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USA - JBL Professional has been awarded US patent protection on its ScreenArray cinema loudspeaker technology. This patent, the third for the ScreenArray family, applies to mid-range array loudspeaker design for use with low-frequency and high-frequency modules in cinema or theatre loudspeaker array systems.

The midrange module is configured with multiple drivers and a waveguide unit that provides uniform sound coverage throughout a theater auditorium, with substantially seamless crossovers at 250Hz and 1.5kHz and with the vertical beam-width held substantially constant by an electrical filter network. The patent addresses the need for a loudspeaker system that is shallower than a conventional horn design, yet provides the frequency pattern control of the horn design and the selec

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UK - PSL, the London-based event services company, is expanding its presence in London, with its appointment as Preferred AV and production partner to one of the capital's most stylish meeting venues, Vinopolis.

Since Vinopolis opened in 1999, it has strongly developed its unique dual identity as a wine-tasting visitor attraction with an impressive capacity for corporate and private events. Developed over a three-acre site beneath 140-year-old Victorian railway arches, alongside London Bridge and Borough Market, Vinopolis offers a a range of spectacular spaces for banquets, conferences, exhibitions, product launches, weddings and social functions. Six distinct areas, underneath 21 soaring arches, regularly welcome party sizes of 10 to 1250 guests, making it one of the City's most sought-after locations.

With a staff member permanently on site at Vinopolis, PSL will now handle

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UK - PixelRange lighting fixtures are LED luminaires for entertainment and architectural applications. New fixtures for PLASA 06 include two PixelLine Micros, compact versions of the legendary 1044 and 110 battens - a small housing but the same power.

The PixelLine micro E is a three cell effects batten featuring 174 high brightness red, green and blue 5mm LEDs and the PixelLine micro W is a wash batten containing 22 red, green, blue and amber Luxeon K2 LEDs. Both fixtures feature completely new software which includes 16 bit intensity personalities and a sophisticated user programmable effects engine that can be synchronised across multiple fixtures. Both units can be integrated with full size battens.

The PixelArc series, introduces two self-contained units offering the choice of a circular head (PixelArc C) containing 44 new K2 Luxeon red, green, blue and amber LEDs or a re

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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 - Allen & Heath has released a new software suite comprising new firmware and Mac configuration utility software for its mixer/controller, the Xone:3D. The updates include an improved interface for Mac users and greater MIDI functionality.

The updated utility software provides an interface - identical to the PC version - for users with Mac computers to set up and configure their 3D unit.

Key to the firmware release - v.1.10 - is the inclusion of a MIDI merge facility, which enables MIDI data from external devices to be combined with the MIDI data from the Xone:3D control surface and passed via USB to the software. The new firmware also includes full MIDI duplex, whichenables MIDI data generated by the software to be sent back down the USB and out of the Xone:3D MIDI socket to an external device, such as a sequencer or sound generation module.

MIDI time clocks can now be g

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UK - 400 employees of O2 were given a night of entertainment to remember in July when phone manufacturer Motorola staged a spectacular evening at Manchester's New Century Hall, organised by event producers Rodber Thorneycroft. Birmingham-based PSP was appointed to provide all of the technical services for the event.

Hosted by popular TV presenter Vernon Kay, guests were invited to take part in two game shows, entitled SLVR of Fortune and Play Your RAZR. One of the UK's brightest new music stars, Paolo Nutini sang four songs from his new album, while magician Paul Zenon and comedian Al Murray added to the entertainment.

The event proved to be technically complex: PSP's 8-way buzzer system was used for the quiz section as well as Flash to create a random name selector for participants. All of the quiz graphics were specifically designed to reflect the Motorola brand. For the sou

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UK - The inaugural Canada Day in Trafalgar Square took place on 30 June. Staged by Canada Day London, it was a celebration of the country's national day with a lively programme of entertainment. Events kicked off at two o'clock with street hockey (the summer version of Canada's national sport), Canadian food, arts and crafts and street performers. Canada on Stage began at five, with performances from across Canada including Dance Saskatchewan and Leeroy Stagger with his blend of country, rock and punk.

Sound for this event (and for Europride the following day) was provided by Britannia Row and included a Turbosound Aspect loudspeaker system with XTA processing and MC2 Audio amplification. Nine Aspect TA-890H cabinets were hung three-deep per side with an additional TA-500 Aspect Wide per side directed outwards to ensure complete coverage.

"Aspect is a very powerful little

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Germany / UK - Coolux will unveil a number of new products at PLASA '06. First up, the Pandoras Box MediaManager is a standalone control and overview software which allows the user to operate and control the company's Pandoras Box MediaServers or MediaPlayers with his own Laptop or PC. The software comes in three versions light (LT), standard (STD) and professional (PRO). Only the STD and PRO version allow a standalone programming. The light version (LT) is an additional device viewer for programming Pandoras Box with any DMX lighting board and allows a better overview of projects and files. The MediaManager STD is a one timeline based programmable software solution; with MediaManager PRO users can have two timelines for programming, and it also comes with an additional hardware keypad including Jog shuttle and Pre-Set buttons.

