UK / Finland - Clockaudio Limited has appointed Starlike Oy as its Finnish distributor. Starlike will be responsible for the sales and distribution of Clockaudio's extensive line of microphones, mixers, headsets and accessories within the growing Finnish market.

Located in Vantaa, close by Helsinki city centre, Starlike Oy is a professional sound and lighting company that was founded in 1986. Its services include system design, installation and manufacturing as well as distribution and sales.

Starlike pro audio sales manager, Pauli Molner, comments: "We are proud and excited to be taking on the distribution of Clockaudio products in Finland. Clockaudio is synonymous with good quality, reliability and flexibility. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Clockaudio.

"Our clients include public and private organisations, construction industry,

UK / Italy - A.C. Lighting has been appointed as the sole UK distributor for D.T.S. show products and will launch final production models of the innovative new Delta LED IP rated moving light range at the PLASA show.

Until recently, D.T.S. has been known as a high volume manufacturer of branded and OEM lighting products combining excellent build quality, performance and reliability at an affordable price. However, as a result of long-term investment in state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facilities in Italy, the company has developed a new generation of advanced products aimed at the professional end of the entertainment market.

The new distribution deal will exploit A.C. Lighting's position as a leading one-stop supplier of cutting-edge entertainment technologies to the most demanding users in all areas of professional and architectural lighting applications. The deal cove

Worldwide - LaserNet's summer began with a bang when it was selected to join the 20th Anniversary tour of the legendary rock band, Poison. The rigorous tour schedule, 55 cities in 65 days, proved to be no problem for the rugged Verde projector, and LaserNet's 20W Verde Beam Raider - an air-cooled, green-only laser system - made its tour debut. Poison's tour manager Mark Hogue says: "We were very pleased with the reliability of the LaserNet system, it never missed a beat. Plus, never having to mess with water hoses made it a dream come true."

LD Mark Miller added: "The laser projector is very well built and we have worked it hard with no problems. I can see more rock and roll in its future and even corporate gigs."

LaserNet's president, Tom Harman noted: "The Beam Raider system has been very successful in clubs, but getting it on the road was the acid t

UK - Coinciding with the recent hike in interest rates and amid concerns that levels of borrowing are escalating, a new analysis by industry specialists Plimsoll Publishing has looked at how high levels of debt are impacting on the financial health of the top 200 sound equipment companies.

It found that 80 of the 200 companies analysed are in fact, in more debt now than they have been in the last four years. Using other people's money to finance your company is, it seems, an increasing trend.

David Pattison, head of research at Plimsoll, commented. "We are always surprised how no one at these companies seems to realise their debts are rising and the effect it's having on the overall financial strength of the company. Unfortunately it's not something they tend to measure until it's too late. Our analysis spots these problems earlier."

The Plimsoll analysis points to

Belgium - The perennial Rock Werchter festival was held again at Werchter Park in Hasselt, Belgium, from 29 June to 2 July. Rock Werchter is one of Europe's largest music festivals, with over 300,000 people attending each year, and over 60 artists performing on two stages throughout the four-day festival.

30 Bands including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Who, Arctic Monkeys, Black Eyed Peas, Depeche Mode, and Kanye West graced the main stage while Collective Soul, Death Cab for Cutie, Elbow, The Streets and many others were featured on the second Pyramid Marquee stage.

EML Belgium, who have been associated with the festival for the past 20 years, was contracted to provide the sound system and design. They know exactly what the demands are, and each year aim to fine-tune and deliver what has become one of the largest Adamson Systems Arrays used in an out-door even

UK - Top of the Pops the long-running BBC TV music show, has been broadcast for the last time in its 42-year history. The one-hour finale, shown on BBC Two on Sunday 16 July 2006, looked back over the show's four decades and featured a number of memorable archive clips.

Roger Williams has been the lighting designer for Top of the Pops for two years now and has learnt where the camera gets the most out of the lights. As this was the final music show he filled the studio grid with as much as he could using various lamps and manufacturers, but not trying to, "make it too much like a trade show!".

The lighting design is usually left to Williams once the positioning of the set pieces has been decided on in the Monday meeting. Williams has two preferred rigs, Martin MAC 500 and MAC 600s beams and washes alternately to provide strong vibrant colours and sharp

UK - The last ever event to be held at the Wembley Conference Centre saw Pearce Hire install the complex PA system for an acoustically challenging and unusual event.

