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France - French company SCV Audio has scooped dbx's coveted European Distributor of the Year award.

The announcement was made during the Harman Pro conference prior to this year's NAMM Show in Anaheim, but the presentation was formally made the following month by Glen Harris, director of European sales for dbx and Lexicon, during the SIEL Show in Paris.

Harris congratulated SCV sales director, Thierry Lamotte (centre) and product manager Franck Surena (right) on the considerable growth they had registered with dbx sales during the past 12 months. "In particular we are delighted with the performance of the retail-based products," he said. "SCV's 'Rack Road' and 'Global Answer' initiatives have had considerable impact on growing the business in that respect."

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UK - The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) has launched the first in a new suite of financial services designed to help member companies protect themselves against the risk of bad debts and to assist them in trading competitively in the growing global market.The three new services - free credit checks, credit insurance facilities and a debt collection service - have been launched to minimise the risks involved in trading with particular customers and enable members to make more informed decisions.

PLASA Members can now request free credit checks on all UK companies. The service, provided by CreditSafe, allows members to request Reports on clients or business contacts. Updated on a daily basis, the Reports include financial information, key ratios, trend analysis, directors' details, payment record and a rating system classifying companies on a scale from 0 to 1

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Italy - Fifty-six years after it first appeared on the European entertainment landscape, the famous San Remo Festival continues to go from strength to strength. Promoted by Italian television giants, Rai, the song contest has always enjoyed high production values and this year's event on the Italian Riviera saw the installation of a complete digital solution in the 1900-capacity Ariston Theatre.

Harman's HiQnet connectivity and control protocol was used within a CobraNet environment so that all audio and control data could be routed over a common Ethernet pipe. Making its debut alongside other HiQnet-compatible devices in the Harman product portfolio were five of the new dbx DriveRack 4800's - the first to be used outside the United States - optimizing the performance of the two powered 10 x JBL VT 4888 DP-CN Vertec line array hangs.

With its 96kHz DSP engine and standard anal

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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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USA - Audio-Technica supplied over 200 microphones for the live broadcast of the 48th Grammy Awards, held on 8 February at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. The event featured a wide array of Audio-Technica microphones, including many hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless Systems.

The Emmy-winning Grammy Awards was the first major awards show to venture into HDTV and 5.1 surround sound, and makes increasingly elaborate forays into using current technology to the fullest advantage. Once again CBS delivered the most advanced form of HDTV, with 1,080 lines of picture resolution and 5.1-channel surround sound. To meet the sonic demands of this format, the audio engineers and music mixers employed a range of Audio-Technica microphones for the show's audio.

ATK/ Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH (front-of-house) engineer Ron Reeves and Mikael Stewart,

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Australia - In 1988, the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre (SCEC) opened its doors to booming business and high demand for a first-class venue for meetings. Set on the edge of Sydney's picturesque Darling Harbour, the centre was literally an overnight success, and remains to this day the largest convention centre in Australia. More than 600 different conventions, events, meetings and product launches are held at the SCEC every year, with attendees at many major conferences numbering more than 5,000. Though business shows no sign of slowing, the centre is far from content to rest on its laurels, particularly given increased international and domestic competition over the years.

As Australia's leading conference venue, the SCEC is focused on providing quality facilities, including cutting edge technology. With in-house video production facilities, audio services, and advance

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UK - A resounding Brit Awards at Earls Court was confirmation - if confirmation were needed - that all things within the British music business are in good health; including the application of the latest audio technology and it's leading adherents.

Having pioneered the practice of using digital consoles for award shows, Derrick Zieba, the shows principal co-ordinator of the live sound/broadcast sound interface, describes how he feel about them five years later as he approaches his 14th Brit Awards show: "There's no turning back now, the advantages far outweighs any concerns that may have surfaced in the early days. The fact that you can rehearse half a dozen major acts on the Sunday before the Brits, and then several days later recall every detail of every setting for every band absolutely perfectly is just unbeatable."

Further significant elements to such shows have

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USA - Peter Jackson's epic remake of King Kong has won the Oscar for Achievement In Sound Mixing at the 78th annual Academy Awards, held in Hollywood on Sunday March 5th.

