Producers will be expected to pay for much of the cost of recycling electrical waste
Just waiting around the corner for UK companies are two pieces of environmental protection legislation that may just turn the electrical and electronics equipment industries on their heads.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (WEEE, yes - an unfortunate acronym that!) and the Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (RoHS) are in the final stages of a governmental consultation. They are being produced in order to implement Directives 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment and 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment.
If adopted in their proposed form, the WEEE Regulations will see all those companies who manufacture, distribute and sell electrical or electronic equipment (let's call it EEE) hit with the burden of ensuring that the goods they produce or sell are processed through a suitable treatment facility when returned by the end user. They will need to ensure that a significant percentage (on average 65%) is reused, recycled and recovered - and all this at that their own expense. And just to complicate things further, they'll need to have the correct documentation to prove they've reached this figure.
Oh and we forgot to say, waiting in the background is the government, who are going to charge the manufacturers, distributors and all those who sell EEE an annual charge to register this reuse, recycl
UK - MP Event Trailers and ROKA will be joining forces on a stand at the Showman's Show 2004, showcasing a selection of their state of the art exhibition and hospitality trailers and mobile bar and catering units.
MP Event Trailers has made heavy investment in its hire fleet this year, producing Rainbow 18, manufactured in Holland by pan European brand, Lamboo Specials, for which MP Event Trailers is the sole UK agent. The Rainbow 18 currently offers the largest expandable internal space (plus a roof terrace) of any specialist exhibition trailer in the UK, operated by a one-touch button hydraulic system. Due to the demand for the Rainbow 18, its smaller sibling, the Rainbow 8 will be on display at the Showman's Show, reflecting the same bespoke design and marketing opportunities as the larger trailer.
ROKA is a supplier of high quality mobile bar and catering units, both for hire and sale. At the Showman's Show ROKA will be showcasing a bespoke catering unit which was recently designed for use by the East of England Agricultural Society, to sell food supplied by local farmers to visitors to the showground.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
USA - The Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA) has announced that Production Resource Group (PRG) has made a substantial $100,000 donation to the development of the new Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP). PRG's contribution brings the total pledges received to date to just over $600,000.
Announcing the donation, Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of PRG, stated: "PRG is proud to be a cornerstone sponsor of the ETCP. We recognize that our future success will be tied to the skills and training of our people, and the ETCP will help us identify the very best technicians available."
"We are very pleased that the PRG has recognized this important program with their very significant and generous contribution. For this program to succeed, it is essential to have support from major employers like PRG," said Tim Hansen, ETCP Council Chair.
ETCP is developing a new industry-wide certification program for entertainment technology technicians. The ETCP Fundraising Campaign is seeking funds for the development stage of the Program, which is expected to become self-supporting once the initial development phase is complete. PRG joins Clear Channel Entertainment, I.A.T.S.E., and United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) as an Executive Producer contributor, ETCP's highest fundraising level.
ETCP will set standards for safer working practices and reduce workplace risk in all entertainment venues. Industry experts will develop rigorous assessments, conduct examinations and award credentials to qualified enterta
Canada - On 1 September this year Cast Software will release WYSIWYG R10, featuring long-awaited improvements to the plotting functionality of WYSIWYG. The software is available for download or purchase on the Cast Software website.
Gil Densham, president and CEO of Cast Software said: After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of WYSIWYG with many users from around the world, we realized that a common concern was the ability to create professional looking lighting plots. A new section named "New Plot" was added to WYSIWYG's Presentation mode. In this section, the "model" drafted in CAD mode is transposed into a schematic that users can easily manipulate to create a detailed lighting plot.
For the first time, users can edit fixture attribute layouts onscreen, plot vertical hang structures such as booms, and notate the lighting plot without affecting the original CAD drawing. Users can create as many New Plots as needed and modify each of them in different ways. "What we're giving to our customers with this new functionality is the ability to achieve the kind of detail that is only possible in applied CAD or hand drafting while still being able to rely on an accurate 3D model for visualization. That level of integration is just not available anywhere else" comments Ben Sanford, WYSIWYG product manager.
