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Czech Republic - Summit Steel has finished an ambitious rigging project in Prague, working for production company Jigzaw, which involved design and build of a substantial rigging infrastructure and supply of equipment and crew, for the European Sales Meeting of Stryker Corporation - one of world's largest multinational medical device companies.

The event took place over three days and across five venues in the city, with Summit working in two locations - the Industrial Trade Fair Palace - a beautiful art nouveau exhibition centre dating from 1891, and the more contemporary Hilton Congress Centre. It was Summit's first event for Jigzaw; production manager Chris Venn asked them onboard after working with Summit on the 'Music on Fire' classical spectacular event at Sandhurst Military Academy in summer 2004.

At the Hilton Congress Centre, Summit's task was relatively straightforw

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UK - Lighting design and installation specialist i-Vision has completed an architectural lighting scheme at the new Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Civic Centre, located in central Neath. The contemporary building, designed by the Council's in-house architects, features a large central entrance atrium and two impressive glass staircase atriums at either end of its two wings, all clearly visible from the exterior. Other elements include distinctive clad pillars, exposed brickwork and intricate lattices of steel structural detail - all of which lend themselves naturally to lighting.

The project was managed for i-Vision by Dave Mackay, who worked closely with Geoff Jones to design the scheme. Given an imaginative free reign and a relatively open brief, they certainly weren't short of ideas! It was decided to illuminate the central atrium's front metalwork - which unites t

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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The Netherlands - Midas Consoles Holland has made Klark Teknik's DN370 analogue graphic equalizer available to a wide client base by offering an EQ Amnesty across the country for a limited period. Under the terms of the offer, one previously-owned EQ unit could be traded against a brand new DN370 on a part-exchange basis, ensuring that a substantial discount was received on each new unit.

The deal was the brainchild of managing director Axel Nagtegaal, who explains: "I wanted to find a way of giving rental companies who recognized the quality of the Klark Teknik DN370 the opportunity to purchase them by generating money from the sale of their other brand EQs. In most cases, it would have been extremely difficult to offload these units second-hand in any other way."

When the offer ended, Nagtegaal was staggered to find that 110 rental companies and theatres had take

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UK - Production hire company Hawthorn Theatrical has taken delivery of a 32-channel Aztec console to complement its ever increasing stock of Audient equipment, including a sizeable number of Audient's graphic equalizer, the ASP231. Specializing in event design and production, Hawthorn has a wealth of experience in corporate, AV, install and live production, providing the "one-stop-shop" production and hire service. With a hire inventory of over 2615 lines of stock, 62 members of full time staff as well as a warehouse the size of 5 football pitches, Hawthorn's commitment to providing a professional service at the very highest level is clearly evident.

Audient's UK sales manager, Nick Pemberton says: "When I visited Hawthorn for the first time, I was taken back by the company's scale. It's a truly amazing place. Since then I have been back on a number of occasions

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UK - XL Video supplied two Barco R12 projectors to Red Priest's Red Hot Baroque Show which launched at Hackney Empire last week, before embarking on an international tour scheduled to last most of the year. The show's visuals - lighting and projection - have been designed and produced by Ben Rogers, who started work on the project last autumn. He was approached early by the music act, who was already engaged in constant touring worldwide. They wanted to 'up' the production values of their show and develop it into a creative collage of Baroque recital and modern performance.

Projection was on the cards from an early stage. Rogers wanted something that would give a unique look and was easily travelled. He approached XL Video's arts and theatre specialist Malcolm Mellows and together they explored the different options. They came up with the two projectors which can be front

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UK - Wembley Arena Pavilion opened it doors in February with shows by X Factor and Westlife in the first week. Wembley Ltd contracted The Arena Group to design and build the semi-permanent venue, which has already hosted, and will continue to host some of the world's biggest music stars, until the £32m refurbishment of Wembley Stadium is completed.

The £4m temporary arena has the look and feel of a permanent building. It is insulated for heat and sound, is over 165m long, 70m wide and 17m high, with a seating capacity of 10,000, offers a VIP corporate hospitality area and full backstage production facilities for organizers.

