UK - Projected Image Digital has sold a second RADlite digital media server system to live video specialists XL Video, the video hardware suppliers for the final UK leg of Ronan Keating’s ‘2003 Destination’ world tour.

The RADlite was specified by lighting designer Peter Barnes - a great advocate and experimentalist with the RADlite system since first using it last year. Always a pioneer of utilizing video in new and imaginative ways onstage, Barnes has integrated RADlite on the Blue, Will & Gareth, S-Club and Blazin’ Squad tours. This time he went further, evolving its use as a visual effect working with a solo artist. The stage and video design for this final leg of the tour - which started back in 2002 - was a collaboration between Barnes and production manager Iain Whitehead of Production North. It consisted of five vertical upstage panels of Westerha

Finland - LA Audio has recently appointed Noretron Audio as the new distributor for Finland. As a result, LA Audio has already been included in the regular Noretron Pro Audio/Installed Sound Seminar scheduled for 19 and 20 May.

Noretron Audio distributes a range of professional audio equipment, including Audient, AKG Acoustics, Genelec, Turbosound and Lab.Gruppen to a diverse range of customers, including installation, PA hire and broadcast companies, recording studios, post-production suites and theatres. When looking for a new signal processing range, Jyrki Mäkinen, marketing director of Noretron Audio, knew what he wanted: "We try to avoid taking on new lines which are competitive to our current product range - LA Audio offers excellent products for live, studio, broadcast and especially the fixed installation business, with very little overlap. This is very important

Spain - Since 1976 Trui Espectáculos has specialized in providing a total entertainment package in the Balearic archipelago. It also became the first company to offer sound reinforcement equipment to artists visiting the islands when managing director Miquel Jaume Perez realized that when top artists came across from the Peninsula, they had to carry their own production. This posed a double complication - of time (because marine transport could take up to three days) and cost.

Thus Trui Espectáculos decided to invest in its own equipment and contacted distributors, Lexon S.A, who have now been supplying professional audio equipment to them for the past 18 years. Trui’s first acquisition was a 32-channel Soundcraft 200B and this was swiftly followed by two 40-channel Soundcraft 500s - one for PA and other for monitors. Later they acquired a 40-channel Vienna and an SM12 f

UK - Newcomers to the world of theatre are being given an introduction to gobo and animation effects by DHA Lighting. The company’s Louise Tester is running a series of workshops and seminars to demonstrate how its products can be used to enhance lighting effects. These provide the chance to explore the potential of gobos, animation disks, gobo rotators, gobo YoYos and the DHA Digital Light Curtain.

Already this year there have been sessions for students at Westminster College and Mountview, as well as for new sales staff at AC Lighting. Louise also ran workshops at the National Student Drama Festival in Scarborough last month. DHA staff have led numerous workshops - not only in the UK, but around the world: Rainer Weggen recently hosted an Open Day in Lisbon, whilst further afield, the company despatched two moving-effect training kits to China, where they will be used to

UK - Bandit Lites have bought eight Coemar SuperCyc 2.4s from Coemar UK to fulfil Pete Barnes’ lighting design for Westlife’s 18-week European tour. Bandit general manager, Mark Powell, confirmed that his company was supplying 13 of the SuperCycs in all - some commandeered from their American inventory. "These are popular lights with us," he stated.

Board operator Barry Halpin confirmed that five of the SuperCycs were being used to rear-project onto a cyc immediately behind the band, while another is used to create a backlight effect as the band make their stage entry. In Pete Barnes’ design, the remainder are used dramatically as understage uplighters - firing up from the 4ft recess at a 60ft wide, clear perspex deck, treated with diffused gel.

Coemar’s SuperCyc 2.4 is a recent addition to the Panorama family of high power, wide angle CYM col

UK / Singapore - Digital Projection Ltd, the Emmy Award-winning manufacturer of high-performance projection systems, has appointed Electronics & Engineering Technologies Pte Ltd as a distributor of its large-venue projection products in Singapore.

Electronics & Engineering Technologies provides one-stop technology converging solutions, involving audio, video, IT and integrated control, and has a long history in system integration for the business, entertainment, conference, cinema and broadcast markets. The company handled the prestigious installation for E-Trading at the Singapore Stock Exchange.