Other improvements for Release 10 include fixture additions for the library from manufacturers such as Griven, Morpheus, Dedolight, Kino Flo, Leelium, and Mole Richardson. Importing functions were also improved. 3D solids found in
UK - ETS Sales & Hire is based just outside Norwich, where it provides a comprehensive repair service to the sound and light industry as well undertaking full electro/mechanical installations.
Run by partners Les Bell and Paul Saunders and ably assisted by Jenny Wright, over the past six years, the company has developed a simple, methodical approach to acquiring clients and building business relationships. Naturally included are many of the holiday and leisure groups who operate along the East coast from Lincolnshire via Norfolk to Hampshire in the South.
ETS has just completed its first audio system installation for its new clients Haven, part of the Bourne Leisure Group a portfolio that includes Butlins, British Holidays and Warners holidays.
Bell explains: "We had provided repair facilities for a number of the Haven sites, but had never had the opportunity to present a design from conception to completion". That changed when Haven asked them to come up a solution to some difficult acoustical challenges and varied operator problems. These problems were not always being addressed correctly. A case in particular was, Golden Sands at Mablethorpe.
Having had a good understanding of the varied entertainments presented and knowing of the almost continuous usage of sound in theatres with capacities from 450 to 2000 they required an audio system with multi talents as well as scalability. Bell again: "By way of research, we decided to site visit a handful of the Haven venues to see the existing products in use. We particularly wanted to see how they p
UK - tsg, the national media programming and systems design company, has recently relocated to purpose-built premises including offices, promedia production facility and media duplication suite in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The move is a controlled expansion, say the company, following recent gains across all market sectors, and provides the company with an opportunity to bring its four Sheffield offices under one roof, just 10 miles from the company's 'spiritual' home in Sheffield.
Commenting on the move, Paul Stead, tsg's managing director, said: "As an enlightened SME, we recognized the gains to be had from moving to a new location. The move will allow us to offer a far speedier response to our customers' needs through improved internal linkages, and also provides for a far stronger team dynamic. The staff love our new home and we look forward to welcoming our many customers and suppliers to the new offices."
The move has coincided with tsg securing a five-year contract for media supply and systems installation across the 500 stores of the major female fashion giant, New Look.
tsg's new address and contact details are: Unit 3a Broom Business Park, Bridge Way, ChesterfieldS41 9QG, UK. Tel: 01246 263030. Fax: 01246 263031.
(Lee Baldock)
USA - Elation Professional has been appointed the exclusive North American distributor for Antari products. Based in Taiwan, Antari has been designing and manufacturing fog machines for 20 years, as well as other atmospheric effects such as snow and bubble machines.
"We are extremely proud to represent such a world-renowned supplier as Antari," said John Lopez, national sales manager for Elation Professional. "Not only do they make some of the highest quality fog machines, but for the past two decades they've been a leader in research and development and have introduced countless innovations to the category."
Elation Professional will exhibit the Antari line at the 2004 LDI Show (Booth #2000) in Las Vegas, October 22-24, and a range of the Taiwanese manufacturer's newest foggers and other atmospheric effects will be on display. "We are very excited to show Antari's products to the North American market," commented Lopez. "By specializing in atmospheric effects, they have been able to continuously develop foggers and other products that offer exciting, innovative features."
As an example of Antari's innovative designs, Lopez points to the company's recently-introduced flagship X Series professional-level fog machines. The X Series offers many premium features not found on a typical fogger such as heater blocks made from cast aluminium, which holds heat better than the standard aluminium found in most heater blocks and results in a higher fog output, say the company. The X-Series also boast heavy-duty, low noise pumps, m
USA - Alabama-based TLS Inc has appointed Alan Grant as a service and production technician to work with the company's growing list of lighting production customers. Recently employed as a pyrotechnics operator and designer, Grant also has experience as a rigger and lighting technician. He brings 12 years of touring and technical experience to his new job, including a number of large-scale productions such as NSYNC's No Strings Attached, Metallica's Garage Days Revisited and Reba McEntire's Starting Over.
