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China - Beijing has celebrated the first anniversary of the Olympic Games with a large-scale performance entitled Blue Fantasy. The performance debuted at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre, where stunning sea views rivalled the sound courtesy of the L-Acoustics Kudo line source system, supplied to the venue by Chinese distributor Rightway Audio.

The system was deployed in left and right hangs of six Kudo cabinets and two SB28 high-power subwoofers each side, with a centre cluster of six dV-Dosc modular line source cabinets. A further four dV-Dosc cabinets were used for down-fill. Meanwhile, 12 8XT compact coaxials were used for left, right and rear surround, with eight 12XT high performance coaxials as stage monitor. The whole system was powered by four LA4 and eight LA8 a

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Australia - With Australia's World War One aviation heroics now almost the stuff of folklore, the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra recently embarked on a major exhibit, recording and reproducing the very-real exploits of Australian pilots in the skies over the Western Front in France and in the Middle East.

In a collaborative trans-Tasman effort, Over The Front brought artefacts and visuals from these campaigns to visitors.

Bruce Brown, project manager with Mental Media in Sydney, oversaw the AV installation which included consulting on the hardware design, specification, and documentation in collaboration with Alex Smythe, AV manager at the Memorial.

The technical infrastructure drew heavily on cinema loudspeakers from Martin Audio.

The exhibit itself featured five aircraft - three Allied types and two rare German fighter planes - along with other artefact

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Germany - While the d&b audiotechnik M4 has found wide acceptance in the world of stage monitoring, there are still frequent requests from the markets for a slightly smaller 12" monitor, says the company. In answer to these requests, the visual design of the M4 monitor has been adapted to reduce the profile and accommodate a similar type of 12" coaxial driver. The amplifier configuration also has specific characteristics to give the M6 a performance completely compatible with M4 in both gain and sound character in the frequency band above 180 Hz.

The M6 is a low profile two-way high performance stage monitor employing an integrated 12"/1.3" exit coaxial driver with a CD horn and passive crossover network. The M6 boasts "a remarkable midrange presence and a dry and compact low end". Its 50° x 80° coverage, combined with feedback stability, hi

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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 - Chris Kempton, lighting director of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and a Knights of Illumination winner at PLASA09 has designed well over 200 shows for Jonathan Ross and cites "trying to create a different atmosphere for each band performance" as a chief goal.

The set uses a core rig and occasionally brings in additional fixtures to help create the different looks. Kempton described the challenging schedule: "Jonathan is very involved with the choice of music, always involved in choosing the band himself. It's a one day stand, so a very quick rig in the morning, minimal rehearsal in the afternoon and a record in the evening.

"For the lighting style we keep a basic standard rig based on wash lights to give a distinctive house style. We go for a very live look, high intensity, that leans more towards the looks of a live concert than a TV presenta

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UK - Graham Eales has joined Philips Lighting us as entertainment controls systems director, Europe. Eales has had an extensive career in the industry, most recently he was managing director for Zero 88 in the UK.

"The breadth of product and technologies that Philips owns will allow us to set the standard in control of systems that are coming to dominate the entertainment and architainment lighting businesses," says Eales. "Our wide range of Strand Lighting dimming, control and networking products combined with our Selecon luminaire range are powerful tools on which we will be working to build and develop our entertainment businesses."

In related news, Peter Rogers, senior director entertainment marketing at Philips Lighting reports that in North America several changes are in progress. "In December we will move our Cypress customer service operations

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USA - Audio-Technica is an integral part of the stage setup of rockers Daughtry, led by frontman Chris Daughtry. The group's 2006 self-titled RCA debut was the fastest selling debut rock album in Soundscan history, and their 2009 follow-up Leave This Town debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in its first week in the US, scoring Daughtry two consecutive #1 albums.

Daughtry's Audio-Technica microphone list is extensive. Chris Daughtry uses an Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System with the AE6100 Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphone and AEW-T6100 Transmitter for his lead vocals. The band also uses a wide array of A-T wired mics.

Front-of-House (FOH) engineer Morgan Russell states, "When you have a world-class performer on stage, a world class mic is the only thing that will do. I consider the AE6100 the best vocal mic on the market."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Zero 88's theatrical lighting console ORB is continuing to make waves in London's theatre scene; lighting two productions at the intimate Arcola and Landor theatres.

At the Arcola Theatre the ORB was in control of the acclaimed production of Elder Latimer is in Love directed by Sebastian Michael. After using the ORB recently on What's Wrong with Angry, lighting designer MJ Urbanek was happy to specify it again for Elder Latimer. He says, "The ORB is an easy desk to learn and has all the features needed for controlling moving lights and LED fixtures. With the two screens, it is easy to see exactly what is going on. I love using the ORB as its intuitive and simple to use yet boasts all the features of a more complicated console."

