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UK - A revival of Sondheim's 1987 Broadway hit Into the Woods saw 24 channels of Trantec wireless being utilised inside the hallowed walls of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Under Will Tuckett's direction, a cast comprising opera singers, musical theatre specialists and actors were put through their paces in a witty, tongue-twisting production that placed exceptional demands on singers more at home with a classical repertoire. And there were equally significant demands on the wireless system. Extensive dynamic ranges - from a hushed whisper to full operatic fortissimo - meant careful consideration had to be given to equipment choice.

Sound designer, Chris Full from Autograph Sound explains, "As you would expect, there were some pretty strong singers with thei

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USA - The Genlyte Group has announced record second quarter net sales of $408.9 million, an increase of 11.7% compared to $366.1 million in the second quarter of 2006. The Company also reported record second quarter earnings per share of $1.29, a 4.0% increase over the $1.24 reported for the second quarter of 2006. Second quarter net income increased to $37.4 million compared to $35.9 million reported for the second quarter of 2006.

Chairman, president and CEO Larry Powers said: "We are pleased to report second quarter increases in both sales and earnings. Our focus on higher margin product lines and the price increases helped us achieve higher sales and gross margins for the second quarter.

"Our commercial lighting business grew moderately from last year, but the growth was offset by weakness in the residential sector. In addition, results for the second quarter of

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UK - Leading VJs and DJs, and an audience of thousands, descended on Manchester Central (formerly known as the G-Mex Centre) for two nights during July for the Industrial Resolution. The event featured a monumental visual arts installation displayed on what is claimed to be the world's largest high-res digital screen by Harkness.

Commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Industrial Resolution brought together visual artists from Microchunk, led by director Todd Graft, to perform custom-designed, multimedia to the soundscape of DJs, including 2 Many DJs, Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Laurent Garnier, Layo, Sasha, and many more.

The focal point of the visually stunning show was the shaped Harkness screen - 48m wide by 18m high over a 25m radius and with a total area of more than 800sq.m - specially constructed for the event to form a spectacular backdrop for the

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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 - Wybron has introduced the PS 450i power supply, one of the company's latest permanent install product offerings.

The PS 450i is RDM compatible and is modelled after Wybron's popular PS series power supply products. This new permanent power supply is compatible with Wybron's Nexera and Forerunner, as well as all of the company's InfoTrace System products, including the Coloram IT, CXI IT, Eclipse IT and Eclipse II IT.

"We are receiving more client requests for permanent installation products for theatrical and architectural applications," said Larry Turner, Wybron's CEO. "Therefore, we designed the PS 450i power supply to fill the greater need for this type of product."

The PS 450i is designed to easily mount to a wall or unistrut and has multiple convenient conduit knockouts. All connections are on terminal blocks with separate blocks for main power

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UK - Lighting designer Paul Normandale used 120sq.m of Chroma-Q Color Web 250 to provide a low res visual effects backdrop for the main stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend event in prreston.

Artists featured on the main stage included Scissor Sisters, Razorlight, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Stereophonics, Natasha Bedingfield, The View, The Fratellis, The Fray, The Twang, Jamie T and Mika.

Lite Alternative's Paul Normandale provided the creative direction for all three stages at this year's event for SJM, assisted on the main stage by lighting director Glen Johnson.

The brief was to create a dynamic, encompassing visual range which as well as achieving a big look for the live stage audience, would translate well on camera for the TV audience.

The back wall of the stage featured a 19m wide by 6m high drop of Color Web 250, with further panels turning the stage corners to provide

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UK - PRG Europe has supplied the lighting equipment for the revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which opened at the Adelphi on 17 July.

This is not the first time lighting designer Andrew Bridge and associate Michael Odam have worked on Joseph, nor PRG Europe project manager Peter Marshall - all were involved with the last West End production back in 1991, which starred Jason Donovan. This time the star of the show is Lee Mead, who won the part following the BBC show Any Dream Will Do.

The rig, installed under the supervision of production electrician Fraser Hall, includes some 70 Vari-Lite luminaires, over 200 ETC Source Fours, Wybron colour scrollers, Lycian follow spots and other conventional lights, along with strobes, smoke and special effects.

The reworking involved a major desk transfer from the Artisan control console to a Wh

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UK - 5 Star Cases has built a special flight case for pilot Paul Bonhomme of Attitude Aerobatics, current leader of the Red Bull Air Race World Series.

The 1800mm long by 1300mm high, navy blue case contains a complete engineering and service workshop, including clean and dirty work benches, a vice and full set of 10 drawers containing enough tools and spares to keep his hot-rodded Zivko Edge 540 single-seat-single-engine aerobatics plane going for a year.

A separate section at the back of the case contains other essentials, including two mountain bikes (for Bonhomme and his race engineer Wade Hammond), a kettle and a toaster.

The Red Bull Air Race is an adrenalising flying competition staged around the world, pitting the speed and precision skills of the world's most talented pilots against each other. There's a total of 10 races and 13 pilots, three from the UK including B

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UK - Metallica's long-time FOH engineer and equally long-standing Midas devotee Big Mick Hughes has fulfilled the promise he made when Midas announced the development of a digital mixing system: to take it on tour with Metallica as soon as it was ready.

