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Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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The largest Christian Festival in the UK is staged on Shepton Mallet show grounds each summer between mid-July and the end of August. Promoted by New Wine, a Watford-based Christian organization specializing in Christian Conferences, the festival is organized by Ron Fernihough through the offices of the newly-formed Wigwam Event Management Company.

As with all modern festivals, there are a variety of performance and presentation venues, the two largest, the main stage and the tent (a four king-pole circus tent supplied by Albion Woods) both sport large d&b audiotechnik C4/C7 PA systems, while the 25 other smaller venues catering for audiences of between 50 and 1,000 people use a variety of sound systems, generally d&b or Ohm Industries equipment. "We spent a lot of time looking at sound systems for the smaller venues," said Fernihough. "Because of the six week running ti

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AC Lighting has told PLASA Media that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the entire issued share capital of Spectrum Manufacturing Inc. Based in Toronto Canada, Spectrum is an OEM manufacturer specialising in high volume entertainment technology products. The company has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with AC Lighting as the manufacturer of the exclusively distributed Chroma-Q range of colour scrollers. No significant changes are anticipated for either company, and existing distribution arrangements remain unchanged.

(Lee Baldock)

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Color Kinetics Inc (CKI) has been awarded its 13th patent (including US and international patents) relating to its line of solid-state lighting technologies for the digital control of LEDs. The new patent includes nearly 50 separate technology claims and covers a wide variety of methods and systems for illuminating materials with colour-controlled LED systems, say CKI.

One aspect of the patent relates to a variety of illumination applications where features of a material - such as a design within an object, or a colour in a sign or graphic - are highlighted by a colour or colours of light. This technique may also be applied to distinguish specific elements in amaterial from their surroundings, such as in machine vision or medical applications. Another aspect of the patent involves providing a positioning system to remotely align LED illumination systems to light a material, much like t

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London based tour company, Canegreen, have recently purchased an EAW KF760 Line Array system. Canegreen have been actively involved in the introduction and testing of the KF760 system, mainly within the European tour environment. The Canegreen system consists of 24 KF760 long/medium throw boxes and four KF761 near fill boxes. Sub bass is enhanced by the addition of 16 EAW SB1000 cabinets.

Canegreen's Yan Stile was very focused on what was required from the system: "As opposed to the American arena tour market, touring in Europe often involves venues with differing problems when flying or ground-stacking the sound system." He added: "We used the KF760s in all types of venue, some of them not normally applicable for line arrays. But throughout we were pleasantly surprised with the results, even in venues where there were no fly points and ground space was limited. The cove

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Pearce Hire supplied the lighting for the Association of Online Publishers and Periodical Publishers Association conferences and awards ceremonies this October, following a busy summer supplying festivals and outdoor events with a range of power, sound and lighting services. The company is now gearing up for an active winter as they move inside to service corporate events, conferences and award ceremonies.

The two-day publishing conference was held at the Millennium Mayfair Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London, serving the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) on the Tuesday and the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) on the Wednesday. Pearce Hire worked alongside Hawk AV, with whom they have a long-standing professional relationship, providing the lighting under the direction of LD John Huson with Graham Festenstein assisting.

The companies built a predominately white set and use

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Stage Electrics is holding a sale of theatrical and disco lighting and ancillary equipment on Saturday 9 November 2002. The Auction will be held at the company’s headquarters in Third Way, Avonmouth, Bristol and will commence at 10am.

Lots will include Strand Prelude and Cantata spotlights, Par cans, Tempus Dimmer racks, flight cases, cables, disco consoles and a wide range of effects equipment. Patrick Behan, who has organized previous successful Stage Electrics Auctions, told us: "This year it has been difficult to keep the lots to 1000 as we have acquired a considerable amount of new and second-hand kit from our Newcastle branch (ex Lighting Technology). There should be loads of bargains and the usual chance to meet up with a few mates from the industry."

Auction catalogues can be requested by emailing the address below or by phoning 0117 982 7282. An electronic v

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Following the news earlier this week that London-based sound specialist Orbital had purchased two new D5 Live consoles from DiGiCo, the company has now given details of the first theatrical use of the D5 Live, at the International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff. Here, the desk is being employed on a number of events, including the European debut of the Broadway musical Ragtime.

