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Sweden - Studer has taken an order for one of its compact Vista 5 digital audio consoles from a new venue attached to the Stadsteater in Gothenborg, the first in Scandinavia to choose the Vista 5 as a front-of-house mixing desk. The sale of the first Swedish Vista 5 has been followed by the appointment of a new distributor in Sweden, LydRommet Sverige A/B.

The Vista 5 console is destined for the Backa Teater company, part of the Gothenborg City Theatre, or Stadsteater, and generally regarded as one of the most interesting and attractive theatre groups in Sweden. Music plays a large role in its live productions and there are five musicians working permanently in the group.

In 1989, the Backa company moved into a reconstructed factory on the Hisingen Island close to the central pa

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UK - Marquee Audio has supplied Surrey-based PA rental company Kinetic with a pair of super-compact Yamaha LS9 digital consoles, which have been deployed on a 30-date tour of the UK by Barbara Dickson. The larger of the two desks, an LS9-32, has been used by Kinetic's Gareth Fox-Williams to mix front-of-house sound, provide eight monitor mixes, and multitrack the shows for future possibilities as a live album.

Fox-Williams says preparing for this his third tour with Barbara Dickson was the moment he finally realised the inevitability of digital consoles. "Over the last year, I got my digital head doing a lot of successful work on a Yamaha MC7L digital desk, and when I saw the similarities between that and the LS9, I had to order one, even though I'd not seen one in the flesh. To me, it feels very familiar, very accessible and intuitive to navigate. And the quality outstrips

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USA - February 2007 saw the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears by 29 points to 17 ensuring the most prestigious National Football League (NFL) Superbowl trophy, making its way from east coast to the Midwest states. And Lighthouse screens were an integral part of the format showcasing the ultra-fine resolution all over the country through CBS Sports broadcasting. Shining brightest of all - on what proved to be a wet and miserable evening in the Dolphins Stadium, Miami - was a Lighthouse R4 4mm LED screen.

Bringing all the actions to a worldwide television audience of millions, CBS television's open-sided pitch-side television studio saw host Dan Marino joined by former American football players-turned-pundits Jim Brown, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason.

Used to display the game's score and NFL graphics, the Lighthouse 4mm screen was arranged three panels wide by one pan

featured content

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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USA - APT will introduce its new coding technology apt-X Live, to US Broadcasters at this year's NAB show in Las Vegas. "apt-X Live sets a new benchmark of audio quality, low latency and error resilience," explains APT's commercial director, Jon McClintock. "The industry is demanding ever greater bandwidth efficiency and we sought to provide a solution which meets these demands without compromising on the core competencies associated with apt-X."

apt-X Live has already proven its audio quality in a series of independent listening tests where participants were unable to discern any difference between 24bit, 48kHz PCM Audio and apt-X Live, says the company. Shure Inc has signed a licensing agreement to incorporate the technology into its wireless live performance products.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied a specialist case to the Cambridge based Silent Aircraft Initiative to house one of its concept model aircraft. 5 Star was contacted by the University of Cambridge's senior acoustic technician John Hazelwood to supply a tough bespoke case for the transportation of this delicate and very expensive model aircraft around the country. Although extremely lightweight, being constructed of composites the plane is very fragile and needs suitably robust protection.

Silent Aircraft Initiative is a joint project between the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute to Technology (MIT). This was set up with the aim of developing a conceptual design for a new low noise aircraft - with sound almost imperceptible outside the perimeter of a daytime urban airport. This requires radically different aircraft and engine designs.

The resulting

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UK - TMC has announced the appointment of Jezz Hellens to the newly created position of Head of Lighting. Prior to joining TMC, Hellens spent several years with White Light North, based in Halifax.

Speaking of his appointment, Hellens said: ''Having broad experience in the field of lighting as well as audio, I hope to build and grow the installations and projects side of the business so that TMC can offer unrivalled turnkey packages to customers and suppliers alike.''

Established in 1987 as 'The Music Company', TMC has built a reputation for designing and installing tailor made 'Performance Sound' solutions for all kinds of venues and live music events, large and small.

(Jim Evans)

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UK The merger of MC2 Audio and XTA Electronics has been announced today following three months of fruitful negotiations. This new UK based group, which also includes Quested Monitoring Systems, brings together three of the most well known British professional audio manufacturing companies. The merged group will open up possibilities for each of the individual companies to benefit from a larger pool of resources extending from research and development through to sales and marketing.

