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Spain - As part of a major refurbishment, the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona recently replaced the conference system in its main conference hall with a Bosch DCN Next Generation system. Bosch also developed custom made units with respect to colours and shapes complementing the classical architecture of the historic parliament building.

Installed in November 2006, the new system provides every delegate's position with a microphone, voting panel and connection for a laptop PC. Extra facilities such as loudspeakers, LCD screens for viewing voting results and presentations are provided for senior government positions, while the president's position is also equipped with a touch-screen LCD for controlling voting sessions. The system also features extra-large plasma displays for screen

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UK - Following PLASA 2006, ChamSys received a rather unusual request from Neil Carson of Enhance Production regarding a MagicQ PC Wing - could he have a custom colour? Thinking that most clients would perhaps opt for black, ChamSys were delighted when Neil asked for a far more unusual colour - pink.

"The pink goddess is beautiful! I have had it out on two shows already," Carson said just one week after receiving the custom PC Wing which was used for the recent Sovereigns Ball event at RMA Sandhurst Military Academy. The MagicQ PC Wing was controlling 12 Colour Block DB4 units all acting as audience blinders over an arch truss and all dimmers.

Carson added, "The wing was used because the operator, Mark Jones, was using an Avo Pearl 2000 and it became apparent that there wasn't enough power in that desk to run the LED flexibly and create many interesting looks. Th

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USA - With offices in Orlando, Las Vegas and Phoenix, LMG is a sound rental company that supplies equipment to live productions throughout the North American continent. This year, for the first time, the company is providing audio for Canadian pop rocker Avril Lavigne and they have geared up for the live dates by purchasing two DiGiCo D5 consoles.

The tour is to promote Lavigne's new album, The Best Damn Thing, and sees promotional dates intermingled with summer festival appearances. The latter confirmed so far include festivals in Ireland, Switzerland, Turkey and Japan.

This will be Jim Yakabuski's third tour mixing FoH for Lavigne. For the first two he was working freelance, but he is now employed by LMG and reports, "We used D5s on FoH and monitors for the last tour and we had great results. They had an impeccable performance record, but monitor engineer Matt Pe

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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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USA - Lightswitch played a key role in the first ever Project Earth Day fashion show in New York that featured emerging eco-friendly designers displaying their latest apparel and textiles made from organic or recycled fibres, and found materials.

Sarah Jakubasz, lighting designer for Lightswitch created an overall design that used as many eco-friendly lighting fixtures as possible. Lightswitch designers use eco-friendly fixtures when ever possible on all their projects, says the company. Jakubasz created her design using Color Kinetics' Color Blaze 72s and Color Blast 12s. She also designed custom compact florescent fixtures that were placed on each end of the bars. Lending a hand to this worthy cause was Production Resource Group who provided lighting gear and helped defray some of the rental costs.

Lighting manufacture ETC also pitched in by donating some HID Source F

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Hong Kong - The Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong (rugby) Sevens, took place at Hong Kong Stadium from 30 March to 1 April. The Samoan team beat island rivals Fuji by 27-22 in the final. For the third year in succession, Lighthouse Technologies was the official LED screen supplier for the event, providing its R16i/o-II 16mm LED screens in both the North Stand of Hong Kong Stadium itself and the official Sevens Village.

The Hong Kong stadium featured a 7 x 7 panels (7.11m width x 5.33m height) R16i/o-II screen; whilst 7 x 6 panels (7.11m width x 4.57m height) of R16i/o-II was positioned in the Sevens Village, an area sited at the India Recreation Club in Happy Valley, adjacent to the main stadium. Both screens used the Lighthouse LIP-KX for video display control.

The sponsoring for the Sevens Village was originally, and continues to be, facilitated by the UK company Show T

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USA - Meyer Sound is providing support to enable San Jose's Gyuto Vajrayana Center to host major teachings of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama this month at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Venerable Thupten Donyo, director of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist centre, has been instrumental in making these two days of public teachings on In Praise of Dependent Origination possible.

"When I first met the monks, I felt a connection to and admiration for them. There are few things more important than spreading the message of universal peace and compassion," says Helen Meyer, executive vice president of Meyer Sound. "It is a true honour and pleasure to be involved in making this important event possible."