The moment arrived in late June as Metallica embarked on a 12-date tour of shows and festivals across Europe, starting in Lisbon and ending in Moscow. As all shows plus two days of production rehearsals took place during just three weeks, two identical control and backline systems leapfrogged their way across Europe, with both XL8s supplied by Canegreen via the M7 Group, which facilitates UK XL8 rentals.

"I always considered myself an analogue diehard and I've used Midas since the Pro 1," says Hughes. "I tried most other digital consoles along the way but I never felt comfortable. The XL4 is a heavy beast, it fee

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UK - The audio setup for the Live Earth concert at Wembley, supplied by Britannia Row Productions, remained essentially the same as it had for Concert for Diana the previous week, minus one DiGiCo D5 that had been used specifically for orchestral requirements and was not needed for Live Earth.

The stage was once again on a revolving system, to account for the quick band change overs, with an A/B set up of splits, front of house and monitor systems and trucks. Two DiGiCo D5 Lives sat at the front of house position with engineers Chris Coxhead and Chris Morrison at the A and B consoles respectively. Mike 'Bunny' Warren operated the show/presenter console. DiGiCo's Tim Shaxson sat at a further, offline, D5 that was used by guest engineers to check their settings.

"Our main role was to help the visiting band engineers to set up, or modify, existing D5 session files which woul

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UK - Hemsworth Arts & Community College has used Maltbury's Metrodeck staging for many years, and head of drama Stephen Foster recently asked Maltbury for a piece of rotating scenery for use at the school and in competition.

Maltbury provided a Scenic Revolve comprising three 8ftx4ft panels mounted on a rotating frame. These panels are arranged so that three different 8ftx8ft faces can be shown to the audience - a total of almost 200sq.ft of flattage.

The boards can be painted, have things stuck to them or projected onto them. They can also be removed. Each panel can then be taken down and the frame folded up for easy storage or transport.

The scenic revolve is designed for drama, dance and musicals but can equally be used for conferences, exhibitions or any information display, says Maltbury.

• Plymouth Music Zone is a music education facility in Devonport. Once a de

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Ireland - DPA Microphones' new D3/S5 surround mount was used for the first time, along with an all-star cast of DPA microphones, to broadcast Gustav Mahler's eighth symphony, performed by the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, soloists, and choirs from the National Basketball Arena, Dublin. The performance was broadcast live on Irish national radio station RTE Lyric FM.

"Nicknamed Symphony of a Thousand because of the sheer size of the cast: eight soloists - including one angel singing from 'heaven' - a full orchestra and choirs, this would give any soundman a difficult task in an auditorium," explains RTE's senior producer engineer Anton Timoney. "Added to that, it was being performed in a basketball arena. So my first task was to go see the arena with the orchestra manager and a representative from our OB department.

"I figured we'd need around 50 mi

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The Netherlands - Almost four years after Midas Consoles Holland started up in Holland, the company has also taken on Midas and Klark Teknik distribution for Belgium and Luxembourg.

The new operation, known as Midas Consoles Benelux, operates from divisions based in Apeldoorn in Holland, and Zaventem in Belgium.

"Our successful and focussed Midas and Klark Teknik distribution model proved its success in Holland, and together with the UK headquarters, we have taken it to the next level," says managing director Axel Nagtegaal. "During the course of this summer, both divisions will become fully operational business units working closely but autonomously."

Midas Consoles Benelux also incorporates Dryhire.eu, set up to offer dry hire support to the international event and touring production industry throughout Europe, including rentals of the Midas XL8 live pe

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UK - i-Pix' new BB LED Wash Lights were again in action on the summer festival circuit. The latest festival to feature the BB - a totally new style LED blinder unit from i-Pix - was last weekend's The Glade.

Now in it's fourth year and set in the beautiful Berkshire countryside near Aldermaston, the boutique 'electronic music' mix of Glade offers a laid back funky vibe with "a strong aversion to all things corporate/mainstream and a great love of everything alternative, underground and interesting".

Lighting for the Glade (main) stage and the tented Vapour stage was supplied by west London based Colour Sound Experiment, who have serviced the Glade Festival's main venue since the inaugural event in 2004.

Colour Sound's Jasper Johns designed the Glade Stage rig based on a flexible, generic design, that could be used by all artists. The lighting was fitted to the roof

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USA - Six High End Systems Showgun automated luminaires recently rocked the rig of two Kiss concerts. Performance Lighting of Elk Grove Village, IL, supplied the production, which also included 60 HES Studio Beams.

Russell Armentrout, president of Performance Lighting, says, "When we powered up the Showguns for the first time, everyone's jaw dropped. The whole production staff, including Mr. (Gene) Simmons, were very much impressed by the fixture. And the Showguns are just as easy to hang as any automated luminaire."

Longtime Kiss LD Bryan Hartley designed the system, while lighting director Sean "Motley" Hackett programmed and operated the concerts in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, and at RockFest 2007 in Cadott, WI.