On signing the collaboration agreement, Louis Kangean, CEO of Electronics & EngineeringTechnologies, commented: "We are very happy to be a partner of Digital Projection. They were the pioneers with Texas Instruments in bringing DLP-based projection products to the market. With t

UK - Following the Sound Division Group’s recent sound and lighting installation at the American Community School in Egham, Surrey, the company continues to build upon its reputation in the educational market with the completion of another comprehensive sound and lighting installation at Islington Green school in North London.

Islington Green is a large county comprehensive facility that educates over 1,000 students in the heart of one of the most culturally diverse areas of London. Sound Division’s brief was to provide a system for the main hall that was capable of handling everything from speech reinforcement to live and pre-recorded music in a variety of situations, including awards ceremonies, assemblies and drama productions.

As a result, the company specified and installed a Crown-driven ElectroVoice sound system based on EV Sx300 loudspeakers supplemented

UK - Polydor recording artist Daniel Bedingfield has recently embarked on a UK tour with wireless systems from Hand Held Audio. Tour manager John Gibbon approached HHA to look after this new artist after being impressed with the service he'd received from the North London radio mic specialists on previous productions such as The Appleton sisters and Jon Bon Jovi.

The first thing on the agenda was custom ear monitors. Although HHA had fitted Daniel with a set of Future Sonics in 2002, the singer felt he'd like to try a different ‘feel’ and commissioned a set of Ultimate Ears UE5 Ambient dual driver monitors. These earpieces feature user-changeable filters to control levels of ambience and bass response - a level of individual control that appealed.

During rehearsals in London, John Gibbon was also keen for the artist to assess different hand-held radio mics and in-

Australia - Although Dynacord products have only been distributed in Australia for two years, they already enjoy popularity in the region, as the first Dynacord Dealers Meeting made clear.

The meeting in Australia was upbeat - not just because the Australian DC distributor, Bryan Davidson, had chosen Lindeman Island as the location, with the Great Barrier Reef as a backdrop, but also because the eight Dynacord dealers that made the trip had strong turnover figures to report. "Dynacord has an excellent reputation in Australia," comments Davidson. "LittleMax, Corus Pro and Cobra are all best-sellers." The world's first compact line array system seems to have been especially successful in winning converts. "I never seem to have enough Cobra systems in stock," Davidson told us.

During the DC Dealer Days, in addition to various product demonstrations

UK - White Light North has been chosen as the lighting supplier for the 2003 Garsington Opera season - Garsington Opera's 15th anniversary - which runs from 14 June to 12 July. First established in 1989, Garsington Opera performs a repertoire of operas in a purpose-built semi-outdoor auditorium in the grounds of Garsington Manor, near Oxford. The festival often stages works never before seen in the UK, and provides a platform for new singers; for the successful realization of these aims, the company received the European Culture Project Award for Performing Arts from the Pro Europa European Foundation for Culture.

In recent years, the lighting design for Garsington - a challenging brief that involves incorporating the ever-changing outdoor lighting into the design for each production - has been handled by Bruno Poet. When putting together the package for this year's season, whic

UK - Based in Kirkmichael, Scotland, GAB Audio Engineers specialize in installing high quality sound and AV systems in places of worship, council chambers and concert venues. They also have a thriving hire division catering for small to medium PA requirements. Among the gamut of products they have specified from the Martin Audio catalogue, the C115 surface-mount architectural enclosure rules supreme for the style of installation in which they specialize.

In fact GAB have just installed six in a 100V line distributed system, discretely mounted in the Grade A-listed Garnethill Synagogue (the oldest in Scotland), for concerts and school festivals. A further four grace the ornate meeting room at the Merchants Hall in George Square, again in the centre of Glasgow and the listed Meeting Chambers of one of the city’s oldest institutions. "The aesthetic styling and performanc

USA - In one of the LED fixture’s first outings with a major American concert act, the spectacular lighting system on Tim McGraw’s 2003 tour includes eight Pulsar ChromaBanks. The LED strip fixtures, specified by tour LD John Broderick, are used for chasing color washes and very bright ‘blinder’ effects. They are arrayed symmetrically above the custom three-tiered black stage and its 40ft wide backline of 4ft x 4ft video cubes. Tour contractor Premier Global Staging of Nashville, Tennessee obtained the ChromaBanks through Pulsar distributor TMB.

Tim McGraw designed the set and rolling stage, which Premier Global Staging fabricated into a working structure. According to account manager, Steven ‘Creech’ Anderson: "We’ve used LED blasters in the past and always saw potential, but these ChromaBank LED strips are four feet long, and

Germany - Following the huge success of Showlight 2001 in Edinburgh, plans are already underway to ensure the 2005 event, which will be held in Munich on 21-24 May, will be better than ever.

