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UK - Friday 14 December 2007 saw the official opening of the Mojo Barriers Education & Training Centre, part of the Centre for Crowd Management & Security Studies at Buckinghamshire New University.

The Centre was opened by the University's vice-chancellor, Dr Ruth Farwell, and Patrick Jordan, managing director of Mojo Barriers, in the company of many distinguished guests from the security, crowd management and close protection industries.

The Mojo Barriers Education & Training Centre is the world's only centre for training staff indoors on using pressure sensing equipment with the Barrier Load Measuring System (BLMS).

The launch featured a full demonstration of the BLMS, lead by Patrick Jordan and Warren Tucker, who provides technological support for the Centre, enabling guest

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USA - Outline recently took part in ET Live, held during the LDI trade show in Orlando. The outdoor demonstration consisted of six stages with six different speaker manufacturers and six different console manufacturers at FOH.

Outline had two hangs of 12 CDH 483 high packs, along with 16 Subtech 218 subwoofers. Also on hand were eight Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. adjustable line array modules.

On stage was a full assortment of Outline products from the HARD monitor series, DVS series, the Outline 'Doppia' and the Outline 'Tripla' point source systems. Each stage played the same pre-recorded track and then had the option of playing additional tracks and live music.

Tom Nichols of Morin Productions US, states, "The Outline Butterfly was a true standout in both aspects of the demonstration. The live music portion, performed by the Leonard Brothers, showed off the true musicality and

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USA - Cadac Electronics reports that it has supplied a 24-channel S-Type Compact Live Production Console to the Minnesota Orchestra, as part of a major upgrade of its sound system. The Orchestra Hall, an architectural landmark in downtown Minneapolis, is home to the 98-member ensemble, with its busy annual programme spanning live concerts, award-winning broadcasts and recordings. The Cadac S-Type was commissioned in November, alongside the installation of 64 additional mic lines, under the supervision of head of sound, Terry Tilley.

Established in 1903 as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra has an internationally acclaimed reputation, playing nearly 200 concerts a year under the direction of Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä. Terry Tilley is currently serving his 30th season with the orchestra, during which time he has changed mixing consoles just four time

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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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UK - As part of a world tour to promote their latest album Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, Foo Fighters undertook a nine date UK arena tour in November, culminating in two dates at the London 02 Arena.

Fronted by the irrepressible Dave Grohl, the band provided maximum entertainment via a complex live show, which included two stages. In order to cope with the ensuing Front of House audio requirements of the show, a pair of DiGiCo D5 consoles were put to use.

FOH engineer Bryan Worthen has been using DiGiCo consoles for three years, replacing the original analogue console he had been previously using with Foo Fighters. "I knew I needed to go digital or I would get left behind, although I fought it for a long time," he says. "But I had to make the leap and it was actually the band's management who told me about the DiGiCo D5. It was being used on the Be

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USA - Bandit wrapped up 2007 with annual Angel Tree charities. Each of the company's locations recently put up an Angel Tree in the lobby for employees who would like to help the less fortunate. The tree includes toy and clothing suggestions for foster children and local families who are unable to provide holiday gifts for their kids this year.

"The office Angel Tree is a great opportunity for Bandit employees to give back to people in their own community," explains Bandit human resources coordinator Cori Link. "The employees are not required to donate, but the majority of them do. I'm really proud to be involved with such a caring group of people."

Bandit employees also participate in the Salvation Army Angel Tree Programme. In this programme, a company such as Wal-Mart or Target (among others) places a Christmas tree in a pedestrian high-traffic ar

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Singapore - Last month, MA Lighting Asia Pacific held its first workshops in Singapore dedicated to operators, lighting designers and system integrators alike. The first three days of the workshop catered to the operators and lighting designers who wanted to get a closer look at the wide range of lighting control equipment that MA Lighting has to offer. The following two days focussed on grandMA video and networking.

The attendees had the chance to familiarise themselves with the whole MA Lighting console range and gain the confidence on how to operate the consoles in a hectic show environment.The workshop was heavily subscribed and 32 attendees from eight different countries came together at MA Lighting's office at Ubi Techpark to get a very detailed insight into the world of programming on the grandMA.

The event, which included evening dinners, was a great opportunity for ev

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UK - Adlib Audio came onboard as sponsors of Liverpool Music Week for the first time this year, to help raise the event's production values and to invest in some emerging musical talent.

The UK's largest indoor winter festival event was founded by local promoter Mike Deane in 2003, and is now regarded as a national showcase for some of the hottest new live music. Deane and his team recently formed a joint venture company with one of the UK's best known music industry gurus - James Barton - founder of legendary superclub, Cream.

Liverpool Music Week 2007 featured 10 action packed days of live performances featuring over 200 bands across 15 venues around the city, attracting some of the UK's best known artists appearing alongside plenty of fresh new faces and line-ups.

