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USA / France - One week in October saw UK digital mixing console manufacturer DiGiCo receive two awards for its new entry-level SD8 - Best Sound Product of the Year at the LDI Show in Las Vegas and Most Innovative Product in the Live Industry at SIEL, SATIS and Le RADIO, held in Paris.

In Paris, Rik Hoerée and Laurent Laignel of DiGiCo's French distributor, Apex France, were on hand to collect the Most Innovative Product in the Live Industry trophy.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, DiGiCo's marketing director David Webster accepted the award for Best Sound Product of the Year at LDI.

"The SD8 has been designed with a fixed architecture and employs a smaller Super FPGA than the SD7, but it still benefits from all the major features and versatility of the D Series, as well a

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Israel - An In2Structures Maxi Dome made its debut in Israel as the VVIP Arena backstage at Paul McCartney's recent concert in Tel Aviv.

In2Structures is a South African based custom structures design and manufacturing company that is part of the Gearhouse SA Group. The 800sq.m capacity two-bay Dome at the McCartney show was supplied to Tel Aviv-based staging and rigging company Stage Design, provider of most of the overall event's technical infrastructure.

The Dome - launched by Gearhouse In2Structures as a fully flexible, aesthetically pleasing, structurally robust solution for all types of events - offered 12.5m of headroom and was located behind the main stage.

Its interior was fully fitted out and dressed by Market King complete with comfortable seating areas, a large central bar, a buffet area and a chilling one. A full lighting rig was hung on a circular truss above t

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Italy - Veline, the TV show hosted by Ezio Greggio took on a summer tour through 12 Italian cities, shooting several episodes in each. The aspiring 'Veline' who won each episode made the final , held at the Mediaset studios in Cologno Monzese (Milano), with record viewing audiences.

The final lighting system was fully built with Clay Paky material: 50 Alpha Spot HPE 1200, Stage Color 1200 and Alpha Beam 300. Photography director Massimiliano Cavenaghi stated, "I mainly used effects and spot lights on the public and backlighting for the girls' performances. The nature of the show favoured close-ups on the 'Veline' so we had few wide angles. Consequently, stage lighting needed to be white and restricted."

The Alpha Beam 300s were placed along the edge of the runway that led from the stage to the public and underlined the switches between the various performances

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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 - High Bentham on the western fringes of North Yorkshire has a new RGB LED-based colour changing cross. Designed, built and installed by Iain Henshaw of S1B.com, the cross is manufactured from 50mm diameter clear acrylic tubing and is 1.2m high.

The forward-facing element uses high-powered single-chip RGB sources to give full range colour changing, preferred over individual colour LED chips. The front of the cross is diffused using Lee 129 Heavy Frost filter to reduce the high intensity spots of the LED and give more uniform lighting.

The drop shadow uses an array of single white high-powered wide angle LEDs to create a permanent background improving contrast and lifting the cross from the stonework. Peak power consumption (with all LEDs at full brightness) is just 34W - less than that of a single T8 4ft fluorescent tube.

The cross generally sequences through a rainbow co

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UK - Stage Electrics is supplying all lighting and video elements for the 50th anniversary UK tour of West Side Story. Stage Electrics is working with the Ambassador Theatre Group, producers of this new production, which started its run at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, and will continue to play at venues across the UK for a year-long tour.

The tour marks 50 years after the show made its London debut and is a vibrant new production of the original classic, directed and choreographed by Joey McKneely.

Stage Electrics is supplying an ETC EOS console, complete with tracking back-up. An ETC ION console has also been employed to make the moving light focus easier. Moving lights have been specified in the form of 16 Martin Professional MAC 700 Profile Units, 16 MAC 2000 Wash Units, two MAC 2000 Performance units, 20 Stagebars and 50 scrollers.

The video set-up includes t

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USA - Element Labs won two major awards at the recent LDI Show in Las Vegas. One of the company's most recent product introductions, the Helix P1 - a flexible LED pixel string - was named Best Debuting Projection Product, while its Versa RAY Screen, featured prominently at the 15th Asian Games, was awarded the ESTA (Entertainment Services and Technology Association) Rock Our World Award.

Helix P1 is a flexible LED pixel string that allows users to quickly deploy video over large spaces in creative ways. It bends, wraps, drapes, and folds allowing maximum creativity in a wide range of venues. Coupled with flexible processing and the power of RasterMAPPER software, individual Helix P1 strings are merged into one seamless video display that can transform any surface or shape into a work of art. The snap-in diffuser accessory also allows one to mount the Helix P1 to signage, scenery

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Germany - Behringer has added to its line of active loudspeaker systems with the new Eurolive B315A. Featuring a 15" 2-way design, integrated sound processing and 400W of power, the B315A offers a compact, high-power solution for live and playback applications, the company says.

