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USA - Indiana-based Apollo Design Technology Inc, a leading manufacturer and distributor of lighting effects products and accessories for the entertainment industry, was granted an occupancy permit for the recently completed 5,000sq.ft building expansion at its headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The space will be used for additional glass gobo production and warehousing for its growing lines of gel and motion effects products and accessories.

"Everyone at Apollo welcomes the additional space," states company founder and president Joel Nichols. "Not only can we expand and breathe, it will also allow us to pursue additional opportunities within the entertainment industry."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Kinesys' hugely flexible K2 3D automation control system is in action on the Night of The Proms spectacular, currently playing two weeks of sold out shows at Rotterdam's Ahoy arena.

The system is controlling twenty 500kg VariStar motors (with a speed of up to 30 metres a minute) which are moving four large 'shamrocks' - irregular triangular shaped trussing set pieces - dressed with reflective scrims and four bars each rigged with four Vari*Lite 2500 Spots upstage. All these pieces appear to 'float' in and out during the performance - such is the smoothness and accuracy of K2.

The system was specified by lighting and visual designer Geert Vanhout, who first saw it used with Belgian rock superstars Clouseau. It's being supplied by leading Belgian production company EML who are also supplying lighting and sound to the Night of The Proms production.

Three moto

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UK - The British Bridal Exhibition is now firmly established as Europe's premier bridal trade show. For bridal retailers and buyers, it offers a fantastic opportunity to browse and buy from over 145 of the finest bridal manufacturers and designers across the world. It attracts over 8,000 visitors every year and takes place in Harrogate International Exhibition Centre.

Rick Lawson of Funtime AV was given the challenge of lighting the main catwalk. He explains the design of the lighting, "The brief was to build a set incorporating lighting and effects from a basic design. Our aim was to achieve balanced coverage of white light on the catwalk with a pallet of sometimes dramatic backdrops to create a very different scene for each designer in the show."

The lights used for the event were MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 550s and MAC 250 Washes and Kryptons, plus the usual PARcans an

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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 - Whilst many major towns and cities across the UK are served by local theatres, each playing a multipurpose role within the community, The Lights in Andover has raised the bar a good deal higher.

Originally built in 1972, the waterfront location was a run-down venue when it was taken over by the local Test Valley Borough Council. But this Autumn it has emerged as a vibrant regenerated facility, with its own leisure arena, dance studio and theatre, which will accommodate an ambitious programme of music, theatre, comedy, dance, education and conferencing.

The theatre has undergone the first UK installation of QSC's ILA line array sound reinforcement system, which was recommended and installed by locally-based specialists Stagecraft Theatre Services Ltd (STS).

Stagecraft have been in business for three decades - and specifying QSC products for at least the last ten years. I

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UK - With a UK tour that started in June, British soul singer and songwriter Terri Walker has been talent-spotted by Shuttlesound as the perfect endorsee for Electro-Voice's wireless microphones. The former Mercury Prize and MOBO nominee has an outstanding vocal range and timbre, which is served by the EV RE1, and the endorsement also includes guitarists Toby Oriyende and Joel Grant, who are using EV's wireless guitar systems.

Terri's third album, I Am, has just been released by Dekkor Records, which also operates the successful Pizza Express jazz venue in Soho's Dean Street. Showcasing her new live act at the club, prior to the summer festival scene, provided her first opportunity to try out the Electro-Voice mics.

"The microphone is my instrument," says Terri, "it's a vital tool in creating a close connection with each audience member, and making them f

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UK - As part of a "world-wide shake-up", Vestax products are once again hitting high demand, with DJ endorsees including Carl Cox and US based DJ Qbert stressing their role in the club install market, according to UK distributor, Leisuretec Distribution.

Appearing at Brighton's Ocean Rooms this autumn, DJ Qbert & DJ Muzzell utilised the Vestax PMC-08Pro professional hybrid digital mixer and QFO system. Whereas the QFO is portable and ideal for scratch and trick mixes, the PMC-08 is the first scratch mixer with digital processing; a great install product that may be a hidden gem for venues, says Muzzell: "I got the PMC 08 a few days ago and didn't go out for 24 hours. It has an analogue-to-digital converter built in, which enables DJs to shape the sound very precisely. The up-faders are fantastic; they've got a new curve which means they cut in right at the top. In

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Denmark - Copenhagen was Stage One's destination when, for the fifth year running, the company was asked to apply its experience and skills to the MTV Europe Music Awards, one of the most prestigious events in the music calendar.

Working for MTV Networks Europe, Stage One built all of the Ray Winkler-designed stage and set elements, along with specific band extras for several of the artists, including Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, P Diddy and Rihanna.

The main stage and performance areas consisted of a 40m diameter, horseshoe shaped stage, along with a 12m diameter central performance area and several presenter islands. All stage areas were clad in over 900sq.m of black mirror gloss laminate, with a three-strip Neo Light detail to the edges.

