UK - A.C. Lighting has launched a promotion to "help venues get their atmosphere back" after the English smoking ban commences on 1 July 2007.

The company says: "Whilst the obvious health benefits of the ban can only be a good thing for entertainment venues' staff and customers, the downside of the ban is that smoke from cigarettes provided an ideal natural haze to enhance venues' dancefloor and stage lighting effects".

To mark this change in the law, A.C. Lighting is offering the pro-level Jem ZR24/7 Hazer and club-level Martin Magnum Hazer machines with four 2.5L bottles of Pro Haze fluid at special low prices for a strictly limited period.

(Jim Evans)

UK - A whole host of new information has been added to the PLASA07 website to ensure visitors and exhibitors can learn all about the full plans for this year's relaunched event. The site - www.plasashow.com - now carries extensive information on PLASA07, which runs from 9-12 September 2007 at Earls Court in London.

The striking website has been designed to help exhibitors and visitors quickly access everything they need to know about the event. It features an easy-to-use menu system, quick links to essential information such as the exhibitor list and floorplan and a straightforward online registration area where visitors can pre-book their tickets at the reduced rate of £9.00 - a saving of 50% on the on-the-door price of £18.00.

The site also carries details of the radical new floor layout, which sees PLASA07 transformed into a two-hall, single-level show as a resu

UK - Guitarist Gary Moore and his band has been touring the UK to promote their latest album Close As You Can Get.

Taking in 1200-3000 capacity venues, the tour's audio company Capital Sound provided a Martin Audio W8LC PA, driven by four XTA DP226s and a DP448 run digitally from the Yamaha PM5D FOH console. Front of house engineer Dave Wooster's own DP324 SiDD completed the system's complement.

"What has been working really well for me, as always, is the combination of the Martin speakers and the XTA processors," says Wooster. "This is traditional rock'n'roll-style blues, which needs depth but with clarity and drive. I set the EQ settings through crossovers with the XTAs and it's driving the LCs really, really well. The bass has so much punch and depth to it.

"The 448 gives me the option of sending two feeds to it - one for the flown system and on

UK - Anolis LED fixtures have been specified and installed on the exterior facades of the newly opened Casino at Leicester Square, London.

The 55,000sq.ft, Paul Steelman (PSDG) interior designed venue is owned and operated by London Clubs Management (LCM) a wholly owned subsidiary of the largest gaming company in the world, Harrahs. Burrows Cave International (BCI) continued their relationship with LCM by handling the interpretation and realisation of PSDG interior design scheme from their London offices.

TMC were asked to provide an exterior lighting scheme that would come alive with colour and anticipation, generate interest and excitement among passers by and ensure that the world class venue stood out in one of London's busiest thoroughfares. They asked Robe UK's Bill Jones to collaborate in devising a lighting scheme to meet the client's requirements.

TMC's Martin Tarpy

UK - Drape and stage machinery specialists J&C Joel and Triple E have teamed up to supply and install eight large motorised Venetian acoustic banners to two large rehearsal rooms in the new £4.5 million Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning building at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (RNCM).

The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning builds on the RNCM's international profile and forward-thinking approach to the training of young musicians, and on its impressive record on student employment.

The project was managed for J&C Joel by Tony Griffiths, who comments: "This was a great challenge to get 'just right', but great teamwork with David Edelstein and the Triple E crew made the process really smooth. It's a good illustration of the dynamic partnership between J&C Joel and Triple E on projects like this."

The banners are design

UK - RF specialist Trantec provided 12 x channels of its S6002 wireless radio mic system for a special charity production of Bat Boy The Musical staged in aid of Cancer Research UK at Bath Spa University Theatre.

Trantec 's sales executive Mark Parkhouse collaborated with Phil Hurley from Cardiff-based Stage Sound Services who supplied the system, which met the show's producer and sound designer Jeremy George's exacting specifications.

Ten of the cast were equipped with the S6002 miniature beltpack transmitters and were impressed by its compact size, offering a discreet and comfortable solution- including the actors playing Bat Boy and Shelley, who wore double-rigs.

Jeremy George, commented: " It was fantastic to be able to use Trantec wireless microphones on this special production. The system offered great flexibility and sounded excellent. The discretion, soni

Belgium / Germany - Barco reports that many of Europe's leading event rental companies have recently taken delivery of significant quantities of I6XP LED tiles, FLM HD projectors and MiTrix semi-transparent LED modules.

