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South Africa - South African reality TV show Project Fame based on the format of Fame Academy in the UK, sees contestants living together in the Academy and receiving professional training as well as grooming for stardom. The contestants competed against each other in weekly live television broadcasts until only the winner remained.

The venue chosen to stage the live events, The Pyramid Convention Centre in Downtown Johannesburg, was a shell which was transformed by the temporary installation of an enormous lighting rig, sound system and AV screens. Matrix Sound, the Johannesburg-based audio company, was awarded the sound supply contract and owner Trevor Peters created the sound design. Peters says: "It was one of the most challenging designs we have undertaken in that the show, stage and space we were working in was so fluid. Each week the line up of musicia

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UK - Projected Image Digital has supplied UK lighting rental company Lite Alternative with the first Catalyst XPress software package - following its appointment as exclusive UK dealer for the award wining digital media.

Lite Alternative's Catalyst system immediately went out of the Human League's UK tour, designed by Paul Normandale and programmed and operated by Rob Sinclair. PID supplied the full digital media system, including the dual 2GHz PowerMac on which it runs, to which PID installed an ATI9800 video card along with a Decklink Black Magic video input card and an Artistic Licence Ethernet to DMX input unit.

Catalyst XPress is a cost-effective version of the full Catalyst package. It's now available through PID as a software only purchase - making the Catalyst universe more versatile and accessible to another layer of users and viable for small to medium tours - like H

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Canada -Adamson Systems Engineering has announced the appointment of Eastern Acoustic Development (EAD) as exclusive distributor for the Adamson brand in the regions of Hong Kong and China.

Eastern Acoustic Development, with head offices based in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, was established in 1997 and is involved in public communication, audio/video system engineering, and international trade business. EAD is a leading edge system design and professional products supplier in Hong Kong and China, and act as sole distributor in its region for pro audio brands including Allen & Heath, Lab.gruppen, Symetrix, Lake Contour, Ashly, and RCF.

"We're extremely pleased to have EAD as our partner in China," said Keith Vanderkley, Adamson's director of sales. "Their past experience, product expertise and large client base makes them a superbly qualified distributor for the Adamso

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UK - The Pogues toured the UK and Ireland in December with the classic '87 to '93 line-up of Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, Philip Chevron, Terry Woods, Andrew Ranken, James Fearnley and Darryl Hunt, which last toured the UK in 2001. Cait O'Riordan, the original bass player from '82 to '86, also joined the band on vocals.

East Anglia-based AudioLease supplied the PA for the nine-date tour, which included Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Dublin. AudioLease used its Lab.gruppen powered Adamson Y-Axis Y10 line array system for all but the Dublin gig, as there was insufficient time to ship it from the previous night's concert.

Steve Sunderland of AudioLease explained the choice of PA, "For dynamic Irish Folk, with a lot of acoustic instruments, The Pogues engineer Paul Scully wanted a PA that was extremely precise, clean and with genuine hi-fi

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UK - For the production of the new play Fresh Kills at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, designer Ultz created a set featuring a large American truck which had to be pushed on and off stage by the performers. Once on stage it needed the internal lighting to be controlled as part of Trevor Wallace's lighting design for the show.

"In the old days, we would have fed a DMX line into the floor and then up into the truck," commented Johanna Town, the Royal Court's head of lighting. "However, having seen City Theatrical's Wireless Data System at the PLASA Show I wanted to give it a go!"

Town contacted White Light - City Theatrical dealer and it supplied a system consisting of a WDS Transmitter and a WDS Receiver.

"We have created wireless systems in a number of ways for previous productions," comments Dave Isherwood, White Light's hire

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UK - Switchcraft has been expanding its range of audio and video patchbays and patch cords in recent times and can now offer a wide selection of products that are suitable for HDTV/digital applications.

Recent introductions of digital-ready products include: high-density video patchbays rated to 3GHz (with 32 jacks per 1RU panel); audio patchbays fitted with 48, 52 and 96 jacks per panel; audio patchbays in which the normalling can be changed from the front of the panel; mixed audio/video patchbays; audio and video patch cords made using 110 ohm cable; and BNC plugs. All Switchcraft products are complemented by a lifetime warranty.

Not only has the range expanded but so has the worldwide customer base that includes major broadcasters, OB facility companies and post-production houses.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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Denmark - A classical music past took Denmark's Uffe Savery and Morten Friis to such prestigious concert venues as the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. A present of dance music hasn't done them bad either. Savery and Friis formed the band Safri Duo back in the late 1980s, playing classical music in an unconventional percussionist style. By the late 1990s the band had mixed in pop, techno and trance to their signature drums to form a unique and raw energetic style all their own.