(Lee Baldock)
Ireland - For about a year now, film equipment rental company Arri has been using a Telex BTR-700 intercom system - most recently on the set of the Touchstone/Bruckheimer production King Arthur. Most of the shooting for the film was done during a six-month period in Ireland, and the BTR-700 played a vital role.
Hans Lehner, one of the Arri technicians responsible for camera and stage equipment, said: "The system was used by key members of the crew - the director, the camera operators, the director of photography and the crane operator. At times, up to five of them were hooked up at the same time during a take, exchanging information and correcting or fine-tuning settings they had tried out earlier - such is the clarity of the system that they were able to communicate in whispers so as not to bleed into the production audio during passages of dialogue. The BTR-700 was much used also on crane shots, where flawless communication is of critical importance to the quality of the overall results."
Arri had originally planned to use a system with only three belt packs and headphones, but the BTR-700 proved so useful, offering high-quality, interference-free communication over long distances, that within the first few days of shooting the decision had already been taken to add further headsets. The BTR-700 turned out to be highly durable in the difficult environment of day-to-day shooting, where the headsets and belt packs were in action up to nine hours a day virtually every day for six months.
Lehner adds: "Every technician knows they will have t
Italy - With the launch of the DWS2400, dB Technologies has produced the worlds first digital wireless system operating in the 2.4GHz range, thus leading the way to the future of wireless transmission. In the past analogue wireless systems have always required a 'compander system' to increase the 'signal to noise' ratio to a usable level, limiting the range of the dynamics. Not so with the DWS 2400 System.
With the digital wireless system, the analogue signal is converted through a high profile 'Delta Sigma 20bit AD-Converter' in the transmitter into digital data. The data packages are then sent to the receiver and converted back into an analogue signal. This technology produces a full dynamic range and the data transmission also avoids the frequency modulation of an analogue system. The result is a crystal clear sound without hissing.
A proprietary patented real time error correction system assures continuous uninterrupted data transmission, and therefore absolute safety of operation. The DWS2400 works on a 2.4GHz Band, especially reserved for digital data transmission, allowing an enormous amount of broadband data to be transmitted. The system requires a special antenna technique, which dB have implemented in the 2400R receiver. The (so called) PATCH - Antenna is mounted on top of the receiver and can be flipped up easily. Active remote antennas, to cover large venues are optionally available.
The DWS2400 system works on the principle of 'True Diversity Technology', which means that two separate receiver channels, work independently, controlled by intelligent
UK - The Product Excellence Awards at the PLASA Show has been a popular feature of the event for many years, highlighting the significance of the show as a focus for new developments for the industry. To reinforce this role, the PLASA Awards have undergone an important change for the 2004 event (12-15 September), in order to focus on genuine innovation.
For the re-branded PLASA Awards for Innovation, the judges will be looking for products which advance the industry, demonstrate a new style of thinking, represent a key step forward in safety terms, or improve technical practices. There will be eight Awards for Innovation at the judges' disposal and currently over 60 nominations have been received, with just three weeks before the deadline of Friday 3 September. Exhibitors who still wish to nominate a product are urged to submit their applications as soon as possible. Nominees who have already submitted their entries will be featured in a special PLASA Show preview in the September issue of Lighting&Sound International.
The awards ceremony takes place on Monday 13 September at 6.00pm at the PLASA Central Bar. All award winners will then be featured in the October issue of L&SI.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
USA - Loud Technologies Inc has announced a cross-licensing agreement with Echo Digital Audio, which will see Loud Technologies license FireWire audio technology from Echo, while Echo licenses Mackie-branded application and plug-in products from Loud. "This partnership leverages each company's strengths," commented Tony Rodrigues, business development manger at Loud. "Echo is a recognized leader in the development of high-quality audio devices for computer-based audio workstations. Combining their expertise with Mackie's exceptional analogue and digital audio technologies will result in a new generation of high-performance audio I/O products that will bring a host of innovative features and capabilities to the desktop and professional recording markets."