Both Creative Technology and XL Video have just added significant quantities of MiTrix to their rental fleets, as have Alabama in France and Sweden-based Massteknik, who successfully used it during the recent Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

Hulskamp in the Netherlands has renewed its DLP projector fleet taking delivery of SLM R12+, FLM HD18 and XLM HD30 projectors. Gahrens + Battermann Germany also renewed their DLP projector fleet by purchasing multiple FLM R20+, FLM HD18 and XLM HD30 projectors. In addition, they have just replaced their indoor LED screen by 90 square meters of new ILite 6XP tiles.

Procon, headquartered in Germany, has also taken deliv

Italy - Grammy-nominated Norwegian artist Jan Garbarek is halfway through a massive world tour, which takes him through 18 countries and almost 100 concerts this year.

Behind the tenor and soprano saxophonist is the Jan Garbarek Group, and behind the band is German PA company RWS-Konzerttechnik which has designed and supplied the touring production audio, a Nexo Geo S tangent-array PA powered by Camco Vortex Series amplifiers.

RWS-Konzerttechnik's Gert Rickmann-Wunderlich was heavily influenced in his choice of touring system by the compact size of the Geo S. "It's not what you could call big, which is a particular advantage, as it can be flown on rigging in theatres without any additional work. Motor-driven winches are just not necessary."

The wisdom of Rickmann-Wunderlich's specification was endorsed when Jan Garbarek arrived in Venice for the Jazz Festival to pl

France - For the third time, tarm Showlaser from Bochum, Germany, staged an open-air laser performance for the European Space Agency's The Night Of The Astronautsin Paris.

Following up on the preceding events held in Cologne and Barcelona, the background chosen this time was the Paris skyline. The Trocadero Gardens in front of the Eiffel Tower provided an impressive setting. After a live link to the International Space Station (ISS) and a roundtable discussion with former astronauts, a 40-minute, multimedia spectacle followed. Altogether, eight, time-code-controlled, full-color lasers interfaced to a fiberoptic-linked, central, computer network were installed in the grounds.

tarm General Manager, Ralf Lottig, noted: "Fortunately, the days of elaborate water-cooling systems and three-phase, electrical cabling as thick as a man's arm are over. Even though all of our

UK - Avolites lighting consoles once again proved a popular choice at Glastonbury. A total of 21 Avo consoles and 20 Avo Art2000 racks were used site-wide at the 2007 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Music & Dance.

At Jazz World, an Avolites Diamond 4 took centre stage, supplied by Essex-based DPL, who were enjoying their first year as a Glasto supplier. This controlled 18 Robe ColorSpot 1200E AT moving lights, 22 pieces of the new Martin Professional Stage Bar 54 LED battens, over 150 PARs, 8 cell Molefeys and a Hippotizer digital media server driving 24 square metres of ChromaQ ColorWeb LED screen configured in six columns.

Dimming was also Avolites ART 2000 including a new rack purchased by DPL for their busy summer schedule.

The Jazz World rig was designed by Darren Parker and Pete Watts, and the console was programmed by Watts and operated by him plus DPL crew membe

UK - Automation specialists Kinesys has supplied seven custom-designed G2 winches to the Genesis world tour, which are being used to lift seven lighting pods up and down seven architectural ìribsî, positioned upstage framing the set.

Additionally, Kinesys are supplying 16 Liftket 250kg 30m/min chain hoists controlled by Elevation 1 variable speed hoist controllers and being run on the same Kinesys Vector control system as the winches. These lift eight cargo nets - embedded with over 500 egg strobes - which are stretched taught to fill the gaps between the ribs.

All the Kinesys drives and distribution has been configured to fit into three rack cases making load ins and outs as quick and easy as possible and Kinesys' Array range of power, data and emergency stop distribution units are also in the package. Kinesys is supplying two automation crew to look after all aspects of th

UK - A landmark on the Blackpool dance scene for many years, Rumours the Venue has recently undergone a complete refurbishment. The combined 800-capacity wine bar, night club and party venue enlisted Peter Bawden's Audio Sound Advice to create a new technology infrastructure. The locally-based installers were offered the contract by owners Betawell after having worked at Rumours' counterpart club, the 300-capacity urban nightclub Hush underneath.

Looking to redefine the way Blackpool spends its nights out, Bawden was entrusted with outfitting the venue with a top-spec sound, lighting and video system, and to satisfy the sound reinforcement he turned to Martin Audio.

"We've worked with the venue for almost 20 years, so we know it inside out," he said. Out went the old reinforcement system to be replaced by Martin Audio's new two-way passive AQ architectural range.