All four divisions of the Arena Group contributed skills and resources to create this unique venue.Arena Structures supplied their TFS structure and supplementary structures to create the venue;Arena Seating supplied and installed the 10,000 seats; Aren

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Germany - With effect from today, Sennheiser GmbH & Co KG, located in Wedemark, Germany, has taken over the marketing and development divisions of Klein & Hummel GmbH, located in Ostfildern, Germany, including all product rights and brand use. This move will be represented by a newly founded company, K&H Vertriebs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH.

During its 60-year history, Klein & Hummel has developed a strong reputation for its studio monitors and other products including installed sound systems. In the past, Sennheiser has been Klein & Hummel's key distribution partner. With its existing core competencies, a worldwide distribution network and the newly gained K&H products, Sennheiser is now strengthening strengthens its position as a full-line supplier of electro-acoustic systems. Together with K&H's sister company Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin, Sennheiser "represents th

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USA - On 19 January, 2005, guests began using the 53,000sq.ft first floor of the all-new Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne, California. What the Black Oak Casino was looking for to complement the new casino was an automated lighting package to deliver the right look and perhaps, a few reminders to guests. "When specifying this job, the customer was looking for automated lights that ran silently, delivered a wide range of looks and colours, and allow the casino to project messages and logos. The Vari-Lite VL1000TD fixtures were perfect for the application," explains Gary Guberman, lighting manager for Quantum Audio and Video, the supplier and installer of the project.

The Black Oak Casino uses eight Vari-Lite VL1000TD luminaires (tungsten lamp source with integral IGBT dimmers) in their main lounge, the Willow Creek Lounge. The Willow Creek Lounge has a dance floor, and on

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Ireland - Eurolites Productions, one of Ireland's largest lighting and production rental companies, is currently negotiating the purchase of a brand new 1200sq.m unit close to Dublin Airport. The building, near Blanchardstown just off the M50 motorway, is due for completion in late June and is a major move for the company which has rapidly outgrown its facilities in Portlaoise, Co. Laois.The past 12 months has seen a huge increase in the workload undertaken by Eurolites and 2005 looks to be a year of continued expansion, the company reports. The company says the move to Dublin will better serve its clients in the touring, concert, television and corporate presentation industries, and the new building will boast increased storage space and efficient loading and unloading facilities. The sales division of the company will also greatly increase in size and service, further expanding

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Australia - Some of Australia's most popular contemporary musicians performed at WAVEAID - a one-off event that generated approximately $2 million in funds for Tsunami disaster appeal. The sold-out show was held at Sydney's Cricket Ground before an audience of 50,000 and broadcasted live on radio networks around the country, with highlights televised the following day.

The concert featured performances from the likes of Nick Cave, The Finn Brothers, Kasey Chambers, The Waifs, Missy Higgins, Powderfinger, John Butler Trio and highly anticipated sets from both Silverchair and Midnight Oil. This was the first time that Silverchair had performed for over two years whilst Midnight Oil were lured out of retirement for such a special occasion.

The WAVEAID concert was organized by veteran promoter Michael Chugg, Mark Pope and Joe Segreto. To ensure that maximum money was raised, the

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UK - The London branch of LMC Audio has supplied a large order of Soundcraft mixing consoles to audio visual specialists Onyx Presentations. LMC's Steve 'Bunty' King confirmed that eight GB4's - in 16 and 32-channel frame sizes - and a pair of the new 48-channel GB8's had been purchased by the Sunbury-based company, a long-standing Soundcraft house, as it looked to upgrade its fleet by retiring some of its older K1 and K3 desks.

