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USA - American Audio recently announced that sound contractors and pro audio installers can choose from four distinct size options with its new PXI Series of powered speakers.

Designed to match any application, the PXI series includes 8", 10", 12" and 15" versions. All four of the new models - the PXI 8P, PXI 10P, PXI 12P and PXI 15P - include a high-powered bi-amplifier system with electronic crossover for sonic clarity, presence and punch, say the company.

"With such a wide array of models to choose from in our new PXI Series, you don't have to try to make the wrong size speaker work for the job," said Tom Freret, national sales manager for American Audio. "Until now, there hasn't been a lot of variety in that market. There are plenty of 10s

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GermanyThe Jazz an der Donau ('Jazz on the Danube') festival is not just one of the world's biggest jazz festivals, but also, thanks to its intimate atmosphere, one of the most attractive. With appearances by stars of the calibre of Diana Ross, Al Jarreau and David Sanborn, this year's festival can only enhance the popularity and prestige of the event.

As in previous years, the organizers are relying exclusively on systems from EVI Audio; but this isn't simply a case of favouring the home team, as Heinz Huber makes clear: "The sound reinforcement equipment last year was absolutely sensational. All the musicians said so. In fact, B.B. King's European manager described the Jazz on the Danube festival as one of the best organized and - from the standpoint of sound quality - the most perfect that he had ever attended."

The team led by Ingo Haasch will be using the

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UK - Pro Audio Systems' hire division recently managed the sound for one of Europe's largest Mela festivals, selecting an Allen & Heath ML5000 live sound VCA console as the monitor mixer for the main stage.

The 2005 Bradford Mela attracted 300,000 visitors over the two days. From the Sanskrit 'to meet', the Mela originates from the Indian subcontinent and is now a worldwide celebration of the art, craft, culture and community of South Asia, both traditional and modern.

Entertainment ranged from workshops on cookery, dancing and meditation, to a spectrum of musical acts from traditional artists to DJ's.

The main stage hosted fourteen acts over the two days, including the Indie-Bhangra band, Cassava Music; Bollywood-style, Orchestra Music World; Asian-rock band, Trick Baby; pop singer, Faakhir; and the Mercury Prize winning, Talvin Singh Trio.

"The audio requirements fo

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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 - Summit Steel is supplying a 45-way Kinesys Elevation 1+ vari-speed automation and control system to the current Oasis stadium tour - as specified by lighting designer Andi Watson. It is the largest ever Kinesys Elevation variable speed chain hoist system used to date.

Lighting contractor PRG Birmingham, and account handler Robin Wain contracted Summit to supply the system which is being used to move 12 lighting 'Quads' customised frames each holding 4 MAC 2000 moving lights and lined with PixelLine LED battens on the top rail and DJ Flash rope. There are two motors per quad, and these glide seamlessly in and out and up and down to create different patterns and configurations - effectively making a constantly moving stage set.

There are four further moving trusses taking up thirteen points, each of varying lengths and containing a total of 12 Syncrolite SX 3KW moving light

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The Netherlands - Recently commissioned and based in Amsterdam, the Pure Liner is a floating presentation venue capable of accommodating up to 650 guests for a daylong product launch. Equipped with state of the art lighting, sound and audio facilities, the boat is aimed at companies in Holland, Belgium and Germany who want to make product presentations in a novel environment and is fully equipped to sail to any of those countries.

Included in the facilities is a d&b sound system comprising compact E3 and E0 loudspeakers with Qsubwoofers, all colour co-ordinated to match the black and white theme of the surroundings.

In the main presentation area, a giant screen is surrounded by E3s to provide a T0 point for the sound with E0s front and back in a circular configuration to provide the delays. The system was supplied by d&b's Dutch partner Audio Pro Nederland and was designed by

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The Netherlands - Showcasing some of Africa's leading artists, a last-minute Africa Calling concert was held on two stages at the Eden Project in Cornwall on July 2 as part of the worldwide Live8 event. Sound for the main stage, Eden Project's outdoor arena, was provided by Holland's Ampco Pro Rent (APR) and backline by sister company Protone.