With the continuing development of the Wembley site, the next stage of the regeneration is the pulling down of Wembley Conference Centre after 30 years of holding numerous conferences, seminars and private parties. For the final time, the venue was used by an American composer, Yoav Goren to showcase his work to a selected audience.

Goren who is responsible for creating trailer music for many blockbuster movies including Spiderman, Van Helsing and X-Men, has developed his trailers into full music compositions and was performing them using a 65 piece orchestra, 60 piece choir and full rock band, which included Feeder's drummer (who worked with Aerosmith and Bon Jovi).

Pearce Hire's Andy White headed the team and

UK - The Sound Division Group has added Mews of Mayfair to its bar/restaurant portfolio, adding tailored audio visual packages to each of the four floors in this remarkable £2m conversion.

Located within a historic cobbled courtyard behind London's New Bond Street, two traditional Mews buildings have been beautifully converted into an exclusive restaurant, lounge and cocktail bar by James Robson, formerly of Salt Whisky Bar, and his partner Robert Nearn.

Aimed at a discerning clientele, the two men assembled a top creative team and Sound Division soon appeared on their recommended list.

"Most of the companies I had known from previous projects, and although we hadn't dealt with Sound Division before, I was immediately impressed by their client list," recalls Robson.

From the first site survey undertaken by Sound Division 12 months ago, Sound Division MD Dav

Ireland - "This is a state of the art sound system for people who are serious about what they do," said Dave McDonnell of Dublin based pro-audio company McDonnell Systems. He was referring to the d&b audiotechnik PA system his company had recently installed in one of the latest venues on the Dublin nightlife scene, Radio City at the Isaac Butt Bar.

The recently renovated bar is a Mecca for music lovers and clubbers in the city. It has a variety of bars spread over three floors with 'Radio City' situated in the basement where the d&b system is installed. This is a venue for late night gigs where up and coming bands are showcased.

The system, comprising d&b Qi7s and Qi subwoofers with Ci80s providing delays and E0s serving a number of blind spots, was specified and designed by the Butt Bar's resident sound engineer Andy Colbert in co-operation with Kevin McGing, sound

Singapore - Singapore's highly-respected arts centre Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay has become the first customer in Asia to purchase the new Soundcraft Vi6 digital console. Esplanade's head of sound Robin Shuttleworth says: "The features we get on the Vi6 made it worthwhile for us to pioneer this console."

The first use of the Soundcraft Vi6 console was at Baybeats, Singapore's own local annual indie music festival at Esplanade, a free festival of live indie music which attracts bands from countries such as Malaysia, Norway, UK, USA, Australia and of course, Singapore itself. At Baybeats, the console was used as a monitor desk for the Powerhouse stage: soon after, at another festival to commemorate Singapore's National Day, the Soundcraft Vi6 was used for front-of-house control.

"We operate two outdoor venues, and frequently run shows which feature five or six

UK - Madonna, one of the biggest names in the music industry, played a one-night show at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Sunday 30 July to an audience of 60,000 during her Confessions Tour.

Star Events Group Ltd has recently been appointed as the technical management company for the Stadium. Part of its remit is to enable the production to fully utilise the capacity of the retractable roof. After consultations with the engineering company, the stated capacity of the roof was increased considerably: over 50 tonnes can now be flown above the arena stage positions and, for the first time, shows using the whole stadium can fly delays from the retractable roof as well. This enabled Star Events Group and Madonna's production team to replace the proposed ground support solutions for the delay PA, spotlight platform and mother-grid needed to support the protruding mirror ball truss with

UK - Robe moving lights took centre stage at the Sundial Theatre at Cirencester College for an ambitious production of Homer's Odyssey, with an innovative lighting and set design by Sundial's technical manager, Andy Webb.

The performance was the end of year production by the Sundial Youth Theatre, and featured a cast of 28 students attending various different courses at the college. It was directed by Adam Fotheringham.

Homer's intense story of the Journey Of Odysseus saw the Sundial Theatre configured into a minimalist stage design. A floor level thrust came out from the centre of the main stage with seats encircling it at 270 degrees, creating an extremely intimate performance area with the performers right in the audience.

