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Germany - The sun has set and the Mercedes Sprinter door closed for the last time this year on the Tannoy & Friends Tour 2006 in Germany. This year the Tannoy tour team was the strongest it has been to date, with special guests Panasonic, Shure, Crestron and Simax all on board and presenting their latest new products. Kicking off in Frankfurt on 17th October, the tour travelled clockwise around the country stopping at seven cities in nine days! (Frankfurt, Remscheid, Hamburg, Berlin, Halle, Munich and Stutgartt).

Celebrating 80 years in business this year, Tannoy presented their latest products to feature their renowned Dual Concentric drive unit. Since its invention six decades ago, the Scottish-based loudspeaker manufacturer's point source drive unit technology has been constant

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UK - Stardraw Control, the multi-award winning control application from design and control software systems developer, Stardraw.com has been named as a finalist for the Technology InAVation 2007 award in the category of Most Innovative Control Product for Commercial Use. The nomination coincides with the landmark 5,000 user tally, an astonishing achievement in just over twelve months when the product was still only in beta form.

Stardraw's marketing director, Rob Robinson, is delighted that Stardraw Control has qualified as a finalist for the inaugural Technology InAVation Awards which will be held at the forthcoming ISE show in Amsterdam next February. "Stardraw Control has already been recognised at several prestigious industry awards, and the Technology InAVation nomination serves as further testament to the truly innovative nature of the product," noted Robinson. &

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UK - ChristChurch, London, has recently purchased an Innovason Sy48 Evolution digital console package to handle all of their FOH and monitoring needs at their new venue, the 1200-seat Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End.

Technical director Rhys Scott was looking for a console that would be intuitive to use, flexible, fast to work on and with high audio quality. Furthermore, as the console is largely used by volunteers, it needed to be accessible and logically laid out. "I met the Innovason team at the Messe in Frankfurt earlier in the year and was given a demo of the Sy48. It was extremely impressive, and there was no doubt that it met all of our criteria," said Scott. "We were looking to have the new console in place before we moved to our new venue at the Piccadilly Theatre, and fortunately for us, Innovason launched their 'New for Old" initiative just

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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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France - Blackout, a supplier of drapes, rigging, starcloth and track, will exhibit on stand F67 at Heavent 2007 alongside three individual expert event suppliers including ETC Audiovisuelle, G-lec and Lumison. Heavent will take place between 21 - 23 November, 2006 at the Hippodrome de Longchamp in Paris.

"We have seen a rapid growth in recent years whereby the four companies products are often used alongside each other in a vast range of events ranging from exhibitions, seminars, parties, fashion extravaganzas and even multi-site product launches," explains Dominic Peissel, Gerant at Blackout France. "Heavent provides the perfect platform to showcase each company's expertise, talents and specialised products in an integrated show scenario."

On the stand, Blackout will feature their drapes, rigging, LED starcloth, track and Easi-Build Pipe and Drape system.

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Egypt - 2006 marks the hundredth anniversary of the late Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's. As a main event and closing ceremony of the worldwide 'Ibsen year', Peer Gynt was performed in Giza beside the Sphinx. For lighting control AVAB/CAC Norway who supported the project, used one grandMA full-size, one grandMA light and two NSPs.

Lighting designer Torkel Skjerven and his assistants Andreas Glad and Stefan Dombeck created a sophisticated show. "The lighting equipment was provided locally by High Lights Egypt while AVAB/CAC provided the grandMA control system," reports Skjerven, "We ran a network of grandMA full-size together with grandMA light as well as multiple grandMA onPC laptops. When dealing with multiple types of fixtures, grandMA gives a great overview of groups, presets as well as colour mixing. Its use of colour coding and different views make

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Canada - An Allen & Heath ML5000 VCA mixer has been installed in the fictionalstudio of the popular Canadian TV show, Instant Star. Now in its thirdseason, the TV drama chronicles the life of a feisty young rock star,Jude Harrison, who has won a recording contract with G-Major studios.

"Our main objective with Instant Star is to make the series as realisticas possible to accurately reflect the music industry, which is why wehad to have a fully functioning board and not just a set piece. This isenhanced with the presence of the Allen & Heath ML5000 mixer, which isthe centrepiece of our recording studio set in the fictitious 'G Major'Studio," explains executive producer, Stephen Stohn. "Many of the show'sfans are intrigued by the music business, so the challenge is to haveall the equipment working as a real studio with the mixer at the coreoperating as

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Europe - EAW has reported massive sales in Europe of their compact line array system, KF730. Year-to-date sales alone have topped the $2 million mark with further significant sales scheduled before the end of the year.

According to European technical sales manager, Sean Martin, these figures offer ample testament to the fact that KF730 is the leading system of its class, and that the European EAW line array network is a highly productive organisation.

