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UK - "One day I was working on Starlight Express in Edinburgh, the next I was in hospital with the prospect of being unable to work for many weeks." Chris Luscombe is a freelance production electrician, who is now singing the praises of Light Relief for its support during an extremely lean time.

The injury wasn't even work related - Chris was walking down some steps when he twisted his ankle, to be told in hospital that he had both fractured and dislocated it. Initially he was told he wouldn't be able to work for five to six weeks, but he soon found out that his job meant he would actually be off work for 14 weeks. Chris's wife works for him, looking after the administration side of the business, so no work meant no income at all.

Chris said: "We have two y

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UK - Digidesign announced at PLASA 07 the concurrent release of two important upgrades for its Venue live sound environment. Available for both the D-show and D-Show Profile mixing consoles, the D-Show 2.6 software upgrade adds several key new features including support for Aviom Pro16 Series personal monitoring/mixing devices via Digidesign's new ANO A-Net Output Card.

"We are very excited about the release of DShow 2.6 and the ANO A-Net output card," states Digidesign live sound market manager Robert Scovill. "D-Show 2.6 offers many new workflow and setup enhancements aimed at making a live sound mixer's job even easier, as well as making the system engineer and contractor's task simple when dealing with numerous Venue systems.

"Our ANO A-Net product offers some never before seen hardware features and software integration that Aviom users are sure to find

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UK -QSC Audio announced the appointment of three new territorial distributors - covering Germany, HUngary and Thailand - during a press conference at PLASA 07.

Shure Distribution GmbH is QSC's new distributor in Germany. Greg McLagan, vice president global sales at QSC Audio, commented, "We were looking for a partner sharing our passion for sound and performance, being dedicated to QSC and our products. We are very happy having found exactly this partner in Shure Distribution."

Shure Distribution's newly-appointed product manager for QSC, Marcus Bäumler, responded: "We see the complete line of products as having huge potential in the German market. Over the years QSC has put together a very competitive portfolio of products, all of which have a convincing set of features and strong benefits for customers and users in Germany."

QSC Audio has appointed Int

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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Italy - For the debut of the new 500 (a car that made history in Italy and Europe in post-war times), Fiat did it in the big way. After a long wait, on the 4th of July the new compact car was revealed within the spectacular "Welcome 500" live show. For the first time ever, a new car model was presented to a worldwide audience (via streaming web, a major Italian TV network and maxiscreens in the largest squares in Turin) live from the Murazzi alongside the river Po.

Coemar was there with 50 Wash Flex, 50 Spot Extreme and 24 ParLite Led. And on the next two days the show was staged a further 30 Italian cities, too.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - This year's winner of the Michael Northen Bursary, who received an honourable mention last year, is Georg Spindler who entered his lighting design for The Memory of Water, which formed part of the 2007 student show at LIPA.

Described by the judges as "creative in a very theatrical way, this was a beautifully documented and reasoned entry, with well presented sketches and photographs," the design won Spindler the £500 Bursary.

Presenting the award on 11 September at PLASA 07, Rick Fisher, chairman of the ALD, said: "There was definitely no 'favouritism' because this year, for the first time, the judges were not told the names of the entrants, so to us all the entries were anonymous."

The judges - ALD members Rick Fisher, Sam Gibbons, Mark Jonathan, Mary Pope, Paul Pyant, Mike Robertson and Mark White, also representing ETC - were unanimou

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Australia - LSC Lighting Systems in conjunction with Iceworks Design, have come together to light up the Gateway Upgrade Project - Customer Information Centre, located in Queensland, Australia.

The Gateway Upgrade Project is the largest bridge and road construction project in Queensland's history, totalling more than $1.87Billion. The project includes the construction of a second Gateway Bridge and the upgrade of more than 20km of roads, plus the addition of a Customer Information Centre.

Key to helping community understand, interact and accept the new construction is the Customer Information Centre and of course its interactive presentations. Technically speaking the centre is controlled by a Pharos LPC1 (LSC is the official Australian Distributor of the Pharos brand) and an LSC EKO Dimmer. The user interface is also provided by LSC in the ePlate wall controllers, each with e

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Denmark - DPA Microphones has announced the launch of the DPA 4017: a short and lightweight shotgun microphone. "DPA already has a strong position in TV drama and film environments, due to our broad range of microphones," says sales and marketing director Poul Koza. "With the 4017 we're fulfilling a long-term demand for a high-end shotgun mic to provide strong directional qualities for boom applications in film, TV and applications when suppressing unwanted noise is essential.

"When a regular cardioid is not directional enough, or a miniature cannot be mounted on the speaker, a shotgun is the answer, and we feel we the 4017 addresses these issues perfectly."