Orbital is issuing an invitation for all interested parties to visit them at their London base to find out more about the D5 Live, including the enhancements which have been made to Orbital’s second desk which have increased its capacity to manage even the biggest theatre productions. For more information, contact Chris Headlam at Orbital via the e-mail address given below.

(Lee Baldock)

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Toploader, one of the UK's most successful live bands of the last two years, are currently touring the country with a flexible line array rig from EAW. The three-month tour takes in venues of all shapes and sizes - which meant that the choice of speaker system became even more sensitive than usual. "I loved the sound of the KF760 system when I heard it at Hammersmith Apollo," recalls FOH engineer Andrew Thornton, "but I admit I was concerned about the idea of bringing it into theatres and having to groundstack it for some show. In the end, though, it's proved to be much more flexible than a 'normal' system."

It has proved so flexible, in fact, that the tour's system technician Pete Hughes, who is responsible for the Canegreen-supplied system, opted to fit single wheelboards to the 16 KF760 and KF761 cabinets, in order to be able to split the arrays differently for e

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This year marks the debut of the International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff - and White Light is supporting the event by supplying the lighting for the Festival's centrepiece production, Babes in Arms, at the Cardiff New Theatre. The same rig also performed double duty, lighting the Festival's opening Gala Concert.

Faced with the challenges of minimal rigging time, no changeover time between concert and show, little focusing time and two shows to light, lighting designer Neil Austin opted for a largely automated rig featuring 16 Amptown Washlights with beam shuttering and 10 Strand Pirouette PCs with Rainbow scrollers. Neil selected both units because of his preference for working with tungsten light sources, but complemented them with four Martin MAC 500 moving spotlights. Completing the rig were Strand Alto and Cantata fresnels, Par cans, ETC Source Fours, L&E batten

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Some of Europe’s leading event industry professionals gathered at The Showman’s Show 2002 this October, where the weather and business were brisk, reflecting the vibrant nature of the industry at the moment.

This year’s Showman’s Show continued to widen its appeal as 3,829 visitors from all walks of event management and show organizing visited Newbury Showground to view the products and services that will shape next year’s events. Over 300 companies exhibited to create the largest outdoor event exhibition ever seen in Europe. The organizers altered the site layout to accommodate the show’s growth and made improvements to the site that meant that visitors were oblivious to the fact that exhibitors had built their stands in torrential rain through the previous two days.

The very nature of the Showman’s Show enables outdoor event practitioners t

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One of the highlights of the recent ECTS 2002 interactive entertainment show at London’s Earls Court was the vast PlayStation Experience, hosted by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which ran in parallel to the main event. To enhance the screen-driven extravaganza with a real world atmosphere, Creative Technology Exhibitions (contracted by Denham Technical Services) used the Dataton Watchout system - a scalable digital media system designed for big shows, generating images which can span several video projectors or monitors. Watchout automatically applies smooth edge blending to overlapping projection areas, resulting in a seamless image.

This was just one of the technological solutions which CT applied to interpret the concept laid down by Rod George at Denham. They also drew on some of the projection techniques which their sister company in the US had implemented at recent E3

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In one of the largest ever conference system installations of its kind, Philips CSI has supplied a high-specification Concentus DCN (Digital Congress Network) system to the German government’s impressive new Bundeskanzleramt international conference centre in Berlin. The Philips Concentus system had to meet much more stringent demands than are normally encountered: up to 15 simultaneous language translations and the ability to display Cyrillic, Arabic and other non-standard character on built-in displays. It also had to cope with large numbers of delegates while being easy to use and to have an attractive aesthetic design for this prestigious new government facility.

To meet the need for simultaneous interpretation and language distribution for the new Berlin conference facility, Philips supplied a 140-position Concentus DCN system. The top of the range Concentus is able to handl

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Some of the biggest names in television gathered at the Royal Albert Hall recently for the 2002 National Television Awards. RG Jones was the principal audio contractor for the event, which was broadcast on ITV on 15 October. Engineer Simon Hodge saw this as a perfect opportunity to put the new compact Nexo GEO system through its paces, which was duly supplied by SSE, along with Camco amplification.

