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France - One of the highlights of the summer on the French Riviera has been the reopening of St. Tropez' famous nightclub, Papagayo, which enjoyed a golden era in the 1970's when such people as Eddie Barclay and Brigitte Bardot soaked up the atmosphere. More recently the club has hosted the likes of P. Diddy, Bono and Bruce Willis. Located right on the harbour it offers magnificent views of the bay, and now it has set out to recapture its bygone splendour.

Owner Fabienne Malortigue has spent €2m in creating a completely new infrastructure - including a potent new sound system - and has brought in new director, Thierry Fontaine from The Loft in Lyon to add weight to the operation, which today offers an eclectic music mix to an 18-25-year-old crowd.

The venue contacted its long-t

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UK - Back to their original line-up as a trio, Ash have been touring their latest Twilight of the Innocents album in the UK and Europe, with Adlib Audio providing the production and sound engineer Lance Reynolds delivering the house mix on the Soundcraft Vi6 digital platform.

Reynolds, who has been piloting the band's house mix for the past four years, was delighted to find a Vi6 already in both the FOH and monitor positions when the band started their UK leg proper with a four-night stint at Koko in London, as the experienced sound engineer had already worked with the desk in his native Chicago - at Randy Flaws' Windy City Sound and Lighting.

"Randy got hold of the first couple of Vi6's for touring use in the States around a year ago, and when I'm back home I do work for that company. So I had the opportunity to get a feel for the Vi6 before the FX cards came alon

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UK - Fineline's 5- axis router has been in action again, this time producing eight scenic Spitfires for Opera North's current highly rated production of Richard Keiser's The Fortunes of King Croesus.

Fineline was commissioned by Phil Martin of Bath-based Theatrical Props to build the basic elements of the planes, which were rough cut and shaped from epoxy model board by the CNC router.

The project was managed by Darren Wring. It was the first time that Martin has used the Bristol-based company, who were recommended to him by a colleague. "They were very friendly, helpful and attentive" he comments.

Each of the eight Spitfires needed to accommodate a small function. They also each needed to have a wingspan of 650mm and be constructed from a robust material that could be re-engineered to add future functions. They are finished in a high gloss gold, applied thr

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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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Slovakia - Every Saturday with a prime time slot the slovak TV channel, TV JOJ broadcasts Music Fever, a journey through the greatest hits in the country's pop history. Lighting designer Martin Kubánka uses two grandMA full-size, one MA NSP, one grandMA video media server and 24 Schnick-Schnack-Systems LED-Panels to create a harmonious design.

"We chose the grandMA because of its unbeatable reliability and quality", said Kubánka, "Using grandMA we could synchronise the TV-lights, effects, smoke and haze as well as video and that was exactly what we needed."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - J. R. Clancy has announced the availability of a new hoist designed specifically for architectural settings with vast spaces and high ceilings, in which lighting fixtures are often out of reach of maintenance personnel.

The LumaLift architectural lighting hoist makes it easy and safe to lower lighting to an accessible level for re-lamping, cleaning, focusing and maintenance in lobbies, atria, arenas, gymnasiums, convention centers, auditoriums, churches, factories and warehouses, says the company.

"With all of the versatility and dependable automation available in the theatrical rigging industry, it's only natural that the ability to raise and lower lighting in a simple, safe, cost-effective manner would come to architectural settings as well," said Mike Murphy, executive vice president of J.R. Clancy. LumaLift is designed specifically for architectural setting

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USA - Hall Stage will be exhibiting at this month's LDI expo in Orlando and will be showing the full range of high quality tracking systems now available from stock in the US. From the low profile T40 and industry backbone T60, through to heavyweight champion T70, all Hall Stage track products are built in the UK. Last year, Halls made over 18 miles of tracking for clients all around the World.

All three steel track ranges from Halls have been proven under the most demanding pressures over the last 50 years and can be found in hundreds of venues across Britain & mainland Europe.

Working closely with key partner, Thern Inc, Hall Stage North America will be showing the full catalogue of theatre products, including hoists, winches, roller systems & grid blocks to suit any venue rigging requirement.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Recolight - the lamp recycling scheme - has now signed up 50 UK lamp producers and made a strong start in creating its recycling infrastructure, heard the scheme's first membership meeting at its Croydon HQ recently.

Recolight chief executive Eddie Taylor said the scheme had achieved a high awareness level for the Recolight brand and made good progress in setting up an effective network of collection points, currently around 800 nationally, which would continue to develop over the next year or so.

The meeting heard that the UK WEEE process was now "settling down"; there were still opportunities to improve processes and some issues relating to the Regulations that needed clarification, such as the format in which evidence that recycling has actually taken place must be reported, and these were all being progressed.

