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USA - At this years InfoComm in Orlando, Stefan Feistel of the Ahnert Feistel Media Group (AFMG) will deliver two seminars on the company's latest software updates. The new release of SysTune (Version 1.1) will be discussed on Thursday 18 June and a seminar on speech intelligibility prediction using the new version of EASE, Version 4.3, will be presented on Friday 19 June.

The SysTune seminar is free and open for all to attend; for the EASE seminar visit www.InfoCommShow.org in the Education section and register under the Manufacturers' Seminars.

The new features in EASE 4.3, aimed at sound system designers, room acousticians and architects, will be discussed in the Friday seminar, along with aspects of speech intelligibility theory, measurement and modeling. It will focus on th

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Denmark - A new version of Martin Professional's Windows-based LightJockey lighting controller is now available - LightJockey v.2.9.1. Notable changes in the new version include Vista 32-bit compatibility and new fixture updates, as well as other upgrades.

LightJockey will now recognize Windows Vista (32-bit only) as an operating system and allow for Universal USB/DMX interface configuration and use when running under Windows Vista.

Fixture additions/upgrades include: Martin MAC III Profile (basic 16-bit); Martin Extube single segment with HSI, HSIC and RGBW control; Profiles for 16-bit control of RBG fixtures (includes profile for one 16-bit RGB unit and four 16-bit RGB units). Other improvements include an update of the driver for the Universal USB/DMX interface, bug fixes and more.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Rental company SSE has supplied a Midas PRO6 live audio system for Maximo Park's sell out UK academy tour. A Klark Teknik DN9696 was used to record all shows, including support bands, which were also mixed on the PRO6. FOH engineer Huw Richards had used an XL8 for orchestral concerts in the past, but this was his first time on a PRO6.

"What I love about this board more than anything is the feel of it: it's like Midas has always felt, which is reassuring," says Richards. "So many digital boards are so flimsy and light, there's no foundation, but I don't think of this as a digital desk, to me it's a Midas.

"I like the 'fast zone' controls which take you to any instrument or control parameters wherever you are on the desk. You don't have to search through layers or change pages, everything you need is on the surface, which again is reassuring."

The

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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 - Orbital Sound is providing specialist guidance to attendees at this week's ABTT Theatre Show on the issues surrounding Noise at Work compliance, as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show signs of getting tough on non-compliance. With West End productions, tours and even pantomimes all falling under the legislation, Orbital Sound's emphasis is on providing accurate information on the issues and the steps required to ensure compliance - via its specialist Noise at Work risk assessment service.

Orbital Sound has been working closely with industry bodies, such as PLASA, to raise awareness of The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 Act, following the expiry of the two-year period of grace extended to the entertainment industry by the HSE.

PLASA's technical resources manager, Ron Bonner comments, "The entertainment industry has to start taking the requirements of

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USA - Hawaii's East-West Centre is the latest international conference facility to upgrade to Bosch DCN Next Generation digital discussion systems following a recent installation by Oahu-based AV specialists The Audio Visual Company (AVCO).

The 50-year-old facility was established by the United States Government to promote understanding and education between Asian and Pacific countries and the US.The East-West Centre continues to work toward these ends on its 21-acre property adjacent to the University of Hawaii's main campus on the Island of Oahu.

The new Bosch DCN Next Generation digital discussion system replaces a 25-year-old system in the Centre's 1,400sq.ft Asia Room, which seats 64 people. Each DCN interpreter station is configured to translate Korean, Japanese, and Chinese - the system can be configured to translate up to 10 languages.

AVCO project manager Wade Higa

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UK - Rental company SSE has supplied an L-Acoustics Kudo line source system for Maximo Park's sellout UK academy tour.

The system needed to have a small footprint yet provide enough power and headroom for the band, while being flexible enough to handle venues of differing sizes. This ranged from six groundstacked Kudos per side for the smaller venues, through to 13 cabinets flown per side at the two Brixton Academy shows. This system - powered by nine LA8 amplified controllers in three LA-RAKs - also incorporated eight SP28 subwoofers, three dV-DOSC cabinets across the stage for front fill and four ARCS for infill around the venue.

"Kudo is an incredibly powerful system for its size," says Maximo Park's FOH engineer Huw Richards. "It's a punky show so we need a system which can throw out and provide plenty of headroom. For the smaller venues it's been really ea

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France - L-Acoustics has appointed two new sales managers: Tim McCall and Peter Owen.

Owen will handle Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, India and the Middle East, a territory he was keen to represent having grown up in Doha. He previously worked for Harman's UK distributor Arbiter, Martin Audio and Biamp. "I've always admired L-Acoustics for their belief in finding the right partnerships, and not just closing the next sale," he says.

