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Spain - The Valencia Show Jumping Club (CES Valencia) was recently inaugurated in the town of Godella in Valencia and D.A.S. sound systems were chosen to form part of this equestrian complex's modern facilities. Its extensive show jumping arenas, social club and indoor covered arena complete with grandstand have all been equipped.

Technicians from Telesonic Valencia, S.L. were charged with matching D.A.S. systems to the needs of each area of this sports complex. Long-throw BiDriver systems were consequently employed for the main arena since they are specifically designed for applications requiring wide acoustic coverage and music reproduction with no compromises in voice intelligibility.

Systems from the new DR series were adopted for the grandstand in the covered arena. Audio f

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The Netherlands - Newly-formed Dutch rental company AVL Concept has made a strong investment in its future growth by investing in a large amount of new pro audio equipment including a Midas PRO6 and a Heritage 3000. The company, which was supplied by Midas Consoles Benelux, has taken over some well known companies including audio rental company Cazemier LGB and AV rental and installation specialist Provision.

"We've set up the new company to be ready for the next decade or so," says AVL Concept owner Ben Rosema. "AVL Concept is not a classic concert sound rental company, neither is it a traditional AV install company. We offer our clients the best, both in high end rental plus install, focussing on the highest level of audio, lighting, video, production and staging.

"We've only been able to achieve this level of business by taking over existing, well perfor

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USA - Carnival Cruise Lines' newest and largest 'Fun Ship', the Carnival Splendor, which can host more than 3,000 guests and offers high-energy entertainment options galore, made its maiden voyage from the Mediterranean to ports of call in Northern Europe in 2008.

Featured within this floating resort's 1,300-seat Spectacular Show Lounge is the new musical performance, The Beat. Using an Aviom Pro64 digital snake, the production crew was able to take full advantage of the Cat 5 connectivity and user flexibility the system offers as well as its robust performance in the challenging cruise ship environment.

"We have enjoyed a great experience over the years with Aviom," says James Keaton, audio supervisor for Carnival Cruise Lines. "We currently have 22 ships in the fleet and we have been using the Aviom Pro16 system for monitoring and communications in our

featured content

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 - The 81st Academy Awards Ceremony, held at the Kodak Theater and broadcast live on ABC, featured three Yamaha digital audio consoles behind the scenes. PA designer and front-of-house engineer, Patrick Baltzell, received a helping hand from ATK Audiotek, supplying both a Yamaha PM1D 128-input/64-output Dual Engine system and PM5D digital console to outfit front-of-house. A Yamaha PM1D-128 input/64-output Dual Engine system was also used and manned by monitor engineer Michael Parker, supported by monitor tech Tom Pesa.

"Digital recall consoles have increased the detail of a mix by an order of magnitude for multiple performance television shows such as The Academy Awards," says Baltzell. "In the analogue days, I was always 'splitting the difference' and making compromises, knowing I would only be able to restore certain settings but not all. I now can confidentl

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Sweden - Lab.gruppen is anticipating "an extremely busy ProLight & Sound" with the public unveiling of four new products. The first of these is the prototype Lab.gruppen Lake LM 26 stand-alone digital loudspeaker. Based on the Lake Processing technology and first product to be introduced under the newly acquired Lake brand, the LM 26 is a full-featured 2-in/6-out Lake Processor in a compact 1 U frame.

The latest addition to the PLM Series of powered loudspeaker management systems, the PLM 14000 is built around a two-input, two-power output channel platform. It pumps a massive 7000W per channel into 2 ohms and 4350 W per channel into 4 ohms, making it suitable for demanding subwoofer and low-end applications.

Also new for Frankfurt will be the addition of three new models to the FP+ Series, including a new flagship amplifier, the FP 14000. The other two models are the

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Europe - Lighthouse Technologies Ltd., a leading LED technology provider, has announced the implementation of a new corporate structure for Continental Europe and the Middle East (CEME) regions under the leadership of its current Southern European director, Roberto Segato.

The geographical scope of the new set up comprises the current Southern Europe remit, which includes Russia and the Middle East, as well as the former Western and Central European region.

A new German office has been opened in Munich, headed up by new team member, Massimo Dolce. Giulia Kabakova has also joined Segato's team as sales executive for Russia and the CIS regions to ensure that these areas can instantly benefit from this new arrangement.

"This move is designed to unify Lighthouse's European operation and help consolidate the company's position as the leading provider of high performance, fle

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USA - In addition to showing a wide range of products from its existing S Series, Veris, M-Class, I/O, I-2W8, R Series and WET lines, Community will exhibit three new product groups at ProLight & Sound 2009 in Frankfurt - ENTASYS, VLF Series subwoofers and MX41E monitors.

ENTASYS is a new three-way full-range column loudspeaker system that delivers true line-array performance in a compact package. Designed for permanent installation applications, including auditoria, airports and train stations, conference centres, houses of worship, stadium concourses and museums, ENTASYS offers high output and high power handling, utilizing multiple low, mid and high-frequency drivers.

