Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Business

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UK - Automation specialists Andy Cave of Entertainment Innovations and Dave Weatherhead of Gravity Control have joined forces to establish Kinesys, a new company providing motion control and automation systems.

Kinesys is dedicated to providing fully featured, high quality products to cater for all motion control requirements. The standard, modular product range includes control equipment for motors, hydraulics, pneumatics and steppers, as well as a full range of power distribution equipment, emergency stop modules and high speed networking products. All this is controlled by a similarly in-depth range of controllers from the top-of-the-range PC-based Vector control system to the single-axis Pulse controller. All equipment is designed to integrate simply and seamlessly to provide a quick to assemble, quick to program, flexible and reliable control solution.

Kinesys products ar

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Sweden - Tomcat UK recently hosted a Hoist School at Woodlite Sweden A.B. in Karlstad, Sweden. The one-day event consisted of motor instruction led by Jim Marshall of Tomcat UK which included the stripping and reassembly of a one ton CM Lodestar chain hoist to demonstrate trouble-shooting techniques. The hoist school was requested by Woodlite to improve their employees' ability to work with Columbus McKinnon motors. A number of Hoist and Rigging workshops are planned for other countries in Europe, and Tomcat UK will conduct workshops on request.

(Ruth Rossington)

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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UK - Lighting director Darryl Noad uses over 200 Martin luminaires on the UK reality TV show Fame Academy, in which 12 students entered a training academy for 10 weeks to learn how to sing and dance. Noad comments: "The brief the producers gave me was for the show to look more like an 'event' that we were filming and less like a TV show," Darryl stated. Working with producer Lisa Chapman and director Tony Gregory, both of whom he has worked with before on several projects, Noad chose a variety of Martin gear to produce the desired look, including MAC 2000 Performances, MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC 600 NTEs, Exterior 200s and RoboColor Pro 400s. AFM Lighting of London supplied all lighting fixtures.

"The studio set was designed by Peter Bingemann, who is a joy to work with," says Noad. "He built walkways and staircases backstage and raised the whole stage 2.5 m

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Canada - Further to the announcement late last year, the acquisition of Toronto-based Spectrum Manufacturing Inc by A.C. Lighting has now been successfully completed. David George, president, and Jean-François Canuel, vice-president R&D, will continue to oversee the operation at Spectrum.

The purchase prompted immediate expansion into new prestigious 18,000 square feet facilities, where Spectrum will be better positioned to develop and introduce new and innovative entertainment technology products to market.

Over the past few years, Spectrum has diversified its OEM product range which currently comprises: a wide range of colour changers, gobo rotators, moving mirror devices, power supplies and distribution equipment, DMX splitters and switches, cable assemblies and gel-strings. Many new products for the professional lighting industry are in the final stages of development, an

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UK - Bernie Davis, one of Britain's premier television lighting directors, will present this year's Trotter Patterson Lecture in London on 18 February. Davis' prolific output has included the lighting of The Royal Variety Show, The Last Night of the Proms, the 2002 Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace and religious broadcasts including Songs of Praise, the Royal Wedding at Windsor and the traditional Festival of Carols at Kings' College Cambridge. His outside broadcast expertise has stemmed from his early background in vision mixing and the contrast balance of his lighting is apparent in every production. He has a keen interest in theatre and the enhancement techniques needed when television enters a live performance designed hitherto for a live audience.

This prestigious lecture promises to be a highlight of the lighting calender and not to be missed by anyone with an interest

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Belgium - Christian Léonard and Jean-François D'Haussy, respectively general manager and financial administration manager of ADB-TTV France, strongly backed by a group of private and institutional investors, have reached an agreement with Siemens for the acquisition of all the assets of ADB-TTV technologies SA, Belgium, including the two subsidiaries in France and Germany. Leonard and D'Haussy become CEO and CFO respectively of the new group.

As part of the deal, the parties have agreed on transferring the production of all dimmers to the ultra-modern Siemens facility in Huizingen, near Brussels. The transfer has already started and should be completed during February. Manufacture of control systems and TV studio suspensions will be relocated to the ADB-TTV factory in St Quentin, France, where all theatre and TV luminaires are produced. This facility is currently being e

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South Africa - The recent Miss South Africa contest, held at the Sun City Superbowl on 8 December, provided a unique opportunity for Gearhouse South Africa to utilize a first-ever five split cube wall set-up. In total, a massive 80 cubes were used, split into five 4 x 4 cube walls. "This offered the show's director the unique ability to either display five separate images or one large landscape image," explains John McDermott. "Images to the cube walls were cut out of the outside broadcast van, by director Gavin Wratten who did an excellent job of utilizing the five split cube walls to their maximum."