Commented King: "The feature set of the GB4 is fantastic; the EQ has been greatly enhanced, and unlike other consoles in this market it contains a matrix section." Onyx presentations hire manager, Craig Theaker, agreed that the company had made the right decision in holding back its purchasing decision until the GB4 became available: "We waited for a year, and it's been one of the better decisions we've made, the two 32-channel desks, whic

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Qatar - It wasn't quite a royal command performance, but Sennheiser microphones made an appearance at the wedding celebrations for Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Crown Prince of Qatar, son of His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar. The 12-hour party, for the prince's bride-to-be, featured a 45-piece Iraqi orchestra and a stage full of Sennheiser Evolution Series wired and RF microphones, as well as wireless personal monitor systems. Created, designed and produced by special event planners Colin Cowie Lifestyles of New York, the extravagant celebrations took place at the bride's palace, one of four in the Qatar royal family compound in the capital city of Doha.

"There was nothing on the stage but Sennheiser," reports Scott Scherban, project manager and audio crew chief for Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California, who provided the event pro

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UK - Stage Electrics has announced a series of training courses aimed at raising standards in health and safety across the entertainment industry. The courses will take place at Northbrook College in Worthing, Sussex (21 and 22 March) and at The Point in Eastleigh, Hampshire (23 and 24 March).

On 21 March in Worthing, the courses begin with the day-long Basic Health & Safety - The Entertainment Environment. The cost of this course is £150 +VAT per person. The following day's course will be Pyrotechnics Safety Awareness, and will cost £120+VAT per person.

The Pyrotechnics Safety Awareness course will be repeated on 23 March at The Point in Eastleigh, at the same price, and will be followed on 24 March by Electricity at Work - The Entertainment Environment, priced at £150 +VAT per person. Anyone wishing to book both courses at either venue can do s

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UK - Duran Duran's Astronaut World Tour begins this month in the USA. to support the bands latest CD, Astronaut. Working with Upstaging, Tomcat USA designed and manufactured three custom circles in three different diameters: 13.5ft, 25.5ft and 40ft. All three are a vital part of the moving light show for this tour.

Although each circle was made using a fairly common medium duty 20.5" bolted format, the project was particularly challenging because the truss required a custom diagonal pattern to accommodate specific lighting requirements. The tour kicked off in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 8 February with more than 40 other dates through out the US before heading overseas.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Raymond Gubbay's perennial opera-in-the-round offering at London's Albert Hall utilized a TiMax audio delay matrix and showcontrol system to help create authentic and transparent vocal reinforcement for principals and chorus vocals. Directed by David Freeman and accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Peter Robinson, this was Gubbay's second Albert Hall presentation of Carmen, with sound reinforcement by Autograph and sound design by Bobby Aitken.

Bizet's romantic tragedy was translated into English to appeal to a broader opera-going audience, so mandated TiMax's unique use of multiple precedence delays to enhance intelligibility through precise vocal localization. This "source-oriented reinforcement" technique ensures each audience member will localize to the performers' acoustic vocal output from the stage just a few milliseconds befo

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USA - A sound system upgrade for the 1,200-seat Community Theatre of New Jersey in Morristown presented a puzzle to newly hired staff audio engineer and technical director Jonathan 'JP' Peirce. Faced with a number of challenges - problematic acoustics, a limited budget, and strict aesthetic requirements - all proposed loudspeaker systems fell short in one way or another. Finally, when Peirce decided to "think small," the pieces of the puzzle fell together around an elegant solution based on Meyer Sound M1D ultra-compact curvilinear arrays.

The new FOH system is anchored by 12 M1D cabinets per side for the orchestra level, with a centre array of eight M1D cabinets and two M1D-Sub ultra-compact subwoofers covering the balcony. Peirce had first looked traditional Meyer MSL-4 clusters: "But it just wasn't right for this room," says Pierce. He then looked at the

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Australia - The Entech 2006 seminar and conference planning is now underway with a comprehensive program in the making. InfoComm Academy has confirmed support of the show and will be hosting 'InfoComm Academy at Entech'. For the broadcast market the Entech Broadcast Conference presented by Broadcastpapers Content + Technology will be held to cover topical issues, technology and trends.

