UK - Le Maitre chose the recent PLASA Show in London to celebrate the company's 30th birthday. Company directors Rick Wilson and Karen Haddon were joined by members of the media and industry luminaries to help them celebrate their great achievement.
In a short address, Wilson gave praise to all those people, past and present, who had helped them on the way: "Le Maitre has benefited from a great deal of help from both the industry and the media," he said. Karen Haddon added: "It's hard to believe that from such small beginnings, Le Maitre is now such an established international brand."
UK - Recently formed Scattered Media has announced the launch of its second exhibition - evenTech Ireland 2008 which is scheduled for 18-19 November, 2008, at the RDS, Dublin.
Scattered Media's Darren Brechin says: "As with other regions, the scope of development in Ireland now presents the perfect opportunity for the evenTech Ireland forum and similarly, the event will give a well-timed boost to the Irish entertainment and installation technology industry."
The launch of evenTech Ireland 2008 closely follows the announcement of evenTech Scotland 2008 - scheduled for 20-21 February, 2008 at the Marriott Hotel, Glasgow.
UK - Wireless Solution Sweden announced the winners of their Outstanding EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Asia) Dealer Award during PLASA 07.
Lightpower of Germany and Leifull Light & Sound of China won the Dealer award, and Golden Sea from China was recognised as an Outstanding OEM Dealer. The winners were awarded with a special limited-edition GoldBox, custom made by Wireless Solution in celebration of W-DMX BlackBox unit number 10,000. The awards were given in a special ceremony held at the Wireless Solution booth.
"We are so grateful to have the support of such strong dealers in Europe and Asia," said Niclas Arvidsson, international sales manager and founder of Wireless Solution. "We wanted to share the celebration of our 10,000th unit by recognising those dealers who have helped make this possible."
UK - CUK Audio has been awarded Audica Professional Distributor of the Year 2006/2007, with a presentation that took place at PLASA07.
Launched just one year ago at PLASA06, Audica Professional reports exceptional growth in its first year and its MICROseries audio systems for background music and commercial AV are now distributed in over 25 countries worldwide. The company chose to celebrate its first anniversary by giving an award for the distributor that has shown the highest level of market development.
Derek West, sales director of Audica Professional, presented the award to CUK Audio's MD, Stuart Thomson, sales manager Alan Lochhead and general manager Stuart Cunningham. On giving the award, which will now be made annually, West commented that business development, service and support were all given equal consideration when making the choice of the winner.
UK - "One day I was working on Starlight Express in Edinburgh, the next I was in hospital with the prospect of being unable to work for many weeks." Chris Luscombe is a freelance production electrician, who is now singing the praises of Light Relief for its support during an extremely lean time.
The injury wasn't even work related - Chris was walking down some steps when he twisted his ankle, to be told in hospital that he had both fractured and dislocated it. Initially he was told he wouldn't be able to work for five to six weeks, but he soon found out that his job meant he would actually be off work for 14 weeks. Chris's wife works for him, looking after the administration side of the business, so no work meant no income at all.
Chris said: "We have two young children, a mortgage, lease on a car - all the usual trappings - so it was all a real shock. I
UK -QSC Audio announced the appointment of three new territorial distributors - covering Germany, HUngary and Thailand - during a press conference at PLASA 07.
Shure Distribution GmbH is QSC's new distributor in Germany. Greg McLagan, vice president global sales at QSC Audio, commented, "We were looking for a partner sharing our passion for sound and performance, being dedicated to QSC and our products. We are very happy having found exactly this partner in Shure Distribution."
Shure Distribution's newly-appointed product manager for QSC, Marcus Bäumler, responded: "We see the complete line of products as having huge potential in the German market. Over the years QSC has put together a very competitive portfolio of products, all of which have a convincing set of features and strong benefits for customers and users in Germany."
Italy - For the debut of the new 500 (a car that made history in Italy and Europe in post-war times), Fiat did it in the big way. After a long wait, on the 4th of July the new compact car was revealed within the spectacular "Welcome 500" live show. For the first time ever, a new car model was presented to a worldwide audience (via streaming web, a major Italian TV network and maxiscreens in the largest squares in Turin) live from the Murazzi alongside the river Po.