Providing several unusual access points onto the stage were two time tunnels consisting of structural rings, inserted with Neo Ligh

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USA - JBL Professional Vertec system owner Sound Image was recently named the winner of a 2006 Parnelli Award for Sound Company of the Year. The award was presented to Sound Image president Dave Shadoan on October 20 at the LDI convention in Las Vegas. The Parnelli Awards are chosen by subscribers of Projection, Lights & Staging News and Front of House magazines.

In 2006, Sound Image serviced some of the world's most successful tours, including Toby Keith, Eric Clapton, Tool, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, and Jimmy Buffett. On these tours, Sound Image deployed Vertec line array systems, using Vertec VT4889 full-size line array enclosures and VT4880 line array subwoofers. "Our company philosophy is to be the best you can be and give 110 percent at all times," Shadoan said.

According to Shadoan, the use of Vertec line arrays correlates directly with this philosophy. &qu

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UK - The first Avolites Pearl Expert is on tour with Paul Weller - specified by LD Pip Rhodes. When Weller told Rhodes he wanted the show to be operated 'live', rather than pre-programmed or replayed in a cue list style, this seemed an ideal opportunity to road-test the new console, which is designed for even more flexible 'hands-on' operation than the original Pearl.

"He wanted a real authentic 'feel' thing going on with the lighting, in line with his music" explains Rhodes, who is very happy to run the show in this spontaneous manner.

Rhodes has always been an Avolites fan - and the Pearl has always been the ultimate 'live' operational desk. The start of the Weller tour coincided with the launch of the Pearl Expert which offers additional live operational features, and so Rhodes thought this was an ideal opportunity to thoroughly road test the desk.

The desk is c

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Europe / North America / Middle East - A.C. Lighting Ltd reports that there are just a few more days left to enter the company's online competition to win a Jands Vista S3 lighting control system. The competition runs until midnight (GMT) on this Friday 1 December and is open to participants living in Europe, North America and the Middle East, say the company.

Entrants have the chance to win a 1024-channel Vista S3 (with a list price of $9,244 / £4,200) or one of 100 free one-day vista training vouchers. The Vista S3 puts all the revolutionary features of the full-scale console into a desk that can fit under an arm. Jands provides the control surface and Vista software. Users install the software on their PC, connect it to the S3 via USB cable and it becomes a fully operational Vista console.

Entry to the competition is free. For full details and to submit your entry, vi

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Norway - The cineo3+ 1080 projector from projectiondesign is a true 1080p HDTV resolution projector that uses 1920 x 1080 DLPTM technology.

"Offering the best possible reliability and accurate picture detail, the cineo3+ 1080 projector meets the stringent demands of High Definition applications," says Anders L°kke, Marcoms manager at projectiondesign. "This single-chip projector is used in a vast range of applications around the globe including digital dailies, post production work and HD screenings, high quality graphics generation, 3D graphics and mapping, command, control and surveillance, broadcast control room and presentation areas, medical imaging, automotive design, and even digital signage."

Key operational features include a failsafe DuArch architecture whereby lamps are replaced whilst the projector is operating with no down time. The compact

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Italy - Martin Audio loudspeakers feature in a revolutionary Italian leisure hospitality concept which has opened in Brescia. Known as MYA Dinner Moving the premises simultaneously operates as a restaurant, lounge bar, meeting point, dancefloor, art gallery, theatre and much more.

Accessed via a crystal elevator, the articulated scene is spread across 800 sq.metres on different levels, with electronic systems able to completely transform each area. This is an innovative use of space where the common denominator is 'togetherness' - the kitchen, rooms, music and decor effects are all united in a single aesthetic, with high architectural values masterminded by Adriano Verzelletti.

On the top floor, customers are able to dine under the stars - thanks to an additional 500sq.m terrace, with hanging gardens and water games. After dinner MYA 'changes its skin', transforming completely

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Spain / France - Vieta has appointed new distribution for its professional sound reinforcement products in France, choosing the new independent company Dimension AV to represent the brand.

Based in Paris, Dimension AV is headed up by Directeur Génerale Stéphane Morillon, a highly experienced pro-audio reseller, who has served with Edge Technology and SCV Audio, as well as leading French PA company Dispatch. In Dimension AV, he is partnered by Ampco Flashlight Holding, which is distributing the Vieta portfolio of products in Belgium. Dimension AV made its corporate debut at the SATIS exhibition in Paris, announcing its partnership with Vieta by displaying the radical So Line of wireless loudspeakers.

From So Line to the versatile and inexpensive loudspeakers of the Do Line, Morillon sees a huge variety of customers for the Vieta range of pro products, from theme p

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UK - When the county of Northumberland decided to use lighting to add colour and intrigue to long winter nights, it was to entertainment lighting supplier White Light that they turned to for help realising lighting designer Phil Supple's vision for the project - now known as Northumberland Lights.

An epic lighting project spanning multiple sites across the country, including the nine wind turbines that stand at sea off the shore at Blyth, a Winter Wonderland Show at Kielder Water, the Woodhorn Museum and Country Park, the hillside area of Simonside, Bamburgh Castle and a 'Guerrilla Lighting' team intended to make surprise appearances at other sites around the country on its own initiative and responding to suggestions from the public, Northumberland Lights runs from late October 2006 through to late March 2007.

