Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Business

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UK - PLASA has relaunched its prestigious Awards for Innovation, which will be joined for the first time this year by the new Gottelier Award, named in memory of Tony Gottelier - the leading designer, innovator and industry commentator who died in 2006.

Designed to reflect excellence in new products in lighting, sound, engineering, AV and staging - the PLASA Awards for Innovation were first established in 1992 and have since been presented annually during the PLASA Show, which this year runs from 9-12 September at Earls Court in London. The Awards have a justly deserved reputation for identifying high quality, innovative new products early in their life and many previous winners are now firmly established in their fields.

Judged by a panel of respected industry professionals, products nominated for the Awards compete for one of eight Innovation Awards, plus an additional troph

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UK - HSL supplied full lighting production, rigging and crew to stages 1 and 2 at the O2 Wireless Festival at Harewood House in Leeds and the Sony Eriksson Arenas at both Leeds and London Wireless sites.

HSL was working for Neil MacDonald's Clockwork Productions who were appointed by promoters Live Nation to co-ordinate all the Leeds site's technical production requirements. On site, HSL's crew of 11 was led by project manager Mike Oates assisted by Debbie Owens. They collaborated closely with main stage production manager Mick Brown.

Taking Saturday night main stage headliners' Kaiser Chiefs as the starting point in terms of building lighting rig, HSL brought in designer Andy Liddle to liaise with all the headliner LDs - Susan Sasic for the White Stripes (Friday), the Kaiser Chiefs' Richard Larkum (Saturday) and Sunday headliners Daft Punk's Martin Phillips - Three top bands

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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USA - With its strong focus on multimedia, the New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, TN, has become one of the fastest growing Houses of Worship in the mid-South. To accommodate its burgeoning congregation, the church recently constructed a new Worship Centre, while converting its former main worship chapel into a Youth Centre. The construction/renovation project utilised high-tech lighting and staging products from Elation Professional and Global Truss.

Located in a college town - the home of Middle Tennessee State University - the church wanted the new rooms to reflect its orientation toward youth, said Peter Vaque of Springtree Media Group, which provided lighting, staging, audio and multimedia. "New Vision has always had a large following among college students and young people," said Vaque. "It has prided itself on being very state-of-the-art in the area

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UK - The Willow Foundation is a charity that works with seriously ill young adults, offering them a range of 'Special days' which aim to provide a chance to escape the pressures of their daily routine and share quality time with family and/or friends. The charity was founded by ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson and his wife Megs, in memory of their daughter, Anna, who died of cancer aged 31.

Every special day is of the young person's choosing - it could involve fulfilling a lifelong dream or it could simply offer an opportunity to bring some much-needed normality back into their lives. The Foundation will endeavour to fulfil the special day request however imaginative and, if possible, exceed expectations.

To date the charity has organised and funded special days for young adults living with a wide range of serious conditions including amongst others; cancer, motor neurone dise

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UK - XL Video, the Hemel Hempstead based audio visual rental company, has acquired the business, assets and name of Midlands company Show Support Limited.

Show Support Limited, the Bromsgrove based AV rental business (a former Mice Group plc company) was placed into Administration on Tuesday 19 June 2007 (partners in the professional services firm Grant Thornton UK LLP were appointed Administrators). The business, its trading name and assets have been acquired by XL Video Limited the UK arm of XL Holding BVBA for an undisclosed sum.

Chris Mounsor XL Video Joint MD commented, "We have worked closely with Show Support over the last few years and we believe with our support this business and its people will make a valuable contribution to our UK growth strategy."

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Just six months after completing their last major European tour, Angelo Kelly and his high-calibre backing group hit the road again. The most recent tour took in 10 venues, kicking off in Bochum's Zeche on 24 May 24 and ending in the Kantine in Cologne on 10 June. Between these two home matches were engagements in Holland, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

As with their last European outing at the end of 2006, Kelly & Co. relied on systems from EVI Audio for the production, including Electro-Voice microphones, Klark Teknik equalisers and Midas mixing consoles.

(Jim Evans)

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Italy - Created to bring a renaissance of theatrical tradition to the city of Florence, the debut season of the Florence International Theatre Company (FITC) has seen it use Rosco's new Keystroke hardware/software solution to add a translation element to its production of John Pielmeier's Tony award winning play Agnes of God.