Coemar was there with 50 Wash Flex, 50 Spot Extreme and 24 ParLite Led. And on the next two days the show was staged a further 30 Italian cities, too.
UK - This year's winner of the Michael Northen Bursary, who received an honourable mention last year, is Georg Spindler who entered his lighting design for The Memory of Water, which formed part of the 2007 student show at LIPA.
Described by the judges as "creative in a very theatrical way, this was a beautifully documented and reasoned entry, with well presented sketches and photographs," the design won Spindler the £500 Bursary.
Presenting the award on 11 September at PLASA 07, Rick Fisher, chairman of the ALD, said: "There was definitely no 'favouritism' because this year, for the first time, the judges were not told the names of the entrants, so to us all the entries were anonymous."
The judges - ALD members Rick Fisher, Sam Gibbons, Mark Jonathan, Mary Pope, Paul Pyant, Mike Robertson and Mark White, also representing ETC - were unanimou
Australia - LSC Lighting Systems in conjunction with Iceworks Design, have come together to light up the Gateway Upgrade Project - Customer Information Centre, located in Queensland, Australia.
The Gateway Upgrade Project is the largest bridge and road construction project in Queensland's history, totalling more than $1.87Billion. The project includes the construction of a second Gateway Bridge and the upgrade of more than 20km of roads, plus the addition of a Customer Information Centre.
Key to helping community understand, interact and accept the new construction is the Customer Information Centre and of course its interactive presentations. Technically speaking the centre is controlled by a Pharos LPC1 (LSC is the official Australian Distributor of the Pharos brand) and an LSC EKO Dimmer. The user interface is also provided by LSC in the ePlate wall controllers, each with e
UK - Harman Pro UK confirms the completion of its multi-million-pound involvement in the design and implementation of the extensive audio systems at the O2, the new East London venue and entertainment complex built by America's Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) within the canopy of the former Millennium Dome.
The site includes a 20,000-seater stadium, the O2 Arena (which is being used for large-scale live concerts such as this Autumn's run of Prince dates, and will also be hosting Olympic sports in a few years), an 11-screen multiplex Vue cinema, a smaller live music venue/nightclub known as IndigO2 and an extensive district of restaurants, shops and piazzas connected by indoor streets, called the Waterfront.
In all of these areas, Harman equipment has formed the basis for the audio systems used, and in many areas the engineers at Harman Pro UK have been instrumental in desig
UK - Fleetwood Mobiles, the live broadcast and recording specialists, has expressed an interest to acquire the BBC's OB facilities following the announcement of the sale of Resources by the BBC.
Commenting on the deal, Fleetwood's director of finance and corporate affairs Ian Cooper said: "Fleetwood is looking for ways to strengthen its position as Europe's leading independent live audio business, and as such the BBC opportunity would fit with our strategic objectives."
Coming at the end of a busy summer where Fleetwood has recorded major festivals throughout Europe as well as working with the BBC on major live broadcast events including the Diana concert and Live Earth, Fleetwood joins a list of potential bidders for the BBC's trucks.
Fleetwood's operations director Tim Summerhayes adds: "After another successful summer we are looking for ways to grow the bus
USA - Founded in 1996, LifeChurch.tv has grown to become one of the most influential churches in America. LifeChurch.tv is a dynamic group of almost 20,000 people that gathers each week at 12 different locations across the US (the vision is for 50 locations in five years). Satellite broadcasts enable all of their locations to be connected, thus their motto 'One Church, Multiple Locations'.
"Each location has a full staff and a worship team that is very contemporary, like a rock band," says Phil Rapp, central technical director at LifeChurch.tv. "The teaching is very relevant to every day life and is fed over satellite to each location. Putting it simply, we will do anything short of sin to see people come to know life in Christ."
Currently, LifeChurch.tv owns over 250 intelligent lighting fixtures from five different manufacturers. "With the vision of
Germany - Five open-air concerts in Germany gave fans a chance to hear Lionel Richie perform live this summer. Satis&Fy of Werne and an Electro-Voice X-Line system took care of the sound at all venues.