Meyer Sound's support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit continues the audio company's decade-long relationship with the Gyuto Vajrayan

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USA - In October 2006, St. Louis' new Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals, went on record as one of very few ballparks whose baseball team won the World Series in the facility's inaugural season. Construction for the $365 million, 44,000-seat Busch Stadium began back in January 2004. Dallas-based design and consulting firm Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) was charged with the audio system design portion of the project.

WJHW specified Crown, opting for CTs Series amplifiers equipped with PIP-Lite network control modules. "On this go-round, the nature of the system was certainly far more robust," says WJHW Principal Ron Baker. "One of the things that we do as a matter of course on any of these major sports projects is to use amps that are capable of being networked, operated and monitored from a central control point because there are so many channels i

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USA - GearSource and PRG announced today the first 'Gear-Up' sales event powered by GearSource.com, beginning on 1 May. This event will offer equipment from PRG's audio, lighting, video and rigging inventory at "unheard of 'auction-like' pricing, but without the hassle or buyer premiums associated with auctions".

All items will be sold on a first come, first served basis. "This isn't an auction, but the buying frenzy will be the same, based on the pricing we're already seeing coming in," says GearSource president Michael Fairbairn. "Obviously, PRG has a massive inventory of equipment in audio and lighting. This event is created to help them liquidate that inventory without the trouble of staging an auction," says Fairbairn. While the Gear-Up sale may eventually open up to other GearSource.com vendors, this event is exclusive to PRG's US-based invent

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Bulgaria - Now having aired in over 35 territories worldwide, FremantleMedia and 19TV's Idols entertainment format has become one of the most successful 'reality' television templates in modern television history and XTA Electronics has an important part to play in its latest incarnation.

Best known in the UK and the USA as Pop Idol and American Idol respectively, the format has also been a huge hit in many other countries, including Australia, Canada, Croatia, France, Greece, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia and Turkey amongst others.

One of the latest versions of the format is in Bulgaria, where it is titled Music Idol. Aired on the country's first privately owned national television station, bTV (owned by News Corporation), the series currently enjoys the station's highest viewing ratings, its live performances broadcast from bTV's studios in the Nati

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Canada - FOH engineer Brad Madix is working with Metric Halo's SpectraFoo analysis software as he prepares for an extensive international tour with Canadian rock legends Rush in mid-June.

Madix, who is returning to front-of-house for Rush after first mixing the band for part of the Roll the Bones Tour, puts SpectraFoo to good use, not only during system setup but, also throughout the show. "I use it mainly for tuning the PA - that's the big job that it does - but also for stuff in the mix. Even though I'm mixing live, I do use it for 'mastering,' metering and looking at phase."

Madix adds, "You can save the window sets so that you can switch very quickly from looking at the left and right output of the console, looking at a phase scope and mastering metering, then switching over to see an RTA view on top of an FFT analysis between the output of the desk a

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UK - Tomorrow's A.C. Lighting North Event (1-2 May) will see the first UK showings of two new product innovations from leading Italian trussing and rigging manufacturer Litec. The new Litec EXE-Lodestar 650C1 is a BGV-C1 multifunction electric chain hoist designed for use in the entertainment industry.

BGV-C1 is a German code of practice for the entertainment and theatrical venues, part of which covers lifting and rigging equipment. Adopting BGV-C1 is voluntary, but it is generally required to obtain insurance within Germany and is therefore rapidly becoming an industry standard across Europe. A C1 chain hoist can be defined as a unit suitable for use to move and hold loads above people, and as such has to meet certain criteria such as a design factor of 10:1, underload and overload protection and a double brake mechanism.

"We needed to make a simple hoist that could work

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UK - Formula Sound has taken the modular construction concept that has been used on many of its previous mixers and used it as the basis for its new ZMR-80 modular zoner/mixer. Designed to provide precise and reliable control of audio sources being fed to different zones, the ZMR-80 is designed for use in such applications as hotels, theme parks, public buildings and entertainment venues.

The modular construction of the ZMR-80 allows it to be configured in many different ways to suit each individual application. The 19" 4RU chassis can house a total of up to 11 modules, which can include up to four input modules, up to six output modules, a power supply module and an optional paging module.

