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UK - PRG XL Video, the UK operation of PRG, LLC, has announced a significant investment with Area Four Industries UK to upgrade its hoist stock with EXE-Rise units.

In a continuing commitment to update its inventory with the latest rigging, lighting, and video technology, PRG XL Video has purchased a large number of the new EXE-Rise 8:1 range of chain hoists to update its rental offering.

The selection of the EXE-Rise units followed extensive evaluation of different hoists by a team of PRG XL Video's rigging experts including Chris Walker, Account Director, Q Willis, Head of Rigging Services, and Richard Gorrod, Head of Event Services.

This new version evolved from the already successful EXE-Rise electric chain hoist family and is designed with a WLL of 1000kg and a safe

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UK - Young Technicians - a new learning programme for young people at Lighthouse, Poole's centre for the arts - has been hailed as a "great success and a valuable experience that has improved participants' chances of working in the industry".

The course is part of the innovative Young Programmers scheme at the heart of Lighthouse's learning and participation strategy that over the next four years aims to develop the next generation of talented arts practitioners.

The first intake recently completed a six-month pilot, making use of the existing workforce at Lighthouse to gain creative, hands-on learning experiences.

"It was a unique and fulfilling experience that you don't get in many other places," said one Young Technician. Another added: "The best part was the freedom and opportunity to put what we had been learning into practice, it allowed us to test ourselves and

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Australia - Lexair Entertainment has announced Renaat De Wilde has now officially joined the company in the newly created role of sales and marketing director.

Renaat brings considerable experience to the role, and will be responsible for driving business growth and enhancing customer experience through marketing and sales activity across Australia and New Zealand including the Lexair regional dealer network.

Alex Mair, managing director of Lexair Entertainment, said, "We are extremely happy that Renaat has joined Lexair. I have worked closely with Renaat previously during his time at High End Systems, and I know his knowledge, skills and passion for the industry, people, brands and products will be invaluable and allow us to meet the increasing demands of our growing business."

Renaat has recently moved to Australia from Texas where he was most recently the VP of sale

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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UK - Adlib has announced the addition of two key appointments to its Scottish operation - Barclay Dakers joins as business development manager and Craig Hamilton as operations manager.

Both have strong backgrounds and considerable experience in professional audio and the production industry and will bring further dynamics to the mix in the Scottish market.

Adlib's commitment to business in the region was established in early 2015 and consolidated with the acquisition of EFX Audio in November 2015.

Barclay and Craig will be working alongside general manager Graham Cochrane and Steph Fleming, head of audio.

Barclay will be dedicated to building Adlib's brand and customer relations in Scotland and connecting with past, present and future clients to provide creative and appropriate sound, lighting and AV solutions for all scenarios.

Barclay has been in the industry

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South Africa - Blond Productions was involved, for the third consecutive year, to supply the full technical for the televised competition Clash of the Choirs held at Global Access Studios in Johannesburg. Mauritz Neethling from Blond was responsible for the lighting design, having control via a grandMA2 light. He also used a MA VPU plus MK2 (Video Processing Unit).

Filmed for Mzansi Channel on DSTV, the competition saw seven celebrity choirmasters assemble amateur singers who went head to head at the Clash of the Choirs. The competition kicked off at the end of 2015, with the finales held in April 2016. This meant the entire rig - the set designed and created by Dream Sets - had to come down and be put up again.

"Dream Sets cleverly created an arena type set which really enhanced the visibility of the choir," said Neethling. "The competition had used the same

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UK - An Allen & Heath dLive mixing system was recently installed at Zion Christian Centre in Halesowen after a major fire gutted the church's auditorium and destroyed the existing PA system and console in August 2015.

Supplied by Wigwam Acoustics and installed by Midlands-based AV company Centrepiece Productions (whose MD Gareth Davies is a member of Zion Christian Centre), the dLive system consists of a S7000 console and DM48 MixRack supplemented with eight Allen & Heath ME-1 personal monitoring mixers and a ME-U hub.

"Wigwam initially supplied us an Allen & Heath QU-32 digital mixer to get us up and running after the fire in August," explains Davies, "and I and the other sound team volunteers - none of whom are professional engineers - took to it very quickly.

"So when it came to investing in our permanent system it made sense to stick to the Allen & Heath brand and

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USA - When Meytal Cohen, the drummer for and founding member of the heavy metal band Meytal, set out on her US tour, she wanted to go big and provide fans with superior audio quality at each venue. In order to achieve the huge sound she was looking for, Cohen turned to DPA Microphones' d:vote 4099D Instrument Microphones to amplify her drum set.

In 2009 at the age of 20, Cohen moved to Los Angeles and studied percussion at the Los Angeles Music Academy. That year, Cohen and some friends recorded a metal violin cover on video of System of a Down's Toxicity, which she then posted on YouTube. A few months later, the video had three million views and Cohen decided she was going to shoot and post 100 more drum covers to see what happened next. Five years later she has more than 120 videos, 140m views and 900,000 subscribers on YouTube, and more than 1.4m likes on Facebook.