Occurring just once every four years, Showlight is a three-day event organized by lighting professionals for lighting professionals. The colloquium, unlike other trade shows, places emphasis on debate stimulated by papers from respected industry experts and provides a gathering ground for like-minded people. 2001 proved to be the most successful show yet, with 42 sponsors and more than 300 delegates from the world of entertainment lighting passing through its doors.

John Watt, Chairman of the event’s organizing committee explains: "Showlight 2005 is being held at the magnificent Prinzregententheater. Their patronage and that of the associated Bayerische Theaterakademie, plus th

UK - Whilst the UK prepared to go to the polls on 1 May, ELP contributed to the newsroom coverage of BBC Wales by lighting two interview studios at BBC Cardiff and following outside broadcast units covering the campaigning.

"Twice the usual amount of lighting and rigging was required as all broadcast outputs are delivered simultaneously in English and Welsh, usually requiring tow separate sets," explains one of ELP’s three crew chiefs, Mark Gardner. A total of nine crew were supplied by ELP, along with a variety of lighting, rigging and power hardware, including a selection of ARRI Fresnels from 500W to 5000W, 36 Kinoflos, 36 MAC 2000s, 34 MAC 600s, 60 Pulsar ChromaBanks, 38 High End Studio Colors, together with ETC Source Fours and Par cans, all controlled from three Wholehog II consoles. A 140kW Twinset Generator fed power to all the locations.

ELP will also

Germany - Labelled as an urban entertainment centre where shopping and leisure are combined under one roof, Space Park in Bremen, Germany, looks set to attract millions of visitors each year as it prepares to open in early 2004.

The theme of the park is, not surprisingly, Space - a choice that was not arbitrary, since Bremen is Germany’s second most important centre for aerospace technology after Munich. As well as a multiplex cinema with seating for 3,600, a space disco and Hotel Saturn, Space Park Bremen will also include Space Center, an attraction which informs visitors about current developments in space research and provides a taste of what it feels like to train as an astronaut. With such a high-tech futuristic theme for the park, the technology controlling it needs to match, which is why ETC equipment was chosen, even before the lighting designers were brought on b

UK - Salt Lake City based, ClearOne Communications Inc (formerly Gentner) has recently re-structured its pan-European distributor network and awarded beyerdynamic GB as a distributor of its highly sophisticated range of telephone and video conferencing products in the UK and Eire.

With this change of distribution ClearOne, formally known as Gentner Communications signals the organisation’s determination to grow market share beyond traditional telephone conferencing into mainstream high specification integrated conferencing solutions.

Commenting on the company’s appointment, which is effective from 1 April 2003, beyerdynamic’s managing director John Midgley, explained: "We are delighted to have been appointed as one of ClearOne’s UK distributors. Their range of audio and video products fits perfectly into our expansive, but complementary product por

UK / Russia - As members of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) will be aware, PLASA has been approached by IIR Exhibitions to work on a project that will see the launch of a trade show in Moscow, Russia in April 2004. In order to assess interest in the project, PLASA and IIR Exhibitions are staging an Open Day on Wednesday 21 May at One Whitehall Place, London SW1.

The Open Day will include presentations from a number of key speakers including representatives from PLASA, the DTI and IIR Exhibitions. The presentations will focus specifically on doing business in Russia, emphasizing changes in the business culture, the types of assistance that can be accessed, the pitfalls to avoid and the opportunities available. The event will be a half-day session starting at 11.00am and concluding at 1.15pm with a buffet lunch to follow.

All interested parties are invit

UK - Craig David played two nights at the Royal Albert Hall this month, performing a dynamic set through a Meyer line array system. Canegreen’s Pete Hughes designed the system installed into the RAH, working with Craig David’s front-of-house engineer ‘Snake’ Newton. Flown in two central clusters above the stage were 16 M3Ds, 12 M2Ds and 12 MSL4s, with two pairs of MSL2s with 650 subs flown wide. Pairs of MSL2s and UPAs provided front-fills with a pair of 650 subs under the stage completing the rig that filled every niche and cranny of the hall.