Next, the Pandoras Box MediaVision is designed to c

Details
UK - PRG Europe Sales have been awarded the exclusive distributorship of Pathway products in Europe. Pathway Connectivity is the leading data communications company in the entertainment lighting industry. Based in Canada, Pathway has been defining the future of lighting network functionality for more that a decade.

Founder and president of Pathway, Dave Higgins says: "We're very pleased to be able to expand our long-standing relationship with the PRG organisation. As Pathway's exclusive distributor in the European, Middle Eastern and African regions, PRG Europe's commitment to these markets will ensure that our new product ranges, as well as our CE and RoHS programs, receive maximum exposure. The opportunity to work with the great sales team at PRG Europe is the icing on the cake for Pathway."

Pathway designs, manufactures and supports an innovative family of product

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USA - The General Electric Company (GE) through its Consumer & Industrial business, and the Nichia Corporation, have announced a strategic alliance agreement to support GELcore LLC, based in Cleveland, Ohio. GELcore, formed in 1999, was previously a joint venture between GE and the Emcore Corporation of Somerset, New Jersey. GE purchased Emcore's 49% interest in the joint venture for $100m, demonstrating its ongoing commitment to invest in LED technology and the future of lighting.

This agreement combines GELcore's LED system strengths in the Transportation, Signage, Specialty Illumination, and General Illumination segments with Nichia's extensive phosphor and optoelectronics products, such as LEDs. Both companies expect to benefit significantly from each other's expertise and penetrate the high-growth LED general illumination segment.

"This agreement is a true win-win ou

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UK - Vertigo Rigging lived up to its tag line of 'rigging revolutionaries' by pulling off one of the most spectacular car launches ever staged to mark the start of the 2006 British International Motor Show in London in July.

Flying in the face of everyone who said "it can't be done", Vertigo unveiled Opel's new Corsa to the world's press and industry VIPs by flying the car, suspended beneath a specially modified helicopter, along the River Thames through the heart of the City of London and straight into a big reveal in the Old Billingsgate Fish Market with split-second precision.

The car maker's PR agency had proposed a helicopter-based reveal as a dramatic statement - an idea which was promptly rejected by safety authorities. Undaunted, and convinced that the concept was a winner, Opel brought in events specialist Jack Morton Worldwide to come up with a workable sol

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UK - Hawthorn has announced that Mark Bailey has joined the company as a project manager. A renowned lighting designer, Mark Bailey, has been successfully running his own lighting company, Embee Lighting, for the last 17 years, working with a diverse range of clients, including major corporates.

"For the last 10 years I have had an association with Hawthorn and had admired how the company had grown, with the right attitude and philosophy for our industry," said Bailey, "so when Martin Hawthorn offered me the opportunity to join the Hawthorn team, I was flattered and I am really looking forward to 'making a difference' for our clients, in my new role."

"Mark is a valued member to the growing team at Hawthorn," said general manager Simon Wood, "He did a great job on his first project for us at the Edinburgh Moonwalk and we expect great things f

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UK - Ford's extensive presence at the British Motor Show at Excel Arena, London, lacked nothing of the company's usual high-spec display - despite a reduced get-in period of five days instead of the 10 usually enjoyed by the big European motor shows. Ford's presence is not due solely to its own large stand, but also to the adjacent stands of it subsidiary brands - Mazda, Jaguar and Land Rover.

Designed for Ford by London-based design house Imagination, the stands incorporate some of the latest LED screen technology provided by CT London, lighting supplied by Static Lighting (conventionals) and PRG Europe (moving lights - crew-chiefed by last month's Letters competition winner, Matt Bull!), and audio from Dimension Audio, CT's Avesco stablemate.

Imagination's developing concept for the Ford stand involved a 'clean' ceiling, making its first appearance in Europe, which concealed

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UK - ETC dealers and staff will be showing off the company's latest lighting control console, Congo jr, at PLASA 2006. Packing the same channel and output counts as the original Congo and running the same operating software, the sibling comes in a standard 19" rack-style modular design console. This makes it an extremely flexible desk for smaller venues and an ideal back-up unit for the larger console, say the company.

As part of its flexible design, Congo jr features an optional Master Playback Wing, which accesses all 40 multi-purpose masters of the main console. The Master Playback Wing contains 40 faders and two LCDs in the same configuration as the Congo console, for full playback capability and complete control of all masters and Direct Selects.

With the international communications standard ACN having just received ratification by the ESTA Technical Standards Progr

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UK - Launch earlier this year at ProLight+Sound inFrankfurt, the Tube from G-LEC is the first 'walk-through' LED system. The Tube follows the same principles as the company's highly acclaimed transparent LED frame systems - but minus the frame. Without the frame, each individual transparent tube hangs free, so walking through the G-LEC Tube is like walking through a slash or beaded curtain. With the ability to create a 'forest' of LEDs, including different lengths of individual tubes, this brings enormous potential to lighting and set designers, from having performers literally walk through the set to a dramatic 3D design, say G-LEC. Like the G-LEC Classic and the PhantomFrame systems, the G-LEC Tube is transparent to light, audio and wind.