The B315A has a long-excursion 15" woofer and 1.75" titanium-diaphragm compression driver with an ultra-wide dispersion, exponential horn and multi-cell throat in a versatile trapezoidal enclosure. The rear panel includes Ultra-Low Noise (ULN) balanced mic and line inputs, a balanced XLR thru connector, input level control and two-band EQ. Internal sound processing provides complete system control as well as speaker protection.

The B315A can be free-standing, stacked, pole-mounted or used in a floor monitor configuration, while e Ergonomic handles and rugged construction complete a roadw

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UK - The rising cost of energy has a serious impact and an increasing number of businesses continue to explore ways to reduce overheads. While CSR specialists continue to deliver carbon reduction targets, finance directors are demanding greater return on investment from energy-saving technology.

"As lighting constitutes 20% of western societies' energy bills, it's a huge concern," explains James Millar, Greenled's managing director. "It's also an obvious starting place to begin saving energy. It uses electricity, is easily addressed and cost correlations are highly visible."

The level of interest the company received at the Energy Solutions Expo, held at London Olympia in October, was evidence of a genuine interest in the benefits offered by Greenled's LED lighting, the company reports. Enquiries came not only from CSR/energy management and carbon reductio

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USA - Loud Technologies has announced a reorganisation of its marketing, sales and engineering functions which will, the company says, "generate a net reduction of 90 full-time positions". The restructure is expected to be implemented by the end of 2008.

Under the new organisation, product strategy, development and marketing for the company's MI and Pro businesses will be managed by separate, dedicated product management teams, while marketing communications for all Loud brands will be consolidated and managed by a shared marketing support team.

The company's worldwide engineering resources will be scaled accordingly to support a more focused product development schedule. Loud says it will also move North American sales from its current captive sales force to a group of independent sales representation firms and consolidate portions of its international sales force.<

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UK - O2 and Live Nation/AMG have announced a strategic alliance to launch O2 Academy venues across the UK, which are majority owned by Live Nation alongside fellow shareholders, leading UK concert promoters, Metropolis Music and SJM Concerts. The alliance will boost support for future music talent and enhance the music experience for fans visiting the venues as well as allow O2 to offer a number of benefits for its customers, says a statement issued this morning.

From 1 January 2009, the 11 AMG venues will be renamed O2 Academy. O2 customers will gain priority access to tickets to all gigs at the venues, as well as other Live Nation events across the country. In total, O2 customers will gain special access to as many as 4,000 Live Nation produced shows a year in the UK up to 48 hours before they go on general sale.

"Our customers tell us that they really value having pri

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UK - The first Robe DigitalSpot 7000 DTs have been installed in the UK - into the new Leeds Academy live music venue, which also includes a substantial Anolis architectural lighting scheme.

Robe and Anolis were the preferred lighting brands chosen by LD Angus Chinn from Bristol-based Utopium for this project. Chinn worked closely with the AMG Group and their team to design and specify production lighting facilities for the venue.

Chinn comments: "We really put production values at the top of the agenda here, so I chose leading brands with proven track records for reliability. They offer a flexible, dynamic creative package to benefit all the events and shows that will be staged in Leeds Academy."

The two Robe DigitalSpot 7000 DTs "bring an exciting new live video element to the space with their onboard media servers and myriad of features" says Chinn. The

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USA - Dan Erickson of General Communications was recently named NSCA University's Educator of the Year. Erickson received NSCA's top education award based on student feedback from his course, Networking Issues that Impact AV Integrators and Designers which he taught for the College of System Design during NSCA University at InfoComm 08.

Winners are determined based on evaluations completed by students participating in NSCA University courses. Instructors are evaluated on areas such as topic knowledge, engagement with students, and topic relevance. NSCA will recognise the 2008 recipients at the annual NSCA Member Meeting and Industry Forum as well as the President's Reception at InfoComm 09.

Additionally, individual Instructors of the Year were awarded for each college within the University. Recipients include: Karl Rosenberg, Extron Electronics, David Marsh, Pelton Mars

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UK - In response to postings on Internet bulletin boards and "general disinformation" within the industry, PSLL, the new company formed by directors of Presentation Services Ltd (PSL), has issued a statement to the press.

The statement reads as follows:

"A new company has been formed by Gary Davis, Darren Glossop, Paddy Collier, Lauren Steadman and Divyang Mistry which saves the jobs of nearly 100 employees of PSL after adverse circumstances forced the Potters Bar-based event services operation into administration.

"Last month, PSL entered into a legal process called 'pre-pack administration', a routinely-used mechanism recommended by many insolvency practitioners to protect valuable parts of a business. It has strict compliance issues, formal valuations of assets and intellectual property, and requires personal guarantees from the directors. The process

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USA - In a move that could prove a precursor to future decisions in the UK, the United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to allow technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Dell, and Motorola to produce 'white spaces' devices that will use the same radio frequency (RF) spectrum now being used by wireless microphone systems.

Final text of the rules is not yet available, but the order is purported to greatly reduce the amount of clear spectrum available for use by professional audio and communications equipment.