Already an Oscar winner for his work on Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, sound mixer Hammond Peek relied solely upon the HHB Portadrive to record the dramatic location sound on King Kong, on an often arduous shoot that lasted some nine months.

"Solid build, eight track flexibility and reliable hard disk recording made Portadrive the recorder of choice for King Kong," reports Stephen Buckland of HHB's New Zealand distributor Sound Techniques, himself an experienced sound mixer. "The Portadrive also excelled in trials to check compatibility with post-production workflow, a very important consideration for the production."

A massive worldwide TV audience for t

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UK - The entertainment, architectural and installation industries are changing. Advances in lighting, sound, AV and safety technologies are driving new ideas: creative projects are becoming more innovative and less derivative, whilst commercial installations are benefiting from sophisticated life safety systems.

Harnessing all these advances together in one place at one time is PLASA06 - the main international exhibition for the theatre, architectural, touring, DJ, club, leisure and TV sectors, which takes place from 10-13 September at Earls Court in London.

Six months from opening, the show is 80% sold, guaranteeing that the industry's top 500 brands will be at PLASA06 showing the latest innovations in the lighting, audio, AV, stage engineering and control fields. Not only will PLASA06 have a strong showing of core products and services to meet the demands of projects and ins

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UAE - Studio F is Dubai Media Inc's latest television studio to benefit from a complete technical refurbishment. Accommodating seven sets and often broadcasting up to four live sports shows per day, seven days a week, the studio counts on staff skills and technical infrastructure that are second to none. This makes replacing familiar equipment with new all the more complex and relies on the unwavering back up of the manufacturer and installer in the early stages of transition.

Continuing its trend to provide state of the art dimming and networked lighting control systems to TV studios around the world, ETC, via its UAE distributor Oasis Enterprises L.L.C, has provided a fully networked dimming and control system for Studio F, along with suitable training and support for the studio staff concerned.

Basel Al Aref, manager of professional projects division at Oasis Enterprises, d

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UK - ELDA+ (European Lighting Designers' Association) has held its first workshop in the UK in Birmingham, enabled by BDP's director of lighting Martin Lupton.

Martin Lupton, worked with Birmingham City Council to make possible the success of this year's workshop, titled 'Eastside Story' and held in the city's industrial Eastside area. The purpose of the workshops is to educate students and professionals as well as private and public agencies and the public, about lighting design and how it can contribute positively to the environment and enhance people's sense of safety.

As technical coordinator of the February 2006 event, attended by 47 students from 24 different countries, Martin Lupton reported that this was the most gritty, urban and industrial of all ELDA+ workshops to date. He said of the project: "Students had the opportunity to work on sites of a uniquely urban s

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UK - Denon DJ is sponsoring the prime category in this year's Trance Awards 2006 (powered by Trackitdown.net) - for the Best DJ. The Trance Awards 2006 is a celebration of the best in the world of trance over the past 12 months. Featuring 15 categories - voted for by the public via online portal www.tranceawards.com - the Trance Awards 2006 is set to be the biggest date on the global trance calendar.

Promoted by premier dance music download portal www.trackitdown.net, alongside Godskitchen (promoters of the 50,000 capacity Global Gathering festival), Mixmag and TV channel MTV Dance, this year's Trance Awards features partnerships with some of the biggest players in dance.

With last year's debut awards seeing thousands of votes coming in from over 100 countries, and with the ceremony taking place at south coast super club Slinky, this year's awards already features a star studd

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USA - Floating above a sea of trade show booths, Chaparral's 16' circular trussing logo caught visitors' attention as they entered the 65th Miami International Boat Show. The giant frame that carried the name of the leading boat manufacturer was part of a Global Truss America trade show booth package that Chaparral Boats purchased especially for the Miami Boat Show held Feb. 16-20 at the Miami Beach Convention Centre.

As large as a basketball court, Chaparral's 55' x 75' booth featured eight 20' columns of Global Truss Square 12" Trussing that supported a horizontal truss beam set at 10' high, which ran around the booth's perimeter. The sleek, industrial-looking display supported the lighting system that showcased eight recreational boats ranging in length from 18' to 31' displayed by Chaparral Boats at the show.

