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UK - Close collaboration between the Barracuda Group and screen media content creation and delivery specialists, Kaleidovision, has provided the cornerstone for a marketing campaign throughout the operators' targeted Varsity Bars estate.

Following a brief from Barracuda, Kaleidovision's creative studio has designed a library of screen media aimed at the Varsity Bars' chain of 41 student bars; the new campaign kicked off this month to coincide with the start of the new 2008-9 academic year.

This year's promotion, titled Crazy Sexy Cool, encompasses a consumer competition to find the Face of Varsity 2009. All the channel content is focused on the VCard loyalty card, 650,000 of which were sold during the last academic year. To give it added currency, Kaleidovision has

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UK - An innovative new product which allows clients to light up their business image, in an easy to use, portable and compact format, has been introduced by Apticol Ltd. The new LED Imaging Spotlight, for use in applications which require full colour image projection or accurate beam shaping, has already attracted major interest from a number of sectors who have identified a variety of uses for the compact, high quality product, the company reports.

Applications for the LED Imaging Spotlight include advertising, logo projection and point-of-sale to name but a few, and is well suited to such environments as retail, pubs and clubs, hotels, museums, galleries and leisure facilities.

"Utilising LED technology, the Imaging Spotlight is both energy efficient and environmentally friendly, boasting long life-time and reduced waste", say Apticol. The company, which specialize

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USA - Lighting manufacturer Elation Professional has announced that Everlast Productions, based in Dania Beach, FL, will serve as its East Coast Service Centre. The move will enable customers on the East Coast to have warranty and non-warranty authorised repairs on Elation products performed at Everlast by factory trained technicians.

"We're confident that this association will result in better service to Elation customers on the East Coast and faster turnaround on repairs," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "Everlast is a highly regarded production company with experience in a wide range of lighting applications, and they share our strong dedication to quality and service."

Specialising in corporate events, outdoor events, night clubs, trade shows, HOW installations, hotels, stadiums, museums and more, Everlast Productions provi

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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 - Open to university and college students nationwide, the registration for Shure's fifth annual Fantastic Scholasticrecording competition will remain open until 17 October 2008. A random drawing on or about 22 October will determine the 10 competing schools, each of which will receive a standardised 'mic locker' from Shure that must be used to complete every recording project submitted.

The names of registrants chosen as contestants in the random drawing will be posted on Shure's website. Competing teams from each school are required to record and mix an original piece of music. Their submission will be judged by a panel of industry professionals who will evaluate the recordings based upon their overall fidelity, clarity, sonic balance, and creativity in selection and placement of the microphones. Previous judges have included Dave Hewitt, Joe Barresi, Mike Fraser, El

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UK - Horizon Control has published an Open Source section on its website for ET Marquee and Strand Light Palette lighting control software.

When it comes to software, there is never a shortage of ideas, but more-so a lack of skilled developers, especially in a niche market such as entertainment lighting. HCI's core technology is its internal fade engine and Universal Attribute Control, but with the release of the new Open Source area on its web site, there are now countless 'hooks' into this powerful software product, says the company.

Giving users that may dabble in software development the tools needed to 'poke and prod' the main fade engine allows them the ability to write powerful macros that go beyond recording a series of keystrokes. The mere ability to branch execution with a simple IF statement "opens the doors to possibilities that have never before been availabl

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France - Following the successful PLASA launch of Innovason's new compact digital control surface, Eclipse, Innovason's Czech distributor, Music Data enjoyed a successful Muzika Expo trade show in Prague. In addition to showing the rest of the Innovason range, Music Data dedicated a specially commissioned OB van to showcase Eclipse, and were rewarded for their efforts by taking two preliminary orders at the show.

According to Music Data's Tomas Ourednicek, the show was a great success. "We decided to show Eclipse in an OB van that we had painted with Eclipse graphics especially for the show. It gave us an ideal environment in which to present the console away from the distractions and noise of the show floor. All of our customers loved the new control surface."

Ourednicek also took his first orders for Eclipse at the show: the first from a rental company who already

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Norway Oslo's new National Opera House is one of the most prestigious international pioneers of TTA's Stagetracker FX actor tracking and audio position technology.

Built by the architects Sn°hetta in a waterside location in the Bj°rvika district, this great theatre represents the beginning of a remarkable urban renewal which will transform the city of Oslo. This remarkable building houses a traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium built around a proscenium stage, accommodating 1400 in its main hall, and another 400 in a secondary performance space. The house is the seat of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, known in Scandinavia for its leaning towards avant-garde and experimental productions, and the artistic programme is also expected to include musical shows alongside the opera repertoire.

Buying local technology, Den Norske Opera has become the first internatio

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UK - In an attempt to boost sound engineering qualifications and improve stagecraft in the theatre industry, Orbital Sound recently revived their two-day Sound Skills for Theatre training course under the tutelage of Theo Holloway.