Satis&Fy entrusted responsibility for stage and system equipment to Rüdiger Nürnberg and Tobi Hoff, a team who work together with consistently outstanding results. Equipped with EV's X-Line they were able to provide an optimal balance of power and flexibility. "We took a total of 24 tops and 20 subs with us on tour," reports Nürnberg, "driven by six amp racks charged with EV TG-7 amplifiers, though the exact configuration for each show was determined by the demands of the venue."
In Wiesbaden's Bowling Green, where Lionel Richie delighted an audience of 9,500, nine Xvls and three Xvlt enclosures were deployed on each side of the stage, with eight Xsubs per
Italy - The return of Biagio Antonacci with a mega-concert at the Meazza Stadium (his only Italian summer 2007 date, with guest bands Velvet, Zero Assoluto and the Nomadi certainly lived up to the expectations of his fans.
The set centred on a mega-video (consisting of 11 13.5m high columns) and three 38m catwalks flanked by 200m of Coemar LineaLeds, and reaching out into the audience. "A very bold design, with a number of problems that were not easy to solve," was the satisfied comment of Francesco De Cave, lighting designer, set designer, producer and Catalyst contribution planner.
"For example, focusing the audience's attention on the centre of the visual field despite the fact that the catwalks, thanks to the LineaLeds, created a stage effect of aircraft runways. Around 50 iWash 575s provided striking colour backlighting. On the video front, the surrounding
UK - HSL supplied lighting for all main live music and DJ venues at Bestival 2007, and co-ordinated the sound supply via their audio partners ML Executives. The operation was led by site project manager Ian Stevens, involving nine artics of equipment and 38 crew.
The hugely popular 'boutique' style music festival produced by Loudsound Events is now in its fourth year on the Isle of Wight and has expanded to a capacity of 30,000. The site surface area at its Robin Hill Country Park location has also increased. Main stage headline acts for 2007 were the Chemical Brothers (Friday), The Beastie Boys (Saturday) and Primal Scream (Sunday).
HSL has been involved with Bestival since its inception in 2004, and once again worked closely with event production manager Lee Charteris and Loudsound's Jim King and Jo MacKay in co-ordinating all the site's technical production and infrastructu
UK - A.C. Lighting has opened a new 24-hour online shop (www.aclighting.com/shop) to provide customers with round-the-clock ordering access to its range of entertainment technology brands.
Initially the shop will sell consumable items, but as it develops, A.C. Lighting will be introducing more and more items from its extensive range of lighting, audio and rigging products. Consumables currently available through the shop include batteries, effects fluid, filter sheets, gobos, gobo accessories, lamps and tape.
With the shop being available to customers worldwide and many items available in stock for immediate despatch, the new service provides customers with a fast, efficient way to order urgent items for speedy delivery, says the company.
Trinidad - The 3,000-seat Trinidad Christian Centre in Petit Valley, Trinidad has installed a Renkus-Heinz self-powered loudspeaker system for its highly production-based worship services, as part of an ongoing programme of investment in its facilities.
The church, one of the Caribbean island's largest houses of worship - hosts eight to 10 services a week in its main hall, where the new system has been installed, while a second smaller hall caters for 1,200 people and further breakout halls serve community events, children's groups and special events.
A very high, curved ceiling characterises the wide, 180° fan-shaped main hall, where system integrator AMR, based in Barataria, Trinidad, began a series of upgrades of the room's house system in 2005. The original system consisted mainly of ceiling loudspeakers, which while providing some sound reinforcement gave neither 'pre
UK - Liverpool based Adlib has concluded a £500K investment in a new L-Acoustics V-DOSC system along with a full d&b monitor rig.
Adlib Lighting has spent a further £250,000 on improving its stock level of moving heads purchasing 48 Martin Professional MAC 700 fixtures plus 16 MAC 250s along with two Avolites Pearl Experts, one High End Systems WholeHog 3 and a High End Road Hog.
Another £250,000 has been sunk into redesigning and developing totally new office spaces and warehousing within their current premises in Speke.
On the personnel front, Tony Szabo has joined the company as tour sound co-ordinator, while four young technical apprentices have joined the team to continue Adlib's ethic of investing in its future.
