Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Business

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One of Hand Held Audio's more challenging clients recently has been shock dance act the Prodigy. Hand Held has been supplying Shure SM58 hand-held, guitar and PSM 600 in-ear radio systems to the band on a one-off basis since January as they prepare for the release of their next album.

The band has been extremely busy with festivals in Australia, USA, Ireland, Belgium, Mount Fuji in Japan, plus of course the recent Mean Fiddler festivals in Reading, Leeds and Glasgow over the August Bank Holiday weekend, where Prodigy headlined. According to Hand Held's Nick Bruce Smith, the challenge has nothing to do with the gear spec, which is straightforward enough, although the licensing element has been time consuming given the number of different countries and sites the band has covered. The interesting part is seeing the state of the equipment on its return. "We just never know quite what

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Hillsong Church in Sydney incorporates two major worship centres, a city-wide network of cell groups and contributing ministries and outreach services. It was set up in the early 1980s by New Zealanders Brian and Bobbie Houston, who saw the need to provide people in Sydney’s North West with an active, contemporary church. Today it is possibly the largest church in Australian history, operating from a 21-acre site in a modern business park in the Hills district, and from a contemporary facility near the heart of Sydney’s CBD. With a congregation of over 12,000, the reputation of the church continues to expand and has a dynamic influence both domestically and internationally.

Hillsong Church had been planning to build a larger auditorium since moving into its current building four years ago. With only two worship centres - one holding 1,500 at Baulkham Hills in Sydney's north

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Nexo SA has responded to growing worldwide demand for its advanced loudspeaker system technology by creating three international sales regions. Denis Baudier, international sales director, will have primary responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and Africa: he will be based at the Nexo SA factory in Roissy, France. Meanwhile, James Yeung of Nexo Far East Pte Ltd will supervise the company’s distribution in the Pacific Rim from Nexo’s headquarters in Singapore whilst David Solari, CEO of Nexo USA, will direct Nexo operations in North and South America from the company’s offices in San Rafael, CA.

"As the worldwide customer base for Nexo technology expands, we are responding to a need for increased support and training," explains Nexo managing director Michael Johnson. "These three areas of the world have unique characteristics and opportunities, and

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During the recent PLASA Show came the announcement that Midas has appointed LMC Audio Systems as Executive Agent for its mixing console range. The announcement, made by Midas UK sales manager Richard Ferriday, follows the successful commercial relationship forged between the two companies over the past five years, which has seen LMC implement a very successful market diversification programme to further increase the rentability of the growing Midas range for all users.

Ferriday confirmed that the new agreement signalled a close, full working partnership between the factory and LMC, offering Midas customers for the first time, factory contact, whilst increasing the package of commercial tools on offer through LMC.

LMC Audio managing director Paul Hinkly was delighted with the new appointment. "The Midas brand has been and continues to be the most stable console brand to buy, o

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Marquee Audio has fulfilled a request from the UCL Bloomsbury to supply and install a new Martin Audio front-of-house sound system in their auditorium, along with BSS Soundweb control blocks which will allow the expandability the venue requires in the future.

The UCL Bloomsbury is a two-level auditorium (accommodating 400 in the stalls and 150 in the circle), owned by University College London and built in the 1960s. Though housed in a concrete edifice its vertical wooden-slatted baffle ensures the sound is not overly reflective and can be heard with clarity at the rear of the wide auditorium.For three-quarters of the year the theatre is a receiving house and for the remainder of the time they run productions for student societies.

Venue chief electrician Adam Leigh contacted Marquee for the first time - on the strength of receiving their promotional literature, and the recommendatio

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Stage Technologies is currently in the process of equipping two new ships with complete rigging and control systems for Princess Cruises. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is building two giant 113,000gt ships in Nagasaki, Japan, for the cruise line, which will be the largest ever ships ordered by P&O Princess. Matthew Tonks is the project manager for Stage Technologies and believes that the new systems "will enable Princess Cruises to provide their passengers with shows to rival any equivalent on land."

One of the central elements of the Stage Technology system will be its new TanJent system. This prevents scenery from moving around with the pitching and rolling of the boat by guiding the scenery flybars throughout the full travel of the bar.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Euro Hire Sound & Light, a full service production company based in Farnborough in Hampshire, has become the first UK customer to invest in the recently launched compact line array system from Dynacord, Cobra.