Each ENTASYS full-range column includes six low frequency neodymium drivers, 18 2.35-inch midrange drivers and six 7" long x 1" wide planar-coupled Compact Ribbon Emulator (CRE) high frequency eleme

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Denmark - Victory Tour Production has recently added a pair of DiGiCo SD8 consoles to its rental stock, complementing the D1s and D5s that have been used by the production company for the last two years.

"We bought our first D5 in the spring of 2007, for a tour that had a D5 on the preferred list of desks," says Victory's Theis Wermuth. "We tested it, compared it to the other options and decided that the D5 was the right choice both for the tour and for our hire stock. One of the main things for us was the many ways of 'designing' the desk with input / output options, plus it was easy to operate even for engineers who weren't experienced digital console users.

"We had a meeting with Kim Johansen from Soundware A/S, DiGiCo's Danish distributor, and he quickly convinced us it was the right way to expand our range of DiGiCo desks."

Once delivered, the S

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UK - FX Sales has continued its ongoing relationship with the BRIT School, upgrading the music department's recording studios with the addition of two Pro Tools HD3 Accel Systems with 192 I/Os, a 32 Channel ICON D-Control ES (supplied by Digidesign), Digidesign C24 Pro Tools control surface, Digidesign preamps, a Digidesign/PMC RM2 5.1 monitor array with a PMC TLE1S active sub, an SNS Global San X4 hard drive system, plasma screens, Waves Mercury TDM V6, TC System 6000 mastering bundle and a range of plug-ins and software.

In addition, FX also supplied a Mac Pro running Final Cut Studio 2, Genelec 5.1 monitors, a Plasma screen and related accessories into the BRIT School's DVD authoring suite.

"We received funding and decided to upgrade to Pro Tools HD," says Declan Cunningham, assistant director of music. "FX has always been supportive, having overseen the firs

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UK - The Krypton Factor has returned to British screens, with a selection of high tech improvements, including the use of a selection of touchscreens, sourced for the shows from PSCo.

The iconic TV programme has been off air for 14 years and 2009 signified its comeback, with contestants being tested on logic, memory and agility. The famous assault course returns in the new series and all challenges have been updated using state of the art technology.

For the modern version of the show, the set incorporates four 42" plasma screens which are used by contestants in the studio. Each screen is fitted with touch screen using optical imaging technology, supplied by Lumina Display, making it touch sensitive for contestants to carry out logic tests during the programme.

The Panasonic plasma screens were chosen for their brightness and clarity in the ambient studio lightin

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UK/China - A partnership between the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing and the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills and the Royal Opera House, respectively, was sealed yesterday at the Royal Opera House, ensuring closer links between the UK and China in supporting the development of backstage and offstage production skills.

The agreement is designed to facilitate the exchange of contemporary and state-of-the-art techniques for running a successful and prosperous theatrical industry and establish a practice of exemplar training that can create a greater skilled workforce in theatrical production industries.

Tom Bewick, chief executive of Creative & Cultural Skills said: "By working cross-culturally, we are able to share the strong and specialised musical theatre skill set we have here in the UK with China. The new National Skills Acade

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Trinidad - Caribbean Entertainment Technologies (CET) has recently completed a major project for the The National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) at the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain.

The comprehensive and integrated systems were divided into five sub-sections. The first is a complete AV archiving facility: a dedicated AV server system for the repair and conformation of many different formats, both digital and analogue, of printed, audio and video media.

The second subsection consists of a complete MATV distribution system, used to retrieve audio visual content from specific building presentation areas via camera and microphone access and its redistribution via MATV to any video equipped room in the building.

The third subsection was the sound and lighting for the outdoor amphitheatre, and incorporated a sequenced power system and

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UK - A new game show, with colour as its central theme, has had its set brought to life by a combination of LED media displays, provided by Creative Technology London.

Commissioned by format creators and producers 12 Yard, The Colour Of Money, presented by Chris Tarrant, is one of the most ambitious sets yet created by production designer Patrick Doherty.

A total of nine mission-specific media surfaces are used on the set, including Barco's iLite 6 6mm display, which forms the main high-resolution central screen. This is reinforced by G-LEC's 30mm Phantom 30 and Barco MiTRIX transparent screens, Barco OLite 612 modular banner (curving round the rear of the set), and the German Schnick-Schnack LED FX, which borders the cash machines and also provides a uniform colour light detail elsewhere on the stage floor, with wide angle diffusion. The transparent screens have been b

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USA - RTS is set to show the DKP 16 CLD Color Display Desktop Keypanel at NAB 2009. The DKP 16 CLD is the desktop member of the CLD colour keypanel family from RTS. Like its rackmounted counterpart, the DKP 16 CLD is controlled using a full-colour graphic interface.

"A desktop version was the next logical step in the CLD series." said Christian Latzelsberger, senior product manager for RTS Intercoms Worldwide."Like the KP 32 CLD we evaluated how intercoms are used in various settings, and what meaningful improvements could be made. With the DKP 16 CLD, nothing was overlooked. Desktop users will be very pleased with the refinements in the control surfaces, and the graphical interface on the DKP 16 CLD."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Showsec secured the Brit Awards 2009 with at Earls Court and simultaneously, they played an instrumental part in the War Child Benefit gig at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, with some artists appearing at both venues.