G-LEC - stand D30 + D33.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Denon DJ says it was as delighted that Janette Slack walked away with a pair of its flagship DN-S3500 CD/MP3 players for winning the recent DJoust shoot-out, as the fast-rising electronic star was to bag them. Sponsored by Fruityloopy Promotions, the event attracted some of London's best unknown DJs, but Janette was already firmly on many people's radar.

The precociously-talented Eurasian remixer/producer already has eight years DJing experience, and with a wealth of worldwide club appearances - ranging from Montreal to Sydney and Croatia, she has still managed to build up a huge following in London through residencies at Platform 12 and Ali B's Air, as well as highly-acclaimed dance tracks such as Shake & Play (on the Ali B presents Air Breaks album) and Never Enough (on Re:Connect). On top of that she has been tipped as a Mixmag 'Future Hero'.

Janette only entered DJous

Details
UK - Blackout provided all rigging, starcloth and drapes for a major fundraising event designed to aid Chase Hospice and DebRA, two specialist charities for the needs of children. Both charities are passionately supported by showbiz personalities, Anthea Turner and Grant Bovey.

The event took place on 15 July at Grant and Anthea's stunning country home in Surrey. Guests included media friends, celebrities and general public ticket holders. Everyone present was wined and dined, and then entertained by some famous names from the world of television and showbiz including The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Duncan James, Keedie, Chico and Lulu. Hosted by Bobbie Davro, Master of Ceremonies, there were two auctions during the evening including a Silent Auction. Prizes in the second auction included a shopping trip with Liz Hurley, a weekend on a yacht in the Mediterranean, an ap

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Canada - LTS, based in Vancouver, recently invested in an Adamson Y-Axis rig, comprising 16 Adamson Y10 High Mids and four T21 Subwoofers. "We have used the rig for several productions in the past year, and have had nothing but excellent feedback regarding the system," commented Alan Le Texier.

Alan and Don Le Texier are the owners of LTS Pro Sound & Lighting, a division of Le Texier Systems Inc, which has been providing sales, rentals, consulting, design, installations, and production services to Vancouver and the Lower Mainland for over eighteen years. LTS production services provides sound and lighting equipment as well as transportation, set-up and human resources, and has supplied services for events such as The Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition and The Blue Mountain Blues Festival.

The company's equipment sales division offers products such as portable sound system

Details
Worldwide - QSC's C-series ceiling speakers are playing an important role on the current Robbie Williams Close Encounters tour - as part of a unique electronic media concept, piloted for Blink TV.

The company responsible for the video wanted to develop a system whereby electronic merchandise would be advertised to the tour audience by way of many large screen displays around the outside of the event arenas.

The idea was that SMS messaging would be given to text certain words to obtain video or music downloads onto the user's mobile phones. The displays were required to be housed in weather-resistant casings, be easily maintainable and be able to provide a good quality, high level audio output.

To achieve the solution Blink TV approached Jon Swain's company SPC, who were asked to advise and project manage the entire manufacture and supply of the equipment together with

Details
France- The Théâtre Antique is one of France's largest Roman amphitheatres. Capable of seating over 13,000 spectators, it is also the central location for the spectacular Jazz à Vienne festival.

A peaceful village on the beautiful east bank of the Rhône, Vienne has hosted the festival for 26 years. This year's two-week event played host to a number of world-renowned artists: George Benson, Sonny Rollins, Gilberto Gil, Bettye Lavette, Marcus Miller and many others. At the same time, at other historical sites and temporary venues around the town, numerous smaller scale performances are given.

Lyon-based rental company La Boîte à Son provides PA for the festival. FOH engineer/babysitter Jean Lyonnet discusses his audio solution: "As far as console goes, I choose to use the Innovason Sy80 at front-of-house. The amphitheatre is not a simple venue and we invariably

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Spain - With Glastonbury's Michael Eavis giving his cattle and himself a rest this year, UK festival revellers found themselves with a gaping hole in their hedonistic summer calendar. Internet festival guides and dirt-cheap flights solved the problem and British music fans Easyjetted over to Spain in their droves. However, this apparently had its own repercussions as the 12th Festival Internacional de Benicassim (FIB) or 'Glasto del Sol' (as it is now affectionately know by the Brits) got underway.

More familiar with the essentially chilled out relaxed Spanish audiences, the organisers of FIB were not prepared for the huge influx of UK music fans or their resolute desire to be at the front of the crowd. This nearly had a devastating outcome. On the first night, 25 minutes into the Pixies' set, the front barrier that separates the stage and the audience gave way. The traumatised

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UK - To a fair cross-section of the entertainment industry's businesses, job-specific education is akin to a sexual disease: it makes students unsuitable for most jobs, yet doesn't stop them from trying to pass it on to others.

However, there are those who are doing something to change this view. One such company is Deep Blue Sound (DBS). Over the past four years it has made huge inroads into bringing the professional audio industry and public education sector together, developing a positive and symbiotic alliance.

Started by Dave Puttick and Nigel Burt, DBS was initially established to bring commercial recording studio facilities to the UK's under-resourced South West region. However, due to a healthy measure of fate and the partners' ability to spot a gap in a market, DBS has successfully combined access to professional-level audio technology facilities with recognised acade

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