Marrying the techniques of American and Italian theatre, FITC's aim is to build relationships with the local Tuscan community through productions and outreach programmes. Most of its plays are in English, but for Agnes of God FITC needed to have the English dialogue subtitled by being translated into Italian and then projected on to the set. However, as a small company, having a separate video/projector operator was not possible.

This was an ideal situation for Rosco's Keystroke, a hardware/software solution designed for small technical team

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UK - Public domain recordings that might otherwise be lost to the ravages of time are being restored for posterity thanks to the efforts of PDRL (Public Domain Restoration & Licensing), a company established in 1996 to specifically tackle this type of work.

To assist with its efforts PDRL recently acquired a Prism Sound ADA-8XR multichannel converter, which is being used for AD/DA audio conversion in conjunction with the company's CEDAR Cambridge system. PDRL was one of the first studios in the world to invest in a CEDAR Cambridge, purchasing its system in May 2003. In recent months it has upgraded the software to V4 and, in addition to NR4, NR5, DeClickle 2 and Vintage DeCrackle, has purchased the latest version of Retouch and manual DeClick.

Director A B Jacobs says: "Earlier this year we decided to invest in new AD/DA converters as this was the only area where we didn'

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UK - As part of a lengthy worldwide tour, Rufus Wainwright played seven sold-out UK theatre shows in late May, dates at Portsmouth Guildhall and Bristol's Colston Hall followed by five at London's Old Vic. Audio company Concert Sound was using its Adamson Spektrix rig for the first time on Wainwright's shows, with five XTA DP226s controlling the system.

"Adamson specifies the DP226 as its controller of choice," says Concert Sound system tech Aron Ross. "One of the five was used as a master controller at FOH, with most of the EQ also being done in the 226s."

This was a challenging tour for the audio crew, the historic theatre venues not having been designed for the requirements of a modern live music production in mind.

"It was quite strange not being able to fly any of the system," says Ross. "It was all ground stacked and sometimes it was

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UK - Wembley landmarks - the Arena and Square of Fame - will be plunged into darkness on Thursday night this week to raise awareness for global warming. The 'Lights Out Campaign', organised by Capital Radio, is urging all London households and businesses to join in a mass energy-saving initiative.

Wembley (London), a wholly owned subsidiary of Quintain Estates and Development, has registered to darken the London skyline by 'switching off' Wembley's most popular landmarks. Only essential lighting and appliances will be left on to comply with safety regulations.

Deputy CEO of Quintain, Nick Shattock, comments, "We look forward to playing a part in creating awareness of a low carbon footprint for all. We aim to create a sustainable, zero-carbon Wembley and this campaign gives us the opportunity to show our commitment to that aim."

The 'Lights Out London' campaign, end

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USA - Bandit recently lit the CMA Music Festival nightly concerts, continuing their long-standing association with the event. Held at LP Field, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans), the CMA Music Festival took place 7-11 June. Featured artists included Trace Adkins, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson and many more.

This year the CMA changed the set-up by featuring one stage instead of two to provide better television. The way the stages were structured in years past, it was technically very spread out, which made the event difficult to shoot. CMA Music festival production manager Chuck Young teamed up with Jim Brammer of G2 Structures to come up with a single stage design."The new design allowed us to interpret scenic elements to the sides of the stage. I think it's better for the fans as it's more centrally located and allows an equal view of the performance fro

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Italy - On the east shore of Lake Iseo, just over 20 miles from the Italian town of Brescia, Le Palafitte Shore Club & Restaurant has undergone a complete audio refit.

The audio systems are all from the new Outline DVS range, and installed in the main room, restaurant and VIP zone are: a total of 14 DVS 8 (full-range two-way) enclosures supported by six DVS 115 SW subwoofers; all powered by T44 power amplifiers and processed by DSP Genius 24 units.

The system installation and fine-tuning was carried out by Morix, the exclusive Outline dealer for the Lombardy region.

(Jim Evans)

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Sweden - Three leading Swedish companies in the media technology industry - Prisma Outside Broadcast, Massteknik and Primetec - are to join forces under one name, MediaTec Group.

