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UK - PixelRange and JTE have announced the appointment of Paul Young as general manager. Young will head both the PixelRange and JTE brands - and lead the commercial direction of all future business development.

Young states: "I am delighted to head up both brands - and oversee the introduction of our new products to the marketplace. This is a very exciting time for the company - and we will be working closer with our sister company in the USA to present a global identity across the world."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Jan Booth, managing director of event branding specialist Sunbaba has been elected as the new vice president of the National Outdoor Event Association (NOEA) in this November's annual general meeting.

NOEA is the trade body for organisers and suppliers in the UK outdoor event industry bringing together local authorities, organisers, promoters, venues and suppliers to share problems, enhance professionalism and create business opportunities.

Booth has had an active role in the NOEA convention for the last five years, is a director on the board of the Tennis Industry Association.

"I am delighted to have been selected for the panel and would like to thank everyone who voted for me. The amount of support that I have received has been tremendous. I am a longstanding supporter of the council and its work and believe that I can bring ideas to the table that will help stan

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Brazil - During two days the famous Brazilian artist duo Victor & Leo recently produced its brand new DVD. This was a perfect opportunity for lighting designers Danny Nolan and Marcos Olivio to rely on the well proven grandMA technology. For this reason they used 2 x grandMA full-size, 1 x grandMA light as backup, 2 x MA NSPs (Network Signal Processor) and 1 x grandMA video station with the new MA VPU software.

Olivio explained why they chose grandMA: "We specified the grandMA mainly for two reasons: first it gives the most flexibility to program and to operate the show. Second the multi-user mode and the full tracking backup solution were of great benefit. Connecting more than two consoles to the network delivered the safety we needed for a big show like this one. All our needs and expectations were fulfilled and also exceeded. Furthermore the support of MA Lathing Latin 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

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Germany - tarm Showlaser, working on behalf of a major international pharmaceutical company delivered a spectacular five-minute laser performance in Berlin's Tempodrom.

An oversize model of the product, suspended dead centre of the hall ceiling, floated high above the heads of over a thousand invited guests. The experience was enhanced by a soundtrack, specially commissioned by the company's advertising agency.

To close out the performance, the 'star' of the show (the oversize model) landed on a carpet of light, comprising thousands of laser beams - projected from every angle of the circular hall.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Wireless Solution Sweden presented the latest winners of the W-DMX Visionary Awards, held during LDI 09 in Orlando. Elation, SGM and Golden Sea were all awarded Swedish gifts at a special ceremony honouring W-DMX OEM partners for the first time.

"Our OEM partners are the backbone of W-DMX," says Wireless Solution CEO Niclas Arvidsson, "The fact that W-DMX is built directly into some of the most popular product ranges is a sign of trust that they have researched and found the best possible solution to achieve wireless DMX. It also ensures a wider range of compatibility among products overall. We wanted to show our gratitude toward Elation, SGM and Golden Sea for taking the lead of our OEM partners."

Toby Velasquez accepted the award on behalf of Elation, while Giorgio Radice represented SGM, and Jiang Wei Kai brought back the award for Golden Sea. A la

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UK - Alternative rock band Muse, known for their energetic and extravagant live performances, are currently engaged in a world tour of their fifth album, Resistance.

The Muse set has been constructed by Brilliant Stages from Es Devlin's design, under the auspices of production manager, Chris Vaughan.

The set consists of an 18m wide circular stage, flanked by 3m high tech bunkers complete with access stairs and topped by three 'stair towers', each weighing four tons, which carry video screens on all four surfaces.

Brilliant Stages built the stage to conceal three hydraulic performer scissor lifts, a piano lift to the rear, a set of access steps embedded in the stage behind the central drum riser and three star traps from which appear props and performers throughout the show. The central performer lift also supports a riser into which is set a revolve which carries the

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UK - Projecting a 200ft high wall of poppies over Oldham Civic Centre to commemorate Remembrance week, EMF Technology worked with Oldham Council to support The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

The dramatic projection, a first on this scale for the North West of England, employed six 7000w Xenon projectors with specially produced slide-work, beaming from custom designed secure locations, the high powered projection was visible from areas around Manchester between 4pm and midnight for seven nights.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Optocore Control v2.13 is now available for download at www.optocore.com.

The most significant update found in this version of software is increased network capacity, which now allows up to 24 devices to be connected to a single Optocore network. This is a move which sees Optocore addressing the increasingly frequent requirement for a larger number of distributed interfaces.

