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USA - When one of the nation's largest cruise ships commissioned Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral (Hariton/Baral Design) to design the set for their largest-ever onboard musical concert show, the Los Angeles production designers were determined to create a truly spectacular environment. The ship was Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, and the production was to be held in its 1,350-seat Broadway-style theatre. "They were going to have 21 musicians on stage at one time, which is extraordinary for a cruise ship," said Hariton, who has been working with Royal Caribbean for a decade.

How to design a set for such an elaborate concert production? Model it after one of the nation's most famed cultural landmarks -- the Hollywood Bowl. Working with lighting designers Peter Mo

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UK - The 2009 Technology Finalists have been announced and voting is now activated. Over 11,600 individual votes were cast last year. There are no hidden voting costs. All that is required is some thought about the products that you consider being the most innovative and helpful to your business, say the organisers.

All valid and fully qualified votes registered before December 21st 2008 will also be entered into a prize draw. Prizes include flight & accommodation to Integrated Systems Europe 2009 and VIP tickets to the InAVation awards gala dinner held at the Hotel Okura, Amsterdam, 2 February 2009.

Among the manufacturers nominated in the 11 categories are Martin Audio, Vieta Pro, Niles, Community Professional, Barco and Crestron International. Full details are available at inavationawards@imlgroup.co.uk .

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Harman International Industries has announced that its professional audio products will play a key role in the new Grammy Museum which opened in Los Angeles this week. The museum is a collaboration between The Recording Academy, the membership organisation responsible for the Grammy Awards, and Anshutz Entertainment Group, and was founded to celebrate the enduring legacies of music and its premier recognition through the Grammy Award.

The museum, located in the downtown Los Angeles sports, entertainment and residential district, L.A. LIVE, features some 30,000sq.ft of interactive exhibits and multimedia presentations. The Museum elected to feature professional audio technologies from several Harman International units including loudspeakers from JBL, microphones from AKG, processing technologies from BSS Audio, amplifiers by Crown Audio and mixing systems from Soundcraft.<

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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 - October 2008 saw the United States' first eco-friendly lounge open its doors to the public of Hollywood, California - Ecco Ultra Lounge.

Every material used in the construction of Ecco - which is owned and operated by Danny B, David Stratton, Sean Muniz and Matthew Portnoff - has been carefully selected, from its LED lighting system, through to its power supply from the LA Department of Water and Power's Green Power resources. In fact, such is Ecco's pioneering status that its transformation has even featured on the Discovery Channel (Planet Green) on its show, Alter Eco. The sound system is based around Turbosound products.

"Everything that Turbosound produces is ROHS compliant and therefore produced within a 'green' process," says Joe Lodi owner and chief designer from Ecco's audio installer Advanced Audio Technology. "It is also WEEE compliant, w

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UK - Arena Seating was a key part of the winning team when it came to creating a new look studio for the current series of X Factor. Series production manager Paul Viollet of PAV Productions, working with Talkback Thames, created the setting for the entertainment experience. The seating system had to fit around an expanded stage while giving the producers a number of flexible seating options.

Arena Seating installed 505 of its In Style temporary seats, finished with handrails, carpets, drapes and timber sides, all in muted black, rendering it almost invisible to the camera. The company's scaffolding expertise allowed the seating to fit snugly into the restricted studio space. In addition, it provided camera platforms and the supporting structure for ITV 2's Xtra Factor studio. An additional 165 Milano floor seats were provided by Spaceworks.

"Arena Seating designed

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UK - Cirrus Research is offering a simple and comprehensive option for Noise at work and Environmental noise monitoring solutions, the CK:821C Sound Level Meter Kit. Designed, manufactured and supported in the UK, these kits are supplied with everything required for most noise measuring applications, says the company.

Each kit is supplied with a CR:812C Sound level meter, a calibrator, windshield, licence-free Deaf Defier3 software and manuals. An optional weatherproof kit is also available, which enables the sound level meter to be used outdoors for up to seven days.

The CR:821C Sound Level Meter is available in Class 1 accuracy and complies with the latest IEC 61672 measurement standard as well as IEC 60651 and IEC 60804. Data logging of up to 1300 measurements is now possible, and outdoor measurement kits are available for unattended environmental noise monitoring with remo

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UK - Total Protection UK has launched a new range of Pulsar sound level meters and Dosemeters. Sales and marketing director at Total Protection UK, Mark Haylett said: "We are very pleased to be expanding our product range again. This new range of sound level meters and Dosemeters are our first step into noise detection equipment and we hope that we will continue to attract the huge demand we have already experienced."

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 require that employers must provide adequate hearing protection and hearing protection zones for exposure to noise that is over the 85-decibel limit. With the legislation requiring that all employers carry out a risk assessment on the health of their workers when they are exposed to anything over 80 decibels.

Haylett added: "Employers have a duty under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 to no

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Romania - The cities of Galati and Tecuci are considered the crossroads of Eastern Europe (located only a few km from the border with Moldavia and Ukraine). Today they are experiencing a cultural and artistic renaissance thanks to the resourcefulness of the local Chamber of Commerce. In addition to many enterprises undertaken, the Chamber decided to light the most important buildings in the city centres.

