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USA - Since 2003, Guerilla Union's Rock the Bells tour has established itself as a world-class hip-hop platform by hosting performances from leading artists of the genre. This year's tour was no different and included appearances by NAS and Damian Marley, Cypress Hill and Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes plus numerous equally compelling acts.

With an ambitious tour schedule that included stops in Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Washington, DC, Boston, MA, New York, NY, and San Francisco, CA, the musical extravaganza made its Southern California appearance at the San Manuel Amphitheater - formerly known as Glen Helen Pavilion. There, an appreciative crowd of approximately 14,000 revelled to the music delivered by a pulse pounding sound system consisting of components from D.A.S. Audio's Aer

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Germany - More than 60,000 guests attended the fifth edition of the RPR1 Rhineland-Palatinate Open-Air festival in Mainz with Actionlight Veranstaltungstechnik of Koblenz providing a host of Martin gear as the main technical services provider for the event (lighting, creative video and live video).

Some 28 Martin LC Series LED panels, hung at varying levels, dominated the stage design. As the festival required an extremely convertible stage design, the LC panels served as backline cover for the main acts and then were quickly arranged in a new configuration.

A Martin Maxedia media server composed and animated the video content while Martin's new P3-100 Controller proved itself a very capable, intelligent interface for extremely smooth and fluid imagery. The operator was confronted with a special challenge as the set lists were available only a few minutes before the pe

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Germany - TTA's Stagetracker FX performer tracking and audio localisation system took a starring role in an outdoor performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, presented by the Staatstheater Braunschweig. Distinguished German sound designer Utz Rüscher chose to use Stagetracker RX with its new V4 software for an 'in-the-round' production, part of the Burgplatz (Castle Square) Open-Air Season, held every summer in Braunschweig, near Hannover.

Working closely with Mega Audio, TTA's distributor in Germany, Utz Rüscher deployed the Stagetracker system to track the on-stage movement of six performers and localise them in the mix. Front-of-house engineer Michael Hilla, mixing the show on an Innovason SY72 console, was quick to notice the benefits of using Stagetracker; he could concentrate on monitoring the performers' microphones and levels instead of stepping follower

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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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South Africa - Denis Hutchinson designed both set and lighting for Brothers in Blood at the Market Theatre using the new Robe DT 3000s - a first for South African theatre - as well as a grandMA full size console. DWR Distribution comment: "We will attempt to capture all Hutch' had to say during a recent interview, as we without question, could not word it better ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing how Robe technology brought a new dynamic to the production and set design."

Hutchinson says: "Brothers in Blood deals with very emotive issues; it's set in Cape Town in the nineties and deals with people trapped in the crossfire of the vigilante groups of the time of which Pagad was the best known.

"I've known Greg Hamonn, the director; for a long time but it was the first time we'd worked together and it proved to be a really good worki

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Australia - The musical Wicked is now playing Sydney's Capitol Theatre. The lighting design is the work of Kenneth Posner who won a Tony Award for his effort. Posner opts for a Vari*Lite rig.

"I chose Vari*Lite fixtures for the design of Wicked because of the large number of pattern options and the colours, especially the warm pastel range," Kenneth Posner says. "The colour of the set is actually grey and earth toned. All the colour you see the scenery bathed in comes from lighting."

A total of 93 Vari*Lites are used, consisting of VL2500 and VL3000 Spots. The conventional gear includes close to 200 ETC Source Fours of various types.

(Jim Evans)

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Indonesia - Loud Technologies held a worldwide distributor conference in Ria Bintan, Indonesia from 17-19 October, 2009. 45 attendees from 26 distributor companies participated in the three-day event that featured in-depth sessions on new products, as well as roundtable discussions on the company's 2010 business plans. The event immediately followed the Pro Light & Sound Show in Shanghai.

"Loud is poised for a breakthrough year in 2010," said Rodney Olson, Loud CEO. "Recent product launches, including the Mackie HD, Mackie Onyx-i, Ampeg Micro-VR, EAW MicroWedge and MicroSub, and the EAW DX1208 are gaining momentum quickly. More importantly, our newly unified engineering and product management teams have solid roadmaps for future growth."

The Company has hosted two similar seminars in the past 18 months -- the first in Opio, France, and the second in

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UK - 5 Star Cases has been chosen to supply flight cases for Global Design Solutions' (GDS) award winning LiteWare battery powered/Wireless DMX LED uplighters.

GDS's Matt Lloyd says: "We selected 5 Star because of their great attitude, the quality of their products, the very quick response time and their ability to deliver the volume we need and work in a truly collaborative way with us."

The Tour Grade flight cases were designed and specified by GDS's head of engineering Richard Cuthbert, working closely with 5 Star's in-house design team.

Each case houses six LiteWare fixtures in foam protected compartments. A feature incorporated early in the design stages is a bespoke battery charging plate which is fixed into the bottom of each compartment, allowing all six units to be re-charged whilst inside the case simply by connecting a single mains lead.