Gearhouse SA was contracted by Sun International in association with M-Net and Blue Moon Productions, with Deana Hislop of Blue Moon Productions taking the role of production manager and providing the key liaison point for Gearhouse SA. The cube walls formed an

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UK - PLASA Media has learned that Simon Brophy, the former head of lighting at the Millennium Dome, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC), the body that ran the Dome. Two other persons, David Gordon, 41, a company director, and Brophy's wife Margaret Bragg, 29, have also been charged with conspiracy to defraud the NMEC. The three, who have been released on bail, will appear before Bow Street Magistrates Court on 7 February.

Brophy, Gordon and Bragg were arrested by the Fraud Squad in October 2000, following scrutiny into the awarding of contracts at the Millennium Dome. A woman in her 60s was also arrested at this time, at a residential address in West Yorkshire, followed by two further arrests in February 2001, of a man and a woman, both in their 30s. These three remain on police bail pending further enquiries.

(Lee Baldock)

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Yugoslavia - MC2 Audio has announced the first sales of its amplifiers to Yugoslavia. Music Exports chose T1000 amplifiers for a studio monitor system installed for Pink Television, Yugoslavia's "most watched" TV station and Music Exports' dealers have contracts for further studio monitor installations with T Series amps in two other locations in Yugoslavia.

Meanwhile, Scottish company Northern Light, continues to win contracts with both the MC range and T Series amplifiers from MC2 Audio. Recent installations in the UK and overseas include New College, Swindon; Empire Theatre, London; Portomaso Conference Centre, Malta; and the International School, Manila.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Mackie Designs Inc has announced that it has agreed to an equity investment by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, a Boca Raton-based private investment firm. Under the proposed transaction, Sun Capital would acquire approximately 9.8 million shares of Mackie common stock, or approximately 65% of Mackie's total common stock outstanding, through the purchase of approximately 7.4 million outstanding shares from certain selling shareholders and approximately 2.4 million newly issued shares for a total of approximately $10 million in cash.

"We are excited about this transaction, which we expect to close by the first week of February," said Mackie CEO Jamie Engen. "Upon closing, Mackie will receive approximately $6.3 million in fresh capital. Just as important, we also expect to benefit from the active support and hands-on participation of Sun Capital in assist

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South Korea - The 8,000-capacity Ju-An Presbyterian Church in Seoul has recently been opened with an astonishing armoury of XTA processing handling the audio. The 11 DP-Series, plus two DS800 mic/line distribution systems and 12 GQ600 Graphic EQs, are at the heart of a multi-screen video set-up for live coverage throughout the auditorium and other parts of the building.

Steve Kim of XTA's distributor in Korea, AVIX, comments: "This is a very important project, where our systems people were asked to offer the very best audio system available. This business needs the very best support, so we have established a division within our company to handle only this area. Our team consists of 12 people, from audio engineers to system integration specialists and CAD wizards."

"For the Ju-An facility, we combined Meyer UPM-1P and UPM-2P, plus a distributed audio system, for

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World - In support of his newest CD, "A New Day at Midnight," David Gray continues to tour with High End Systems equipment adding Colors - Studio Colors, that is - to his tunes. Lighting contractors are Upstaging for the North American dates and Neg Earth for UK/Europe. LD Cormac Jackson has specified 26 Studio Color 575s - along with other automated lighting - and a Wholehog II console, saying that those two products are his favorites among gear.

Says LD Cormac Jackson: "Studio Colors are the only wash light I'll use. Studio Beams excluded! They work for David Gray and - more importantly - they work all the time. The fact that I can get Studio Colors in nearly all parts of the world is a real bonus. Lighting companies have them in stock and I don't have to re-specify shows. The light out of Studio Color is what I really want. It's not too harsh but it's bright, w

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UK - James Thomas's new Pixel range of LED fixtures were specified and used by Granada TV lighting director Neil Yates on three special celebrity editions of the ITV's popular LE series Stars In their Eyes.