Touring in support of their latest CD, Safri Duo 3.5, the band is using a Kasper Steen-Lange designed Martin MAC rig of 26 MAC 500 profile spots and 12 MAC 600 washlights with six Atomic 3000 strobes and 100 assorted conventional lights. Equipment supplier is Seelite A/S of Denmark. "We had to design a production that would fit in both sports arenas and theatres," com

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UK - Supporting Role Ltd, a specialist provider of support services to smaller companies within the entertainment technology industry, has moved to new offices In Chiswick, west London. The move. It says, will provide extra space for the expanding variety of projects currently under way or in the pipeline. The company also reports it is currently recruiting IT staff with production industry experience for its team.

Supporting Role, headed by Marco Van Beek, provides a range of specialist consultancy services to businesses operating in the entertainment industry, including project management, IT consultancy, technical and business consultancy, health and safety consultancy, PAT testing, CE marking consultancy and more.

The company can now be contacted at Grove Park Studios, 188-192 Sutton Court Rd, London W4 3HR, UK. The new contact numbers are tel: 0870 757 2824, fax: 0870 75

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UK - Stage Technologies ended 2004 with the automation of its third, large-scale, west-end musical in almost as many months. Following hot on the heels of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's The Woman in White and the Broadway hit The Producers is the largest automated system ever installed by the company in the West End for the smash hit Mary Poppins.

Stage Technologies' rental department has never been busier. In addition to these most recent productions, the company is ensuring round-the-clock support for in excess of 50 theatre venues around the world and also automation equipment on film and television shoots. The company offers access full diagnostics and give remote support on many projects, without the need to visit the venue.

The company says that 2004 has been an exciting year for rental automation design, proving that this technology is accessible to small a

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UK - The highly-specified DJ set-up at Brownstone in Bristol, provided by locally-based Bristol Architectural Sound Services (BASS), uses a pair of Denon's new DN-S5000 tabletop CD players - installed into the concrete booth at the request of Hed Kandi, who play a Thursday night residency there. BASS's Mike Brice says that these award-winning players, with the active analogue turntable platter, are a popular component of the Denon DJ catalogue, which he has been installing for several years. "I like Denon both for their features and their reliability," he says.

In a short space of time Brice's company has established itself on the city's late night circuit; venues he has fitted include the ultra chic Bar Pam Pam's in Clifton - which features a Denon DN-S9000 double CD/MP3 player, with platter jogwheel - along with other high-profile venues such as Zeebar, Bar Wash and

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USA - D-Tools Inc, the specialist in systems integration software for the residential and commercial markets, has announced the addition of two new partners to its Manufacturer Partner Program - Da-Lite Screen Company, headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana and Vutec Corporation, a specialist video projection screen technology, based in Florida.

Da-Lite Screen Company specializes in front and rear projection screen technology, and manufactures a complete product line for the commercial and residential audio-visual markets. "Joining D-Tools made perfect sense for Da-Lite," said Matt Teevan, marketing manager for Da-Lite. "With requests for more than 4,000 of our products from existing D-Tools subscribers, expanding the relationship to include the entire product line will reinforce our long-term strategy for system integrators."

D-Tools' software, System Integrat

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UK - This year's BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2004 awards had a dramatic new environmental set created for them by design and communication company Imagination. Over 600 guests attended the event, which saw gold medallist Kelly Holmes scoop the 2004 Sports Personality of the Year trophy.

Working closely with the BBC executive producer Paul Davies, Imagination was able to create a visually arresting space for the awards, which not only hosted the live television programme but also a pre and post transmission party for over 600 VIP guests.

This year's environmental set included multiple interview staging areas, graphic treatments on the stage and floor as well as lighting and projection design. Imagination has a long-standing relationship with the BBC having worked with them on environmental sets for such programmes as Newsnight and Sports series On-Side

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UK - The organizers of the ISCEx 2005 exhibition and conference have report that 20 invited specialist suppliers to the audio industry have now signed up to exhibit at ISCEx 2005, which is due to be held once more at the Watford Moat House Hotel on Tuesday 22 February. They are: ADS Worldwide, AK Barns, Ampetronic, BC Technology, Brähler ICS, Canford Audio, CIE, Clockaudio, Communications Technology, Current Thinking, DNH Worldwide, Ikon AVS, Loud Technology, MEDC, RCF, RK Sound, RW Salt, Shuttlesound, SigNET and TOA, with more exhibitors reportedly in the pipeline.