According to Simon, as a complete package GEO was "a joy to work with." He explained that the main issues of the event were to do with sight lines. "As a major televised show for the television industry it was crucial that we have a physically tiny system so that it did not interfere with sight lines either for the audience, or more importantly for the many cameras filming the show. GEO was fantastic in this respect. We had the two hangs positioned quite wide behind the lecter

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City Theatrical, the New York-based manufacturer of lighting accessories and theatrical products, has donated $500 to Light Relief - the fund set up to by and for the lighting industry, to offer lighting designers and those working within the field, assistance and support with life’s catastrophes. $250 was donated by City Theatrical employees, an amount which the company then matched. Our picture shows Gary Fails of City Theatrical presenting the cheque to Tony Gottelier of Light Relief at the recent LDI show in Las Vegas.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Stage automation specialist AVW Controls has spent the past months jetting all over Europe to supply control systems for a range of prestigious projects. In between, it has supplied two theatres in Cyprus with systems without even getting on a plane. Proving that AVW’s systems are user-friendly, both systems were designed and manufactured in the UK before being shipped to Cyprus where local crews assembled them.

Originally built as a cinema in 1930, the Rialto in Limassol has been dogged by bad luck. But four years ago, it underwent a total re-fit to create the Rialto Theatre, since when it has gone from strength to strength and is now recognised as a significant cultural institution. At the time of the re-fit a temporary fore stage was installed and this year, to complete the metamorphosis, MultiStage International contracted AVW to design and manufacture controls for an orchest

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Star Rigging installed their new spot platforms, designed and launched in 2002, into this month's Disney Channel Kids Awards, held in the Docklands Arena in London. Star Rigging provided all the rigging for the televised awards show, which featured stars of the moment including Holly Valance, Gareth Gates, Blue and Liberty X.

The new spot platforms were purpose-built in 2002, as prefabricated structures to provide a safe working area for the technicians on the platforms. The custom-built handrails and lifting points make it a quick and easy system to install. The modular systems are highly adaptable and can be increased as required from 8ft in multiples of 4ft sections. On this occasion there were two single spot platforms, one holding four lights and operators and one adapted to carry the amp rack for Wigwam’s PA. Star Rigging also rigged Wigwam’s flown speaker equipment,

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The first Music China in Shanghai was an unequivocal success, attracting 18,072 trade buyers and public visitors through its doors over four days, according to organizers Messe Frankfurt. Far exceeding expectations, the show attracted hundreds of visitors from far beyond Shanghai’s provincial borders, with visitors traveling from as far away as Guangzhou in the south and Harbin in the north, plus an estimated 1,500 visitors from overseas (approx. 8% of total) including a 20-strong buying mission from the UK and a large delegation of Japanese importers and distributors.

A total of 274 exhibitors took part in this ground-breaking event, covering a gross exhibition space of 15,000sq.m. Feedback from both exhibitors and buyers was excellent overall, and many commented on how the dynamism of the market and the Chinese peoples’ appetite for music could be clearly felt within the

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The Event Show, formerly Event Expo, has a new name, a new look and a new venue. Running on 28-30 January 2003, the show sets out to cater for the needs of event professionals from a broad variety of backgrounds including production companies, event management companies, corporates, charities, local authorities and sales promotion agencies.

The event has been completely redesigned and rejuvenated, by organizer, Inside Communications, whose business manager, Clair Whitecross, explains: "We are very excited about the new developments, which so far have been received very well . . . We can promise January 2003 will see a spectacular event."

For 2003 The Event Show has moved to the professional, easily accessible National Hall, Olympia, in the heart of London, where over 250 companies including AV and lighting contractors, marquee and temporary structure suppliers and productio

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Aztec, the innovative new live console from Audient, has just completed a 14-date preview tour of Ireland with American Hot!, London’s newest musical show. Rental company Thames Audio supplied the desk for the tour via UK distributor Expotus. Tour sound designer and FOH engineer was Jem Kitchen with Thames Audio’s Graham Simpson acting as co-designer and systems engineer.

The tour began at the Bakewell Arts Festival on Sunday 11 August. It then visited The Palace Theatre, London; the An Grianan Theatre in Letterkenny, County Donegal; Waterfront Hall, Belfast; Leisureland, Galway; The Everymen Palace Theatre, Cork; The University Concert Hall, Limerick, before finally stopping on 28 September for two performances at the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) Concert Hall, Ballbridge, Dublin.

