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UK - XL Video's specialist theatre and arts department is supplying Grass Valley Turbo media servers, three Sony broadcast cameras, vision mixing and video integration facilities for Michael Grandage's acclaimed production of Frost Nixon at the Donmar Warehouse.

XL is again collaborating with cinematographer/projection designer Jon Driscoll who created the show's film footage design in conjunction with scenic designer Christopher Oram and LD Neil Austin. It evokes a classic 1970s retro look, based around a large video monitor-wall backdrop - made up from 36 'near antique' Barco 2850 video monitors - hanging behind the two main characters sitting in the TV studio.

From an A/V point of view says XL's Malcolm Mellows, Frost Nixon is "completely different to any o

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UK / USA - On Broadway, the runaway hit Avenue Q has already won the Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. If this wasn't accolade enough, its lighting designer, Howell Binkley, this year scooped the prestigious Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for the musical Jersey Boys. Both musicals were programmed using a grandMA lighting control system.

Lighting designer Ken Posner for the Broadway musicals Hairspray and Wicked has also used grandMA control systems. Now, with Sinatra and Avenue Q already running on grandMA in the West End, Wicked is the next to move over from Broadway to the West End, scheduled to open on 27 September, 2006. Interestingly, the Apollo Victoria Theatre, home to Wicked, already has a fixed installation of a grandMA ultra controlling its LED house light system.

The consoles have alr

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USA - Exactly one year to the day that Hurricane Katrina ravaged Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, the hotel is re-opening on 29 August, featuring a large installation of High End Systems lighting and control products.

It was 29 August 2005 when a reported 40ft wave from Hurricane Katrina slammed into the facility, demolishing the level where the casino, nightclub and theatre were located. All production gear was reportedly destroyed and unusable, including all the HES DL.1s, which had recently been installed. The hotel was closed for massive repairs.

After a re-design and renovation, the hotel's 17,000sq.ft Magnolia Ballroom opens with 28 HES DL.2s, 64 Studio Beams, 12 Studio Spot 575s, 12 Studio Color 575s, four Intellabeams and two Wholehog 3 consoles running 5 DP (Data Processor) 2000s.

The Camelia Room features a Catalyst Media Server and 16 Studio Bea

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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 - The world-famous Eden Project hosted the premier of a new composition by acclaimed British classical composer Graham Fitkin, collaborating with celebrated harpist Ruth Wall. Staged in Eden's warm temperate biome, the Fitkin Wall project entitled 'Still Warm' was mixed live on a 16-channel Allen & Heath MixWizard, provided by local PA company, SPS Systems.

Since opening in March 2001, the Eden Project has become one of the UK's most visited tourist attractions. In recent times, the Project's tranquil setting has made it an attractive proposition for large music events, including Live 8's Africa Calling event - where a 32-channel Allen & Heath ML4000 VCA console was used to mix the stage in the Warm Temperate biome - and the annual Eden Sessions, which have included prestigious acts such as Moby, Keane, Elbow, Ian Brown, Air, Brian Wilson, Pulp and Basement Jaxx.

'St

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Germany - The Jazz on the Danube festival, now in its 20th year, is one of the 10 biggest jazz festivals in the world. The events' sound team, led by Ingo Haasch, utilised a combination of compact line array systems from Electro-Voice (XLD 281, XLC 215), Dynacord PowerH amps, and two EV NetMax N8000 digital audio controllers - a set-up that had never before been used at a major event.

The system included two EV NetMax N8000 digital audio controllers. The left and right sides of the PA (with 8 input and 24 output channels each) were controlled separately. The new FIR filters were responsible for the equalization of the main PA and proved to be of enormous benefit, according to Franz Lermer, manager of Digital Development with EVI Audio: "The sound team had never worked with FIR filters before and were highly enthusiastic right from the start."