Ian McCarthy, one of the founders of MC2 Audio, will head-up the group as managing director with Terry Clarke, co-founder of MC2 Audio and John Austin, co-founder of XTA acting as technical directors, each with responsibility for their own field of expertise, while Roger Quested will continue as technical director for Quested.

Andrew Grayland, co-founder of XTA, is to take a new direction in order t

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Sweden - The 2007 W-DMX product catalogue is now available for download at the Wireless Solution website www.wirelessdmx.com. The company will also have full colour print editions at Prolight & Sound in Frankfurt.

The new catalogue features the entire W-DMX Generation 3 line, the newest feature-packed product range for Wireless DMX. Generation 3 includes new and improved features such as easy overview of signal strength and battery power, plus full implementation of DMX over Ethernet.

(Jim Evans)

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UK / German - Adding to its highly acclaimed S-4000 Digital Snake System, Roland Systems Group is announcing the S-1608/0816 Digital Snake System in a fixed 16x8 configuration. Based on the same 24 bit/ 96kHz low-latency REAC protocol used in the S-4000, the new S-1608/0816 features 16+8 high-quality, remote-controllable microphone inputs and 8+16 returns over a standard Cat 5e cable.

Consisting of the S-1608 Stage and S-0816 FOH units, the S-1608/0816 Digital Snake System is ideal for bands, rental/staging houses, and venues such as Houses of Worship and Theatres. It can also be used in conjunction with an S-4000 Modular Digital Snake System to create a 48-input, 16-return high quality digital snake. When used in pairs or multiples, the S-1608/0816 Digital Snake System can be used for extremely flexible split-stage or stage zone set-ups.

Designed to deliver the highest qualit

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Switzerland - Over 100 Robe Show Lighting ColorSpot 2500E AT fixtures were specified by lighting designer Fabrice Delmontel for the massive Peugeot stand at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show. These were purchased specially for the event by Impact Evenement from Longjumeau, France, which supplied all lighting, sound and AV for the impressive 4000 sq.m stand at Palexpo in Geneva.

Fabrice Delmontel worked closely with Peugeot's team of stand and car designers on the project, and also with Stephane Fleury, Impact Evenement's technical manager. He explains that the car and stand design teams both have very different agendas in terms of aesthetics, but all of them are working to the ultimate goal of having the best presented stand in the hall.

Peugeot's theme this year centred around the environment and keeping the process of manufacturing and running a car as green and environmentally-fri

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Canada - The Heaven and Hell tour kicked off with High End Systems DL.2s in its design. Heaven and Hell is a highly-anticipated tour among heavy metal fans, as this new band features veterans Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice.

LD Paul Dexter of Masterworks Lighting has specified 3 DL.2s from CWP in Los Angeles to project images onto the set design's three arch screens. CWP is also supplying a Hog iPC for control of the DL.2s, with a D-Tek video switcher. Joseph Denham is the CWP tech/programmer/operator supporting the CWP gear. PRG is supplying a Wholehog 3 console for the main lighting rig. Dexter is using both custom content and stock libraries in the DL.2s.

"The DL.2s are so versatile that for a nearly two-hour show, new images and stock footage continues to alter the look of the three centrally dedicated arch projection windows and all encom

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UK - At the Guild Hall in Preston, Adlib Audio has completed the design and installation of an ultra-flexible sound reinforcement system, despite the challenges of the infrastructure. The result cleverly addresses the changing needs of the venue, using available technology from Nexo and custom designs from Kelsey Acoustic, as it hosts a huge variety of productions and events both theatre style and in-the-round.

Built in 1972 to mark the Guild Celebrations of that year, the Guild Hall and Charter Theatre is one of Britain's most successful multi-purpose, entertainment, exhibition and conference centres, and is now renowned internationally for its presentation of entertainment and major indoor sporting events. The auditorium, which has an adaptable stage area, can accommodate more than 2000 people for a concert or theatre production. It is also used for high-profile sporting compe

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UK - 3M has announced the release of a new version of its leading digital signage software product, 3M Digital Signage Software - Network Edition (NE) version 3.5. The Network Edition 3.5 release builds on existing capabilities for scheduling playlists of multimedia files to play out on any screen anywhere in the world. It includes the introduction of new server-class software products that allow end-users to host their own network servers, expanded and enhanced Active Information Modules, enhanced network management functions, and augmented security features.

Highlights include 3M Digital Signage - Full Server, which enables end-users to host their own networks and enables full Network Edition functionality behind users' firewalls, internationalisation capabilities for multi-language support, and an application programme interface (API) that facilitates seamless integration bet

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USA - Bandit Lites has appointed John Lucksinger as production manager and Nicole Nota as production coordinator.