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UK - The Gus Dudgeon Foundation and JAMES have announced that their Post Graduate Summer Course will this year be taking place between 11 and 15 July at Leeds Beckett University.

The fourth Summer Course since its inauguration, this year sees producer Mark Hutchinson tutor 12 top-graduating students from JAMES accredited music technology and production courses through 5 days of recording on both analogue and digital systems.

The students will also benefit from the attendance of Ken Scott as 'host' at Leeds Beckett. Widely known for his work with The Beatles, Elton John, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Supertramp, Scott will be 'dropping in' during the week and to award the student prize at the end of the course.

Universities represented by students are De Montfort Leicester, Abertay, Huddersfield, Hertfordshire, Anglia Ruskin, Lincoln, New Bucks, University of South Wales,

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UK - The Vision 2016 event in Bristol again turned to Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) to deliver full technical production for this two-day inspirational conference, which was attended by 350 delegates who were motivated and engaged by 25 energizing talks from leading creatives and innovators.

Hailed as the most successful Vision to date, the event was staged in the Anson Rooms at Bristol University's Student Union building. CPL was working for production company Bright and has been involved in the event for the last four years. This year project manager Mike Radford ensured that everything ran smoothly on site, integrating elements of the venue's house lighting system where possible into the event design.

In the main room, normally used as a live band stage, they added a laser projector system utilizing a 16 X 9ft screen fed by one Panasonic RZ12k laser projector, with a

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South Africa - The Hanuman Chalisa is the most popular hymn chanted in praise of the Hindu deity Hanuman. Recited daily by Hindus throughout the world, the 40 verses of this devotional mantra are an immense source of energy, focus and vitality for both the body and mind. The power and vibrancy of this ancient ritual were reflected recently by a vividly coloured lighting design, created by Shaniel Laloo, using a collection of Rogue fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Laloo of JYM Sound Lighting & Staging created his design for a Hanuman Chalisa celebration at the Hindu temple in Laudium, a centre of South Africa's large Indian population. "The Hanuman Chalisa is very important to the people at the temple," he said. "We wanted lighting that would support the ceremony and look good on video."

Using six Rogue R2 Wash moving RGBW LED fixtures and an equal number of Rogue R2 Spo

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Ireland - Production Services Ireland (PSI) - a lighting, rigging and visual production company based in Dublin and Belfast has recently made a substantial investment in the new EXE-Rise 1000kg 8:1 double-braked electric chain hoists - the first off the production line in Italy, delivered to PSI by Area Four Industries through Adam Beaumont and are among a total investment in over 50 new motors.

These new hoists went straight out for use on the current UK and European tour of Riverdance.

The history of Riverdance goes back to 1994, when it was an intermission act for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was an immediate hit and quickly gained worldwide recognition. Since that time, it has continuously played to sold out venues and is one of the most successful dance shows in the world.

PSI is now on a fourth tour with Riverdance, supplying all lighting

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Spain - Belgian-based engineering and automation specialist WIcreations has designed and fabricated a bespoke rotating system to hold and rotate five large scenic objects for the current Caos tour by popular Spanish singer, Mal

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Japan - Nexo's STM modular line array has been chosen by one of Japan's most distinguished sound rental companies as its new flagship PA system. The long-established N & N rental house in Tokyo has expanded its extensive inventory of Nexo products in a move they describe as "inevitable".

Based in Ota-ku, Tokyo, N & N has been supplying sound for a wide variety of special events and concerts in a range of venues for over 40 years. Long-term Nexo users, they have regularly updated their systems, from the Alpha Series and PS Series to the Geo S12 Series line arrays. With the release of the STM M28 compact omnipurpose cabinet, the decision was taken to invest in the new modular line arrays capable of handling large venues (2000+ people) and to market this as N & N's flagship system.

N & N's representative director Mr Sato explains, "The timing was right - when the STM M28 was

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Germany - Lighting designer Jerry Appelt recently teamed up once again with lighting director / programmer Marc Brunkhardt, as Hamburg-based dance group, Scooter embarked on their Can't Stop The Hardcore tour.

Visiting venues ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 capacity, the focal point of the stage and set design were five raked pods, loaded with lights and flown above the stage to form a scalable roof - and featuring many of the 65 GLP impression X4 L's (supplied as part of the overall lighting inventory by PRG Hamburg).

Each pod contained eight of the X4 L among the lighting in each of the pods, with another 14 on the front truss to fire into the audience.

The two lighting specialists have worked together frequently, and explaining the choice of fixtures, Marc Brunkhardt said, "As Scooter is a techno act which requires a powerful lighting set we were seeking a high output

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Switzerland - The summer of 2016 marks a major milestone for both Montreux Jazz Festival and Meyer Sound. When the Festival kicks off its 50th anniversary edition on 1 July, Meyer Sound celebrates 30 years of collaboration with what many consider the world's most illustrious and eclectic annual celebration of popular music.