Running alongside the exhibition is a full technical programme with expert speakers covering topics from voice overt IP technology (Michael Harrison), fibre optics (Anthony Smith), RF microphones (Paul Mason), an update on induction loop systems (Leon Pieters), problems in making site measurements accurately and q

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UK - It's not unusual for a lighting company to be supplying equipment to pantomime productions at this time of year. However, Scottish lighting specialist black light has just supplied a panto job with a big difference - it was in Ghana, Africa!

In the UK, audiences are used to pantomimes being staged in drafty halls and chilly theatres. In stark contrast, the International Players production of Cinders (a characteristically loose interpretation of the Cinderella story) was staged at the Ghana International School's outside stage in high temperatures. Although there is a roof over the stage and auditorium, its purpose is to provide shelter in case of tropical storms!

The panto was left high and dry when another UK-based lighting supplier failed to respond to its order. So, with a fairly tight turnaround time for the lighting to be shipped out via sea freight, the Players tur

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UK - Leading British electronic music act Way Out West has selected Allen & Heath's MIDI-enabled Xone:92 DJ mixer for use on its new, and highly acclaimed album 'Don't Look Now' (Distinct'ive), and promotional tour. The bonus mix CD which accompanies the 'Don't Look Now' album was mixed live on the Xone:92 at Way Out West's studio in Bristol, and the mixer was used throughout an intensive live tour of North America, which took place during November 2004.

"The Xone:92 is wonderful and I love it," says Jody Wisternoff. "I was really happy that we were able to use it for the 'Don't Look Now' mix CD - every track went through it, and it warmed up everything. It's definitely the best sounding DJ mixer I've ever heard and I've been playing around with the MIDI functions. The Xone:92 is studio quality - Allen & Heath don't mess around. I've played records at home throug

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UK - Producer Jim Lowe looked to Mackie when he decided he needed a cost-effective desk that could be used to record bands during rehearsal sessions. Lowe, who has recently produced and engineered a new album for the Stereophonics, said: "I was looking for an easy and affordable way to record bands in rehearsal situations, without having to compromise on quality. Mackie desks are renowned for their good EQ and mic amps, so the company's range was an obvious place to begin my search."

Lowe chose an Onyx 1640 with FireWire option. This 16-channel small-format analogue mixer is the flagship of Mackie's new Onyx range, with features including an innovative 24-bit/96khz FireWire 1/0 option that allows it to stream multi-channel audio directly into a laptop or desktop computer.

"The FireWire option was a must-have because I use a G4 laptop and I needed a quick and e

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UK - The launch of Ethos VA Array at the PLASA show in 2004 had a dramatic effect on Logic System's standing in the live sound industry. While system sales have been achieved in Asia, Europe and Scandinavia, UK demand has been running at an unprecedented level, say the company. To cope with the production demands in the run up to Christmas the Logic factory has been operating an additional night shift to cope. The availability of a cost effective installation version of the array has also not been lost on Logic Systems installation customers and as a result it has been specified on a number of new installations coming on line in the next few months.

The first of these is the newly refurbished Odeon in Leicester. Built as a cinema in the 1940's the decaying Art Deco interior has been lovingly restored to its former glory and the tiered seating replaced by six raised balconies ena

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The Netherlands - For Dutch superstar Frans Bauer's three sell-out 28,000 capacity Christmas shows at the Arnhem Gelredome, he and his design team decided to push their innovative use of video to record breaking levels. The single location and spectacular venue allowed a level of production which would be all but impossible on a touring show. The 'set' was a video screen - similar in proportions to the system on U2's legendary Popmart tour, this screen was not a low-resolution, background effect, but 500sq.m of Barco's D7 outdoor product assembled into arguably the largest and highest resolution display ever built Europe and even worldwide if fixed installations are discounted.

Dutch video specialist JVR (an Avesco plc company), an established supplier to Bauer's extravaganzas, supplied the screen. Sales director Jeroen Jongenelen commented. "The Barco D7 is the only syste

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UK - The latest issue of British Harlequin house magazine Harlequinade carries stories from around the globe including the magnificent new Copenhagen Opera House, the impressive Centre de la Danse in Paris and the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.