In his new role, Lucksinger will plan, direct and coordinate activities of designated projects. He was most recently lighting designer/director for country music superstar Martina McBride.Previously a production manager for the company, Nota will now serve as the liaison between lighting designer Jason Robinson and Bandit for all his projects and needs.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - MA Lighting has expanded its grandMA range with a new member - the grandMA pico. The new console is specifically designed for the use in theatres and is similar to the grandMA micro. The hardware of the new console however has been optimised for the needs of theatres.

Similar to the bigger consoles of the grandMA range, a number-pad, a Go-plus, a Go-minus and a pause key are all present. One colour touch screen display, five manual faders, five physical playback buttons (on 128 pages), 1,024 DMX channels and free visualisation software make the grandMA pico the perfect introductory console, says the company.

Additionally it is also possible to connect one remote and up to four grandMA video stations. The console utilises the same syntax, windows and menus as the larger consoles. The new desk will be on show at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Visual Productions, the makers of VisualDMX and Matrix Mania! will be presenting the Canvix dedicated Matrix Server at ProLight + Sound.

Visual Productions has "decided to allow their future generation of lighting control software to be led by the current market developments in lighting: namely LED technology". Canvix has been designed for the exclusive use with LED matrixes.

Working with the established hardware available from Visual Productions, Canvix tackles the control of matrixes with "a unique concept": instead of controlling the LEDs individually, Canvix bundles together all fixtures to form one whole canvas; a 2-dimensional area on which effects and graphics can be applied. This powerful approach allows for sophisticated video-alike visuals, as well as fast pixel painting for the easy creation of graphics, says the company.

By reusing c

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UK - When Sheriff Taylor set out to convert the Settle Down basement bar in London's affluent Kensington into a venue seeking A-list celebrities, he wanted to create an opulent environment split into three separate areas. Two distinct 'satellite' lounges - the 80-capacity Cocktail Bar and 120-capacity Champagne Bar - would operate off the main club area, which holds a maximum of 300 people.

The interior creation of this £1 million project was entrusted to Siberian designer, Valentina Druzhinina. Each of the rooms is delineated by different chandeliers and a different colour scheme - white for the Cocktail Bar, a warmer brown for the Champagne Bar and black granite and black marble in the main room, with textured black Ulf Moritz wallpaper and curtains.

For their audio requirements, the club contacted residential/home theatre specialists Audio Venue, who were already know

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UK - Southampton-based lighting rental company GLS, promoters Live Nation and venue Southampton Guildhall all combined forces with rigging specialists Lift-Turn-Move (LTM) to stage one of LTM's renowned CM Lodestar Motor Schools at Southampton Guildhall.

The Guildhall is a popular venue on the live touring circuit and one with which the touring fraternity is well familiar. The use of the venue was negotiated between GLS's Ian Turner and the Guildhall's head technician, Simon Williams.

Turner explains, "Live Nation and GLS both had technicians, engineers and freelancers, who were interested in doing the Motor School, and it also provided a chance for some of the new people we know who are just getting into the business to get close-up to one of the basic industry standard pieces of kit." The Guildhall was in a similar position, with lots of hoists in their house rig a

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USA The FogScreen projection screen has been recognised for its innovative design at the 3rd annual Bottom Line Design Awards, sponsored by creative consultancy frog design and Business 2.0 magazine.

"For us, good design is about good business," says Doreen Lorenzo, president and CEO of frog design. "The Bottom Line Design Awards celebrate innovations that not only appeal to us visually, but grow businesses, stimulate markets and change the societies in which we operate."

Mika Kolvula, CEO FogScreen Inc, states, "If you are looking to draw attention to your brand at trade shows, in retail stores, night clubs, or entrances to any event, you should contact us. FogScreen projection screens create a dry thin fog wall onto which video-quality images can be projected, creating the world's only walkthrough screen."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Justin Hawkins has purchased a Pro Tools / ICON Console system from HHB. Comprising a 32-fader ICOND-Control console, Pro Tools HD3, extensive storage and a full suite of plug-ins,the system forms the heart of the former Darkness frontman's new recording facility in North West London.

"The HHB team has been great to deal with right from the start," reports Hawkins. Commenting for HHB, Greg Wheeler says "Everyone at HHB particularly enjoyed working on this project. The new studio looks and sounds great, and we wish Justin every success."

(Jim Evans)

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