Spain - ARX Systems, the Australian based manufacturer of professional audio equipment has confirmed the appointment of Equip's So Illum S.L as its new Distributor for Spain.

ARX's managing director Colin Park said, " We're very pleased to have Vicente Ros and his team at Equip's So Illum S.L as our new distributor in Spain which Spain is a challenging market for most manufacturers. Equip's So Illum S.L has been active in the Spanish market for many years and are well respected in the live sound and Installation sectors. which is where ARX's products and research and development efforts are focused."

Alongside ARX, Equip's So Illum S.L also represents RD Audio in the Spanish market.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham has become one of the first venues in Europe to take delivery of ETC's newest lighting control console, Congo jr, via dealer Stage Electrics. Lakeside is the University of Nottingham's public arts centre and presents an eclectic programme of music, dance,theatre, visual art and family events.

"It became clear that our old desk was not up to the demands we were making of it," explains technical manager Gareth Chell. "We test drove a few consoles and decided that the Congo jr was by far the best of all of them. It's made a real difference to the quality of lighting at the theatre, and we're really proud that we got one of the first desks in Europe.

"We chose the Congo jr as it has all the features and more that we were looking for and has the flexibility to meet with the demanding needs of a very diverse building. We al

Sweden - Dalhalla, a natural amphitheatre by picturesque Lake Siljan, hosts an annual summer programme of opera, classical, jazz, and rock concerts. The open-air design makes it impractical to maintain permanent audio and lighting installations. As a result, Dalhalla requires an AV installation each May. That task is the responsibility of Park Brothers (Bröderna Park AB), a full-service production company with headquarters in Insjön. Managing director Bengt Park notes that the annual installation consists entirely of sound and lights. "We don't use much video," he says. "Because the environment is so bright, video is not often used." What is often used is the venue's system of Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.

Diana Krall's FOH engineer, Dave Lawler, was impressed with what he found at the facility when the jazz pianist and vocalist played at Dalhalla

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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

Hong Kong - The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), one of the largest horse racing organisations in the world, has recently undergone an overhaul of the audio system in its plush executive suites. The extensive new system comprises seven Allen & Heath iDR-8 digital processing mixers, an iDR-switch, iDR-Out, and from the accompanying range of PL remote control units, six PL-10 rotary fader panels, four PL-9 connection hubs, and forty PL-4 wall plates.

Designed and installed by Eastern Acoustic Development (EAD), the new system has been installed to manage three executive floors at the Happy Valley racecourse, which house the offices of the chairman, vice-chairman, and board members, as well as various meeting rooms. Each floor has two iDR-8 digital mixers with PL-10 LED display rotary fader panels to manage the audio distribution to different zones. The system is accompanied by Lab.gr

USA - GoboMan has introduced the GP100 GoboMan Projector Light. The new GP100 is designed to be a brighter version of the popular GP75 GoboMan Projector Light. This 100-watt Gobo Projector has all the same features of the GP75 but is 30% brighter. Rebel Hoffman, co-owner of GoboMan says, "Everything is the same in the GP100 as far as operation and simplicity of design; we just increased the light output with the 100-watt lamp. The ease of operation is a key feature of our Projector Light and we didn't want to sacrifice any of that by changing around too many things in this next step."

GoboMan's Steve Hoffman agrees, "We've had such a great reaction to the original GP75 Gobo Projector, but from customer feedback, we knew that people would want a brighter unit so we started working to introduce this 100-watt version quickly. Our goal at GoboMan is to listen to our c

USA - Elation Professional has announced the schedule for its 2007 Elation Training and Products Roadshow.

A series of travelling seminars designed to educate dealers on the use and application of Elation lighting products, this year's Roadshow will stop in major U.S. markets from coast to coast and will even travel north and south of the border to Canada and Mexico City. Presented by factory-trained specialists, the one- or two-day seminars are offered free-of-charge to Elation dealers.

"The market for professional stage, club and architectural lighting products is booming, while at the same time these products are becoming increasingly more technically sophisticated," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "There are great opportunities for retailers to grow their lighting business, but to do so they must possess the knowledge required t

UK - CP Sound has completed the installation of two JBL sound systems with Adastra 100V line amplification at Beirut Express venues in West London - Old Brompton Road in South Kensington and at the prime location of Kensington Church Street.

Beirut Express, part of the Maroush Group, is one of the liveliest and fastest growing new restaurant chains in London. Old Brompton Road is the second complete Beirut Express venue to be kitted out from scratch by CP Sound, following on from the success of the busy Kensington Church Street outlet.

The client wants to create an animated, lively atmosphere in the restaurants - so good sound is an essential ingredient. Some venues also feature live music, belly dancing and other entertainment.

The Brompton Road location is a long narrow design with stunning marble walls and stainless steel finishes - so a real acoustic challenge for CP Sou

USA - Picture the band in a box, interior-decorated with 12 High End Systems DL.2 projections all around. That's the set design for The Tragically Hip, touring North America to promote their new CD World Container.