The concert was presented in association with WOMAD and its co-founder Peter Gabriel, together with Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour. WOMAD's involvement, and that of the African artists, had originally been suggested by Midge Ure, while Eden chief executive Tim Smit provided the venue and helped galvanise backing and financial support for the show.

Featured artists included Youssou N'Dour, Ayub Ogada & Uno, Mariza, Thomas Mapfumo, Coco Mbassi, Modou Diouf and O Fogum, Geoffrey Oryema, Angelique Kidjo, Tinariwen, Kanda Bongo ma

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UK - Andrew Lloyd Webber has sold four of his West End theatres - the Apollo, the Duchess, the Lyric and the Garrick - to Max Weitzenhoffer, who is joined in a new partnership with producer Nica Burns. They will take over the four theatres on October 1 this year. The sale leaves Lloyd Webber with eight West End theatres - the Adelphi, the Cambridge, the Gielgud, Her Majesty's, the London Palladium, the New London, the Palace and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Announcing the sale Lord Lloyd Webber said, "Because the company's borrowings will be reduced, we will be able to spend a minimum of £10 million over the next five years in improving and refurbishing the remaining eight theatres in our portfolio which comprises some of the world's most famous music houses, including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Palace and the London Palladium.

"These wonderful, treasured bu

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Hong Kong - Lighthouse LED video screens featured strongly at the recent Monaco Grand Prix. The demand for giant screens within Formula One has steadily increased and this year saw three more added to Monaco's already substantial compliment.

The action on the track was relayed by a number of strategically positioned screens supplied to the Automobile Club de Monaco by French audiovisual company Lumison, allowing race-goers a clear view of Kimi Raikkonen's convincing win for McLaren-Mercedes.

Two Lighthouse 20mm pixel pitch LED screens, one of 120 and one of 16 panels were placed 30m above ground level on the roof of the Hotel Palace - the larger of the two screens for spectators viewing from the port and the smaller for VIPs viewing from the terrace of the hotel Hermitage, with a 16 panel screen placed, as in previous years, at the swimming pool.

A further two 16-panel 20mm

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USA - With six stages hosting over 100 major and emerging musical acts, the Music Midtown Festival boasts one of the most diverse lineups of any festival in the world. This June, for the 12th year in a row, the Atlanta, Georgia, event rolled out the best in southern comfort and hospitality, in addition to a lot of music, to entertain more than 300,000 guests on the 40-plus-acre festival site.

Rock 'n' Road Audio of Tucker, Georgia, supplied the sound for the event. Rock 'n' Road's Roy Drukenmiller and on-site production manager James (Jid) O'Brien worked with Nashville's Spectrum Sound and Blackhawk Audio to ensure there would be enough powerful hardware to guarantee a splendid time for all.

On the Miller Lite/99X/Comcast Stage, alt-rock ruled with a lineup that included the Pixies, Lemonheads, White Stripes, DEVO and Keane performing through a substantial array featuring 34 M

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UK - Bandit Lites is supplying lighting production for Brian McFadden's first solo UK tour, during which he is promoting his Walking Disaster album. Bandit's Lester Cobrin is working with Production North and lighting designer Arturo Ollandini.

McFadden's musical direction has changed considerably following his move from Westlife and Ollandini's lighting brief was left wide open, apart from the fact that he was asked to make it a bit rocky and raw, to suit McFadden's gritty new style and his dynamics as a solo performer. "There's plenty of creative scope," he says. "The set really rocks out one minute, gets bluesey and ballady the next and also gets stripped right back at times to just him and his acoustic guitar."

Ollandini and lighting technician Martin Garnish are using a two truss rig. The front one features Martin MAC 2K performances to light an

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Turkey - Safak Studios, a video and film post production complex, has become the first facility in Turkey to invest in a Solid State Logic C200 digital production console.

