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USA - A high power Renkus-Heinz line array PA has been installed at the OC Pavilion in Santa Ana, CA, a multipurpose 500-seat entertainment venue that hosts a wide range of events - theatre, concerts, private functions, corporate events and film shoots.

Owner, architect and developer Michael Harrah purchased the property in 2001 and has invested over $21 million in developing it. And as its website proudly proclaims, it offers "intimate seating for 500 and a state-of-the-art sound system that is second to none," adding, "patrons can experience artists in a setting that is reminiscent of days gone by, when the artist's performance wasn't just something to witness, but rather, experience."

The sound system in question is a Renkus-Heinz STLA/9, the company's mos

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Australia - Three Australian sound rental companies - Production Dungeon, Barossa Valley Sound and Vision and Ashton Admor - have recently chosen to make substantial investments in Aspect, Turbosound's modular point source system.

Derek Bovill from Brisbane-based Production Dungeon, knew exactly what he was looking for in a new speaker system and Aspect Wide "fitted the bill perfectly". The company services a diverse range of artists and needed a system with clarity, yet capable of brutal SPL and projection for outdoor shows.

Since taking delivery, Production Dungeon has used the system with a range of groups including Paul Kelly, Gangajang, The Original Angels and hardcore rockers Terror and Testament.

Further inland, Barossa Valley Sound and Vision has also taken delivery of an Aspect Wide system including four TA-500 mid-highs, four TSW-218 subwoofers, Turbosoun

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USA - Lighthouse Technologies will once again be showing its giant video displays at InfoComm from 19 to 21 June in Anaheim, California. The company will have its three leading products on display: R4, R6-III and R10-II.

R4 is a 4mm pixel pitch display, Lighthouse's finest pixel pitch to date. Its ultra-high resolution addresses the continuing demand for high definition screens and it includes remote monitoring of LED failure, power failure and temperature. R4 adopts the fanless approach of the super-quiet R10 screen and this, along with its lightweight, makes it ideally suited to networked five-star boutique applications, says the company.

R6-III's 6mm pixel pitch display incorporates Lighthouse's proprietary Uniformity Control, developed to guarantee that the colour balance of every pixel and the brightness of every LED lamp is identical, ensuring uniformity to "an exce

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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 - XL Touring Video just finished up the North. American leg of Björk's 2007 Volta Tour. XL provided Bjork and lighting designer, Paul Normandale of Lite Alternative Design, a variety of display technologies to explore before deciding on a Sony 4 camera fly pack and three NEC 61" plasma screens.

The equipment was used for image magnification to display Bjork's many innovating audio technologies, chief among them being the new device called the "Reactable" which displays audio waves visually.

President of XLTV, John Wiseman, says: "It was a unique project and the evolution of the creative process was fascinating."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Mojo Barriers was the barrier supplier of choice when George Michael played his recent concert at the new Wembley Stadium, supplying the touring barrier system from their Netherlands facility, supplemented by over 600m of barrier from the Mojo Barriers UK office.

The Mojo Barriers UK office supplied 617m additional barriers for the concert, installed by a team of nine staff on the Friday evening and removed immediately after the show. They also supplied promoter Marshall Arts a further 345m surrounding the mix position and delay towers.

Kevin Thorborn, Mojo Barriers UK manager said: "It was great to be involved with the first show at the new Wembley Stadium. There were a few areas we all learned from, but it is a great venue and we're looking forward to working at many more shows in the future."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Heralding a new era of live music at one of Scotland's most prestigious sports venues, new promoter Murrayfield Sport & Leisure recently launched a five-year programme of events in the Edinburgh stadium, with two spectacular concerts using a Star Events Group Group Vertech stage.

On 11 May, tribute bands the Bootleg Beatles, Bjorn Again, Killer Queen and Led Astray performed, while the following evening opera singers Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson were backed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra - an evening which also included the two singers performing together for the very first time.

The Vertech VT2015FPVL stage unusually being placed on a 'long' side of the stadium, rather than the traditional position at one end.

As Murrayfield is the home of Scottish international rugby, great care had to be taken of both the playing surface and the perimeter running tr

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UK - Carling Academy Oxford has confirmed the first four shows for the Autumn season, with the Happy Mondays, Madina Lake, The Bluetones and Nick Harper headlining.

The venue is set to open in September 2007 following a major £2,000,000 refurbishment which will see the former Zodiac venue transformed into three separate, flexible performance spaces for live music and club events.

(Jim Evans)

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Denmark - Martin Professional has announced the appointment of Lars Kirstein Andersen as executive vice president - sales and marketing. He will assume the position on 1 September.

Andersen comes to Martin from Danish audio and video company Bang & Olufsen where he served as director of the company's Northern European region. Prior to that, he was employed in the IT industry with his primary focus on sales and marketing.