Yates utilized 16 Pixelline battens and eight PixelPAR 660 Par 64 equivalent fixtures, plus a large moving light rig for the shows. The Pixellines were used vertically all around the spectacular set - designed by Richard Plumb - to add a punchy architectural strip effect on camera. The PixelPAR 660s were also utilized visibly on the set, where they functioned as dancer footlights. Yates, who's lit this show for its various series over the last 5 years, decided to try the fixtures following a demo by James Thomas's Chris Ewington. Now "We wouldn't be without them" he enthuses.

Working with his team of Vari*Lite operator Mike 'Oz' Owen and console operator Ke

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UK - Orange announced the winners of their Business Awards earlier this week in a ceremony that paid tribute to the entrepreneurial passion and dedication that goes into making a business truly successful. The 'Excellence in Exporting' category was specifically dedicated to those companies that have "excelled in the international market place and that have understood the importance of overseas growth as a way of expanding their business."

The short listed companies for this category included Stage Technologies, Reynolds Geo-Sciences Ltd, Blue Chip Feed Ltd and Nucoda. Despite this stiff competition, the judges - including Trade Partners UK and Emma Crosby from CNBC - voted Stage Technologies the clear winner, with their international approach and implementation of trading practices being hailed as 'outstanding'.

Stage Technologies was founded in 1994 by Mark Ager and

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UK - DHA Lighting's David Hersey has been nominated for Best Lighting Award in the 2003 Laurence Olivier Awards for his design for Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia. "It is an honour to be nominated for this award," said Hersey, whose design for the National Theatre production was unique. William Dudley's set, also nominated for Best Set Design, demanded moving lights to enhance the cinematic effect created by video images, without interfering with the video projection.

The Stoppard trilogy also featured large-format projection, using slides custom-predistorted by Wyatt Enever and Steve Larkins of DHA. After such close collaboration on the plays, DHA is delighted that the production has been nominated for a clutch of awards - also Best New Play and Best Costume Design. The company's products and services also feature in other nominated shows. Trevor Nunn's prod

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USA - The Fog & Smoke Working Group, part of ESTA's Technical Standards Program, is starting work on a new standards project, BSR E1.23, Entertainment Technology -- Design and Execution of Theatrical Fog Effects. The standard is intended to offer guidance on the creation of atmospheric effects using glycol, glycerin, or white mineral oil fogs or mists in theatres, arenas, and other places of entertainment or public assembly. The standard will address the planning and execution of theatrical fog effects to avoid problems from excessive exposure to the fog materials or from the obscuration of hazards or safe paths of egress. In addition, the standard is intended to help avoid nuisance triggering of fire detection systems.

People and organizations that might be affected by the development of the standard are invited to become involved in the project by joining the Fog & Smoke Worki

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UK - Autograph Sound Recording, the theatrical sound design and rental specialist, is well known for its work on musical productions, both in the West End and around the world. However, the company is also at the forefront of sound design for a range of straight plays and dramatic productions.

The Duchess of Malfi, which opened at the National Theatre in late January, is just one of many current West End plays which Autograph is working on. Sound for the production was designed by one of Autograph's team of experienced designers Simon Baker, a former National Theatre sound supervisor who was specifically requested to work on the production by director Phyllida Lloyd. This was the first production Baker had designed at the National since joining Autograph in 1999.

The modern dress version of the play features a host of sound effects and subtle uses of music and sound, dr

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UK - As the sun set over Waterloo Bridge on Wednesday evening, the stars came out in force at the Old Vic and the BA London Eye glowed a glorious orange. Two separate events linked by one lighting supplier: The Moving Light Company. At the Old Vic theatre, Elton John played a concert to raise funds to repair the theatre's leaking roof - and also to welcome the theatre's new artistic director, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey. As well as Elton John, the concert included appearances from Sting, Sinead O'Connor, Lulu, Elvis Costello and Courtney Love.

The lighting designer for the event was Nick Richings. Basing his design around the rig for The Tempest, currently playing at the Old Vic and also using equipment from The Moving Light Company (including DHA Digital Light Curtains and Digital Beamlights, Strand Pirouettes and High End Studio Colors), Richings also brought in ex

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USA - Switchcraft Inc, the US manufacturer of connectors, audio and video patchbays and cable assemblies, has strengthened its international distribution by appointing Orbitec to distribute its products to the French broadcast and pro audio markets.

