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Events

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UK - Dick Tee worked as production manager at The Baby Show at Olympia, designing and overseeing production of the exhibition's main stage.The Baby Show, now in its third year, brought together a selection of baby brands and products, mixed with parenting specialists and guest speakers to offer expert advice and fashion options for mother and baby.

Growing in size since the show began and adding a new city for each year it has taken place, this year The Baby Show visited Glasgow SECC, Birmingham NEC and London's Olympia. The live element of the show has also developed in line with the show's growth, with it now taking a 'main stage' position within the exhibition hall.

Creative consultancy Eight Freestyle managed the creation and choreography of the shows, bringing in production manager Dick Tee to design and oversee the production of the stage. The stage had to

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UK - Joint directors Paul Butler and Ian Robson have completed the successful purchase of Northampton-based full service AV company Mushroom Event Services.

"Mushroom has always ticked along quite nicely and we already had a very solid client base," explains Butler. "However, Ian and I realised that to progress things, it was necessary for us to have full control of the company."

The first contract for the new regime at Mushroom was the Marriott Global Pursuits Event, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, where they supplied all the lighting and technical facilities for the in-house client based exhibition. "We colour themed the room, supplied the sound system and specialist lighting, which was mainly LED, as well as a colour changing wall and a boat that was used for a feature area," comments Butler.

This was followed by the PLASA Show

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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Italy - During SIB 2006, which takes place March 11-14 2006 in Rimini, leading entertainment venue designers will take part in a round-table debate with trade suppliers and manufacturers. The aim is to "analyse the transformation under way in entertainment and the evolution of the sector according to the experience of professionals who have designed Italy's leisure venues over the last 20 years". The gathering is running under the banner Where Will We Go Tomorrow Evening?.

Those expected to take part include owners and managers of Italy's major clubs, art directors, DJs, light jockeys, entertainers, PR staff and the key players in venues created by the designers, who "will participate actively in the discussion, asking questions and explaining their respective points of view".

A spokesman for SIB 2006 says, "An extremely interesting debate is pr

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The Netherlands - This November, Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Russian leader to visit Holland in more than 300 years, and Mojo Barriers were contracted to provide the security barriers.

The two day official visit involved the Russian President visiting Amsterdam's Dam Square to lay flowers on a national monument and Zaandam's City Square, before moving on to the Royal Palace in The Hague. The following day, he remained in The Hague for meetings with the Dutch Prime Minister.

Mojo Barriers worked with (Amsterdam and Zaandam) City officials and police officers to create safe areas within the cities so that President Putin's safety during the visit was ensured.

Across the two cities, more than 1300 metres of barriers were used to seal off areas of the Cities to the public and there were twenty road closures achieved using vehicle gates. Mojo Barriers was re

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UK - Alton Towers has once again celebrated the end of season with three evenings of spectacular fireworks, lasers and special effects, and for the second year running Stage One built the huge supporting structure for the event's giant video screens.

The structure consisted of two 10 metre high scaffolding towers, positioned 18 metres apart and connected by a run of truss and track. Running along the track were six screen columns, each 1.2 metres wide by 6 metres high. The screen columns were directed by Stage One's Q-Motion control system, enabling them to move to the left and right in a pre-programmed set of sequences and groupings.

Marcus Exelby, Stage One's project manager for the job, said, "We can provide expertise and professionalism in abundance and linking that in with our unique Q-Motion control system really is a winning combination."Chris Foster, producti

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UK - Blackburn-based HSL supplied full lighting production and all lighting and video rigging for the recent Happy Mondays tour. This culminated in a massive sold-out late night show in Manchester Evening News Arena, taking the Madchester dance gurus back to their clubbing roots.

Lighting designer was Andy Liddle, who last designed for the Mondays back in the mid-eighties when they were supporting New Order. He was asked onboard to do these shows by tour manager Neil Mather. The tour was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates.

Liddle designed an adaptable rig based on four upstage/downstage 'fingers' of truss which were assembled in 10ft modules. This was for easy break down and installation into the smaller venues, whist still retaining the look and aesthetics of the stage. The fingers were raked with the upstage ends lower and the downstage ends higher points. At Manchester t

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USA - This year marks dual milestones in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the 175th anniversary of the church's founding and the 200th birthday of its founder, Joseph Smith. Two of the most ambitious celebratory events were hosted in Utah, home to the church's headquarters, at the 11,000-seat Dee Events Center basketball arena at Weber State University in Ogden.