The theatre's permanent stage, a set of steps built onto the front of it and the floor level thrust area were all painted in cream. The clearly

UK - A life-sized carousel is operated by a mechanical revolve supplied by Stage Technologies and sets the scene for love, romance and sometimes violence between two lovers in a nineteenth century New England fishing community. The Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical Carousel is being staged at the Chichester Festival Theatre for a three month run, finishing on the 1 September.

The sets were built by All Scene All Props and the revival uses a Stage Technologies' simple Saxis control unit and hand held controller to operate the revolve which at various times also moves props and people.

Stage Technologies worked with Piers Ross from All Scene All Props to bring the Carousel to life. Piers required a rental system that they could install for this single element of the show. Stage Technologies have been providing rental systems to automate shows for over 10 years

UK - This year sees the 22nd Reproduced Sound conference and the agenda, as ever, will be packed with the latest in audio technology, acoustics and real world applications and the presentations by the international line-up of industry-leading experts never disappoints. Organised by the Electroacoustics Group of the Institute of Acoustics, in collaboration with AES, ABTT, APRS and ISCE, this year's conference will be held on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 November at the Oxford Hotel, Oxford.

Over the two days, papers and discussions will cover a range of topics including Loudspeakers, Speech Intelligibility, Distribution/Networking, Digital Audio Networks, Lossy Compression and Bitrate Reduction, Ultrasonic Audio, Sound System Applications and Virtual Acoustics.

The Reproduced Sound conferences will feature presentations from some of the industry's leading academics, consultants, sup

USA / Canada - After kicking things off in Detroit on 21 July, the Dixie Chicks' Accidents & Accusations tour is in full swing. As with their last world tour, Upstaging is providing a variety of Tomcat equipment to show the three country stars in the best possible light. "We are always pleased to offer Tomcat products," says John Huddleston, director of lighting services for Upstaging, "We have never had a problem with Tomcat trussing, it's safe and dependable."

Over 200' of black powder coated Tomcat LD truss is on the set. In addition to that, there are two sections of 10'6" Swing Wing truss, two 8' sections of Swing Wing truss, six 10' sections of 30" x 20.5" truss, two 30" x 20.5" hinges (all powder coated black) as well as ten 20.5" pick up bars.

The tour runs through until early November with stops in cities throug

UK - Sound Leisure Retail (SLR) has completed another high-profile installation at the innovative Xscape mixed-use retail and leisure destination, this time in Braehead. This follows the successful installation of various bubble screens at the Castleford Xscape centre last year. All the Xscape venues in Braehead, Castleford and Milton Keynes feature a 200m real snow slope and extreme sports facilities, as well as cinemas, bowling alleys, restaurants, bars and shops.

Given the unusual layout and leisure offering, Xscape required a creative screen solution and in both Castleford and Braehead, they invested in large 32in 'Bubble' screens from SLR. The Bubbles look particularly eye-catching as they glow brightly in an array of neon colours. Xscape has used the Bubbles to show footage of extreme sports interspersed with in-house Xscape offers, promotions and adverts.

SLR's touch-sc

UK - PRG Europe worked with various other PLASA members to provide equipment for Vibes from the Vines, a music festival held in East Sussex in aid of Cancer Research UK on 12 August.

Lighting&Sound International's technical editor James Eade was asked to take care of lighting, and contacted his friends at PRG Europe. Project manager Sarah Cox organised for a truck-load of equipment to be sent from their facilities, and load in started at 9pm Friday finishing at 3am Saturday. Sarah says: "James and I worked till 5.30am on Saturday programming the lighting - but on the day it didn't do it for us, and in the end we lit on the fly! After all, there are no second chances, so we had to get it just right. We had a fantastic time, and were proud to be able to provide the equipment for such a good cause."

Headlining was guitarist Gary Moore, who performed with "a host of

UK - British Turntable has helped a North West theatre company add an extra dimension to their productions by designing, building and installing a 6m diameter revolving stage at the Theatre Royal in Ramsbottom. The stage, which was supplied with a timber deck and AC drive, was built to a standard design to meet the theatre's needs in as cost-effective way as possible. The installation coincides with the design and installation of telescopic stage extensions for Bury Grammar School, demonstrating the company's ability to provide practical solutions in areas as diverse as educational establishments, commercial and amateur theatres and the events, TV and film industries.

