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14 March 2016

"Britrow had told me they had one available and I'd been looking at using it for a fair while as an avid XL4 user in the past," says Lemon. "It's a matter of opportunity; I happened to be in London, I was already thinking about these shows, and Mike Lowe told me it was available and I thought, why not?"

After completing the three shows Lemon says: "In practise it came back to that sonic aspect, the desk just stands head and shoulders above everything else for sheer panoramic range. Lots of

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14 March 2016

Based in Groningen in the north of The Netherlands, De Geluidsmaker is one of the country's leading theatre sound suppliers with shows such as Soul of Motown. De Geluidsmaker's D1 is destined for a new production of the highly successful musical Fame, due to open in The Netherlands in September.

"We looked at various consoles, but decided on the D1 for many reasons," says De Geluidsmaker's Herman van Mal. "DiGiCo's David Webster came over to Holland to demonstrate the console for us and we were extremely impressed. The combination of compact size, sound quality, the new V4 software and the ability to record straight fro

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14 March 2016

Audio Engineering Recording Fellow Gene Gerhiser was on hand to capture the concert on Pro Tools, and used the eight-channel True Systems Precision 8 mic preamp.

"I had used a Precision 8 on one other occasion and knew that it was solid and reliable, which was important given who I would be recording," Gerhiser reported. "In addition to that, the Precision 8 has dual outputs, which allowed me to easily record a primary to Pro Tools and a backup to digital tape."

Gerhiser recorded the concert with two Schoeps MK4 capsules on CMC6 bodies configured in an ORTF configuration. He supplemented those with two Schoeps omnis and a pair of Neumann 140s as an XY pair on the woodwinds

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14 March 2016

Ben Teale from Berkshire-based Congo Blue provided lighting, sound, set and full technical production for this section of the show for the eighth season. This year he wanted something different to incorporate into his set design which had to be a versatile effect and fit the budget.

The StageBanners were mounted on the top rail of the rear truss above the runway entrance, Four polycarbonate panels with different sized holes cut into them, were suspended below each StageBanner, painted white on one side and black on the reverse. Small spinning bases were positioned at the bottom of the panels, supporting them on th

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14 March 2016

The four-month redevelopment programme will see the total building capacity increase to 1,150 (from the former 750) following the purchase of the adjacent retail outlet.

AMG will create three separate performance spaces for live music and club nights, with state-of-the-art facilities both front of house and backstage and full in-house production.AMG plans to rename the main venue (downstairs) Carling Academy Oxford which will have a maximum capacity of 900, though it will be flexible for alternative configurations.

The secondary venue will be the upstairs area of the building and named The Zodiac with a capacity for up to 436 p

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14 March 2016

The Avalon Sound division of the Las Vegas-based entrepreneurs' design/build firm, John Lyons Systems, is responsible for the custom PA and lighting systems being used at the new Martini Park venues. Lyons also owns Avalon clubs in Boston and New York, as well as Avalon and Spider Club in Los Angeles, and was co-developer of the Avalon Series professional loudspeakers. "My extensive experience in the entertainment industry enables me to provide visionary design concepts combined with

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14 March 2016

Southampton based hire company, GLS Lighting provided the lighting rig, a large amount of LED VersaTubes, a Hippotizer media server, live cameras on stage and to control it all - a ChamSys MagicQ MQ200 console.

The rigs itself comprised of 20 Robe ColourSpot 1200Ate, 20 MAC600, 14 Atomic strobes with scrollers, 20 ChromaQ Colourblock DB4, 20 LED PAR 64s, 260 VersaTubes driven from a Hippotizer plus a variety of moles, generics and dimmers over four universes of ArtNet.

Lighting Designer, Esteban Caracciolo found the transition to the MagicQ extremely easy and he was particularly impressed with the powerful media and LED control, and with t

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14 March 2016

The full lighting package for the event, which included dinner and a speech by Ford of Europe's president & CEO John Fleming used some 45 Vari*Lite luminaires and over 70 conventionals.

