UK - Robe Show Lighting fixtures have been installed at Spearmint Rhino's busy London Heathrow venue. Spearmint Rhino's is the world's highest grossing upscale Gentleman's Club chain, operating worldwide and rapidly expanding across all territories. The Heathrow club - one of the original UK sites - asked Wes Matthews of 360 Services to undertake the design and installation of upgrading their lighting rig. Matthews has worked with them for the last two and a half years, and looks after all their production technology.

Lighting for 'table dancing' and strip clubs is an area of expertise for Matthews and, over time, he's refined the very specific requirements of the environment into the art of capturing mood and creating an aura of tension and drama. "It's very similar to theatre" he explains, adding that the era of tacky and tasteless lighting in these types of venues

Denmark - LD Phil Karatz has specified a Martin Maxxyz console for the current US leg of Ani DiFranco's world tour to control both the lighting rig and his media server. Described as a type of 'punk folksinger', Ani DiFranco's unique socially conscious style of music appeals to a wide audience and she has been on the road for some time, including last autumn's Vote Dammit tour aimed at registering voters and a recently-completed European tour. The winter and spring US dates' rig includes a Maxxyz-controlled MAC rig of MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC 2000 Wash and Jem ZR 24/7 Hazers, supplied by See Factor. Production manager is Steve Schrems.

Karatz used a media server on the Vote Dammit US shows and decided to switch to a console that could run the media server. He comments, "I did some research and found the Maxxyz to be well suited to the way I like to set up and ru

Italy - Leading Spanish PA company Milan Acustica has become the first Spanish PA company to purchase a Cadac S-Type Compact Live Production Console, selecting the desk on the basis of its superior sonic design and engineering. The contract for the two consoles was negotiated by Cadac's Spanish representative, Salvador Serra, of Imaginamusica. The S-Types are being configured to Milan Acustica's requirements, comprising two 33-way frames with twenty-four mono inputs, four stereo channels, four Group/VCA/Aux modules, and a Master module. This provides the option to operate the two S-Types individually or combine the frames into a single large console, underlining the inherent flexibility of the Cadac 'plug anywhere' module design.

Milan Acustica Director David Castello commented: "Our reputation is based on quality sound reinforcement, gained over some 27 years, and we alway

Australia - A fresh insight to PA system specification for stadiums was promised by audio consultant Olaf De Ceuster on being asked by Australia's Major Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) to set standards for a full range PA system to be installed at the Cowboys Stadium (capacity 35,000 seated, 12,500 standing) in Townsville, Queensland. "The 105 dBA standard was borrowed from the standards set at ANZ Stadium," he explained, "where I looked after all the production facets and operated sound for eight years with The Broncos, another National Rugby League club." That's 105dBA over 95% of the audience.

"On this consultancy I took a different approach: since this was a stadium for people, not engineers, I decided to let a cross-section of normal people liking this particular rugby football code (NLR) to decide what they liked best. We played them music and h

Norway - Each December, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Consideration is given to a wide variety of work including 'advocacy of human rights, peace movements, mediation of international conflicts and arms control and disarmament'. This year's recipient is Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

Maathai had a busy schedule before her when she arrived in Oslo, including a series of meetings, the formal awards ceremony and a torchlight parade through downtown Oslo. Proceedings culminated in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. The concert, carried live in more than 100 countries to up to 450 million viewers, was held at Oslo Spektrum, where the 6,500-strong audience heard a stellar cast through a Meyer Sound system provided by Oslo's own AVAB CAC. Maathai was the guest of honour at t

UK - Soundcraft has announced the dates for the next in its popular Going Live training course series, held in conjunction with Adlib Audio of Liverpool and some of the UK's top tour sound engineers. Going Live 05 takes place on March 21-23 at the Liverpool Community College. Monday 21st is 'Intro' day, essentially a precursor for the main event held over the 22nd and 23rd. This acts as a basics-of-live-sound refresher, ideal for people relatively new to live sound engineering as a career.