Lermer was part of EVI A

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China / Hong Kong - DPA Microphones has appointed a new distributor for China and Hong Kong, Digital Media Technology (DMT). For the past 16 years, DMT has operated as a provider of high quality audio equipment for recording studios, broadcast, post production and live sound. With a team of more than 30 staff in four Chinese offices - Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Nanjing - the company is committed to providing highly professional services to clients in the Chinese-speaking region, and is proud to have DPA in its portfolio.

"DPA is one of the most respected microphone manufacturers in the world," says DMT's managing director Clement Choi. "The purity of the sound reproduced by the microphones and the linearity of the frequency response impress every sound engineer who works with them. We at DMT are proud to be selected as DPA's partner in China. With the recen

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UK - XL Video supplied projection for public artist Martin Firrell's I Want To Live In A City - an installation work projected along the wall of the steps leading up to the National Gallery as part of the Trafalgar Square Festival 06. It's the first time a contemporary public artwork has been projected onto the building.

Firrell, one of Britain's most prolific public artists, was commissioned by the Mayor Of London's office to produce the work. The project was produced by Firma Arts & Media, under the technical direction of Kamal Ackerie. Ackerie has recently worked with Firrell on a projected installation work at Tate Britain which was a resounding success, and through which Firrell also realised the power and versatility of the medium of projection.

Firrell and Ackerie first scoured the Square for suitable surfaces and discovered the plinth casing the steps leading up

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USA - Aviom's newly updated AN-16/o Output Module is now shipping - with the flexibility of improved mic and line output levels, convenient DB25 multipins for audio connections, and heavy duty locking Neutrik EtherCons for network connections. The AN-16/o Output Module will make its debut at AES 2006, on booth 123. The AN-16/o provides 16 balanced mic- or line-level analogue outputs, with switchable output levels per channel pair. Audio outputs feature secure DB25 multipin connectors. With both mic- and line-level outputs available, connecting to a console is simpler and more flexible.

The AN-16/o can be used both on stage and at front-of-house to provide outputs to consoles, as well as to amplifiers and speaker processors. Adding a split for recording or broadcast is as quick as running a Cat-5e cable to the additional locations and connecting additional AN-16/o modules as need

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Portugal - Sintefex Audio and inventor Mike Kemp have announced that the US patent office has now granted two patents on the EQ and dynamics sampling technology used in the company's flagship award-winning FX8000 Replicator, and under licence in the Focusrite Liquid Mix and Liquid Channel.

Mike Kemp said: "I was investigating reasons why digital processing wasn't sounding good 10 years ago when I invented the techniques covered in these two patents. There have been many other people wanting to do the same, perhaps inspired by technical papers and demonstrations I have given over the past few years. I'm pleased that although it has taken a long time to get these patents through the international system and issued in the United States, at least the priority of my ideas has been acknowledged to precede many recent offerings."

The two patents cover both the much discusse

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Switzerland - Despite rain and less than summery temperatures, about 800,000 ravers attended this year's Street Parade. This, the 15th parade, opened by top DJ Sven Väth, took place on 12 August. Whitelight Licht & Eventtechnik, of Burgdorf, took over the sound supervision for techno-electro label Seilerhausproductions. The sounds of DJs Scaloni, Tomcat, Navis and Surfer were delivered vbia a K.M.E. QS 5 touring system, with 28 subs QBH 1181 and 15 top parts QSH 1122 with appropriate amplification. The systems were stacked U-shaped on the 32m long Love Mobile. According to the enthusiastic techno fans on the way, the mobile was one of the loudest but at the same time best-sounding of the whole parade, say K.M.E.

At night, the official after Street Parade party 'Energy 2006' was staged in five different locations in Zurich. For the hardcore party ("Hotter than Hell vs. Hell

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UK - Carfin Lourdes Grotto in the Diocese of Motherwell is Scotland's National Shrine to Our Blessed Lady. It was founded by Canon Thomas Taylor who was inspired by a visit that he and a number of parishioners made to Lourdes around 1920 and his dream was to build a replica of the Lourdes Grotto for the people of Scotland. The shrine is one of the oldest in the world in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes and today welcomes some 35,000 pilgrims annually from throughout the British Isles. From May to October the open-air Grotto is used for Mass and other services.