With sustainability projects part of its core business, the Arcola Theatre aims to be the world's first carbon neut

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UK - Global communications services company BT has installed a giant electronic information screen at the top of the iconic BT Tower in London. The 360 degree LED screen - made up of Martin Professional LC Plus Series LED panels and believed to be the highest of its kind in Europe and the Americas - will be used as an information band, showing messages and providing visual content that will be visible from various locations across the city. The information band was switched on for the first time on Saturday 31 October.

BT has again selected Martin Professional product to illuminate the landmark Tower. The Tower's previous lighting scheme, which featured Martin Exterior 200 fixtures to highlight the BT logo and brand signage, was a successful scheme that ran for five years. The company has now decided to upgrade with the next level of lighting technology.

The LC Plus screen is

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USA - Austin City Limits Music Festival, one of the premier music festivals in the US, recently capped-off another successful year of musical festivities. Held from 3-5 October, 130 bands gathered in the Texan capital to give three full days of performances across eight stages. Robert Ausmus of LD Systems (Houston, TX) and his crew relied on an Electro-Voice X-Line line array loudspeaker system to provide sound reinforcement for the Xbox 360 stage.

The Xbox stage saw crowds of up to 35,000, and featured a diverse range of headliners, including Them Crooked Vultures - a supergroup featuring John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) - Girl Talk, STS9 and Raphael Saadiq among many others.

LD Systems deployed a main FOH rig comprising two arrays of eight full-range X-Line elements. Xn boxes were used for out-fills.

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Germany - Norway's projectiondesign is jointly sponsoring the first Virtual Efficiency Congress being held at SpOrt Stuttgart in Germany between 5-6 November, 2009.

The event will see the first ever demonstration of the company's flagship three-chip F80 1080 DLP projectors in a stereo visualization configuration, using embedded INFITEC wavelength multiplex imaging filter technology. This type of configuration is designed for bright, large-screen viewing in a range of environments such as VR analysis, museums and large room presentations.

The F80 incorporates projectiondesign's new Advanced Colour Optical Processing (ACOP) technology, offering sophisticated optical calibration for superior projected images. It combines individual optical filters in the red, green and blue channels, an infinitely adjustable optical iris, and DynamicBlack functionality from Texas Instruments to g

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UK - HSL continues its touring relationship with Bristol-based Massive Attack, supplying all lighting equipment and crew to the current UK and European tour, working with lighting designer Robin Haddow.

HSL project manager Mike Oates says: "It's great to be working with Robin and production manager James Baseley and tour manager Dave Lawrence and their team again. Massive Attack have been one of the UK's most influential and creative bands over the last two decades, and their live productions are always inventive and interesting. This one is no exception."

Robin Haddow worked closely with the band's video and show designers United Visual Artists (UVA) on developing the look and feel of the show, for which they did a week of technical production rehearsals at HSL's new space next door to their warehouse facility in Blackburn. They also received considerable input from

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USA - Tomcat reports that space is still available for the workshop that will take place on 18 & 19 November 2009 in conjunction with the LDI Show in Orlando, Florida.

During the course of the ETCP recognised workshop, participants will receive training from industry experts. Day one consists of a full day of motor instruction taught by Herb Hart of Columbus McKinnon. During this, participants will disassemble and reassemble a one ton CM Lodestar and receive instruction on troubleshooting and maintenance.

Day two includes a half-day course on truss design, use and theory taught by Will Todd, product support manager for Tomcat USA plus a half-day course on fall protection led by Bill Sapsis, president and founder of Sapsis Rigging.

This is the first time Sapsis has taught a session in conjunction with the Tomcat workshops. He is an ETCP recognized trainer and recognised indus

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Sweden - Tannoy's VQ Series has been establishing an impressive reputation as a loudspeaker system of choice in the sports arena sector over the last year or so since making its debut at 2008's Frankfurt prolight+sound show.

The most recent company to deploy VQ in this type of environment is AV integrated solutions provider Impact Europe, as part of a significant upgrade to the Coop Arena in the northern Swedish city of Luleå.

Located just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the 6000 capacity Coop Arena is a major sports and community facility for the city and surrounding area, and has undergone a major programme of building works to upgrade and enhance the venue - with new raised roof, new restaurant, pub, lodges and conference rooms in addition to a comprehensive overhaul of the AV systems.

A significant part of this upgrade was in specifying and installing a vers

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UK - Yamaha Music has unveiled a new content rich, artist led website offering "a combination of invaluable information, knowledge and advice for anyone serious about playing and producing music".

Artist interviews and topical and constantly updated news and reviews form the heartbeat of www.yamahadownload.com according to Yamaha's Felicity Gregory. "All the ingredients and elements that are important to musicians at all levels come together on Download, it will prove invaluable to songwriters, bands, teachers and there's also much in there for beginners too, it's a great place for musicians to get closer to their music and learn from top professionals, the site will change from week to week ensuring it is always fresh and relevant."