The main course covers all the main subjects of live sound, from microphone and loudspeaker placement to front-of-house and monitor mixing. As well as providing course tutoring, the engineers are on hand to answer questions and provide tips on how they mix live sound in the real world. Engineers planned to be tutoring include 'Big Mick' Hughes, perhaps most famous for his work wi

UK - Visitors to London's famous Somerset House have been soaking up the winter atmosphere and the grandeur of the Victorian era with Calor, the UK's leading supplier of liquefied petroleum gas, lighting the way. The open-air Winter Ice Rink located in the venue's main courtyard has attracted thousands of visitors for a fifth consecutive year. An added attraction this year is the use of real Victorian-style gas flame lamp standards, installed by specialist events company EMF Technology. The chosen fuel for the authentic lighting is Calor LPG.

Stuart Roberts of EMF Technology, which provides bespoke special effects and audio and video displays for major events and local authorities, commented that, to provide the right flame effect for the facility, LPG was the only answer. "We wanted to have the right ambience and an authentic look for the Victorian scene. We also had to en

UK - Mid January saw DiGiCo host its inaugural 'White Gloves Master Class' at its Chessington, UK premises. With over 100 new and current users in attendance over the two two-day events, it proved a resounding success, says the company. Designed for sound rental companies, sound engineers, system technicians and maintenance technicians, the two days of classes saw DiGiCo's premises transformed into a live sound stage, with breakout rooms affording attendees the opportunity of a live mixing session, either individually or in small groups.

A total of seven consoles were set up, all wired and configured from a single Stage Rack, comprising a D5 at front of house and monitors for the main area stage, a D5 RE also at FOH and a Soundtracs DS-00 for an OB truck positioned stage left. Further D5s were set up for an in-depth training session for existing users, another in the 'Black Room

UK - Audio Network Plc, the media music and sound specialist, has announced an investment by Leisure & Media VCT plc to accelerate its worldwide growth. Leisure & Media has invested £250,000 in return for a 7% equity stake in Audio Network, which says it has a revolutionary model, "supplying music for use in film, television and multi media production without the usual restrictions, cost and complications".

During the three years since its formation Audio Network has signed up over 100 composers and sound designers and has become established as a leading supplier of music to the UK production community; its music and sound library, comprising over 50,000 sounds, can be previewed on-line at www.audiolicense.net.

Robert Hurst, managing director of Audio Network, said: "We are delighted to welcome Leisure & Media VCT as shareholders in the company and welcome the

UK - Star Events Group has teamed up again with the Arena Group to create an infrastructure for the spectacular watersports pool at the Schroder's Boatshow at ExCeL in London's Docklands. The team designed and built the support for the 70m x 25m pool that held over 2,100 tonnes of water. Windsurfing, wakeboarding and sailing pros demonstrated their skills, using wind generated by the huge fans that flanked one entire length of the pool. 24 of these fans, each weighing 1 tonne, were supported on a raised structure also supplied by Star Events Group.

For the second year running, working closely with the National Boat Show (NBS), Star Events Group was brought in by the Arena Group to supply ExCeL with a complete temporary facility that was fully available from the first day of the exhibition tenancy. This enabled NBS to concentrate fully on the production requirements. This year's

USA - Shure Incorporated has announced the opening of two new locations in China: a manufacturing facility in Suzhou and a sales and marketing office in Shanghai. In preparation for the grand opening, the state-of-the-art Suzhou manufacturing facility has been conducting production trials. Full production of select product lines is expected in the spring.

"China is a very important market for our strategic growth goals," said Sandy LaMantia, President and CEO of Shure. "This expansion will strengthen our company's position by allowing us to respond to the growing global demand for our products. The transition of these product lines to our China facility will be transparent to our global distribution partners," he added.The Suzhou facility, a wholly-owned enterprise, has been equipped with the same calibre of testing equipment as in other Shure plants, includi

UK - Lighting balloon specialists Airstar Space Lighting was on hand to assist the homeless charity Crisis at the end of December, providing nine of its Crystal fixtures for use at the charity's annual Crisis Open Christmas event. Taking place across six London venues between 23rd and 30th December, the event was designed to provide skills training & activities, companionship and medical services for as many of London's homeless as possible.