DPA carried out extensive R&D to create a high-end shotgun mic with extremely smooth off-axis responses. The company says it has also pushed the limits to produce a shotgun which combines high spec

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UK - Harman Pro UK confirms the completion of its multi-million-pound involvement in the design and implementation of the extensive audio systems at the O2, the new East London venue and entertainment complex built by America's Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) within the canopy of the former Millennium Dome.

The site includes a 20,000-seater stadium, the O2 Arena (which is being used for large-scale live concerts such as this Autumn's run of Prince dates, and will also be hosting Olympic sports in a few years), an 11-screen multiplex Vue cinema, a smaller live music venue/nightclub known as IndigO2 and an extensive district of restaurants, shops and piazzas connected by indoor streets, called the Waterfront.

In all of these areas, Harman equipment has formed the basis for the audio systems used, and in many areas the engineers at Harman Pro UK have been instrumental in desig

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UK - Fleetwood Mobiles, the live broadcast and recording specialists, has expressed an interest to acquire the BBC's OB facilities following the announcement of the sale of Resources by the BBC.

Commenting on the deal, Fleetwood's director of finance and corporate affairs Ian Cooper said: "Fleetwood is looking for ways to strengthen its position as Europe's leading independent live audio business, and as such the BBC opportunity would fit with our strategic objectives."

Coming at the end of a busy summer where Fleetwood has recorded major festivals throughout Europe as well as working with the BBC on major live broadcast events including the Diana concert and Live Earth, Fleetwood joins a list of potential bidders for the BBC's trucks.

Fleetwood's operations director Tim Summerhayes adds: "After another successful summer we are looking for ways to grow the bus

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USA - Founded in 1996, LifeChurch.tv has grown to become one of the most influential churches in America. LifeChurch.tv is a dynamic group of almost 20,000 people that gathers each week at 12 different locations across the US (the vision is for 50 locations in five years). Satellite broadcasts enable all of their locations to be connected, thus their motto 'One Church, Multiple Locations'.

"Each location has a full staff and a worship team that is very contemporary, like a rock band," says Phil Rapp, central technical director at LifeChurch.tv. "The teaching is very relevant to every day life and is fed over satellite to each location. Putting it simply, we will do anything short of sin to see people come to know life in Christ."

Currently, LifeChurch.tv owns over 250 intelligent lighting fixtures from five different manufacturers. "With the vision of

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Germany - Five open-air concerts in Germany gave fans a chance to hear Lionel Richie perform live this summer. Satis&Fy of Werne and an Electro-Voice X-Line system took care of the sound at all venues.

Satis&Fy entrusted responsibility for stage and system equipment to Rüdiger Nürnberg and Tobi Hoff, a team who work together with consistently outstanding results. Equipped with EV's X-Line they were able to provide an optimal balance of power and flexibility. "We took a total of 24 tops and 20 subs with us on tour," reports Nürnberg, "driven by six amp racks charged with EV TG-7 amplifiers, though the exact configuration for each show was determined by the demands of the venue."

In Wiesbaden's Bowling Green, where Lionel Richie delighted an audience of 9,500, nine Xvls and three Xvlt enclosures were deployed on each side of the stage, with eight Xsubs per

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USA - Theatrical Lighting Systems Inc (TLS Inc) has announced the new location of its Nashville office, and two new sales project managers to man it. The new location is 2961 Armory Drive - North Entrance. Expansion is expected as renovations to the building are completed. The renovations will allow for a sales showroom and rental warehouse.

Two "local guys" who have worked in Nashville for many years were hired as new sales project managers. Mike Brack has worked in television, video production and sales since 1986, while J. Andy Flatt has worked in the lighting business since 1987.

(Jim Evans)

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Italy - The return of Biagio Antonacci with a mega-concert at the Meazza Stadium (his only Italian summer 2007 date, with guest bands Velvet, Zero Assoluto and the Nomadi certainly lived up to the expectations of his fans.

The set centred on a mega-video (consisting of 11 13.5m high columns) and three 38m catwalks flanked by 200m of Coemar LineaLeds, and reaching out into the audience. "A very bold design, with a number of problems that were not easy to solve," was the satisfied comment of Francesco De Cave, lighting designer, set designer, producer and Catalyst contribution planner.

"For example, focusing the audience's attention on the centre of the visual field despite the fact that the catwalks, thanks to the LineaLeds, created a stage effect of aircraft runways. Around 50 iWash 575s provided striking colour backlighting. On the video front, the surrounding

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UK - HSL supplied lighting for all main live music and DJ venues at Bestival 2007, and co-ordinated the sound supply via their audio partners ML Executives. The operation was led by site project manager Ian Stevens, involving nine artics of equipment and 38 crew.

The hugely popular 'boutique' style music festival produced by Loudsound Events is now in its fourth year on the Isle of Wight and has expanded to a capacity of 30,000. The site surface area at its Robin Hill Country Park location has also increased. Main stage headline acts for 2007 were the Chemical Brothers (Friday), The Beastie Boys (Saturday) and Primal Scream (Sunday).