"As we work together with leading members of the pro-audio industry we become aware of these demands quite early," stated Optocore managing director, Marc Brunke. "Optocore is the specialist supplier of optical fibre network solutions and it was self-evident that we needed to find an answer. We are now very happy to present our next innovative solution - this new software opens up lots of new possibilities."

In addition to the expansion of the network size, Optocore has take

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USA - Clear-Com Communication Systems, a Vitec Group brand, reports the addition of its Tempest2400 four-channel wireless intercom system to the equipment arsenal at Oasis Stage Werks, a rental house servicing the needs of numerous production teams working on high-level live entertainment, music, sports and political events.

Oasis Stage Werks discovered Tempest2400's benefits while assisting one of its customers on a concert series at the University of Utah's Red Butte Garden and Arboretum. Due to environmental considerations, the customer was not permitted to run wires through much of the venue, necessitating a wireless intercom system capable of performing well when located some distance from the base station. According to Oasis Stage Werks production manager John Lopez, Tempest2400 was more than up to the task.

"We were 1,500ft away [from the Red Butte Garden and Arbor

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USA - A custom audio transmitter solution developed by Zaxcom and Bexel brings sports fans even closer to the action by enabling broadcasters to transmit coaches' live comments during televised games. The system is based on Zaxcom's TRX900 digital wireless transmitter.

Zaxcom and Bexel designed the audio solution to be seamless and comfortable for coaches to wear, while offering the option of muting the microphone with an easy-to-use on-off toggle for more "discreet conversations." The transmitter also provides digital encryption to ensure that private discussions cannot be "hacked" by unauthorized listeners.

The solution includes a Sennheiser lavaliere mic and a Zaxcom TRX900 transmitter equipped with a quarter-inch toggle switch for the mute capability.

"The Zaxcom TRX900 offered the perfect solution because of its extremely small, lightweight prof

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UK - An integral part of all six series of X Factor so far, monitor engineer Fred Jackson is an associate of Delta Media, a division of Surrey-based audio company Delta Sound which specifically services the broadcast industry. Delta Media supplies all of the onstage monitoring equipment for the live X Factor performance and results shows, currently being broadcast every Saturday and Sunday evening on ITV1.

Having used Yamaha digital consoles for many years, and the company's analogue desks before that, Jackson used a PM5D for monitors on the first five series of X Factor, this year, expanding the system to two PM5D-RHs and a DSP5D.

"Each year the demand for channels on the programme has grown, so this time I'm running a PM5D-RH and DSP5D expansion unit to give me 96 channels for the contestants, with a further PM5D-RH for our guest artists," he s

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France - Pascal Boulanger, lighting chief at Paris's Ope?ra Garnier, is, like many theatre technicians, a man with an increasing number of jobs to do and fewer people to help him. Successive pieces of employment legislation have seriously affected the French lighting industry; chief among them are restrictions on night working and a new 35 hour working week. So Boulanger decided that quiet, reliable and accurate moving lights were the solution - and was impressed when ETC's French distributor Avab Transtechnik introduced him to the ETC Source Four Revolution.

"We did a number of on-site tests for things which aren't in the technical specs," explains Boulanger, "such as the noise of a movement or change of gobo, or the reset time of the unit." As an opera house, noise is a vital issue and, he says, he has even had occasions when the conductor has asked for the

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USA - The ESTA Foundation's 2009 Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards, created by some of the industry's most talented designers, are still available in card packs of ten. To view the card designs and order online, visit the web address below.

The ESTA Foundation provides industry members with financial support when they are seriously ill or injured, and has announced that two well-known industry companies, Rose Brand and Reed Rigging, are making donations to the programme as part of their 2009 holiday charitable giving.

"Rose Brand has been an active participant in supporting The ESTA Foundation's Behind the Scenes programme since its inception in 2005," states Josh Jacobstein, Rose Brand's sales director. "We feel that it is essential that companies like ours take care of our fellow industry professionals and family members in need of support. We look forward to wo

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UK - The Harrow Youth Achievement Awards took place this November with an awards ceremony recognising the outstanding achievements of young people in the London Borough of Harrow. Mobile Promotions provided its technology trailer transformed into a broadcast and recording studio, giving students and young people their first taste of fame as they were interviewed by TV presenter and Kids Task Force ambassador, Sharon Doughty.

Mobile Promotions utilised its expandable trailer to create the recording studio. The trailer is 13.6m long and 2.5m wide when in transit but expands once on site to give approximately 80sq.m. They have been designed to need only a single person operation, with hydraulic systems to manoeuvre the trailer from 'tour' status into a mobile environment with set-up completed in less than an hour and all furnishings travelling within the unit ready to be unpacked o

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Abbamania continues - Abba fans will get the chance to immerse themselves in everything about the band when an interactive exhibition premieres in London. Abbaworld, which has the backing of the Swedish band, features 25 rooms full of memorabilia, behind-the-scenes footage and music dedicated to the foursome. Fans will even be able to get up on stage with their "idols" as part of a 3D hologram installation. The exhibition opens at London's Earls Court on 27 January.