The main venue was located in three buildings at the Millennium Dome, Greenwich, plus associated marquees. Being designed with a 'village' atmosphere in mind, the Crystal lighting balloons were chosen by lighting designer Jenny Kagan to provide illumination for the links between the site's different areas. She deployed seven 2k halogen and two 1.2k HMI Crystals, all 1.6m in diameter. Although she hadn't used Airstar fixtures before, she said

Korea - Avix Tech Co Ltd, recently appointed Audient distributor in Korea, has secured two sales of the biggest Aztec desk yet, a 56-channel version of Audient's flagship console.

Audient's biggest Aztec to date is now being used by the EnCompass Corporation, a multi-entertainment company located in the Chung Cheung area. Introduced to Audient by Avix Tech, their managing director, Steve Kim, explained: "A host of cultural events takes place throughout the year in this part of Korea, so EnCompass Corp handles a lot of global events. The 56-channel console from Audient is currently being used for the concert of the Chung-Ju City Orchestra and Choir. They particularly like the fact that the AZTEC live console has such a large number of VCA groups and dedicated recording connectivity, which allows simple set up of recording equipment for both recording and mixdown." Avix

UK - Britannia Row Productions provided audio for the giant concert at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium in aid of the Asian tsunami relief fund, covering the enormous crowd of 61,000 Brit Row used their L'Acoustics system, with Yamaha for control in the shape of both a PM1D and PM5D at either end of the snake.

"I'm sure there isn't an audio provider in the country that wouldn't have been willing to do this show," commented Brit Row director Bryan Grant, "and I'm honoured that Claire Sampson, show producer, asked us. We were able to assemble a really outstanding team of people: crew chief John Gibbon, Dave Bracey and Gary Bradshaw at front of house, Tristan Farrow and Kursten Smith on monitors, Pete McGlynn, Steph' Thompson, Dorus Hummels and Nahuel Gutierrez onstage and Richard Trow, Chris Peters and James Bowyer on system."

The bands all went through the P

UK - The UK entertainment ticketing industry's self-regulatory body, the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR), has welcomed the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)'s announcement that it is to promote steps to clamp down on the resale and touting of show tickets. STAR is, with others, planning to lobby the Government for changes in the law and for the effective enforcement of existing laws to protect consumers, especially from so-called 'e-touts' who exploit web sites to resell tickets. STAR also welcomed moves by the OFT to ensure consumers get clear price information.

Many tickets are being offered for sale through Internet auction sites. Earlier this month there were some 8,378 separate listings of multiple tickets for sale on one leading site alone. There is evidence that large operations, as well as individual touts, are using sites to offer seats at major events at vastl

UK - One year after unveiling its Verona console, Midas has launched Siena at the Winter NAMM 2005 in California and simultaneously on www.midasconsoles.com. Verona, says Midas, has enjoyed an unprecedented uptake over the past year, while sales across its entire range have boomed by 57% over the 12-month period. Now Midas is confident that the 16-send Siena, which is pitched at the same market sector to Verona and shares many of its design techniques, will repeat its success.

"When specifying Siena we felt there was a large gap in the market for a high quality, highly configurable console that had a high output count but was still extremely easy to use in the live environment," says David Cooper, sales and marketing director for Midas and Klark Teknik. "Siena has a feature set sure to appeal to monitor engineers as it is the only console in the world, at this per

Estonia - Arup Lighting, in collaboration with MVRDV, has created a spectacular lighting display that will be suspended 35m high over the Old Town quarter of Tallinn in Estonia. The semi-permanent art installation will be lit over the city, making the dark and wintry Tallinn awash with light every evening for three hours, between 3 - 6 February. The ambitious project was conceived at an Estonian designers' workshop for young architects with the aim of creating a lighting installation to enhance the city and inspire its residents during the winter gloom.

Invited by the Tallinn City Government, MVRDV architects and Arup Lighting were asked to find solutions to realise the winning idea - a 'light cupola' above the city. The Light Dome is the precursor to more anticipated installations of a similar nature in Europe, and the design team hopes to install a larger one in London in 200

UK - Following a record visitor turnout and exhibitor numbers reaching the hall's capacity in 2004, the organisers of the A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow have announced that this year's show will be returning to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds on 26-27 April. Further show details will be confirmed in the coming months, but visitors can expect a repeat of last year's popular format, say the company. Many of the key brands from A.C. Lighting's stock-holding of leading lighting, audio and associated equipment manufacturers who exhibited in 2004 have already confirmed their attendance, as well as a number of new suppliers who will making their first appearance at the show.