Springtree Media Group, the company that designed and const

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USA - XL Touring Video is presently touring with Korn as video contractor for the band's See You On The Other Side - 2006 world tour.

XLTV collaborated with the artist and management to provide custom made 19' x 18' electric roll down screens, which provided removable projection surfaces for the six SLM Barco R12 projectors. Christian Lamb was brought in to provide content, which was programmed on Doremi hard drives.

"It was the most amazing content I'd ever seen," says XLTV's' President, John Wiseman, "it fits like a glove".

Touring on behalf of XLTV is Engineer, Rob McShane and projectionist, Mike Green.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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USA - Every engineer looks for a piece of outboard gear that can make their job easier by just plugging it into the recording chain. Pete Matthews found more than one when he discovered API mic pres and equalizers early on in his recording career.

"The more records you do the more you realize that certain mic pres are better for certain instruments," he says. "A guitar track might call for something, a vocal for something else, but as far as drums I don't think there's another mic pre out there that can match the 512.

"I've never seen a mic pre with more headroom," he continues. "They are amazing. And with the transient signals involved with drums, you really need a fast, high headroom mic pre."

Matthews has worked with an assortment of musicians that run the gamut from Paul Simon to Barbra Streisand, Evanescence to Devon Allman's band, Hon

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Rako - wireless lighting controls, offering solutions to any application. This modular system is designed to cover all lighting types, e.g. low voltage, fluorescent and LEDs. And being wireless, is easily installed into existing systems.

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RCF reported great visitor interest in their 4 PRO speaker systems. Leo Di Nicola of RCF France explained: "During the show we had a lot of interest in the system from end-users, small PA companies and dealers alike. It's the first time that we have shown the complete 4 PRO range and the larger 6001 and 7001system drew the most attention. We were also very happy with dealers' reaction the new Monitor Q compact contractor speakers.

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ArKaos were showing the latest version of its product, the ArKaos 3.5 ETC Edition. A software-based visual synthesizer that runs on a normal PC or Mac, ArKaos 3.5 ETC Edition is a tool for lighting designers or visual artists to create and control amazing visual projections. At SIEL the application was connecting via ETCNet2 with ETC's new Congo console. The ArKaos product will be become available after SIELt

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Italy - In addition to the numerous Outline loudspeaker systems installed in Piazza San Carlo and Piazza Castello, Outline has announced that 40 Butterfly CDH 483 Hi-Pack were used alongside the five Rings in Turin's Olympic Stadium, supporting the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies, as well as for the entire duration of the Games.

Outline's vice chairman, Giorgio Biffi, comments: "They say that the Turin 2006 Olympic Games was an opportunity to 'show off' the very best of Italy's excellence on all fronts, from fashion to design, through to our leading edge technology. We've boasted for years that we manufacture totally 'Italian-made' systems, so I can't deny that we're rightly proud of having had the privilege of taking part in such an extraordinary event with a large amount of equipment."

The Outline loudspeaker systems for the Turin 2006 Olympic Games were

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A newcomer to Entech was Alcons Audio, on the stand of Sydney-based Loud and Clear Audio, Alcons' recently-appointed representation for the Australian market. Alcons Audio MD Tom Back reorted strong interest in the company's pro-ribbon loudspeaker technology. David Betterridge of Loud and Clear has worked with Alcons Audio's LR14 ribbon line-array and VR12 pro-ribbon monitors over the last couple of months and raised a lot of interest in preparation of the official Australian launch of the product at Entech. This was "a great start 'down-under!" said Back.

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UK - Audio Visual Systems Ltd has recently designed, supplied and installed a state of the art media delivery system into the Shire Hall Gallery, Market Square, Stafford. The brief was to ensure that it would not impinge on the contemporary atmosphere of the gallery or the grade two listed interior.

The company installed 48 FeONIC audio drives under the existing oak floor, driven by a special audio matrix system, which provides up to 24 separate and yet invisible zones of high quality audio delivery and public address.

Audio Visual Systems' managing director, Tony Flynn states: "Use of the FeONIC product has enabled us to provide a 21st century solution in a 19th century environment. The FeONIC Floor product is in my professional opinion the most architecturally sympathetic audio solution we have ever applied and I can think of no other product that is in any way a close

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