F

UK - PSL's music division is helping Faithless to deliver an integrated lighting and video stage show during this summer's big festivals.

The design debuted in London's Hyde Park, where Faithless was one of the headline acts at the O2 Wireless Festival. Lighting director Jvan Morandi has conceived a visually stunning backdrop for the show, which has been realised by PSL's Pod Bluman and team, using the latest high-resolution projectors from Christie, bought by PSL especially for this event and other summer/autumn touring commitments.

Morandi's design was based around 18 8ft x 6ft rear-projection screens, split into a 6 x 3 matrix. He specified 40,000 ANSI lumens to front-project onto each block of six displays, a brightness quotient dictated by the fact that Faithless go on-stage around 8.30pm when there is still high ambient light.

Pod Bluman introduced Morandi to the new C

USA - Comprising three models ranging in size from 2,500 to 8,000W, QSC's new PowerLight 3 Series amplifiers bring a new degree of flexibility to touring and installed sound reinforcement applications, says the company. Offering a choice of DSP with remote control and monitoring via BASIS, or straightforward analogue input operation, the lightweight, 2U lineup facilitates a wide-ranging level of networked functionality or none at all.

Each PowerLight 3 model delivers higher input voltage and selectable sensitivity, and is easily adjusted via a series of rear panel switches with colour-coded LED indicators.

Residing at the top of the PowerLight 3 line is the 8,000W model PL380 which combines a pair of 4,000-watt Class-D amplifier channels with QSC's PowerLight power supply to serve up more than twice the audio horsepower of any previous 2U PowerLight amplifier.

"Right no

UK - Rental company BCS Audio made their third trip to the stages at Glastonbury a memorable one. During that period Dave Shepherd's company has systematically expanded its remit, and this year BCS were tasked with providing sound reinforcement in four separate areas - the Avalon Stage, West Dance Tent, Dance Lounge - and the most significant of all, the Roots Tent, where they fielded their Nexo geo D10 system.

As there were no rigging points in the tented enclosure, BCS Audio ground-stacked Geo D10s with Geo D subs, which was augmented by Nexo's cardioid CD18 subs, set in pairs. The system was set up and optimised using Nexo's NX242 Digital TDController and powered by Camco Vortex 6s.

"We knew the Roots Tent would be all about dub and reggae, and we needed that bass extension," said Shepherd. "The system worked brilliantly and the CD18 subs were awesome."<

UK - Southwest production company, Fearless Audio, employed an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system for one of the stages at the Glastonbury festival. Fearless was contracted to manage audio on the G stage, part of the growing Dance Area of the festival,which also comprised the East and West Coast stages, Dance Lounge, and Pussy Parlure.

Having road-tested the system on other productions, Fearless installed an iDR10 DSP rack onstage with iLive-144 FOH control surface, managing a total of 34 DJ acts over the three-day event. G Stage acts included The Plumps DJ's, Rennie Pilgrem & MC Chickaboo, Adam Freeland, Andy C, Adam F, Shpongle, Freq Nasty, Scotch Egg Band (Drumize), and Atomic Hooligan & Jay Cunning.

"Despite the terrible weather conditions, iLive performed flawlessly - it's a fantastic system," commented Fearless Audio owner, Kevin Allen. "It made loa

Spain - Featuring an auditorium, a conservatory, and an experimental theatre in the one venue - powered by more than 30 Lab.gruppen C Series amplifiers - the new Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, located in Valladolid,, is being heralded as one of the most significant performing arts centres in Spain. The total audience capacity is in excess of 3000 across the three diverse spaces with the experimental theatre being multi-configurable to allow a wide variety of performance styles.

Chemtrol, a leading Spanish audiovisual design and contracting company, created and installed the audio system. Chemtrol División Teatro (theatre division) has vast experience with prestige installations of this type. Since 1987 they have been involved in projects such as the Palacio de las Artes, Valencia, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Teatro Real de Madrid, Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao and numerous

UK - Resolution Distribution, part of KV2 Audio in the UK, has been appointed sole UK & Eire distributor for APB Dynasonics products.

APB DynaSonics is a manufacturing company based in Totowa, New Jersey that designs and builds high performance analogue mixing consoles and related audio products.

Chuck Augustowski, John Petrucelli and Taz Bhogal, leading audio designers with over 65 years of combined experience, founded APB in 2004. Their expertise has produced innovative products such as the Spectra Series consoles, MixSwitch and ProRack, all designed and manufactured in the US.