The Commission adopted certain important elements of Shure's recent wireless microphone interference protection plan. However, Shure is concerned that, despite technical evidence to the contrary, the Commission's action opens the door to a new breed of wireless gadgetry that relies on unproven technology as a safeguard against interference to wi

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India - At the recent PALME India exhibition in Mumbai, Rivera International, the Mumbai-based pro audio distributor representing Lab.gruppen and Kling & Freitag among its portfolio of brands, marked the sale of eight Lab.gruppen PLM10000Q 'Powered Loudspeaker Management' amplifiers to audio rental company Sound.com, also based in Mumbai.

Rivera International's managing director Rajesh Sadarangani was joined on the stand at the show by Lab.gruppen's Thomas Mittelman and Warren D'Souza and Sunil Karanjikar of Sound.com.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - At the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2009 exhibition, lighting control and automation group, Dynalite, will showcase the company's latest addition to its multipurpose controller series, the DDMC802GL.

Designed for home automation and hotel suite control applications, the DIN rail-mountable DDMC802GL features a hardware-configurable design, where plug-in output cards accommodate specific loads assigned to the system. This ability to tailor the product to the project optimises energy management and reduces cost, while simultaneously eliminating waste and providing future-proofing flexibility, says the company.

"Dynalite's range of multipurpose modular controllers heralds the next 'eco' generation of Dynalite technology," said Phil Main, Dynalite business development manager. "No two control systems are alike, and the range of control requirements is

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France - Pope Benedict XVI recently made his first visit as pontiff to Paris, praying together with more than a quarter million followers on the lawns of the Esplanade des Invalides. Sound designer Fred Goguet created a mammoth audio system for the event, using Meyer Sound components provided by a coterie of French audio firms, including Dispatch, Ateliers Lumiere, Projectis and Audio-Technique.

Spread over an area nearly 500m wide, Goguet's design comprised a total of 96 Mica, 78 M'elodie and 20 Milo line array loudspeakers, along with a handful of UPA-1P and UPM-1P loudspeakers for fill.

"Considering the architectural perspectives of the scenery and the constraints of limited heights and no scaffolding, I created a distributed system of 22 main and ten secondary arrays," Goguet explains. "The coverage was seamless across the entire audience area, with excellen

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Turkey - Around 20 participants from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, and the Lebanon took part in the Telex RoIP Radio Dispatching Academy in Istanbul at the beginning of October. Conducted by Dan Bixby and Paul Mayer, the three-day workshops dealt primarily with Telex radio dispatch systems. In addition to a number of lectures outlining the latest technological developments from a theoretical perspective, the radio and VoIP experts attending the course were offered plenty of opportunity for practice-oriented, hands-on training.

"On the first day, we laid the theoretical foundations," reports Kamil Swobodzinski, sales director ACT&CCS for the regions Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "We built on this in the following days, through intensive lab sessions in small groups in which the participants were able to put what they had learned into practice."

The Tel

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UK - As part of its ambitious plans for 2009, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust will be opening a new exhibition and visitor centre at Shakespeare's Birthplace. Following a competitive pitch, the Trust has appointed UK creative design and AV specialist Sarner to redevelop the visitor centre and give the Bard a modern makeover.

The attraction, entitled Life, Love & Legacy: A New Introduction to William Shakespeare, is due to open in April 2009, and will see visitors journey through five zones in an immersive experience bringing the history of Shakespeare to life. Set within the grounds of the house where Shakespeare was born, the visitor centre is the centrepiece of the five houses that The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust opens to the public in and around Stratford.

Utilising its in house creative and AV departments, Sarner has designed a fully automated dark 'walk through'

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USA - Bandit Lites recently assisted with the production of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate held at Belmont University. The Nashville, TN private university was chosen as one of three locations to host the presidential debates this year.

The debate took place at the Curb Event Centre in front of 125 undecided voters chosen by the Gallup Organization. Tom Brokaw, of NBC News, moderated the debate between Republican Senator John McCain and recently appointed United States of America President-elect, Senator Barack Obama.

Lighting designer Chris Lisle was asked to create an architectural lighting design for Belmont University during the debate broadcast. The design consisted of lighting the three major focal points of the evening. "The east entrance of the Curb Event Centre was the most important area because this was not only the media entrance to the debate, but it

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USA - Biamp Systems, the manufacturer of audio and conferencing solutions equipment, has said it will appeal a judgment against it in the US District Court of Central Utah in a lawsuit with ClearOne, a provider of audio conferencing systems.

In 2007, ClearOne named Biamp Systems as co-defendant in a suit claiming that it knowingly licensed an acoustic echo cancelling algorithm from a third party that ClearOne alleges was stolen from them. Biamp stopped using the software in question prior to the filing of the lawsuit, and has denied any knowledge or guilt in the case and maintains that the facts do not support the claims.

Company president Ralph Lockhart is adamant that Biamp Systems would never enter into a licensing agreement that would knowingly infringe on a trade secret or steal intellectual property from another entity.

"We were shocked when we were named in this

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