The well-attended OH&S course will again return to the show taking place on Sunday 12 February. Juliusmedia College will present this one-day industry OH&S certificate course.Other conferences planned for Entech 2006 include a full day Pro Audio program, half-day business laws and half day lighting conference. Conference details, speakers and more information will be available closer to the show.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - XL Video is supplying 304 panels of new Barco I-12 SMD (surface mounted diode) screen and one of its new Grass Valley Zodiac mixer/switchers for the current Westlife 'No 1s' European arena tour. On this, the fifth Westlife tour for XL Video, the company is also supplying a full three-camera IMAG/PPU system and crew via Blink TV. Live video director is Billy Robinson.

The Barco I-12 is configured into four screens. Unusually, the two side screens, which are always used for IMAG, are also constructed from the same LED source - in a 10-wide/8-deep combination. Onstage there's a 10-wide by 12-deep curved portrait screen downstage right, and a smaller 24-tile portrait screen upstage left.

This video unites the two side screens with the onstage screens in a wide-vision stage setting. The video design and stage set was conceived by Production North's Steve Levitt and the band.

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The Netherlands - The Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, recently invested heavily in new equipment, deciding in favour of systems from Midas and Klark Teknik. The team from Midas Consoles Holland, led by Axel Nagtegaal delivered a Midas Heritage 48-channel console, a Klark Teknik Helix digital EQ and five Klark Teknik DN-370 graphic EQs just in time for the venue's New Year's Eve party.

The Cultuurpodium Boerderij has a long and eventful history, but since the 1990s, it has settled into the role of a modern, multi-functional cultural centre, with a programme which includes found dance events, cabarets, theatrical performances and concerts representative of a wide variety of musical genres. In addition to the large 750-seater main hall, the Cultuurpodium Boerderij boasts a second, smaller venue for live music: the Podium Café, which has a capacity of aroun

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UK -The Association of Investment Trust Companies was set up 73 years ago in the City of London as non-profit making trade body of the investment trust industry. In the past few months it relocated its HQ a few doors along Chiswell Street, and up to the ninth floor of new purpose offices.

One of the advantages of the new facility was the ability to incorporate a long 24-seat rectangular conference room, divisible into two separate spaces. It was important that high resolution images could be placed easily onto a sufficiently large screen from the lectern position.

With a large membership, AITC's convention room already enjoys high utilization and while the bulk of the projected content is Powerpoint presentation, AITC also need access to finance satellite channels, with overall ease of operation. The AITC had already received a quotation for the multimedia infrastructure when

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USA - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) is pleased to announce that the League of American Theatres and Producers (the League) has accepted a seat on the ETCP Council. The League is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League's 500-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 140 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry.

The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) is a new industry-wide program that is bringing together an unprecedented group of industry organizations, businesses and individuals to create a program of rigorous assessments for professional technicians.

Seth Popper, Director of Labor Relations, will serve as the League's principal representative to the Council. "As an organization committe

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UK - LMC Audio Systems, London has sold 12 channels of Audio-Technica Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF, true-diversity wireless microphone systems, to Onyx Presentations, the Middlesex based presentation and conference hire company.

The sale represents the first of A-T Artist Elite 5000 Series wireless systems by LMC into the corporate AV market, and a first time purchase for Onyx Presentations. The purchase was part of a continuing expansion of the company's conference hire AV systems. The switch to Audio-Technica was the result of client feedback, concerning the suitability of existing wireless microphone systems for conference applications.

"People were reporting finding the capsules on our existing systems too large and heavy, particularly for female presenters," explains managing director Paul Gilley. "We had seen an advert for the Artist Elite series, and arra

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Singapore - Robe Show Lighting has established a new company in Singapore - Robe (S.E.A.) - which will operate as a sales and support office to integrate and coordinate Robe's rapidly expanding business in South East Asia. The new enterprise is registered in Singapore and is located at 160, Paya Lebar Road #07-05, Orion Industrial Building, Singapore 409 022.

The company will be headed by Louis Teo as regional sales manager. Teo has a highly successful track record with the Robe brand via his company Light + Sound Distribution, which continues to operate as Robe's Singaporean distributor. Robe (S.E.A) will oversee general sales and service support as well as project co-ordination in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. The company says that existing distributors will continue to receive their supplies directly from the Robe factory in th

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