"Lars comes from a key position at one of the AV industry's strongest brands and brings with him many years of successful international leadership in sales and marketing," states Martin president and CEO Christian Engsted.

"Adding Lars to the Martin team will help us further develop our strategic sales and marketing activities as well as run the day to day business. Further, we expect an increased acceleration in the already positive sales dev

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UK - Avolites will highlight its new Pearl Expert console at the ABTT 2007 (13-14 June, London). With 200 shipped and 300 currently on order, it looks set to be the popular choice for the busy summer season ahead, says the company. Avo will also feature its Diamond 4 Elite, Pearl 2008 and Azure consoles at the show.

On the dimmer front, the Art2000 Touring dimmer - as featured on all the recent UK blockbuster movies - will be on the stand, along with the Art2000 installation dimmer.

• A D4 Elite console and an Art2000 dimming system have just been installed at the Bournemouth Opera House. Originally opened in 1895 as the Boscombe Grand Theatre, a multi-million pound refurbishment project has seen the 2000 capacity venue restored to its original Victorian splendour, complete with top notch contemporary production facilities.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Bill Johnson worked with some big names in live music - Dave Matthews Band, Concrete Blonde, Ice T, Widespread Panic - before hanging up his rock 'n' roll touring hat and taking his career in a slightly different direction. He is currently full-time technical director and chief audio engineer for Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM), founded by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, in Ft. Worth, Texas and also owns and runs Johnson Audio Works.

Johnson's most recent audio acquisition for KCM is at its Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, TX, where he specified one of the first DiGiCo CS-D5s in the world, purchased on the basis of its sound quality, ease of use, flexibility and consistency.

Eagle Mountain alone comprises an 1800-seat main sanctuary, 500-seat chapel, used primarily for children's services, and 500 seat hangar, used for youth services. However, the church als

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USA - Six Flags recently approached Tomcat USA to provide a fixed grid system to be permanently installed at its Music Mill Amphitheatre in Six Flags over Texas. The project was completed just in time for the busy summer season and is now installed in its new home. This extra equipment will be utilised in the Coobrila show by Cirque Dreams which will run from 16 June through 19 August as part of the Late Nights Six Flags series at the famous theme parks.

Although the entire system is made of medium duty and heavy duty trusses (approximately 65' deep and 100' wide at its widest point) the equipment is not the typical standard product. To achieve the desired look, no guide cables were used to secure the system. In light of this design consideration, Tomcat came up with a solution utilising eight 34ft medium duty spigoted towers with diagonals on all four faces of the

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UK - Lightfactor Sales will be showing a variety of its core theatre and performance orientated products available from Italian manufacturers SGM and LDR and LightProcessor from the UK, at this week's ABTT Show (13-14 June, London).

This will include Giotto Synthes's moving lights, PALCO LED wash fixtures, Pilot 300 and Studio lighting desks and the complete Idea range of products from SGM; a wide selection of theatre lanterns and accessories from LDR and LightProcessor's cost-effective range of lighting consoles, dimming solutions and DMX accessories.

New from LightProcessor is a range of location dimmers, specifically designed for the portable dimming market, suitable for film and video shoots and all types of special events. These offer local control and are available in 1 x 63A, 3 x 25A, 6 x 16A and 6 x 10A versions - all as complete 'ready-to-go', out of the box, plug-in-

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UK - Reading-based BITS Ltd recently installed JBL Control 24CT speakers in Sony Ericsson's flagship Kensington store. "We installed 10 Control 24CTs within the shop area, and four in each of the two conference rooms in the basement," explains BITS's Paul Childerhouse. "The white models were a perfect fit for the shop's sound system requirements."

JBL's Control 24C and Control 24CT ceiling-mount speakers (the latter models featuring built-in transformers) are part of the company's Control Contractor range of loudspeakers for installed sound applications. The two-way speakers comprise a four-inch woofer and a three-quarter inch titanium tweeter, and are capable of dispersing sound uniformly over a 130° conical area.

(Jim Evans)

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World - Pentecost Sunday saw millions of Christians from 176 nations around the world join in a 24-hour prayer watch for Global Day of Prayer. In London alone, an estimated 18,000 worshipers attended the event held at Upton Park, the home of West Ham United FC, where Star Events Group (SEGL) and SRC provided a 13m Alpha stage from which prayers were led and artists performed for the crowd.

With access to the stadium at 5pm on the Saturday evening to start laying trackway, and soundchecks commencing at 8am, contractors were scheduled to work through the night. The stage drove onto site at 11pm and needed to be positioned and built by 3am. At the end of the event, the crews had just 12 hours before the pitch was in use again for football.

In charge of production for the event was project manager Andy Barr from London-based Pure Solutions. He explains the logistics of the day: &q

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UK - Bandit Lites UK is again collaborating with lighting designer Tellson James and Production North, for G4's current sold outFarewell UK tour, production managed by Sarah Hollis.