The merger creates one of Europe's larger media corporations with a combined turnover of 80 euros and a specialist workforce of 230 employees. A management statement declares, "With operations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the UK, the MediaTec Group will have an immediate pan-European presence, supplying equipment and personnel to customers and events worldwide. The new company has a clearly defined strategy that puts the focus on growth, both organic and through strategic acquisition.

"The media technology industry is undergoing swift development in a number of areas, not least through major out sourcing activities. The growth potential within the sports, entertainment and event i

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UK - Bristol based fabrication specialists Fineline were commissioned by live brand event producers Wave Marketing and Communications to design and build a 16ft wide classic Chevrolet scenic front. This was destined for Bar Moto in the garden of the Mauna Lani Resort on Hawaii's Big Island for a Motorola corporate event.

Although Fineline's Multiax 5 axis router could have made it in one piece, the Chevy had to be designed to split into elements small enough to be fitted into 747 air freighting containers - and it also had to be completed in just two weeks to make the deadline.

Fineline's Darren Wring comments, "Making the prop itself was a relatively straightforward request and that's exactly what we're geared up to do. It was the seriously short timescale and the fact that it had to be designed to be broken down for freighting that were the challenges."

Made from

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USA - Nexxus Lighting has announced that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire LightWild, an Overland Park, Kansas manufacturer of software-controlled solid-state LED products for the architectural lighting market. The transaction is scheduled to close on or before 30 August 30, 2007, subject to satisfactory completion of a due diligence review, approval of Nexxus' board of directors and other customary closing conditions.

"LightWild's ability to deliver complete LED solutions from controls to fixtures has been very well received by light designers and architects and is expected to be an exciting addition to the Nexxus Lighting family," said Mike Bauer, president and CEO of Nexxus Lighting. "Our goal is to provide the team at LightWild with the support they need to accelerate their expansion into the architectural lighting market with their uniqu

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UK - J&C Joel's new fabric binder not only won over the company's customers at the ABTT Show 2007, but also made the stand look so good that it won the prestigious ABTT Best Stand award.

J&C Joel sales director James Wheelwright said: "We were thrilled to receive the award. The stand was designed specifically to showcase the new binder and it's terrific to receive public recognition for the months of hard work. This is the second time we've won the best stand award, and it's testament to our great staff and business partners that the judges saw fit to give us a second beautifully polished presentation Hook Clamp."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Set designer Dominic Tolfts and lighting designer Dave Davey used 384sq.m of Chroma-Q Color Web 250 for the set of last week's prime time ITV1 entertainment show Britain's Got Talent.

The show aired for nine consecutive nights up to the final on 17 June, was created by X Factor mogul Simon Cowell and presented by the Ant & Dec.

The show was produced by talkbackTHAMES, FreemantleMedia group and SyCo TV for ITV. Set design was by Dominic Tolfts. Lighting and video design was by Dave Davey, assisted by programmers Russell Grubiak and Bill Peachment.

Tolfts commented, "We didn't want to use an effects backdrop which was just another square box. In addition, because the main stage area and two smaller outer stages were a curved shape, we wanted something which we could mould around them - something you couldn't do with most other LED products. The Color Web's fle

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Singapore - Robe ColorSpot 170 ATs and Robe DMX 1024 and 512 controllers have been specified and supplied to an installation in the Island Ballroom of the new Amara Sanctuary Resort Hotel on Sentosa Island, Singapore.

The $60 million project is the Amara group's first resort development. The hotel features two ballrooms, seven meeting rooms and 91 deluxe rooms geared to business travellers and family visitors.

The 38 white Robe fixtures are the first phase of a lighting scheme designed by Hong Kong-based Gerard Lee of Light Directions, who was brought onboard as a lighting consultant for the ballroom. His brief was that the ballroom should be able to cater for 'virtually any event'.

The fixtures were supplied to installers Foster AV by Louis Teo of Robe South East Asia, and will be followed by a further delivery of 24 ColorSpot 170 ATs on the completion of phase 2 of the lig

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UK - Procon Event Engineering, international leading technical service provider, has founded a subsidiary in London. Morten Carlsson and Christian Möller are managing directors of the new subsidiary which is being run by Claire Copeland in her role as branch manager.