This enables the ZMR-80 to handle between two and eight input sources and feed these to between two and 12 output zones. Paging to any or all zones is possible via the paging module. T

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Denmark - Martin Architectural's Cyclo IP65 Directional Series is a new range of fully weatherproofed directional luminaires designed for outdoor illumination of facades, structures and signage. With a slim linear design based around white or coloured 54 W fluorescent tubes, the Cyclo IP65 Directional offers long-lasting performance and uniform distribution of light and colour.

Developed around Martin's fluorescent colour-mixing module, the Cyclo IP65 Directional Series is further enhanced by its use of a well-known lamp technology that ensures long lamp life (20,000 hours) and a low maintenance schedule, says the company.

The Cyclo IP65 Directional can be programmed to generate smooth variations in light and colour, as well as 'daylight' variations in colour temperature. The Series offers a choice of static colours, variable colour temperature, or RGB colour mixing. Each of t

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UK - ADB Lighting's UK distributor, LSI Projects, will be showing some of the latest ADB Lighting products at this week's AC Lighting North event in Leeds.

On display will be the award-winning WARP/M (Motorised) and manual WARP zoom profile spotlights, which have recently been installed in the UK at leading venues including the Barbican Concert Hall, Glyndebourne Opera, the English National Opera's home at the London Coliseum and the London School of Speech and Drama.

Alongside it on LSI's stand will be the compact, powerful ADB Mentor control console, whose leading UK customers include ITN and the BBC, which has taken delivery of ten consoles for its UK regional television studios and recently ordered another two of the desks for a new London studio that will open in June.

LSI Projects will also be displaying the Europe and Eurospot luminaires, two of ADB's best-selling lig

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USA - The fifth annual Broadway Sound Master Classes (BSMC) take place 19-20 May at the Tisch School of the Arts, Abe Burrows Theatre, at New York University. d&b audiotechnik will be participating as a sponsor for this event.

In addition d&b audiotechnik's presenter, John Taylor will fly from the UK to make a presentation on 20 May on the subject of Electroacoustics and Sound System Design.

The BSMC is an in-depth exploration of the current trends in Broadway sound design and reinforcement, from the artistic process to the latest new technology.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Event power specialist Power Logistics has recently taken on three new team members. Rich Rayner (pictured left) joins the Operations and Project Management team and will be working alongside Dave Oxley (centre), while Noel Glendinning (right) joins the expanding Warehouse and Logistics team.

And finally, having decided to take control of their increasing transport needs, Power Logistics has also announced its decision to open its own in-house Transport Department: George Stedman will be heading up this department as transport manager.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Germany-based lighting control systems specialist MA Lighting invited friends and colleagues to the opening of its new London office and showroom yesterday. The opening of the office follows success for MA's lighting control systems in London's West End, on shows including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q, Wicked, Sinatra and the Blue Man Group, as well as the upcoming productions of Lord of the Rings and The Drowsy Chaperone.

The company has also reports seeing strong uptake of its lighting control systems in the touring rental, TV/studio and architainment markets.

The new London office will have a dedicated technical support and sales team in place to support the UK market, and the company plans to open its New York office later this month, through its US distributor A.C.T Lighting, to service its growing Broadway presence.

(Lee Bald

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UK / USA - Software developer Stardraw.com has announced two new members of the growing community of certified programmers for its application, Stardraw Control: they are James Heliker who runs TVBR Studios in San Bernadino, California, and Joel Hauxwell of Total Audio Solutions in the UK.

TVBR Studios started life as a music recording and production facility, but has branched out in the last three years into control system design and integration. "I first started experimenting with Stardraw Control for my own purposes in the context of music production, where system control is surprisingly important," explained Heliker. "I then started looking at different markets for control and built a client base."

Total Audio Solutions' Joel Hauxwell agrees: "We are a one-stop shop here at TAS - we offer a full service from design, through installation and full sy

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USA - Harman International Industries, Inc, the manufacturer of audio products and electronic systems for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR) and GS Capital Partners (GSCP) in a transaction valued at approximately $8 billion.

The company, whose brand portfolio includes leading professional audio brands including JBL, BSS, Soundcraft, AKG, dbx and Crown, will continue to be named Harman International Industries and Dr. Sidney Harman, founder and executive chairman, will remain executive chairman.

Dr. Harman stated: "We are pleased to reach an agreement with KKR and GSCP that is in the best interest of our stockholders, presenting them with excellent value for their shares and the opportunity to participate in Harman's future growth. KK

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