"The coverage in the venue was great," said Newton. "Pete came up with the plans and then once installed he covered the whole venue with his laptop, making fine tweaks to the angles of the cabs to ensure there were no deadspots. This Meyer Line Array gave us great sound throughout and thanks to Pete

Europe / N. America - Following on from his highly successful tour of North America in 2002, Peter Gabriel has taken ‘Growing Up’ out on the road again. Featuring hits from his latest album ‘Up’ Gabriel is currently touring Europe and is due to revisit North America in early June. Having provided rental equipment for the ‘Growing Up’ tour first time round, Stage Technologies were delighted to be involved again in automating director/designer Robert Le Page’s spectacular production.

Engineering specialists Stage Technologies are no stranger to enhancing high profile music tours with automation solutions having worked with artists such as Janet Jackson on her ‘All for You’ tour in America and Westlife’s ‘World of our own’ UK tour.

The elaborate centre stage production incorporates a similar design to the 200

Spain - General Motors Europe recently launched their new Opel/Vauxhall Mervia and Signum vehicles at the City of Art and Sciences (CAC) in Valencia. The event was designed by Martin Sutherland and produced by award-winning company Pci:Live. Stage One Creative Services was contracted to build the sets for this prestigious event.

The three-day event format ran for over three weeks, during which invited delegates were treated to a variety of experiences with the new cars being central to the presentation throughout. "Essentially," said Stage One’s Simon Wood, "the first day consisted of three distinct areas where delegates were treated to different aspects of the vehicles and entertained along the way."

The first of these was the Plenary area, where the company’s logo was displayed on the back wall behind a stage area with two lectern positions, a

UK - Live video specialist XL Video is working closely with Production North, the Yorkshire-based production company headed by Steve Levitt and Iain Whitehead. Three of the most spectacular pop tours of the year so far benefited from this winning combination - Westlife, Ronan Keating and Fame Academy - all with one common element: high production values.

Video has been crucial to all these tours - emphasising the seminal role of the medium in the genre of live pop. With a largely young audience, moving images and camera relay are vital ingredients. Live show IMAG ensures that everyone has a good view of the artists, and on the creative front, video adds a dramatic and effective visual dimension to any show.

Westlife’s action packed, up tempo ‘Unbreakable’ tour is produced by Will Baker and Alan Macdonald, who conceived the eye-catching video visuals, based on

UK - We've had the jungle, the house and the academy, so it was only a matter of time until a reality TV show was set in a nightclub: Carlton TV's ‘The Club’, broadcast recently on ITV, was set in one of London's funkiest watering holes - Nylon - and starred Samantha Fox, Dean Gaffney and Richard Blackwood. The retro-themed two-floored bar in the City of London proved to be a challenging seven-week lighting and rigging project for Elstree Light & Power. Crew chief Mark Gardener explains: "Basically we had to rig, cable and light a fully functioning nightclub that was open to the public. Nylon regularly packs in over 500 revellers so you can imagine the potential for chaos. Not only was health and safety a huge concern but we had to make sure that hundreds of meters of cable were hidden from camera view."

ELP fixed over 150 lights including assorted Arri fre

Germany - Dortmund recently hosted the thirteenth edition of Mayday, one of Europe's leading indoor Techno dance events. Over 20,000 people took part in the party, which began on 30 April 2003 and ran through until 10 o’clock the next morning. Area 3, also known as the ‘VIVA Floor’ (after the famous German TV music channel), had an Outline sound system consisting of 16 Tripla II 5040 and 24 Topsub Plus subwoofers, plus four H.A.R.D. 212 ultra-low profile monitors on stage. Two Bomber enclosures were used as DJ monitors and the entire set-up was powered by Series T digital power amps and controlled by Genius 6 processors. The rig’s install was organized by Outline’s German distributor, Stramp (Audio-Vertrieb Peter Strüven GmbH).

(Lee Baldock)

UK - d&b audiotechnik has announced the dates for its latest series of Sound System Design seminars in the Cotswolds. These seminars feature the ‘show and tell’ approach, rather than ‘chalk and talk’, and are hosted by the experienced presenter John Taylor who has his own distinctive style of communicating his message.

Most sound engineers have a good knowledge of the electronic signal path, but are less sure of the acoustic signal path between the loudspeaker and the listener's ears. It is this part of the signal chain that the d&b seminars address. The main emphasis is on intelligibility and John believes that the sound quality should be excellent for every listener in the house. The seminars exist solely for that purpose, offering comprehensive electroacoustics with all the physics you'll need thrown in! The style is friendly and the demonstrations mem

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