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

Business

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UK - Large format projection specialists E//T//C UK supplied two PIGI projectors with double scrollers to the spectacular festive Peter Pan - A Musical Adventure production, staged at the Royal Festival Hall in December and January. The production was a collaboration between the venue, production and design specialists Imagination and promoters Raymond Gubbay.

Projection design was by Imagination's Chris Slingsby, who joined a formidable creative team including Ian Talbot (director), Will Bowen (set), Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen (costumes), Durham Marenghi (LD) and John Del Nero (sound design). Projection ran for the whole show, overlaying the top and sides of the impressive scenic false proscenium arch, covered in grey gauze, which was specially installed for the production by Unusual Rigging. This transformed the Royal Festival Hall from a concert hall into a more 'traditi

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Ireland - Bandit Lites recently completed what it hopes will be the start of a long-term relationship with The Irish Tenors. The three singers recently completed a number of highly successful performances at Odyssey Arena in Belfast and at the Point Arena in Dublin.

Although Bandit Lites has an office in Dublin, the shows were handled by its UK arm. "The Dublin office was so busy with work, that we asked the UK office to pitch in on this one," explained Bandit's Phay MacMahon. Production managing the events was Harry Tucker, with the lighting designed by Steve Fallon, and the Bandit crew consisting of Stephen 'Nipper' Fitch as crew chief and Jim Allison as moving light technician. The equipment consisted of an expansive three truss system, stacked with High X Spots, Studio Beams and PCs, and Studio Color 575s controlled by a Wholehog II desk.

Other news from the comp

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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UK - At a time when the IT sector as a whole is experiencing a marked downturn, indeed, even industry giants such as IBM and Sun Microsystems are reporting reduced profits and scaling back their predictions for next year - Stardraw has announced a staggering 55% growth in sales of its traditional shrink-wrapped range (namely Stardraw Audio, Stardraw AV, Stardraw Radio, Stardraw Lighting 2D and Stardraw Professional) over the last 12 months.

Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson is understandably pleased: "Annual growth of 55% is a considerable achievement under any circumstances, particularly as it represents almost three times the growth rate we achieved in the preceding period, but against the backdrop of the slowdown currently being experienced within the IT and entertainment technology sector, it is especially gratifying. It proves that we are on the right track with

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UK - Aztec, the new live console from Audient, has completed another sell-out tour. This time the console donned stripy leg warmers and backcombed its mullet to join some of the biggest stars of the 80s on a nine-date tour of the UK.

The Here and Now Christmas tour kicked off in Newcastle on 12 December at the Telewest Arena. It then visited Brighton, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Wembley, the London Arena, Sheffield and finally Manchester on 22 December. The line-up of performers included Human League, 5 Star, Kim Wilde, Dollar, Visage and many more from the decade that fashion forgot.

The sound company for the tour, Capital Sound, with the company's Mark Ballard acting as FOH engineer for the tour. Working alongside him were Becky Pell as monitor engineer, James Gebhard as monitor engineer/system technician and Andy Banks as system technician.

The Aztec Live Performanc

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UK - CP Sound has designed, specified and installed a discreet, powerful audio system at The Zinc Bar & Grill in Fulham, London, for Conran Restaurants. This follows hot on the heels of their other successful sound reinforcement projects at Zinc sites in Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.

This latest Zinc occupies a prime location amidst the bustle of Fulham Broadway, one of the liveliest parts of London. Although a smaller space than the other restaurants, the same aesthetic and sonic requirements were applied to this venue. Sound equipment had to be invisible, to offer comfortable and almost imperceptible background levels and dispersion, yet also be capable of pumping up the volume in the venue when needed. Zinc's bar area is designed for multi-purpose use, and can be converted into DJ/dancing mode. It was also important that sound in the two adjacent areas - restaurant an

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UK - With the country's flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal now on its way to the Mediterranean, it's interesting to note that part of the ship's complement of equipment for the military exercise includes two HK Audio E.L.I.A.S. active PA systems.

"We were really surprised when we got the call," explains Paul Siddall of Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems. "This happened a couple of months ago, when the Navy were fitting the aircraft carrier out for the exercise, and were looking for some powerful, yet compact PA systems for off-duty entertainment purposes. They must have been browsing the web, found our site and decided to put in an order with us for various bits and pieces of equipment for the carrier, which included the two HK Audio systems."