As part of this agreement, Echo will begin bundling Mackie-branded software products with their PCI and FireWire devices. This bundle will include Mackie Tracktion, the easy-to-use digital recording and MIDI production software; as well as Final Mix, the stereo mastering plug-in originally developed for the award-winning Digital 8*Bus console.
Milo Street, CTO of Echo Audio added: "We are very proud to be associated with Loud, and specifically the Mackie brand. Adding Mackie software products will bring both professional capabilities and tremendous ease-of-use to Echo's digital product line. We believe that this is just the beginning of a great relationship that will ultimately benefit both Mackie and Echo customers alike."
(Lee Baldock)
UK - ShowCAD will again be exhibiting at PLASA, demonstrating new features of its Artist show control system. Artist is now linked with Cast Lighting as a Registered WYSIWYG Developer, enabling users to program/visualize lighting plots virtually using their WYSIWYG software. ShowCAD has also linked up with Pathway Connectivity to utilize the Pathport Ethernet DMX distribution system. This powerful system is also ACN-ready, and gives Artist up to 32,000 DMX channel capability.
Automaton is a new product - ShowCAD's long awaited low-cost stand-alone show controller which can be programmed from a computer on or off-site using a web browser, and will then replay the programmed shows without the need of a host computer. ShowCAD will also be demonstrating how to integrate Artist with IP commands, as well as the standard MIDI, RS232, and digital connections. Also, the company reports, the power of Powerpoint presentations and Macromedia Flash applications can be utilized within the Artist environment.
ShowCAD will be working with iVision UK who have adjacent stand A70. ShowCAD Artist software will be demonstrated controlling iVision's range of intelligent lighting as well as LED fixtures and displays. All the latest developments in Artist will be shown, such as Artist's improved effects and control engines and comprehensive LED matrixing and pattern generation capabilities.
Recent prominent Artist installations include The Hippodrome, London; Limelight, New York City; The Avalon Ballroom, Hollywood; Guru, Valencia; and The Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas. In the UK, the
USA - At the forthcoming AES exhibition in San Francisco, the APRS (the Association of Professional Recording Services), in collaboration with British Consul General in San Francisco Martin Uden, will be holding a reception at the British Consulate on the evening before the show opens, Wednesday 27 October, at 6.00pm. The idea behind the reception, say APRS, is for exhibiting companies to identify key customers they expect to visit them during the show and invite them to enjoy some British hospitality and to mix with friends and colleagues from the UK industry. In addition to key clients and potential new customers, the APRS will be inviting many familiar industry faces based in the USA, including well-known producers and engineers, to the reception.
Due to space limitations, numbers are limited to a total of 80 guests, so tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis. Anyone interested in attending the reception is asked to contact Francesca Smith (01803 868 600) or Peter Filleul (020 8699 1245) for further information.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Spirit Design Limited has appointed James Hamilton to its design team. Hamilton, who has been living abroad for the past two years, joins the company as a lighting designer. After graduating from Croydon College School Of Art, he was employed at Midnight Design for a number of years, and then worked freelance as an LD for two years before going to the Far East, where he hosted discussions on lighting design in Kuala Lumpur for a performing arts seminar, and worked with Chameleon Touring Systems in Sydney, Australia where he worked on the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony, amongst other events.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Hebden Sound was originally created by Keith Ming in 1994 from the foundations of Calrec Audio, a name once synonymous with high-end microphone production and a long-standing tradition for producing high quality microphones aimed at the professional audio market.
Calrec had made the decision to concentrate on the development of its mixing console business leaving a gap in the market, which Ming sought to fill. Under a licensing agreement with Calrec he continued to build the microphones as Hebden Sound.
Sadly he passed away in 2000 and the company became available to interested parties and was ultimately taken over by the former head of microphones at Calrec Audio, David Anderson, an acoustic consultant with a wealth of experience and a long standing reputation for his meticulous approach. He decided to further develop Hebden Sound by re-working the package significantly.
Anderson left Calrec in the mid 80s to pursue a career as an acoustic consultant. With a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chartered Engineer he had previously carried out post-graduate acoustic research into microphone manufacturing at Salford University.
