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UK - Production Services Ireland (PSI) has added in an ETC Ion console to its rental stock. Owner Brian Reilly says, "We are frequently asked to supply theatre-style lighting desks to control generic lighting rigs for theatre companies and television and film shoots and although we already have several lighting control desks that could do the job, customers were asking for one with a familiar programming style."

PSI's Ion has already been used as a house desk at Stranmillis University College in Belfast and during this year's Belfast Festival at Queen's University. It was also hired out for the Irish reality TV show Class Acts.

It has been a busy couple of years for ETC and PSI in Northern Ireland, with Sensor dimming being installed at the Ardhowen Theatre in E

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Green Glastonbury - The Glastonbury Festival has sold 90% of tickets for this summer's event, founder Michael Eavis has said. The 137,500 tickets went on sale in October, earlier than ever, after last year failing to sell out in advance. Mr Eavis, who hosts the show on his Somerset farm, revealed he has four headliners lined up for the June event - two English and two from the US.

He was speaking as he picked up an award for environmental work at the Midem music conference in France. "You'll be amazed when you hear the headliners we've got coming this year, and we've already sold 90% of the tickets for this year already," he said. He was honoured with the Green World Award at the Midem music conference for the festival's history of environmental fundraising and ecological initiatives. The festival raises money for Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid, while Mr Eavis' other

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UK - Stage Electrics' first ever Freelancer Day, held at RADA's Gielgud Theatre, was a resounding success, the company reports. The day was attended by over 40 freelancers from sectors across the industry, and a combination of those who had previously freelanced for Stage Electrics and those who were new to freelancing and wanted to learn more.

Paula Birtwistle, who returned to freelancing following a career break and who attended the day commented: "I really enjoyed the day and I felt like every minute was useful to me. I made a last-minute decision to come along and I'm really glad I did! Every part of the day seemed relevant to what I was after and at the level I'm at in my career."

The main objectives of the day were to get closer to freelancers and to provide them with a day designed with their interests in mind. Most importantly though was the opportunity for f

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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 - Last year witnessed a landmark development for the events industry with the arrival of BS 8901, a key new standard that specifies the requirements for a sustainable event management system.

Major event clients such as the London 2012 Organising Committee and the Greater London Authority are already referring to BS 8901 in their tenders, and corporate clients are expected to follow suit as they work to ensure their own sustainability policies are being implemented throughout their organisations.

Consequently, this new standard will soon become a minimum requirement to do business in the events industry, and like risk management and health and safety before, it will eventually become part of the way the event industry operates.

At the end of 2008, PLASA launched the first wave of its BS 8901 Programme - an initiative intended to give PLASA Members a head start on the rest

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The Netherlands - Robe moving lights have been installed into the new 80million Euro Muziekkwartier in Enschede, for use in two of the multi-purpose spaces inside.

The theatre replaces a previous building, with the different venues inside run by several companies and including Podium Twente (a big hall), Reisopera (an opera company), a music school and two Pop Podium spaces - Glosch Zaal and Studio Zaal - run by ATAK.

The project was under construction for 18 months, and was officially opened by Queen Beatrix in late November.

The Robes were supplied - along with other lighting kit - via Robe's Benelux distributor Controllux, in a deal project managed by Kuno van Velzen in conjunction with the Theatre's technical manager, Timo Wildschut.

"They needed a flexible system that could be used for a wide variety of shows and events specially those taking place in the Glosch

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USA - City Theatrical has released two new LED products utilising Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting fixtures combined with City Theatrical technology.

The MasterBlast utilises a Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 TR LED lighting fixture combined with CTI's SHoW DMX wireless DMX technology to create a wireless, battery powered, LED lighting fixture with up to 10 hours of operating time. The MasterBlast's built-in stand alone routines and wireless DMX allow events to be run without a lighting console, external wireless DMX gear, or power and data cables, saving time, space, and money for the event lighting user, says the company.

The MasterBlast's user interface allows any MasterBlast to be configured as either a transmitter or receiver, as well as selecting a variety of stand alone routines and radio settings. The user interface also provides a built in battery gauge.

The

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Switzerland - Barix AG is now shipping the Barix Paging Station PS16, a compact, multifunction master station for use in IP intercom, paging and voice over IP applications. Barix will exhibit the PS16 for the first time at the Integrated Systems Europe convention next month in Amsterdam.

The Barix Paging Station PS16 has Barix's modular Audio over IP technology at its core, delivering IP communications, and integrates a variety of professional features to create a fully-functional, standalone master station. Built by MS Neumann Elektronik in Germany, a Barix OEM, the Barix Paging Station PS16 features a flexible gooseneck microphone, a one-watt speaker, a 2x24 character backlit LCD, and 16 user-definable push buttons with LED indicators. Power can be supplied using PoE via the network cable or with a conventional wall plug.