Safak, which means 'dawn' in Turkish, was established 28 years ago by the Ustun family and attracts the majority of its work from the Turkish film and video community. It also undertakes post production projects for a number of national television channels and has a thriving rental business supplying audio and video equipment to the local film industry.

The decision to invest in a new digital console indicates Safak's wider intention to attract more work from other European countries. The company has built a new audio post production studio to house the desk and has equipped this with state of the art Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound facilities. It also has facilities for 35mm and HD (High Definition) film p

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World - Martin Professional gear, including the Maxedia Digital Media Composer, MAC fixtures and Atomic strobes were integral factors in the production of several of the Live8 shows.

All lighting equipment for the Hyde Park concert was supplied by PRG London and included 50 MAC 2000 Wash, 35 MAC 2000 Profiles, 20 Atomic strobes with Atomic Colours, LEDs and conventionals.

In Philadelphia, lighting designer Thomas Beck had MAC 2000 Wash, MAC 2000 Profiles and Atomic strobes at his disposal while a Martin Maxedia digital server provided wallpaper and animation effects onto multiple screens in combination with IMAG and other pre-built content. Maxedia effects were controlled from a Martin Xciter off a touchscreen with 60+ songs programmed in two days. Lighting gear was supplied by Light Action of Delaware.

At the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg, Gearhouse South

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UK - DiGiCo has licensed the open standard EtherSound protocol for digital audio distribution and will utilise EtherSound Authorised Implementor AuviTran to accelerate the development of EtherSound-enabled digital consoles.

"DiGiCo is proud to become an addition to the EtherSound family, utilising this superb data transmission protocol to provide yet another solution to DiGiCo's customers in this ever-changing digital world," says DiGiCo managing director Bob Doyle. Marketing director David Webster explains further, "We wanted to expand our connectivity with other devices. We've already got analogue, optical, AES/EBU, T/DIF/ADAT and others, so regardless of what you want to plug into - you can. EtherSound is appearing on enough devices to make it a strategic addition to DiGiCo consoles in any signal chain."

"DiGiCo's rapid emergence as a leader in digi

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France - French audio visual company, Lumison, reports a "spectacular" first half to 2005 with a plethora of high profile events featuring Lighthouse LED screens. These include corporate functions for major banking institution BNP Parisbas and French television producers union Espace Clacquesin, plus a fashion show in the Lagerfeld Gallery of the Paris Carrousel Du Louvres.

BNP Parisbas holds its annual conference at the Palais Des Congres De Paris each year for 5,000 of its employees. For this year's event, Lumison supplied 50 panels of Lighthouse R10 10mm pixel pitch LED video screen strategically positioned to provide an eye-catching effect.

"The set was quite unusual looking," explains Lumison's CEO and owner Pierre Heyligen. "We stacked LED panels on the stage in a variety of configurations - as single panel, 2x2 panel, 4x4 panel and 4x6 panel scr

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Singapore - Following design and construction-supervision projects in Singapore spanning the past twenty years for independent recording and broadcast clients, UK-based Eastlake Audio is again active in the dynamic South-East Asian City-State.

The current client, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, located on the National University of Singapore campus, is constructing a new, world-class music facility with technology-smart classrooms and seminar rooms, practice facilities, teaching studios, concert hall, recording studio and video and Pro Tools equipped media facilities. Eastlake's involvement is with the recording studio and media facilities.

The project is a joint collaboration between the National University of Singapore and one of the world's leading music schools, the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. The Conservatory is working closely

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UK - A new service company, Theatrelease, has been created by industry veterans Steve Sunderland and Peter Barnard. It will provide audio design services to provincial and West End theatres and will be be run separately from Audiolease and Barnard's rental company, Sigma AV.