Euro Hire was specifically looking for a system to cope with smaller events and theatre tours. Operations manager Jools Warren explained that although their current systems (EAW and Renkus Heinz) were more than adequate, it was sometimes rather a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. "We decided that it would be a good idea to be able to offer our customers the option of a more compact system, so when Shuttlesound proposed Cobra, we were very interested. And then once we'd heard the demo at the Anvil theatre in Basingstoke, it was really just a question of crunching the numbers and sorting out a delivery date!"

Euro Hire invested in a total of six Cobra Top enc

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Barbizon Lighting Company, the worldwide distributor of professional lighting systems and supplies for entertainment and architecture, has established a new European-based operation. Barbizon Europe will focus on fulfilling the requests of its international customers as well as establishing new business from its new London area stocking location.

CEO Jonathan Resnick told us: "This is a very exciting venture for the entire Barbizon family. Having a European-based shipping location will help to expand our already significant global business. We are also fortunate to have a very experienced team who will operate our London office."

That team includes Phil Bullock, formerly export manager of MGC Lamps, as general manager and Wendy Pearson, formerly MGC Lamps and AC Lighting export coordinator, as operations manager. Garry Nelsson, formerly of Lighting Technology Group, comes

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Along with a veritable who's who of high profile club DJs, TiMax virtual surround sound and audio animation environment has been something of a feature of the summer 2002 club dance festival circuit. Corporate-sponsored arenas such as the Strongbow Loafing Lounge at Homelands and Gatecrashers Ball, plus the Smirnoff Experience at Glastonbury, have all specified TiMax audio animation for their sound systems this year.

Keen to enhance elaborately branded arena designs with advanced and integrated multimedia, production designers were quick to realise that immersive multichannel sound was essential to complement the abundance of intelligent lighting effects and multi-screen abstract video content. DJs were provided with an Octopad drum pad to trigger pre-programmed virtual surround sound spins, figure-of-eights and zigzag moves in TiMax via MIDI, along with a few samples of helicopters an

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A clear sign of the international expansion of D.A.S. Audio was seen recently in Cartagena, Colombia, where presidents from a number of American states were gathered. Included in the roster of important American leaders was ex-president of Colombia Andres Pastrana, president of Colombia Uribe Velez and special guest, former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

A special ceremony in honour of Clinton was held in the fabulous San Felipe fortress, which overlooks the port city of Cartagena. Invitees as well as the leaders from the American states were entertained with a spectacular concert themed around Colombian folk music. D.A.S. systems were on hand, with factory technical support provided by Ramon Franco, D.A.S. sales engineer in Colombia.

Sound reinforcement for this important event was handled by Sonido y Accesorios SIA, based in Bogota. Samuel Puentes, company director,

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Architectural lighting specialists i-vision were approached by international property consultants KingSturge, to design a lighting scheme for the Eastgate Centre in Cardiff. The newly refurbished Centre is a large office complex in the heart of vibrant, downtown Cardiff. It's off-beat 1970's styling comes from four, different sized flat-fronted, conjoined blocks, bordered by roads on all four sides, giving the Eastgate Centre a high profile.

The main façade of the building is constructed of brick with long runs of windows along each floor. However KingSturge has been progressive in the re-fit of the building, adding a glass stairwell to the exterior and a new entrance canopy. These new features, together with the overall re-fit, have greatly improved both the architecture and the working environment. The lighting scheme of i-vision's Geoff Jones is intended to transform Eastgate House

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Show Presentation Services (SPS) has successfully completed its fourth consecutive year providing equipment and technical expertise at the Royal Albert Hall’s prestigious back-to-back award week. The events also mark more than a decade of partnership with Philip Talbot Productions (PTP) producing some of Britain’s highest profile awards ceremonies.

This year SPS and PTP teamed up with Qudos Productions to provide staging and production expertise for the Investment Week awards, the British Insurance awards, and the Motor Transport awards over a three-day period. The tight schedule was dictated by the limited time period when a false floor can be fitted in the hall to accommodate the 1,400 capacity audiences at these kinds of events. Following the success of previous years, it was decided to run the events consecutively to maximize the hall availability and ensure the smooth

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On the evening of 4 September, the curtain was raised on Phantom of the Opera at Madrid's Teatro Lope de Vega, with creator Lord Lloyd Webber himself amid the opening night audience. Fourth Phase was successful following a competitive tender process in supplying a replica of the lighting rig that appears in the original London West End production - all at very short notice! Contracted to supply the entire lighting spec, Fourth Phase was given two weeks in which to send substantial quantities of equipment to Spain, from dimmers to lanterns, followspots and cables.