Andy Simmons of Resolution / KV2 comments, "Having known the guys behind APB for many years and seeing the quality of products that they are producing with APB it was a perfect fit with the other products that we handle and that's important to us as a distribution company. We've already had a l

Spain - The long-established and multi-award winning Space Club Ibiza has recently installed the first VisualDMX lighting control software system on the party island. The system is being used for controlling a 24 x 5 LED matrix positioned above the DJ booth and LED lighting, from AVR, around the main venue of the club. A touch screen with the VisualTouch software was also installed for direct access to VisualDMX.

Pedro Comesana, production manager responsible for all audio, video and lighting systems at Space Club Ibiza, states, "We wanted to create different areas inside the main room. Each bar has its own personality and we wanted to keep them all independent, as well as the different parts of the bars. We also have a matrix behind the DJ booth that we want to control, together with the bars and the ambient lighting."

Comesana continues, "Following on from ear

Spain - This summer a combination of Martin Audio's large W8L systems and W8LMD down-fill boxes and subs were installed in the new 4,000-capacity B3 multi-room dance venue in Dos Hermanas (just outside Seville), in combination with the best from the company's Blackline and AQ series.

Club owner José Miguel Losada was insistent that in keeping his dance music en vogue, he also wanted playback through the current fashion in line array systems - and thus Bernat Camacho and Jordi Rosselló, from Adagio SA, set up a full-scale demo of the maker's different systems.

The Martin Audio distributors were awarded the contract as a result of their close association with the lighting contractors, Stonex SA, while the fit-out was undertaken by installation contractor, Francesco Escoda. Camacho notes, "We could have proposed several solutions using Martin Audio components

UK - A three-dimensional audio experience greeted visitors to London's Broadgate Arena earlier this month when United Technologies Corporation (UTC) put into place an art installation commissioned from American sound artist Stephen Vitiello.

As UTC's official partners, Harman Pro UK supplied the multichannel sound system, which was designed by Arup in collaboration with Vitiello and housed in an open air, geodesic dome situated in the terraced public space near Liverpool Street Station.

Harman's acoustic designer Tom Williams with contractors Middlesex Sound and Lighting installed the system, which incorporated 19 JBL Professional Control 29 AVI monitor speakers, four JBL Control BS210 Dual 10 subwoofers and three Crown CTS 8200 Series power amplifiers.

Entitled The Smallest of Wings, Vitiello's installation created an environment of sound built on field recordings of

UK - With her Volta tour now well underway, Björk's technical director Alan Pollard is currently masterminding the complex sounds that accompany the artist's signature impish vocals and fine melodies.

Björk's music has always been intricate and it takes an army of musicians, composers and technical experts to help deliver the live instrumentals, electronic percussion and edgy digital instrumentation for which her shows are renowned.

For this tour, Alan Pollard was keen to keep the cabling as simple and tidy as possible so he turned to the technical department of UK cable specialist VDC Trading for help.

"As we're visiting a lot of different venues in both the US and Europe, I wanted a cabling system that was relatively pain-free to set up," he says. "To achieve this, I ordered four mains distribution boxes from VDC Trading - one for each rack on stage

USA - Bandit Lites is currently working with Grammy award-winning alternative rock band, Deftones. The summer tour includes dates across the US, wrapping up in Canada. Deftones have already made their way through Mexico, South America, Japan, Australia and Europe this year, supporting their most recent album, Saturday Night Wrist.

Lighting designer Anthony 'Geddy' Korddjaka chose to use ACL's, PAR 64s, four Lite Moles, two Lite Inline Moles, Martin MAC 500s, AC Color Blocks, Coemar Par Lite LEDs, Pixeline 4' 1044s and Martin Atomic 3000 strobes and scrollers. Lighting was controlled by a Compulite Vector Red.

(Jim Evans)

West Indies - In preparation for this year's Cricket World Cup, a number of the island nations embarked on significant redevelopment programmess, both to their stadia and the surrounding areas.

The 17,000-seat Queens Park Oval in Trinidad, the oldest Cricket stadium in the Caribbean, received an extensive makeover that covered both aesthetics and infrastructure. The venue, which has long been known as an acoustical challenge, was fitted with a new sound system comprising 109 Community R.5-HP loudspeakers, powered by Crown CTS2000 amplification.

Raj Patel of the global consulting group Arup's New York offices was brought in to see that uniform standards were met for intelligibility and acoustical consistency throughout the various stadia.

As Michael Pereira of Trinidad-based AMR Limited explains, the project presented several challenges, the most daunting of which was the tim

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