The standard PS16 iMaster application offers a variet

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USA - Jere Harris, chairman and CEO of Production Resource Group, LLC (PRG) has announced that Nick Jackson, senior vice-president of PRG's Concert Touring group would be stepping down from his position at PRG. "We are all saddened by Nick's departure, but we wish him the very best as he moves on to new opportunities," said Harris. "Since joining PRG in 1998, Nick has worked tirelessly to establish our Concert Touring division as the leading provider of entertainment technology solutions for some of the biggest acts in the business. It has been an honour to work with this industry pioneer."

Mickey Curbishley, PRG's president of Concert Touring added: "Nick and I have worked together for many years. I wish him only the very, very best and I look forward to working with him in the future."

"It is with mixed emotions that I leave the PRG family,

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UK - dnp has announced the release of a new Ceiling Cassette for discreet installation of the retractable dnp Supernova Flex Screen. This will be available in the UK through distributors, Paradigm AV.

"Eight out of 10 installations with retractable front projection screens are currently ceiling-mounted, so we anticipate a dramatic increase in sales as a result of the introduction of the Ceiling Cassette for the Supernova Flex. This new installation option will undoubtedly drive new business for installers who work with the Supernova Flex Screens," says general manager of dnp denmark, Niels Hermansen.

The ceiling-mounted system targets users who prefer their Supernova Screen to 'vanish' when not in use - for example, in conference rooms and home entertainment applications in private homes. At the push of a button, the Supernova Flex Screen rolls down through a slot in

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Uruguay - On 3 December 2008, Italian pro audio manufacturer Powersoft held its first seminar in Montevideo, Uruguay, illustrating the basis of its advanced technologies and products lines.

Engineer Carlos Maiocchi from Equaphon (provider of support for Powersoft brand in Argentina) had a meeting during the morning with the people of Stratta Hnos., the company responsible for the brand in Uruguay, in order to offer required training support to the company's salesforce

Maiocchi later presented a seminar on Powersoft products to around 30 professionals from sound companies across Uruguay, entitled "Technological Renaissance".

The company reports a great deal of interest from attendees, and says that further regional seminars will be presented in the near future.

(Lee Baldock)

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Spain - Design consultants Equipo 63 from Madrid approached Czech-based trussing manufacturers Milos to custom build a large stand for their client at London's World Travel Market exhibition, staged at the ExCel Centre.

Equipo 63 are known for their innovative approach to design and build projects of all types, and are always keen to incorporate cutting edge technology in the process.

They have worked with Milos and used their products on many previous projects. On this occasion, the Equipo 63 team designed the stand, which included a 12 x 12sq.m 'crown' flown above, holding a 10m diameter circular truss 'inside', which was used to hang a series of projection screens making a 360 degree internal panorama.

Equipo 63 then approached Milos with their concept, and asked them to come up with a structural solution and all the required logistics to make it work in situ.

Milos dev

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UK - Wiremore.co.uk has launched EBR Digicart SE in the UK and Europe. EBR Digicart SE software enables any PC or laptop to replace the Mini-Disc or the dedicated 'Instant' hard drive players used in all types of live productions from theatre to radio, from nightclub to special event, says the company.

Up to 72 sound cues are available for 'instant play' via cue sheets that can be updated even while 'playing out', giving flexibility to change play lists on the fly. The number of cue sheets that can be accessed is infinite.

A/B track cross fading, Time Remaining & Time Elapsed displays, track management and dedicated keyboard hot-keys are some of the many features that make this cost effective product stand out.

All music tracks available on the computer's internal, external or network drives are available to EBR Digicart 2, and as it recognises .wav, .mp3 and .ogg formats, p

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UAE - Qatar recently played host to the official year-end tennis championships of the Sony Ericsson WTA tour. The tournament was held at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash complex in Doha which underwent a major AV and broadcast systems upgrade in order to host the event. The systems were designed and implemented by Doha-based systems integrator, AV-Tech.

"This is the first time that Qatar has hosted such a world-class tennis event, and we are proud to be a part of it," explained AV-Tech's general manager, Hadi Arzouni. "Furthermore, the complex will be hosting the Championships for the next two years, so it was imperative that we selected only the very best equipment from the top manufacturers. Our first choice for amplification is always Lab.gruppen for reasons of reliability and sound quality, and this installation was no exception."

AV-Tech ins

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Italy - Pio Nahum has returned to Italian manufacturer Clay Paky as commercial and marketing director. Nahum has 20 years of experience in the show lighting business; his first job in the industry was at Clay Paky; later he worked for world-leading multinational groups, holding top management positions in various countries around the world. His career has included seven years as marketing director for Martin Professional, and also a period as managing director of Martin's Italian subsidiary.

