sound reinforcement was delivered by a Turbosound Floodlight system. Other main stage performers, including racing driver Eddie Jordan's band V10 who entertained

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From its humble beginnings in 1947, Crown International has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most respected manufacturers of power amplifiers, systems control products and microphones for professional audio markets.

Crown’s history traces back to an Elkhart, Indiana minister named Clarence C. Moore (1904-1979). A longtime radio enthusiast, he founded International Radio and Electronics Corporation (IREC) in 1947 and converted a former chicken coop into the budding manufacturer’s first production facility. The company’s early reputation was built on a family of open-reel tape recorders designed to operate reliably when used by missionaries in remote, often-primitive regions of the world. After modifying and distributing several existing models (Magnecord, Recordio, Pentron and Crestwood) for the first couple of years, Moore obtained a patent in 194

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Sense-Sonic Limited, the Cheshire-based dveeloper of a unique assisted listening device (ALD) called the Conversor, which dramatically improves and focuses sound, has acquired Leaf Technologies Limited, a leading UK electronics manufacturing services company, from its administrators for £1.09 million in cash.

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, Leaf Technologies produces a wide range of products for the telecommunications, business equipment, health care, security, consumer electronics and audio sectors. During the last year, Leaf has endured the general market downturn, especially in the telecoms sector and as a result of these difficult market conditions, the company went into administration in June 2002.

Leaf Technologies manufactures Sense-Sonic’s core product, the Conversor, which is a unique assisted listening device (ALD) sold throughout

  1. Music Live 2002
  2. Mach SlingShot System for The Grove of Anaheim
  3. Fisher Productions at Celebrity Serpentine Party
  4. D.A.S. active at Montreux Jazz Festival
  5. Behind the Scenes @ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  6. JR Clancy earns ISO accreditation
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