Following a drive down to Portsmouth to deliver the order to the Ark Royal, Pro Audio Systems were further rewa

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USA - BSR E1.6, Entertainment Technology - Powered Hoisting Systems for Places of Public Assembly, is available for public review until the end of the business day in New York City on 11 March 2003. This draft American National Standard establishes safety requirements for the design, manufacture, installation, and use of motorized rigging systems in theatres, theme parks, studios, and other places of public assembly and performance. This document does not address manually powered systems or lifting equipment used in the construction of these spaces.

People interested in reviewing the draft BSR E1.6 standard may access it by visiting the website below or by requesting information from Karl Ruling via the e-mail address below.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Club Nero, the hot nightspot at Caesar's, Lake Tahoe, keeps its patrons buzzing 365 nights a year. Techno and House music, Go-Go dancers and a laser light show have made this Lake Tahoe's premier nightclub. When Adam Camp of Neu Visions Design was looking for some LED accent lighting, he visited LDI 2002 in Las Vegas, looking for a cost-effective, simple lamp replacement with colour LED sources that didn't need a separate controller, power supply or transformer. The only lamp he saw with all the requirements he was looking for was the new CHIP series lamp, launched at LDI by OptiLED.

Neu Visions Design has now installed OptiLED CHIP lamps in down-lighting bars, to up-light glass tables and edge-light acrylic. "A great attribute is variable voltage," said Camp, "but probably the best feature of this simple unit is the variable lens configuration, which allows

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USA - High End Systems' Catalyst system and a range of its automated luminaries recently burst onto the Broadway stage with the 8 December opening of the opera La Bohème. Though Puccini's La Bohème has been staged countless times over the years, this production is given that contemporary sizzle from the production team of Baz Lurhmann and his production designer/wife, Catherine Martin, who produced visually captivating films such as Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom.

Scharff Weisberg are supplying the producers of La Bohème with two Catalyst systems to project supertitles onto the stage for its performance at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. Lighting designer is Nigel Levings, who also specified 10 High End Systems Studio Spot CMY and 24 Studio Color 575 automated luminaires into the show. Control of the Catalyst is via a Flying Pig Systems Wholeho

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Canada - The Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick, hailed as one of the most beautiful performing arts spaces in Canada, is one of the country's latest venues to invest in a Midas Legend 3000 supplied by Tour Tech East. The plush 800-seat auditorium, now fully refurbished and restored to its former glory, dates back to 1922. As is the case with most theatres, space for permanently installed audio hardware, particularly a large format mixing console, is extremely limited, so the small footprint of the Legend 3000 suited the Capitol perfectly.

Tour Tech's Dave Rudderham explained: "The theatre was fed-up with their seats getting damaged by people hauling their heavy flightcases to the temporary FOH position. Eventually they decided to reduce the physical impact on the theatre by investing in a high quality console of their own that was capable of supporting some of the s

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USA - In the Summer of 2002, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame moved to a brand new building near the location of its previous home in Springfield, Massachusetts. The attraction serves as a monument to the leading figures of the game, as well as a museum. The main objectives from the outset were to provide a unique, educational and enjoyable visitor experience for fans of all ages.

The creative team included design architect Gwathmey Siegel, architects BH+A who carried the architectural development through, and exhibit designers Scenic Technologies, who worked with the venue's curatorial staff to design the exhibition. Electrosonic won the contract for the audio-visual system integration and installation by bid on a system designed by Thoughtful Designs. Electrosonic then partnered with Cortina Productions and NBA Entertainment to provide a complete hardware and prod

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USA - Tomcat Global is pleased to announce a newly designed website for a new year. The website not only offers a new look, but many new features as well. For the people who love to feed their visual brains, a comprehensive flash presentation featuring recent Tomcat custom projects is provided. For the people who crave the technical information, a Palm OS Tomcat catalogue can be downloaded as well as product load data and dimensions. For the people that desire training, Tomcat Hoist and Rigging Workshops information and applications are available. For the people that need to voice their opinions, an online survey can be submitted. As always, the CAD file library is easily accessible. And last, but certainly not least, for the people that want to know who, what, where, why and when, all the latest Tomcat news and archives are at your finger tips.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Prudential Financial is celebrating 125 years in the financial services industry with the erection of a unique interactive sign in Times Square. The sign, including 4m high neon letters spelling 'Prudential Financial' and a 12m diameter 'Rock' logo flanked by two massive backlit billboards is located on the 3 Times Square building.A toll-free number is posted which allows tourists to drive a variety of automated lighting sequences using their mobile phones. So how did this modern example of 'architainment', effectively allowing punters to choose 'how' they want to be advertised to, come about?