Lighting designer for Imagination Tanya Burns explains, "Our aim was to create a comfortable, relaxed environment, rather like a plush private members club. We used subtle lighting throughout and then highlighted the cars with brighter lighting. By using the more subtle general lighting scheme we were able to let guests eyes adjust to the light so that, for the

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14 March 2016

Peter Smith of PSL reports, "The management not only started with high ideals, but as opportunities were realised, these expanded the specification and flexibility required as the project developed. This made for an interesting installation and we had to be fast to react as requirements increased with tight deadlines. This in turn placed high demands on my suppliers so I was pleased I had chosen Community for the core loudspeaker systems; their range could meet any requirement and their distributor, CUK Audio, were well up to meeting our needs."

The main bar on the ground floor changed from its original

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14 March 2016

Previous shows involving Meyer Sound have explored myths such as the assertion that a duck's quack does not echo (debunked) and whether a human voice can shatter glass (confirmed). When the programme makers set out to apply their zany method to one more myth requiring sound expertise, they again turned to Meyer. "This story started with the myth that deceased Cali

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14 March 2016

This year saw specialist equipment manufacturer Rosco provide sponsorship for the competition with the donation of a 10 x 12m black and white Dance Floor used to cover the stage in the theatre in the cloister of San Nicolo on which the competitors danced throughout the week.

"This is the ideal product for such an event," says Rosco's Southern European sales manager . "The Rosco Dance floor is a highly portable vinyl floor, so it's great for situations where a permanent dance floor can't be installed."

The week-long competition was divided into classical, modern and contemporary dance and chor

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14 March 2016

Behind the Scenes, an ESTA Foundation initiative, provides grants to seriously ill or injured industry members that may be used for medical care and living expenses. "We were thrilled by the level of support for Behind the Scenes at USITT this year," says Rick Rudolph, committee chair.

"I'm excited to put VectorWorks Spotlight 12.5 to use, as, having worked with earlier versions of VectorWorks in the past and SoftPlot, I find VectorWorks to be much more robust," says USITT raffle winner Jayson Adamsen, technical director, Rhino Staging.

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14 March 2016

Clancy has redesigned all its instructional signs and batten end caps. "Signs and batten end caps are at the opposite end of technology, but certainly no less useful or important," comments Tom Young, vice president of marketing for JR Clancy. "We've revamped all of our instructional signs to promote safe rigging operations. These are available free to anyone and we hope everyone takes advantage of them. You can get them as two-colour signs ordered directly from Clancy at no charge as well as downloadable files an end-user can print and use directly from our

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14 March 2016

The day started with a tour of Robe's 10,000sq.m factory in Valasske Mezirici. This employs 300 people and produces all Robe's current ranges of digital, LED and moving light fixtures. All processes - from the raw metalwork to the final assembly - are contained within the building, ensuring that Robe's uniform quality standards are applied across the entire production process.

The conference section of the event was staged at the Relax Hotel in Roznov. Robe's CEO

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14 March 2016

Chris Brown's quick pace hip hop style included effects such as cryo jet heads, a 20ft high gerb chase which led to an all-fire cue of 24 gerbs and a final 18 flashes with bang. Also, included was a confetti snow-like effect for the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance Snow.

Pyrotek provided Christina Aguilera's performance with a low-lying fog effect for her tribute piece to the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, It's a Man's World.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The result of a collaboration between Bob Schluter, president and chief engineer, Middle Atlantic Products, Bill Whitlock, president, Jensen Transformers and Neil Muncy, president, Neil Muncy Associates, this new white paper provides installers with a basic understanding of effective power distribution while offering tips and tricks for avoiding common problems, says the company.

