UAE - Taking place from the 18 - 20 April 2010, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, the organisers of PALME anticipate participation of over 180 exhibitors, covering 15,000sqm of floor space, from 35 countries, including three group pavilions from Taiwan, Germany and China.

A series of seminars will focus on: system integration solutions; acoustic engineering; sound reinforcement; live events; LED technologies and smart home applications, while new show features will include Innovators Gallery, showcasing cutting edge technologies and the 'Intelligent Home', a fully automated house built on the show floor. The Middle East Events Awards, recognise and reward outstanding achievement in the Middle East live events industry.

Companies are competing fiercely with the variou

Taiwan - Event production experts TAO Productions put together a team to manage European entertainment interests at the opening ceremonies for The Deaflympics 2009 in two venues in Taiwan this summer.

NewSubstance Creative Agency employed the TAO Group to provide logistics support, production management, CAD planning, health & safety and event consultancy for four shows in Hsinchu and Taipei

To achieve the client brief, head of TAO Andy Cotton flew a crew to Taiwan, including TAO's Ben Price (production), Darren Wring (lighting); Steve Waddington (rigging) and Gareth Lewis (sound).

Now in its 21st year, the Deaflympics, features 20 sports, from athletics to taekwondo. The event was previously known as The World Games of the Deaf, having been granted permission by the IOC to change names in 2001.

The opening ceremonies and parades were produced by Mirag

UK - Peavey Europe cemented its ties with major festival sponsor Jägermeister at Creamfields over the August bank holiday weekend, following a successful debut earlier in the month at Sonisphere UK. 'Fantastic, really great,' had been the verdict from Jägermeister UK's music manager, Tom Carson, after the companies' inaugural collaboration, where the 'Jäger Truck' - powered by Peavey PA - was unveiled as the fourth stage at the Knebworth event.

"Even though it was the first time we'd done it," Carson added, "nothing went wrong. The bands were happy, Kilimanjaro [Sonisphere's promoters] were happy, and the guys from Peavey were great."

Carson immediately signed Peavey for a repeat performance at Creamfields, where Jägermeister's touring stage - actually a decomissioned Russian army truck, registration number J4 GER - hosted a

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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

UK - With just days remaining before the PLASA09 exhibition opens its doors (13-16 September, Earls Court, London), PLASA Media has published the Show Guide online in a digital format.

Readers of Lighting&Sound International's digital edition, which has been available worldwide for the past two years, will be familiar with the freely accessible online format.

This is the first time the PLASA Show Guide has been available prior to the show, and will allow those planning on visiting PLASA09 ample opportunity to browse the exhibitors' detailed information and plan their visit in detail. The PLASA09 Guide includes full listings for all exhibitors, with a quick reference A-Z listing and floorplans to make planning your visit as straightforward as possible.

In addition to this, the Guide also features advanced information

UK - Shoreditch-based Mexican bar and restaurant, Green & Red Bar & Cantina, has upgraded the sound system in its dedicated 220-capacity basement venue, Chamucos.

While continuing to offer its noted Jaliscan-style cooking upstairs, owners, Underdog Group, have turned to the heavily themed live venue downstairs, tasking the Sound Division Group with augmenting the sound and distributing it evenly throughout the graffiti-walled, cave-like interior.

Sound Division MD David Graham has sensitively added to the existing Martin Audio/QSC sound system to maintain continuity, servicing and reinstalling part of the equipment, to provide greater flexibility and preserve sonic integrity.

At the same time the installers have added new amps and processing as well as providing a highly-specified DJ system, a live mixing console, mics, DI Boxes and band lighting.

This is not only designed

Denmark - The Supernova Epic CS screen is the "director's cut" version of dnp's award-winning Supernova Epic. The screen is optimised to deliver "a perfect viewing experience" with movies in the popular Cinemascope format.

dnp product manager Johnny Jensen explains, "If your ambition is to move the cinema experience into your own living room, the Supernova Epic CS Screen is the obvious choice. The realistic colour reproduction is simply amazing - even in brightly-lit rooms - and with the perfectly curved screen you are virtually surrounded by the movie."

The Supernova Epic CS Screen is made up of seven high-tech layers to ensure a superior viewing experience. These include an optical lens film to reduce the impact of ambient light and ensure better image contrast, a reflection layer for revolutionary half-gain angles up to +/- 85° and a black

The Netherlands - The CineMec complex in Holland is a Cineplex which doubles as a conference centre. Housed in a contemporary building with striking architecture, the award-winning enterprise, owned by Gerben Kuipers, is located in Ede, just 50 minutes from Amsterdam.

This summer the operation made its boldest statement yet with the opening of the new 3D CineMec XL - the largest 3D screen in Holland - with 20,000W (RMS) of purpose-designed QSC cinema surround sound helping to build the atmosphere.

The auditorium can host over 1,000 visitors and some seats can be lifted to the ceiling to convert the cinema into a multi-purpose hall for concerts, congresses or similar events.

Dutch-based specialists FTT Filmtronics (FTT) based their audio specification around a matched system from QSC Audio, using a total of 44 loudspeakers.