Dan Lilion Gogoncea, head of the Galati's Chamber of Commerce, is renowned in Romania for his foresight and having supported various urbanistic projects aimed at the modernisation of the country.

One of the first projects was carried out at the Galati County Council, formerly a owned by Ceau?escu, now the magnificent headquarters of the local County Council.

In order to light the building in such a way as to attract attention as well as enhance it, Dan Lilion Gogoncea delega

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UK - The latest production of Living's Most Haunted Live was set in a location that would raise the goose bumps of even the most pragmatic onlooker. The derelict and dilapidated Denbigh Asylum, was the setting for the live shows produced by Antix Productions and broadcast for four hours live each consecutive night for the week leading up to Halloween.

Antix Productions worked with Stage Electrics on the project having already delivered 13 Most Haunted Live programmes together over three years. The location, due to be demolished and redeveloped after filming had ceased, was initially visited by Antix, Stage Electrics and lighting director Warren Hodge in September, just eight weeks before the show. Its potential as the perfect location was instantly recognised.

Due to the dilapidated state of the buildings, Stage Electrics' Live Events team had first to ensure the

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UK - Mid Wales based manufacturer Shermann has introduced a new point source loudspeaker aimed at both the touring and installation markets. The G5, part of the new Gx Series, employs a new coaxial compression driver mounted on a 60 x 40 horn to handle frequencies above 800Hz. The frequency range between 55 and 800Hz is handled by an efficient 15" driver.

As a touring version, the G5 is coated in the company's heavy-duty TPC finish whilst installed models feature Shermann's TRC textured paint which is available in a number of colours.

A 35mm stand mount is fitted as well as GS-TA2 flying track. 10mm insert points may be specified to allow fitting of the box on to Shermann's yoke bracket which may then be mounted on to a 35mm stand mount fitting or attached using a half-coupler for flying.

(Jim Evans)

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Singapore - The Singapore skyline was transformed by a fusion of creativity and knowledge as the long-awaited Fusionopolis development officially opened in October at One-North.

The centrepiece of the development - designed by the late Japanese architect Dr Kisho Kurokawa - is a S$20m (£8.6m) performing arts space suspended six storeys up between three 24-storey towers. Designed to look like a brain, the theatre - Genexis - is a flexible, curved performance space set to become a magnet for Singapore's most exciting artists.

The 120,000sq.m complex is intended to become a hub for the media and information technologies of the future and a creative environment where brilliant ideas are born: a nerve centre and, almost literally, a neural network.

Keeping with the idea of neural signals, Genexis glows and flickers with an interactive light show programmed to synch with act

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UK - Christie has introduced the LX700 with 4DColor technology. This new four-panel LCD projector offers a combination of real colour and high brightness in a compact size. At 7,000 lumens and XGA resolution, the Christie LX700 is suitable for large venues, educational facilities, retail environments, corporate boardrooms and training, rental staging and houses of worship.

At the core of the Christie LX700 is 4DColor technology combined with inorganic LCD panels. 4DColor provides a 20% increase in colour gamut over previous three-panel LCD models. The inorganic panels help create a "natural black" for sharper images and increased contrast ratio.

"The Christie LX700 is among the first on the market equipped with a fourth LCD panel," says Frank Anzures, product manager, business products, Christie. "By adding a fourth LCD panel, essentially a yellow pane

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Korea - Banpo Bridge in Seoul, South Korea used to be a rather ordinary connection across the Han River. But no longer. Thanks to a special fountain feature that dramatically shoots jets of water from the sides of the bridge, and a Martin Exterior range lighting scheme that dynamically illuminates the water show after sundown, the extraordinary water and light display has become a major attraction in the capital city.

The Banpo Bridge water feature shoots 60 tons of water every minute from some 380 nozzles located on each side of the 1.4k long bridge. The fountain was unveiled in September as the world's first large-scale water fountain from a bridge.

The jets of water 'dance' to music in 100 different choreographed movements. Creating an even more fantastic scene at night is a dynamic lighting scheme from 190 Exterior 600 colour changing luminaires.

Water management and tec

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Italy - Last summer, Italian DJ Joe T Vannelli took over a second discotheque: the Canniccia Versilia in the Tuscan resort of Marina di Pietrasanta. For the Canniccia Versilia, he opted for the same formula that worked so successfully in his first club, the Area Venezia in Venice.

While architect Massimo Cadamuro concerned himself with the refashioning of the interiors, installation engineer Dario Juka selected and assembled the requisite equipment; Juka's first decision was to replace the existing audio system with an alpha concept system from Dynacord.

Dario Juka notes, "Our watchwords are 'state-of-the-art in every respect'. Since we engage as resident and guest DJs only the very best in their fields, we cannot and will not tolerate any compromises. All the experts - whether DJs or music producers - are convinced of the qualities of this system."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Harbour Marine Systems recently installed a Bosch Praesideo public address system on Carnival Cruise Line's ship Carnival Triumph. Since working with the new system, Carnival has determined that they will retrofit all of their ships with Praesideo.