Graham Simpson of Thames Audio, says of the desk: "The Aztec was sonically very tr

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Le Maitre are set to stage a spectacular firework and pyrotechnic display from the roof of Harrods to mark the switching on of the Christmas Lights on 3 November. The display will go ahead despite the proposed fire strikes. As the strike is due to start on 2 November for 48 hours, Le Maitre’s events director Karen Haddon has employed private fire crews to cover the event. This will be in addition to the British Army’s Green Goddesses, already covering the strike nationally, and Harrods’ own fire officers stationed on the roof itself. Although it is extremely expensive to bring in private fire engines and crew, ensuring safety at the event is paramount, and the decision to go ahead with the show has been welcomed.

The display is very complex, and will be fired with a pyro digital system. It runs just under 15 minutes and is set to the James Bond theme tune. It will beg

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Show Presentation Services (SPS) has recently provided full audio-visual and staging facilities, including live camera work, at the high level BSkyB 'Leadership Forum' for 320 of its senior management executives from all over the country. The annual event for BSkyB's senior managers, held in the London Suite at the Marriot Hotel, Heathrow on 13 September, 2002, was hosted by Sky News's political editor, Adam Boulton.

SPS has been developing the event format with BSkyB over the past eight months, working together on the stage and set design, as well as planning the seating layout, lights, sound and cameras. Neil Smith, the manager of the project at SPS said: "We have had a good working relationship with BSkyB for the past six years now, so we were delighted to be working on the forum again this year. An event of this size and content takes extensive planning in the months leading u

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JBL Professional's EVO speakers have been installed into a multipurpose room inside Vienna's new Leopold Museum. The 117-seat room is used for a variety of functions including concerts, podium discussions, movies, and presentations. One of the new museums in Vienna's art district, the five-story Leopold Museum houses the art exhibition of Rudolf Leopold, with over 5,000 paintings including works by artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, and Oskar Kokoschka.

The installation was completed by audio specialists, Georg Vanek and Frank Bocksteiner / Ton&Technik, who chose EVO because of its functionality and ease of use. Aside from audio quality, another factor in the decision to choose EVO was its compact and elegant design and ability to be mounted horizontally, allowing for speaker placement below the ceiling line. Vanek, pleased with the installation, stated: "It sounds very g

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Audio Logistics and Richmond Studios founder Toby Alington has been commissioned by leading Welsh film and TV production company Presentable for the audio production of the latest series of the successful BBC Wales light entertainment show Mike Doyle, being filmed in Studio C1 at BBC Broadcasting House in Cardiff.

Filmed in front of a live audience with a live band, the format includes music, comedy, chat and celebrity guests, and is captured with a seven-camera shoot and some 70 channels of audio to cater for the large band and 24 channels of radio microphones. The sessions are recorded direct to digital multi-track with a full PA system and monitor setup from Welsh company AB Acoustics, provided through Audio Logistics. The audience mix is engineered by Clinton Cast with the monitor mix by AB Acoustics owner Huw ‘Buzz’ Evans.

Post production is handled by Toby Alington

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MixArt Ltd from Russia has been named Allen & Heath Distributor of the Year for 2002. The award is given each year to the distribution company which has done most to the support the brand and its customers in their territory. A special plaque was presented to the president of MixArt, Dmitriy Modin, during a dinner held for Allen & Heath's distribution team at Langans Coq d'Or restaurant in London during the recent PLASA show (Earls Court Exhibition Centre, 8-11 Sept 2002).

MixArt are based in Moscow, with a satellite facility in St. Petersburg and plans for another in Siberia. Allen & Heath's sales and marketing director, Bob Goleniowski, explains why MixArt was chosen to receive the award: "Rather than just looking at overall sales figures, we consider criteria such as the way that the distributor looks after our customers, how well they communicate with us and how fully they get

  1. Fourth Phase's weekend at Pontins
  2. Martin Manufacturing Zhuhai Ltd nears start up
  3. A stunning opening for Miss Saigon
  4. EV do the Locomotion
  5. Audio Ltd relays the golden oldies
  6. Vari-Lite gets thumbs up for Chicago movie
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