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UK - Bandit Lites is once again supplying lighting equipment and crew to the X-Factor Live arena tour, which is playing a record number of shows over six weeks around the UK. This is Lighting Designer, Matt Jensen's first tour with X-Factor, which is production-managed by Sarah Hollis for Production North and project-managed by Bandit's Lester Cobrin.

Jensen's design is big and 'televisual' in keeping with the environment from which the show originated, and it is also what "the majority of the audience would expect," he explains.

The set was designed by Production North's, Iain Whitehead and includes a central staircase walkway and a series of hydraulic lifts from below the stage, which gives the show an epic feel. There are three upstage LED screens with the central screen splitting to form a stage entrance.

With ten artists on the bill, the other aesthetic

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UK - Wembley Arena has beaten off international competition from Zurich, Barcelona and Ireland to win the Best International Arena Award at the recent 18th Pollstar Concert Industry Awards held in Los Angeles.

This is the fourth time Wembley Arena has been awarded this accolade, and the first since the £36 million refurbishment of the Grade II listed building, undertaken by Quintain Estates and Development, who own the Arena and an additional 70 acres of land surrounding Wembley Stadium.

The new-look Arena, re-orientated to face the Stadium, has attracted a record number of fans since reopening its doors in April 2006 after a 15-month refurbishment programme.

The transformed Arena is part of a mammoth £2.6 billion regeneration project that will include a 17-screen cinema and a boulevard lined with restaurants bars and cafes. The scheme is expected to inject

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Germany - Renkus-Heinz will be hosting a series of seminars and workshops during ProLight + Sound at Frankfurt. This year's topics include: MCR (Multi Channel Reverberation) Systems, RHAON/SYGMA, ICONYX Certification, EASE 4.2 and Media Matrix/Networking.

During the MCR (Multi Channel Reverberation) Systems seminar, participants will be given an in-depth view of a modern Multi Channel Reverberation system now being successful operated in several theatre installations in Europe. Peter van der Geer from Team Projects will demonstrate the benefits of having such a system in a theatre or concert hall.

In the RHAON/SYGMA seminar, Ralph Heinz will guide delegates through the company's new digital platform RHAON, which through using a CobraNet based platform enables signal distribution, full supervision and control as well as remote access and control of the internal digital sound pr

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UK - Cheerleading event organiser Future Cheer has invested in its own PA system for its increasingly popular events in the UK. The Electro-Voice RX system, powered by EV amplifiers and used in conjunction with EV radio microphones, received its championship debut at Loughborough University this month.

In the hands of its resident sound engineer Everard James, Future Cheer's RX system made its first appearance at one of the five regional competitions leading up to the national championships.

The Heart of England Cheer & Dance Championships were staged in the 2,000sq.m Sports Hall at Loughborough University and featured cheerleaders from 48 competing teams. James positioned RX212 and RX115/75 stacks left and right of the performance area, driven by EV CP4000 and CP3000 amplifiers, and teamed with a new DX38.

The RX system was specified by James, an experienced DJ and recordin

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UK - To celebrate the rebranding of the company and the launch of its new website, Northern Light is running a competition to find a name for the character illustrated in the logo. As part of the continuing brand strategy development - which started with a revamp of the logo in June 2006 - work began on completely redesigning and repopulating the corporate website last year.

The new look site has a much more contemporary look and feel and will evolve over the next few months to incorporate e-commerce capabilities such as an online shop and hire booking system, says the company.

Lois Ferguson, marketing manager at Northern Light, said: "As it stands, the relaunched website is very much in phase one of our redevelopment plans. We have updated the information on our services - aimed at our very diverse client base - and brought the overall look of the site into the 21st cent

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UK - George Michael is to play the first concert at the new Wembley Stadium, it has been confirmed. The former Wham! star will perform at the 90,000 capacity venue on 9 and 10 June as part of his British and European stadium tour.

Alex Horne, managing director of Wembley Stadium, said it was "fantastic news" that Michael would perform the first concert at the prestigious venue, adding: "He's no stranger to this great stage having performed at the old stadium with both Wham at Live Aid and as a solo artist." Muse will also be among the first acts to play the revamped stadium, having previously announced a date on 16 June.