With a heavy pantomime season in prospect, the company has a major interest in skills investment, and Theo Holloway believes the exercise paid off.

"We had 15 students - which, with such a broad range, is the maximum number we wanted to accommodate," he reports."It is the first time we've run a course in this format and it has attracted a real mix of people - from senior sound students, venue staff, freelancers and even a rock 'n' roll engineer, who is training at a drama school."

What emerged over the two days, he said, was a healthy appetite for learning. "Hopefully these people have seen us as being helpful, as w

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Belgium - Barco reports that its OLite 612 LED display was selected to support rock band Queen + Paul Rodgers on their 2008 European tour, The Cosmos Rocks,which kicked off in Kharkov, Ukraine on 12 September. A grand total of 2,500 Olite 612 LED modules are used to create a massive backdrop screen on stage.

The stage set for the tour was created by Stufish, whose team has created stage designs for Pink Floyd, U2, The Rolling Stones and many others. The giant backdrop screen, which forms the key visual element to the show, measures 17m wide and 5m high and contains 2,500 Olite 612 LED modules.

"Barco's Olite 612 fitted our design perfectly", says Mark Fisher, managing director at Stufish. "We wanted to present the audience with a spectacular video and light experience befitting a band of this statue. Olite's modularity once again enabled us to create some

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Belgium - The Belgian branch of Procon Event Engineering has ordered 40 Electro-Voice ZX1 high-tech loudspeakers from Electro-Voice partner E-audio Benelux.

"In the end, the choice was totally logical," says Procon's chief buyer, Fabrizio Valesia. "With the ZX1 we obtain not only a system tried-and-tested in countless applications but also the best price-to-performance ratio. The performance of this extremely compact, lightweight loudspeaker is simply sensational."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - The recent task at hand for Paul Wittman, monitor supervisor of ATK Audiotek of Valencia, CA, was to provide reliable communication and monitoring between the music director and the band who performed at this year's Democratic National Convention. The solution was the implementation of an Aviom Pro16 system.

"Audiotek migrated over to Aviom for the many high-profile events we work on because the fundamental design flexibility offered by Aviom allows us to accomplish even the most difficult monitoring and communication situations," says Andres Arango, staff engineer at Audiotek. "We now have a system that is straightforward to set up, gives the musicians individual control over their monitor mixes and is easily scalable to handle any production."

The signal flow for this event consisted of two elements: communication and monitor mixing. All band member

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Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden's W-DMX features on Céline Dion's Taking Chances world tour which visits five continents, 24 countries and 84 cities, with a total of 120 performances.

The show is directed by Jamie King, who lists Madonna's Confessions Tour, Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour, as well as tours for Kanye West and the Spice Girls among his credits. Lighting Designer is Yves 'Lapin' Aucoin.

The tour setup is a 360-degree production, designed 'in the round' style, and includes t20 LED screens, including one that orbits the stage, plus conveyor belts and elevators. The touring system is provided by Montreal, Canada-based Solotech, which is also the provider for various Cirque du Soleil productions.

With such limits in place regarding 360-degree viewing angles and elaborate movement, W-DMX was chosen as for sending wireless DMX s

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Ireland - At next month's evenTech Ireland staged in the Industries Hall, RDS, Dublin, d&b audiotechnik will be represented by its sales partner MOSCO, who will be highlighting the new loudspeaker additions to d&b's E-Series range, as well as showing their D6 and D12 amplifiers.

MOSCO and d&b are joint Education sponsors at the show and d&b will also participate in the seminar programme that takes place during the exhibition. d&b's Steve Jones will present two of the seminars, the first of which is titled Demystifying audio techniques. The second is Combining subwoofers within cardioid and distributed arrays.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Westfalen Sound recently celebrated 30 years of success and partnership at its Emstetten base. A division of the POOL group, Westfalen is a provider of production services to countless touring, government, commercial and industrial theatre clients using Meyer Sound equipment exclusively. The company's anniversary event, named POOL is celebrating 30 years of Westfalen Sound, encompassed four days of training, seminars, product demonstrations, and a retrospective equipment display gallery.

The occasion was crowned by a large party on Saturday 13 September attended by more than 400 guests from all over the world. They enjoyed an extended musical evening featuring many performers who have worked with Westfalen Sound from the beginning, including both founding and current members of Udo Lindenberg's Panikorchester. A substantial multi-channel surround sound system co

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Italy - Rental company Agorà has taken delivery of four DiGiCo SD7 digital mixing consoles, the biggest single delivery to date.

Based in L'Aquila in central Italy, Agorà's high profile client list, which encompasses the majority of the country's top tours, means that its inventory of consoles needed to be augmented. Enter the SD7s, the purchase of another two of which are planned for 2009.