Frida Lyngstad said: "On behalf of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and I, we are delighted to be part of Abbaworld and to have the opportunity to share our amazing experiences with our fans." As part of the interactive experience, visitors will also be able to appear in music videos, on album covers and take part in a sing-a-long. The exhibition is expected to go on a world tour but no other d

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Germany - HK Audio will take part in the 2010 Integrated Systems Europe, marking the company's first showing as an exhibitor at the event.

HK Audio marketing manager Philipp Wrede notes: "HK Audio has seen significant growth in professional fixed installations in recent years. What's more, our marketing efforts in 2010 will focus on several new products designed for fixed installation, so it certainly makes sense for us to take part in the ISE. In fact, we will unveil some models for the first time at the fair."

The 2010 ISE show will take place on February 2 to 4 in Amsterdam.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Elation Professional, part of the ADJ Group of Companies, won the Best Big Booth Design award at the recent LDI Show in Orlando. Elation earned the honour for its innovative use of video and lighting in its massive display, which featured some of its advanced EVLED Series LED video panels.

Designed for creating vibrant video screens, curtains and backdrops, the panels put on an awesome visual display at the main entrance to the LDI show and thanks to their modular design Elation was able to easily integrate them with their lighting technology to create a cohesive visual display combination of lighting and video.

"As a company, we've committed ourselves to staying in the forefront of LED lighting & video technology," said Eric Loader, national sales director of Elation Professional and Acclaim Lighting. "Winning the LDI Award, which is based on voting by a

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UAE - Arising from an initial contact made at the recent PLASA show in London, the Middle East's leading stage and set rental company, IBS Decor, commissioned Litestructures to design a hospitality unit for Mubadala, Ferrari's official race sponsor at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The IBS design concept called for a structure shaped to read as 'F1' when viewed from one side. This required a complex design as it necessitated the use of reverse angles of up to 70 degrees to achieve the desired profile. Measuring 14m long x 7.5m wide, and with a height of 6m, this was a substantial project, for which LitePro390-4 truss elements were utilised, clad to give the best cosmetic appearance.

Taking just three weeks from concept to completion, Litestructures, no strangers to the world of Formula 1, showed a winning turn of speed. Interestingly, the same structure has since been used for an e

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Germany - This year's spectacular MTV Europe Music Awards were held at the O2 World in Berlin, where XL Video's UK and French offices combined forces to provide a dynamic interactive video backdrop for this high profile event.

XL Video France supplied a massive 22 projector system managed by Klaas Eecloo, comprising of Barco FLMs for front and rear projection on the main set, two IMAG projection screens either side of the stage, a PixLED F-40 LED screen in the "Glamour Pit" and a Barco Encore screen management system to size and shape the content for the screens.

Chris Saunders from XL UK took on the role of screens director under direction from video consultant Richard Turner, and headed up XL's on site team, following on from his work at the MTV African Music Awards in Nairobi, Kenya a couple of weeks previously.

The set designer for MTV Europe was Florian Wieder

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USA - After meeting favourable reviews at its AES introduction in October, Lexicon has begun shipping the new PCM Native Reverb Plug-In Bundle. The latest addition to Lexicon's processing family provides seven Lexicon reverb algorithms that are designed to deliver "the highest level of sonic quality and function while offering all the flexibility of native plug-ins".

"We are very excited that the new PCM Native Reverb Plug-In Bundle is now available to our customers," said Randy Garrett, marketing director for Lexicon. "Ever since the introduction at AES, the response has been outstanding and we know that this product will exceed our customers' expectations once they experience the distinctive smooth, rich reverbs for themselves."

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - This month sees the launch of the German distribution partnership between LMP and Visual Productions software lighting control manufacturer.

Initially focusing on the Cuelux software lighting controller, LMP Product Manager Olli Winkler says, "We are glad to have Cuelux in our product portfolio. Cuelux is a well fitting complement in the field of professional lighting control systems."

LMP Lichttechnik was founded in 1980 and has grown to be one of the most successful distributors for the entertainment business in Germany. LMP adds Visual Productions to its portfolio of professional products, for which they have exclusive distribution on the German market, including Robe and Litecraft.

With staff training and stock already in place at LMP, Visual Productions feels that this partnership is well situated to support the German market sales of their products.

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