As well as the chance to catch up on the latest product innovations and receive demonstrations, face-to-face expert advice and some exclusive 'show-only' exhibitor deals, the show will again include a range of

Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi's newly-built Heritage Theatre boasts, as well as breathtaking décor, a state-of-the-art audio infrastructure that will allow it to be monitored from several thousand miles away in the United Kingdom, using QSC's QSControl.net technology. Perched atop a hill overlooking the Persian Gulf, the 550-seat theatre was designed as a multi-purpose venue, hosting historical and folkloric events, lectures, and conventions, as well as doubling as a cinema with surround sound. UK-based audio company LSI Projects specified QSC amplification and processing and performed the full system integration, including sound, video, lighting, engineering and project management, for Abu Dhabi's Ministry of Heritage.

QSC PowerLight PL4.0, PL236 and PL218 amplifiers drive the main PA, and are fitted with DSP-4 signal processing modules, which add high-pow

UK - A 40-channel Allen & Heath GL3300 multi-purpose live console has been installed in one of the largest concert and conference venues in the west of England. The Forum, located in Bath's city centre, features a 1700-seater auditorium, which was in need of an audio upgrade. The venue is a converted 1930's super-cinema, which has been extensively renovated in its original art deco style by current owners, Bath City Church. Its0 main function is as the home of Bath City Church, a vibrant Christian group with a growing membership of around 500 people. The auditorium's sound system, installed in the early 1990s, is operated by a team of 15 volunteers from within the church, comprising four teams of three sound engineers working on a rota basis, plus two riggers and a team leader.

"Selection of a suitable replacement desk was a project in itself," commented team leader Ch

UK - Serious Stages supplied a 12 metre Orbit stage and roof system for the final of TV series Celebrity Big Brother at Elstree Studios. The latest Big Brother winner was ex-Happy Mondays dancer Bez - initially considered an outsider - who attracted huge public support along the way and squeezed Blazin' Squad rapper Kenzie and actress Brigitte Neilson into second and third places respectively.

Serious Stages was contacted just five days before the final by producers Endemol, after deciding they wanted the stage for the final evictions live on the Sunday. Eight Serious crew, led by Shaun Dixon, erected a standard one-bay Orbit roof system, 12 metres wide by 12 metres deep. The stage was completed and ready for lighting, audio, set and other production elements to commence their get-in on the Saturday morning. At the end of the show itself, the house guests were inte

Germany - Laser specialist Lobo has announced the latest in a series of installations on cruise ships and a private yacht. Magica, the new flagship of European shipping line Costa, set sail for the first time and, along with its sister ship Fortuna, takes Mediterranean cruising to new dimensions. Each of the 272-meter long floating hotels draws 105,000 tonnes and offers pure luxury combined with Italian ambience for 3,470 passengers.

Among the abundant entertainment on offer is a theatre seating more than 1,000 guests, and its well-specified technology includes a sophisticated Lobo laser system. Three maintenance-free laser projectors are controlled by Lacon-5 workstations and Magica also features Lobo's latest Zaphir moving laser head. The control system allows either completely independent operation of the laser system but also control via DMX, timecode, E

UK - TSC Music, a leading supplier of in-store music solutions, has recently signed to the 'i-ceilings Sound Systems Approved Installer Network' (iSSAIN), joining a shortlist of the UK's biggest and best audio system providers chosen to bring the i-ceilings brand to the market.

Armstrong i-ceilings, the latest generation of integrated loudspeakers, uses NXT flat panel loudspeaker technology to provide exceptional sound qualities, whilst providing a near-'invisible' solution for aesthetic consistency of the ceiling plane. The i-ceilings panel simply drops into the ceiling grid to provide a completely unidentifiable loudspeaker that also benefits from increased clarity and dispersion of music and voice messaging. The product is already finding enormous success in the retail, leisure, education, AV and public sectors, for names such as HSBC, IKEA, Holiday Inn, ASDA, McDonalds, HBOS

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