DiGiCo's managing director, James Gordon, visited Agorà's premises to head up a training programme. "Agorà has a long association with DiGiCo," says Stefano Cantadori, president of Audio Link. "It was one of the first companies to invest in the D5 and has an impressive stock of both digital and analogue desks. Agorà already had the edge in the Italian market and the purchase of the SD7s has reinforced that."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Janet Jackson's Rock Witchu tour features a spectacular moving lighting rig created by lighting designer Vince Foster. A total of 150 PixelLine 1044s adjourn the lighting rig - half are used to construct a bridge that comes in and out, whilst the other half are rigged on moving trusses. The moving bridge creates another dimension for Jackson's stage presence and provides a dramatic platform for both singing and dancing.

Foster explains: "I've been a great fan of PixelLines since I started using them back in 2003 on a Massive Attack tour. They are consistently a very reliable and robust fixture - and I don't think I have designed a show without them since then."

He continues: "Janet Jackson contacted me after seeing one of my Kylie shows on DVD. I worked with her creative director who had a story and a script for the show - and after several meetings

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Germany - The Robe The Future is Digital international road show hit Germany last week, staged at Sky Europe's Mainz-based TV Studio, in the same neighbourhood as ZDF Television's massive HQ and complex.

Robe presented a two-day opportunity for guests to enjoy hands-on product demos and comparisons in a relaxing, convivial atmosphere and a real working environment.

The event was attended by visual designers, operators, programmers, technicians and a wide assortment of interested industry professionals from across Germany and Austria.

The Future is Digital gave visitors an opportunity to experience the new technology behind this concept. Digital moving lights and the new Robe DigitalSpot 3000 DT and the DigitalSpot 7000 DT moving light projectors were creatively positioned around the studio's large, curved cyclorama, shooting onto the screen and around the room.

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Germany - The Carl Orff Hall at Munich's Culture Centre, Gasteig, has recently added a new self-powered Meyer Sound M1D system, supplied and installed by Berlin-based Werner Audio.

The Gasteig complex consists of four other multi-purpose venues used for concerts, plays, lectures and movie screenings as well as the Munich Philharmonic Hall featuring a Meyer Sound system.

The new Meyer Sound system in the 600-seat Carl Orff Hall consists of two arrays each comprising nine M1D line array loudspeakers; one UPA-1P loudspeaker serves as a centre in-fill and two UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers as an effects and in-fill system. Stage-lip and front-fill coverage is provided by six MM-4 miniature wide-range loudspeakers, while a pair of 700-HP subwoofers provide the low frequency energy for the whole system.

Overall monitoring is handled by Meyer Sound RMS remote monitoring system and a Gal

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Australia - Italian tenor Andreas Bocelli has completed an arena tour of New Zealand and Australia with an L-Acoustics Kudo line source array system provided by Norwest Productions. The tour included a show at the Sydney Acer Arena, the largest in the southern hemisphere, where Bocelli broke his previous world box office arena record, putting $AU3.273 million through the registers.

The concerts featured a 76-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir together with baritone Gianfranco Montresor, soprano Paola Sanguinetti and guest star Tina Arena accompanying Bocelli.

"As each orchestra member is playing towards the conductor, the orchestra itself can be considered a point source," says sound designer Andrea Taglia, whose priority for the main system was to preserve the orchestra's sound image, retaining a sharp correlation between the visual of the musicians playing live a

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UK - Adlib is supplying lighting and audio equipment and crew for the current Dragonforce UK tour which features a lightshow designed by Stuart Gray, and sound mixed by Bruce Reiter.

Central to the sound reinforcement is a Nexo Alpha system, with the standard configuration being 18 M3 mid high boxes, 12 B1 bass cabinets and 10 S2 subs. Playing a wide variety of venues, they're flying where possible and ground stacking the rest of the time. For general infills, they are utilising 4 ADLIB AA122s.

Nexo's NX242 processors are used across all the Nexo elements, feeding Camco Tecton amplifiers driving the mid highs, Crown VZ5002s powering the bass and subs and Crown XTi's for the in-fills.

The system is time aligned each day by Adlib's systems engineer Richy Nicholson using EAW's SMAART analysis software. The FOH desk is a DigiDesign Venue.

Monitors are mixed by Adlib's Dave Dav

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Oman - The Grand Hyatt Muscat is home to several of Oman's hottest nightspots and entertainment venues including Club Safari, Copacabana and the sumptuous Afrah Ballroom. Audio quality throughout has recently been enhanced and refined with an upgrade to Lab.gruppen's range of C Series multi-channel power amplifiers, supplied and installed by Lab.gruppen's exclusive distributor in Oman, Bright Lights.

Club Safari is a three-level venue that offers an eclectic mix of high-tech entertainment and African design, including a live stage on the middle level. A powerful 4-channel Lab.gruppen C 68:4 runs the main stage PA comprising two 2 x 18" subs and two 12" mid-high cabinets from Ohm, while the stage monitor system is handled by an eight-channel C 20:8X powering six 12" Ohm wedges. The remaining two channels are powering the in-fill surround speakers.

Copacabana was

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