LD Brent Clark, says: "The DL.2 looks pretty cool and I was really surprised by the brightness and the edge blending. They are way brighter than I thought and creating the Collage (using Collage Generator software feature) on 12 of them a day is actually pretty easy. Also to be able to move the image around from the band to the house to the rear screens is so cool. DL.2 is an amazing light!"

Concerning the overall set design, Clark says: "The idea was to make a box (relating to the CD title World Container) and then project images from around the world. We contracted a company from Vancouver called The Collective to film all the content,

USA - A pair of grandMA consoles is controlling lighting and video for the national tour of High School Musical: The Concert which is now touring major US cities. Loosely based on the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical, the show includes songs from the teenage-targeted feature and showcases solo material from the powerhouse young performers.

"High School Musical onstage is more like a rock concert than a Broadway show," notes lighting programmer Patrick Dierson. "There's a lot of choreography, set piece moves, pyro, CO2 jets and big video projection screens."

With so much happening, Dierson hails the grandMA's multi-user programming capability, saying: "It's great. Touring lighting director Calvin 'Mac' Mossier can run the show and call spots as he would normally, and I can take notes from Patrick

UK - Theatre Projects Consultants is pleased to announce that David Staples has been awarded the Patrick Hayes Award by the International Society of Performing Arts Foundation (ISPA). Staples was presented with the award on 16 January during ISPA's January conference in New York at a special awards dinner.

The award is named after the founding president of ISPA and recognises an ISPA member of long standing whose achievements in arts management are deserving of special praise and recognition.Staples comments: "ISPA is a community of people with a shared passion for the performing arts. To receive the Patrick Hayes Award from my peers, colleagues and friends is a special honour." This award is particularly important to Theatre Projects, as it is the second time ISPA has recognised the achievements of our staff - the only organisation to have been honoured twice with thi

UK - A.C. Lighting's Audio division has been selected as an authorised dealer for the KV2 Audio range. KV2 Audio was founded as an environment for people with a passion for creating professional audio products to expand on their ideas. The team of industry veterans has many years expertise in electronic design as well as acoustic design. This expertise has been utilised to create a new generation of high definition active loudspeakers for live use which get the most out of the technology inside their very compact, smart designs.

Under the agreement A.C. will sell and support the complete KV2 Audio product range, which was selected due to its natural fit with the company's existing portfolio of high end, specialist pro audio brands. The partnership further expands A.C.'s ability to provide a range of bespoke solutions for the increasing demands of modern live entertainment applic

Australia - Robe moving lights, LED Blinders, smoke and haze machines have been specified, supplied and installed into the legendary Queensbridge Hotel venue in Melbourne, Australia.

These were specified by Andrew Stanley from ULA (Australia's Robe Distributor) and QBH's Eugene Brouwer as part of the new house lighting scheme, and supplied by Bytecraft to QBH, one of the largest superclubs in the southern hemisphere.

QBH is a fully contained entertainment and function centre, kitted out with touring-standard sound and lighting systems, a large stage, several bars and a commercial kitchen. Its size and state-of-the-art facilities have made QBH an ideal location for a whole range of live concerts, product and media launches, gala dinners, conferences and parties. Its flexible layout can accommodate function style events and cocktail parties for up to 2100 guests and seated dinin

UK - Stage Electrics is supplying lighting to The Sound of Music, working alongside production electrician Fraser Hall and production manager Matt Towell. The show premiered at the London Palladium on Wednesday 15 November 2006 with Stage Electrics also supplying the lighting to the star studded after show party.

The Sound of Music opened to critical acclaim with Connie Fisher the winner of the hit TV show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? taking the lead role. The show produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian, The Really Useful Group and Live Nation is already a huge success. In January 2007 Fisher pledged her allegiance to the show till February 2008.

Stage Electrics have supplied a total of 17 tonnes of equipment that was delivered to the Palladium in just three weeks from point of order. The show has 108 moving lights consisting mainly of Martin

UK - Just a week before the second anniversary of his arrival at Total Solutions Group (TSG) and Mervyn Thomas is appointed MD of Total Fabrications Ltd (TFL). "If more evidence were needed of the impact this man has had, this is it," said Group chairman Chris Cronin. "He's a great team leader, a superb operations manager; I have every confidence in him."

Thomas was equally enthused, commentin: "This will relieve Chris of the day-to-day running of TFL," he said, "leaving him free to concentrate on what he does best; steering TSG strategically, and addressing the increasingly complex engineering demands placed upon us. So much of our work is now project led, and that's where Chris excels; with enough metal you can engineer your way out of any problem, but Chris creates elegant solutions that are lightweight and efficient."

TFL is the core

USA - Nemetschek North America has announced that its third-party training partner, Resolve SoftwareSolutions Inc., has developed a new training workbook for VectorWorksSpotlight 12. The VectorWorks Spotlight Training Workbook provides anintroduction to VectorWorks Spotlight for users in theatrical lighting,scenic design, and event production.