"We have customers all over Europe, from as far afield as Rumania (where we've just sold another large system via our distributors, Stage Expert), Portugal, Spain, and even Iceland, to name but a few," noted Martin. "We have an extremely strong network of well over forty European distributors who, in conjunction with our own application support specialists, have worked particularly hard holding line array demonstra

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UK - PLASA has announced that the next meeting of its Manufacturers Forum will take place on Tuesday 5 December at the DTI Conference Centre in central London. The Forum, which was established in 2005 to allow PLASA to better understand the issues faced by its manufacturing members, is open to any member company who wishes to attend.

One of the dominant themes of the December forum will be a discussion of Ofcom's proposals, as part of the planned TV switchover from analogue to digital, to sell-off the radio frequencies currently used by the UK entertainment industry. If the sell-off goes ahead as planned, it will leave the UK live events sector without a licence - a major blow for the industry.

Thanks to a strategy suggested by PLASA and its political lobbyists Ranelagh, BEIRG is now lobbying Government to highlight the damage that the spectrum sell-off will have to a sector t

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Norway - Since 1989, the performance of Peer Gynt in Gålå has been one of the highlights of the Norwegian open-air season. This year, over 150,000 spectators made a pilgrimage to the open-air stage to enjoy Ibsen's celebrated drama, set to music by Edvard Grieg. The idyllic lakeside setting, framed by mountains and forests, made the play a truly unforgettable experience. With no cars, or trains, or city noise to distract the listener, it seemed every word spoken and every note played was expressed with a far greater intensity than in the theatres, concert halls and opera houses of the major cities.

Naturally, the organisers were aware of the unique acoustics prior to the event, so they asked MultiTechnic to provide a sonic image that, according to Erik S. Landsem of the Oslo-based sound specialists, "would appear to be issuing not from the loudspeakers, but from th

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UK - Audio-Technica Ltd. has reported that this year's Music Live show was its most successful ever. Highlights included record visitor numbers on the company's stand, a prize draw featuring Audio-Technica endorsees Breed77, a Bluetooth mobile phone promotion, and record sales of microphones and headphones.

Audio-Technica's Music Live stand design featured the Zen inspired themes unveiled at PLASA. In contrast to the frenetic energy throughout the rest of the show, the stand featured a clean, gallery like approach to the display of products and graphics.

Over 500 entries were received for the Breed77 prize draw, held on the first day of the show. Prizes, which were presented on the day by the band, included Audio-Technica ATH-EM7 GM headphones, signed tee shirts and copies of the band's new album 'In My Blood'.

A new feature of the company's marketing campaign was an animate

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UK / USA - Clear-Com a Vitec Group brand, has announced the appointment of Graham Ramsey as vice president of worldwide sales and support. Ramsey will establish and direct the sales and support efforts in Cambridge, UK and in Emeryville, California.

Ramsey spent 18 years at Vinten Broadcast, Ltd., where he held the position of general manager, responsible for the commercial operation of Vinten Broadcast, Ltd. in its global markets. His experience managing sales and customer support programmes successfully in the broadcast business will help drive Clear-Com's sales and support efforts.

"We are extremely thrilled to have Graham join the Clear-Com team,"said Matt Danilowicz, managing director of Vitec Group Communications."Graham's successful track record in managing sales and service organisations, deep market knowledge in Broadcasting, and extensive experience ru

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Australia - Haycom Staging has purchased a number of LSC Lighting e24v2 touring dimmers. These units provide a complete portable solution with 24 channels of dimming, 2:1series/parallel patch bay and Socapex or Weiland outputs connectors, all in a compacttouring roadcase, says the company.

"They're a nice, compact dimmer rack with flexible patching on them and LSC is a wellregarded, reliable brand," says Steve Leiter, lighting director at HaycomStaging.

Leiter had a thorough look at all available dimmers on the market but the LSC e24v2package stood out for a variety of reasons. In particular the LCD touch screen on thecontrol panel impressed him. "It allows a quick access to all the functions via simplemenus and also allows you to record internal scenes and looks via the DMXsnapshots," he said. The e24v2 also includes an LSCnet interface as standard, so the

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UK - Theatre sound specialist Orbital has supplied London's Young Vic with an advanced Q-series d&b audiotechnik system, which features as part of the newly augmented technical infrastructure of the theatre. Re-opening after an extensive 3-year redevelopment project, London's Young Vic has been transformed into a larger and more flexible theatre complex designed by London based architects Haworth Tompkins.

To meet the demands of The Young Vic's innovative and expanding programme, the project has radically enhanced its facilities both front of house and backstage. Comprising its main auditorium restored to the highest and ultra-contemporary standards, it now features two new spaces : the Maria (capacity 160) and the Clare (capacity 80). The Young Vic now also provides audiences with welcoming public areas, a split level Cut Bar & Restaurant - boasting extensive entertaining facil

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Australia - Jands Production Services has added a Digidesign Venue live sound console to its ever-expanding hire inventory. "JPS purchased the Digidesign Venue as part of our commitment to supplying the latest technology to service our clients needs and due to its stable platform, reliability and constant appearance on technical riders," said Jim Straw, general manager of JPS. "We are now the first rental company in Australia to offer a fully optioned 96ch D-Show Console."