The thread starts with Prudential's VP of marketing, Michael Hines, who contacted Capital Manufacturing of Pennsylvania, explaining that he was after something unique. It seems that with the ever-cheaper availability of LED technology, almost all new signs in Times Square include a v

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USA - If you've spent the last two years quietly dismissing the High End/WWG Catalyst as 'just a video projector with a mirror on the front', further proof that you were wrong, or had at least missed the point, came at New York's Grand Central Station over the 2002 Christmas period.

There, two Catalysts ran a series of specially-created animations, replacing the laser system which has formed the Christmas lightshow for the last few years. Creative Time, the New York arts association responsible for, amongst many other projects, the Tribute in Light (see L&SI May 2002), were approached by Grand Central Station to create a new entertainment for New York's most famous rail terminal. They approached New York AV specialists ScharffWeisberg for ideas. "We've worked with them in the past on outdoor projects, art projects - the fun projects," explains Peter Scharff. "In t

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UK - Fifteen months in the job, and already the Fairfield Hall's new technical co-ordinator Ian Locke is beginning to make his presence felt; not least in the realms of safety. "Before I took the appointment I could already see this was a very, very busy venue; sometimes three performances a day, so I knew safe working practices would be paramount."

Consequently there have been "huge changes", not least the recent installation of a new rigging grid above the famous Fairfield stage. "The existing grid was well past its sell-by date, so in September of 2001 I visited PLASA to see what was available. At the time I didn't even know Total Fabrications' T2 system existed (hardly surprising as it was barely a year since launch) so when I stopped by their stand I was more than impressed with the system."

Being a prudent shopper, Locke looked around all th

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Italy - Robe Show Lighting - the Czech moving light manufacturer - continues to establish new subsidiaries around the globe, with the formation of Robe Italia srl. This is a joint venture between Robe Show Lighting and SR Consulting, Robe's Italian distributor.

Robe Italia is headed by the charismatic Simone Rodella and is based in Castel Goffredo - alongside the vast majority of Italy's prolific Italian moving light manufacturers. The move follows the recent launch of Robe America, and last year, the appointments of key distributors including LMP in Germany and Coe-tech in the UK. Robe's Josef Valchar told us: "Robe Italia was the best choice for moving the Robe brand forward in the Italian market." He feels that customers like to see the factory behind a product - especially in Italy - with its high concentration of home-grown moving lighting manufacturers.

"R

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UK - Screenco have enjoyed a whirlwind winter, providing image magnification for three major televised awards presentations, as part of a workload that also embraced the Royal Variety Performance at the Hammersmith Apollo and the BBC televised final of Great Britons.

The most imaginative display was at BBC Television Centre, where for the third year running Screenco were equal to Christopher George's design for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, sending video constantly streaming around the studio in a liquid pelmet. Screenco provided three screens in widescreen format to take the long camera shots, hiring in Barco i8 and i10 high-brightness modules from sister company Creative Technology, which they configured respectively into a single 7.2m x 4m, and two 4.9m x 2.7m walls.

Screenco then supplied four long 1.2m deep panel strips - two in 13.8m lengths, one at 9.7m and th

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UK - A.C. Lighting Ltd has reported it has sustained its 6% growth as of its interim figures of May 2002. A.C. Lighting's considerable investment in facilities, systems, and infrastructure has resulted in a more streamlined organisation, improved customer experience, and international business development. The recently formed A.C. Limited (Canada) Ltd is clearly indicative of plans to gain a more international presence and market share.

Managing Director and co-founder of A.C. Lighting, David Leggett, commented, "2002 was a tough year in the entertainment technology industry. Despite these troubled times, our company's growth is proof of our staff's diligence coupled with the loyalty and support received from manufacturers and customers alike. It is this combination which has led to our strengthened position."