This includes a combination of their SR-46 4 x 6.5

Europe - DMi D&M Installation Europe has introduced an IP control module for the bi-directional control of Escient Vision media players from the Marantz RC9001 and Philips TSU9600 & TSU9800 Pronto touch-screen universal remote control handsets.

Enabling the Vision OSD GUI on the Marantz and Pronto handsets provides control of the platform without having to switch on a TV. The module also enables the browsing and viewing of photos directly on the handset, as well as the viewing and editing of Vision setup parameters.

The module is downloadable free of charge from the Escient Europe and Escient UK websites (www.escienteurope.com and www.escient.co.uk; under the Support tab). Installing the module, custom installers can enable the intuitive and user friendly Vision on screen display GUI interface on the RC9001 and Pronto handsets, providing a full 2-way control experience with th

Belgium - ADB Lighting Technologies will launch the latest in its line-up of memory lighting control desks, the Domino series of lighting control desks, headed by the Domino XT, at IBC 2009.

Designed to provide a flexible and intuitive solution for both professionals and novices to use, the "highly price-competitive" Domino combines all the functions of a television studio or theatrical console, allowing fully automated control, required studio and for theatre lighting, in a sleek, lightweight ultra-modern casing whose compact footprint will readily fit into the tightest control rooms.

The four-strong series is available as Domino 24, 48, 48XT and 96XT versions. Aimed squarely at the large mid-range controller market for television and broadcast studies and theatres, medium to large venues, convention centres and more, a major feature of the Domino is a dedicated cro

UK - The current Tracy Chapman tour lightshow has been re-programmed on to the new grandMA2 platform for its European and US legs. The show - which has been out since last year and is reaching its final stages - is designed by UK-based Paul Normandale. It was originally programmed onto a grandMA full-size by Canadian lighting director/operator Graeme Nichol. Due to other commitments, he couldn't work the final sections, so the role of lighting director was assumed by Glen Johnson from the UK.

Johnson had just been using a grandMA2 light on the Maximo Park tour, and was happy running the version 2 software, while rental company Lite Alternative has also just invested in grandMA2 consoles. So he and Normandale made a joint decision to re-programme the Chapman tour onto grandMA 2.

Johnson did this using a grandMA2 full-size and a visualiser, which was particularly helpful, and it

USA - Loud Technologies has announced the promotion of Adrian Bell to the position of vice president, corporate and marketing communications. In this expanded role, Bell will lead integrated marketing across all Loud brands, as well as manage the company's corporate communications function.

"Loud's brands are revered for their market-leading positions, and we are committed to delivering even stronger marketing support to our dealers and distributors in the future," commented Rodney Olson, Loud CEO. "What's more, under Adrian's leadership our partners will see tighter integration of our marketing efforts with overall product development and sales efforts."

Bell reports to Rodney Olson and is based in the company's Woodinville, WA headquarters.

(Jim Evans)

Russia - One of the jewels in the crown of Russian performing arts, Moscow's Central Palace for the Culture of Railway Workers (CDKG) is enjoying its 80th season of performances after a major technical refit, which included the installation of a comprehensive ASL Intercom communications system.

Built by the country's then socialist regime to provide an active, literally 'social' focus for Moscow's army of railway employees, CDKG became the professional 'home' of popular composer Isaak Dunayevsky, as well as staging a wide range of plays and concert performances.

The venue's popularity continues to the present day, playing host to a diverse array of classical and modern performances, conferences, banquets and exhibitions in its seven spaces. In 2008, the Moscow office of major Russian supply and installation company LTM Music was contracted to give the entire complex a major te

UK - Cornered Audio Systems will participate at PLASA09 in cooperation with UK distributor MilTec.

At the exhibition, Cornered will show a new version of the existing Cornered top-boxes. The SU - Speak-Up - versions combine Speaker and Uplight in one practical solution. The SU versions feature an LED spot in either the top and/or bottom plates delivering up- and/or downlight. The LED uplight works well with the flush mountable Cornered cabinets, so the SU versions gives customers an opportunity of getting ambient light without installing separate lighting fixtures, says the company.

Different LED sports are available, starting with a 1,2watt/40 lumens LED which is connected through a DC plug integrated in the recessed speaker cable terminal.

(Jim Evans)

UK - ShowTex theatre and event textile sprecialists have a few surprises up their sleeves. All will be revealed at PLASA09 where the company will present a gallery of new industry solutions including a product launch of the Mesh Fabric Profile.

The ShowTex Mesh Fabric Profile is a solution for attaching no-sew netting to ceiling truss. Sprinkler ceilings can be created by simply attaching the profile to truss, stretching any kind of mesh fabric over the steel profile's integrated pins, and closing the sliding cover. The pins allow for one-step fabric adjustment and the attractive cover makes it unnecessary to finish fabric edges. The Mesh Fabric Profile comes standard in black with a length of 2m long and can be easily attached to truss constructions with specially designed profile clips.

The new profile is only one of the many new ShowTex products to be presented at PLASA09.