Re-creating Andy Bridge's West End design was the show's associate lighting designer Michael Odam, who had to work around the limitations of the Spanish theatre: "We lost 1.5m of electric flying space on the grid as a result of the depth of the stage. In the original Phantom production Digital Light Curtains play

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Pathway Connectivity, the leading data communications company in the entertainment lighting industry, is pleased to announce the addition of a new partner to its industry partnership, the Pathport Alliance. Leviton Lighting Control, the US’s largest supplier of wiring devices, will add Pathport compatibility to further strengthen its theatrical, stage and studio lighting systems portfolio, while backing this with its reputation for quality, reliability and service.

The Pathport Alliance is made up of major lighting control manufacturers that have undertaken to implement the Pathport Protocol in their products. Pathport Ethernet devices provide users with a powerful, yet economical arrangement for patching, merging, prioritizing and distributing up to 64 universes of DMX. The Pathport Alliance is currently comprised of Entertainment Technology, Leviton Lighting Control, Flying Pig

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Lighting designer Bryan Hartley has specified the High End Systems' Catalyst system to add another dimension to the recent Slayer tour. MCSi supplied the Catalyst and the video projection equipment, while Bandit Lites provided all the lighting, the Wholehog II console - which also ran the Catalyst - and the remainder of the production gear.

"The Catalyst was a lot of fun," comments Hartley, "and it was great to run the video edits through the Hog." The lighting veteran, whose design credits include Kiss, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Meat Loaf and many others, plans to use Catalyst an another upcoming project near the end of this year.

(Ruth Rossington)

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The Music Managers Forum’s (MMF) British Music Roll of Honour took place on 18 September at The Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London. The event marks the achievements of music industry managers and luminaries and attracts a myriad of industry stars and top brass. This year they also gathered to mark the Music Managers Forum’s 10th Anniversary. Live entertainment came courtesy of Travis and Craig David in honour of their managers Ian McAndrew and Colin Lester. McAndrew and Lester, from management company Wildlife, were presented with the much-coveted Peter Grant Award for their outstanding contribution to the music industry.

The ceremony was hosted by DJ and BBC radio presenter Paul Gambaccini, who was surprised to find himself inducted onto the Roll of Honour in recognition of over 30 years in the industry. Other inductees included Willie Robertson and Bob Taylor from Robertso

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With a capacity of 3,000, Ireland’s largest dance club opened its doors this month in the town of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan. Owners Kevin McKenna and PJ Woods have invested nearly €5 million in developing what is arguably Ireland’s first superclub, around a Martin Audio Wavefront 8 Compact system. Woods had known Rea Sound from previous leisure ventures but the Cookstown-based company still had to win a tender to develop the dancefloor and balcony (with a small, 200-capacity chill-out room in the next stage of development). "When they gave us a chance to quote we thought we’d show them just what the Martin Wavefront system was capable of, as we were under serious pressure from other leading brands," says Sean. "So we took them on a tour, and they were quickly convinced."

This sounded the signal for Martin’s product manager, Richie Rowl

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Robe Showlighting - the Czech moving light manufacturer - announced the appointment of LMP Lichttechnik as its new German distributor at PLASA last week. Based in Ibbenbüren, North Germany, LMP is one of the largest lighting sales operations in Europe, and is ideally placed to service Robe's active expansion as a direct sales operation. This follows Robe's recent appointment of Coe-tech as its UK distributor, and a very successful PLASA show, where it launched its new AT Series of intelligent fixtures, with six featured products and more to come.Until recently, Robe Showlighting was well known as an OEM manufacturer and supplier of many of Europe's leading moving light brands.

Robe's Josef Valchar comments: "We chose LMP because it's a very well established company with much experience and familiarity with the moving light market. Their after-sales support and back-up is also ren

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ESTA has announced that two draft standards are up for public review: BSR E1.5, Entertainment Technology - Theatrical Fog Made With Aqueous Solutions Of Di- And Trihydric Alcohols, is available for a second public review. These theatrical fogs and mists are often used as visual effects or to enhance lighting effects in live performances such as dramatic productions, musicals, and popular music concerts, and are commonly called "glycol fogs." This draft American National Standard describes the composition of glycol and glycerin fogs that are not likely to be harmful to otherwise healthy performers, technicians, or audience members of normal working age.