"We're very excited about the newest addition to our workbook series,"says Geoff McBeath, president of Resolve Software Solutions, creators ofthe VectorWorks Professional Learning Series Seminars and trainingcontent. "With the VectorWorks Spotlight Training Workbook andaccompanying CD, new users will be creating their lighting and scenicdesign projects in both 2D and 3D in no time."

Created for new users of VectorWorks Spotlight, this 260+ page trainingworkbook covers basic 2D drawing and editing, as well as lightingp

UK - Audio-Technica has introduced the AT2010 handheld cardioid condenser microphone, a stage companion to the AT2020 affordable studio model. Aimed at musicians looking to upgrade from a dynamic vocal microphone to a higher quality condenser model for live performance, the AT2010 has a suggested selling price of £79.95 inc. VAT.

Launched at Winter NAMM, the AT2010 handheld shares the large, 16 mm low mass diaphragm of the AT2020 side firing studio model. This continues Audio-Technica's tradition of developing winning live vocal microphones from its large diaphragm studio models, bringing the same studio signal quality to live performance.

The company says that the AT2010 handheld offers all of the sonic performance advantages of a high quality large studio condenser, but at a price point competitive with leading dynamic vocal microphones, and is ideal for use in live pe

UK - Summit Steel supplied a Kinesys automation system for the English National Ballet's recent UK tour of their acclaimed production, Alice in Wonderland which culminated in a run at the London Coliseum.

Summit was asked by ENB technical director Al Riches to come up with a tourable solution for accurately flying in and tracking the house - a large scenery piece weighting almost a tonne - diagonally across stage at a 45 degree angle; an effect specifically required by the production's choreographer Derek Deane.

Summit's Chris Walker came up with the method of using a vari-speed, position encoded, motorised beam trolley and two Kinesys-modified Lodestar hoists. The system was supplied for the ENB crew to be able to operate it themselves with Summit providing a technician to oversee the installation into each venue.

In previous tours of this production, the house has b

USA - Lighting solutions company Holophane and Martin Professional have formed a commercial cooperation in the United States that enables Holophane to offer Martin Professional's complete architectural range of automated, colour changing luminaires countrywide.

A leader in lighting for commercial, industrial, emergency and outdoor applications, Holophane's and Acuity Brand's Lighting New York City's extensive network of factory-trained sales representatives will now have Martin's complete Martin Architectural product range of exterior and interior colour changing luminaires at its disposal with the full support and technical back-up of Martin Professional, Inc.

Gorm Teichert, Martin Professional's vice president of public spaces and vice president of marketing, says: "The agreement to work together with Holophane is a positive decision for both companies and a real win-wi

UK - A complete rig re-fit at The Woman in Black in London has left some classic lighting equipment looking for new homes and White Light has decided to offer them to schools and other education facilities for free.

Producers of the long-running show decided that its continued success meant that it would be worth purchasing a new lighting rig to replace the hired rig that has been performing Kevin Sleep's design since the show opened back in 1988 at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. The show subsequently made a 'mini-tour' of the West End, to the Strand Theatre and then the Playhouse, before settling in its current home, the Fortune. The show has been there since 1989, which made it White Light's longest ever hire contract.

White Light's Sales team supplied a complete new lighting rig to the show, with ETC Source Four profiles and Selecon fresnels replacing Patt 23s, Pa

USA - Arriving in Miami for the Super Bowl XLI, Alpha One's new 7k Xenon Falcon Beam searchlight shared centre-field at this year's Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show where Prince performed at the Dolphin Stadium in South Florida on Sunday, 4 February.

Emmy Award winning lighting designer, Bob Dickinson, used 12 of the new Falcons in clusters of three on custom field carts to augment the 12-minute spectacular. The Super Bowl is the nation's highest-rated TV programme. More than 141 million viewers watched last year's game in the U.S. alone. This year's Super Bowl will be broadcast to a potential worldwide audience of one billion people in more than 230 countries and territories. The Super Bowl Halftime Show is produced by Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Productions.

The Falcon Beam, available in 3k to 8K, is a compact, indoor/outdoor, DMX controlled, xenon beam-light wit

UK - Dormston School Theatre in Sedgely has replaced all of its working lights after being "blown away" by the unique, Award-winning GDS Blues System, distributed by Leisuretec Distribution.

BlueBeams in 5 and 10 degree versions and BlueDomes have replaced all working blue lights in and around the backstage area, the fly level and front-of-house cross-over gantry position. All existing fittings in the technical areas have been replaced - an unusual move for a theatre built just three-and-a-half years ago.

"They asked us to provide a demonstration and were blown away when they saw the products in situ," explained Leisuretec's Andy Duffield. "We assessed the best products and fittings for the different areas and depending on throw, elected either 5 or 10 degree BlueBeams. For the quick change areas stage left and right we chose BlueDomes with eyelids.&qu

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