Hackett reports, "I hung the Showguns stage left and stage right of the Kiss sign to fill the gap where video screens used to be. By placing th

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Czech Republic - When the Czech National Theatre in Prague found themselves staging two new musical productions, they invested in a Midas Verona console from local distributor Audio Pro to get the sound they needed.

The theatre had booked two performances which were atypical for the venue: Tom Stoppard's Rock'n'Roll, which features a live a rock group, and the musical A Well Paid Walk. The sound department at the theatre felt the existing 13 year old theatre console wasn't up to the productions, especially as the sound control had to be brought front of house rather than in a glassed-in sound cabin.

Various console brands were brought to the National Theatre for evaluation by four of the house engineers. After just a few minutes they had agreed unanimously on the Midas. "We simply put the same signal through the different consoles, and there was such a diffe

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UK - The Grove Theatre, Dunstable was officially opened on with a gala performance hosted by Brian Blessed. The curved auditorium seats 780 people on two levels in stalls, circle and box style seating with the option of retractable stalls seating offering a flat, floor space increasing the capacity to 1,000.

After the infrastructure was installed by Northern Light, AC Lighting won the supply of loose equipment to include 48 x Selecon Rama High Performance Fresnels, 5 x Aurora 4-way Cycs and 2 x Performer Series Toru Followspots.

Matt Kingslake, technical manager at the Grove Theatre comments, "I have been very pleased with the Selecon equipment I used at my previous venue and with the equipment I have seen brought in by visiting companies. Due to my experience using Selecon equipment they were my first choice when sourcing lighting equipment for the Grove Theatre. I am es

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UK - Allen & Heath's range of Xone mixers were installed on a majority of stages at the recent Glade festival, a spin-off of the Glastonbury Glade Stage, which took place near Newbury in July. Now in its fourth year, the Festival hosted performances from dance music's leading artists across 12 arenas.

Innovations for the 2007 event included the addition of a dedicated techno tent - the Vapor Stage - and a new arena called the Nectar Temple, housing a multifunctional arts space and West Coast breaks artists.

Allen & Heath's MIDI-enabled Xone:92 was installed on the Vapor Stage, Breaksday Tent, Liquid Stage, ID Spiral Dome, Nectar Temple, and in the Pussy Parlure, while two Xone:62 mixers were installed on the Overkill Stage. Ralph Lawson also used his Xone:3D mixer/controller for 2020 Soundsystem's live performance and Infusion employed their new Allen & Heath WZ-20S onstage st

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UK Volex will be Introducing the V-Lock locking connector at PLASA 2007. Awarded an innovative product awad at PLASA 2006, the V-Lock now has an extended range of connectors and jumpers.

The V-Lock connection consists of three parts, the integral locking feature, secure locking connector and sturdy release button. The integral locking feature mates with the secure locking connector forming an unbreakable bond and ensures that no unintentional disengagement occurs.

By using the Volex V-Lock you are able to switch from hard wiring to LED technology, says the company. Says a company spokesman: "Volex understands that every event is unique, therefore we have made our products diverse to match all of your power source needs. We are happy to consult our customers on which of our many products are best suited for their business."

See Volex at PLASA07 - stand A51.

(Jim E

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Australia - Bonython Hall, the great hall of Australia's University of Adelaide, was built in 1936 thanks to a donation from local dignitary, politician and journalist, Sir Langdon Bonython.

Used for a wide range of functions - from university exams and graduation ceremonies, through to conferences, weddings, funerals and presentations - the hall's architecture is marvellous to look at, but the hard surfaces don't lend themselves to good acoustics.

When pro audio distributor Audio Telex was approached by the University to improve the hall's audio facilities, EASE modelling and an on-site demonstration proved that replacement of the existing loudspeakers with Turbosound QLight enclosures would be the optimum solution.

Installed by the Adelaide branch of AV Central, the new system features two main loudspeakers, two delays and two balcony delays, all from the Turbosound QLight

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UK - Exhibitors at this year's PLASA Show (9-12 September, Earls Court, London) are being reminded to make their nominations for the prestigious PLASA Awards for Innovation by this year's earlier deadline of 24 August.

The date has been brought forward this year by one week to allow more time for the judges to assess the nominated product, and also to allow for greater planning in the display of the nominated product in the L&SI-sponsored PLASA Innovation Gallery, a major feature of the show, which in this year's single-level layout for the PLASA Show, will be positioned at the junction of Earls Court's two halls.

PLASA's Awards for Innovation seek to recognise new products which fulfil the criteria of 'Innovation' - i.e. that they "advance the industry by demonstrating a new style of thinking, improving technical practice or taking a key step forward in terms of s

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USA - Chauvet haas introduced the Arena Hazer, a water-based haze solution for designers seeking a large, continuous and evenly diffused field of haze.

The Arena Hazer features true continuous output of up to 20,000cfm. To aid in diffusion and distribution, it has an integral fan and an auxiliary external squirrel cage blower to adjust the speed and orientation of the haze.

The system is housed in a wheeled road case that allows easy access to the control panel as well as easy refilling. Also included are DMX control capability (for output adjustment, fan speed, and blower speed), a wired remote control and 1.4-quart onboard fluid container.

(Jim Evans)

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