With a cast of over 2,200 performing in the round on the arena floor, the challenge for sound system provider Webb Audio Visual was to mount a system that could provide full, high-fidelity coverage to every seat without spilling onto the stage area and causing feedback issues. Webb AV's Scott Webb opted for a self-powered Meyer Sound system and cross-rented a MILO high-power curvilinear array system from Audio West of Yorba Linda, California.

From a technical standpoint, the show was distinctly diff

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UK - Sir Steve Redgrave is to flick the switch at 6pm on Sunday, November 20 - triggering a spectacular pyrotechnic display and more than four miles of lights across the city of Liverpool.

The five-time Olympic Gold Medallist will be joined at St George's Plateau with Everton FC's Australian ace Tim Cahill and Liverpool FC's Norwegian star John Arne Risse. Ex-Atomic Kitten singer Liz McLarnon, who tops a live music bill including X-Factor finalist Tabby, will also join them at the hour long show.

Professor Drummond Bone, Chairman of the Liverpool Culture Company, said: ''This year's switch-on will be a stunning show and is a celebration of the many successes for the city this year - not least by our two football clubs. It's fantastic that we are also ending our culture themed year Sea Liverpool, with one of the greatest watersports legends - Sir Steve Redgrave.''

The Liverpo

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USA - Midas consoles are playing a lead role on Sir Paul McCartney's US tour. McCartney's long-time FOH engineer Pab Boothroyd has one of his XL4s at FOH, having been using the desk almost exclusively since its launch ten years ago; monitor engineer John Roden is using two Midas Heritage 3000s on stage.

"I've always favoured the XL4 for many reasons - sound, touring reliability and familiarity when mixing a multitude of tasks in a hectic live environment instantly," says Boothroyd.

Roden is also a long-time champion of Midas consoles and has been using the Heritage since its launch. "It sounds great and is reliable too," he says. "Money and space requirements are not an issue with McCartney, I can have whatever I need to do my job and the temptation to change to a digital format was strong, but we have done several tours very successfully using the two

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USA - During LDI in Orlando, Capture Sweden will be showing the latest developments of Capture 2005. On show will not only be the latest changes to the Basic Edition, but also some of the new features in the upcoming Extended Edition which is to be released shortly after the trade show.

The new Capture 2005 product family features a large number of major changes from the previous Capture 3.0 version. Says Capture, "Most of the software has been reconstructed in order to make it faster and easier to work with and the large number of console connectivity options which are now plug-and-play makes Capture 2005 the most efficient visualisation and design tool on the market."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Stage Electrics is now supplying ice rinks as well as more traditional lighting and sound kit they are known for providing. The company has become the sole UK distributor for the Dutch company Ice World, providing rinks and boots throughout the UK.

Stage Electrics is providing the ice and infrastructure, including lighting and PA equipment for venues ranging from shopping malls to parks across the UK. A more unusual location for one of the rinks is on the first floor of a shopping centre in London's Victoria.

Stage Electrics' production manager Andy Loveday last week led the team which tested the first rink to be delivered from Holland. Working in partnership with Aggreko who provide the chilling equipment, a 30m x 10m rink was constructed in an empty warehouse close to the company's branch in Avonmouth, Bristol. "It's been a new experience for us," he said, &qu

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In case anyone had forgotten what happens to the audio at the end of all these systems, Renkus-Heinz exhibited some good old-fashioned loudspeakers. The Iconyx column speakers are very discreet, but have sonic performance specifications that will attract reverberant applications such as houses of worship. "We tackle the acoustics by having a tall array of very compact drivers, so we're able to achieve tight pattern control in the vertical plane," explained VP Ralph Heinz. "Plus, by applying DSP, we're able to do some beam steerage as well."Beam steerage in a church . . . now there's a revelation.

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UK- Trafalgar Square 200 'The Spirit of Nelson' show was authored and created by production company Innovision and staged in London's most famous Square in front of 10,000 people. The hour-long live show celebrated the Royal Navy's role at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and at other crucial points in the history of Britain.