He takes up the story; "In 1982, I was Calrec Audio's head of microphones and standard products department and Keith Ming worked for me at that time as a test engineer. Whilst at Calrec Audio, I worked on the Mk IV Soundfield Mic, industrializing the design. I designed several special project microphones and wrote many of the test procedures for the SoundField and other microphones."
Anderson was with Calre
UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) is sponsoring (and thoroughly recommends) one of the key workshops at this year's PLASA Show (12-15 September, Earls Court 1, London). Presented by Chris Higgs of Total Fabrications who will be leading on from last year's seminar about slinging trusses, this hands-on session will deal with how proprietary equipment can and should be used to create suspension points on an existing structure.
Higgs is a nominee for the forthcoming ABTT Council elections. An experienced speaker on rigging, he founded Trapeze Rigging in 1989, providing rigging services throughout the UK and Europe. In the mid 90s, he started to provide rigging training, the course notes subsequently growing into some of the most respected books on the subject. Since joining Total Fabrications Ltd in 1998, he has devoted the majority of his time to training riggers in the UK and overseas. He has contributed to the writing of BTEC and NVQ standards, been involved in a number of training and standards initiatives, and sits on British Standards and the ABTT safety committee.
The workshop takes place at 10.30am on Monday 13 September in the show's dedicated Seminar Theatre. There are six FREE tickets available to members of ABTT. To apply, simply e-mail your full name, membership number and contact details, together with the title and date of this session to the e-mail address below. The tickets will be awarded on a first-come, first served basis.
If all of the free tickets have gone when you apply, you may still attend by paying the pre-registr
Germany - After its success in Hamburg, the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! is now being performed in the Palladium Theater in Stuttgart, also since 18 July, Stage Holding will be presenting the musical in Schwaben as well.
Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA explained: " We are absolutely enthusiastic about the success we have with Mamma Mia! in Germany. Although we always knew that we have a lot of fans here in Germany, we did not expect such euphoria for our music. With the new show in Stuttgart we would like to thank all our fans and those who are still waiting to get a ticket - Mamma Mia! at two locations in Germany is our biggest challenge."
Working with only a few stage settings Howard Harrison's lighting has an important function - and features more than 100 Rainbow colour changers, ETC Source Four fixtures and Vari-Lite moving heads. A grandMA lighting console controls the conventional lighting and a Vari-Lite Virtuoso DX2 the moving heads. The Virtuoso console is then triggered by the grandMA via a Midi Showcontrol.
More than 30 million people all over the world have seen the Mamma Mia! and for the performances in Hamburg more than 1 million tickets were sold over one and a half years. This makes the production extremely successful as for the first time in German musical history, one production is performed at two different places at the same time.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK - A new government-led initiative to help the UK's Creative Industries sector brings together key players to discuss how to best meet the opportunities and threats that rapid technological developments is creating for the sector. The Creative Industries Forum, which had its first meeting in July, is jointly chaired by Arts Minister Estelle Morris and Science and Innovation Minister Lord Sainsbury.
The 'Creative Industries' broadly includes those involved in film, music and the performing arts. The forum will address key issues such maximizing opportunities in a digital environment, business models, education and awareness raising, and challenges such as file-sharing and piracy.
To co-incide with the launch of the Creative Industries Forum on Intellectual Property, Creative London is announcing a free IP service to ensure London's creative community actually profits from its innovations. Called 'Own It', the service will deliver seminars and advice - both onlin and face-to-face - to ensure creatives understand how to exploit and protect their ideas.
Working with 16 major industry organizations, the service is the first major initiative from Creative London, which was established by the Mayor's London Development Agency to support the creative industries.
UK - Charter, one of the UK's largest broadcast television equipment rental companies, has recently supplied its OB facilities at both Euro 2004 for ITV Sports in Lisbon, and Formula 1 circuits for German broadcaster RTL in Hockenheim. For each event Charter provided equipment including master control and switching centres, production hubs and edit suites.