Mauro Jacobellis of Harbour Marine Systems comments, "Praesideo provides excellent audio performance and ease-of-use, and has impressed a number of our major clients. Praesideo is perfect for Carnival because it fully complies with every rule and regulation set down by maritime authorities.

"In our business, working with marine applications, we have specific issues to address. For example, our client needed a public address system approved for ship use (for insurance purposes), and we needed to replace our previous system quickly in the dry dock, because the ship can't sail if the system isn't working. We always try

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Canada - When the City of Edmonton Community Service Department wanted to enhance the night time appearance of the Muttart Conservatory they wanted to utilise the energy efficiencies of LED, so contacted ElektoLED's Canadian distributor Optilume Engineered Light Corporation for a solution. Elektor-FLEX RGB System was chosen, enabling the operators to choose from a palette of 16.8 million colours.

The Muttart Conservatory is Edmonton's premier horticultural attraction, featuring four glass pyramids filled with rare and exotic plants from all over the world, therefore the lighting needed to be equally as stunning.

The installation of the Elektor-FLEX was carried out by specialist contractors, assisted by Optilume, with commissioning carried out by ElektoLED Technicians from the UK.

Comprising of nearly 400m of RGB Elektor-FLEX and utilising over 30,000 LED's, the total install

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USA - The city of Albany, Georgia has given a nod to its best-known native son with the opening of a park in his honour. Ray Charles Plaza includes a fountain featuring a life-sized revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of the famed musician seated at a grand piano. The sculpture, commissioned by artist Andy Davis, is the centrepiece of a five-acre park featuring piano-key studded sidewalks and loudspeakers playing the master's music.

The sound system, designed by Atlanta-based Lee Sound Design, features a series of Community WET loudspeakers, including eleven WET-218T two-way systems and four WET-112 subwoofers. The system is powered by Crown CTS-Series amplifiers, with Biamp Nexia DSP.

"This monument was designed to be a tribute to Ray that would last a lifetime, and the Community WET Series loudspeakers were the logical choice," said Lee Sound principal consultant

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France - A Butterfly Outline array was used at the Cité de la Musique, in the heart of Paris, on the occasion of two concerts - Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg and L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches by Jean-Claude Vannier.

Outline's French distributor, AUDIO, installed a system made up of 24 Butterfly CDH 483 Hi-Packs and eight CDL 1815 Low-Packs (respectively 12 and four per side); all powered by Outline T7 digital power amplifiers. DVS 10 multi-purpose enclosures were used for the front rows of the audience and four Subtech 218 for the very low frequencies.

Bruno Morain, head sound engineer at Cité de la Musique comments, "I found the Butterfly system's performance in the theatre exceptional; I was particularly struck by the total absence of 'aggressiveness' and the aptitude to naturalness of its acoustic reproduction - practically s

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Qatar - The Qatar Equestrian Federation centre has installed Meyer Sound systems as part of a major refurbishment.

The premier venue in the complex is the main outdoor arena, where the 120m diameter circular show grounds are flanked on one side by a covered grandstand with seating for 1,500 spectators. To project uniform, high-fidelity sound into the seating area, AV-TECH installed eight clusters of two M1D line array loudspeakers each along the front wall. The VIP area is served by a pair of the compact UPM-1P loudspeakers, while the vast expanse of the arena grounds - about 120m in diameter - is covered by three ground-stacked arrays of three M2D line array loudspeakers each.

"The old 100 volt distributed system had very harsh sound quality and poor intelligibility," says Hadi Arzouni, general manager of AV-TECH, the Doha, Qatar-based designer and installer of the

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UK - The biggest and best All Star Lanes - the UK's original boutique bowling concept - opened this month in London's East End. Situated on 22,000sq.ft of prime real estate at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, the third ASL, from co-founders Mark von Westenholz and Adam Breeden, has built on the same successful formula as its predecessors - including the multimedia infrastructure.

The public and private bowling lanes, cocktail bar and authentic '50's-style, 200-cover diner/luncheonette are all served by audio visual systems designed by The Sound Division Group. Their integrated system is based around Harman Pro sound reinforcement products.

In Brick Lane there is a total of nine lanes (six on the ground floor, the remaining three forming a 1950's penthouse-style private lounge on the first floor), with a stylish drinking den specialising in classic American cocktails, pitc

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France - DPA Microphones' French distributor Audio² has provided DPA MSS6000 microphone summation systems and DPA 4060 miniature omnidirectional microphones to the Cité de la Musique in Paris for two Serge Gainsbourg tribute concerts.

The concerts covered the French singer's concept album Histoire de Mélody Nelson and Jean-Claude Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin des Mouches and featured vocalists such as actor Mathieu Amalric, Placebo vocalist Brian Molko, French singers Daniel Darc, Alain Chamfort, Brigitte Fontaine, and British singer Martina Topley Bird; the Orchestre Lamoureux; a rhythm section comprising drummer Pierre-Alain Dahan, bassist Herbie Flowers, guitarists Claude Engel and Thomas Coeuriot; and a young Parisian choir.

This provided a challenge to the sound engineers, who had to manage a huge input count, including more than 70 voices. This

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