Artists involved in the launch include The Editors, Paolo Nutini, Elbow, Dave Weckl, Troy Miller and Jamie Cullum. The

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UK - The C2-7300 Series dual channel video and audio processors from TV One are now available with a choice of front panels, providing a wider variety of control options to the user. A 48-button CORIO EXP Front Panel designed expressly for handling live event situations is available and also a new programmable 12-button front panel suited for applications where custom or restricted access to functions is required.

The 48-button front panel is provided with the C2-7310 version. These buttons plus the multi-way navigation control and integrated LCD bring all the control needed for quick and easy access right to the front panel. The 12-button front panel is supplied with C2-7300 version and has a large rotary dial, ten programmable buttons and a shift key for customisation. Removable key caps allow the user to re-label programmed buttons as necessary.

Both the C2-7310 and C2-7300

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Germany - Sommer Cable's Cat 7 cable in the Excelsior classique 1 series, is billed as "probably the fastest network RJ45 patch cable in the world".

The network cable transfers digital audio and video data and is suited for ultrafast 10 Gbit class F connections - according to the Fast Ethernet ATM 155 Prot., EN 50173 2ed, EN50288-1, EN 50288-5-1, IEC 61156-5 and ISO 11801 2ed approbations.

Sommer Cable puts every cable thorough function test checking the compliance of the relevant transmission data; the measurement report is enclosed with each cable.

"For the cable confectioning process we use only single high-grade components of no-compromise quality," says the company. "The mounted full-metal RJ45-Cat 6a connectors have a special bushing for large cable cross sections which are indispensable for a 10 Gbit transmission according to IEEE 802.3".

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UK - Multiform Lighting were recently contacted by Environetics, suppliers of 'Magic Fountain' systems, who were intending to use the company's MultiPac 4-channel DMX dimmer to control fountain pumps and lighting in their new 'Solo Mio' sound activated interactive fountain systems.

Multifoem says that Environetics chose the MultiPac because of its unique range of facilities including Soft Patch, Multiple Curves, Manual Presets, Programable Preheat, Limiter and Inbuilt Crossfades plus Multiform's renowned rugged serviceability.

Magic Fountain systems range from a single pump to 18-pump fountains with multi-coloured underwater lighting. They are supplied to public authorities, theme parks, special needs schools and also lottery winners! Unlike simpler sequentially programmed systems, Magic Fountains analyse the music signal electronically, converting this into DMX data which is

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Denmark - On 5 December, the largest cruise liner ever built, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Oasis of the Seas, will set sail on its maiden voyage adorned in a multitude of Martin Professional dynamic lighting and smoke solutions.

The RCCL Oasis, built at the STX shipyard in Finland, surpasses anything that has come before it in nearly every way. Sailing from its home port of Port Everglades, Florida the Oasis is 360m long with room for 5,400 passengers and a crew of 3,000.

Martin secured delivery of the majority of the entertainment lighting and smoke package for the vessel: the company's solutions can be found in the majority of the ship's entertainment areas from the Promenade, ice rink and multiple theatres to a variety of bars, lounges and dance areas.

In addition, Martin is supplying an identical equipment package to the Oasis' upcoming sister ship, the R

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Switzerland - Barix has hired Fabrizio Campanale as engineering manager. Campanale will work out of the company's headquarters in Zurich, leading and managing the development team and its operations to ensure proper and efficient planning and execution of all engineering projects.

Campanale comes to Barix with a strong engineering background and more than 11 years of advanced product development, including nine years with Philips, NXP and ST-NXP Wireless where he most recently served as programme manager in the audio and video peripherals business unit management team. While at NXP, Campanale designed, developed and managed multimedia and connectivity products for the wireless industry.

In his new role, Campanale will merge his electronic engineer roots with his project management competence to lead a multicultural engineering team and improve development performances that pos

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UK - The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has congratulated leading theatre consultant Richard on his 50 years of continuous membership.

In the late 1950s, a teenage Richard Brett - studying engineering at University College London - joined the Institution of Electrical Engineering as a student member. Richard went on to become a Fellow of the IEE in 1986 after gaining many years of engineering and management experience as a theatre consultant. Now called the IET - formed in 2006 by the amalgamation of the IEE and the Institution of Incorporate Engineers - the Institution has recently congratulated Richard on his 50 years of continuous membership.

In the intervening years, Richard left university and undertook one of the last Graduate Apprenticeships offered by the BBC and then worked on planning the new colour television studios coming into service in the mid 1

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UK - ASL Safety & Security has introduced Vipedia, a life-safety rated networked DSP audio system. Already veterans of the voice alarm market, in particular for the rail and airport sectors, Vipedia is ASL's first product for the professional audio industry and has been specifically developed to bridge the gap between pro audio networks and life safety systems.

Vipedia is an advanced Dante-enabled, voice alarm-compliant audio routing and distribution system. It conforms to all standards for voice alarm systems while providing audio quality and digital networking capacity suitable for pro audio installers working on major stadia, airport and rail terminus projects.

The system is modular; option cards plug into the back of the unit providing various processing, control and interface functions. The software and hardware is partitioned for 'life-safety' and 'non-life safety' funct

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