The new £757 million venue was due to reopen in August 2005 but was delayed following a series of hold-ups and legal wrangles that led to a number of musical and sporting events being postponed. Among them were concerts by Bon Jovi, R

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USA - Sarasota County Fairgrounds, a multipurpose venue with a seating capacity of 4,000, was the venue for a bout between local China Smith aka 'The Dragon' and an unknown, where Smith punished his opponent with a 'knock out' in the first round.

The 72kW PAR Can show was controlled using an LSC maXim XXLP, provided by Piston Sound. The owner of Piston Sound, Leon Pitts purchased the maXim more than 12 months ago, and has used the console on a number of productions including large and small concerts, fashion shows and now boxing matches throughout the Florida region. The maXim's powerful features and user-friendly design made controlling the lights simple and a blessing for the production crew, he says.

The maXim is available in six models, from 24 faders to 120 faders, and the optional PaTPad moving light controller further extends its capabilities by adding features like pal

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Europe - Lighting&Sound International magazine is making an unprecedented special offer to European industry professionals at the forthcoming ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (28-31 March).

For the first time ever, L&SI is offering full-time professionals on the European mainland the chance to sign up for one year's FREE subscription to L&SI magazine - a subscription that would usually cost around 75 euros (£50). Visitors to the show can sign up for this great offer by visiting the PLASA/L&SI stand at the Hall 8.0 Walkway, stand J80. (Look for the VPLT, ESTA & PLASA signs).

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Projection specialists E//T//C UK is increasing its stock of high power video projectors with the acquisition of Christie Roadie 25k projectors. The company has also taken delivery of Christie's new Roadster S+20K projection system, a mid-range projector, purpose-built for the event-staging community.

Andy Joyes, E//T//C UK's video hire manager was impressed with the performance of the new projectors: "The Christie 20Ks are bright and offer razor-sharp images for both video and graphics applications. They have a high panel resolution, meeting most content requirements, a very compact footprint and deliver an extremely high output. The Roadie 25K is also a stunning projector and has already been booked out on several of out forthcoming shows."

Continuing on from E//T//C UK's recent success with 360° animated projections using its proprietary OnlyView control

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USA - Wicked, the hit musical about the witches of Oz, has returned to the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles for an open run, with three grandMAs and one grandMA light controlling lighting and video projections. Wicked previously played in LA during the summer of 2005.

The four grandMAs are networked together for the musical. The main console is utilised by Warren Flynn, associate lighting designer and programmer for automated lights. A second grandMA is used by video programmer Hillary Knox to programme projections; another is dedicated to focusing and work calls. The grandMA light is a slave for conventional lights.

Flynn's grandMA controls six Martin 3k Atomic Strobes and 36 Vari*Lite 2k Spots, 26 2k Washes and 21 3k Spots. "We have three separate cue lists; the conventional cue list triggers moving lights and moving lights trigger projection," he says

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UK - Blitz, the technical staging specialists and part of the Blitz Charter Group, recently employed a range of AV technologies when it worked in partnership with 2LK Design Ltd at the Business Travel Show at Earls Court, London, to provide an interactive stand for Virgin Trains.

Arranged and managed by Stephen Rickard at Blitz, the stand operated as an input station; it incorporated an array of AV equipment designed to encourage visitors to key in their thoughts and ideas about possible future inventions and lifestyle ideas that might improve the travelling experience.

These visitor contributions then appeared interactively in 'clouds' above a full motion image of the Virgin train, displayed on six horizontally mounted seamless plasma screens. This method of data capture ensured that Virgin would be able to provide specific and relevant information about Virgin Trains to the

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Russia - Building on the success of its flagship event, Integrated Systems Europe, Integrated Systems Events, a joint venture company of CEDIA, Infocomm International and NSCA, has entered into an agreement with MidExpo International Exhibitions and Fairs to produce Integrated Systems Russia in Moscow 8-10 November 2007. Integrated Systems Russia will be held in conjunction with MidExpo's Hi-Tech House and Building Exhibition and will take place at the Gostiny Dvor.

Integrated Systems Russia will include a comprehensive programme of workshops, seminars, round table discussions and company presentations. Aimed at custom installers, dealers, resellers and influential buyers, the educational programme will "not only inform, but also influence and inspire the key decision makers", according to the organisers.

Attendees are expected to convene from across the vast CIS reg

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Qatar - MTFX played a major role in the Opening Ceremony of the 15th Asian Games at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha in December, following more than nine months of planning.