"Sound really mattered to Claude Nobs," said Meyer Sound CEO John Meyer, recalling the festival's late founder. "I remember distinctly when he came to me and asked how we could make the festival sound better. He had a curiosity about sound and a real desire to create unique and extraordinary experience for artists and audiences."

The 2016 MJF line-up features a host of luminaries across a spectrum of genres, including Muse, Herbie Hancock, Neil Young, Santana, Quincy Jones, Robben Ford, Slayer and others.

Meyer Sound has a tradition of introducing n

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UK - Chauvet Professional UK has announced two new appointments to its UK sales team with the introduction of David Faulkes as the UK south territory manager for the Chauvet Professional & Iluminarc, and Simon Cox, UK south professional key accounts manager.

Faulkes joins the Chauvet Professional sales team with a robust foundation & knowledge in the entertainment lighting sector. Having worked in the industry for nearly 25 years, with companies such as Martin Professional and Miltec.

Simon Cox, previously UK south territory manager, has moved across to a new position covering UK key accounts with a greater focus on the television and theatre marketplace.

(Jim Evans)

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USA / UK - The success of GLP's impression X4 Bars was recognised for the second time in a month - by major industry bodies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Following its Live Design Award in New York earlier in the month the product picked up a similar 'Lighting Product of the Year' gong at the Association of British Theatre Technicians Awards 2016, which took place just over a week later during the ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace, London.

It was voted after an experienced jury of working practitioners and industry peers had considered entries for this year's ABTT Awards which were carefully reviewed on the day.

The GLP impression X4 Bar 20 LED Batten stood out to the judges, who remarked that "GLP's new Batten, with its innovative zoom feature and impressive light output, reinvents the light curtain."

GLP Inc president, Mark Ravenhill, commented, "We are deli

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USA - Raleigh, North Carolina-based Alpha Production Group has taken delivery of six Clay Paky Scenius moving head spotlights, which were quickly dispatched on the northeastern and southeastern legs of Lauryn Hill's current tour.

"The day the Scenius fixtures came in were the day they went out for four weeks with Lauryn Hill," says Hayes Twisdale, Alpha Production Group's owner and production manager. "Scenius replaced Viper profile fixtures on the tour. Scenius is an incredible, cutting-edge fixture and we believe having it will set us apart from the competition, which has a lot of older technology in their inventories."

Alpha Production Group provides audio, video, lighting and staging services for entertainment and corporate events. It purchased 16 Clay Paky Sharpys from A.C.T Lighting about 18 months ago and has a pair of grandMA2 Light consoles, which A.C.T Lighting a

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UK - Park Holidays is the largest provider of caravan holiday parks in the south of England and has been in operation for more than 30 years following the opening of its first resort near Rye in East Sussex.

Comprising 25 parks, from Devon in the west to Suffolk in the east, Park Holidays hosts thousands of holidaymakers in excellent facilities at extremely competitive prices. From cabaret acts and karaoke to sports bars and bingo, the Park Holidays entertainment offer is diverse and extremely popular with guests.

When Audiologic's Dave Smith was asked to consult with Park Holidays' installers about audio provision for its Bexhill headquarters, his recommendations and Audiologic's careful attention to detail made a strong impression - something that was to have a further-reaching impact in the subsequent months.

Initially, Park Holidays wanted to improve communications

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Spain - All Access Staging and Production were asked by the creative team at Black Skull Creative to look at the feasibility of placing a stage in a swimming pool on board the cruise ship TUI Discovery for its launch in Palma, Majorca.

The ship is the latest addition to the Thomson brand of cruise ships. Matthew Bull the sales and marketing manager took the lead on the project. The creative brief included building a stage into the ships swimming pool, as well as a main stage for Jess Glynne to perform on. The installation used the company's Versa stage deck and support structure. This system is designed for speedy construction and de-rig time - perfect for the ships tight build schedule.

The ship was launched on 10 June with a show and naming ceremony created by Black Skull followed by fireworks and a set from Jess Glynne.

(Jim Evans)

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Australia - The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington adjacent to the University of South Wales (Australia) and is a high profile self-accrediting training institute for students of the performing arts. It has a great reputation and an interesting alumnae of talent who have made their names in the worlds of theatre, stage, film and TV.

Five years ago, the foyer - a large, airy glass-fronted space that's also used for art and other exhibitions, public displays and meetings - was architecturally lit with an Anolis ArcSource 48 MC LED installation, supplied via the ULA Group, Robe and Anolis distributor for Australia. This transformed the atmosphere and increased the flexibility of the space.

It was followed by an investment in 16 x Robe DLX Spots, a bright LED spot luminaire that outputs similar to a 1200W discharge light-sourc

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