McCall, who has spent the last decade working for BSS and Turbosound respectively, will handle southern Europe, Africa and Australasia/Oceania. "I'm very excited by the opportunity to work for such a principled and technologically-driven company," says McCall. "I am looking forward to working with our partners - be they distributors, installers, rental companies or consultants - across a divers

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USA - Harris Corporation will demonstrate an array of digital AV solutions at InfoComm 2009 this month at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando. Merging traditional broadcast and IT technology, Harris provides AV solutions for markets such as educational institutions, corporations, houses of worship, stadiums and arenas and restaurants - enabling AV operations to implement efficient advanced media workflows that potentially open new revenue streams.

"The strength and capability of Harris digital broadcast products fully support growth in new markets including AV, based on a complete portfolio of networking, infrastructure, test and measurement and other solutions that enable cost-effective, fully integrated advanced media workflows," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. "In particular, recent Harris digital signage wins in

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New Zealand - College Hill Productions, a sound rental company based in Auckland has recently selected a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console for use on a diverse line-up of summer concerts and music festivals throughout New Zealand. The most recent tour, Big Day Out 2009 took place in Auckland and hosted a number of international artists including, Neil Young, My Morning Jacket and The Prodigy. Director of College Hill Productions Chris Tate founded the company in 1996 and is responsible for introducing the first Soundcraft Vi6 to New Zealand.

"The console has been out on tour non-stop all summer and the engineers required a board that had a very fast turnaround time in between shows." Says Tate. "The Soundcraft Vi6's capabilities also helped us in a couple of other ways including a few instances where the console was almost a kilometer away in a broadcast com

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USA - LEDtronics has introduced G15-Style DécorLED lamps that consume less than 1 watt and directly replace 10W incandescent bulbs. The DEC-G15E12 series of globe-style clear-lens with standard candelabra-based LED light bulbs provide architects, entertainment designers and other lighting professionals with the means to integrate ornamental illumination into maintenance-intensive applications, says the company.

These solid-state G15 DécorLED lamps are available in extra pure white (5000K) or extra warm white (3000K). 18 discrete LEDs are optimally configured to disperse light in an omnidirectional 270°-wide beam, with each high-intensity LED incorporating optical-grade epoxy to produce vivid illumination between 25.4 to 27.4 lumens, depending on model number.

A moulded polycarbonate, UV-protected and shatter-resistant 1.9"-diameter globe protects the LED

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UK - In recent months, TED AV has appointed three new members of staff to its team: Sam Nankivell is now business development executive. He joins from Barking's Broadway Theatre, where he was operations manager.

Leon Hudston joins as project manager UK. Hudston was formerly project manager for P6 UK, where he managed a number of new-build retail projects, including the Desigual store in London's Westfield shopping centre.

Elliot Ryan joins as in-house technician. Ryan was previously technician at the Radlett Centre. Andy Howling (originally TED AV's senior sales engineer) takes on the mantle of project manager overseas. Finally, Mark Morley has been appointed to the board of TED UK as technical director. Morley joined the company in October 2005 to set-up TED AV and continues to head-up the TED AV team.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians has named freelancer John Tapster as the ABTT Technician of the Year 2009.

Originally planning to teach primary school mathematics, 'Tappy' (as he is affectionately known) was enticed to switch direction to the theatre, after a visit in 1996 to see Phantom of the Opera at Manchester's Opera House, and being bowled over by the technical wizardry.

He cut his teeth at the Middlesbrough Little Theatre, before joining Basildon Towngate Theatre as a general technician. Work quickly followed, including a Belgium ice show, Open Hand Theatre Company, Liverpool Everyman (chief technician) and a stint on Eclipse at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach.

A move to Stoke-on-Trent's Victoria Hall proved fruitful, when he was also offered the chief electrician's job at the city's newly opened Regent Theatre, where he remained for four years b

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USA - Total Structures has announced details of its summer hoist school. This two-day ETCP recognized training course is for anyone working with Columbus McKinnon entertainment electric chain hoists. The course will be held on Monday 17 August Tuesday 18 August in Oxnard, CA.

Class size is limited to 20 students, however should demand necessitate an additional course will be added for Wednesday 19 August and Thursday 20 August.Unlike prior Columbus McKinnon training schools this course will now include a written certification examination, with successful students receiving recognition as being a CM-ET (Columbus McKinnon Entertainment Technology) certified entertainment hoist technician.

Appropriately qualified students passing the course will also obtain 16 renewal credits towards ETCP rigging examination re-certification. Suited to both touring and in-house repair technicians

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UK - Within a year of purchasing a stock of EV Phoenix loudspeakers and CP Series amplifiers, the Berkshire-based PA rental company Event Sound is stepping up its commitment to, and investment in, Electro-Voice loudspeakers with an order for an XLC line-array system, to be delivered at the end of the summer.

One of the first companies in the UK to embrace the high-SPL compact Phoenix enclosure design, Event Sound has found the scale of its projects steadily increasing, recently completing its biggest show to date, an outdoor charity concert, headlined by Nick Heyward, for 2000 people. "We have evolved a long way from our origins as a dry-hire operation," says Nick Billinghurst. "The success we've had with the Phoenix system, winning a lot of open-air events particularly festivals, has given us the confidence and the custom to upgrade our inventory to full line-arr

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Spain - A large outdoor festival organised by Acció Cultural del Pais Valencià recently took place in the city of Valencia and D.A.S. Aero line array systems were key to the success of the event. Responsible for the technical production was Simes Audio, led by David Ferri, who put together a comprehensive lighting and sound system to ensure the best performance and consistent coverage over the considerable audience area.