From America news of Harlequin's largest ever installation of Liberty Sprung floors at Florida State University in Tallahassee, as well as a special installation at the Lincoln Center in New York. Elsewhere in the issue Rachel Rist, president of IADMS writes a timely warning on the risks of dancing on the 'wrong type' of dance floor, a subject also highlighted in a recent House of Commons Report.

Anyone involved in dance who would like to receive a free copy of Harlequinade can sign up via the contact details below.

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UK - Over 20 specialist suppliers to the audio industry have accepted invitations to exhibit at ISCEx 2005 being held at the Watford Moat House Hotel on Tuesday, February 22nd. They include ADS Worldwide, AK Barns, Ampetronic, BC Technology, Brahler, Canford Audio, CIE, Clockaudio, Communications Technology, Current Thinking, DNH Worldwide, Ikon AVS, LOUD, MEDC, RCF, RK Sound, RW Salt, Shuttlesound, SigNET, and TOA. There are more in the pipeline, and already this looks like being an even bigger and better specialist exhibition for this important segment of the sound industry.

Running alongside the commercial interest will be a full packed technical programme with expert speakers covering a myriad of topics including audio over TCP/IP (Michael Harrison), fibre optics (Anthony Smith), wireless microphones (Paul Mason), an up-date on loop induction systems (Leon Pieters), and test

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Italy - December saw an Outline sound reinforcement system installed in the 400-seat multi-function room of Iveco SpA, a member company of the Fiat Group and one of the world's largest manufacturers of diesel engines and goods vehicles. The audio system - comprising three Spectra II 9075 loudspeaker enclosures, a Topsub Plus and two Micra II, powered by Outline T4 and T44 digital power amplifiers - is regularly used for conferences by Iveco's management, but also by public bodies such as Brescia's municipal and provincial authorities, and various important trade associations. In line with the philosophy of a multi-function room, as well as these applications, the room is also used by the Group's staff and their families, who greatly appreciate the sophisticated AV technology installed, particularly for the screening of films in 5.1 Dolby Surround.

The audio equipment was insta

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UK - Being based in one of the world's most renowned cities for New Year's Eve celebrations does have its down side. Six black light employees - led by projects manager Paul McGreal - found themselves resolutely sober and working hard as 2004 turned over into 2005.

Scotland is legendary for leading the UK's celebrations, with Edinburgh's Hogmanay events as much a municipal highlight as the city's infamous Festival Fringe in August. So it's unsurprising that black light is at the heart of both. As the celebrations take place in the centre of the city, the set up has to be done during the small hours. So the black light team worked overnight on 29 - 30 December to install the equipment, and on 31 December to run it (avoiding drunken revellers wherever possible). They began breaking down at 2am on 1 January, with all safely back at the black light warehouse by 8am that day.

Unlik

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UK - Mixing the sound for a broad range of frontline television spectaculars, Plus 4 Audio's Stew Chaney knows the value of having a maximum number of inputs in a minimum amount of flexible retail estate, that can be transported and sited discretely.

For the past two years he has supported the Yamaha digital platform, and like his colleague Fred Jackson (of Jackson Post) with whom he often shares mixing duties - their preferred supplier is Marquee Audio.

Last month Marquee supplied Plus 4 Audio with the new PM5D-RH - and Chaney returned from mxing the sound for Miss World in China to go straight into The London Studios on the South Bank, to join Jackson on the new board for ITV's Record of the Year show, where the full complement of internal pre-amps, FX and stereo returns were in use.

Chaney had been looking for a step up from the DM2000 for around a year on shows which req

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USA - This years' Christmas Celebration Tour by Mannheim Steamroller was mixed by Rande Ferguson, who added a Mackie Digital X Bus console to the show's audio arsenal. Ferguson has served as sound engineer for Mannheim Steamroller, during their traditional touring months of November and December, for the past 16 years. For the other 10 months of the year, Ferguson is a design/build contractor in Omaha, Nebraska with Audio Support Group.

He says: "In this job I'm able to stay well-versed in new audio products and technologies," said Ferguson. "In fact, this is how I first became aware of Mackie's new digital console. It was my good friend and sales rep, Tim Eakins of Eakins-Bernstein & Associates, that suggested that the new Digital X Bus might be just what I needed for the Mannheim Steamroller tour."

Ferguson adds: "Chip [Davies] has been writing in

  1. Scene Change for Mary Poppins
  2. Nova announces merger
  3. Wicked on tour
  4. DiGiCo Ease For Nobel Peace Prize concert
  5. Robe on the menu at top restaurant
  6. Adamson on the move
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