Stephen Waldron, Switchcraft's director of international sales, said: "Orbitec is an established stocking distributor of our products and we are very pleased to enter this enhanced relationship that will provide our audio and broadcast customers with improved product availability, service and support."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Event services supplier ARB and international temporary utility supplier Aggreko announced a strategic alliance at the 2003 Event Show in London. Since being acquired by the CSS Stellar Group Plc, ARB has implemented significant restructuring and expansion plans, focusing its various services into specialist divisions to offer clients improved service in all areas.

Aggreko is a world leader in the supply of temporary power, temperature control and oil-free compressed air services and has a track-record of successfully supporting events such as the FIFA 2002 World cup, numerous winter and summer Olympic Games and the 2003 Ski Championship in St Moritz.

This exclusive partnership will see the complementary strengths of both combined to deliver total power, cooling and technical solutions to events of all sizes and type throughout Europe. "The opportunity this link pres

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Spain - Barco last week hosted what has become an annual networking event to the events and Rental & Staging industries - its annual Rental Partner Meeting - in Marbella, Spain. Held at the Meridien Los Monteros Hotel in Marbella from 26-29 January, the three-day event was attended by 120 key commercial and technical representatives from 50 rental and staging companies from across Europe.

Due to the overwhelming response, attendance was strictly by invitation only for Barco's key European Rental Partners, who in line with Barco's Golden Account Strategy, were treated to a carefully-constructed agenda which included hands-on workshops with Barco's proprietary Events Controller and ViewScape, as well as demonstrations of the brand-new SLite 10 and SLite14 LED displays and workshops on the SLM R10 Performer and RLM G5 Performer projectors. As a finale to the three-day event, the Ba

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UK - Liverpool-based Adlib Audio has taken delivery of the first of Soundcraft's new MH3 consoles. The mixing desk has gone straight out with FOH engineer Steve Cole on a two-month nationwide tour with tribute band 'Rumours of Fleetwood Mac'. The tour is playing a wide variety of town hall and theatre-sized venues, and they had been looking for a versatile and outstanding sounding console for some time, when the MH3 came on stream.

Adlib's Andy Dockerty ordered the 24-channel desk immediately. He knew its high spec and expedient sized footprint were ideal for medium-sized tours such as this one. The console is very dynamic, serving equally well for mixing monitors as FOH, in addition to being keenly priced. The MH3 has many neat features you would expect to find on a more expensive piece of kit, including an extra 4 stereo channels, which can be utilized for stereo keyboards, mi

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UK - Skan PA Hire has invested in a DiGiCo D5 Live digital console, adding rock and pop concerts and touring to the brand's fast-growing applications. Skan chose the D5 Live 56E after trying out competitive brands. The console, which can be upgraded from 56 to 96 microphone inputs in the future should the need arise, comes complete with a channel control surface. It includes local and remote DiGi racks which contain the A/D and D/A converters and are connected to the console via optical fibre.

"We chose the D5 Live for its intuitive and simple operation and good features," says Skan PA Hire director Chris Fitch. "We also liked the fact that it was a British product, and had confidence in the DiGiCo sales and support team."

According to Fitch, the decision to invest in a digital console was informed by its customers while reflecting the company's desire to s

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France - Le Petit Prince has come back to life in the Casino de Paris Théâtre. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's grand novel is now a journey through worlds of enchantment and colourful characters, a metaphor for man's vices and virtues. The show began on 1 October, 2002 and will run through the end of June 2003. Produced by Victor Bosch/NODO Productions, the show features music by Riccardo Cocciante, with lyrics by Elisabeth Anais, and is directed by Jean-Louis Martinoty.

Jean Kalman served as lighting designer, a lighting artist whose work has appeared onstage at the National Opera of Paris, the Musical Theatre, the Royal National Theatre of London and numerous other theatres, festivals, and concerts the world over for internationally acclaimed artists.

In Le Petit Prince, Kalman demonstrates how recently the possibilities of theatre lighting have expan

  1. Lighthouse LED screens light up Tyrolean mountains
  2. Blitz Birmingham provides Chemistry
  3. Cruisin' with Tomcat Global
  4. Shure acquires UK distributor HW International
  5. DHA joins Bolshoi Theatre rescue operation
  6. Chameleon amps with Cirque du Soleil
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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