Bandit chief executive, Lester Cobrin says: "Although it is the band's final tour, high production values were top of the agenda as they want it to be a memorable last tour - which is really credible."

James was offered the gig after his recent design work on the Shane Ward and Andy Abraham tours for Production North, both of which were also serviced by Bandit as the lighting contractor.

The clean looking, gently tiered set designed by Production North was also taken into account in James' design, which is based around a 40ft wide x 30ft deep box truss onstage, with a front truss. On the front are four ETC Source Fours and four 4-lite blinders, along with a motorised roll-down pr

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UK - Projected Image Digital (PID) will deliver its second Digital Video Workshop (DVW) at Turnmills London EC1 on the 26 and 28 June.

Event highlights will include special Catalyst and PixelMAD professional tutorial sessions and hands-on training workshops presented and run by SAMSC developer Richard Bleasdale and the PID Team.

PID's David March says, "It's terrific to have Richard here in person to engage with serious users of this technology. We will have a whole raft of new hardware solutions on-hand to show how Catalyst can be configured to meet different applications and budgets, whilst allowing upgrades as users needs change."

There will be presentations from David March, MD of Projected Image Digital, Al Mooney, Apple UK's video business development manager and Mats Karlsson, Barco's creative light imaging product manager.

Topics covered will include the

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USA - Spring 2007 has seen the second BBC BritBus Tour take to the turnpikes around the US, this year playing in 15 major cities across America, and climaxing in New York towards the end of June. Each bus stop is a two to four day event featuring the best in British music, television, entertainment and products, and Litestructures is out there with them.

A high-profile promotional tour like these BritBus events, needs to travel with an easy-to-assemble, lightweight, modular, transportable staging and decking system. Litestructures' LiteDeck was the choice. Having designed and supplied the ideal rig tour, Litestructures has also become a BritBus sponsor, joining the BBC, Virgin, Gibson Guitars and other world brands.

Litestructures' managing director, Adrian Brooks comments, "When it comes to combining engineering with entertainment, Britain in general, and LiteDeck in par

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China - UK lighting designer Durham Marenghi gave a presentation about his lighting design for the 2006 Winter Olympics at the 5th China International Entertainment Technology Forum in Beijing.

The Forum attracted major interest and was attended by over 200 invited guests including lighting and sound designers, programmers, operators, technicians and consultants from all sectors of the Chinese lighting industry - from television to live entertainment - and organisers and managers from large performance teams.

"Obviously it was very exciting and a great honour to be invited to China to speak about this work," says Marenghi. "There is intense interest in the skills, knowledge and technology involved in producing monumental shows and events ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008."

Marenghi's interactive 35-minute presentation detailed the evolution and execut

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UK - Even the inclement conditions of the Bank Holiday weekend couldn't dampen the spirits of the participants in Sue Ryder Care's Beat the Baton, a 5km run held on 28 May in London's Battersea Park.

Beat the Baton attracted over 800 participants, who ran the course around the Park to the accompaniment of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, to raise money for people suffering from multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and cancer.

Logistics for the event were taken care of by London-based Absolute Events, working closely with Wandsworth Council's events manager for Battersea Park, Alison Smith.

Formed in 1998 by Jonathan Price, Absolute Events' experience stood them in good stead to handle this occasion. "Not only was this the first Beat the Baton Sue Ryder Care has held, but it was the first time the Royal Philharmonic

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UK - One of the UK's most stylish independent restaurant operators, The Individual Restaurant Co., is favouring Electro-Voice loudspeakers for its distinctive venues. From the swish Restaurant Bar & Grill in Leeds, to the Piccolino chain of upmarket modern Italian restaurants and bars, installation company Rio Systems has specified EV at the heart of the background music systems.

One of the new flagships in the IRC portfolio is the Restaurant Bar & Grill in the centre of Leeds. Converted from an old post office, this elegant brasserie features a double-height restaurant, which takes advantage of the original Victorian architectural features. Oldham-based installation company Rio Systems chose the newest high-output small-format loudspeakers from Electro-Voice for the main restaurant; 12x EV ZX1s are wall-mounted about 15 feet above floor level, either side of the room.

With ve

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International - The July-August issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine will include the first instalment of Preview information for this year's PLASA Show.

The Show is close to being sold out, promising one of the busiest shows in the event's history, and paving the way for possible further expansion of this year's event. One of the most radical changes this year will be the show's new layout, which will transform PLASA07 into a two-hall, single-level exhibition thanks to expansion from Earls Court 1 into the adjacent Earls Court 2. PLASA has invested heavily in the new-look event, creating new meeting and presentation areas, a wireless internet zone, VIP hospitality suite and a separate fast-track entrance on Brompton Road. With pre-registrations growing daily, record numbers of visitors are expected at this year's

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