Adlib supplied sound systems to the City's three main venues - at Alma De Cuba in Seel Street and at the Fron

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UK - Stage One played its part in the lavish hour-long ceremony to name the latest ship to join the Cunard fleet - the Queen Victoria. The ceremony took place on the dockside at Southampton with the ship itself forming a stunning backdrop to the proceedings.

The company was asked by Robbie Williams Productions to carry out the scenic internal fit-out of a purpose-built temporary structure and was one of several key suppliers tasked with turning the space into a themed Victorian theatre fit for royalty, in this case: Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

Steve Dolan, account director, Stage One, said, "This project threw up several challenges, one of which was manufacturing timber to realistically resemble Victorian cast iron. Our art department and CNC workshop worked extremely hard to achieve exceptionally effective results."

Stag

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UK - Marking the middle of a world tour in support of his third album, Call Me Irresponsible, Canadian crooner Michael Bublé played eight UK arena shows in November and December. Accompanying monitor engineer Craig Brittain was the latest member of the touring entourage - a DiGiCo D5 Live console.

Brittain began using the 56-channel D5 Live EX console this autumn. "I'd been using various digital consoles for the past 18 months or so," he says. "I took part in a DiGiCo demonstration in Vancouver some time back and, having spoken to friends and peers in the industry who use them, really wanted to get a DiGiCo for the summer dates in the US.

"For various reasons I had to wait, but starting on it in Europe and the UK worked out very well. I was able to go to DiGiCo's premises and spend some time with Tim Shaxson and Roger Wood, who got me up to sp

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USA - TransAudio Group has been appointed the exclusive worldwide distributor for TRUE Systems products. The US-built line includes the SOLO series, the P2 Analogue and Precision 8 multi-channel microphone preamplifiers.

"I wanted to work with True Systems because their unique products offer extreme value to both the dealer and the customer," commented Brad Lunde, president, TransAudio Group.

"Brad and his team at TransAudio Group are unique in the business," stated Tim Spencer, president and chief engineer of True systems. "They focus on quality, value and relationships - the key factors that make doing business much more satisfying, fun and profitable for everyone involved."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Following its £1.3 million revamp the Wyvern Theatre Swindon is opening its doors on 4 February 2008 for a special Venue Technology Day. Coordinated by Stage Electrics the day promises the opportunity to explore some of the latest in venue technology in an operational setting.

On 25 September 2007 the Wyvern, a busy receiving venue, reopened after nearly a year in the dark following the discovery of asbestos in the auditorium roof (see Lighting&Sound International magazine November 2007). Stage Electrics was contracted by Swindon Borough Council to design, install and supply technical infrastructure and equipment to the venue.

The Wyvern Theatre is a truly multifunctional venue hosting everything from Shakespeare to ballet, live music to comedy and conferences to cinema. With a reasonably small team of staf

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UK - For Mika's Mika Dodgy Holiday tour, lighting designer Ian Tomlinson wanted to inject a more rock and roll element into the theatrical performance. The rig included a battery of Martin moving lights providing a beam look to the show, whilst PixelPars and PixelArt added effects.

Tomlinson comments: "PixelArt achieved the look I was hoping for and more. When I first saw the demo in the warehouse I knew they would integrate with the design and add the desired effect. They were also a big hit with Mika."

The PixelArts created a wall behind the band and featured a mixture of homemade video content provided by system tech Andy Rowe and stock footage. The lighting was controlled by a Roadhog and the PixelArts controlled by a Catalyst media server. All the lighting was supplied by Adlib.

(Jim Evans)

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China - One of the year's largest events took place in early October in Shanghai, China and like all events of this magnitude the numbers were staggering. Perhaps the most impressive figure though was 950. That was the number of MAC luminaires that American lighting designer Bob Dickinson used to support his lighting design for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics World Summer Games.

Held from 2-11 October, the Special Olympics World Summer Games saw 7,500 athletes from 160 countries compete beneath the Olympic Flame of Hope. An army of 40,000 volunteers were called upon to make sure the Games ran smoothly.

Perhaps bigger and better than anything staged before in China - until next year's Summer Olympic Games that is - 80,000 spectators at the Opening Ceremony in Shanghai Stadium witnessed an awe-inspiring display of traditional dance, music, lighting and pyrotechnics.

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UK - Today's news will be the last update of the year at LSI Online, as the team at PLASA Media is taking a break for the Christmas holiday.

The news service will resume on Wednesday 2 January 2008, and the next email news bulletin will be sent out to subscribers on Tuesday 8 January.

Until then, our thanks to all our readers for making use of our website through the year, and our best wishes to one and all for the holiday season and a happy and successful 2008.

The PLASA Media team.

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UK - The New Year brings a new Canadian distributor for UK loudspeaker manufacturer, Turbosound. The appointment, which takes effect 1 January, 2008, will see Erikson Pro taking charge of Turbosound's interests in the region.