White Light are supplying the lighting equipment and

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UK - Northern Light offered their services to assist the Edinburgh Clubbing Community Forum (ECCF) to host a charity club night in aid of Edinburgh's Sick Kids Foundation and the event was a resounding success.

Over 550 clubbers attended the atmospheric event where Northern Light had provided a complete club sound system, as well as lighting design and production and several crew members to ensure that the whole experience went off with a bang.

Neil Numb, events manager for ECCF, says: "I am overwhelmed with the support that we received from our sponsors Northern Light and from the Edinburgh club scene as a whole. This is definitely one of the best gigs we have done for charity and I am speechless with the final total raised of £10,000."

For a separate project, Northern Light worked with Eastern Exhibition and Display to win 'Best at Show' for the exhibition

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UK - Design and communication company Imagination has continued its Christmas tradition of 'Lighting up London' by decorating the Edwardian façade of its five-storey headquarters with a dramatic lighting scheme.

This year's yuletide theme features a giant white and blue Christmas star, which spans the width of the impressive red-bricked building (located on Store Street, just off Tottenham Court Road). The glittering star is made up of over 32 strobe lighting strips, which radiate sparkling light from a large-scale centrepiece star. As well as the metres of white and blue strobe lights, there are also a number of blue lights located at ground level, which bathe the building in a shimmering blue wash of light.

The eye-catching lighting scheme took a team of 16 people working over a total of 380 hours to design, create and build - and so great was the engineering feat for the e

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Portugal - The Portuguese capital recently hosted a conventions for Herbalife, the American company which boasts a million distributors in 61 countries worldwide and annual net sales of three billion dollars.

Herbalife is known for its 'monumental' conventions, planned down to the smallest detail. Sound reinforcement at the event in question - staged at Lisbon's Pavilhão Atlântico - was entrusted to Planet Service of San Marino, a leading European supplier to the corporate event market, with clients including AGIP, Nike, Asics, Reebok and many more.

Planet Production recently purchased an Outline Butterfly line array made up of 24 Hi-Packs and 12 Victor Live subwoofers, complete with T Series power amplifiers and Genius 26 processors, and added to its stock of HARD 212 monitors. Lisbon's Pavilhão Atlântico, a 5,200sq.m arena with a capacity of 20,000, doesn't have the acou

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UAE - IIR Exhibitions, organiser of the annual PALME Middle East exhibition in Dubai, reports that the success of the 2006 event has led to another surge in expansion for the PALME 2007 event. Initially planning to increase the 2007 event from three to four halls of the DIEC, IIR has now announced its decision to increase the size of the show to five halls.

The main objective of PALME is to allow for manufacturers, suppliers and installers to meet with Middle Eastern buyers and specifiers from a wide range of industries who have a need or requirement for professional sound, light, music, audio-visual and systems integration equipment and solutions. The latest major companies to sign up for PALME 2007 include EVI Audio, Indu Electric, Martin Professional, RCF Spa, Prolyte, Projectiondesign, Audioprof and BG Franck Bichon to name but a few, say IIR.

The 2007 PALME Middle East sh

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USA - The creations of Cirque du Soleil have been holding audiences spellbound since the company's inception in 1984. Their newest presentation, Delirium, was created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, and is an inspired mélange of theatre, music, dance, and multimedia. The production is performed on a unique stage configuration open to both front and back. The 136-foot wide, 80-foot high stage bisects the arena, dividing the audience into two halves.

The show's complex technical aspects are handled by Montreal-based Solotech. Long an integral part of the Cirque du Soleil magic, the media technology company works closely with each show's creative teams to help realise their visions on stage, designing and providing the show's essential infrastructure, from audio, video and lighting systems to rigging, trussing and automation.

The production requires

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Belgium - The Eurospot Range, ADB Lighting's most economical solution for high quality lighting, has recently been improved and up-rated to allow each luminaire in the range to be fitted with a 650W GY9.5 lamp - an increase of 30% over the previous version.

Until now, the Eurospot luminaires have been rated for maximum wattages up to 500W, but as a result of increasing market demand for higher light output from existing fixture sizes, ADB's engineers have developed a new design that provides enhanced ventilation of the fixture's body, and the range is now approved to use lamps with the higher wattage of 650W.The Eurospot products to benefit from this upgrade are: the F51 fresnel, the C51 PC, the DS54 zoom profile, and the DW54 zoom profile.

The product range has also been streamlined by replacing the Zoom Profile DS51 with the DS54, which has the same zoom range of 18º - 38º

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UK - Lester Cobrin, recently appointed MD at Bandit Lites, will be marrying Kim Carson this Sunday 3 December, at Langshot Manor in Surrey. Kim and Lester were childhood sweethearts. "We met at the age of five," said Cobrin, "but somehow it didn't work out at the time. Now, after a 28-year hiatus, the time seems right for both of us."

Prior to the wedding, Cobrin will be hosting a stag night at a large West London venue: "All the girls from the Pussy Cat Dolls will be there" he said lasciviously, "and I expect about another 10,000 guests to turn up." Watch the press for announcements.

We wish Lester well.

(Steve Moles)

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