The Digidesign Venue console has made its debut for JPS on the current Pearl Jam tour with front-of-house engineer Greg Nelson in the driver's seat. Having graduated from a Midas XL4 to a Yamaha PM5D last year, Nelson decided to switch to the Venue console four months ago. "I'm very comfortable operating the Venue," stated Nelson at the band's sold-out Sydney gig. "It's laid

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Germany - Software Design Ahnert GmbH (SDA) has released version 1.4 of EASE Focus, its freely available, publicly licensed program for configuring line arrays and modelling their performance. Version 1.4 includes English, German and Spanish translations of the software and help files, and updates to AutoSplay, the mapping displays and other important functions. SDA has simplified the array configuration process and made it more intuitive in Version 1.4.

EASE Focus provides accurate predictions of line array performance using the same acoustic engine as EASE, the industry standard software for simulating and designing acoustical environments and sound systems. Line array cabinets can be defined as complex models that include multiple sources. Other enhancements to Version 1.4 include extended Print Report functionality and improved online updates as well as enhanced modelling of

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UAE - Production Technology LLC better known in Dubai as Protec recently provided full lighting production services to their Dubai based client, Al Nabooda Automobiles, on the occasion of the Middle East's largest ever car launch. This took place in the iconic Sheikh Rashid Hall of Dubai's International Convention Centre, within the United Arab Emirates.

Al Nabooda, the leading Audi distributor in the Middle East, launched the latest top of the range SUV from Audi: the Q7. The event was attended by over a thousand invited guests, including selected local VIPs.

The set consisted of, among others, eight hydraulic scissor lifts, four of which lifted two cars through the stage, with the other four featuring UK based pyrotechnic performers from Phoenix Productions.

Eight cars were flown in from the roof of the venue, as part of the reveal, under state of the art motor control sys

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UK - Leeds' Grand Theatre, the performance base for Opera North, has reopened to great acclaim after a two year transformation programme by BDP.

The Grand Theatre built in 1878 was a major milestone in Victorian theatre building and is listed Grade II. Once described as "probably the finest theatre of its size in Britain," the Grand's 19th century facilities no longer met present day audience and performance expectations. Working conditions backstage and facilities for artists were increasingly difficult and inefficient.

The £16m first phase works on the theatre have involved new seating, improved sight lines, better ventilation and improved facilities for the disabled. Backstage, the fly tower and flying systems have been upgraded, and two new rehearsal rooms constructed on an adjacent site are connected to the Theatre by a wide bridge, which also acts as a sc

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UK - Working for design agency Rapiergroup, Stage One was asked to build the set to celebrate the Brent Field's 30th year of operation in oil and gas for Shell. The project included a number of display areas complete with graphics, several sculptural pieces and staging and presentation areas.

"This project proved to be a tough physical challenge as it required a huge amount of staging," said Ted Featonby, project manager for Stage One. He continued: "This is demonstrated by the fact that at the height of the build we had nearly 40 Stage One employees on site."

The Aberdeen Conference Centre was transformed for the series of events. In the reception area Stage One provided three graphics areas by constructing three, semi-circular towers. Made of steel tubing, these were 4m high with a diameter also of 4m, with graphics applied. In front of them were three ab

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UK - RG Jones Hire Department has invested in the latest Yamaha LS9 series console, following RG's recent installation of two of the consoles into the Great Hall at Guildhall - upgrading the analogue system that was installed by RG Jones during the 1980s. The LS9 is both compact and light enough for one person to move and set up easily and includes features that have been field-proven in previous Yamaha digital consoles offering outstanding sonic quality, say RG Jones.

In addition to an extensive range of gating, compression, and equalization capabilities, there's also a built-in USB memory recorder/player for recording or BGM playback, and other functionality that give you everything you need for small to medium scale live sound or installed applications in remarkably compact, all-in-one console.

RG Jones project manager for the Guildhall, Jon Berry said: "The main reaso

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UK - A Stage Pyrotechnics Safety Awareness Course will take place on Tuesday 28 November, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London.

The event will be hosted by Stage Electrics and for more information contact Sara Alarabi on 0117 937 9503.

(Chris Henry)

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UK - This year's switching-on of the Oxford Street Christmas lights event was organised by Clear Island Productions in conjunction with the event's media partner Heart FM. The event was staged before a crowd of 10,000 on a platform, specially built and installed by Vertigo Rigging, above the main entrance of Selfridges department store and featured live performances by All Saints, Katie Price and Peter Andre.

Vertigo Rigging built the platform on twin truss legs, with the platform itself mounted atop 52cm Libera flat section truss using the company's latest decking product, Flightdeck. The structure, pre-rigged and lifted in and out by crane, was secured to the building's canopy using rigging points previously installed at Selfridges by Vertigo for a promotional event in 2004.

Clear Island Productions supplied the PA and lights, while Mojo Barriers provided barriers. Security

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