For such an extensive outdoor site, sound reinforcement is essential. The original sound system consisted of ageing re-entrant horns and the sound quality was poor so Father Thomas Millar of the adjoining St. Francis Xavier church, approached Tony Kennedy of Glasgow-based Teknique Systems to upgrade the system. Kennedy and Da

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UK / Greece - Clockaudio has concluded a distribution agreement for Greece and Cyprus with Audio Group Greece B.V. "Clockaudio is one of the most prestigious microphone manufacturers in the business and we are delighted to be associated with such an industry leader," says Andreas Tsolias, Audio Group Greece technical director. "They offer high quality products and technologies that are suited to many different applications, and we are looking forward with confidence to building a long-term relationship with them and further establishing the Clockaudio brand in Greece."

Clockaudio sales and marketing manager Rod Geary adds: "We are obviously delighted to confirm this distribution agreement with Audio Group Greece which is well established in this territory and has built up an impressive product portfolio and client-base. The region is a growth market and

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UK - VisualDMX will be exhibiting at PLASA this year controlling TDE's LED fixtures on the stand of their UK distributor Lightstorm.

New features of VisualDMX on show will notably include Visual3D running remotely via a network and VisualTouch. VisualTouch is a self contained section of VisualDMX software that enables the software to be run and controlled using a touch screen interface, ideal for installations in bars and clubs where, typically, non-technical staff are often responsible for insuring the mood of the venue, both lights and sound, to suit the event.

For a demonstration of the new features and to see the latest hardware - the Frontier - in action please visit us during PLASA06 at stand no. B39.

(Chris Henry)

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Finland - Since 1887, the Hotel Kämp has been an integral part of Finnish history, blending eastern and western Europe with art, politics and business life. Faithfully restored a while back, this Helsinki hotel today is as genuine and elegant as in the past.

Earlier this year the hotel's restaurants were renovated, with Ideafix, LSC Lighting's Finnish distributor, chosen to supply and install the sound and lighting, and so for Kämp Club, the hotel's cosmopolitan late hour upscale club, an LSC 24-channel EKO system was installed.

The EKO is an ideal choice for venues such as Kämp Club for a variety of reasons, say. Firstly it is one of the most compact dimmers for its capacity (24 x 3kW channels) on the market and often available space in venues is extremely limited. Secondly the availability of the LSCnet option allows the EKO to be controlled via DMX when the venue is in c

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UK - CGA Integration has completed the installation of a new audio system using Electro-Voice loudspeakers at one of London's most prestigious hotels, The Crystal Bar at The Dorchester.

The Crystal Bar manifests all the Dorchester's themes of luxury, quality and high service standards; opening directly onto Park Lane, the venue is compact and opulent, and finished to a high degree of craftsmanship. The Hotel asked Chris Gunton of CGA Integration to provide an audio system that reflected the Dorchester's signature values through high quality, attention to detail and intuitive operation.

The installation had to fit with the design brief, be invisible and yet provide a dynamic audio range and usage flexibility for many different occasions. Interfacing with the hotel fire alarm and procedures was also essential.

The brief from the Dorchester identified an extremely varied scope

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USA - Bandit is proud to announce their involvement with Melissa Etheridge's management team, including manager, Bill Leopold, tour manager, Steven Girmant, production manager, Jon Schimke and lighting designer, David Hamilton for Etheridge's 2006 tour.

With nine albums and twenty-plus years under her belt, Melissa Etheridge is known for being an activist for a variety of causes and charities. However, her talent as a lyricist and her passionate performances are what have earned her respect in the music industry and produced loyal fans.