MTFX was approached in April 2006 and asked to develop a very large low fog effect to fill the entire stadium floor in order to represent the sea as a ship passed across the stadium. After the development of several prototypes, the effect was achieved and the whole system manufactured and tested just two weeks before the shipping date.

The company also provided CO2 jets and a series of Sequenced Flame effects. As these were being built on to the top of 10m high structures which represented the City of the Future, each flame effect had to be custom-built on to each unique piece. Despite the adverse weather conditions, with the worst storm the country has seen for 25 years, the long months of planning and develo

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Sweden - Newly-appointed Apex distributor Electrosound has supplied andinstalled Sweden's first Intelli-Q22 sound optimiser at the well-known nightspot and video gallery Berns Club in Stockholm. The club boasts a high-quality profile, which is reflected in the sound system. The Intelli-Q22 is the first of "a new breed of fast, easy-to-use, digital problem solvers" from Apex, the company says.

According to Apex, one of the Intelli-Q22's strengths is the fact that it combines a wide range of sound enhancing applications like a 30-band graphic equaliser, a 10-band parametric equaliser, shelving filters, variable high & low - pass filters, delay, multi-band compressor, and a BrickWall limiter per channel.

"The talk of the town is that this room is the best-sounding place people have ever been to. The installation of the Intelli-Q lifted the whole sound picture to a

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USA - Red-haired zany comedian Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) is headlining at the Luxor in Las Vegas with the aid of Elation Professional Design Spot 250 moving head fixtures. Twelve of the automated 250W fixtures were recently installed at the Luxor venue, where Carrot Top is currently giving 280 performances a year, to provide "a new element to the show," said Dan O'Leary, production and tour manager for Carrot Top. "There were already 120 automated lights in the room, but we wanted something that would add a whole new dimension and give a completely different look," explained O'Leary.

"However, with so much lighting and trussing and a big video screen filling the stage area, space was at a premium. There are only a couple inches' clearance on either side of our video truss when you fly it up. We needed a fixture that would fit into our limited stage spa

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Czech Republic - The first Czech and Slovak music TV award ceremony - TV OCKO Music Awards 2006 - took place in Prague last month. During this four-hour evening ceremony, 20 prizes were awarded to various top artists. 14 acts played live.

The PA system of choice was an 18 dV-Dosc L-Acoustics line source array coupled with SB218 subs and completed by ARCS as fills. The reference floor monitor 115FM was chosen for the stage monitors.

FOH mixing engineer Petr Pelisek stated: "Lucerna is a very complex venue when it comes to acoustics and the dV-Dosc rig proved to be the optimum solution in combination with the choice of digital desks."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The eclectic mix of club, laid back eatery and live music venue that is Cargo nestles in the backstreets of trendy Shoreditch in London's East End. It has recently benefited from an upgrade of its existing Turbosound loudspeaker system, with a new TA-500 Aspect Wide system installed by Marquee Audio.

The venue stages a mix of club nights and live performances. "There's something for everyone here," says Cargo's marketing manager Joe Roberts. "We want to appeal to all tastes, from your hard core clubber to those that want to have something to eat and then see a live band. We are now getting the bigger name, more experienced musicians in here, and they wanted a better monitoring system than we originally had. This has been part of the reason we upgraded our system. If you want the best, you need to have the right equipment."

Head of sound, Matt Smith, wh

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France - Allen & Heath's French distributor, Audiopole, hosted an evening boat trip on the Seine river in Paris during the recent SIEL show, inviting 500 guests to an evening of musical entertainment with Allen & Heath's new iLive digital mixing system as the centrepiece.

Guests included leading sound engineers, key rental companies, and dealers, and there was a special appearance by French electro legend, Jean Michel Jarre.

The crowd was entertained by the 8-piece jazz/rock David Koven band, managed by the iLive system at FOH, driving a Turbosound speaker system. Audiopole also installed the new GL2800M dedicated monitor console to handle monitor mixes for the band.

FOH engineer, Patrick Clerc, made use of the two tap delays and reverb from iLive's internal effects, and the system's DCA groups. "I am very impressed with the system's sound quality, particularly the reve

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UK - A record number of companies exhibited at the ISCEx2007 Exhibition and Seminar, at which many delegates raised fears over Ofcom's proposals to sell off the current radio microphone frequencies.