Italy - Proel Group has launched a new Proel Group Professional Division based in Sant'Omero, Italy, focused on the complete portfolio of professional Audio, Lighting and Video products.

Turbosound and Proel Group Company has appointed this specialist team to focus on marketing the UK loudspeaker company's expanding portfolio of professional audio products to the Italian market.

Effective from 1 September 2009, a new distribution agreement means that the Italian live production and audio installation markets will see a noticeable increase in the profile, supply and technical support of Turbosound's innovative ranges of loudspeaker systems.

Staff from the Proel Group Professional Division - together with Italian rental companies Hollywood Service and Lovato - visited Turbosound's factory in August for product training, and also took in a product demo at London's Music Bank re

World - GE Lighting is supplying LED signage to Holiday Inn in a refit which is estimated will deliver savings of $4 million annually. As part of the hotel chain's $1 billion global relaunch, more than 3,200 hotels are being updated to improve quality at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world.

A redesign of the iconic brand logo required new exterior signage for over 3,200 locations. The new signage incorporates energy-efficient, long-life GE Tetra LED lighting systems, which are GE ecomagination certified solutions from Lumination, GE Consumer & Industrial's LED business.

The signage will save Holiday Inn an estimated $4.4 million annually over previous neon and fluorescent lighting ($3 million annual maintenance savings and $1.4 million energy savings). This massive signage project involves more than 20 sign manufacturers creating 9,300 channel letter an

UK - The arts resources at Bedford Modern School are outstanding and include its v own 300 seat auditorium with modern lighting and sound facilities. It was up to Maltbury Staging to help teacher Nick Parker complement this impressive resource with a customised staging package.

Bedford Modern students regularly take part in an extensive programme of concerts, plays and exhibitions. Highlights this year were Romeo and Juliet and a choral concert of Mozart's Requiem. These ambitious productions demand complex and varied sets, which is why Nick Parker's original objectives for staging were flexibility and strength. After meeting with a representative from Maltbury Staging's sales team it was decided that the Ambideck system would be the answer.

A short time later Bedford Modern School accepted delivery of a package of Ambideck which met their strict deadline with a

UK - The new JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker system will be the main focus when Meyer Sound returns to PLASA09. Also shown on the stand will be the new UP-4XP ultracompact loudspeaker, which is powered by a remote 48V power supply and suited for installations as well as portable applications.

The self-powered JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker system provides precise horizontal control in a seamless, tight-packed array, while exhibiting an impressive power output of 138 dB max peak SPL at one metre, says the company.

The JM-1P's consistent polar response and trapezoidal enclosure allows for tight-packed arrays with each JM-1P cabinet adding 20 degrees to the horizontal coverage of the array, with minimal overlap in high frequencies. An array of three JM-1P loudspeakers provides 60 degrees horizontal coverage; an array of four JM-1P loudspeakers provides 80 degrees of horizontal coverage,

UK - Singer songwriter Dan Black, is currently touring Europe and the festival circuit with an innovative audio set up from Allen & Heath's iLive digital range.

Black's FOH engineer, Steve Pattison, has selected a compact touring system comprising an iDR-32 MixRack and a laptop loaded with iLive Editor software, which he uses as a virtual control surface. The system not only mixes FOH audio but also wedge and IEM monitor requirements.

"I'm running the iDR rack and that's it... no desk, no surface, just the stagebox, which is mounted into our onstage loopstation," says Pattison.

Pattison runs looms out of the loopstation to the band's mics and DI's and a loom into the house system so that all the mics and DI's run straight into the stagebox and from there are output to a master L&R mix and 3 wedge mixes, which are fed into the house multicore. For monitors, two line

UK - AV Magazine, in association with Sysco and Studio Simple, will host a special presentation (free to all registered PLASA09 visitors) that looks behind the scenes of one of the year's highest-profile AV projects - the British Music Experience at London's 02 Arena.

Entitled Going Interactive At The British Music Experience - A Look Behind The Scenes With AV Magazine, the session will be held on Tuesday 15 September from 3.00pm - 4.00pm in the Whitehall Room, Earls Court Two.

The use of AV was pivotal in helping to achieve the objectives of one of the most challenging installations of this year, the British Music Experience at O2. Carried out by system integrator Sysco, working alongside Land Design and software designers Studio Simple, ISO and Clay, the installation packs in top-end kit at almost every turning to incorporate the audio and the visual into a sea

UK/The Netherlands - At this year's IBC show, Rycote will exhibit its new affordable camera-mounted microphone windshield and shockmount system for videographers and consumers.

IBC offers international customers and press their first chance to see the new system since it was announced earlier this summer. Known as the RUCK (Rycote Universal Camera Kit), it offers videographers, video production companies and consumers everything they need to protect high-quality camera-mounted mics from wind noise and unwanted vibrations from the camera's operator and motor when working on location, says the company.

The kit's InVision Video Mount assembly is based on Rycote's patented vibration-resistant Lyre shockmount technology and accepts microphones from 19 to 25mm in diameter, including the popular flat-sided Sennheiser MKH range. The mount's dual Lyres can be placed at different distan

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