Copies of the draft BSR E1.5 standard may be obtained from the ESTA website or by requesting a copy from ESTA's Technical Standards Manager via mail, fax, or e-mail (see below). Comments on the document should be receive

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The first installation of Autopilot II in Scandinavia has been made for the Kikki Bettan Lotta cabaret, which opened at the Rondo in the Liseberg funfair outside Gothenburg on September 12. The show features three of Scandinavia’s most famous singers Kikki Danielsson, Elisabeth Adreassen and Lotta Engberg.

Primadonnas and divas do not appreciate being kept out of the limelight and nobody knows that better than a lighting designer. Palle Palmé, one of the best known lighting designers in Scandinavia, was facing just that particular dilemma when creating the lighting look for Kikki Bettan Lotta, as the theatre didn’t offer the facilities for three followspot operators. With three equally strong characters on stage, Palmé knew he could not compromise on the spotlight for any of the stars and he went searching for an alternative option.

The solution was simple: Autopilot II

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Two specially designed Lighthouse LED video screens with Electrosonic VECTOR image processing were chosen as the high definition medium for a major new football and soccer stadium which opened in August 2002 in Seattle, USA.

The company behind the new stadium is First & Goal Inc, headed by Paul G. Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks and co-founder of Microsoft. The facility was built a few blocks south of downtown Seattle in the historic Pioneer Square district, on the site of the Seattle Kingdome, a 23.9 acres concrete and steel arena which opened in 1976, and saw over 73 million visitors pass through its doors during its life. Last year, 24 years to the day after it opened, the Kingdome was demolished to make way for the new stadium.

The stadium is the new home of the Seattle Seahawks football team and is designed with a 67,000 seat capacity, with 5,000 additional seats available

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HMV has become an official sponsor for Sound Advice, the music industry education roadshow that tours the UK for five days in October. Sound Advice represents a unique collaboration by all of the UK's leading music industry organisations under an educational banner. Its aim is to provide music students around the country with invaluable advice from leading figures about key issues affecting the industry and how these might impact on their future careers. The importance of Live music, the issues surrounding Copyright and the need for education within the industry will be high on the agenda.

HMV Europe's managing director David Pryde, comments: "I am delighted that HMV is in a position to support this inaugural 'Sound Advice' tour, not least because it gives a chance to those people around the country where we have our stores to find out more about all aspects of our industry. Hopef

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This year's International Leisure Industry Week (LIW) show takes place at the NEC in Birmingham on the 8-10 October. LIW brings together the many elements of the UK leisure industry, from health and fitness to food, drink and entertainment.

The Leisure Environments and Leisure Solutions shows within Leisure Industry Week have been designed to educate, inspire and support industry suppliers, operators and designers. Everything from lighting, sound and furnishing to ticketing, lockers and membership technology will be showcased, and the BEDA Village (the British Entertainment and Discotheque Association) will ensure the show continues to provide an unequalled networking opportunity as well as highlighting the latest ideas and innovations for clubs everywhere. Participating companies include Pulsar Light, HZ International and HK Audio, as well as the likes of Holsten UK who will be showca

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Successfully concluding their first year of operation as Simply By Others LLC (Simply By Others) principal designers David LaVigna and Ellen Lampros of the Connecticut-based themed architectural and fibre optic system design firm announced a number of new initiatives this month, signifying the further growth of the company - new offices, new corporate identity, new web site and several new projects.

In August, the company relocated to new headquarters at 415 Main Street, Suite B, Ridgefield, CT 06879. New phone and fax numbers are +1 203 894 8605 and +1 203 894 8655 respectively. Concurrent with the move, the company launched its revamped web site at www.simplybyothers.com and new corporate identity.

On the project front, design work has begun on Strike Long Island, the third facility that the company has designed for Strike Holdings. T

  1. Hand Held Audio at Proms in the Park with System Sound
  2. Opus Audio signs major US deal
  3. Electrosonic Inc expands to larger facility
  4. XL Video screen it at Rockingham
  5. CP Sound beside the seaside
  6. Moscow's new Locomotiv Stadium opens
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

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