Innovision called in the services of leading production industry companies, including large format projection specialist E/T/C UK and rigging specialist Summit Steel. Durham Marenghi came on board as lighting designer.Projection was beamed onto a special retractable 'sail' made from Sunbaba's Austronet 204FR fabric, and rigged onto the centre of three masts depicting a symbolic version of Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory.

The PIGI 6kW projector (complete with 'hot' backup) was located in a specially built hide, with a 17m throw distance, and fitted with a Ba

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In truth, it isn't often that the AES Convention - or any pro audio trade exhibition, for that matter - throws up a genuine surprise. Revelations are normally confined to the Gideon's Bible in everyone's hotel room, and not even New York itself can always liven up the routine of stage-managed marketeering.

However, EAW drew genuine intakes of breath with the - for once - justified expedient of white drapes over a mysterious bulging chassis, which turned out to be the UMX.96 digital mixing console. The model ID may not be as exciting in itself, but the arrival of a totally unexpected new player on the digital live console pitch certainly stirs things up plenty.

The formation of Loud Technologies in September 2003 has clearly influenced the kind of technical cross-fertilization behind the UMX. Teams involved in the product have included the DSP team at Acuma Labs in Victoria, BC; the a

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L-Acoustics announced the new, self-powered P Series - currently comprised of the 108P and 112P. These are 2-way loudspeaker enclosures combining proprietary coaxial point source technology with self-powered performance and DSP.

The 108P is a bi-amplified, digitally processed, full-range loudspeaker containing a 1" exit HF compression driver coaxially loaded into an 8" LF transducer. The coaxial approach is designed to provide coherent point source radiation and 100° axisymmetrical directivity - i.e. identical horizontal, vertical and axial coverage. The coaxial design is also said to offer superimposed LF/HF dispersion characteristics, free of the polar lobing effects typical of traditional horn and woofer combinations.

Intended for touring or fixed installation, the 112P features rigging accessories, digital system EQ and network control and monitoring. Four application-

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The whole EAW event came to somewhat overshadow the launch of the other digital live console du jour, Yamaha's M7CL - which, having first been unveiled to the world in the UK at PLASA, was receiving a slightly lower-gear US debut. Yamaha Corporation Of America's Larry Italia and Dan Craik did the honours, however, and the booth was busy for the whole show with visitors weighing up the potential impact of this desk on the US market. With or without the presence of the UMX.96, that impact is likely to be substantial much further down the verticalities of end user territory - where budget means what it always implies.

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UK - The Stage Electrics Plymouth production team rose to the challenge of lighting the historic Royal Albert Bridge which runs across the River Tamar near Saltash for a high profile photo shoot.

The structure was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) and designed to carry the Cornwall Railway at a height of 100 feet across the water. It was opened in May 1859 and measures 2,187ft in length.

The bridge was lit using 24 Arena Visions and 16 Opti Visions, the resulting picture will be used as a background shot in the new ITV1 West Country Regional Newsroom during the early evening broadcast.

Stage Electrics also supplied equipment to light the studio set including Pulsar Chromaflood Pars and Strand Bambinos. During the studio refurbishment works the company helped to keep the show on the road by building a temporary set and providing studio lighting.

(Jim Evans)

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Furman Sound announced a new 20-amp regulator that delivers a stable 120V of AC power to protect equipment from problems caused by AC line voltage irregularities. The AR-20 II is said to be the only 20A voltage regulator that also filters and purifies AC power, optimizing electronic equipment performance while also providing protection from spikes and surges - using Furman's proprietary SMP+ technology.

"Voltage irregularities like sags, brownouts and overvoltages are commonplace in AC lines, and can cause sensitive electronic equipment to malfunction or sustain damage," said Dave Keller, executive VP of Furman Sound. "In addition, electrical noise on the line prevents equipment from achieving optimal performance. Our newAR-20 II is unique in that it not only protects electronics from damaging power, but also filters out the noise using the very best technology available

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Whirlwind's E Snake products now support EtherSound using Lab X Technologies' new ESX network I/O module. "Whirlwind's E Snake products are recognized as some of the most comprehensive and versatile designs in digital audio transport," said Lab X president Lee Minich. The move extends both Whirlwind's digital connectivity and EtherSound's base of digital audio protocol subscribers.