More than 30 companies and 200 people attended the event, staged by the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers at the Park Inn Hotel Watford, to exhibit the latest developments in microphones, loudspeakers, public address, voice alarm, induction loop systems, conference systems, intercoms and voice over IP.

The informative seminar programme on 27 February included topics as varied as designing church sound systems, co-operation between universities and industry and even how a major contract was won, but somehow all went wrong.

One seminar, given by Alan March of Shure Distribution UK, proved a big topic of discussion. His talk, entitled The great TV spectrum sell-off<

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Romania - Paradigma Group hosted the official opening of its brand new headquarters on 8 March, based in Bucharest, as the final part of a special Romanian-Dutch joint venture in the entertainment technology market. His Excellency Dhr. J. Werner, Dutch Ambassador to Romania, was guest of honour at the opening ceremony.

The purpose built 3,500sq.m headquarters, just a few miles from Bucharest's Otopeni International Airport, is divided into offices and warehouses. The space enables Paradigma Group to maintain large rental stocks of audio, lighting, video and staging equipment, to provide professional servicing and training facilities, as well as housing the group's sales company including a showroom and maintenance department.

Paradigma Group is a joint venture between Ampco Flashlight Holding BV of Holland and AEI Broadcast Concept, one of the leading facilities companies in R

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UK - Post-punk multi instrumentalists the Cooper Temple Clause will be headlining at the final of the AKG-sponsored Unsigned Heroes competition, which will take place at the prestigious London venue KOKO on 26 April.

The contest itself is progressing; the names of the twenty bands that have been chosen to go through to the next stage of the contest have been declared. The next stage in the competition, which is also open as of now is the Vote-off, during which the shortlisted bands will be whittled down to the three that will take part in the final at Koko in April,

.The Unsigned Heroes competition is designed to find the best as-yet unsigned band in the UK and Eire, and will offer the winning band a range of prizes, including a recording session with a name producer, PA equipment worth over £10,000 and the chance to play at a major summer festival. The con

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USA - At the USITT show in Phoenix (15-17 March), Meyer Sound is staging a hands-on demo station for the LCS Series Matrix3 audio show control system. Complete with the SpaceMap multichannel panning software and Wild Tracks hard disk recording and playback, Matrix3 now provides even greater power and flexibility in controlling complex and dynamic audio effects in theatrical presentations.

The established repertoire of Meyer Sound loudspeakers for theatre sound will also be on display, including the M'elodie ultra-compact high power curvilinear array. Other models shown on the booth will include the versatile UPJ-1P compact VariO loudspeaker, the palm-sized MM-4 miniature wide-range loudspeaker, the potent M1D ultra-compact subwoofer, and the UPM-1P ultra-compact wide coverage loudspeaker.

Additional UPJ-1P loudspeakers provided by Meyer Sound can be heard in action at the ESTA

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UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied a whole range of flightcases to recently launched Newmarket-based Think AV. The B2B provider of professional AV and technical services contacted 5 Star after a personal recommendation, and has recently taken delivery of a series of cases and trunks.

A variety of cases were required by Think to house all aspects of their equipment. Audio kit included Soundcraft GB consoles and Sennheiser radio mic racks; on the lighting side they needed trunks for ETC Source Four Zoom fixtures and there were also several Christie LX video projectors needing cases.

The case types were selected from 5 Star's Lite-Flite range, through to the popular Super Tour - all of which were supplied in a smart green high-pressure laminate (HPL), incorporating the Think AV logo, screen printed in-house at 5 Star. Various 19" rack systems were also supplied by 5 Star for out

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UK - ADB Lighting has launched its new website (www.adblighting.com), designed to make navigation around the company's wide range of products and support services much easier, the company says.

A new, lively, user friendly interface presents the ADB range in product families, with colour photography throughout, and introduces a 'search by market' feature that allows viewers to view products from all product families that are relevant to either television, rental, theatre or architectural applications.

Other new or redesgined features include the information request and downloads areas, trade show information, subscription to email based news and ADB's Insight newsletter, and a secure distributors' area.

(Jim Evans)

  1. Bandit on the road with Bryan Ferry
  2. Meyer M'elodies at Georgia church
  3. Micros make technicolor debut with Mika
  4. Banking with grandMA video in Turin
  5. Top 50 sound companies 'feeling the pinch'
  6. Audio-Technica's new headphone website
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