June of 2006 marked Melissa Etheridge's first tour back since finding out she had cancer in 2004. When deciding on lighting design for Etheridge, Hamilton said that it was more important to focus on the artist and the music than to put on a big flashy production. "I was primarily trying to create subtle scenes and looks rather than big eff

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UK - A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division has supplied and installed the background audio system for the newly refurbished Wembley Arena. The world famous Wembley Arena is London's must play venue, attracting the most legendary artists in the music industry. The venue re-opened to a sell-out concert on 2 April following a fifteen-month, £35 million refurbishment programme.Improvements to the new look Arena's interior include new auditorium seating, promoter hospitality facilities for up to 200 people, crew catering for up to 60 people, a backstage bar and a 200 seater public restaurant and bar.

A.C. Lighting was contracted by Wembley London Limited through Stace Project Management to provide the background audio system for the building's five separate sound zones, including specification and supply of all equipment, custom built AV racks, electrical power and data cab

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USA - Lighting designers Stacey LaBarbera and Paul Rogers used the new Robe LEDBlinder 196 and 148 LTs on the latest US leg of country music legend George Strait's 2006 tour. Straight - with no less than 53 number one hits under his belt - more than any other living artist! - played 18 to 25,000 capacity sheds and arenas across the US and Canada in a new in-the-round production design. Onstage Systems from Dallas, Texas supplied all lighting, sound and video equipment.

LaBarbera was extremely pleased with the performance of the LEDBlinders, which were used over the stage as a wash effect. The LEDBlinder 196LTs (an 8-lite equivalent) were rigged in each of the four corners of the lighting rig, pointing downwards towards the band set up, which was in a circular format centre stage. The LEDBlinder 148LTs (the 4-lite version) were positioned up on the rig, lighting the four differen

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UK - blackbox-av provides standard and bespoke AV equipment, and multimedia installations to the museum, heritage and attraction industries. The company's skill base enables them to fulfil project requirements right through from design to delivery, including creative consultancy, product development and final installation.

July 2006 saw television gardener Alan Titchmarsh host the Gala Opening of their latest prestige project, 'The Experience TV' gallery at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (NMPFT) in Bradford. This £3 million project was funded by a mixture of public and private sector finance and was heavily supported by the BBC. The museum's brief was to design and build a series of custom interactive exhibits that would guide visitors around the past, present and future of television.

blackbox-av began work in February, with their research and d

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UK - After more than two years of careful planning, Harrods has unveiled what is believed to be the largest advertising projection screen in department store retailing - above one of the famous Knightsbridge store's main entrances.

To enable the two Christie S+16K 16,0000 lumen DLP projectors to deliver edge-blended, razor-sharp images onto a vast 4.7 x 3.5 metre portrait canvas, required numerous calculations and a leap of faith on the part of the retailer.

Harrods have long adopted a progressive policy towards digital technology, largely due to the enthusiasm shown by Harrods chairman, Mohamed Al-Fayed himself, and the store's 'Door 5' represented a significant opportunity for them to set a new benchmark for the way retailers communicate to their customers. As a result, trials were successfully conducted by consultants, Wow Factor.

"We always thought this was a very

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USA - In the Philadelphia suburb of Phoenixville, the Valley Forge Christian College's theatre recently underwent a major renovation, including installation of a state-of-the-art audio/video system based around loudspeakers from Community Professional in nearby Chester.

Pottstown-based systems providers Audiobahn worked closely with the school and the architects in designing and installing the theatre's audio, video and lighting systems. "The architects wanted to keep a very open, somewhat industrial look, maintaining the original brick walls, as well as exposed ductwork along the hall's high ceilings. We added light bars and theatrical fixtures as down-firing lighting to wash the brick walls in primary colours, which really creates a great visual feel," says Audiobahn's president Tony Hersch.

The 300-seat theatre is a multi-purpose venue, accommodating everything fr

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