Taylor commented: "I think another import

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Austria - Biamp Systems reports that two of Austria's host stadiums for the upcoming UEFA European Championships have recently installed audio systems featuring Biamp's AudiaFLEX components. Completed by Vienna's MOCOM Communications, the new upgrades elevate the venues to a level on par with some of the most advanced facilities in the game.

The design and integration for Innsbruck's Tivoli Neu Stadium was an upgrade to existing hardware, while the system implemented for Klagenfurt's Woerthersee Stadium was built from scratch. Both projects were managed by MOCOM's Harald Steindl.

"AudiaFLEX consistently sounds great and that's the primary requirement for me and my customers," Steindl remarked. "With such important events, it's also critical that the sound system be as reliable as possible or someone will lose business."

Both systems, though different desi

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UK - Blitz has designed a multi purpose Multi Definition Portable Production Unit (MDPPU) for its clients. Chief video engineer at Blitz, Simon Cox who designed the MDPPU explains: "Blitz is at the forefront of video technology and continually strives to provide an innovative and high quality technical solution for every client and event. When designing the MDPPU, our objective was to design a unit which is not only a comprehensive and complete video management system, but is also flexible enough to cope with all the demands asked of it."

Blitz says it designed and built the system around a core concept of quality and flexibility which has enabled it to replace its analogue PPU in favour of a completely digital system. The MDPPU is future-proofed by using multi definition digital systems which are switchable between SD and HD formats. This enables the client to bring i

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USA - Theresa Kelley has recently joined Total Structures as sales executive for the US Central and Mountain Regions and will be making her first 'public appearance' on Total Structures LDI stand. Prior to joining Total Structures, Kelley was western regional sales manager for fellow truss manufacturer Tomcat USA and sales manager for Barbizon Light of Arizona.

Kelley will be based mainly in Telluride, Colorado, however she intends to spend a large amount of time on the road visiting both old and new customers alike.

(Jim Evans)

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Bermuda - Two Allen & Heath iLive-144 digital consoles provided FOH and monitor mixing duties for the 13th Annual Bermuda Music Festival. Audio Incorporated from Roselle Park, NJ ran sound for the internationally renowned event.

"The iLive is probably the most flexible digital console I've seen," says Mike Sinclair, co-owner of Audio Incorporated, and one of the engineering crew handling FOH mixing duties. "It feels like it was designed by people who mix sound, rather than engineers who don't use these systems on a regular basis - and that understanding really shows in the user interface and front-panel features.

"We have provided the iLive for various events," continues Sinclair, "but the Bermuda Music Festival was my first time handling live mixing with the console - it didn't take long for me to become very familiar with the system. The templat

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Belgium - Australian lighting control manufacturer, LSC Lighting Systems has confirmed the appointment of Total Technics as its new distributor for Belgium.

Total Technics, under their registered name Stageline Bvba, have been in the lighting entertainment industry since 2004 and have worked on a number of notable projects within all aspects of the industry including TV, film and live entertainment.

Kurt Bethuyne of Total Technics technical sales says: "We have used the maXim Lighting Control Console for a number of years now and constantly received lots of positive feedback, and because of its proven quality and reliability we have been very keen to access the entire range of LSC products for the Belgian market place."

Total Technics have a comprehensive range of LSC products available and in stock now. LSC's products will be featured and demonstrated at the Total

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UK - Television viewers and diners experienced a state of the art presentation at the inaugural Auto Trader Used Car Year Awards with the help of an Infinite Plasma screen supplied by trade AV rental specialists PSCo.

The ceremony celebrated the year's most popular used cars, as voted for by visitors to the Auto Trader website and viewers of ITV 4's The Used Car Roadshow, while the event was hosted by the television show's presenters Jason Dawe and Penny Mallory.

The event itself took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel and, with ITV 4's outside broadcasting crew on site, space was at a premium. The Infinite Plasma screen offered the highest possible resolution images for the lowest physical footprint, says the company. With its almost seamless display, the screens provide high quality performance at a lower cost than equivalent LED options.

(

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UK - When Future 3000 plc purchased Censo - Candu Leisure's flagship Bournemouth venue - they wanted to establish the most potent dance system on the south coast.

Both the operating company and their audio contractors Complete Production Solutions Group (CPS) have a long history of working with proprietary Martin Audio dance systems, and as the new venue (to be named Crank) was taking shape, Future 3000 MD Richard Carr could already see the opportunity to replicate his epochal dance brand Slinky by again employing the Martin Audio principle to boost a new Friday night called Bedbug

.With Armand van Helden booked for the opening night, Martin Audio's national sales manager Simon Bull proposed a custom stack system, with raw aggression as its imprint.

CPS director Richard Colegate had already seen how effectively a perimeter of six carefully-optimised stacks had

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Saudi Arabia - Five JumboLifts, which are designed for particularly heavy loads and have already been used to great effect in venues such as the SAP Arena in Mannheim and the Hondynk Arena in Moscow, along with eight VarioLifts, will shortly be dispatched to the Middle East, where they are scheduled for installation in a Saudi Arabian clinic.