Commenting on the announcement, Schluter said, "The intent of this paper isn't to teach integrators how to be electricians. Rather

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14 March 2016

Co-exhibiting with PNY, an Nvidia distributor, the 3Dims stand will be inside the 'Digital Factory' trade fair, which acts as a showcase for industrial visualisation, simulation and digital content.

"Our company works with the manufacturing design and imaging departments of a number of German car manufacturers as well as universities and other leading companies," explains Friedhelm Birk, managing director, 3Dims. "Our stand at Hannover Messe will have a software scenario which reproduces a realistic, life-like

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14 March 2016

Noise induced hearing loss is often cumulative and not immediately obvious. Any threat to hearing has to be taken seriously as the effects of overexposure to noise are irreversible. The HSE wants noise output reduced to 80 dB(A) first action level and 85 dB(A) second action level. The problem for the theatre and music industry is that "noise" is our living,

A number of speakers have been assembled to air their thoughts and to answer questions. Among them will be: Paul Gillieron (acoustician), John A

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14 March 2016

"Lab,gruppen's Certified Pre-Owned programme works much like those offered by major automakers, but in this case the customer can choose fully-warranted amplifiers from a worldwide inventory," says Tim Chapman, Lab.gruppen's head of marketing. "We are creating an area on our website where Certified Pre-Owned amplifiers will be listed by their current owners, and buyers can register to view. All amplifiers will be condition-rated and age-identified so the buyer can assess their value. And, if a desired amp package is not immediately available, we will automatically keep registered buyers up to date on new inventory additions."

Any a

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14 March 2016

London-based PA company Systems Etc is showing some fancy footwork of its own, providing varied configurations of its new Electro-Voice XLE line array system to suit the diverse venues on the tour.

Although Systems Etc, one of the biggest Electro-Voice rental companies in the UK, also stocks XLC and XLD array systems, it was the XLE cabinets that particularly suited the Simply Ballroom tour because of their ultra-compact profile.

Tracking up and down the UK, the production can be found in town playhouses an

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14 March 2016

Audiolite won the shootout and the final contract. The system for the venue was designed by DV2's Julien Poirot using Adamson's Shooter software. The main arrays are comprised of one SpekTrix 5-degree enclosure and three SpekTrix Wave 15-degree enclosures per side, providing coverage for the length of the club, which sits at about 18m (59ft), wit

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14 March 2016

"We are very happy to have Crowley and Tripp microphones on our line," said Stefan Goestch of DAS. "They combine the beautiful sonic character of a well-made ribbon microphone with innovative transducer voicing technology, so their microphones can be used to capture rich, lively audio. We see huge potential for these great sounding microphones in the German audio market."

"Talk with anyone at DAS and it becomes apparent that they understand the practical benefits from the superior materials and acoustic voicing techniques at work in Crowley and Tripp ribbon mics," commented Chris Regan, Crowley and Tripp's product manager.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Co-ordinated by Ben Pugh, the event enabled visitors to assemble between dusk and midnight over a three-week period and see 70ft high-definition portrait-shape projections depicting work from cutting-edge New York artists Mark Downie, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser under the title Recovered Light.

The task to deliver the content was entrusted by City of York Council to locally-based video specialists, YSL Videowall Hire; they in turn sub-contracted The Picture Works, whose director, Robin Wealleans, knew that his Christie Roadie 25K 25,000 ANSI lumens 3-chip DLP projectors were probably alone in being able to meet the stringent criteria.

Weallean

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14 March 2016

Produced by Aslize and designed by Scenographism, the projection show featured two Christie 25K projectors and E//T//C France's OnlyView control system.

The event marked the end of a year of celebrations for Van Cleef & Arpels' centenary, which started when they moved into the Place Vendume salon in 1906. The interiors have now been completely redesigned by Patrick Jouin.

The opening was a select, invitation-only red carpet event for Van Cleef & Arpels' 500 best clients. The exclusivity of the occasion demanded some very special presentation, so Van Cleef & Arpels turned to innovative event producers Aslize to conceive and design a 'magical' video projection