(Jim Evans)

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Turkey - Sound and lighting rental company Bros Technic's Bar?? and Ba?ar Kalem have started off their rental inventory with 12 L-Acoustics dV-Dosc line source array cabinets, four dV-Sub low frequency extensions and four SB28 subs, with four LA8 amplified controllers.

"Because we wanted to use what we consider the leading sound reinforcement products in the field from the moment we started our company, there was no choice other than L-Acoustics," says Bar??. "We believe this sets us apart from other rental companies in the region, and we are pleased to join the L-acoustics rental network."

The Istanbul-based company provides sound, lighting, rigging, staging and video services for a wide range of events including concerts, festivals and conventions. Already, the company has employed its dV-dosc system in Istanbul on international bands such as Opeth, Buena

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Australia - During October, Sydney played host to the 2009 World Masters Games in which 25 000 people from more than 100 countries came together to compete in 28 sports at 72 venues across the city.

The Opening Ceremony for the Games was held at ANZ Stadium with Jands Production Services providing the audio gear and crew. Out There Productions was appointed to produce the opening and closing ceremonies for the Games which featured the largest athlete's parade on earth and artists such as David Campbell, Jessica Mauboy, Leo Sayer, John Paul Young and the NSW Police Marching Band.

The performance stage featured a JBL VerTec PA system comprising of two strips of 15 deep on the front hangs with the side hangs consisting of seven one side and eight on the other.

"The reason why they are uneven is that the northern stand has an extra tier so I needed a bit more dispersion to

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Germany - RTS has launched the KP 12 CLD 12-position colour display keypanel. The 1RU KP 12 CLD is the latest addition to the CLD colour keypanel series by RTS.

The keypanel includes several new features designed to enhance capability and ease of use. The instinctive graphic interface is housed inside two full-colour 4.2" LCD displays. The front panel also features conveniences such as a user-programmable button, one-touch listen volume adjustment on each of the 14 new multifunction keys, and a backlit keypad.

Like all RTS products, the KP 12 CLD is designed with expansion in mind. The front-mounted USB port and modular rear panel allow for future upgrades that will keep the KP 12 CLD on the forefront of technology for years to come, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - A.C. Special Projects has supplied a colour changing LED lighting system for the Wave, an iconic new sculpture which takes pride of place in the new look plaza at the heart of Blackpool town centre. The giant wind charm-like Wave was designed by Somerset artist Lucy Glendinning to capture the spirit and energy of the seaside. It forms an integral part of a £4.7m makeover of St John's and Cedar Squares and was officially unveiled to the public by style guru, Laurence Llewellyn Bowen.

The Wave features an illuminated colour changing pattern in cast resin, reflecting the elegant stained glass windows in St John's Church and also linking it with Blackpool's long standing Illuminations heritage.

A.C. Special Projects were approached to specify and supply a suitable LED lighting system for the sculpture. The company chose the Philips ColorGraze Powerc

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Hong Kong - Lighthouse Technology has announced it is the title sponsor of the Lighthouse Sri Lankan's Cricket Club (LSLCC), a Hong Kong Cricket Association Sunday League (HKCASL) member.

"LSLCC was founded in 2005 and entered the league in 2006, and at present is the youngest club participating in the premier league of Hong Kong. As a young club, with not many popular figures or national players in the team, we found it hard to find a title sponsor in the first two seasons. Therefore, we are thankful and proud to have Lighthouse as our first ever Title sponsor, a generous corporate entity who has come forward to support our efforts," says Chandrin Dissanayake, founder/chairman of LSLCC.

"Lighthouse is committed not only to developing excellent LED screen products and solutions, but also to help those of our community who really need it the most. As an industry

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UK - As the exclusive UK distributor for Italian trussing and rigging manufacturer, Litec, A.C. Entertainment Technologies provided the first UK tradeshow previews at PLASA09 of the new RF40 compact truss and EXE-Lodestar 650C1 Action chain hoist.

Providing the mother grid for the 187sq.m A.C. stand at PLASA09, the Litec RF40 is a heavy load rectangular section aluminium truss with 40cm x 29cm sides. It is strong and compact, offering "excellent performance for its size". Suitable for long spans, it can achieve a uniform distributed load of over 1,000kg over a 20m span and almost 2,500kg over a 10m span (in accordance with Eurocode9). Connections are made using horizontal forks and conical steel pins, minimising the use of corners and accessories when building grid structures.

A range of accessories is available to allow RF40 to interface with the Litec QD30S and QX3

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UK - The updated SMI and CMI smart 19" rack-mounted mains distribution units from Bryant, now with power measurement and current signature analysis, offer integrated mains analysis normally only available with expensive, dedicated test equipment, the company says.