The JumboLifts, each of which has a lifting capacity of up to 3,000kg, will be used to manoeuvre a chandelier in the 55m-high lobby of the new building. When the clinic opens, it will be possible to move this twelve-ton 'jewel in its crown' at variable speeds.

The 500kg VarioLifts are destined for a different purpose: moving the clinic's lighting trusses. These lifts, which conform to the BGV-C1 code of practice and are notable for the exceptional precision and reproducibility of their movements, will be subject to the direction of a comp

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Europe - Thirteen years after their first top ten hits, Take That have returned to the international scene with a European tour of 50 dates in 10 Countries.

LD Simon Tutchner chose to use 160 projectors, of which 68 were Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1200s and 40 Alpha Profile 1200s, supplied by PRG Europe. "They create the most excellent graphic effects, both quantity and quality wise," says Tutchner. "I had little time to prepare the show and the alternatives that these projectors give me seem truly endless. I chose the effects that could interact best with the scenography, which entails a huge curtain and seven mega LED video-walls, on which fantasy images and close-ups of the four singers were alternated."

The Alpha Spot HPEs and the Alpha Profile 1200s are installed on the three stages, two of which are in the background and a third, circular, in the middle

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UK - The Leeds Castle fireworks displays have for many years had the reputation as being one of the leading fireworks events in southeast England, with visitors from all over the region going to watch the beautifully choreographed displays set among the majestic setting of the castle and lake. This year, Leeds Castle organizers wanted to add something extra special to the night, with the brief being "to light the castle up in a way that has never been seen before".

STL Lighting's Iain Austin, who has already been involved in the Summer Concerts held at the castle, took charge of putting together an impressive array of City Color architectural lighting fixtures and Martin Mac 2000s near the waters edge of the castle.

The lighting configuration made it possible to set different atmospheres as the story of a Mythical Dragon unfolded in front of the 12000+ audience, with

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Germany - After thorough tests and a shoot-out with the final three selected systems, Mark Liese and the Megaforce team from Weingarten, Germany have chosen Alcons.

With a substantial amount of Alcons pro-ribbon line-arrays, Megaforce have become the latest The Ribbon Network member in Germany. The initial order contained 36 x LR16, 12 x LR14, ALC2 and ALC4 amplified loudspeaker controllers, all fitted with Digital Drive Processors (DDP), including all (transport and flying) logistics.

Mark Liese, MD of Megaforce comments: "Alcons offers us a compact, high-resolution, full-range capable system, which we can use for almost, if not all, applications we encounter. It is absolutely convincing in terms of sound, handling and overall built-quality."

Megaforce is a large, full-service rental company, with focus on corporate events. Located in the south of Germany, Megafor

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Sweden - Andreas Karlsson sound rental company, located near Gothenburg, is one of the first in Europe to invest in Nexo's new Geo S12 tangent array system. The initial system order will give them the capability to handle audiences of up to 4,000, but proprietor Andreas Karlsson is already planning to buy additional boxes in the new year.

Established 15 years ago in Vara, in the southern part of Sweden, Andreas Karlsson's rental company is particularly well-known in corporate circles, where they handle the lion's share of big staff parties for client companies such as Carlsberg. Always working in live music, their projects take them mainly into clubs and large sporting venues and arenas.

The arrival of the first Geo S12 system in Sweden has surprised clients and engineers. "On the first show, the band's sound engineer was pretty shocked," explained Andreas Karlsson.

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UK - London's Royal Albert Hall has installed a new Meyer Sound M Series loudspeaker system. As part of a £100 million refurbishment effort, Surrey, England-based Sound By Design recently designed and installed the new in-house sound system for the venue's famously echoey main hall based on arrays of Meyer Sound M1D ultra-compact and M2D compact curvilinear array loudspeakers.

The new system features 10 M2D cabinets, 20 M1D cabinets, two M1D-Sub ultra-compact subwoofers, and one M2D-Sub compact subwoofer. Six UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers provide coverage to the seating surrounding either side of the hall's famed pipe organ. A Galileo loudspeaker management system handles system drive and processing.

The design collaboration between Sound By Design's principal engineer Phil Wright and systems engineer Dave Shepherd resulted in a system that can be reworked in

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UK - Bryan Robinson took office as president of the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers at this year's Institute Day and AGM in October 2007, taking over from David Hopkins OBE.

With 50 years in the industry, and his experience with Robbotronic Co, Horsham, Robinson's ambition is to encourage young people to become involved in the sound industry, and the ISCE are working closer than ever with Colleges and Universities throughout the UK to promote this.

Robinson commented: "The ISCE is committed to furthering the knowledge of all our members and we are rolling out a training programme which will actively help raise the standards of design and installations within the industry."

(Jim Evans)

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