Steve Jones from Charter says: "We spent over £2 million last year investing in new technologies and in 2004 we plan to invest a further £3m. This substantial investment ensures that our customers, including RTL and ITV Sport, have access to the latest equipment. The bespoke outside broadcast production facilities that we offer can be flown to any part of the world and rigged on-site in order to meet ambitious timescales. With the broadcast and production industry still facing a tough economic climate, we try to ensure that we are able offer our clients comprehensive solutions that are both cost effective and technologically advanced."
Charter has a global client base with offices in Europe, the United States and Australasia. Its solutions and equipment are involved in the broadcast of many of the world's top entertainment and sporting events, including the Olympics and the annual Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - PLASA (the Professional Lighting and Sound Association) will host a session titled Managing the installation - Device Interoperability and Control Protocols - A current perspective at this year's PLASA Show (12-15 September 2004, Earls Court, London).
The session will include input from leading players in the development of entertainment industry control protocols - Peter Willis (Howard Eaton Lighting), Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence), Philip Nye (Engineering Arts) and Richard Lawrence (Strand Lighting) - who will present an update on their involvement in the ESTA Control Protocols Working Group and associated task groups, and chair a discussion forum on whether we are all heading in the same direction!
This session is targeted at manufacturers and engineering managers who have the responsibility of making things work together. Participation is by invitation, and light breakfast refreshments will be available. Anyone interested should contact Ron Bonner at the PLASA office at the e-mail address below, or by telephone on 01323 410335.
(Lee Baldock)
Germany - Three years ago, as Showlight 2001 drew to a close in Edinburgh, members of the organizing committee were left wondering how they were going to better that event. However speakers promised for Showlight 2005 so far include at least three award-winning lighting designers and speakers from Holland, Germany, Australia, North America, Austria and, of course, the UK.
In a slight change of format, Showlight 2005 will feature several discussion groups: lighting education will be reviewed by a panel of students, lecturers and employers under the eye of England's Ian Dow; developments in light sources affecting lighting designers will be discussed by a small panel of senior engineers from the international lamp industry; and a discussion between international lighting designers will be chaired by the inimitable Mark Jonathan, previously with the UK's National Theatre.
Keynote speakers will include American Ken Billington, who won the 1997 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his lighting of Chicago; Durham Marenghi from the UK, who will review his wide range of commissions, from cruise liners to Golden Jubilees and Winter Olympics; and Director of Photography Roger Simonsz from Holland, who will look at colour, perception and reality in the context of film.
In addition Richard Pilbrow, internationally known author, stage lighting designer and winner of numerous awards will be interviewed on a lifetime of lighting by his colleague David Taylor. Another award-winning speaker is Jerry Appelt of Germany, known for his work on event and concert lighting, who earlier this
UK - To complement Bulgin's Buccaneer range of waterproof Ethernet connectors is a new in-line cable joiner providing a robust, economic, sealed connector for in-line network connections. Dust and waterproof to IP68, the tough body houses a RJ45 coupler. Supplied with a choice of three couplers; the PX0777/UTP has an un-shielded (UTP) coupler, the PX0777/STP a shielded (STP) coupler and the PX0777/CAT5ESTP a shielded coupler to Cat5e. This format allows any standard patchcord, RJ45 connectors and most Ethernet cables to be used.
Moulded in a black UL94V-0 rated material the connector is supplied with cable glands to suit cables from 3.5 to 8mm diameter. Designed for easy field termination, the PX0777 offers an effective, low cost cable joining solution for LAN cables in harsh industrial environments.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK - ChainMaster of Eilenburg, one of the world's market leaders in the manufacture of chain hoists and chain-hoist controllers for the stage, has now become a member of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA). Frank Hartung of ChainMaster commented: "We applied for admission to the Association in order to be able to drive forward the international dialogue with colleagues, customers and users. With its considerable influence, the PLASA represents an attractive platform."
At this year's PLASA show in London, ChainMaster will again be presenting its latest products. The venue for the fair, as in previous years, is the Exhibition Centre in Earls Court. ChainMaster can be found on stand C79.
(Lee Baldock)