Showsec's Operations Director Simon Battersby managed the Brits project, liaising with organisers from the BPI and production management M.J.K. and Earls Court. He said, "This is the second year that we have worked at the BRITs and the smooth, assured manner in which we undertook such a complex operation underlines the professionalism and capabilities that are present at all levels within our team."

Maggie Crow, event director for The BRIT Awards 2009 noted: "Showsec provided the most exemplary security at this years' BRITs. My feedback has been every guest - and there are over 12,000 of them who are all treated as VIPs - were welcomed and dire

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UK - The CEDIA Awards 2009 promise to be a truly international affair, having received a record amount of entries from outside of the UK, say the organisers. ESP member companies from as far afield as India, Pakistan and South Africa have all shown their support for the scheme, which showcases best practice in the residential custom installation industry.

"We are delighted to have received such an overwhelming response to our call for entries this year," says Wendy Griffiths, CEDIA executive director. "And, for this to include a record number from outside the UK is the icing on the cake. At CEDIA we are working hard to reach out to our members across the territories with initiatives such as the new International Committee, and their participation the Awards is very encouraging and definitely proves we're going in the right direction."

Martin Stanford, anch

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UK - Lighting designer Tom Lesh used a grandMA full-size console for the first time on a recent UK tour by The Feeling. Lesh had "wanted to get my head around the desk properly" since he used grandMA for the Chemical Brothers' We Are The Night tour that ran throughout 2007 and 2008.

"With the stability of the timecoding and video operation on the grandMA, and the request early on in The Feeling production meetings to integrate video content into the show, it seemed a perfect opportunity to teach myself the desk," he explains. He set aside two weeks before the start of the tour to pre-programme the show - with the option after a week of moving back to another console had he not been happy with the grandMA. "Fortunately that proved not to be the case, and with Matt Buttons on phone support, I had a very good time and got right into it once my head w

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UK - There were two unusual facts about The Killers' recent sold-out performances at the O2 Arena. The first was that their long-time sound engineer James Gebhard was making his debut at the venue, the second was that he took the radical decision to fly his favoured Martin Audio line array system without the use of the predominant W8L Longbow enclosure.

As a result, Capital Sound Hire, the band's audio production company, found themselves specifying delay arrays into the O2 sound reinforcement system for the first time.

The entire coverage, including side-hangs, front-fills and delays, was made up of Martin Audio's W8LC Compact line arrays - including 20-box hangs as the main reinforcement system - stretching the production company's inventory to the limit. All the full range enclosures were powered by Martin MA4.2s amplification.

With the two delay-hangs (each compri

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UK - 24 i-Pix BB4 LED 4-lite units were used by lighting designer Al Gurdon on the 2009 Brit Awards show at Earls Court.

Supplied with special 'double-up' hanging brackets allowing two BB4s to be rigged together to make up an 8-Lite, six units in this format were positioned on the front truss pointing into the audience, with another two per side on each of two satellite trusses, hung stage left and right above the front line of the stage.

They were used for Molefey-style effects, providing strong and intense bursts of colour and illumination across the large live audience and highlighting the vast interior of Earls Court.

"They are absolutely super bright," comments lighting supplier PRG's crew chief Richard Gorrod. "There is also the power saving implications of running a BB4, which, with a consumption of 120 Watts, draws just half an amp on full at 240 volts

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Nigeria - A powerful Meyer Sound Milo and Mica line array loudspeaker system delivered 11 hours of uninterrupted prayer and music to an unprecedented crowd of 350,000 at the annual Experience Interdenominational Gospel Concert, reported on its website as the largest concert in Africa and the largest gospel musical event in the world.

Staged at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, Nigeria, the massive musical extravaganza brought together worshippers from throughout Africa to revel in performances by artists including Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Don Moen, Fred Hammond, Kurt Carr, Chevelle Franklyn, Gospel duo Mary Mary, and UK-based recording artist and radio presenter, Muyiwa Olarewaju.

The main sound system deployed left and right arrays of 10 Meyer Sound Milo loudspeakers each, augmented by side-arrays of 12 Mica loudspeakers per side. Low frequencies were covered by nine

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Germany - The Renkus-Heinz IC Live digitally beam steerable array will make its live European début on the outdoor stage at Frankfurt ProLight&Sound as part of the company's 30th anniversary celebrations.

Following its live US launch on the Winter NAMM Main Stage at the Anaheim Convention Centre in January, a pair of IC LIVE arrays with matching IC215S dual 15" bandpass subwoofers will be demonstrated at Frankfurt Messe's Concert Sound Arena every day throughout ProLight&Sound 2009.

The Concert Sound Arena, located in the outdoor exhibition area of the Frankfurt Messe, features a purpose-built stage and a covered audience area.

(Jim Evans)

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