Copeland brings with her a number of years experience of the industry having worked as a sales and account manager for companies such as White Light and Richard Martin Lighting. Copeland says of her post: "This is an exciting opportunity to work with such a well known and respected company in their latest venture. I am looking forward to working with the Procon team as we move forward into the UK market."

As a technical full service supplier Procon Event Engineering provides the media, entertainment and event industries. With subsidiaries and partners, Procon is represented worldwide, renting lighting,

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UK - Fans of the White Stripes arriving at Hyde Park (by either entrance) to see the band headline the Wireless Festival on 14 June 14 were in for an unexpected treat.

For Jack and Meg White's latest album Icky Thump received the best form of promotion when the cover was simultaneously exploded across Marble Arch (at the north end of the Park) and Constitution Arch at the south.

Sensing a great promotional opportunity, the band's label, XL Recordings, contacted the concert division of PSL Events. Guerrilla projection specialist Pod Bluman was equal to the challenge, commandeering a couple of powerful 7k xenon slide projectors to display the images for the duration of the White Stripes'set and into the early hours of the morning.

"It was a complete success," said Bluman. "Fans were queuing up to have their pictures taken in front of the arches, with the

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World - Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland, better known as The Police, are on tour again - after 24 years. The three are performing worldwide gigs; over 1,770,000 tickets have been sold to date.

Lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe and associated lighting designer and also light programmer, Danny Nolan have given the show a touch of old-style and new, to show, how the band appeared before and presently. To manage this task they relied on two grandMA full-size, four MA mediaPCs running grandMA video software and five MA NSPs.

The stage was constructed virtually with the software grandMA 3D. "It gave us the opportunity, to work with the complete stage view," explained Daniel Ridano of MA Lighting who accompanied the setup and programming phase. He also helped install the sophisticated network. MA-Net is used for data distribution during the show.

The stage was

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UK - The PLASA TRO (Technical Reource Office) was in attendance at Ofcom for the announcement of its amended proposals on the long-term supply of radio spectrum for the users of wireless microphones and similar equipment, which claims to make provision for the continued use of radio microphones by the entertainment industry.

The move follows the strenuous efforts of BEIRG, the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group, to alert Ofcom to the threat its plans pose to the future of the UK's entertainment industry, and its campaign to highlight the RF requirements of the PMSE (Programme Making and Special Events) sector.

Ofcom's original proposals were set out in the Digital Dividend Review (DDR) consultation, published in December 2006. In response to the DDR consultation, BEIRG made strong recommendations to Ofcom outlining its concerns about the proposals, including the inabil

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UK - Mendip District Council has stated that, despite challenging weather conditions, it is very pleased to date with the overall management of this year's Glastonbury Festival. The key issue this year has been the increased numbers, and the council feels that this has been managed well.

Charles Uzzell, council business manager for planning and environment, said: "The extra numbers seem to have been effectively managed. We will be reviewing this post event with the organisers but we certainly have no significant concerns at this stage.

"We have noticed however that many of the camp sites were very full so this is something we may need to pick up on after the festival. The ground conditions have clearly been testing but we have been working with the organisers to ensure that this doesn't affect the management."

He added, "For us the most significant breach

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USA - Musician, composer and arranger Herman Burney has purchased a DPA 4052 compact omnidirectional mic which he regularly uses on his double bass. Burney has even gone to the ingenious length of suspending it between the bridge feet by the judicious use of rubber bands, where it picks up the entire range of the bass.

"This, for me, is what I particularly like about my DPA 4052 - its ability to pick up my instrument's entire range," he says. "It is compact, it is affordable, it's easy to use, and it sounds great! I'm now planning to extend its use to my cello."

Burney was introduced to the DPA 4052 by a sound engineer at a festival in Brae, Ireland. "I was playing there with Rene Marie and we were all blown away by how full the bass sounded, in both the house and the monitors," he continues. "I immediately inquired about the microphone, cont

  1. Cornered sets up Russian distribution
  2. digiLEDs back Thompson in Zagreb
  3. Digidesign baptism of fire at NEC
  4. Projected Image installs metal etching facility
  5. Stage Electrics training expands overseas
  6. AXYS gets new representation in Iberia
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