Says, Adlib's Andy Dockerty: "This all reflects the generally increased levels of business over the last two years and Adlib's commitm
UK - Robe Lighting has launched a fresh new look logo and has undertaken a complete corporate re-branding exercise - including a name-change from 'Robe Show Lighting' to 'Robe Lighting', to reflect the current scope and breadth of Robe's products and the hugely increased range which also includes digital lighting and LED products.
In just five years since launching as an 'own brand', Robe has enjoyed enormous success worldwide, and the company says its new identity takes it forward into "a new level of operation".
Robe's presence can be found in all sectors of the professional entertainment and leisure market - from clubs and live music venues to casinos and cruise ships to buildings and architectural applications.
The new logo was introduced at the PLASA 07 exhibition, which also included a completely new booth with a strong contemporary design.
UK - For the second consecutive year, Stage One has been crowned 'Supplier of the Year,' receiving a Gold Award at the 2007 Event Awards.
"We are completely committed to providing a service for our clients that is second to none and winning this award is a reflection of the sheer hard work and professionalism that the entire Stage One team brings to bear on each and every project with which we are involved," said Simon Wood, sales director, stage and marketing.
Stage One won this award for their work on three high profile projects: the Asian Games, Eurovision Song Contest and Mercedes-Benz World.
UK - A million people thronged to the banks of the Thames during the weekend of 15-16 September to attend the Mayor's Thames Festival. This annual event - which takes place between Westminster and Tower Bridges - celebrates London's river with continuous open air arts, pyrotechnics, illuminations, river events, street theatre, massed choirs and music, and is designed to transform the public open spaces along the waterfront.
The Festival is now in its tenth year, and for the past seven of those, Suffolk-based Pyramid Audio has been nominated main contractor for the sound stages. For the first time this year they committed themselves to using a single loudspeaker brand - and filled all six stages with DragonSpirit systems.
Fleece, the owner of Pyramid Audio, starting using DragonSpirit speakers almost two years ago and has subsequently featured them at various events around the
USA - FOH engineer Jason Raboin handles live sound duties for folk songstress and activist Joan Baez, Canadian alt-country rockers Cowboy Junkies and indie darlings Modest Mouse, among other artists. As the most recent string of Baez show dates transitioned to an intimate acoustic set, Raboin made some critical adjustments to his rig, adding a pair of A-Designs Audio Pacifica microphone preamps to help best deliver her message to international audiences.
"I started out as Joan's monitor engineer, but when the show became an acoustic trio, I started doing front-of-house and running monitors from there," Raboin reports from the Baez tour in Spain. "In order to make this work we bought a small digital desk, which provided fantastic routing options, but the audio quality left much to be desired. When half of the show is just voice and acoustic guitar, you really need
UK - 5 Star has reported a busy PLASA Show, with 'Robo Jock' - a joint concept venture between 5 Star, ABB Limited and Pioneer - proving "a real show-stopper" on the booth.
Robo-Jock was built to demonstrate a host of case design features available from 5 Star, including specialist wood machining, access flaps, vision panels, electrical facilities etc. It also illustrated 5 Star's design skills gained from many years experience in the field of case manufacture.
Robo-Jock was conceived and built by 5 Star. ABB, a world leader in Industrial Robotics, supplied the IRB140, six axis high resolution robot complete with custom made DVD suction device and 'operating finger'. ABB also supplied the controller and teach pendant, and also programmed all the robot movements to a brief from the 5 Star technical team.
Pioneer supplied a set of twin DVJ-1000s, seen for the first t
UK - Lighting designer Mark Wynn-Edwards is lighting the current As I Lay Dying tour with 20 i-Pix Satellites as the core elements of his lighting rig.
The energetic San Diego based metalcore five-piece are currently undertaking an extensive European tour promoting their just released An Ocean Between Us album. It's their first visit to the UK and Europe with their own production.
When Wynn-Edwards, who has an array of heavy, metal and punk bands on his CV, was recommended for the job of LD, he was informed that there was an expedient budget for 'specials' and other than that, he'd have to rely on house rigs at each venue.
"I really needed a fixture that was mega-bright and spectacular that would flash, strobe and change colour very quickly to match the energy and intensity of the music," says Wynn-Edwards. "I also wanted to add a few elements of finess