Pasquale Quadri, president of Clay Paky, said: "I am delighted to welcome Pio back into our team: with the support of his vast experience the company will certainly succeed in achieving new important goals."

Nahum said: "Working for Clay Paky is a fantastic opportunity. I fully share the values of the company: excellence, consistency and innovation. Furthermore, Clay Paky's

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UK - London-based pop band Scouting For Girls (SFG) recently completed a five-week UK tour that saw them play to more than 100,000 fans across the country.

Lighting designer Jon Barker was tasked with delivering the show's visuals. Says Barker: "When I came up with the design concept for the tour, I was after a low-resolution video screen that was in effect see-though and would simply 'disappear' when it was not in use, allowing me to use the fixtures I had placed behind the screens (a selection of four-way Molefay with Colour Scrollers, 2kw Skypans and Strand S Battens with clear globe lamps all rigged at different heights) as a 'hidden layer' that would pop out when illuminated.

"The two main reasons I chose the Stealth over competitive products was first the higher resolution of Stealth which made it much more attractive - smoother, much more 'flowing' video conte

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Norway - A network of two Midas XL8s and three PRO6 consoles linked via AES50 (Supermac) was used for the Nobel Peace Prize concert at the Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. The set-up was designed to handle 10 artists including Diana Ross, Il Divo, The Script and Robyn - each accompanied by a large orchestra.

The Midas consoles were supplied by Oslo-based AVAB-CAC, which has provided all audio requirements for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert for the past 17 years. In an entirely new approach to the event's audio network, the consoles were used to link three stages, produce live sound and provide a broadcast feed. A PRO6 was used on each stage for monitor mixes, with a pair of XL8s at front-of-house.

"Quite simply, we changed from a system that used many snakes, analogue and digital, running back and forth between the various performance areas and took us five to six hours to instal

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The Netherlands - Chief Manufacturing has announced a new partnership with Comm-Tec. The agreement, which took effect on 1 January 2009, will see Comm-Tec adding Chief's range of mounting solutions to its comprehensive selection of products for the AV and systems integration professional in Germany and Austria.

"The timing of this new agreement really couldn't be better," says Melinda von Horvath, EMEA sales director at Chief Manufacturing. "We are introducing over 20 new mounting solutions at Integrated Systems Europe, and these are exactly the kind of products Comm-Tec is so well-placed to distribute for us.

"We were looking for a value-added distributor able to explain the high-end features and benefits of our products to integrators, installers and dealers, and we believe that in Comm-Tec we have found exactly the right partner to do that."

&quo

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Ireland - Robert Juliat, has supplied a substantial quantity of its 1K and 1.2K fresnels and PC fixtures to Ireland's first custom-built opera house. Wexford Opera House, in South East Ireland, is concealed behind a re-instated street front in the town's main street.

Occupying 4.5 times the space of the old opera house it replaces, Wexford Opera House has been built to the highest standards with quality and attention to detail given to every aspect of its development and construction. The result is an exciting new multi-purpose performance space capable of offering a varied, year-round programme of opera, theatre and dance.

The specification of Robert Juliat lanterns had been on the cards with the Opera House's design team since the initial conception in 2005. Amongst this team were theatre consultants, Carr & Angier, which was involved throughout in the design of both the mai

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Spain - Indalo Sonido, located in the region of Extremadura, Spain, has invested in D.A.S. Aero line array systems. Heading Indalo Sonido is Indalecio Montero, founder and director of the company located in the historical city of Merida, capital of the region of Extremadura. Powered D.A.S. Aero 38A units are among the inventory of audio systems the company has for sound reinforcement projectsplus an army of Aero 218A 2K subwoofers, their respective D.A.S. SM-12A stage monitors and Compact-115 units for side-fill.

This selection of equipment enables the company to offer a complete range of audiovisual rental and installation services for live events. One of their more recent success stories using Aero systems, was the Peoples International Folk Festival held at the Roman Theatre in Merida, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993.

For this particular festival, the firm's

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USA - Big Mick Hughes' tenure as front-of-house (FOH) engineer for Metallica is almost as long as the band's existence. "This is my 25th year. I was 25 or 26 when I started with the guys, and I'm going on 51 in a minute," says Hughes. Although the band has evolved and grown, a key to its longevity is its constant dedication to hard-rocking heavy metal, showcased on the 2008 hit album Death Magnetic. Another constant for the band has been Hughes' selection of Audio-Technica as the microphones of choice for Metallica's live stage setup, the most recent incarnation of which is crisscrossing the United States, soon to be followed by Europe, as the Death Magnetic World Tour.

"I've been using Audio-Technica for years, because of the way A-T mics sound. I can't really imagine using anything else," Hughes says. "They sound great and have tremendous

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