The Theatre Royal, home to Summerseat Players, has an excellent reputation for the quality of its productions. This year's production of Witness for the Prosecution, a courtroom drama that requires scenes to

UK - No, we're not talking about standards of excellence (well, not in the usual sense) and not a length of metal to attach lights to, either. We're talking about a large bar where industry people can meet to socialise and have a drink or two.

Socialising and networking will be very much to the fore at PLASA06: the large Central Bar's opening hours are being extended, for the first time, as it becomes the official PLASA06 After Show Bar, which will remain open until 8pm each night, following the 'soft close' of the show at 6pm.

Sponsoring the PLASA06 After Show Bar will be some of the entertainment industry's major players, including Aviom, Avolites, DiGiCo, Lab:Gruppen, Mobil-Tech, Stardraw and XTA Electronics. Those who visit the sponsors' stands will get complimentary drinks, entry into a free prize draw and the chance to win £1,000.00.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - For Pearl Jam's 2006 Tour, lighting designer Kille Knobel is using PRG's Virtuoso control console with recently upgraded 5.5 software, which PRG says provides unprecedented capabilities, speed and flexibility.

Although she was new to the Virtuoso system, Knobel says she recognised that it supports playback needs that few - if any - other consoles can handle. "Pearl Jam concerts are not like other touring shows with the same song set every night or a core set with just a few changes. My show is drastically different every time - in the course of 10 days on the tour we might do 80 different songs." With the Virtuoso system though, it's not a problem. "The Virtuoso desk has the ease of use, the quantity of faders and the very flexible playback I need."

With its dedicated palette, the Virtuoso console makes it easy to make a change when playing cue to cue,

UK - After a major restoration project by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow's City Halls has re-emerged as a state-of-the-art music complex. Managed and operated by Glasgow Cultural Enterprises (GCE), it is the new permanent base of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Wave Integrated Systems - a division of the Eastlake Group - were chosen by GCE and BBC Scotland to supply and install audio visual solutions to a specific design built around enhancing visitors and audience experience of the Halls' new music and education facilities. Ewen Grimes, Head of Wave Integrated Systems explains the issues that posed a challenge: "The installation requirements were complex, with 16 different areas within City Hall each having its own communication objectives. For example, there are pavement facing areas, which capture the attention of the public passing the building. Then there are recep

USA - Clear-Com, a Vitec Group brand and the global leader of trusted intercom solutions, today announced that Canada's Cirque du Soleil has purchased additional components from its integrated portfolio of live audio communications technology. This is the third order for Clear-Com from one of the world's best known performance arts companies, and will be used to support production wide communications at Love, the latest production by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

Cirque du Soleil's order includes main and redundant power supply modules, 6/RU frames with 72- in/out port capabilities, user-friendly programming panels and system interfaces for interoperable point-to-point, party-line, portable camera intercoms, and 2-way radios.

The Compact-72 Matrix frame along with ICS digital matrix, IMF interface frame and CCI and RTS Party-Line products are all designed

USA - The queen of hip-hop soul is currently touring America with her glam-but-street summer tour, the Breakthrough Experience. The two hour show is full of impassioned singing, dancing and testimonies about old demons and new revelations. It reflects a superstar performance with five costume changes and a lightshow to match.

Lighting designer Daunte Kenner, has created a rig that appears to be huge. It is carefully designed to give that illusion. The PixelLines are instrumental in the scheme, as they are attached to each of the curved pieces accentuating the radial effect. In total there are 12 PixelLine 1044s and 24 PixelArc Rs.

He explains: "The PixelLines are the eye-candy of the rig. They produce all the delicate effects, for example during one song - stars in the sky. But don't under estimate the fixture, I also use them for punchy sequences during the more p

France - This year marks the 15th anniversary of the annual four-day Festival Des Vieilles Charrues. It was held in the city of Carhaix located in the heart of Brittany. This festival, which began in 1992 as a volunteer-led community project, with an audience of 500, has grown to become the largest music festival in France. It attracts over 200,000 festival-goers each year, making it one of the four largest festivals in Europe alongside Rock Werchter, Roskilde and Glastonbury. The festival has taken place at the Kerampuilh venue, in the outskirts of Carhaix since 1998 when it outgrew its previous location, in the village of Landeleu.

This year's show was held from 20 July to 23 July. The choice of performers for Les Vieilles Charrues Festival has always been uniquely diverse, which has set this festival apart from many of its rivals. Performing at this years festival were Numero

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