"Erikson Pro has over 25 years' experience in the industry," says Turbosound's managing director, Simon Blackwood. "They handle a number of powerful complementary brands and being a division of JAM Industries Limited which owns our US distributor, American Music & Sound, this will make for a coordinated approach across the American continent."

Erikson Pro is based in Montreal at JAM's head-office and benefits from a dedicated sales rep force calling on retailers as well as professional sound and lighting installers across Canada. In-house marketing, sales, service and parts departments deliver strong sales support.

"Phase linear

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UK - For Joe Cocker's current European arena tour, he and his band benefited from 10 XTA DP324 SiDD processors in monitor engineer Niall Slevin's rack.

"I come from the analogue age and I'm still not convinced that digital sound is better than analogue," says Slevin. "But I'm happy to use digital consoles because digital brings so much to the table. The possibilities are extraordinary and I believe the opportunity has to be grabbed."

Audio equipment for the tour is supplied by Concert Sound and Niall is using a Digidesign Venue D-Show Profile console. He wanted an external EQ which would avoid him going through analogue/digital converters, meaning no degradation to the audio quality.

"It's important to me that I have an EQ which is digital console friendly," he says. "I needed something that was very reliable, that had a good EQ, a limiter

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UK - The Kaiser Chiefs wanted something completely different video-wise for the latest arena leg of their tour, so set and lighting designer Richard Larkum came up with the idea of having five portrait screens crowning the top edge of the stage.

XL Video was asked to supply kit and crew. The project was handled for them by Jo Beirne and Phil Mercer, who also initially suggested they use Jon Shrimpton to direct the show's camera mix.

Other key decisions made on the video front included not to have any onstage content and not to have any side stage IMAG screens. "We didn't want anything at all that would physically distract or divert attention from the band," explains Larkum, adding that to keep everyone's eyes focused towards the stage, the top mounted screens seemed the ideal solution.

To encourage the flow of communication between lighting and video, Larkum insist

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South Africa - MA Lighting initially made its entry into South Africa a couple of years ago. Gearhouse had spent a lengthy period of time deciding which desk would be the best way forward for them as the largest rental company in Africa. They finally decided on the grandMA. Michael Althaus, managing director of MA Lighting, travelled to South Africa to visit Ofer Lapid, Tim Dunn and Bill Lawford from Gearhouse and was introduced to Duncan Riley, who had just started his own company called DWR Distribution. By February 2007, an agreement was formed, making DWR Distribution the agents for MA Lighting.

"MA Lighting is very precise and they do everything properly," commented Duncan. "If they say it's going to happen on this day, you can be assured that it will. The desks have proved themselves as reliable above all else, which does effect how they are seen by the ente

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Austria - Wiener Event Technik, one of Austria's leading rental companies has expanded its rental stock with the addition of three Frog 2 Lighting consoles inventory, each complete with two 3M touch screens to maximise their usability on the fly.

The Frog 2 made its Austrian debut with the Vienna State Opera Ballet on their production of Walzerreigen in August. The performance was staged at the Kaiserzelt on Lake Altaussee with lighting design by Rudolf Fischer. The Frog 2 controlled the comprehensive lighting rig, which included 18 Martin MAC 600, 18 Martin MAC 2000, 16 6-Bar PAR 64 1kW, 12x Arri 2kW Fresnell, 12 Floodlight 1kW, 12 UV Tube 36W and two UV Flood 400W.

Managing director of Wiener Event Technik, Erich Kulicska says: "The Frog 2 fits all the criteria for our rental consoles including individual timing of channels and quick access to all desk data. In a

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USA - Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna announced his candidacy for reelection in style at a recent breakfast gala attended by over 2000 supporters at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Wash. Working together with the Blue Danube production company and Hollywood Lights, Mills Music of Seattle provided sound reinforcement for the event, deploying a Dynacord Cobra-2 compact line array system.

"The 'Breakfast Campaign Kickoff' started at 8am and we rocked their socks off," says Ric Webb of Mills Music, who supervised sound. "Rob McKenna came onstage to music from Pirates of the Caribbean, which was a great way to get the guests going, and the exit music was Up Around the Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival. This was our first time flying the Cobra, after a year of stacking the system for a wide range of outdoor and indoor shows, and we fou

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USA - Premier Production and Sound Services (PSS) provided full audio and lighting production for Dennis DeYoung's recent concert at the Baton Rouge River Center in Louisiana.

The performance featured classic hits from DeYoung's tenure as front man for Styx including Come Sail Away and Mr. Roboto as well as songs from DeYoung's solo albums. The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra provided musical accompaniment along with DeYoung's current five-piece rock ensemble.

Premier provided a live sound reinforcement system that included JBL Vertec line arrays supplemented with VRX and SRX Series portable loudspeakers. The main PA system included a pair of 13-element arrays, each including nine Vertec VT4888 midsize enclosures and four VT4887A compact line array enclosures as down-fill support. Two columns of four JBL VRX932LA portable line arrays each were hung flanking the ma

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