Over the past 12 years, Bryant has added a number of optional features to its basic sequential and changeover units. Until now, the top of the range was the versatile SMS single mains supply, or CMS dual supply with changeover, both allowing power outlets to be turned on or off according to a user set 'macro' program. With GPIs, timers and "GoTo" branching, users have been able to solve diverse mains power sequencing problems, for example to power up servers and RAID arrays over a number of minutes, say Bryant.

All Bryant intelligent mains units can detect outlet fuse failure, but the target has been a

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UK - This year's Reproduced Sound conference, staged by the Institute of Acoustics, is being held from 19-20 November at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton.

Reproduced Sound has been the leading UK residential conference for audio professionals for 25 years.

The 25th anniversary event - The Audio Explosion looks at: audio quality, intelligibility, loudspeaker design, room acoustics and immersive audio. Full programme and booking details are available at www.ioa.org.uk(Jim Evans)

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Luxembourg - MusiRent-Lux has taken delivery of the first DiGiCo SD8 mixing console in Luxembourg. "We had been looking at digital consoles for some time and tried many others, but the SD8 proved to be the ideal combination of facilities, quality and cost-effectiveness," says Musirent owner Georg Feltes.

"While DiGiCo was always our first choice - we still have a Soundtracs MX32 that we use for small covers bands - our company isn't really big enough to buy a D5 or SD7, so the SD8 is absolutely right for us."

Feltes took the SD8 out on tour with French singer Julien Arpetti just a fortnight after taking delivery of it and was already more than up to speed on the console's operation. "The SD8 is very easy to handle. After just three hours I had the first soundcheck on it - and was doing it alone. No problem.

"We did the month-long Julien Arpetti

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USA - Nemetschek North America has announced that a number of its major European distributors have released their localized 2010 versions of Vectorworks software, including: Designer, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Machine Design, Fundamentals, and Renderworks. Versions are now available in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

"Our localized version is developed by Nemetschek North America, and then enhanced by us to meet the local requirements in our country," explains Carlos Lüthy, CEO of ComputerWorks, Germany. "This year there has been much excitement and anticipation about the Vectorworks 2010 line of products, as this version is already getting rave reviews in the English-speaking countries."

The English-language versions of the Vectorworks 2010 product line were released in the US, C

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Singapore - Martin Singapore recently gathered together local Martin users and regional Martin distributor staff for four days of training on some of the company's latest and most popular product offerings.

Held from 6-9 October at Martin's subsidiary facility in Singapore, training for local users, conducted on the first day, focused on the Maxxyz lighting console and newly launched Maxxyz Modules and was headed by Martin's commercial product manager for controllers Paul Pelletier.

That was followed by a three-day regional training with Martin distributor staff from India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, and Korea. The regional training covered the LC Series and LC Plus Series LED panels as well as the P3-100 System Controller, headed by Martin product manager Tony Van Moorleghem; and the Maxxyz, Maxxyz Modules, Maxedia 4, Martin ShowDesigner 5 and Martin's RADAR informati

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South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied the technical infrastructure - including rigging, sound, lighting, video, media, power and backline - for The 31st annual Loerie Awards. This is the major element of the Loeries Festival.

Themed Feed your Ego, the 2009 event poked fun at the sometimes egocentric aspects of the ad industry - with the aid of content projected from Gearhouse's suite of Christie projectors.

The two nights of awards were staged in Cape Town's Good Hope Centre, a 6,000 capacity theatre venue, and Gearhouse was working for production company H-Factor, who created the production design for the event. The first night's awards were related to print media and communication design, and the second to TV, radio and digital/electronic. Both were recorded by SABC for broadcast.

Technical production was by Steve Collins and the project was m

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UK - HSL supplied all lighting and necessary rigging - including 8 A&O 7K Falcon Beams and Flowers and over 100 Robe moving lights for a DVD and Holiday TV Special performance by Sting at Durham Cathedral.

Lighting designer for the two shows was Manfred 'Ollie' Olma of Koln-based mo2 Designs. The show was presented by Sting backed by 35 guest musicians, including string and brass sections, and was staged in the heart of the cathedral.

HSL project manager Mike Oates comments, "It was a great privilege to get the chance to work in such an amazing building and also with Ollie, who is one of the most respected LDs in the business. The project entailed huge challenges as this was the first gig of this scale that had been staged there, which produced some superlative teamwork between the production company, our crew and the cathedral staff, resulting in a truly inspirational ev

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UK - Creative design house 7thSense won Imaging or Editing Product of the Year for its Delta Media Server at the recent AV Awards which took place at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel, London.

For the award, the panel of judges noted, "7thSense takes the gong for its Delta Media Server for the simple reason that it has 'steadily grown its market, and Delta's capabilities, to make it a force in a worldwide a-v market."

Ian Macpherson, co-founder and director at 7thSense, adds, "We're proud to have our Delta Media Server product recognised at our first ever AV Awards and it strengthens our worldwide efforts to further innovate and propel our business forward."

(Jim Evans)

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