Audiolease's first contract is with the Savoy Theatre where they have designed the sound system for The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas. The set-up centres on Outline's Butterfly array. A total of twenty CDH483 high packs (ten per hang) are flown left and right of the stage; 2 x Outline Victor live sub basses are also used. Stage monitoring features 14 mixes handled by Outlines Micra II self-powered and Outline's HARD 212 SP low profile stage wedges. Side fill duties are via Outline's award winning Kangaroo system. Power and control are provided by Outline digital TP 6.5 power amplifiers.

The FOH desk

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USA - On 9 June, the 2005 NBA Finals kicked-off with Game 1 of the Detroit Pistons versus the San Antonio Spurs championship series in Dallas. Lighting designer Randy Nordstrom, and the rest of the NBA production team, utilised a lighting package supplied by Bandit Lites.

"My hat goes off to all the production staff involved in the NBA Finals," says Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden. "Watching the NBA production team go through the scramble of surveying the final team venues and then detailing their equipment needs and lighting plan was truly impressive."

The lighting package for the NBA Finals consisted of 26 VL3000 spot luminaires, 6 VL2500 spot luminaires, 28 Mac 2000 wash units, 8 Mac 600 units, 54 ETC Source Four units, 2 Grand MA lighting control consoles, along with Electrol and CD80 digital dimmers.

"For the finals, we used what we call

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UK - Members and invited guests of the APRS, the Professional Recording Association, gathered at the Bush Bar & Grill in London recently to hear more about the new recording membership categories that have recently been introduced by the Association.

The new categories recognise the changes taking place across the recording industry and are designed to address the needs of the smaller professional and non-professional members, as well as the Association's existing established membership.

APRS council members Nick Dimes and Tony Andrews introduced the new categories and explained how these will enable all professionals involved in music making to benefit from APRS membership. The Association also took the opportunity to introduce its new Terms and Conditions, a task handled by Malcolm Atkin and Dennis Weinreich (APRS Directors) and Richard Taylor and Stuart Barry from the Simki

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UK - The PAI Group (PAIG) has completed the design, specification and installation of full sound, lighting and AV system at the Media Centre Arts Hall, University of Wales in Lampeter. The project included the supply of a full live stage sound system, stage lighting and video equipment to the Arts Hall adjacent to the Media Centre.

The project required flexible and easy to use systems to enable the students to stage a variety of performances from fashion shows to live concerts and stage shows, plus conferences and media presentations.

The PAIG team, led by project manager Steve Timlin chose Logic System loudspeakers, for their ruggedness, quality and cost-effectiveness. They reconditioned and re-used the college's existing cabinets for side fills. The system is powered by QSC amplifiers, and the FOH desk is an Allen & Heath GL3300.

"It was also important to give the stu

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World - Radical Lighting's new NG1 digital media server is making its debut on Coldplay's Twisted Logic world tour. The NG1 was specified by show director Bryan Leitch and lighting designer Nick Whitehouse who collaboratively devised the show that is already receiving rave reviews.

Along with the rest of the lighting equipment, the NG1 is being supplied by leading rental company Siyan. It is Coldplay's second world tour with Siyan. The last became a two-year marathon stint throughout 2003 to 2004, with Radical Lighting's RADlite media server at the core of the show.

Leitch and Whitehouse chose the NG1 this time around after their very positive experience with RADlite. "Using the latest product from Radical was a logical progression," says Whitehouse. "We also wanted to do something really big with video." Video images are beamed onto an upstage scre

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USA - Creative Technology has opened CT Las Vegas. Herb Brandt, former CT Los Angeles senior production manager heads up the new operation as general manager. Spearheading the CTLV sales effort is sales executive Virginia Groshans who has moved to CT from AVW/TELAV where she held the position of sales manager, exhibit programmes national sales group. She is responsible for developing new corporate, exhibit, convention and entertainment clients for CT, both nationally and in the Las Vegas region.

"We have long been providing our clients travelling to Las Vegas with a/v staging solutions, so it is really a natural progression that we have an operation here to better service them," says Herb Brandt. "CT Las Vegas offers clients all the advantages of a national staging company including a vast inventory of high-end equipment and skilled sales and technical staff, alon

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