HSL has been involved with Bestival since its inception in 2004, and once again worked closely with event production manager Lee Charteris and Loudsound's Jim King and Jo MacKay in co-ordinating all the site's technical production and infrastructu

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Germany - beyerdynamic has introduced the DT 60 PRO in-ear headphones. Designed for use with in-ear monitoring systems, the DT 60 PRO "provides extremely accurate audio reproduction combined with effective sound isolation in loud environments".

Innovative direct coupling of the DT 60 PRO's transducers help to provide users deep bass, balanced mids and clearly defined highs, says the company. The in-ear headphones also offer additional sound isolation from ambient noise. To ensure an ideal fit, the DT 60 PRO comes equipped with three different pairs of silicon ear pads. Users have an option of black, white and beige models, allowing the headsets to be inconspicuous.

"For monitoring applications, professionals are looking for superior sound reproduction as well as safe volume levels," explains Paul Froula, beyerdynamic's pro audio manager. "The high leve

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UK - A.C. Lighting has opened a new 24-hour online shop (www.aclighting.com/shop) to provide customers with round-the-clock ordering access to its range of entertainment technology brands.

Initially the shop will sell consumable items, but as it develops, A.C. Lighting will be introducing more and more items from its extensive range of lighting, audio and rigging products. Consumables currently available through the shop include batteries, effects fluid, filter sheets, gobos, gobo accessories, lamps and tape.

With the shop being available to customers worldwide and many items available in stock for immediate despatch, the new service provides customers with a fast, efficient way to order urgent items for speedy delivery, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

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Trinidad - The 3,000-seat Trinidad Christian Centre in Petit Valley, Trinidad has installed a Renkus-Heinz self-powered loudspeaker system for its highly production-based worship services, as part of an ongoing programme of investment in its facilities.

The church, one of the Caribbean island's largest houses of worship - hosts eight to 10 services a week in its main hall, where the new system has been installed, while a second smaller hall caters for 1,200 people and further breakout halls serve community events, children's groups and special events.

A very high, curved ceiling characterises the wide, 180° fan-shaped main hall, where system integrator AMR, based in Barataria, Trinidad, began a series of upgrades of the room's house system in 2005. The original system consisted mainly of ceiling loudspeakers, which while providing some sound reinforcement gave neither 'pre

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Denmark - Mark Ravenhill, vice-president television and theatre lighting at Martin Professional A/S, has relocated back to the company's Danish headquarters after a two-year assignment at Martin's Florida-based US subsidiary.

Ravenhill's primary goal in locating to the US in 2005 was to place increased focus on America's influential television and theatre markets, along with the growing House of Worship market. He also lent invaluable support through a period of personnel changes at Martin US, says the company.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the two years that I spent in the US organisation," Ravenhill commented. "I not only learnt a great deal about the US market and its way of doing business, which was one of my main goals, but I made many friends along the way."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced the appointment of engineers Tao Zhang and Hadi Sumoro to its Technical Applications Group (TAG). As part of Community's TAG team, Zhang and Sumoro will be responsible for providing applications support and systems overview assistance to the company's worldwide customer network.

Zhang joins Community after receiving dual Masters in Acoustic Studies and Recording/Production at the prestigious Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Sumoro also holds a Masters in Acoustics from Peabody and a BA in Music Production and Engineering from Berklee College. Sumoro is a talented jazz pianist with a strong academic background in psychoacoustics, architectural acoustics and system design.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Liverpool based Adlib has concluded a £500K investment in a new L-Acoustics V-DOSC system along with a full d&b monitor rig.

Adlib Lighting has spent a further £250,000 on improving its stock level of moving heads purchasing 48 Martin Professional MAC 700 fixtures plus 16 MAC 250s along with two Avolites Pearl Experts, one High End Systems WholeHog 3 and a High End Road Hog.

Another £250,000 has been sunk into redesigning and developing totally new office spaces and warehousing within their current premises in Speke.

On the personnel front, Tony Szabo has joined the company as tour sound co-ordinator, while four young technical apprentices have joined the team to continue Adlib's ethic of investing in its future.

Says, Adlib's Andy Dockerty: "This all reflects the generally increased levels of business over the last two years and Adlib's commitm

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USA - Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) has announced the appointments of Michael Perry and Justin Walker to the EAW Application Support Group (ASG), the company's multifaceted team offering a wide range of specialized technical services and detailed customer support. The appointment was announced by Joe Fustolo, manager of EAW ASG.

Perry's primary focus is providing in-depth technical support for all EAW Commercial products, in addition to assisting with the entire EAW line. He comes to EAW from Loud Technologies support and service, and as an active sound system operator and musician, he also brings a great deal of relevant real-world experience to his new position. Based in Woodinville, Washington, Perry adds additional hours to the company's US support basis and is fluent in Spanish.

Walker is responsible for service requests and return issues, as well as providing technical su

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