Several thousand students gathered at the large open area on the sprawling campus of Valencia's Polytechnic University. Live performances were offered by bands including Berri Txarrak, Aramateix, and Rapsodes, the winners of Valencian music competition Amplifica't. Over four hours of music with amazingly different styles provided a truly enjoyable evening.

The PA system comprised 20 D.A.S. Aero 38A powered modules, arranged in two 10-unit line format

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UK - Shure Distribution UK (SDUK) announced the launch of the Shure Professional Headphone range at LIMS 09. The new range arrives in the UK with three models, the SRH240, SRH440 and SRH840. They represent Shure's first foray into the headphone market and range from entry level and home recording offerings to premium quality professional headphones.

The SRH240 headphones are the entry level headphones in the new series. They are designed for general listening and monitoring applications and offer powerful bass response and clear highs.

The SRH440 headphones are for professional home recording and studio monitoring applications. They offer an enhanced frequency response that delivers accurate audio across an extended range. The detachable single-side cable and collapsible construction promises a high level of comfort and portability.

The flagship headphone model is the SRH840

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USA - EAW has introduced the MicroSub stage subwoofer, the latest offering in the company's MicroWedge Series of stage monitor products. The single-15" enclosure is a versatile stage and small venue subwoofer, designed to address the environment of onstage low frequency demands - sonic territory that often goes ignored by stage monitor setups.

The MicroSub can be configured and interlocked in a wide range of different combinations - by itself, with other MicroSubs or with other MicroWedge units. Small pads and recesses are located on its sides, top and bottom. The loudspeaker is mounted at a 45-degree angle and the cabinet height is exactly half of the cabinet width when the MicroSub is laid flat (features which facilitate a variety of arrangement options).

Due to its small profile, it can serve as a side-fill monitor, particularly in a club setting: the 13" height a

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UK - West London based audio specialist Encore has designed and installed a new d&b J-Series sound system into the newly revamped Fridge in Brixton. This is the result of the venue's original creators Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington forging an innovative new partnership with the Alchemea College of Audio Engineering. Alchemea, has developed a four-month Live Sound Diploma Course, with the aim of giving students real practical experience. All 'live' training and study will take place at The Fridge.

Encore's John Tinline explains that sound engineer AIan Hopkinson has been working with Neil Pickles, a director of Alchemea for some time in an advisory role as their head of live sound. He was given the challenging task of specifying a system that would both attract promoters and bands back to the newly kitted out Fridge, and simultaneously be suitable for realising the Alcheme

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Ireland - In March 2009, the holder at the time of the WBA Super Bantamweight Boxing title, Ricardo Cordoba of Panama, was facing the challenge of Dublin's own Bernard Dunne. The venue, Dublin's new O2 Arena, formerly the Point and as it happens a worthy challenge too for Dublin based audio hire company Acoustik.

"The first World Championship boxing match to be held in Dublin for 13 years," said Paul Ashe-Browne of Acoustik. "The show design stipulation was that no loudspeakers be in TV camera shot." Thankfully, within earshot was permitted.

"My system was primarily for speech reinforcement; let me tell you, 9,000 Dubliners in full cry is quite some level to overcome. Based around three hangs of d&b audiotechnik's Q1s and Q-SUBs, with numerous Q7s and Q10s providing in-fill around the ring, I was determined not to run out of headroom."

Acoustik

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UK - SSE Audio Group has announced two new developments which add further scope to the company's operations. The first is the purchase of the corporate events hire stock of North London audio specialists Green-i Ltd, as part of the formation of SSE Events as a new Group division. The move also sees Green-i director Andrew Frengley join SSE on 1 July.

SSE Events will be based at SSE's base in Hayes, where the Group's Contract Rental and Audio Installations business, SSE London is based. Canegreen, the North London audio rental company that joined SSE last year is also currently moving its operations from Tottenham to Hayes.

SSE Audio Group managing director John Penn says: "This purchase represents a great opportunity for SSE to secure its position in the London Events marketplace by taking over a resource already geared to that market. At the same time equipment is only a

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USA - The deadline for nominations for the second annual ESTA Rock Our World Awards is 1 July 1. The awards recognise groundbreaking achievement by ESTA members in new products, product applications, or projects, and were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment.

Contestants for the 2008 awards showcased a wide variety of new products and product applications from the simplest problem solver to complex uses of technology that extended the boundaries of the entertainment technology field. Project nominations showcased everything from theatrical productions to special events to permanent installations and highlighted the collaborative nature of our industry.

Nominations may be made by anyone in the industry, but an ESTA Member must be involved as the designer,

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