"Partnering with Lab X to leverage their ESX module was a natural choice," added Joe Barnes, Whirlwind's director of digital operations. "The module's form factor and functionality, coupled with Lab X's connectivity expertise with CobraNet and EtherSound, has quickly enabled our E Snake products to support EtherSound."As well as being experienced in both CobraNet and EtherSound systems, Lab X Technologies makes a range of hardware, firmware and GUI control applications.

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Adamson showed its T-21 Sub, a flyable and arrayable bass cabinet designed to provide sub-bass extension for Y-Axis line source systems. It is configurable into an arc that will not shadow the main line array. The T-21 Sub also incorporates the newly developed Adamson Symmetrical Drive SD-21 Kevlar driver, with its double spider design. This employs a balanced spider suspension with spiders at both ends of the 6" dual voice coil assembly, and a neodymium magnet for maximum stability under high excursions.

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UK - PRG Europe was contracted by Michael Hurll TV (MHTV), part of the Unique Communications Group, to provide lighting and projection solutions for ITV's 50th birthday celebrations.

With four London sites to service over a three day period, which included an outside broadcast location on HMS President, ITV's South Bank Studio 1 and Covent Garden's Avenue of the Stars, MHTV felt it needed a one stop shop to successfully coordinate the large format projection, lighting and power distribution, plus rigging and staging the entire event. Croydon-based project manager Loz Wilcox took responsibility for the projection needs, while John McEvoy from PRG Europe's Greenford branch looked after lighting for each of the locations.

As part of the celebrations, ITV unveiled its spectacular Avenue of the Stars in London's Covent Garden. A host of press and celebrity guests looked on as 100 s

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UK - Automation specialists Kinesys has designed and built a motion control system to truck the Rolling Stones' B Stage out into the middle of the auditorium for their current A Bigger Bang stadium shows. The tour plays North America this autumn and Kinesys is renewing its association with their production, having worked with the Stones on the Licks world tour, where they provided a complete, tourable 32 axis variable speed control system for all the tracking and flown elements of the show.

Kinesys was approached for this project by the tour's set constructors Brilliant Stages. The B Stage truck, a major element of the show, detaches itself from the main stage at the relevant point, and trundles 80 metres (260 feet) down a walkway out into the middle of the stadium with the band onboard. It then rises up in the middle of the arena, allowing the band to play a coupl

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UK - Hosted by Wigwam Acoustics, the next d&b audiotechnik Sound system design & set-up seminar will be held on Wednesday November 23 at the Huddersfield Christian Fellowship's Harvest House - a former Comet store Comet Store that has been converted into a state of the art high tech venue.

d&b's John Taylor will be presenting the day, with the focus on achieving intelligibility - if you're passionate about sound, then you want to get good quality, intelligible sound to every seat in the house.

"This seminar addresses the acoustic signal path between the loudspeaker and the listener's ears, just comprehensive electroacoustics with all the physics you'll need thrown in." said Emma Adamou of d&b. "The seminar content is conveyed in a format that encourages the participants to play an active role, for example exchanging experiences or using practical examples. The s

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UK - History was made on an unseasonably warm and sunny day at the end of October when, for the first time ever in the UK, all the heads of the enlarged EU met together in Hampton Court's Great Hall. Having responded to an invitation to tender, Brähler ICS was selected by the UK Government to provide the 21 language channel simultaneous interpretation system. Brahler supplied their flagship CDS-VAN digital system which has a maximum capacity of 32 uncompressed digital audio channels and runs on industry standard Cat 5 computer cable.

For the first time at such a high level EU summit, the Interpreter booths were located outside the main meeting room. Discreet broadcast quality cameras were placed strategically in the Great Hall and the images relayed to an adjacent Interpreter Marquee. Brahler provided a total of 22 interpretation booths in the marquee fitted with 67 CDS-VAN dig

  1. LM Productions' busy schedule
  2. Remembrance Day with E//T//C UK
  3. MICA and MILO debut at Proms in the Park
  4. American DJ Introduces LED Par Cans
  5. Bandit on the road with Michael Bolton
  6. Altman Lighting wins award at LDI
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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