Based 30 miles to the west of London, UK, A.C. Lighting w

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USA - The Super Bowl is not just the Big Game with a Big Halftime. It spawns hundreds of corporate parties needing lights, sound and a stage full of entertainers before, during and after the Jan. 26 show in San Diego. Prior to the game, Delicate Productions of Camarillo, Calif., is taking care of the VIP Tailgate Party. Goo Goo Dolls, Bonnie Raitt and various rap artists will take the stage under 12 Studio Spot 575s and 12 Studio Beam automated luminaires, with 12 bars of PARS. LD Gus Conger is controlling the show with a Hog 1000.

California's San Diego Stage & Lighting say they have "everything we own" involved with the Superbowl including the NFL Experience. SDSL's Renie Colwell says, "The NFL Experience is almost entirely High End Systems (equipment) and is also the largest contract that was awarded." A whole range of HES fixtures and consoles have moved

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USA - Mach Speakers and the Pro Audio Group of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc have formed a strategic alliance aimed at increasing brand awareness for both companies' products. The agreement joins together the Mach speaker brand with a leader in digital entertainment technology in a group sales and marketing effort that will give greater visibility to the Mach and Pioneer product lines while strengthening Martin's Total Club Supplier concept in the US market.

For Mach, the alliance allows the company to co-market Pioneer products alongside its own range of speakers, adding another established, professional brand to the Total Club Supplier, one-stop shop concept. The Total Club Supplier concept enables clients to procure Mach audio, Martin lighting, and Jem smoke in one convenient package. Mach will now be able to add a vast line of Pioneer digital entertainment products to its au

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UK - Lightpower, one of Germany's leading lighting distributors, has announced that it has cancelled its participation in this year's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (5-8 March). The reason given for the withdrawal is the bad timing of the show. Lighpower's statement says: "We regret this decision, however . . . when a trade show is planned concurrent with a national holiday and preparations for the Cebit trade show overlap, then we, as well as other exhibitors, come across some serious coordination problems. This simply means that over 40% of our clientele shall not show up because they will be tied up at the same time with their own service activities during the Cebit show projects and Carneval activities. More than 1000 event technicians will be working at the Cebit."

At a press conference at ProLight+Sound last year, Lightpower - a long-standing ProLight+Sou

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UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) were approached by the BBC Homefront programme (broadcast on 22 January 2003 on BBC2) to specify lighting equipment and provide solutions for the designs of the show's interior design expert - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

A schematic design was created from basic concept sketches, and LTP operatives attended site during filming to install and program the lighting fixtures used to create the stunning visual effects Using products from Color Kinetics, Terry Reeves, Project Manager for the scheme specified a series of 'C75' fixtures for highlighting the walls and down lighting the 'DJ' area. A row of 'I-Cove' fittings were fixed behind a bulkhead above the seating area to provide a linear, even wash of colour changing light. The culmination of the scheme was to illuminate a commissioned piece of art, located behind the seating area, a 'C200' fitt

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UK - North London recording and mixing complex Angel Studios, which specializes in classical recordings and film soundtrack work, has installed a Meyer Sound X-10 5.1 system into its newly-refurbished studio one.

Angel is the second London studio to install Meyer X-10s following the installation of a stereo system at Abbey Road's mastering room 7. Allen Stagg, recording engineer and former manager of Abbey Road Studios, was instrumental in introducing the Angel staff to the X-10. The sale was conducted through acoustic analysis expert Bob Hodas, a Meyer studio products dealer who is well-versed in X-10 technology. Meyer's UK distributor Autograph Sales handled the sale and also provided a SIM System II FFT Analyser for Hodas to install and tune the system.

Angel Studio's senior engineer Gary Thomas requested that Hodas help them to configure a 5.1 system for the new room. They

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Denmark - Switchcraft Inc, the US manufacturer of connectors, audio and video patchbays and cable assemblies, has strengthened its international distributor base by appointing Professional Sound Systems to distribute its products in the Danish broadcast and professional audio markets.

Stephen Waldron, Switchcraft's director of international sales, said: "PSS is a very capable and well established distributor in the Danish market and we are very pleased to enter this partnership that will provide our audio and broadcast customers with improved product availability, service and support."

(Lee Baldock)

  1. Marquee puts decibels into Trendy Dust Bar
  2. A.C. Lighting suspends Infra Red imaging system
  3. ARRI celebrates Highbridge with Gala Party
  4. UK's first JBL AE installation
  5. New Shure.com unveiled
  6. LSI debuts Soundweb in Indian ITC Sheraton hotels
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